Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1752

ANDREW MATHIAS (fl. 1810) The mercurial disease. Edward Parker and Kimber & Richardson 1811 [6] xiv [15]-250 pp. 20.9 cm.

Mathias, surgeon to the Westminster Lying-in Hospital and surgeon extraordinary to the Queen, believed that mercury was useful in the treatment of venereal disease. He wrote this treatise to warn that even such a beneficial drug could produce its own pathology. Mathias found that mercury could result in irritation, ulcers, eruptions, sloughing of tissues, and pain in various parts of the body because of its destructive power on living tissue. He supported his arguments with quotes from the works of John Hunter, Benjamin Bell, and others who used mercury but recognized its dangers. Mathias felt that mercury was the drug of choice in treating venereal disease but that its effect was mostly to reduce the disease to a point at which it went into a lengthy period of latency. He also believed that adjuvant therapy with sarsaparilla, mezereon, and guaiac could be useful. The case histories are classic descriptions of syphilis. The work was first published at London in 1810.

Cited references: Austin 1236; Waller 14223 (2nd London ed., 1811)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.