The different sorts are packed in separate hogsheads, and sent away to be sold to manufacturers of cigars, snuff, etc.
The manufacturer has some leaves rolled into cigars, some pressed into cakes for chewing, or into little pieces to be smoked in a pipe; while some are ground for snuff. While the dried leaves are being rolled, pressed, or ground, various substances are mixed with them to give them an agreeable odor and pleasant taste.
Yet, however pleasant the manufacturer may make them as he rolls, presses, or grinds, he cannot take the poison out of them. It remains in its brown covering to do much harm to those who may smoke the cigars, use the snuff, or chew the tobacco.
BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.
| THE TOBACCO PLANT. | |||
| NATIVE OF America. | FOUND BY Columbus, 1492. | TAKEN TO Portugal, 1496. France, 1560. | GROWS IN THE Torrid and temperate zones. |
| (About 50 species.) | England, 1586. | ||
| DESCRIPTION. | FAMILY | ||
| Height, 3 to 6 feet. Leaves, lance-ovate, and running down the stem. Stem, hairy and sticky. Flowers, funnel-shaped and purplish. | The same as the | Jerusalem Cherry, Petunia, Potato, Tomato, Egg-plant, Red pepper, etc. | |
| HOW MADE READY FOR USE. | |||
| (1) | (2) | ||
| Cut-off above the roots. Dried. Stripped; sorted. Packed, and sold to the manufacturers. | Flavored and scented. Rolled for cigars. Pressed for chewing. Ground for snuff. | ||
THE POISON IN TOBACCO AND THE HARM IT DOES.
The Poison.—What is the poison in fermented liquors?—"Alcohol." In distilled liquors?—"Alcohol" True; and the strongest poison in tobacco is nicotine, named from the man who first sent it to France, Jean Nicot. Beside this it contains several others, some of which we shall tell you about when we make up our blackboard outline.
Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic; that is, it soothes pain and produces sleep. Alcohol acts first upon the nerves; tobacco upon the muscles, which it weakens and causes to tremble. It often causes palpitation of the heart.