calomel

plural calomels

1. countableuncountablechemistryMercurous chloride Hg₂Cl₂, formerly used as a laxative and disinfectant and to treat syphilis.

   “Where am I?” said the little spectre, in a pathetic voice. “And why was I born in the Calomel days, and why did I have all that Calomel given me?”

   1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House

   2 more examples

   What a pity there is not some mental calomel! for Mr. Lushington's equanimity was in a bilious fever with Edward Lorraine's appearance of luxurious enjoyment.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 190

   He is remembered for his free use of calomel and the lancet. Mrs. Jane Merrill Ketcham, one of his patients in her childhood, says “it is no exaggeration to say that his pills were as large as cherries; twenty grains of calomel was a common dose and antimony until one was sure he was poisoned.”

   1919, Laura Fletcher Hodges, Early Indianapolis, page 23