Chapter II: SAPO MOLLIS. Soft Soap (6)

Erasmus, the friend, the correspondent, and the patient of our own
Linacre! Had not modern times, says Sir George Baker, furnished
similar instances, it would have been a matter of astonishment to us
to have heard that Erasmus should have deserted an accomplished
physician whom he so greatly extols in his Epistles, in order to
consult so wild and illiterate an enthusiast as Paracelsus.

Footnote 107:

Paracelsus maintained that the human body is composed of salt,
sulphur, and mercury, and that in these “_three first substances_,” as
he calls them, health and disease consist: that the mercury, in
proportion to its volatility, produces tremors, mortifications in the
ligaments, madness, phrensy, and delirium, and that fevers, phlegmons,
and the jaundice, are the offspring of the _sulphureous_ principle,
while he supposed that the cholic, stone, gravel, gout, and sciatica
derive their origin from salt.

Footnote 108:

Amongst the writers engaged in this contest, no one was more animated
with party spirit than GUY PATIN, who was profuse in his personalities
against those who defended the use of Antimony; he drew up a long
register of the unsuccessful cases in which this medicine had been
employed, which he published under the title of “ANTIMONIAL
MARTYROLOGY.”

Footnote 109:

In the year 1644 Schroeder published a _Chemico_-medical Pharmacopœia,
which delineates with accuracy the pharmacy of these times, and
enumerates almost all the chemical medicines that were known towards
the close of this period.

Footnote 110:

The Dispensatories of London and Edinburgh, the former by Mr. A. T.
Thomson, and the latter by Dr. Duncan, are works which reflect credit
on the age and country in which they were written.

Footnote 111:

The first Pharmacopœia was published at Nuremburg, under the sanction
of its Senate, in the year 1542; for this important act we are
indebted to Valerius Cordus, a young student, who during a transient
visit at that place, accidentally produced a collection of medical
receipts which he had selected from the works of the most esteemed
writers, and with which the physicians of Nuremburg were so highly
pleased that they urged him to print it for the benefit of the
apothecaries, and obtained the sanction of the Senate to the
undertaking; so casual was the circumstance to which we owe the
institution of Pharmacopœias. The London College were among the last
to frame a standard Code of Medicines; most cities in Europe having
anticipated us in the performance of this task; our first Pharmacopœia
was not published until the reign of James the first, A. D. 1618,
exactly a century after the College had received their Charter from
Henry. Successive editions appeared in the following years, viz. in
1650; 1677; 1721; 1746; 1787; 1809.

Footnote 112:

What would be the surprise and gratification of the Pharmaceutist who
lived a hundred years ago, if he could now visit Apothecaries Hall?
the application of steam for the various purposes of pharmacy, and for
actuating machinery, for levigation, trituration, and other mechanical
purposes, is no less useful, in ensuring uniform results, than it is
in abridging labour and economising time. The greatest credit is due
to the gentlemen under whose guidance this national laboratory is
conducted, and more especially to their worthy and public spirited
Treasurer, William Simons, Esq. whose zeal and liberality suggested
and promoted the fitting up of the Steam Laboratory, as well as the
ingenious machine for triturating mercury with lard, or conserve.

Footnote 113:

Since the publication of the last edition of this work, Mr. Archdeacon
Wollaston has paid the debt of nature; his name will be cherished in
grateful remembrance by those who had the good fortune to have been
his pupils; as one of that number I will venture to say, that there
never existed a lecturer on Experimental philosophy, who was more
eminently gifted with those qualifications, upon which the success of
a public teacher must depend. He possessed a peculiar method of
demonstration, a singular vivacity in the manner of conducting the
experiments, and of keeping awake the attention of his auditors during
their progress; while those details of manipulation which would have
proved, in other hands, a source of tedium, he converted into subjects
of the most lively interest.

Footnote 114:

The Chemical Laboratory at Cambridge has produced some valuable
discoveries. _Ex pede Herculem_, let me remind the chemist of the
formation of Nitrous Acid, by passing a current of ammoniacal gas
through the heated Oxyd of Manganese, for which we are indebted to Dr.
Milner. I mention it merely as a whimsical circumstance, that the
greatest degree of cold ever produced, was effected at Oxford, and the
highest temperature, lately, at Cambridge. The researches of Dr. Clark
are highly interesting and important, a succinct account of which has
been published in a small work, entitled, “The Gas Blowpipe, or the
Art of Fusion, by burning the Gaseous constituents of Water.”

Footnote 115:

These views have prevailed upon the Committee of the College, and they
have accordingly restored the Soap to the formula, in the present
edition of the Pharmacopœia; so that the above objection no longer
exists.

Footnote 116:

The only chemical phenomenon which in any manner resembles this,
appears to be that of the rapid acetification of milk, and other
fluids, by the agency of a thunder storm.

Footnote 117:

This practice was introduced into France by Seguin, into Italy by
Couticini, and into Germany by Bischoff.

Footnote 118:

A very ingenious Dissertation has been lately published by M. Virey,
on the ‘Degeneration of Plants in foreign soils,’ which he says may
depend upon 1, _Climate and Station_; 2, _Nutriment_; 3, _Culture_; 4,
_Factitious Mutilation_; 5, _Hybrid Generation_.

Footnote 119:

Women during the period of gestation frequently experience such an
increased irritability as to be affected even in England by various
odours, which at other times would produce no extraordinary
impression.

Footnote 120:

This plant was first described by Gmelin in his _Flora Siberica_, iv.
121. It has obtained a place in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. Besides
the effects stated by Dr. Halliday, it is said by different authors to
excite a peculiar creeping sensation in the pained part.

Footnote 121:

Journal Complementaire du Dict. des Sciences Medicales, tom. II.

Footnote 122:

Dr. Murett in his “Short view of Frauds and Abuses,” (A. D. 1669)
charges the Apothecary with “falsifying Medicines;” “They shewed the
Censors,” says he, “_Myrtles leaves_ for _Senna_; a _Binder_ for a
Purger; _Mushrooms_ rubbed over with chalk for _Agaric_; _Hemlock_ for
_Pæony_; _Sheep’s lungs_ for _Fox’s lungs_; and the bone of an _Ox’s
heart_, for that of a _Stag’s heart_.”

