Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-06-20
TOBACCO AS A MEDICINE.
Gen. eIingInan TcIis More MarycIOu.
stories A bOuti IL.

Gen. Chngman of North Carolina in his
long article on "The Tobacco Remedy in
tie May number Of the He1W and Home an
nounces his belief that the use OF wet tobacco
as poultico will be instrumental in saving
many thousands of lives am ually in the
United States. He gives long list Of the
marvellous cures he has witnessed, beginning
with one about half century ago, when he
saw man treating Inflammation in horses
eye with tobacco juice lie tells of a signal
cure of II sprain of his right ankle in 1874
by the application of wet tobacco leaves In
August, 1864 the general was shot through
the leg below the knee, cutting the muscles
and nerves, and making long and painful
wound. He says:
about that time several of my friends had
died of the secondary fever which followed
their wounds. In few days my left leg be-
gan to swell and throb with heat. The sur
geons said | must keep it wrapped in wet
cloths. l told them that / would keep down
the Inflammation by an application of tobacco.
They at once asserted that such an applica-
ton would be ruiuous. After they left sent
my servant for some tobacco, enveloped the
wounded leg in it, and kept it wet with the
cloths over it. The pain in an hour or two
diminished and the heat and throbbing ceas-
ed, and rested more quietly than had been
doing On the next day, when the surgeons
called to see me, on looking at ahe wound
| they expressed much surprice, and said.
| You may keep on the tobacco / remember
| that Gen. Robert f. Lee called to see me
| that day, and after looking at me moment
said 'Oh, general, you are not going to die
your eye is too bright The tobacco being
a powerful nerve tonic, it always greatly es-
cites my Intellectual faculties
"Although several months passed before
| could walk without crutches, yet had no
fever and little pain from the Inflammation.
| am satisfied that if tobacco were properly
applied. no external wound would ever be-
come. sufficiently nhamed to cause morti6ca-
| ton
| The general next records an instance Ot a
cure OF his right eye which had received a
severe blow aimed by driver at the head of
a horse. The account of this has already
been published in the Times. lie gives an
account of the successful application Of wet
tobacco leaves as a cure for the fiery r. d and
much'swollen eyes of lawyer in Asheville,
n. G. This lawyer rec 1mmG nded the remedy
to two Young ladies in North Carolina at a
place where red sore eyes were epidemic,
The young ladies slert with wet tobacco
| Leaves on their eyes and were cured by morn
ing. In several other cases he found the
remedy useful for curing sore eyes.
As remedy for sore throat the general
| oayo hppiiCutlOu Vi wet lODuCCO ltuNCh
has been found by him to be uniailiug. He
instances his own experience at Aqua creek,
the case of lady who took his advice and
cites the testimony OF his brothef physician
in North Caralina, who often applied wet
tobacco leaves in cases of sore throats.
Gen. Clingman also testlfes to the value
OF tobacco leaves as n cure for crysinelps OF
the head, and gives details of several in
stances in which he found ii effective In
one instance, he say, he subdued a severe
erysipelas in the face, and a physician told
him afterward "No doctor could have cured
you in three weeks" On one occasion, he
says, he cured himself of terribly painful
attack of sciatica, greatly aggravated by the
treatment of two physicians. He did this by
applying wet tobacco leaves to his hip. He
also cured bunions OF long standing by
applying tobacco leaves a single night. He
cured United States senator of intolerable
pain in the side and back with wet tobacco
leaves, and says he has many other cures
which he could relate. He warns his read
ers not to use manufactured tobacco, because
of the righteousness OF virous drugs used
in the manufacture, such as Tonqua bean,
wintergreen and poisonous substances. He
cautions those who uss tobacco as remedy
10 apply only the pure leaf tobacco