‘Weird Fact Wednesday: The Capitular cure for COVID-19?’

     
I knew the archives of Freemasonry would yield some kernel of information leading us toward a cure for the Chinese Virus, and I think I’ve got it!

“It is tobacco.”

Courtesy of the Illinois Royal Arch Companions, the “Report on Correspondence” within the 1913 Book of Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of California informs us of the surefire way to prevent cholera—and they knew a thing or two about pestilence back then, you betcha!

Excerpted:


And now comes forward a comforter for that much maligned and long-suffering Companion: the man who smokes in the Chapter room. It seems that Dr. Wenck, of the Imperial Institute of Berlin, has discovered an infallible preventive of cholera, and similar maladies. It is tobacco. He has demonstrated that cholera microbes will not survive more than half an hour when exposed to tobacco smoke, and that smokers are entirely free from the bacilli. Now, as you all know, the recent immigrations are mainly from cholera-infected countries. Hence, for hygienic reasons, smoking should be encouraged. You might cut this out and paste it on the Tyler’s door.

Note—The Professor further says: that genuine Havana is the best microbe killer, and that combinations of oakum and Michigan cabbage leaf are ineffectual. The Steward should bear this in mind when he purchases the ropes.


Cholera, of course is bacterial, whereas the Chinese Virus is, well, a virus, so my theory here isn’t foolproof but, as “Freemasonry is a progressive science,” I think this is worth investigating. While I’m not necessarily in favor of smoking in the Chapter (or Lodge) room, I suppose I could get used to it. If you insist.

(I personally abstain from Havanas, because they are made by slave labor.)