Newton's recipe for 'toad vomit lozenges' up for auction
Sir Isaac Newton — famous for developing the three laws of motion and advancing calculus — apparently had a far-out idea for how to treat the plague, also called the black death: toad-vomit lozenges. He gave detailed instructions on how to make the putrid toad-vomit treatment, according to two unpublished pages handwritten by Newton that are now on the auction block.
Newton describes in detail how to suspend a toad by its legs in a chimney for three days, until it vomits up "earth with various insects in it." This vomit must be caught on "a dish of yellow wax," he added.
After the toad dies, its body should be turned into powder, mixed with the vomit and a serum and "made into lozenges and worn about the affected area." This treatment would drive "away the contagion" and draw "out the poison," Newton wrote.
In 1936, Newton's "plague" manuscript was sold along with a vast trove of his other writings in Sotheby's Portsmouth sale, but these two pages were uncovered only recently after being lost for more than 70 years, according to Bonhams. Bidding is currently at $65,000 and goes until June 10.
https://www.livescience.com/issac-newton-plague-toad-vomit-auction.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
