TOBACCO POISONING

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 7, 1890

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 26.

TOBACCO POISONING.

NICOTINE is one of the most powerful of the "nerve poisons" known. Its virulence is compared to that of prussic acid. If birds be made to inhale its vapor in amounts too small to be measured, they are almost instantly killed. It seems to destroy life, not by attacking a few, but of all, the functions essential to it, beginning at the center, the heart. A significant indication of this is that there is no substance known which can counteract its effects; the system either succumbs or survives. Its depressing action on the heart is by far the most noticeable and noteworthy symptom of nicotine poisoning. The frequent existence of what is known as "smoker's heart" in men whose health is in no other respect disturbed is due to this fact.

Those who can use tobacco without immediate injury will have all the pleasant effects reversed, and will suffer from the symptoms of poisoning if they exceed the limits of tolerance. These symptoms are: (1) The heart's action becomes more rapid when tobacco is used; (2) palpitation, pain, or unusual sensations in the heart; (3) there is no appetite in the morning, the tongue is coated, delicate flavors are not appreciated, and acid dyspepsia occurs after eating; (4) soreness of the mouth and throat or nasal catarrh appears, and becomes very troublesome; (5) the eyesight becomes poor, but improves when the habit is abandoned; (6) a desire, often a craving, for liquor or some other stimulant, is experienced.

In an experimental observation of thirty-eight boys of all classes of society and of average health, who had been using tobacco for periods ranging from two months to two years, twenty-seven showed severe injury to the constitution, and insufficient growth; thirty-two showed the existence of irregularity of the heart's action, disordered stomachs, cough, and a craving for alcohol; thirteen had intermittency of the pulse; and one had consumption. After they had abandoned the use of tobacco, within six months one-half were free from all their former symptoms, and the remainder had recovered by the end of the year.

A great majority of men go far beyond what may be called the temperate use of tobacco, and evidences of injury are easily found. It is only necessary to have some record of what the general health was previous to the taking up of the habit, and to have observation cover a long enough time. The history of tobacco in the island of New Zealand furnishes quite a suggestive illustration for our purpose, and one on a large scale. When Europeans first visited New Zealand they found in the native Maoris the most finely-developed and powerful men of any of the tribes inhabiting the islands of the Pacific. Since the introduction of tobacco, for which the Maoris developed a passionate liking, they have from this cause alone, it is said, become decimated in numbers, and at the same time reduced in stature and in physical well-being, so as to be an altogether inferior type of men.—New York Medical Journal.