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In honor of its sponsor, Botany has named the plant Nicotiana tabacum, and Chemistry distinguished as Nicotin its active alkaloid. Sir Francis Drake first brought tobacco to England about 1586. It owed the greater part of its early popularity, however, to the praise and practice of Raleigh: his high standing and character would have sufficed to introduce still more novel customs.
In one instance the blood pressure must be lowered; in the other, the heart must be stimulated. While tobacco, in ordinary conditions, raises the blood pressure, after the heart has been seriously injured by the nicotin, the blood pressure is likely to be found lower, and such patients are quickly benefited by the withdrawal of the tobacco and the administration of digitalis.
This is especially true with beginning hypertension, and may be true in young men who are athletic or who are oversmoking but are not being poisoned by the nicotin, as shown by the fact that their hearts are not rapid, that they are not having cardiac pains, that they do not perspire profusely, and that they do not have muscle cramps.
It is the safest and most convenient form at sea. By smoking, each of the three active ingredients of tobacco is rendered capable of absorption. The empyreumatic oil is produced by combustion. The pipe retains this and a portion of the nicotin in its pores. The cigar, alone, conveys all the essential elements into the system.
If the dilatation of the left ventricle is due to some poisoning such as nicotin, with proper treatment stopping the use of tobacco, administration of digitalis, and rest the heart muscle will generally recover and the valve again properly close.
The larger consumption of tobacco here is due both to the cheapness of the product and to the wealth of the consumer. But it does not follow that we are more subjected to its narcotic influences because we use the best varieties of the weed. On the contrary, the poor and rank tobaccoes, grown under a northern sky, are the richest in nicotin.
In fact, it may be stated that any disease or condition which increases the blood pressure generally slows the pulse, unless the heart itself is affected. This is true of hypertension, of arteriosclerosis, of nicotin unless the heart has become injured, and often of caffein, unless it acts in the individual as a nervous stimulant.
We are not certain that nicotin ruins ptyalin; we are certain that the functions of other organs are vicarious of those of the salivary glands. We say that it is not satisfactorily proved that tobacco impairs the sugar-making function of the saliva. At least, we have never seen the proof from recorded experiments.
Any drug or substance that raises the blood pressure by stimulating the vasomotor center or the arterioles, when constantly repeated, will be a cause of hypertension. This is particularly true of caffein and nicotin. Also, anything that might stimulate, or that does stimulate, the suprarenal glands will cause a continued high blood pressure. Pharmacol. and Exper.
The only point at this issue is as to whether or not such an activity is of consequence to the individual. The active principle of tobacco is nicotin, besides which it contains an aromatic camphor-like substance, cellulose, resins, sugar, etc.
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