312. Method of making Snuff.

First strip off the Stalks and large fibres of the Tobacco, then spread the Leaves on a mat or carpet to dry in the sun, afterwards rub them in a mortar, and sift the powder through a coarse or fine sieve, according to the degree of fineness you would have your snuff; or grind the Tobacco Leaves, prepared in the manner before directed, in a snuff-mill, either into a gross or fine powder, according as you press close or ease the mill-stone.

313. Method of cleansing Snuff in order to scent it.

Fix a thick linen cloth in a little tub that has a hole in the bottom, stopped with a plug that can easily be taken out, to let the water run off when wanted. This cloth must cover the whole inside of the tub, and be fastened all round the rim. Put your Snuff in it, and pour on the Water. When it has been steeped twenty-four hours, let the Water run out, and pour on fresh; repeat this operation three times, if you would have the Snuff thoroughly cleansed, and every time squeeze the Snuff hard in the cloth, to discharge the Water entirely from it. Then place your Snuff on an ozier hurdle covered with a thick linen cloth, and let it dry in the sun; when it is thoroughly dry, put it again into the tub, with a sufficient quantity of Angelic, Orange Flower, or Rose-water. At the expiration of twenty-four hours take the Snuff out of the water, and dry it as before, frequently stirring it about, and sprinkling it with the same sweet-scented Water as was used at first. The whole of this preparation is absolutely necessary to render Snuff fit to receive the scent of Flowers.

If the Snuff is not required to be of a very excellent quality, and you are unwilling to waste more of it than can possibly be avoided, wash it only once, and slightly cleanse it. This purgation may the better suffice, if while drying in the sun, you take care to knead the Snuff into a cake several times, and often sprinkle it with some sweet-scented Water.

314. Method of scenting Snuff.

The Flowers that most readily communicate their flavour to Snuff are Orange Flowers, Jasmine, Musk Roses, and Tuberoses. You must procure a box lined with dry white paper; in this strow your Snuff on the bottom about the thickness of an inch, over which place a thin layer of Flowers, then another layer of Snuff, and continue to lay your Flowers and Snuff alternately in this manner, until the box is full. After they have lain together four and twenty hours, sift your Snuff through a sieve to separate it from the Flowers, which are to be thrown away, and fresh ones applied in their room in the former method. Continue to do this till the Snuff is sufficiently scented; then put it into a canister, which keep close stopped.

315. Or,

Put your Flowers that are placed over each layer of the Snuff, between two pieces of white paper pricked full of holes with a large pin, and sift through a sieve the Snuff that may happen to get between the papers. To scent the Snuff perfectly it is necessary to renew the Flowers four or five times. This method is the least troublesome of the two.

A very agreeable scented Snuff may be made with Roses, by taking Rose-buds, stripping off the green cup, and pistil that rises in the middle, and fixing in its place a Clove; being careful not to separate the Leaves that are closed together. The Rose-buds thus prepared, are to be exposed to the heat of the sun a whole month, inclosed in a glass well stopped, and are then fit for use.

To make Snuff scented with a thousand Flowers, take a number of different Flowers, and mix them together, proportioning the quantity of each Flower, to the degree of its perfume, so that the flavour of no one particular Flower may be predominant.

316. Perfumed Snuff.

Take some Snuff, and rub it in your hands with a little Civet, opening the body of the Civet still more by rubbing it in your hands with fresh Snuff; and when you have mixed it perfectly with the Snuff, put them into a canister. Snuff is flavoured with other perfumes in the same way.

317. Or,

Perfume your Snuff by mixing it well with the hands, in a heated iron or brass mortar, besmeared with a few grains of Ambergrise.

318. Snuff after the Maltese Fashion.

Perfume with Ambergrise, in the manner already described, some Snuff previously scented with Orange Flowers. Then grind in a mortar a little Sugar with about ten grains of Civet, and mix by little and little with about a pound of the foregoing Snuff.

319. The Genuine Maltese Snuff.

Take Roots of Liquorice, and Roots of the Rose-bush, peel off their outer skin, dry them, powder them, and sift the powder through a fine sieve, then scent them according to your fancy, or in the same manner as French Snuff, adding a little White Wine, Brandy, or a very little Spirit of Wine, and rubbing the Snuff well between your hands.

