A list of 18th century medicines has been donated to Stirling Council Archives, shedding light on some obscure and shocking treatments.
The document is a bill issued by William Stirling, Surgeon and Apothecary of Stirling to the Earl of Wigmore, John Fleming. It details a long list of ointments, pills and cures supplied between 1700-1723 and runs to three pages in total.
There are details of medicines intended for the ladies of the house and also those for the Earl’s dogs, listed as ‘my Lord’s Doggs’. It appears that in those days medicine was far from subtle and the document implies that the ladies and dogs were in fact given the same stuff.
The Earl of Wigtown lived from 1673 to 1743. He was a Jacobite who eventually became Lord Lieutenant of the County of Stirling. His medical bill included items such as vomiters, purgatives, pectoral powders, quieting pills, ointment and an occasional ‘dose of physic’.
The bill was purchased by Mrs Janey Buchan, formerly MEP for Glasgow and a Trustee of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.
“The document contains so many interesting details of medicines in the 18th century that I wanted to save it for Stirling,” she said.
