Snuff and Snuff- takers 261 



ance of Divine Service, keeping, indeed, snuff-boxes 

 on the altar. 



In that day each snuffer made his own snuff, carry- 

 ing with him in a cylindrical box a carotte or roll of 

 tobacco, a grater, and a nose-shovel. Wanting a 

 pinch, he grated a small quantity of tobacco and in- 

 haled it. Tobacco thus grated into snuff was known 

 as tabac rapi, from which one kind of snuff has 

 derived its name — rappee. 



As the habit became more popular manufacturers 

 placed ready-made snuffs on the market. In Paris 

 the makers stationed persons with snuff-boxes in 

 public places to offer pinches gratis to all passers-by, 

 in order to introduce snuff and special brands into 

 public favour. 



In the days of the Regency no French Abbe was 

 without his box ; as his rank and wealth, so were the 

 flavour and costliness of his snuff. Under Louis le 

 Grand snuff-taking became an integral part of 

 fashionable life, practised by both sexes, though 

 personally disliked by that monarch. His physician, 

 Dr. Fagon, acting under royal commands, lectured 

 against snuff, pointing out its injurious effects on the 

 health, producing apoplexy and drying and blacken- 

 ing the brain. The effect of the worthy physician's 

 eloquence was minimized by the absent-mindedness 

 of his actions; carried away by the flow of his 

 periods and the irresistible logic of his arguments, 

 from time to time during his discourse he gained 

 fresh energy for his attack on snuff by imbibing a 

 fragrant pinch ! 



In England smoking was preferred to snuff. The 



