In the first place, the learned commentator _Dr. Gray_ observes, that the word here used (_hebenon_) was more probably designated by a _metathesis_, either of the poet or transcriber, for _henebon_, i. e. henbane. Now it appears from _Gerarde_ that _tabaco_ was commonly called “_henbane of Peru_” (Hyoscyamus Peruvianus); and when we consider how high the prejudice of the court ran against this herb, as so strikingly evinced by the ‘_Counterblaste_’ of King James, it seems very likely that _Shakspeare_, who was fond of playing the courtier, should have selected it, as an agent of extraordinary malignity, upon such an occasion. No preparation of the _hyoscyamus_ with which we are acquainted, would produce death by an application to the ear; whereas the essential oil of tobacco might, without doubt, occasion a fatal result. The term _distilment_ has also called forth a remark from _Steevens_, which is calculated to add a little farther weight[449] to our conjecture; “surely” says he, “this expression signifies, that the preparation was the result of a _distillation_.” _Symptoms of poisoning by Tobacco._ The leaves of tobacco, whether whole, or reduced to powder, as they are daily met with in commerce, or in the form of infusion in water or wine, or in the state of smoke, are endued with poisonous properties of extreme energy. Their administration is shortly followed by vertigo; severe nausea; vomiting; a general tremor of the body, which is rarely the result of any other poison; cold sweats; syncope; and death. The author remembers witnessing a lamentable exemplification of the action of tobacco upon a person labouring under a strangulated hernia. The patient had been under the care of a medical practitioner in the vicinity of London, who after repeated and fruitless efforts to return the intestine, injected an infusion of tobacco into the rectum, and sent him in a carriage to the Westminster hospital, for the purpose of undergoing the operation; but the unfortunate man expired very shortly after his arrival, in consequence of the effects of the tobacco clyster. The external application of tobacco, in the form of cataplasm, or infusion, will occasion all the effects above related. A woman applied to the heads of three children afflicted with _tinea capitis_, a liniment consisting of powdered tobacco and butter, soon after which they experienced vertigo, violent vomiting, and fainting.[450] It was formerly a practice to inject the smoke of tobacco into the anus, by means of a bellows of a peculiar construction, in cases of suspended animation, with a view to _stimulate_ the rectum, and thereby to revive the vital powers; we have already commented upon this most dangerous and mistaken notion, (_see page_ 88.)