Evening star., 1937-03-04

Seductive Lady Nicotine especially in
her svelte cigarette makeup in which
she was supposed to be most vampirish-
may have been largely the victim OF i'll
informed gossip in the "cofan-nail" days
before the war when she was denounced
as a destroyer of health and character.
Two chemists of the Mellon Institute
of Industrial Research, c. F. Bailey and
A. w. Petre, according to an announce
ment Of the American Chemical Asso-
ciation here, have been making extensive
studies of the actual physiological effects
of tobacco on the human system and
they find that the bad effects are just
about offset by the good.
Their results were announced in In
dustrial and Engineering Chemistry,
published by the society.
Most surprising is the showing OF In
telligence tests of hundreds of high
school students. They found that the
smokers were slightly, but definitely,
more intelligent than the non-smokers.
On the other hand, it turned out, scho-
lastic standings Of the smoking ana
non-smoking groups could not be pre-
dicted from their intelligence scores.
That is, the smokers didn't do as well IN
their studies, relative to the non
smokers, as they should have done.
This indicates, says the American Chem
ical Society announcement, that smok-
ing is a factor, but not the exclusive
reason, for the lower standing Of smoking
students"
In connection with the study men OF
outstanding ability and distinction In
various professional, scientific and tech
nical pursuits" were asked their opln-
ions on the effects of smoking. Smokers
and non smokers were about equally
divided among those who replied, ana
the answers indicated that, although
few felt that they smoked in excess, the
consensus was that the pleasure far
outweighed any possible harm. Most
Of those interviewed had known out
standing men in both smoking and nom
smoking groups and were reluctant to
draw any conclusions with regard to
ability on the basis of smoking. At the
same time smokers and non-smokers
alike, with two exceptions, said that
smoking habits exerted no influence
with them in considering candidates for
positions.
More specific and significant was the
finding of Bailey and Petre on the
germicidal effects Of cigarette smoke.
They took samples Of human saliva
filled with bacteria and then blew smoke
through them. The bacterial count was
reduced by as much as IS per cent.
Presumably the same thing takes place
in the mouth and thus smoking might
be considered as q significant protection
against infections entering the body by
this gateway.
One indictment which the cigarette
hardly can escape is that of Irritating
the membranes Of mouth. throat and
nose. Two chemicals recently have
been used to retain moisture In the
tobacco and possibly reduce this irrita-
tion-glycerol and diethylene glycol. The
latter gradually is replacing the former
Smoke solutions from cigarettes treated
with both chemicals were introduced
into the eyes of rabbits and results OBJ
served. This experiment definitely
proved, they report, that diethylene
glycol Is far less irritating than glycerol
Another indictment which cannot be
escaped entirely is that smoking causes
loss Of appetite. They found this to be
true, but to q less extent than had
been supposed. The rather vague sensa-