THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



had taken ]i_vpochana and Jesuits l)ark 

 five times without results. Ipecac was 

 used for dysentery, dose lo to 40 Gm., 

 price twenty to fifty crowns a pound. 

 Everywhere on walls were handbills 

 of quacks promising to cure ever}^- 

 body ; apothecaries, barbers, women, 

 and monks meddled with the cure of 

 syphilis. 



He mentions the boundless con- 

 fidence and intruding of quacks, women 

 and monks in the practice of medicine. 

 He had calls for King Charles drops, 

 and showed how to make this by dis- 

 tilling raw silk. 



Moliere mentions a clyster of "double 

 catholicon" rhubarb, honey of roses 

 and other ingredients, a purgative of 

 cassia and Levantine senna, clarified 

 and edulcorated whey. 



Orvietan would cure itch, scurvy, 

 fever plague, great and smallpox. 



Constellated rings cured delusions. 

 They had a gold cure in those days, 

 potable gold ; dose, one drop. 



When cholera ravaged Brittau}^ the 

 government issued pamphlets of medi- 

 cal advice ; these pamphlets were con- 

 verted into ballads, the singing of 

 which was the treatment for cholera. 



There were certain Breton noblemen 

 whose touch and spittle were healing. 

 Nails offered at the shrine of saints, 

 cured boils. 



Dung of cats cured felons and with 

 wine it cured fevers ; the urine of fever 

 patients administered to another trans- 

 ferred the fever. 



(1755) The king paid a large sum 

 for a cure of tapeworm, which was 

 male fern roots; part of the treatment 

 was "Panacea Mercuralis," calomel di- 

 gested in spirits of v.ine. 



Pradiers cataplasm for gout was pur- 

 chased by Napoleon for $125,000 pro 

 ])ono publico; formula; Balm of Mecca 

 6 drams. Red Ijark i ounce, safifron Yz 

 ounce, sage i ounce. 



All maladies were curable by holy 

 relics, displayed at midnight, especial- 

 ly epilepsy ; this was such a source of 

 scandal that it was suppressed by 

 Louis XVL A blind man touched the 

 bones of a martyr and was cured; 

 towels were carried from a shrine to 

 heal the sick 



The peasants of Perronne believed 

 that vomiting was caused by the stom- 

 ach becoming unhooked ; a quack 

 would unhook his own stomach by 

 contortions, rehook it and thus relieve 

 the sick of vomiting and of five francs. 



Music was used to cure sciatica, and 

 assist in the circulation of the blood. 

 In a case of violent sickness a band 

 was called in, and in a few hours the 

 patient's bowels were in perfect tune. 



Father Hennepin administered con- 

 fection of hyacinth, a "precious spe- 

 cific" ; when Father Gabriel fainted, 

 confection of hyacinth revived him. 

 He brought with him also a good sup- 

 ply of Orvietan and used it for the siek 

 Benedictine monks of Picardy ; treated 

 dropsv with powdered broom seed one 

 dram, in one and a half glass of white 

 wine every morning, followed by two 

 ounces of olive oil ; for biliary calculus 

 they used ether three, turpentine two, 

 dose half a dram twice daily in whey 

 or broth. 



"Ratafia de brou de neu" was of 

 green walnuts and cloves. 



Peasants used a decoction of colo- 

 cynth as a purge. 



1830 a child was killed with bitter 

 almonds administered for worms, and 



