--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Fisher, George J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 21 number: 11 published: 1918-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Fisher, George J., "The Case Against Smokes," *Improvement Era* 21, no. 11 (September 1918): 984–986.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera21011unse start_page: 984 end_page: 986 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21011unse publication_year: 1918 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Case Against Smokes The Case Against Smokes* By George J. Fisher, M. D. Is it harmful to smoke? Does smoking rest one or does it tend to make a man irritable? What is the effect of a habit which is so general? Does it decrease efficiency? Does it lower vitality? These are questions I have tried to find an answer for. No one had in my judgment given an adequate answer to them. I approached the question dispassionately, for I am hot fanatic about the matter. I simply wanted to know the truth, so that I would know how to advise young men accurately. For the past four years I have had a series of experiments made at the Y. M. C. A. College at Springfield, Massachusetts, under the direction of Prof. Elmer Berry, upon young men between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five, men of exceptional physical vigor who were being trained as physical* directors. The plan in the experiments was to use smokers and non-smokers alike, so as to note the effect of smoking on each, to have them go through a given test first without smoking and then try the same test after smoking. As a rule we used a single cigar or a cigaret. In our first experiment we tested the effect of smoking a cigar on the heart rate of blood pressure. A single cigar in- creased the heart rate and blood pressure. The most significant thing about this experiment was the apparent disturbance to the heart in that it took some considerable time for the heart to re- turn to normal, longer than we could wait to measure. In the next experiment, a year later, we tried to go into this problem further, and gave a series of exercises before and after smoking, taking as before the heart rate. This series of tests revealed as did the others that smokers have a higher heart rate than non-smokers, and that the return to normal after exer- cise is much delayed after smoking. For illustration, in 74 out of 118 smoking tests, or 62.72 per cent, the heart rate was in- creased and did not return to normal in fifteen minutes. In 72 out of 74 tests in which the men did not smoke, fully 97 per cent did return to normal in less than fifteen minutes, the average time being only five minutes. The smoker does not become fully habituated to smoking. At the same time that the latter test was given, some tests *Published in the Era by permission of the author, and the New York Independent in which the article first appeared, Dec. 17, 1917. THE CASE AGAINST SMOKERS. 985, in muscular precision were made by having the man draw lines with a pen on a chart between narrow columns. Every time the sides were touched an error was registered. To test the large muscular co-ordinations the men were required to lunge at a target with a fencing foil. In these two tests all the men showed a loss in precision. This was a great surprise to us. I did not dream that a single cigar or the smoking of two cigars which were used in the target thrust would show any appreciable effect. This led us in our next experiment to make some experi- ments on the effects of smoking upon baseball pitching. Twelve men, all baseball players, both smokers and non-smokers, were used. The men in the tests had ten throws at a target, which were recorded. Then each thrower smoked a cigar, taking thirty minutes for the purpose, after which they had ten more throws which were recorded. In another test the men rested in the thirty-minute interval, instead of smoking. In another test the men smoked two cigars, using sixty minutes between the throws. In this way it was clearly discovered what effect resting or smok- ing one cigar or smoking two cigars had upon accuracy in pitch- ing. An official baseball was used, fast, straight balls were thrown, the men winding up for the throw as baseball pitchers do. * * * In Test A, after smoking one cigar, there was a loss of twelve per cent in accuracy. In Test B, after smoking two ci- gars, there was a loss of 14.5 per cent. In Test C, during which no cigars were smoked, there was an increase in accuracy of nine per cent, so that the real effect of the smoking should be judged by comparing the scores made after a rest and those after smoking. We then determined upon a further test of co-ordination, and because of the interest in the war we selected rifle shooting. The Western Revolver Club Range of Springfield was used, and Mr. Wesson furnished the rifles and ammunition. Five shots at a target twenty yards distant were fired, then either a rest or smoking was indulged in, then five more shots were fired. The prone position was used. Five tests were made in the first test; the men rested thirty minutes between the two periods of shoot- ing. In the second, the men smoked one cigar, in the third test two cigars were used in a period of sixty minutes, in the fourth test two cigarets were used, in the fifth the men again rested. Briefly the results were these. In test number one, when the men did not smoke, they showed an increase in accuracy of seven per cent. In the second test, after smoking one cigar, there was a loss in accuracy of 4.8 per cent. In the third test, in which the men smoked two cigars, there was a loss in accu- racy of six per cent. In the fourth experiment, after smoking 986 IMPROVEMENT ERA two cigarets, there was a loss in scoring of 1.8 per cent. In the fifth experiment, in which the men did not smoke, there was a gain in accuracy. . These tests which I have been having made, covering a number of years, are exceeingly interesting. I do not claim they are conclusive. As far as we have gone, however, we seem to be compelled to believe that smoking is not beneficial. It quickens the heart rate, affects in slight degree the blood pressure, disturbs the cir- culatory apparatus so that it takes some considerable time for the heart to return to normal. Smoking affects muscular pre- cision in such fine movements as writing and in such larger movements as lunging at a target with a fencing foil or in base- ball pitching and also in rifle shooting. These experiments were made upon men twenty-one to twenty-five of unusual physique, men accustomed to smoking and those unaccustomed; both groups were affected and in all the experiments there was a remarkable consistency in the char- acter of the results obtained. The case seems to be against tobacco. In the light of such facts as these what should be our atti- tude in furnishing tobacco to soldiers? If smoking disturbs the heart, what effect will it have on endurance? If smoking affects accuracy in baseball pitching, what will be the effect upon bomb throwing? If smoking makes for inaccuracy in lunging at a tar- get, what will be the effect in lunging at an enemy with a bay- onet? And if men, after smoking, do not shoot as well at twenty yards, what will be the result at a greater distance? These experiments were made in a well-ventilated place in each instance, and after the men had smoked but one or at the most two cigars, and two cigars were more severe than one. Most men do not stop with one or two cigars, but have a tendency toward many in a day. I am not willing to say that soldiers should not smoke. Those habituated to it seemingly get great comfort from smok- ing. I do not believe, however, that we should encourage them to smoke incessantly nor incite the young soldier who has never smoked to indulge. I am wondering whether special funds for tobacco are wise, and I question the wisdom of placing tobacco in every comfort kit. Wetake it for granted that a soldier will smoke. We are urging him to do so, and incidentally I believe we are doing harm.