The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-06-05
The Tobacco Remedy.

ma contributes to Health an
Home a paper on the tobacco rem
edy, giving many remarkable in
stances of the good effects follow
ing the use of wet tobacco as
poultice to subdue Inflammation
His personal .experience is varied
1t should be promised, however
that he used tobacco in no othe
way than as poultice, and that b,
recommends the use only of the
natural leaf, as the manufactured
tobacco sometimes contains irrita
ting, poisonous drugs. OF the
many cases General Clingman cites
in vindication of his favorite RENE
dy-which he uses in all cases OF
Inflammation, from bunion to cry.
sipelas-the most noteworthy are
the following:
My next application of it was to
a severe gunshot wound on the
18th of August, 1864, near Peters
burg, Va. A bullet ranged through
my leg, from near 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. L
lost so much blood that / was car
ried from the field in an insensi-
BILE condition. l was so feeble that
the surgeons expressed great appre-
hensiou that 1 might not be able to
survive the fever, which they ex-
pected to come on in . few
days. About that time several of
my friends had died Of the. second
ary fever which followed their
wounds. In a few days my leg be-
gan to swell and throb with heat.
The surgeons said 1 must keep it
wrapped in wet cloths. 1 told them
that l would keep down the infam-
nation by an application of tobac
CO. They at once asserted that
such an application would be ruin
Gus. After they left sent my ser
want 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 ceased,
and rested more quietly than
had been doing. 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"
I remember that General Robert E.
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 excites my
intellectual faculties.
Although several months passed
before 1 could walk without crutch-
es, yet 1 had no fever and little
pain from the Inflammation. I am
satisfied that if tobacco was prop
erly applied, that no external
wound would ever become suffi-
GENTLY infamed to cause mortlfi-
cation.
In the summer of 1867, in the
city of New York, as I was riding
in an omnibus, while looking out of
an open window, received a heavy
blow on my right eye from the
whip of driver, who had aimed
the blow at the head of 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 cen
ter of my open eye. The pain was
excessive, and the sight of the eye
was entirely taken away-absolute
blackness seemed before it. Pas
sengers in the stage said to me,
'You had better get out and seek
relief-for you do not know how
that eye looks" 1 soon reached my
hotel, and on getting into it sent
one servant for a piece of tobacco
and another for two physicians
with whom was acquainted. The
tobacco cana first, and just as 1
had placed it on and secured it
with proper bandages, the doctors
came in. 1 told them what had
happened, and that has just put
on the tabacco. They said tobac-
CO would be ruinous. AS soon as 1
got off the bandage and they saw
the eye, their countenances seemed
to fall; (for I could see them with
the left eye, of course.) They said,
sit will be very difficult to save that
eye" l Ireplied, that if it could be
saved, the tobacco poultice would
do it. They reiterated their objec-
tions; but L told them should try
it, and asked them to come back in
the morning. After they left, / re-
stored the tobacco and kept it well
wet by putting my face from time
to time in a bowl of water SO as to
retain the moisture steadily. The
night was one Of the most painful
of my life; but, as it progressed, the
pain seemed slightly to diminish
yet even in the morning 1 still suf-
fered. About ten o'clock one OF
the physicians called to see
me, and l took off the bandage. AS
soon as 1 did so 1 knew that the
OJC was OOOISls AOL SOuAN SCO phO
outlines of the open window be-
fore mo. The doctor Immediately
said. 81 never was so astonished
in my life, for your eye, instead OF
being swollen and red, as 1 expec-
ted to see it, is shrunk and less
than the other eye, and the lids are
white. He insisted that he ought
to be allowed to stimulate it by an
application; but as l did not desire
to have a premature reaction, re-
fused. Though the eye was not
very painful kept the tobacco on
it for the greater part of the day
On the next day when he saw it, he
said: "You will not lose your eye
but it will always be disfigured. >
On looking at it, 1 saw the pupil
seemed to extend across the aris
and my whole eye looked black.
On the fifth day my eye had its nat
ural appearance and its sight was
1 r Il L