Page:The Anatomy of Tobacco.pdf/91

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

The Anatomy of Tobacco

read it is like going into a lighted room"; so shall men say of this book, "to read it is like going into a smoky one." And if it be indeed so said, why, sublimi feriam vertice sidera—I shall strike the stars with my sublime top (as Flaccus hath it).

And finally, as to the two Schools, it may not be impertinent to quote the world-renowned and much-learning-possessing Spitsbubius, called for his sublime and impenetrable cloudiness Doctor Fumificus (the Fumifical Doctor), who speaks as follows:—"With regard to the Schools of Cœlosphaeric and Orthopoetic philosophers, verily it appears to me that their several contentions are, as it were, all smoke, and that there is no essential distinction between their dogmas. For since a candle is a candle whether it be long or short, whether it have a large wick or a small wick; and a ball is a ball, whether it be large, as is a football, or small, as is a tennis-ball: so, if they will but consider, the Cœlosphaerics have but to conceive of the stem of the Orthopoetics as a very long bowl to remove all

79