The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-07-20

the midst OF an orotion on the per-
nicious effects Of tobacco. the or
ator made pause; and, taking his
snuf.box from his pocket, refreshed
himself with pinch to enable him to
renew the argument.
In 1890 Shah Abbas prohibited the
use of tobacco in Persia by . pen
al law: but, so firmly had the lux
ury rooted itself in the minds Of
his subjects, that many Of the in
habitants !. of the cities fled to
the mountains, where they hid them
selves, rather than torego the pleasure
of smoking.
In the beginning Of the next century,
in 1924, Pope Urban VIII, anatheme-
tized oil snufl:takers, who committed
the hcinous sin of taking n pinch, in
any church: and so late as 1880, In
nocent XII. eXcommunicated all who
indulged in the same vice in Saint
Peters church, at Rome. ).
In 1925, Ambrath w. prohibited
smoking Us an unnatural and irrcligi-
Gus custom, under pain of death; few,
indeed, suffered the penalty, yet, i'll
Constantinople, when 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 street
with pipe transtised through his nose.
In Russia where the pcasantry now
smoke all day long, the Grand Duke
Of Moscow prohibited the entrance of
tobacco into his dominions, under the
penalty of the knout for the first of.
fence, and death for the second and
Muscovitc who was found snufiing, was
condemned to have his nostrils split.
So great indeed was the animosity Of
the government against tobacco in eve
ry form that particular tribunal, the
Chambre All Tabac, for smokers, was
instituted in 1884, and not abolished
until the middle Of the eighteenth cell
tury.
Even in.Switzerland, was was waged
against the American herb: to smoke,
i'll Bernc, ranked as o crime next to
adultery; and in 1868, all smokers
were cited before the Council at Apen-
:sEseI, and severely punished. fhSiht,T$SssSs
many bad, and all prosecuted customs,
tobacco trinmphed over its opponents;
it is now cultivated in both hemis-
pheres of the globe; and the importa-
ton Of tabacco and snuff into Great
Britain alone, in 1929, amounted to
lG.SSO hogshcads.
1t has been stated that tobacco was
discovered by the Spaniards in Yuca-
tan, 1918; but Humboldt asserts that
it was cultivated from time immcmo-
rial, by the natives OF the Orinoko; /;
where it is called Petun, Poic-ma, and
ftciel. 1t was, soon after its discove-
ry, transported to the West Indies;
particularly in Cuba, the tobacco Of
which is still the most highly priced
and to North America where it has
been most extensively cultivated.
One curious circumstance connected
with its cultivation in Virginia is worth
noticing; the planters in tho beginning
OF the seventeenth century, being all
bachelors, regarded themselves merely
as temporary sojoumcrs in the colony;
the London Company, which was es-
tablished in 1906, for the colonization
Of Virginia with view to their steadi
ness, sent out number of respecta-
bic young women to supply the settlers
with wives. These ladies were actual.
ly sold for one hundred and twenty
pounds Of tobacco each, being the
quantity considered as equivalent to
the expenses Of the voyage.
Cheering 2obocco.-lhc origin of
this custom has not hcen traced, but
it probably sprang from the desire to
extract the entire tobacco, substitute
for the termented juice, the moo, which
has been already noticed. At this
day, the women in the province of
Narinas carry this inspissated liquid in
n small box, which they wear like
watch, suspended to one side at the
end Of u string. Instead of key, it is
furnished with little spoon, which
they help themselves from time to
time, of this juice reIishing it in their
mouths like II swectmeat.' Chewing
tobacco has always been confined
chiefly to the lower classes, and seafar-
ing men, whose avocations do not al
ways permit the means of smoking,
and who cannot afford to snuff. Habit
enables many chewers to swallow the
saliva with impunity, although the
strong infusion introduced into the ali
canal is a virulent sedativc
poison. The celebrated Canon, of
Saint Victor, Santeuil the poet, fell the
victim of a practical joke with tobacco.
lie was much distinguished for the
livelincss of his disposition and lis wit.
AT one of those entertainments, at
which he was constant guest, some
young men, thinking it would be
pleasant jest, made him drink a glass
Divine, into which q tobacco box filed
with Spanish tobacco, had been empti.
ed. lie was suddenly seized with the
most violent vomitings, and, in a few
hours afterwards, died in the greatest
tortures. The saliva of chewer of
tobacco, when swallowed, affects the
a L