1859.] REVIEWS. 57 



brave navy are supported ; hence all our pensions. It is in tliis 

 light that Tobacco is viewed by our author. His object, as he 

 tells us in his preface, is to assist " officers of the Government, 

 and others interested in the subject, to a knowledge of the 

 characters of unmanufactured and manufactured Tobacco, and 

 to enable them to detect its impurities.'^ The adulterations 

 discovered from time to time are enumerated, viz. leaves of Rhu- 

 barb, Dock, Burdock, Coltsfoot, Beech, Plantain, Oak, and Elm ; 

 also Chicory-leaves steeped in tar- oil, together with starches 

 from many vegetable substances ; also peat-earth, sawdust, bran, 

 malt-rootlets, etc. 



The work contains the following subjects, briefly and well 

 handled, and clearly illustrated by good figures, viz. vegetable 

 organography, and especially the form and venation of leaves; 

 the internal anatomy of the leaf, the cells, vessels, and deposits ; 

 the structure of roots, stems, also of various sorts of woods, etc. 

 The next subject is the Tobacco -plant, and such as are or have 

 been used to adulterate the article, viz. Thorn-apple, Deadly 

 Nightshade, Potato, Burdock, Dandelion, Sunflower, Comfrey, 

 Hellebore, Plantain, etc. An account of starches, of the micro- 

 scope, and the history, use, cultivation, and manufacture of To- 

 bacco, fill up the book. The work is illustrated by forty plates. 

 The plants whose leaves are or have been used in the adultera- 

 tion of Tobacco, are Ehubarb, Dock, Foxglove, Plantain; Chi- 

 cory-leaves steeped in tar-oil have been used as fillers for the 

 adulteration of cigars ; Coltsfoot and Burdock. But in addition 

 to these expressly stated to have been used for the above purpose, 

 it is inferred, from p. 35, that the following have been found 

 among Tobacco, viz. Elecampane, Thorn-apple, Mullein, and 

 Comfrey. It is to be wished that, when the work is reprinted 

 for a second edition, Mr, Prescott would tell us what Tobaccos 

 are adulterated with these various substances. In what Tobac- 

 cos — the Dutch, the German, the Turkish, or the American, 

 for example — does he find the Thorn-apple? In what samples 

 is the Foxglove seen ? Where is the Tobacco grown which is 

 mixed with Mullein, Elecampane, etc. ? Note. — Mr. Prescott 

 calls Foxglove a perennial : it is a biennial. Also he says that 

 Green Hellebore is an annual : this is probably a misprint for 

 perennial. 



Some antiquarians of our acquaintance will demur to the 



N. S. VOL. III. I 



