The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-10-15
On Tobacco.

The school physiology books teach
that nicotine is one of the worst of
poisons and that one drop of it,
placed upon the tongue Of a dog, will
dispatch the beast like a bolt of
lightning. Like many other things
taught in schools, these statements
are a good deal more dramatic than
true and good deal more true than
relevent. AS a matter of fact, very few
sane men ever use nicotine al a bev-
erage and very few dogs ever get il
on their tongues. In the act of smok-
ing tobacco, upon which the artillery
Of the physiology books is presum-
ably concentrated. the amount of
nicotine introduced into the system
is SO small that it has no deleterious
toxic effect whatever. One may de-
nounce the use Of tobacco as a waste
of money. or as an offense to the cir
cumambient public, or as an incen-
tive to idleness and unlawful happi-
ness. but one may not denounce il
as dangerous to life and limb. The
smoker indeed, is a ten-times better
risk, as the insurance men say, than
the poor fellow whose wife is
fryer.
And yet the old balderdash lives
on. Preaching against tobacco has
a satisfying and virtuous smack 1t
is an attack upon a peculiarly agree
able form of pleasure, and all pleas
ures, as we know, are Of evil COM
pact. The thoroughly moral man
avoids them as he would the pesti-
lence. He can get all of the stimu-
lation he needs out of contemplating
his own lack Of need for it. The fact
that the school book foolishness
about drops Of nicotine and dogs
tongues is irrelevant and silly Is not
permitted to interfere with the cru
sade. Neither is the fact that smok.
ers are notoriously as healthy as
non smokers. Neither is the fact
that almost all sane men, if they could
choose between smoking all their
lives and living IL days longer, would
infallibly reach ouc for the weed.
But there is no need to make any
such brave choice. The effect Of to-
bacco upon the healthy adult has
been investigated of late by men
thoroughly capable of coming to
sound decision and that decision pro-
nounces smoking an entirely harm
less operation. In Great Britain
royal commission, after an inquiry of
a most searching sort, has laid down
the doctrine that no normal man is
ever injured in the slightest by smok-
ing half a dozen cigars a day. In the
United States, the Journal of the
American Medical Association, after
examining all the evidence brought
into court by the foes lof the weed,
has come to the conclusion that
there is no scientific evidence that
the moderate use of tobacco by
Hedllny, mature men produces any
beneficial or injurious physical ef-
fects as chewing gum or breakfast
food.
1t is perfectly true, of course, that
this testimony relates only to the
healthy adult, and not to the boy of
IA. Smoking among children is OBJ
viously to be discouraged, not so
much because tobacco is poisonous
as because the smokers are children.
The child, being an incomplete ami
NAL, is to that extent an unhealthy
animal, just as much so as an adult
without perfect sight, perfect hear
ing, a sound stomach and a reason
able intelligence. One does not ex-
pect boy of or 10 to do a mans
work in the world, and so it is un-
fair to expect him to withstand the
shock Of a grown mans relaxations,
and doubly unfair to blame those re-
laXations for his lack of strength to
weather them. 1t would seriously in
jure boy of that age to sit up un-
til a. NJ. playing poker, or to serve
on Downs jury, or to read a Presi-
dents message, or to have mother
in-law at his heels, and yet grown
men go through all Of these appaIl-
ing adventures without apparent
harm. In the same way, they smoke
and chew tobacco without harm
though the enterprise would nah-
bcrgast a boy.
Even at that, the physiological ef-
I'ct OF tobacco upon the young is
probably much eXagger2tcd. Observ-
ing tn" fact that, in tn, average
S'hool' the more stupid boys are
those who smoke superficial obscrv-
'rS are apt to jump To the coucl-