1.--"_Counterblaste to Tobacco._" By KING JAMES I. _of England._ Works,
fol. from 214 to 222.
2.--_A Dissertation on the Use and Abuse of Tobacco._ By The Rev. ADAM
CLARKE. pp. 32. October: 1798.
3.--_Observations upon the influence of the habitual use of Tobacco upon
Health, Morals, and Property._ By BENJAMIN RUSH, M.D. Essays. p. 263 to
274. 1798.
4.--_Notices relative to Tobacco._ By DR. A. T. THOMSON. _Appendix (Note
B) to Mrs. A. T. Thomson's Life of Sir Walter Ralegh._ pp. 24: 1830.
The annals of literature furnish abundant examples of authors, who,
through wantonness, whimsicality, a desire to say something, where many
could say nothing, and few could say much, or from some other impulse,
(for which it were now unprofitable to search,) have adopted themes
either insignificant in themselves, or repugnant to truth; subjects
barren, or improbable, or laborious, or palpably absurd. Thus Homer has
celebrated the battle of the Frogs and Mice; Virgil sung of Bees;
Polycrates commended Tyranny; Phavorinus sets forth the praises of
Injustice; and Cardan pronounced the eulogy of Nero. The Golden Ass of
Apulcius is well known; Henry Cornelius Agrippa has employed his wit and
learning on an elaborate "Digression in praise of the Asse." Other
authors have discovered virtues and excellencies in this animal, though
the generality of mankind have agreed in supposing it possessed nothing
remarkable but dulness and obstinacy. Lucian exercised his genius on a
fly; and Erasmus has dignified Folly in his _Encomium Moriae_, which, for
the sake of the pun, he inscribed to Sir Thomas More. The subject of
Michael Psellus is a Gnat; Antonius Majoragius took for his theme Clay;
Julius Scaliger wrote concerning a Goose; Janus Dousa on a Shadow; and
Heinsius (_horresco referens_) eulogized a Louse. This last animal
elicited some fine moral verses from Burns; Libanus thought the Ox
worthy of his pen; and Sextus Empiricus selected the faithful Dog.
Addison composed the Battle of the Pigmies and Cranes; Rochester
versified about Nothing; and Johannes Passeratius made a Latin poem on
the same subject, which is quoted at full length by Dr. Johnson at the
end of his Life of Rochester. The Jeffreidos were written to commemorate
the perils to which Sir Jeoffrey Hudson was exposed; Sir William Jones
thought Chess worthy of the epopee; and at the foot of this list of
egregious triflers, we place Dr. Raphael Thorius, who wrote a much and
often praised Latin poem on the Virtues of Tobacco.
Now, to most of our readers, this last theme would seem to offer fewer
inducements to the poet's pen than any of those thus enumerated; and
genius could scarcely have selected one, which seemed less ennobling in
itself, or rather, which at once presented such palpable
discouragements, from the coarse associations connected with it, and the
cureless vulgarity and nauseousness with which the whole subject appears
to be invested. In opposition to so many obstacles and dissuasives, this
great man yielded to the impulse of his muse, and obtained an
immortality to which no other action of his life would have entitled
him. It is with unaffected regret that we are compelled to state, that,
to procure a sight of this celebrated poem, we have ransacked our
libraries without the least success. How painful is the reflection, that
perhaps this work has never yet reached the United States! What a
reproach to our republic, that a poem whose object was to celebrate the
virtues of the most incomparable of all our native plants, should be
totally unknown in that new world, with whose discovery it was nearly
contemporaneous! But perhaps our Jeremiad may be premature; for in some
obscure corner in Virginia, (the garden of this weed,) a copy of the
poem may at this very moment exist, like unobtrusive merit, disregarded
and despised. For the honour of our country, we hope this may prove
true; since it may lessen the odium with which men habitually load poor
republics, a name which has long been the by-word and synonime of
ingratitude.
We are fully aware of the contemptuous manner in which Doctor Clarke
speaks of this production, and its English translation by the Rev. W.
Berwick, declaring them to be "of equal merit, and that they scarce
deserve to be mentioned." But to the merit of this work we have
testimony infinitely higher than the opinion of the Reverend Doctor.
Thus, Howell, in his inimitable "Familiar Letters," a book which cannot
be too highly commended, or too often read, says, "if you desire to read
with pleasure all the virtues of this modern herb, you must read Dr.
Thorius's Potologis, an accurate peece, couched in a strenuous heroic
verse, and continuing its strength from first to last; insomuch that for
the bignes it may be compared to any piece of antiquity, and in my
opinion is beyond [Greek: Batzachomnomachia] or [Greek:
Galeomnomachia]."[16] The learned Mr. Bayle speaks of the same
production in very commendatory language.[17] Bayle tells an excellent
story of Thorius, which, as it illustrates the character of the great
tobacco poet, deserves to be read. He was extremely fond of his glass of
wine, and had, beside, that hydrophobic distaste, which has been
imagined essential to the true poet. Being one day seated at the dinner
table, in company with the celebrated Peireskius, in the festivity of
the occasion, he was urging the latter to quaff off a bumper of wine,
and after the most importunate intreaties, Peireskius at last agreed to
do it upon one condition, which was, that Thorius should immediately
afterwards drink a bumper himself. No condition could be more
acceptable, no penalty more easy; but what was the surprise and horror
of Thorius, when his turn came, to find that he was called upon to drink
a bumper, not of wine, but of water!--which insipid and unaccustomed
beverage, after sundry efforts and awry faces, he contrived to get down,
amidst peals of laughter from his hilarious and learned friends.
We classed Thorius's poem among the extravagant vagaries of genius; but
the more we reflect upon the subject matter of this poem, the more the
conviction fastens upon our minds, that it is by no means a trivial or
undignified topic; that considered in what light it may, tobacco must be
regarded as the most astonishing of the productions of nature, since,
although unsightly, offensive, and, perhaps, in every way pernicious, it
has, in the short period of about three centuries, subdued not one
particular nation, but the whole world, Christian and Pagan, into a
bondage more abject and irremediable than was ever known to tyranny or
superstition. Kings have forbidden it; popes have anathematized it; and
physicians have warned against it. Even ministers of the gospel have
lifted up their voices, and thundered their denunciations from the
pulpit; but all has been in vain; its use has increased, is increasing,
and will increase, as long as the earth continues to yield this
miraculous vegetable to the unnatural appetite of man.
That what is persecuted should thrive the more in consequence of
persecution, can excite no surprise in any one at all skilled in the
history of human nature; but this is altogether inadequate to account
for that preternatural eagerness with which men seek after this
wonderful plant. In fact, there appears to be some occult charm
connected with it--some invisible spirit, which, be it angel, or be it
devil, has never yet been, and perhaps never will be, satisfactorily
explained. To those who have never revelled in this habit, and
consequently can neither comprehend its nature or strength, the
hyperbolical language which most authors use when they speak of tobacco,
must appear, in an eminent degree, burlesque and overstrained.
"Tobacco," says the Anatomist of Melancholy, "divine, rare,
superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all their panaceas,
potable gold, and philosophers' stones, a soveraign remedy to all
diseases--A good vomit, I confess, a vertuous herb, if it be well
qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used; but as it is
commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a
plague, a mischief, a violent purger of goods, lands, and health;
hellish, devilish, and damned tobacco; the ruine and overthrow of body
and soul."[18] So in his valedictory to tobacco, Mr. Lamb is not less
extravagant and contradictory. The health of the poet it appears had
suffered seriously from the immoderate use of tobacco, which had been in
consequence interdicted by his physician. Compelled to surrender his
favourite enjoyment, he vents his feelings in a very spirited "Farewell
to Tobacco," which exhibits a singular mixture of opposite sentiments,
and of violent struggles between his propensity to the habit and his
acquiescence in the necessity which severs him from it, together with
feeble attempts to curse that, without which, life to the unhappy poet
seemed scarcely endurable.
"Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa that brags her foyson,
Breeds no such prodigious poison,
Henbane, nightshade, both together,
Hemlock, aconite----
----Nay, rather
Plant divine, of rarest virtue;
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you;
'Twas but in a sort I blamed thee,
None e'er prospered who defamed thee."
But tobacco has had enemies of exalted station, whose persecution has
been uniform, and whose hatred has been unmixed. Such was James the
First of England, who is not less remarkable for his sagacity in
discovering the gunpowder plot, and having supported the divine right of
kings, than for having written a "Counterblaste to Tobacco."[19] But let
the king speak for himself:--
"Tobacco," says he, "is the lively image and pattern of hell,
for it hath, by allusion, all the parts and vices of the world
whereby hell may be gained; to wit. 1. It is a smoke; so are
all the vanities of this world. 2. It delighteth them that take
it; so do all the pleasures of the world delight the men of the
world. 3. It maketh men drunken and light in the head; so do
all the vanities of the world, men are drunkards therewith. 4.
He that taketh tobacco can not leave it; it doth bewitch him;
even so the pleasures of the world make men loath to leave
them; they are for the most part enchanted with them. And,
farther, besides all this, it is like hell in the very
substance of it, for it is a stinking loathsome thing, and so
is hell."
The mythological fable which existed among the Indians as to the manner
in which this plant was first bestowed upon mankind, is extremely
whimsical, somewhat discreditable, and withal of such a nature as to
preclude the propriety of our introducing it in this place to the
acquaintance of our readers. But writers are not wanting who have
carried the original of tobacco into the Grecian fabulous ages, and
attributed to Bacchus the glory of having discovered and disclosed to
mortals its virtues. Thorius, as Dr. Clarke tells us, very ominously
ascribes the discovery and first use of this herb to Bacchus, Silenus,
and the Satyrs, (drunkenness, gluttony, and lust,) and yet, continues
the Doctor, with a sneer, this poem was written in praise of it. Mr.
Lamb, in the poem before quoted, has the same thought, and he farther
adds a belief, that the tobacco plant was the true Indian conquest for
which the jolly god has been so celebrated. He moreover intimates, that
the Thyrsus of that deity was afterwards ornamented with leaves of
tobacco, instead of ivy. Even the name of the plant has been derived
from Bacchus. This is particularly mentioned by Mr. Joseph Sylvester,
quoted by Dr. Clarke, who wrote a poem on tobacco which he inscribed to
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The title of this tirade is very quaint,
viz. "Tobacco battered, and the Pipes shattered (about their Ears who
idly idolize so base and barbarous a Weed; or at least-wise overlove so
loathsome a Vanity) by a Volley of holy Shot from Mount Helicon."
"For even the derivation of the name
Seems to allude and to include the same;
Tobacco as [Greek: toBakcho] one would say
To cup-god Bacchus dedicated ay."
Nor should all this appear so extraordinary, when we consider that
Charlevoix, with the utmost seriousness, discusses the question, whether
the calumet of the North American Indians was the same as the caduceus
of Mercury.[20] It is however beyond all doubt, that tobacco has always
been regarded by the Indians with religious veneration, and employed by
them in all religious ceremonies. Mr. Stith informs us, that they
thought this plant "of so great worth and virtue that the gods
themselves were delighted with it; and therefore they sometimes made
sacred fires, and instead of a sacrifice, threw in the dust of tobacco;
and when they were caught in a tempest, they would sprinkle it into the
air and water--upon all their new fishing nets they would cast some of
it, and when they had escaped any remarkable danger, they would throw
some of this dust into the air, with strange distorted gestures,
sometimes striking the earth with their feet in a kind of time and
measure, sometimes clapping their hands and throwing them up on high,
looking towards the heavens, and uttering barbarous and dissonant
words."[21]--Sir Hans Sloan tells us, also, that the Indians employ
tobacco in all their enchantments, sorceries, and fortune-tellings; that
their priests intoxicate themselves with the fumes, and in their
ecstacies give forth ambiguous and oracular responses.[22]
A few words will now be devoted to the subject of the numerous names
which have belonged to tobacco; many persons conceiving the title of any
thing, to be of equal importance with the christening of a person; and
surely where the etymology of a name of either person or thing can throw
any light upon their respective histories, the time employed thereon can
hardly be looked upon as either lost or misspent. But it unfortunately
happens, as is almost always the case in regard to persons and things
belonging to mythological eras, that the greatest confusion and
perplexity exist in regard to the Indian titles which have been bestowed
upon tobacco; and as we frankly confess ourselves utterly unversed in
Occidental philology, we shall, with whatever reluctance, be obliged to
omit even the mention of many appellations, whose true meaning and value
have passed into obscurity, with the languages and nations from which
such appellations were derived.[23]
Sir Hans Sloan informs us, that the name was originally picielt, and
that tobacco was given it by the Spaniards.[24] Several authors say,
that it was called by the inhabitants of the West India islands
yoli--but that on the continent they gave it the name of paetum, peti,
petunum, or petun.[25] Some say it was sent into Spain from Tabaco, a
province of Yucatan, where it was first discovered, and from whence it
takes its common name. Pourchot declares, that the Portuguese brought it
into Europe from Tobago, an island in North America; but the island
Tobago, says another, was never under the Portuguese dominion, and that
it seems rather to have given its name to that island. The inhabitants
of Hispaniola call it by the name cohiba, or pete be cenuc, and the
instrument by which they smoke it tabaco, and hence, say they, it
derived its name. Stith, in his History of Virginia, speaks of one Mr.
Thomas Harriot,[26] a domestic of Sir Walter Ralegh, a man of learning,
who was sent by Ralegh to Virginia chiefly to make observations, which
were afterwards published. Now this Harriot, speaking of tobacco, says
it was called, by the Indians of Virginia, uppowoc.[27] But the
principal names by which this article is now known, either in common
parlance or scientific discourse, are three, viz.--paetum, which seems to
be its poetical title--tobacco, its vulgar and most intelligible
name--and nicotiana, its scientific and botanical name; which latter we
will explain more fully hereafter.[28]
The Abbot Nyssens thought it was the Devil who first introduced tobacco
into Europe. We do not design to discuss so important a question,
concerning which there must needs be a contrariety of opinions; but we
cannot forbear to observe, that to give the Devil more than his due, is
by no means new or uncommon in ecclesiastical inquiries. We have
something parallel to this in the history of Hercules, though springing
most probably from a very different source; for to him the ancients were
wont to attribute any great action for which they could not find a
certain author. We are informed that this plant was first seen smoked by
the Spaniards, under Grijalva, in 1518. In 1519, the illustrious Cortez
sent a specimen of it to his king, and this was the date of its
introduction into Europe. Others say, one Roman Pane carried it into
Spain. By the Cardinal Santa Croce it was conveyed to Italy. It should
be observed, however, that the ancestors of the Cardinal already enjoyed
the reputation of having brought into Italy the true cross, and the
double glory which attaches to the Santa Croce family in consequence, is
well described in the following Latin lines, taken from Bayle's
Dictionary.[29] These verses are valuable in another respect, since they
contain a full enumeration of the real or supposed virtues of the herb.
