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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 20:28:43 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 20:28:43 -0800 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e61e546 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65872 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65872) diff --git a/old/65872-0.txt b/old/65872-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 54f235c..0000000 --- a/old/65872-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13103 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. I of II, by A. -C Wootton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. I of II - -Author: A. C Wootton - -Release Date: July 19, 2021 [eBook #65872] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Karin Spence, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY, VOL. I OF -II *** - - - - - CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY - - - - - [Illustration] - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - - LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA - MELBOURNE - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - - NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO - ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO - - THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. - - TORONTO - - - - - CHRONICLES OF - PHARMACY - - BY - - A. C. WOOTTON - - VOL. I - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON - 1910 - - - - - RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, - - BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND - BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - - - PREFACE - - -Pharmacy, or the art of selecting, extracting, preparing, and -compounding medicines from vegetable, animal, and mineral substances, -is an acquirement which must have been almost as ancient as man himself -on the earth. In experimenting with fruits, seeds, leaves, or roots -with a view to the discovery of varieties of food, our remote ancestors -would occasionally find some of these, which, though not tempting to -the palate, possessed this or that property the value of which would -soon come to be recognised. The tradition of these virtues would be -handed down from generation to generation, and would ultimately become, -by various means, the heritage of the conquering and civilising races. -Of the hundreds of drugs yielded by the vegetable kingdom, collected -from all parts of the world, and used as remedies, in some cases for -thousands of years, I do not know of a single one which can surely be -traced to any historic or scientific personage. It is possible in many -instances to ascertain the exact or approximate date when a particular -substance was introduced to our markets, and sometimes to name the -physician, explorer, merchant, or conqueror to whom we are indebted -for such an addition to our materia medica; but there is always a -history or a tradition behind our acquaintance with the new medicine, -going back to an undetermined past. - -In modern dispensatories the ever increasing accumulation of chemical, -botanical, histological, and therapeutic notes has tended to crowd out -the historic paragraphs which brightened the older treatises. Perhaps -this result is inevitable, but it is none the less to be regretted on -account of both the student and the adept in the art of pharmacy. “I -have always thought,” wrote Ferdinand Hoefer in the Introduction to his -still valuable “History of Chemistry” (1842), “that the best method -of popularising scientific studies, generally so little attractive, -consists in presenting, as in a panorama, the different phases a -science has passed through from its origin to its present condition.” -No science nor, indeed, any single item of knowledge, can be properly -appreciated apart from the records of its evolution; and it is as -important to be acquainted with the errors and misleading theories -which have prevailed in regard to it, as with the steps by which real -progress has been made. - -The history of drugs, investigations into their cultivation, their -commerce, their constitution, and their therapeutic effects, have -been dealt with by physicians and pharmacologists of the highest -eminence in both past and recent times. In Flückiger and Hanbury’s -“Pharmacographia” (Macmillan: 1874), earlier records were studied -with the most scrupulous care, and valuable new information acquired -by personal observation was presented. No other work of a similar -character was so original, so accurate, or so attractive as this. A -very important systematic study of drugs, profusely illustrated by -reproductions of photographs showing particularly the methods whereby -they are produced and brought to our markets, by Professor Tschirch -of Berne, is now in course of publication by Tauchnitz of Leipsic. In -these humble “Chronicles” it has been impossible to avoid entirely -occasional visits to the domain so efficiently occupied by these great -authorities; but as a rule the subjects they have made their own have -been regarded as outside the scope of this volume. - -But the art of the apothecary, of pharmacy, as we should now say, -restricted to its narrowest signification, consists particularly of -the manipulation of drugs, the conversion of the raw material into the -manufactured product. The records of this art and mystery likewise go -back to the remotest periods of human history. In the course of ages -they become associated with magic, with theology, with alchemy, with -crimes and conscious frauds, with the strangest fancies, and dogmas, -and delusions, and with the severest science. Deities, kings, and -quacks, philosophers, priests, and poisoners, dreamers, seers, and -scientific chemists, have all helped to build the fabric of pharmacy, -and it is some features of their work which are imperfectly sketched in -these “Chronicles.” - -My original intention when I began to collect the materials for this -book was simply to trace back to their authors the formulas of the most -popular of our medicines, and to recall those which have lost their -reputation. I thought, and still think, that an explanation of the -modification of processes and of the variation of the ingredients of -compounds would be useful, but I have not accomplished this design. I -have been tempted from it into various by-paths, and probably in them -have often erred, and certainly have missed many objects of interest. I -shall be grateful to any critic, better informed than myself, who will -correct me where I have gone astray, or refer me to information which -I ought to have given. I may not have the opportunity of utilising -suggestions myself; but all that I receive will be carefully collated, -and may assist some future writer. - - A. C. WOOTTON. - - 4, SEYMOUR ROAD, FINCHLEY, - LONDON, N. - - - - - PUBLISHERS’ NOTE - - -As the author unhappily died while his book was still in the printer’s -hands, his friend, Mr. Peter MacEwan, editor of _The Chemist and -Druggist_, has been good enough to revise the proofs for press. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. MYTHS OF PHARMACY 1 - - II. PHARMACY IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS 34 - - III. PHARMACY IN THE BIBLE 46 - - IV. THE PHARMACY OF HIPPOCRATES 77 - - V. FROM HIPPOCRATES TO GALEN 88 - - VI. ARAB PHARMACY 97 - - VII. FROM THE ARABS TO THE EUROPEANS 113 - - VIII. PHARMACY IN GREAT BRITAIN 124 - - IX. MAGIC AND MEDICINE 157 - - X. DOGMAS AND DELUSIONS 174 - - XI. MASTERS IN PHARMACY 206 - - XII. ROYAL AND NOBLE PHARMACISTS 287 - - XIII. CHEMICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHARMACY 323 - - XIV. MEDICINES FROM THE METALS 376 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - VOL. I - - PAGE - - Isis 3 - - Osiris 3 - - Apollo 7 - - Æsculapius 8 - - Arms of the Society of Apothecaries 10 - - Chiron the Centaur 15 - - Achillea Milfoil 16 - - Centaury 25 - - Phœnix 26 - - Unicorn 28 - - Dragon 31 - - The Dragon Tree 32 - - Papyrus Ebers 41 - - Hippocrates 85 - - Interior of Mosque, Cordova 99 - - Avicenna 108 - - Nuremberg Pharmacy 120 - - Sir Theodore Mayerne 145 - - “Lohn” 163 - - George Ernest Stahl 176 - - Marquise de Sévigné 192 - - Sir Kenelm Digby 194 - - Galen 211 - - Raymond Lully 222 - - Basil Valentine 225 - - Paracelsus 247, 248, 249 - - Culpepper 252 - - Culpepper’s House 253 - - J. B. Van Helmont 258 - - Glauber 262 - - Karl Wilhelm Scheele 267 - - Scheele’s Pharmacy 269 - - École de Pharmacie, Paris 271 - - Vauquelin 272 - - Joseph Pelletier 275 - - Baron Liebig 283 - - Sir Humphry Davy 284 - - Dr. William Heberden 291 - - Sir Walter Raleigh 311 - - Berkeley 315 - - Dr. Nehemiah Grew 343 - - Joseph Black 357 - - Johann Kunckel 362 - - Antimony cup 385 - - Dr. Thomas Sydenham 400 - - Thomas Willis, M.D. 401 - - Quicksilver bottles 408 - - - - - ERRATA - - VOL. I - - - Page 101. _Tenth line from top, for_ Mesué _read_ Mesuë. - „ 211. _Sixth line from bottom, reference should be_: Vol. II., - 63. - „ 217. _Eighth line from top, reference should be_: Vol. II., - 182. - „ 224. _Top line, reference should be_: Vol. II., 37. - „ 337. _Second line from top, additional reference_: Vol. II., - 179. - „ 419. _Ninth line from top, for_ Panchymagogum _read_ - Panchymagogon. - - - - - CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY - - - - - MYTHS OF PHARMACY - - “Deorum immortalium inventioni consecrata est Ars - Medica.”--CICERO, _Tusculan. Quaest._, Lib. 3. - - -The earliest medical practitioners of any sort and among all peoples -would almost certainly be, as we should designate them, herbalists; -women in many cases. How they came to acquire knowledge of the healing -properties of herbs it is futile to discuss. Old writers often -guess that they got hints by watching animals. Their own curiosity, -suggesting experiments, would probably be a more fruitful source of -their science, and from accidents, both happy and fatal, they would -gradually acquire empiric learning. - -Very soon these herb experts would begin to prepare their remedies so -as to make them easier to take or apply, making infusions, decoctions, -and ointments. Thus the Art of Pharmacy would be introduced. - -The herbalists and pharmacists among primitive tribes would accumulate -facts and experience, and finding that their skill and services had -a market value which enabled them to live without so much hard work -as their neighbours, they would naturally surround their knowledge -with mystery, and keep it to themselves or in particular families. The -profession of medicine being thus started, the inevitable theories -of supernatural powers causing diseases would be encouraged, because -these would promote the mystery already gathering round the practice -of medicine, and from them would follow incantations, exorcisms, -the association of priestcraft with the healing arts, and the -superstitions, credulities, and impostures which have been its constant -companions, and which are still too much in evidence. - - - THE INVENTORS OF MEDICINE - -Medicine and Magic consequently became intimately associated, and -useful facts, superstitious practices, and conscious and unconscious -deceptions, became blended into a mosaic which formed a fixed and -reverenced System of Medicine. Again the supernatural powers were -called in and the credit of the revelation of this Art, that is its -total fabric, was attributed either to a divine being who had brought -it from above, or to some gifted and inspired creature, who in -consequence had been admitted into the family of the deities. - -In Egypt Osiris and Isis, brother and sister, and at the same time -husband and wife, were worshipped as the revealers of medical knowledge -among most other sciences. Formulas credited to Isis were in existence -in the time of Galen, but even that not too critical authority rejected -these traditions without hesitation. In ancient Egypt, however, the -priests who held in their possession all the secrets of medicine -claimed Isis as the founder of their science. Some old legends -explained that she acquired her knowledge of medicine from an angel -named Amnael, one of the sons of God of whom we read in the book of -Genesis. The science thus imparted to her was the price she exacted -from him for the surrender of herself to him. The son of Isis, Horus, -was identified by the Greeks with their Apollo, and to him also the -discovery of medicine is attributed. - - [Illustration: ISIS. - - OSIRIS. - - From the Collection of Medals and other Antiquities of Casalius (17th - century). - - In Leclerc’s _History of Medicine_. -] - -The legend which associated “the sons of God” with the daughters -of men before the Flood, and the suggestion that they imparted a -knowledge of medicine to the inhabitants of the earth, is traceable -in the traditions of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Persians, -as well as in Jewish literature. In the 6th chapter of Genesis it is -said that “they saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they -took them wives of all that they chose.” From these unions came the -race of giants, and the wickedness of man so “great in the earth” -that the destruction of the race by the Flood resulted. The apocryphal -Book of Enoch, composed, it is agreed, about 100 or 150 years before -the birth of Christ, is very definite in regard to this legend, -showing that it was current among the Jews at that period. We read in -that Book, that “They (the angels) dwelt with them and taught them -sorcery, enchantments, the properties of roots and trees, magic signs, -and the art of observing the stars.” Alluding to one of these angels -particularly it is said “he taught them the use of the bracelets and -ornaments, the art of painting, of painting the eyelashes, the uses -of precious stones, and all sorts of tinctures, so that the world was -corrupted.” - - - HERMES. - -With Osiris and Isis is always associated the Egyptian Thoth whom the -Greeks called Hermes, and who is also identified with Mercury. He was -described as the friend, or the secretary, of Osiris. Eusebius quotes -an earlier author who identified Hermes with Moses; but if Moses was -the inventor of medicine and all other sciences it would be hardly -exact to speak of him as “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” -Thoth, who is also claimed as a Phoenician, as Canaan the son of Ham, -and as an associate of Saturn, attained perhaps the greatest fame -as an inventor of medicine. He was the presumed author of the six -sacred books which the Egyptian priests were bound to follow in their -treatment of the sick. One of these books was specially devoted to -pharmacy. - -Thoth, or Hermes, is supposed to have invented alchemy as well as -medicine, the art of writing, arithmetic, laws, music, and the -cultivation of the olive. According to Jamblicus, who wrote on the -mysteries of Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Julian, the Egyptian -priests then recognised forty-two books as the genuine works of Hermes. -Six of these dealt respectively with anatomy, diseases in general, -women’s complaints, eye diseases, surgery, and the preparation of -remedies. Jamblicus is not sure of their authenticity, and, as already -stated, Galen uncompromisingly declares them to be apocryphal. Other -writers are far less modest than Jamblicus in their estimates of the -number of the writings of Hermes. Seleucus totals them at 20,000, and -Manethon says 38,000. - -The legend of Hermes apparently grew up among the Alexandrian writers -of the first century. It was from them that his surname Trismegistus -(thrice-great) originated. It was pretended that in the old Egyptian -temples the works of Hermes were kept on papyri, and that the priests -in treating diseases were bound to follow his directions implicitly. -If they did, and the patient died, they were exonerated; but if they -departed from the written instructions they were liable to be condemned -to death, even though the patient recovered. - -It is hardly necessary to say that in the preceding paragraph no -attempt has been made to discuss modern researches on ancient beliefs. -Greek scholars, for example, trace the Greek Hermes to an Indian -source, and assume the existence of two gods of the same name. - - - BACCHUS, AMMON, AND ZOROASTER. - -Bacchus, King of Assyria, and subsequently a deity, was claimed by some -of the Eastern nations as the discoverer of medicine. He is supposed -to have taught the medicinal value of the ivy, but it is more likely -that he owes his medical reputation to his supposed invention of wine. -Some old writers identify him with Noah. Hammon, or Ammon, or Amen, -traced to Ham, the second son of Noah, has been honoured as having -originated medicine in Egypt. Some attribute the name of sal ammoniac -to the temple of Ammon in the Libyan oasis, on the theory that it -was first produced there from the dung of camels. Gum ammoniacum is -similarly supposed to have been the gum of a shrub which grew in that -locality. Zoroaster, who gave the Persians their religious system, is -also counted among the inventors of medicine, perhaps because he was so -generally regarded as the discoverer of magic. - - - APOLLO. - -Apollo, the reputed god of medicine among the Greeks, was the son of -Jupiter and Latona. His divinity became associated with the sun, and -his arrows, which often caused sudden death were, according to modern -expounders of ancient myths, only the rays of the sun. Many of his -attributes were similar to those which the Egyptians credited to Horus, -the son of Osiris and Isis, and it is evident that the Egyptian legend -was incorporated with that of the early Greeks. Besides being the god -of medicine Apollo was the deity of music, poetry, and eloquence, -and he was honoured as the inventor of all these arts. He evidently -possessed the jealousy of the artist in an abundant degree, for after -his musical competition with Pan, Apollo playing the lyre and Pan -the flute, when Tmolus, the arbiter, had awarded the victory to the -former, Midas ventured to disagree with that opinion, and was thereupon -provided with a pair of asses’ ears. Marsyas, another flute player, -having challenged Apollo, was burnt alive. - - [Illustration: APOLLO.] - -Peon, sometimes identified with Apollo, was the physician of Olympus. -He is said to have first practised in Egypt. In the fifth book of the -‘Iliad’ Homer describes how he cured the wound which Diomed had given -to Mars:-- - - --Peon sprinkling heavenly balm around, - Assuaged the glowing pangs and closed the wound. - - - ÆSCULAPIUS. - -Æsculapius, son of Apollo and Coronis, had a more immediate connection -with medicine than his father. He was taught its mysteries by Chiron -the Centaur, another of the legendary inventors of the art, who -also taught Achilles and others. Æsculapius became so skilful that -Castor and Pollux insisted on his accompanying the expedition of the -Argonauts. Ultimately he acquired the power of restoring the dead to -life. But this perfection of his art was his ruin. - - [Illustration: ÆSCULAPIUS. - - From the Casalius Collection of Medals, &c. (17th century). - - From the Louvre Statue, Paris. -] - -Pluto, alarmed for the future of his own dominions, complained to -Jupiter, and the Olympian ruler slew Æsculapius with a thunderbolt. -Apollo was so incensed at this cruel judgment that he killed the -Cyclops who had forged the thunderbolt. For this act of rebellion -Apollo was banished from Olympia and spent nine years on earth, for -some time as a shepherd in the service of the king of Thessaly. It was -during this period that the story of his adventure with Daphne, told -by Ovid, and from which the quotation on - - - THE ARMS OF THE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES - -(italicised below) is taken, occurred. Ovid relates that Apollo, -meeting Cupid, jeered at his child’s bows and arrows as mere -playthings. In revenge Cupid forged two arrows, one of gold and the -other of lead. The golden one he shot at Apollo, to excite desire; the -leaden arrow, which repelled desire, was shot at Daphne. The legend -ends by the nymph being metamorphosed into a laurel which Apollo -thenceforth wore as a wreath. One of the incidents narrated by Ovid -represents the god telling the nymph who he is. Dryden’s version makes -him say: - - Perhaps thou knowest not my superior state - And from that ignorance proceeds thy hate. - -A somewhat uncouth method of seeking to ingratiate himself with the -reluctant lady. Among his attainments Apollo says: - - Invention medicina meum est, _Opiferque per orbem - Dicor_, et herbam subjecta potentia nobis. - -Dryden versifies these lines thus: - - Medicine is mine, what herbs and simples grow - In fields and forests, all their powers I know, - And am the great physician called below. - -The arms of the Society of Apothecaries are thus described in Burke’s -“Encyclopædia of Heraldry,” 1851: - -“In shield, Apollo, the inventor of physic, with his head radiant, -holding in his left hand a bow, and in his right a serpent. About the -shield a helm, thereupon a mantle, and for the crest, upon a wreath -of their colours, a rhinoceros, supported by two unicorns, armed and -ungulated. Upon a compartment to make the achievement complete, this -motto: ‘Opiferque per orbem dicor.’” - - [Illustration: ARMS OF THE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES.] - -It was William Camden, the famous antiquary and “Clarenceux King at -Arms” in James I.’s reign, who hunted out the middle of the above Latin -quotation for the newly incorporated Society of Apothecaries. - - - THE SONS OF ÆSCULAPIUS. - -Æsculapius left two sons, who continued their father’s profession, -and three or four daughters. It is not possible to be chronologically -exact with these semi-mythical personages, but according to the usual -reckoning Æsculapius lived about 1250 B.C. He would have been -contemporary with Gideon, a judge of Israel, about two centuries after -the death of Moses, and two centuries before the reign of King David. -His sons Machaon and Podalirus were immortalised in the Iliad among the -Greek heroes who fought before Troy, and they exercised their surgical -and medical skill on their comrades, as Homer relates. When Menelaus -was wounded by an arrow shot by Pandarus, Machaon was sent for, and -“sucked the blood, and sovereign balm infused, which Chiron gave, and -Æsculapius used.” - -After the Trojan war both the brothers continued to exercise their art, -and some of their cures are recorded. Their sons after them likewise -practised medicine, and the earliest Æsculapian Temple is believed to -have been erected in memory of his grandfather by Spyrus, the second -son of Machaon, at Argos. Perhaps he only intended it as a home for -patients, or it may have been as an advertisement. From then, however, -the worship of Æsculapius spread, and we read of temples at Titane in -the Peloponnesus, at Tricca in Thessalia, at Trithorea, at Corinth, -at Epidaurus, at Cos, at Megalopolis in Arcadia, at Lar in Laconia, -at Drepher, at Drope, at Corona on the Gulf of Messina, at Egrum, at -Delos, at Cyllene, at Smyrna, and at Pergamos in Asia Minor. The Temple -of Epidaurus was for a long time the most important, but before the -time of Hippocrates that of Cos seems to have taken the lead. - - - THE DAUGHTERS OF ÆSCULAPIUS - -are often described as allegorical figures, Hygeia representing health, -and Panacea, medicine. Hygeia especially was widely worshipped by -Greeks, and when rich people recovered from an illness they often -had medals struck with her figure on the reverse. Pliny says it was -customary to offer her a simple cake of fine flour, to indicate the -connection between simple living and good health. Panacea was likewise -made a divinity. She presided over the administration of medicines. -Egrea and Jaso are but little known. The former (whose name signified -the light of the Sun) married a serpent and was changed into a -willow, while Jaso in the only known monument on which she appears, is -represented with a pot, probably of ointment, in her hand. - - - PROMETHEUS. - -More mythical than the story of Æsculapius, or even of Orpheus, who was -also alleged to have discovered some of the secrets of medicine, is -the legend of Prometheus who stole fire from heaven for the benefit of -mankind. According to the older mythologists Prometheus was the same as -Magog, and was the son of Japhet. Æschylus is the principal authority -on his tradition. After recounting many other wonderful things he -had done for humanity, the poet makes him say, “One of the greatest -subtilties I have invented is that when any one falls ill, and can find -no relief; can neither eat nor drink, and knows not with what to anoint -himself; when for want of the necessary remedies he must perish; then -I showed to men how to prepare healing medicine which should cure all -maladies.” Or as Dean Plumptre has rendered it:-- - - If any one fell ill - There was no help for him nor healing balm, - Nor unguent, nor yet potion; but for want - Of drugs they wasted till I showed to them - The blendings of all mild medicaments - Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore. - -In other words, Prometheus was the first pharmacist. - - - MELAMPUS. - -Melampus was a shepherd to whom we owe, as legend tells us, hellebore -(Gr. Melampodion) and iron as medicines. Melampus studied nature -closely, and, when young, brought up by hand some young serpents, who -were dutifully grateful for the cares he had bestowed on them. One day, -finding him asleep, two of them crept to his ears and so effectively -cleaned them with their tongues that when he woke he found he could -easily make out the language of birds, and hear a thousand things which -had previously been hidden from man. Thus he became a great magician. -In tending his goats he observed that whenever they ate the black -hellebore they were purged. Afterwards, many of the women of Argos were -stricken with a disease which made them mad. They ran about the fields -naked, and believed they were cows. Among the women so afflicted were -the three daughters of Proetus, the king of Argos. Melampus undertook -to cure the three princesses, and did so by giving them the milk of -the goats after they had eaten the hellebore. His reward was one of -them for his wife and a third of the kingdom. Another cure effected -by Melampus was by his treatment of Iphiclus, king of Phylacea, who -greatly desired to beget children. Melampus gave him rust of iron in -wine, and that remedy proved successful. This was the earliest Vinum -Ferri. Melampus is supposed to have lived about 1380 B.C. - - - GLAUCUS. - -Glaucus, son of Minos, king of Crete, was playing when a child and -fell into a large vat of honey, in which he was suffocated. The child -being lost the king sent for Polyidus of Argos, a famous magician, and -ordered him to discover his son. Polyidus having found the dead body -in the honey, it occurred to Minos that so clever a man could also -bring him back to life. He therefore commanded that the magician should -be put into the same vat. While perplexed at the problem before him, -Polyidus saw a serpent creeping towards the vat. He seized the beast -and killed him. Presently another serpent came, and looked on his dead -friend. The second went out of the place for a few minutes and returned -with a certain herb which he applied to the dead reptile and soon -restored him to life. Polyidus took the hint and used the same herb on -Glaucus with an equally satisfactory result. He restored him to his -father, who loaded the sorcerer with gifts. Unfortunately in telling -the other details of this history the narrator has forgotten to inform -us of the name of the herb which possessed such precious properties. -Polyidus, according to Pausanias, was a nephew of Melampus. - - - CHIRON. - -Chiron the Centaur was very famous for his knowledge of simples, which -he learned on Mount Pelion when hunting with Diana. The Centaury owes -its name to him, either because he used it as a remedy or because -it was applied to his wound. His great merit was that he taught his -knowledge of medicines to Æsculapius, to Hercules, to Achilles, and to -various other Greek heroes. In the Iliad Homer represents Eurypylus -wounded by an arrow asking Patroclus - - With lukewarm water wash the gore away - With healing balms the raging smart allay - Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy, - Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee. - (_Il._, Bk. XI., Pope’s Translation.) - -Chiron was shot in the foot by Hercules by an arrow which had been -dipped in the blood of the Hydra of Lerna, and the wound caused intense -agony. One fable says that Chiron healed this wound by applying to it -the herb which consequently bore the name of Centaury; but the more -usual version is that his grief at being immortal was so keen that -Hercules induced Jupiter to transfer that immortality to Prometheus, -and that Chiron was placed in the sky and forms the constellation -of Sagittarius. The Centaurs were a wild race inhabiting Thessaly. -Probably they were skilful horse tamers and riders, and from this may -have grown the fable of their form. - - [Illustration: CHIRON THE CENTAUR.] - - - ACHILLES. - -Achilles