The Harveian oration, 1880 : delivered June 25th / by John W. Ogle.

  • John Ogle
Date:
1881
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Harveian oration, 1880 : delivered June 25th / by John W. Ogle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    human “nephriticus lapis,” the mummy (mumia Sepulchrorum), Pisa asphaltum ; and we have oddly-named compounds, as the “Oleum latericium Philosophorum,” the “ Ens Veneris,” the Pil. e Duobus—i.e., of Colocynth and Scammony.* It was only in the fifth Pharmacopoeia (1746), Dr. H. Plumptre being president, that the MUMMY was excluded. In this book, however, the viper and the millepede are found. Soot was also prescribed in this volume, and “powders,” as in other pharmacopeias, often went under the name of “ species. ”+ In a work published by Stephen Brad well, 1633, entitled, “ Helps for Svddain Accidents,” &c.,J among other antidotes for poisons are recommended the blood of a malard, “drunk fresh and warme;” also the blood of a stag. Another panacea for poisons is the following : “ Take a sound horse, open his belly alive, take out all his entrailes quickly, and put the poysoned partie naked into it, all save his head, while the body retains its natural heat, and there let him sweat well.” To those bitten by animals the flesh of the same beast that bit them is recommended for inward and outward use. In one case of bite from a mouse the teeth of a dead man made into fine powder is recommended. I have the following notes of the contents of a little volume, published 1715, called “General Observations and Prescriptions in the Practice of Physic ; on several Persons of Quality in the time of James and Charles I. Dedicated to Sir S. Garth. By a London Physician of some eminence, and one who consulted with Harvey, Mayeri>e, &c.” The quotations I shall make well illustrate the kind of practice which existed among us formerly. Thus w€ have numerous instances of the advantage of bleeding from the veins on the sa)ne side of the body as that of the disease §—as of the 1618 our first Pharmacopoeia) we have, among other strange things, the cranium humanum, in eo os triquetrum; mandibula lucii piscis; nidus hirundinum; blood, fat, axunge,^ medulla, liver, &c., of many animals specified, sperma ranarum, sericum crudum ; amber, under the name of gagates, carabe ; asbestos under the names of amianthus, linum vivum, amentum, pilus Salamandrae, viscus aucupum ; manna is also called Tereniabin, mel oereum ; opium is called Maslach and Meconium; “ Usquebach is composed of raisins, cloves, liquorice, mace, ginger, and spirit. In this Pharmacopoeia many of the formulae are designated by the names of physioians. We have the “ Pilulse sine quibus esse nolo,” the “Manus Christ! ad Lumbricos,” “ Emplast. Gratia Dei,” “ Empl. Isis Epigoni,” derived from Galen. An emplastrum was called “ Sparadrapum seu tela Galteri.” The “ Philonium Romanum ” was a cordial containing opium and various aromatics ; it was called Philo’s Antidote, after Philo, of Tarsus, who is supposed to have lived in the time of Augustus. It is described in Greek verse, and explained by Galen very quaintly (see Pareira, 3rd ed., p. 2134). In looking over old Pharmacopoeias in our College Library I have found one (1677) in which, on a blank leaf, the post-mortem appearances are described of his Highness the Duke of Kendale, “who dyed convulsed. May 22, 1667,” and who was, as I find, the third son of James, Duke of York (future James II.), and who died, an infant, one year after he was made a duke. * There also existed a solid laudanum ; also preparations of fruits with sugar or honey called “Rob”—the foundation, no doubt, of the popular household drink of that name of the present day. + It was in the seventh Pharmacopoeia (1809), Sir Lucas Pepys being president, that the minim was used as a measure in place of the vague and uncertain “drop,” as pointed out by Dr. Munk. J See Notes and Queries, April lo, 1880, p. 290. § The usage of bleeding on the opposite side to the part affected was very fashionable in France at one time, and it appears from Wadd’s Nug. Chir. ^ The old word axunge is derived from the use of the substance for anointing the axles of the wheels of carriages (unguendi axem). ^ Usquebach, the same, probably, as “usquebaugh” (Irish, uisge-beatha, water of life) ; hence our “whiskey.”
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