CDC WARNS OF VIRULENT STRAIN OF MARTHAMBLES

I woke up this morning with a marthamble on my eye. I knew it was a marthamble. Which led me to find out exactly what marthambles is. Unfortunately, nobody knows, not even Patrick O'Brian. Here's his explanation:

"Marthambles is a very fine word that I found in a quack's pamphlet of the late 17th or early 18th century advising a nostrum that would cure not only "the strong fires" and a whole variety of more obvious diseases but the marthambles too. I have never seen it anywhere else and it has escaped the OED."