many investigators that when not carried to 

 excess the cigarette is the safest method of 

 using tobacco. The reader is referred to the 

 remarks regarding cigarettes in the chapter 

 respecting the effect of tobacco on the human 

 system; but it may be as well here to quote a 

 recent editorial from one of the leading repre- 

 sentative medical journals of the United States, 

 the opinion stated in which should go far to- 

 wards removing the absurd prejudice against 

 the cigarette. 



From the New York Medical Journal of 

 July 25, 1914 (Editorial) : 



"Particularly do the uninformed enjoy an 

 attack on the cigarette ; it is cheap ; it is small ; 

 and its patrons, numerous as they are, yet form 

 an insignificant minority in our immense popu- 

 lation. Therefore, the cigarette and its users 

 are fair game for cheap and silly sneers ; sneers 

 which are capable, however, of cowing an entire 

 legislature, as in Georgia at this moment. Yet, 

 beyond cavil, it has been proved scientifically 

 that of all methods of using tobacco, cigarette 

 smoking is the least harmful. Some months ago 

 the Lancet undertook a careful laboratory 

 study of the various ways of consuming tobacco, 

 with the result that it was found that the cigar- 

 ettes, Egyptian, Turkish and American, yielded 

 the least amount of nicotine to the smoke 



141 



