Am.  Tour.  Pharm.  \        Some  Old-Time  Medicines. 
Tune,  19  iS.  J 
415 
SOME  OLD-TIME  MEDICINES. 
By  Dr.  Fred  B.  Kilmer,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
It  may  be  stated  that  some  drugs  and  preparations  are  born 
great,  at  other  times  they  attain  greatness  by  inherent  potential 
value,  in  other  instances  greatness  is  thrust  upon  them  and  such 
greatness  may  be  deserved  or  undeserved.  Finally,  we  have  it 
that  medicines  at  one  time  winning  popularity,  apparently  achieving 
great  things  for  mankind,  in  one  way  or  another  either  slowly  or 
suddenly  lose  their  prestige,  and  at  last  wane  to  the  vanishing  point. 
It  cannot  be  rightfully  stated  that  a  drug  or  a  preparation  which 
in  the  course  of  time  has  fallen  into  disuse  is  thereby  valueless ;  in- 
deed it  is  conceded  that  many  medical  and  surgical  procedures  which 
have  fallen  into  disuse  or  have  been  neglected  were  in  their  time  of 
great  value,  and  probably  would  be  to-day  were  their  use  revived. 
In  other  words,  the  disuse  of  many  of  the  older  remedies  and 
methods  has  in  certain  instances  been  ill  advised. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  medicine  and  pharmacy  have  not  advanced 
— at  times  they  have  moved  forward  a  thousand  years  in  a  day,  but 
in  the  onrush  it  is  possible  that  without  due  consideration  things 
have  been  cast  overboard.  If  we  look  back  into  the  history  of 
pharmacy  and  medicine  we  find  whole  classes  of  medicines  at  one 
time  high  in  esteem  only  to  be  wholly  or  almost  wholly  discarded  in 
a  later  century.  As  an  example,  such  lines  as  elixirs,  theriacums, 
waters,  essences,  mithrydates,  balms,  balsams,  varieties  of  ointments 
and  herbs,  some  of  which  have  long  since  fallen  into  disuse  and  have 
become  almost  entirely  forgotten.  It  is  possible  that  with  the  long 
list  of  remedies  we  have  at  hand  to-day  there  is  no  need  to  resurrect 
them,  except  that  it  is  possibly  our  duty  as  pharmacists  to  be  alive 
to  the  situation  and  in  case  an  attempt  is  made  to  introduce  under  a 
new  guise  something  that  has  heretofore  been  discarded,  to  be  suffi- 
ciently familiar  with  the  history  of  our  calling  that  we  may  not  be 
caught  napping.  Again,  it  is  possible  that  in  some  instances  the  old 
discarded  remedies  contain  principles  which  might  be  of  value  were 
their  use  revived.  With  this  as  an  introduction  it  may  not  be  un- 
wise to  trace  a  few  of  the  preparations  at  one  time  of  high  popu- 
larity and  in  time  living  almost  only  in  history. 
Black  Draft. — Originally  devised  by  the  court  physician  of 
Rudolph  II,  about  the  year  1600,  and  becoming  a  popular  laxative. 
