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History
The first time that the substance that would come to be known as calomel was documented was in Ancient Syria by the Persian medical historian, Rhazes; however, only a few of the compounds he mentioned could be positively identified as calomel as not every alchemist disclosed what compounds went into their drugs. Calomel first entered Western medical literature in 1608, when Oswald Croll wrote about the drug’s preparation in his “Tyroncium Chemicum,” although it was not called calomel until 1655 when the name was created by Sir Turquet de Mayrene. In 1618, Mayrene was the first to publish the preparation and formula for calomel in “Pharmacopoeia of Londinensis.”

By the 19th century, calomel was viewed as a panacea, or miracle drug, and was used to cure almost every disease. Some of these diseases included: syphilis, bronchitis, cholera, ingrown toenails, teething, gout, tuberculosis, influenza, and cancer. Although during the 18th and early 19th century pharmacists used calomel sparingly, by the late 1840s calomel was being prescribed in heroic doses. This was in part to due with the research of Benjamin Rush who coined the term heroic dose to mean about 20 grains taken four times daily. This stance was supported by Dr. Samuel Cartwright who believed that taking large doses was the “gentlest” on the body. As calomel rose in popularity, more research was done into how it worked.

J. Annesley was one of the first to write about the different effects of calomel when taken in small or large doses. Through experimentation on dogs, Annesley concluded that calomel acted more like a laxative on the whole body rather than acting specifically on the vascular system or liver as previous physicians believed. In 1853, Samuel Jackson described the harmful effects of calomel on children in his publication for Transactions of Physicians of Philadelphia. He noted that calomel had harmful effects causing gangrene on the skin, loss of teeth, and deterioration of the gums. On May 4, 1863, William A. Hammond, the United States’ Surgeon-General, stated that calomel would no longer be used in the army as it was being abused by soldiers and physicians alike. This caused much debate in the medical field, and eventually led to his removal as Surgeon-General. During the American Civil War the South did not have much access to calomel and used quinnine instead; however, throughout the Antebellum period use of calomel in the South increased. Calomel continued to be used well into the 1890s and even into the early 20th century. Eventually calomel’s popularity began to wane as more research was done, and scientists discovered that the mercury in the compound was poisoning patients.