SOLANACE^.. 189 



It is claimed by the Chiuese that they cultivated and used tobacco before 

 the discovery of America : yet recent investi<^ati()iis have developed the fact 

 that the plant cultivated there is a variety of the species most commonly culti- 

 vated in America, and has no characteristic difference, except such as differ- 

 ent soils and modes of cultivation would induce. . But the strongest argument 

 is that the eastern hmguages have no name for it, but throughout the countries 

 of Asia it is known by its .\merican name, tobacco, which was no doubt 

 obtained from tlie Tortuguese who introduced it into China and Japan. 



After careful examination we are forced to the conclusion that tobacco was 

 brought to tlie n<jtice of civilized man in the West Indies soon after their dis- 

 covery, and that the practice of smoking it originated among the savages of 

 the New World. 



In the countries where the use of tobacco prevails, 27 of every 40 adult 

 males are wedded to the custom. An account of the efforts to suppress the 

 use of tobacco that have been made by medical men and by the highest 

 authority constitutes an important cha])ter in its history. 



The pope at one time lent his aid to its suppression. James I. of f>nglaud, 

 and the authorities of Russia and of Turkey, passed stringent laws forbidding 

 its use, and executed them with savage barbarity. For using tobacco, men 

 were wiiipped, their noses were slit, and sometimes cut off. In Turkey they 

 were bastinadoed and beheaded. The pope thundered his bulls of excom- 

 munication at them. 



James I. of England, in the beginning of the seventeentli century, published 

 his counterblast against tobacco, in which he undertook to show how unworthy 

 it is for a civilized nation to adopt customs from such barbarians as ihe Ameri- 

 can savages. 



Notwithstanding this royal diatribe and many others that have followed all 

 along down through the history of tobacco, its use lias extended to every nook 

 and corner of the world where civilized man has erected his habitation. Good 

 men have written against it on the ground of its immoral effects. Political 

 economists have attacked it on account of its entire uselessness. Physicians 

 have fought it because of its mischievous effects on tlie health of the body ; 

 yet it has crept on and is still advancing. 



Cultivation. — The plant is propagated from seed, and sports, forming varie- 

 ties, many of which are under cultivation ; but le.ss attention has been paid to 

 obtaining new varieties than the importance of the plant warrants. 



Chemistry. — Nicotiana yields to the chemist eighteen different substances, 

 the most important and characteristic of which are nicotine and nicotianin. 

 Nicotine is composed of C.20 H14 N.,. It is an oily li(|uid without color, and 

 one of the most active poisons known ; a single drop ]>laced upon the tongue 

 of a serpent causes death as instantaneously as an electric shock. It is an 

 alkali which has the most intense affinity for acids ; it is .«<oluble in alcohol, 

 and will mix with water. The disagreeable, sickening effect produced by 

 the fumes of tobacco burned in an old pij»e is due to the presence of 

 nicotine. 



Nicotianin contains the same substances, but in different proportions, and 

 furnishes the odor of tobacco. The nicotic property appears in the leaf after 

 fermentation. ^ 



The.se two substances are accompanied by sixteen others, the principal of 

 which are resin, potassa, rhlorine, lime, silica, lli/nin, and qJutin ; and the whole 

 plant is richer in nitrogen than any other vegetable substance that has l)een 

 subjected to chemical tests. No oue of the substances detected in tobacco 



