ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO 315 



used by a considerable part of mankind. Tobacco has a 

 narcotic effect which is due to small quantities of nicotine, 

 a substance so poisonous that only two or three drops are 

 required to cause the death of a man. Habitual users are 

 affected but little by this small percentage of nicotine, 

 but those just beginning the use of tobacco often have a 

 very uncomfortable time after their first chew or smoke. 



Tobacco, like other habit-forming drugs, creates a 

 craving which is frequently difficult to overcome and 

 which may lead to an immoderate use that is decidedly 

 injurious to health. Many people, however, may use 

 moderate amounts of tobacco for years with no noticeable 

 ill effects. In such cases one has to reckon with the 

 possibility of less obvious injury which ordinarily escapes 

 detection. Where men are in training for an athletic 

 contest which requires all their muscular and nervous 

 energies, it is found by athletic trainers generally that it is 

 best to forbid all use of tobacco. 



The effect of tobacco on the heart in producing the 

 condition known as "tobacco heart" is well known. 

 Tobacco smoke is frequently irritating to the throat, and 

 also to the lungs, especially when it is inhaled, as it often is, 

 by smokers of cigarettes. 



All students of the subject agree that tobacco exerts a 

 very harmful influence upon young boys. It stunts their 

 growth, saps their vitality and dulls their intellect; a 

 school boy who is addicted to its use is almost sure to make 

 a relatively poor record. Even among college students 

 the use of tobacco only too frequently goes along with 

 idleness and poor scholarship. Andrew D. White, former 

 President of Cornell University, remarked that "I never 

 knew a student to smoke cigarettes who did not disappoint 

 expectations;" and Dr. Meylan of Columbia University, 

 who has made a careful study of smokers and non-smokers 



