MEDICINAL ACTIOX. 131 



any thing in man physical or spiritual, — and 

 having hved its day, its hour comes : — 



" But yesterday tlie word of Caesar might 

 Have stood against the world : now Hes he there, 

 And none so poor to do him reverence ! " 



The fact is that the doctors could not manage 

 tobacco. Nicotiana proved refractory in their 

 hands. They knew its effects when internally 

 administered ; they had seen its vertigo — severe 

 nausea — vomiting — general tremor of the body — 

 cold sweats — syncope — death. Everything about 

 the remedy suggested caution ; the doctors used 

 it recklessly — used it as they use so many things 

 according to the books, — " try this " and " try 

 that," — and Death only knows what will be the 

 end of the trial ! Dr. Paris relates a case in 

 point. It was a case of strangulated hernia : — 



" The patient had been under the care of a medical 

 practitioner in the vicinity of London, who, after repeated 

 and fruitless efforts to return the intestine, injected an 

 infusion of tobacco into the rectum, and sent him in a 

 carriage to the Westminster Hospital for the purpose of 

 undergoing the operation : but the unfortunate man expired 

 very shortly after his arrival, in consequence of the effects 

 of the tobacco clyster. 



" It was a practice to inject the smoke of tobacco into 



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