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Blue mass (also known as blue pill or pilula hydrargyri) was the name of a mercury-based medicine formerly common from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The oldest formula is ascribed to one Barbarossa, in a letter to Francis I of France.〔Frazer, William. ''Elements of Materia Medica''. Dublin, 1851, p. 173.〕 ==Description== Blue pill was used as a specific treatment for syphilis from at least the late 17th century to the early 18th.〔Marten, John. ''A Treatise of the Venereal Disease''. London, 1711, p. 630.〕 Blue pill was recommended as a remedy for such widely varied complaints as tuberculosis, constipation, toothache, parasitic infestations, and the pains of childbirth. A combination of the blue pill, and a mixture called the common black draught, was a standard cure for constipation in early 19th century England and elsewhere. It was particularly valued on ships of the Royal Navy, where sailors and officers were constrained to eat rock-hard salted beef and pork, old stale biscuits (hardtack), and very little fruit, fiber, or other fresh food once they were at sea for an extended period. It was a magisterial 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. Its name probably derives from the use of blue dye or blue chalk (used as a buffer) in some formulations. 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). One recipe of the period included (for blue mass syrup):〔(King's American Dispensatory, 1898. )〕 * 33% mercury (nearly one-third, measured by weight) * 5% licorice * 25% Althaea (possibly hollyhock or marshmallow) * 3% glycerol * 34% rose honey Blue pills were produced by substituting milk sugar and rose oil for the glycerol and rose honey. Pills contained one grain (64.8 milligrams) of mercury. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blue mass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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