The use of smoke enemas in Western medicine declined after 1811, when through animal experimentation Benjamin Brodie demonstrated that nicotine--the principal active agent in tobacco smoke--is a cardiac poison that can stop the circulation of blood.
The use of smoke enemas in Western medicine declined after 1811. In that year, Benjamin Brodie showed through animal experimentation that nicotine, the principal active agent in tobacco smoke, was a cardiac poison prone to stopping the circulation of blood.