In A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate, published in 1746 by Simon Pauli (translated by Dr. James), investigates whether tobacco is good or bad for people. He also considers whether smoke or snuff is the more harmful way to take tobacco.
Pauli’s book starts with extensive quotations from works by Nicolas Monardes about medical uses of tobacco (which we explored here). He spends about 1/3 of the text quoting from Monardes before saying that he has no issue with tobacco when used for health benefits and he, himself, uses tobacco medicinally in spring and autumn. Pauli’s issue with tobacco is that it is abused and used for non-medical purposes. Smokers are afflicted with constant spitting, and they do great damage to “the whole substance of the brain”, according to Pauli.
The book also goes into the arguments of King James from the Counterblaste To Tobacco, which he does not find convincing. He includes an interesting quote, where James considered whether the death penalty for those who deal in tobacco could work, but found “that a whole Wood in England would hardly afford Trees enough for hanging the Dealers in Tobacco.”
Then he dives into whether smoking or snuffing is worse, and concludes by writing, “I think I have now sufficiently proved, that as Tobacco is of a narcotic Quality, and its Fumes penetrate intimately into the Brain, so, of course, Smoaking must be more prejudicial than Snuffing. But, if People will still obstinately indulge themselves in the Use of this noxious Plant, all I can do farther, is to warn them of their Danger.”
This book is interesting to read, both for its historical position and because it’s written well. Reading it with background of Monardes and King James will help put Pauli’s position into proper historical perspective.
A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate is in the public domain and can be read for free through Project Gutenberg.