Nicotine

“ Hitherto the fundamental point on which the opponents of the weed have dwelt is that as the active principle of tobacco, nicotine, is acknowledged to be in its isolated form a poison, its introduction into the system in any shape or form must be injurious, and that it is difficult to point to any human organ which may not be detrimentally affected by smoking, snuffing, or chewing. ”

“ Everything tends to show that nicotine may be detected by other processes. Thus by treating the digestive canal with absolute alcohol, with the addition of a little soda, it would be dissolved, and by the reaction of the soda, a soap would be formed with the fatty matter, which would set free the nicotine; it would then only remain to distil it by heat, after having evaporated to dryness. Perhaps, also, it might be separated by acting on the tissues with pure soda or potash, then evaporating to dryness and heating it in closed vessels. ”

“ Every physician knows that the agreeable sensations that tempt to the use of tobacco are caused by nicotine, which is a rank poison, as much so as prussic acid or arsenic. When smoked, the poison is absorbed by the blood of the mouth, and carried to the brain. When chewed, the nicotine passes to the blood through the mouth and stomach. In both cases, the whole nervous system is thrown, into abnormal excitement to expel the poison, and it is this excitement that causes agreeable sensations. ”

“ Nicotine, tobacco.—According to various published statements, effects among tobacco factory workers are attributed to the nicotine contained in tobacco dust and to the aroma which fills the air. Nicotine in large doses has at first an exciting followed by a paralysing effect upon the central nervous system; it causes moreover contraction of the unstriped muscles and has a local irritant effect. ”

“ The common practice of the peasantry, in many parts of England, of applying tobacco to stop the bleeding of wounds, and also as a sort of [277] poultice to local swellings, has certainly its dangers. The symptoms—whether nicotine has been taken by absorption through the broken or unbroken skin, by the bowel, by absorption through smoking, or by the expressed juice, or the consumption of the leaf itself—show no very great difference, save in the question of time. Pure nicotine acts with as great a rapidity as prussic acid ”

“ To get a reliable opinion on the value of tobacco one must not take the fanatical rantings of those who believe every crime is to be laid to the use of tobacco, nor yet the addle-brained vaporings of those whose systems have been for years steeped in nicotine and the oil of tobacco. As an example of the latter may be cited Kipling’s poem, “To My Lady Nicotine.”
The use of tobacco may be summarized as follows: Tobacco contains a very powerful poison, nicotine, named after Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Spain, who was instrumental in introducing the plant in Spain and France. ”

“ Alcohol and ether dissolve nicotine in every proportion; if such solutions are distilled, nicotine goes over first. The salts which it forms with hydrochloric, nitric, and phosphoric acids crystallise with difficulty; tartaric and oxalic acid form white crystalline salts, and the latter, oxalate of nicotine, is soluble in alcohol, a property which distinguishes it from the oxalate of ammonia. The best salts are the oxalate and the acid tartrate of nicotine, from which to regenerate nicotine in a pure state. ”

“ There is a theory not unknown, even among medical men, that the toxic influences of tobacco are only transitory, and that all the poison is ultimately expelled from the system. But it is certain, from an experiment of M. Morin, [3] that the nicotine can be detected in the tissues of the lungs and liver after death. ”

“ The average of a number of samples of Syrian tobacco showed 1 to 2% nicotine, Manila and Havana 1 to 3%, Virginia and Kentucky from 2 to 7%, and French tobaccos about 9%.
Most of the nicotine in tobacco becomes volatilized and decomposed during combustion; a small part, however, may form a solution with the water which is also one of the combustion products. One of the decomposition products of nicotine is
Pyridine
Pyridine is usually found in tobacco smoke. When condensed it is a colorless non-oily liquid and is considerably less toxic than nicotine. ”

“ A smoker is never a healthy man, either in body or mind, for nicotine is a poison. Prussic acid is the only poison that is worse. Nicotine poisons the blood, dulls the brain, and is the cause of disease. The lungs of the tobacco user are black from poison, his heart action is weak, and the worst thing to contemplate in the whole matter is that these tobacco users transmit nervous diseases, epilepsy, weakened constitutions, depraved appetites and deformities of all kinds to their offspring. ”

