m is grown to some extent in Egypt; 39,875 lbs. were produced in
1831, and sold at two dollars a pound.

At the end of October, after the withdrawal of the Nile waters the
seed, mixed with a portion of pulverised earth, is sown in a strong
soil, in furrows; after fifteen days the plant springs up, and in two
months has the thickness of a Turkish pipe, and a height of four feet;
the stalk is covered with long, oval leaves, and the fruit, which is
greenish, resembles a small orange. Every morning before sunrise, in
its progress to maturity, small incisions are made in the sides of the
fruit, from which a white liquor distils almost immediately, which is
collected in a vessel; it soon becomes black and thickish, and is
rolled into balls, which are covered with the washed leaves of the
plant; in this state it is sold. The seeds are crushed for lamp oil,
and the plant is used for fuel.

A plant known in Jamaica under the name of bull hoof yields a narcotic
which has been administered successfully in the shape of tincture and
a syrup, instead of opium. This is the _Muracuja ocellata_, or
_Passiflora muracuja_, of Swartz, an elegant climber, bearing bright
scarlet blossoms. There is another species, _M. orbiculata_, found in
Hayti and other islands, which may be expected to partake more or less
of the properties of the former. The flowers are the parts most
commonly employed.

THE TOBACCO PLANT.

Several species of _Nicotium_ furnish tobacco; that chiefly used in
Europe is procured from _N. Tabacum_ and its numerous varieties, a
plant naturally inhabiting the hotter parts of North and South
America. The popular narcotic furnished by tobacco is probably in more
extensive use than any other, and its only rivals are opium and the
betel-nut and leaf of the East. The herb for smoking was brought to
England from Tobago, in the West Indies, or from Tobasco, in Mexico
(whence the name), by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586. Seeds were shortly
after introduced from the same quarter.

"Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour, "gives pleasure to the savage
and the philosopher, to the inhabitant of the burning desert and the
frozen zone; in short, its use, either in powder, to chew, or to
smoke, is universal; and for no other reason than a sort of convulsive
motion (sneezing) produced by the first, and a degree of intoxication
by the two last modes of use."

Tobacco is an annual plant, attaining a height of six feet, having
dingy red, funn