CHEMISTRY OF A CIGAR. 43 



affords an oil by distillation, which strongly resem- 

 bles that from tobacco. The oil is acrid, pungent, 

 disagreeable, and poisonous, and contains much 

 nicotine. If the reader wishes to try an experiment, 

 to learn the nature of this oil, let him procure the 

 bowl of an old tobacco-pipe,* or cigar-tube, and 

 scrape off a small portion of the moist " soot," or 

 pound up a bit of the pipe no larger than a kernel of 

 corn, inclose in meat, and throw it to a cat. Death 

 will probably occur in less than five minutes. There 

 are thousands of pipes in constant use among labor- 

 ers, which contain oil enough to kill a dozen cats, and 

 which are so " strong " that a person unused to to- 

 bacco could not fill the mouth once with the smoke 

 passed through them, without experiencing the 

 most unpleasant effects. 



No matter in what form tobacco is used, whether it 

 be in smoking, snuff-taking, or chewing, this volatile 

 oil must come in intimate and constant contact with 

 the mucous surfaces of the mouth and air-passages, 

 and therefore, by absorption, a portion passes into 

 the system. To what extent this absorptive process 

 is carried, it is impossible to know with certainty. 

 Probably it is very small in the case of those who 

 use tobacco in moderation. The smoker usually 

 entertains the idea that, in simply inhaling the 

 smoke, contact with the active principles of tobacco 

 is almost entirely obviated ; but this is manifestly 



