Tinct. Benzoin Co., was a copy of Ward’s Balsam, which itself was only the adaptation of compounds which had been for a long time sold under the names of Friar’s Balsam, Commander’s Balsam, Jesuit’s Drops, Turlington’s Drops, and Traumatic Balsam. It was under the last name that it first appeared in the P.L. of 1746. This was only the Latinised name of Wound Balsam, another old designation of a similar preparation.
It is not known how the still popular name for this preparation, Friar’s Balsam, originated. It is included in the Schedule to the Medicine Stamp Act of 1812, suggesting that at that time it was regarded as a proprietary medicine.
A correspondent of The Chemist and Druggist (P. F. R., April 15, 1885) quoted from the Western Antiquary, 1884, page 136, the curious item that a Portuguese merchant named Peter de Frias obtained from the Viceroy of Peru, about the year 1581, the fruit of a balm or balsam. It is not an impossible suggestion that Peter de Frias may have been the originator of our Friar’s Balsam. The substitution of benzoin for the balsam of Peru, which was probably the basis of his “wound balsam,” is easily accounted for. Perhaps a more likely explanation of the introduction of Friar’s Balsam into the Medicine Stamp Act is that there was a patent medicine “called the Frier’s Drops,” patented by Robert Grubb on June 13, 1777. It was intended for the cure of the venereal disease, scurvy, rheumatism, and other complaints. It contained calomel, antimony, guaiacum, and balsam of Peru in spirit.
The Baume de Commandeur, which was also called Baume du Commandeur de Permes, and Baume du Chevalier de Saint Victor, seems to have been the original of these benzoinated tinctures, and acquired considerable reputation in France. It was evidently at first a proprietary preparation, but Pomet in 1694 gave a formula for an imitation of it, with the remark that it would cure in eight days any wound by iron or fire, if it were not a mortal one. His formula prescribes benzoin, 3 oz.; dry Peruvian balsam, 1 oz.; storax, 2 oz.; Socotrine aloes, myrrh, olibanum, angelica root, and St. John’s wort flowers, of each ½ oz. digested in 2½ lb. of spirit, and strained. The Traumatic Balsam introduced into the P.L. substituted Balsam of Tolu for the Balsam of Peru, and omitted the myrrh, olibanum, angelica, and St. John’s wort. This was almost identical with the Tinct. Benzoin Co. of the present B.P.
The simple tincture of benzoin was already popular in this country when the Traumatic Balsam was introduced. It was taken in doses of 20 to 60 drops in asthma, but its more usual employment was as Lac Virginis (1 drachm of the tincture in 4 ounces of water) as an application for the skin.
Gregory’s Powder.
The original of the Pulv. Rhei Co. of the British Pharmacopœia was a prescription very frequently given by Dr. James Gregory, of Edinburgh, in his time the most famous physician of that city. He died in 1822. This Dr. Gregory was Professor of Medicine in Edinburgh University, as his father was before him. His son became Professor of Chemistry in the same university. Direct ancestors of these Gregorys had been professors of history, astronomy, and mathematics at Edinburgh, Oxford, and St. Andrews. Within a century and a half the family furnished sixteen professors to British universities, and it is a curious coincidence that the Church of Rome likewise counts sixteen Gregorys among its Popes.
Dr. James Gregory.
Professor of Medicine in Edinburgh University, 1790–1821. Author of Conspectus Medicinæ Theoreticæ and inventor of Gregory’s Powder.