334 COORDINATION AND SENSATION 



With the bad effects of the nicotine must be included those* 

 of questionable substances added to the tobacco by the manu- 

 facturer, either for their agreeable flavor or for adulteration. 



Relation of Age to the Effects of Nicotine. The use of 

 tobacco by the young is especially to be deplored. In 

 addition to the harmful effects observed in those of mature 

 years, nicotine interferes with the normal development of 

 the body and lays, in many instances, the foundation for 

 physical and mental weakness in later life. The cigarette 

 is decidedly harmful, especially when inhalation is practiced, 

 its deadening effects being in part due to the wrappers, 

 some of which have been shown to contain arsenic and 

 other poisonous drugs. While dulling the intellect and 

 weakening the body, cigarette smoking also tends to make 

 criminals of boys. 1 Parents, teachers, school officers, and all 

 who have the good of mankind at heart should take every 

 precaution, including that of setting a good example, to 

 prevent the formation of the tobacco habit by those of 

 immature years. 



Habit versus Self-control. The power of self-control, 

 already emphasized for its importance in the economical 

 expenditure of the nervous energy, is of vital importance 

 in its relation to the habits of the body. Self-control, is the 

 chief safeguard against the formation of bad habits and is 

 the only means of redemption from such habits after they 

 have once been formed. The persistent cultivation of the 

 power to control the appetites and the passions, as well as 

 all forms of activity which tend to injure the body or de- 

 base the character, gives a tone to the nervous system 



1 Of 4117 boys in the Illinois State Reformatory, 4000 used tobacco, and over 

 3000 were cigarette smokers. Dr. Hutchison, of the Kansas State Reformatory, 

 says : " Using cigarettes is the cause of the downfall of more of the inmates of this 

 institution than all other vicious habits combined." 



