Back in the late 1700s, doctors literally blew smoke up people’s rectums. Believe it or not, it was a general mainstream medical procedure used to resuscitate people who were otherwise presumed dead. In fact, it was such a commonly used resuscitation method for drowning victims particularly, that the equipment used in this procedure was hung alongside certain major waterways, such as along the River Thames. People frequenting waterways were expected to know the location of this equipment similar to modern times concerning the location of defibrillators.
Smoke was blown up the rectum by inserting a tube. This tube was connected to a fumigator and a bellows which when compressed forced smoke into the rectum. Sometimes a more direct route to the lungs was taken by forcing the smoke into the nose and mouth, but most physicians felt the rectal method was more effective. The nicotine in the tobacco was thought to stimulate the heart to beat stronger and faster, thus encouraging respiration. The smoke was also thought to warm the victim and dry out the person’s insides, removing excessive moisture.
The notion of reviving victims of drowning accidents with tobacco smoke enemas seems, to say the least, a little odd. But to 18th-century physicians, this approach was entirely rational. The mainstay of treating the “apparently dead” was warmth and stimulation. Rubbing the skin was one method of stimulation, but injecting tobacco smoke into the rectum was generally thought more powerful.
Since its introduction from the New World by Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618), tobacco has had a place in the pharmacopoeia for its warming and stimulating properties. It was useful in counteracting cold and lethargy, either in an individual's constitution, or brought on by particular afflictions.
The Native Americans were known to have used tobacco in a variety of ways, including treating various medical ailments, and the European doctors soon picked up on this and began advocating it for treatments for everything from headaches to cancer.
In 1745, Richard Mead was among the first known Westerners to suggest that administering tobacco via an enema was an effective way to resuscitate drowning victims.