A Sure Remedy

[DaveBrt]

Savannah Daily Morning News, June 26, 1863

Cut This Out

At the present season of the year, when dysentery and diarrhea are prevalent, it is well to have a preventative at hand. Clip the one below and have it convenient. Many years' trial have roved it a sure remedy:

Take equal parts of tincture of opium, cayenne pepper, rhubarb, essence of peppermint, and spirits of camphor. Mix well in a bottle and shake before using. Dose, from 4 to 30 drops, to be repeated every 10 or 15 minutes, until relief is obtained.

 

[Elliot Crumblemuffin]

Savannah Daily Morning News, June 26, 1863

Cut This Out

At the present season of the year, when dysentery and diarrhea are prevalent, it is well to have a preventative at hand. Clip the one below and have it convenient. Many years' trial have roved it a sure remedy:

Take equal parts of tincture of opium, cayenne pepper, rhubarb, essence of peppermint, and spirits of camphor. Mix well in a bottle and shake before using. Dose, from 4 to 30 drops, to be repeated every 10 or 15 minutes, until relief is obtained.

Yes, please!

 

[USS ALASKA]

Kinda thinking this mixture would make one feel better with all sorts of ailments...temporarily.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

This is based on my own conjecture, so take it with a grain of salt, but I collect old recipes and have occasionally come across instructions in period newspapers which allude to how "dangerous" it was to eat raw fruits and vegetables. Doing so would almost certainly cause the affliction mentioned above, according some writers, whereas cooking removed this danger.

Given the widespread use of manure as fertilizer and how few recipes mention washing such food before preparing it, I would expect diarrhea would be a problem for anyone snacking on some strawberries or tomatoes taken directly from the garden. Mothers were particularly warned to lecture their children on these dangers. The OP suggests the cure was likely to be as damaging as the disease however!

 

[Library Lady]

The only thing you need for diarrhea out of that recipe is the opioid. Opioid-induced constipation can be a major problem for cancer patients needing opioids for pain relief. Capsaicin (the active ingredient in cayenne pepper) is a GI irritant that can cause diarrhea. Rhubarb is also known to cause diarrhea in some people. Essence of peppermint may cut down on GI cramps/pain, but not necessarily the diarrhea. Spirits of camphor (camphor that can be taken orally) hasn't been legal in the US since the 1980s because people were poisoning themselves.

 

[lelliott19]

Take equal parts of tincture of opium, cayenne pepper, rhubarb, essence of peppermint, and spirits of camphor. Mix well in a bottle and shake before using. Dose, from 4 to 30 drops, to be repeated every 10 or 15 minutes, until relief is obtained.

Wow. A "drop" is about 0.05 ml so that recommend dose range could wind up containing a good bit of opium. Tincture of opium contains the equivalent of morphine 10 mg/mL and is 25 times more potent than paregoric.

So let's do the math, shall we?
Recommended dose: 4 to 30 drops every 10-15 minutes.
4 drops x 0.05 ml = 0.20 mls and 30 drops x 0.05 mls = 1.5 mls

Let's use the 15 minute interval = 4 doses per hour.
So in the first hour, the recommended dose
4 drops x 0.05 ml = 0.20 mls x 4 doses = 0.80 ml
Or at the larger dose, 30 drops x 0.05 mls = 1.5 mls x 4 doses = 6 mls

The recipe says to mix equal parts of the 5 ingredients. So 1/5 or 20% of the liquid concoction would be the incredibly potent tincture of opium.

Using the lower dose (4 drops 4x per hour) which wound up being 0.80 ml in an hour, the patient would receive 0.16 ml of tincture of opium. That's equal to about 0.03 of a teaspoon in an hour. Ok. Maybe that much wouldn't hurt the patient? If dosages continued for 3 hours, that would be close to 1/10 teaspoon of tincture of opium.

Using the high end dosage (30 drops 4x per hour) which wound up being 6 mls in an hour, the patient would receive 1.2 mls of tincture of opium. That's equal to 1/4 teaspoon in an hour. If "treatment" continued at that dosage for 3 hours, that would be 3/4 teaspoon of tincture of opium. ...which you'll recall was 25 times more potent than paregoric.

I'm pretty sure at that point, the patient would be unconscious and no longer care about the diarrhea?

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I'm pretty sure at that point, the patient would be unconscious (or dead) and no longer care about the diarrhea?

And the cause of death listed on the death certificate would, of course, say "diarrhea."

 

[John Hartwell]

A variant: Boston Recorder, Sept. 1, 1865:

 

[John Hartwell]

Or, if you prefer,the Richmond Whig variant, with added "purified chloroform" Sept. 18, 1866:

 

[Library Lady]

Or, if you prefer,the Richmond Whig variant, with added "purified chloroform" Sept. 18, 1866:
View attachment 465363

I'm wondering if the E. R. Squibb, M.D., named above is this gent, https://www.civilwarmed.org/squibb-story/ , the Squibb in Bristol Myers Squibb.

 

[John Hartwell]

I'm wondering if the E. R. Squibb, M.D., named above is this gent, https://www.civilwarmed.org/squibb-story/ , the Squibb in Bristol Myers Squibb.

Seems likely:

E. R. Squibb | American chemist

E. R. Squibb, (born July 4, 1819, Wilmington, Del., U.S.—died Oct. 25, 1900, Brooklyn, N.Y.), U.S. chemist and pharmaceutical manufacturer who developed methods of making pure and reliable drugs and founded a company to manufacture them. During the four years when Squibb served on various...

www.britannica.com