The term 'cervical' refers to the
cervical lymph nodes in the neck; it is unrelated to the
cervix. The alternative name scrofula comes from the medieval
Latin scrōfula, diminutive of
scrōfa, meaning
brood sow, because swine were supposed to be subject to the complaint, or because the line of elevated lymph nodes was thought to resemble the belly of a breastfeeding sow. In the beginning of the
Modern Age some Western Europeans believed that
royal touch, the touch of the sovereign of England or France, could cure diseases owing to the
divine right of sovereigns.
Henry VI of England is alleged to have cured a girl with it. Scrofula was therefore also known as ''the King's evil''. From 1633, the
Book of Common Prayer of the
Anglican Church contained a ceremony for this, and it was traditional for the monarch (king or queen) to present to the touched person a coin—usually an
angel, a gold coin the value of which varied from about 6
shillings to about 10 shillings. In England this practice continued until the early 18th century, and was continued by the
Jacobite pretenders until the extinction of the House of Stuart with the death of the pretender
Henry IX. King
Henry IV of France is reported as often touching and healing as many as 1,500 individuals at a time.
Queen Anne touched the infant
Samuel Johnson in 1712. The kings of France continued the custom until
Louis XV stopped it in the 18th century, though it was briefly revived by
Charles X in 1825. Physicians, healers, and patent medicine sellers offered a wide range of cures. Among them were treatments involving the chemical element
mercury—commonly known as quicksilver, used since antiquity in the mineral ore
cinnabar (
mercury sulfide), and later prepared as
calomel (
mercurous chloride)—which was administered as an ointment, pill, or vapor to treat scrofula as well as other skin diseases. Mercury, which is highly
toxic when taken internally, induces reactions such as vomiting and sweating which at the time were believed to cure the disease. In 1830, the
New-York Medical and Physical Journal continued to recommend mercury as the best cure for scrofula, stating it caused an irritation that would counteract the disease and increased the working of the glands. Alternative treatments were also offered. Many rejected the harsh side effects of mercury, claiming their cures were made of "natural" or "vegetable" ingredients.
Patent medicines labeled as sarsaparilla were recommended for scrofula. Examples of such treatments recommended between the 17th and 19th century include the following: • Herbalist
Nicholas Culpepper (1616–1654) claimed to have treated his daughter for scrofula with
lesser celandine, and cured her within a week. Ironically, Culpepper would himself later die of tuberculosis. • In the 18th century, Elizabeth Pearson, an Irish herbalist, proposed a treatment for scrofula involving herbs and a
poultice and extract of vegetable, and in 1815,
Sir Gerard Noel presented a petition to the House of Commons advocating her treatment. • In 1768, the Englishman John Morley produced a handbook entitled ''Essay on the Nature and Cure of Scrophulous Disorders, Commonly Called the King's Evil''. The book starts by listing the typical symptoms and indications of how far the disease had progressed. It then goes into detail with a number of case studies, describing the specific case of the patient, the various treatments used and their effectiveness. The forty-second edition was printed in 1824. • Richard Carter, a frontier healer in
Kentucky, recommended several treatments for the King's Evil, or scrofula, in his 1815 home medical guide
Valuable Vegetable Medical Prescriptions for the cure of all Nervous and Putrid Disorders. • In the 19th century in the United States, the patent medicine
Swaim's Panacea was advertised to cure scrofula. Swaim's Panacea contained mercury. In 1924, French historian
Marc Bloch wrote a book on the history of the royal touch:
The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France (original in French). == Case studies ==