ABSTRACT
Writing in the Argentine journal Accion Médica for February 10, N Hughes mentions that Nicot used the leaves to cure his cook’s cut finger, and that later the prior of Lorena, who received a plant from Nicot, gave some to Catherine of Medici, whose hobby was medicinal herbs. It was not long before snuff was made in France for curing headaches and removing ‘humours’. Smoking was used to cure asthma, and even infusions of tobacco were taken. Tobacco was regarded as an antidote to the poisonous arrows of the Indians, although tobacco was an ingredient in that very poison. Ferdinand II of Aragon, anxious to preserve the lives of his explorers in America, instituted pharmacological tests. A dog was wounded with a poisoned arrow, and tobacco juice poured on the wound saved the dog’s life. Cataplasms were applied to relieve indigestion and torticollis. Powdered finely, tobacco was used as a disinfectant, and during the plague of 1665 the scholars of Eton were thrashed if they did not smoke before coming into the classrooms. Tobacco was used as both a stimulant and a sedative, until it was found to have a toxic action. Enemas of tobacco smoke were administered through special bellows, and tobacco was used as an adjuvant to mercury in the sweating baths for syphilis.
