Memoirs on Chlorodyne and Shinyaku
by
Ohashi K.
The Japanese Society for History of Pharmacy, Japan.
Yakushigaku Zasshi. 1999;34(2):89-96.

ABSTRACT

Dr. J. Collins Browne, a British army surgeon in India, invented a secret remedy for cholera-infected patients in the fifth decade of the 19th century. After his resignation from the army, the formula was given to a pharmacist in London for the purpose of manufacture and marketing as a patented medicine named Chlorodyne. Chlorodyne was well-accepted as paregoric for several decades. The formula of Chlorodyne was adopted in the 3rd Revision of the British Pharmacopoeia (1885) as "Compound Tincture of Chloroform and Morphine." In 1906, the 3rd Revision of Japanese Pharmacopoeia listed "Compound Tincture and Morphine" according to the formula of the 4th Revision of British Pharmacopoeia (1898). References written in 1870 and 1873 recorded the importation of Chlorodyne to Japan. In 1871, Dr. Jyun Matsumoto, Chief Military Surgeon Major General advised the manufacturers of traditional medicines to produce patented medicines to spread in western countries. Preparations of formula seeming to resemble Chlorodyne was named "Shinyaku" and were marketed from 1872. The name Shinyaku represented a medicine of marvellous efficacy, because the word split, Shin and Yaku, means "divine or almighty" and "medicine," respectively. Although the orginal formula of Shinyaku was not preserved, modifications of the formula were made to meet legal restrictions over the change of time. Needless to say, Morphine hydrochloride, Diluted hydrocyanic acid and tincture of Indian hemp were replaced with other ingredients to assure safety and lately Chloroform deleted from the formula as well. Shinyaku enjoyed good sales for a long time owing to its efficacy of restorative and refrigerant.

People
Chloroform
Anaesthesia
Adverse effects
Obstetric anaesthesia
Molecular mechanisms
Inhalational techniques
A thalamocortical switch?
Anaesthesia and anaesthetics
Nitrous oxide: adverse effects
Anaesthesia: rivalries and discoveries
Consciousness, anaesthesia and anaesthetics
First use of anaesthetics in different countries

Refs
and further reading

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