uthor, "who applied to the
heads of three of her children, afflicted with scald-head, an ointment
composed of snuff and butter; but what was the poor woman's surprise, to
find them immediately seized with vertigo, violent vomiting, fainting,
and convulsions."

We next come to its effects as an _emetic_. "As such," says Professor
Chapman, "tobacco claims our attention. Cullen and many others opposed
its use, on account of the harshness of its operation. Certainly it
exceeds all others in the promptness, violence, and permanence of its
impressions. But these very qualities, unpleasant as they are, enhance
its value in many cases."

"Tobacco seems especially to be adapted to the evacuation of some
poisons; and it has this advantage, that it acts with equal certainty
and expedition, when applied to the region of the stomach in the form of
a poultice, as when internally administered." Professor Barton says, he
had recourse to an application of the moistened leaves of this plant to
the region of the stomach, with complete success, to expel an 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
instances, 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 effectual 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 incarcerated hernia, but in all cases of
obstinate constipation, from whatever cause produced. To relieve these
painful diseases, it has been usually given in