Year: 1878

Physicians Say OF Its Ehecss.


New York Tribune.


There is a growing belief that the hab-
it of cigarette smoking has had a bad'ef
feet upon those addicted to it. Within
the past ten years the habit has increas-
ed so rapidly that the sale of cigars and
tobacco for pipe smoking has been ma
terially decreased. One cause has been
the popular desire to economize; anoth-
er, peculiar fascination possessed by
the cigarette for novices in smoking,
who regard it as less formidable than a
cigar; third, because it is the most
convenient way of taking Whit be-
tween the acts at the theater, or in a
few minutes of leisure any where; and
fourth, because the inhaling of the
the smoke gratifies taste not to be sat
isfed in any other way. Ten years ago
cigarettes were smoked only by foreign
ers and those associating much with
them. or by people who had acquired
the habit while abroad. Now the habit
has extended even to many inveterate
cigar smokers. Ten years ago it was
only possible to obtain one brand of Gig
arettes, the Cuban from New Y ork to-
bacco dealers now it is stated that there
are three hundred and thirty eight diff
ferent brands in the market.


Several of the prominent physicians
of this city unite in declaring hat clga-
rette smoking is much more injurious
than cigar smoking, because the smoke
is generally inhaled and often elected
through the nose 1t has particularly
harmful effect on the mucous membrane
of the nasal passage. People W ho use
cigarettes are more liable than others to
be afflicted with local irritations that
produce catarrh In persons of nervous
temperaments the doctors say cigarette
smoking always produces constitutions
al effects The pulse is increased IN
frequency, becomes smaller than is nat
ural and is irregular. Such persons are
said by physicians to have a tobacco
pulse" and tobacco heart The ac-
tion of the pulse in this respect is not
to be mistaken. Persons who constant
ly smoke cigarettes are said by physi-
clans to be be easily excited, and to
have a tendency to vertigo and dlmness
of vision, besides being troubled by dys-
pepsia. Bronchial and throat diseases
are much more readily caused by ciga-
rette-smoking than by cigar-smoking,
and during the past six or seven years an
increase in disease of the air passages, due
alone to this habit, has been observed.
Physicians state that there is not one
fiftieth as much of the mucous surface
covered by cigar smoke as by the in
hailed smoke of a cigarette. Excessive
indulgence in any form of tobacco smok-
ing may produce general paralysis,
while by enfeebling the circulation,
lowering the vitality of the system, and
interfering with assimilation of food, 1t
tends to produce anamia, which is one
of the first steps toward softening Of
the brain. Vertigo, when resulting
from smoking strong cigars, or from the
inhaling of cigarette smoke, is due to
anamia, or in other words, to a dimln-
ished supply of blood to the brain.


BY some it is claimed that the paper
wrapping of cigarettes is as hurtful as
the tobacco. This claim is grounded
upon the belief that the products of the
imperfect combustion of the paper or
other vegetable fibre are pyrogallic and
pyro-ligneous acids. which make their
presence unpleasantly felt in the muc-
Gus membrane