inunction

Administering drugs by inunction (through the skin) has been made safer recently with the introduction of a measured dose.

Some oleates, as the oleate of mercury, are used in medicine by way of inunction.

In 1987, the Court of Appeal refused to grant an inunction to stop an abortion, ruling that a fetus between 18 and 21 weeks was not capable of being born alive.

There are also references to "anointing" and "inunction" in the Old Testament as well as the works of Homer, but injection as a legitimate medical tool was not truly explored until the 17th century.