222 ACTION OF TOBACCO. 



" smoker's sore throat." This is accompanied by a hack- 

 ing cough, and often with difficulty in speaking and some 

 deafness. Cure is impossible unless smoking is given 

 up. 



The smoke of the paper in which cigarettes are rolled 

 especially irritates the throat and larynx. So far as 

 these organs are concerned, a cigarette is the most inju- 

 rious form in which tobacco can be smoked. 



11. The General Action of Tobacco. The absorption of 

 nicotin and other substances contained in tobacco, is apt 

 to interfere with the proper development of the red cor- 

 puscles of the blood. This, as you have learned (p. 137), 

 is a very serious evil, because these corpuscles have to 

 carry oxygen all through the body for use by the differ- 

 ent organs. As a result of their deficient quantity, not 

 only does the skin grow pale, but all the organs do poor 

 work. The muscles become feeble; the stomach digests 

 badly; the heart is weakened and subject to attacks of 

 palpitation; and the eyesight very often impaired. In 

 general, there is produced a feeling of lassitude and in- 

 disposition to exertion of any kind that, in view of the 

 heavy odds a man has to contend against in the struggle 

 of life, may prove the handicap that causes his failure. 

 If success in life be an aim worth striving for, it is surely 

 unwise to shackle one's self with a habit which cannot 

 promote and may seriously jeopardize it. 



dangers from tobacco. What is smoker's sore throat ? By what ac- 

 companied ? What necessary for cure ? What is said of cigarettes? 

 II. Action of absorbed nicotin on the blood? Why serious ? Ac- 

 tion of nicotin on the muscles? The stomach? The heart? The 

 eyesight ? What is said of its effects in general ? 



