In what way does tobacco affect the heart?

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Tobacco and Heart Disease

Q. In what way does tobacco affect the heart?

A. Dr. J. F. Bary, F. R. C. S., of Cork, re­ports in the London Lancet the results of an extended research made for the purpose of de­termining the effects of nicotine upon the heart. This able investigator demonstrated that nicotine is a heart poison and when applied to the beating heart of the frog causes permanent arrest.

When it is remembered that cutting off the head of a frog does not stop the beating of its heart for hours and that the amphibian's heart may even beat for days after removal from the body, it is evident that a drug which will in­stantly stop the heart action so that it will never beat again must be a powerful heart poison.

In other words, nicotine applied to the frog's heart will kill the animal more quickly than cut­ting off its head.


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