1687, with letters of Certification, &c., by King William and Queen
Mary, 1694; and Testification by the Town Council of Edinburgh, 1694.
From Dr. Weir by regular succession and assignation, the secret was
conveyed to his widow, 1711; thence to their son Alex. Weir, 1715;
then to Lilias Weir, his sister, 1726; by her to Dr. Thomas Irving,
her nephew, 1770; then to his widow, Mrs. Irving, 1797; by her to her
son, James Irving, 1814, but the old lady appears to have retained an
interest in them until her death in 1837, at the age of 99. During
her life, and probably before and after, the “shop” where the pills
were made and sold was on the second floor of a house in the Lawn
Market opposite the site of the West Bow, a steep street which led
down to the Grassmarket. The house still remains, the date 1690 being
carved on the lintel. After certain assignations and trusteeships the
property came into the hands of a Mr. J. Rodger who sold his rights to
Messrs. Raimes, Blanshard & Co. in 1876. They and their successors,
Raimes, Clark & Co., Limited, have been the proprietors since the date
mentioned, and they inform me that there is still a small demand for
them.
Formulas for “Anderson’s Scots Pills” will be found in all the
manuals of pharmacy published in Europe and America, but they differ
considerably. Paris in “Pharmacologia” said they were a compound of
aloes and jalap with oil of anise; the French Codex which adopted them,
or at least the name, compounded them of aloes and gamboge with oil
of anise; Niemann, whose formulary had a quasi-official sanction in
Holland early in the nineteenth century gave a much more complicated
recipe, adding to the aloes both jalap and gamboge, together with
sulphur, burnt ivory, liquorice powder, and soap. “Pharmaceutical
Formulas” states that they are well represented by Pil Aloes et Myrrhæ
B.P., “which (saving excipient) contains the same ingredients as those
mentioned in a copy of the original document deposited in the Rolls
House.”
ANODYNE NECKLACES.
Anodyne necklaces were perhaps the most extensively advertised of the
quack remedies of the eighteenth century. The introduction of them is
generally attributed to one of the Chamberlen family, well known in
medical history as the inventors of the modern midwifery forceps.
In a collection of quack advertisements in the British Museum, all
published in the last half of the seventeenth century, there is a
handbill issued by Major John Coke, “a licensed physician and one of
his Majesty’s Chymists” advertising miraculous necklaces for children
breeding teeth “preventing (by God’s assistance) feavers, convulsions,
ruptures, chincough, ricketts, and such attendant distempers.” These
are 5_s._ each. A number of titled people whose children have used
these necklaces are named. A correspondent of _Notes and Queries_
(Mr. J. Elliot Hodgkin, 6th Ser., Vol. IX.) quotes a reference to
anodyne necklaces from a pamphlet published in 1717 dedicated to Dr.
Chamberlen and the Royal Society, evidently an advertisement which
it may not be too uncharitable to suppose was written by Chamberlen
himself. But another correspondent of the same journal (6th Ser., Vol.
X.) quotes from Smith’s “Book for a Rainy Day” another reference to the
necklaces in which they are alluded to as Mr. Burchell’s, and are said
to be “so strongly recommended by two eminent physicians, Dr. Tanner,
the inventor, and Dr. Chamberlain,” to whom he had communicated the
prescription. The necklaces were composed of artificially prepared
beads, small like barleycorns, and they were sold at 5_s._ each.
The beads were often made of peony wood, a substance which Oribasius
(fourth and fifth centuries) recommended to be hung round the neck for
the cure of epilepsy. They were especially recommended for children
cutting teeth, and for pregnant women. No doubt they served like any
other hard substance to help in the former trouble to open the gums,
but the idea suggested was that they gave out a certain vapour or
effluvium which reduced the feverish condition.
“May I die by an anodyne necklace,” is an expression used by one of
the characters in “The Vicar of Wakefield” (Ch. XX.). In a comment on
this allusion by the eminent authority on the eighteenth century, Mr.
Austin Dobson, it was explained that hanging was there euphemistically
referred to. Mr. Dobson’s mistake was pointed out in _Notes and
Queries_, and he acknowledged it.
The Collier de Morand was a neckband sold for goitre. It was made of
carded cotton on which was sprinkled a powder consisting of equal parts
of sal ammoniac, common salt, and burnt sponge. Paracelsus recommended
that coral should be worn round the necks of children to preserve them
from the effects of sorcery.
DAFFY’S ELIXIR.
