Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-08-24
oRsG THAN TOBACCO.
Some Deadly Substitutes That Arc Smoked
in Rural England.

IN hurht ruG1unus
Tobacco is not the only weed that is
smoked in Britain-not by long way,
says Answers There is no need to GO
to the far East to ferret out weird and
poisonous smoking habits: they lie all
around us.
In Somerset and the southwest coun-
ties u great many persons smoke o
concoetion called ''sundew. = 1t ia
not new fad, but has been in use for
800 years there. Sundew is mixture
of sum dried beet leaves, parsley and
peppermint very little of the latter,
1t is not a harmful mixture, though ii
conduces to considerable drowsiness,
and is anything but good for the teeth.
You may notice in the western coun-
ties good many persons with Drowned
Or blackened teeth: it is the result OF
sundew smoking. The stuff is not
pleasant to q stranger, for it is very
hot and choliy and takes great deal
of getting used to.
Sundew is often home made, and
most Of the country people are experts
at making it. They set apart week
in July for the sundew harvest, and it
is always dried and mixed by women.
However, there are three regular sun
of the mixture are turned out. 1t can
be bought for from twopence to three
pence per ounce, according to quality.
Going a little further north, to
Worcestershire and Mid-Wales, you
will strike much worse habit. The
people thpre-town and country alike
are much given to smoking 'glssop."
Glissop is n sort of dry mash of hem
lnut haf
grow in spring burCock and ground
chick beans. This can also be bought
at some shops, though most of it is
home made. When bought it fetches
fourpence an ounce. This stuff is
smoked in short wooden pipes with
very small bowls, and is really dis
astrous in its effects. Like sundew,
it needs practice to get used to, but
is much pleasanter to the palate than
that compound. Its first effect on a
smoker is loss of memory, and this
increases till the smoker, after six
months of the habit, is quite untitled
for any profession that requires much
thought. The eyesight soon becomes
affected by constant and excessive in
diligence in the habit, which takes
hold of a man like morphomania and is
almost incurable.
Even small children may be seen
smoking glissop, though but for the
shape of the pipe employed a stranger
! would not know that they were not
smoking tobacco, unless he were very
close. The smell of the smoke, how
ever, induces tickling of the nostrls
| and a sort of giddiness, which is quite
unmistakable.
Tobacco is far less injurious, even
when INDUCED in to excess, than this
| poisonous compound. Although it is
| dearer than ordinary "shag' tobacco,
| the poorest people who are addicted
| to it always get it instead. They say
they cannot taste or smell even the
strongest tobacco any more than if ii
were mist.
Various good people of the districts,
| feeling distressed at the ill effects OF
the bad habit, and alarmed at its prev
alence, have started regular crusades
| against it, holding meetings in the
streets and trying to get habituals to
sign sort of pledge never to touch
| glissop again. 1t has stronger hold
than even drink, however.
| But of all the poisonous compounds
smoked in that country, pennyleaf'
takes the lead by long head. 1t is
another mixture all these CHASTITY
stutfs are mixtures and is chiefly
composed of marigold leaf, dock and d
yenomous plant called Durham gloss, =
that grows in damp places in woods.
This compound is smoked in short
clays, and confirmed smoker will gel
through a couple of ounces a day. Its
cheapness recommends it, and no per
son who has smoked much of it cares
for tobacco. 1t can be bought for a
penny an ounce from those who make
"a special business of it's manufacture
and sale, or can, less easily, be made
at home. Most of it is bought, how.
ever, and it is chiefly used by the
countless factory hands of the Black
Country and Lancashire Thousands
of bushels of it are smoked every year.
1t weakens the iawbones first, and
afterward the eyesight becomes af
fected. But, most Of all, it operates
on the heart just as cigarette smoking
does.