touacco HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 23i 



That tobacco, under proper regulations, may be aebr.ir.istered internally, not only 

 as a safe but an efficacious remedy, especially as a diuretic in cases oi dropsy and dv-t 

 sury, seems certain enough. This property, amongst the vast number that have been 

 attributed to it, however, seems scarcely ever to have been hinted at. The forms in 

 which Dr. Fowler ordered it were in infusion, tincture, or pills. 



Infusion. Take of tobacco leaves dried an ounce, boiling water one pound ; infuse 

 4hem for an hour in a close vessel set in a warm place, and steam off about fourteen 

 ounces. Then add two ounces of rectified spirit of wine. 



Tincture. Take of dried tobacco leaves an ounce, of rectified spirits, Spanish white 

 wine, or vinegar, one pint; to be infused for four days. 



Pills: Take of dried tobacco leaves in powder, one drachm, of the conserve of roses 

 enough to make it in a mass ; which is to be divided into sixty pills. 



Of the infusion or tincture, Dr. Fowler gives from six to one hundred drops twice- 

 a- day in water, or in a cordial julep, or other proper vehicle, sufficient to produce the 

 effect in adults ; but in irritable habits he seldom exceeded twenty-five drops. To a 

 patient of ten years old he gave fifty drops ; to a child of five years old twenty drops ; 

 but to patients under five years old he never ventured to prescribe it. 



Th e first effects of the infusion is a transient heat in the stomach and throat, as if 

 the patient had taken a dram. The next general effect in a moderate dose is diuretic, 

 with or without a slight vertigo and giddiness, and frequently nausea. In painful cases, 

 it proves anodyne, and in some cases occasions drowsiness and sleep ; in others drow- 

 siness, with a sense of heat and restlessness. 



Dr. Fowler gave this medicine in one hundred and fifteen cases: in ninety-three 

 of which it proved diuretic ; in forty of these cases, it occasioned purging; seventy- 

 nine of these patients complained of vertigo. In fifty-two of the number it excited 

 nausea; in the two last cases he directs the medicine to be suspended, and the doses 

 lessened. Dr. Fowler tried it in thirty cases of dropsy, viz. four of anascara, or general 

 dropsy; two of ascites ; and twelve df dropsical swellings of the legs, were all cured. 

 In ten other cases it afforded considerable relief; and in three cases only it was of no 

 use. In ten instances of dysury the infusion was anodyne and diuretic, thereby abating 

 pain, relaxing the urinary passages, and promoting urine. In dysuries from gravel, 

 it facilitates the expulsion of calcareous or gritty matter. 



Dr. Fowler speaks of the use of tobacco in injections ; an ounce of the infusion in a 

 pint of water gruel at a time, and repeated incases of obstinate constipation, as the 

 case may require. In the dry belly-ache, in the West-Indies, injections of the smoke 

 of tobacco have long been employed with the happiest effects. 



After all, the internal use of tobacco should be very limited, and can only be safe in 

 the hands of a skillful aryj attentive practitioner. Tobacco is often used externally in 

 unguents for destroying cutaneous insects, cleansing old ulcers, &c. ; and is generally 

 and successfully used for cleansing and destroying vermin in the sores of cattle and 

 horses. T-aten into a mash, with vinegar or brandy, it-has also sometimes proved ser- 

 viceable for removing hard tumours of the hypochandries : an account is given in the 

 Edinburgh essays of two cases of this kind cured bv it. The most common uses of this 

 plant, however, are either as a sternutatory when taken by way of snuff : as a mastica- 

 tory, by chewing it in the mouth ; or as effluvia, by smoking it; and, when taken in 

 moderation, it is not an unhealthful amusement. The ashes are said to be an excellent 

 dentrifice, and corrective of a putrid disposition in the gums. The leaves chopped 

 up in corn and given to horses, bring off botts. 

 Vol. II. G g -TOMATO 



