8 THE TOBACCO PLANT. 



doctors have disagreed to an unexampled extent ; their 

 opinions have been 



" — far as the poles asunder," 



— and quite as unlikely to "join issue," as lawyers 

 phrase it, and come to any satisfactory conclusion. 

 Some opponents (and all " worshipful men," who write 

 M.D. after their names, and are greatly in earnest) find 

 every disease under the sun originating in tobacco- 

 smoke. Others (equally good men, who also dignify 

 their patronymics with a sprinkling of additional letters 

 never given at christenings) declare as loudly in its 

 favour, and quote quite as many instances of good 

 resulting from the practice. Truth, as usual seems to 

 lie between, undiscovered by the belligerents, but per- 

 fectly well known to "the honest smoker" (as old 

 Izaak Walton would style him) who wonders from amid 

 his peaceful cloud what all the turmoil means. Can 

 the smoking of " the pipe of peace ; " the harmless 

 sedative of an amiable man, raise all this storm ? Can 

 his quiet and consoling habit be the cause why so 

 many " decent men " should grow quarrelsome and 

 even vindictive about the matter ? Alas ! gentlemen- 

 fighters, know you not that the herb first gained its 

 reputation for its extremely sanatory uses ? that it was 

 styled " Sana sancta Indorum " — " Herbe propre a 

 tous maux ? " — and that doctors themselves first origi- 

 nated the laudatory words of Captain Bobadil, and 

 affirmed it to be " the most sovereign and precious 



