Evening star., 1902-06-06
DANGER IN TUBACCO
HUMAN ILLS THAT ARE TRACE
ABLE TO NICOTINE.
Poison in the Pipe Disease of the
Heart Caused by Smoking
Angina Pectoris.
From the Chicago Tribune.

! From the Chicago Tribune.
IT'S bad habit" admits the smoker
to his friend who asks with reference TO his
! pipe, cigar or his cigarette. ''lf ever catch
you with tobacco in your mouth" saws this
same man TO his son, taking his own cigar
| out of his mouth for emphasis, I'm take all
the hide off your back But. according TO
a medical expert. this man, neither as
| friend nor father. conveys a shadow of the
seriousness of his vice TO either friend or
son. He does not know Il himself saws the
| physician. and, more than that the doctor
| says that not even the profession appre-
ciates the serious consequences that are in
separately connected with the smoking
| habit.
1t is queer situation. While every an
| thority is agreed that the use OF tobacco
IS most harmful TO young person. there
are physicians who will even prescribe il TO
man as sedativf. And e is a soothing
| influence for just SO far as IL use as a
| drug makes tolerable; but one pine too
many makes IL source OF irritability and
nervous excitement. Look at il as a poison
Every pipe which has been used half a
dozen times has enough nicotine In ii to Kill
| the smoker several times over. That Il has
| not Killed him is due TO the disposition of
! the poison to stick to the pipe Rut not an
OF TINS does so. How, then. about it's un-
questioned influence upon the system?
Poisoned by Nicotine.
Again. as to tobacco. there is the unques-
| ticned story of the man who stole a bunch
, OF tobacco leaves from a Havana dock. se-
| creting them under his clothes next the
skin. He went on with his work. perspirinc,
| freely, and suddenly fell unconscious To tho
floor Treating him first for sunstroke. tho
| had nearly lost his life
There are other stories sufficiently au-
| thentlcated showing how a man who rubbed
| tobacco decoctions over his body for q sLf,
disease was nearly killed by the poison. OF
| the mother who rubbed tobacco ointment on
| her child's head and face causing the li,tIa
one death; and of the man who died from
| water. No
Probably every pipe that has been used
| nan dozen times contains a dose of poison
| suihclent to XIII the smoker in a few min
| utes Fortunately, II stays in the nine as a
| rule. But most Of us get taste of WHATS
| there now and again.
IN one case man got a particularly large
Quafltlty or this poisonous Juice into his
| mouth. In few seconds he fell uncon-
| scious. and but for the presence of a doctor
ne would inevitably have died. As II was,
| MS life hung In the balance for a long time
| but was ultimately saved.
Effect on Animals.
Even animals are affected in a severe
manner by tobacco. A calf washed with
a tobacco infusion, as a remedy for soma
disease, died in few hours. DIR Murray
filled three glass jars with tobacco smoke
and placed in them a sparrow. a magpie
and frog. All three died Lastly We
nave something to learn from the effects
OF tobacco on dogs. If dose of tobacco
loses his hair; then his teeth drop ont and
next he becomes blind. Perhaps this ex-
pertinent supplies an answer to the ques-
| tlon, why are men bald?'
| a ref hae tn
| Jured the educational prospects Of the
would-be tobacco users. These reformers
| so often have spoiled all that they might
| nave accomplished by putting coffee and
tea into the same category with tobacco
| These fatalities from nicotine show 10 the
simplest that neither Of these table drinks
can be compared to the poisons Of tobacco,
I and the cry Of the reformer becomes at
once too much wolf"
But TO come to the certain influences Of
nicotine Both Sichel and Critchett WE'LL
known English ocuists, discovered that n
smoker who used even little as five
| elghths of an ounce of tobacco a day for
| any sustained period suffered a wasting OF
| the optic nerve. called amaurosis The dis
ease is dulling of the sight vet no ex-
animation of the eye will reveal the defect.
! Whether it is caused by the Irritating effect
! OF the smoke, whether IL operates
| through the nervous system, is a question,
! but in any case, other things being equal,
1t is recognized that the smoker has noc
as good sight as has the non-smoker
If the eyes suffer does the nose, and
| DIR. Armory Hare, who liked a Whit of the
pipe as well as the next one. has laid
! chronic smoker suffers more than his share
| Of nasal catarrh. This is strengthened by
| the well-observed fact that men, more than
! women. afflicted with colds in the
| head" in chronic form. Chronic laryngitis
is one of the recognized effects of too much
smoking It may begin with the victims
remarking that he becomes hoarse without
| seeming cause. The acrid fumes Of the to-
bacco have set up slight Inflammation
which makes the surface more susceptible
to cold, and as the smoke keeps up the ir-
ritation and the drafts catch him, he has
| chronic laryngitis before he knows it.
Darwin's Contempt for Smokers.
Darwin once accused people who smoked
many hours a day of having little common
sense. This observation may be regarded,
from the point of view of the physician. with
more than shade of creduity. Smoking
has disposition to dry the mouth and stop
the flow of saliva. With an insufficient
amount of saliva in the stomach the pro-
ceSseS of digestion are interfered with, and
the person having a stomach full Of food
lying in undigested state cannot be in
the most reasonable and reasoning mood
possible.
OF all these Ills tobacco heart is one Of
the most pronounced and dangerous. In
almost any hospital one may see victims
of the tobacco heart, scarcely able TO sit up
in bed and too weak to move. In the hos
pital these patients are refused tobacco and
they soon recover. Angina pectoris, one OF
the most dangerous and painful of diseases,
often is caused by excessive smoking Some
of the most prominent men in all walks Of
life have died from it, and in most cases
they have smoked to excess.
Possible Cause of Cancer.
Does tobacco cause cancer? This ques-
tion has been disputed, when answered in
| the affirmative. largely because among the
vast number of smokers in the world
of hem English
statistics it has been shown that out &c
seventy-eight cases of cancer OF the mouth
| treated in cancer hospital only ten cases
were those of women. Taking this show
ior md k,a fan hat u Id af