NICOTIA'NA TABACUM. 
VIRGINIAN TOBACCO. 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYN1 A . 
Natural Order. 
SOLANEA5. 
Native of 
Height 
Flowers in 
Duration 
Cultivated 
N. America. 
6 feet. 
July, Sept. 
Annual. 
in 1570. 
No. 160. 
The generic appellation, Nicotiana, was adopted 
after the name of John Nicot, an ambassador of 
Francis II. of France, at the court of Portugal. 
At Lisbon, in 15G4, he obtained seeds of the plant, 
which had been brought from Florida, and conveyed 
the same to France, where the herb soon became a 
general favourite. The Indian name is Tubacka, 
whence might have come our Tabacum and Tobacco, 
though its origin is generally attributed to the name 
of the island, Tobago, situate near the coast of Mex- 
ico, where it is indigenous. 
To give but a faint outline of all that has been 
said and done respecting Tobacco, would require 
many volumes. The introduction of the practice of 
smoking has been commonly ascribed to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, about the year 1584 ; and the excess to 
which its use, or rather abuse, was soon afterwards 
carried, must have been great indeed to have called 
forth the numerous invectives, and even laws against 
it. King James I. added his name to the list of its 
opponents, and wrote a philippic, entitled a “Coun- 
terblaste to Tobacco,” in which he warns his subjects 
in an earnest manner, not to sin against God, and 
