The law mandating a regular salary for these officials severely cut the clergy's real income. Swedish Botanist Carolus Linnaeus names the plant genus, nicotiana. and describes two species, nicotiana rustica. and nicotiana tabacum. John Hill performs perhaps first clinical study of tobacco effects, warns snuff users they are vulnerable to cancers of the nose. Dr. Percival Pott notes incidence of cancer of the scrotum among chimneysweeps, theorizing a connection between cancer and exposure to soot. The law was vetoed by the Crown, but was still sometimes adhered to in Virginia, and some clergy sued their parishes.
French official is condemned to be hanged for admitting foreign tobacco into the country.
British tobacco taxes are a further grievance. Tobacco helps finance the Revolution by serving as collateral for loans from France. The U.S Congress passes its first tax on tobacco. The tax of 8 cents applies only to snuff, not the more plebian chewing or smoking tobacco. Famed physician Benjamin Rush writes on the medical dangers of tobacco and claims that smoking or chewing tobacco leads to drunkenness.