Cigarette Smoking
Dublin Core
Title
Cigarette Smoking
Subject
health
Creator
[Unknown]
Source
http://addison.vt.edu/record=b1775388~S1
Publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Date
February 1884
Contributor
Kayla McNabb, Joel Sprinkle
Rights
Permission to publish images from The Gray Jacket must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Format
Text
Language
English
Type
article
Identifier
LD5655.V8 L4, ser.2, v.1, no.1 (February 1884), p.9
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
This is a habit probably more prevalent among students than any other class of people. That it is an injurious one, very few will deny. It is an acknowledged fact that scarcely one student out of five leaves this College without being a confirmed smoker, and we presume other institutions exert a similar influence. Many smoke to some extent before entering College, and some few are even slaves to the habit beforehand, but the number of the latter is exceedingly small. Upon what grounds can it be justified? "Oh," one will say, "it's pleasant to take a social smoke with a friend, and certainly no harm can result from it if not carried to excess." There's just how nine-tenths of the habitual smokers commenced; an occasional cigarette with a friend, only to be sociable and in common with the rest. Here is just where the trouble lies; one creates a desire for another, just as one drink of liquor leads the way for another, and another. It is like tearing away the flood gates; the stream rushes forth and sweeps all barriers before it. In fact, very few even try to break off the habit after once becoming its slave.
Some are so constituted that the effect is not so soon noticed; others feel it quite soon. Nothing, probably, has a greater tendency to create a feeling of restlessness, almost totally unfitting a student for close, persistent study. Remembering the fact that very few smoke any length of time without habituating themselves to inhaling, we here find the the most injurious effect of all. The poisonous nicotine being taken into the lungs, the result can be none other than a very deleterious one. Again, look around you for the most successful students—the "stars,"—are they habitual smokers? We will take the liberty to affirm that they[italics] are[italics] not[italics]. A student came here only a few sessions ago—many of us here now remember him well—who only smoked occasionally, probably not once a day. He was often heard to remark that he was not a slave to the habit in the least, and if he ever felt that it was gaining a strong hold upon him, he would drop it entirely. The habit gradually grew upon him; he realized it, and, after making a few futile attempts to rid himself of it, gave up, and is to-day a confirmed cigarette smoker. Hundreds commence with the same resolve, and very few of the number come out differently.
Some are so constituted that the effect is not so soon noticed; others feel it quite soon. Nothing, probably, has a greater tendency to create a feeling of restlessness, almost totally unfitting a student for close, persistent study. Remembering the fact that very few smoke any length of time without habituating themselves to inhaling, we here find the the most injurious effect of all. The poisonous nicotine being taken into the lungs, the result can be none other than a very deleterious one. Again, look around you for the most successful students—the "stars,"—are they habitual smokers? We will take the liberty to affirm that they[italics] are[italics] not[italics]. A student came here only a few sessions ago—many of us here now remember him well—who only smoked occasionally, probably not once a day. He was often heard to remark that he was not a slave to the habit in the least, and if he ever felt that it was gaining a strong hold upon him, he would drop it entirely. The habit gradually grew upon him; he realized it, and, after making a few futile attempts to rid himself of it, gave up, and is to-day a confirmed cigarette smoker. Hundreds commence with the same resolve, and very few of the number come out differently.