The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-03-26
THE c1eAREr HABrr-A NEW PERIL.
BY CHARLES Bu1KLEY HuBBELI.

Local newspapers of recent date
contained dispatches from London
stating that current issue of the
London Times included a manifesto
demanding legislation by Parliament
looking to the prevention of juvenile
cigaret smoking, and added that an
entire column of that influential jour
nal was required to contain the names
of the signers of the petition. 1t was
stated that the list included Peers,
Bishops, Judges, the leading head mas
ters of colleges and medical officers.
This is an encouraging development
to the men and woman in this coun-
try who realize the serious menace
that this comparatively new vice has
assumed.
Twenty-Five years ago the sale of
cigarets in this country was compare
lively small. Their use was first OBJ
served among the students of the
Rensselaer, Polytechnic Institute at
Troy, N. Y, which was and still is
patronized extensively by Cubans and
South Americans. The cigaret habit
and the inhaling habit spread from
that point until now it is more devas-
tating to the health and morals of
boys and young men than any babit
or vice that can be named.
The astonishing feature of the sit
uation is that so comparatively few
people realize the inroads that it has
already made on the health, morals
and possibilities of usefulness of our
American youth. One explanation
of this, in my opinion, is contained in
the fact that very large number Of
physicians in every community are
addicted to the cigaret and the inhal-
ing habit, and naturally are handi-
capped in the influence that they
should exert in advising and suppress
ing this alarming evil. 1t is seldom
Is not banefu1iy addicted to tins wee,
and once the cigaret habit becomes
tain and unending.
The writer of this article has-..~
grievance against the rational, reason
able and normal use of tobacco by
those who have reached an age when
the period of physical growth and de-
velopment has been passed, and who
can honestly provide the means OF
indulging in habit that, while not
to be indiscriminately commended, is
in the opinion of most physicians COM
paratively harmless under such con-
ditions.
The writer in using terms "ration-
al and normal" means that the one
indulging in this habit shall never in
hale the smoke. Much misapprehen-
sion exists in the public mind on the
subject of the cigaret. We hear it
stated not infrequently that the cigar
ct is deadly, because it contains
opium, or because the paper wrapper
is very injurious. am persuaded
that the reasons assigned are quite in
correct. The manufacturer could not
afford to put opium in his product at
the price he receives for his goods.
None of the cheaper grades of cigarets
contain opium or any Of its products.
The cigaret is deadly because it breeds
the inhaling habit, which is the foun.
dation of all the evils that accompany
indulgence in this vice. The juve-
nile cigaret smoker almost immediate.
ly learns to inhale the smoke. Not
one cigaret smoker in twenty, I ven.
ture to assert, uses them in any other
way, and when once the victim has
acquired the inhaling habit in connec
ton with cigarets, he can seldom Sc
cure any satisfaction with pipe OF
cigar without indulging his inhalins
propensites. The normal smoker
draws the smoke into his mouth ane
expels it, with the result that th'
minimum of the products of combus
tion-namely, nicotine, the volatile
oils. and the deadly carbon monoxids
(CO) get into his circulation hon
estly believe that very few healthy
adults are injured by reasonable u.s.
of tobacco in the way described. Th'
cigaret smoker, however, takes a deel
inhalation of the smoke, which at one
reaches the upper air passages OF th'
lungs, where almost Immediately ar
released into his circulation the pro
ducts have referred to, usually caus
ing the slight dizziness and the mile
intoxication that is so fascinating ant
so devastating.
The London Lancet, one of tn
most reliable medical journals publish
ed in the English language, has re
Gently stated that the most deleteriou
product in the combustion of Tobacco
is carbon monoxide, which is tn
deadly constituent of water gas, AM
is present in comparatively larg
} quantities in tobacco smoke. This
the poison that is responsible for tn
utter decentralization of that unhapp
individual who has come to be know
as the cigaret 6end, whose pale face
shattered nerves and hopeless positio
J in the community is recognized as ar
plying to many of our America
youth, whose opportunity for useful
ness and happiness has passed away
Experiments have demonstrate
that this poisonous gas is taken up b
the blood when tobacco smoke is II
hailed.
1t will be observed that the ev
and the danger is in the inAalin
habit. and is greater when related