GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 15 



2. These observations suggest a reference to the ques- 

 tion, how far tobacco was intended for the use of man ? 

 The practice of the Cuban savages is seized by one party 

 as a proof of a final cause, insomuch as savages are sup- 

 posed to follow the first dictates of nature ; and then 

 comes the other party, who point to the tardy adoption 

 of nature's gift by a civilized people as a clear proof 

 that the weed was not intended for the uses to which it 

 is applied. I believe that it is utterly vain to discuss 

 questions of this kind. We have no elements for a 

 proper judgment. Perhaps, for aught we know, the 

 American savages were some thousands of years in 

 coming to the habit — at least we have no reason to 

 suppose that it could be a very primitive adoption. 

 Whether, indeed, man's custom, in most cases, is a proof 

 of itself of nature's intention, must always be a puzzle ; 

 but as we know that many very bad things are greatly 

 more natural to human beings than we would wish them 

 to be, we have just as good a right to say for those to 

 whom good tendencies are delightful from the begin- 

 ning, that nature intended they should do their best 

 to eradicate what is hurtful, and reclaim their fellow- 

 creatures from the indulgences of vice. The true prac- 

 tical question must in short always be, what is bene- 

 ficial and what is hurtful, according to the results of our 

 experience. 



3. The botany of our subject presents us with seven 

 or eight different species of the plant, all affecting, more 

 or less, the warm latitudes. Virginia seems, of all 

 regions, the best suited to its culture, and yields in great 

 quaritity the common or Virginian tobacco (Nkotiana 