“ Kennedy was now looking at them curiously.
“What is to be the method, do you suppose?” I asked.
“By a poison that is among the most powerful, approaching even cyanogen,” he replied confidently, tapping the cigarettes. “Do you smell the odor in this room? What is it like?”
“Stale tobacco,” I replied.
“Exactly—nicotine. Two or three drops on the mouth-end of a cigar or cigarette. The intended victim thinks it is only natural. But it is the purest form of the deadly alkaloid—fatal in a few minutes, too.” ”

“ Some authors are rather inclined to conclude that nicotine alone is the pathogenic factor in tobacco smoking, but since the presence of nicotine per se in tobacco smoke is debatable and since other toxic substances are demonstrable, it would seem as if the whole subject still remained open for investigation. ”

“ Cyanogen also colours nicotine brown; the product out of alcohol is not crystalline. Platin chloride throws down a reddish crystalline precipitate, soluble on warming; and gallic acid gives a flocculent precipitate. A drop of nicotine poured on dry chromic acid blazes up, and gives out an odour of tobacco camphor; if the ignition does not occur in the cold, it is produced by a gentle heat. It is scarcely possible to confound nicotine with ammonia, by reason of its odour; and, moreover, ammonia may always be excluded by converting the base into the oxalate, and dissolving in absolute alcohol. ”

“ The symptoms of illness ascribed to nicotine are: conjunctivitis, catarrh of the air passages, palpitation, headache, want of appetite, and, particularly, tendency to abortion and excessive menstruation. Severe industrial poisoning due to nicotine has only been observed in workers who chewed tobacco leaves. ”

“ One point upon which every medical authority agrees is—that the use of nicotine is of deadly effect upon the immature organism. Half-grown youths who smoke cigarettes will never be full-sized men; they will never have normal lungs or a normal heart. And likewise, all authorities agree about the effect of smoking upon the organism of women. ”

“ The excessive smoking of tobacco has been known to produce violent and fatal effects. Nicotine is one of the most rapidly fatal poisons known. It rivals prussic acid in this respect. It takes about one minute for a single drop of nicotine to kill a fullgrown cat. A single drop has killed a rabbit in three minutes. The old tobacco-user is often cross, irritable and liable to outbursts of passion. The memory is also quite often impaired for the same reason. The narcotic principle, the deadly nicotine, has become soaked into the delicate nerve-pulp, retarding its nutrition. ”

“ It is a fortunate thing that almost all of the nicotine passes off, or is burnt up, or else the effect would be more markedly disastrous. But the pleasurable effects of tobacco are derived in great part from the volatile alkaloids formed during combustion. The alkaloids which develop during the smoking of a pipe are entirely different from those of a cigar. ”

“ The number of cubic centimètres employed, multiplied by 0·00405 (0·001 of the equivalent of nicotine) , gives the quantity of alkaloid contained in 5 grams of tobacco. (Linoffsky.)
Prop., &c. Nicotina is a colourless, volatile liquid; highly acrid and pungent; smelling strongly of tobacco; boiling at 375° Fahr. (482°—Pereira) ; soluble in water, ether, alcohol, and oils; and combining with the acids, forming salts, many of which are crystallisable. It is a frightful poison; 1⁄4 of a drop will kill a rabbit; a single drop will kill a large dog. ”

“ Now, the strength of tobacco comes from its nicotine, and if the specimens I sent contain no nicotine, whence the strength? I believe that nothing destroys tobacco so much as moistening it. How, then, are acetic acid and chloride of soda to be used in the curing? If the process of desiccation had been carried on too quickly, the tobacco would have been of either a green or greenish-yellow color. If too slowly, it would have been black, like much of the country tobacco. I perceive that the amount of nicotine in a great measure depends on the extent to which the leaf is allowed to ripen. ”