carried a spear at the siege of Troy which had the benign -power of healing the wounds it made. He discovered the virtues of -the plant Achillea Milfoil, but Pliny leaves it doubtful whether he -cured the wounds of his friend Telephas by that remedy or by verdigris -ointment, which he also invented. - - [Illustration: ACHILLEA MILFOIL.] - - - ARISTES. - -Aristes, king of Arcadia, was another famous pupil of Chiron. He is -credited with having introduced the silphion or laser which became -a popular medicine and condiment with the ancients, and which was -long believed to have been their name for asafœtida, but which modern -authors have doubted, alleging that silphion was the product of Thapsia -silphion. Aristes is further said to have taught the art of collecting -honey and of cultivating the olive. - - - MEDEA. - -Medea of Colchis is one of the most discussed ladies of mythical -history. Euripides, Ovid, and other poets represented her for the -purposes of their poems as a fiend of inhuman ferocity. Some more -trustworthy historians believe that she was a princess who devoted -a great deal of study to the medicinal virtues of the plants which -grew in her country, and that she exercised her skill on the poor -and sick of her country. Certainly the marvellous murders attributed -to her must have been planned by a tragic poet to whom no conditions -were impossible. Diodorus declares that the Corinthians stoned her -and her sons, and afterwards paid Euripides five talents to justify -their crime. Medea’s claim to a place in this section is the adopted -theory that she discovered the poisonous properties of colchicum, -which derived its name from her country. Colchis had the reputation of -producing many poisonous plants; hence the Latin expression “venena -Colchica.” - - - MORPHEUS. - -Morpheus was, according to the Roman poets, the son or chief minister -of the god of sleep (Somnus). The god himself was represented as -living in Cimmerian darkness. Morpheus derived his name from Morphe, -(Gr., form or shape), from his supposed ability to mimic or assume -the form of any individual he desired to pose as in dreams. Thus Ovid -relates how he appeared to Alcyone in a dream as her husband, who had -been shipwrecked, and narrated to her all the circumstances of the -tragedy. Morpheus is represented with a poppy plant in his hand bearing -a capsule with which he was supposed to touch those whom he desired -to put to sleep. He also had the wings of a butterfly to indicate his -lightness. Sertürner adopted the term “morphium” as the name of the -opium alkaloid which he had discovered. - - - PYTHAGORAS. - -Pythagoras, who lived in the sixth century before Christ, has been -the subject of so many legends that it is difficult to separate the -philosopher in him from the charlatan. He is said to have tamed wild -beasts with a word, to have visited hell, to have recounted his -previous stages of existence from the siege of Troy to his own life, -and to have accomplished many miracles. Probably these were the myths -which often gather round great men, and it is certain that from him -or from his disciples in his name much exact learning, especially in -mathematics, has reached us. Pythagoras was famous in many sciences. -His chief contribution to pharmacy was the invention of acetum scillae. -According to Pliny he wrote a treatise on squills, which he believed -possessed magic virtues. Pliny also states that he attributed magic -virtues to the cabbage, but it is not certain that he meant the -vegetable which we call the cabbage. Aniseed was another of his magic -plants. Holding aniseed in the left hand he recommended as a cure -for epilepsy, and he prescribed an anisated wine and also mustard to -counteract the poisonous effect of the bites of scorpions. An Antidotum -Pythagoras is given in some old books, but there is no authority for -supposing that this was devised by the philosopher. It was composed -of orris, 18 drachms and 2 scruples; gentian, 5 drachms; ginger, 4½ -drachms; black pepper, 4 drachms; honey, _q.s._ - - - THE PATRON SAINTS OF PHARMACY. - -Cosmas and Damien, who are regarded as the patron saints of pharmacy -in many Catholic countries, were two brothers, Arabs by birth, but who -lived in the city of Egea, in Cilicia, where they practised medicine -gratuitously. Overtaken by the Diocletian persecution in the fourth -century, they were arrested and confessed their faith. Being condemned -to be drowned, it is related that an angel severed their bonds so that -they could gain the shore. They were then ordered to be burnt, but -the fire attacked their executioners, several of whom were killed. -Next they were fastened to a cross and archers shot arrows at them. -The arrows, however, were turned from them and struck those who had -placed them on the crosses. Finally they were beheaded, and their souls -were seen mounting heavenward. For centuries their tomb at Cyrus, in -Syria, was a shrine where miracles of healing were performed, and in -the sixth century the Emperor Justinian, who believed he had been -cured of a serious illness by their intercession, not only beautified -and fortified the Syrian city, but also built a beautiful church in -their honour at Constantinople. Later, their relics were removed to -Rome, and Pope Felix consecrated a church to them there. Physicians -and pharmacists throughout Catholic Europe celebrated their memory on -September 27th for centuries. - - - FABLES OF PLANT MEDICINES. - -The Mandrake (Atropa Mandragora) has been exceptionally famous in -medical history. Its reputation for the cure of sterility is alluded -to in the story of Leah and Rachel (Genesis xxx, 14-16). It is not, -however, certain that the Hebrew word “dudaim” should be translated -mandrake. Various Biblical scholars have questioned this which was -the Septuagint rendering. Lilies, violets, truffles, citrons, and -other fruits have been suggested. In Cant., vii, 14, the same plant -is described as fragrant, and the odour of the mandrake is said to be -disagreeable. Mandragora is described in Chinese books of medicine, -and from Hippocrates down to almost modern times every writer on the -art of healing treats it with reverence. Hippocrates asserts that a -small dose in wine, less than would occasion delirium, will relieve the -deepest depression and anxiety. The roots of the mandrake are often -of a forked shape and were supposed to represent the human form, some -being regarded as male and others as female. This fancy originated with -Pythagoras, who conferred on the mandrake the name of anthropomorphon. -It was said that when the roots were drawn from the earth they gave -a human shriek. Shakespeare in _Romeo and Juliet_ alludes to this -superstition: - - And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth - That living mortals hearing them run mad. - -In _Othello_ again Shakespeare refers to this medicine, and -particularly to its alleged narcotic properties: - - Not poppy, nor mandragora, - Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world. - -In _Antony and Cleopatra_, too, Cleopatra says, “Give me to drink -mandragora” (that she may sleep out the great gap of time while Antony -is away); and Banquo in _Macbeth_, when he asks, “Or have we eaten of -the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?” is believed to allude -to the mandrake. - -There is a good deal of evidence that mandragora was used in ancient -and mediæval times not only as a soporific, but also as an anæsthetic. -Dioscorides explicitly asserts this property of the root more than -once. He describes a decoction of which a cupful is to be taken for -severe pains, or “before amputations, or the use of the cautery, to -prevent the pain of those operations.” Elsewhere he alludes to its -employment in parturition, and in another passage dealing with a wine -prepared from the external coat of the root, says, “The person who -drinks it falls in a profound sleep, and remains deprived of sense -three or four hours. Physicians apply this remedy when the necessity -for amputation occurs, or for applying the cautery.” Pliny refers -to the narcotic powers of the mandrake, and among later writers its -effects are often described. Josephus mentions a plant which he calls -Baaras, which cured demoniacs, but could only be procured at great -risk, or by employing a dog to uproot it, the dog being killed in the -process. This Baaras is supposed to have been mandrake. Dr. Lee in his -Hebrew Lexicon quotes from a Persian authority an allusion to a similar -root which, taken inwardly, “renders one insensible to the pain of even -cutting off a limb.” - -Baptista Porta describes the power of the mandrake in inducing deep -sleep, and in A. G. Meissner’s “Skizzen,” published at Carlsruhe in -1782, there is a story of Weiss, surgeon to Augustus, King of Poland -and Elector of Saxony, who surreptitiously administered a potion (of -what medicine is not stated) to his royal master, and during his -insensibility cut off a mortifying foot. - - - AMARANTH, AMBROSIA, AND ATHANASIA. - -Amaranth is the name which has been given to the genus of plants of -which Prince’s Feather and Love-Lies-Bleeding are species. This means -immortal and is the word used in the Epistle of St. Peter (v, 4), -the amaranthine crown of glory, or as translated in our version “the -crown of glory that fadeth not away.” Milton refers to the “immortal -amaranth, a flower which once in Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life -began to bloom.” - -Ambrosia, the food of the gods, sometimes alluded to as drink, and -sometimes as a sweet-smelling ointment, was also referred to by -Dioscorides and Pliny as a herb, but it is not known what particular -plant they meant. It was reputed to be nine times sweeter than honey. -The herb Ambrose of the old herbalists was the Chenopodium Botrys, but -C. Ambroisioides (the oak of Jerusalem), the wild sage, and the field -parsley have also borne the name. The Ambroisia of modern botanists is -a plant of the wormwood kind. - -Athanasia was abbreviated by the old herbalists into Tansy, and this -herb acquired the fame due to its distinguished designation. In -Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods, Jupiter tells Hercules to take with him -the beautiful Ganymede, whom he has stolen from earth, “and when he has -drunk of Athanasia (immortality) bring him back, and he shall be our -cupbearer.” Naturally the ancients sought for that herb, Athanasia, -which would yield immortality. - - - MYRRH. - -Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyrus, King of Cyprus, having become -pregnant, was driven from home by her father, and fled to Arabia. The -story told by Ovid is that she had conceived a criminal passion for her -father, and that by deception she had taken her mother’s place by his -side one night. Lost in the desert and overcome by remorse, she had -prayed the gods to grant that she should no longer remain among the -living, nor be counted with the dead. Touched with pity for her, they -changed her into the tree which yields the gum which to this day bears -her name. - - - NEPENTHE. - -Nepenthe, or more correctly Nepenthes, is described by Homer in the -Odyssey as an Egyptian plant which Helen, the wife of Menelaus, had -received from Polydamna, wife of Thonis, King of Egypt. The word is -compounded of _ne_, negation, and _penthos_, pain or affliction. Helen -mixed it for Telemachus in “a mirth inspiring bowl” which would - - Clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care, - And dry the tearful sluices of despair. - -Its effects would last all through one day. No matter what horrors -surrounded, - - From morn to eve, impassive and serene - The man entranced would view the dreadful scene. - -Much discussion of Homer’s drug has of course resulted from his -description of these effects. Was it a mere poetic fancy of Homer’s and -was the name his invention, or was there an Egyptian drug known in his -time to which the properties he describes were attributed? Plutarch, -Philostratus, and some other ancient commentators suppose that the poet -is only representing in a materialistic form the charm of Helen’s -conversation and manner. The difficulty about that interpretation is -that he explicitly states that the remedy came from Egypt. Theophrastus -credits the opopanax with similar properties to those which Homer -claims, and Dioscorides is believed to allude to the same gum under the -name of Nectarion, which he indicates to have been of Egyptian origin. -This has been adopted by some old critics as the true nepenthes. Pliny -asserts that Helenium was the plant which yielded the mirth-inspiring -drug, but it is not clear that he means our elecampane. Borage and -bugloss have also had their advocates, Galen supporting the latter. -Rhazes voted for saffron. Cleopatra is assumed to have meant mandragora -when she asked for some nepenthe to make her forget her sorrow while -she was separated from Antony. Opium has of course been selected by -many commentators, but it could hardly have furnished a mirth-inspiring -bowl. Indian hemp or haschish seems to meet the requirements of -the verse better than any other drug. There are also reasons for -choosing hyoscyamus or stramonium. The Indian pitcher plants to which -Linnaeus gave the name of nepenthes are out of the question. A learned -contribution to this study may be found in the _Bulletin de Pharmacie_, -Vol. V. (1813), by M. J. J. Virey. - - - BELLADONNA. - -Atropa Belladonna is the subject of several legends. How it came by -its several names it would be interesting to know. Atropa, from the -eldest sister of the Fates, she who carried the scissors with which she -cut the thread of life, is appropriate enough but not more to this -than to any other poison plant. Belladonna--so-called because Italian -ladies made a cosmetic from the berries with which to whiten their -complexions; so-called because the Spanish ladies made use of the plant -to dilate the pupils of their brilliant black eyes; so-called because -Leucota, an Italian poisoner, used it to destroy beautiful women. These -are among the explanations of the name which the old herbalists gave -without troubling themselves about historical evidence. Belladonna -is supposed to have been described by Dioscorides under the name of -Morella furiosum lethale, and by Pliny as Strychnos manikon. It was -used by Galen in cancerous affections, and its employment for this -purpose was revived in the 17th century, infusions of leaves being -administered both internally and externally. That it figured among -the philtres of the sorcerers cannot be doubted. Like mandragora, it -did not act by exciting amorous passions, but by rendering the victim -helpless. - - - CENTAURY. - -The lesser Centaury (_Erythraea Centaurium_) is alleged to owe its -name to Chiron the Centaur, who is supposed to have taught medicine to -Æsculapius. The story which associates Chiron with the plant has been -given already. - - [Illustration: CENTAURY.] - - - MINT. - -Mentha was a nymph of the infernal regions beloved of Pinto. Prosperine -out of jealousy caused her to be metamorphosed into the plant which -thus acquired her name. - - - DITTANY. - -Dittany, the origanum Dictamnus, was reputed to possess wonderful -virtues for healing wounds. Æneas, wounded in a combat, was treated -by Iapyx, who had been specially taught by Apollo, but his simples -had no effect. Venus, touched by the sufferings of her son, thereupon -descended from heaven in a cloud, gathered some dittany on Mount Ida, -and secretly added it to the infusion with which Iapyx was vainly -trying to relieve the hero. She added some ambrosial elixir, and -suddenly the pain ceased, the flow of blood was arrested, the dart was -easily drawn from the wound, and Æneas recovered his strength. - - - MYTHICAL ANIMALS. - - - THE PHŒNIX. - -The Phœnix was largely adopted by the alchemists as their emblem, -and afterwards was a frequent sign used by pharmacists. According to -Herodotus this bird, which was worshipped by the Egyptians, was of -about the size of an eagle, with purple and gold plumage, and a purple -crest. Its eyes sparkled like stars; it lived a solitary life in the -Arabian desert, and either came to Heliopolis, the city of the sun, to -die and be burned in the temple of that city, or its ashes were brought -there by its successor. There was only one phœnix at the same time, and -it lived for 500 years. The legends vary as to its longevity, but 500 -years is the period usually assigned. When the phœnix knew that its -time had come, it made its own funeral pyre out of spiced woods, and -the sun provided the fire. Out of the marrow of its bones came a worm, -which quickly grew into a new phœnix, who, after burying its parent in -Egypt, returned to Arabia. - - [Illustration: PHŒNIX.] - -The Talmud relates some curious legends of the phœnix, which the Jews -believed to be immortal. One story is that when Eve had eaten the -forbidden fruit she gave some to all the animals in the Garden of Eden, -and that the phœnix was the only one which refused. Hence it escaped -the curse of death which overtook the rest of the animal creation. -Another legend is that when it was in the ark, and when all the -other animals were clamouring to be fed, the phœnix was quiet. Noah, -observing it, asked if it was not hungry, to which the phœnix replied, -“I saw you were busy, so would not trouble you,” an answer which so -pleased Noah that he blessed it with eternal life. In the book of Job, -xxix, 18, recalling his earlier glory, the patriarch says, “Then I said -I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.” Many -Jewish scholars believe that the word translated sand should be phœnix, -and our Revised Version gives “phœnix” as an alternative rendering. It -is easy to appreciate how aptly this would express Job’s idea. Some of -the Hebrew commentators translate the verse in Ps. ciii, 5, “So that -thy youth is renewed like the eagle,” by substituting phœnix for eagle. - - - THE UNICORN - -had not quite passed into the region of fable when Pomet wrote his -History of Drugs very early in the 18th century, for though he does -not believe in the animal himself, he quotes from other authors not -so very long antecedent to him who did. He states, however, that what -was then sold as unicorn’s horn was in fact the horn or tusk of the -narwhal, a tooth which extends to the length of six to ten feet. The -unicorn, or monoceros was referred to by Aristotle, Pliny, Aelian, and -other ancient writers, and in later times it was described by various -travellers who, if they had not seen it themselves, had met with -persons who had. - - [Illustration: UNICORN (AFTER BOCHAUT’S HIEROZOICON).] - -The details given by Aristotle are supposed to have been derived from -Ctesias, whose description of the Indian wild ass is what was adopted -with many embellishments for the fabulous unicorn. It is this author -who first notices the marvellous alexipharmic properties so long -attributed to the unicorn’s horn. Drinking vessels, he says, were made -of the horn, and those who used them were protected against poison, -convulsions, and epilepsy, provided that either just before or just -after taking the poison they drank wine or water from the cup made from -the horn. In the middle ages the horn of the unicorn was esteemed a -certain cure for the plague, malignant fevers, bites of serpents or of -mad dogs. It was to be made into a jelly to which a little saffron and -cochineal were to be added. Some writers allege that poisoned wounds -could be cured by merely holding the horn of a unicorn opposite the -wound. These horns are said, however, to have cost about ten times the -price of gold, so that not many sufferers could avail themselves of -them as a remedy. - -The unicorn is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, the -translators of the Authorised Version having followed the Septuagint in -which the Hebrew word Re’em was rendered by the Greek term Monokeros, -which corresponds with our unicorn. It is agreed that the word in the -original had no reference to the fabulous animal, but that the wild -ox, or ox antelope, a strong untameable beast, known in Palestine, was -intended. In the Revised Version wild ox is uniformly substituted for -unicorn. This animal is believed to have been the Urus mentioned by -Julius Cæsar as existing in his time in the forests of Central Europe, -and not entirely extinct until some 500 or 600 years ago. - -The translators evidently found a difficulty in associating the unicorn -with the Hebrew Re’em in Deut. xxxiii, 17, where we read of “the horns -of the unicorns.” In the Hebrew the horns are the plural but Re’em is -singular. But the horns of the unicorn would have been a contradiction -in terms. - -The allusions to the unicorn in Shakespeare all seem to show unbelief -in the legends. In the _Tempest_ (Act 3, sc. 3) Sebastian says when -music is heard in the wood, “Now I will believe that there are -unicorns.” In _Julius Cæsar_ (Act 2, sc. 1), Decius Brutus, recounting -Cæsar’s superstitions, says, “He loves to hear that unicorns may be -betrayed with trees”; and Timon of Athens raves about the unicorn among -the legendary animal beliefs (Act 4, sc. 3). An authority on heraldry, -Guillim, in 1660, however, comments thus on the scepticism of his -contemporaries: “Some have made doubt whether there be any such beast -as this or not. But the great esteem of his horns (in many places to be -seen) may take away that needless scruple.” - -The unicorn was introduced into the British royal arms by James I., who -substituted it for the red dragon with which Henry VII. had honoured -a Welsh contingent which helped him to win the battle of Bosworth -fighting under the banner of Cadwallydr. The unicorn had been a Scotch -emblem for several reigns before that of James I. (or VI.). The -Scottish pound of that period was known by the name of a unicorn from -the device stamped on it. - -Pomet tells us that in 1553 a unicorn’s horn was brought to the King of -France which was valued at £20,000 sterling; and that one presented to -Charles I. of England, supposed to be the largest one known, measured -7 feet long, and weighed 13 lbs. It is also related that Edward IV. -gave to the Duke of Burgundy who visited him, a gold cup set with -jewels, and with a piece of unicorn’s horn worked into the metal. One -large unicorn’s horn was owned by the city of Dresden and was valued -at 75,000 thalers. Occasionally a piece was sawn off to be used for -medical purposes. It was a city regulation that two persons of princely -rank should be present whenever this operation was performed. This was -in the sixteenth century. - -The unicorn was a frequent sign used by the old apothecaries. It was -also adopted by goldsmiths. The arms of the Society of Apothecaries are -supported by unicorns. - - - [Illustration: DRAGON.] - - THE DRAGON - -was only associated with pharmacy by means of the “blood” which took -his name and was at one time popularly supposed to be yielded by him. I -know of no evidence in support of this statement, but it is sometimes -so reported. According to Pharmacographia dragon’s blood was first -obtained from Socotra and taken with other merchandise by the Arabs -to China. Possibly it was there that it acquired the name of dragon’s -blood, for the dragon has always been a much revered beast in that -country. Dioscorides called this product cinnabar. I find in old books -that the fruit of the calamus draconis on which the resin collects -along with scales (and this is the source of our present supply), when -stripped of its skin shows a design of a dragon. Lemery quoting from -“Monard and several other authors,” says, “When the skin is taken off -from this fruit there appears underneath the figure of a dragon as it -is represented by the painters, with wings expanded, a slender neck, -a hairy or bristle back, long tail, and feet armed with talons. They -pretend,” he adds, “that this figure gave the name to tree. But I -believe this circumstance fabulous because I never knew it confirmed by -any traveller.” - - [Illustration: THE DRAGON TREE (_Dracona Draco_). - -The tree illustrated above is at Teneriffe, and is, perhaps, the oldest -tree in the world. Humboldt, in 1799, found its trunk was forty-eight -feet in circumference.] - -Very likely the shrewd Arabs invented the name dragon’s blood to please -their Chinese customers, and it may be therefore that the tree acquired -its name from the resin, not the resin from the tree. - -Dragon’s blood was given in old pharmacy as a mild astringent, and was -one of the ingredients in the styptic pills of Helvetius. It was also -included in the formula for Locatelli’s balsam. Now it is chiefly used -as a varnish colouring, as for example in varnishes for violins. In -some parts of the country it has a reputation as a charm to restore -love. Maidens whose swains are unfaithful or neglectful procure a -piece, wrap it in paper, and throw it on the fire, saying: - - May he no pleasure or profit see - Till he come back again to me. - - [Cuthbert Bede in _Notes and Queries_. - Series 1., Vol. II., p. 242.] - -Dragons are mentioned many times in the Authorised Version of the Old -Testament. In most of these instances jackals are substituted in the -Revised Version, and only once, I think, the alternative of crocodiles -is suggested in the margin, though in many instances it would obviously -be a better rendering, as has been pointed out by many scholars. - - - THE SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY - - which seeks to explain how the old myths, some poetical, many - disgusting, and all impossible, originated, is a modern study - which has fascinated a large number of learned scholars. - The old notion that they were merely allegorical forms of - representing facts and phenomena is not tenable in view of the - universality of the legends among the least cultivated races. - Professor Max Müller initiated a lively controversy some forty - years ago by suggesting that myths were a consequence of - language, a disease of language, as Mr. Andrew Lang has termed - it. He traced many of the Greek myths to Aryan sources, and - insisted that they had developed from the words or phrases - used to describe natural phenomena. Thus, for example, he - explained the myth of Apollo and Daphne (mentioned on page - 9) by supposing that a phrase existed describing the Sun - following, or chasing, the Dawn. He even maintained that the - Sanskrit Ahana, dawn, was the derivation of Daphne. Words, of - course, were invented to convey some mental conception; that - conception, while it was intelligible, would (according to Max - Müller’s system) be developed into a story. The argument was - most ingeniously worked out, but it has not proved capable - of satisfying the conditions of the problem. How could it - suffice, for instance, to explain the occurrence of almost - identical myths treasured by the most degraded and widely - separated peoples? The more likely theory is that in a very - early stage of the savage mind the untrained imagination - tended inevitably to associate the facts of nature with - certain monstrous, obscene, and irrational forms. Perhaps - the most able exposition of this view, or something like it, - expounded within moderate limits, is to be found in an article - on Mythology contributed to the “Encyclopædia Britannica” by - Mr. Andrew Lang. - - - - - II - - PHARMACY IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS - - “Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: - in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for - thee.” - - -So wrote the prophet Jeremiah (xlvi, 11), and the passage seems to -suggest that Egypt in his time was famous for its medicines. Herodotus, -who narrated his travels in Egypt some two or three hundred years -later, conveys the same impression, and the records of the papyri which -have been deciphered within the last century confirm the opinion. - -Whatever may have been the case with other arts and sciences, it does -not appear that much progress was made in medicine in Egypt during -the thousands of years of its history which have been more or less -minutely traced. The discovery of remedies by various deities, by Isis -especially, or the indication of compounds invented for the relief of -the sufferings of the Sun-god Ra, before he retired to his heavenly -rest, is the burden of all the documents on which our knowledge of -Egyptian pharmacy is founded. It was criminal to add to or vary the -perfect prescriptions thus revealed, a provision which made advance -impossible to the extent to which it was enforced. - -“So wisely was medicine managed in Egypt,” says Herodotus, “that no -doctor was permitted to practise any but his own branch.” That is to -say, the doctors were all specialists; some treated the eyes, others -the teeth, the head, the skin, the stomach, and so forth. The doctors -were all priests, and were paid by the Treasury, but they were allowed -to take fees besides. Their recipes were often absurd and complicated, -but there is reason to suppose that their directions in regard to diet -and hygiene were sensible, and there is evidence that they paid some -attention to disinfection and cleanliness. - -The physicians were always priests, but all the priests were not -physicians; Clement of Alexandria says those who actually practised -were the lowest grade of priests. They prepared as well as prescribed -medicines, but relied perhaps more on magic, amulets, and invocations -than on drugs. The secrets of magic were, however, especially the -property of the highest grade of priests, the sages and soothsayers. -According to Celsus, the medical science of Egypt was founded on the -belief that the human body was divided into thirty-six parts, each one -being under the control of a separate demon or divinity. The art of -medicine consisted largely in knowing the names of these demons so as -to invoke the right one when an ailment had to be treated. - -Symbolical names were given to many of the herbs used as medicines. -The plant of Osiris was the ivy, the vervain was called Tears of Isis, -saffron was the blood of Thoth, and the squill was the eye of Typhon. - -Until the mystery of the Egyptian writings was unlocked, the key being -found about a century ago in the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone, of -which Napoleon first took possession, and which was subsequently taken -from the French by the British, and is now a familiar object in the -British Museum, knowledge of Egyptian science and life was limited to -the information which came to us from Greek and Roman authors; and this -was often fabulous. Now, however, the daily life of the subjects of the -Pharaohs has been revealed in wonderful minuteness by the papyri which -have been deciphered. - -Among the papyri preserved in various museums a number of medical and -pharmaceutical records have been found. Some medical prescriptions -inscribed on a papyrus in the British Museum (No. 10,059) are said to -be as old as the time of Khufu (Cheops), reckoned to have been about -3700 years B.C. Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, the Director of the -Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, -informs me that these prescriptions have not been translated, and that -no photograph of them is available. The Papyrus itself may be of about -1400 B.C., but it refers to some medical lore of the time of -Khufu, as a modern English book might quote some prescriptions of the -time of Alfred the Great. - -By far the most complete representation of the medicine and pharmacy -of ancient Egypt is comprised in the famous Papyrus Ebers, which was -discovered by Georg Ebers, Egyptologist and romancist, in the winter of -1872-3. - -Ebers and a friend were spending that winter in Egypt, and during -their residence at Thebes they made the acquaintance of a well-to-do -Arab from Luxor who appeared to know of some ancient papyri and other -relics. He first tried to pass off to them some of no particular value, -but Ebers was an expert and was not to be imposed on. Ultimately the -Arab brought to him a Papyrus which he stated had been discovered -fourteen years previously between the knees of a mummy in the Theban -Necropolis. After examination Ebers was convinced of its genuineness -and bought it. His opinion was fully confirmed by all the authorities -when he brought it to Germany, and the contents have proved to be of -extreme value and interest in the delineation of the medical manners -and customs of the ancient Egyptians. - -This papyrus was wrapped in mummy cloths and packed in a metal case. It -is a single roll of yellow-brown papyrus of the finest quality, about -12 inches wide and more than 22 yards long. It is divided into 108 -columns each separately numbered. The numbering reaches actually 110, -but there are no numbers 28 and 29, though there is no hiatus in the -literary composition. Ebers supposes there may have been some religious -reason for not using the missing numbers. The writing is in black ink, -but the heads of sections and weights and measures are written with -red ink. The word “nefr” signifying “good” is written in the margin -against many of the formulæ in a different writing and in a paler ink, -evidently by someone who had used the book. It has been considered -possible that this was one of the six hermetic books on medicine -mentioned by Clement of Alexandria; but it is more likely to have been -a popular collection of medical formulæ from various sources. - -Internal evidence, satisfactory to experts, the writing, the name of -a king, and particularly a calendar attached to one of the sections, -establish the date of this document. The king named was Tjesor-ka-Ra, -and his throne-name was Amen-hetep I., the second king of the 18th -dynasty. The date assigned to the papyrus is about the year 1552 B.C., -which, according to the conventional scriptural chronology, would -correspond with about the 21st year of the life of Moses. If this -estimation is approximately correct it follows that the prescriptions -of the papyrus are considerably older than those given in the book -of Exodus for the holy anointing oil and for incense, which in old -works are sometimes quoted as the earliest records of “the art of the -apothecary.” - -The papyrus begins by declaring that the writer had brought help from -the King of Eternity from Heliopolis; from the Goddess Mother to Sais, -she who alone could ensure protection. Speech had been given him to -tell how all pains and all mortal sicknesses might be driven away. Here -were chapters which would teach how to conjure away the diseases “from -this my head, from this my neck, from this my arm, from this my flesh, -from these my limbs. For Ra pities the sick; his teacher is Thuti” -(Thoth or Hermes) “who has given him words to make this book and to -save instructions to scholars and to physicians who will follow them, -so that what is dark shall be unriddled. For he whom the God loveth, he -maketh alive; I am one who loveth the God, and he maketh me alive.” - -Here are the words to speak when preparing the remedies for all parts -of the body: “As it shall be a thousand times. This is the book of the -healing of all sicknesses. That Isis may make free, make free. May Isis -heal me as she healed Horus of all pains which his brother Set had done -to him who killed his father Osiris. Oh, Isis, thou great magician, -heal me and save me from all wicked, frightful, and red things, from -demoniac and deadly diseases and illnesses of every kind. Oh, Ra. Oh, -Osiris.” - -The form of words to be said when taking a remedy:--“Come remedy, -come drive it out of this my heart, out of these my limbs; Oh strong -magic power with the remedy.” On giving an emetic the conjuration to -be spoken was as follows:--“Oh, Demon, who dwellest in the body of ... -son of ...; Oh, thou, whose father is called the bringer down of heads, -whose name is Death, whose name is accursed for all eternity, come -forth.” - -The following shows how the Egyptian physicians diagnosed a liver -complaint: “When thou findest one with hardening of his re-het; when -eating he feels a pressure in the bowels, and the stomach is swollen; -feels ill while walking; look at him when lying outstretched, and if -thou findest his bowels hot, and a hardening in his stomach, say to -thyself, This is a liver complaint. Then make a remedy according to -the secrets of botanical knowledge from the plant pa-chestat and from -dates cut up. Mix it and put in water. The patient may drink it on -four mornings to purge his body. If after that thou findest both sides -of the bowels, namely, the right one hot and the left one cold, then -say, That is bile. Look at him again, and if thou findest his bowels -entirely cold then say to thyself, His liver is cleaned and purified; -he has taken the medicine, the medicine has taken effect.” - -Superstitious notions in connection with medicine are not more apparent -in the Ebers Papyrus than they are in any English herbal of three or -four hundred years ago. The majority of the drugs prescribed are of -vegetable origin, but there is a fair proportion of animal products, -and as in comparatively modern pharmacopœias these seem to have been -valued as remedies in the ratio of their nastiness. Lizards’ blood, -teeth of swine, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from pigs’ ears, -milk from a lying-in woman; the excreta of adults, of children, of -donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats, and other animals, and the dirt left by -flies on the walls, are among the remedies met with in the papyrus. - -Among the drugs named in the papyrus and identified are oil, wine, beer -(sweet and bitter), beer froth, yeast, vinegar, turpentine, various -gums and resins, figs, sebestens, myrrh, mastic, frankincense, opium, -wormwood, aloes, cummin, peppermint, cassia, carraway, coriander, -anise, fennel, saffron, sycamore and cyprus woods, lotus flowers, -linseed, juniper berries, henbane, and mandragora. - -There are certain substances, evidently metals by the suffixes, but -they have not been exactly identified. Neither gold, silver, nor tin -is included. One is supposed to be sulphur, another, electrum (a -combination of gold and silver), and another alluded to as “excrement -divine,” remains mysterious. Iron, lead, magnesia, lime, soda, nitre -and vermilion are among the mineral products which were then used in -medicine. - -It need hardly be said that scores of drugs named have only been -guessed at, and in regard to a number of them, it has not been possible -to get as far as this. - -Most of the prescriptions are fairly simple, but there are exceptions. -There is a poultice with thirty-five ingredients. Here is a specimen -of rather complicated pharmacy. It is ordered for what seems to have -been a common complaint of the stomach called setyt. Seeds of the sweet -woodruff, seeds of mene, and the plant called A’am, were to be reduced -to powder and mixed. Then seven stones had to be heated at a fire. -On these, one by one, some of the powder was to be sprinkled while -the stone was hot; it was then covered with a new pot in the bottom -of which a hole had been made. A reed was fitted to the hole and the -vapour inhaled. “Afterwards eat some fat,” says the writer. - - [Illustration: REDUCED FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE PAPYRUS - EBERS. - - The Papyrus Ebers has been reproduced by photography in - facsimile, and published in two magnificent volumes by Mr. - Wilhelm Engelmann, of Leipzig. Mr. Engelmann has kindly - permitted me to copy one of the pages from his work for this - book. The above is a reduced reproduction of page 47 of the - Papyrus. The photograph was taken at the British Museum. - - The first line of this page is the end of the instructions for - applying a mixture of powders rubbed down with date wine to - wounds and skin diseases to heal them. That compound was made - by the god Seb, the god of the earth, for the god Ra. Then - follows a complicated prescription devised by the goddess Nut, - the goddess of heaven, also for the god Ra, and like the last - to apply to wounds. It prescribes brickdust, pebble, soda, - and sea-salt, to be boiled in oils with some groats and other - vegetable matter. Isis next supplies a formula to relieve Ra - of pains in the head. It contains opium, coriander, absinth, - juniper berries, and honey. This was to be applied to the - head. Three other formulas for pains in the head, the last - for a pain on one side of the head (migraine), are given, - and then there is a break in the manuscript, and afterwards - some interesting instructions are given for the medicinal - employment of the ricinus (degm) tree. The stems infused in - water will make a lotion which will cure headache; the berries - chewed with beer will relieve constipation; the berries - crushed in oil will make a woman’s hair grow; and pressed into - a salve will cure abscesses if applied every morning for ten - days. The paragraph ends (but on the next page), as many of - them do, with the curious idiom, “As it shall be a thousand - times.” The translation is given in full (in German) in Dr. - Joachim’s _Papyros Ebers_. _Das älteste Buch über Heilkunde_ - (Berlin, Georg. Reimer. 1890). -] - -To draw the blood from a wound:--Foment it four times with a mixture -made from wax, fat, date wine, honey, and boiled horn; these -ingredients boiled with a certain quantity of water. - -To prevent the immoderate crying of children a mixture of the seeds of -the plant Sheben with some fly-dirt is recommended. It is supposed that -Sheben may have been the poppy. Incidentally it is remarked that if a -new-born baby cries “ny” that is a good sign; but it is a bad sign if -it cries “mbe.” - -To prevent the hair turning grey anoint it with the blood of a black -calf which has been boiled in oil; or with the fat of a rattlesnake. -When it falls out one remedy is to apply a mixture of six fats, namely -those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the -snake, and the ibex. To strengthen it anoint with the tooth of a donkey -crushed in honey. - -A few other prescriptions are appended. - -As Purges:--Mix milk, one part, yeast and honey, two parts each. Boil -and strain. A draught of this to be taken every morning for four days. -Pills compounded of equal parts of honey, absinth powder, and onion. -In another formula “kesebt” fruits are ordered with other ingredients. -Ebers conjectures that kesebt may have been the castor oil tree. - -For Headache:--Equal parts of frankincense, cummin, berries of u’an -tree and goosegrease are to be boiled together; the head to be anointed -with the mixture. - -For Worms:--Resin of acanthus, peppermint flowers, lettuce, and “as” -plant. Equal parts to make a plaster. - -For too much urine (diabetes):--Twigs of kadet plant ¼, grapes ⅛, honey -¼, berries of u’an tree ¹⁄₃₂, sweet beer 1⅙. - -As a Tonic:--Figs, sebestens, grapes, yeast, frankincense, cummin, -berries of u’an tree, wine, goosegrease, and sweet beer are recommended. - -An Application for Sore Eyes. Dried excrement of a child 1, honey 1, in -fresh milk. - -To make the hair grow:--Oil of the Nile horse 1, powder of mentha -montana 1, myrrh 1, mespen corn 1, vitriol of lead 1. Anoint. Another -formula prescribed for the same purpose was prepared for Schesch (a -queen of the 3rd dynasty) and consisted of equal parts of the heel of -the greyhound (from Abyssinia), of date blossoms, and of asses’ hoofs -boiled in oil. - -A long formula for an ointment “which the god Ra made for himself” -contains honey, wax, frankincense, onions, and a number of unidentified -plants. The dust of alabaster and powdered statues are prescribed as -applications for wounds. - -To stop Diarrhœa:--Green bulbs (? onions) ⅛, freshly cooked groats ⅛, -oil and honey ¼, wax ¹⁄₁₆, water ⅓ dena (a dena is about a pint). Take -four days. - -A plaster to remove pains from one side of the stomach:--Boil equal -parts of lettuce and dates in oil, and apply. - -Medicines against worms are numerous. Heftworms, believed to be thread -worms, are treated with pomegranate bark, sea-salt, ricinus, absinth, -and other unidentified drugs. For tape worms, mandrake fruits, castor -oil, peppermint, a preparation of lead, and other drugs are prescribed. - -Remedies which the God Su (god of the air), the God Seb (god of the -earth), the Goddess Nut (goddess of the sky), and other divinities had -devised are comprised in this collection. This is an application which -Isis prescribed for Ra’s headache:--Coriander, opium, absinth, juniper, -(another fruit), and honey. - -Remedies are also prescribed in this papyrus for diseases of the -stomach, the abdomen, and the urinary bladder; for the cure of -swellings of the glands in the groin; for the treatment of the eye, -for ulcers of the head, for greyness of the hair, and for promoting -its growth; to heal and strengthen the nerves; to cure diseases of the -tongue, to strengthen the teeth, to remove lice and fleas; to banish -pain; to sweeten the breath; and to strengthen the organs of hearing -and of smell. - -Quantities are indicated on the prescriptions by perpendicular lines -thus: | one, || two, ||| three. Each of these lines represents a unit. -Ebers calls the unit a drachm and supposes it to be equivalent to the -Arabic dirhem, about forty-eight English grains. The Egyptian system of -numeration was decimal. Up to nine lines were used; [symbol=bridge] was -ten, and two, three or more of these figures followed each other up to -ninety. Then came [symbol=C] a hundred, [symbol=lotus] a thousand, and -so on. Fractions were shown by the figure [symbol=oval], and this with -three dots under it meant one-third, with four dots one-fourth, or with -the 10 sign under it, [symbol=oval with bridge under] one-tenth. Half -was represented by [symbol=double horizontal bar]. The unit of liquid -measure is believed to have been the tenat, equal to three-fifths of a -litre, or rather more than an English pint. - -In the British Museum “Guide” Dr. Budge quotes the following -prescription “for driving away wrinkles of the face,” and gives the -same in hieroglyphics:--“Ball of incense, wax, fresh oil, and cypress -berries, equal parts. Crush, and rub down, and put in new milk, and -apply it to the face for six days. Take good heed.” Generally medicines -are directed to be taken or applied for four days; the ingredients are -very often four; and in many cases incantations are to be four times -repeated. The Pythagoreans swore by the number 4, and probably their -master acquired his reverence for that figure from Egypt. - -A sacred perfume called kyphi is prescribed to perfume the house -and clothes for sanitary reasons. It was composed of myrrh, juniper -berries, frankincense, cyprus wood, aloes wood, calamus of Asia, -mastic, and styrax. - -Among the Greek Papyri discovered in the last decade of the 19th -century at Oxyrinchus one quoted by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt in their -work on these papyri (Vol. II., p. 134) gives about a dozen formulas -for applications for the earache. These are believed to have been -written in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. One is:--Dilute some -gum with balsam of lilies; add honey and rose-extract. Twist some wool -with the oil in it round a probe, warm, and drop in. Onion juice, the -gall of an ox, the sap of a fir tree, alum and myrrh, and frankincense -in sweet wine, are among the other applications recommended. - - - - - III - - PHARMACY IN THE BIBLE - - Pour bien entendre le Vieux Testament il est absolument - nécessaire d’approfondir l’Histoire Naturelle, aussi bien - que les mœurs des Orientaux. On y trouve à peu près trois - cents noms de végétaux; je ne sais combien de noms tirés du - règne animal, et un grand nombre qui désignent des pierres - précieuses.--T. D. MICHAELIS, _Göttingen_, 1790. - - -To some extent the habits and practices of the Israelites were -based on those of the Egyptians. But in the matter of medicines the -differences are more notable than the resemblances. In Egypt the -practice of medicine was entirely in the hands of the priesthood, -and was largely associated with magical arts. It appears, too, that -the Egyptian practitioners had acquired experience of a fairly wide -range of internal medicines. Among the Israelites the priests did not -practise medicine at all. Some of the prophets did, and they were -expected to exercise healing powers. Elijah and Elisha were frequently -called upon for help in this way, and the prescription of Isaiah of -a lump of figs to be laid on Hezekiah’s boil (2 Kings, xx, 7) will -be recalled. But among the Israelites physicians formed a distinct -profession, though it cannot be said that in all the history covered -by the Scriptures they performed the same functions. The physicians of -Joseph’s household whom he commanded to embalm his father (Genesis -1, 2) were rather apothecaries. That, of course, was in Egypt. There -is a curious allusion to physicians in 2 Chronicles, xvi, 12, where -it is said that when Asa was exceedingly ill with a disease in his -feet “he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” Possibly -this means that he employed physicians who practised incantations. -Some commentators think, however, that the passage has reference to -himself, his name signifying a physician. In the apocryphal Book of -Ecclesiasticus physicians are alluded to in language which suggests -that at the time it was written there were doubts about the necessity -of physicians. Until recently this work was attributed to Joshua or -Jesus, the son of Sirach. It so appeared in the Greek manuscripts. But -a Hebrew manuscript discovered in 1896 shows that the author was Simon, -son of Jeshua, and critics agree that the date of its composition was -rather less than 200 years before Christ. - -This book, “Ecclesiasticus,” is professedly a collection of the grave -and short sentences of wise men. Those relating to medicine and -physicians are brought together in the first part of the 38th chapter. -They appear to be quoted from different authors, and several of the -verses are merely parallels. Thus we have, “Honour a physician with -the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him; for the -Lord hath created him.” And again, “Then give place to the physician, -for the Lord hath created him; let him not go from thee, for thou hast -need of him.” But the author of a verse inserted between these appears -to regard the physician as less essential. He says, “My son, in thy -sickness be not negligent; but pray unto the Lord, and He will make -thee whole.” The 15th verse is somewhat enigmatic, and may or may -not be complimentary. It runs, “He that sinneth before his Maker, let -him fall into the hand of the physician.” In the recently discovered -manuscript is the passage not previously known, “He that sinneth -against God will behave arrogantly before his physician.” Probably into -this may be read the converse idea that he that behaves arrogantly -towards his physician sinneth before God. - -In the same chapter we are told that “the Lord hath created medicines -out of the earth, and he that is wise will not abhor them.” Possibly -this was directed against the Jewish prejudice against bitter flavours. -Then the writer asks, “Was not the water made sweet with wood?” and he -says “of such” (the medicines) men to whom God hath given skill heal -men and take away their pains; and “of such doth the apothecary make a -confection.” - -The idea that physicians get their skill direct from God is prominent -in these passages, and is perhaps truer than we are willing to admit in -this age of curricula and examinations. - - - MEDICINES OF THE JEWS. - -The Papyrus Ebers was supposed by its discoverer to have been compiled -about the time when Moses was living in Egypt, a century before the -Exodus. There is no evidence in the Bible that the Jews brought with -them from the land of their captivity any of the medical lore which -that and other papyri not much later reveal. It is not certain that in -the whole of the Bible there is any distinct reference to a medicine -for internal administration. It is assumed that Rachel wanted the -mandrakes which Reuben found to make a remedy for sterility, but -that is not definitely stated. Nor is it certain that the Hebrew word -Dudaim, translated mandrakes, meant the shrub we know by that name. -Violets, lilies, jasmin, truffles, mushrooms, citrons, melons, and -other fruits have been proposed by various critics. There are three -passages in Jeremiah where Balm of Gilead is mentioned in a way which -may have meant that it was to be used as an internal remedy. These are -c. viii. v. 12, c. xlvi. v. 11, and c. li. v. 8. In two of these the -expression “take balm” is used, but it is quite possible to understand -this as meaning employ balm, and in all the passages the sense is -metaphorical. - -The Mishnah, the book of Jewish legends, which forms part of the -Talmud, mentions a treatise on medicines believed to have been compiled -by Solomon. Hezekiah is said to have “hidden” this work for fear that -the people should trust to that wisdom rather than to the Lord. The -Talmud also cites a treatise on pharmacology called Megillat-Sammanin, -but neither of these works has been preserved. In the Talmud an -infusion of onions in wine is mentioned as a means of healing an issue -of blood. It was necessary at the same time for someone to say to the -patient, “Be healed of thine issue of blood.” This remedy and the -formula to be spoken are strongly reminiscent of Egypt. - -The Talmud, though it was compiled in the early centuries of our era, -undoubtedly reflects the Jewish life and thought of many previous -ages, and consequently indicates fairly enough the condition of -therapeutics among the ancient Hebrews. Among its miscellaneous items -are cautions against the habit of taking medicine constantly also -against having teeth extracted needlessly. It advises that patients -should be permitted to eat anything they specially crave after. Among -its aphorisms are salt after meals, water after wine, onions for worms, -peppered wine for stomach disorders, injection of turpentine for stone -in the bladder. People may eat more before 40, drink more after 40. -Magic is plentifully supplied for the treatment of disease. To cure -ague, for instance, you must wait by a cross-road until you see an ant -carrying a load. Then you must pick up the ant and its load, place them -in a brass tube which you must seal up, saying as you do this, “Oh ant, -my load be upon thee, and thy load be upon me.” - -Towards the time of Christ the sect of the Essenes, ascetic in their -habits and communistic in their principles, cultivated, according to -Josephus, the art of medicine, “collecting roots and minerals” for this -purpose. Their designation may have been derived from this occupation. - - - THE APOTHECARY - -is, or was, familiar to readers of the Old Testament, but in the -revised translation he has partially disappeared. The earliest allusion -to him occurs in Exodus xxx., 25, where the holy anointing oil is -prescribed to be made “after the art of the apothecary”; and in the -same chapter, v. 29, incense is similarly ordered to be made into a -confection “after the art of the apothecary, tempered together.” The -Revised Version gives in both cases “the art of the perfumer,” and -instead of the incense being “tempered together” (c. xxx, v, 35) the -instruction is now rendered “seasoned with salt.” A further mention of -the art of the apothecary, or in the Revised Version, the perfumer, is -found again in connection with the same compounds in Exodus xxxvii., -29. In 2 Chronicles xvi., 14, the apothecaries’ art in the preparation -of sweet odours and divers kinds of spices for the burial of King Asa -is again alluded to, and this time without any apparent reason the -Revised Version retains the old term. The next quotation (Nehemiah, -iii, 8) is particularly interesting. The Authorised Version says -“Hananiah, the son of one of the apothecaries,” worked on the repair -of the walls of Jerusalem by the side of Haraiah of the goldsmiths. In -the Revised Version Hananiah is described as “one of the apothecaries.” -Hebrew scholars tell us that the idiom employed shows that these men -belonged to guilds of apothecaries and goldsmiths respectively; a -pretty little insight into ancient Jewish trade history. - -In Ecclesiastes, x, 1, we come to the oft quoted parallel, “Dead flies -cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour,” -this being likened to a little folly spoiling a reputation for wisdom. -The revisers have substituted perfumer for apothecary in this text. -They certainly ought to have changed ointment for pomade in the same -text to explain their view of the meaning of the passage. - -In the passage already quoted from the apocryphal book of -Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 8, “Of such doth the apothecary make a -confection,” and in xlix, 1, “The remembrance of Josias is like the -composition of the perfume made by the art of the apothecary,” the -revisers have not seen fit to alter the trade designation. - -The words translated apothecary, compound, ointment, and confection in -the passages cited, and in many others in the Hebrew scriptures, are -all inflexions of the root verb, Rakach (in which the final ch is a -strong aspirate or guttural). Gesenius says of this root, “The primary -idea appears to be in making the spices small which are mixed with -the oil.” The apothecary, therefore, may be regarded as a crusher, or -pounder. - - - PHARMACY, DISGRACEFUL. - -The Greek word, pharmakeia, the original of our “pharmacy,” had a -rather mixed history in its native language. It does not seem to have -exactly deteriorated, as words in all languages have a habit of doing, -for from the earliest times it was used concurrently to describe -the preparation of medicines, and also through its association with -drugs and poisons and the production of philtres, as equivalent to -sorcery and witchcraft. It is in this latter sense that it is employed -exclusively in the New Testament. St. Paul, for instance (in Galatians, -v, 20), enumerating the works of the flesh names it after idolatry. -The word appears as witchcraft in the Authorised, and as sorcery in -the Revised Version. Pharmakeia or one of its derivatives also occurs -several times in the Book of Revelations (ix, 21; xviii, 23; xxi, 