NARCOTICS. 



new ! It was afterwards described by Benzoni about 1 556, aud by Thevetius 

 about 1558. Hernandez introduced it into Spain and Portugal, and from 

 the latter country Joan Nicot sent a plant to Catherine de Medicis, whence 

 the French name Herbe a la Reine. Tobacco leaf was brought to Eng- 

 land by Ralph Lane in 1586, on the return of Sir Francis Drake with the 

 Virginian colonists, and the practice of smoking having been adopted by 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, and other courtiers, soon became common. Shortly 

 after the seeds were introduced from the West Indies. Indulgence in 

 Tobacco was prohibited by Popes, Sultans, Kings, Czars (or rather Grand 

 Dukes of Moscow), and Shahs : a hundred books were written against it, 

 amongst them the notorious Counterblast to Tobacco; the knout and 

 death even were prescribed against smokers ; but Tobacco was greater 

 than all, and prevailed, and prevails unimpaired in influence when now 

 the Popes and Sultans are all but names of history. Tobacco is probably 

 from Tabac, the smoking instrument of the natives of America ; possibly 

 from Tobago in the West Indies, or Tabasco in New Spain. The Eastern 

 synonymes, and the prevalence of smoking in the East, excite the suspicion 

 that both the practice and the herb must be indigenous here, and some 

 authorities have asserted this. We find, however, throughout Asia no 

 species of Nicotiana but what are indigenous to America, although often 

 found wild, a fact which need scarcely be weighed in the argument when 

 we consider that two of the most widely spread, abundant, and pestilent 

 plants in India Opuntia dillenii and Argemone mexicana are natives of 

 America. It may be doubted, also, whether the so-called species of 

 Nicotiana are not simply varieties of N. Tabacum. The use at least 

 of Tobacco in Asia cannot well have been prior to the 17th century, or 

 the Shahs and Sultans of that era would scarcely have protested against 

 it in the tyrannical manner they did. Lane expressly states that Tobacco 

 was introduced into Turkey and Egypt in the 17th century, and in 

 1601 it was carried to Java. "Smoking," of course, is known to have 

 heen immemorially practised in the old world, but here the " smoking" 

 of Tobacco is alone meant. The following so called species of Nico- 

 tiana have been recognized, but perhaps the majority of them are only 

 varieties of the first. 



(1.) N. Tabacum, Linn., the source oi Virginian, Maryland, Ken- 

 tucky, Carolina, and Bilsah Tobaccos. 



(2.) N. latissima, Miller, including N. fruticosa, Linn., and N. 

 chinensis, Fischer, the source of large Havannah Cigars. 



(3.) N. rustica, Linn., indigenous to America, and found wild also 

 in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the source of Latakkia (Laodicea), 

 Salonica (Thessalonica), and Turkey Tobaccos. * 



(4.) N. persican, Lindl., the source of Persian or Shiraz Tobacco. 

 (5.) N. repanda, W., the source of small Havannah or Queen's 



Cigars. 

 (6.) N. quadrivalvis, Parsh,, the source of Missouri? and Ohio? 



Tobacco. 

 210 