They are also copied by the Reverend Dr. Clarke; and the English verses
which accompany them, are by the Dr. attributed to M. de Maizeaux.--
"Nomine quae sanctae crucis herba vocatur ocellis
Subvenit, et sanat plagas, et vulnera jungit,
Discutit et strumas, cancrum, cancrosaque sanat
Ulcera, et ambustis prodest, scabiemque repellit,
Discutit et morbum cui cessit ab impete nomen,
Calefacit, et siccat, stringit, mundatque, resolvit,
Et dentium et ventris mulcet capitisque dolores;
Subvenit antiquae tussi, stomachoque rigenti
Renibus et spleni confert, ultroque, venena
Dira sagittarum domat, ictibus omnibus atris
Haec eadem prodest; gingivis proficit atque
Conciliat somnum: nuda ossa carne revestit;
Thoracis vitiis prodest, pulmonis itemque,
Quae duo sic praestat, non ulla potentior herba.
Hanc Sanctacrucius Prosper quum nuncius esset,
Sedis Apostolicae Lusitanas missus in horas
Huc adportavit Romanae ad commoda gentis,
Ut proavi sanctae lignum crucis ante tulere
Omnis Christiadum quo nunc respublica gaudet,
Et Sanctae crucis illustris domus ipsa vocatur
Corporis atque animae nostrae studiosa salutis."
We subjoin the following "faithful but inelegant translation," which is
given by M. de Maizeaux in his translation of Bayle.
"The herb which borrows Santa Croce's name
Sore eyes relieves, and healeth wounds; the same
Discusses the king's evil, and removes
Cancers and boils; a remedy it proves
For burns and scalds, repels the nauseous itch,
And straight recovers from convulsion fits.
It cleanses, dries, binds up, and maketh warm;
The head-ach, tooth-ach, colic, like a charm
It easeth soon; an ancient cough relieves,
And to the reins and milt, and stomach gives
Quick riddance from the pains which each endures;
Next the dire wounds of poisoned arrows cures;
All bruises heals, and when the gums are sore,
It makes them sound and healthy as before.
Sleep it procures, our anxious sorrows lays,
And with new flesh the naked bone arrays.
No herb hath greater power to rectify
All the disorders in the breast that lie
Or in the lungs. Herb of immortal fame!
Which hither first by Santa Croce came,
When he (his time of nunciature expired)
Back from the court of Portugal retired;
Even as his predecessors great and good,
Brought home the cross, whose consecrated wood
All Christendom now with its presence blesses;
And still the illustrious family possesses
The name of Santa Croce, rightly given,
Since they in all respects resembling Heaven,
Procure as much as mortal men can do,
The welfare of our souls and bodies too."
It is agreed on all hands, that tobacco was introduced into France by
John Nicot, (whence it obtains its common name Nicotiana) Lord of
Villemain and Master of Requests of the household of Francis the Second.
He was born at Nismes, and was sent as embassador to the Court of
Portugal in 1559, from whence, on his return, he brought to Paris this
herb. From Nicot, it was also called the embassador's herb. The
question, whether it was known in France before it was carried into
England, was long agitated, and is perhaps not settled yet, since the
precise epocha of its introduction into any particular country, cannot
with absolute certainty be fixed. The French writers, generally, are of
opinion that Sir Francis Drake conveyed it to England before Nicot made
it known in France. Thevet, who has discussed the subject, is thought by
them to have settled it in favour of the English. A French writer, Jean
Liebault, says tobacco grew wild in France long before the discovery of
the New World. Mr. Murray inclines to the belief, that tobacco existed
in Europe before the discovery of America, but he thinks it proceeded
from Asia.[30] Mr. Savary asserts, that among the Persians it was known
at least five hundred years since, but that they obtained it from Egypt,
and not from the East Indies, where its cultivation was but recent. But,
what has not been said of this extraordinary plant? It has often been
called a Nepenthe, and we are under belief that some have even imagined
that the tobacco leaf forms a principal ingredient in the wondrous and
potent mixture which Helen prepares for her guests in the fourth
Odyssey.--
[Greek: "Phazmachon
Nependes t' acholon te kakon epilethon apanton."]
"Of sovereign use to assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful sluices of despair."
In the same passage, Homer tells us that Helen learned the nature of
drugs and herbs from the wife of Thone, King of Egypt. Now, by
considering this latter fact, in conjunction with what is asserted by
Mr. Savary, some verisimilitude seems to be imparted to the hypothesis
of the tobacco plant having sprung originally from Egypt. We are not
aware of any author (though we think it not improbable that such may
exist) who has carried matters so far as to assert that tobacco was the
tree of Paradise, "whose mortal taste brought death into the
world,"--nor would this appear for a moment extravagant, if one only
calls to mind the strange traditions which the Rabbinnical writers have
handed down upon theological points of far more importance, or the
equally absurd and monstrous notions which the modern history of
sectarianism furnishes. From what has been said, however, it appears
very clear, that Satan has had too much to do with tobacco. If it be
verily the tree of knowledge, it must be admitted that he has preserved
it with infinite care, as if grateful for the mighty mischief which was
wrought in Eden, and as a fit instrument for those injuries in future to
the human family, which so many authors assure us it is producing at the
present day. How tobacco ever got to America is a difficulty of very
little moment, when we remember that writers are not agreed in what
manner America was even peopled. Even were we to admit that the
aboriginal Americans were not descended from Adam and Eve, still if we
concede that Satan has had the especial care of tobacco, we cannot be
surprised at his finding the means, if he had the desire, of introducing
it into America. We have before alluded to what the Abbot Nyssens says,
and if in addition we call to mind what others have uttered about its
diabolical nature, and that the American Indians were wont to propitiate
the powers of darkness by making offerings to them of tobacco, we cannot
help thinking that King James was nearer truth and propriety than he
imagined, when he declared that if he were to invite the Devil to dine
with him, he would be sure to provide three things,--1. a pig,--2. a
poll of ling and mustard,--3. a pipe of tobacco for digestion.
It is not certainly known whether tobacco grew spontaneously in
Virginia, or whether it came originally from some more southern region
of America. At all events, the English who first visited Virginia
certainly found it there, and Harriot is of opinion, that it was of
spontaneous growth. Mr. Jefferson thinks it was a native of a more
southern climate, and was handed along the continent from one nation of
savages to another.[31] Dr. Robertson informs us, that it was not till
the year 1616 that its cultivation was commenced in Virginia.[32]
However this may be, the gallant and unfortunate Sir Walter Ralegh has
the credit of bringing it into fashion in England.[33] It is well known
that the colony planted in Virginia by Sir Walter, suffered many
calamities, and we are told, that Ralph Lane,[34] one of the survivers
who was carried back to England by Sir Francis Drake, was the person who
first made tobacco known in Great Britain. This was in the 28th year of
Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1585.[35] Sir Walter himself is said to have been
very fond of smoking, and many humorous stories have been recorded
concerning it, particularly of a wager he made with Queen Elizabeth,
that he would determine exactly the weight of the smoke which went off
in a pipe of tobacco. This he did by first weighing the tobacco which
was to be smoked, and then carefully preserving and weighing the ashes,
and the queen paid the wager cheerfully, being satisfied that what was
wanting to the prime weight must have been evaporated in smoke. Every
one remembers the story of the alarm of one of Sir Walter's servants,
who, coming into a room and beholding his master enveloped in smoke,
supposed him to be on fire.
