Gulliver's Travels: Pinching your nose improves memory

It's been about 300 years since the travel accounts of Lemuel Gulliver (*1661) were published. Jonathan Swift's political satire was certainly not intended as a children's book. These colorful adventures also provide insight into the pharmacy of that time, which, in its practical application, was still based on humoral pathology but had long since undergone a scientific upheaval.

Before studying medicine in Leiden, Gulliver trained as a surgeon in London for several years. The novel's protagonist, along with his author, was quite skeptical of university medicine, which was still largely useless and poorly founded in his time. This included, among other things, the revolutionary innovations of a New Science, which had been developing at the Royal Society since 1660, both experimental and speculative. During his travels, Gulliver gained experience in practical pharmacy (for example, in Lilliput) as well as in political and utopian pharmacy (both in Lagado).

During his first adventure, which took Gulliver to Lilliput, he blamed poor nutrition for the weakening and high mortality rate of the crew on board. The ship's doctor repeatedly required tonics at sea (without specifying the ingredients). Exhausted and barely arriving in Lilliput, Gulliver was sedated with sleeping pills before being dragged to the capital on a hastily constructed carriage with 1,500 Lilliputian horses. According to Gulliver's own account, his exhaustion and confusion may also have been caused by overexertion and scurvy.

Another trip took Gulliver to the Academy of Lagado. There, it was believed that there was a relationship between the human body and political bodies. Therefore, the deputies were to be medically observed closely during the first three days of the session to determine their weaknesses and ailments. Finally, on the fourth day, the apothecaries took over and administered the appropriate medicines before the session began. These included antiseptics, appetite-stimulating, cleansing, caustic, astringent, softening, loosening, headache and jaundice relief, expectorant, or hearing-enhancing remedies. To improve the memory and motivation of political decision-makers, very practical physical measures such as pinching the nose, pulling the ears, or kicking the stomach were on the agenda.

At the Lagado Academy, researchers also worked on a method for finely writing educational content on a thin wafer using cephalic ink. The student had to take the nootropic on an empty stomach and then was allowed to eat only bread and water for three days while the elixir containing the learning content rose to their heads and lodged there. However, due to the unpleasant wafer taste, lack of dosage guidelines, and student noncompliance, the results were not reliable.

Gulliver's reports, a ship's doctor, were published 300 years ago, making it time to take stock: Since then, significant progress has undoubtedly been made in practical pharmacy, and the empirical basis for pharmacological interventions has been significantly broadened. An even more consistent political pharmacy sometimes appears to be an urgent desideratum, but frequently fails due to a lack of insight, stubbornness, and ethical objections. Some hopes for a utopian-nootropic pharmacy remain unfulfilled, which may also be due to the current untraceability of the Lagado Academy.