Monadnock Moment No. 129

Era 4: Expansion and Reform - 1800 to 1860

Twitchell Against Tobacco

More than 150 years ago, before it was definitely known that smoking was hazardous to the health, one Keene doctor lead the battle against the use of tobacco. Dr. Amos Twitchell was born in Dublin, New Hampshire in 1781. He became a resident of Keene in 1810. By the 1830s and 1840s he was highly respected in his profession. At that time he gave a lecture on the effects of tobacco on the human system.

In 1842 Dr. Twitchell attributed several health problems to smoking, including heart palpitations, chest pains and severe headaches. He linked heart disease directly to the use of tobacco. He felt that smoking interfered with the respiration and the lungs were not allowed to do their job properly. As a result, the blood, and consequently the heart, were damaged.

Although Dr. Twitchell had no way of proving his suspicions, he recorded the frequency of chest, heart, and respiration problems in his tobacco chewing and smoking patients. He also noted that these symptoms often disappeared entirely when a patient discontinued the use of tobacco.

In the late 1840s, one physician read Dr. Twitchell's notes and concluded that "smokers will almost inevitably suffer more or less, and in some instances they will have to undergo an amount of torture to which it seems almost impossible to believe that any man would voluntarily subject himself,..."