IS TOBACCO INJURIOUS ?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9308, 7 August 1908, Page 2

IS TOBACCO INJURIOUS ?

-+ • AMERICAN UNIVERSITY INVESTIGATIONS. Dr George L. Meylan, physical^ director of Columbia University, U.S.A., recently completed statistics showing the effect of the use of tobacco and alcoholic beverages upon 687 new students, mostly freshmen, who have entered Columbia in the last two years. Dr Meylan (says the "New York Evening Post") has found that the physical condition of the smokers — ■ that is, their weight, height, lung capacity and total strength— is, on the average, better than that of the nonsmokers, j To some extent this superiority may be explained by the fact that the smokers were older — their average age being twenty years and ten months, as against nineteen years and eight months for the non-smokers. j About 90 per cent of the students examined were freshmen, in Columbia College and the schools of mines, en- ' igineering and chemistry. The remaining 10 per cent were new students ■in the law and graduate schools of the university. Out of the, 687 men ex* amined, 141 used alcoholic beverages, I o»- nearly 26 per cent of the total number. ! t The number who answered the question as to the use of tobacco was 683, of whom 205 answered "yes," and 478 "no." This represents a proportion of three smokers out of every ten in the i freshman class. j Great care was taken in examining the men, and the figures are said to be exceedingly accurate. J The two most significant facts ■ brought out by the tests, according to Dr Meylan, are that, smoking does not t affect the lung capacity, as is gener- I ally supposed; neither does it seem to have any effect upon the height of the individual. j On the contrary, it was found that in I these measurements, as well as the others, the smokers excelled. It is pointed out by Dr Meyla^ however, that by lung capacity he does not mean what is commonly called " wind." When a man is short of breath, he is. l said to have "no wind" among ath- : letes, but this, i according to Dr Mey-*-, lan, has nothing to do with the capac- ■ ity of the lungs, but with the condition of the heart, which he admits may be | affected by tobacco. It was found that the average height of the smokers is approximately sft 7£in, aa against sft 7 and a fraction less than half an inch 'for- the non-smokere. The average weight of j the smokers is 134.81 b, of the others 131.41 b. The inference drawn by Dr Meylan is that the popular belief concerning the injurious effects of tobacco is largely exaggerated. He makes no attempt to deny that smoking has ite bad efteots upon the heart and the nervous system, but he does maintain that smoking may be indulged in by the average hoalthy individual, in moderation, without appreciable damage to his physical eoijoitioii. "Most school text-boo-cs on hv' giene," he said, in explanation of this theory, "contain th© assertion that nicotine not only stunts the growth, but reduces the lung capacity. I do not think that there is evidence to support either of these statements "Asa matter of fact, we know very little about the effect of tobacco upon the human body. I am one of those who are inclined to class tobacco among those peculiar substances Winch are poisonous to certain individuals. Some persons, for instance, cannot eat strawberries without being poisoned, though the majority of us are not affected. It is an old saying that ' one man's food is another man's poison.' "It has always been a surprise to me how the statement that tobacco reduces the lung capacity crept into the text-books. JSven the best of them say so. On what authority, I'm sure I don't know ; but there it, is, and a good many 'people have swallowed it whole. It is only one of many unfounded assertions that are constantly made about tobacco. "My friend Dr Luther Gulick, physical director of the Public Schools Athletic League, tried to trace some of these statements, to their source not long ago-. He wrote to authors of many text-books on the subject, but failed to find them prepared with evidence to back up their remarks. Most of the writers had taken them on hearsay or on the authority of seme other writer. Personally, I am inclined to be sceptical about much that is said about the deleterious effects of tobacco on the human body."