TOBACCO POISONING by G. W. C.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 50.

TOBACCO POISONING.

By G. W. C.

BY G. W. C.

A NUMBER of years ago the writer of this baked a score or more of apples and put them into a circular wooden box, steaming hot from the oven. The apples were shut in with a close-fitting cover and left to cool for several hours. When the next meal came, he ate quite freely of these sweet baked apples, the result of which was he became deathly sick. Baked apples had always agreed with him before and he was at a loss to account for his sickness in this case. He was so weak, and his heart action so rapid and irregular, that he thought for some time that he would die. But after several hours his heart quieted down, and prostration followed. He was so weak that he could scarcely walk; and it was two or three days before he recovered his usual health and strength.

What was the cause?—This circular wooden box had been used to keep several pounds of fine-cut tobacco in, and, although the apples did not touch the box anywhere, being stacked up on a plate somewhat smaller than the diameter of the box, the steam of them must have set free the volatile oil that permeated the box and this penetrated the apples; or perhaps condensed drops from the cover may have fallen on the apples and poisoned them in that way.

I knew another case of tobacco poisoning that was nearly fatal. A man of my acquaintance had washed himself with a decoction of plug tobacco, to kill the itch, which he had contracted while teaching a school in one of the rural districts of the west. He felt himself fast going into an unconscious state, but he roused himself sufficiently to jump out of bed and run, or rather stagger, to a washtub full of water, and plunged in, taking a sitz bath, and at the same time he dashed the water on his head and bathed his breast, spine, and, later on, his lower limbs. He did this several times and then poured out the water and pumped the tub full of fresh water and repeated the operation several times. This was on a warm summer night. By washing himself off thoroughly several times he believed he saved his life. He was weak for several days afterwards.