8, -and xxii, 15), and is uniformly rendered sorcery or sorcerers in both -versions, and is associated with crime. Hippocrates uses the verb -Pharmakeuein with the meaning of to purge, but he elsewhere employs the -same word with the meaning of to drug a person, to give a stupefying -draught. In Homer the word “Pharmaka” appears in the senses of both -noxious and healing drugs, and also to represent enchanted potions or -philtres. The word “pharmakoi” in later times came to be used for the -criminals who were sacrificed for the benefit of the communities, and -thus it acquired its lowest stage of signification. It is remarkable -and unusual for a word which has once fallen as this one did to recover -its respectable position again. - - - DRUGS NAMED IN THE BIBLE. - - - BALM OF GILEAD - -is now usually identified with the exudation from the Balsamum -Gileadense, known as Opobalsamum, a delicately odorous resinous -substance of a dark red colour, turning yellow as it solidifies. It -is not now used in modern pharmacy, except in the East. The London -Pharmacopœia of 1746 authorised the substitution of expressed oil of -nutmeg for it in the formula for Theriaca. Some Biblical commentators -have preferred to regard mastic as the original Balm of Gilead, and -others have thought that styrax has fulfilled the description. At this -day the monks of Jericho sell to tourists an oily gum extracted from -the Takkum, or Balanites Egyptiaca, as Balm of Gilead. It is put up -in tin cases, and is said to be useful in the treatment of sores and -wounds; but it cannot be the true Balm of the Bible. - -The references to Balm of Gilead in the Old Testament show that it was -exported from Arabia to Egypt from very early times. The Ishmaelites -“from Gilead” who bought Joseph, were carrying it down to Egypt with -other Eastern gums and spices (Genesis, xxxvii, 25). “A little balm” -was among the gifts which Jacob told his sons to take to the lord of -Egypt (Genesis, xliii, 11). This was the same substance: tsora in -Hebrew. The translation “balm” in the Authorised Version is said -in the Encyclopedia Biblica to be “an unfortunate inheritance from -Coverdale’s Bible.” Why it is unfortunate is not clear, unless it is -that the English word suggests the idea of a medicine. In the Genesis -references to the substance there is no indication that the tsora was -employed as a remedy, but in the Book of Jeremiah it is mentioned -three times (viii, 22; xlvi, 11; li, 8), and in all these allusions -its healing virtues are emphasised. Wyclif translates tsora in Genesis -“sweete gum,” and, in Jeremiah, “resyn.” Coverdale adopts “triacle” -in Jeremiah. The Septuagint rendered the Hebrew tsora into the Greek -retiné, resin. - -The text of the prophetic book leaves it open to doubt whether the balm -was for internal or external administration. Probably it was made into -an ointment. - -Gilead was the country on the East of the Jordan, not very defined in -extent, a geographical expression for the mountainous region which -the Israelites took from the Amorites. But it is not necessary to -suppose that the balsam was produced in that district. Josephus states -that the Balsamum Gileadense, the Opobalsamum tree, was grown in the -neighbourhood of Jericho; but he also reports the tradition that it was -brought to Judea by the Queen of Sheba when she visited Solomon. This -is not incompatible with the much earlier record of the Ishmaelites -carrying it “from Gilead” to Egypt. For the Sabaeans who inhabited the -southern part of Arabia were from very early times the great traders of -the East, and they would have supplied the balm to these Ishmaelites -in the regular course of commerce. The Sabaeans are believed to -have colonised Abyssinia, and the Queen of Sheba may have come from -that country. But whether the tree was originally grown in Africa or -Arabia, there is no doubt about the esteem in which it was held by many -nations. Strabo (B.C. 230) says: “In that most happy land of -the Sabaeans grow frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon; and on the coast -that is about Saba, the balsam also.” Many later writers allude to its -costliness and to its medicinal virtues; Pliny tells us that it was -preferred to all other odours. He also states that the tree was only -grown in Judea, and there only in two gardens, both belonging to the -King. - - - INCENSE. - -The formula for the holy incense given in Exodus, xxx, 35, is -sufficiently definite. Taking it as it is translated in the Revised -Version, the prescription orders stacte, onycha, galbanum and -frankincense, equal parts; seasoned with salt; powdered. - -The word translated incense in that passage, and also in Deuteronomy, -xxxiii, 10, and in Jeremiah, xliv, 21, is Ketorah, which originally -meant a perfumed or savoury smoke. In the Septuagint the word used for -Ketorah is Thymiana. In other passages (Isaiah, xliii, 33, lx, 6, lxvi, -3; Jeremiah, vi, 20; xvii, 26, and xli, 5), the word used in Hebrew was -Lebonah. This in our Authorised Version appears each time as incense, -but in the Revised Version the name frankincense is uniformly adopted. -Lebonah meant whiteness, probably milkiness being understood in this -connection, and travellers state that when the gum exudes from the -tree it is milky-white. The Greek equivalent, libanos, occurs severed -times in the New Testament (Matt., ii, 11; Revelations, xviii, 3). -The Arabic term was luban, and apparently olibanum is a modification -of this Arabic name with the article prefixed, Al-luban. The common -trade term “thus” is the Greek word for incense, and is derived from -the verb thuein, to sacrifice. Thurible was the Greek equivalent of the -censer. The same word has been modified into fume in English. There -is, besides, a common gum thus, obtained from the pines which yield -American turpentine. - -Olibanum, or frankincense, derived from various species of the -Boswellia, was greatly prized among many of the ancient nations, -especially by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Phœnicians. The -finest qualities were grown in Somaliland, but the stocks of these -were always bought up by the Arabs, who monopolised the commerce in -olibanum. It was believed for centuries that the shrub from which it -was obtained was a native of South Arabia, and an old Eastern legend -alluded to in the Apocalypse of Moses declares that Adam was allowed to -bring this tree with him when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. -Bruce, the African traveller, first ascertained its African origin. -The historical notes on Olibanum in “Pharmacographia” are extremely -interesting and complete. - -Stacte, in Hebrew Nataph, is frequently identified with opobalsamum, -and this interpretation is given in the margin of the Revised Version. -But there are reasons for regarding it as a particularly fine kind of -myrrh in drops or tears. Nataph meant something dropped or distilled. - -Galbanum, it is not disputed, was the galbanum known to us by the same -name. Its Hebrew name was Helbanah or Chelbanah. It has been an article -of commerce from very early times, but the exact plant from which -it is obtained is very uncertain. Hanbury states that the Irvingite -chapels in London still use galbanum as an ingredient in their incense -in imitation of the ancient Jewish custom. - -Onycha has been the subject of much discussion. The balance of learned -opinion favours the view that it is the operculum of a species of -sea-snail found on the shores of the Red Sea. It is known as Unguis -odoratus, blatta Byzantina, and devil’s claw. Nubian women to this -day use it with myrrh, cloves, frankincense, and cinnamon, to perfume -themselves. - -The incense made from the formula just quoted was reserved specially -for the service of the tabernacle, and it was forbidden, under the -penalty of being cut off from his people, for any private person to -imitate it. It does not appear, however, that the Israelites continued -to use the same formula for their Temple services. Josephus states -that the incense of his day consisted of thirteen ingredients. These -were, as we learn from Talmudic instructions, in addition to the four -gums named in the Exodus formula, the salt with which it had to be -seasoned, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, mace, cinnamon, -and a certain herb which had the property of making the smoke of the -incense ascend straight, and in the form of a date palm. This herb was -only known to the family of Abtinas, to whom was entrusted the sole -right of preparing the incense for the Temple. Rooms were provided -for them in the precincts, and they supplied 368 minas (about 368 -lbs.) to the Temple for a year’s consumption; that was 1 lb. per day -and an extra 3 lbs. for the Day of Atonement. In the first century -(A.D.) this family were dismissed because they refused to -divulge their secret. The Temple authorities sent to Alexandria for -some apothecaries to succeed them, but these Egyptian experts could -not make the smoke ascend properly, so the Abtinas had to be re-engaged -at a considerably increased salary. They gave as a reason for their -secrecy their fear that the Temple would soon be destroyed and their -incense would be used for idolatrous sacrifices. - -The incense now used in Catholic churches is not made according to -the Biblical formula. The following is a typical recipe in actual -use:--Olibanum, 450; benzoin, 250; storax, 120; sugar, 100; cascarilla, -60; nitre, 150. - - - OLIVE OIL. - -Among all the ancient Eastern nations olive oil was one of the most -precious of products. It was used lavishly by the Egyptians for -the hair and the skin, as well as in all sorts of ceremonies. The -Israelites held it in the highest esteem before they went to Egypt, the -earliest allusion to it in the Scriptures being in Genesis, xxviii, 18, -where we read that Jacob poured oil on the stone which he set up at -Bethel, evidently with the idea of consecrating it. The Apocalypse of -Moses has a legend of Adam’s experience of its medicinal virtues in the -Garden of Eden. When he was in his 930th year he was seized with great -pain in his stomach and sickness. Then he told Eve to take Seth and go -as near as they could get to the Garden, and pray to God to permit an -angel to bring them some oil from the tree of mercy so that he might -anoint himself therewith and be free of his pain. Eve and Seth were, -however, met by the Archangel Michael, who told them to return to Adam, -for in three days the measure of his life would be fulfilled. - -To the Israelites in the Desert the anticipation of the “corn and wine -and oil” of Canaan was always present, and throughout their history -there are abundant evidences of how they prized it. - -The prescription for the “holy anointing oil” given in Exodus, xxx, -23, is very remarkable. It was to be compounded of the following -ingredients:-- - - Flowing myrrh 500 shekels. - Sweet cinnamon 250 " - Sweet calamus 250 " - Cassia (or costus) 500 " - Olive oil One hin. - -It is the Revised Version which gives “flowing myrrh,” apparently the -gum which exudes spontaneously. The Authorised Version reads “pure -myrrh.” The Revised Version also suggests costus in the margin as an -alternative to cassia. This oil was to be kept very sacred. Any one who -should compound any oil like it was to be cut off from his people. - -A hin was a measure equivalent to about 5½ of our quarts. The shekel -was nearly 15 lbs., and some of the Rabbis insist that the “shekel of -the sanctuary” was twice the weight of the ordinary shekel. At the -lowest reckoning, less than 6 quarts of oil were to take up the extract -from nearly 90 lbs. of solid substance. It will be seen on reference -that the shekel weights are not definitely stated, but the verses can -hardly be otherwise read. Some critics have suggested that so many -shekels’ worth is intended, but this reading under the circumstances -is almost inadmissible. Maimonides, a great Jewish authority, says the -method was to boil the spices and gum in water until their odours were -extracted as fully as possible, and then to boil the water and the -oil together until the former was entirely evaporated. Doubtless the -expression “after the art of the apothecary” (or “perfumer,” R.V.) was -a sufficient explanation to those Israelites who had practised that art -in Egypt. The consistence of the oil could not have been thick, for -when used it trickled down on Aaron’s beard. - -Rabbinical legends say that the quantity of the holy oil prepared at -the time when it was first prescribed was such as would miraculously -suffice to anoint the Jewish priests and kings all through their -history. In the reign of Josiah the vessel containing the holy oil -was mysteriously hidden away with the ark, and will not be discovered -until the Messiah comes. Messiah, it need hardly be said, means simply -anointed; and Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word. - - - MANNA. - -The manna of the wilderness provided for the children of Israel on -their journey towards Canaan has no claim to be regarded as a drug, -except that a drug has in modern times usurped its name. When the -Israelites first saw the small round particles “like hoar frost on -the ground” (Exodus, xvi, 14) they said, according to the Authorised -Version, “It is manna; for they wist not what it was.” The Revised -Version makes the sentence read more intelligibly by translating the -Hebrew word Man-hu interrogatively thus:--“What is it? For they wist -not what it was.” This Hebrew interrogation has been widely adopted -as the origin of the name, but it is more probable that the Hebrew -word man, a gift, is the true derivation. Ebers suggested the Egyptian -word “manhu,” food, as a probable explanation. The Arabic word for the -manna of Sinai is still “man.” This is the substance which scientific -investigators have agreed is the manna described in Exodus. It is an -exudation from the Tamarisk mannifera, a shrub which grows in the -valleys of the Sinai peninsula, the manna being yielded from the young -branches after the punctures of certain insects. Another Eastern manna, -a Persian product from a leguminous plant, Alhagi Maurorum, and a manna -yielded by an evergreen oak in Kurdistan, are still sold and used in -some Eastern countries for food and medicine. But in Europe, and to -some extent in the East also, Sicilian manna, the product of an ash -tree, Fraxinus ornus, has displaced the old sorts since the fifteenth -century. The commerce in this article and its history were investigated -by Mr. Daniel Hanbury and described by him in Science Papers and in -Pharmacographia. - -The rabbinical legends concerning the manna of the wilderness are many -and strange. One is to the effect that when it lay on the ground all -the kings of the East and of the West could see it from their palace -windows. According to Zabdi ben Levi it was provided in such abundance -that it covered every morning an area of 2,000 cubits square and was -60 cubits in depth. Each day’s fall was sufficient to nourish the camp -for 2,000 years. The Book of Wisdom (xvi, 20, 21) tells us that the -manna so accommodated itself to every taste that it proved palatable -and pleasing to all. “Able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing -to every taste.” The rabbinical legends enlarge this statement and -assure us that to those Israelites who did not murmur the manna became -fish, flesh, fowl at will. This is in a degree based on the words in -Ps. lxxviii, 24, 25, in which it is described as “corn of heaven, bread -of the mighty, and meat to the full.” But the traditions say it could -not acquire the flavours of cucumbers, melons, garlic, or onions, all -of which were Egyptian relishes which were keenly regretted by the -tribes. It is also on record among the legends that the manna was pure -nourishment. All of it was assimilated; so that the grossest office of -the body was not exercised. It was provided expressly for the children -of Israel. If any stranger tried to collect any it slipped from his -grasp. - - - BDELLIUM. - -Bdellium (Heb. Bedoloch) is mentioned in Genesis, ii, 12, as being -found along with gold and onyx in the land of Havilah, near the Garden -of Eden. The association with gold and onyx suggests that bdellium -was a precious stone. The Septuagint translates the word in Genesis, -anthrax, carbuncle; but renders the same Hebrew word in Numbers, xi, 7, -where the manna is likened to bdellium, by Krystallos, crystals. The -Greek bdellion described by Dioscorides and Pliny was the fragrant gum -from a species of Balsamodendron, and this word was almost certainly -derived from an Eastern source, and might easily have been originally -a generic term for pearls. Pearls would better than anything else fit -the reference in Numbers (“like coriander seed, and the appearance -thereof as the appearance of bdellium”), and this is the meaning -attached to the word in the rabbinical traditions. Some authorities -have conjectured that the “ד” (d) of bedolach may have been -substituted for “ר” (r) berolach, so that the beryl stone may -have been intended. - - - ALOES WOOD. - -References to aloes are frequent in the Scriptures. The first allusion -is found in Numbers, xxiv, 6, when in his poetic prophecy Balaam -describes Israel flourishing “as lign-aloes which the Lord hath -planted.” The other allusions occur in Psalm xlv, 8, Proverbs, vii, 17, -Canticles, iv, 14, and John, xix, 39. In the four last-named passages -aloes is associated with myrrh as a perfume. Of course it is understood -that the lign or lignum aloes, the perfumed wood of the aquilaria -agallocha, the eagle wood of India, is meant, but as that tree is -believed not to have been known except in the Malayan peninsula in the -days of Balaam, critics have remarked on the extraordinary circumstance -that it should be used as a simile by an orator in Palestine who would -naturally select objects for comparison familiar to his hearers. It has -been suggested, and with much force, that the original word in Balaam’s -prophecy may have been the Hebrew word for the palm or date tree. The -Septuagint translates the word “tents.” - - - MYRRH. - -It has been stated that the stacte ordered in the formula for incense -was probably a very fine kind of liquid myrrh (the flowing myrrh of -the holy oil formula). But myrrh (Heb. mur) is several times directly -mentioned. Esther purified herself for six months with oil of myrrh -(ii, 12); myrrh, aloes, and cassia are grouped as sweet odours in Ps. -xlv, 8; with cinnamon in the place of cassia in Prov., vii, 17, and in -numerous verses of the Song of Songs. In the New Testament it is named -among the gifts which the wise men brought to the Saviour. Nicodemus -brought myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Jesus. On the cross St. -Matthew (xxvii, 34) names vinegar mixed with gall as a drink given -to Christ by the soldiers; in an apparently parallel passage in St. -Mark’s Gospel (xv, 23) wine with myrrh is the mixture described. It -is possible that Matthew writing in Syriac may have used the word mur -(myrrh) and that his translator into Greek read from his manuscript -Mar (gall). In Genesis, xxxvii, 25, and xliii, 11, the word translated -myrrh is Loth (not mur) in the Hebrew. The best opinion is that this -meant ladanum, the gum from the cistus labdaniferus which Dioscorides -states was scraped from the beards of goats which had fed on the leaves -of this shrub and had taken up some of the exuding gum. - - - WORMWOOD. - -The Israelites had great objection to bitter flavours, and the coupling -of “gall and wormwood” expresses something extremely unpleasant. The -Hebrew word is La’anah, and the Septuagint twice renders this hemlock -(Hos., x, 4 and Amos, vi, 12) but in other places wormwood. The star -which fell from heaven and made the rivers bitter (Rev., viii, 11) was -called by the Greek name for wormwood, Apsinthos. - - - HYSSOP. - -Hyssop is a word which has occasioned much difference of opinion among -interpreters. The Hebrew word hezob was translated in the Septuagint -by hyssopos, and this word is used twice in the New Testament. From -references used in the Pentateuch it is clear that “a bunch of hyssop” -was employed in the Israelitish ritual for sprinkling purposes (Exodus, -xii, 22; Leviticus, xiv, 4 and 6; Numbers, xix, 6 and 18). From 1 -Kings, iv, 33, it appears that it was a shrub that grew in crevices of -walls; from Psalm li, 7, “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,” -it has been assumed to have possessed purgative properties, though it -is more likely that the allusion was to the ceremonial purification -of the law; according to St. John its stem was used to hand up the -sponge of vinegar to the Saviour on the cross, but St. Matthew and St. -Mark use the term calamus, or a reed. It may have been that a bunch -of hyssop was fixed to the reed and the sponge of vinegar placed on -the hyssop. Some learned commentators have conjectured that the word -hyssopos in St. John’s account was originally hysso, a well-known Greek -word for the Roman pilum or javelin. The other allusion in the New -Testament occurs in Hebrews, ix, 19, and is merely a quotation from the -Pentateuch. - -It has been found impossible to apply the descriptions quoted to any -one plant. That which we now call hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) does -not grow in Palestine. It is generally agreed that it was not that -shrub. The caper has been suggested and strongly supported, but the -best modern opinion is that the word was applied generically to several -kinds of origanum which were common in Syria. - - - JUNIPER. - -The Hebrew word rothem, translated juniper in our Authorised Version, -has given much trouble to translators. The Septuagint merely converted -the Hebrew word into a Greek one, and the Vulgate followed the -Septuagint. The allusions to the tree are in 1 Kings, xix, 4 and 5, -where Elijah slept under a juniper tree; Job, xxx, 4, speaks of certain -men so poor that they cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots -for their meat; and Psalm cxx, 4, “Sharp arrows of the mighty with -coals of juniper.” The tree alluded to was almost certainly the Broom, -and it is so rendered in the Revised Version either in the text or -in the margin in all the instances. The Arabic name for the broom is -ratam, evidently a descendant of rothem. The Genista roetam is said to -be the largest and most conspicuous shrub in the deserts of Palestine, -and would be readily chosen for its shade by a weary traveller. The -mallows in the Book of Job are translated salt wort in the Revised -Version. Renan gives “They gather their salads from the bushes.” Salads -were regarded as indispensable by the poorest Jews. The coals of -juniper (or broom) are supposed to have reference to the lasting fire -which this wood furnishes, but other translations suggest as the proper -reading of the verse “The arrows of a warrior are the tongues of the -people of the tents of Misram.” - - - JONAH’S GOURD. - -The Gourd, of which we read in Jonah, iv, 6-10, is Kikaion in Hebrew, -and there has been some doubt what the plant could have been which grew -so rapidly and was so quickly destroyed. It is stated that the Lord -made this grow over the booth which the prophet had erected in a single -night, and provide a shade of which Jonah was “exceedingly glad.” The -next morning, however, a worm attacked it, and it withered. - -The author of “Harris’s Natural History of the Bible,” Dr. Thaddeus -M. Harris, of Dorchester, Massachusetts (1824), quotes from an earlier -work, “Scripture Illustrated,” a curious account of a violent dispute -between St. Jerome and St. Augustine in reference to the identification -of this plant. According to this author “those pious fathers ... not -only differed in words, but from words they proceeded to blows; and -Jerome was accused of heresy at Rome by Augustine. Jerome thought the -plant was an ivy, and pleaded the authority of Aquila, Symmachus, -Theodotion, and others; Augustine thought it was a gourd, and he was -supported by the Seventy, the Syriac, the Arabic, &c. Had either of -them ever seen the plant? Neither. Let the errors of these pious men -teach us to think more mildly, if not more meekly, respecting our own -opinions; and not to exclaim Heresy, or to enforce the exclamation, -when the subject is of so little importance as--gourd _versus_ ivy.” - -While endorsing the practical lesson which the author just cited -extracts from his rather unpleasant story, I think I ought to append to -this narrative another which is given in Gerard’s Herbal (1597) which -seems to be incompatible with the previously quoted account of the -quarrel. This is what Gerard writes:-- - -“Ricinus, whereof mention is made in the fourth chapter and sixt verse -of the prophecie of Jonas, was called of the Talmudists kik, for in the -Talmud we reade Velo beschemen kik, that is in English, And not with -the oile of kik; which oile is called in the Arabian toong Alkerua, as -Rabbi Samuel the sonne of Hofni testifieth. Moreover a certain Rabbine -mooveth a question saying What is kik? Hereunto Resch Lachisch maketh -answer in Ghemara, saying Kik is nothing else but Jonas his kikaijon. -And that this is true it appeareth by that name kiki which the ancient -Greeke phisicions and the Aegyptians used, which Greeke word cometh -of the Hebrew kik. Hereby it appeereth that the olde writers long -ago, though unwittingly, called this plant by his true name. But the -olde Latine writers knew it by the name Cucurbita which evidently is -manifested by an Historie which St. Augustine recordeth in his Epistle -to St. Jerome where in effect he writeth thus:--That name kikaijon is -of small moment yet so small a matter caused a great tumult in Africa. -For on a time a certaine Bishop having occasion to intreat of this -which is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Jonas his prophecie (in -a collation or sermon which he made in his cathedral church or place -of assemblie), said that this plant was called Cucurbita, a Gourde, -because it increased to so great a quantitie in so short a space, or -else (saith he) it is called Hedera. Upon the novelty and untruth of -this doctrine the people were greatly offended, and there arose a -tumult and hurly burly, so that the bishop was inforced to go to the -Jews to aske their judgement as touching the name of this plant. And -when he had received of them the true name which was kikaijon, he made -his open recantation and confessed his error, and was justly accused of -being a falsifier of Holy Scripture.” - -I quote the letter as Gerard gives it without quite understanding it, -and I have not been able to trace its origin. But it is clear that if -St. Augustine thought it was such a small matter he would hardly have -quarrelled so violently with St. Jerome about it. Probably, however, -the story of the quarrel is founded on this letter. Moreover the -conclusion seems to be that the gourd was not a cucurbita but the Palma -Christi. - -The importance of Jerome’s translation of the word representing the -plant to be Ivy (Hedera) is that he incorporated it into his Latin -version of the Bible known as the Vulgate. The much older Septuagint -(Greek) translation gives “kolokyntha,” the bottle gourd, as the -rendering of the Hebrew kikaion. The Swedish botanist and theologian -Celsius strongly supported the view that Jonah’s gourd was the Palma -Christi in his “Hierobotanicon; sive de Plantis Sacrae Scripturae,” -1746. But though this tree is of very rapid growth, and is planted -before houses in the East for its shade, and though philological -arguments are in its favour, Dr. Hastings (“Encyclopædia Biblica”) -rejects the suggestion and prefers the Septuagint version because -he thinks the passage clearly indicates that a vine is intended. He -considers there is no support, either botanical or etymological, for -the selection of ivy to represent the gourd. - - - THE WILD GOURDS - -mentioned in 2 Kings, iv, 39, are generally supposed to have been -colocynth fruit, though the squirting cucumber (Ecbalium purgans) has -also been suggested. The plant on which this grows, however, would -hardly be called a wild vine, for it has no tendrils. The Jews were in -the habit of shredding various kinds of gourds in their pottage, and as -narrated, someone had brought a lapful of these gourds, the fruit of a -wild vine, and shredded them into the pottage which was being prepared -for the sons of the prophets. The mistake could hardly have been made -with the squirting cucumber, which is very common throughout Palestine, -but the colocynth only grew on barren sands like those near Gilgal, -and might easily be mistaken for the globe cucumber. The mistake was -discovered as soon as the pottage was tasted, and the alarm of “death -in the pot” was raised. Elisha, however, casting some meal in the pot -destroyed the bitter taste, and apparently rendered the pottage quite -harmless. - - - THE HORSE LEECH - -mentioned in Proverbs, xxx, 15, “The horse-leech hath two daughters, -crying Give, Give,” is a translation of Hebrew Aluka, the meaning -of which is not without doubt. The Hebrew word is interpreted by -corresponding terms in Arabic, but of these