494 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



plaited, rose-coloured segments. The stamens are as long as the corolla, with oblong, 

 compressed anthers. The ovary is ovate, and bears a long, slender style, terminated by 

 a roundish, bilobate stigma. The capsule is ovate, and contains many small, reniform 

 seeds. 



This plant is indigenous to the warm parts of America, and was not known 

 to Europeans before the discovery of this continent. Columbus found it in 

 use in Hayti in 1492. Humboldt [Person. Narr.) states, that it was first 

 discovered in the Mexican province of Yucatan, and that it was there called 

 Petum ; it was afterwards transported to the West Indies and North Ame- 

 rica, and carried to Europe by Hernandes de Toledo, who went from Florida 

 to Lisbon about the commencement of the sixteenth century ; when Raleigh 

 took Tobacco from America to England in 1586, it was already cultivated, 

 to some extent, in Portugal. Another strong proof of its American origin 

 is the fact, that in this continent it is known under a different name in the 

 various languages of the aborigines, whereas, in every part of the old world, 

 it is only called by appellations derived from the Haytian Tamaku. But 

 some writers maintain, that a Tobacco was known and used in Asia long 

 before the discovery of America, and point out the species peculiar to that 

 region in corroboration of this, and also affirm, that it is impossible that its 

 use could have become so universal, especially among nations so loth to 

 adopt new habits as those of Asia, in the short space of time that has elapsed 

 since its introduction into Europe. Bell, in his Travels, expressly states, that 

 the Chinese have been Tobacco smokers for ages ; but allowing the fact that 

 they smoked as he says, it does not follow that they used Tobacco. Chardin 

 also states ( Travels, in. 304), that Tobacco grew in Persia 400 years before 

 he visited it in 1660. Had this practice prevailed in Asia, there would have 

 been some notice of it in Arabian and other works, describing the habits and 

 manners of the inhabitants before the time of Columbus; but nothing is to 

 be found in them respecting it. It is said by Ainslie, that as far as he can 

 learn, Tobacco was first brought to India from Brazil in 1617, and he alludes 

 to a proclamation of Jahangir, that it was introduced during his or the pre- 

 ceding reign. (Mat. Ind. i. 447.) Other writers assign an earlier date, and 

 say that it was taken to India by the Portuguese in 1599. From India its 

 use extended to China and Persia, whilst the more western Asiatic nations 

 received the habit from Europe. Sandys, who was at Constantinople in 

 1610, speaks of Tobacco smoking, as a new custom among the Turks. 



The use seems to have spread with very great rapidity ; for at a very early 

 date after its introduction severe edicts appeared against the custom in vari- 

 ous countries; thus it was prohibited in Turkey by Amurath IV. at the time 

 of Sandys' visit alluded to above ; and Sir Thomas Herbert mentions that 

 there was a severe edict against it in Persia in 1628; in 1634 it was de- 

 nounced in Russia, and twenty years afterwards in Switzerland, where its use 

 was considered so heinous as to be classed as a crime next to adultery; it 

 was also prohibited in Denmark by Christian IV. ; James I. of England not 

 only endeavoured to prevent its consumption by taxing it heavily, and order- 

 ing that no planter in Virginia should grow more than one hundred pounds, 

 but also wrote a book against it, " A Counterblast to Tobacco.'''' By a bull 

 of Urban VIII. all persons using tobacco in church were excommunicated. 

 Numerous laws and enactments on the subject might be cited ; but enough 

 have been noticed to show how rapidly the habit of employing a naturally 

 repulsive article gained ground, and how impossible it was to eradicate it. 

 For though, to use the words of King James, it is " a custom loathsome to the 

 eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in 

 the black stinking fume thereof, most resembling the horrible Stygian smoke 



