COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTRACTS. 55 



71. Orfila, in his General System of Toxicology, 1817, 

 Vol. II., page 211, quotes the following experiments to 

 show the poisonous qualities of tobacco : " Sir Benjamin 

 Brodie injected into the rectum of several dogs, and one 

 cat, from one to four ounces of a strong infusion of to- 

 bacco ; these animals became insensible, motionless, and 

 all died in less than ten minutes ; the pulsations of the 

 heart were no more sensible a minute before death; one 

 of them only vomited. Their bodies were opened imme- 

 diately after death ; the heart was very much distended, 

 and no longer contracted." 



72. Sir B. Brodie states in his Physiological Eesearches, 

 published in 1851, under Efifects of Vegetable Poison^ : 

 " We may conclude from these experiments, that the 

 empyreumatic oil of tobacco occasions death, by destroy- 

 ing the functions of the brain, without directly acting on 

 the circulation. In other words, its effects are similar 

 to those of alcohol, the juice of aconite, and the essential 

 oil of almonds." 



73. In volume seventh of the Biographical Dictionary, 

 the Rev. Mr. Rose, under the life of iiichard Fletcher, 

 Bishop of London, informs us, that " he (the Bishop) 

 was very fond of tobacco, then little known, and that 

 Camden imputes his death to the immoderate use of it." 

 And Camden, in his Annals, 3d edition, p. 469, transla- 

 tion, states that " Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, 

 a courtly prelate, who, while by immoderate use of to- 

 bacco he smothered the cares he took by means of his 

 unlucky marriage, and by the Queen misliked (who did 

 not so well like of married bishops), breathed out hia 

 life." The Bishop died in 1596. 