Footnote 123:

The editors of the _American Medical Recorder_ (vol. 1, p. 471), in
descanting upon the efficacy of Prussic Acid, very gravely remark,
that they are acquainted with a lady, subject to hysteric affections,
who _always_ derives relief from a dose of CHERRY BRANDY, in which
_Peach kernels_ have been digested; the stimulus of the brandy then
goes for nothing with these blockheads! Zimmerman not unaptly compares
a man who is intoxicated with a favourite opinion, to a passionate
lover, who sees and hears nothing but his mistress.

Footnote 124:

BEZOAR, (from _Pa-zahar_, Persian, a destroyer of poison.) A morbid
concretion formed in the bodies of land animals. Several of them were
formerly highly celebrated for their medicinal virtues; they were
considered as powerful _Alexipharmics_, in so much so, that other
medicines, possessed of alexipharmic powers, were called _Bezoardics:_
so efficacious were these substances formerly considered that they
were bought for ten times their weight of gold. Avenzoar, an Arabian
physician, who practised at Seville in Spain about the year One
Thousand, first recommended it in medicine. A composition of Bezoar
with absorbent powers, has been extensively used under the name of
_Gascoigne_ powder, and _Gascoigne’s Ball_; but the real bezoar was
rarely used on this occasion; Gypsum, or pipe-clay tinged with
ox-gall, proved a less expensive ingredient.

Footnote 125:

ORIBASIUS, a native of Sardes, lived in the fourth century; he was the
friend and favourite of the Emperor Julian, under whom he had great
authority, and acquired considerable wealth. It would be well for the
profession of Physic, and for the public, if crowned heads generally
evinced as much discrimination in the appointment and patronage of
physicians.

Footnote 126:

Three-fourths at least of the QUACK MEDICINES of the present day are
remedies of this description, and are compounded according to such
receipts.

Footnote 127:

Medical Logic. Edit. 2nd, p. 92.

Footnote 128:

The term _sympathy_ has often been objected to, as being too
figurative; it is certainly a metaphor taken from an affection of the
mind, but, as Sir Gilbert Blane very justly remarks, the import of
words ought either to be assumed conventionally according to a
definition, or to be adhered to in the sense affixed to it by
established usage; “by _animal sympathy_,” says he, “is not meant the
intelligible principle of Stahl’s hypothesis, but that mutual
influence of distant parts, so subtle and rapid as in some instances
to be compared to thought or lightning; while in other instances it is
an action more tardy and habitual.” _Medical Logic_, _Edit._ 2nd, p.
123. In the present work, I wish the reader to understand the term
_sympathy_, wherever it may occur, in conformity with the above
definition.

Footnote 129:

_Colchicum_, _Squill_, and many other vegetable diuretics, are of this
nature.

Footnote 130:

The Indian Fig, (_Cactus Opuntia_,) when eaten, renders the urine of a
bloody colour.

Rhubarb has likewise an effect upon the colour of this secretion.

Footnote 131:

This is probably the reason of many bodies producing but little effect
upon the inferior animals. The vegetable eaters are certainly less
affected by vegetable poisons than those animals who exclusively live
upon animal substances: it is thus, that a rabbit can take a very
large dose of opium without any ill effects, while half the same
quantity would poison a dog. It is a curious fact, that a sound horse
can take a very considerable portion of opium with impunity, but if he
be weakened by previous disease, by strong purgatives, or by excessive
bleeding, he is speedily destroyed by a much less dose; (_See Bracy
Clarke’s Reformed Pharmacopœia for Horses._) In this latter case, does
it not appear that the fatal result depends upon the fact of the
digestive organs having been disabled, by debility, from effecting
that decomposition by which under ordinary circumstances, the drug is
disarmed of its potency? What important lights might not be obtained
by the institution of a series of well devised experiments upon the
comparative effects of medicinal bodies upon man and other animals?
The Physiologist has thus availed himself of the resources of the
comparative anatomist, and I feel persuaded, that results equally
beneficial to science would follow a similar inquiry in relation to
the operation of medicines.

In the course of the present work, I hope to shew the truth of this
position by some appropriate illustrations.

Footnote 132:

That the Vena Portarum constitutes one of the avenues through which
certain extraneous bodies enter the circulating current, there cannot
exist a doubt; but a series of well-devised experiments are greatly
wanted for the elucidation of the subject. The Professors of
Veterinary Medicine might on this occasion render us an important
service by some comparative researches.

Footnote 133:

See _Unguent_. _Hydrarg._

Footnote 134:

Treatise on the Materia Medica, vol. I. p. 191.

Footnote 135:

Medical Literature, Edit. 2. (_Pharmacology_,) p. 454.

Footnote 136:

System of Mat. Med. vol. I. p. 132.

Footnote 137:

A system of Materia Medica and Pharmacy, vol. 1. p. 131.

Footnote 138:

_Narcotics_, from νάρκη _Torpedo_; an animal which has the power of
_stupefying_ any thing that it touches.

Footnote 139:

During the severe campaigns of the late war, the Surgeons of the
French army were in the practice of administering Opium and Cayenne
Pepper to the soldiers who were exhausted by fatigue.

Footnote 140:

Treatise on Nervous Diseases, vol. 1. p. 221.

Footnote 141:

Bitterness in vegetables has been supposed to reside in a peculiar
proximate principle, which has been accordingly named the _Bitter
Principle_. Such an opinion, however, does not appear to rest on
sufficient evidence; on the contrary, experiment has shewn that it is
very generally connected with the extractive matter of the plant, as
it is obtained equally by the action of water and alcohol; it is not
volatile, nor are its energies impaired by decoction.

Footnote 142:

Thus Sir H. Davy, in comparing the composition of the soluble products
afforded by different crops from the same grass, found in every trial,
the _largest quantity_ of truly nutritive matter in the crop cut when
the seed was ripe and _the least bitter extractive_, and saline
matter; while in the autumnal crops these relations were found
inverted. Elem. of Agricult. Chem.

