The question is often asked, “Why is the Cigarette doing more harm
than the other forms of Tobacco?” We answer:--
_First_, because the user of the Cigarette is _more apt to inhale_ than
the user of pipe or cigars.
“When tobacco smoke is inhaled [breathed into the lungs], the nicotin
enters the cerebral circulation directly and benumbs the brain. It
enters the larynx and bronchial tubes, coating their membrane with
carbon and acting as an irritant.”
_Second_, because the combination of the tobacco and the paper in the
Cigarette form several poisons that are injurious. They are:--
_Prussic Acid_: the most deadly poison known.
_Acrolein_: rated in any standard book of chemistry as second only
to prussic acid in its deadly effect. In Webster’s International
Dictionary, 1901, it is defined as “A limpid, colorless, highly
volatile liquid. Its vapors are intensely irritating.”
_Pyridine_: “It is the nucleus of a large number of organic
substances, among which several alkaloids, as nicotin, ... may be
mentioned.”
_Carbonic Oxide or Monoxide gas_: “Carbonic oxide (chem.): a
colorless gas. C. O. of slight odor, called more correctly _Carbon
Monoxide_. It is the product of the incomplete combustion of
carbon.... It is fatal to animal life.”
Besides these poisons, nicotin is always present in tobacco in any
form,--giving a total of _five poisons in the Cigarette_.
_Third, Ignorance of the effects_ of Cigarettes on the human being. The
Cigarette being so small, and the white paper so clean in appearance,
thousands of innocent people are entrapped and ruined physically,
mentally, and morally, by those “_Little White Devils_.” It has been
estimated that from _one thousand two hundred to one thousand five
hundred boys begin smoking every day_.
_Women and Baby Smokers_
In 1909, I was invited to speak at a woman’s missionary meeting, at
Washington, D. C. At the close of the meeting an elderly lady asked for
literature giving statements as to the effect of Cigarettes. She said
she had a married daughter that was smoking Cigarettes, and _teaching
her little three-year-old boy to smoke_!
I knew a woman who began smoking Cigarettes. I was shocked when I
heard that she had placed a Cigarette in the mouth of her sweet little
four-year-old girl. I tell you that made me mad! I said then that I
would do all I could to knock out Cigarettes. A young married lady
told me that her husband was a “Cigarette fiend.” He was dopy most of
the time. When not under the influence of Cigarettes, he was restless,
nervous, irritable, and unkind. Life to her became a burden.
“A Cigarette dealer in Philadelphia states that he sells one hundred
fifty thousand Cigarettes a month to women who come in carriages, and
send footmen to buy.”
_A World Wide Evil_
Dr. Clinton says that “a good deal has been said about the evils of
Cigarette smoking; but not one half the truth has ever been told.”
_Not only in America_, but in every land, in every clime, is the effect
of the Cigarette seen. In _China_, where such a successful crusade
against opium was made, the tobacco people from our own civilized
America went with an unlimited amount of advertising matter, and sample
packages of Cigarettes, which were scattered broadcast, and now the
Cigarette habit threatens to be a _greater curse than opium was_!
_Effects Upon School Boys_