The Effects of Tobacco.
By John Harvey Kellogg
THAT tobacco is a poison cannot be doubted by any one who has experienced or witnessed the effects of the first cigar upon one endeavoring to acquire "the manly art." Careful observation and experiments by scientific men have established the fact that it may cause gastric derangement, heart disease, neuralgia, convulsions, and marked depression of both the nervous and muscular systems. As with arsenic and other poisons, the system can be so accustomed to its use that the immediate and noticeable effects will be but pleasant. Close observation, however, will generally reveal some chronic disturbance, and a sudden stoppage of the habit will often, although not always, develop marked symptoms of poisoning. The action of this drug is largely determined by the size of the dose, and the age and temperament of the individual; phlegmatic adults, like the Dutch, are comparatively unaffected; but people of a nervous disposition are most surely and seriously poisoned. The special object of this article is to call attention to the alarming extent to which cigarette smoking has spread among boys. Tobacco in this form is less apt to cause primary symptoms, as nausea, prostration, etc., but because of its mildness the smoke is inhaled, and this, with the great number of cigarettes consumed, is sure to produce deep and lasting constitutional effects, so insidiously that they are seldom attributed to their real cause. We Americans are a nervous people, living at a high pressure, and consequently should be the last to use tobacco. But it is during the period of growth, when the tissues of the body are in the formative state and active changes are taking place in them, that they are most susceptible to modifying influences—it is during boyhood that the use of tobacco does the most harm. The growth is stunted, the powers of body and mind enfeebled, a craving for stimulants is apt to be developed, and there is great liability to chorea or some other nervous affection, and to heart disease. Investigation revealed, some years since, that in the University of France the scholarship of those addicted to tobacco was materially lower than that of those who did not use it. Note the diminutive size of the Spaniards, Portuguese and Cubans; for generations the cigarette has been almost constantly in the mouths of the women and children as well as of the men. These people are excessively nervous and lack brawn, their strength being principally nervous energy, a condition of things for which tobacco is largely responsible. The community must be aroused to the danger that is threatening us. As a nation we will surely degenerate if our men come on the stage with their nervous and physical systems impaired. The tendency already is to increased nervousness and shorter stature. Mothers, fathers, guardians, teachers, family physicians, and ministers, each and all of you have a direct and personal responsibility in this matter which you cannot shirk. Example is of more force than precept, and the chances of your boy's heeding your admonitions are slight if he can point to the example of his father, doctor, or minister smoking. The boy will not reason; he cannot realize the importance of this question, and it rests with the tact of his guardian to induce him by some means or other to faithfully promise (and perform) not to touch tobacco until he has acquired physical maturity, a period varying from about nineteen to twenty-five years of age. The imminent danger will be thus averted, and so much having been gained, the rest will be comparatively easy. It is useless to hope that at any time short of the millennium will we see the use of tobacco entirely eradicated, but we must check it so that its proportions will not be so huge as to threaten the future of the nation.—J. L. Moffatt, M. D.