Tobacco and its history. 



tlie .serpent's tootli, (|ucll(.(l by the sweet saliva of the propliet." 

 ('/i(t)nher's Encijcloprjlvi referring to th(! suhject states, "It 

 is not iniprobable that the smoking of Tohacco has hcen long 

 l)ractisecl in the East." Tli(> same antlioritv refta-rinj; to tlie 

 various species, says, "They are njjtivcjs of svarm countries, 

 most of them American, although some are found in the East 

 Indies." Again it asserts that one sjiecies " is a natives of the 

 East," and another " is a native of Persia." 



In sui)port of the idea that the Tobacco plant was known to 

 the ancients, Professor Hitchcock, one of the best authorities 

 of the dty, ass(.>rts that 



TIIK NAME TOBAf'rO l.S DKRIVKl) FROM BACCHUS, 



the god of wine. He says : " In declining that name according 

 to the ndes of the Creek granmiar, it runs thus: nominative, 

 Bakchos ; genitive. Ton Bakchou ; dative. To Jlohrho. The 

 literal meaning of which latter case is .something offered to the 

 person or thing spoken of; viz., in this case, as I understand 

 it, Tobacco means a certain weed dedicated to Bacchus, and it 

 is truly a most acceptable offering, for scarcely anything else 

 promotes his cause so much." 



Consulting the various authorities outside of Hitchcock, it is 

 surprising the lack of harmony existing as to how the word 

 Tohacco came to be used by us. Webster gives it as transferred 

 to the herb from the tube or pipe in which the Indians smoked 

 the plant, and goes on to say that some derive the word from 

 Tobaco, a province of Yucatan ; othei-s from Tobago, one of 

 the Caribbees, but adds, "this is very doubtful." Worcester 

 gives his opinion second hand, as coming from Baird, whose 

 idea was that tobacco is from the Indian word Tabacos, the 

 name which the Can ibbees gave the pipe in which they smoked 

 the i)lant. C/iambe/s ICnci/rlopedia states that the word Tobacco 

 is of "uncertain derivation, but most probably from the native 

 American name." Benzoni, whose travels in Ameiica from 

 1542 to 1550 were published in 1565, asserts that the Mexi- 

 can name of the herb was " Tabacco." 



