The tobacco enema was used from the 1750s to the early nineteenth century to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient's rectum for various medical purposes, primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims. A tube inserted into the rectum was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced smoke into the patient. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration, but doubts about the viability of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase "to blow smoke up one's ass"...
31 July 2009
History for the day
Courtesy of my friend Tex, this bit of quaint (and probably painful, if not lethal) medical history:
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