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 e^ch end and thicker at 

 one end than the other, known as cheroots. Besides th^se 

 preparations for smokers there are cigarettoes or cigarettes^ 



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