8 Seriously Bizarre Scientific Theories From History

6. The Tobacco Smoke Enema

To blow smoke up someone's a*se nowadays means to compliment them insincerely, usually with a view to manipulate them. Back in The Olden Days, around the late 18th Century, it was a life-saving* procedure.

Commonly used to resuscitate people who had drowned, the idea was to insert a tube into the rectum and force tobacco smoke into it using either bellows or, if you prefer the personal touch, your own lung power.

The intestinal walls will actually allow things to pass through them into the bloodstream, this is the principle behind enemas, and so the idea was the the nicotine in the smoke would enter the system and caused the heart to jolt into action.

There are some accounts of this working, so perhaps they really were onto something. Either that, or the people weren't quite as dead as people thought and simply experienced the correct reaction to being used as a human bong.

*There is little evidence to suggest that this works better than real medicine, please do not smoke out someone's rectum rather than seeking medical attention.