Footnote 143:

Molina, in his history of Chili, speaking of the Potatoe, says, “It is
indeed found in all the fields of this country, but the plants that
grow wild, called by the Indians _Maglia_, produce only very small
roots of a bitter taste.” Dr. Baldwin also found the wild parent of
the potatoe plant at Monte Video, and Mr. Lambert informs us that this
statement has been confirmed by Captain Bowles, who has not long since
returned from the South American station; he says, “it is a common
weed in the gardens, bearing small tubers, but _too bitter_ for use.”
Royal Institution Journal, No. XIX.

Footnote 144:

Discourses on the Elements of Therapeutics and Materia Medica, by N.
Chapman, M. D. Philadelphia, 1819.

Footnote 145:

Thus it has been found by experiments, that the Menyanthes Trifoliata,
(the Water Trefoil,) which on account of its bitterness has been used
as a substitute for Hops, is a cure for the rot in sheep, when given
in doses of a drachm of the powdered leaves; and Dr. William Bulleyn,
the cotemporary of Turner, the father of English Botany, observes in
his work, entitled “THE BULWARK OF DEFENCE,” that _Tormentil_, in
pastures, prevents the rot in sheep.

Footnote 146:

αρωμα, which is compounded of αρι, very, and οδμη, or οσμη, smell.

Footnote 147:

The origin of this term is derived from the superstitious custom of
curing such complaints by incantations in verse (_Carmina_), or
perhaps it may be understood metaphorically as expressive of the
instantaneous relief which these medicines are capable of affording;
operating, as it were, _like a charm_.

Footnote 148:

When tannin is present in grasses, as Sir H. Davy found in that of
_aftermath crops_, it is voided in the excrement by animals who feed
upon it, together with the bitter extractive, saline matter, and woody
fibre. (Elem. of Agricult. Chem. Appendix, p. lxi.) We may therefore
infer by analogy that it does not enter into the circulation.

Footnote 149:

Various combinations, into which different metallic salts have
generally entered as ingredients, have at different periods been
extolled for their efficacy as _Styptics:_ Helvetius published an
account of a preparation composed of the filings of iron and tartar,
mixed to a proper consistence with French brandy, and it was long used
in France, Germany, and Holland, under the name of HELVETIUS’S
STYPTIC.

EATON’S STYPTIC. After the styptic of Helvetius had been discarded
from the Continent, it was brought into this country, and for a long
time continued to be employed with confidence, under the new title of
Eaton’s Styptic. It is now made in several different modes, and
consists chiefly of an alcoholic solution of _sulphate of iron_, with
some unimportant additions.

Footnote 150:

This theory, however, did not originate with Dr. Majendie, for
Chiarac, a French Physician of the 17th century, drew the same
conclusion from an experimental enquiry (Histoire de l’Academie Royale
des Sciences, p. 12. An. 1700.)

Footnote 151:

Upon the very same principle, a person may die from suffocation, in
consequence of an injury in the brain; the respiratory muscles being
unable to sustain the function of breathing, for want of a due supply
of nervous influence. This happens in cases of Apoplexy, and in
poisoning by Narcotics.

Those who wish for farther information upon this subject may consult
the chapter on “THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES AND PHŒNOMENA OF SUDDEN
DEATH,” in my work on “MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE,” Vol. 2. p. 16.

Footnote 152:

Hippocrat. de Diœta. lib. iii. et alibi passim.

This predilection of the ancients for Emetics is the more
extraordinary, as they were acquainted with those only which were of
the most violent and unmanageable description; the Veratrum or White
Hellebore, was sometimes fatal.

Footnote 153:

Few discoveries in physiology have thrown greater light upon this
important subject than that of M. Majendie, published in his JOURNAL
DE PHYSIOLOGIE EXPERIMENTALE, (1^{er} numero—Janvier, 1821) in a paper
entitled, “Memoir sur le Méchanisme de L’Absorption.” The results
contained in this essay are the more interesting to me, as they were
read at the Academy of Sciences at Paris, some time after the
publication of the Third Edition of my PHARMACOLOGIA, and it will be
observed, in what a satisfactory manner they confirm the views which I
offered at that time, respecting the influence of venesection in
accelerating the absorption of Mercury. In the Fourth Edition
(published in October, 1820, p. 115,) these views were farther
extended, and as I could not have been influenced by the experiments
of M. Majendie, which were not published until some time afterwards,
it is very fair to conclude, that when two persons arrive at the same
result by different trains of investigation, such a result must be
correct. The conclusions established by the experimental inquiries of
M. Majendie, with regard to absorption, appear to me to be so
important, in reference to the object of the present work, that I
shall pause, in this place, for the purpose of furnishing the reader
with a short account of them. M. Majendie states, that while
performing the experiment of injecting warm water into the veins of a
living animal, he first conceived the idea of observing what effects
would be produced upon the function of absorption by the artificial
plethora, thus occasioned; having accordingly injected a quantity of
water into the venous system of a middle-sized dog, he introduced a
small portion of an active substance, whose effects were well known,
into his side, when he was surprised to find that its usual operation
was not manifested until after an interval much longer than usual; the
same experiment was afterwards repeated upon another animal, and with
similar results. In a third experiment, as much water (about two
pounds) was injected, as the animal could sustain without destruction,
in which case the poisonous substance produced no effect whatever, the
powers of absorption appearing to be entirely suspended: and having
waited during half an hour for the occurrence of those symptoms which,
under ordinary circumstances, would have manifested themselves in two
minutes, M. Majendie concluded that if vascular congestion be the
cause of the suspension of absorption, the function ought to be
restored by the removal of this artificial condition, an opinion which
he proceeded to verify by experiment; the jugular vein of the animal,
under trial, was accordingly opened, and the ingenious operator had
the satisfaction to observe the effects of the poison gradually
developing themselves in proportion as the blood flowed. M. Majendie
next proceeded to confirm the truth of his position, by an experiment,
the converse of those above related; an animal was bled, to the amount
of about half a pound, and the poisonous substance applied to the
pleura of the animal, as in the foregoing experiments, when it
appeared that those effects which, under ordinary circumstances, were
not evident until after a period of twelve minutes, manifested
themselves after an interval of only thirty seconds. In order to shew
that these results actually arose from vascular distention, and not
from the artificial state of dilution in which the blood was placed,
M. Majendie instituted the following experiment: a considerable
quantity of blood was drawn from the vein of a dog, and replaced by a
similar quantity of warm water, after which a measured quantity of Nux
Vomica in solution was introduced into the side, when the poisonous
effects were found to take place with the same rapidity as if the
blood had not been mixed with water.

