adopted a few years before Seignette made his, by Christopher Glaser,
apothecary to Louis XIV. and the Duke of Orleans. Seignette’s salt
pushed Glaser’s out of popularity to some extent, so that the latter is
generally designated Sal Polychrestum Glaseri in the old books. Glaser
made his preparation by mixing nitre and sulphur in equal proportions,
then putting the mixture, a spoonful at a time, into a red-hot
crucible. The powder would deflagrate, and the next spoonful was not
to be added until the flame of the first had gone out. The mixture was
kept in fusion for four or five hours, and after cooling was dissolved,
the solution filtered and evaporated to dryness. Sulphate of potash
with perhaps a little free sulphur was produced, and this has long
represented Glaser’s Sal Polychrestum or Sal de Duobus, as it was also
called.
Seignette’s salt was first admitted into the London Pharmacopœia of
1788 under the name of Natron Tartarizatum which was altered in 1809 to
Soda Tartarizata.
SINGLETON’S GOLDEN EYE OINTMENT.
An allusion to this renowned proprietary preparation will be found
under Citrine Ointment, this Vol., page 126, in connection with the
several discordant guesses as to its composition which have been
published by eminent authorities. The ointment is mentioned in this
section also because of its long history. According to the statement
published by its present proprietor it is the oldest proprietary remedy
still sold in this country. The present proprietor, Mr. Stephen Green,
inherited it from his grandfather of the same name who died in 1874.
He acquired the property by marrying (in 1825) Selina Folgham, who
brought to him one-fifth share in the rights as a part of her marriage
settlement, and after her death in 1831 the elder Stephen Green bought
up the shares of other relatives. This Selina Folgham was a daughter of
another Selina Folgham, _née_ Singleton, granddaughter of Thomas
Singleton who died in 1779, and whose tomb, I understand, may still be
seen in Lambeth churchyard. This Thomas Singleton was the first of the
Singletons. Before his time the ointment appears to have been known as
“Dr. Johnson’s Golden Ointment,” and the present owners claim that it
was first made by a “Dr. Johnson” in 1596, and that it was left by him
to a certain George Hind whose great-granddaughter married the Thomas
Singleton already mentioned.
MRS. STEPHENS’S CURE FOR STONE.
Perhaps the most notable recognition of a nostrum in English history
was the Act of Parliament passed in 1739 entitled “An Act for providing
a reward to Joanna Stephens upon a proper discovery to be made by her
for the use of the publick of the Medicines prepared by her for the
Cure of the Stone.”
Mrs. Stephens was a widow and professed to have received the recipe
from her late husband. A number of persons in the higher classes of
society had been cured, or believed they had been, by taking her
remedy, and in the year 1738 a movement was started to buy the formula
from her for the benefit of the public. This was specially advocated
in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, and the lady being approached
expressed her willingness to sell the recipe for £5,000. An account was
opened at Drummond’s Bank, and £500 was subscribed in the first few
days. Dr. David Hartley, of Bath, was the chief organiser of the fund,
and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Principal of Brasenose College,
Oxford, and other responsible persons wrote letters testifying their
knowledge of the good effects produced by Mrs. Stephens’s treatment.
Hartley published an account of “Ten Cases of Persons who have taken
Mrs. Stephens’s Medicines for Stone.” When Hartley died Warburton in
his letters referred to him as “a philanthropic visionary, a martyr
to Mrs. Stephens’s medicine.” It is said in some accounts that Horace
Walpole was one of Mrs. Stephens’s cures.
The subscription list was kept going until the end of the year, and
though it included dukes, earls, bishops, and several doctors of
medicine, only a total of £1,356 3_s._ was promised. Evidently
some strong influence was therefore brought to bear on the Government,
for early in the next year the Act referred to was passed and the
trustees named in the Act being satisfied that Mrs. Stephens had made
the full discovery required, the £5,000 was duly paid to her.
