TOBACCO-SMOKING

Evening Star, Issue 19762, 12 January 1928, Page 2

TOBACCO-SMOKING

INCREASE IN DOMINION POPULARITY OF CIGARETTES THE EFFECT OF NICOTINE. The tobacco habit Juts assumed increasingly large proportions among New Zealanders during the past denude (says the Auckland ‘Herald’). Those who do not smoke are to-day far outnumbered by those who do, and even among women the habit has become the rule rather than the exception. A study of figures relative to annual cigarette and tobacco imports to the dominion is interesting. In 1926 New Zealand imported 1,394,3021 b of cigarettes and 2,909,2131 b of tobacco, of a total value of £1,685,749. It is safe to assume that smokers paid almost £2,000,000 in retail prices for their purchases. In round numbers a total of; 557,720,800 cigarettes were smoked dur-’ ing 1926. Had there been a fair apportionment every man, woman, and child in the country would have received 387. If cigarettes smoked in New Zealand in 1926 were placed end to end beside the Main Trunk railway, they would stretch from Auckland to Wellington and back about thirty-one times, a distance of over 26,391 miles. On a basis of ten cigarettes a day a person smokes 3,050 a yesr, at a ec,?t of £l3 13s. However, no heavy smoker escapes so lightly. In the latter days of last century a man who smoked cigarettes was looked upon by pipe smokers as quite comparable with, the person who could not grow a respectable beard or at least a flowing moustache. Today the cigarette smoker is almost in the ascendancy, showing the rise of the cigarette in popular esteem, The dutiable value of cigarette imports in 1913 was £177,307, while in 1926 the figure was £772,513. The subject of smoking was exhaustively treated recently by Dr W. E. Dixon, of Cambridge, in a lecture to the Society for the Study of Inebrity. He stated tobacco smoke was composed of many different gases, including ammonia and ■ pyridine or its derivatives. These were responsible for the morning cough and the irritation of throat and tongue so common among smokers. Another substance common to tobacco smoke was carbonic oxide, which was also the poison of coal gas and exhaust from motor cars.

By far tho most important constituent of tobacco was the volatile alkaloid nicotine. The effects of cigar and pipe smoking wore due almost entirely to nicotine which existed in tobacco, combined with organic acids. Moist tobacco produced far more serious effects than dry, and it had been stated the moistness of tho tobacco was responsible for many evils. Dr Dixon expressed the opinion that there was much room for investigation with a view to producing a tobacco which, when smoked, would yield tho minimum of alkaloids, pyridine, etc. It was estimated that six to eight milligrams of nicotine reached the mouth from a cigarette smoked in the ordinary way. A smoker who smoked ten cigarettes on end would certainly absorb twenty to thirty milligrams of nicotine—enough to produce a profound physiological effect. Nicotine was one of the most rapid poisons known, acting as quickly as prussic acid. The lethal dose for a man was only sixty to 120 milligrams, and two drops placed on the tongue of a dog would kill it immediately. The , nicotine present in one cigar, if injected intravenously, would represent two fatal doses to mam Smoking was indulged in because of its sedative action, and this was due solely to nicotine absorption. Nicotine stimulated all nerve cells in tie body without .exerting any selective action, but the'stimulation was-followed by depression. Both the pleasures and evils of smoking were intimately connected with nicotine. It had been proved that smoking definitely staved off the pangs of hunger. The habitual smoker would have a permanently increased pulse rate, although this produced no apparent disadvantage. However, such effects could not ho regarded with indifference, for nicotine affected the, brain. Dr Dixon said a large experience of examination papers of medical students enabled him to pick out with certainty the heavy cigarette smokers from the irregular character of the writing, If the habit were broken the writing at once improved. Many observations had boon made by comparing the mental or physical efficiency of smokers and nonsmokers, but the results were negligible. When used in moderation, the action of tobacco on the central nervous system seemed to he harmless.. In conclusion, Dr Dixon said there was much room fof a complete study of tobacco smoking, for very little was known about its specific effects. That there were effects was quite established, and a great service would, no doubt, be rendered by anyone who set'out to make a thorough study of the subject.