Tobacco, or Tabacco, is a medicinal plant, which remained unknown to Europeans till the discovery of America by the Spaniards; being first imported from thence about the year 1560. The Americans of the continent called it Petun; those of the islands, ... Read more

Tobacco, or Tabacco, is a medicinal plant, which remained unknown to Europeans till the discovery of America by the Spaniards; being first imported from thence about the year 1560. The Americans of the continent called it Petun; those of the islands, Yoli. Hernandez de Toledo sent it into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where he[2] first found and learned its use; and from which place he gave it the denomination it still bears. Sir Walter Raleigh first introduced the use of it into England, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, about the year 1585. The plant was probably known in this kingdom before that time, by means of the Spaniards or Portuguese; it is however certain, that he first taught the English to smoke it. The French, on its first introduction among them, gave it various names, as Nicotiana, or the Embassador's Herb, from John Nicot, who came soon after it was discovered, as embassador to that court, from Francis the Second of Portugal, and brought some of it with him; which he presented to a grand Prior of the house of Lorrain, and to Queen Catherine de Medicis: on this account it was sometimes called the Grand Prior's Herb, and sometimes the Queen's Herb. [3] When, or in what manner this plant was introduced into the oriental nations is uncertain, although it is at present in general use among them. Considerable quantities of it are likewise cultivated in the Levant, the coasts of Greece and the Archipelago, in the island of Malta and in Italy. Tobacco is termed by botanists, Nicotiana; and is arranged by them as a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class of plants. It is sometimes used medicinally; but being very powerful in its operations, this must be done with great caution. The most common uses of it are, either as a sternutatory when taken by way of snuff, as a masticatory by chewing it in the mouth, or as an effluvia by smoking it; and when used with moderation is not an unhealthy amusement, whether it replenishes the humble pouch of the rustic, or the golden box of the courtier. Before pipes were invented, it was usually smoked in segars, and they are still in use[4] among some of the southern nations. The method of preparing these is at once simple and expeditious: a leaf of tobacco being formed into a small twisted roll somewhat larger than the stem of a pipe, and about eight inches long, the smoke is conveyed through the winding folds, which prevent it from expanding, as through a tube; so that one end of it being lighted, and the other applied to the mouth, it is in this form used without much inconvenience: but in process of time, pipes being invented, they were found more commodious vehicles for the smoke, and are now in general use. Among all the productions of foreign climes introduced into these kingdoms, scarcely any has been held in higher estimation by persons of every rank than tobacco. In the countries of which it is a native, it is considered by the Indians as the most valuable offering that can be made to the Beings they worship: they use it in all their civil and religious ceremonies. When once its[5] spiral wreaths ascend from the feathered pipe of peace, the compact that has just been made, is considered as sacred and inviolable. Likewise, when they address their great Father, or his guardian Spirits, residing as they believe in every extraordinary production of nature[1], they make liberal offerings of this valuable plant to them, doubting not but that they secure thereby the protection they request. Less