Blue mass

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This article is about an obsolete medical preparation. For the Roman Catholic Blue Mass for law enforcement professionals, see Blue Mass.

Blue mass (also known as blue pill or pilula hydrargyri) was the name of a mercury-based medicine common from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The oldest formula is ascribed to one Barbarossa, in a letter to Francis I of France.[1]

Description

Blue mass was used as a specific treatment for

parasitic infestations, and the pains of childbirth
.

The Edinburgh New Dispensatory (1789) instructs the making as follows: "Pilula ex Hydrargyro [London] (Quicksilver-pills). Take of Purified quicksilver, Extract of liquorice, having the consistence of honey, of each two drams, Liquorice, finally powdered, one dram. Rub the quicksilver with the extract of liquorice until the globules disappear; then, add the liquorice-powder, mix them together."[3]

A combination of blue mass and a mixture called the common

black draught was a standard cure for constipation in early 19th century England and elsewhere. It was particularly valued on ships of the Royal Navy, where sailors and officers were constrained to eat rock-hard salted beef and pork, old stale biscuits (hardtack), and very little fruit, fiber
, or other fresh food once they were at sea for an extended period.

It was a

pills, or syrup. Its name probably derives from the use of blue dye or blue chalk
(used as a buffer) in some formulations.

The ingredients of blue mass varied, as each pharmacist prepared it himself, but they all included mercury in elemental or compound form (often as mercury chloride, also known as calomel). One recipe of the period for blue mass syrup included:[4]

Blue pills were produced by substituting

milk sugar and rose oil for the glycerol and rose honey. Pills contained one grain
(64.8 milligrams) of mercury.

Toxicity

Mercury is now known to be toxic, and ingestion of mercury leads to

heavy-metal poisoning. While mercury is still used in compound form in some types of medicines and for other purposes, blue mass contained excessive amounts of the metal: a typical daily dose of two or three blue mass pills represented ingestion of more than one hundred times the daily limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States
today.

Use by Abraham Lincoln

Further information: Health of Abraham Lincoln

For several years before his election to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln is known to have taken blue-mass pills for treatment of chronic melancholia.[5] It's been reported that during this time, Lincoln was known to have experienced neurological symptoms, including insomnia, tremor and rage attacks, which suggests he may have been suffering from mercury poisoning. However, a few months after his inauguration, Lincoln reportedly stopped taking the medication because he perceived the pills made him "cross".[5]

In 2001, a study led by renowned public-health investigator

Environmental Protection Agency safety standard by nearly 9000 times,"[5]
which may have adversely affected his health.

References

  1. ^ Frazer, William. Elements of Materia Medica. Dublin, 1851, p. 173.
  2. ^ Marten, John. A Treatise of the Venereal Disease. London, 1711, p. 630.
  3. ^ The Edinburgh New Dispensatory (1789) p.573. London. 1789. p. 573.
  4. ^ King's American Dispensatory, 1898.
  5. ^ a b c "Lincoln's Little Blue Pills" (Press release). ScienceDaily: University Of Chicago Medical Center. 19 July 2001. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  6. S2CID 37918186
    . Retrieved 2021-09-10.

External links
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