114 Medicinal Properties of Tobacco. 



inordinate quantity of laudanum, in a case where the most 

 active emetics, in the largest doses, were resorted to in vain. 

 But most poisons, particularly the corrosive, are attended with 

 so much exhaustion, that it would seem perilous to administer 

 tobacco, lest by its own depressing effects, the powers of 

 vitality might be irrecoverably extinguished. In many in- 

 stances, however, it appears that it may be administered in 

 small doses with safety and advantage. 



We are informed by a respectable writer, that while at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, he had a number of Hottentots, with 

 intermittent fever, under his care. Having few medicines, 

 he resorted to tobacco, and found six grains of snuff as effec- 

 tual in exciting vomiting, as two of Tartar emetic. 



By many it is preferred in minute doses, as a nauseating 

 medicine. Thus administered, it has succeeded in subduing 

 some of the most violent symptoms of the most furious cases 

 of mania ; and where it cannot be given by the mouth, from 

 the obstinacy of the patient, it may with equal benefit be 

 applied in the form of a poultice. 



As a cathartic, tobacco is entitled to notice. ' Some 

 physicians have been in the habit of prescribing this powerful 

 substance not only for the more dangerous cases of incarcer- 

 ated hernia, but in all cases of obstinate constipation, from 

 whatever cause produced. To relieve these painful diseases, 

 it has been usually given in the form of a clyster, regulating 

 the dose to the age, circumstances and strength of the patient ; 

 and it is affirmed to have proved, in many instances, very 

 effectual, and to possess the confidence of practitioners.' 



I was informed by a learned and ingenious friend, that, 

 having an obstinate case of ascaris lumbricoides in his own 

 family, after repeated unsuccessful efforts to dislodge the 

 worms, he at last had recourse to this potent remedy, a poul- 

 tice of which he applied to the region of the stomach. The 

 worms were almost instantaneously expelled, but with very 

 alarming symptoms, and a complete prostration of the patient. 

 From these circumstances, we should be led to conclude, that 

 its efficacy as a vermifuge depends either upon its narcotic 

 properties, or upon its sudden and powerful effect as a cathar- 

 tic. 



Its effects as a sternutatory, that is, as exciting to sneeze, 

 are known to all. If applied to the nostrils, in the form of a 

 powder or snuff, it produces violent and repeated sneezing, 

 with a slight degree of vertigo. The violent agitation pro- 

 duced in this way, together Vv'ith a copious discharge from 

 the nostrils, often relieves catarrh, headache, and incipient 



