Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

at the point of death have been cured by taking one, two or three
pounds of Quicksilver in water.’ However by not using these drugs
he probably caused fewer unnecessary adverse effects than the
normal physician.
1748 In the Journal ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for August 1748 a list of
quack remedies was given under the pseudonym of ‘Publicola’.
These were referred to as ‘Nostrums’, which were defined as
medicines with secret ingredients, and ‘Empirics’, which were defined
as medicines which have been shown by experience to have
benefits. He lists 202 such potions and gives the type of medicine, its
use, its inventor, place of sale and cost. Here is a sample of his list:
Drops; Gleets 140 ; Dr Ratcliffe; Vere Street; 3s 6d 141 a bottle.
Elixirs; Fevers; Dr Boerhaave; Denmark Street; 1s 6d a bottle.
Plaisters; Coughs; Helmont; St James’ Churchyard; 1s 0d a
bottle.
Pills; Cancer; Mr Durham; Holbourn; 10s 6d a box.
In the magazine there were numerous advertisements for similar
preparations:
Dr Steer’s Oil for Convulsions, 2s 6d the bottle.
Dr Hooper’s female pills, 1s 1½d the box.
Henry’s Calcined Magnesia, 2s 6d the bottle.
Orskirk Medicine for the bite of a mad dog, 5s 5d the packet.
Daffy’s Elixir, 1s 1d the bottle (Jones, 1957).
Some of the inventors bear famous names, but whether these were
genuine must seem doubtful. These were extortionate prices and
would have been unaffordable by the masses.
1751 The ‘Dispensatory of the Royal College of Physicians’, London,
translated into English from the Latin with remarks, etc. by H
Pemberton, MD. No ADRs mentioned.
1752 ‘Pharmacopoeia Universalis or New Universal English Dispensatory’
by R James MD.
White hellebore: ‘caustic or burning force attracted into the nostrils
after the manner of snuff excites an invincible sneezing: taken into
the stomach it purges upwards and downwards with fever, gripings,
140 Gleets = purulent urethral discharge
141 3/6 = three shillings and sixpence in UK currency and this is worth in 2008 £ 24.59 based on the Retail
Price Index or £ 260.92 on average earnings
(_=&shilling1http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/poweruk/result.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D
=NOMINALEARN&year_early=1748&pound71=&shilling71=1&pence71=&amount=0.05&year_source=1748&y
ear_result=2009) Accessed 10th September 2009