PREFACE. V 



" able article," and found it in substance a mere 

 reproduction of Mr. Lizars in his pamphlet ; the 

 same old charges which, two hundred years ago, 

 were found frivolous and unsupported by fact. 



" Veterem ranaj cecinere querelam ! " 



I know not whether Mr. P. B. St. John be 

 still in the land of the living ; if it be not con- 

 trary to his wishes I hope he is, were it only to 

 grin sardonically at the fulfilment of a prophecy 

 which he made some thirteen years ago, as the 

 *' Old Smoker," vates sacer, in 'Bentley's Mis- 

 cellany.' 



" How many times," he exclaimed, " in the swamps of 

 the Far West have I escaped malaria, yellow fever, ague, 

 perhaps death, by the unsparing use of the weed ! and yet, 

 doubtless, ere long some new Father Matheiu will open a 

 crusade against the article ! We opine, however, that the 

 vapourings of the anti-tobaccoites would turn out a lottle 

 of smoke J" * 



Mr. Solly, F.R.S., has constituted himself the 

 Father Mathew of this crusade, and the field of 

 his operations is — the universe. 



Vain, unprofitable waste of words and nervous 



* See 'Bentley's Miscellany,' March, 1844. 