“ I would prefer to say, "Smoke not at all, my ingenuous boy; but whatever you do, smoke no cigarettes." The nicotine will hurt your nervous system, and by weakening the action of the heart will diminish the force of the circulation of the blood. Your hands will begin to tremble, your memory to be affected. You will not be able to enjoy or take part in a good honest out-of-doors game. You will lose your appetite, as well as weaken your brain.
Apart from the inferior quality of the tobacco from which cigarettes are made, the method of smoking them is the most injurious possible. ”

“ Nicotine.—About 1/30 of each tobacco leaf is a strong poison. This poison is called nicotine. A drop or two of it, or as much of it as is in a strong cigar, will kill a man. It gives the tobacco its smell and taste. Men use tobacco for the sake of a poison.
[Pg 32] 46. Why men use tobacco.—Men give queer reasons for using tobacco. One smokes for its company, another because he is with company. One smokes to make his brain think better, and another to keep himself from thinking. Some use tobacco to help digest their food, and others use it to keep themselves from eating so much. ”

“ The cigarette habit is usually contracted during the period of adolescence, or even earlier, when the organs, glands, tissues, and muscles of his body are in a formative stage of development. It requires no corroboration from medical experts to convince the man of average intelligence that such a powerful narcotic as nicotine cannot be beneficial to growth under these conditions. Common sense as well as expert opinion join in condemning the nicotine drug habit of children. ”

“ Death never follows from heart-paralysis, although nicotine powerfully influences the heart’s action, small doses exciting the terminations of the vagus in the heart, and causing a slowing of the beats. Large doses paralyse both the controlling and exciting nerve-centres of the heart; the heart then beats fast, irregularly, and weakly. The blood-vessels are first narrowed, then dilated, and, as a consequence, the blood-pressure first rises, then falls. Nicotine has a special action on the intestines. ”

“ Chemistry has taught us that nicotine is only one among many principles which are contained in the plant. It is supposed by many but not substantiated by chemical research that nicotine is not the flavoring agent which gives tobacco its essential and peculiar varieties of odor. Such are most probably given by the essential oils, which vary in amount in different species of the plant. ”

“ Whether the nicotine of the tobacco can act on nerve-cells as alcohol acts may be doubtful, but the victim of excess in the use of tobacco certainly often very closely resembles the habitual drinker of small drams—the tippler who seldom becomes actually drunk—and he readily falls into the same maudlin state as that which seems characteristic of the subject of slow intoxication by chloral, or of the victim of bromide.—The Lancet, Nov. ”

“ Fatal Period.—The symptoms soon make their appearance, and death has occurred in three-quarters of an hour, or even less—in three minutes after taking the nicotine, in fifteen minutes after enema of tobacco.
Fatal Dose.—One to three drops of nicotine would probably kill an adult in a few minutes; an enema containing half a drachm of the leaves has proved fatal. ”

“ Nicotine and Social Custom.—The influences which brought about a general use of tobacco are similar to, though not identical with, those that engrafted alcohol upon society. The drug nicotine is a habit-forming substance and the plant producing it is easily cultivated.138 Its immediate effect upon the user is generally agreeable, acting as a stimulant to some, but having a soothing effect upon the nerves of others. ”

“ Although green tobacco-plants contain generally more nicotine than the leaves after they have been prepared for the market, yet the odour is only perceptible after the fermentation of the leaves has set in. It has been ascertained that young leaves 2 inches long contained 2·8 per cent., and leaves 101⁄2 inches broad and 16 inches long, as much as 5·6 per cent. of their weight of nicotine. The amount increases as the plants become ripe, and decreases on their becoming overripe. ”

“ Carbonic acid tends to produce sleepiness and headache. Carbonic oxide, in addition, causes a tremulous movement of the muscles, and so of the heart. Ammonia bites the tongue of the smoker, excites the salivary glands, and causes dryness of the mouth and throat. Nicotine is a powerful poison. The amount contained in one or two strong cigars, if thrown directly into the blood, would cause death. Nicotine itself is complex, yielding a volatile substance that gives the odor to the breath and clothing ”