The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-05-28
BY Logan c,endenIng, NJ 0.

while moderate" was 4 word
subject 20 considerable pefsenal
Interpretation, moderate smoking
will not bring on any diseased
condition, either functional or or
ganic. W
There remains the question Of
whether smoking is harmful 20
people who are not entirely
healthy at the time Of beginning
the experience. Those who have
high blood pressure are particu-
larly anxious about this subject.
In making a decision on the point
it is obvious that we have to have
some standards. 1t will not do to
leave it merely to opinion nor TO
the report of the person with high
blood pressure as to how he feels.
After taking a smoke, the fellow
with high blood pressure will al
ways defantly tell his wife that
he feels fine"
By way of having standard,
We know that physiologically to-
bacco contracts the blood vessels.
particularly on the surface Of the
body. By using a thermometer
which takes merely surface temp
erature-that. is, applied to the
surface of the skin-we have a
method of measuring the effect Of
tobacco.
Experiments on Students
With this standard of measure.
ment Drs. Gates and Giovanaszzi,-
Of Los Angeles, experimental on
six young, healthy medical stu
dents. They found in all Of them
that the peripheral temperature
of the skin was decreased from
49, C. to 6.5' c. after smoking.
In the group Of people with high
blood pressure, most of them over
30 years old, after smoking the
change of temperature in the skin
of the fingers and toes was never
more than So c., and most of
them, less than 10 c.
In studying the effect Of tobac-
co on the same two groups as to
the change in blood pressure the
young, healthy medical students
showed an elevation in blood pres
sure of from Is to 80 points. In
the group Of high blood pressure
patients Of older age the greatest
change in blood pressure was only
is points and the average was 8
points.
This would seem to indicate that
tobacco has not as bad an infu-
ence on high blood pressure as
might be expected and, in fact,
the high blood pressure patients
do not show as much change as
the normal patients without high
blood pressure.
Changes Skin Temperature
1t is valuable to note that the
temperature Of the skin and the
toes changed considerably in all
patients after smoking. This
should be applied to the condition
known as Burgers disease. Buer-
gers disease is an Inflammation
of the blood vessels of the extremi-
ties-usually the toes-as a result
Of which the infammatory exu-
date and CLOTHING Of the blood often
cause a closing of the blood YES
sells with consequent discomfort.
1t has never been suggested that
tobacco causes Burgers disease
because a number Of cases have
been found in people who have
never used tobacco. But there is
no question that once the condi-
ton is established, smoking makes
it worse.
The most successful treatment
for Burgers disease is to apply
heat to the extremities and by
various foot exercises to increase
the circulation in the toes. It can
be seen that if tobacco reduces the
temperature Of the toes-proba-
bly, by creating a spasm of the ves-
sels-there is good reason why
tobacco does harm in this con-
dition.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. T. F. Recently you said
that people should not drink a
pint Of carrot juice a day and
drinking a pint Of anything ex-
cept water is bad plan. Do you
mean that drinking milk in these
amounts is bad plan?
Answer: l am afraid you have
caught me in an oversight. | GER
tainly do not consider milk a bad
drink, especially for children, al
though l am a little doubtful
about whether more than a pint
A.rr g. It41t- =