Gonorrhea Treatment along the Centuries: Terebinth, Cubeb and Copaiba

Among the oldest therapeutic approaches for venereal diseases, going back to Ptolemaic times or even earlier, is administration of the essence of terebinth (turpentine). Turpentine dominated such treatment for centuries, only gradually being complemented or replaced by cubeb powder from Java and copaiba essence from Brazil. The common denominator of all these cures was a limited therapeutic value and poor tolerability complemented by a horrible taste that inspired French pharmacists to improve on the ingestion experience. French pharmacist Stanislas Limousin (1831-1887) is credited with the introduction of cachets enclosing medicine and thus greatly facilitating their administration. In fact, such cachets were developed and used much earlier by the parish priest of the village of Pérols (curé of Pérols), Joseph Lambert Arnal (1798-1867), albeit not for venereal diseases but for malarial intermittent fever.