2,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Bernarr Macfadden
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
Nicotine is undoubtedly the most universally used of all poisons. In the blistering heat of the tropics; in the biting cold of the arctic; on the broad highway of the tumbling waves; and among the dead desert wastes, man companions himself with tobacco.
It affords temporary narcotic gratification to the genius; it is indispensable to the gangster. In its fumes the poet finds strange themes; behind its filmy cloud the prostitute hides herself.
From early childhood to senile age it is woven into the warp and woof of human endeavor.
Billions of dollars of tribute are paid annually to the Minotaur. Thousands of acres of splendid timberland, and millions of dollars of valuable property are destroyed yearly by the gross carelessness and stupidity of its addicts. To its worship its devotees annually contribute uncounted millions of valuable work or study hours.
In its production, manufacture and sale hundreds of thousands are busily engaged.
Tobacco adds immeasurably to the cost of human existence; it subtracts immeasurably from the length and breadth of human life.
Tobacco is insidious in its debauching and degenerating influence. It undermines the integrity of the moral faculty—especially in the young—while shredding the nervous systems of young and old alike.
Those engaged in exploiting the drugged weed are sincere and honest men, who would, no doubt, feel a great compunction of conscience if they realized that they were innocently responsible for prostituting the best instincts of the race.
And yet slave dealers for many centuries, and rum dealers, for an equal length of time, were quite as satisfied that their trade was thoroughly legitimate.
We now know, however, that it was not. And the voice of Civilization is emphasizing the fact in no uncertain terms. And this brings me to the crux of my tale.
I could not conscientiously accept pay for prostituting my fellow-man.
I believe that employers of labor will soon come generally to recognize the insidious effect of the poison upon their employees, and that ultimately they will discountenance its use—in the same way that they have discountenanced the use of alcohol.
I believe that those who now so brazenly extol the alleged glories and virtues of tobacco indulgence, for the profit they make in selling the stuff, will be thoroughly ashamed of their calling. Some of them may, perhaps, even repent of their ways, and reform—although this is not at all likely.
I may not live to see this brought about. But if ever it is brought to pass, one very terrible degenerative influence will have been banished from the land. Men and women will be cleaner and sweeter. The stunted adolescent will attain his growth. Money that could do so much for the development of civilization will be diverted into constructive channels. With this end in view this book was prepared with the aid of the best obtainable scientific authorities.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Ähnliche
The Truth About Tobacco
How to Break the Habit
by Bernarr Macfadden
Original edition 1921 By Physical Culture Corporation, New York City 1st Digital edition 2016
Table of Contents
Portrait of the Author
The Truth About Tobacco
How to Break the Habit
By
Bernarr Macfadden
Introduction
NICOTINE is undoubtedly the most universally used of all poisons. In the blistering heat of the tropics; in the biting cold of the arctic; on the broad highway of the tumbling waves; and among the dead desert wastes, man companions himself with tobacco.
It affords temporary narcotic gratification to the genius; it is indispensable to the gangster. In its fumes the poet finds strange themes; behind its filmy cloud the prostitute hides herself.
From early childhood to senile age it is woven into the warp and woof of human endeavor.
Billions of dollars of tribute are paid annually to the Minotaur. Thousands of acres of splendid timberland, and millions of dollars of valuable property are destroyed yearly by the gross carelessness and stupidity of its addicts. To its worship its devotees annually contribute uncounted millions of valuable work or study hours.
In its production, manufacture and sale hundreds of thousands are busily engaged.
Tobacco adds immeasurably to the cost of human existence; it subtracts immeasurably from the length and breadth of human life.
Tobacco is filthy and unsanitary. The pools of polluted saliva, and the indiscriminate manner in which the smokers’ and chewers’ refuse is disposed of proves this. Carelessness and slovenliness in the clothes and person accompany its use. Tobacco-stained clothes and beards and millions of yellowed fingers attest to this.
If what impersonal, unprejudiced scientists tell us is true, tobacco is the greatest single menace to the health, efficiency and longevity of the race—poisoning the life blood, sapping the energy, and destroying, surely but subtly, the vitality of the susceptible.
Tobacco is insidious in its debauching and degenerating influence. It undermines the integrity of the moral faculty—especially in the young—while shredding the nervous systems of young and old alike.
Those engaged in exploiting the drugged weed are sincere and honest men, who would, no doubt, feel a great compunction of conscience if they realized that they were innocently responsible for prostituting the best instincts of the race.
And yet slave dealers for many centuries, and rum dealers, for an equal length of time, were quite as satisfied that their trade was thoroughly legitimate.
We now know, however, that it was not. And the voice of Civilization is emphasizing the fact in no uncertain terms. And this brings me to the crux of my tale.
For upwards of thirty years I have been making an intensive study of the physical organism, and of the habits and practices that enhance or deplete physical integrity. I submit that this daily, unremitting study, which I have made my life work, has qualified me to speak with a measure of authority upon matters that concern the weal or woe of the physical structure in which our souls, for a time, have their residence.
I therefore am free to assert, in all honesty and sincerity, my belief that tobacco, in all its forms, is a detriment—physically, mentally, and morally. I can not countenance its use. No magazine or publication in which I have a voice ever has made, or ever will make a penny by selling space in eulogy of the drug.
I could not conscientiously accept pay for prostituting my fellow-man. For I believe that any and every use of tobacco is an abuse of the body, the mind, and the soul entrusted, for a short time, to our care. I believe that a better knowledge of the subject will cause a revulsion of sentiment in its favor.
I believe that employers of labor will soon come generally to recognize the insidious effect of the poison upon their employees, and that ultimately they will discountenance its use—in the same way that they have discountenanced the use of alcohol.
I believe mothers and teachers, ministers, doctors, and those to whom the young look for guidance through precept and example, will soon turn their attent [...]
