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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > Print Collection > DRY DRUNK THE SNEEZING CUREThe finely ground powder made from leaves of tobacco and known as snuff was, alongside smoking and chewing, one form of tobacco consumption common among certain groups of Amerindians before the arrival of the Europeans. Although it received some mention in the 16th and early 17th centuries, its use was largely restricted to Spain and France until the final quarter of the 17th century. According to some accounts, Catherine de' Medici, Queen Mother of France, imbibed snuff as a cure for headaches at the behest of Jean Nicot, the royal ambassador to Portugal; some even said she invented the powdery concoction, though there is little to support that claim. A more verifiable early mention of snuff is Pope Urban VIII's 1642 bull forbidding tobacco consumption in the churches of Seville (Spain), in response to complaints that both laypersons and clergy were smoking and snuffing not just in church, but during High Mass. It was the French court, however, that eventually popularized snuff, to the pleasure of some and the chagrin of others, including the King. Things French were synonymous throughout Europe with high fashion at the time, so it comes as no surprise that by 1700 the taking of snuff, which was generally mixed with other fragrant herbs and spices, rivaled pipe-smoking as the most popular form of tobacco intake throughout Europe. Snuff, like other tobacco preparations, also claimed its share of medical miracles, and was declared capable of curing, or at least relieving the symptoms of, a long inventory of ailments. The same range of characters who smoked pipes were represented using snuff, so that while it had connotations of high sophistication in some quarters, it was also enjoyed by old biddies in the street 86 In a new twist on the story of the mythological origins of tobacco and Olympian dislike of smoke, the goddess Pallas proclaims that tobacco is the divine herb that had been prophesied: pulverizing the leaves, she produces snuff, which is then disseminated all over the earth. Van Mander (the son of the more famous early chronicler of Dutch art) calls snuff a friend of the Muses, a soul-baring friend, a sense-sharpening pastime, a mind-tickling pleasure, oil in the brainworks, a friend of good thoughts, and an igniter of invention. 87 In this first book on snuff tobacco, the author praises tobacco as an excellent "cephalic purge" –sneezing for health. Ferrant, whose preface is addressed "to those who love their health," assures the reader that using tobacco in this way would not cause memory loss, "since the humors purged by snuff do not affect the seat of reason." 88 In this advertisement for his "Imperial Snuff" for all disorders in the head, body, and mind, Samuel Major expresses the modest hope that users of his product will at least experience relief, if not a cure. 89
Whatever Aristotle and all of philosophy might say, there is nothing to equal tobacco: it is the passion of honest people, and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living. Not only does it rejuvenate and purge the human brain, but it also instructs the soul on virtue, and teaches one to become an honest man. . . .He reasons that it has this effect of making one honest because, once you begin taking it, you start passing it around to everyone, even before they ask. "But that is enough of this matter . . .," and the play begins. 90
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