LOCKJAWO CURED BY TOBACOO

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1483, 18 November 1872, Page 2

LOCKJAWO CURED BY TOBACOO

The Scientific American, of August 28„ contains the following : Reading in the late papers an account of the recent melancholy death of the Engineer Roebling from tetanus, ok lockjaw, reminded me of the case of a comrade of mine, a Major in the 18th Indiana Cavalry during the war, and which he only a short time ago related to me among his soldier life :—"ln view of the late unhappy event, I deem in. worthy of being generally known, as his. remedy is very simple, quick efficacious, and Jo be obtained almost anywhere. It would, in the above case, have certainly saved the lite of a very useful man. His command was then—Christmas 1864 —in middle Tennessee, near the Alaknua line. One of his men was. wounded slightly on the foot, hardly serious enough to go back a few mibs to the nearest hospital, and as the command was, after a short march or so,. «oing into winter quarters, and not wishing to leave i<", he concluded to press on with it. The consequence was. he took cold in his wounded foot, and lockjaw ensued before they reached their winter quartets. All their surgeons and assistants had been left at various hospitals, and the hospital steward, knowing nothing better to do, had made arrangements to abandon the mm as hopeless to die at a plantation. The major casually learned his condition, and as it was a case of life orcieath anyhow (or rather certain death},, he resolved to try an experiment and save him if possible. The man had the lock-jaw more than forty hours; they had no medicines along with them (useless if they had) and the major's only resource was a plug of navy, tobacco. Re cut oil a square of it (about three inches square) put it in a me.«s pan with boiling water, until it was hot through and saturated with the water;. takin« it out, ht 4 allowed it to cool so as not to blister,, then flattening it out, he placed it on the pit of the man's stomach. In about live minutes the patient turned white around the lips, which also began to twitch—the man. was getting sick—and in nine or Jen minutes the rigid muscles and his jaws fell open. Indeed ic seemed as if the patient, would fall apart and go to pieces so utterly was hi< entire muscular system relaxed. The tobacco, was immediately removed, and some whiskey gruel given to. stimulate him. Next day the man was taken along in an anibur lance, and in a few days mounted his horse all right, as bold a 'snjer boy' a* any. So much for a dead man. It seems necessary in this disease to pro* dtice nausea, or sickness of the stomach to cause the rigid muscles to relax.. It is very difficult or almost impossible, 10 administer internal medicines, and some external application becomes necessary to prod ice nausea; this is furnished by the tobacco. The major found afterwards that damp tobacco applied to any part of the body would produce sickne.-s, but much more quickly when applied to the stomach."