They Literally Blew Smoke Up People
Category: Victorian Weirdness 10th June 2026
Honestly, if you thought Victorians only had strange hats and stranger manners, wait until you meet their resuscitation hobby: the tobacco smoke enema. When someone was dragged out of the Thames and looked like they had RSVP'd to death, well-meaning rescuers sometimes reached for a curious kit - bellows, a pipe-like nozzle, and a roll of burning tobacco - and blew smoke into the poor sod's rectum. It was medicine, not malice, and they did it with the utmost Victorian confidence.
Organizations devoted to saving drowning victims, including ones like the Royal Humane Society, actually endorsed rectal fumigation for a while. The idea was part physiology, part folk remedy: warm, stimulating smoke would rouse the body, expand the chest, and kickstart breathing. It was presented as sound practice in manuals and rescue carts carried a 'fumigator' alongside brandy and mustard plasters. So yes, a bellows next to a hip flask was standard issue for some rescuers.
Before you snort-laugh into your latte, remember this was an era when formal CPR did not exist and doctors were improvising with what seemed sensibly theatrical. The rectum was seen as a route to stimulate circulation and temperature in ways the mouth and nose couldn't reach in a drowned, chilled body. Later medical advances and better understanding of respiration made the practice fall out of favor - and, honestly, my inner 21st-century self is quietly grateful.
I once saw an antique resuscitation kit in a tiny museum that smelled faintly of old cotton and history, and the plaque cheerfully listed 'smoke enema' like it was a polite suggestion for tea. There is something deeply human about people trying everything they can to bring someone back, even if it looks bonkers centuries later. The Victorians were theatrical optimists: they had gadgets, belief, and a readiness to shove smoke into the least expected place. It is weird, a little gross, and oddly touching - like a Victorian romance where the honeymoon is interrupted by literal bellows and concern.