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Botanical drawing of a medicinal plant alongside Spanish text indicating the second part of the book.
Woodcut illustration of a tobacco plant circa 1574. (Photo: Nicolás Monardes)

Over a dozen books are published across Europe naming tobacco as a "miracle medicine."

1550

TOB
TFCM
Woodcut illustration of a tobacco plant circa 1574. (Photo: Nicolás Monardes)

Tobacco is cited as a cure for almost everything, from joint pain to epilepsy and the plague. One author writes: "Anything that harms a man inwardly from his girdle upward might be removed by a moderate use of the herb."