there are two, one meaning -the leech, and the other fate or destiny. The latter word is supposed -to have been derived from the former from the idea that every person’s -fate clings to him. Another similar Arabic word is Aluk, a female ghul -or vampire, who, it was believed, sucked the blood of those whom she -attacked. - - - NITRE - -is mentioned twice in the Old Testament, first in Proverbs, xxv, 20, -“As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart.” -In the Revised Version soda is given instead of nitre in the margin. -The other reference is in Jeremiah, ii, 22, “Though thou wash thee -with nitre, and take thee much sope.” In this passage the Revised -Version changes nitre to lye. The Hebrew word is Nether, the natrum -of the East, an impure carbonate of sodium which was condensed from -certain salt lakes, or obtained from marine plants. Vinegar would cause -effervescence with this substance, but not with nitrate of potash. The -soap in the same passage in Jeremiah, in Hebrew Borith, was either the -soap wort or a salt obtained from the ashes of herbs by lixiviation. - - - MUSTARD SEEDS - -are mentioned twice by the Saviour as illustrations of something very -small: first as the small seed which grows into a tree, and second as -the measure of even a minute degree of faith. The weed did in fact grow -in Palestine to some ten or twelve feet in height. - - - VINEGAR. - -Homez in Hebrew, Oxus in Greek, is mentioned five times in the Old -Testament, and five times in the New Testament. It was used as a relish -by the Jews, the food being dipped into it before eating. The passages -where vinegar is mentioned in the accounts of the Crucifixion in the -several Gospels are not fully explained by Biblical scholars. The first -administration of vinegar to the Saviour was, according to St. Matthew, -vinegar mixed with gall; according to St. Mark, vinegar mixed with -myrrh. There are linguistic reasons for assuming that the additional -ingredient may have been opium, given with a merciful intention. But -both evangelists state that Jesus refused it. The second time vinegar -was given to him on a sponge, and St. Luke seems to suggest that this -was given in mockery. It is supposed that the vinegar was the posca, a -sour wine which was largely drunk by the Roman soldiers. - - - ANETHON. - -All translators agree that dill and not anise was the “anethon” named -with mint and cummin in the passage, Matthew, xxiii, 23. Anise was -never grown in Palestine. The other herbs were common in gardens, -and the allusion to paying tithe on them, and to rue in a similar -connection in Luke, xi, 42, appears to refer to the scrupulous -observance of the letter of the law by the Pharisees, even down to -such an insignificant matter as the tithe on these almost valueless -herbs. The law did not, in fact, require tithe to be paid except on -productions which yielded income. It was therefore rather to satisfy -their own self-righteousness that the Pharisees insisted on paying the -contribution on mint and anise and cummin. - - - SAFFRON - -is only mentioned in the Song of Solomon, iv, 14, as one of the many -valuable products of an Eastern garden. There is not much doubt that -this was the crocus sativa known to medicine from the earliest times. -The Hebrew word, karkum, was kurkum in ancient Arabic, and this is -given in Arab dictionaries as equivalent to the more modern za-faran -from which our word is derived. - - - POMEGRANATES - -are always referred to in the Scriptures as luxuries. The spies sent -by Moses to see the land of Canaan brought back pomegranates with figs -and grapes (Numbers, xiii, 23); the same fruits are promised in Deut. -(viii, 8); the withering of the pomegranate tree is, with that of the -vine and fig tree, noted by the prophet Joel (i, 12) as a sign of -desolation. It is still highly prized as a fruit in the East. - - - THE POULTICE OF FIGS - -applied to Hezekiah’s boil (2 Kings, xx, 7) is an interesting -reminiscence of Israelitish home medicine. The fig tree often appears -in the Bible. Some very learned Biblical commentators (Celsius, -Gesenius, Knobel, among them) have believed that the fig leaves with -which Adam and Eve made aprons were in fact the very long leaves of the -banana tree. This, however, is scarcely possible, as the banana is a -native of the Malay Archipelago, and there is no evidence that it was -known to the Jews at the time when the Pentateuch was written. - - - SPIKENARD - -is mentioned three times in the Song of Songs (i, 12, iv, 13, iv, 14), -and in the New Testament on two occasions (Mark xiv, 3, and John xii, -3), a box of spikenard ointment, “very costly” and “very precious” is, -in the instance recorded by St. Mark, poured on the Saviour’s head, -and in the narrative of St. John, is used to anoint His feet. On both -occasions we are told that the value of this box or vase was three -hundred pence. It is explained in the Revised Version that the coin -named was equivalent to about 8½d. The price of the ointment used was -therefore over ten pounds. - -In the Greek text the word used is nardos pitike. It has been variously -conjectured that the adjective may have meant liquid, genuine or -powdered; the word lends itself to either of those meanings. Or it may -have been a local term, or possibly it may have been altered from a -word which would have meant what we understand by “spike” in botany. -The most likely meaning is “genuine,” for we know that this product -was at that period a perfume in high esteem, and that there were -several qualities, the best, and by far the costliest, being brought -from India. The ointment employed was really an otto, and it was -imported into Rome and other cities of the Empire in alabaster vessels. -Dioscorides and Galen refer to it as nardostachys. The Arab name for it -was Sumbul Hindi, but this must not be confounded with the sumbul which -we know. The word sumbul simply means spike. The botanical origin of -the Scripture spikenard, the nardostachys of Dioscorides, was cleared -up, it is generally agreed, by Sir William Jones in 1790. He traced -it to a Himalayan plant of the valerian order which was afterwards -exactly identified by Royle. A Brahman gave some of the fibrous roots -to Sir William Jones, and told him it was employed in their religious -sacrifices. - -Pliny mentions an ointment of spikenard composed of the Indian nard, -with myrrh, balm, custos, amomum, and other ingredients, but the -“genuine” nard alluded to in the Gospels was probably the simple otto. -Pliny also states that the Indian nard was worth, in his time, in Rome, -one hundred denarii per pound. - -Horace mentions an onyx box of nard which was considered of equal value -with a large vessel of wine: - - Nardo vinum merebere - Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum. - - - EASTERN IMAGERY. - -In Ecclesiastes, xii, 5, the familiar words “and desire shall fail,” -have been changed in the Revised Version to “the caper-berry shall -fail.” This alteration does not strike the ordinary reader as an -improvement, but it appears that the Revised Version translation is a -reversion to that of the Septuagint, and is probably exactly correct. -It is supposed to mean the same thing. The caper has always been -recognised as a relish to meat, as we use it; and there is evidence -that it was given as a stimulating medicine among the Arabs in the -Middle Ages, and perhaps from very ancient times. The idea would be -therefore that even the caper-berry will not now have any effect. The -Revisers also suggest in the margin “burst” for “fail.” It is only a -question of points in Hebrew which word is intended, and some think -that the berry when fully ripe and bursting may have been an emblem of -death. - -The other clauses in the same verse have given rise to much difference -of opinion. “The almond tree shall flourish” is generally supposed -to indicate the white locks of the old man. But against this it is -objected that the almond blossom is not white, but pink; and by a -slight alteration of the original it is possible to read “the almond -(the fruit) shall be refused” or rejected; it is no longer a tempting -morsel. - -The almond and the almond tree (the same word may mean either) are -mentioned several times in the Bible. Jacob’s gifts to Joseph from -Canaan to Egypt included almonds. They were grown in Canaan and were -a luxury in Egypt. In Jeremiah, i, 11, the almond branch is used as -symbolical of hastening or awakening, which is the primary meaning of -the word, derived from the early appearance of the blossoms on the -almond tree. - -The third clause, “the grasshopper shall be a burden,” similarly -presents difficulties, but these hardly concern us here. Probably all -the metaphors conveyed distinct ideas to Eastern readers at that time, -but have lost their point to us. - -The interpretation of the beautiful Hebrew poetry of the twelfth -chapter of Ecclesiastes, as given in Leclerc’s “History of Medicine,” -may be of interest. Leclerc says the chapter is an enigmatic -description of old age and its inconveniences, followed by death. The -sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are respectively the mind, the -judgment, the memory, and the other faculties of the soul, which are -gradually fading. The clouds and the rain are the catarrhs and the -fluxions incident to age. The guards of the house and the strong man -are the senses, the muscles, and the tendons. The grinders are the -teeth; those who look out through the windows is an allusion to the -sight. The doors shall be shut in the streets, and the sound of the -grinding is low, means that the mouth will scarcely open for speaking, -and that eating must be slow and quiet. The old man must rise at the -voice of the bird, for he cannot sleep. There is no more singing, and -reading and study are no longer pleasures. The fear of climbing, even -of walking, are next expressed; the white hair is signalised by the -almond blossom, and the flesh falling away by the grasshopper, though -the word burden may indicate the occasional unhealthy fattening of old -persons. The caper failing indicates the loss of the various appetites. -The silver cord represents the spinal marrow, the golden bowl the brain -or the heart; the pitcher, the skull; and the wheel, the lung. The long -home is the tomb. - - - - - IV - - THE PHARMACY OF HIPPOCRATES. - - When we search into the history of medicine and the - commencement of science, the first body of doctrine that - we meet with is the collection of writings attributed to - Hippocrates. Science ascends directly to that origin and there - stops. Everything that had been learned before the physician - of Cos has perished; and, curiously, there exists a great - gap after him as well as before him.... So that the writings - of Hippocrates remain isolated amongst the ruins of ancient - medical literature.--LITTRÉ. Introduction to the - _Translation of the Works of Hippocrates_. - - -About eight hundred years separated the periods of Æsculapius and -Hippocrates. During that long time the study of medicine in all its -branches was proceeding in intimate association with the various -philosophies for which Greece has always been famous. Intercourse -between Greece and Egypt, Persia, India, and other countries brought -into use a number of medicines, and probably these were introduced and -made popular by the shopkeepers and the travelling doctors, market -quacks as we should call them. - -Leclerc has collected a list of nearly four hundred simples which he -finds alluded to as remedies in the writings of Hippocrates. But these -include various milks, wines, fruits, vegetables, flits, and other -substances which we should hardly call drugs now. Omitting these and -certain other substances which cannot be identified I take from the -author named the following list of medicines employed or mentioned in -that far distant age;-- - - Abrotanum. - Absinthe. - Adiantum (maidenhair). - Agnus castus. - Algae (various). - Almonds. - Althaea. - Alum. - Amber. - Ammoniac. - Amomum. - Anagallis (a veronica). - Anagyris. - Anchusa. - Anemone. - Anethum. - Anise. - Anthemis. - Aparine (goose grease). - Aristolochia. - Armenian stone. - Asphalt. - Asphodel. - Atriplex. - Baccharis. - Balm. - Basil. - Bistort. - Blite. - Brass (flowers, filings, ashes). - Briar. - Bryony. - Burdock. - Cabbage. - Cachrys. - Calamus aromaticus. - Cantharides. - Capers. - Cardamom. - Carduus benedictus. - Carrot. - Castoreum. - Centaury. - Centipedes. - Chalcitis (red ochre). - Chenopodium. - Cinnamon. - Cinquefoil. - Clove. - Colocynth. - Coriander. - Crayfish. - Cress. - Cucumber (wild). - Cummin. - Cyclamen. - Cytisus. - Dictamnus. - Dog. - Dracontium. - Earths (various). - Elaterium. - Elder. - Erica. - Euphorbia. - Excrement of ass, goat, mule, goose, fox. - Fennel. - Fig tree (leaves, wood, fruit). - Foenugreek. - Frankincense. - Frogs. - Galbanum. - Galls. - Garlic. - Germander. - Goat (various parts). - Hawthorn. - Heather. - Hellebore (white and black). - Hemlock. - Henbane. - Honey. - Horehound. - Horns of ox, goat, stag. - Hyssop. - Isatis. - Ivy. - Juniper. - Laserpitium. - Laurel. - Lettuce. - Licorice. - Linseed. - Loadstone. - Lotus. - Lupins. - Magnesian stone. - Mallow. - Mandragora. - Mecon (?). - Melilot. - Mercurialis. - Minium. - Mints (various). - Mugwort. - Myrabolans. - Myrrh. - Myrtle. - Narcissus. - Nard. - Nitre. - Oak. - Oenanthe. - Oesypus. - Olive. - Onions. - Origanum. - Orpiment. - Ostrich. - Ox-gall. - Ox (liver, gall, urine). - Panax. - Parthenium. - Pennyroyal. - Peony. - Pepper. - Persea (sebestens). - Persil. - Peucedanum. - Phaseolus. - Philistium. - Pine. - Pitch. - Pomegranate. - Poppy. - Quicklime. - Quince. - Ranunculus. - Red spider. - Resin. - Rhamnus. - Rhus. - Ricinus. - Rock rose. - Rose. - Rosemary. - Ruby. - Rue. - Saffron. - Sagapenum. - Sage. - Salt. - Samphire. - Sandarach. - Scammony. - Sea water. - Secundines of a woman. - Sepia. - Serpent. - Sesame. - Seseli. - Silver. - Sisymbrium. - Solanum. - Spurge. - Squill. - Stag (horns, &c.). - Stavesacre. - Styrax. - Succinum. - Sulphur. - Sweat. - Tarragon. - Tetragonon. - Thaspia. - Thistles (various). - Thlapsi. - Thuja. - Thyme. - Torpedo (fish). - Trigonum. - Tribulus. - Turpentine. - Turtle. - Umbilicus veneris. - Verbascum. - Verbena. - Verdigris. - Verjuice. - Violet. - Wax. - Willow. - Woad. - Worms. - Worm seed. - -This list may be taken to have comprised pretty fairly the materia -medica of the Greeks as it was known to them when Hippocrates -practised, and as it is not claimed that he introduced any new -medicines it may be assumed that these formed the basis of the remedies -used in the temples of Æsculapius, though perhaps some of them were -only popular medicines. - -The temples of Æsculapius were in all those ages the repositories of -such medical and pharmaceutical knowledge as was acquired. The priests -of these temples were called Asclepiades, and they professed to be the -descendants of the god. Probably the employment of internal medicines -was a comparatively late development. Plato remarks on the necessarily -limited medical knowledge of Æsculapius. Wounds, bites of serpents, and -occasional epidemics, he observes, were the principal troubles which -the earliest physicians had to treat. Catarrhs, gout, dysentery, and -lung diseases only came with luxury. Plutarch and Pindar say much the -same. The latter specially mentions that Æsculapius had recourse to -prayers, hymns, and incantations in mystic words and in verses called -epaioide, or carmina, from which came the idea and name of charm. - -In later times these temples were beautiful places, generally situated -in the most healthy localities, and amid lovely scenery. They were -either in forests or surrounded by gardens. A stream of pure water ran -through the grounds, and the neighbourhood of a medicinal spring was -chosen if possible. The patients who resorted to them were required to -purify themselves rigorously, to fast for some time before presenting -themselves in the temple, to abstain from wine for a still longer -preliminary period, and thus to appreciate the solemnity of the -intercession which was to be made for them. On entering the temple -they found much to impress them. They were shown the records of cures, -especially of diseases similar to their own; their fasts had brought -them into a mental condition ready to accept a miracle, the ceremonies -which they witnessed were imposing, and at last they were left to sleep -before the altar. That dreams should come under those circumstances was -not wonderful; nor was it surprising that in the morning the priests -should be prepared to interpret these dreams. Not unfrequently the -patients saw some mysterious shapes in their dreams which suggested to -the priests the medicines which ought to be administered. For no doubt -they did administer medicines, though for many centuries they observed -the strictest secrecy in reference to all their knowledge and practices. - -It need hardly be added that offerings were made to the god, to the -service of the temple, and to the priests personally by grateful -patients who had obtained benefit. At one of the temples it is said -it was the custom to throw pieces of gold or silver into a well for -the god. At others pieces of carving representing the part which had -been the seat of disease were sold to those who had been cured, and -these were again presented to the temple, and, it may be surmised, sold -again. That cures were effected is likely enough. The excitement, the -anticipation, the deep impressions made by the novel surroundings had -great influence on many minds, and through the minds on the bodies. -Records of these cures were engraved on tablets and fixed on the walls -of the temples. - -Sprengel gives a translation of four of these inscriptions found at the -Temple of Æsculapius which had been built on the Isle of the Tiber, -near Rome. The first relates that a certain Gaius, a blind man, was -told by the oracle to pray in the temple, then cross the floor from -right to left, lay the five fingers of his right hand on the altar, -and afterwards carry his hand to his eyes. He did so, and recovered -his sight in the presence of a large crowd. The next record is also a -cure of blindness. A soldier named Valerius Aper was told to mix the -blood of a white cock with honey and apply the mixture to his eyes for -three successive days. He, too, was cured, and thanked the god before -all the people. Julian was cured of spitting of blood. His case had -been considered hopeless. The treatment prescribed was mixing seeds -of the fir apple with honey, and eating the compound for three days. -The fourth cure was of a son of Lucius who was desperately ill with -pleurisy. The god told him in a dream to take ashes from the altar, mix -them with wine, and apply to his side. - -The legend of the foundation of this Roman temple is curious. In the -days of the republic on the occasion of an epidemic in the city the -sibylline books were consulted, with the result that an embassy was -sent to Epidaurus to ask for the help of Æsculapius. Quintus Ogulnius -was appointed for this mission. On arriving at Epidaurus the Romans -were astonished to see a large serpent depart from the temple, make its -way to the shore, and leap on the vessel, where it proceeded at once -to the cabin of Ogulnius. Some of the priests followed the serpent and -accompanied the Romans on the return journey. The vessel stopped at -Antium, and the serpent left the ship and proceeded to the Temple of -Æsculapius in that city. After three days he returned, and the voyage -was continued. Casting anchor at the mouth of the Tiber the serpent -again left the vessel and settled itself on a small island. There it -rolled itself up, thus indicating its intention of settling on that -spot. The god, it was understood, had selected that island as the site -for his temple, and there it was erected. - -As might be expected, some of the less reverent of the Greek writers -found subjects for satire in the worship of Æsculapius. Aristophanes -in one of his comedies makes a servant relate how his master, Plautus, -who was blind, was restored to sight at the Æsculapian temple. Having -placed their offerings on the altar and performed other ceremonies, -this servant says that Plautus and he laid down on beds of straw. When -the lights were extinguished the priest came round and enjoined them to -sleep and to keep silence if they should hear any noise. Later the god -himself came and wiped the eyes of Plautus with a piece of white linen. -Panacea followed him and covered the face of Plautus with a purple -veil. Then on a signal from the deity two serpents glided under the -veil, and having licked his eyes Plautus recovered his sight. - -It cannot be doubted that in the course of the centuries a large -amount of empiric knowledge was accumulated at these temples, and -probably the pretence of supernatural aid was far more rare than we -suppose. In an exhaustive study of the subject recently published -by Dr. Aravintinos, of Athens, that authority expresses the opinion -that the temples served as hospitals for all kinds of sufferers, and -that arrangements were provided in them for prolonged treatment. He -thinks that in special cases the treatment was carried out during the -mysterious sleep, when it was desired to keep from the patient an exact -knowledge of what was being done; but generally he supposes a course -of normal medication or hygiene was followed. Forty-two inscriptions -have been discovered, but on analysing these Dr. Aravintinos comes to -the conclusion that they record in most cases only cures effected by -rational means, and not by miracles. He finds massage, purgatives, -emetics, diaphoresis, bleeding, baths, poulticing, and such like -methods indicated, and though the sleeps, possibly hypnotic, are often -mentioned, this is not by any means the case invariably. - -About a century before Hippocrates wrote and practised, the Asclepiads -began to reveal their secrets. The revolt against the mysteries and -trickeries of the temples was incited by the infidelity to their oaths -of certain of the Italian disciples of Pythagoras. The school of -philosophy and medicine founded by that mystic aimed also to keep his -doctrines secret, but when the colony he had established at Crotona, -in South Italy, was dispersed by the attacks of the mob, a number of -the initiates travelled about under the title of Periodeutes practising -medicine often in close proximity to an Æsculapian temple. The first -of the Asclepiads to yield to this competition were those of Cnidos, -but the school of Cos was not long after them. The direct ancestors of -Hippocrates were among the teachers of the temple who became eager to -make known the accumulated science in their possession, and thus by the -time when the famous teacher was born (460 B.C.) the world was -ripe for his intellect to have free play. - - - HIPPOCRATES. - -Hippocrates was born in Cos, as far as can be ascertained, about the -year 460 B.C., and is alleged to have lived to be 99, or, as -some say, 109 years of age. It is claimed that his father, Heraclides, -was a direct descendant of Æsculapius, and that his mother, Phenarita, -was of the family of Hercules. His father and his paternal ancestors -in a long line were all priests of the Æsculapian temples, and his -sons and their sons after them also practised medicine in the same -surroundings. The family, traceable for nearly 300 years, among whom -were seven of the name of Hippocrates, were all, it would appear, -singularly free from the charlatanism which the Greek dramatists -attributed to the Æsculapian practitioners, from the superstition which -overlaid the medical science of so many older and later centuries, and -especially from the fantastic pharmacy which was to develop to such an -absurd extent in the following five hundred years. - -It is not possible to distinguish with any confidence the genuine -from the spurious writings attributed to Hippocrates which have come -down to us. But the note which even his imitators sought to copy was -one of directness, lucidity, and candour. He tells of his failures as -simply as of his successes. He does not seek to deduce a system from -his experience, and though he is reputed to be the originator of the -theory of the humours, he does not allow the doctrine to influence his -treatment, which is based on experience. - - [Illustration: - - This portrait of Hippocrates, which is given in Leclerc’s - “History of Medicine,” is stated to be copied from a medal - in the collection of Fulvius Ursinus, a celebrated Italian - connoisseur. It is believed that the medal was struck by the - people of Cos at some long distant time in honour of their - famous compatriot. A bust in the British Museum, found near - Albano, among some ruins conjectured to have been the villa - of Marcus Varro, is presumed to represent Hippocrates on the - evidence of the likeness it bears to the head on this medal. - ] - -The medical views of Hippocrates do not concern us here except as -they affect his pharmaceutical practice; but a very long chapter -might be written on his pharmacy, that is to say, on the use he made -of drugs in the treatment of disease. Galen believed that he made -his preparations with his own hand, or at least superintended their -preparation. Leclerc’s list of the medicaments mentioned as such in the -works attributed to Hippocrates have been already quoted, and it will -be found that after deducting the fruits and vegetables, the milks of -cows, goats, asses, mules, sheep, and bitches, as well as other things -which perhaps we should hardly reckon as medicaments, there remain -between one hundred and two hundred drugs which are still found in our -drug shops. There are a great many animal products, some copper and -lead derivatives, alum, and the earths so much esteemed; but evidently -the bulk of his materia medica was drawn from the vegetable kingdom. - -Hippocrates was considerably interested in pharmacy. Galen makes him -say, “We know the nature of medicaments and simples, and make many -different preparations with them; some in one way, some in another. -Some simples must be gathered early, some late; some we dry, some we -crush, some we cook,” &c. He made fomentations, poultices, gargles, -pessaries, katapotia (things to swallow, large pills), ointments, oils, -cerates, collyria, looches, tablets, and inhalations, which he called -perfumes. For quinsy, for example, he burned sulphur and asphalte with -hyssop. He gave narcotics, including, it is supposed, the juice of -the poppy and henbane seeds, and mandragora; purgatives, sudorifics, -emetics, and enemas. His purgative drugs were generally drastic ones: -the hellebores, elaterium, colocynth, scammony, thapsia, and a species -of rhamnus. - -Hippocrates describes methods for what he calls purging the head and -the lungs, that is, by means of sneezing and coughing. He explains how -he diminishes the acridity of spurge juice by dropping a little of it -on a dried fig, whereby he gets a good remedy for dropsy. He has a -medicine which he calls Tetragonon, or four-cornered. Galen conjectures -that this was a tablet of crude antimony. Leclerc more reasonably -suggests that it was a term for certain special kinds of lozenges, and -points out that not long after Hippocrates physicians used a trochiscus -trigonus, or three-cornered lozenge for another purpose. - -Although he used many drugs, Hippocrates is especially insistent on -Diet as the most important aid to health. He claims to have been the -first physician who had written on this subject, and this assertion is -confirmed by Plato, who, however, somewhat grimly commends the ancient -doctors for neglecting this branch of treatment, for, he says, the -modern ones have converted life into a tedious death. Barley water is -repeatedly recommended by the physician of Cos, with various additions -to suit the particular case under consideration. Oxymel is the usual -associate, but dill, leeks, oil, salt, vinegar, and goats’ fat also -figure. - -Particular instructions are also given about the wine to be drunk, -the kind, and the quantity of water with which it is to be diluted in -spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In one place, at the end of the -3rd Book on Diet, a word is used which apparently means that persons -fatigued with long labour should “drink unto gaiety” occasionally; but -there is some doubt about the correct translation of that word. - - - - - V - - FROM HIPPOCRATES TO GALEN. - - Medicine is a science which hath been more professed - than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced; the - labour having been, in my judgment, rather in circle than - in progression. For I find much iteration, but small - addition.--BACON, “Advancement of Learning.”