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Van Swieten's solution of corrosive sublimate was introduced in the middle of the eighteenth century as a remedy for syphilis, and for a long time was highly esteemed. Its author, Baron von Swieten, was of Dutch birth, and was a pupil of Boerhaave. He was invited to Vienna by the Empress Maria Theresa, and exercised an almost despotic authority in medical treatment. His original formula was 24 grains of corrosive sublimate dissolved in two quarts of whisky, a tablespoonful to be taken night and morning, followed by a long draught of barley-water.

Corrosive sublimate was the recognised cure for syphilis, at least in Vienna, at that time. Maximilian Locher, another noted physician of the same school, claimed to have cured 4,880 cases in eight years with the drug. This was in 1762.

The bisulphide of mercury (cinnabar) was also used in many nostrums. Paris says it was the active ingredient in Chamberlain's restorative pills, "the most certain cure for the scrophula, king's evil, fistula, scurvy, and all impurities of the blood."

The art of extinguishing or "killing" mercury has been discussed and experimented on from the fifteenth century until the present day. The modern use of steam machinery in the manufacture of mercurial ointment, mercurial pills, and mercury with chalk has put a check on the ingenuity of patient pharmacists, who