rise to, a pleasure which can he resorted to so much more often, and with so much less probability of 
being injurious, than any other stimulus; and having watched the composing influence of a cigar, the 
contentment which springs up in the mind as the smoke rises in the air, the calmness and satisfaction it 
produces, and the temporary happiness of which it is the cause, it does seem at least to one who, be it 
observed, neither smokes, snuffs, nor chews Tobacco, not wonderful that the custom of smoking and 
taking snuff should prevail amongst all people, and in all countries ; nor is there any sound argument to 
be raised against the practice ; indeed the discontinuance of that which so materially increases the sum of 
human happiness would be greatly to be deplored; philippics and royal anathemas have long since ceased, 
and legislatorial prohibitions have been evaded or repealed ; whether this may have been the result of a 
rational conviction of its utility, or whether the fact of a very considerable part of the revenues of all 
sovereigns of Europe, as well as of those of most other parts the world, being derived from a duty on 
Tobacco, may have had any thing to do with the present state of toleration, it imports us not to determine, 
but it seems not improbable that the tone of our James’s counterblaste would have been very much sub- 
dued, had he been forewarned that, by a duty levied on Tobacco, between three and four millions a year 
might be added to the revenue of his kingdom ; and, truly, when persons are content to tax themselves 
to such an amount for the enjoyment of a harmless luxury, he must be a tyrant indeed who would set his 
veto against the indulgence. 
Tobacco is used medicinally in powder as an errhine, an infusion as an expectorant and sedative, and 
in vapour both as an anti-spasmodic, and to bring on nausea and fainting. Tobacco is often employed as 
a masticatory, but this is the least commendable mode of use; it impairs the appetite, brings on torpor of 
gastric nerves, and hence, although it may at times be convenient to appease the calls of hunger without 
eating, yet the practice of chewing Tobacco when indulged in, as it sometimes is by the lower classes, is 
commonly followed by the distressing train of symptoms familiar to all, as the Protean forms of Dyspepsia. 
The active properties of Tobacco appear to depend upon two proximate principles, which bear a 
considerable resemblance to each other, and which some authorities believe to be only varieties of one and 
the same body, these have been called Nicotine and Nicotianine; the latter which is procured from the 
leaves by simple distillation, appears to be a solid volatile oil, it is poisonous, and resembles in its effects 
ordinary Tobacco in a concentrated form. The former, when pure, is a colourless fluid, extremely acrid 
and pungent, and most virulently poisonous; it has been extracted both from the seeds and leaves; besides 
these, there has been procured an empyreumatic oil, by destructive distillation, which probably contains 
both the preceding substances, mixed with various impurities; this oil is formed whenever Tobacco is 
burned; and it was first noticed, or at least first made use of, by the Hottentots, who are accustomed to 
poison snakes by putting a drop of it on their tongues; the effect of the application, Barrow says, is instan- 
taneous, almost like that of an electric shock; and many experiments which have been made by Brodie 
and others, as well as some accidents which have occurred, prove that the oil of Tobacco is one of the 
most active poisons known. In some peculiar constitutions, even small quantities of the powdered leaves 
or their fumes have proved injurious or even fatal. The celebrated Santeuil is said to have experienced 
vomitings and horrible pains, amidst which he expired, in consequence of having drank a glass of wine 
into which some Spanish snuff had been put; intoxication, vomiting, faintings and other untoward symp- 
toms have been known to follow the application of Tobacco ointment to scald heads; and Mr. Howison 
gives a very interesting account of a kind of trance into which he was thrown, being conscious of all around, 
but unable to move or speak from lying down to sleep among numerous packages of fresh tobacco. 
It is supposed that “the juice of cursed hebenon,” by which, according to Shakspeare, the king pf 
Denmark was poisoned, was the essential oil of Tobacco: — 
“ Sleeping within mine orchard, 
My custom always of the afternoon, 
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, 
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, 
And in the porches of mine ears did pour 
The leperous distilment.” 
The learned commentator. Dr. Gray, observes that the word here used (hebenon,) was more probably 
designated by a metathesis, either of the poet or transcriber, for hebenon, i. e. henbane. Now it appears 
from Gerarde, that Tobacco was commonly called henbane of Peru, (Hyoscyamus Peruvianus;) No prepa- 
ration of Hyoscyamus with which we are acquainted, would produce death by an application to the ear; 
whereas the essential oil of Tobacco might, without doubt, occasion a fatal result.” 
G. T. Burnett. 