The Rev. Thomas Daffy, who invented the Elixir Salutis with which his
name has been associated for about 250 years, was rector of Redmile in
Leicestershire from 1660 to 1680. He had been appointed rector of Harby
in the same county in Cromwell’s time, but the Countess of Rutland,
who presumably “sat under” him, was a lady of evangelical ideas, and
the Rev. Thomas was apparently of a “high” tendency, for according
to Nichols’s “History of Leicestershire,” “he was removed from that
better living to this worse one to satisfy the spleen of the Countess
of Rutland, a puritanical lady who had conceived a feeling against
him for being a man of other principles.” Just when he invented his
elixir does not appear, but it is to be hoped that the profits from it
made up for the sacrifice he had to make in consequence of his “other
principles.” It is clear from the references to the medicine which are
found in general literature and from the fact that it was imitated in
the Pharmacopœia (under the formula for Tinctura Sennæ Co.) that it
acquired considerable popularity. The following advertisement from the
_Post Boy_ of January 1, 1707, tells most of what is known about
the elixir:--
Daffye’s famous Elixir Salutis, prepared by Catherine Daffye,
daughter of Mr. Thomas Daffye, late rector of Redmile in the
vale of Belvoir, who imparted it to his kinsman, Mr. Anthony
Daffye, who published the same to the benefit of the community
and to his own advantage. The original receipt is now in my
possession left to me by my father. My own brother, Mr. Daniel
Daffye, apothecary in Nottingham, made this Elixir from the
said receipt and sold it there during his life. Those who know
it will believe what I declare; and those who do not may be
convinced that I am no counterfeit by the colour, taste, smell,
and operation of my Elixir. To be had at the Hand and Pen,
Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.
Catherine Daffy was not a clever advertiser, for her announcement seems
calculated to assist Anthony Daffy’s preparation as much as her own,
and it is likely that this was not her intention. Such little evidence
as exists goes to show that it was Anthony’s and not Catherine’s Elixir
that maintained the fame which had been won.
Daffy’s Elixir is still made by Sutton & Co., of 76 Chiswell Street,
the successors to Dicey & Co., of Bow Church Yard, who were themselves
successors to Benjamin Okell, who was carrying on the business in
1727, but when or from whom, or for what consideration the property
was transferred to them from the Daffy family, is not known. The
old-fashioned handbills wrapped round the bottles state that the
Elixir was “much recommended to the public by Dr. King, Physician to
King Charles II, and the late learned and ingenious Dr. Radcliffe.”
Unhappily, however, “a low set of mercenary vendors” have been making
imitations of this “noble and generous Elixir,” using “foul and
ordinary spirits instead of clean and pure brandy, and base and damaged
drugs,” of which none could be guilty “but such as never feel for any
but themselves.”
BAUME DE FIORAVENTI.
This medicine still figures in the French Codex and in other
continental Pharmacopœias. It is an alcoholic tincture of canella,
cloves, nutmegs, ginger, and other spices, with bay berries, to which
are added amber, galbanum, myrrh, aloes, elemi, and other resins, and
one-sixth by volume of turpentine. After digestion this mixture is
distilled to a yield of about two-thirds of the original bulk. The balm
was formerly given in doses of 5 or 6 drops in kidney disorders, but it
is now only used externally in rheumatism and for chilblains, and for
strengthening the sight. For the last-named purpose the hand is wetted
with the balm and held before the eyes.
Fioraventi was a famous Italian quack in the latter half of the
seventeenth century. He practised in Naples, Rome, Venice, Milan, and
Florence, and was specially honoured in his native city of Bologna,
where he was made a Doctor, a Chevalier, and a Count; titles of which
he made the utmost use. He published numerous works on medicine,
devised various “Nostra,” and pretended to give the exact formulas
for these, but they were always so complicated that no doubt the rich
clients whose patronage Fioraventi cultivated would prefer to buy the
remedies ready compounded. His medical advice though crammed with
bombast was generally sensible, but in all cases he recommended one
or another of “our” remedies. These included “our Balm Artificiall”
(the compound just referred to), “our Electuaria Anglico,” “our Sirrup
Solutivo,” “our Lignum Sanctum,” “our Oleum Benedictum,” and so
forth. Above all Fioraventi made play with his “Petra Philosophale.”
