Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
Sept.,  1878.  j 
Tobacco  Statistics. 
4*5 
precipitate,  and  especially  is  it  desirable  to  avoid  dispensing  a  prepara- 
tion which  when  it  leaves  the  dispensing  counter  is  clear  and  yet  in  an 
hour  or  two  throws  down  a  copious  precipitate.  Such  a  change  is  apt 
to  cause  a  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  the  patient  and  to  embarrass  or 
prevent  the  usefulness  of  the  medicine.  The  present  Pharmacopoeia 
process  for  infusion  of  digitalis  is  objectionable,  because  it  not  only 
causes  a  copious  precipitation  within  a  short  time  after  the  infusion  is 
made,  but  the  cause  of  the  precipitate — the  tincture  of  cinnamon — is 
almost  a  useless  addition,  as  it  does  not  materially  improve  the  taste  of 
the  preparation.  The  writer  therefore  suggests  that  it  would  be  desir- 
able to  have  the  present  Pharmacopoeia  process  replaced  by  one  which 
would  direct  simply  the  aqueous  infusion  filtered  through  paper,  and 
omitting  the  tincture  of  cinnamon.  Such  a  preparation  has  an  excel- 
lent appearance  ;  it  could  be  prescribed  with  directions  to  follow  each 
dose  with  syrup  or  other  adjuvant  which  would  modify  the  bitter  taste,, 
and  it  remains  clear  long  enough  to  allow  the  patient  to  take,  in  ordi- 
nary doses  at  proper  intervals,  as  much  as  is  usually  ordered  in  a. 
prescription. 
TOBACCO  STATISTICS. 
Tobacco  was  unknown  to  Europeans  until  after  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus.  Samples  of  it  were  taken  to  England,  and  the 
use  was  there  made  fashionable  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  others,  who 
had  acquired  a  taste  for  it  in  Virginia,  where  it  held  an  important  place 
in  all  Indian  ceremonies. 
The  United  States  is  the  greatest  tobacco-producing  region  of  the 
world,  and  yet,  with  its  hundreds  of  millions  of  pounds  produced,  and 
its  millions  of  revenue,  the  area  planted  is  most  insignificant.  The 
statistics  for  1875  give  but  559,049  acres  of  land  in  all  the  States  and 
Territories  planted  in  tobacco,  or  about  forty  townships,  making  two 
ordinary-sized  counties,  as  the  gross  area  of  this  country  supplying  the 
world  with  the  weed. 
As  a  producer  Kentucky  takes  precedence,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  statement : 
Kentucky,  1875, 
Virginia,  1875, 
Missouri,  1875, 
Tennessee,  1875, 
Maryland,  1875, 
Pennsylvania,  1875, 
Pennsylvania,  1876, 
:  30,000,000  lbs. 
57,000,000 
40,000,000 
35,000,000 
22,000,000 
16,000,000 
35,ooo,ooo1 
North  Carolina,  1875, 
Ohio,  1875, 
Indiana.  1875, 
Connecticut,  1875, 
Massachusetts,  1875, 
Illinois,  1875, 
14,750,000  lbs„ 
1 3,500,000 
12,750,000 
9,900,000 
8,500,000 
8,000,000 
1  30,000,000  lbs.  were  raised  in  Lancaster  county  alone. 
