A Brief History of Bad Medicine (Brief Histories) by Schott Ian & Youngston Robert

Author:Schott, Ian & Youngston, Robert [Schott, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781780335278
Publisher: Constable Robinson
Published: 2012-01-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Drugs worse than diseases

Dangerous blisters

Some of the worst medical blunders, particularly in this century, have been caused by unknown side-effects from new drugs. Throughout the history of medicine drugs seem to have caused almost as much harm as good. The practice of blistering as a medical treatment was once common. Blisters were usually raised by means of plasters smeared with a preparation of Spanish fly, or cantharides, a highly irritating substance. Some doctors, while acknowledging the merits of blistering, were, however, careful to make certain reservations.

Here is an extract from the book Observations on Maniacal Disorders by William Pargeter MD, published in 1792; after dilating on the value of blistering, properly applied in selected cases of mental disease, Pargeter warns: ‘But in those species of the disorder named nymphomania or metromania et satyriasis, the use of blisters must be most strictly prohibited; and indeed in every case of madness where there is a disposition to salacity, which is a very common concomitant symptom, this ought to be cautiously and seriously attended to… Indeed, in all cases, blistering plasters, before they are applied, should be either sprinkled with camphor, or a fine piece of muslin should be interposed between them and the skin, by which means stranguria (painful and difficult urination), or what is infinitely more disagreeable, priapismus (persistent erection), will most generally be prevented. Two fatal instances of the excessive use of cantharides producing satyriasis (a compulsive desire to have sexual intercourse with as many women as possible) are recorded by Cabrolius Obs. Anat, 17, and others in the Ephemerides Germanicae Curiosae Decad 1.’

Pargeter has a point. Cantharides has, from time immemorial, been widely regarded as an effective aphrodisiac. The dried and powdered body of the European beetle, Cantharis vesicatoria contains the powerfully irritating, blistering and toxic substance cantharidin which is readily absorbed through the skin or mucous membranes. The chemical name for pure crystalline cantharidin (hexahydro-3a,7a-dimethyl-4,7-epoxyisobenzofuran-l,3-dione) is about as fearful as its effects on the body.

Once absorbed, and this readily occurs through the skin, the drug produces widespread damage to any tissue with which it comes in contact. It is then excreted in the urine and as it does so it causes an acute inflammation of the whole urinary tract, including a form of nephritis that can prove fatal. A conspicuous feature of this is inflammation of the urethra – the tube along which urine is passed from the bladder. Anyone suffering from such a urethritis would certainly have his or her attention drawn constantly to the genitalia. Whether this would have the effect of promoting sexual arousal (presumably the basis of this substance’s reputation as an aphrodisiac) is another matter entirely.

There is a report in the literature about the office manager of a firm of wholesale chemical manufacturers who was so unwise as to make up a confection of cantharides in coconut ice which he fed to two young office girls. The outcome – an indictment for manslaughter and a sentence of five years’ imprisonment, was somewhat less pleasant than he had presumably hoped for.

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