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In attempting to prevent the onset of bronchitis
and cancer of the lung we are up against a habit - smoking
which is even more deeply ingrained and difficult to eradicate.
Only methods of education that carry conviction will succeed
in such an extraordinarily difficult task. The method which
succeeded in the great proportion of doctors was a cold
statistical survey which showed clearly how many of their
colleagues who were smokers were dying of cancer of the lung.
If the same precipitous drop in this habit could
be effected in those to whom children look for example
particularly parents and teachers - the chances of a reduction
in smoking would materially increase throughout the whole
population. Since smoking is comparable to drug addiction
the main effort must be to prevent young people from starting
the habit. Addicts may say "This is my business'1 it
concerns my life, but there are few individuals whose life is
not precious to someone and whose death does not bring tragedy
and irretrievable loss to others.
The evidence against smoking is now so overwhelming
that most smokers concede it as a cause of lung cancer and
would wish to give it up. Clever advertising is probably
the strongest factor in defeating the best resolutions and
counter propaganda must be extremely skilful to compete with
it. The pipe smoker has much more control over the amount
of tobacco he smokes since he is not constantly having a
tobacco pouch passed to him by his friends. In face of
the tremendous difficulty in eradicating the habit of
cigarette smoking could it at least be replaced by the pipe
smoking habit - with attractive pipes for ladies! And
since it is a more natural habit it might even become
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