Mercurial Chloride was undoubtably the most active ingredient. It was a favored medicine in the 1800’s and know mostly as a purgerative- it made people barf and crap! If you ever delve into the history of the Mormon Battalion, you will become familiar with “Dr. Death” as the Mormons called him. Every morning he would line up the sick and ailing and administer a huge dose of crap and puke medicine via an old rusty iron spoon!
Even Lewis and Clark brought along some mercurial chloride during their famous journey, crapping and barfing their merry way through the heart of America:
“Lewis and Clark brought along the wonder drug of the day, mercury chloride (otherwise known as calomel), as a pill, a tincture, and an ointment. Modern researchers used that same mercury, found deep in latrine pits, to retrace the locations of their respective locations and campsites.”