[Ads-l] placebo 1774; antedates OED3 sense 4. 1785--

[Joel Berson]

"(*) My friend Francis Pearce, Esq; of Sancta Cruz, not only admits cold air, but cold water; for instead of giving two spoonfuls every three hours of some placebo, he orders the patient to be taken out of bed, and supported till two or three pailfuls of cold water have been thrown upon him, which is repeated every three hours."


Lettsom, John Coakley.  _Medical Memoirs of the General Dispensary in London, for part of the Years 1773 and 1774_.  London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, 1774.  Page 18.

Google Books, full view.


Joel

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