--Book 2. - - -The fame of Hippocrates caused naturally a great multiplication of -works attributed to him. The Ptolemies when founding the Library of -Alexandria, which they were determined should be more important than -that of Pergamos, commissioned captains of ships and other travellers -to buy manuscripts of the Greek physician at almost any price; an -excellent method of encouraging forgeries. The works attributed to -Hippocrates have been subject to the keenest scrutiny by scholars, but -even now the verdict of Galen in regard to their genuine or spurious -character is the consideration which carries the greatest weight. Even -the imitations go to prove how free the physician of Cos was from -superstitious practices or prejudiced theories. - -Between him and Galen an interval of some six hundred years elapsed -and, especially in the latter half of that period, pharmacy developed -into enormous importance. Not that it necessarily advanced. But the -faith in drugs, and especially in the art of compounding them, and -the wild polypharmacy which grew up in Alexandria and Rome in the -first two centuries of our era, of which Galen shows so much approval, -add inestimably to the chronicles of pharmacy. It was during the -interval between Hippocrates and Galen that the many sects of ancient -medicine, the Dogmatics, the Stoics, the Empirics, the Methodics, -and the Eclectics were born and flourished. Some of these encouraged -the administration of special remedies. But probably a far greater -influence was exercised on the pharmacy of the ancient world by the new -commerce with Africa and the East which the Ptolemies did so much to -foster, and by the travelling quacks and the prescribing druggists who -exploited the drugs of foreign origin which now came into the market. - -Serapion of Alexandria, one of the most famous of the Empirics, who is -supposed to have lived in the second century, was largely responsible -for the introduction of the animal remedies which were to figure so -prominently in the pharmacy of the succeeding seventeen centuries. -Among his specifics were the brain of a camel, the excrements of the -crocodile, the heart of the hare, the blood of the tortoise, and the -testicles of the wild boar. - -The Empirics were the boldest users of drugs, and so far as can be -judged, were the practitioners who brought opium into general medicinal -esteem. One of the most famous doctors of this sect, Heraclides, made -several narcotic compounds which are commended by Galen. One of these -formulæ prescribed for cholera was 2 drms. of henbane seeds, 1 drm. -of anise, and ½ drm. of opium, made into 30 pills, one for a dose. -Another which was recommended for coughs was composed of 4 drms. each -of juice of hemlock, juice of henbane, castorum, white pepper, and -costus; and 1 drm. each of myrrh and opium. - -Musa, a freed slave of Augustus, and apparently a sort of medical -charlatan, but a great favourite with the Emperor, is alleged to have -introduced the flesh of vipers into medical use especially for the cure -of ulcers. - -Celsus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, whose works are recognized as the -storehouses of the science of Imperial Rome, belonged to the period -under review. Celsus wrote either a little before or a little after the -commencement of our era. He was the first eminent author who wrote on -medicine in Latin. Pliny died A.D. 79, suffocated by the gases -from Vesuvius, which in his eagerness to observe he had approached too -near during an eruption. Dioscorides is supposed to have lived a little -before Pliny, who apparently quotes him, but curiously never mentions -his name, though usually most scrupulous in regard to his authorities. - -Themison, who lived at Rome in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and -who is said to have been the first physician to have distinguished -rheumatism from gout, is noted in pharmacy as the author of the formulæ -for Diagredium and Diacodium. He praised the plantain as a universal -remedy, and is also the earliest medical writer to mention the use of -leeches in the treatment of illness. - -Several of the writers on medical subjects of this period adopted -the method of prescribing their formulas and the instructions for -compounding them in verse. The most famous instance is that of -Andromachus, physician to Nero, whose elegiac verses describing -the composition of his Theriakon are quoted by Galen. The idea -was that the formula thus presented was less likely to be tampered -with. Theriakon as invented contained 61 ingredients. Its principal -improvement on the more ancient Mithridatum was the addition of dried -vipers. Andromachus appears to have acquired a large and lucrative -practice in Rome at the time when wealth was most lavishly squandered. - -Among other medical verse writers were Servilius Damocrates, who -lived in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, and who invented a famous -tooth powder, a number of malagmata, (emollient poultices), acopa -(liniments for pains), electuaries, and plasters; and Herennius Philon, -a physician of Tarsus (about A.D. 50), whose fame rests on his -philonium, a compound designed to relieve colic pains, which appear -to have been specially frequent at that period. This philonium was -composed of opium, saffron, pyrethrum, euphorbium, pepper, henbane, -spikenard, and honey. - -Menecrates, physician to Tiberius, and said to have written 155 works, -was the inventor of diachylon plaster, but his diachylon was a compound -of many juices (as the name implies) along with lead plaster. - -The Romans were curiously badly off for regular doctors until Julius -Cæsar specially tempted some to come from Greece and Egypt by offers -of citizenship. Augustus, too, warmly encouraged the settlement in the -city of trained medical men. - - - PHARMACY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. - -The separation of the practices of medicine, pharmacy, and surgery, -which became general though never universal, was of course a gradual -process. Galen expresses the opinion that Hippocrates prepared the -medicines he prescribed with his own hands, or at least superintended -the production of them. According to Celsus, it was in Alexandria and -about the year 300 B.C. that the division of the practice of -medicine into distinct branches was first noticeable. The sections he -names were Dietetics, Surgery and Pharmaceutics. - -The physicians who practised dietetics were like our consultants, -only more so. They were above all things philosophers, the recognised -successors of the Greek thinkers and theorists, and but too often -their imitators. Although they owed their designation to their general -authority on régime, they prescribed and invented medicines. The -pharmaceutical section came to be called in Latin medicamentarii, -and their history corresponds closely with that of our English -apothecaries. At first they prepared and administered the medicines -which the physicians ordered. But in Alexandria and Rome they gradually -assumed the position of general practitioners. To another class, -designated by Pliny Vulnerarii, was left the treatment of wounds, and -probably of tumours and ulcers. The necessity of a lower grade of -medical practitioners in Rome is manifest from a remark of Galen’s to -the effect that no physician, meaning a person in his own rank, would -attend to diseases of minor importance. - -It is worthy of note that the Latin designation medicamentarius, which -was nearly equivalent to the Greek pharmacopolis, was similarly used -to mean a poisoner, while pharmakon in Greek and medicamentus in Latin -might mean either a medicine or a poison. - -It is noted elsewhere (page 52) that the word pharmakeia when it occurs -in the New Testament is universally translated in our versions by the -term sorcery or some similar word. At the time when the Apostles wrote -this was evidently the prevalent meaning attached to the term. But -in earlier Greek literature the reputable and the disgraceful ideas -associated with the word seem to have run side by side for centuries. -Homer uses pharmakon in both senses; Plato makes pharmakeuein mean to -administer a remedy, while Herodotus adopts it to signify the practice -of sorcery. Apparently this word came from an earlier, pharmassein, -which was derived from a root implying to mix, and the gradual sense -development was that of producing an effect by means of drugs. They -might produce purging, they might produce a colour, or they might -produce love. - -The multiplication of names for the various classes connected with -medicine and pharmacy in the Roman world is rather confusing. As the -language of medicine up to and including Galen was largely Greek, many -of the designations employed were those which had been drawn from that -tongue. The name Pharmacopeus, used in Greek to denote certain handlers -of drugs, had always a sinister signification. It suggested a purveyor -of noxious drugs, a compounder of philtres, a vendor of poisons. -The men who kept shops for the sale of drugs generally were called -pharmacopoloi. This term was not free from reproach, because it was a -common appellation, not only of the shopkeepers strictly so-called, but -was also applied to the periodeutes, or agyrtoi, travelling quacks or -assembly gatherers, or as they came to be named in Latin, circulatores -or circumforanei. - -These itinerant drug sellers are occasionally referred to by the -classic authors. Lucian speaks of one hawking a cough mixture about -the streets; and Cicero, in his Oratia pro Cluentio, suggests that the -travelling pharmacopolists who attended the markets of country towns -were not unwilling to sell poisons as well as medicines when they were -wanted. One of these is specifically named, Lucius Clodius, and the -orator suggests that he was bribed to supply medicines to a certain -lady which were to have a fatal effect. - -The designation Periodeutes meant originally, and always in strict -legal terminology, physicians who visited their patients. The term was -also used among the Christians to describe the ministers charged to -visit the sick and poor in their dioceses. - -The tramp doctor in time gets tired of his vagabond life, and, it may -be, a little weary of hearing his own voice. If he has saved a little -money, therefore, the attractions of a shop in the city, where he can -exercise his healing on people who seek him, appeal strongly to him. -So in Greece and in the Roman Empire the charlatans settled in little -shops and were called iatroi epidiphrioi or sellularii medici, meaning -sedentary doctors. But all these were pharmacopoloi. - -Peculiarly interesting is the suggestion made by Epicurus and intended -as a sneer, that Aristotle was one of these pharmacopoloi in his -younger days. According to Epicurus the philosopher having first -wasted his patrimony in riotous living and then served as a soldier, -afterwards sold antidotes in the markets up to the time when he joined -Plato’s classes. - -Seplasia was the ordinary name in Rome for a druggist’s shop, and -those who kept them were designated Seplasiarii or Pigmentarii. These -names appear to have been used without much recognition of their -original meanings. Strictly the Seplasiarii were ointment makers, -and though the Pigmentarii were no doubt at first sellers of dyes and -colours, they evidently came to include medicines in their stocks of -pigments, and Coelius Aurelianus, in writing on stomach complaints, -alludes to aloes as a pigment. Greek designations corresponding to -those just quoted were Pantopoloi and Kadolikoi (the latter used -by Galen in referring to the trader who supplied the drugs for the -theriacum prepared in the palace of the Emperor Antoninus). Kopopoloi, -and Migmatopoloi, both of which words meant dealers in all sorts of -small wares, were like the mercers in this country when shopkeeping -first began. The shops of perfumers were myropolia or myrophecia, the -perfumers themselves were myrepsi. A general term in Latin for any sort -of shop where medicines were sold or surgical operations performed was -Medicina. This was in the days before the Empire, when there was no -usual distinction between the branches of the healing art. - -Pharmacotribae, strictly drug-grinders, may have been compounders, and -it has also been conjectured that they were the assistants employed by -the Seplasiarii or Roman druggists. - -Herbalists were of very ancient Greek lineage, under the names of -Botanologoi, who were collectors of simples, and who, to enhance the -price of their wares, pretended to have to gather them with many -superstitious observances; and Rhizotomoi, or root-cutters. The name -Apothek, which came to be appropriated to the warehouse where medicinal -herbs were kept, and which is to-day the German equivalent of our -pharmacy, or chemist’s shop, meant originally any warehouse, and from -it has been derived the French boutique and the Spanish bodega. - -The earlier Greek and Roman physicians were in the habit of themselves -preparing the medicines they prescribed for their patients. But -naturally they did not gather their own herbs, and as many of those -used for medicine were exotics, it is obvious that they could not have -done so if they had wished. The herbalists who undertook this duty -(botanologoi in Greek) developed into the seplasiarii, pharmacopoloi, -medicamentarii, and pigmentarii already mentioned. Beckmann says they -competed with the regular physicians, having acquired a knowledge of -the healing virtues of the commodities they sold, and the methods -of compounding them. This could not help happening, but it ought to -be remembered that the physicians of all countries had themselves -developed from herbalists, that is, if we abandon the theories of -miraculous instruction which are found among the legends of Egypt, -Assyria, India, and Greece. - -How similar the relations of the doctors and druggists of ancient Rome -were with those still prevailing in this country may be gathered from -a reproach levelled by Pliny against physicians contemporary with him -(Bk. xxxiv, 11) to the effect that they purchased their medicines from -the seplasiarii without knowing of what they were composed. - - - - - VI - - ARAB PHARMACY. - - In the science of medicine the Arabians have been deservedly - applauded. The names of Mesua and Geber, of Razis and - Avicenna, are ranked with the Grecian masters; in the city - of Bagdad 860 physicians were licensed to exercise their - lucrative profession; in Spain the lives of the Catholic - princes were entrusted to the skill of the Saracens; - and the School of Salerno, their legitimate offspring, - revived in Italy and Europe the precepts of the healing - art.--GIBBON: “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” - Chap. LII. - - -No period of European history is more astonishing than the records -of the triumphant progress of the Arab power under the influence of -the faith of Islam. From the earliest times this grand Semitic race -was distinguished for learning of a certain character, for gravity, -piety, superstition, a poetic imagination, and eloquence. Centuries -of independence, jealously guarded, and innumerable local feuds made -the material of perfect soldiers, and when Mohammed had grafted on the -native religious character his own faith and missionary zeal the Arab -army, the Saracens, as they came to be called, filled with fanatic -fervour, and utterly indifferent to death, or, rather, eager for it as -the introduction to the Paradise which their prophet had seen and told -them of, formed such an irresistible force as on a small scale has only -been reproduced by Cromwell in our nation. - -But the rapidity of the conquests of Mohammedanism was perhaps less -remarkable than the extraordinary assimilation of ancient learning and -the development of new science among these hitherto unlettered Arabs. -Mohammed was born in the year 569 of our era. The Koran was the first -substantial piece of Arabic literature. Alexandria was taken and Egypt -conquered by the Moslems under Amrou in A.D. 640, Persia and -Syria having been previously subdued. Amrou was himself disposed to -yield to the solicitations of some Greek grammarians, who implored him -to spare the great Library of the city, the depository of the learning -of the ancient world. But he considered it necessary to refer the -request to the Caliph Omar. The reply of the Commander of the Faithful -is one of the most familiar of the stories in Gibbon’s fascinating -history. “If the writings support the Koran they are superfluous; if -they oppose it they are pernicious; burn them.” It is declared that the -papers and manuscripts served as fuel for the baths of the city for six -months. - -The destruction of the Alexandrian Library is often alluded to as a -signal triumph of barbarism over civilisation. Gibbon cynically remarks -that “if the ponderous mass of Arian and Monophysite controversy were -indeed consumed in the public baths a philosopher may allow with a -smile that it was ultimately devoted to the benefit of mankind.” But at -least the spirit which animated Omar in 640 may be noted for comparison -with the encouragement of learning which was soon to characterise the -Arab rulers. - -Only a lifetime later, in A.D. 711, the sons of the Alexandrian -conquerors invaded Spain, and within the same century made their -western capital, Cordova, the greatest centre of learning, -civilisation, and luxury in Europe. The following quotation from Dr. -Draper’s “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe” will give -an idea of this achievement: - - - Scarcely had the Arabs become firmly settled in Spain than - they commenced a brilliant career. Adopting what had become - the established policy of the Commanders of the Faithful - in Asia, the Emirs of Cordova distinguished themselves as - patrons of learning, and set an example of refinement strongly - contrasting with the condition of the native European Princes. - Cordova under their administration, at the highest point of - their prosperity, boasted of more than two hundred thousand - houses, and more than a million inhabitants. After sunset a - man might walk through it in a straight line for ten miles by - the light of the public lamps. Seven hundred years after this - time there was not so much as one public lamp in London. Its - streets were solidly paved. In Paris, centuries subsequently, - whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day stepped - up to his ankles in mud. Other cities, as Granada, Seville, - Toledo, considered themselves rivals of Cordova. The palaces - of the Khalifs were magnificently decorated. Those sovereigns - might well look down with supercilious contempt on the - dwellings of the rulers of Germany, France, and England, which - were scarcely better than stables--chimneyless, windowless, - with a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape, like the - wigwams of certain Indians. - - [Illustration: INTERIOR OF MOSQUE, CORDOVA.] - -About the same time the passion for learning was growing in the East. -Bagdad was founded A.D. 762, and about the year 800 Haroun -Al-Raschid founded the famous university of that city. Libraries -and schools were established throughout the two sections of the -Saracenic dominions. Greek and Latin works of philosophy and science -were translated, but the licentious and blasphemous mythology of the -classical poets was abhorred by this serious nation, and no Arabic -versions of Olympian fables were ever made. Astronomy, mathematics, -metaphysics, and the arts of agriculture, of horticulture, of -architecture, of war, and of commerce, were advanced to an extent -which this century does not realise, while amid all this progress the -study of chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy was pursued with particular -eagerness. - -Curiously the Arabs owed their instruction in these branches of -knowledge to those whom we are accustomed to regard as their -traditional foes. The dispersion of the Nestorians after the -condemnation of their doctrines by the Council of Ephesus in -A.D. 431 resulted in the foundation of a Chaldean Church and -the establishment of famous colleges in Syria and Persia. In these the -science of the Greeks, the philosophy of Aristotle, and the medical -teaching of Hippocrates were kept alive when they had been banished by -the Church from Constantinople. The Jews had also acquired special -fame for medical skill throughout the East, and they and the Nestorians -appear to have associated in some of the schools. It was to these -teachers the Arabs turned when, having assured their military success, -they demanded intellectual advancement. The Caliphs not only tolerated, -they welcomed the assistance of the “unbelievers,” and, in fact, -depended on them for the equipment of their own schools, and for the -private tuition of their children. To John Mesuë, a Nestorian, and a -famous writer on medicine and pharmacy, Haroun Al-Raschid entrusted the -superintendence of the public schools of Bagdad. - -The first Nestorian college is believed to have been established in the -city of Dschondisabour in Chuzistan (Nishapoor), before the revelation -of Mohammed. Theology and Medicine were particularly studied at this -seat of learning, and a hospital was established to which the medical -students were admitted, but they had first to be examined in the -Psalms, the New Testament, and in certain books of prayers. - -It was the Caliph Almansor and his immediate successor, Haroun -Al-Raschid, who between them made Bagdad a centre of study. Students -and professors came thither from all parts of the then civilised world, -and the Caliphs welcomed, and indeed invited, both Christians and Jews -to teach there. Hospitals were established in the city, and the first -public pharmacies or dispensaries were provided in Bagdad by Haroun -Al-Raschid. It is on record that in A.D. 807 envoys from that -monarch came to the court of Charlemagne bringing gifts of balsams, -nard, ointments, drugs, and medicines. - -Arabic medicine was based on the works of Hippocrates and Galen, -which were for the most part translated first into Syriac, and then -into Arabic. It does not come within the scope of this work to narrate -or estimate the advance in medicine which may be accredited to the -Arabian writers and practitioners. Medical historians do not allow that -they contributed much original service to either anatomy, physiology, -pathology, or surgery; but it is admitted by every student that their -maintenance of scholarship through the half dozen centuries during -which Europe was sunk in the most abject ignorance and superstition -entitles them to the gratitude of all who have lived since. The -medicine of Avicenna was perhaps much the same as that of Galen. Both -were accepted by the physicians of England, France, and Germany with -the slavish deference which the long burial of the critical faculties -had made inevitable, and which needed the vigorous abuse of Paracelsus -to quicken into activity. - -Whatever may have been the case with medicine it cannot be denied that -the Arabs contributed largely to the development of its ministering -arts, chemistry and pharmacy. The achievements attributed to Geber in -the eighth century were probably not due to any single adept. Tradition -assigned the glory to him and, likely enough, if such a chemist really -lived and acquired fame, other investigators who followed him for a -century or two adopted the pious fraud so frequently met with in other -branches of study in the early centuries of our era of attributing -theories or discoveries to some venerated teacher in order to assure -for them immediate acceptance. However this may be, it is not the less -established that the chemistry of Geber, or of Geber and others, was in -fact the fruit of Arab industry and genius. - -Our language indicates to some extent what Pharmacy owes to the -Arabs. Alcohol, julep, syrup, sugar, alkermes, are Arabic names; -the general employment in medicine of rhubarb, senna, camphor, -manna, musk, nutmegs, cloves, bezoar stones, cassia, tamarinds, -reached us through them. They first distilled rose water. They first -established pharmacies, and from the time of Haroun Al-Raschid there -is evidence that the Government controlled the quality and prices of -the medicine sold in them. Sabor-Ebn-Sahel, president of the school -of Dschondisabour, was the author of the earliest pharmacopœia, which -was entitled “Krabadin”; and Hassan-Ali-Ebno-Talmid of Bagdad in the -tenth century, and Avicenna (Al-Hussein-Ben-Abdallah-Ebn-Sina) in the -eleventh century prepared collections of formulas which were used as -pharmacopœias. - -It was the Arabs who raised pharmacy to its proper dignity. We do not -read of any noted pharmacists among them who were not physicians, but -the latter were all keen students of the materia medica, and occupied -themselves largely with pharmaceutical studies. But it is evident that -there was a distinct profession of pharmacy. We read of Avicenna, -for example, taking refuge with an apothecary at Hamdan, and there -composing some of his famous works. Elsewhere a quotation from Rhazes -gives some indication of the irregular practice of medicine which has -prevailed in every country and among all nations; and Sprengel quotes -some translated items from various Arabic authors which show that -as early as the ninth century the Government sanctioned the book of -pharmaceutical formulas, compiled by Sabor-Ebn-Sahel, director of the -School of Dschondisabour, already mentioned. His work was frequently -imitated in later times. The first London Pharmacopœia was professedly -based largely on the Formulary of Mesuë. - -There is also evidence that both in civil life and in the army the -pharmacists were closely supervised. Their medicines were inspected, -and the prices at which they were sold to the public were controlled by -law. - -The development and progress of medicine and its associated sciences -among the Arabs may be very concisely sketched. The flight of -Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, the Hejira as it is called, from which -the Mohommedan era is dated, corresponds in our chronology with -A.D. 622. The prophet died in 632. Contemporary with him lived -a priest at Alexandria named Ahrun or Aaron, who compiled from Greek -writers thirty books which he called the Pandects of Physic. These -were translated into Syriac and Arabic about 683 by a Jew of Bassora -named Maserdschawaih-Ebn-Dschaldschal. It is not in existence, and is -only known by references to it made by Rhazes. The first allusion to -small-pox known to history was contained in these Pandects. Serapion -quotes a number of formulas which he says were invented by Ahrun. -In 772 Almansor, the Caliph who founded the city of Bagdad, brought -thither from Nishabur (Dschondisabour) in Persia, a famous Christian -physician named George Baktischwah, who stayed for some time, and -at the request of Almansor translated into Arabic certain books on -Physic. He then returned to his own land, but his son was afterwards -a physician in great favour with the two succeeding Caliphs, Almohdi -and Haroun Al-Raschid. Freind states that when the elder Baktischwah -returned to Persia Almansor presented him with 10,000 pieces of gold, -and that Al-Raschid paid the younger Baktischwah an annual salary -of 10,000 drachmas. The last-named ruler also brought to Bagdad the -Nestorian Christian, Jahiah-Ebn-Masawaih, who, under the name of Mesuë -the Elder, retained a reputation for his formulas even up to the -publication of the London Pharmacopœia. - -Mesuë is noted for his opposition to the violent purgative medicines -which the Greek and Roman physicians had made common, and he had much -to do with the popularisation, if not with the introduction of, senna, -cassia, tamarinds, sebestens, myrabolans, and jujube. He modified the -effects of certain remedies by judicious combinations, as, for example, -by giving violet root and lemon juice with scammony. He gave pine bark -and decoction of hyssop as emetics, and recommended the pancreas of the -hare as a styptic in diarrhœa. - -A disciple of Mesuë’s, Ebn-Izak, added greatly to the medical resources -of the Arabs by translations of the works of Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny, -Paul of Egineta, and other Greek authors. - -Abu-Moussah-Dschafar-Al-Soli, commonly called Geber, the equivalent -of his middle name, is supposed to have lived in the eighth century. -It has already been remarked that the chemical discoveries attributed -to this philosopher were probably the achievements of many workers, -and were afterwards collected and passed on to posterity as his alone. -From him are dated the introduction into science, to be adopted later -in medicine, of corrosive sublimate, of red precipitate, of nitric and -nitro-muriatic acids, and of nitrate of silver. - -These chemical discoveries must have been made within the hundred years -from 750 to 850, because Rhazes, who wrote in the latter half of the -ninth century, mentions them. Geber has been supposed to have claimed -to have discovered the philosopher’s stone, and to have made the -universal medicine. But it is not at all certain that he contemplated -medicine at all. His language is highly figurative, and probably when -he says his gold had cured six lepers he meant only that he had, or -thought he had, extracted gold from six baser metals. - -Rhazes, whose Europeanised name is the modification of Arrasi, which -was the final member of a long series of Eastern patronymics, was of -Persian birth, and commenced his studies in that country with music -and