Footnote 154:

The practical application of this fact may be useful, and digestion,
in certain cases, may be thus promoted by the simple expedient of
changing the quality of our bread.

Footnote 155:

Since the publication of this opinion, in the 5th edition of the
Pharmacologia, Dr. Hamilton has honoured me by a letter on the
subject, but I am still bound to confess that my sentiments remain
unaltered.

Footnote 156:

The Melampodium, or Black Hellebore, was recommended as an agent of
this description in the strongest terms, by Mead; Savin (Juniperus
Sabina) is another vegetable which has been generally considered as a
specific Emmenagogue; with some authors, the Rubia Tinctorum, Madder;
with others, the Sinapis alba have been regarded as remedies of this
nature; and lately Polygala Senega has been extolled by the American
practitioners; in modern times, however, few substances have been more
confidently recommended as uterine stimulants than the Secale
Cornutum, or Ergot, but of which I have no practical knowledge.

Footnote 157:

Saline bodies would appear to be the peculiar stimuli of these organs,
the principal use of which is to separate such saline matter from the
blood, as would otherwise accumulate in the system. That these saline
diuretics actually pass off by the kidneys, may be satisfactorily
shewn by an examination of the urine, in which the bodies in question
may be chemically detected. Let any person swallow several doses of
Nitre, taking care that the bowels are not disturbed by the medicine,
and he will find by dipping some paper into his urine, and afterwards
drying it, that it will deflagrate, and indicate the presence of
nitre.

Footnote 158:

The _Secondary_ Diuresis which sometimes takes place under such
circumstances, and succeeds Catharsis, may offer an apparent exception
to this law; but this must not be confounded with that which is the
result of a _Primary_ action upon the urinary organs by the
absorption, and consequent contact, of a specific Stimulant.

Footnote 159:

Certain mineral waters, containing cathartic salts in a state of
extreme dilution, if insufficient to excite the bowels, sometimes pass
off by the kidneys; an effect which can always be prevented by
accompanying their exhibition with some laxative.

Footnote 160:

See Sir Gilbert Blane’s Medical Logic, Edit. 2, page 190.

Footnote 161:

The cutaneous discharge is very materially modified by the state of
the atmosphere, in its relations to moisture and dryness: when the air
contains much moisture it is a bad conductor of the perspirable
matter, which therefore, instead of being carried off in an insensible
form, is condensed upon the surface; hence we appear to perspire
greatly upon the slightest exercise, whereas the cuticular discharge
is at such times absolutely less. We have all experienced the
sensation of heat, and disposition to sweating, during the moist
weather which so frequently occurs in this country in April and May,
the wind being at the time stationary at south-west or south. On the
contrary, during the prevalence of an east wind, the most violent
exercise will scarcely prove diaphoretic, and yet the quantity of
cutaneous exhalation is far greater than during that state of
atmosphere when the slightest exercise deluges us with perspirable
matter.

Footnote 162:

LOMMIUS de Febribus.

Footnote 163:

De Medicina. Lib. iii. c. 7.

Footnote 164:

This practice is still cherished by the vulgar, especially in some of
the more remote districts of the kingdom. It is with this view that
the Cornish nurse continues to keep down the excess of population, by
administering Gin and Treacle, in her smoky chimney corner, to
children labouring under measles, in order to _throw out_ the
eruption.

Footnote 165:

_M. Du Hamel_ has recorded the cases of two countrymen, considerably
advanced in life, who were cured of Dropsy by remaining for some time
in a baker’s oven, soon after the bread had been drawn. _Varikbillan_,
ninth Caliph of the race of the Abassides, is said to have been cured
by a nearly similar method. His physician caused him to enter a
lime-kiln soon after the lime had been removed, when in the course of
a few days he was totally cured of his dropsy. The ancients excited
sweating in this disease, by burying the patient up to the neck in
heated sand or ashes (_Celsus_, Lib. iii. c. 30.), and Lysons cured
cases by placing his patients in rooms heated to a very high
temperature.

In the history of the Royal Academy of Sciences, for 1703, a case is
related of a woman, who, tired out by the protracted Dropsy under
which her husband laboured, _charitably_ administered to him a very
large dose of opium, with the intention of despatching him, but the
medicine immediately produced such a copious sweat that it restored
him to health!

Footnote 166:

σιαλος, saliva; et αγω, excito.

Footnote 167:

I of course except its application in the form of vapour, in which
state it proves extremely active. See Hydrargyrum.

Footnote 168:

Medical Logic, Edit. 2. p. 75.

Footnote 169:

Transactions of a Society for the Improvement of Medical and
Chirurgical knowledge, Vol. iii. p. 119. London, 1822.

Footnote 170:

Medical and Physical Journal for October, 1811.

Footnote 171:

De Sed. et Caus. Morb. Epist. xiv. art. 27.

Footnote 172:

Comment. ad Aph. 271.

Footnote 173:

This is one of the most ancient superstitions which have descended to
us. It was customary in Greece, when any one sneezed, to exclaim Ζῆθὶ,
‘May you live;’ or Ζευ σῶσον, ‘God bless you.’ Aristotle, in his
problems, has attempted to account for the origin of the custom, but
unsatisfactorily; Pliny, (Nat. Hist. lib. 28. c. 2) asks—“Cur
Sternutantes salutentur?”

Footnote 174:

Eberle’s Treatise on the Materia Medica.

Footnote 175:

It is said that whenever Dunning, the celebrated barrister, was called
upon to make the finest display of his eloquence, whether forensic or
parliamentary, he constantly applied a blister to his chest, which he
found to have the effect of imparting an unusual tone and vigour to
his body, and elevation to his mind.

Footnote 176:

From Setum a Horse hair, a substance which was formerly used for the
accomplishment of this object.

