Health and Temperance

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 13.

Health and Temperance.

Young America in Love with Tobacco.

THE writer has just met three small boys in the street, two of them hard at work smoking, and the other, a still smaller boy, receiving the favor of an occasional puff. If to-day a census could be taken of all boys who smoke, it would surprise, and ought to distress, our American people; for it is one of the facts that has to do with social, moral, and political degeneracy. We pass by, for the time, any question as to the effect of tobacco upon the mature man. It is enough for our present duty to inquire into the effects of the habit upon the growing child. Tobacco has no doubtful position in the list of toxics. No one need turn to the records of anti-tobacco journalism, or to the utterances of so-called reformers. The materia medica of the physician speaks plainly enough, and all the authors are in accord.

It is a notable fact that the attention of the American, German, and French Governments has been directed thereto in the interests of those who are to do service for their respective Governments. Surgeon A. C. Gorgas, Medical Inspector United States Navy, in his article on the "Effects of Tobacco on Youth," gives us, in full, the facts which led to its prohibition from cadets in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, as it has since also been prohibited at the Military Academy at West Point. When the order went into effect at Annapolis, the class of diseases, such as headache, disordered digestion, malaise, diminished at least one-half in the next three months. The sympathies of the professors were in favor of its use, and Dr. Gorgas is himself a smoker, yet he bears testimony that the rescinding of the order, and the return to smoking for a year, had such unmistakable results "as that all the officers who had favored the plan of unrestricted permission to smoke, confessed that the experiment had proved a failure."

Special observation of the effects of tobacco on thirty-eight boys, from nine to fifteen years old, have recently been made by Dr. G. Decaisne, a French physician. With twenty-two of the boys there was a distinct disturbance of the circulation, with palpitation of the heart, deficiencies of digestion, sluggishness of the intellect, and a craving for alcoholic stimulants. In thirteen instances the pulse was intermittent. Analysis of the blood showed, in eight cases, a notable falling off in the normal number of red corpuscles. Twelve boys suffered frequently from bleeding of the nose. Ten complained of agitated sleep and constant nightmare. Four boys had ulcerated mouths, and one of them contracted consumption—the effect, Dr. Decaisne believed, of the great deterioration of the blood, produced by the prolonged and excessive use of tobacco. The younger children showed the more marked symptoms, and the better-fed children were those that suffered least. Eleven of the boys had smoked for six months, eight for one year, and sixteen for more than two years. Out of eleven boys who were induced to cease smoking, six were completely restored to normal health after six months, while the others continued to suffer slightly for a year.

We cannot do better than to quote still further from the testimony of Dr. Gorgas:—

"The use of tobacco by youths can never be regarded as moderate. It is generally excessive in the literal sense of the term; but its effects, even when but little indulged in, are those which characterize excess in adults. The depressing effect of tobacco upon growth, by diminishing the forces concerned in tissue change, its effect upon the heart and pulsation, the disturbance of muscular co-ordinative power, and ability to concentrate the mind upon study, the dyspeptic troubles, impairment of vision,"

headaches, and the retardation of sexual development and disturbance of that function, are conceded by most observers and clearly demonstrated by many. . . . At this academy, instances of almost all the evil effects of tobacco have been brought to the notice of the medical officers. Many of the cases of irritable heart, supposed to be induced by gymnastic exercises, I believe to be caused by tobacco."

Illustrative instances are given. The "tobacco heart" has come to be a term expressive of this condition. The effect of tobacco upon the nervous system of children is even more pronounced than that of alcohol. Indeed, the prevalent use of it by children means, not only personal evil, but race degeneracy. As a specimen of the derangement of muscular co-ordinate powers, and the ill effects of tobacco on effort at training for skilled work, Professor Oliver, head of the department of drawing, gives his testimony. He says:—

"The effect of smoking, on muscular action, has come under my observation frequently, during a service of fourteen years. . . . The effect of smoking, on cadets learning to draw, is as unmistakable as it is held to be by trainers on men training for a boat-race. I have had occasion to challenge cadets on the use of tobacco in smoking, as evidenced by their work, and I have in no instance made a mistake."

As regards drawing, tobacco has a specific effect on the co-ordinating faculty. Dr. Kestral, of the Austrian State Tobacco Manufactory, says that the workmen are subjected to many diseases, especially in the case of young women and boys. Dr. Tracy, of the New York Board of Health, several years since put on record some serious facts as to the effects of tobacco, and shows that it is very desirable to keep young persons from its use. So serious is the unmistakable effect of this habit, that it has not been found difficult in some of our Legislatures to pass laws against the sale of tobacco to minors.

Besides the direct effect on impaired physical vigor, there is another view not enough considered: the power of choice, self-control, self-restraint. Will-power, in its best sense, is the greatest power beneath the sky. The freedom of the will is far more than a theological doctrine. It is the reserve hope of manhood, and not only decides individual character and destiny, but social and national destiny also. Our most outspoken quarrel with tobacco, as with other stimulants and narcotics, is this, that, indulged in so early, they so affect the brain and nervous system that habits become dominant and uncontrollable, which lead to a general loss of self-restraint.

The stamina, the pluck, the true grit of life succumb to masteries that are ignoble. The one habit, if it does not lead to loss of this power in the individual, as it generally does, shows this loss marvelously in entailments. We hear much discussion as to whether intemperance is a disease. The real disease that is gaining ground is debility in self-restraint; and in producing that debility among the young, tobacco is the most threatening power. It leads often to intemperance, to a general yielding of self-control, and so to many an evil greater than that of physical infirmity. It is because we are profoundly impressed with this evil that we would earnestly draw attention to it. The cigarette is one of the most unfortunate toy pistols that has ever been put in the hands of American youth. Many are playing with it who not only acquire a habit evil to the body, but, through it, get an unmistakable breakdown of the noblest possession of manhood, which shows itself in the individual, or in his descendants, in various forms of physical, mental, and moral weakness. The peril to American youth and American life from the tobacco habit must not be lost sight of in our earnest devotion to other reforms.—Independent.