THE HISTORY OF TOBACCO 15 



"That was merely a warning to first offenders," 

 returned his uncle. ' ' For a second offense the luck- 

 less person caught in the act had his nose cut off. 

 It was a radical measure to discourage the snuff- 

 taker: no more nose, no more snuff. But the smok- 

 ers, after this horrible mutilation, persisted in their 

 smoking. 



"A king of Persia devised what he thought would 

 cure even this habit: every one caught with a pipe 

 in his mouth had his upper lip cut off. At the same 

 time, of course, every nose proved guilty of snuff- 

 taking fell under the executioner's knife. But the 

 atrocious edict of the Persian king proved as futile 

 as that of the Turkish emperor. Despite all the 

 noses struck off, all the lips cut away, all the feet 

 made to tingle under the rod, the use of tobacco still 

 continued to spread. These fruitless severities had 

 to be abandoned. 



"Other regulations sprang up here and there, less 

 cruel, but sufficiently fruitful in fines, imprison- 

 ments, vexations of all sorts. Still nothing was of 

 any avail; smokers and snuff-takers remained in- 

 corrigible. Finally, taking wiser counsel, the gov- 

 ernment authorities conceived a plan for making 

 this passion, which no severity had been able to sub- 

 due, yield them large revenues. The government 

 itself became exclusive vender of the very article it 

 had at first proscribed with such rigor. France 

 alone derives a yearly revenue of almost three hun- 

 dred million francs from the sale of tobacco." 



