12 TOBACCO AND ITS HISTORY. 



Lisbon, through Jean Nicot, French ambassador; from whom it 

 derives its botanical name NicofAana. 



The Tobacco plant was imported to Spain in 1 558 by a jih y- 

 sician named Francisco Fernancles, whom Philip the Second 

 had sent to investigate the products of Mexico. Tobacco was 

 cultivated in that country as an ornamental })lant until Nicolo 

 Menardes, a noted physician, extolled it as an emanation of 

 Divinity, sent for the mental renovation of mankind. It was 

 considered i)ossessed of almost miraculous healing [wwers. Its 

 crowning virtues were its powers to clarify the mind, impart 

 new inspiration, and soothe the troubled heart of man, under 

 the most adverse circumstances. Some of the titles by which 

 it was dignified were '' Jlerha jxinaceu,'' '- Ilerha Santa/' ''Sana 

 Sancta Iiidoruui." 



As Tobacco spread to other climes its sujjjmsed virtues secured 

 for it great hmiowu. Sages wrote in its favor; poets sang 

 its praise; novelists eulogized it in tale; divines embodied 

 it in their discourses. Evei. the saintly Ebenezer Eiskine, in 

 his "Gospel Sonnets," spiritualized it thus: — 



"And when the pipe grows foul within, 

 Think on thy soul deliled with sin — 

 Thus tliink, and smoke Tobacco." 



Spencer, who wrote undf.'r its inspiration, -ailed it " Divine 

 Tobacco." Lilly the astrologer, e.ujbodied it in his production 

 as " Our lioly herb Nicotian." These and other siujilar lauda- 

 tions uttered in its favor from the great centre of civilization, 

 gave it an impetus which soon became manifest. 



Although the Tobacco plant was introduced to Europe through 

 Spain, the habit of smoking it was initiated and spread through 

 English example. Ralph Lane, the iirst Governor of Virginia, 

 and Sir Francis Drake, brought with them in 158G, from that 

 colony, the materials of Tobacco-smoking, which they handed to 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, who, every school-boy is taught to be]ie\e, 

 was the Iirst to introduce Tobacco to English society. Lane is 



