Source:  The Lancet, iv 27b
Date: 7 October 1826
Place: London

HOSPITAL REPORTS.

GUY’S HOSPITAL.

CASE OF IRRITABLE DISEASE OF THE MAMMA.

By way of contrast to the former (1), we have report a case of irritable disease of the mamma, occurring in a young female.

M. Pluckrose, ætat. 27, an unmarried woman, of delicate appearance, admitted on 9th of August, on account of disease of the right mamma. On examining the part, the whole of the breast was found to be so exquisitely sensible, that the patient started back on its being slightly touched, and she said that she could scarcely bear her clothes to press against it. The pain, she said, extended from the breast to the shoulder, and down the arm to the ends of the fingers. The disease had existed for several months, and her menstrual discharge during this period, has always been very small in quantity. About the time at which the catamenia appear, the pain in the breast is always very much increased; indeed so much, that it amounts to agony.

The plan of treatment pursued in this case, consisted in the application of a plaster of belladonna to the breast, the exhibition of three grains of blue pill at bed time, and five grains of compound rhubarb pill twice a day, for a fortnight. The mixture of myrrh with iron was then exhibited, and the former medicines omitted. The patient, under this system, gradually improved; the healthy functions of the uterus were restored, as was evinced by the increased flow of the menses. The pain and sensibility of the breast gradually diminished, and the patient was soon dismissed from the Hospital, cured.

(1) Cancerous Disease of the Female Mamma, occurring at the age of 26

I think it unlikely that this Miss Pluckrose will ever be identified. Catamenia is the process of menstruation.

The medical treatment of the period is interesting: Plaster of Belladonna would have contained small amounts of the alkaloids atropine, hyoscine and hyoscyamine extracted from the plant Atropa Belladonna, also known as Deadly Nightshade and a powerful poison. It was probably used in this instance to control her pain, but death from overenthusiastic use of such plasters was not unknown. Blue Pill was generally used to treat constipation. It was usually one-third mercury metal, plus liquorice, glycerin and sweetening agents. Again, this is a toxic preparation because of the presence of such large amounts of mercury. The rhubarb pill is another laxative.  Myrrh with iron was an often-used tonic of the period and probably very necessary after the earlier treatment.  It is possible that her problem arose from a deficiency of iron in her diet.