Syringe
Syringes similar to this example, recovered in 1998, could have been used by Ferguson, the pirates’ surgeon, for a variety of treatments.
Enemas were used to flush out unbalanced physical “humours”.
Syringes were also often used in the treatment of venereal disease. Mercury compounds such as mercuric chloride—also known as “corrosive sublimate” would be made into an unguent and injected directly into the afflicted body part. This would provide a clear passage for the elimination of the contagious factor responsible for the malady, but would not cure the illness itself.
Other mercurial compounds, such as calomel, were taken orally over prolonged periods. This, however, was less effective and sometimes had unfortunate side effects.
Since the germ theory of disease had not yet been developed, it goes without saying that syringes were not properly sterilized between treatments.
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An 18th-century syringe—as it may have appeared to the diver who found it.
