The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-05-07
The Tobacco Remedy.
Ca TAo.. l. CLagaAa. letter tor Health +.

scutTdt, VIII De l~0-truultDtal IN >aNll,
annually many thousands of lives in th
United States, | have decided that it i
my duty TO make a statement on the sub
jet.
To do this properly will require som,
space, "a mere condemned propositions o
statements will not usually make "a mucl
impression or be a. well remembered a
are things set forth 10 the form Of a mar
rative Of facts. | ought at the outset L
state that | never chewed, smoked, no
snufed tobacco | believe, however, tina
it on several occasions has saved my life
and In other respects been Of ~essentla
service 70 me and many ofmy friends.
The first instance | can remember Gift
use as a remedy for infammations, wa,
seeing Tom Kelly, when I was a sual
boy, squirt It's Juice from his mouth int
the eye OF his horse very red from in
fammation. He stated that he was curing
il in that way. | also early in life knew
of its being applied TO those who had
been stung by wasps, bees, etc. Wher
in college a student told me that he had
cured a chronic inflammation by putting
a wet tobacco leaf on the part.
Ia March, 1917, on the day after | had
announced myself as a candidate for Con.
gress, while carelessly riding a wild horse
the animal sprang against the fence and
knocked me off, SO that ! lit on the
ground with 50 much violence as to
sprain my right ankle very severely. As
| had some miles 10 ride into Henderson
vile, y. c., before any remedy could be
applied, the ankle was swollen to double
its size and very painful. Or. White
head directed a p~oultice to be applied.
Alter enduring severe pam for some
hours, | thought of trying tobacco.
sent for some leaves, had them wet and
wrapped around the ankle, and placed
the poultice over them to keep them
moist. Within an hour the pain ceased,
and | slept through the night. The next
morning on examining the ankle, instead
of its being swollen, it appeared rather
less than its natural size the skin had
a wrinkled appearance and was very
white The membrane between the bones
which had received the shock, however,
was very tender, 50 that | was obliged to
use crutches. During my canvass, which
lasted four months, | twice while travel
ing had it hurt by accidents, and each
time subdued the pain and swelling by
the use of tobacco. During the war, by
the falling of a galloping horse, ! was
thrown over his head and sprained the
same ankle badly, and used tobacco with
the like effect.
My mex. application of it was to a Sc
we're gunshot wound, on the 10Th of Au-
gust, 1864, near Petersburg, Va. a bull
let ranged through my leg. from neal the
ankle, SO as to come out on the opposite
side, just below the knee, cutting the
muscles and nerves and making a long
and very painful wound. | lost so much
blood that was carried from the field in
an insensible condition. | was so feeble
heDsion that | might not be able to sur
on in a few days. About that time
several of my friends had died of the
secondary fever which followed their
wounds. In a few days my lett leg began
to swell and throb with heat. The sur
geons said | must keep it wrapped in wet
| told them that | would keep
down the Inflammation by an application
of tobacco. They at once asserted that
such an application would be ruinous.-
After they left | sept my servant for some
tobacco, enveloped the wounded legin it,
and kept it wet with the cloths over it.
The pain in an hour or two diminished,
and the heat and throbbing ceased, and
| rested more quietly than [ had been do
ing. On the next day, when the surgeons
called to see me, on looking at the wound,
they expressed much surprise and said
You may keep on the tobacco" | re-
member that Gen. Robert T.. Lee called
to see me that day, and after looking at
me a moment, said, 'Oh, General, you
are not going to die, your eye is too
The tobacco being a powerful
nerve tonic, it always greatly excites my
intellectual faculties.
Although several months passed be-
fore | could walk without crutches, yet
| had no fever and little pain from the
inflammation. | am satisfied that if to-
bacco were properly applied, that no ex-
ternal cut would ever become sufficiently
intlamed to cause modification.
In the Summer of 1867, in the City of
New York, as | was riding in an omui-
bus, while looking out of an open window,
[ received a heavy blow on my right eye
from the whip OF the driver, VINO had
the blow at the head of a horse
which seemed about to interfere with
him. He missed the horses head, and
the full force of the end Of the whip fell
directly on the centre of my open eye
The pain was excessive, and the sight of
the eye was entirely taken away-aDso
lutte blackness seemed before it. Passen-
gers in the stage said to me. "You had
better get out and seek relief for you
do not Ena~ hour that aro lol 7
soon reached my hotel, and on getting
into 1t sent one servant for a piece of to-
bacco and anotEe, TO. Two physicians with
whom was acquainted. The tobacco
came first, and just as | had placed it on
and secured it with proper bandages, the
doctors came in, [ told them what had
happened, and that | had just put on the
tobacco. They said tobacco would be III
inous. As soon as | got off the bandage
and they saw the eye, their countenances
seemed to fall Cor could see them with
the left eye, Of oourse.) They said, ''it
will be very difficult to save that eye.'-
| replied, that if it could be saved, the
tobacco poultice would dc ii. they reit-
Grated their objections but | told them |
should try it, and asked them to come
back in the morning. After they left, |
restored the tobacco and kept it well wet
BY putting my face from tine to time in
a bowl Of water, so as to retain the mois
ture steadily. The night was one of the
most painful of my life but as it pro
crossed, the pain seemed slightly to di-
minish yet even in the morning | still
suffered. About ten o'clock, one of the
physicians called to see me, and | took off
the bandage. As soon as | did so, |
knew that the eye was better, for | could
see the outlines of the open window be-
fore me. The doctor Immediately said,
Il never was SO a.stonished in my life,
for your eye instead Of being swollen and
red, as expected to see it, is shrunk and
less than the other eye, and the lids are
uhito H. inSiSInd thnt ho onnL. "a ko