Page 23 - Summer2008

ical historians credit the Swiss-born Sir Theodore Cullen was obviously aware that calomel could The first half
Turquet de Mayerne with introducing calomel affect the saliva, the “whole of the alimentary
into the general repertory of pharmaceuticals in canal [and] perspiration” and felt that it could of the 19th
England at the beginning of the 17th century. be used universally for many diseases because century saw
Turquet de Mayerne had been a member of it would be “distributed” throughout the body. the rise of
the Paracelsan (Iatrochemical) school of medi- Although he was not sure how mercury worked,
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cine and thus experimented with many different he believed it to be “entirely in the mouth.” heroic, or

formulations. As ofcial physician to Henry IV Externally, mercury was considered a sav- orthodox,
of France, he wrote a treatise in 1600 espousing ing grace for the increasing number of cases of medicine
“the use of mineral medicines, particularly the syphilis developing throughout Europe and the
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antimonials and mercurials.” This was enough Colonies. Cullen and other physicians at the time among
to stir the ire of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, saw how an external application of mercury could American
which essentially decreed via edict that he was make the genital sores of venereal diseases disap- physicians,
never to practice medicine in France again. But pear. On the other hand, Samuel Hahnemann,
rather than give up the use of these chemicals, the founder of modern-day homeopathy, showed and by 1844
Turquet de Mayerne left France for England, that such applications simply caused the disease “the most

becoming the ofcial physician to King James to go “inward,” sometimes for years, until the common
I of England. Turquet de Mayerne was also symptoms of secondary and tertiary stages of

instrumental in the 1618 publication of the rst syphilis appeared; most physicians simply con- method of
London Pharmacopoeia, which was sponsored fused the symptoms of advanced-staged syphilis treatment…
by the London College of Physicians. Upon with mercury poisoning, since they bore some was
publication, “King James I immediately issued commonalities.
a proclamation requiring all apothecaries in the According to another prominent homeo- ‘bleeding,
realm to obey this pharmacopoeia,” of which path, James Tyler Kent, these applications con- calomel, and
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calomel was an important item. tributed to the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea mineral
Thus it is only natural that the use of calo- because men would think they were no longer
mel made its way from London to Edinburgh, contagious once the canker was gone but would medicines.’”
Scotland, where, until the establishment of the then infect their wives. Physicians continued
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rst medical school in the United States in the to use external applications of mercury to treat

mid 1700s, most American colonial physicians syphilis well into the 20th century, until the ad-

were trained. Perhaps the two most inuential vent of antibiotics. Additionally, in the Colonies

gures in Edinburgh were the Dutch physician in the 18th century, purging with calomel was
and teacher Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738) often used as “preparation” for small pox inocu-
and the Scot William Cullen (1710-1790). lation. 16
Despite their philosophical differences
regarding the origin of disease, both men equally BENJAMIN RUSH AND
championed the use of calomel for a whole THE “HEROIC” DOSE
range of illness, from fever to gout to dysentery. The rst half of the 19th century saw the

Boerhaave, “treated all ‘obstructions’ with mer- rise of heroic, or orthodox, medicine among
cury.” Cullen popularized the use of calomel American physicians, and by 1844 “the most
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in his Practice of the Physic, published in 1784. common method of treatment. . . was ‘bleeding,
Likewise, in his Treatise of the Materia Medica, calomel, and mineral medicines.’” One doctor
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he offers many different observations about was quoted as saying, “Bile to cause, and calomel
calomel, without actually having any concrete to cure, everything.”
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idea about how it works once inside the body. Until the middle of the 19th century, little
Like his colleagues, he believed that cathartics was known about pathology and physiology,
like calomel, which cause the body to purge from and most symptoms were believed to come from
the bowels, did not penetrate the blood, and if an imbalance in the “humors” or  uids—bile,
they did, they would be quickly expelled from phlegm and blood. Consequently, the aim of the
the body via “secretory or excretory organs.” physician centered around “purging” the body

SUMMER 2008 Wise Traditions 21