MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS 295 



wild supply begins to fail,i unless in the meantime humanity 

 learns wisdom. 



The betel. Closely akin to the above in effect is the betel nut, 

 almost universally chewed by the natives of the Malay Peninsula 

 and the outlying islands, as is evidenced by their blackened teeth. 

 The first effect is exhilarating, but later lethargy ensues. Habitual 

 users become toothless, often as early as at twenty-five years of age. 



Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). This plant serves exactly the 

 same purposes to its users as does the opium poppy, the coca, 

 or the betel nut to theirs, except that it is less powerful. It is 

 chewed, smoked, and snuffed ; indeed, human ingenuity seems 

 to be exhausted in devising ways of bringing these sedatives in 

 contact with the nerves. As in the case of opium, smoking 

 undoubtedly succeeds in producing more complete effects than 

 does either chewing or snuffing. 



The plant is undoubtedly of American origin, though this 

 particular species is not known in the wild state. However, it 

 was unknown to the Old World until after the discovery of 

 America, Arabians and others having drafted into service other 

 similar narcotic plants from their own country, all of which were 

 abandoned upon the introduction of the new, stronger, and 

 therefore favorite, American narcotic. 



When this country was discovered the South American In- 

 dians both chewed and snuffed,^ while from the Isthmus north 

 they smoked, but neither chewed nor snuffed. The use of to- 

 bacco was therefore well-nigh universal in America before it was 

 known in the Old World. Added to this is the fact that of the 

 fifty species of Nicotiana, only two are found in the Old World, 

 leaving to America the undoubted, if doubtful, honor of supply- 

 ing to the world this new and now widespread narcotic favorite. 



1 The coca must not be confused with the useful cacao (Theobroma cacao), 

 native of the Amazon, from the seeds of which chocolate and cocoa are made, 

 nor must it be taken for the equally useful coconut, which is the product of a 

 palm that is native to the tropical regions of both the Old and the New 

 World, and that seems to have had a wider range formerly than now. 



2 Except those of the La Plata district, which had no narcotic. 



