TOBACCO. 289 



many are smokers themselves, and a great allowance must 

 be made for prejudice, thereby giving a preponderance of 

 authority for disapproving the practice. Its power of resist- 

 ing contagion, formerly held forth as one of its strongest apo- 

 logies, is now disbelieved by all well-informed physiologists ; 

 whilst its injurious effects upon the digestive and secretory 

 powers of many constitutions requires no confirmation. 



Tobacco is used in the form of dried leaves coarsely 

 broken (German Knaster) ; the dried leaves cut into fine 

 threads (Cut Tobacco) ; the dried leaves pressed into cakes, 

 having been previously moistened with treacle or sugar and 

 water (Cavendish and Negrohead), used for chewing and 

 smoking ; the dried leaves moistened with treacle and water, 

 beaten until they are soft, and then twisted into a sort of 

 string (called Pigtail) ; the dried leaves and the dried stalks 

 ground into a powder and baked, or roasted as it is called, 

 used as snuff, which is variously scented to suit the different 

 olfactory tastes ; the dried leaves deprived of their midribs 

 and wound into a sort of spindle-form, seldom more than 

 three inches in length, known as cigars, and a variety in the 

 form of cylinders cut straight at each end and thicker at 

 one end than the other, known as cheroots. Besides these 

 preparations for smokers there are cigarettoes or cigarettes, 



