TOBACCO SMOKE.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 61, 14 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

TOBACCO SMOKE.

Zulinsky has recently published in a Polish medical paper the result of a large series of experiments on men and animals made for the purpose of ascertaining the physiological action of tobacco smoke on animals. He has found that the smoke is a powerful poison, even in very small quantities. In the case of man, tobacco smoke, when not inhaled too freely, is only deleterious to a limited extent. Zulinsky declares that the poisonous character of the smoke is not entirely due to the nicotine which it contains. Tobacco-smoke rendered free from nicotine remains poisonous, though not to so great a degree as before. The second poisonous principle is an alkaloid colidin. Carbonic oxide, hydrocyanic acid, and other noxious principles, are also contained in tobacco-smoke. The bad effects of excessive smoking depend very much both on the kind of tobacco consumed, and on the manner of consuming it. In cigar-smoking, the greatest amount of poison is inhaled, in cigarettes much less, in pipes still less, whilst those who indulge in the nargileh or any similar luxury where the smoke is drawn through water, take tobacco in its least mischievous form. Such are Zulinsky'o conclusions. There can be little doubt that many of the lightcoloured tobaccos have been partially bleached in order to give them that pale tint which moderate smokers believe to be an infallible indication of mildness. The dacolourising agent is suspected to be in many cases, a deleterious compound. Some of the light tobaccos smoke exceedingly hot,

owing to the quantity of wood fibre which they contaiu. This is especially the case with " bird's-eye," which is cut near the stalk of the leaf, the slices of the midrib, thick in tbis part of the stalk, giving this class of tobacco the characteristic appearance from whence it derives its name " Bird's eye "is very apt to cause slight inflammation of the tongue, on account of the irritant character and heat of its smoke ; and together with other light tobaccos, must act veiy prejudicially in elderly smokers, who may be prone to cancer of the tongue or lip. Dark tobaccos are readily adulterated ; but when pure they are probably the most wholesome for pipe - smoking. — British Medical Journal.