A MORAL MODIFICATOR. 157 



shall discover in it a hygeinic, health-preserving 

 principle. 



Should such a thing come to pass, the hrntali- 

 ties of the Turkish and Flemish smokers will 

 stand on a par with the brutalities of all drunkards 

 in all ages ; and some captious and irreverent 

 mind may wonder why nature does not at once 

 disclose her objects, instead of permitting man to 

 knock his head to pieces before he can discover, 

 to his perfect satisfaction, that he cannot do with- 

 out it. 



By way of colophon to this argument concern- 

 ing the abuse of tobacco, the words of old melan- 

 choly Burton are very apposite : — 



" Tobacco — divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which 

 goes far beyond all the panaceas, potable gold, and philo- 

 sopher's stones, a sovereign remedy to all diseases ! A 

 good vomit, I confess — a virtuous herb — if it be well 

 qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used ; but, 

 as it is commonly abused by most men, which take it as 

 tinkers take all, 't is a plague, a miscliief, a violent purger 

 of goods, lands, health — hellish, devilish, and damned 

 tobacco, the rain and overthrow of bodv and soul." * 



* Anatomy of Melancholy, Burton wi'ote when tobacco 

 was in the very acme of its influence. Indeed it seems 

 absurd to talk of the abuse of tobacco at the present day, 



