Sassafras. 



125 



taught him how to debase himself })elow the brute, and 

 destroy the quiet of savage life by the use of our whiskey ; 

 and he, in return, has taught us to destroy our constitutions, 

 and interrupt the harmony of civilized society, by the habitual 

 use of his deadly narcotic. 



Gentlemen, I have done. The subject, with a slight ex- 

 amination, is before you. I have plainly and fearlessly ex- 

 pressed my opinion, without intending to wound the feelings 

 of a single individual. If your sentiments correspond with 

 mine, you will assist in bringing this odious practice to the 

 bar of public opinion. There let it be subjected to a severe, 

 but dispassionate trial ; and if on a cool and deliberate inves- 

 tigation, its pernicious tendency shall fully appear, then let the 

 American people rise up, and with united voice pronounce its 

 sentence of final condemnation. 



McMlistef s Dissertation on Tobacco. 



SASSAFRAS. 

 Laurus sassafras. 



The Sassafras, on account 

 of its medicinal virtues and 

 the beauty of its foliage, is 

 one of the most interesting 

 trees of the American for- 

 ests. In the United States, 

 the neighborhood of Ports- 

 mouth in New Hampshire, 

 in the latitude of 43°, may 

 be assumed as one of the 

 extreme points at which it 

 is found towards the north- 

 east: in the Western Coun- 

 try it is met with one degree 

 farther north. From Bos- 

 ton to the banks of the 

 Mississippi, and from the 

 shores of the ocean to Vir- 

 ginia, and to the remotest 

 wilds of Upper Louisiana 

 beyond the Missouri, comprising an extent in each direction 

 of more than 1800 miles, this tree is sufficiently multiplied to 



Fig. 1. A leaf. Fig. 2. The fruit. 



