4 TOBACCO : ITS HISTORY. 



that the appointed function of tobacco, as fami- 

 liarly used by universal man, will some day be 

 as rationally explained and established ? Every 

 country or tribe of human beings has had from 

 time immemorial its own peculiar narcotic, either 

 aboriginal or imported. The universal instinct 

 of the human race has led, somehow or other, to 

 the universal supply of this want or craving. 

 Tobacco in North America and the islands ; the 

 thorn-apple, coca, tobacco, and hemp in South 

 America; hops and tobacco in Europe; hemp 

 in Africa; amanita, betel-nut, and tobacco in 

 Asia — nay, Mr. Johnston has mapped out the 

 universe, according to its latitude and longitude, 

 exhibiting the various narcotics in vogue amongst 

 its civilised or savage inhabitants.* ' A Map of 

 the Distribution of Narcotics over the Globe ! ' 

 Such is the title ; and we may ask how it came 

 to pass that the human instincts discovered the 

 uses to which those products of the earth might 

 be applied— tried them, and, finding them good, 

 have ever classed them effectually amongst the 



* Johnston's * Chemistry of Life,' No. vii. 



