38 FOTHERGILL AS A PHYSICIAN CHAP. 



of the subject was large. The Faculty of Medicine in Paris, 

 no doubt espousing the official Galenist view against the new 

 chemists or alchemists, prohibited in 1566 the use of the 

 metal as a drug ; and graduates of Heidelberg University 

 were required, it is said, to take an oath that they would never 

 prescribe it. It won its way nevertheless in face of all opposi- 

 tion, and in the eighteenth century its preparations were in 

 high esteem and " in copious use." Antimonium Sulphur atum, 

 nearly equivalent to the " Kermes mineral," was a constituent 

 of the well-known Plummer's pill. " James's powder," long 

 a private nostrum of Dr. R. James (who died in 1776), had a 

 great reputation as a febrifuge and diaphoretic : the Pulvis 

 Antimonii Co. (P.L. 1851, mainly Antimonious oxide) was 

 an imitation of it. 



Fothergill used principally the unwashed calx or dia- 

 phoretic antimony, a mixture of antimoniate and antimonite 

 of potash, and a preparation of very uncertain strength : it 

 was in consequence omitted from the later formularies of the 

 century. He prescribed it together with aloes, scammony, 

 and extract of colocynth. This combination was known 

 for generations after as " Fothergill 's pill." 1 He treated 

 hooping-cough with tartar emetic, giving gr. T \-| daily in 

 the forenoon to empty the stomach, and a smaller dose at 

 night, with nitre and contrayerva, as a diaphoretic. Under 

 this treatment, with light diet, he claims that the cough 

 became less frequent, and after a time less violent. 2 But his 



1 Beasley, Druggists' Receipt Book, 1857 ; Christison, Dispensatory, 1848. 

 At other times Fothergill combined the calx of antimony with aloes and 

 myrrh, or aloes alone. Another favourite pill is thus ordered : 



ft Pil. Rufi [Aloes et Myrrh]. 



Pil. Ecphract. [A deobstruent pill, containing aloes, aromatics, 

 rhubarb, salt of steel, etc.] aa 7)iss. 



Sapon. Venet. [Castile soap] 5i- 



Ol. Cinnam. gt. vi. 

 m. ft. pil. xxx. capiat ii vel iii omni nocte. 



Amongst other prescriptions of his is one for equal parts of magnesia and 

 sulphur, with a few drops of oil of caraway, to be taken nightly in warm milk 

 and water. Vinum chalybeatum he often ordered, in a draught with aromatics 

 or peppermint. See prescriptions printed in Fothergill's Works : others in 

 original MS. at Ackworth School, and in the hands of J. J. Green and the 

 Author. A poultice is to be made of rye-meal i lb., salt 2 oz., and barm 4 02., 

 kneaded with warm water. Weak eyes are to be steamed with an infusion 

 of rosemary and lavender flowers. Enterprising druggists long traded on 

 his reputation. 



2 A Letter relative to the Cure of the Chin-Cough, to the Medical Society in 

 London, read 1767 ; Med. Obs. & Inq. iii. 319 ; Works, ii. 43. Dr. M. Morris 

 in a paper read at the previous meeting advocated castor and the bark. 

 Excepting country air no remedy of proved efficacy was known : " respiring 



