38 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



millions of smokers in all parts of the habitable 

 globe ? 



Tobacco belongs to a suspicious and exceedingly 

 dangerous order of plants the solanacece, or night- 

 shades. The deadly nightshade, henbane, thorn 

 apple, belong to this order, and all are powerful 

 narcotic poisons. It is true that to its genera belong 

 the edible potato and tomato ; but we must remem- 

 ber that even the potato is possessed of poisonous 

 narcotic properties, which are only rendered harm- 

 less by cooking. To the farmer who cultivates to- 

 bacco, it proves a robber of the first magnitude. It 

 possesses a capacity for plundering the soil greater 

 than that of any other tree, shrub, or plant known ; 

 the amount of mineral constituents which it carries 

 off can be judged of by carefully examining the 

 ash, as it accumulates upon the end of the ignited 

 cigar. It often remains after the organic portion is 

 removed, showing the full size and outline of the 

 rolled leaves, and to the eye apparently nothing is 

 lost by combustion. If the wood burned in our 

 stoves and upon our hearths was as rich in soil con 

 stituents, we should need the services of extra ser- 

 vants to carry away, the ashes. Every one hundred 

 pounds of the dried leaves which the soil produces, 

 rob it of at least twenty pounds of its most valu- 

 able mineral atoms. In the exportation of tobacco, 

 immense quantities of the richest soil of Cuba and 



