The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-26
TOBACCO RIGHTLY USED.
Those who Can and Those who Can
not Safely Indulge in smoking.

To THE EDITOR OF The SUN--ST! Your
editorial article of August 20 on the
use of tobacco refers to the enormous
increase of cigarette smoking among
soldiers. ! never saw any deleterious
effects resulting from the practice, nor
have heard Of such from any colleague.
Soldiers, whether In garrison. train
ing camp or field, are rarely so situated
~ to be able to abuse tobacco in any
form, and the cigarette became the
favorite because only "short smokes"
eeuid be INDUCED in. Furthermore, II
must be remembered that so per cent.
of the smoke of cigarette escapes
from the burning end. AS for the poor
fellows lying mangled in shell holes or
in field and evacuation hospitals, with
life slowly ebbing away from body
soon to become dreamless dust-who
would be heartless enough to prohibit"
this last and only solace?
II there were any cases OF tobacco
poisoning In the army they must have
been of rare occurrence, and surely only
In those few admitted to the ranks who
were by their individual nature suscep-
tible to one or more of the components
OF tODaCCO bfnOke, Ut liioSo wa" hNO'
ishly promoted undue absorption Of GER
tain deleterious substances by the per-
nicious practice OF "inhaling" The or
binary and sensible smoker absorbs but
little of the nicotine and other prod
ucts of combustion but the person VINO
inhales this smoke into the trachea-
and eventually into the lungs-absoros
as much as 70 per cent. OF the nico-
tlne taken into the mouth
Nicotine is not the only deleterious
substance; others are ammonia. pyri-
dine. methylpyridine "a nerve sedative)'
collidine, furfurol, formaldehyde. sui
phuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid car
bon monoxide, and there are many
others, all OF course in very small pro-
portions. but dangerous If cumulativeV
absorbed--as they must be-in the con-
fines of the lungs with their numerous
air sacks. One must pause TO contem-
plate the fact that these air sacks are
lined by the delicate and resorptive res
plratory membrane, which IL spread out
fat would cover more than 200 square
yards.
Be Il that the smoking Of large guam
titles of tobacco causes tobacco dyspep-
STA" vertigo nausea, tobacco heart'
even blindness and other phenomena, the
folly lies not In the smoking per Sc but
in the overriding Of it by an individual
peculiarly susceptible. On the one hand
man of sound health, with s'rons
yegetative nerve system, may IN tne
course Of a protracted period OF smoR-
ing consume as many as twenty cigars
or fifty cigarettes daily without oecoh-
ing pale, perspired or nauseated' WIN
nut getting palpitation OF Inc neart OF
amba rrassment of breathing. On the
other hand an individual, by his very
nature of unstable tendencies, perhaps
profoundly neurotic without knowing H.
and susceptible to the most attenualeo
Influences of any sort, would succump
oromptly to very much smaller auanti-
,,es Of tobacco. Each individual has
his own limits Of tolerance, and no
amount Of prohibition legislation could
meet the individuals problems.
The irrationally excessive use OF TO-
bacco, as of anything else' Is usuaiiy
practised by those primarily neuras-
thonic, neurotic or neuropathically DIS
posed: the tobacco abuse Is secondary
phenomenon. Let me instance the rather
axtreroe case of female artist or
neurotic temperament who rugged up an
apparatus by means OF which she pulled
away from 100 to 200 cigarettes at once
in the space Of three minutes! A psy-
chiatric clinic had her in charge for
while. But some time after her release
sbo made another and similar attempt
hut restored nature rebelled success
fully and a raging headache and other
ailments made her desist from such
bizarre department.
Good old healthy Mark Twain dlo
better than that; at least he only
smoked one cigar at time!
4 sound healthy man-but not
youth-may safely continue moderate
smoking, but he must know his limit
nj safety and he must not 'inhale'
Moderate smoking does AFFORD sense
nj comfort even though II does impair
IN, contents OF ones pocketbook. But
man with heart disease, hardening
OF the arteries. diabetes or constitutional
aIsease cannot 30 indulge; at least not
ur,ess his smokes" are thoroughly de-
narcotized.
EDWARD A. SPIrzSA, NJ. D..
Former Lieutenant-C Colonel, NJ. c.,
U. S. A.
New YORK, August IS.