The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-23
TOBACCO,


A Paper Read Before tlae Tennessee,
Fn1IOSOPn1cal Society, at COIumb a
January list, 1874, by VIM. A. Smith
A. M, M. ID.
There are many good persons in the worlt
VINO Woulo very readily join literary society
ana yet would not think of becoming member,
Of philosophical society, as there are man,
literary societies in our country and the peo
pie have already become accustomed to them
but unfortunately the word philosophical" I:
long one, and hence many persons think tha
philosophical society must have very higt
pretenslons, and its members must necessari
| ~ De very learned. Now if the truth were
generally known, that philosophy is simply
tue love OF wisdom, and that most members o.
philosophical societies have a very modest
opinion as to their literary attainments, whe
tner they are great or small, we might readily
expect an increased number of our members
wisdom.
Our President has assigned me the duty OF
| wiring paper for the Society, on the subject
OF tobacco, and although know less about the
theory tnan the practice of the weed l will
| endsavor to discuss it in q Way that NAV not
| be altogether undressing
Tobacco, DR.. Worcester saws is derived from
tne indian word tobacOs, the name which the
CariDDees gave to the pipe in which thew
smoked the plant, transferred BY the Spaniards
to the plant itself, Others derive the word
| LOOaCSOsd province oil ucEtdn. others
from the island of Tobago, one ofthe Caribbees,
and others from Tobasco, in the gulf of Florida /.
1he common name of the species of herbace-
| Gus, rarely shrubby plants, of the genus nico-
tlana, 1t is generally clothed with clammy
| halrs or down, native for the most part of the
warmer portions OF America, few kinds grow
| ing also In the East. The species which Yields
most of the tobacco of commerce is the CONS
mon Nlrginlan or sweet scented tobacco,
Nlcotlana Tabacum, extensively cultivated in
the warmer portions of the United States
The dried leaves of several species of the genus
Nlcotiana, especially of Nicotiana tabacum,
are used in various ways as for chewing
smoking, and in the form of snuff. The mar.
cotic effects of tobacco depend upon the pres
ence OF peculiar alcalOid called nicotine
Tabacco was first brought to England in 1865
by Sir John Hawkins; but Sir Walter Raleigh
and Sir Francis Drake are also mentioned as
having introduced it. The Indian tobacco ia
an annual or biennial plant in North Ameri
ca, having emetic, cathartic and narcotic pro-
pertles, aud Is used in asthma and str angulat-
ed hernia, while the mountain tobacco is a
plant having an acrid taste, and stimulant.
cathartlc, and emetic properties. IT is used in
typhoid tevers, dysentery, etc, and is some-
times called 'ieopard's bane," in familiar Ian
guage. II were going to write history of
tobacco | might have some use for such facts
as these, that the term Nicotiana, in Botany.
received its name in honor of Jno. Moot, of MIS-
mes, an ambassador from the French court to
that of Portugal, who during his residence at
Lisbon in 1860, received some Of the seed from
Dutchman wh) had il from Florida. aud
part of this he sent to France. There the
plant soon became famous, as we'll as in other
parts of Europe, by the name of tabac or to-
6acco, and although many governments for
babe the cultivation of tobacco, those lie
straints have been abrogated so that the GUAM
tity of tobacco raised in the United States and
other countries each year is truly wonderful
Everybody has heard, or ought to have heard
of the wager that the famous Sir Walter RAJ
leigh made with Queer Elizabeth, that he
could weigh the smoke that came from a pine
of tobacco, and now he succeeded by weigh
ing first the tobacco, and then, after he had
finished smoking, he weighed the ashes, and
the weight of the smoke was exactly the diff
ference.
