Diachylon
Diachylon (from Latin diachȳlōn , from ancient Greek διὰ χυλῶν , "[a drug] consisting of juices"), also Diachylum or Diaculum , was originally a drug made from the juices of several plants (hence the name), later the name in general for lead - plaster , emplastrum plumbi , a paste of lead oxide , which together with olive oil is boiled and water. It is applied to linen towels and works like a plaster when heated.
Historically, different types of Diachylon have been described. White or simple diachylon is made up of common oil, black lead, and glues extracted from the root of marshmallow , the seeds of flax and fenugreek . The diachylon, called the direatum, is based on the white diachylon, but with every pound of it an ounce of iris powder is mixed; this paste is stronger than the simple Diachylon.
There is also the Great Diachylon or Diachylon magnum , which is made from gold lithium, iris oils, chamomile , anethum , turpentine , pine resin, yellow wax and adhesives made from flax, fenugreek, new figs, raisins from Damascus, frankincense , iris juice, Drimia maritima and hyssop . This Diachylon is said to soften hard swellings called scirrhus and to dissolve tumors.
The Diachylon gummatum is the large Diachylon with the addition of ammonia gum , galbanum and sagapenum , which is dissolved with wine and boiled to a consistency of honey. This paste was believed to have the greatest digestive, ripening and dissolving power of all.
Use as an abortifacient
In the late 1800s, working-class women discovered that lead poisoning from ingestion of Diachylon could cause an abortion, or, as they described it, "make her period". "Diachylon has been readily available in every working-class home for use on cuts and wounds, as a plaster, and for sucking milk after childbirth. Now it has been re-used. In the words of one doctor," I have reason to believe that in this district the practice of taking Diachylon in pill form to induce miscarriage is far more common among the working class than is generally believed ”.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, Sept. 2005
- ^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Perseus Project
- ↑ a b c Chambers, E., ed. (1728), Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.)
- ^ A b Angus McLaren, Birth Control in Nineteenth-Century England , Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc, 1978, ISBN 0-8419-0349-2 . P. 246.