Mrs. Stephens’s “full discovery” was published in the _London
Gazette_ of June 19, 1739. It was very full indeed. Omitting
superfluous details it ran as follows:--
“My medicines consist of a powder, decoction and pills. The powder
is made by first taking hens’ egg-shells, cleaning and drying them,
crushing them up in the hands, and putting them into a three-pint
crucible, lightly, so that they will fill about three-fourths of its
capacity. Cover the crucible with a tile and place it in the midst of
a strong, clear fire, above and below. Keep the crucible in the fire
until the egg-shells are calcined to a greyish-white, and have acquired
an acrid, salt taste. This will need eight hours at least. The calcined
shells are to be kept in a dry, clean, open earthenware pan, about
three parts filled, in a dry room for two months exactly. They will
then have become of a milder taste and the part which is sufficiently
calcined will be in a powder of such fineness that it will pass through
a hair sieve, which has to be done.
“In like manner take garden snails with their shells, cleaned from
dirt, put them in a crucible whole, put the crucible in the fire as
before, and keep it there until the snails have done smoaking, which
will be about one hour. They are then to be rubbed to a fine powder in
a mortar, the two powders are to be mixed, sifted through a cypress
sieve, bottled in close-stopped bottles, and kept in a dry place for
use.”
“I have generally added a small quantity of Swines-Cresses, burnt to a
blackness and rubbed fine, but this was only with a view to disguise
it,” adds the lady, conscientiously.
“The egg-shells may be prepared at any time of the year, but it is best
to do them in summer. The snails ought only to be prepared in May,
June, July, or August, and I esteem those best which are done in the
first of those months.”
The decoction was made by beating 4½ oz. of best alicant soap in a
mortar with a large spoonful of Swines-Cresses burnt to blackness, and
as much honey as would make the whole of the consistence of a paste.
Make this into a ball. This ball was to be sliced and boiled for half
an hour in two quarts of soft water, with 1 oz. each of chamomile
flowers, sweet fennel, parsley, and burdock leaves. The boiled liquid
to be strained and sweetened with honey.
The pills were to be made of equal quantities by measure of snails
calcined as before, wild carrot seeds, burdock seeds, ashen-keys, hips
and haws, all burnt to blackness, “or which is the same thing, till
they have done smoaking.” The mixed powders to be passed through a
cypress sieve, and a large spoonful or 4 oz. of best alicant soap, and
a sufficiency of honey added to make pills; each ounce of the mass to
be divided into sixty pills.
One dram (avoirdupois) of the powder was to be taken three times a day
in a large teacupful of white wine, cyder, or small punch, and half a
pint of the decoction had to be drunk after each dose. If the medicine
caused much pain an opiate was to be given. The bowels were to be kept
regular with lenitive electuary or some other laxative. The pills were
to be given in fits of gravel or suppression of urine, five every hour;
or ten or fifteen might be taken daily to prevent formation of gravel
stones in constitutions subject to breed them.
Salt meats, red wine, and milk were to be avoided. The patient was
to take as few liquids as possible, and to have but little exercise.
The object aimed at was that the urine might be impregnated with the
medicine, which would then dissolve the calcareous deposits.
Mrs. Stephens died in 1774. The publication of her formula undoubtedly
stimulated investigation into the employment of alkaline medicines in
the treatment of stone, but her “cases” were not substantiated by later
evidence. One in particular was that of a man who was experimented on
while the proposal to buy the recipe was under consideration. He was
unquestionably suffering from stone, and he soon improved and in time
seemed to be quite cured after taking the remedies. After his death
examination showed that the stone was still in his bladder; but it had
made for itself a little sac in which it was so tightly embedded that
it never caused any inconvenience.
Pereira, summing up the evidence in regard to the Stephens’ treatment,
says it cannot be doubted that many patients obtained relief from
the remedies, “but no cure was effected; that is, no calculus was
dissolved. For in the bladder of each of the four persons whose cure
was certified by the trustees the stone was found after their death.” I
have not traced the report of the four cases; only of the one referred
to above.
EARL OF ROCHESTER AS QUACK.
The witty but profligate Earl of Rochester, well known in history as
the boon companion of Charles II, especially in his debaucheries,
frequently gave offence to that monarch by his impudence or his
sarcasms. His best known epigram is that referring to
Our Sovereign Lord the King
Whose word no man relies on
Who never said a foolish thing
And never did a wise one.
On several occasions Rochester was ordered to leave the Court, but
Charles always sent for him to come back again. In one of these
absences it is recorded that he took lodgings in Tower Street under the
name of Alexander Bindo and practised for a time as a quack doctor.
