OCR Text |
Show EFFECTS OF SMOKING Abridged From An Article On "Trt Influsncs of Tobacco on the Human Hu-man Organism," by Pcef, C. Frankel-Hechwart, Vienna It Is a well known tact that many persons do not feel well In tobacco smoke. To soma, the smoke of a cigar ci-gar or cigarette causes almost unendurable unen-durable discomfort. They eel sick If they enter a room whero some one has been smoking. Those having this sensitiveness aro often of a nervous temperament, but many havo no other mark of general nervousness. Extreme sensitiveness sen-sitiveness Is 4raot more frequently among women, but Is not Infrequent among men. Some smokers even, feel very uncomfortable In an atmosphere atmos-phere of tobacco smoke unless they themselves are smoking. Among the symptoms caused by remaining re-maining In tobacco smoke ata stinging sting-ing sensations In tho eyes which often correspond to pronounced conjunctivitis, conjunctiv-itis, and a feeling of husklness ln the throat accompanied by a visible reddening red-dening of the pharynx. Although these experiences are as old hs the hills, no scientific study has even been made of them. Since I have been engaged ln the study ot tobacco diseases, and little by little through the study of the lit-eraturo lit-eraturo and from my own experience have acquired somo knowledge of the nenous diseases of tho tobacco smoker, smok-er, I meet here and thero ln practice, cases that Impress mo as belonging to tho class of nictolne noxle. On examination theso persons have declared de-clared that they smoked either very Httlo or not at all, nnd no ovldenco of nny other Injurious iigent was presented. pre-sented. Rut I learned that they of-ten of-ten spent much tlmo in a tobacco laden la-den atmosphere. ' Tho literature of tho subject lve ery Httlo Information on this point, Vallln reports an Instance: a number num-ber ot sMlIora confined during a storm In a close room whero they smoked heaIly wero attacked with nnglna pectoris. Even thoso who had not smoked wero made sick. Tho same author also reports three cases of angina In heavy smokers who recovered recov-ered after abstaining. These attacks would JotAirn, when thoy wero subjected subject-ed to a tobacco atmosphero, even though they did not themselves smoke Clinical observations on this point wero so scarce that Frhnkol Hochwart Instituted a series ot experiments on men. 1 For tho purpose of, the experiment It was necessary to place the subjects sub-jects In Uie strongest tobacco smoke possible. Hence they were shut In a small room with the door and windows win-dows closed while loose tobacco was smoked with a bellows apparatus until un-til tho room was filled with smoke. This usually took about twenty minutes min-utes and the burning of 20-22 grams of tobacco. Twenty-eight adult subjects sub-jects were experimented upon, two of whom were women. All wero doctors doc-tors or students or medicine, from twenty to fifty years old. ln nil, sixty-two experiments wero made. The subjects were classed, according to their smoking habits Into five groups. Non-smokers; light smokers smok-ers (tlioso who used from lour to ten clgarets a day); moderate smokers smok-ers (thoso who smoked from sovon cigars to twenty clgarets); heavy smokers (those using twplvo cigars or thirty clgarotts); very hoay smokers smok-ers (those using an unknown number ot cigars or clgarets a day. Two persons usually entered tho room together. Every little while measurements and readings wen taken ta-ken ot tho pulse, tho respiration, Iho blood pressure, and montal reaction. Tho author records that he had novcr smoked, but had been much In rooms tilled with smoke. During the experiments ho often felt n certain mental quickening, a tendency to talk and make humorous remarks, ah effect ef-fect similar to thut'whlch he experienced experi-enced when he drank a small quantity quan-tity of wino. Similar effects wtra also noticed in the others ln both smokers and non-smokers, ihs effects ef-fects seemed to be more pronounced upon tho smokers than upon the non-smokers. non-smokers. Gradually this mental state gave place to a certain foellng of discomfort discom-fort a dislike for tho surroundings; almost always there was experienced an unpleasant bitter tasto combined with a flavor of tobacco. All food had an unpleasant taste of tobacco. There was often a strong tendency to sleep. Many times the unpleasant sensations did not como on until a tow minutes after leaving the smoking smok-ing room and lasted about an hour. Several of the other subjects showed tho samo kind of after effects. Among the symptoms observed In others were: general restlessness, nervousness, headache, slight faint-ness faint-ness and nausea, sometimes Inflamed states of the mucous membrane, conjunctivitis con-junctivitis and pharyngitis. Theso