How to Live Part 23

This, the latest contribution of science to the study of alcohol, gives added proof that the higher mortality among so-called moderate users of alcohol is largely due to the unfavorable effect on the protective mechanism of the body.

[Sidenote: Lower Resistance]

This has been further emphasized by the studies of Reich[35] at the University of Munich, who found that the resistance of blood cells to salt solution and to typhoid bacilli was less among alcohol users than among total abstainers.

Konradi[36] has found that comparatively few antibodies against cholera germs develop in persons who consume alcohol daily in fairly large quant.i.ties and who had been inoculated against cholera. Pampoukis[37]

has observed that alcoholics are not favorable subjects for inoculation against rabies. The Pasteur Inst.i.tute in Budapest has made similar observations, based on twenty-five years' experience.

#Additional References#

[34] Benedict, E. C.: _The Psychological Effects of Alcohol_, The Carnegie Inst.i.tution, Washington, D. C., 1916.

Benedict, E. C.: _The Psychologic Effect of Alcohol on Man_, The Journal A. M. A., 1916, lxvi, p. 1424.

[35] Reich, H. W.: _Ueber den Einfluss des Alkoholgenusses auf Bakterizidie, Phagozytose und Resistenz der Erythrocyten, beim Menschen_, Arch. f. Hyg., 1916, lx.x.xiv, 337.

[36] Konradi: _Ueber den Wert der Choleraschutzimpfungen_, Centralbl. f.

Bakteriol., I. O., 1916, lxxvii, 339.

[37] Alcohol and Immunity, Jour. A. M. A., 1916, lxvi, p. 962, p. 1122.

SECTION V

NOTES ON TOBACCO

It is the purpose of this section to present as fairly as possible the evidence relating to the effects of tobacco on the human body, so that those who smoke may correctly measure the probable physical cost of the indulgence. The extremes of opinion on this subject are well expressed in the following verses:

"Hail! Social Pipe--Thou foe to care, Companion of my elbow chair; As forth thy curling fumes arise, They seem an evening sacrifice-- An offering to my Maker's praise For all His benefits and grace."

DR. GARTH.

"A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."

JAMES I.

[Sidenote: What it Is]

Tobacco is a plant, Nicotiana Tabac.u.m of the order Solanaceae, which includes Atropa Belladonna, or "Deadly Nightshade," Hyoscyamus, or "Henbane," Solanum Dulcamara, or "Bitter Sweet," all powerful poisons, and likewise the common potato and tomato, which are wholesome foods.

The cured leaves are used for smoking and chewing, or when powdered, as snuff.

[Sidenote: History]

Prior to the middle of the 16th Century, the use of tobacco was confined to the American Indians. In 1560 the Spaniards began to cultivate tobacco as an ornamental plant, and Jean Nicot, the French Amba.s.sador at Lisbon, introduced it at the court of Catherine de Medici in the form of snuff. Smoking subsequently became a custom which spread rapidly throughout the world, although often vigorously opposed by Governments.

In the 17th Century, smoker's noses were cut off in Russia.

[Sidenote: Composition]

Tobacco contains a powerful narcotic poison, nicotin, which resembles prussic acid in the rapidity of its action, when a fatal dose is taken.

The percentage of nicotin present varies according to the brand and the conditions under which it is cultured.

The following figures have been given by the various authorities.

London Lancet[38] .64 to 5.3 per cent.

French Dept. of Agriculture[39] .22 to 10.5 " "

Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station[40] 2.89 " "

(Home grown--after fermentation.) U. S. Dept. of Agriculture[40] .94 to 5. " "

(Domestic.)

Aside from nicotin it also contains small quant.i.ties of related substances--nicotellin, nicotein, a camphoraceous substance termed nicotianin, said to give tobacco its characteristic flavor, and likewise a volatile oil developed during the process preparation. On heating, pyridin (a substance often used to denature alcohol), picolin, collidin, and other bases are formed, as well as carbolic acid, ammonia, marsh gas, cyanogen and hydrocyanic acid, carbon monoxide (coal gas) and furfural. Furfural is a const.i.tuent of fusel oil, which is so much dreaded in poor whisky. The smoke of a single cigaret may contain as much furfural as two ounces of whisky.

