The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-19

Editor Advertiser:-In your issue of
Jan. 25th, under the heading Current
Comment" appear certain thoughts
touching views held by Dr. Jordan,
President of Stanford University. Be
lieying them mischievous, say, Audi
a1teram partem," ana trust you viii SO
permit.
Dr. Jordan is quoted as saying The
| fact that a woman is tempted to smoke
is evidence enough of her essential
coarseness of nature; and those OF us
who admire fine and noble women are
simply satisfied to pass her by on the
other side. Surely nothing is more
repulsive to the majority of men than
the breath of a woman tainted with
nicotine or alcohol" Following this
Mr.. Armstrong says: 81 will not dis
pute Dr. Jordan's opinion. Wisely
said and acted upon-but, Mr.. Editor,
with evidence open to all, of the waste
and uselessness of both the tobacco and
alcohol habits, and remembering the
great harm accruing to so many from
their use, Mr.. Armstrong; dictum that
DR.. JOrdan's expressed opinion "is an
excellent example Of the positive state
ment of right and wrong on an issue,
which does not involve right and
wrong" appears to be incorrect. Mr.
Armstrong is doubtless convinced of
the soundness of his own views, but
whether they and the implications nee
essarily following them are true and
helpful to men and women generally,
or any class in particular, say for in
stance the delightful and appreclative"
audiences of young college men that
81 L Ia
his personal experiences" l say this
is another question altogether hest
tate not, Mr.. Editor, to express the
opinion that many fathers and most
mothers, with their experience of life,
would go on their knees to any kind
of god that they thought could keep
their sons and daughters from the use
Of tobacco, and alcoholic beverages.
That many a mother does so pray to
the one Lord God Almighty, is pretty
certaln-and without results, but too
often. Let the young mems elders
who smoke and drink In moderation,
setting SO excellent an example, take
note of the fact.
Dr. Jordan couples nicotine and al
cohol together. Mr.. Armstrong, while
not disputing Dr. Jordan's opinions,
declares them to be "an excellent exam
pie of a positive statement of right and
wrong on an issue. which does not In
volve right or wrong" Mr.. Editor, If
there is any right, if there Is any
wrong, then the views of great physi-
illogical Investigators, of eminent med
ical teachers point Individually to the
fact that the question of right and
wrong is most certainly involved in the
use of such drugs as tobacco and al
Cchnl fh o. 60 clearly and fro
Quent1y lead to inefficiency in work,
dereliction of duty, and woefully i'm
paired health.
Twas but the other day King Ed
wards physician, Sir Thomas Barlow,
said: "The one thing that would do
most to reclaim drunkards would be
10 make SOCIETY understand that it |
Is mere superstition that alcohol Is |
necessary for the ordinary work OF life"
DR.. Sims Woodhead, professor of pa |
biology in the University OF Cam
bridge, says alcohol, like nicotine, is q /
narcotic poison, and "even in the hands /
If the physician or surgeon its exhibit
ion is attended with dangers that at
ach to no other substance in the phar-
nacopoeia; these dangers are not NOR
Al only, but physical dangers, result
ag from the action of alcohol on the
issues generally, but especially upon
hose of the nerve centers."
I'm surgical work alcohol interfered /
With the resistance of the tissue to pus-
orming organisms. to diphtheria, to
and to pneumonia. Immu-
lity was very markedly interfered with
~ alcohol. Total abstinence was an
factor in the prevention of
isease, which medical men now re-
ard as even more important than its
ure"
Benjamin Rush, called the American
ydenham, Sydenham himself being
tyled the English Hippocrates, was un-
pairing in his denunciation of the use
: both tobacco and alcohol. Many
ersons," he says, "have been innocent
Y seduced into love of strong drink
rom taking frequent doses of bitters
Infused in spirits. Let not our profess
ION be reproached in single instance
18th adding to the calamities that have !
cen entailed upon mankind by this
readful species of intemperance" Dr.
H. kellogg, member of the American
nd British Association for the Adj
ancement Of Science, The Society d. I
hygiene of France, etc, says Irrational I
p. 510: Eve have often ]
nown wives and young children suffer $
sverely from various nervous disor- l
ars which were wholly due to the /
feet of the poisonous fumes of tobac-
} which they received through the t
oison-laden exhalations of their smok- q
g husbands and fathers;" again he "
iys, There is no vice or habit to t
hich men are addicted the results Of t
hich are more certainly transmitted i
posterity than are those of tobacco t
sing. A vigorous man may use to- O
lcco all his life and be able 10 con- 5
nee himself all the time that ne is L
ceivlng no injury; but the children OF n
at man, who ought to inherit from h
m a vigorous constitution and high T
,alth, will enter upon life with a sys- p
N predisposed to disease q
James Manly Gully, an NJ. d. of h
1inburgh University and Fellow OF a
20 great medical societies, says n
chronic Diseases, p. SD, Besides T.
CT civ IN