Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

[hardeesboy]

Found this in searching through period articles from Ms V. Betts' collection.

BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, September 11, 1861, p. 1, c. 5
Tobacco for Disease of the Throat.—The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal makes the following observations in a review of Sir Benjamin Brodie's letter in the London Times, on the "Use and Abuse of Tobacco:"
"There is a local effect of tobacco, when smoked, which we have not as yet seen mentioned, and which, in a therapeutical aspect, may be of considerable importance; we refer to its action in preventing that peculiar condition of the throat which, if neglected, is liable to terminate in follicular inflammation, or what is more properly known as clergyman's sore throat. It has been said that few, if any, instances of this affection can be found to exist in those in the habit of smoking, and we know of one or two instances where it yielded at once to the potent influence of tobacco. It most probably acts by allaying commencing irritation, which, if allowed to increase, would end in inflammation; and, perhaps, counteracting any spasmodic condition, of the surrounding muscles-— very natural source of trouble in this distressing disease

Even during the 1800's, tobacco use was in the lime light for causing disease.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Actually--doesn't the quote refer to tobacco as a treatment for "clergyman's sore throat," rather than the cause of the disease?

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Must agree. I read this as a mention of tobacco use having a curative property, not a negative one. Besides, if you chew tobakky, you won't get worms! ;)

[hardeesboy]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Actually--doesn't the quote refer to tobacco as a treatment for "clergyman's sore throat," rather than the cause of the disease?

I must humbly agree! Guess I need to get my eyes checked ;) Thank you for both for pointing that out. That does bring up a humorous point. In the 19th century, the medical folks say tobacco use will help you, and now in the 21st century they say it will kill you! Makes you scratch 'yer head :D

[DonSmithnotTMD]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Must agree. I read this as a mention of tobacco use having a curative property, not a negative one. Besides, if you chew tobakky, you won't get worms! ;)

here's something I found here http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/sp...unk/debate.htm

It doesn't help us much, but it does show that the argument isn't new.

King James I (reigned 1603–25) spearheaded an intensive, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to ban the stuff. A cornerstone of his argument was the link between tobacco and syphilis: he argued that both came from the Indians, whom he characterized as crude and savage, and that tobacco was used by them as a cure against the dread disease, compounding its foulness.


VICTIMS NOTE: I dip quite a bit of snuff and got pinworms in Egypt :baring_te

Don Smith

[markj]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Hi,

Read enough newpapers, however, and one will indeed find frequent admonitions against tobacco use by various individuals and organizations. A number of articles I've seen do claim causal links between smoking (and chewing) and various cancers, not to mention the dreaded "congestion of the brain." Certainly the "War Against Tobacco" is nothing new--it long pre-dated the Civil War.

Incidentally, on a somewhat related note, the first government to provide scientific evidence of the link between cancer and tobacco use, and to implement agressive, officially sanctioned steps against smoking and other "workplace hazards" was...Nazi Germany.

This is documented in the "Nazi War on Cancer" (2000):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691070512/qid=1078419050/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-3372401-0178336?v=glance&s=books

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Darrell Cochran]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

Hi,

Read enough newpapers, however, and one will indeed find frequent admonitions against tobacco use by various individuals and organizations. Regards,

Mark Jaeger

But on the other hand I well remember that when I was in recruiting for the 20th Century Army, our office had on display a series of posters made from magazine ads of the 1900-1920 period in which Army generals promoted smoking ... The one that stands out most in my mind was one with the tag line "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" and a testimonial from a general that he'd rather his men have a cigarette than a candy bar in times of stress.

And of course there were the little 4-packs of various (usually nasty) brands found in C-Rations ...

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

[QUOTE=DonSmithnotTMD
VICTIMS NOTE: I dip quite a bit of snuff and got pinworms in Egypt :baring_te

Don Smith[/QUOTE]

Well, That's what my old granpappy used to say. So it must have been inferior terbacky, or else them I-gypt-shun worms was real stout. :wink_smil

Honestly though. There certainly were some crusaders against the vile weed even back then. I will have to find it amongst my mountain of copied documents, but somewhere here I have a letter from a fellow raving about the horrible overuse of tobacco he felt was occurring in the Confederate ranks.

[KentuckyReb]

Re: Period "Surgeon General's Warning"

I used to work for a resort hotel with a 'guest ranch'--place where the folk went to take horseback rides, that kind of thing. I was up there talking to the manager one day and saw one of his goats (must have been a blue million of the stinkin' things around) apparently eating gravel out of the driveway. The manager saw me watching and told me that the goats ate the cigarette butts that the guests tossed in the gravel. He said it kept them wormed.

Come to think of it, this old 'home medicine' book I found in my Grandfather's house, printed in 1858, condemned the use of tobacco and spiritous liquors, said that it rendered 'healthful libations' like water and milk bland and 'insipid to the taste'. Of course kindly old Dr. Gunn also believed that sex could cause yellow fever. :wink_smil