190 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



possesses any nutritive qualities, and no animal is known to eat it. Man alone 

 has found a use tor it. 



Use. — The dried leaves are used to chew or to smoke. They undergo various 

 processes as preparation for chewing and smoking. The leaves are stripped 

 from the stems, dried, and then rolled into cigars, or cut by machinery into 

 shreds and put in the pipe ; in that state tobacco is also cheAved. It is also 

 soaked in a liquor made of molasses and liquorice-water, after which it is 

 pressed, and is then called " plug-tobacco." 



The stems and other refuse parts are ground into snuff, flavored with sub- 

 stances to suit the fancy of buyers The custom of snuffing is less common 

 than formerly. 



Effects upon the system. — When administered as a medicine it causes a sen- 

 sation of heat in the throat, and a feeling of warmth in the stomach. The 

 effect upon the system generally is to increase the activity and capacity of the 

 absorbents, and dropsical affections sometimes disappear under its treatment. 

 It produces nausea, causing vomiting and purging when administered in large 

 doses, and gives rise to an indescribable sinking sensation at the pit of the 

 stomach peculiar to itself. It sometimes acts as an anodyne, and occasionally 

 promotes sleep. 



Large doses bring on trembling of the limbs, faiutness, dimness of sight, 

 and cold sweats, succeeded by convulsions, paralysis, and torpor, terminating 

 in death. The use of tobacco as a luxury is followed by effects which are very 

 startling. It has been demonstrated that it has an injurious effect upon the 

 mind, tending to enfeeble it and rob it of moral energy, impairing the memory, 

 and produ(?iug a low grade of intellect. 



Tobacco-oil is one of the most deadly poisons, It acts on the brain and 

 nerve cord, first .exciting, then lessening their activity ; it induces convulsions 

 and paralysis, and at length arrests respiration ; it also injuriously affects 

 the heart and contracts the intestines. Tobacco-poisoning in some degree is 

 very common, and is probably experienced by every smoker when first acquir- 

 ing the habit. In larger doses nicotine will kill like prussic acid ; in small 

 doses it causes tetanus, — one to two drops being enough to kill a dog or a 

 rabbit in five minutes Horses have been known to die from eating oats that 

 had been kept in a granary along with tobacco. Tobacco-juice is distilled in 

 smoking, and is very poisonous ; some that was put in a student's beer caused 

 his death ; even contact of tobacco with the skin may poison the system. Thus 

 a squadron of hussars who smuggled tobacco-leaf next the skin, were all made 

 .sick. 



Statistics. — On the islands of Great Britain and Ireland there are about 

 300,000 shops in which tobacco is exposed for sale; the amount of sales 

 exceeds 250,000,000 dollars per annum. In France a larger amount is sold in 

 proportion to the inha])itants. 



In Denmark the annual consumption is equal to 7 pounds to the person, 

 including women and children. In the United States the proportion exceeds 

 that of any other country of which we have statistics. 



In New York City, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, it is estimated that about 

 800,000 people smoke ; which is not far from one in every three, counting 

 men, women, anfl children. 



The entire consumption of the world is 5,580,000,000 pounds ; and it is also 

 estimated that about 300,000,000 of the whole human family smoke, and that 

 the money spent for tobacco in the world would buy bread for the entire 

 population of the United States. 



