Nicotine as a cure for various illnesses

Years ago, when I was a teenager working as a carhop, I burned my thumb and it hurt like hell. The wife of the boss didn't have any medicine handy but said she would use something her grandmother used on them.

She took a piece of regular paper, wadded it up and burned it in a coffee dish. When it was completely burned, she blew the ashes away and there remained an oily brown residue. She rubbed this on my thumb and the pain stopped a few minutes later and it healed up with no problems.

The lady said it is the paper in cigarettes which cause cancer and that is why people who smoke cigars don't get cancer, because the paper is made from tobacco leaves which also contain nicotine as in the tobacco being smoked. Now of course, that was probably some kind of creosote in the paper she burned but it worked and I experienced it myself.

Creosote Bush - Dissolves Kidney and Bile Duct Stones, Used to Fight Rheumatism and Favors the Rapid Healing of Wounds.

Aztec Method of Use

To Dissolve Stones: Boil 5 grams of leaves to 1/4 liter of water, drink 1 to 2 cups a day.
For Rheumatic Pain: Rub on the affected area the same mixture described above.
For Rapid Healing of Wounds: Foment warm on affected area the same mixture as above.

So I was browsing for goodies and found this REALLY OLD article about the origins of tobacco smoking but it is written in very old english...so I am going to snip out the useful parts and translate to modern english. Noli me tangere as used in the document is Latin and means 'don't touch me';

"Master John Nicot, Counselor to the King, being Ambassador for the King in Portugal, in the years of our lord 1559, 60 and 61, went one day to see the person of the King of Portugal, and a gentleman being the keeper of the said prisons presented him this herb, as a strange plant brought from Florida;

the same Master Nicot, having caused the said herb to be set in his garden, where it grew and multiplied marvelously, was upon a time advertised, by one of his pages, that a young man, a kin to that page,

made a poultice of that herb bruised, both the herb and the juice together upon an ulcer which he had upon his cheek near unto his nose, coming of a Noli me tangere which had taken root already at the gristles of the nose, wherewith he found himself marvellously eased.

Therefore the said Master Nicot caused the sick young man to be brought before him, causing the said herb to be continued to be applied to the sore for eight or ten days, this aforesaid Noli me tangere, was utterly extinguished and healed; and he had sent it, while this cure was working, to a certain physician of the King of Portugal of the most fame, for to see the further working and effect of the said Nicotine, and sending for the same young man at the end of ten days, that the said Noli me tangere was utterly extinguished, as in deed he never felt it since.

Within a while after, one of the cooks of the said Ambassador having almost cut off his thumb, with a great chopping knife, the steward of the house of the said gentleman, used the said Nicotine plant, and dressed him (the cook) with the poultice five or six times, and so in the end thereof he was healed; from that time forward this herb began to be famous throughout all Lisbon, where the court of the King of Portugal was at that present, and the virtue of this said Ambassador's herb!

Wherefore there came certain days after, a gentleman of the country, father to one of the pages of the Ambassador, who was troubled with an ulcer in his leg, having had the same for two years, and demanded of the said Ambassador for his herb, and using the same in such order as is before written, at the end of ten or twelve days he was healed.

From that time forth the fame of that herb increased in such sort, that many came from all places to have that same herb. Among all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a ringworm rooted, as though she had a 'visour/visor' on her face, to whom the said L Ambassador caused the herb to be given her, and told how she should use it, and at the end of eight or ten days, this woman was thoroughly healed, she came and showed herself to the Ambassador, showing him of her healing.

After there came a captain to present his son, sick of the Kings 'euill' (scrofula) to the said Ambassador, for to send him to France, unto whom there was made a poultice of the Nicotine, which in a few days did begin to show great signs of healing, and finally was altogether healed of the kings 'euill'.

The Ambassador seeing so great effects proceeding of this herb, and having heard say that the Lady Montigny that was died at Saint Germans, of an ulcer bread in her breast, that did turn to a Noli me tangere, for which there could never a remedy be found, and likewise that the Countess of Ruffe, had sought for all the famous physicians of the realm, for to heal her face, unto whom they could give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into France, and did send it to King Frances the 2nd; and to the Queen Mother, and to many other Lords of the Courts with the manner of using the same; and how to apply it unto the said diseases, even as he had found it by experience; and chiefly to the Lord of Jarnac, governor of Rogell, with whom the said Lord Ambassador had great amity for the service of the King.

The which Lord of Jarnac, told one day at the Queens table, that he had caused the said Nicotine to be distilled, and caused the water to be rdunk, mingled with water Euphrasie, otherwise called 'Eyebright', to one that was short breathed, and was therewith healed." - Joyfull News out of the newe found worlde, 1577 - Black Letter

And after typing all this up, I did a search and found a URL for the medicinal uses of tobacco that you might find of further interest.

I find it fascinating that nicotine is claimed to cause cancer and yet here it seems to cure diseases, possibly cancer in a kind of homeopathic, 'law of similars' reverse way.

Law of Similars - A pharmacologically active substance administered to a person in good health triggers a series of symptoms. When these same symptoms appear in a sick person they can be cured by administering the same substance in a micro dose. A very common example of this is Ipecac. When taken in a large doses Ipecac causes vomiting; when taken in a very small dose it is one of the best remedies for nausea and vomiting. This principle was known to two ancient physicians, Hippocrates (400 B.C.) and Paracelsus (1493), but it was not until the last quarter of the 18th century that it was actively investigated.

Wonder if you drink the juice and apply a poultice to breast and other cancers, if it might help to cure it?

I don't trust much written these days since who knows how many are in the employ of the tobacco companies who just want you to buy their cigarettes. Getting some tobacco leaves would make this very easy to test for a variety of sores and maybe even cancers...if I catch something, have to remember to try this!