“IS THERE OLDMAN MORE BULLISH? GO TAKE TOBACCO”. MORALS AND MEDICINE: CONCEPTS AND USES (17th-18th CENTURIES)

Abstract

The proliferation of tobacco use during the 17th and 18th centuries has gen- erated a lot of literary works in which moral concepts and medical norms are mixed. Today, some of these texts make us smile due to the naivety and ig- norance of a reality whose consequences were still little known. If for some, tobacco use was immoral and harmful, therefore demonized, for other authors it would be not a vice but a resource that could successfully contribute to the treatment of diseases.