To the devout and genuine worshippers of this weed, it may be
satisfactory to know, that a tobacco-box and some pipes, belonging
formerly to Sir Walter, are still in existence, and all smokers who may
feel so disposed may perform a pilgrimage to them when they visit
England, they being in the museum of Mr. Ralph Thoresby of Leeds,
Yorkshire.[36] We shall conclude our remarks upon Sir Walter, by a
poetical tribute to his memory, which is both apposite and eloquent.
"Immortal Ralegh! were potatoes not,
Could grateful Ireland e'er forget thy claim?[37]
'Were all thy proud historic deeds forgot,'
Which blend thy memory with Eliza's fame;
Could England's annals in oblivion rot,
Tobacco would enshrine and consecrate thy name."
We cannot forbear to make a quotation concerning the Virginia colony, at
a more flourishing subsequent period, which, as it records a historical
fact, cannot fail to be interesting, while at the same time it is
sufficiently comic. "The adventurers," says Malte-Brun, "who increased
from year to year, were reduced, in consequence of the scarcity of
females, to import wives by order, as they imported merchandise. It is
recorded, that ninety girls, 'young and uncorrupt,' came to the Virginia
market in 1620, and sixty in 1621; all of whom found a ready sale. The
price of each at first was one hundred pounds of tobacco, but afterwards
rose to one hundred and fifty. What the prime cost was in England is not
stated."[38]
In whatever manner tobacco found its way into Europe, it met with a very
hostile reception from several crowned heads. Elizabeth published an
edict against its use. James imposed severe prohibitory duties, and
Charles, his successor, continued them.
"In 1590," says Dr. Thomson, "Shah Abbas prohibited the use of
tobacco in Persia, by a penal law; but so firmly had the luxury
rooted itself in the minds of his subjects, that many of the
inhabitants of the cities fled to the mountains, where they hid
themselves, rather than forego the pleasure of smoking. In
1624, Pope Urban VIII. anathematized all snuff-takers, who
committed the heinous sin of taking a pinch in any church; and
so late as 1690, Innocent XII. excommunicated all who indulged
in the same vice in Saint Peter's church at Rome. In 1625,
Amurath IV. prohibited smoking as an unnatural and irreligious
custom, under pain of death. In Constantinople, where the
custom is now universal, smoking was thought to be so
ridiculous and hurtful, that any Turk, who was caught in the
act, was conducted in ridicule through the streets, with a pipe
transfixed through his nose. In Russia, where the peasantry now
smoke all day long, the Grand Duke of Moscow prohibited the
entrance of tobacco into his dominions, under the penalty of
the _knaut_ for the first offence, and death for the second;
and the Muscovite who was found snuffing, was condemned to have
his nostrils split. The Chambre au Tabac for punishing smokers,
was instituted in 1634, and not abolished till the middle of
the eighteenth century. Even in Switzerland, war was waged
against the American herb: to smoke, in Berne, ranked as a
crime next to adultery; and in 1653, all smokers were cited
before the Council at Apenzel, and severely punished."[39]
We shall see hereafter what a host of enemies tobacco found also among
medical writers. We speak here particularly of the moderns; for many of
the older physicians extolled its healing virtues to the skies, and they
were giants in knowledge; but as an old author says, "Pigmei gigantum
humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident." Indeed it must be
admitted, as a very powerful argument against the efficacy of tobacco as
a medicine, that the physicians of our day have in many cases abandoned
its use, and in others adopted some less dangerous succedaneum.
It may not be unamusing to the curious reader to know in what manner
this subject is handled by King James. The "Counterblaste" commences by
denouncing tobacco, because "the vile and stinking custome comes from
the wilde, godlesse, and slavish Indians," by whom it was used as an
antidote against the most dreadful of all diseases. Its use was
introduced "neither by a king, great conqueror, nor learned Doctor of
Physicke, but by some Indians who were brought over;" they died, but the
"savage custome" survived. King James contents himself by examining only
four of the principal grounds or arguments upon which tobacco is used,
two founded "on the theoricke of a deceivable appearance of reason," and
two "upon the mistaken practicke of generall experience." Thus, "1. An
aphorisme in the Physickes that the brains of all men being naturally
cold and wet, all dry and hote things should be good for them." Ergo,
this "stinking suffumigation."--2. The argument grounded on a show of
reason, is "that this filthy smoke, as well through the heat and
strength thereof, as by a natural force and quality, is able and fit to
purge both the head and stomach of rhewmes and distillations, as
experience teacheth by the spitting and avoiding fleame immediately
after the taking of it."--3. That "the whole people would not have taken
so general a good liking thereof, if they had not by experience found it
very soveraigne and good for them."--4. That "by the taking of tobacco,
divers and very many doe finde themselves cured of divers diseases; as
on the other hand no man ever received harme thereby." The King after
having, as he trusts, sufficiently answered "the most principal
arguments" that are used in defence of this "vile custome," proceeds "to
speake of the sinnes and vanities committed in the filthy abuse
thereof." And 1. As being a sinneful and shameful lust.--2. As a branch
of drunkennesse.--3. As disabling both persons and goods. His majesty
concludes the "Counterblaste" by calling the smoking of tobacco "a
custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmeful to the
brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the blacke and stinking fume
thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that
is bottomlesse."[40]
Let it not be supposed that tobacco has been without friends, wise,
learned, and distinguished; but space forces us to pretermit the mention
of many who have ascribed to it as many virtues as were ever ascribed to
the grand elixir of Alchemy. We shall content ourselves with two or
three miscellaneous testimonies.--Thus Acosta tells us it is a plant,
"which hath in it rare virtues, as amongst others it serves for a
counterpoison--for the Creator hath imparted his virtues at his
pleasure, not willing that any thing should grow idle."[41] Lord Bacon
speaks of its "cheering and comforting the spirits," and that it
relieves in lassitude.[42] Again he says, "doubtless it contributes to
alleviate fatigues and discharge the body of weariness. 'T is also
commonly said to open the passages, and draw off humours; but its
virtues may be more justly attributed to its _condensing_ the
spirits."[43] "It is a good companion," says Howell, "to one that
converseth with dead men, for if one hath bin poring long upon a book,
or is toiled with the pen, or stupified with study, it quickeneth him,
and dispels those clouds that usually oreset the brain. The smoke of it
is one of the wholesomest sents that is against all contagious airs, for
it oremasters all other smells; as _King James_ they say found true,
when being once a hunting, a showr of rain drave him into a pigsty for
shelter, where he caused a pipe full to be taken of purpose."[44] It
were easy to multiply quotations both in prose and verse, but it is to
the latter, most especially, that we must look for the most glowing
ascriptions--to poetry which has ever delighted.[45]
"To sing the praises of that glorious weed--
Dear to mankind, whate'er his race, his creed,
Condition, colour, dwelling, or degree!
From Zembla's snows to parched Arabia's sands,
Loved by all lips, and common to all hands!
Hail sole cosmopolite, tobacco, hail!
Shag, long-cut, short-cut, pig-tail, quid, or roll,
Dark Negrohead, or Orinooka pale,
In every form congenial to the soul."
