172 TOBACCO : ITS HISTORY. 



The numerous quotations of medical opinion 

 respecting the influence of smoking on the 

 human constitution, leave the question unde- 

 cided. The opponents of the weed unfold their 

 views precisely with the same logical fallacies 

 which afford amusement in the ' Counterblaste ' of 

 King James. To this royal pedant we must 

 award the praise that he managed his argument 

 with some dexterity, although it entirely turns 

 on taking what the logicians call the non causam 

 pro causa. His pupils in the * Lancet ' have 

 adopted his logic, but scarcely rise to the level 

 of the king's respectable attainments ; whilst it 

 is evident, from the names of the respective phy- 

 sicians quoted in favour of the weed, that they 

 are the hiorhest authorities of the land in the 



o 



matter of medical opinion. 



We may be permitted to doubt the opinions 

 of those practitioners who so readily jump at 



and eating nuts and apples. Even during the performance 

 it was customary for wits, critics, and young gallants, who 

 were desirous of attracting attention, to station themselves 

 on the stage, either lying on rushes or seated on hired stools, 

 while their pages furnished them with pipes and tobacco." — 

 Dyce. 



