Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-09-26
TOBACCO AS A DIsINFEcrANr.

The Smoke, Containing FOrmaIde-
hyde, Is Able to XIII Microbes.
Although there is a general impress
sion that tobacco smoke is a gesmicide,
this property has not been assigned
hitherto to any one particular constit-
uent Of the smoke. The author of a
note on the subject In the Lancet gives
reasons for believing that among other
germicidal constituents the smoke con-
tains formaldehyde. He says:
''The composition of tobacco smoke Is,
of course, complex, but everybody
knows that tarry oils are a principal
constituent, and certainly many oils
are powerfully antiseptic. Nicotine,
again, is a strong disinfectant, but the
quantity of this poison in tobacco smoke
IS minute, If, indeed, it is present at
all. At least in a number of chemical
| analyses Of tobacco smoke made at diff.
ferent times it was difficult to declare
with absolute certainty that nicotine
was an important constituent. The oily
matter which accumulates in a tobacco
pipe is decidedly poisonous, but it does
not contain any appreciate quantity of
| nicotine, the chief constituent being the
very poisonous pyridin.
Tobacco smoke contains a decided
quantity of the very poisonous gas car
| bon monOXide which has been used for
preserving purposes sand which there
fore must possess germicidal proper
ties. Some simple experiments which
we have recently made would seem to
| confirm the observation that one Of the
principal constituents accounting for
the gerinicidal properties of tobacco
smoke is the powerful antiseptic formal.
| dehyde. The amount present is more
than just appreciab1e, for If water
| through which a few puffs of tobacco
have been passed is tested for formalde-
hyde the result IS striking1y positive.
'NThe quantity of formaldehyde in to-
bacco smoke would appear to depend
on the quality and kind of tobacco
smoked. Thus tie cigar appears to
yield more formaldehyde than the pipe,
and the pipe more than the cigarette.
Possibly the peculiarly Irritating prop
erty Of the smoke issuing from the glow
| ing end of a cigarette or cigar or from
| the bowl Of pipe is due to formalde-
| hyde. II has more than once been
| stated that tobacco smokers enjoy an
| immunity from certain diseases, and
the frequent presence of a powerful an
| tiseptic in the mouth, nasal passages
and sometimes the lungs Gas in the
| case of those who foolishly inhale to-
bacco smoke) would to some extent JUS
tify the statement When it is consid-
cred that IN the nose a vast number of
microbes are hourly deposited it is con-
/ ceivable that these may be effectively
destroyed by the frequent passage Of
tobacco smoke through that organ. In
the same way the organisms exposed to
tobacco smoke in the mouth would sue
cumb.
"Formaldehyde is one of the most
powerful disinfectants we possess, one
part in 10000 parts of water serving to
| destroy all microbes, while such dilute
solution has practically no poisonous
| action on the human organism. All the
same, 1t Is most undesirable that this
| fact should stimulate the practice OF
smoking tobacco to absurd excess, for
| tobacco poisoning Is a greater rarity
than many persons think, and to en-
| ploy tobacco in abusive quantities for
the sake of destroying microbes might
amount possibly to killing the seeds OF
| one disease only to cOunteract another"
The only reason a woman has for
thinking a COW is more intelligent than
a hen is that it is easier to chase out
| of a yard.
When the average woman looks in the
glass, she thinks to herself: u am not