The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-02-02 00:00:00

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A PUFF OF TOBACCO
" When Mists first, at hearan'a ocannisod, 'trots
from ost the azure main,"—in other words, our naval
mvaLowas avevet with the introinction, and use of,
is Kurland.
As on a. s few had elsoovered the valuable pro-
perties of the new herb, .few others had found its
IltlPPoind allsterioisa ownewitoenos4, and ',wiled al
nvutrals to shun "the bowl of Sr*, and the Subs of
poison." They cried—
"Tobacc, tic, Wince, tie, If yoo're well, ,
'twill reeks you init."
Wkile the advocates of smoking Wellston in a similar
arida

'Mug= laic, tobacco Me, mks
Igo gra, if yors' re •ki."

His Most Gracious Majesty, :1 ames the First,
Defender of the Faith, even riondsmended to erkekl the
Pen ea well as the sceptre, agsinst it, and he gave a
benighted world his view. upon the subject of
Nicotixna„" in a weenies pamphlet, vaingloriously
styled. ' A Coenterblaste to Tobacco ;" in which it is
denounoed as "loathsome to the eye harmhille to the
brains, dangerous to the lanes, and in the black.
Wilkie( Dune thereof limey resembling dm horrible
styglan rid die of the pit that is bottomless." This was
in 1615; het so for boa a. 1604, His Majesty
endeevoured, by means of heavy imposta, to abolish its
use; retains the duty thereon from twopenoe to six-and.
tenpence per pound; and that, too, without the cionsent
of Parliament. Although frowned upon by royalty, the
weed was extensively patronised; not 01111:11 the men
of the Nine, but also by the WOlnen. er, in his
quaint and minute account of the manners sad customs
of the middle deems of society In the seventeenth
century, says, 'A lady or two, took aplpefnfl or two,
, and peaked it 'lore the heaven.;" and, it is chronicled
' by Mies Pardee, that the daughters of Louis the
Fourteenth wen pertieolarly fond of smoking, and
" borrowed their pipes from the elbows of the Swim
Guard!"
• Everyone knows that tolueoci was first imported into
&jilted in the reign o f Queen Elisabeth, and nearly
everyone migpebee Raleigh was It. istrodessr ; bet the
honour of introddetiom i,at, jo.tly or unjustly, bee•
assigned by several writers to others. Gulden says, it
belongs to Mr. Ralph 1/1,111, who wee sent out by Raleigh,
as the first Govefoor o Virginia, sod /lassoed to
England in 1580; and, Harriet, the ehrmikdor of the
voyage, unhesitatingly alarms the .ame. S-rnie claim it
for Sir Francis Drake, Sir Amps Leigh, and others.
We think tobacco must have been known in England
before the retare of Lane; for Stow, in his snuck,
mentions that " Wham* ems late England about the
twentieth year of Qrs. Ellsabeth" (1577); and Taylor,
the water.poet, says earlier —assigning its insoduetion
to Sir John Hawkins, in 15145. No doubt Raleigh was
the first habited smoker ; and lie was so fond of the
weed that' &wording to Aubrey, "he tooke a pipe of
tobsaeo a little before he went to the scoffed, cheek
same female persons were goandrilised at; but 1 think
'iwas well ,pd properly done, to settle hi, spirits." The
story of his gamut throwing a pail of water over him
I. too well known to be repeated here. Thom of the
sristomecy who patronised the weed, smoked it in short
pipes, with silver bowl., while the pipe of the people
was half a walnut shell, with a tube in...reed.

