Soon after the introduction and cultivation of tobacco in Spain and Portugal its use in the form of snuff came in vogue and from these notions it spread rapidly over Europe, particularly in France and Italy. It is said to have been used first in France[57] by the wife of Henry II., Catherine de Medici, and that it was first used at court during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century. The Queen seemed to give it a good standing in society and it soon became the fashion to use the powder by placing a little on the back of the hand and inhaling it. The use of snuff greatly increased from the fact of its supposed medicinal properties and its curative powers in all diseases, particularly those affecting the head, hence the wide introduction of snuff-taking in Europe. Fairholt says of its early use: [Footnote 57: An English writer gives a different account--"The custom of taking snuff as a nasal gratification does not appear to be of earlier date than 1620, though the powdered leaves of tobacco were occasionally prescribed as a medicine long before that time. It appears to have first become prevalent in Spain, and from thence to have passed into Italy and France."] "Though thus originally recommended for adoption as a medicine, it soon became better known as a luxury and the gratification of a pinch was generally indulged in Spain, Italy and France, during the early part of the Seventeenth Century. It was the grandees of the French Court who 'set the fashion' of snuff, with all its luxurious additions of scents and expensive boxes. It became common in the Court of Louis le Grand, although that monarch had a decided antipathy to tobacco in any form." Says an English writer "Between 1660 and 1700, the custom of taking snuff, though it was disliked by Louis XIV., was almost as prevalent in France as it is at the present time. In this instance, the example of the monarch was disregarded; _tobac en poudre_ or _tobac rape_[58] as snuff was sometimes called found favor in the noses of the French people; and all men of fashion prided themselves on carrying a handsome snuff-box. Ladies also took snuff; and the belle whose grace and propriety of demeanour were themes of general admiration, thought it not unbecoming to take a pinch at dinner, or to blow her pretty nose in her embroidered _mouchoir_ with the sound of a trombone. Louis endeavored to discourage the use of snuff and his valets-de-chambre were obliged to renounce it when they were appointed to their office. One of these gentlemen, the Duc d'Harcourt, was supposed to have died of apoplexy in consequence of having, in order to please the king, totally discontinued the habit which he had before indulged to excess."