THE USE AND ABUSE OF TOBACCO 83 



which embraces ' tobacco gruel,' ' tobacco wine,' also, 

 tobacco made up into a kind of soup, or syrup, with 

 sufficient sugar. The patient is recommended to drink the 

 decoction hot, as a medicine good against the plague. 



A glimpse of the strange notions which entered the 

 heads of our forefathers respecting the medicinal virtues of 

 the Indian weed may be gained from a perusal of the curious 

 collection of odds and ends of social and literary gossip, 

 contained in the Harleian Miscellany. Under the head 

 of Tobacco the writer says he once knew some persons who 

 every day ate several ounces of the herb without 

 experiencing any sensible effect ; and from this he infers 

 that, ' Use and custom will tame and naturalize the most 

 fierce and rugged poison, so that it will become civil and 

 friendly to the body.' In the hands of the chemist it is 

 perfectly true that some of the most virulent poisons can be 

 made subservient to the healing art, and yield to the 

 physician some of the most helpful medicines known to 

 pharmacy ; but it would be unwise to the last degree for the 

 uninitiated in the mysteries of the laboratory to experiment 

 upon himself in the vain belief that use and custom will 

 carry him safely through the ordeal. The writer goes on to 

 say that, ' Some anatomists tell us most terrible stories of 

 sooty brains and black lungs, which have been seen in the 

 dissection of dead bodies, which when living had been 

 accustomed to tobacco. ' I know a curious woman in the 

 North, that does very great feats in heaUng the sick by a 

 preparation of tobacco. And our learned and most 

 experienced countryman, Mr. Boyle (experimental philo- 

 sophy) does highly recommend tobacco for pains, which are 

 often epidemical in cities and camps.' He appears, 

 however, to have a wholesome dread of such experimenting, 

 for he consoles himself now and then by remarking that 



