A glimpse of the strange notions which entered the heads of our forefathers respecting the medicinal virtues of the Indian weed may be gained from a perusal of the curious collection of odds and ends of social and literary gossip, contained in the Harleian Miscellany. Under the head of _Tobacco_ the writer says he once knew some persons who every day ate several ounces of the herb without experiencing any sensible effect; and from this he infers that, ‘Use and custom will tame and naturalize the most fierce and rugged poison, so that it will become civil and friendly to the body.’ In the hands of the chemist it is perfectly true that some of the most virulent poisons can be made subservient to the healing art, and yield to the physician some of the most helpful medicines known to pharmacy; but it would be unwise to the last degree for the uninitiated in the mysteries of the laboratory to experiment upon himself in the vain belief that use and custom will carry him safely through the ordeal. The writer goes on to say that, ‘Some anatomists tell us most terrible stories of sooty brains and black lungs, which have been seen in the dissection of dead bodies, which when living had been accustomed to tobacco. I know a curious woman in the North, that does very great feats in healing the sick by a preparation of tobacco. And our learned and most experienced countryman, Mr. Boyle (experimental philosophy) does highly recommend tobacco for pains, which are often epidemical in cities and camps.’ He appears, however, to have a wholesome dread of such experimenting, for he consoles himself now and then by remarking that ‘custom and conversation will make the fiercest creature familiar.’ Yet he seems quite unable to break away from the common belief, that, ‘the qualities, nature, and uses of tobacco may be very considerable in several cases and circumstances, although King James himself hath both writ and disputed very smartly against it.’ The reader is next informed that a French author in the Journal of Science (1681) has ‘writ a peculiar tract on tobacco, wherein he commends it for bringing on sleep;’ an idea probably derived from Dr. Thorius’ _Hymnus Tabaci_ (1625) which passed through many editions in London, Paris, and Utrecht. In this elegant Latin poem Thorius playfully alludes to the drowsiness tobacco-smoking produced upon the gods:— … The gods Bacchus, Liber, Jove, Mars, Vulcan, Mercury, Apollo, Lustily through their nose the smoke did take, As if another Ætna they would make. The goddesses, pleas’d with the novelty, Laugh’d all the while, but when they did see How much to sleep that night the gods were given, Angry, decreed it should be banish’d Heav’n.