The complex const.i.tution of tobacco and the smoke from its combustion has caused much debate as to the substances that are responsible for its charm and its ill effects, which are to be described. No one can doubt the serious injurious effects from such a powerful poison as nicotin if taken in any but the most minute quant.i.ties (one to three milligrams have produced profound poisoning in man).

It has been maintained by some that nicotin is practically destroyed in the process of smoking, and that the effects of tobacco are limited to the decomposition products resulting from the burning tobacco, especially pyridin. But pyridin is also formed in the burning of cabbage leaves, and cabbage leaves do not possess any attractions for smokers, neither do they produce the well-known effects that smoking and chewing tobacco produce. No doubt pyridin and furfural are factors in the drug effects of tobacco, but recent painstaking experiments by high authorities have shown the presence of nicotin in tobacco smoke, and when we reflect that there is sometimes sufficient nicotin in an ordinary cigar to kill two men, it is not strange that enough of it may be absorbed from the smoke pa.s.sing over the mucous membranes of the nose, throat and lungs to produce a distinct physiological effect.

Investigators who claim to show by experiments the absence of nicotin from tobacco smoke must explain why the palpable effects of smoking, in those who have not established a "tolerance," are those of nicotin poisoning, and why the symptoms produced by chewing tobacco are identical with those following the smoking of tobacco, which are: mild collapse, pallor of the skin, nausea, sweating, and perhaps vomiting, diarrhea, muscular weakness, faintness, dizziness, and rise in blood pressure followed by lowered blood pressure.

Nicotin is undoubtedly decomposed by burning, but it may become volatilized by heat and a certain amount absorbed before decomposition takes place.

Lehmann,[41] in 1908, found in tobacco smoke the following percentages of the nicotin contained in the tobacco:

Cigaret smoke 82 per cent.

Cigar smoke 85 to 97 " "

The London Lancet[42] (1912) gives the following figures:

Cigaret smoke 3.75 to 84 per cent.

Pipe mixture smoke, smoked as cigarets 79 " "

Pipe smoke 77 to 92 " "

Cigar smoke 31 to 63 " "

The United States Department of Agriculture[43] found in tobacco smoke about 30 per cent. of the nicotin originally present in the tobacco.

Contrary to general opinion, Havana cigars contain less nicotin than the cheaper brands, which augurs ill for the large cla.s.s of people who cannot afford to smoke higher priced brands. Many of the cheaper grades do, however, show a low percentage of nicotin.

[Sidenote: Effects on Animals and Man]

By means of an ingenious apparatus, Zhebrovski,[44] a Russian investigator, compelled rabbits to smoke cigaret tobacco for a period of 6 to 8 hours daily. Some died within a month, and showed changes in the nerve-ganglia of the heart. Others established a tolerance similar to that exhibited by habitual smokers, but upon being killed at the end of five months, degenerative changes similar to those produced by the injection of nicotin were found, viz., hardening of the blood vessels.

There is, indeed, no difficulty in producing the characteristic effects of nicotin by administering tobacco smoke, either in man or in animals.[45]

Nicotin causes brief stimulation of brain and spinal cord, followed by depression. There is an increased flow of saliva, followed by a decrease (large doses diminish it at once) and often nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The heart action is at first slowed and the blood pressure increased. Subsequently there is a depression of the circulation, with rapid heart action and lowered blood pressure. In habitual smokers, this preliminary stimulation may not occur. The stimulating effect on the brain is so brief that tobacco can not properly be termed a stimulant.

Its effect is narcotic or deadening. Those who fancy that their thoughts flow more readily under the use of tobacco are in the same case with any other habitue whose thoughts can not flow serenely except under his accustomed indulgence. That a sound healthy man, who has never been accustomed to the use of tobacco, can do better mental or physical work with tobacco than without it has never been shown. Indeed, such experiments as have been made on students and others show to the contrary.[46]

The statistics presented by Prof. Fred. J. Pack are of interest in this connection.