Before we proceed to consider the use of tobacco as a habit, which
modern physicians are pleased to consider so pestiferous and baleful,
let us attend for a few moments to what has been said concerning its
culture and manufacture. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes, says that its
culture is productive of infinite wretchedness; that it is found easier
to make 100 bushels of wheat than 1000 pounds of tobacco, and that they
are worth more when made.[46] Davies, in his History of the Carriby
Islands, after giving an account of the culture and preparation of
tobacco, adds, "that if the people of Europe who are so fond of it, had
themselves seen the poor servants and slaves who are employed about this
painful work, exposed the greatest part of the day to the scorching heat
of the sun, and spending one half of the night in reducing it to that
posture wherein it is transported into Europe; no doubt they would have
a greater esteem for, and think much more precious that herb which is
procured with the sweat and labours of so many miserable creatures."[47]
Numerous medical writers, of the justest celebrity, have assured us,
that endless and dreadful evils are the portion of all who are engaged
in the manufacture of tobacco; that the workmen are in general meagre,
jaundiced, emaciated, asthmatic, subject to colic, diarrheas, to
vertigo, violent headach, and muscular twitchings, to narcotism, and to
various diseases of the breast and lungs.[48] They have also declared
that some of these evils have befallen families from the fact alone of
being in the neighbourhood of a tobacco manufactory.[49] Ramazzini says
that even the horses employed in the tobacco mills are most powerfully
affected by the particles of the tobacco. Now if these things be true,
when we call to mind the countless multitudes employed in this "dreadful
trade," what a throng of evils present themselves upon the very
threshold of our subject.[50] In this view of the case, one could not
pass such a manufactory without an involuntary shudder, regarding it as
a charnel house, or rather as a Pandora's box, to those wretched beings
who are doomed to work or dwell within its pestilential precincts.[51]
But in spite of the various and respectable testimony which has been
produced by writers opposed to the use of tobacco, we cannot help
regarding their statements as exceedingly exaggerated. We have not space
to enter into a more minute examination of this portion of our subject,
but to such of our readers as may feel desirous of prosecuting the
inquiry, we take great pleasure in recommending a very able memoir by
Messieurs Parent-Duchatelet and D'Arcet,[52] in which the whole subject
of the effects of tobacco upon the persons connected with its
manufacture, is most satisfactorily discussed, and the opinions and
assertions of those who have gone so far as to declare that it was even
necessary to the public health that the manufactories of tobacco should
be removed out of large towns because of their great insalubrity, shown
to be either without any just grounds, or the results of prejudice and
ignorance.
The fecundity of this plant is marvellous. Linnaeus has calculated that a
single plant of tobacco contains 40,320 grains, and says that if each
seed came to perfection, the plants of tobacco in vegetation in the
course of four years, would be more than sufficient to cover the whole
surface of the earth. We are elsewhere informed that these seeds
preserve their germinative properties for six years and even longer.
"Sir Thomas Browne observes," says Mather, "that of the seeds of
tobacco, a thousand make not one grain, (though Otto de Guericke, as I
remember, says, fifty-two cyphers with one figure would give the number
of those which would fill the space between us and the stars,) a plant
which has extended its empire over the whole world, and has a larger
dominion than any of all the vegetable kingdom."[53] Our readers may
very easily amuse themselves by making calculations on the immense
consumption and value of this plant. The following account from a French
medical writer,[54] will be sufficient. On a rough calculation, the
tobacco sold yearly in France amounts to 40,000,000 pounds weight, which
at three francs per pound, the ordinary price, will make the enormous
annual sum of 120,000,000 francs. One-fourth of the French population
use tobacco, so that of 8,000,000 of human beings, each individual
consumes annually, in the various forms of snuffing, chewing, and
smoking, about six pounds. This quantity may seem too great for some
persons, but it should be remembered that there are many who use a dozen
or twenty pounds in the course of the year.
If we contemplate man in connexion with tobacco as a necessary, the
juxtaposition cannot fail to strike us as exceedingly ludicrous. From
the earliest ages of philosophy, it has been a favourite employment of
the wise to propose such definitions of man as should fully distinguish
him from the rest of animated nature, and yet no definition of ancient
times will, we are satisfied, appear so excellently discriminative as
one which grows out of our present subject, and which denominates him
the only tobacco loving animal, for (to pass over the tobacco-worm) the
only creature known beside man, whose nature does not abhor tobacco, is,
as Dr. Rush informs us, the solitary rock goat of Africa, one of the
wildest and most filthy of animals. "Were it possible," says he, "for a
being who had resided on our globe, to visit the inhabitants of a planet
where reason governed, and to tell them that a vile weed was in general
use among the inhabitants of the globe it had left, which afforded no
nourishment; that this weed was cultivated with immense care, that it
was an important article of commerce, that the want of it produced real
misery, that its taste was extremely nauseous, that it was unfriendly to
health and morals, and that its use was attended with a considerable
loss of time and property, the account would be thought incredible."[55]
It is idle to speak of tobacco, as being "extremely nauseous," that it
is the "meanest and most paltry of all gratifications," &c. Had not man
discovered in it a delight and comfort which was to be derived from few
other sources, the habitual use of tobacco would long since have been
neglected. To say man uses tobacco for no other reason but its
offensiveness, is a solecism; scarcely would it be more absurd to adopt
the habitual use of castor oil as a cordial, or assafoetida as a
perfume. On this subject Mr. Chamberet[56] has a very interesting
passage, which, as it is so well expressed by the author, we take the
liberty of offering to our readers in his own language.
"Observons," says he, "que l'homme, en vertu de son
organization a sans cesse besoin de sentir, que presque
toujours il est malheureux, soit par les fleaux que la nature
lui envoie, soit par les tristes resultats de ses passions
aveugles, de ses erreurs de ses prejuges, de son ignorance, &c.
Le tabac exercant sur nos organes une impression vive et forte,
susceptible d'etre renouvelee frequemment et a volonte, on
s'est livre avec d'autant plus d'ardeur a l'usage d'un
semblable stimulant qu'on y a trouve a la fois le moyen de
satisfaire le besoin imperieux de sentir, qui caracterise la
nature humaine, et celui d'etre distrait momentanement des
sensations penibles ou douloureuses qui assiegent sans cesse
notre espece, que le tabac aide ainsi a supporter l'accablant
fardeau de la vie. Avec le tabac, le sauvage endure plus
courageusement la faim, la soif, et toutes les vicissitudes
atmospheriques, l'esclave endure plus patiemment la servitude,
&c. Parmi les hommes qui se disent civilises, son recours est
souvent invoque contre l'ennui, la tristesse; il soulage
quelquefois momentanement les tourmens de l'ambition decues de
ses esperances, et concourt a consoler, dans certains cas les
malheureuses victimes de l'injustice."
Dr. Walsh says that tobacco used with coffee, after the Turkish
fashion, "is singularly grateful to the taste, and refreshing to the
spirits; counteracting the effects of fatigue and cold, and appeasing
the cravings of hunger, as I have often experienced. Hearne, I think, in
his journey to the mouth of the Coppermine river, mentions his
experience of similar effects of tobacco. He had been frequently
wandering without food for five or six days, in the most inclement
weather, and supported it all, he says, in good health and spirits, by
smoking tobacco, &c."[57] Willis, as quoted by Mons. Merat, recommends
the use of tobacco in armies, as able to supply the necessaries of life
to a great extent, and also as an excellent preventive against various
diseases.[58] And Dr. Rush relates that he was informed by Colonel Burr,
that the greatest complaints of dissatisfaction and suffering which he
heard among the soldiers who accompanied General Arnold in his march
from Boston to Quebec through the wilderness, in the year 1775, were
from the want of tobacco. This was the more remarkable, as they were so
destitute of provisions as to be obliged to kill and eat their dogs.[59]
Tobacco possesses narcotic powers in common with many other substances,
of which neither time nor space will permit us to make mention.