Footnote 177:

It sometimes happens that the stomach and digestive organs are so
weakened by disease as to lose their control, or what Dr. Fordyce
called their ‘governing power,’ in which case they would appear to be
unable to prevent the matters which they contain from acting
chemically upon each other, and occasioning decompositions and new
combinations: in such cases substances are sometimes developed in the
internal organs by the action of disease, which are capable of
producing a chemical effect upon the fluids; for instance,—an acid is
not unfrequently generated in the bowels of children which decomposes
the bile and produces a green precipitate, and green stools are the
consequence; in other cases the acid combines with the _Soda_ of the
bile, and the precipitate thus occasioned is thick, viscid, very
bitter, and inflammable, and we have stools looking like pitch. In
Yellow Fever, and in several other diseases, the bile which is brought
up by vomiting is frequently of a vivid green colour, and some writers
have attributed the phenomenon to a morbid condition, or action of the
liver or gall bladder; the fact however is, that the bile itself
undergoes a chemical change in the Duodenum and Stomach. That bile
does undergo such a change from decomposition, is proved by a variety
of facts observed to take place _out_ of the body; it is well known,
for instance, that the fæces of infants, although yellow when voided,
frequently become green after some time, and Dr. Heberden observes, in
his Commentaries, that the urine of a certain jaundiced patient, which
was of a deep yellow, became after a few hours green: in such cases it
is probable that an acid is generated by the reaction of the elements
of which the bile consists.

Footnote 178:

System of Materia Medica, vol. 1. p. 453.

Footnote 179:

The same fact has been long known by the Divers in the Indian
Pearl-fisheries; see my Work on Medical Jurisprudence, Introduction,
Vol. 1. p. v.

Footnote 180:

See a paper upon this subject by Mr. Brodie, Phil. Trans. 1811.

Footnote 181:

Medical Logic, Edit. 2. p. 50.

Footnote 182:

From αντὶ against, and λὶθος a stone.

Footnote 183:

From λὶθος, and θρυπτω to break.

Footnote 184:

The kidneys have a more obtuse sensibility, and not such energetic
activity as other glands possess; vital action is less concerned in
the secretion they carry on, and their functions more easily fall
under chemical and hydraulic explanations.—(Richerand.)

Footnote 185:

An Inquiry into the Nature and Treatment of Gravel, Calculus, and
other diseases connected with a deranged operation of the Urinary
Organs; by W. Prout, M. D. F. R. S.

Footnote 186:

On the Chemical History and Medical Treatment of Calculous Disorders,
by A. Marcet, M. D. F. R. S.

Footnote 187:

Journal of the Royal Institution, Vol. VI.

Footnote 188:

Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, Vol. VI.

Footnote 189:

The ancients considered the urine as a kind of extract of animal
substances, a true lixivium, by which every thing impure in the animal
economy was washed away, and hence they gave it the name of Lotium.

Footnote 190:

Mr. Brande first stated the existence of this acid in urine; but
Berzelius expressed his doubts respecting the fact. The experiments of
Dr. Marcet, however, are certainty favourable to the conclusion of the
former chemist, and Dr. Prout informs us that he has himself seen
small calculi discharged from the bladder composed principally of the
carbonate of lime.

Footnote 191:

The reader will find some interesting observations upon this subject
in Dr. Prout’s Treatise, p. 22.

Footnote 192:

The name of Uric Acid was suggested by Dr. Pearson: it is, however, as
Dr. Marcet very justly remarks, objectionable, on account of the close
resemblance which the term bears to that of Urea, a substance totally
distinct from Lithic Acid.

Footnote 193:

Recherches physiologiques et médicales sur les causes, les symptomes,
et le traitement de la gravelle, 8vo. Paris. 1818.

Footnote 194:

ULTIMATE PRINCIPLES OF LITHIC ACID.

According to M. Berard, and adopted by M. According to Dr. Prout.
Majendie.
Azote 39·16 31·12
Carbon 33·61 40·00
Oxygen 18·89 26·26
Hydrogen 8·34 2·22
—————— ——————
100·00 100·00

Footnote 195:

This fact derives its pathological interest from the probability that,
in certain states of disease, the Lithic acid assumes this peculiar
modification, giving to the sediments of urine those beautiful hues
which were formerly considered by Proust, as the effect of an acid,
which he named the Rosacic; now as the Purpuric acid, or rather the
Purpurate of Ammonia, says Dr. Prout, is nothing more than Lithic acid
modified by the action of Nitric acid, and as I have already shewn
that the Pink and Lateritious sediments occasionally contain nitric
acid in some peculiar state of combination, the nature and origin of
the colouring matter cease to be problematical.

Footnote 196:

Whence is derived the large quantity of Phosphoric acid which is daily
evacuated from the system?—The researches of modern chemistry have
furnished a very satisfactory solution of this problem, by
demonstrating its presence in those animal and vegetable substances
which are used by us as food. Mr. Barry, in prosecuting his
interesting and important experiments on the preparation of
Pharmaceutical Extracts _in vacuo_, discovered the curious fact, that
Phosphoric acid is to be found in all the extracts in a soluble state;
and on extending the investigation, says he, it was ascertained that
this acid, besides that portion of it which exists as phosphate of
lime, is contained in a vast variety of vegetables, and more
especially in those which are cultivated. Medico-Chirug. Trans. Vol.
10, p. 240.

Footnote 197:

The urine of infants and nurses contains very little phosphate of lime
and phosphoric acid; it is not until after ossification is finished,
that these elements are found in abundance in the urinary fluid. That
of old men, on the contrary, contains a great quantity of them; the
bony system, already overcharged with phosphate of lime, refuses to
admit more of it. This saline substance would ossify every part, as it
does sometimes in the arteries, ligaments, cartilages, and membranes,
if the urine were not to remove the greater part of this superabundant
portion. In Rachitis it is by the urine that the phosphate of lime
passes off, the absence of which causes the softness of bones.
(Richerand). If we might be allowed to theorise, I should say, that
this disease depends upon a deficient action in the powers of
assimilation, in consequence of which the phosphoric acid is incapable
of entering into its assigned combinations, and is therefore
eliminated as excrementitious. Dr. Glisson considered the disease to
depend upon some fault in the spinal marrow, whence he termed it
Rachitis, from ῥακὶς Spina Dorsi.

Footnote 198:

Transactions of Stockholm.

