Do Hobbits get Lung Cancer?

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I dunno, I rather feel that the original question of whether or not Hobbits get lung cancer is about the same as the question of whether or not the inhabitants of Middle-earth of all species ever feel the need to go to the bathroom (so to speak). Of course they do, but we never see it, because it's not really relevant to the story. One could take up the position of a friend's old Sunday school teacher, though: when she was a little kid, my friend drew a picture in Sunday school of Mary changing Baby Jesus' diapers (no anatomical correctness to quibble about, she was just a kid and had the drawing skills thereof ) and was taken to task by the teacher, who found it not innocent but offensive. Apparently it was the teacher's belief that Jesus didn't do such base human things as piddle in his nappies, a trait which she also felt carried on into adulthood. I might have thought my friend was kidding if I hadn't heard this same line of thought from other people in my own church when I was a kid.

Some Hobbits probably did get lung cancer; it's the world marred by Melkor, after all, and disease is not unknown among the mortals. Hobbit toughness may be greater than our own, and they may have been less prone to cancers of all kinds, but in the end, the evil Melkor wrought in the world by infusing his power into it would affect them. Like humans of our own past centuries, the Hobbits may have thought it was "consumption" (which was really tuberculosis, if I recall correctly, but acted as a catch-all phrase for diseases of the lungs that slowly killed the victim). I shall have to take a look in the letters to see if Tolkien had any opinion about this. He might've.

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

could take up the position of a friend's old Sunday school teacher, though: when she was a little kid, my friend drew a picture in Sunday school of Mary changing Baby Jesus' diapers (no anatomical correctness to quibble about, she was just a kid and had the drawing skills thereof ) and was taken to task by the teacher, who found it not innocent but offensive.

There's a similar story referred to in Michael Ende's The Neverending Story , I believe.

That's something interesting to have a though on. It is like Fordo and Co. did not have much to do to when they were at home so they were said to be using tobacco now when they were up to some work they were totally involved. Hobbit's toughness would be greater than that of ours but that would not mean that even excessive smoking would do them no harm. Excessive of anything is harmful.

[musicofainur]

Talking in all seriousness, the additional substances they put in cigarettes are considered to be a factor that is believed to cause cancer. I would think that smoking pipe would cause less detrimental effects (which I concluded from my knowledge that pipe smokers do not put additional tar or nicotine into the leaves they are smoking).

On another note, The Lord of the Rings was published in the 1950's, while the belief that smoking cigarettes was harmful only became known in the 1960's.
The direct linkage of smoking and cancer has not been proven. They [scientists] had concluded such notion from trend they see on the graphs and the prevalence of lung cancer in smoking patients. It was not scientifically proven. If I were a writer who lived in the 1950's, I would not want a non-scientifically proven theory to be put into my novel.

[Oh, Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to you all ]

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

So the smoke itself was not what causes cancer? I know that there are many other harmful chemicals that are put into cigarettes, but my initial concern was because of the smoke (being the silly 13 year old I was). If the smoke does not have ridiculous amounts of harm, then the damage to a hobbit's body would not be significant?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

So the smoke itself was not what causes cancer? I know that there are many other harmful chemicals that are put into cigarettes, but my initial concern was because of the smoke (being the silly 13 year old I was). If the smoke does not have ridiculous amounts of harm, then the damage to a hobbit's body would not be significant?

I'm not a smoker, and never have been, but I was under the impression that the main hazard from smoking is thought to be the tar content of the smoke. At any rate, since the implication is that the herb Nicotiana is analagous to our tobacco, and the physiologies of Men and Hobbits are very close to ours, any potential dangers ought to be the same.
Then, I have to wonder if the Dwarves were susceptible to the disease Black Lung, which afflicts those who work in mines. Dwarves were smokers too, so they should have been dropping like flies. That is, unless they, like Elves, were invulnerable to illness. But that's another topic.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Then, I have to wonder if the Dwarves were susceptible to the disease Black Lung, which afflicts those who work in mines. Dwarves were smokers too, so they should have been dropping like flies. That is, unless they, like Elves, were invulnerable to illness. But that's another topic.

Do you mean Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

Anyway, since Aulë designed the Dwarves to be craftspeople, it's not unlikely that made them more resistant to such illnesses. Then again, since there were no Men at the time, Aulë might not have seen or even known what disease was (I don't think that even the animals were around at the time, and they probably didn't interest Aulë that much anyway, and we know what thought about trees...)