experiments showed how differently dif-ferently tobacco works on different Individuals. In-dividuals. While some declared after five to ten minutes that they could scarcely remain longer ln the room, others were absolutely unaffected (four out of the twenty-eight cases, two non-smokers and two smokerc) . Two physicians, ono forty-five nnd a very heavy smoker, tho other, twenty-five nnd a moderate smoker, wpre remarkable inthat thoy showed only a slight change ot blood pressure. Two Interesting cases, both moderate mod-erate smokers, showed very Httlo inaction in-action while in the smoke, but about ten minutes after leaving the room thero was a pronounced fall of the blood pressuro that could not bo attributed at-tributed to accident. In ono tho puUo and tho mental reaction quickened while In tlfe smoke, but slowed afler-ward afler-ward In tho open air. In tho other, a somowhat nervous man of thlrly-thrco, thlrly-thrco, all reactions wero slowed. It was Interesting to study the difference dif-ference ln effect produceijyby sitting In tho smoke filled room whllo rot smoking and sitting In a large smokeless smoke-less room where they rapidly smoked smok-ed olgarcis, though no estimate of tho comparative amount ot smoke jnhalcd could be made. S&y In five of the ten persons the blood pressuro fell more when thoy were sitting in the smoke. Ono non-smoker showed no essential change ln pressure pres-sure while smoking a clgnret, but considerable change, while ln the smoking room. Eight ot the ten showed almost the same mental reaction when actively smoking as when sitting passively in the smoke. One heavy smoker showed show-ed more shortening of raeqtal reactlpn In tho smoky room than when he was actively smoking. In order to settle the very practical practi-cal question of how these people reacted re-acted under the combined effects ot active smoking and a smoke saturated saturat-ed air, five were allowed to smoke two or three Egyptian clgarets In the room while twenty gramB were smoked smok-ed by the bellows. Tho two physicians physic-ians who had shown no reactions by either single method showed In tho combined method, a rise In pulse frequency fre-quency from 78 to" 102; n rlso ln blood pressuro from 95 to 100 while mental reaction remained unchanged. We see, then, In the combined ex perlments changed conditions. The persons react more strongly or less much moro strongly, or much less than In only passive breathing. There was no Indication of absence of the passive effects 'when actively smoking. smok-ing. If any can bear the passlvo ef fects bettor when actively smoking tho only explanation Is that a light euphoria comes on with the actlvo smoking that makes tho unpleasant sensations less perceptible Tho most Important test was with donlctolnlzed tobacco. I let 20-25 grams ot this bo smoked to tho smoko five times. I found tho difference very pronounced. I had only now and then a slight bcnsatlon In tho eyes end throat. The very pronounc ed symptoms I experienced from fall tobacco were entirely absent. Nino out ot ten of the subjects experimented experiment-ed upon expressed themselves similarly. sim-ilarly. The one exception, a doctor, twenty-two years old, reacted scarcely scarce-ly at all to full tobacco smoke, but showed slight shortening of reaction time ln the denlctlnlxed smoke. Only one of tho nine who reacted to the full tobacco showed a 'fall of blood pressure with the denlcotlntied. Of tho six who showed shortened reaction time, with full tobacco, none showed a change with the dealcotln- I zed. The blood pressure measurements showed still less changes with the de-nlcotlntzed de-nlcotlntzed smoko and the same was true with pulse frequency. Thus we find that the smoke ot de-nlcotlnlzed de-nlcotlnlzed tobacco produces much less effect than that of the full nicotine. nico-tine. The small effects found mar well be attributed to the small amounts of nicotine remaining. Conclusion In an investigation of twenty-eight adults, smokers and non-smokers, who sat In a room filled with strong tobacco to-bacco smoke, five showed Httlo or no reaction. Of the other twenty-three, twenty-three, eleven showed a fall ot blood pressure. The pulse ln Ave cases was unchanged; In four cases Increased, In two retarded. Mental reaction waa always shortened. Two cases showed show-ed no change In the smoke but very ,pronounced ones after getting into the open air. In five cases blood pressure sank without affecting mental men-tal reaction; ln five, pressure iot.c, with shortening ot mental reaction ln three. ' With ten subjects tho effects of sitting passively In smoke wero compared com-pared with thoso of actively smoking. la some the reaction wero weaker with actlvo smoking, ln some stronger. strong-er. Fivo showed no difference. Scientific Temperance Journal. |