Footnote 199:

CYSTIC OXIDE, discovered by Dr. Wollaston in 1815: it does not affect
vegetable colours, and has all the chemical habitudes of an oxide.

Footnote 200:

Dr. Marcet discovered two calculi, which were not referable to any of
the known species; but they are not introduced into the following
table, as they may never again occur; at all events, from their
extreme rarity, they cannot be considered as objects of practical
interest. To one of these he has given the name of Xanthic Oxide,
because it forms a lemon coloured compound when acted upon by Nitric
acid. To the other nondescript calculus he has bestowed the
appellation of Fibrinous, from its resemblance to Fibrine.

Footnote 201:

I am by no means disposed to reject altogether, as a popular fallacy,
the general opinion in favour of the anti-lithic virtues of malt
liquor; the observations which have been already offered (page 79)
will explain how such agents may occasionally operate in assisting
digestion. In the observations made upon the Bills of Mortality in the
year 1662, by an ingenious citizen, concerning the increase of some
diseases, and the decrease of others, it is observed “The Stone and
Strangury decreaseth, from the drinking of Ale.”

Footnote 202:

In consultation with Dr. Baillie, some few months before his death, he
said to me “although I have never published the opinion, I am
satisfied that after a patient has long laboured under diseased liver,
the blood becomes surcharged with alkaline matter.”

Footnote 203:

See an explanation of this term in the note, at page 112.

Footnote 204:

It is, says Dr. Prout, a very old observation, that injuries of the
back produce _alkaline urine_; “it also appears,” continues this
author, “to hold in other animals as well as in man; thus I have
frequently observed jaded and worn-out horses pass great quantities of
lime in their urine; I have known the same also to take place in dogs,
and particularly of the sporting kinds; and in both these instances
have thought it probable, that the circumstance was connected with
some strain or injury of the back produced by over-exertion, or other
causes.”

Footnote 205:

I have in my possession a splendid specimen of this triple salt, in
large and well defined crystals, covering a portion of a decayed beam;
it was sent to me by my friend Mr. Marshall, from whom I learnt that
it had been taken from a privy belonging to a public house in
Southwark. I lent the specimen to the late Mr. Wilson, in order that
he might exhibit it in his lectures before the College of Surgeons,
and he has published a description of it in his work on the Urinary
and Genital Organs.

Footnote 206:

A question has arisen respecting the comparative efficacy of the two
fixed alkalies upon these occasions. See _Sodæ Sub-carbonas_.

Footnote 207:

For an account of the celebrated remedy of Mrs. Stephens, see _Liquor
Calcis_.

Footnote 208:

Journal de Physiologie; Juillet, 1823.

Footnote 209:

For a farther account of this extraordinary law of Electro-Chemistry,
the reader may consult my work on the ELEMENTS OF MEDICAL CHEMISTRY.

Footnote 210:

These experiments have been repeated at the Jardin des Plantes, with
similar results; it farther appears that a certain quantity of
_Nitrate of Potass_ added to the water injected into the bladder will
expedite the decomposition.

Footnote 211:

This, it must be confessed, is singularly unfortunate, if the opinion
already expressed be true (page 121) viz. that at least two-thirds of
the whole number of calculi originate from this acid.

Footnote 212:

The word _Antidote_ is derived from αντὶ, _against_, and διδωμὶ, _I
give_; as being a medicine given _against_ poison, either by way of
cure or preservative. The word is also sometimes used in a more
general sense, for any compounded medicine; thus _Peter Damian_ speaks
of a person who in his whole life never took an antidote. It is
likewise used by some authors in a less proper sense, for any remedy
against any disease, chiefly if it be inveterate, and arise from some
ulcer or abscess; and lastly, the term has been used to signify a
perpetual form of medicines, otherwise called _Opiates_, or more
properly _Confections_.

Footnote 213:

The reader will find this subject treated more fully in the second
volume of my work on MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

Footnote 214:

See the history of _Theriaca_ at page 28 note.

Footnote 215:

JOHN, king of Castille, as Tissot relates, was poisoned by a pair of
boots, prepared by a Turk; HENRY IV, by gloves; LOUIS XIV fearing a
project to poison PHILIP V, prohibited his opening letters, or putting
on gloves (_Tissot Traité des Nerfs_, _T. 1._ _P. 11._ _page 13_;)
Plouquet has the following remark upon this subject, “Huc et ignota
illa venena pertinent, quibus epistolæ chirothecæ, et ejusmodi infici,
et vim adeo toxicam induere dicuntur, ut lectio ejusmodi epistolæ,
indutus chirothecæ subitam mortem causentur.” (_Comment. Med. super
Homicid._ page 184.) POPE CLEMENT VII is said by Zacchias to have been
poisoned by the fumes of a taper, (_Quæst. Med. Leg._); and a priest
is reported to have offered to destroy QUEEN ELIZABETH by poisoning
her saddle. (_Sir Edward Coke, in the trial of Sir John Hollis._)
Bishop Burnet, in the history of his own times (vol. 2. p. 230.) says,
that some believed CHARLES the Second to have been poisoned through
the medium of snuff.

Footnote 216:

This conceit does not appear to have been confined to the ignorant
alone, for we learn from Spratt’s History of the Royal Society, that
very shortly after the institution of that learned body, a series of
questions was drawn up by their direction, for the purpose of being
submitted to the Chinese and Indians, which clearly shews their belief
in the possibility of such an operation, viz. “Whether the Indians can
so prepare that stupifying herb, Datura, that they make it lie several
days, months, years, according as they will have it, in a man’s body,
without doing him any hurt, and at the end kill him without missing
half an hour’s time?”

Footnote 217:

Dr. Mead adopted this opinion, but he became so convinced of its
inadequacy that, in the later editions of his work on Poisons, he
withdrew the hypothesis. It is hardly necessary to observe that upon
its abandonment, a host of popular antidotes at once fell into disuse;
for as long as the injury was supposed to arise from mechanical
irritation, oils, fats, and other similar remedies were held capable
of obtunding the acrimony. So has the abandonment of other conceits
and hypotheses cleared away many absurd articles from the list of
Antidotes; see page 26.

