Steel Powder.
Take filings of steel, and loaf-sugar, of each two ounces; ginger, two drachms. Pound them together.
In obstructions of the menses, and other cases where steel is proper, a tea-spoonful of this powder may be taken twice a-day, and washed down with a little wine or water.
William Buchan
Domestic Medicine 2nd edition 1785