Social Progress of Tobacco 93 



the population. From I3'2i in 1841 it rose to i6'87 

 ounces in 1851. During the following ten years it 

 increased 2 ounces per head, and in 187 1 had risen to 

 2 1 '49 ounces. The increase then slackened, but from 

 22-6 ounces in 1881 it rose to 25 ounces in 1891, and 

 during the last ten years to 32 ounces per head of 

 the population. 



As the true merits and virtues of smoking won 

 general recognition, smokers, rapidly increasing in 

 numbers and improving in status, were no longer 

 regarded as the scum and offscourings of society. It 

 was a great victory for smokers when their right to 

 punctuate their journeys with the soothing weed was 

 admitted and legalised by Parliament. The setting 

 apart of railway-carriages for smokers dates only 

 from 1868. Fairholt nine years before noted with 

 surprise that in Holland railway trains were filled 

 with conveniences for smokers. In England smoking 

 was strictly prohibited in all carriages, but nevertheless 

 was generally practised by the public. 



Among the several measures of useful social re- 

 form, including the abolition of public executions 

 and the nationalization of telegraphs, passed into law 

 by the last Session of Parliament under Disraeli's 

 first premiership in 1868 was a Board of Trade Bill 

 regulating the railway system of the country. One 

 clause enacted that every train travelling above fifteen 

 miles an hour without a stop should have means of 

 communication between the passengers and the guard. 

 Another section imposed a penalty of ;^S00 on any 

 railway company aiding and abetting prize-fights by 

 conveying principals, seconds, or spectators to the 



