Our Enemy Under the Microscope (Smoking and Its Effects)

From the results of the chemical analysis of cigarette smoke one may infer the presence of substances that have particular effects on the body: nicotine, tarry substances, and protein substances. These effects may be divided into:
First — local effects.
Second — general effects.

The local effects rest on the heat of the smoke in the mouth and on the presence of tarry substances in the smoke. Some researchers in this field believe these substances to be a cause of the disease of cancer. 'Roffo' succeeded in producing cancer in the lungs of rabbits after administering these substances to them; he believes, further, that there is a great connection between the wide prevalence of cancer of the mouth and lungs and the wide prevalence of the habit of smoking. 'Carlson' believes that smoking may lead to cancer of the mouth. 'Crimpton' holds that smoking causes a chronic inflammation of the throat, which may explain the frequency of colds among smokers and the frequency of inflammations of the eye sockets among them.

As for the general effects, they rest on the action of nicotine in the body, and likewise on the existence of persons who are affected by the protein substances present in the smoke. 'Silbert' found a strong connection between smoking and 'Buerger's' disease, which may lead to the amputation of the legs owing to the blocking of the blood vessels. He observed a hundred of these patients, and behold, they were all smokers; and behold, they all recovered once they stopped smoking.

'Salzberger' found that these patients are affected by the protein substances in the smoke. He found skin sensitivity to these protein substances in 78 percent of Buerger patients, as against 36 percent of healthy smokers and 16 percent of nonsmokers. The remaining general effects depend on nicotine — or rather on how much of this substance the body absorbs, for that depends on many factors, among them:

First — 'Inhaling the smoke and the speed of smoking.' 'Bedter' believes that 93 percent of the nicotine is absorbed by the bodies of persons who inhale the smoke, as against 6 percent in persons who do not inhale it. 'Bram' found that smoking one cigarette in five minutes instead of ten increases the quantity of nicotine absorbed tenfold.

Second — 'The number of cigarettes and their length.' This last researcher found that each cigarette carries from two- to three-tenths of a milligram of nicotine. The greater the number of cigarettes smoked, the greater the quantity of nicotine the body absorbs. And in the last third of the cigarette there is 16 percent more nicotine than in the first two-thirds.

Third — 'The kind of cigarette and the presence of a filter in it.' The quantity of nicotine present in ordinary cigarettes is 2 percent, as against 1 percent in cigarettes whose nicotine has been reduced. Likewise, the presence of a filter in the cigarette may help to prevent the passage of much of the nicotine and of the tarry substances.

And here are the general effects on the body arising from nicotine:

First — 'Smoking and eyesight.' Eye doctors agree that weakness of sight and hardening of the capillary vessels are at times brought about by the habit of smoking.

Second — 'Smoking and the digestive system.' 'Carlson' attributes loss of appetite to smoke. 'Short' found a great increase in the acidity of the stomach, and most physicians believe that smoking is a cause of ulcer of the stomach. Some researchers, however, do not hold this view, for they found no direct connection between smoking and the increase of pain in patients suffering from perforating ulcer.

Third — 'Smoking and the respiratory system.' 'Morton' believes that pulmonary inflammations occurred more frequently after internal surgical operations in persons who smoked ten cigarettes or more. 'Schwartz' reviewed the relation of smoking to tuberculosis, putting his questions to fifty directors of the well-known sanatoria in

America. And behold, only one of them saw no harm in smoking, while eight saw every harm in smoking and had forbidden it to their patients absolutely. The remaining majority, however, allowed their patients to smoke on certain occasions only. This researcher reviewed the new studies on the effect of smoke and arrived at the statement that science has proved the habit of smoking to be a habit harmful to the healthy — how much more so, then, to the sick. He believes, and we share his opinion, that this habit must be absolutely forbidden to those suffering from diseases of the chest.

Fourth — 'Smoking and its effect on the heart and arteries.' Researchers agree on the existence of one kind of choking constrictive seizure that arises from smoking. The well-known researcher 'Clifford Allbutt' described the first incident of this kind, saying... 'He writhes with pain... he battles an unseen enemy... now he climbs upon his chair, and it overturns with him to the ground.'

Researchers have found an increase in blood pressure and a quickening of the heartbeat, an increase in the quantity of sugar in the blood, and changes in the heart muscle registered by the machine that records the heart's pulse, together with effects on the temperature of the extremities, in the hands and the feet. These changes last for about half an hour; but if our friend is a heavy smoker, these changes become a permanent condition — and in that lies harm indeed.

Fifth — 'Smoking and its effect on the muscles.' 'Jacobson' found no effect of smoke on the contraction of the muscles in a hundred smokers. That means that the theory which holds that smoking removes bodily fatigue by easing the contraction of the muscles is a mistaken theory that science has not confirmed.

Sixth — 'Smoking and its relation to sexual fertility.' Science has established the occurrence of important effects on the reproductive system, which may be a significant cause of diminished fertility.

Seventh — 'Smoking and length of life.' Professor 'Pearl' compared, by the statistical method, the proportion of those who reach the age of seventy among some six thousand persons, from the time they were thirty years of age, and found that 66 percent of nonsmokers lived to seventy, as against 46 percent of moderate smokers and only 30 percent of heavy smokers.

Eighth — 'Smoking and its psychological effects.' I pointed earlier to the action of nicotine in rousing the body from the physiological side, while it releases it from the mental side by means of narcosis. Thus the smoker contents himself with sitting without any work. He retreats for a time before the difficulties and troubles of life, to hide behind a cloud of his smoke. Then this habit becomes a part of his very self, which he may find it hard to do without. And the greatest proof of the degree of degradation a smoker may reach if tobacco is cut off from him is what happened in Germany in wartime — you could see men who held a place of standing in society raking through the streets of Berlin for cigarette butts, to pick them up.

These are sick men in pain... and medicine must extend a helping hand to them; then it must prevent the spread of this disease to the healthy... it must fight smoking with all the power and resolve it possesses. And I cannot but salute here the memory of Dr. 'Shakhashiri,' God rest his soul, founder of the Egyptian League Against Smoking, for he was one of the leaders of this revolution.

How weak we are, searching for freedom when we have thrown it away with our own hands... How weak we are, hiding from the difficulties of life behind a cloud of smoke... And how foolish we are, straining every nerve to satisfy the desires of an enemy who works to degrade our bodily and spiritual powers.

Yes — smoking is that unseen enemy.