HYGIENE FOB SMOKERS. 645 



Frankfort, where cabbage-leaf cigars are sold as real Havanas under 

 the government stamp, which they have acquired the right to bear by- 

 being sent out to meet vessels coming in from Cuba, whose arrival in 

 the Baltic or in the Channel has been signalized. The cigars go through 

 the custom-house, get the government mark, and are worth ten times 

 as much as they were before their little excursion. It is a good hygi- 

 enic precaution to choose dry cigars. The nicotine, being volatile, 

 gradually escapes during the drying process, and the smoker conse- 

 quently absorbs less of it. The absorption is also less when the smok- 

 ing is done slowly ; but, if one smokes fresh cigars fast and without 

 spitting, his mouth and nervous system become so saturated with the 

 narcotic ingredients of the smoke that, according to Professor John- 

 ston, every kind of pipe becomes insipid to him. 



Tobacco rolled up in a thin, combustible substance, which is burned 

 with it, forms a cigarette. Many doctors regard this as the most dan- 

 gerous form in which tobacco can be smoked. Dr. Barre recently in- 

 vited smokers of cigarettes, in the journal " Le Peuple Fran5ais," to ob- 

 serve if they did not, after having smoked ten or a dozen of them, feel 

 a pressure on the left side, with palpitation of the heart. The more we 

 advance in the practice of medicine, he added, and the more we ques- 

 tion our fellow-doctors, " the more we are convinced that the abuse of 

 the cigarette is one of the most frequent causes of diseases of the heart." 

 As for myself, I have never observed the troubles noticed by Dr. Barre ; 

 but I have remarked others, particularly inflammatory angina and 

 laryngitis. The irritation of the back part of the mouth and respira- 

 tory channels probably arises from the habit, common with smokers, of 

 swallowing the smoke. This is a noxious practice, and must be avoided. 

 In some countries cigarettes are rolled in corn or plantain leaves ; in 

 France, we roll them in paper. A great many persons think that the 

 mischievous effects of the cigarette are due to this envelope. I owe it 

 to the truth to say that the accusation has not been established. If the 

 use of the cigarette is really more injurious than that of the cigar, it is 

 probably because, in cigarette-smoking, we have to use tobacco that is 

 more moist, and consequently more charged with nicotine. The ques- 

 tion respecting the envelope is not yet solved. The makers of cigarette- 

 paper certainly take great care to fill the public with the idea of danger 

 attending the use of paper of bad quality. They all offer the smoker 

 superior papers, of pure fiber. The more refined offer coal-tar paper, 

 to prevent chest-irritation ; ferruginous paper, as a guard against an?e- 

 mia ; and even pepsin-paper, to facilitate digestion. It is all smoked, 

 and that is the end of it. Use any paper you please, gentlemen ; the 

 important thing for hygiene is, that you do not use too much. The 

 same recommendation is addressed to the ladies — for there are ladies 

 who smoke ; the Society of Public Medicine was occupied with them 

 in 1880. MM. Decaisne, Delaunay, Thevenot, Bouley, Brouardel, 

 and Goyard said some very interesting things on the occasion ; but, 



