SOLANACEiE. 495 



of the pit that is bottomless," it is now universal both in civilized and savage 

 nations ; and it is a strange fact that no custom is so soon acquired and so 

 difficult to relinquish as that of using this weed. 



It appears to thrive in all parts of the world ; several species are cultivated, 

 but the principal are N. tabacum, N. paniculata, and N. rustica ; and from 

 these an immense number of varieties have been derived, differing in appear- 

 ance and in the quality of the leaf, according to species, locality, and mode 

 of cultivation. The mildest are said to be derived from the 2V. rustica, which 

 is the origin of the Syrian and Turkish kinds (Royle, Ittus. 283), and was 

 the kind carried to Europe and used by Sir W. Raleigh. The celebrated and 

 fragrant tobacco of Shiraz is stated by Lindley to be derived from the N. Per- 

 sica. Most of the American sorts are the product of varieties of N. tabacum, 

 though some of the milder are stated to be from the 2V". rustica, paniculata, 

 and repanda. A full account of the commercial distinctions will be found 

 in Macculloch's Dictionary of Commerce, and a brief synopsis in Pereira, 

 (ii. 324.) 



Tobacco is manufactured in various forms to fit it for smoking, snuffing, 

 or chewing ; and the consumption is so immense that no estimate can be made 

 of the quantity yearly used in these different forms throughout the world. 

 The average export from the United States for late years has been upwards 

 of 100,000 hhds. ; to which must be added the vast home market. 



The leaf, as met with in commerce, is of various shades of colour, with a 

 peculiar and narcotic odour, and a bitter, nauseous taste. The darker the 

 hue, the stronger is the tobacco, and the greater its action on the system. It 

 has been analyzed by many chemists both in the fresh, dried, and manufac- 

 tured, state, and with very various results; but it is generally admitted at pre- 

 sent that it owes its powers to an alkali called nicotina ; this exists in all 

 parts of the plant, and has very energetic properties; it is a colourless, liquid, 

 volatile alkali, with a strong odour of tobacco, and an acrid, burning taste; it 

 combines with acids, forming salts, some of which are crystallizable. Haifa 

 grain will produce the most aggravated symptoms in a cat (Turnpenny, 

 Journ. Phil. Coll. Pharm. v. 198). It also affords a concrete volatile oil, 

 the nicotianin of Humboldt (Schweigger, Journ. xxxi. 441); this is only 

 procurable from the dried leaf, and appears to be developed in the process of 

 curing ; it is strongly endowed with the properties of the plant, as is also the 

 empyreumatic oil. Dr. Paris [Med. Jur. ii. 417) is of opinion that " the 

 juice of cursed hebenon," by which the father of Hamlet is said by Shakspeare 

 to have been poisoned, was the essential oil of tobacco, as ; it is supposed that 

 the poet used the word hebenon for henebon, or henbane, which was, accord- 

 ing to Gerarde, one of the names then used for tobacco. 



The effects of tobacco on the human system are various, according to the 

 dose and habituation to its use. In small doses it causes a sensation of heat 

 in the throat, with some nausea and sense of swimming in the head, followed 

 by diuresis, and sometimes by purgation. In larger quantities it induces much 

 nausea, vomiting, and purging, with giddiness, and a feeling of sinking at the 

 pit of the stomach; the pulse becomes small and weak, the surface cold and 

 clammy, the respiration impeded, and sometimes convulsive actions of the 

 muscles. In over-doses, these symptoms are increased, paralysis and coma 

 ensue, followed by death. The same train of phenomena are present, when 

 the leaves are smoked by those unaccustomed to their use, and in several 

 cases death has ensued. Chewing will produce the same consequences in 

 those who attempt it for the first time ; in those who have become habituated 

 to it, it is liable to cause a derangement of the digestive functions, with a dis- 

 ordered condition of the nervous system, attended with a morbid action of the 



