Antimony
mineral
MECHANISM CLAIMED
1775 advertising for the branded medicine describes the drop as one of the greatest antiscorbutics and best purifiers of the blood, effective in removing obstructions and curing eruptions, worms, and inflammatory disorders.
MECHANISM ACTUAL
The 1899 Dictionary of National Biography assessed Ward's pill and drop as 'preparations of antimony very violent in their action, and quite unfit for general use,' and reported that 'his remedies killed as many as they cured.'
INTERVENTIONS USING IT
NOTES
Antimony is the documented constituent of Ward’s Pill and Drop. The 1899 Dictionary of National Biography records that Ward’s pills were sold in three colors — blue, red, and purple — all containing antimony, with two of the three varieties also containing arsenic. Daniel Turner (1735) and Joseph Clutton (1736) each published an examination of the medicine during Ward’s lifetime; Clutton’s title records sixty-eight cases. The Dictionary of National Biography later assessed the pill and drop as “preparations of antimony very violent in their action, and quite unfit for general use.”