astronomy. When he was thirty he removed to Bagdad, and it was not -until then that he took up the sciences of chemistry and medicine. -Subsequently he was made director of the hospital of Bagdad, and -his lectures on the medical art were attended by students from many -countries. His principal work was entitled Hhawi, which has been -translated Continent, apparently because it was supposed to contain -all there was to know about medicine. The style of this treatise is -that of notes without method, and it is certain that it could not have -been written entirely by Rhazes, as authorities are named who did not -live until after he had died. The theory is that Rhazes left a quantity -of notes of his lectures and cases, and that some of his disciples -afterwards published them with additions, but without much editing. - -Among the methods of treatment for which Rhazes is responsible may -be mentioned that of phthisis, with milk and sugar; of high fever, -with cold water; of weakness of the stomach and of the digestive -organs, with cold water and buttermilk; and he advises sufferers -from melancholia to play chess. He states that fever is not itself -a disease, but an effort of nature to cast out a disease. He was -particularly careful in the use of purgatives, which he said were apt -to occasion irritation of the intestinal canal, and in dysentery he -relied usually on fruits, rice, and farinaceous food, though in severe -cases he ordered quicklime, arsenic, and opium. In Freind’s History -of Medicine (1727) a translation of some comments of Rhazes on the -impostors of his day shows better than the citations already given how -just and, it may be said, modern were the ideas of this practitioner of -more than a thousand years ago. It may be added that Freind is not very -complimentary to Rhazes generally. I append an abbreviation of this -interesting notice of the quackery of the ninth century. - - There are so many little arts used by mountebanks and - pretenders to physic that an entire treatise, had I mind to - write one, would not contain them. Their impudence is equal to - their guilt in tormenting persons in their last hours. Some - of them profess to cure the falling sickness (epilepsy) by - making an issue at the back of the head in form of a cross, - and pretending to take something out of the opening which - they held all the time in their hands. Others give out that - they will draw snakes out of their patients’ noses; this they - seem to do by putting an iron probe up the nostril until the - blood comes. Then they draw out an artificial worm, made of - liver. Other tricks are to remove white specks from the eye, - to draw water from the ear, worms from the teeth, stones from - the bladder, or phlegm from various parts of the body, always - having concealed the substance in their hands which they - pretend to extract. Another performance is to collect the evil - humours of the body into one place by rubbing that part with - winter cherries until they cause an inflammation. Then they - apply some oil to heal the place. Some assure their patients - they have swallowed glass. To prove this they tickle the - throat with a feather to induce vomiting, when some particles - of glass are ejected which were put there by the feather. No - wise man ought to trust his life in their hands, nor take any - of their medicines which have proved fatal to many. - -Rhazes writes of aqua vitæ, but it is now accepted that he only means -a kind of wine. The distillation of wine was not practised till a -century after him. Mercury in the form of ointment and corrosive -sublimate were applied by him externally, the latter for itch; yellow -and red arsenic and sulphates of iron and copper were also among his -external remedies. Borax (which he called tenker), saltpetre, red -coral, various precious stones, and oil of ants, are included among the -internal remedies which he advises. - - [Illustration: AVICENNA. - - As represented on the diploma of the Pharmaceutical Society.] - -The Arab author who acquired by far the greatest fame in Western -lands, and who, indeed, shared with Galen the unquestioning obedience -of myriads of medical practitioners throughout Europe until -Paracelsus shook his authority five hundred years after his death, -was Al-Hussein-Abou-Ali-Ben-Abdallah-Ebn-Sina, which picturesque name -loses its Eastern atmosphere in the transmutation of its two concluding -phrases into Avicenna. This famous man was born at Bokhara in 980; at -twelve years of age he knew the Koran by heart; at sixteen he was a -skilful physician; at eighteen he operated on the Caliph Nuhh with -such brilliant success that his fame was established. In the course -of a varied life he was at one time a Vizier, and soon afterwards -in prison for being concerned in some sedition. He escaped from -prison and lived for a long time concealed in the house of a friendly -apothecary, where he wrote a large part of his voluminous “Canon.” He -spent the later years of his life at Ispahan, where he was in great -favour with the Caliph Ola-Oddaula, and he died at Hamdan in 1038 in -the fifty-eighth year of his age. He had led an irregular life, and it -was said of him that all his philosophy failed to make him moral, and -all his knowledge of medicine left him unable to take care of his own -health. - -Competent critics who have studied the medical teaching of Avicenna -have not been able to discover wherein its merits have justified the -high esteem to which it attained. The explanation appears to be that -what Avicenna lacked in originality he made up in method. The main -body of his “Canon” is a judicious selection from the Greek and Latin -physicians, and from Rhazes and other of his Arabic predecessors. -He wrote a great deal on drugs and remedies, but it has been found -impossible to identify many of the substances of his Materia Medica, as -in many cases the names he gives evidently do not apply to those given -by Serapion, Rhazes, and other writers. He often prescribed camphor, -and alluded to several different kinds; a solution of manna was a -favourite medicine with him; he regarded corrosive sublimate as the -most deadly of all poisons, but used it externally; iron he had three -names for, probably different compounds; he had great faith in gold, -silver, and precious stones; it was probably he who introduced the -silvering and gilding of pills, but his object was not to make them -more pleasant to take, but to add to their medicinal effect. - -Serapion the younger, and Mesuë the younger, who both lived soon after -the time of Avicenna, were principally writers on Materia Medica, from -whose works later authors borrowed freely. - -The subsequent Arab authorities of particular note came from among -the Western Saracens. Albucasis of Cordova, Avenzoar of Seville, and -Averrhoes of Cordova, who are all believed to have flourished in the -twelfth century, were the most celebrated. Albucasis was a great -surgeon and describes the operations of his period with wonderful -clearness and intelligence. Avenzoar was a physician who interested -himself largely in pharmacy. He was reputed to have lived to the age of -135 and to have accumulated experience from his 20th year to the day -of his death. Averrhoes knew Avenzoar personally, but was younger. He -was a philosopher and somewhat of a freethinker who interested himself -in medical matters. We are naturally more concerned with Avenzoar than -with the others. - -It is evident from the books left by Avenzoar, whose full name was -Abdel-Malek-Abou-Merwan-Ebn-Zohr, that in his time the practices of -medicine, surgery, and pharmacy were quite distinct in Spain, and he -apologises to the higher branch of the profession for his interest -in those practices which were usually left to their servants. But he -states that from his youth he took delight in studying how to make -syrups and electuaries, and a strong desire to know the operation -of medicines and how to combine them and to extract their virtues. -He writes about poisons and antidotes; has a chapter on the oil -alquimesci, which Freind renders oil of eggs, and Sprengel calls -oil of dates. Avenzoar says his father brought it from the East, and -that it was a marvellous lithontryptic. He tells how mastic corrects -scammony, and sweet almonds colocynth. He is the earliest writer -to refer to the medicinal virtues of the bezoar stones. He gives a -different account of the origin of these stones from that of other -authors. The best, he says, comes from the East and is got from the -eyes of stags. The stags eat serpents to make them strong, and at once -to prevent any injury their instinct impels them to run into streams -and stand in the water up to their necks. They do not drink any water. -If they did they would die immediately; but standing in the stream -gradually reduces the force of the poison, and then a liquor exudes by -the eyelids which coagulates and forms a stone which may grow to the -size of a chestnut, which ultimately falls off. According to another -Arab author, Abdalanarack, the bezoar stone acquired such a celebrity -in Spain that a palace in Cordova was given in exchange for one. - -Moses Maimonides, the most famous Jewish scholar and theologian of the -middle ages, must be mentioned among the exponents of Arab pharmacy. -He was born at Cordova in 1139, and studied medicine under Averrhoes, -but when he was twenty-five the then Mohammedan ruler of Spain required -him to be converted or quit the kingdom. Maimonides therefore went -to Cairo, and became physician to Saladin, the well-known hero of -Crusade wars, who was then Sultan of Egypt. Among his duties he had -to superintend the preparation of theriaca and mithridatium for the -Court. The drugs for these compounds, Maimonides says, had to be -brought from the East and the West at great expenditure of time and -money. Consequently, “the illustrious Kadi Fakhil,” (who was apparently -one of Saladin’s ministers), “whose days may God prolong, ordered the -most humble of his servants in 595 (A.D. 1198) to compose a -treatise, small, and showing what ought to be done immediately for a -person bitten by a venomous animal.” The treatise which Maimonides -composed, in obedience to this order, he called “Fakhiliteh.” This -small popular manual reflects in general the pharmacy of Spain and is -of no particular interest. The author considers that for all kinds of -poisons and venoms the most efficacious antidote is an emerald, laid on -the stomach or held in the mouth; and he notes the virtues of theriaca, -mithridatium, and of bezoar. But the Kadi was thinking of poor people, -and therefore more ordinary remedies were also named. A pigeon killed -and cut in two pieces might be applied to painful wounds, but if -this was not available warm vinegar with flour and olive oil might -be substituted. Vomiting must be excited, and to destroy the virus a -mixture of asafœtida, sulphur, salt, onions, mint, orange-pips, and the -excrement of pigeons, ducks, or goats, compounded with honey and taken -in wine, was recommended. The wisdom of Rhazes, of Avenzoar, and of -other great authorities was also drawn from. - - - - - VII - - FROM THE ARABS TO THE EUROPEANS - - “Mediciners, like the medicines which they employ, are often - useful, though the one were by birth and manners the vilest - of humanity, as the others are in many cases extracted from - the basest materials. Men may use the assistance of pagans and - infidels in their need, and there is reason to think that one - cause of their being permitted to remain on earth is that they - might minister to the convenience of true Christians.”--The - Archbishop of Tyre in Sir Walter Scott’s _Talisman_. - - -It would require a very long chapter and would be outside the scope of -this work to attempt to trace in any detail the manner in which the -ancient wisdom and science of the Greek and Latin authors, which was -so marvellously preserved by the iconoclastic Arabs, was transferred, -when their passion for study and research began to fail, to European -nations. It has been alleged that the Crusades served to bring the -attainments of the Eastern Saracens to the knowledge of the West -through learning picked up by the physicians and others who accompanied -the Christian armies against the Mohammedans. - -But there is no evidence and not much probability that Europeans -acquired any Eastern science of value through the Crusades. Indirectly -medicine ultimately profited greatly by the commerce which these -marvellous wars opened up between the East and the West, and the -diseases which were spread as the consequence of the intimate -association of the unwholesome hordes from all the nations concerned, -resulted in the establishment of thousands of hospitals all over -Europe. The provision of homes for the sick was far more common among -the Mohammedans than among the Christians of that period. Activity of -thought was stimulated, and medical science must have shared in the -effects of spirit of inquiry. Some historians have supposed that the -infusion of astrological superstitions into the teaching and practice -of medicine was largely traceable to the communion with the East in -these Holy Wars: but this idea is not supported by anything that we -know of the Arab doctors. “I have not found the union of astrology -with medicine taught by any writer of that nation,” says Sprengel; and -his authority is very great. On the other hand the philosophers and -theologians of that age were only too eager to seize upon anything -mystic, and plenty of materials for their speculations were found in -the Greek and Latin manuscripts handed down to them. Superstitions -entered into the mental furniture of the age much more directly from -Rome and Alexandria than from Bagdad. - -That the Arabs of the East could have taught their Christian foes much -useful knowledge cannot be doubted. The letter from the Patriarch of -Jerusalem to Alfred the Great (see page 131), for example, is proof of -the pharmaceutical superiority of the Syrians over the Saxons at that -time. - -M. Berthelot has shown by abundant evidence in his “History of Alchemy” -that the Latin works dealing with chemistry of the thirteenth, -fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries which were very numerous in -Christendom, were almost exclusively drawn from Arabic sources. Such -chemical learning as the Arabs had collected from Greek writers, as -well as that which they had added from their own investigations, in -this way found its way back to the heirs of the original owners as they -may be called. - -We read likewise of Constantine the African, who, about the year 1050, -came to Salerno after a long residence in the East, and gave to the -medical school of that city the translations he had made from Arab -authors. But, notwithstanding these evidences of Eastern culture, it -is certain that the actual introduction of pharmacy into the Northern -European countries is much more largely due to the Spanish Mohammedans. -In the Middle Ages poor Arabs and Jews who had studied medicine in the -schools of Cordova and Seville tramped through France and Germany, -selling their remedies, and teaching many things to the monks and -priests who, in spite of repeated papal edicts forbidding them to sell -medicines, did in fact cultivate all branches of the art of healing, -including many superstitions. The edicts themselves are evidence that -they sold their services to those who could afford to pay for them. - -The Medical School of Salerno, already mentioned, was the principal -link between the later Greek physicians and the teaching institutions -which remain with us to this day, as, for instance, the universities -of Paris, Naples, Oxford, Padua, Vienna, and others of later fame. The -origin of the school of Salerno is unknown, but it was certainly in -existence in the ninth century. It was long supposed to have developed -from a monastic institution, but it is now generally believed to have -been always a secular school. Its historian, Mazza of Naples, 1681, -quotes an ancient chronicle which names Rabbi Elinus (a Jew), Pontus -(a Greek), Adala (a Saracen), and Salernus (a Roman) as its founders, -but there is no evidence of the epoch to which this refers. Although -other subjects were taught at Salerno, it became specially noted for -its medical school, and in the ninth century it had assumed the title -of Civitas Hippocratica. William of Normandy resorted to Salerno prior -to his conquest of England, and a dietetic treatise in verse exists -dedicated to his son Robert. It has been claimed that the works of -Hippocrates and Galen were studied at Salerno from its earliest days, -but so far as this was the case it was by the intermediary of Jewish -doctors, who themselves derived their knowledge from Arab sources, that -these were available. The original texts of the Greek and Latin authors -were not in the hands of European scholars till Aldus of Venice began -to reproduce them early in the sixteenth century. - -The pharmaceutical knowledge to which the famous school attained may -be judged by the reputation which attended the Antidotary of Nicolas -Prepositus, who was director of the school in the first half of the -twelfth century. In this Antidotary are found the absurd formulas -pretending to have been invented or used by the Apostle Paul and -others. “Sal Sacerdotale quo utebantur sacerdotales tempore Heliae -prophetae” is among these. In the course of the next century or -two medical students from England, Germany, Italy, and France went -to Cordova, Toledo, and Seville, and there wrote translations of -the medical works used in those schools. These translations by the -end of the thirteenth century were so universally accepted as to -eclipse Salerno, which from then began to decline in fame, Bologna, -Montpellier, Padua, and Leyden gradually partitioning among themselves -its old reputation. But the medical school of Salerno actually existed -until 1811, when it was dissolved by a decree of Napoleon I. - -As evidence of the monopoly of Avicenna in the medical schools of -Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and doubtless for -a long period previously, the following from the preface to a Latin -translation of the works of Paulus Egineta is quoted by Leclerc:-- - - Avicenna, who is regarded as the Prince and most excellent of - all physicians, is read and expounded in all the schools; and - the ninth book of Rhazes, physician to the Caliph Almansor, - is similarly read and commented on. These are believed to - teach the whole art of healing. A few later writers, such - as Betruchius, Gatinaria, Guaynerius, and Valescus, are - occasionally cited, and now and then Hippocrates, Galen, - and Dioscorides are quoted, but all the other Greek writers - are unknown. The Latin translations of a few of the books - of Galen and Hippocrates which are in use are very corrupt - and barbarous, and are only admitted at the pleasure of the - Arabian Princes, and this favour is but rarely conceded. - -The most notable event in the history of pharmacy after the earlier -Crusades was an edict regulating the practice of both medicine and -pharmacy issued by Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of -Sicily. This monarch, probably the ablest ruler in the Middle Ages, who -died in 1250, had great esteem for Arab learning. Mohammedans and Jews -were encouraged to come to Naples during his reign, and he facilitated -by all means in his power the introduction of such innovations as had -been acquired from Cordova and Bagdad. - -The edict referred to mentions “apotheca,” meaning thereby only the -warehouses where prepared medicines were stored. Those who compounded -the medicines were termed “confectionarii,” the places or shops where -they were sold were called “stationes,” and the persons who supplied -them, “stationarii.” It is not quite clear whether the confectionarii -and the stationarii were the same persons. Probably they were -sometimes, but not necessarily always. Apparently the stationarii -were generally the drug importers and dealers, and the confectionarii -were the compounders. Both had to be licensed by the Medical School -of Salerno; and among the duties imposed upon the physician, one -was to inform the authorities if he came to discover that any -“confectionarius” had falsified medicines. Longfellow alludes to this -provision in the “Golden Legend”-- - - To report if any confectionarius - Mingles his drugs with matters various. - -The physician was strictly forbidden to enter into any arrangement -with a druggist whereby he would derive any profit by the sale of -medicaments, and he was not permitted himself to conduct a pharmacy. -The “confectioners” were required to take an oath to prepare all -medicines according to the Antidotary of the Salernian School. Their -profits were limited and graduated, less being allowed on those of -frequent consumption than on those which they had to keep for more -than a year. Pharmacies were only allowed in the principal cities, -and in each such city two notable master-apothecaries were appointed -to supervise them. The “confectioners” had to make their syrups -and electuaries and other compounds in the presence of these two -inspectors, and if they were detected in any attempt at fraud their -property was subject to confiscation. If one of the inspectors was -found to have been a party to the fraud his punishment was death. - - “It is well known,” says Beckmann in “Ancient Inventions,” - “that almost all political institutions on this side the Alps, - and particularly everything that concerned education, were - copied from Italian models. These were the only patterns then - to be found; and the monks despatched from the papal court - saw they could lay no better foundation for the Pontiff’s - power and their own aggrandizement than by inducing other - States to follow the examples set them in Italy. Medical - establishments were formed, therefore, everywhere at first - according to the plan of that at Salerno. Particular places - for vending medicines were more necessary in other countries - than in Italy. The physicians of that period used no other - drugs than those recommended by the ancients; and as these had - to be procured from the Levant, Greece, Arabia, and India, - it was necessary to send thither for them. Besides, herbs, - to be confided in, could only be gathered when the sun and - planets were in certain constellations, and certificates of - their being so were necessary to give them reputation. All - this was impossible without a distinct employment, and it - was found convenient to suffer dealers in drugs gradually to - acquire monopolies. The preparation of medicines was becoming - more difficult and expensive. The invention of distillation, - sublimation, and other chemical processes necessitated - laboratories, furnaces, and costly apparatus; so that it was - thought proper that those who devoted themselves to pharmacy - should be indemnified by an exclusive trade; and monopolists - could be kept under closer inspection so that the danger - of their selling improper drugs or poisons was lessened or - entirely removed. They were also allowed to deal in sweetmeats - and confectionery, which were then great luxuries; and in some - places they were required to give presents of these delicacies - to the magistrates on certain festivals.” - -This extract shows how the German provision of protected pharmacy -originated. In many of the chief cities the apothecaries’ shops -were established by, and belonged to, the King or Queen, or the -municipality. Sometimes, as at Stuttgart, there was a contract between -the ruler and the apothecary, the former agreeing to provide a certain -quantity of wine, barley, and rye; while the apothecary in return was -to supply the Court with its necessary confectionery. - - [Illustration: THE REPRODUCTION OF A SIXTEENTH CENTURY PHARMACY IN - THE GERMANIC MUSEUM AT NUREMBERG.] - -Beckmann gives much minute information concerning the establishment of -apothecaries’ shops in the chief cities of Germany.[1] He mentions a -conjecture that there was a pharmacy at Augsburg in the thirteenth and -fourteenth centuries, but exact dates begin with the fifteenth century. -There was a female apothecary established at Augsburg in 1445, and the -city paid her a salary. At Stuttgart, in 1458, Count Ulric authorised -one Glatz to open a pharmacy. There was one existing at Frankfort -in 1472. The police regulations of Basle in 1440 mention the public -physician and his duty, adding that “what costly things people may wish -to have from the apothecary’s shop they must pay for.” The magistrates -of Berlin, in 1488, granted to one Hans Zebender a free house, a -certain provision of rye, no taxes, and the assurance that no other -apothecary should reside in the city. But the Elector Joachim granted a -new patent to another apothecary in 1499. At Halle there was only one -apothecary. In that year the Archbishop, with the confirmation of the -Chapter, granted to his physician, von Wyke, the privilege of opening -another, but gave at the same time the assurance that no more should be -permitted in the city “to eternity.” - -In France apothecaries were in business as such certainly before -1250. A charter of the church of Cahors, dated 1178, describes the -retail shopkeepers of the town as “apothecarii,” the term being used -evidently as “boutiquiers” is now, and signifying nothing more than -shopkeepers. The meaning, however, soon became restricted to dealers in -drugs and spices. In the middle of the next century John of Garlande -alludes to “appotecarii,” who sold confections and electuaries, roots -and herbs, ginger, pepper, cumin, and other spices, wax, sugar, and -licorice. Officially, however, these tradesmen were classed at that -time among the “espiciers.” The two guilds, indeed, continued in -formal association until 1777, but royal ordinances of 1484 and 1514 -clearly established the distinction between them. Even in 1271 the -Faculty of Medicine of Paris forbade “herborists and apothecaries” to -practise medicine. Special responsibilities, duties, and privileges -were expressly provided for the apothecaries, and in the ordinance of -1514 it is specifically declared that though the apothecary is always a -grocer, the grocer is not necessarily an apothecary. (“Qui est espicier -n’est pas apothicaire, et qui est apothicaire est espicier.”) - -In the fourteenth century the apothecaries of Paris were required to -subscribe to a formal oath before they were permitted to practise. -They swore to live and die in the Christian faith, to speak no evil of -their teachers or masters, to do all in their power for the honour, -glory, ornament, and majesty of medicine, to give no remedy or purge -without the authority of a physician, to supply no drugs to procure -abortion, to prepare exactly physicians’ prescriptions, neither -adding, subtracting, nor substituting anything without the express -permission of the physician, to avoid the practices of charlatans as -they would the plague, and to keep no bad or old drug in their stocks. -An ordinance of 1359 provides that no one shall be granted the title of -master-apothecary unless he can show that he can read recipes. - -The edict of 1484, issued during the minority of Charles VIII, sets -forth that, “We, of our certain science, especial grace, full power, -and royal authority, do say, declare, statuate, and ordain” the -curriculum to be observed by those who desire to learn the trade -of an apothecary. A four years’ apprenticeship was essential, and -the aspirant had to dispense prescriptions, recognise drugs, and -prepare “chefs d’œuvres” in wax and confectionery in the presence of -appointed master-apothecaries. Latin was added to the examination in -1536, and ten years’ experience after the apprenticeship was also -insisted upon ultimately before the candidate could be admitted as -a master-apothecary. One of the ordinances of the sixteenth century -gave to the apothecaries the monopoly in the manufacture and sale of -gingerbread. - -These edicts all related particularly to the apothecaries of Paris. -There were similar ones in the provinces, with some peculiarities. At -Dijon, for example, it was provided that no apothecary could receive a -legacy from one of his clients. _En revanche_ he had the first claim -on the estate of a deceased debtor for the payment of his account. - -In 1629 the Hotel de Ville of Paris granted to the apothecaries of -that city a banner and blazon, the latter, which I do not venture to -translate, being thus described:--“Couppé d’azur et d’or, et sur l’or -deux nefs de gueulle flottantes aux bannieres de France, accompagnés -de deux estoiles a cinq poincts de gueulle avec la devise ‘Lances et -pondera servant,’ et telles qu’elles sont cy-dessous empreinctes.” - -In 1682, under Louis XV, after the Brinvilliers panic, the poison -register was introduced, and regulations were framed forbidding -apothecaries to sell any arsenic, sublimate, or drug reputed to be a -poison except to persons known to them, and who signed the register -stating what use they intended to make of their purchase. Earlier in -the same reign the practice of pharmacy was strictly forbidden to -persons professing the reformed