4G6 SOLANACE^. 



niger L., with stalked leaves and bracts, a native of the Mediterranean 

 region, is sometimes used in the south of Europe as medicinal henbane. 

 H. insanus Stocks, a plant of Beluchistan, is mentioned in the Phar- 

 macopoeia of India as of considerable virulence, and sometimes used 

 for smoking. 



FOLIA TABACI. 



Herha Nicotiance; Tobacco ; F. Tahac; G. Tahakhlatter. 



Botanical Origin — N'icotiana Tabacuni L. — The common Tobacco 

 plant is a native of the New World, though not now known in a wild 

 state. Its cultivation is carried on in most temperate and sub-tropical 

 countries. 



History — It is stated by 0. Ph. von Martins^ that the practice of 

 smoking tobacco has been widely diffused from time immemorial among 

 the natives of South America, as well as among the inhabitants of the 

 valley of the Mississippi as far north as the plant can be cultivated. 



The Spaniards became acquainted with tobacco when they landed 

 in Cuba in 1492, and on their return introduced it into Europe for the 

 sake of its medicinal properties. The custom of inhaling the smoke of 

 the herb was learnt from the Indians, and by the end of the 16th 

 centur}^ had become generally known throughout Spain and Portugal, 

 whence it passed into the rest of Europe, and into Turkey, Egypt, and 

 India, notwithstanding that it was opposed by the severest enactments 

 both of Christian and Mahommedan governments. It is commonly 

 believed that the practice of smoking tobacco was much promoted in 

 England, as well as in the north of Europe generally, by the example 

 of Sir Walter Raleigh and his companions. 



Tobacco was introduced into China, probably by way of Japan or 

 Manila, during the 16th or 17th century, but its use was prohibited by 

 the emperors both of the Ming and Tsing dynasties. It is now culti- 

 vated in most of the provinces, and is universally emploj^ed.'- 



The first tolerably exact description of the tobacco plant is that 

 given by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, governor of St. 

 Domingo, in his Historia general de las Indias,^ printed at Seville in 

 1535. In this work, the plant is said to be smoked through a 

 branched tube of the shape of the letter Y, which the natives call 

 Tabaco. 



It was not until the middle of the 16th century that growing 

 tobacco was seen in Europe, — first at Lisbon, whence the French 

 ambassador, Jean Nicot, sent seeds to France in 1560 as those of a 

 valuable medicinal plant, which was even then diffused throughout 

 Portugal.* 



Monardes,' wi-iting in 1571, speaks of tobacco as brought to Spain a 

 few years pi-eviously, and valued for its beauty and for its medicinal 



1 Beitrdffe zur Ethnographie und Sprachen- * Nicot, Thrdsor de la langue Franf^oysp, 



kunde Americas, zumal BrasiUens, i. (1867) Paris, 1606. 429. 



719. ' Seginula parte del libro de las cosas que 



^ yiayers in Hong Kon;f Notes and Que7-ies, se Iraen de nuestras Indias occidentales, que 



May, 1867; F. P. Smith, Mat. Med. and sirven al uso de medkina. Do se trata del 



JS'at. Hist, of China, 1871. 219. Tabaco . . . . , Sevilla, 1571, 3. 



3 Lib. V. c. 2. 



