Besides, it is probable, that the crafty _Americans_, sensible of the vast Quantity of _Tobacco_ yearly imported into _Europe_, may, for the Sake of Gain, impose upon us; for it is certain, that our own Merchants, influenced by a base and sordid Principle of Avarice, have long ago found Methods of adulterating _Tobacco_ by Means of Brine, Lemons, Vinegar, Wine, and Euphorbium. But with respect to these Frauds, the Reader may consult _Neander_ in his _Tabacologia_. Besides, it is hardly credible, that the Roaps brought from _America_, under the Name of _Tobacco_, consist intirely of good and sound _Tobacco_ Leaves: For almost every one knows, that the Marks of the Goodness of _Tobacco_, whether drawn from the Colour, Smell, Taste, or Weight, vary very greatly among the _Europeans_, who, to their Disgrace be it said, have learned to hang their _Tobacco_, when corrupted, insipid, or light, in Houses of Office, or Vaults, in order to be rendered more acrid and ponderous by the volatile Salts of human Urine and Excrements, under a specious Pretence, that these Salts render it beneficial and salutary, by cleansing the Head; which, they say, is highly beneficial to Persons who drink much. But this is certainly an improper and prejudicial Method of treating the Head, and evacuating its Excrements; concerning the copious Production of which, by means of the corrupted Temperature of the Brain in Persons who daily smoak _Tobacco_, we shall afterwards treat.
Having premised these Things, we now come to decide a Question lately begun to be agitated, namely, Whether Snuffing or Smoaking is the more innocent and safe Custom? I affirm, then, that both are generally pernicious, and none of them to be recommended to any one without great Caution and Deliberation: Though I remember I was formerly a Smoaker of _Tobacco_, yet, I am of Opinion, that Snuffing is a less injurious and hurtful Practice. Some are of Opinion, that by the constant Use of Snuff, the Sight is rendered more clear and penetrating; but with how great Danger this Practice is accompanied, is sufficiently confirmed by _Adrianus Spigelius_, in _Corp. human. Fabr. Lib. 7. Cap. 2._ where he proposes a Problem, together with its Answer, in the following Words: "What is the Cause, why many Persons, by often repeated Sternutations, especially when industriously excited, suddenly become blind? This happens, either because the Ramifications of the caroted Arteries, which are so near the Optic Nerves as to touch them, are so filled, as to compress them; or, because a large Quantity of pituitous Humours is conveyed from the Brain to the Optic Nerves, which are thereby obstructed. When the Disorder arose from the former of these Causes, I have seen the Patients cured by a _Seton_; but, when it proceeded from the latter, I never remember to have seen it cured." _Joh. Chrysostomus Magnenus,_ in _Exercitat. 8. de Tabaco. §. 1._ affirms, "that by violent Sternutation, some Persons have died; since by it the Head has been so strongly agitated, as by the Effort to burst the _Meninges_, and relax the _Compages_ of the Brain." And this Opinion he confirms by the Example of a certain Baker, mentioned by _Famianus Strada_, "who, when he had twenty-four Sternutations immediately succeeding each other, died of the twenty-fifth, by the violent Shock, of which the Arteries of the Brain, and Membranes surrounding it, were broken." The same Author, in _Sect. 4._ of the last-cited Chapter, affirms, "That he saw a certain Man, who by the excessive Use of Snuff, had the chrystaline Humours of his Eyes corrugated, so that all Objects seemed to be in a Kind of fluctuating Motion before him."