Opodeldoc.
So far as can be traced Paracelsus first used the term opodeldoc (or as it is generally found in his works, opodelloch or opodeltoch). If he invented the word it is probable that he did not derive it from any etymological elements. Various suggestions have been made from time to time in explanation of the term, but without any sound basis. The most ingenious one is given by Hermann Peters in his “Pictorial History of Ancient Pharmacy.” He derives it from the first syllabic of opoponax, the second syllable of bedellium, and the third syllable of aristolochia root. These were the principal ingredients of the old opodeldoc plaster as it appeared in the last Nuremburg edition of the “Dispensatory of Valerius Cordus.”
In some dictionaries Mindererus is credited with the invention of the word, but incorrectly. He uses it, but expressly attributes it to Paracelsus. In his “Medicina Militaris,” for example, he advises the army doctor to “be provided with a good plaister for wounds made by thrusting (spear-wounds) such as are the opodeldoc of Theophrastus.” Schröder, another medical author of about the same date (1600) also refers to the “oppodeldoch plaister of Paracelsus.” Paracelsus only uses the term opodeldoc for plasters, and for these he does not give a specific formula. One of his annotators, Felix Wurtz, however, states that the following was the method of preparing the great opodeldoch plaster which Paracelsus was in the habit of using. Its formula was as follows:—
Galbanum, opoponax, of each 3 oz.; ammoniacum, bdellium, of each 1 oz. Macerate for eight days in distilled vinegar and slowly evaporate the solution to the consistence of honey. Then boil together, litharge in fine powder, ½ lb., with 1½ lb. of oil, stirring until the compound acquires the colour of bay. Add 1 lb. of wax, and when melted mix with the solution the gums above mentioned, and soon after add 3 oz. of oil of laurinus. Stir all these diligently until they are perfectly mixed, then remove from the fire and work in the following powders, all finely powdered:—
Crocus martial, mummy, prepared magnet, magistery of white coral, and magistery of red coral, of each ½ oz.; calamine, myrrh, frankincense, mastich, aristolochia root, of each 2 oz. Stir these gradually with the liquefied plaster.
Separately mix 1 drachm of powdered amber, 1 drachm of oil of laurinus, and ½ oz. of turpentine, and add to them 1 drachm of camphor and ½ drachm of saffron. Add this mixture to the plaster, and when perfectly blended form into magdaleons (rolls). These may be slightly softened with oil of St. John’s wort.
The author explains that this plaster will heal all wounds and all ordinary ulcers without the formation of pus; but for rodent ulcers he recommends the addition of 1 drachm of the following mixture of powders to each ½ oz. of plaster:—Crocus of antimony, vitriol of calcined rubies, and red precipitate; equal parts worked in with a little oil of turpentine. Other forms were given by different authors, but this was the one which was adopted in the P.L., 1721.
Just when the name was transferred from a plaster to the liquid soap liniment cannot be traced; it was applied to an ointment on the way. There is a formula for an Unguentum Opodeldoch in the first Edinburgh Pharmacopœia, 1722, as follows:—
“Rad. angelicæ, aristolochiæ longæ, imperatoriæ, aa 2 oz.;
“Fol. ocimi (basil), origani, salviæ, serpylli,
“Flor anthos, lavandulæ, aa 1½ oz.;
“Bacc. juniper, lauri, sem. cummini, aa 2 oz.; castorei, 1 oz.
“Affunde Spirit. Vini Rect. congium unum. Digere frigide per triduum in vaso clauso; tandem humitatur in B.M. tepidum per horas aliquot. Colatura expressæ adde
“Camphoræ 1 oz., saponis Venet. minutim incisi, lbii.
“Digere rursus in vase circularorio juncturis lutatis, leni calore B.M. donec coeant in unguentum.”
Steer’s opodeldoc was similar to this compound, but with some ammonia added. It appeared about the middle of the eighteenth century, and foreign dispensatories state that it was the patent of an English doctor. I have not been able to trace either the patent or the doctor. Steer’s opodeldoc was evidently the model imitated in most of the foreign pharmacopœias.