130 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Aug. 18. 1855. 



and, indeed, to the same complaints as the neigh- 

 bouring cotton-grower. In curing and drying 

 houses, the men are partially safe from epidemics, 

 and invariably free from lung complaints. But it 

 is to the factory we must go to learn the full ex- 

 tent of this singular preservative. Not until the 

 leaf has been cured for some time, or at all events 

 passed through the hogshead, do those neutralis- 

 ing qualities show themselves; and it must be 

 brought into continual contact with the men, and 

 in a room or workshop of some kind, for them to 

 be the subjects of its preservation. From this 

 then it would appear, that only on certain condi- 

 tions, and in certain stages, is tobacco a protection 

 from contagious diseases ; and the same security 

 is offered I believe in tan- pits, where, in cholera 

 times, a remarkable share of health is observable 

 amongst the men employed. 



In tobacco countries the application of the leaf 

 in various ways forms the subject of several pre- 

 scriptions. While hunting in the far west, if you 

 are bitten by a rattle-snake, a tobacco leaf bound 

 around the part will destroy any poisonous effects. 



Smoking before drinking impure river water will 

 prevent the diarrhcea. In certain unmentionable 

 skin disorders, the washing of the parts with water 

 having tobacco steeped therein will drive it away. 

 These, and similar recipes, are common in the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



But to the tobacco manufactories. From those 

 who have been curious with myself in the matter, 

 I learn that in all large towns, where tobacco 

 factories are carried on, the same properties are 

 observable. In London, the great tobacco quar- 

 tier is Goodman's Fields ; and, that I might com- 

 pare notes with those already gained in America 

 and the West Indies, I have several times made 

 minute inquiries in that vicinity. The manufac- 

 turers there — mostly enterprising Jews — describe 

 their men as being remarkably free from lung 

 complaints, skin diseases, and affections of the 

 liver ; although I think I heard of a few instances 

 where torpidity of the latter organ was complained 

 of. Many of these men use oil as a part of their 

 diet, agreeably to the custom of their race, and 

 enjoy health superior still to those who do not 

 take any. This, of course, is another interesting 

 problem which has of late just been hinted at and 

 then dropped. But one thing is observable in all 

 cigar and tobacco factories, the men neither are 

 nor look cheerful ; they rarely enjoy those bright 

 animal spirits which other occupations induce. 

 The sports of the field have scarcely any attrac- 

 tion for them ; the}' are frequently noisy at the 

 " board," and a whole factory full may sometimes 

 be heard shouting the same song ; but it is a very 

 different affair to a chorus round the capstan, or 

 the melody a dozen negroes make whilst plying 

 their hoes or picking off the suckers from the 

 tobacco plants. 



]S"o. 303.] 



A tobacco manufacturer is seldom high, he is 

 seldom low ; he appears to have entered that 

 middle state of existence which some think the 

 most enviable. His trot may be called the "jog 

 trot." He rarely figures as a declaimer, rarely 

 gets drunk and alarms the neighbourhood of his 

 residence. What he invariably does, is to live 

 contentedly, and without grumbling ; and consents 

 to undergo a pickling in tobacco, to perhaps the 

 slight deadening of his nerves, the undoubted 

 weakening of his mind and strength of will, for 

 the sake of preserving his skin, liver, and lungs 

 from frequent epidemics. 



There is one fact which it may be as well to 

 state, — spirituous liquors, drunk freely by those 

 in a tobacco factory, soon destroy the conserving 

 effects which they might otherwise enjoy from 

 their calling. 



Another peculiarity still more remarkable is 

 this, — the ordinary nervous distrust which smok- 

 ing induces, and which proves perhaps the pleasure 

 of the pipe to lay more in the anticipation than 

 in the act itself, is seldom experienced by those 

 who are engaged manipulating the " weed." In- 

 deed, I have heard it remarked, that where a man 

 could not indulge in three pipes a day without 

 feeling symptoms of indigestion, he could double 

 the number after he became employed by a tobac- 

 conist, and feel none of the old symptoms, 



J. C. HoTTEN. 

 151. Piccadilly. 



INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS. 



(Vol. xi., p. 210.) 



At Christchurch, Hants, are the following le- 

 gends of the fourteenth century on two bells. 

 There are eight in the fine peal : 



6. " Sit . nobis . omen . Touzeyns . cum . cit , tibi . 

 noraen. 

 Virtus . campane . faciat . nos . vivere . sane." 



6. " Assis . festivus . pestes . pius . ut . fugat . Agnus. 

 Mox . Augustinus . nee . dum . resonat . preco . 

 magnus." 



They may perhaps be thus Englished : 



5. " Be ours the omen : since thy name is All Saints : 



May the virtue of the bell make us live in health." 



6. " Come soon, kindly (Saint) ; that the holy Lamb 

 may drive away plagues: not yet sounds the great 

 preacher Augustine." 



The priory was dedicated to St. Augustine ; and 

 so it appears was this bell, here called, fi-om its 

 solemn sound, herald or preacher. 



At Gloucester cathedral : 



5. John. " In multis annis resonet campana Johannis." 



6. Mary. " Sum rosa pulsata mundi, Maria vocata." 

 4. " Sit nomen Domini benedictum." 



2. Peter. " Sancta Petre, ora pro nobis." 



