(Pentandria Monogynia. _Nat. Ord._ Luridæ, _Lin._ Solaneæ, _Juss._)
Tobacco is an annual plant, a native of America, from whence it was
imported into Europe. We learn from _Humboldt_ that it has been
cultivated from time immemorial by the native people of the Oroonoko;
and was smoked all over America at the time of the Spanish conquest.
_Hermandez de Toledo_ sent it into Spain and Portugal in 1559, when
_Jean Nicot_[445] was Ambassador at the court of Lisbon, from Francis
II, and he transmitted, or carried either the seed, or the plant to
_Catherine de Medicis_, as one of the wonders of the new world, and
which, it was supposed, possessed virtues of a very extraordinary
nature. This seems to be the first authentic record of the introduction
of this plant into Europe. In 1589 the Cardinal _Santa Croce_, returning
from his nunciature in Spain and Portugal to Italy, carried thither with
him tobacco; and we may form some notion of the enthusiasm with which
its introduction was hailed, from a perusal of the poetry which the
subject inspired. It is said that the smoking tobacco was first
introduced by _Sir Walter Raleigh_ on his return from America; and the
avidity with which the custom was immediately adopted is shewn by the
philippic written against it by King James, entitled the “_Counterblaste
to Tobacco_.”
As an object of Medical Jurisprudence, its claims to our attention are
numerous and important; not only as having occasionally been the means
of destroying human life, but as furnishing, in its most romantic
history, a striking illustration of the triumph of popular opinion over
a series of legislative enactments[446] which had no other origin than
that of ignorance and prejudice.
Tobacco was at one period of our history raised to a considerable extent
in Yorkshire; but the cultivation of it for the purposes of trade have
been long prohibited; and this country, as well as the greater part of
Europe, is chiefly supplied from Virginia, where the plant is cultivated
in the greatest abundance. The recent leaves do not possess any
considerable odour, nor have they much flavour; when dried, however,
their odour becomes strong, narcotic, and somewhat fœtid; their taste
bitter, and extremely acrid. We have stated, upon another occasion,[447]
that tobacco would appear to contain two independent elements of
activity, an essential oil, and a proximate principle, of an acrid
nature, to which _Vauquelin_ has bestowed the name of _Nicotin_. The
essential oil is an extremely virulent poison. _Mr. Barrow_, speaking of
the use which the Hottentots make of it for destroying snakes, says, “A
Hottentot applied some of it from the short end of his wooden
tobacco-pipe to the mouth of a snake, while darting out his tongue. The
effect was as instantaneous as an electric shock; with a convulsive
motion that was momentary, the snake half untwisted itself, and never
stirred more; and the muscles were so contracted, that the whole animal
felt hard and rigid, as if dried in the sun.” The author has ventured a
conjecture in his _Pharmacologia_,[448] with respect to this virulent
oil, which he takes this opportunity of repeating, that “_the juice of
cursed hebenon_,” by which, according to _Shakspeare_, the King of
Denmark was poisoned, was no other than 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_.”
In the first place, 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 _henebon_, i. e.
henbane. Now it appears from _Gerarde_ that _tabaco_ was commonly called
“_henbane of Peru_” (Hyoscyamus Peruvianus); and when we consider how
high the prejudice of the court ran against this herb, as so strikingly
evinced by the ‘_Counterblaste_’ of King James, it seems very likely
that _Shakspeare_, who was fond of playing the courtier, should have
selected it, as an agent of extraordinary malignity, upon such an
occasion. No preparation of the _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. The term _distilment_ has also called forth a remark from
_Steevens_, which is calculated to add a little farther weight[449] to
our conjecture; “surely” says he, “this expression signifies, that the
preparation was the result of a _distillation_.”
_Symptoms of poisoning by Tobacco._
The leaves of tobacco, whether whole, or reduced to powder, as they are
daily met with in commerce, or in the form of infusion in water or wine,
or in the state of smoke, are endued with poisonous properties of
extreme energy. Their administration is shortly followed by vertigo;
severe nausea; vomiting; a general tremor of the body, which is rarely
the result of any other poison; cold sweats; syncope; and death. The
author remembers witnessing a lamentable exemplification of the action
of tobacco upon a person labouring under a strangulated hernia. The
patient had been under the care of a medical practitioner in the
vicinity of London, who after repeated and fruitless efforts to return
the intestine, injected an infusion of tobacco into the rectum, and sent
him in a carriage to the Westminster hospital, for the purpose of
undergoing the operation; but the unfortunate man expired very shortly
after his arrival, in consequence of the effects of the tobacco clyster.
The external application of tobacco, in the form of cataplasm, or
infusion, will occasion all the effects above related. A woman applied
to the heads of three children afflicted with _tinea capitis_, a
liniment consisting of powdered tobacco and butter, soon after which
they experienced vertigo, violent vomiting, and fainting.[450]
It was formerly a practice to inject the smoke of tobacco into the anus,
by means of a bellows of a peculiar construction, in cases of suspended
animation, with a view to _stimulate_ the rectum, and thereby to revive
the vital powers; we have already commented upon this most dangerous and
mistaken notion, (_see page_ 88.)
In the process of _smoking_ tobacco, the oil is separated, and being
rendered empyreumatic by heat, it is thus applied to the fauces in its
most active form; whence vertigo, nausea, and all its characteristic
symptoms speedily arise upon that occasion; although the system becomes
easily habituated to the action of this narcotic, and we continually see
a large portion of the community using it daily, in various ways, and in
great quantities, as a luxury, without experiencing any other bad effect
than that which arises from their inability to relinquish the habit.
The well known errhine, _snuff_, is prepared from the dried leaves of
tobacco, and possesses all the powers of the plant. The celebrated
_Santeuil_ experienced vomiting and horrible pains, amidst which he
expired, in consequence of having drank a glass of wine, into which some
Spanish snuff had been introduced.[451]
_Physiological action of Tobacco._
The deleterious effects of this plant appear to depend on an especial
action upon the nervous system; but farther experiments are required to
establish through what medium its powers are conveyed to the sensorium.
_Orfila_ concludes that the active part of the plant is absorbed, and
carried into the circulation. _Mr. Brodie’s_ experiments, however, would
lead to the conclusion that it operates through the medium of the
nerves; and, what is extremely singular, they shew that the _essential
oil_ operates very differently from the _infusion_ of tobacco; for that
while the former appears to act exclusively on the brain, leaving the
power of the circulation unimpaired, the latter acts on the heart at
once, suspending its action even before the animal ceases to respire,
and kills by producing syncope. This apparent anomaly at first led _Mr.
Brodie_, as he has since informed the author, to suspect the accuracy of
his experiments; but their careful repetition rendered this impossible.
We suggested to him, whether a probable explanation might not be found
in the late chemical results respecting the composition of tobacco,
which seemed to shew that this plant possesses two active elements.[452]