Footnote 218:

The introduction of poisons into the body through the medium of the
circulation of the blood is frequently alluded to by the physiologists
of the seventeenth century. I have lately met with a curious passage
in a work entitled “Popular Errours in Physick, first written in
Latine by the learned physitian, James Penrose, Doctor in Physick.
London, 1651.” “The venome is carried by the veines and arteries, as
appeares in that all the blood of them that have been bitten by a
viper doth turne into a pale greennesse. And seeing that the veines in
the papps are so very slender, and doe not come unto the heart, but
with a great many long windings, I affirme, and it is more probable,
that if the viper be applyed to the feet, which are farthest remote
from the heart, it will sooner infect the heart than if to the papps,
but soonest of all if it be applied to the armes. And now the story of
CLEOPATRA comes to my minde. PETRUS VICTORIUS blames the painters,
that paint Cleopatra applying the aspe to her papps, seeing it is
manifest out of PLUTARCH in the life of ANTONIUS, and out of PLINIE
likewise, that she applyed it to her arme. ZONARAS relates that there
appeared no signe of death upon her, save two blew spots on her arme.
CÆSAR also in her statue which he carryed in triumph, applyed the aspe
to her arme; for in the armes there are great veines and arteries,
which doe quickly, and in a straight way convey the venome to the
heart, whereas in the papps the vessels are slender. And therefore in
SAINT PAUL the miracle was so much the greater, in that he felt no
harme from the viper, which layd hold on his hand, for if it had
assailed him on the breast, he had had respite enough to take some
antidote.”

Footnote 219:

There can be no doubt but that death has been produced by the
mechanical operation of various insoluble bodies; although we cannot
believe the numerous tales recorded on the subject of diamond dust
(supposed to constitute the basis of the celebrated “Powder of
Succession”) or of powdered glass, &c. Numerous cases are recorded
where life has been destroyed by the lodgement of substances in the
intestines; and we have lately heard of the fatal effects produced by
alvine accumulations from the habitual use of Magnesia. With respect
to the danger from the ingestion of glass and enamel in powder, there
still exists much difference of opinion; Caldani, Mandruzzato, and M.
Le Sauvage, report experiments made upon men and animals, in which no
bad consequences followed; on the other hand, Schurigius (Chylologia)
and Cardanus (De Venenis) cite instances where persons have died of
ulcerations of the stomach from such causes; and M. Portal, Foderé,
(Medicine Legale) Plouquet (Comment. super Homicid.) Stoll, (Ratio
Medendi, part vi. p. 60) Gmelin (Hist. General de Ven. mineral.) Frank
(Man. de Toxicol.) furnish testimony in support of the opinion which
assigns to such bodies a highly deleterious action.

Footnote 220:

This mark denotes that the substance, against which it is placed, may
also act by being absorbed.

Footnote 221:

Signifies that the article has also a local action.

Footnote 222:

See “Experiments and Operations on the Different Modes in which Death
is produced by certain Vegetable Poisons.” By B. C. Brodie, Esq. F. R.
S. in the 181st Volume of the Philosophical Transactions for the year
1811.

Footnote 223:

M. ’Lallemand has published the history of a fœtus, in which the brain
and spinal marrow were equally deficient, notwithstanding which, it
even exceeded the usual size, the heart was also perfect, and it was
evident that the circulation had been properly performed. No sooner
however was the monster born than it perished, because the diaphragm
and other muscles of respiration were unable to perform their
functions without the aid of nervous excitement; no air was therefore
inhaled into the lungs, and in a few minutes the heart ceased to
contract from the deficient supply of oxygenized blood. See MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE, Vol. ii. “On the Physiological Causes, and Phœnomena of
Sudden Death.”

Footnote 224:

It is a very curious fact, that the _Oil_ of Tobacco should differ so
essentially in its physiological action from the Infusion of that
vegetable poison; the former we have stated, affects the brain only,
the latter we now learn, when taken into the alimentary canal,
suspends the action of the heart. This apparent anomaly at first led
Mr. Brodie, as he has since informed me, to suspect the accuracy of
his experiments: and I suggested to him, whether a probable
explanation might not be derived from the late chemical researches
into the composition of tobacco, which have shewn the existence of two
active principles, viz. _Nicotin_, and an _Essential Oil_? Where an
infusion is employed, we seem to obtain the influence of the former,
and the effects are displayed upon the heart; but where the oil is
applied, the _Nicotin_ has been removed, and the brain is the organ
principally affected—see Tabaci Folia.

Footnote 225:

Dry Vomit of Marriott. This once celebrated vomit, called Dry, from
its being exhibited without drink, consisted of equal proportions of
Tartarized Antimony and Sulphate of Copper.

Footnote 226:

Sydenham relates a case of poisoning by Corrosive Sublimate; which was
successfully treated by copious draughts of water, and repeated
vomiting (Opera Medica, Epist. 1, p. 200); and Orfila, in his
laborious work on poisons, presents us with a mass of satisfactory
evidence upon the same subject.

Footnote 227:

Circumstances, however, may occur, which will render it even
judicious, with certain precautions, to administer a solvent, in order
to remove the particles of the substance, which sometimes adhere with
such obstinacy to the coats of the stomach as to defy the exertions of
an emetic to detach them, especially if the poison be arsenic; but let
the practitioner remember that this practice can never be allowed
until all that can be ejected by vomiting or purging has been
previously removed; then perhaps the ingestion of Magnesia, or an
Alkaline Salt, as proposed by Mr. Marshall, might be admissible, but
it should be quickly followed up by fresh emetics and purgatives.

Footnote 228:

London Medical Repository, August, 1817.

Footnote 229:

The truth of this statement has been very satisfactorily established
by the experiments of ORFILA (Toxicologie générale considerée sous les
Rapports de la Physiologie, de la Pathologie, et de la Medicine
légale) as well as by several that have been performed in this
country.

TORTOSA (Istituzioni di Med. For.) has remarked that Opium may act
mortally without losing much of its weight in the stomach—I should
question the truth of this assertion.

Footnote 230:

Vegetable acids are in Nature rarely the vehicles of poisons, the most
deleterious plants being inert in those parts that are impregnated
with acid; the pulp of the fruit of the Strychnus, amongst many
others, offers an illustration of this fact. Virey.

