(Originator of Sydenham’s Laudanum.)
Dr. Willis had a secret preparation of iron of which Dr. Walter Harris, physician in ordinary to Charles II, in “Pharmacologia Anti-Empirica” (1683), writes:—“The best preparation of any that iron can yield us is a secret of Dr. Willis. It has hitherto been a great secret and sold at a great price. It was known as Dr. Willis’s Preparation of Steel.” Dr. Harris thinks it will not be an unacceptable service to the public to communicate this masterpiece of that eminent and ever famous man. “It was no strained stately magistery, no sublimation or salification, no calcined crocus, and no chemical mystery; but an easy and a natural way of opening this hard body that it may open ours.” It was given particularly for the removal of obstructions. The formula was equal parts of iron filings and crude tartar powdered and mixed with water in a damp mass in a glazed earthen vessel. This was to be dried over a slow fire or in the sun; wetted and dried again; and this process repeated four or five times. It might be given in white wine, or made into a syrup, or into pills, electuary, or lozenges. Dr. Willis preferred the crude tartar because the cream of tartar sold by the druggists was generally a cheat, often combined with alum. The crude could be bought at 6d. to 8d. per lb. In the apothecaries’ shops cream of tartar was sold at 3s. to 3s. 6d. per lb.
Thomas Willis, M.D. 1621–1675.
Quincy (1724), who frequently offers explanations of the exact way in which medicines exercise their remedial power, thus scientifically describes the action of iron in removing obstructions:—“Mechanics teach nothing more plainly than that the momenta of all percussions are as the rectangles under the gravities and celerities of the moving bodies. By how much more gravity then a metalline particle has more than any other particle in the Blood, if their celerities are equal, by so much the greater will the stroke of the metalline particle be against everything that stands in its way than of any other not so heavy; and therefore will any Obstruction in the Glands and Capillaries be sooner removed by such particles than by those which are lighter. This is a way of reasoning that is plain to the meanest Capacity.”
Tartarised iron has always been a favourite form for its administration. The Balls of Mars (boules de Mars, or boules de Nancy), still a popular medicine in France, are a tartarised iron prepared by a complicated process. First, a decoction of vulnerary species is made from 12 parts of water and 2 of the species. This is strained and poured on 12 parts of pure iron filings in powder. The mixture is evaporated to dryness and powdered. On this powder another decoction, 18 of water and 3 of species, is poured, and 12 parts of red tartar added. This compound is evaporated to the consistence of a firm paste, and a third decoction, 35 water and 5 species, is added to 25 of the paste and 25 of red tartar. This is evaporated to the proper consistence to make balls, which are usually about 1 oz. or 2 oz. in weight. They are kept to dry and then wrapped in wrapper. They are taken in doses of 4 to 5 grains much as Blaud’s pills are taken here. Sometimes the balls are dipped in water until a brown colour is imparted to the liquid. This water is also used as an application to bruises.
Mistura Ferri Composita was adopted in the P.L., 1809, from the formula of his anti-hectic mixture which Dr. Moses Griffith, of Colchester, had published thirty or forty years previously. Paris quotes it as a successful instance of a medical combination which could not receive the sanction of chemical law; and he testifies to the opposition offered on that ground to its official acceptance, but adds that subsequent inquiry had proved that the chemical decompositions which constituted the objections to its use were in fact the causes of its utility. It yields a protocarbonate of iron in suspension, and a sulphate of potash in solution. The compound of iron is in the state in which it is most active.
As evidence of the faith in ferruginous waters as tonics of the generative system, Phillips quotes from the thesis of Dr. Jacques, of Paris, a curious marriage contract said to have been common at one time among the burghers of Frankfort to the effect that their wives should not visit the iron springs of Schwalbach more than twice in their lives for fear of being too fruitful. The story looks suspiciously like an advertisement of Schwalbach.
Tincture of perchloride of iron acquired its reputation in the 18th century from the secret medicines known as La Mothe’s “gouttes d’or,” and Bestucheff’s Nerve Tincture (see page 321). The formula of the latter, published by the Academy of Medicine of St. Petersburg, was corrected by Klaproth, and under various names and in different forms found its way into all the pharmacopœias. Klaproth’s process was to dissolve powdered iron in a mixture of muriatic acid 3, and nitric acid 1; evaporate to dryness, and then leave the mass to deliquesce to a brown liquor. Mix this with twice its weight of sulphuric ether. The saturated ethereal solution to be mixed with twice its volume of spirit of wine, and kept in small bottles exposed to light until the liquid acquired the proper golden tint. A similar preparation is retained in the French Codex under the title of ethereal-alcoholic tincture of muriate of iron.