[Marginal notes on tobacco in medicine and history]

Some characteristics of the tobacco plant and its use by native peoples of the Caribbean islands and New Spain are described. The importance of the tobacco habit in Newspanish and Europe regions, that became one of the main revenues of the respective governments, is emphasized. The incipient preoccupations concerning medical and social aid for the workers in tobacco factories are also exposed. The first aspect is reflected in an entire chapter of Ramazzini's treatise, which was the basis of the medicine of work, published in 1700. The second aspect is manifested in the creation, in 1796, of nursery schools for the children of working women in the tobacco factories of New Spain. Impressions of European travelers who visited New Spain and Independent Mexico are reported also. In opposition to the predictions of some visitors during the last century, with the passage of time, the tobacco habit instead of decreasing, became progressively more accentuated in all social classes. As a conditional aggravation, in the present day the noxious effects of tobacco smoke are combined with those of environmental contamination.