Part 6 — TOBACCO AND THE CIGARETTE PART ONE—WHAT IS TOBACCO?

“Tobacco is the worst curse of modern civilization.”—John Ruskin.

While the pages of this book are devoted largely to the drink evil, we must not forget the monster evil of Tobacco, nor of the small, innocent appearing Cigarette. For although small singly, in the aggregate it is appalling. From year to year the consumption of Cigarettes has so rapidly increased, that in 1911 there were 11,250,000,000 consumed in the United States alone. Of the track of ruin left by this “little monster,” the following pages will testify.

So close a second does the evils of Tobacco run to that of drink, that it is claimed by many that Tobacco is a greater curse than Rum. But one fact is sure: Tobacco in all its forms, more than all other influences, creates a thirst for alcoholic drinks, and is the greatest friend of the saloon.

The data from which this department has been compiled, was supplied by a lecturer on the Cigarette evil of more than four years’ experience. His facilities for obtaining accurate information, and important statements from reliable sources, have been unsurpassed.

We commend the facts presented in this department to the careful consideration of every one into whose hands this book may fall.

What is Tobacco? It is a poison so deadly that it cannot be brought under the Pure Food and Drug Act. It is not rated as a drug, but as a poison too dangerous to use in ordinary medical practice. It can be brought under the Drug Act only by special action of Congress. Please note what medical men say of it:—

“Tobacco is the most subtle poison known to the chemist, except the deadly prussic acid.”—M. Orfila, President of the Medical Academy, Paris.

“It is believed by all judicious practitioners too dangerous to be employed as a medicine. The benefits as a remedy do not counter-balance the risk of using it. Yet so insidious are its effects that few have regarded it as swelling the bills of mortality. It is, nevertheless, true that multitudes are carried to the grave every year by tobacco alone.”—Dr. Grimshaw.

“Surgeons have sometimes resorted to a weak infusion of tobacco injected into the bowels in cases in which it was necessary to induce immediate prostration of energy, as in cases of strangulated hernia and in bad dislocations of the joints; but even in these cases, the risk is so great that no prudent surgeon will use it except as a last resort.”—Dr. Harris.

“The profession have no idea of the ignorance of the public regarding the nature of tobacco. Even intelligent, well-educated men stare in astonishment when you tell them it is one of the most powerful poisons. Now is this right? Has the medical profession done its duty? Ought we not as a body to have told the public that of all our poisons, it is the most insidious, uncertain, and, in full doses, the most deadly?”—Dr. Solly, Insurance Medical Examiner.

“One-fourth of a drop of nicotin will kill a frog in ten seconds; one-sixth of a drop will kill a cat in fourteen seconds.”

“The poison is slow; but in the second and third decade its virus becomes manifest. The words of the wise man, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil,” is strikingly applicable to those who indulge in this pernicious habit. There have died in New York, within a few years, three excellent clergymen, all of whom might now have been alive, had they not used tobacco. The duty of abstaining from the slow killing of one’s self by this poison is as clear as the duty of not cutting one’s throat.”—Dr. Willard Parker.

“Tobacco is not an innocent substance. It contains nicotin, an alkaloid which is a poison, destroying life very quickly, even when taken in small doses. It acts as speedily as hydrocyanic [prussic] acid. Thirty grains of tobacco, or one or two drops of nicotin, would most likely be a fatal dose. Death by tobacco may occur in less than half an hour; by the alkaloid [nicotin] in a few minutes.”—Norman Kerr, M. D.

“So very dangerous and potent are its narcotic properties, that tobacco is only seldom used for any purpose in medicine; and when it is resorted to, the greatest caution is necessary.”—Dr. Elisha Harris.

“The profession have no idea of the ignorance of the public regarding the nature of Tobacco. Even intelligent, well-educated men stare in astonishment when you tell them it is one of the most powerful poisons. Now is this right? Has the medical profession done its duty? Ought we not as a body to have told the public that of all our poisons, it is the most insidious, uncertain, and, in full doses, the most deadly?”—Dr. Solly, Insurance Medical Examiner.