THE ACTION OF TOBACCO SMOKE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 

 TO ARTERIAL PRESSURE AND DEGENERATION By W. 

 Emerson Lee. (From the Pharmacological Laboratory, Cambridge.) 

 (With fourteen figures in the text and one Plate.) 



(Received for publication 28lh August 1908.) 



CONTENTS. 



I. Previous History 

 II. The Composition of Tobaccos and Tobacco Smoke 

 III. The Relative Action of the Constituents of Tobacco Smoke :— 

 L On plain muscle . 

 ii. On the isolated heart 

 iii. On isolated vessels 

 iv. On the intact animal 



(a) Central nervous system 



(b) Circulatory system 

 IV. The Relative Toxicity of the Various Const 



Smoke 

 V. The Effect of Smoking on Man . 

 VI. The Effect of Smoking on Animals :- 



(a) Immediate effects 



(b) Remote effects 

 VII. General Conclusions 



ituents II* Tobacco 



PAOK 



335 

 336 



337 

 338 

 339 

 341 

 341 

 342 



342 

 344 



352 

 356 

 357 



I. Previous History. 



The following investigations were conducted witli a view to determine, 

 first, the action of tobacco smoke apart from its various constituents, and 

 second, whether smoking may cause aitoiial di^goncration. 



It is not necessary to refer to papers dealing with the physiological action 

 of nicotine; a complete bibHography is attached to Langley's paper (1). 

 The toxic effects of nicotine on man also re<juire little notice ; most of the 

 important work on this subji.ct is found in Allbutt's " System of Medicine." 

 The effect of tobacco smoke has received little or no attention from the 

 experimental standpoint. 



II. Composition of Tobaccos and Tobacco Smoke. 



The composition of tobacco smoke, obtained by an aspirator from the 

 slow combustion of 100 grams of tobacco, wjis as follows: — 



Nicotine, 1165 grams. This represented 50 per cent, of the total 

 nicotine present before conibustion. 



Pyridine bases, 0146 g. Chiefly pyridine and collidine, the former 



