New-York tribune., 1902-01-04
TOBACCO.
SONG AND STORY IN ITS PRAISE

~.
by ". Hartley. octave, PIP. vi. S26. E. P. Dut-
ton & Co.
TOBACCO IN SONG AND STORY. BY John Balm,
jr Duodecimo PIP. V. 144 H NJ. Caldwell
Company.
Mr.. Penn declares roundly and sweepingly In
the enthusiastic peroration of his work that
tobacco is all things to all men" But he ought
to have mentioned emphatcally that some of
the things" indigestion, dim eyes. intamed
larynx. bronchitis, wrecked nerves. heart dis
and cancer in the tongue. 1t does not FOL
low, however, because he glOsses over the many
possible deleterious effects Of tobacco 6hough
he knows about them), that. therefore. his book
is uninstructive on the contrary, 1t is full OF
information and entertainment well. 1t rep
resents great deal of diligent investigation in
cudng study Of official statistics connected
with the subject: the encyclopedia knowledge at
the authors command is most intelligently Clas-
sfed and arranged Besides being authorita-
tive, the book is well wOrded, and one feels that
ones time has not been misspent in reading It..
In short, THE Soverane Herbe." written by a
partisan Of tobacco is very likely what it's au-
thor believes It to be. namely the most COM
pIete history Of tobacco yet published" We take
pleasure in approving this book. and trust it
may meet with the success II deserves.
Tobacco or tabaco. was not. is generally
supposed, the name OF the plant. but 1t the
dried leaves Of the plant smoked. The
reason why Columbus christened a certain island
of his discovery Tobago that II resembled
in shape Indian pipe. The first appearance
OF tobacco in European literature was made in
Oviedo's General History Of the Indies" He
had oficiated as Viceroy of San Domingo IN
the early part Of the sixteenth century. Cor
mara. of Cortezs companions in the Mexi-
can expedition. related that smoking a gen
eral custom in that country. and described
Montezuma's ceremonious way of putting the
pipe. In fact, that potentate made smoking a
state function. Jacques Cartier found the habit
in great vogue among the Indians of frosty Can
ada. About the year 1860 the weed was actually
imported into Europe by a Spanish physician
whom Philip II had sent out to investigate and
report the natural products Of Mexico From
Spain tobacco introduced into other coun-
tries and first, of course, into Portugal. The
French envoy to Portugal, Nicot-hence nicotine
sent a specimen home, and his return TO
France presented some tobacco plants to Cath
crime de Medici.
Popular history is always we'll stuffed with
apocryphal sayings. For instance: up guards
and at 'em!" and England expects every man
TO do his duty Thus Sir Walter Raleigh.
though he may have had much influence in
making smoking fashionable in England, prob
ably did not first bring tobacco into the country.
More likely Sir John Hawkins did-likewise a
great navigator and explorer. At first the weed
was universally held in high honor. all sorts OF
medicinal virtues being attributed to it. But
very speedily II got into bad odor with many
persons in high authority. Said a contemporary
writer 1T is a doubtful question whether the
devil brought tobacco into England in a coach
for both appeared about the same time" King
James 1 with his own royal hand penned
wrathful "Counterblast to Tobacco" in which
he denounced smoking "a vile. barbarous
custom" Pope Urban VIII issued a bull di
rected against snuff-taking in church. At a
later time act Of Parliament proposed to
Danish tobacco from England Among the de-
tenders Of the weed was who held that a
pipe smoked on empty stomach on raw or
rainy morning of any day in month spelt
without the letter r." "a singular and
sodaine remedie against the megrim, the tooth
ache the falling sicknesse, the dropse, the gout,
and against all such diseases as are caused Of
windy, cold, waterish humours." Toward
the end of the seventeenth century, after fruit
less persecution, and more particularly as a
suit OF the lesson of the Great Plague. that
tobacco disinfectant, smoking became
universal among persons of both sexes and all
ages. A French traveller in England reported
follows:
The supper being finished they set the
table half dozen pipes and a paCquet Of to-
bacco for smoking which is a general custom as
we'll among women as men, who think that
without tobacco cannot live in England. be-
cause they say it dissipates the evil humours of
the brain. While were walking about
the town, he asked me if it was the custom in
France as in England that when the children
went to school they carried in their satchel
with their books pipe of tobacco, which their
mother took care to fill early in the morning II
serving them instead OF breakfast, and that at
the accustomed hour every one laid aside his
book to light his pipe, the master smoking with
them, and teaching them how to hold their
pipes and draw in the tobacco.
So much for the historical aspect of the sub
ject, which Mr. Penn presents in rich detail.
But his book is also Of practical nature. since
it includes chapters the cultivation and
manufacture of tobacco, on the making of pipes.
from the earliest attempts to the industry of the
present day. and on tobacco as source of rev.
enue. He gives chapter the hygiene
of tobacco. 1t is easy to guess which way his
conclusions in that chapter tend.
Tobacco in Song and Story" is a small vol
ume, In small print, of small poems and anec-
dotes. having to do with the fragrant weed"
and its patrons. There is really little to say
concerning the booklet. but a specimen of it's
contents subjoin the following bit about
TennysOn:
The poet laureate great smoker. . .
He preferred pipe, and of all the pipes in the
world the common clay pipe was his choice.
His den was at the top of the house.
Thither he repaired after breakfast and in the
midst of a sea of books the shelves. tables.
chairs. and floor, toiled away until fatigued.
No human being, unless upon errand of life
and death. was allowed to intrude upon him
then but when his mornings work done
he glad to his friends. AS
they entered pipes were lighted OF these
pipes he had a great store, mostly presents from
gH and frin dc he visit hll hf-