Blue mass was the name of a medicine prescribed, made, and sold in the United States in the 1800s. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
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Description
Blue mass was recommended as a remedy for such widely varied complaints as tuberculosis, constipation, toothache, parasitic infestations, and the pains of childbirth. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Constipation, costiveness, or irregularity, is a condition of the Digestive system in which a person (or animal experiences hard Feces that A toothache, also known as odontalgia or less frequently as odontalgy, is an aching Pain in or around a Tooth. Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between Organisms of different Species. Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a Human Pregnancy or It was a magistral preparation, compounded by pharmacists themselves based on their own recipes or on one of several widespread recipes. It was sold in the form of blue or gray pills, or syrup. In Cooking, a syrup (from Arabic' ar شراب sharab, beverage via Latin siropus) is a thick Viscous Liquid Its name probably derives from the use of blue dye or blue chalk (used as a buffer) in some formulations. A dye can generally be described as a Colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite.
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). Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον 'pharmakon' = drug is the Health profession that links the Health sciences with the chemical sciences Mercury (ˈmɜrkjʊri also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum, is a Chemical element with the symbol Hg ( Latinized hydrargyrum Mercury(I chloride is the Chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2 One recipe of the period included (for blue mass syrup):
- 33 parts mercury
- 5 parts licorice
- 25 parts Althaea (possibly hollyhock or marshmallow)
- 3 parts glycerol
- 34 parts rose honey
Blue mass was also used to treat syphilis, in the form of ointments, gargles, and eye washes. Liquorice (UK or licorice (US (see spelling differences;, or) is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, from which a sweet flavour can be extracted Althaea is a Genus of 6-12 species of perennial herbs including the marshmallow plant whence the confection got its name native Althaea officinalis ( Marshmallow, Marsh Mallow, or Common Marshmallow) is a species native to Africa, which is used as a A rose is a perennial flowering Shrub or vine of the Genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species Honey is a sweet and Viscous fluid produced by Honey bees (and some other species and derived from the nectar of Flowers According to the Syphilis is a Sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal Bacterium Treponema pallidum pallidum. An ointment is a viscous semisolid preparation used topically on a variety of body surfaces Gargling is the act in which one bubbles a liquid in his or her mouth Eyewash is a fluid commonly Saline, used in the aid of rinsing of the Eye.
Toxicity
Mercury is known today to be toxic, and ingestion of mercury leads to mercury poisoning (q. Mercury poisoning (also known as mercurialism, hydrargyria, Hunter-Russell syndrome, or acrodynia when affecting children is a Disease v. ), a form of 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 U.S. today. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Over time, anyone taking blue mass regularly was virtually certain to develop mercury poisoning.
Blue Mass and Abraham Lincoln
Some historians suspect that Abraham Lincoln's use of blue mass to treat “melancholy” (probably clinical depression) may have altered his behavior, and may explain the erratic behavior and violent rages to which he was subject over a period of years prior to the Civil War in the United States. Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal Major depressive disorder, also known as major depression, unipolar depression, unipolar disorder, clinical depression, or simply depression Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Lincoln stopped taking it soon after his inauguration as President because it made him “cross,” according to a letter he wrote to a friend. Some historians believe that this explains the contrast between his earlier behavior (while he was perhaps suffering from mercury poisoning from his use of Blue Mass) and his later behavior during the war (after he had stopped taking blue mass), given that most of the effects of mercury poisoning are reversible. Unfortunately, since no hair samples from Lincoln during this period are available, it is impossible to determine whether or not he was truly suffering from mercury poisoning while he was taking the blue mass.
Other famous historical figures, such as Ulysses S. Grant, may also have taken blue mass regularly. Ulysses S Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27 1822 &ndash July 23 1885 was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States
See also
References and external links
- Blue Mass
- Abe Lincoln's Blue Mass Pills
- Abraham Lincoln and His Little Blue Pills
- Did Mercury in "Little Blue Pills" Make Abraham Lincoln Erratic?
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