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Goddard's Drops history of urology Goddard’s Dropps: a Paradox of the C17th Jonathan Charles n this series of articles I am Spanish fly, was extensively used Goddard, Curator of the The Museum going to show you some of as an aphrodisiac; it inflames the of Urology, BAUS; the exhibits contained in the genitals. Sadly it also inflames the Consultant Urological Museum of Urology, hosted kidneys, the likely cause of the Surgeon, Leicester General Hospital. on the BAUS website (www. Bishop’s death. baus.org.uk). In the last article What is interesting about this Correspondence to: II told you about the world of the popular but terrifying secret Jonathan Charles Goddard, London stonecutter in the 17th magical recipe made of human E: jonathan.goddard@ uhl-tr.nhs.uk Century and I left you with a skulls is that it was being made question, “What were Goddard’s and sold in the C17th, an age Dropps?” of new scientific discovery and Goddard’s Dropps (or Drops) furthermore, may have been were a very popular C17th invented by one of the time’s medicine. As was typical with foremost names in science. medicines at the time, they Jonathan Goddard was a were ascribed multiple uses; physician, chemist, mathematician Goddard’s Dropps (also called and a founder member of Guttæ Anglicanæ or Guttæ the Royal Society; a friend of Goddardianæ) were suggested for Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle and fainting, apoplexy, as a stimulant Christopher Wren. and also for bladder stones. I find this a fascinating Figure 1: Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the The medicine has been inspiration for the Scientific Revolution of the 17th paradox; this was the time of Century. Courtesy of the Hunterian Museum at the associated with Dr Jonathan Royal College of Surgeons. William Harvey’s description Goddard (1617-1675), physician of the circulation of the blood, to Oliver Cromwell, Professor and of the tenants of Sir Francis of Physic at Gresham College and Warden of Merton Bacon (Figure 1) that everything should be proven by College, Oxford. Although, some attribute the Dropps scientific experiments. Goddard was the second most to Jonathan Goddard’s lesser contemporary William frequent attender at the Royal Society meetings and Goddard (dates unknown but MD and FRCP 1634) yet in the midst of the scientific revolution, he was who was born in Norfolk, educated in Padua and also associated with the type of potion seen in Saxon times. a Fellow of the College of Physicians. Whoever it was, Certainly, the careful and lengthy instructions for the Charles II paid them £1500 (some said £6000) for the creation of Goddard’s Dropps suggest a background secret formula for the benefit of his subjects. of experimental chemistry but surely, they would not The recipe was complex but the basic ingredients have done well in a clinical trial? Distilled hartshorn were: five pounds of human skull (of a person hanged (literally the horn of a deer) creates ammonium or dead of some violent death), two pounds of chloride, so Goddard’s Dropps may have been a little dried vipers, two pounds of hartshorn, and two of like smelling salts. Perhaps they would be useful for ivory. These were minced, distilled, shaken, filtered fainting? Previous Urology News historical articles can and redistilled. The dose was seven or eight drops, With further reading in Robert Boyle’s Philosophical now be read online increasing by degrees to 40 or 50 on pressing Works, one finds another remedy for stones. As well in The Museum of occasions such as apoplexy or lethargy. as herbal medicines, it included the eating of a hedge Urology, BAUS. Not everyone fared well with Goddard’s Dropps. Sir sparrow and application of scorpion oil to the loins Edward Walpole, MP for King’s Lynn, died after taking and pubic area. The C17th was certainly a time of them; they “had very ill effects, gave him convulsions great change and advancement in science, however and a numbness that he was a most sad spectacle”. it is clear this was still very much a transition period in Sadly Goddard didn’t do terribly well looking after his urology between the mediaeval and modern times. friend John Wilkins either. Wilkins, the Lord Bishop of Jonathan Goddard was also a pioneer of early optics. Chester and another Fellow of the Royal Society, also It is said he made the first telescope in Britain and he suffered with bladder stones. Goddard prescribed a had the facility to grind lenses in his home laboratory. Blister of Cantharides; the Bishop died nine days later In the next article I will be revisiting optics from more of “Stoppage of Urine”. Cantharides, also known as modern times. 2 UROLOGY NEWS • V19(6) • SEP/OCT 2015 www.urologynews.uk.com.
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