NICO] 



K\)t Embury at 33afcinj). 



788 



names imply, several-valved or four-valved 

 capsules. 



Tobacco contains an extremely poisonous 

 substance called nicotine. This, when ex- 

 tracted by the chemist, is a colourless liquid 

 with alkaline properties and an acrid burn- 

 ing taste. This ingredient, as well as acon- 

 crete oilysubstance called ulcotuuiin, exists 

 in the unpurifled oil which is formed when 

 tobacco is burned. Tobacco in poisonous 

 doses, or when taken in any form by those 

 unaccustomed to its use, produces (accord- 

 ing to the quantity taken and the mode of 

 taking) nausea, vomiting, purging, giddi- 

 ness, remarkable languor and relaxation 

 of the muscles, and in extreme cases cold 



Nicotiana Tabacuru. 



sweats, fainting, convulsions, and death. 

 Death has occurred from smoking even so 

 small a quantity as two pipes, from the ap- 

 plication of the drug to the raw skin, and 

 from the incautious use of injections. 

 Nevertheless, its moderate use is in many 

 instances beneficial, from the sedative ef- 

 fects it produces. Its power of allaying 

 hunger is also well attested. There can 

 be no question, however, that the abuse of 

 this substance does,at the present day, pro- 

 duce much serious impairment, first of the 

 digestive organs, then of the nervous sys- 

 tem, till at length the whole frame parti- 

 cipates in the ill effects derived from what, 

 under proper restraint, would be beneficial, 

 or at all events harmless. In medical prac- 

 tice Tobacco is now rarely employed. At 

 one time it was frequently used in cases of 

 hernia, in order to relax the muscles and 

 allow of the replacement of the displaced 

 bowel ; but for this purpose it has been 

 superseded by the more safe and more effi- 

 cacious chloroform. [M. T. MJ 



Smoking is a custom of very great anti- 

 quity in both hemispheres, although pre- 

 vious to the discovery of America it was 

 not common among the inhabitants of the 

 Old World, and the substances smoked 

 were either hemp or such herbs as colts- 

 foot. But when Columbus and his follow- 

 ers landed in Cuba in 1492, they discovered 

 the now far-famed Tobacco in common use 



among the natives ; and subsequent ex- 

 plorers found that it was spread over the 

 whole continent of America, where it had 

 been cultivated from time immemorial. 

 The pleasantly soothing effects of this new 

 herb were so enticing that it soon found 

 patrons among the adventurers, and in an 

 almost incredibly short time after their 

 return to Spain, tobacco-smoking began 

 to be practised in Europe ; but it did not 

 gain much ground among the nations of 

 the North until the famous Sir Walter 

 Raleigh and his companions introduced 

 the custom into England in 1586. AJ; first 

 it met with the most violent opposition : 

 kings prohibited it: popes fulminated 

 bulls against it ; and sultans sentenced 

 smokers to the most cruel kinds of death. 

 Persecution, however, only helped to 

 spread it. In spite of all penalties the 

 custom rapidly progressed, until, at the 

 present day, it may be said to be univer- 

 sally practised by both civilised and un- 

 civilised man— Tobacco, of all the varied 

 productions of the earth, being the sub- 

 stance most universally used by mankind. 



Tobacco now forms one of the most im- 

 portant articles of commerce, and a large 

 revenue is derived from it in this and 

 other countries. In 1863 the total imports 

 into the United Kingdom amounted to 

 55,122,048 lbs., of which 37,616,240 lbs. 

 were retained for home consumption, tne 

 duty thereon amounting to 5,986,447?. 



A great number of varieties are recog- 

 nised, and mostly distinguished by the 

 country from which they are derived. 

 Thus, we have American tobacco, from 

 the United States, Maryland, Ohio, Vir- 

 ginian, and Kentucky, which form the 

 bulk of our imports, and come in hogs- 

 heads, the leaves being tied together in 

 bundles called 'Lands; ' from Venezuela, 

 the kinds known as Varinas, Orinoco, and 

 Cumana ; from New Granada the Colum- 

 bian ; from Cuba, the Cuban and Havannah ; 

 and large imports from Buenos Ayres, 

 Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, &c. Of 

 European tobacco we receive large sup- 

 plies from Holland, Germany, France, 

 Turkey (Salonica), Italy, Greece, and other 

 parts. Asiatic tobaccos come principally 

 from India, the Philippine Islands (Ma- 

 nilla), Latakia, and occasionally from Per- 

 sia (Shiraz). 



The first process which the leaves under- 

 go after gathering, is that of sweating for 

 three or four days, after which the plants 

 are hung in airy sheds to dry, and then 

 placed in heaps and again sweated for one 

 or two weeks, and while slightly moist 

 packed for exportation. Before being 

 used it is manufactured into cut and roll 

 tobacco for smoking and chewing, into 

 cigars and cheroots, and into snuff. For 

 cutting, the tobacco is moistened and 

 pressed into hard cakes, and then cut by 

 machinery. The principal varieties are 

 Bird's-eye, which contains portions of the 

 stalk ; Shag, prepared from dark-coloured 

 Virginian or Kentucky leaves ; Canaster 

 or Kanaster (derived from the Spanish 

 camtstra, a basket, because it was imported 



