A process for the treatment of tobacco leaves preventing in a way injurious action of nicotine and of acrid empyreumatic acid products, was devised some years ago by Professor Gerold of Halle. His process is thus described: He employs for 8 kilograms of tobacco leaves containing the usual percentage of nicotine a decoction prepared by boiling 15 grams of tannic acid with 1-1/2 kilograms of water until the weight is reduced to one kilogram; then 30 grams of the essential oil of origanum vulgare are added, after which the decoction is immediately removed from the fire. Having stood for some minutes the mixture is filtered and allowed to cool to about 16° C., when the preparation is ready to be spread over the previously weighed tobacco. When the absorption of this mixture by the tobacco leaves is completed, they are subjected to slight pressure and moderate heat, after which they are ready for the manufacture of the various tobacco products. * * * * * Tannic acid is a well-known antidote for nicotine poisoning, and it is claimed for Gerold's process that while the undistilled nicotine is neutralized in its toxic qualities only by the tannic acid, that this does not influence at all its peculiar odor nor most of its other characteristics.--From the _Pharmaceutical Era_, July 27, 1899, p. 144. * * * * * Havana cigars are generally better if smoked fresh; domestic cigars are better if allowed to age in the box several months before using. * * * * * Remember that the phosphorus or sulphur of a match may spoil the flavor of a fine cigar. Be careful when you are lighting it to use only the edge of the match flame. * * * * * If the total number of cigars smoked annually in the United States were placed end to end they would encircle the whole world more than twenty times. INDEX Air Curing of Leaf, 66 Amber, 162 American Production of Tobacco Other Than in U. S., 35 Analysis of Tobacco, 55 Asia, Production of Tobacco in, 31 Bacterial Diseases, Effects of Tobacco on, 197 Blends of Tobacco, How Made, 78 Briar Root, 158 Cancer and Tobacco, 180 Chemical Constituents of Tobacco, 55 Chewing Tobaccos, 128 Cigar and Cigarette Holders, Value of, 191 Cigar Business in U. S., 96 Cigar Flavors, 215 Cigar Leaf Tobacco Grown in U. S., 119 Cigarette Paper, 139 Cigarette Smoking, Criticisms of, 140 Cigarettes, American, 138 Cigarettes, Kinds of, 134 Cigarettes, Nicotine in Smoke of, 187 Cigarettes, Statistics, 133 Cigarettes, Turkish, 135 Cigarettes, Turkish, Manufactured in the U. S., 137 Cigars, Classification of, 104 Cigars, Composition of, 113 Cigars, Desirable Qualities of, 113 Cigars, Hand-made, 101 Cigars, History, 95 Cigars, Imported Kinds, in U. S., 114 Cigars, Machine-made, 103 Cigars, Manufactured in U. S., 117