Editing Calomel (section)

==History==
The substance later known as calomel was first documented in ancient Persia by medical historian [[Rhazes]] in year 850. Only a few of the compounds he mentioned could be positively identified as calomel, as not every alchemist disclosed what compounds they used in their drugs.<ref name="Urdang">{{cite journal |last1=Urdang |first1=George |title=The Early Chemical and Pharmaceutical History of Calomel |journal=Chymia |volume=1 |pages=93–108 |doi=10.2307/27757117|jstor=27757117 |year=1948 }}</ref> Calomel first entered Western medical literature in 1608, when [[Oswald Croll]] wrote about its preparation in his ''Tyroncium Chemicum''. It was not called calomel until 1655, when the name was created by [[Théodore de Mayerne]],<ref name="Means">{{cite journal |last1=Means |first1=Alexander |title=Calomel—Its Chemical Characteristics and Mineral Origins Considered |journal=Southern Medical and Surgical Journal |date=1845 |page=98}}</ref> who had published its preparation and formula in “Pharmacopoeia Londinensis" in 1618.<ref name="Urdang" />

[[File:Antique medicine bottle marked calomel.jpg|alt=Photo of an empty medicine bottle labelled "Calomel tablets"|thumb|left|upright|Calomel was a common medicine from the 16th to 20th century, despite causing mercury poisoning.]]By the 19th century, calomel was viewed as a [[panacea]], or miracle drug, and was used against almost every disease, including [[syphilis]], [[bronchitis]], [[cholera]], [[ingrown toenails]], [[teething]], [[gout]], [[tuberculosis]], [[influenza]], and [[cancer]]. During the 18th and early 19th centuries pharmacists used it sparingly; but by the late 1840s, it was being prescribed in [[Heroic medicine|heroic doses]]<ref name="Haller 2">{{cite journal |last1=Haller, Jr. |first1=John S. |title=Samson of the Materia: Medical Theory and the Use and Abuse of Calomel: In Nineteenth Century America Part II |journal=Pharmacy in History |date=1971 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=67–76 |jstor=41108706 }}</ref>—due in part to the research of [[Benjamin Rush]], who coined the term "heroic dose" to mean about {{convert|20|gr|g}} taken four times daily.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Risse |first1=Guenter B. |title=Calomel and the American Medical Sects during the Nineteenth Century. |journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings |date=1973 |issue=XLVIII |pages=57–64}}</ref> This stance was supported by [[Samuel Cartwright]], who believed that large doses were "gentlest" on the body.<ref name="Haller 1">{{cite journal |last1=Haller, Jr |first1=John S. |title=Samson of the Materia Medica: Medical Theory and the Use and Abuse of Calomel: In Nineteenth Century America Part I |journal=Pharmacy in History |date=1971 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=27–34 |jstor=41108691 }}</ref> As calomel rose in popularity, more research was done into how it worked.

J. Annesley was one of the first to write about the differing effects of calomel when taken in small or large doses.<ref name="Haller 1" /> 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.<ref name="Haller 1" /> In 1853, Samuel Jackson described the harmful effects of calomel on children in his publication for Transactions of Physicians of Philadelphia.<ref name="Haller 2" /> He noted that calomel had harmful effects causing [[gangrene]] on the skin, loss of teeth, and deterioration of the gums.<ref name="Haller 2" /> 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.<ref name="Haller 2" /> This caused much debate in the medical field, and eventually led to his removal as surgeon-general.<ref name="Schroeder-Lein,">{{cite book |last1=Schroeder-Lein |first1=Glenna |title=The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine |date=2008 |location=Routledge |pages=10–58 |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1968811}}</ref> Calomel continued to be used well into the 1890s and even into the early 20th century.<ref name="Haller 2" /> Eventually calomel’s popularity began to wane as more research was done, and scientists discovered that the mercury in the compound was poisoning patients.

Calomel was the main of the three components of the pill number 9 of the British army during the First World War.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Qué era la píldora número 9, la pastilla "curalotodo" que recibían los soldados aliados durante la I Guerra Mundial |language=es |work=BBC News Mundo |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-49457082 |access-date=2023-11-09}}</ref>