Derby's dose was a form of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

used in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

to punish

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

who attempted to escape or committed other offenses like stealing food on plantations that were owned or run by

Thomas Thistlewood Thomas Thistlewood (16 March 1721 ‒ 30 November 1786) was an English planter in colonial Jamaica. Thistlewood migrated to the western end of the Colony of Jamaica where he became a plantation overseer, plantation owner and slaver. His lengthy ...

. According to

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little T ...

in his 2008 book ''

Outliers In statistics, an outlier is a data point that differs significantly from other observations. An outlier may be due to a variability in the measurement, an indication of novel data, or it may be the result of experimental error; the latter are ...

'', (

wrote about his outlandish behaviour and disturbing treatment of Jamaican slaves extensively in his 14,000 page diary) "The runaway would be beaten, and salt pickle, lime juice, and

bird pepper ''Capsicum annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'' is a variety of ''Capsicum annuum'' that is native to southern North America and northern South America. Common names include chiltepín, Indian pepper, chiltepe, and chile tepín, as well as turkey, b ...

would be rubbed into his or her open wounds. Another slave would defecate into the mouth of the miscreant, who would then be gagged, with their mouth full, for four to five hours." The punishment was invented by

, a slave overseer, and named after the slave, Derby, who was made to undergo this punishment when he was caught eating young sugar cane stalks in the field on 25 May 1756. However, historian Douglas Hall points out that "Derby's dose" was so-called because it was often administered by one of his slaves called Derby. Thistlewood recorded this punishment as well as a further punishment of Derby in August of that same year in his diary. On 18 November 2013 British television host

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...

discredited a comparison made by U.S. politician

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

between the United States' debt to China and slavery by referring to Derby's dose. In pointing out how cruel and barbaric slavery was, Bashir used Derby's dose as an example; at the end of the segment, he finished by saying that "if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood,

alin Alin may refer to: * Alin, Iran, a village * Arid Lands Information Network, a Kenyan NGO * Alin, a magical civilization in the video game ''Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends#Alin, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends'' * ''Alianza de Izquierda Naciona ...

would be the outstanding candidate". He was criticized for this comment, and ultimately resigned.

References

{{Jamaica-stub Feces Slavery in Jamaica Torture