66 ST NICOTINE 



And memory recalls the case of the Comte de Bocarm^ 

 who was executed at Mons, in 185 1 , for poisoning his brother- 

 in-law with nicotine, in order to obtain reversion of his 

 property. The simple though crafty Hottentot, too, finds in 

 the juice of tobacco a potent agent wherewith he can rid 

 himself of the snake that, unbidden, glides into his kraal. 

 Under the influence of one drop the reptile dies as instantly 

 as if struck by an electric spark. 



A distinguished physician and man of science. Sir B. W. 

 Richardson, has tested the tobacco leaf and all its 

 component parts with a thoroughness which puts to flight 

 all doubts as to what it is ' men put into their mouths to 

 take away their brains.' The chief results of his ex- 

 periments may be briefly summarised. Although evident 

 differences prevail in respect to the products arising from 

 different cigars, different tobacco, and different pipes, there 

 are certain substances common to all varieties of tobacco- 

 smoke. Firstly, in all tobacco-smoke there is a certain 

 amount of watery vapour which can be separated from it. 

 Secondly, a small quantity of free carbon is always present ; 

 it is to the presence of this constituent that the blue colour 

 of tobacco is due. It is this carbon which in confirmed 

 and inveterate smokers settles on the back part of the 

 throat and on the lining of the membrane of the bronchial 

 tubes, creating often a copious secretion which it discolours. 



Britannica (1610), speaks of the tobacco-plant as 'like to 

 henbane.' John Gerard in his description of the plant calls it 

 ' henbane of Peru.' French writers of the same period had an 

 unlimited vocabulary for tobacco, and among their names for it 

 may be found 'Peruvian henbane' {ptsquiame de Peru). If 

 this view be admitted, then we have in 'hebenon' the only 

 reference to tobacco the whole of Shakespeare's works contain. 



