Though _Tobacco_ is a valuable Herb, yet the Abuse of it, which we shall afterwards consider, is intolerable, and highly noxious. Besides, _Monardus_, _Ægidius Everartus_, in 1587, at _Antwerp_, published a beautiful Commentary upon the Virtues and Uses of _Tobacco_: And when the same Work was reprinted at _Utrecht_ in 1644, various Treatises concerning _Tobacco_ were added to it; such as the _Misocapnus_, or a Treatise on the Abuse of _Tobacco_, taken from the Works of King _James_ the Sixth of _England_; _Tobacologia Johannis Neandri_. _Epistolæ ac Judicia clarissimorum aliquot Medicorum_; and the _Hymnus Tabaci Raphaelis Thorii_. After these Authors appeared _Chrysostomus Magnenus_, Professor of Medicine in the University of _Padua_, who in 1648, published very learned Exercitations concerning _Tobacco_. Not only from the Authors already mentioned, but also from _Andreas Cæsalpinus_; _Dalechampius's Historia generalis Plantarum_; _Lobelii Adversaria_, _Clusius in his Notæ ad Monardum_; _Dodonæus_; _Tabernamontanus_; _Nardi Antonii Recchi Res Medicæ Novæ Hispaniæ, cum Terentii Lyncei Notis_, we learn what is the native Soil of _Tobacco_, and how the knowledge of it was introduced into _Europe_ after the Discovery of _America_ by _Christopher Columbus_ and _Americus Vesputius_. Some of these Authors have also described its Virtues and Use, whilst others of them have treated very fully concerning the Abuse of it. Following the Example of these great Men, I shall proceed, without any Partiality, and with that Freedom which is always peculiar to Truth. This is certainly a difficult Attempt, considering the Opposition and Prejudice with which I have to grapple. But before I proceed, I shall take Notice of the Error of _Libavius_, who, according to _Magnenus_ in _Exercitat. 1. Par. 1._ asserts, that _Tobacco_ was a Native of _Europe_, since it was found in the almost inaccessible Places of the _Hercynian_ Forest: But adds this Author, _Who denies that Seeds are dispersed, and carried every where by the Winds?_ But it is by no means probable, that the Seeds of _Tobacco_, which, comparatively speaking, are as small as the Atoms of _Democritus_, could, by a Whirlwind, be conveyed to the _Hercynian_ Forest in _Germany_, from _France_, _Italy_, or _Spain_, much less from _America_. This is a Plant of a particular specific Kind, and the Native of _America_: Neither does any Historian mention such a Whirlwind for the Dispersion of its Seeds. It is true, Mount _Ætna_ in _Sicily_, and Mount _Hecla_ in _Iceland_, by their sulphureous Eruptions, throw the Ashes to a vast Distance: But it does not to me seem probable, that the Air should ever be in such a gyratory Motion, as to convey Seeds from one Quarter of the World to another, or from one Country to another, though it is not to be denied but they may be carried from a Plain to a rising Ground, or from one Garden to another adjacent to it.