King James was not the only minarets who objected
to hts subjects making climates of themselves. The
papal thunder was thundered from the Vetican ; and,
In holy anger and pions grief, that powerful and poetical
potentate, Urban VIII., demeed excommunication
spinet all who took '' the accursed thing" into • church,
either in the shape of abase°, or snuff; the litter
' having been token by some Spanish ealeslastice during
: the oelebration of high mats. The semi-barbarous
Emperor of ail the Russia followed suit, by prohibiting
scookine, under the penalty of having the nose cut off—
• punishment, one would think, more applicable to
snuffing than smoking. Anil:math IV., Sultan of Turkey,
joined In the crusade, end made smoking • capital
dreamy and in 1010, • Turk, who had been found
smoking in Constantmoplc, wag conducted through the I
streets with • pipe trandlied through bin nose, :
previously to being dealt with by the deadly la*. Even
the distant King of Persia determined to mash It ; but,
with what succors, may be gleaned from the Persian
proverb. "Coffee, withott tobeoso, in meat without
call." In the Police Begulatioosof Berne made in the
year 1661, and divided, like the Ten Commandmeete,
the sin of smoking ranked next to that of adultery ;and,
even no late as the middle of the ad century, says the
"New York literary World," in an article on Tobeeoe
a partisolnr court wai held there, for trying delinquenta.
" Arming themeelv.,s with vocurgek halters and
halved, and bearing gibbeic on their banners,
they denounced death to all found inhaling
the fumes of the plant through • tube, or caught with
• pellet of it under their tongnee. Such as used it ea
• stimulative only, were dealt with more geatly."—
they were merely deprived of their organs of smell,—
nostrils and noes. •We can reciroo..ln the present day,
many determhsed enemies who would not have the
slightest obj,cii in to these prohibitory as, being put
In fonts in England. The war against " the stinking*
weed, nisotisaa," is not yet over j and the debatable
question, "Is smoking Wisdoms?" will doubtless, be
fought out by some future generation, with greater
anceras and good temper, we trout, than have chars&
tarised Inc battle in dsys gone by,
If we are to answer the question, whether smoking
I. really injurious? We reply, that it depends upon
eirenmstaases, and lowa only a moderate allowance
being indulged in. Eating or drinking beyond • certain
limit is injurioue, and the same rule will apply to the
use of good tobacco. The smoker, however, and
particulary the English one, must not Batter himself
that beget. his weed genuine • on the contrary, the
chooses are terribly egaairut him. Of the numerous
adulterations meatiosed by the late Mr. F. W. Fairholt,
in his valuable work on tobacco, we may note the
following as the spiels' generally employed forth, vile
purpose of spoiling it. Our hair stands on-end as we
knock the ashes from our pipe and read, "leave, of
rhilbarb, dock, harlot*, ooltdook beech, *detain oak.
and elm, peat earth, bran, sawdust, barley meal: oat.
meal, beamed, potato. starch, chicory leaved steeped
la txr oil, ctiobege, lotted@ leaves, sugar, alum, lime,
treacle, fuller.' earth, lamphlsek,ersdive leana,saltpet
end liquorice." Mr. Prescott, author of " Tubed.° and
Its Adulterations," mentions many more; bat these are
the principal.
We cannot see that the objectors to smoking lase
opposition on reasonable grounds. If one man smokes
to 'loess, then, 1. 00 reason why mother, who enjoys his
pipe in strict mode's tion sbouldreoslve further injury than
he weuld from • moderate quantity of delicious food.
!federation is the crtie thing necessary, and those gentle
men—and sometimes ladies too, (bless their dear little
hearts I)—who occasionally suffer from dyspepais,know
too well that more diseases are attributable to the
neglect of moderation in eating, than to smoking. The
great Abeenethy is reported to have said, "All diseases
arise from two atusee—atulhog and fretting :" plain, but
true. On, my friends, do net condemn a man for enjoy-
ing a single pipe, and tell him "there is poison in the
bowl," when there is leas poison in it than in many
other &dales of daily consumption. We remember
hearing a celebrated physician say that, out of every
ten cases brought before him at Christmas, one half
move from too free an indulgence in the delirious, bat
indigestible, componnd—plem pudding.
Smoking, in moderatioe, is frequently beneficial A
man who twenty years, was told by one or two learned
physician; he could not peedbly live two years longer,
because be was in • mold oonatimption, took to smok-
ing ; and la now as jolly and fine a man as you would
find from John-o'-Groats to the Land'aigind. Another
aequninterme informs as that he was, when • young
was, a martyr to the tootache : he tried tobacco, and
has never been troubled with it BUM. We meet admit,
however, that others have found it a single failure.
We know the medical profession frequently recommend
it in oases of uthma ; and we mak if it might not also
be beneficial in canes analogous to those above
mentioned.
Somp persona, because they find no enjoyment in
"the little tube of mighty power," condemn Its use by
others; and would have you imagine that yes are
earamitthig • sin by expending money on such a useless
article as robecoo. This is unfair; they forget thet,
If smokers do nothing else, they benefit the ranee*
, and thus prevent the aressenries of life from being
taxed no kiersvlly as Sher otherwas would be. Ts such
cavillers one could almost apply the words of Butler.
They
"Compound for elaii they are inclined to
By damning three they hare no mind to."
_