It is believed that he had a stall on Tower Hill on which he spread an
assortment of remedies and cosmetics, and that he especially cultivated
the patronage of women, to whom he gave advice. This must have been
about the year 1677. In a book published in 1710, giving the poetical
works and speeches of Sir Charles Sedley by Captain Ayloff, is printed
a copy of what purports to be one of Rochester’s harangues on Tower
Hill. No evidence of its authenticity is offered, and as the Earl was
undoubtedly gifted with a glib tongue and plenty of talent it would
seem unlikely that he would trouble himself to write out, or if he
did write it, to preserve such rubbish. The “Dictionary of National
Biography,” however, alludes to it without questioning its genuineness,
but does not quote any part of it. The following specimens of the
Earl’s alleged patter are quoted from an old part of _Notes and
Queries_:--
“I am the famed Paracelsus of the age, by name Segnior Doloso
Euprontorio, son of that wonder-working Chymist lately deceased in
Alsatia and famed through all Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; from
the oriental exaltation of Titan to his occidental declination, who
in pity to his own dear self and other mortals has by the prayers and
solicitations of divers Kings, Emperors, Princes, Lords, Gentlemen, and
other Personages been prevailed with to oblige the world with notice
to all persons, young and old, lame and blind, that they may know
where to repair for their speedy cure in all Cephalgies, Orantalgies,
Paralitical Paroxysms, Rheumatisms, Gout, Fevers, Fractures,
Dislocations, and all other Distempers incident to the human Body,
external or internal, acute or chronic, curable or incurable.
“My medicines are the Quintessence of Pharmaceutical Energy; the Cures
I have done are beyond the art of the whole World.
“I have an excellent hypontical, captical, odoriferous, carminative,
renovative, stiptical, corroboratory Balsam of Balsams, made of dead
men’s fat, rosin, and goose grease. It is the true Pharmacopœia of
Hermes Trismegistus, the true Pentemagogon of the triple kingdom,
which works seven several ways, and is seven years preparing, which
being exactly completed secundem artem by Fermentations, Solutions,
Sublimations, Putrefactions, Rectifications, and Quidlibelifications
in Balnea Mariæ in the Crucible, becomes Nature’s Palladium, Health’s
Magazine. One drachm of which is worth a Bushel of March dust. For if
any of you chance to have your heads cut off or your brains beat out,
ten drops of this seasonably applied will recall the fleeting spirits
reigning through the deposed Archeus, and in six minutes will restore
the departed Life to its pristine vigour with all its functions, vital,
rational and animal.”
The quack goes on to recount some of his cures. Among them were the
god-mother of Prester John of a stupendous Dolor in her Os Sacrum; the
Empress of Boolampoo of a Cramp she got in her tongue by eating Pork
and buttered parsnips; an Alderman of Grand Cairo of a scarlet burning
raging fever of which he died; the Emperor of Morocco, who lay seven
years sick of the plague and was cured in 42 minutes so that he danced
the Saraband, Flip-flap, and Somerset.
The orator announced that he was to be found at the Golden Ball in Fop
Alley whenever he was not on Tower Hill; for he had devoted himself
wholly to serve the Public.
WARBURG’S TINCTURE.
Dr. Carl Warburg, an Austrian doctor, compounded a tincture some
seventy years ago which soon acquired an extraordinary reputation in
the treatment of agues and malarial fevers. Although its formula was
not disclosed, the Austrian Ministry of Health about 1848 put it on
the list of medicines which had to be stocked by all pharmacists,
fixed the maximum price at which it should be sold to the public at
2 fl. 30 kr. (about 5s.), and established a central depot in Vienna
for its manufacture, paying Dr. Warburg a salary for overseeing its
preparation. A little later a medical commission was appointed to
examine the tincture and draw up a formula for it. The commissioners
formed themselves into three sections, and each section made an
independent analysis. All agreed that the tincture was an alcoholic
preparation of quinine, aloes, camphor, and saffron; zedoary root
and angelica were guessed at by two of the sections, and rhubarb by
one. The formula adopted was Hepatic aloes, and zedoary root, of each
1 drachm; Angelica root, and camphor, of each 2 grains; Saffron, 3
grains, spirit of wine, 3 ounces. Dissolve, filter, and add 30 grains
of sulphate of quinine.
The publication of this formula did not apparently interfere with the
sale of the proprietary article, which might have continued if the
inventor had not been persuaded to surrender his secret.
