Which 'medicine' had a history allegedly stretching back to a king who fought the Romans, contained more ingredients than Heinz claimed varieties, and over a long period was manufactured in public only by selected apothecaries. One of the most important ingredients has a slight 'hair of the dog' feel to it. (And didn't do the job claimed!) The English name for it could be confused with a product that isn't medicinal (but can be fattening), which has a different name in the USA. What was this supposed panacea?

paper_aero

That would be Mithridatum allegedly created by Mithridates VI. Long article in this weeks New Scientist (which I read at lunchtime.) But additional source: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/mithridatum.html Jan 25 08, 5:33 PM

paper_aero

Sorry, not listed New Scientist web site as it only gives the start of the article for non-subscribers & I was old-fashioned and read the printed magazine. Jan 25 08, 5:45 PM

Baloo55th

So did I.... Nice one! Printed sources are OK, by the way. The English name was Venetian Treacle, which could explain some of those old literary references to people being dosed with treacle. The American term for treacle is molasses, but the difference is that molasses is never mined, whereas real treacle used to be - possibly still is in places. Jan 26 08, 2:43 PM

queproblema

Very funny. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treacle_mining Jan 26 08, 6:53 PM