Philosophers had long disputed, he says, whether it was possible to
produce a medicine which would cure all diseases. There was no longer
any occasion for dispute; the discovery of “our Petra Philosophale”
was conclusive. The directions for making this remedy were very
complicated, and of course it was essential that they should be
followed minutely. Briefly, the process was to take so much “Sal Niter,
Roche Allum, and Roman Vitrioll” (I take the names from an old English
translation), “add some Sal Gemmæ, and distil. Then mix Mercury, Sope,
Quick Lime, and Common Ashes, sublime off the Mercury, and add it to
the first distillate. To the mixture add so much steel, iron, and gold,
dry the compound to a stone, which ‘keep as a precious Jewell’ in a
closed glass vessel.”
Why Fioraventi should have troubled to invent any other remedies after
this, or why his patients should have been called upon to buy any
others, is not explained.
BAUME TRANQUILLE
was originally made by the Capucin monk, Aignan, whose religious name
was Father Tranquille. The Capucins of the Louvre were noted in the
seventeenth century for their medical skill, and Father Tranquille was
one of them. Twenty herbs were used in compounding this balsam, among
them poppy, tobacco, lavender, and rue. These were infused in oil. “The
Baume may be made still more effective,” writes Père Rousseau, who was
a fellow monk with Father Tranquille, “by adding as many large live
frogs as there are pounds of oil. These are to be boiled in the oil
until they are almost burnt. Their juice and fat combine with the oil
and greatly augment the excellence of the remedy.” Mme. de Sévigné,
writing to her daughter, December 15, 1684, says, “I am sending you the
most precious treasure I have: my half bottle of Baume Tranquille. I
could not send a full bottle; the Capucins have no more.”
BAUME DE VIE.
Baume de Vie, which is represented by Decoct. Aloes Co., B.P., was
first sold by a French apothecary named Le Lievre, of the Rue de
la Seine, Paris. A second edition of his book recommending it is
dated 1760. He describes himself as “le sieur Lelievre apothicaire,
distillateur du Roi.” He says of it that it gently evacuates the
heterogeneous humours, restores and fortifies the stomach, reanimates
the system without causing any fever or other inconvenience, preserves
the humid radical (a fluid supposed to be the principle of life and
the generator of vigour), makes the blood circulate, absorbs from it
all acids and renders them balsamic, and counteracts debility. He also
advises its use for horses, cattle, and dogs. Le Lievre’s formula, as
given by Cadet de Gassicourt, was as follows:--
Socotrine aloes, treacle, of each 1 oz.; gentian, ½ oz.; rhubarb, 6
drachms; saffron, agaric, zedoary, myrrh, of each 2 drachms; sugar, 4
oz.; proof spirit, 2 lb.
DUTCH DROPS.
Haarlem Oil or Dutch Drops have been made in Haarlem since the year
1672, when they were invented by one Claas Tilly, and they are
still manufactured in Haarlem by a person who claims to be a direct
descendant of the inventor. The preparation is stated in Paris’s
“Pharmacologia” to have as a base the residue left in the still after
the redistillation of turpentine; a red, thick, resinous matter,
sometimes called balsam of turpentine. But the same author adds
that a preparation often sold as Dutch Drops is a mixture of oil of
turpentine, tincture of guaiacum, and spirit of nitre, with oils of
amber and cloves. Dutch Drops are asked for all over the world and
are known to old-fashioned people as “Medicamentum.” In remote places
they are kept in the house and a few drops taken occasionally as a
preventive of disease.
GODFREY’S CORDIAL.
The following advertisement which is taken from Reed’s _Weekly
Journal_, February 22, 1722, throws light on the origin of the still
popular “Godfrey.”
To all retailers and others. The general cordial formerly sold
by Mr. Thomas Godfrey, of Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, deceas’d,
is now prepar’d according to a receipt written by his own hand,
and by him given to my wife, his relation, is now sold by me
Tho. Humphreys of Ware, in the said county, Surgeon, or at
John Humphreys, at the Head and Sheers in Jewin Street, near
Cripplegate, London. Also may be furnished with Arcanums and
Vomits, and will be allowed the same for selling as formerly.
Godfrey’s Cordial was named in the Medicine Stamp Act of 1812, and was
no doubt a proprietary medicine at that time. It now appears to be made
by anyone who chooses to make it. In Paris’s “Pharmacologia,” (8th
edition, 1833) the following receipt which he says was obtained from a
“wholesale druggist who makes and sells many hundred dozens a year,”
was printed:--
“Infuse 9 oz. of sassafras; 1 oz. each of carraway, coriander, and
anise seeds, in 6 pints of water. Simmer down to 4 pints. When cold add
3 oz. of tincture of opium.”
