LINT. 



401 



tlio article is sent from America to other coun- 

 tries, where the tobacconists cut it into chaff-like 

 shreds by a machine like a straw cutter, to be 

 used as smoking tobacco. They also form it into 

 small cords for chewing, or dry and grind it for 

 the various kinds of snuffs. The three principal 

 kinds of these are called rappee, Scotch or Span- 

 ish, and thirds. The first is only granulated, 

 tlie second is reduced to a very fine power, and 

 the third is the siftings of the second sort. The 

 best Havannah segars are made from the leaves 

 of n. repcmda. The Indians of the ];ocky moun- 

 tains of North America prepare their tobacco 

 from the n. quadrwaMs and n. nana. 



The moderate use of tobacco, like that of the 

 other stimulants used by man, may be harmless, 

 or even, in some respects, and under certain cir- 

 cumstances of climate, &c., probably beneficial. 

 Its inordinate use, however, is followed by those 

 symptoms which characterize the action of all 

 narcotics on the human body, such as loss of 

 tone of the digestive organs, debility of the ner- 

 vous system, and the diseases and premature de- 

 cay consequent on such. A pallid countenance, 

 indigestion, and not unfrequently impaired vi- 

 sion and loss of sight, follow an undue use of 

 this herb in whatever way it is taken. 



CHAP. XLI. 



PLANTS USED FOR CLOTHING, CORDAGE, &C. — FLAX, 

 HEMP, COTTON, NEW ZEALAND FLAX, &C. 



Having in the preceding chapters treated of 

 those vegetable substances used for the food of 

 man, we now proceed to describe those which 

 are employed for clothing and other useful pur- 

 poses. 



Many of the fibrous parts of vegetables possess 

 considerable tenacity, especially the inner bark 

 or true liber; and accordingly we find, that, 

 among rude nations, the prepared bark of trees 

 constitutes their chief clothing. In more ad- 

 vanced states of society, the fibres of smaller 

 plants bleached, and wove into an artificial tex- 

 ture, form more comfortable and elegant substi- 

 tutes. In the South sea islands the natives pre- 

 pare for themselves robes of the inner bark of 

 trees, having first beat and softened the fibre, and 

 then sewed the strips together, so as to form a 

 large cloak. In more northern climes the bark 

 of the birch and other trees are also occasionally 

 used along with the skins and furs of animals. 

 If we endeavour to trace the first origin of woven 

 garments, we must look to the cradle of all the 

 arts and inventions of civilized man — to Pales- 

 tine and Egypt. In the earliest history of the 

 patriarchs we find frequent mention made of 

 linen garments. Solomon imported flaxen yam 



from Egypt, which was woven by his people 

 into cloth ; and fine linen is enumerated among 

 the ornaments of the temple of Jerusalem. He- 

 rodotus mentions that the Greeks also derived 

 their linen from Egypt; and we find that the 

 mummies of that singular people were enveloped 

 in many folds of linen of various textures, ac- 

 cording to the rank of the persons embalmed ; 

 some of those envelopes being of a very fine tex- 

 ture and in wonderful preservation, even after a 

 lapse of many thousand years. 



Herodotus also mentions, that, in the temple 

 of Minerva at Lindus, in Rhodes, there was kept 

 a linen corslet of curious workmanship, which 

 had belonged to Amasis king of Egypt, who 

 flourished 600 years before the Christian era. 

 Each thread of this corslet was composed of 360 

 filaments, and it was ornamented with cotton 

 and gold. Pliny mentions that in his time a 

 fragment of this cloth still remained, but that 

 the curious touch of numerous visitors had re- 

 duced it to a mere relic. At the commencement 

 of the Christian era, the use of linen was also 

 well known, not only in Egypt, but in various 

 parts of Europe. Pliny says, that the flax of 

 Spain surpassed that of all other nations. He 

 gives a description of the mode of raising and 

 preparing flax ; and it is singular to mark, that 

 it differs little from the modern practice. The 

 Romans preferred the use of woollen garments 

 even to a late period of their history ; but linen 

 was used in their domestic establishments, and 

 employed in making the sails and cordage oi 

 their navy. 



Lint (Unum usitatissimum), from the Greek 

 linon, and Latin Unum. Natural family, carpo- 

 phyllece; pentandria,pentagj/nia, Linnsus. This 

 is an annual slender upright plant, with fibrous 

 stalks about the thickness of a crow quill, hol- 

 low, composed of soft woody matter, and a tough 

 fibrous rind. The leaves are alternate, long, 

 narrow, of a greenish gray. At the height ol' 

 two and a half feet the single stem divides into 

 several footstalks, in which are the flowers, with 

 delicate blue petals. The ovary is large, globu- 

 lar, divided into ten cells, each containing a seed 

 of an oblong form, smooth, shining, and unctu- 

 ous to the feel, containing a large quantity of 

 oil and mucilage. The plant thrives best in rich 

 land; but it will grow on almost any soil. It 

 impoverishes the ground very much, and, there- 

 fore, should never be sown two years on the 

 same place. A field of lint, with its soft silken 

 foliage and its delicate blue flowers, forms a very 

 beautiful object ; and such is the beauty of the 

 blossom, that it is not unfrequently introduced 

 as a garden ornament. 



It is supposed that this plant was introduced 

 into Britain some time subseqvient to the Nor- 

 man conquest, as it is not enumerated among the 

 tithable articles of that period. It was not till 

 3 £ 