Smoking begets kindly feeling among Artisans. How
often after the turmoil end vexation of the day, has
the pipe solaced the working man I He come. home
tired—worn out; his toe, or supper, is not ready;
his wife in • bol temper. We'll 'appose it le washing
day. He feels tempted to quarrel with bar; sad, if he
I. not • smoker, gloomily does so. Bat. V be smokes,
he takes his pips trove his pocket, coolly lights it, takes
• few turns up and down his little garden, and then
re-onters the house. Ills supper is reedy; his wife in
consequence of his not grumbling, has pus on her most
cheerful countenance ; and they both feel supremely
happy lied comfortable. We lave witnessed etch
scenes over and over again. Oh I gentlemen, the pipe
is • peat oossold under difficulties, end • powerful
preventive of that diecordant etude generally known as
' domestic shines:"
" The men who madres," errs Lord Lydda "thinks
Ilk. • sags and ads Ilk.. Sunaritan." My tobacco-
bating friends, pet that in your pipes, sod emcee it
The °godless whist smoking may he urged sided
nearly every good thlng. We have centiooed yea
against coodeaniag • j 'use of the pipe because
some people smoke excessively ; but,piessenenember,we
do not say tobacco° is seccestery to man's ezistenekas dims
would have us believe. Tobago° undoubtedly contsies
t • poisonous demean : • volatile oil,and en alkaloid—
nod Mesa taken in sufficient quantities, are destractive
to lit.; stepwise the poisonous metier .not neutralised
by the beet. We look to the history of tobeoe and to
our own experience for the results arising from the
poisonous conatitsientste ; and we say it has been
proved, OM sod over again, that they mop be taken
in the form of tobaceo, without injury.
, Talk d tabula° being injurious I Is wine Injurious?
Is meet injurious? Are we to abstain from beef, mut-
ton, ham, eta., bowies • too indulgent use of them
produces disease? Truly may we say that ronylaing
we take is injurious—even tea, coffee, salt, pepper,
vinegar, and mustard—all, ell azeinjerioes. Itis
however, that tobeeoo is always • poison, allru:i,
in
never be consumed without injury. Such assertions are
dry to make but herd to prove. Tobacco, our beloved
belt, • poison! Horoceopetkisis tell its tea cad 03140
are poisons; tedotellen tell us wins, spirits, and eli
are poison; veretarens that all meat la pones I What
are we to do? Are we to have "no more cakes and
ate r Are we to be deprived'( all sourer of gaatro-
oasiisel egoyment?
You emend being forward any objection to the
modemse use of tobacco which will not apply, with
egos' ford to snob necessary articles of diet as these we '
have just eauseested. In gluttony there newt he ed.
ing ; in drunkenness, drinking; and, surely, you would
not °oedema either the sating or the drinking, per at—
but only the exam.
We needless whether the injurious effects of the
wood nre so numerous as the evils arising hoot tea.
drinking. Yoe, start not I—there is poimon In your cup
of sparkling gunpowder and trigtily-levetund Hyson—to
soy nothing of the common Robes. Occasionally
doctors recommend am= to havelids ; bell we neve;
heard at one who ad patients to increase their

• " h•••••••••etelsiSittsto iail Win*
to forbid the tb• hot* eh:ethos fipe ; UN"
dd. for Orr their II dioutl4 be coastolifillim.'—Prom
• Sketch of the latiortsf la IVY, In SWAN
from 14,1USd thelkilifvflt Mak •C. Saftb7.l°. Wdb.4l'
stmt.