56 tobacco: its use and abuse. 



74. Dr. Cleland^ in his treatise on the* Properties 

 Chemical and Medical, of Tobacco, states that " the cir- 

 cumstance which induced Amurath the Fourth to be so 

 strict in punishing tobacco smokers, was the dread which 

 he entertained of the population being thereby dimin- 

 ished, from the antiphrodisiac property which he sup- 

 posed tobacco to possess" — vide Cleland on the History 

 and Properties, Chemical and Medical, of Tobacco, p. G. 

 If, as I understand, Amurath is synonymous with Mourad, 

 the antiphrodisiac properties of tobacco must have been 

 a subject of credence and observation so early as the first 

 part of the seventeenth century, the period of the reign 

 of the fourth Amurath or Mourad, extending from 1622- 

 to 1640. 



The Counter-blast of King James had considerably 

 preceded the prohibitory punishment against the use of 

 tobacco by the Ottoman Sultan. 



75. The injurious properties of tobacco are determined 

 by the following analysis of its chemical constituents by 

 Professor Johnston, of Durham, in his Chemistry of 

 Common Life : "TThese are three in number : a volatile 

 oil, a volatile alkali, and an empyreumatic oil." .... 

 " The volatile oil has the odor of tobacco, and possesses 

 a bitter taste. On the mouth and throat it produces a 

 sensation similar to that caused by tobacco smoke. When 

 applied to the nose, it occasions sneezing, and when taken 

 internally, it gives rise to giddiness, nausea, and an in- 

 clination to vomit." " The volatile alkali has the odor 

 of tobacco, an acrid, burning, long-continuing tobacco 

 taste, and possesses narcotic and very poisonous quali- 

 ties. In this latter respect, it is scarcely inferior to 