Narcotics, when used to a due extent, become poisons, and hence tobacco
holds a very high rank in toxicology. A thousand experiments, as well as
accidents, show that it is a most deadly poison.[60] It has also been
called a counterpoison, but those who have asserted this have been
contradicted by numerous writers. Dr. Rush affirms that repeated
experience in Philadelphia has proved, that it is equally ineffectual in
preserving those who use it from the influenza and yellow fever. In the
plague, it was said to be useful, but what has been advanced on this
subject is now shown to be without much foundation. Still it may be said
of tobacco, that though it does not contain any specific antidote to
contagion, or possess antiseptic properties, it may nevertheless, as a
powerful narcotic, by diminishing the sensibility of the system, render
it less liable to contagion. It also moderates anxiety and fear, which
we are told quicken the activity of contagion. "Thus," says Cullen, "the
antiloimic powers of tobacco are upon the same footing with wine,
brandy, and opium."[61]
Dr. Fowler has written a treatise upon the effects of tobacco in the
cure of dropsies and dysuries. The Doctor seemed determined to discover
virtue in this plant, because he tells us in his preface, that he was
nowise discouraged in his inquiries into the medicinal effects of
tobacco, although the generality of writers on the materia medica have
spoken of it with great caution and reserve, and for the most part have
declared it either _obsolete_, or so _uncertain_, _violent_, and
_deleterious_ in its effects, as to render its exhibition _unadvisable_.
Dr. Cullen says that he employed tobacco in various cases of dropsy, but
with very little success.[62] Even those who advocate the medicinal use
of tobacco, admit that it is one of those violent remedies, which
nothing but the most skilful management can render beneficial; such as
arsenic, prussic acid, and many other deadly poisons, which, if
cautiously and properly administered, become excellent medicines. Thus
the liniment of tobacco, which has formerly been called one of the best
in the dispensatory, is said, in a case mentioned by Mr. Murray, to have
caused the deaths of three children, who expired within twenty-four
hours in convulsions, in consequence of its application for scald head.
Innumerable instances are given of its deleterious effects, even when
used medicinally, and with the greatest caution. In some cases it has
entirely failed to give the anticipated relief, and in others been
followed by the most deplorable consequences. We believe, however, that
eminent practitioners still continue to employ it, and find it
serviceable in some diseases. We have indeed heard it remarked, by a
distinguished physician, that much of the medicinal effect which might
otherwise be derived from tobacco, is often lost by the habitual use of
the article, which renders the system less sensible to its influence.
As a vulnerary, tobacco was used by the Indians, and physicians say that
it promotes the cicatrization and healing of inveterate ulcers. It has
been used in most cutaneous disorders, and its smoke has been considered
useful in rheumatisms, gout, chronic pains, &c.; but in all these cases
its virtue has also been denied, or it has been asserted that many other
medicines possess more certain efficacy. As an emetic it is considered
dangerous, being extremely violent, and succeeded by too much distress
and sickness. That it has been found useful in destroying insects, and
in preserving old clothes laid by against the inroads of vermin, there
can be no doubt; but on the mosquito and fly, two pests to whose cruel
torments we are most exposed, it will be within the painful remembrance
of many of our readers, that no quantity of tobacco smoke appears to
have the least effect.
Even though we admitted and could prove tobacco to be a useful medicine,
still this fact would afford no argument in favour of its habitual use
in a state of health. On the contrary, it would be the very reason for
its non-use; for the habitual use will in time weaken and destroy its
medicinal powers. Many, after finding or fancying relief from its
occasional, have fallen into its habitual use, and the remedy has thus
virtually proved worse than the disease. Besides, by this course,
persons take away the hope of future benefit from the application, in
case of a recurrence of their disorder.
That this habit is entirely unevangelical, Dr. Clarke attempts to show
with much zeal. Let those who profess to renounce the lusts of the flesh
read his tract, and determine, conscientiously, how far his arguments
are worthy of attention. That the devout "roll this sin as a sweet
morsel under the tongue," is fully evinced by every day's experience;
and the following anecdote from Dr. Clarke forms a good illustration of
this text.
"An eminent physician," says he, "gave me the following
account:--'When I was at L----, in the year 1789, a certain
religious people at one of their annual meetings made a rule,
or rather revived one which had been long before made and
established among them by their venerable founder, but had been
in a great measure lost sight of, viz.--That no minister in
their connexion should use snuff or tobacco, unless prescribed
by a physician. This rule at once showed their prudence and
good sense. Towards the conclusion of the meeting, having
offered my assistance to as many as stood in need of medical
help, several of them consulted me on the subject of taking
tobacco in one form or other; and with very little variation
their mode of address was as follows:--'Doctor, I am troubled
frequently with such a complaint, (naming it,) I take tobacco,
and have found great benefit from the use of it; I am sure were
I to give it up I should be very ill indeed; and I am certain
that you are too wise and too skilful a man to desire me to
discontinue a practice which has been so beneficial to me.'
After such an address what could I say? It was spoken with
serious concern, and was properly _argumentum ad hominem_: I
knew they were sincere, but I knew also they were deceived:
however, to the major part of them I ventured to speak thus:
'gentlemen, you certainly do me honour in the confidence you
repose in my skill, but you have brought me into a dilemma from
which I cannot easily extricate myself; as I find I must either
say as you say on the subject, or else renounce all pretensions
to wisdom and medical skill. However, I cannot in conscience
and honour prescribe to you the continued use of a thing which
I know does many of you immense hurt.'"
But the anti-christian nature of this habit is placed in a very strong
light, in a curious passage, by Dr. Rush.[63] "What reception," says he,
"may we suppose, would the apostles have met with, had they carried into
the cities and houses to which they were sent, snuff-boxes, pipes,
segars, and bundles of cut, or rolls of hog, or pigtail tobacco?"
The effects of tobacco upon the morals have been often animadverted
upon, and in no particular more frequently, and with greater emphasis,
than in its obvious tendency to promote temulency. Charlevoix intimates
the near connexion which exists between intemperance and smoking, when
he assures us, that amongst many nations, to smoke out of the same pipe
in token of alliance, is the same thing as to drink out of the same
cup.[64]
"Smoking and chewing tobacco," says Rush, "by rendering water and simple
liquors insipid to the taste, dispose very much to the stronger stimulus
of ardent spirits. The practice of smoking segars has, in every part of
our country, been more followed by a general use of brandy and water as
a common drink, more especially by that class of citizens who have not
been in the habit of drinking wine or malt liquors."[65] "One of the
greatest sots I ever knew," says the same author, "acquired a love for
ardent spirits by swallowing cuds of tobacco, which he did to escape
detection in the use of it; for he had contracted the habit of chewing,
contrary to the advice and commands of his father. He died of a dropsy
under my care, in the year 1780."[66] On this subject, a very late
writer is still more express. "We consider tobacco," says he, "closely
allied to intoxicating liquors, and its confirmed votaries as a species
of drunkards." Again. "I have observed that persons who are much
addicted to liquor, have an inordinate liking to tobacco in all its
different forms; and it is remarkable, that in the early stages of
ebriety, almost every man is desirous of having a pinch of snuff. This
last fact it is not easy to explain; but the former may be accounted for
by that incessant craving after excitement, which clings to the system
of the confirmed drunkard."[67]
The limits of our article will not allow us to embrace all the
considerations which belong to this subject, and which have been
bestowed upon it by various writers. We will therefore proceed to the
few remarks which we have to make upon the three chief modes of using
tobacco, viz., snuffing, smoking, and chewing. Catherine de Medicis, the
personage said to have prompted the horrible massacre of St.
