The Medicinal Tomato

Well now, medical marijuana … schmedial marijuana. We all know that the real medicinal plant, according to Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (published 1861), is the tomato!

THE TOMATO MEDICINAL.–To many persons there is something unpleasant, not to say offensive, in the flavour of this excellent fruit. It has, however, long been used for culinary purposes in various countries of Europe. Dr. Bennett, a professor of some celebrity, considers it an invaluable article of diet, and ascribes to it very important medicinal properties. He declares:–1. That the tomato is one of the most powerful deobstruents of the materia medica; and that, in all those affections of the liver and other organs where calomel is indicated, it is probably the most effective and least harmful remedial agent known in the profession. 2. That a chemical extract can be obtained from it, which will altogether supersede the use of calomel in the cure of diseases. 3. That he has successfully treated diarrhoea with this article alone. 4. That when used as an article of diet, it is almost a sovereign remedy for dyspepsia and indigestion.

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