The pills are harmless in any quantity, so larger and more frequent doses produce a fuller cure without risk.
Because the Hygeian theory held that more purging meant more purification, Morison’s literature presented the pills as safe in large and repeated doses. The claim is refuted by the documented harm: the pills were a drastic purgative built around gamboge, and deaths from heavy dosing were attributed to them in the 1830s. The best-documented instance is the 1836 death of John MacKenzie, aged 32, after one of Morison’s agents administered a reported 1,000 pills over twenty days; one account reports a further twelve deaths investigated at York in 1837, and the medical profession publicized such cases in its campaign against the system (Brown 2007). The “safe in any quantity” claim is the specific assertion that the disconfirming events fall most directly against.
Appears in
Sources
- Morisoniana; or, Family adviser of the British College of Health: being a collection of the works of Mr Morison, the Hygeist — Morison, James. Morisoniana; or, Family adviser of the British College of Health: being a collection of the works of Mr Morison, the Hygeist. 2nd ed. London: Sherwood & Gilbert, 1829. Wellcome Collection (catalogue work wa63a4qz). Public Domain Mark.
- Medicine, Quackery and the Free Market: The 'War' Against Morison's Pills and the Construction of the Medical Profession, c.1830-c.1850 — Brown, Michael. 'Medicine, Quackery and the Free Market: The "War" Against Morison's Pills and the Construction of the Medical Profession, c.1830-c.1850.' In Medicine and the Market in England and its Colonies, c.1450-1850, edited by M.S.R. Jenner and P. Wallis, 238-261. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- James Morison and his pills. A study of the nineteenth century pharmaceutical market — Helfand, W.H. 'James Morison and his pills. A study of the nineteenth century pharmaceutical market.' Transactions of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy 1, no. 3 (1974): 101-135. PMID 11615421.
- Graphic battles in pharmacy (Wellcome Collection, Stories) — 'Graphic battles in pharmacy.' Wellcome Collection, Stories (Pharmagraphics series), 2 November 2017.