Heberden, William

Many physicians in the early eighteenth century had doubts as to whether Mithridatium was the universal panacea of all illness as claimed. The ultimate mortal attack on the remedy came from Dr William Heberden (1710-1801) (see Figure 16.3), better known clinically for his description of the Heberden s nodes in osteoarthritis. Consequently, the 1746 edition of The London Pharmacopoeia was the last in... 

Fig. 16.3 Dr William Heberden (1710-1801). (Reproduced with kind permission from The Himterian Libraries, The Royal College of Physicians, London.)...

Doubts as to whether theriac and mithridatium were the universal panacea had been voiced by Culpepper and other physicians such as Dr John Quincy, who died in 1722. The real attack on these two long-standing remedies came from Dr William Heberden (1745) in a 19 page pamphlet entitled Antitherica Essay on Mithridatium and Theriac. Heberden concludes his attack on the lack of efficacy of these products with the words ... 

In William Heberden s entry in Munk s (1878) Roll it is stated that he was always ready to attack the idle inventions of ignorance and superstition . 

William Heberden was bom in 1710, entered St John s College, Cambridge University, in 1724... 

Prior to the doubts on the efficacy of mithridatium raised by a number of English physicians, including Culpepper and Quincy, and culminating in William Heberden s attack and condemnation of these products, there had been occasions when these formulations had been noted to be ineffective. In all these circumstances, it was believed that the formulations had been inadequately compounded or that the quality of the ingredients was suspect (the quality of cinnamon was frequently raised) or even the species of viper used in theriac was questioned. These concerns to maintain the quality of mithridatium and theriac led to the introduction of strict controls over the... 

Heberden died in 1801 and was buried in Windsor Parish Church, where there is a memorial plaque to him and his son William Heberden Junior, who was physician to George III during his years of insanity, which we now believe was due to porphyria. 

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