Bartholomew's day at Paris, is commonly regarded as the inventress of
snuff-taking. In Russia and Persia the penalty of death was annexed to
the use of tobacco in every form except that of snuff. For this lighter
offence, the punishment was softened down to simple mutilation, no
greater severity being deemed necessary than that of cutting off the
nose. We doubt exceedingly whether either penalty would deter the
inveterate snuff-takers of the present day. Indeed, we are told
somewhere that it was very common among the Persians to expatriate
themselves, when they were no longer allowed to indulge in tobacco in
their native country. One of the first effects of snuff is to injure the
nerves of the nose, which are endowed with exquisite sensibility, and of
which an incredible number are spread over the inner membrane of the
nostrils. This membrane is lubricated by a secretion, which has a
tendency to preserve the sense. By the almost caustic acrimony of snuff,
the mucus is dried up, and the organ of smelling becomes perfectly
callous. The consequence is, that all the pleasure we are capable of
deriving from the olfactory organs, the _omnis copia narium_, as Horace
curiously terms it, is totally destroyed. Similar effects are also
produced upon the saliva, and hence it is that habitual snuff-takers are
often unable to speak with proper distinctness; and the sense of taste
for the same reason is very much obtunded. A snuffer may always be
distinguished by a certain nasal twang--an asthmatic wheezing--and a
sort of disagreeable noise in respiration, which is nearly allied to
incipient snoring. Snuff also frequently occasions fleshy excrescences
in the nose, which, in some instances, end in polypi. Individuals have
oftentimes a predisposition to cancer in little scirrhous
intumescencies, which, if kept easy and free from every thing of an
irritating character, will continue harmless, but which the use of snuff
sometimes frets into incurable ulcers and cancers. By the use of snuff,
tumours are also generated in the throat, which obstruct deglutition,
and even destroy life. Dr. Hill saw a female die of hunger, who could
swallow no nourishment because of a polypus which closed up the stomach,
the formation of which was attributed to the excessive use of snuff.
Some portion of the snuff will involuntarily find its way into the
stomach, where its pernicious properties soon manifest themselves, being
frequently followed by nausea, vomitings, loss of appetite, and impaired
digestion. The drain of the juices has a tendency to injure the muscles
of the face, to render them flaccid, to furrow and corrugate the skin,
and to give a gaunt, withered, and jaundiced appearance to "the human
face divine."
We are also informed that it embrowns the complexion, by withdrawing
those peculiar secretions which communicate the fine vermillion hue of
beauty. In our country, however, women do not abandon themselves to this
impure habit, till they are married, and have no farther desire to
please, or till they are somewhat _passees_, and find their faculties of
pleasing impaired. What a death-blow does snuffing give to all that
romance with which it is the interest of refined society to invest the
fair sex! How vulgar the thought "that a sneeze should interrupt a
sigh!"--How unpoetical is snuff! The most suitable verses which a lover
could address to a snuff-taking mistress, would be imitations of
Horace's lines to the Sorceress Canidia. What sylph would superintend
the conveyance of this dust to the nostrils of a belle? What Gnome would
not take a fiendish delight in hovering over a pipe-loving beauty?
"The only advantage," says Dr. Leake, "of taking snuff, is that of
sneezing, which, in sluggish phlegmatic habits, will give universal
concussion to the body, and promote a more free circulation of the
blood; but of this benefit snuff-takers are deprived, from being
familiar with its use." When the stimulus of snuff ceases to be
sufficient, recourse is immediately had to certain admixtures, by which
the necessary excitement is procured; thus pepper, euphorbium,
hellebore, and even pulverised glass, are made use of to give it
additional pungency. Snuffing is also a frequent cause of blindness.
Nature has appointed certain fluids to nourish and preserve the eye,
which, if withdrawn, cause the sight to become prematurely old, impaired
by weakness, and sometimes totally destroyed. We are also told that it
dries up and blackens the brain, and gives the stomach a yellow hue;[68]
that it injures the moral faculties, impairs the memory, and, indeed,
debilitates all the intellectual powers, and that it taints the breath
"with the rank odour of a tobacco cask." "We read in the Ephemerides des
Curieux de la Nature, that a person fell into a state of somnolency, and
died apoplectic, in consequence of having taken by the nose too great a
quantity of snuff."[69] In fine, snuffing is said to bring on
convulsions, promote pulmonary consumption, and to cause madness and
death! Napoleon is thought to have owed his death to a morbid state of
stomach, superinduced by snuffing to excess. Dr. Rush relates that Sir
John Pringle was afflicted with tremors in his hands, and had his memory
impaired by the use of snuff; when, on abandoning the habit, at the
instance of Dr. Franklin, he found his power of recollection restored,
and he recovered the use of his hands.[70]
When the habit of snuffing is once contracted, it becomes almost
impossible to divest ourselves of it. It becomes as necessary as food,
or any of those first wants of life "quibus negatis natura doleat." The
following story we translate from a French medical writer:--
"I recollect, about twenty years since, while gathering simples
one day in the Forest of Fontainebleau, I encountered a man
stretched out upon the ground; I supposed him to be dead, when,
upon approaching, he asked in a feeble voice if I had some
snuff; on my replying in the negative, he sunk back
immediately, almost in a state of insensibility. In this
condition he remained till I brought a person who gave him
several pinches, and he then informed us that he had commenced
his journey that morning, supposing he had his snuff-box with
him, but found very soon he had started without it; that he had
travelled as long as he was able, till at last, overcome by
distress, he found it impossible to proceed any farther, and
without my timely succour he would have certainly
perished."[71]
The consumption of time and great expense of this artificial habit,
almost surpass belief. "A man who takes a pinch of snuff every twenty
minutes," says Dr. Rush, "(which most habitual snuffers do), and snuffs
fifteen hours in four-and-twenty, (allowing him to consume not quite
half a minute every time he uses the box,) will waste about five whole
days of every year of his life in this useless and unwholesome practice.
But when we add to the profitable use to which this time might have been
applied, the expenses of tobacco, pipes, snuff, and spitting boxes--and
of the injuries which are done to the clothing, during a whole life, the
aggregate sum would probably amount to several hundred dollars. To a
labouring man this would be a decent portion for a son or daughter,
while the same sum saved by a man in affluent circumstances, would have
enabled him, by a contribution to a public charity, to have lessened a
large portion of the ignorance or misery of mankind." But Lord Stanhope
makes a far more liberal estimate than Dr. Rush; "Every professed,
inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," says he, "at a moderate
computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every pinch, with the
agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose, and other incidental
circumstances, consumes a minute and a half. One minute and a half out
of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to
two hours and twenty-four minutes out of every natural day, or one day
of every ten. One day out of ten amounts to thirty six days and a half
in a year. Hence, if we suppose the practice to be persisted in forty
years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's life will be devoted to
tickling his nose, and two more to blowing it." The same author proposes
in a subsequent essay to show, that from the expense of snuff,
snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs, a fund might be formed to pay off the
English National debt!
