Poisons as medicine

The Russian edition of one
of my books.

On the same kind of analogy, a German doctor has introduced hemlock and other poisons, as specifics, into the materia medica.
— Tobias Smollett Humphrey Clinker.

Poisons and medicines are oftentimes the same substance given with different intents.
 — Peter Mere Latham, General Remarks on the Practice of Medicine, ch 7.

The poisons are our principal medicines, which kill the disease and save the life.
 — Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life, chapter 7.

The Queen's Hotel, Ennis, county Clare, where Rudolph Bloom (Rudolf Virag) died on the evening of the 27 June 1886, at some hour unstated, in consequence of an overdose of monkshood (aconite) self-administered …
— James Joyce, Ulysses.

Vinum antimoniale. Take of the crocus of antimony washed one ounce, of white wine a pint and a half. Infuse without heat, and then strain the wine off through paper. Remark: The straining through paper is here a necessary circumstance, that no part of the antimony may be left floating in the wine, and be given in substance, when a tincture of it only is intended.
— H. Pemberton, MD, The Dispensatory of the Royal College of Physicians, London, 1747, 196.

Arsenyk, sal armonyak, and brymstoon;
And herbes koude I telle eek many oon,
— Chaucer, 'The Canon's Yeoman's Tale', The Canterbury Tales.

Take of sugar of lead, 1 oz.; lack sulphur [possibly black sulfur?], 1 oz.; essence of bergamot, 1/2 oz.; bay rum, 1 gill; alcohol, 1 gill; and half a teaspoonful of salt; dissolve, first, the sugar of lead and sulphur in the alcohol, then the other ingredients; and add the whole to a gallon of warm soft water, then bottle it tightly, and it is fit for use. To be applied several times a day. This is a most excellent article, give it a trial.
— Daniel Young, Young's Demonstrative Translation Of Scientific Secrets, Toronto 1861.

[Alice] Austin, a Maid, had her Face full of red spots, with red Pustles, very ill favoured, although otherwise very comely, and of an excellent wit … The Body thus purged, her Face was anointed with the following Liquor: … Litharge of Gold powdered, one ounce. Alum one dram. Borax three drams. Cerussa half an ounce. Vinegar two ounces. Rosewater and plantain water, each three ounces. Boyl them to the wasting of the third part, after strain them, and add the juyce of lemons, half an ounce … I advised her morning and night (the Pustles opened, broken and crushed) she should wash the Pustles daily with the said Water.
— John Hall, Select Observations on English Bodies, 1657.

Take Bees gather'd in Honey, what pleases, calcine 'em, mix with Oil; [for] Falling off of the Hair.
— Pharmacopoeia Radcliffeana: or Dr. Radcliff's Prescriptions, 1716, 451.

Opiates often relieve the tooth-ach. For this purpose a little cotton wet with laudanum may be held between the teeth or a piece of sticking-plaster, about the bigness of a shilling, with a bit of opium in the middle of it, of a size not to prevent the sticking of the other, may be laid on the temporal artery, where the pulsation is most sensible. De la Motte affirms that there are few cases wherein this will not give relief. If there be a hollow tooth, a small pill made of equal parts of camphire and opium, put into the hollow, is often beneficial. When this cannot be had, the hollow tooth may be filled with gum mastich, wax, lead, or any substance that will stick in it, and keep out the external air.
— William Buchan, Domestic Medicine, 1790, 358–9.

Whenever it can be done, the part that is injured should be cut out immediately, and by this means the poison will be hindered from entering into the system. When this cannot be done, caustic should be applied without delay, so as to change the nature of the wound; or the part affected may be washed, then burnt with a hot iron more extensively than the wound itself, then fill it with mercury and keep it open for some time. Mercury also should be employed inwardly and outwardly, to produce salivation. Large doses of opium, it is said, have proved beneficial. The caustic volatile alkali may upon experiment be discovered to be an antidote to the bite of a mad dog as well as to that of poisonous serpents. Emetic weed, skull cap, and chick weed are deemed valuable remedies in hydrophobia.
— John C. Gunn, Gunn's Domestic Medicine or Poor Man's Friend, 13th edition, 1839, 648

 

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