Recently l was amused at hearing an old
smoker say that he never smoked in the dark,
because it was necessary for him to see the
smoke IN order to derive any pleasure from it. |
At first was disposed to question the truth
OF this statement as a general principle, but |
having made the experiment, feel warranted |
in saying that if any smoker will take his CT |
gar or pipe into the dark especially if he con- |
ceals the fire, he will be so far from deriving |
any pleasure from it, that be would scarcely |
be able to perceive it If his fire should go out
offer no explanation of this fact, but leave |
the mystery to be solved by each individual. |
As soon as tobacco is mentioned in these |
times, it is fashionable to insist upon its bad |
effects. Now as this is not altogether fair, |
and as we are in search of the truth, pur-
pose noticing, first the disadvantages, and |
then the advantages, of tobacco.
In the first place it is agreed that the use of |
tobacco is expensive, but it is possible to regu~
late this expense. The rich may spend great |
deal of money on tobacco, and so the poor |
may enjoy it at moderate prices; for some |
kinds of tobacco cost more than others. Be- |
fore the Confederate war most young |
men smoked fine cigars, but in the |
service many of them became accustomed TO |
pipes, so that from habit we may now find |
many gentlemen who actually prefer the |
cheap pipe to the expensive cigar. 1t is well |
known that the English poet Tennyson smokes |
common chalk pipe, that costs about quar-
ter of a cent, and says that he enjoys it more |
than he does the finest Havana cigar.
1t is further objected that our precocious |
youths begin smoking too early, in order to |
look like men, but here the fault is rather in |
the boys than in the tobacco. This objection |
derives force from the common assertion that |
when man smokes at too early an age, it |
stops his physical growth. Now in answer |
to this, would suggest that this statement |
requires more proof than 1T has yet received |
before it can be admitted as being worthy of |
serious attention. So firmly established, how
ever, has this opinion, that smoking checks |
physical growth, become established in the |
minds of those who have never studied the |
subject carefully, that l remember once to /
have heard farmer declare that the reason i
why a certain pony never grew up to be |
horse was that he smoked when he was young. |
This same objection has been carried so far |
that il has often been asserted that the use of |
tobocco prevents intellectual development. !
Now / have the pleasure of knowing that a |
few years since, probably in 1868, an expert |
ment was tried in the University of Oxford, |
England,to test the truth ofthIs assertion: when |
an equal number Of young men who used, and |
did not use tobacco were selected from the |
same class, and at the expiration of a given |
time no difference was found in their scholar
ship, that could have been caused by the use |
of tobacco.
A favorite objection against the use of tobac- |
co is that it is filthy practice, and this is so |
true that no denial of it is attempted, although |
the charge could more readily be brought |
against some persons than it could be against |
others.
Not uhfrequently it is said that tobacco dam
ages the health; if this is the case then the per-
son whose health is being damaged should at |
once stop the use of it, though it would be easy |
for him to point out many persons who have |
used it for years without experiencing any |
such bad effects.
Tobacco is known to be poison, but it is |
how many old people use it nearly |
all of their lives and how very few of them |
die from poison.
1t is true enough that some of the New
England states have made some strict prohibit
ton about tobacco, but We are not surprised at
this when we remember that the same country
was the birthplace of the blue-laws, and of
other laws equally as foolish.
Few objections against tobacco have more
weight than that it is luxury; but in the case
of those persons who have been in the habit of
using it constantly for years, it is no longer
a luxury, but necessity, however we may
have occasion to speak oft again as a luxury
hereafter.
Sometimes we are reminded that it is very
strange that men are such slaves to tobacco
when the ancients knew nothing at all about
it; but little reflection will show US that men
very properly enjoy great many things now,
of which the ancients were in utter ignorance.
Again, we are informed that it is a bad hab-
it, well, as soon as any person is fully persuad-
ed that it ia bad habit it is his duty to stop it.
And that it is possible to stop the use of tohac
CO both naturally and by artificial means may
be shown by living examples.
The use of tobacco, especially by chewing it,
may be said to destroy or rather damage the
taste; but in such cases men say that they are
willing that both their sense of taste and smell
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