About the middle of the century Warburg’s Tincture had acquired great
reputation in India. Lt.-General Sir Mark Cubbon K.C.B., Commissioner
of the Mysore province, seems to have first made it known. At his
own expense he supplied 1,500 bottles to the medical officers of his
commission. Subsequently remarkable evidence was given before a Royal
Commission, appointed to inquire into the health of the Indian Army,
by Major-General Cottin R.E., who stated that many great engineering
works carried on in “deadly jungles” had been brought to a successful
issue mainly through the protection afforded to the workmen by this
tincture. In an article published in the _Lancet_, November
15, 1875, Professor W. C. Maclean, Inspector General of the Army,
gave still more striking testimony. He said he had treated remittent
fevers of every degree of severity contracted in India, China, and the
Gold Coast, and had never known quinine when given alone act in the
characteristic manner of this tincture. A dose of 9½ grains of quinine
in Warburg’s Tincture would often not only arrest the exacerbation of
the fever but would frequently prevent its recurrence. He had never
known quinine have that effect. In the same article Professor Maclean
published the formula for the tincture which Dr. Warburg had confided
to him on the advice of his friends. It was as follows:--Socotrine
aloes 1 lb.; East India rhubarb, angelica seeds, confectio Damocratis,
of each, 4 oz.; elecampane, fennel seed, saffron, prepared chalk, of
each 2 oz.; gentian root, zedoary root, cubebs, picked myrrh, camphor,
larch agaric, of each 1 oz. Digest these ingredients in 500 ounces of
proof spirit in a water bath for 12 hours, express, and add 10 oz. of
sulphate of quinine. Replace the mixture in the water bath till the
quinine is dissolved, and filter.
The tincture was supplied in 1 oz. bottles, and ½ oz. was given for a
dose after the bowels had been evacuated. The other ½ oz. was given 3
hours after.
Three years later Professor Maclean wrote to the _Times_ stating
that Dr. Carl Warburg was living in England in poverty. The large
fortune he had made from his tincture at one time had disappeared, and
the publication of his formula had resulted in the loss of his income.
He asked that the Indian Government would make some provision for him
in return for the publication of his valuable secret. The India Office
made a grant of £200 to Dr. Warburg in 1882, but in June, 1890, the
Hon. Sydney Holland wrote to _The Chemist and Druggist_ appealing
for further assistance. The old man was then 86 and Mr. Holland and
Professor Maclean had collected enough to provide him with 15s. a week
for the rest of his life. This was the last heard of the old gentleman,
and his case may be remembered as a caution to over-scrupulous
inventors of remedies.
WARD’S REMEDIES.
Joshua Ward, who was born in 1685 and died in 1761, was one of the most
notorious and successful of English quacks. In Gray’s “Supplement”
and in Paris’s “Pharmacologia” he is said to have been a footman
and to have obtained his recipes from some monks while travelling
on the Continent with his master. This story is not corroborated by
contemporary accounts, nor is it adopted by the “Dictionary of National
Biography.”[3] From these sources it appears that Ward came of a good
family, and in early life was associated with his brother William in
the business of a drysalter in Thames Street, London.
In 1717 he was returned to Parliament as member for Marlborough; but
there was either fraud or mistake about this return, for a Committee
appointed to investigate it reported that not a single vote had been
given for Ward. He was consequently unseated and the other candidate
for whom a few votes had been cast got the seat.
[Illustration: JOSHUA WARD, ORIGINATOR OF WARD’S PASTE.
(From a print in the British Museum.)]
Apparently Ward had got into some political trouble; the “Dictionary
of National Biography” suggests that it was in connection with
the Jacobite rising in 1715. He had escaped to France before the
Parliamentary inquiry, and in Paris he commenced the sale of the pills
and drops which he afterwards made so famous in London. Ward had
evidently not finished sowing his political wild oats, for he somehow
became obnoxious to the French Government, and was only saved from a
sojourn in the Bastille through the intervention of his friend, John
Page, M.P. In 1733 he obtained a pardon from George II. and returned to
England.
