Dr. Fowler published his treatise, entitled "Medical Reports of the Effects of Arsenic in the Cure of Agues, Remitting Fevers, and Periodic Headaches." It was only a small work, but it made Fowler's reputation, and introduced arsenic into the list of recognised remedies. The doctor stated that a certain Patent Ague Drops known as Tasteless Ague and Fever Drops, which had acquired some reputation in this country, had been occasionally tried in the Stafford Infirmary, and had been found efficacious. With the assistance of the apothecary to the Infirmary, a Mr. Hughes ("whose industry, attention, and abilities in his professional line justly merit applause") he had ascertained that these drops were a preparation of arsenic, and he goes on to detail the experiments which led him and Mr. Hughes to devise the following formula as representative of the patent medicine:—
"Recipe arsenici albi in pulverem subtilissimum triti.
"Salis alkalini fixi vegetabilis purificati, singulorum grana sexaginta quatuor.
"Aquae fontanae destillatae, libram dimidiam.
"Immitantur in Ampullam florentinam qua in Balneo Arenae posita, Aqua lente ebulliat donec Arsenicum perfecti Solutum fierit. Deinde Solutioni frigidæ adde.
"Spiritus Lavendulæ compositum, unciam dimidiam.
"Aquae fontanæ destillatæ, libram dimidiam, plus vel minus, adeo ut solutionis mensura libra una accurata fiat, vel potius Pondere unciæ quindecim cum dimidia."
Fowler reminds his readers that of course troy weights are intended, and he explains that the spirit of lavender is added merely to give the mixture a medicinal appearance, lest patients entrusted to drop it for themselves might be tempted to use a water-white solution too freely. He also suggests that as arsenic conveys rather
