One of the earliest and most graphic accounts of resuscitation by tobacco enema dates from 1746. A man’s wife was pulled from the water apparently dead. Amid much conflicting advice, a passing sailor proffered his pipe and instructed the husband to insert the stem into his wife’s rectum, cover the bowl with a piece of perforated paper, and “blow hard”. Miraculously, the woman revived. The author of this tale cites Richard Mead (1673–1754) who, a year earlier, had recommended tobacco clysters in cases of “iatrogenic” drowning, caused by immersion therapy for hydrophobia and mania.