320. Italian Snuff.

Put into a mortar, or other convenient vessel, a quantity of Snuff already scented with some Flower, pour on it a little White Wine, and add, if agreeable, some Essence of Ambergrise, Musk, or any other Perfume you like best; stir the Snuff and rub it well between your hands. Scent Snuff in this manner with any particular flavour, and put the different scented Snuffs in separate boxes, which are to be marked, to prevent mistakes.

321. Snuff scented after the Spanish Manner.

Take a lump of double-refined Sugar, rub it in a mortar with twenty grains of Musk; add by little and little a pound of Snuff, and grind the whole with ten grains of Civet, rubbing it afterwards well between your hands.

Seville Snuff is scented with twenty grains of Vanilloes only. Keep your Snuff in canisters closely stopped, to prevent the scent from exhaling.

As Spanish Snuff is very fine and of a reddish colour, to imitate it nicely, take the best Dutch Snuff, well cleansed, granulated, and coloured red; beat it fine, and sift it through a very fine lawn sieve. After it has been cleansed according to the foregoing directions, it is fit to take any scent whatever.

There is no risk in using a sieve that retains the scent of any Flower, to perfume your Snuff with the flavour of Musk, Ambergrise, or any other Perfume. On the contrary, the Snuff receives the Perfume the more readily, and preserves its flavour the longer on that account.

322. Method of dying Snuff Red or Yellow.

Take the size of a nut or two of Yellow or Red Ochre, and to temper the colour mix with it a little White Chalk. Grind these colours on a marble, with a little less than half an ounce of Oil of Sweet Almonds, and moisten with as much Water as the colour will take up, till it becomes a smooth Paste. Then mix it with a thin Mucilage of Gum Tragacanth to a proper consistence, and put it into an earthen dish, stirring into it about a pint more of Water. Afterwards take any quantity of cleansed Snuff you please, throw it upon the colour, and rub it well between your hands. When the Paste is thoroughly tinged with the colour, leave it till next morning to settle, then spread it thin on a cloth to dry, and place it in the sun, stirring it about every now and then that it may dry equally. When dry, gum it with a very thin Mucilage of Gum Tragacanth made with some sweet-scented Water. To gum the Snuff as equally as possible, wet the palms of your hands with this Gum Water, and rub the Snuff well between them. Afterwards dry it in the sun, and sift the colour that does not adhere to it through a very fine sieve. The Snuff is then properly prepared to receive any flavour you choose.

323. Herb Snuff.

Take Sweet Marjoram, Marum Syriacum Leaves, and Lavender Flowers dried, of each half an ounce, Asarabacca Leaves, a drachm. Rub them all into a powder.

324. Or,

Take Betony Leaves and Marjoram, of each half an ounce; Asarabacca Leaves, a drachm. Beat them together into a powder.

325. Or,

Take Marjoram, Rosemary Flowers, Betony, and Flowers of Lilies of the Valley, of each a quarter of an ounce; Nutmegs, a drachm and a half; Volatile Salt, forty drops. Powder, and keep the mixture in a phial, close stopped.

326. Or,

Take Flowers of Lavender, and Clove-july-flowers, of each a quarter of an ounce; Lilies of the Valley, Tiel-tree Flowers, Flowers of Sage, Betony, Rosemary, and Tops of Marjoram, of each half a drachm; Cinnamon, Aloes-wood, Yellow Sanders, and White Helebore-root, of each a drachm; Oil of Nutmegs and Oil of Lemons, of each three drops; mix them into a powder.

A pinch or two of any of these Snuffs may be taken night and morning medicinally, or at any time for pleasure. Used externally, they are serviceable for weak eyes and many disorders of the organs of sight and hearing. They also relieve headaches, giddiness, palsies, lethargies, besides a variety of other complaints; and are, though agreeable and simple, far superior to what is sold under the name of Herb Snuff.

FINIS.

Transcriber's Notes.

Some section numbers were duplicated and have been changed. There were a large number of printing errors in this publication.

Eition is now edition

To it is now it to

Receips is now receipts

Cassolete is now cassolette

Whitloes is now whitlows

With with was repeated and amended

Fisrt is now first

Aftewards is now afterwards

Died is now dyed

Magisterail magisterial

Gont is now gout

Agrreeable is now agreeable

Viguor is now vigour

Suprisingly is now surprisingly

Chich is now chick

Squeese is now squeeze

Quantiiy is now quantity

Aud is now and

Cloaths is now clothes

Und is now and

Plantane is now plantain

The cover is placed in the public domain