TOBACCO
=43. Harmful eating.=--Men often eat for the fun of eating, and
sometimes they eat harmful things. They chew tobacco and drink strong
drinks, because they like their taste, just as a child eats candy.
=44. Tobacco.=--Men have always drunk strong drink. Within the last
four hundred years, men have learned another way to please a wrong
taste. When Columbus discovered America, the Indians were using
tobacco. They taught the Spaniards how to smoke it, and since then
almost the whole world has used it.
Tobacco is the leaf of a tall plant. It needs a better soil than any
other crop. It takes the richness from the ground, and spoils it for
other crops.
=45. Nicotine.=--About 1/30 of each tobacco leaf is a strong poison.
This poison is called _nicotine_. A drop or two of it, or as much of
it as is in a strong cigar, will kill a man. It gives the tobacco its
smell and taste. Men use tobacco for the sake of a poison.
=46. Why men use tobacco.=--Men give queer reasons for using tobacco.
One smokes for its company, another because he is with company. One
smokes to make his brain think better, and another to keep himself
from thinking. Some use tobacco to help digest their food, and others
use it to keep themselves from eating so much. Boys smoke to make
themselves look like men. The real reason for using tobacco is that
men learn to like its taste, and do not care if it harms them.
=47. Spitting.=--Tobacco in any form makes the saliva flow. Men do not
dare swallow it, for it makes them sick. So they spit it out. No one
likes to see this. It is a dirty and filthy habit. Besides, the saliva
is lost, and cannot help digest food.
Tobacco stains the teeth brown. You can always tell a tobacco chewer
by his teeth. His breath will smell of tobacco, and even his clothes
are offensive to the nose.
=48. Tobacco lessens strength.=--Tobacco always makes a person sick at
the stomach, at first. After a while, he becomes used to it, and an
ordinary chew or smoke does not make him sick. But a large chew or
smoke will always make him sick again. When a person is sick from
tobacco he is very weak. Even if he is not sick, the tobacco poisons
his muscles and makes his strength less. When a man trains for a hard
race he never uses tobacco.
=49. Tobacco hinders digestion.=--Tobacco and its smoke both have a
burning taste. This makes the throat sore, and causes a cough. Tobacco
does not help the stomach to digest food. Smokers and chewers often
have headaches and coated tongues. These are signs of a poor digestion.
=50. Effect upon the young.=--Tobacco is more harmful to boys than to
men. If boys smoke they cannot run fast or long. They cannot work hard
with their brains or hands. They do not grow fast, and are liable to
have weak hearts.
=51. Tobacco harms others.=--Many persons do not like the smell of
tobacco, and no one likes the spit. No one should use it in the
presence of others. The tobacco user's pleasure should not spoil the
comfort and happiness of others.
=52. Snuff.=--Powdered tobacco is called snuff. Snuff causes sneezing.
No one should harm the nose and the whole body for the pleasure of a
sneeze. Years ago snuff was used much more than it is now.
=53. Chewing.=--Chewing tobacco is the most poisonous way of using it,
for it keeps most of the nicotine in the mouth. Chewing will make any
one very sick, unless he spits out all the saliva.
=54. Smoking.=--Men smoke pipes, cigars, and cigarettes. The smoke has
nicotine, and is poisonous. Pipe stems get dirty and full of nicotine.
After a while they smell bad and are very poisonous. An old smoker's
pipe will make a young smoker sick.
=55. Cigarettes.=--Cigars are not so poisonous as a pipe, for more of
the nicotine is burned up. Cigarettes are often made of weak tobacco.
A cigarette does not contain so much tobacco as a cigar. Hence a
cigarette does not cost much. It can be smoked in a hurry. It does not
make a boy so sick as cigars do. Boys and men use a great many
cigarettes where they would not touch a cigar. This makes the use of
cigarettes the most dangerous form of smoking. Selling cigarettes to
young boys is forbidden by law.
=56. Habit.=--When men have used tobacco for some time, they like it
and feel bad without it. So they get into the habit of using it, and
find it hard to stop. The tobacco seems to help them, but it does not
do so. It cheats men, and they do not know it.
=57. Chewing gum.=--Chewing gum is made from pitch or paraffin, for
these substances will not dissolve in the mouth. The gum is flavored
with sugar and spices. The gum and its flavors are not harmful in
themselves, and yet chewing them is harmful. Chewing makes a great
deal of saliva flow. All this saliva is wasted, and when we eat our
meals we may have too little. Then our food will not digest well, but
we shall have dyspepsia and headaches.
By pulling and handling the gum while chewing it, you may get some
poisonous dirt into your mouth, and make yourself very sick.
Even if your gum should not harm you, there is a good reason for
letting it alone. When you are chewing gum, you look as if you were
chewing tobacco. No one likes to see a boy or girl even appearing to
chew tobacco. If you form a habit of chewing gum you will be more
likely to chew tobacco when you are grown.
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
1. Men use tobacco for the sake of its nicotine. Nicotine is a
very strong poison.
2. Tobacco causes a man to waste his saliva.
3. Tobacco makes the mouth dry.
4. Tobacco hinders digestion.
5. Tobacco stains the teeth, and makes the breath smell bad.
6. Tobacco makes a person sick at the stomach.
7. Tobacco weakens the muscles.
8. Tobacco is more harmful to the young than to grown persons.
9. Chewing is the worst form of using tobacco.
10. Smoking cigarettes is the worst form of smoking.