Footnote 231:

Notwithstanding this fact, we find Venesection recommended in works on
Toxicology, as a safe precaution to be used against the inflammatory
action produced by arsenic.

The application of a ligature above an abraded surface to which a
poison has been applied, prevents its effects upon the constitution,
not so much by obliterating the capacity of the vessels, as by
inducing a local plethora, and so suspending the process of
absorption.

Footnote 232:

_Escharotic_ from ἐσχαρόω, _crustam_ induco, to scab over, to burn
into a crust.

Footnote 233:

Or in a still more striking manner, by holding over the surface of the
sore a piece of white paper moistened by the mixed solutions of
Nitrate of Silver and Arsenious Acid, when the disengaged Ammonia will
by the operation of double affinity enable the Arsenious Acid to
decompose the salt of Silver, and to display the presence of the
Arseniate of that metal by its characteristic yellow indication. I am
not acquainted with any test for Ammonia so summary and satisfactory
as this. See Arsenicum in Vol. 2 of this work.

Footnote 234:

There are four species of worms generated in the human intestines,
viz. The Tænia, or tape-worm—Tricocephalus, or Trichuris—Ascaris
Vermicularis, or Ascarides—and Lumbricoides.

Footnote 235:

It is a very curious fact that vegetable bitter should be so essential
to the wellbeing of the higher order of animals, as explained at page
79, and yet prove so generally destructive to insects. Flies are
almost immediately destroyed by an Infusion of Quassia, and Nature has
protected the ear from the invasion of insects by providing an
intensely bitter secretion.

Footnote 236:

The reader is also referred to an account of Majendie’s experiments as
related at page 86 of this volume.

Footnote 237:

Fish, especially those of the cetaceous tribe, constantly decompose
water, and live upon its hydrogen.

Footnote 238:

Rumford’s Essays, Vol. 1. p. 194–202.

Footnote 239:

I selected it as the exclusive subject of my Lectures before the Royal
College of Physicians, during the year 1820.

Footnote 240:

It was wisely said by Lord Bacon, “that Man should observe all the
workmanship, and the particular workings of Nature, and meditate which
of those may be transferred to the Arts.” Advancement of Learning,
Book v. 148. For a further illustration of these views, the partiality
of an author may perhaps be excused if he refer the reader to his
paper “On the Recent Sandstone,” published in the first volume of the
Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.

Footnote 241:

The practitioner must receive the term _similar_, conventionally, as
expressed at page 71. Many of those substances which we are at present
bound to consider _similar_, will no doubt, require to be transplanted
into other classes as the progress of physiological knowledge shall
elucidate their modes of action. In this attempt to teach the Art of
Medicinal Combination, I have endeavoured to reduce the propositions
it comprehends to the greatest degree of generality of which they are,
at present, susceptible.

Footnote 242:

Numerous isolated statements of the same tendency may be adduced, but
these cannot invalidate the claim of Dr. Fordyce, as the first person
who generalized the fact, and applied it with success to practice.
DIEMERBROECK, in his notes upon the Theriaca Andromachi, observes that
the composition is a more efficacious medicine from the concurrent
powers of so many ingredients, alike in virtue: and Quincy, in his
Lectures on Pharmacy, which were published by Dr. Shaw in 1723, says
“those fetid gums which are generally prescribed in Hysteria, as
Ammoniacum, Galbanum, &c. may be conjoined with advantage, because
from a concurrence of properties, they all conspire to the same end.”

Footnote 243:

Such was the nature of the “Mustacea” of the Romans, which were a
species of cake, used at weddings, and consisted of meal, aniseed,
cummin, and several other aromatics; their object was to remove or
prevent the indigestion which might be occasioned by eating too
copiously at the marriage entertainment. It must be acknowledged that
this compound was better adapted for such a purpose than the modern
Bride-cake, to which it gave origin. Cato (de R. R. c. 121) has given
us a receipt for the Roman bride-cake.

Footnote 244:

Dr. Majendie goes so far even as to assert, that by varying the
different preparations of the _same_ Narcotic, we shall be better able
to keep up its action on the animal œconomy, without an increase of
its dose. He adds, “Some English writers have denied the truth of this
observation: but they have not given any reasons for their
scepticism.—Why should it not be true?”

Footnote 245:

It would even appear probable that in some cases mercurial influence
has, after its subsidence, been renewed by doses of Opium: a
remarkable instance of this kind is related in Hufeland’s Journal
(vol. ix.) in which an old woman is said to have fallen into a
considerable salivation after every dose of Opium; she had previously
applied to the physician for an extensive ulceration over her body,
and had taken a considerable quantity of mercury; but the effects had
subsided, until renewed by the opium.

Footnote 246:

It has been observed under the history of Emetics (p. 84), that in
cases of profound intoxication, or in those of violent wounds and
contusions of the head, vomiting will not take place, however forcibly
the stomach may be goaded by an emetic, whereas if the brain be only
partially influenced, as by incipient intoxication, or by a less
violent blow on the head, its irritability is increased instead of
being paralysed, and that vomiting under such circumstances is excited
by the slightest causes; just so is it with regard to Narcotics, a
powerful dose so paralyses the nervous system, that the stomach cannot
be made to reject its contents, as every one must have observed in
cases of narcotic poisoning, while smaller doses, like lesser injuries
of the head, dispose the stomach to sickness.

Footnote 247:

Sir Gilbert Blane has advanced an ingenious hypothesis to explain the
cause of the fœtid breath of persons under the influence of mercury;
which might perhaps also shew why certain remedies are rendered more
efficient by combination with mercury. One of the active effects of
mercury, says Sir Gilbert, is to _alter the natural sensibility of the
Lacteals_, so that when under its influence, they absorb
indiscriminately that which is excrementitious and nutritive; hence
the smell of the breath, since the fœtid particles are carried into
the circulation, and thrown off in the halitus of the lungs, or by the
salivary glands, in consequence of the mouth of the lacteals losing
that selecting tact, whereby in their sound state they reject whatever
is offered to them, except the chyle. Now if mercury acts as the
“_Soporata Offa_” to the lacteals, it is evident that its combination
with active matter may, on some occasions, facilitate the absorption
of the latter.

Footnote 248: