CHEMISTRY OF A CIGAR. 41 



important, as it is the one upon which the peculiar 

 and gratifying taste of the smoke depends. It is 

 changed or ripened by age, or modified, in the 

 growth of the plant, by soil and climate. The 

 amount of this wonderful principle in a cigar is truly 

 homeopathic. In one of ordinary size there is not 

 more than the twentieth part of a grain ; and yet 

 it pervades every fibre and every atom of every 

 leaf. Extract or remove it from the cigar, and in- 

 stantly it becomes worthless and repulsive to the 

 smoker. This illustrates how marvellously minute 

 are the ingredients upon which the sensible proper- 

 ties or peculiar action of many medicinal agents 

 depend. 



If we repeat the experiment with the pound of 

 tobacco leaves in the retort, modifying or changing 

 the action by pouring in a few drops of sulphuric 

 acid and half an ounce of caustic soda, previous to 

 distilling, there will come over a colorless, oily 

 liquid, which sinks to the bottom of the receiver. 

 This is essentially the nicotine, or the acrid, burning, 

 poisonous principle of tobacco. By further manip- 

 ulation, it can be formed into crystals; but they 

 cannot long be retained in that state. This is the 

 prussic acid of tobacco an agent so terribly de- 

 structive to animal life that a single drop, placed 

 upon the tongue of a dog, instantly produces as- 

 phyxia and death. A few grains placed upon a 