Wards pharmacopœia became a rather extensive one. His pills and
drops were the principal medicines he concocted; both were strong
antimonial preparations. The pills were composed of glass of antimony
(an oxysulphide of the metal), 4 parts, mixed with 1 part of dragon’s
blood. This combination was made into 1½ grain pills. The combination
of antimony with a resinous substance had been adopted in several
earlier preparations, mastic being generally preferred. The resin was
supposed to “blunt” the action of the antimony. The drops were made by
dissolving ½ oz. of glass of antimony in 1 quart of Malaga wine. These
powerful medicines were no doubt effective in many cases. Both cures
and casualties were likely enough to result from them. These were the
medicines which Ward first made famous in Paris, and with which he
started his career in London.
Ward made besides a “white drop” which was an ammoniated solution of
nitrate of mercury; two sweating powders, one of which was simply
“Dover’s,” but with some liquorice powder added; the other was the same
with the addition of white hellebore. His paste for fistula and piles
was the original of our Conf. Piper. Nig. His “liquid sweat” was a
wine of opium with saffron, cinnamon, and salt of tartar; his “dropsy
purging powder” was jalap, cream of tartar and orris powder in equal
proportions; later the orris was dropped and a small quantity of bole
armeniac was substituted, and his essence for the headache appeared
later in the Pharmacopœia as compound camphor liniment.
By advertisements of various kinds, and by a number of startling cures,
Ward attained astonishing success. George II. had unbounded faith in
him. At his first interview with the King the latter had a dislocated
thumb. Ward gave it a sharp wrench which incited some strong German
from the monarch, but which put the thumb right. Subsequently George
provided the quack with a room in his almonry at Whitehall, and paid
him to treat poor people there. Ward bought besides three houses at
Pimlico and converted them into a hospital where his remedies were
administered, highborn ladies assisting in the conduct of this charity.
His patients included Lord Chesterfield, Gibbon the historian, and
Fielding the novelist, as well as a large number of titled persons of
less permanent fame, and when he brought an action for libel against
the _Grub Street Journal_ (which, however, he failed in) Reynolds,
the Lord Chief Baron, and Horace Walpole were among his witnesses. In
1748 a Bill was introduced into Parliament to restrict the practice of
medicine, and it contained a clause specially exempting Ward by name
from its penalties.
Naturally the qualified members of the medical profession were
irritated at the amazing prosperity of this charlatan. Queen Caroline,
it was said, once asked General Churchill if it was true that Ward’s
medicines had made a man mad. “Yes, Madam,” Churchill replied, “Mead.”
Dr. Richard Mead was the King’s physician.
Ward retained his fame to the end of his life, and the King’s
liberality made it possible to publish a collection of his recipes
which his old friend John Page compiled after his death. But George’s
tenderness to the memory of the great physic-monger did not go to the
extent of fulfilling the desire expressed in his will, that he should
be buried in Westminster Abbey, in front of the altar, or as near
thereto as possible.
The story of Ward’s treatment of George II.’s thumb is thus told by
Dr. George Henning in a note to Dr. Martin Listers “Journey to Paris”
(this Vol., page 181): “George II being afflicted with a violent
pain of the thumb which had baffled the skill of the faculty, sent
for the noted Dr. Joshua Ward; who, having ascertained the nature
of the complaint before he was admitted, provided himself with a
suitable nostrum which he concealed in the hollow of his hand. On
being introduced he requested permission to examine the affected part,
and gave it so sudden a wrench that the King cursed him and kicked
his shins. Ward bore this very patiently and when the King was cool
respectfully asked him to move his thumb, which he did easily and found
the pain gone.” In reply to the King’s offer to do something for him
Ward diplomatically replied that the pleasure of serving his Majesty
was quite sufficient reward, but he would be grateful if the King would
do something for a nephew. The nephew was made an ensign in the Guards
and Ward himself was presented with a carriage and pair of horses.
In the _Daily Advertiser_ of June 10th, 1736, a report is
published of an attendance at the court at Kensington by the Queen’s
appointment of Joshua Ward, Esq., with eight or ten persons who in
extraordinary cases had received great benefit by taking his remedies.
Her Majesty was accompanied by three surgeons and several persons of
quality, the patients were examined, money was distributed to them, and
Mr. Ward was congratulated on his success.
In Lord John Hervey’s “Memoirs of the Reign of George II” that eminent
courtier (Pope’s “Lord Fanny”) relates that he gave Ward’s Pills to
the Princess Caroline for rheumatic pains, and he remarks of them “an
excellent medicine not only in rheumatics, but in several cases, which
for being so all the physicians and surgeons endeavoured to decry.”