Page 31 - Summer2008

THE CIVIL WAR AND THE can materia medica. Although use of calomel Although use
BEGINNING OF THE END FOR CALOMEL had already begun to decline in the middle of
Although the idea of bloodletting had faded the 19th century, many physicians, particularly of calomel
out of fashion by 1860, “many physicians contin- those in the South, prescribed it through World had already
ued to use huge doses of powerful medications, War II. begun to
especially … calomel.” Volney Steele, the son Even through the latter part of the 19th cen-
55
of a frontier physician and a doctor himself, who tury, the East was the only area with a “marked” decline in
learned to hide his childhood stomachaches in reduction in the use of calomel. As late as 1905, the middle
order to avoid a dose of calomel and castor oil many old-time doctors were still prescribing of the 19th
states, “During the Civil War, the use of calomel heavy doses of the mercurial. According to one
as a purge was still nearly sacrosanct.” 56 source, in 1891-92, over a 12-month period, century, many
Another reason physicians continued to Americans consumed approximately “13,900 physicians,
prescribe large doses of calomel during the Civil pounds of calomel and other mercurial medicinal particularly
War had to do with the development of a new in- preparations.” In 1909, calomel was still listed
60

uential industry, the pharmaceutical companies. as a drug manufactured by the pharmaceutical gi- those in the
They made sure that the Union troops were well ant Parke, Davis and Co., and medical textbooks South,
61
supplied with their drugs, including calomel. 57 included calomel as a possible remedy. Calomel prescribed
These manufacturers, who were already grow- was removed from the British Pharmacopoeia
ing wealthy through the increased uses of their in 1958, partially as a result of “pink disease,” a it through
compounds and patent medicines, were among type of mercury poisoning that babies got from World War II.
those outraged in 1863 by the actions of Surgeon teething powder. It is unclear when calomel was
General William Hammond, who had com- removed from the United States Dispensatory.
manded the respect of the civilian and military
medical community, despite his reputation for CALOMEL’S EFFECT ON
being difcult to get along with. This support GENERATIONS OF AMERICANS

evaporated “overnight,” however, when on May One can see the detrimental long-term ef-
4, 1863 Hammond ordered the removal of calo- fects of calomel usage in both those who received
mel and tartar emetic from the ofcial formulary calomel as well as their offspring. Thousands of

of the US Army, called the army supply table. Americans were directly poisoned, maimed, and
Hammond became convinced that these drugs killed by the toxic “heroic” doses of mercury
killed more patients than they helped. But when given via calomel, not to mention through other
Hammond removed these medications from the sources of mercury such as amalgam  llings,
army formulary, much of the civilian medical external mercury preparations, and teething
community arose in revolt. For a generation, powders.
medical doctors had competed with a series of Harris Coulter expounds eloquently on
other healers, with botanists and homeopaths, the severity of America’s poor health in the
whose only unifying creed was that regular middle 1800s: “An intriguing question is the
medicine used too much calomel. 58 responsibility of the medical profession for the
When Hammond lost the support of the generally recognized bad health of Americans in
medical community, Secretary of War Edwin M. the period, 1830-1860. A recent investigator of
Stanton saw the perfect opportunity to remove this question writes: ‘it would not be too much
Hammond from ofce, as their relationship had to say that after 1830 no European traveler to the

always been contentious. Hammond refused to United States ever forgot to insert somewhere in
resign his post but lost the court-martial trial, his published comments on America a few dis-
which many believed was rigged. Neverthe- paraging remarks about the physical appearance
59
less, his directive to eliminate calomel from the of the people.’ About 1850 ‘the nation as a whole
military pharmacopoeia had far-reaching effects began to realize something was wrong with the
on the use of calomel in America. general condition of its health, that these unkind
It took several more generations to see the criticisms on the part of foreign observers had a
complete elimination of calomel from the Ameri- basis in fact.’

SUMMER 2008 Wise Traditions 29