“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.
Paregoric.
Paregoric Elixir originated with Le Mort, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Leyden from 1702 till 1718, when he died and was succeeded by Boerhaave. A modification of Le Mort’s formula was given in the P.L., 1721, as Elixir Asthmaticum, thus:—Honey and liquorice root, of each 4 oz.; flowers of benjamin and opium, of each 1 drachm; camphor, 2 scruples; oil of aniseed, ½ drachm; salt of tartar, 1 oz.; spirit of wine, 2 lb. Quincy (1724) says, “there is not any composition of our shops to be compared to it in the intention in which it is ordered.” He explains that opium procures a truce with the cough, and so provides a better opportunity for the other ingredients to rarefy and thin the viscid cohesions in the vessels, and fit them for circulation and secretion. In the P.L., 1746, the honey, liquorice, and salt of tartar were omitted, and the name of the preparation was changed to Elixir Paregoricum. The Edinburgh Pharmacopœia of 1756 left out the honey, liquorice, and salt of tartar, substituted saffron for camphor, and ammoniated the spirit. The P.E. also adopted the name of Paregoric. In the P.L., 1788, the official name became Tinct. Opii Camphorata, and in 1851, Tinct. Camphoræ Co. A similar formula appears in most foreign Pharmacopœias. In the German Pharmacopœia and in some others it is called Tinct. Opii Benzoica.
Paregoric, that is, soothing, remedies were frequently spoken of before the adjective became specific. Leclerc, dealing with the later Greek and Roman remedies, states that preparations into which poppy juice or opium entered as an essential ingredient, whether they were pills or liquids, were called anodyna or paregorica. Bishop Berkeley said of his tar water that it was “both paregoric and cordial.” The word was derived from a Greek combination originally meaning to speak in an assembly, but it acquired the secondary sense of speaking words of consolation.
Pil. Cochia.
Pil. Cochia originated with the Greco-Roman physicians, from Galen onwards, and all the formulas for it associate aloes with a more drastic purgative such as colocynth, which is the usual ingredient. The term, however, did not come into use until about the seventh century, and according to some authorities it was first formally adopted by Rhazes, the Arab. The predecessors of our pills were called “katapotia,” which meant things to be swallowed, and the earlier prescribers directed katapotia of such a size. Celsus, for example, orders katapotia of the size of an almond, of an Egyptian bean, and so on. Subsequently as patients became more fastidious they were humoured by the doctors, and katapotia of the size of a coccus, which was a lentil berry, were prescribed. Coccion meant a diminutive coccus, and as the pill of aloes and colocynth was frequently prescribed in this way the term came to distinguish those pills particularly. Paul of Ægina’s formula (sixth century) ordered aloes and colocynth pulp, and extract of wormwood, of each one part, with scammony two parts. To be made into pills of the size of a coccus. Eleven were to be taken for a dose. The early London Pharmacopœias contained formulas for pilulæ cocciæ majores, from Rhazes, and pilulæ cocciæ minores, from Galen. Only the latter survived. In the P.L., 1746, the name of Pilulæ cocciæ minores was changed to Pilulæ ex Colocynthide cum Aloe, and the formula ordered Socotrine aloes and scammony, of each 2 oz.; pulp of colocynth 1 oz.; oil of cloves, 2 drachms.