SOLANEiE. 1G9 



NicoTiANA. L. 5. 1. Tobacco. 

 Named after Nicot, ambassador from France to Portugal in 

 1560, who received the seeds by a Dutchman from Florida. The 

 common name tobacco, is derived from that of a province of Mexico. 

 Fourteen species, all that have been described, have been intro- 

 duced into England, nearly all of which belong to South America. 

 The aborigines were found to cuhivate this plant over the warmer 

 parts of the country. Two species are raised as tobacco, but one 

 is most common and far preferable. 



JV. tabacum. L. Cultivated in rich soil, called Virginia To- 

 bacco. It would be a curious plant were it not for its offensive 

 smell, nauseous taste, and poisonous qualities. Of all the plants 

 indigenous to America, very few are more deadly poisons than 

 tobacco. The use of it as a luxury, and as a necessary from 

 habit, is one of the strangest facts in the history of man, as the 

 plant is ofiensive at first to nearly all who begin to use it, and as 

 the natural repugnance of our system must be overcome by severe, 

 and repeated, and continued effort. Must not the use of so 

 poisonous a plant have a deleterious effect upon most constitu- 

 tions .'' Is it not probable, that no small portion of the ill health 

 of those who use tobacco, is to be traced to the power of this 

 noxious weed taken in so often repeated doses ? The writer 

 believes himself to have been a great sufferer from its use. At 

 any rate, after more than twenty years' use of tobacco, in smok- 

 ing or chewing, or both, and suffering under dyspepsia and its 

 attendant pains and evils, the entire disuse of tobacco for more 

 than five years, has been followed by the renovation of a wasted 

 constitution, and the return of excellent heahh and strength. 

 Various others, who have liberated themselves from the slavery of 

 the habit, have experienced the same beneficial results. In no 

 known case has the disuse, even to total abstinence from the nau- 

 seous weed, been followed by any pernicious consequences. 



In any of the modes of using tobacco, the want of neatness of 

 the habit deserves consideration. To the breath it gives the vilest 

 perfume, the most nauseating odor, which none but the user and 

 the tobacco-worm can endure. The teeth it makes offensive, and 



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