The subject of snuffing having employed more of our time than we
anticipated, the two following heads of smoking and chewing will be more
briefly noticed. On the subject of smoking, Mr. Beloe has preserved the
following old epigram.[72]
"We buy the dryest wood that we can finde,
And willingly would leave the smoke behinde:
But in tobacco a thwart course we take
Buying the herb only for the smoke's sake."
Smoking was the earliest mode of using tobacco,[73] (as might be
inferred from the epigram) and for a long time the only mode in which it
was used in Europe. Certainly in our day it is the most general, and at
the same time the most expensive, and although several rivals contend
with Sir Walter Ralegh for the praise of having introduced tobacco into
England, yet the "bright honour" of having taught his countrymen to
imitate the Indians, in this particular, he "wears without corrival."
Almost all the arguments which have been employed against the use of
tobacco as a sternutatory, are more or less applicable to it when used
in the way of fumigation.[74] Good old Cotton Mather, who was fully
aware of the disadvantages as well as sinfulness of this habit,
deprecates it with a qualification at which it is impossible to repress
a smile. It savours so much of "beating the Devil round a bush." Thus he
says--"May God preserve me from the indecent, ignoble, criminal slavery,
to the mean delight of smoking a weed, which I see so many carried away
with. And _if_ ever I should smoke it, let me be so wise as to do it,
not only with moderation, but also with such employment of my mind, as I
may make that action afford me a leisure for!"[75]
The effects of smoking on the breath, clothes, hair, and indeed the
whole body, are most offensive. What is more overpowering than the stale
smell remaining in a room where several persons have been smoking? When
the practice is carried to excess, it causes the gums to become lax and
flabby, and to recede from the discoloured teeth, which appear long,
unsightly, and at length drop out. Dr. Rush, in his "Account of the life
and death of Edward Drinker," tells us that that individual lost all his
teeth by drawing the hot smoke of tobacco into his mouth. By the waste
of saliva, and the narcotic power of tobacco, the digestive powers are
impaired, and "every kind of dyspeptic symptoms," says Cullen, "are
produced."[76] King James does not forget to note this habit as a breach
of good manners. "It is a great vanitie and uncleannesse," says he,
"that at the table, a place of respect, of cleanlinesse, of modestie,
men should not be ashamed to sit tossing pipes, and puffing of the smoke
of tobacco one to another, making the filthy smoke and stinke thereof to
exhale athwart the dishes and infect the aire, when very often men that
abhorre it, are at their repast."
We come now to the subject of chewing. Whether the rock goat, the filthy
animal to which we have before adverted, or the tobacco worm, first
taught imitative man to masticate tobacco, we are ignorant. One thing,
however, is most certain, that of all modes of using it, chewing seems
most vulgar and ungentlemanlike, and it is worthy of particular remark,
that in our country it is more used in this manner, among the better
class of society, than in any other part of the world.[77] All the worst
effects which have been ascribed to it in the two former modes of using
it, are, with increased severity, imputed to chewing. But tobacco used
in this form is said to diminish hunger. "We have been told," says Dr.
Leake, "that tobacco, when chewed, is a preservative against hunger; but
this is a vulgar error, for in reality it may more properly be said to
destroy appetite by the profuse discharge of saliva, which is a powerful
dissolving fluid, essential both to appetite and digestion." In the use
of the quid, or cud, accidents sometimes happen from swallowing
portions, which must needs be very hurtful. Chewers are often taken by
surprise, and rather than be detected in the unclean practice, they
will, with Spartan fortitude, endure the horrible agonies of swallowing
the juice, and sometimes even the quid itself. But we must close our
remarks upon this vile habit, which we do by the following quotation
from a French writer. "Quant a la coutume de chiquer le tabac, elle est
bornee, je crois, a un petit nombre d'individus grossiers, et le plus
souvent voues a des habitudes crapuleuses, du moins si j'en juge par
ceux que j'y vois livres." We take the liberty of referring tobacco
chewers to Dr. Clark's treatise, (p. 24,) for a quotation he makes from
Simon Paulli, physician to the King of Denmark, who wrote a treatise on
the danger of using this herb, and also to a note at the foot of the
page, both which we are unwilling to repeat.
We are almost prepared to assert, that there is scarcely a conceivable
mode of applying tobacco to the human body, which has not been thought
of and practised. In former times, it was used by the oculists. Howell
says "that it is good to fortify and preserve the sight, the smoak being
let in round about the balls once a week, &c." We have even known snuff
to be blown into the eyes to cure inflammation. This latter remedy
should be somewhat perilous, if what Sauvages relates be true, that a
female was thrown into a catalepsy by a small portion of snuff which had
accidentally entered her eye. The Rev. S. Wesley, speaking of the abuse
of tobacco, intimates an apprehension that the human ear will not long
remain exempted from its application.
"To such a height with some is fashion grown,
They feed their very nostrils with a spoon,[78]
One, and but one degree is wanting yet,
To make their senseless luxury complete;
Some choice regale, useless as snuff and dear,
To feed the mazy windings of the ear."
Now, as a medicine, at least, it has been used for the ear; for Sir Hans
Sloan positively affirms that the "oyl or juice dropped into the ear is
good against deafness."[79] Another mode of using tobacco, and not very
common we hope, is what is called plugging, that is, thrusting long
pellets or rolls of tobacco up the nose, and keeping them there during
the night. As a dentifrice it is used in many parts of the world. We
have had an opportunity of witnessing this fact in various parts of
South America, but especially in Brazil, where respectable women do not
scruple openly to use tobacco for this purpose. We have known several
very respectable individuals of both sexes in our own country, who use
snuff as a tooth powder, and with them its employment was just as much a
habit as any other mode of using tobacco. These have been generally West
Indians, or persons who have resided much in the West India islands. In
some of our southern states, tobacco is much used among the ladies as a
dentifrice. Indeed there appears to prevail generally, a very strong
opinion, that it is an excellent preservative of the teeth, which is
certainly an error; though we think it probable that the stimulus of
tobacco, to those who use it in excess, may become in a certain degree
necessary to their preservation.
Tobacco is truly a leveller. It equalizes the monarch and the hind, and
is acceptable to the sage as well as the sailor. "Its smoke," says
Thomson, "rising in clouds from the idolatrous altar of the native
Mexican, opened the world of spirits to his delirious imagination,"
while it has "even assisted in extending the boundaries of intellect, by
aiding the contemplations of the Christian philosopher." If we advert
to the irrefragable proofs of the virulent properties of this plant, and
the various arguments which have been urged against its habitual use, we
cannot fail to be struck with the extraordinary fact, that so large a
portion of mankind should voluntarily struggle through its repugnant
qualities, both of taste and effect, until by habit its stimulus grows
pleasurable, and the system becomes mithridated against its poison! It
would almost seem as if the use of some substance of this class were
necessary to the intellectual and physical economy of man, since no
nation nor age, of which we have any account, has been found without. Of
the various masticatories which have been in general use, if we except
opium, tobacco is unquestionably the most pernicious. Although its
moderate use may not shorten life, or prove perceptibly hurtful to
health, yet its excessive employment certainly generates many formidable
disorders, particularly of the nerves and stomach, and subjects its
votary to innumerable inconveniences and sufferings. Our space will not
permit us to expatiate any further; and we shall therefore conclude our
article by relating from Rush a very interesting anecdote of Dr.
Franklin, which places the common-sense view of this matter in the
strongest possible light. _A few months before Franklin's death, he
declared to one of his friends, that he had never used tobacco in the
course of his long life, and that he was disposed to believe there was
not much advantage to be derived from it, for that he had never known a
man who used it, who advised him to follow his example._