Letter
to
Summary
Suggests various remedies for toothache.
Transcriptionf1f2
[Down]
–
My dear Mr Innes
I am extremely sorry to hear of your toothache.— You must not put, I think more than one drop of Chloroform on the tooth..—f3 I send Tincture of Arnicaf4 which smarts the skin (deadly Poison) to put outside.— Mrs Darwin finds hot fomentations do best.— Many find cold water applications best.—
I have found two or three drops of Alum & Swt Spirits of Nitref5 (in bottle with a label) sometimes do my teeth great good. I was not in when your note came
Yours | C. Darwin
I send my bottles which you can return afterwards
I send Creosote,f6 some find a drop of this do much good
Footnotes
- f1
- Vicar of Down since 1846; he became a life-long friend of the Darwin family (see Stecher 1961 and Moore 1985).
- f2
- Stecher 1961 dates this letter 1848 but no reasons are given. The form of the salutation indicates that it is early in their friendship, but no evidence for a precise date has been found.
- f3
- Applied externally chloroform was used as an antiseptic and local anaesthetic (Beasley 1852, p. 245).
- f4
- Tincture of arnica was a common ingredient of mouthwashes at the time and acted primarily as a disinfectant (Court 1982).
- f5
- Sweet spirits of nitre (ethyl nitrite) and finely-powdered alum were the ingredients of a proprietory product for toothache called ‘Mr. Blake’s tincture’ (Beasley 1852, p. 245).
- f6
- Creosote, obtained from wood tar, was also used locally as an antiseptic; ‘it frequently affords immediate relief in toothache’ (Beasley 1854, p. 199).