INFLUENCE OF HYGROSCOPIC AGENTS—GLYCERIN AND DI-ETHYLENE GLYCOL—ON IRRITATION FROM CIGARET SMOKE

In order to prevent the too rapid drying of cigaret tobacco, it is customary to add to it some moisture-holding substance. The hygroscopic agent generally used is glycerin, but there are others, among them di-ethylene glycol, which would serve the same purpose. The products of combustion in tobacco smoke are themselves somewhat irritating, and in adding to the tobacco any hygroscopic agent it is important to know whether its products of combustion play a part in the general effects. From a study of the irritant properties of cigaret smoke on the rabbit's eye, Mulinos and Osborne 1 stated that glycerin used as a hygroscopic agent increases the irritant effects, whereas di-ethylene glycol does not. Suggested by this work, a comparison of the effects of cigarets treated with glycerin and those treated with di-ethylene glycol on a group of smokers has been made by Flinn. 2 The patients selected