In 1833 the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy adopted the subjoined
formula for Godfrey’s Cordial in order to ensure uniformity:--
“Tinct. Opii, 1½ pint; molasses, from the sugar refiners, 16 pints;
alcohol, 2 pints; water, 26 pints; carbonate of potash, 2½ oz.; oil of
sassafras, 4 drachms.”
EAU DES CARMES.
Eau de Melisse des Carmes, an aromatic spirit, recommended as a
cordial for internal administration, and to bathe the temples, was
first compounded in the pharmacy of the Barefooted Carmelites, near
the Palace of the Luxembourg in the Faubourg St. Germain in 1611. In
the course of the century the preparation became a valuable property,
and though its composition was kept secret by the monks, formulas
innumerable were published. Richelieu, Elizabeth of Bavaria, mother
of the Regent during Louis XIV’s minority, and later, Voltaire,
“reclaimed” it. Patents authorising the monks to carry on the
manufacture and sale were granted by Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis
XVI, but when the last was applied for in 1780, the College of Pharmacy
opposed it, but withdrew their opposition for the consideration of £40
a year which the monks agreed to pay them. In 1791 when the monastic
orders were suppressed and their property confiscated, forty-five
Carmelites of the Monastery of the Vaugirard formed themselves into a
commercial company to manufacture and sell the Eau des Carmes. Their
deed of association provided that the property should remain in the
hands of the forty-five down to the last survivor. This one was a
certain Brother Paradise, who took as a partner a M. Royer and died
in 1831 on the premises in the Rue Taranne where the company had been
constituted. M. Royer died a few years later, and his widow married
a M. Boyer in 1840 who wrote a “Monographie Historique,” which it is
believed was edited for him by Alexander Dumas.
The following formula for a preparation resembling the Eau des Carmes
was published by Baumé after many experiments, and was adopted by the
compilers of the Codex:--
“Balm, in flower, freshly gathered, and freed from the stalks, 2 lbs.;
lemon peel, fresh, 4 oz.; coriander seeds, 8 oz.; nutmegs, cloves,
cinnamon, each bruised, 2 oz.; angelica roots, dried, 1 oz.; spirit of
wine, highly rectified, 10 pints.”
GODDARD’S DROPS.
The original formula for these is given as follows by Dr. William
Salmon in his edition of “Bate’s Dispensatory”:--
R. Humane Bones or rather scales, well dryed, break them into
bits, and put them into a retort, and join thereto a large
Receiver which lute well; and distil first with a gentle Fire,
then with a stronger, increasing the fire gradatim; so will you
have in the Recipient a Flegm, Spirit, Oyl, and Volatile Salt.
Shake the Receiver to loosen the Volatile Salt from the sides,
then close your Receiver and set it in the earth to digest for
three months, after that digest it in a gentle heat fourteen
days, then separate the Oyl which keep for use.
Salmon says they that please may make it according to the prescription,
but he gives an alternative formula which was “to rectify the Oyl from
the Flegm, then to grind the Volatile Salt with the Oyl, and so by a
long digestion to join them together.” Salmon also tells us that if
these drops are distilled from the bones of the skull they are good for
apoplexy, vertigo, megrims, &c., but “if you want it for gout of any
particular limb it is better to make it from the bones of that limb.
The dose is 6 to 12 drops, but it has an evil scent.” You can, however,
correct that, and “Elixirate” the preparation, bringing it “even to a
Fragrancy” if you add so much Spirit of Nitre as will dissolve the oil,
and then mix it with four times its weight of spirit of wine. Then you
should give 20 to 60 drops in a glass of Canary. “So you will have a
medicine beyond all comparison ten times exceeding the other in worth
and efficacy.”
Who was the inventor of this medicine? Salmon says, “The author of
this Recipe was not that Goddard whose Recipes and Prescriptions are
scattered up and down in several places of this book, but the famous
W. Goddard, a great Philosopher and Physician who deserved well of the
World in his Day and Time, and who has even in this Remedy left himself
an Immortal name. And this is the true Medicine which was purchased of
the Doctor by King Charles the Second, so much famed through the whole
kingdom, and for which he gave him, as it is reported, fifteen hundred
pounds sterling.” Other statements say that Charles bought the formula
for £5,000 or £6,000.
