CHAPTER V.

SCIENCE GOSSIP IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.

"Fair Science was my only care;
I gave my nights, I gave my days,
To Tully's page and Homer's lays :
Whate'er is known of ancient lore
I fondly studied o'er and o'er.
I followed each appointed course,
And traced up learning to its source;
But in my way I gathered flowers,
I sought the Muses in their bowers,
And Did their fav'ring smiles repay
With many a lyric roundelay."

-Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque.

As an early forerunner of our scientific periodical literature, the British Apollo possesses considerable interest. In its pages we may read some curious statements about certain novel commodities such as tobacco, tea, and coffee in answer to queries relating to their various properties. These things are novelties no longer, but whether their use is

entirely beneficial or judicial may still be considered as not conclusively settled to everyone's satisfaction.

When asked to be favoured "with the virtues of Tobacco," the British Apollo replied: "Tobacco is by nature hot and dry; it discusses, resolves, and cleanses, is purging, emetic, anodyne, and vulnary, and is chiefly beneficial in cold and moist constitutions, and hurtful in the contrary."

In reply to the query, "How long is it since the smoking tobacco and the taking snuff hath been in use here in England; the time when they were first brought over, and by whom?" the answer was given: "Snuff, though the use of it has been long known to such as were by merchandising or other means familiar with the Spanish customs, has been till lately a perfect stranger to the practice of the British nation, and, like our fashions, comes to us from France; but the use of tobacco-smoking was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and since a comical story depends upon the relation, it may not be unacceptable to the querist and the public." Then follows the well-known story of the servant entering the room with "a tankard of old ale and nutmeg," and imagining his master " was on fire in his inside,"

threw the ale in his face, and ran downstairs and alarmed the family.

There are many earlier references than those in the British Apollo. In Poor Robin's Almanack for 1677, " Wherein the reader may see (if he be not blind) many remarkable things worthy of observation." There is a section entitled, "The Fanatick's Chronology," which gives the number of years since (that is from 1677) certain events occurred, "Since Tobacco and Coaches came first into England, 97. Query: Whether the Devil brought Tobacco over in a Coach, or a Coach in a fog or mist of Tobacco ?"

Similar sentiments were expressed in The Muses Cabinet, 1655, in lines of William Winstanly, entitled, "A Farewell to Tobacco."

"Farewell, thou Indian smoake, Barbarian vapour, Enemy unto life, foe to waste paper, Thou dost diseases in thy body breed,

And like a Vulture on the purse doth feed. Changing sweet breaths into a stinking loathing, And with 3 pipes turns two pence into nothing; Grim Pluto first invented it, I think,

To poison all the world with hellish stink."

Others wrote in favour of tobacco. In a broadsheet published in 1641, we have the following :

"To feed on Flesh is Gluttony,

It maketh men fat like swine.
But is not he a frugal Man

That on a leaf can dine!

He needs no linnen for to foul,
His fingers ends to wipe,

That hath his Kitchin in a Box,
And roast meat in a Pipe."

Tobacco was said by contemporary writers to be very much used in Queen Anne's time. "The very women take it in abundance," wrote Misson. Snuff came to be used more commonly after 1702, from the following circumstances :-Our fleet, under Sir George Rooke, disembarked the land forces at Port St. Mary, near Cadiz. Here they captured some rich merchandise, plate, jewels, pictures, a great quantity of cochineal, and several thousand barrels and casks of fine snuff which had been manufactured in different parts of Spain. This prize fell principally to the officers of the land forces. The fleet next made for Vigo, where a number of richly-laden galleons had just arrived

from the Havannah. These were captured, and their merchandise, consisting largely of crude snuff, became the prize of the sea officers and sailors. On arrival in England the snuff found a ready market. The Vigo snuff, as it was long called, was sold for three or four pence per pound, but the St. Mary snuff obtained a high price. From an answer to another query, we learn that wood betony was used instead of tobacco, "with a great deal of benefit in pectoral and cephalic cases."

A paragraph relating to tea is probably the earliest example that can be found of a trade advertisement. In the Mercurious Politicus of September 30th, 1650, is advertised a "drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations tay, alias Tee." There are several questions relating to tea and coffee in the British Apollo. "Query: To what constitution is tea beneficial, and to what injurious? Answer: By tea we understand you, green tea, which moderately heats and dries, opens, resolves, and attenuates, is diuretic and anodyne; takes away pains, is good in difficulty of breathing, and eases griping in the bowels; contemporates the blood and humours, and is supposed to expel sleep, by repressing or resolving the vapours that