Insanity: Its Causes and Prevention

by Henry Putnam Stearns

But, on the other hand, the immediate effects of tobacco are much less permanent than those of alcohol; its elements are more speedily eliminated through the action of the lungs, to which they pass in the blood, and also by the skin and kidneys, toward which organs the essential oil contained in tobacco has a much stronger tendency than alcohol has.

It must be borne in mind, however, that the effect of tobacco upon the brain-cells is essentially and directly that of a narcotic, and in this respect differs from that of alcohol, which acts only indirectly as such, through its paralyzing influences upon the vaso-motor system; and therefore its immediate effects, while they continue, are more injurious, than would be those of alcohol, though, in reality, they are much less so, as they so soon pass off.

It is the narcotic influence upon the brain which renders tobacco so injurious when used by young children and youth. The frequent repetition of this narcotic upon the nervous system in early life, serves to partially check its growth and development, and consequently must impede very greatly its normal activity and power of application and mental attainment. Both the intellectual and moral powers of the mind become less keen and sensitive, so that a less high standard in these departments of mentality is reached by those children who use tobacco than would otherwise be possible for them; and I am not surprised, therefore, to learn that, in consequence of observations as to the influence of tobacco upon the youth in the schools of both Germany and France, legal enactments, as against its use by these scholars, have been made. Such enactments ought to exist in the schools of all civilized countries, and I have no doubt the time will come when they will.

It appears to me to be especially important that such legal enactments as against its use by children should obtain in this country, where the facilities for obtaining it are greater than in most others. The example of its use is almost constantly before little children when on the street. It is generally and lavishly used by a large proportion of men; the tax on it is lower, and the price cheaper, than elsewhere; and there exists a custom of throwing away half-used cigars on the streets and sidewalks, so that children can easily obtain the article without cost. It is rarely the case when in town that I do not see boys from six to twelve years of age, smoking together these half-used cigars.

The children of the poor are frequently or nightly on the street long after dark, and are, consequently, very little under the restraint of parental government; they are constantly under the influence of the example of older persons in reference to this habit of smoking, and, therefore, are in danger of contracting it very early in life. In the absence of other restraint they specially need that of the guardians of law, and the highest interests of society require that they have it.

The Boston Journal has recently published the results of investigations concerning the number of boys in the public schools of that city who use tobacco. The master of the Latin School informs the reporter that one half of the boys from fourteen to eighteen years of age had used the weed, though probably few had fully contracted the habit. Many of them smoke on the sly, though some have the permission of their parents to use it. In the English High School, it is thought that few of the boys smoke, and none are allowed to chew. The master’s view, however, is that a teacher’s precepts are of little use in preventing the habit unless they are reinforced by his example. The principal of the Dudley School, Boston Highlands, is of the opinion that something like forty per cent. of his boys use it more or less. The master of the Emerson School, East Boston, having studied the subject, concludes that out of four hundred boys there are forty habitual smokers, and that one third of the whole number occasionally smoke. He thinks that it is rarely the case that boys begin smoking before they are eight years of age. In the Grammar School at Charlestown it is estimated that forty of the three hundred boys use tobacco habitually, and that many more have occasionally smoked. Master Harrington, of the Eliot School does not think that a larger proportion than one third of all his boys have yet contracted the habit.

Not a few young men have consulted me professionally, whose nervous systems have been greatly impaired from the habit of smoking, and who say they formed the habit when not more than eight or ten years of age, and they would gladly give it up, and undo its influence if such a thing were possible. In such cases society should protect itself, at least until the individual has become old enough to realize, in some measure, the results of his action.

Of the effects of the use of tobacco upon other portions of the system than the brain it is not within my province, or necessary to my purpose, to refer at this time, though they may be, and doubtless are of a grave character in some cases. To sum up its effects upon the mental and moral character of the young, when it is daily or frequently used, I cannot do better than use the words of a pamphlet published by Monsieur Fiévée in relation to its general effects upon society:

“We do not insist principally on the material disasters resulting from tobacco, knowing very well that any reasoning on this subject will not produce conviction. A danger of far greater interest to those concerned in the preservation of the individual, is the enfeeblement of the human mind, the loss of the powers of intelligence and of moral energy; in a word, of the vigor of the intellect, one of the elements of which is memory. We are much deceived if the statistics of actual mental vigor would not prove the lower level of the intellect throughout Europe since the introduction of tobacco. The Spaniards have first experienced the penalty of its abuse, the example of which they have so industriously propagated, and the elements of which originated in their conquests and their ancient energy. The rich Havana enjoys the monopoly of the poison which procures so much gold in return for so many victims; but the Spaniards have paid for it also by the loss of their political importance, of their rich appanage of art and literature, of their chivalry, which made them one of the first peoples of the world. Admitting that other causes operated, tobacco has been one of the most influential. Spain is now a vast tobacco-shop, and its only consolation is, that other nations are fast approaching its level.

“Tobacco, as the great flatterer of sensuality, is one of the most energetic promoters of individualism—that is, of a weakening of social ties. Its appearance coincides fatally with reform and the spirit of inquiry. Man inaugurates the introduction of logic in matters inaccessible, at the same time that, as Montaigne says, he gives way to a habit destructive of the faculty of ratiocination—a contradiction which shows us that necessity of defect by which he is tortured.”[21]