Page:The Anatomy of Tobacco.pdf/49

 For it is evident that in necessary matter tobacco is the only thing absolutely necessary to smoking, and in contingent necessary matter that pipes and cigar-tubes, though not absolutely necessary, are, in the vast majority of cases, used. As to contingent unnecessary matter, it is plain that men can very well smoke without possessing jars or pouches; but as to impossible matter, since smoking is defined as "the inhaling of the fume of tobacco," it is evident that the inhaling of the fume of aught beside tobacco is not smoking, and that therefore with such it is impossible to smoke.

This, then, is the generally-received division of matter, and the explanation thereof; but before we proceed to examine the subdivisions of the four categories more precisely, it is needful to notice certain opinions of those who do not assent to the above division.

For, in the first place, there are philosophers who would delete contingent unnecessary matter on the ground that if a man smoke he must have tobacco, and