SNUFF MANUFACTURE. 239 



the most valuable and pleasing of " memorials." Many of 

 these testimonials of friendship and regard were of gold and 

 silver, and set with diamonds of the finest water. 



Among the anecdotes of celebrated snuff-takers, the fol- 

 lowing from White's " Life of Swedenborg," will be new to 

 many : 



" Swedenborg took snuff profusely and carelessly, strewing 

 it over his papers and the carpet. His manuscripts bear its 

 traces to this day. His carpet set those sneezing who shook 

 it. One Sunday he desired to have it taken up and beaten. 

 Shearsmith objected, * Better wait till to-morrow,' < Dat be 

 good ! dat be good !' was his answer." 



We copy the following article on the manufacture of snuff 

 from a well-known English journal, "Cope's Tobacco 

 Plant:" 



"Although snuff is still extensively consumed in this coun- 

 try (Great Britain), the mode of its manufacture is very little 

 known to those who use it ; and there are very few persons 

 of even the most inquisitive turn of mind who can say they 

 have ever penetrated into the mysterious precincts of a snuff- 

 mill. Even those who have been privileged, and have had 

 the courage to inspect the interior of such an establishment, 

 have come away with very vague notions of what they saw. 

 The hollow whirr of the revolving pestles, the hazy atmos- 

 phere closely resembling a London fog in November, a phe- 

 nomenon which is produced by the innumerable particles of 

 tobacco floating about, and causing the gas to flicker and 

 sparkle in a mysterious way, and producing a lively irritation 

 of the mucous membrane, all combine in placing the visitor 

 in a state of amusing bewilderment, and he is compelled to 

 make a speedy exit, having only had just a running peep at 

 the interesting process of snuff-making. It is therefore our 

 duty to give a description of a process which will be new to 

 a large number of people, and will help to clear up some of 

 the obscure theories that a great many more entertain of it. 



"Those persons who have travelled on the Continent, and 

 who have noticed on tobacconists' counters a small machine, 

 somewhat like a coffee-mill, which a man works with one 

 hand, while he holds a hard-pressed plug of tobacco about a 

 pound weight against the revolving grater, and produces 

 snuff while the snuff-taker waits for it, may imagine that 

 snuff in England is produced on a somewhat similar small 