Salmon had lived in the reign of Charles II, and may be expected to
have been correct in regard to such a recent event. But in the Roll
of the Royal College of Physicians by William Munk, M.D., published
by the College in 1878 I find the invention of these drops attributed
to Jonathan Goddard, M.D., a person of some historical fame, due
to a large extent to his association with Oliver Cromwell, whom he
accompanied as first physician to his army through his Irish and Scotch
campaigns. Cromwell made him Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and in
other ways showed his confidence in him. In the Little Parliament which
succeeded the Long Parliament Dr. Goddard was the sole representative
of the University of Oxford, and became a member of the Council of
State. With this record it is not surprising that the doctor did not
become a favourite with Charles II. when that monarch returned to
London. Dr. Goddard was removed from his Wardenship, but subsequently
became Professor of Physic at Gresham College, London, and it was
there that he and a few other scientific associates founded the Royal
Society. It is difficult to believe that he was the inventor of the
drops of which Salmon writes; and it is impossible to accept the
statement that he offered, or that the King agreed to purchase, the
secret of their composition from him.
Dr. Munk, however, states that “Dr. Goddard was a good practical
chemist and the inventor of certain volatile drops, the Guttæ
Goddardianæ vel Anglicanæ, as they were termed on the Continent, long
in great repute and commended by Sydenham, who gave them a preference
over all other volatile spirits whatsoever for ‘energetically and
efficaciously attaining the end for which they are applied.’”
There was a Dr. William Goddard admitted a Fellow of the College in
1634 of whom Dr. Munk records that “on the 23rd of November, 1649,
having been contumacious and refusing to attend at his place in the
College, though repeatedly summoned by the President, he was, by a vote
of his colleagues, dismissed from his fellowship: _Decrete Collegii,
in Collegii societale locum amisit._” Dr. Goddard carried the matter
into the Court of King’s Bench, but was defeated.
This was most likely Salmon’s W. Goddard, and seems more like the
genuine Goddard of the Drops fame. Contumaciousness was sometimes a
synonym for exploiting a quack remedy.
In Dr. Martin Lister’s “Journey to Paris,” 1698, that rather garrulous
York doctor states that while he was in Paris (in company with some
members of a diplomatic party) he was sent for by the Prince de Conti
to see his son, and was requested to bring with him some of the late
King Charles’s drops. The doctor replied that he had nothing with him,
and could only prescribe such medicines as would be found in any of
their shops. It was the drops, however, that the Prince wanted and not
the extempore invention of this comparatively unknown practitioner. For
apparently the attendance of Dr. Lister was excused, and he makes the
reflection, after intimating that the young prince died, “It is evident
that there is as false a notion of physic in this country as with
us, and that it is here also thought a knack more than a science or
method; accordingly little toys, the bijoux of quacks are mightily in
request.” Dr. George Henning who edited Dr. Lister’s narrative states
that these drops were made from raw silk which “yields an incredible
quantity of volatile salt and the finest spirit I ever tasted.” He adds
that raw silk is indeed nothing but a dry jelly of the insect kind, and
therefore it must be very cordial and stomachic.
EAU MEDICINALE D’HUSSON.--COLCHICUM.
The medicinal use of colchicum preparations for gout is comparatively
recent and the knowledge of its value for that purpose is undoubtedly
due to its success in a secret proprietary remedy. The authors
of “Pharmacographia” give some interesting historical notes on
_Colchicum autumnale_, L., or meadow saffron, which show how
general was the belief in its deleterious qualities in both classical
and mediæval times. Dioscorides alludes to the poisonous properties of
Kolchikon, which he says grew in Messenia and Kolchis. Pliny and Galen
likewise allude to colchicum as a poison. Pliny recommends milk as an
antidote.
Hermodactylus is recommended for gout in the writings of Alexander of
Tralles, and Paul Egineta (sixth and seventh centuries), and the Arab
doctors, Avicenna, Serapion, and Mesué, describe a similar remedy under
the name of Surengian. It is also recommended by Ambrose Paré, Sylvius
(de la Boe), and other authorities in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries; but Tragus (1552) warns his readers against its use for
gout, for which he says it is recommended in Arab writings. Grevin
(1568) observes “ce poison est ennemy de l’homme en tout et par tout.”
Lyte, translating Dodoens (1578), says “Medow or wilde saffron is
corrupt and venomous, therefore not used in medicine.” Gerard declares
the roots of “Mede Saffron” to be “very hurtfull to the stomacke.”