religion. - -The last of the royal edicts applying to pharmacy was issued in 1777 -by Louis XVI, and, as already stated, this was the authority which -finally separated the apothecaries from the grocers. Then came the -Revolution, and in 1791 all restrictions on trades or professions, -including pharmacy, were abolished. Some accidents having occurred, the -Assembly passed an ordinance on April 14, 1791, declaring that the old -laws, statutes, and regulations governing the teaching and practice of -pharmacy should remain in force until a new code should be framed. This -did not appear until April, 1803, under Napoleon’s Consulate, and the -law, which is still in force, is to this day cited in legal proceedings -as the law of Germinal, year XI. - - - - - VIII - - PHARMACY IN GREAT BRITAIN. - - For none but a clever dialectician - Can hope to become a great physician: - That has been settled long ago. - Logic makes an important part - Of the mystery of the healing art; - For without it how could you hope to show - That nobody knows so much as you know. - --LONGFELLOW: “Golden Legend.” - - - BRITISH PHARMACY IN SAXON ENGLAND. - -The condition of medicine and pharmacy in Saxon times has been -carefully portrayed in three volumes published, in 1864, under the -authority of the Master of the Rolls at the expense of the Treasury. -These were edited by the Rev. Oswald Cockayne, M.A., and appeared -under the title of “Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft.” Many old -documents were translated and explained, and from these the ideas of -medicine in these islands a thousand years ago were made manifest. - -Mr. Cockayne gave at length a Saxon Herbarium, written, he supposed, -about the year 1000, and professing to be a translation from -Apuleius, a Roman physician of the second century, with additions -from Dioscorides, and some from native science. A few specimens will -suffice to show the character of the herb treatment in England before -the Conquest. - - - CRESS, WATERCRESS (Nasturtium officinale). - -1. This wort is not sown, but it is produced of itself in wylls -(springs), and in brooks, also it is written that in some lands it will -grow against walls. - -2. In the case that a man’s hair fall off take juice of the wort which -one nameth nasturtium, and by another name cress; put it on the nose; -the hair shall wax (grow). - -3. For sore of head, that is for scurf and for itch, take seed of this -same wort and goose grease. Pound together. It draws from the head the -whiteness of the scurf. - -4. For soreness of the body (the Latin word is ad cruditatem, -indigestion) take this same wort nasturtium, and pennyroyal; seethe -them in water, give to drink; then amendest thou the soreness of the -body, and the evil departs. - -5. Against swellings, take this same wort, and pound it with oil; lay -over the swellings; then take leaves of the same wort, and lay them -thereto. - -6. Against warts, take this same wort and yeast, pound together, lay -thereto, they be soon taken away. - - - MAYTHE (Anthemis nobilis). - -For sore of eyes, let a man take ere the upgoing of the sun, the wort -which is called Chamaimelon, and by another name Maythe, and when a man -taketh it let him say that he will take it against white specks, and -against soreness of the eyes; let him next take the ooze, and smear the -eyes therewith. - - - POPPY (Papaver somniferum). - -1. For sore of eyes, that is what we denominate blearedness, take the -ooze of this wort, which the Greeks name Makona and the Romans Papaver -album, and the Engles call white poppy, or the stalk with the fruit; -lay it to the eyes. - -2. For sore of temples or of the head, take ooze of this same wort, -pound with vinegar, and lay upon the sore; it alleviates the sore. - -3. For sleeplessness, take ooze of this same wort, smear the man with -it, and soon thou sendest the sleep on him. - - * * * * * - -Many of the herbs named in the Herbarium were employed for other -purposes than those for which they were used in later practice. Comfrey -is recommended for one “bursten within.” It was to be roasted in hot -ashes and mixed with honey; then to be taken fasting. But nothing is -said of its bone-setting property. Mullein, subsequently famous as -a pectoral medicine, is recommended in the Herbarium as an external -application in gout, and to carry about to prevent the attacks of wild -beasts. Dill is prescribed as a remedy against local itching; fennel in -cough and sore bladder; and madder for broken legs, which it would cure -in three days. - -To prevent sea-sickness the traveller had to smear himself with a -mixture of pennyroyal and wormwood in oil and vinegar. Peony laid over -a lunatic would soon cause him to upheave himself whole; and vervain or -verbena if carried on the person would ensure a man from being barked -at by dogs. - - - A PROFESSED TRANSLATION. - -The next document presented is the Medicina de Quadrupedibus of Sextus -Placitus, an unknown personage, who adds to the interest of his -narrative by pretending that “a king of the Egyptians, Idpartus he was -highten,” sent this treatise to the Emperor Octavius Cæsar, “for,” he -said, “I wist thee worthy of this.” Probably this manuscript was not -a translation at all; if it was, the pretended authors were almost -certainly fictitious. Most of the instructions here given relate to the -medicinal uses of animals. The idea that foxes’ lungs will strengthen -ours is hardly dead yet. Here it is in this old Saxon document:-- - -“For oppressive hard drawn breathing, a fox’s lung sodden and put into -sweetened wine, and administered, is wonderfully healthy.” - -The fox had many other uses. Foxes’ grease would heal many kinds -of sores. His sinews soaked in honey would cure a sore throat; his -“naturam” wrapped round the head would banish headache; his “coillon” -rubbed on warts would break them up and remove them; and dimness of -sight could be relieved by his gall mingled with honey. The worst -recipe is: - -For disease of joints. Take a living fox and seethe him till the bones -alone are left. Let the man go down therein frequently, and into -another bath. Let him do so very oft. Wonderfully it healeth. - -There are scores of cures from parts of animals, some of them very -disgusting. A few more specimens of decent ones must suffice. - -For oversleeping, a hare’s brain in wine is given for a drink. -Wonderfully it amendeth. - -To get sleep a goat’s horn laid under the head turneth waking into -sleep. - -For sleep lay a wolf’s head under the pillow; the unhealthy shall sleep. - -Let those who suffer apparitions eat lion’s flesh; they will not after -that suffer any apparition. - -For any fracture, take a hound’s brain laid upon wool and bind upon the -broken place for fourteen days; then will it be firmly amended, and -there shall be a need for a firmer binding up. - -If thou frequently smearest and touchest children’s gums with bitches’ -milk, the teeth wax without sore. - - - VARIOUS LEECHDOMS. - -Some “Fly-Leaf Leechdoms” of unknown authorship follow. In these -information concerning the four humours is given, hot and cold, moist -and dry remedies are distinguished, and we are told of the forty-five -dies caniculares “in which no leech can properly give aid to any -sick man.” It is carefully noted that the same disorder may occur -from different causes, and quite scientifically the practitioner is -advised to vary his treatment accordingly. Thus, for example, dealing -with “host” (cough) we are told that “it hath a manifold access, as -the spittles are various. Whilom it cometh of immoderate heat, whilom -of immoderate cold, whilom of immoderate dryness.” The remedies must -depend on the causes of the complaint. The “tokens” of “a diseased -maw” of “a half head’s ache” (megrims) and of other distempers are set -forth with graphic simplicity, and often sensible advice as to diet -and medicine is given. But not infrequently the remedy may not be an -easily procurable one. For instance “If one drink a creeping thing in -water, let him cut open a sheep instantly and drink the sheep’s blood -hot”; and “if a man will eat rind which cometh out of Paradise no venom -will damage him.” The writer considerately adds that such rind is “hard -gotten.” - -The following is apparently adapted from Alexander of Tralles, or some -other of the later classical authors. - -“Against gout and against the wristdrop; take the wort hermodactylus, -by another name titulosa, that is in our own language the great crow -leek; take this leek’s heads and dry them thoroughly, and take thereof -by weight of two and a half pennies, and pyrethrum and Roman rinds, and -cummin, and a fourth part of laurel berries, and of the other worts, -of by weight of a halfpenny, and six pepper corns, unweighed, and -grind all to dust, and add wine two egg-shells full; this is a true -leechcraft. Give it to the man to drink till that he be hole.” - -A few other recipes in the Leechbooks may be quoted:-- - -For headache take a vessel full of leaves of green rue, and a spoonful -of mustard seed, rub together, add the white of an egg, a spoonful, -that the salve may be thick. Smear with a feather on the side which is -not sore. - -For ache of half the head (megrim) take the red nettle of one stalk, -bruise it, mingle with vinegar and the white of an egg, put all -together, anoint therewith. - -For mistiness of the eyes take juice of fennel and of rose and of rue, -and of dumbledores’ honey; (the dumbledore is apis bombinatrix); and -kid’s gall, mixed together. Smear the eyes with this. Again, take live -periwinkles burnt to ashes; and let him mix the ashes with dumbledores’ -honey. - -For sore and ache of ears take juice of henbane, make it lukewarm, and -then drip it on the ear; then the sore stilleth. Or, take garlic and -onion and goose fat, melt them together, squeeze them on the ear. Or, -take emmets’ eggs, crush them, squeeze them on the ear. - -For the upper tooth ache:--Take leaves of withewind (convolvulus), -wring them on the nose. For the nether tooth ache, slit with the -tenaculum till they bleed. - -For coughs, mugwort, marrubium, yarrow, red nettle, and other herbs are -recommended generally boiled in ale, sometimes in milk. - -Pock disease (small-pox) is dealt with, but not very seriously. It -is of interest because the classical writers do not mention it. The -Arab Rhazes wrote a treatise on it about A.D. 923. A few herb -drinks are prescribed in the Leechbooks, and to prevent the pitting -“one must delve away each pock with a thorn, then drip wine or alder -drink within them, then they will not be seen.” - -Against lice:--One pennyweight of quicksilver and two of old butter. - -Against itch:--Take ship tar, and ivy tar, and oil, rub together, add a -third part of salt; smear with that. - -In case a man should overdrink himself, let him drink betony in water -before his other drink. - -For mickle travelling over land, lest he tire, let him take mugwort to -him in hand or put it in his shoe, lest he should weary, and when he -will pluck it, before the upgoing of the sun, let him say these words, -“I will take thee, artemisia, lest I be weary on the way.” Sign it -with the sign of the cross when thou pullest it up. - - - HELIAS TO ALFRED. - -In one of the Leechbooks translated by Mr. Cockayne is found a letter -on medicines from Helias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to King Alfred the -Great. Mr. Cockayne believes it to be authentic. There was a patriarch -of that name at Jerusalem contemporary with Alfred, and the medicines -he recommends are such as were obtainable in the Syrian drug shops -at that date. It is to be presumed that the information was given in -reply to a request for some recipes from the king. Helias recommends -scammony, ammoniacum, gum dragon, aloes, galbanum, balsam, petroleum, -triacle, and alabaster. Of petroleum he writes:-- - -“It is good to drink simple for inward tenderness, and to smear on -outwardly on a winter’s day, since it hath very much heat; hence one -shall drink it in winter; and it is good if for anyone his speech -faileth, then let him take it; and make the mark of Christ under his -tongue, and swallow a little of it. Also if a man become out of his -wits, then let him take part of it, and make Christ’s mark on every -limb, except the cross on the forehead, that shall be of balsam, and -the other on the top of his head.” - -The patriarch had strong faith in Theriaca, and the directions he gives -for its administration are minute, and would be explicit if he had only -explained how much he meant by “a little bit.” - -“Theriaca,” he says, “is a good drink for all inward tenderness, and -the man who so behaves himself as is here said, he may much help -himself. On the day on which he will drink Triacle he shall fast until -midday, and not let wind blow on him that day; then let him go to the -bath, let him sit there till he sweat; then let him take a cup, put a -little warm water in it, then let him take a little bit of the triacle, -and mingle with the water, and drain through some thin raiment, then -drink it, and let him then go to his bed and wrap himself up warm, and -so lie till he sweat well; then let him arise and sit up and clothe -himself, and then take his meat at noon (three hours after midday), and -protect himself earnestly against the wind that day; then I believe to -God it will help the man much.” - - - EARLY ENGLISH MEDICAL PRACTICE. - -In the thirteenth century Roger Bacon, the great man of science, wrote -on medicine, alchemy, magic, and astrology, as well as most other -sciences. He believed that a universal remedy was attainable, and urged -Pope Clement IV to give his powerful aid to its discovery. Nothing -particular remains of his medical studies. - -Gilbert Anglicanus, who was a contemporary of Bacon, and wrote a -Compendium of Medicine, a tedious collection of the most fantastic -theories of disease, was more advanced in pharmacy than in the -treatment of disease. He describes at considerable length the manner of -extinguishing mercury to make an ointment, recommending particularly -the addition of some mustard seed to facilitate the process. He gives -particulars of the preparation of the oil of tartar per deliquium, and -proposes a solution of acetate of ammonia in anticipation of Mindererus -four hundred years later. Gilbert’s formula is thus expressed:-- - -“Conteratur sal armoniacum minutim, et superinfundatur frequenter et -paullatim acetum, et cooperiatur et moveatur, ut evanescet sal.” - -Ant’s eggs, oil of scorpions, and lion’s flesh is his prescription for -apoplexy, but he does not explain how the last ingredient was to be -obtained in England. Several of his formulas are quoted in the first -London Pharmacopœia. For the expulsion of calculi he prescribes the -blood of a young goat which has been fed on diuretic herbs such as -persil and saxifrage. - -Chaucer, whose writings belong to the latter half of the fourteenth -century, has left on record a graphic picture of the “Doctour of -Phisike” of his day, and the old poet is as gently sarcastic about his -pilgrim’s “science” as a writer of five hundred years later might have -been. “He was grounded in astronomy,” we are told, and-- - - Well could he fortune the ascendant - Of his images for his patient - He knew the cause of every malady - Were it of cold, or hot, or moist, or dry, - And where engendered and of what humour. - He was a very perfect practisour. - -His library was a wonderful one considering the rarity of books at that -time. - - Well knew he the olde Esculapius - And Dioscorides, and eek Rufus - Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien, - Serapyon, Razis, and Avicen, - Averrois, Damascien, and Constantyn, - Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn. - -The doctor was careful about his food, “his study was but little on the -Bible,” he dressed well, but was inclined to save in his expenses. - - He kept that he won in the pestilence. - For gold in phisike is a cordialle - There fore he loved gold in special. - -The original of Chaucer’s “Doctour of Phisike” has been sometimes -supposed to have been the well-known John of Gaddesden, physician -to Edward II, Professor of Medicine at Merton College, Oxford, a -Prebendary of the Church, and the author of “Rosa Anglicana.” This -work, although full of absurdities and crude ideas of medicine -and pharmacy, became the popular medical treatise in England, was -translated into several European languages, and reprinted many times -in this country during the two hundred years which followed its first -appearance. The author named it the Rose, he says, because, as the -rose has five sepals, his book is divided into five parts; and as the -rose excels all other flowers, so his book is superior to all other -treatises on medicine. It was probably published between 1310 and 1320. - -John of Gaddesden’s work well illustrates the pharmacy of the period, -for he was great on drugs. He taught that aqua vitæ (brandy) was a -polychrest, or complete remedy; that swines’ excrement was a sovereign -cure for hæmorrhage; that a sponge steeped in a mixture of vinegar, -roses, wormwood, and rain-water, and laid on the stomach, would check -vomiting and purging; that toothache and other pains might be cured by -saying a Paternoster and an Ave for the souls of the father and mother -of St. Phillip; a boar’s bladder, taken when full of urine and dried -in an oven, is recommended as a cure for epilepsy; a wine of fennel -and parsley for blindness; and a mixture of whatever herbs came into -his mind--for example, “apium, petroselinum, endive, scolopendron, -chicory, liver-wort, scariola, lettuce, maidenhair, plantain, ivory -shavings, sandal wood, violets, and vinegar”--is ordered as a digestive -drink. Add to such senseless recipes as these a number of equally -unintelligent charms, and a fair idea of the condition of medical -science in England in the fourteenth century is obtained. It does not -compare at all favourably with the condition to which the Arabs in -Spain had elevated the art two and three hundred years before. - -Bernard of Gordon, who wrote from Montpellier, but is believed to have -been a Scotchman, was the author of the “Lilium Medicinæ,” published -about 1307 or 1309. The work was known to John of Gaddesden, for he -quotes from it. Perhaps he had it in his mind when he observed that -the rose excels all other flowers. Mainly it was a compilation from -Arabic writers with the addition of many scholastic subtleties and -astrological reveries. It is noticeable in this author and in John of -Gaddesden how careful both are to distinguish between the treatment of -the rich and the poor. The latter, for example, states that dropsy can -be cured by spikenard, but he advises practitioners never to give this -costly medicine without first receiving pay for it. Gordon recommends -for a poor person’s cough that he should be ordered to hold his breath -frequently during the day for as long as possible, and if that does not -cure he is to breathe fire. - -John Mirfield also wrote his “Breviarium Bartholomei” in the latter -part of the fourteenth century. Dr. Norman Moore in his “History of -the Study of Medicine” has freely quoted from this old work, and gives -several facsimile pages from some of the earliest manuscript copies of -it. Dr. Moore regards the Breviarium with special interest as it is -the first book on medicine in any way connected with his hospital, the -oldest in London. Mirfield, relating some of the cures performed by -his master, mentions that a woman came to him having lost her speech. -The master rubbed her palate with some “theodoricon emperisticon” -and with a little “diacostorium.” She soon recovered. An apothecary -brought a youth to the hospital with a carbuncle on his face, and his -throat and neck swollen beyond belief. The master said the youth must -go home to die. “Is there then no remedy?” asked the apothecary. The -physician replied, “I believe most truly that if thou wert to give -tyriacum in a large dose, there would be a chance that he might live.” -The apothecary gave two doses of ʒij. each, which caused a -profuse perspiration, and in due course the youth recovered. He advises -smelling and swallowing musk, aloes wood, storax, calamita, and amber -to prevent infection in cold weather, and in warm weather sandal wood, -roses, camphor, acetositas citri, sour milk, and vinegar, taking syrup -of vinegar in the morning and syrup of violets at midday. For gout he -prescribes an ointment the principal constituent of which is goose -grease. The preparation of this remedy is explained metrically. The -verses begin thus:-- - - Anser sumatur, Veteranus qui videatur, - Post deplumetur, Intralibus evacuetur. - -Rheumatism was to be treated with olive oil, and the pharmacist is -directed to warm it while he repeats the Psalm “Quare fremerunt gentes” -as far as “Postula a me et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam,” then the -Gloria and two prayers. This recitation was to be repeated seven times. -There were no clocks available at that time, and this therefore was the -method of prescribing the length of an operation. Dr. Moore says he -finds this direction would cover about a quarter of an hour. - -Medical treatises in verse were frequent and popular in England in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There are several in the British -Museum. A curious specimen is preserved in the Royal Library at -Stockholm, and it is reproduced in readable English in “Archeologia,” -Vol. XXX, with notes by the translator, Mr. George Stephens, and by Dr. -Pettigrew. They both believe it was written in the fourteenth century. -It consists of 1485 lines. Of these it will suffice to give the first -four, and one specimen of its sections. It begins thus:-- - - In foure parties of amā - Be gynneth ye sekenesse yt yie han - In heed, in wombe, or i ye splene - Or i bleddyr, yese iiij I mene. - -The following is entitled in the margin “Hed werk.” - - Amedicyn I hawe i Myde - For hedwerk to telle as I fynde - To taken eysyl pulyole ryale - And camamyle to sethe wt all; - And wt ye jous anoyte yi nosthryll well - A make aplaister of ye toyerdel; - And do it in a good grete clowte - And wynde yi heed yer wt abowte; - As soon as it be leyde yeron - All yi hedwerk xal away gon. - -Two other specimens of these early poetical recipes from other authors -may be quoted:-- - - ffor defhed of ye hed. - For defhed of hed & for dullerynge - I fynde wrete dyuers thynge - Take oporcyon (a portion) of boiys vryne - And mege it wt honey good & fyne - And i ye ere late it caste - Ye herynge schal amede in haste. - - ffor to slepe well - Qwo so may not slepe wel - Take egrimonye afayre del - And ley it vnder his heed on nyth - And it schall hym do slepe aryth - For of his slepe schal he not wakyn - Tyll it be fro vnder his heed takyn. - - - THE EARLY ENGLISH DRUG TRADE. - -The development of pharmacy as a separate organisation was later in -England than on the Continent, and was very gradual. In the Norman -period the retail trade in drugs and spices and most other commodities -was in the hands of the mercers. These were, in fact, general -shopkeepers, deriving their designation from merx, merchandise. They -attended fairs and markets, and in the few large towns had permanent -booths. Under the Plantagenets a part of the south side of “Chepe” -roughly extending from where is now Bow Church to Friday Street was -occupied by their stores, and was known as the Mercery. Behind these -booths were the meadows of Crownsild, sloping down to what it may be -hoped was then the silvery Thames. Probably sheep and cattle fed on the -pastures which Cannon Street and Upper Thames Street have since usurped. - -But English traders were beginning to feel their feet, and other guilds -were pushing forward. The Easterlings (East Germans from the Baltic -coasts and the Hanse towns) brought goods from the East and placed -them on the English market, and the Pepperers and Spicers distributed -them to the public. The Easterlings, it may be mentioned, have left us -the word sterling to commemorate their sojourn among us. The Mercers -meanwhile were getting above the shop. They were becoming merchant -adventurers, and had no desire to contest the trade in small things -with the Pepperers of Sopers’ Lane, or the Spicers of Chepe. Their -other small wares fell into the hands of the Haberdashers. - -There is evidence of a guild of Pepperers in London as early as 1180. -As a company they appear to have been ruined by the demands of Edward -III for subsidies for his French and Scottish campaigns. From their -ashes, including those of the Spicerers, arose the Grocers, the sellers -“en gros.” They are heard of in the fourteenth century, and were -apparently incorporated by letters patent from Edward III in 1345, -but their first known charter was granted by Henry VI in 1429, while -in 1453 that King conferred on them the charge of the King’s beam, by -which all imported merchandise was weighed, a charge of 1d. per 20 lbs. -being authorised for the service. In 1457 they were given the exclusive -power of garbling (cleansing and separating) drugs, spices, and other -imported merchandise, and they also had the duty of examining the drugs -and medicinal wares sold by the apothecaries. The law requiring certain -drugs to be officially “garbled” before they could be sold was repealed -by an Act passed in the sixth year of Queen Anne’s reign. - -The earliest record of the exercise of their authority over -apothecaries is found in 1456, when the minutes of the Company show -that they imposed a fine on John Ashfield “for making untrue powder of -ginger, cinnamon, and saunders.” Other similar items appear from time -to time. In 1612 Mr. Lownes, apothecary to Prince Charles, complained -to the Company that Michael Easen, a grocer-apothecary, “had supplied -him with divers defective apothecaries’ wares,” and the offender was -committed to the Poultry Comptoir. - - - BUCKLERSBURY. - -Bucklersbury was the centre and headquarters of the London drug trade, -at least from the Tudor to the Hanoverian periods. Shakespeare in “The -Merry Wives of Windsor” makes Falstaff refer to “the lisping hawthorn -buds that come like women in men’s apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury -in sample time.” Stow (1598) says of this thoroughfare that “This -whole street on both sides throughout is possessed of grocers and -apothecaries.” Ben Jonson calls it “Apothecarie Street.” This dramatist -in “Westward Ho!” makes Mrs. Tenderhook say “Go into Bucklersbury and -fetch me two ounces of preserved melons; look there be no tobacco taken -in the shop when he weighs it.” Later in a self-asserting poem to his -bookseller, Ben Jonson says of one of his books, objecting to vulgar -advertising methods, - - If without these vile arts it will not sell, - Send it to Bucklersbury, there ’twill well. - -In Charles II’s reign Mouffet speaks of Bucklersbury being replete with -physic, drugs, and spicery, and says it was so perfumed at the time of -the plague with the pounding of spices, melting of gums, and making of -perfumes, that it escaped that great plague. A quotation from Pennant -in Cassell’s “Old and New London” shows that in the reign of William -III Bucklersbury was the resort of ladies of fashion to purchase teas, -furs, and other Indian goods; and the king is said to have been angry -with the queen for visiting these shops, which appear from some lines -of Prior to have been sometimes perverted to places of intrigue. - -The street acquired its name from a family called the Bokerells or -Buckerells, who lived there in the thirteenth century. Stow gives a -different account. He states that there was a tower in the street named -Carnet’s Tower, and that a grocery named Buckle who had acquired it -was assisting in pulling it down, intending to erect a goodly frame of -timber in its place, when a part fell on him, which so sore bruised him -that it shortened his life. - - - A CHEMIST’S ADVERTISEMENT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. - -A London chemist’s advertisement (about 1680-1690) runs thus:-- - -“Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz, chemist in London, Southampton Street, -Covent Garden, continues faithfully to prepare all sorts of remedies, -chemical and galenical. He hopes that his friends will continue their -favours. Good cordials can be procured at his establishment, as well as -Royal English drops, and other articles such as Powders of Kent, Zell, -and Contrajerva, Cordial red powder, Gaskoins powder, with and without -bezoar, English smelling salts, true Glauber’s salt, Epsom salt, and -volatile salt of ammonia, stronger than the former. Human skull and -hartshorn, essence of Ambergris, volatile essence of lavender, musk -and citron, essence of viper, essence for the hair, vulnerary balsam, -commendeur, balsam for apoplexy, red spirit of purgative cochliaria, -spirit of white cochliaria, and others. Honey water, lavender water of -two kinds, Queen of Hungary water, orange flower water, arquebusade. - -“For the information of the curious, he is the only one in London -who makes inflammable phosphorus, which can be preserved in water. -Phosphorus of Bolognian stone, flowers of phosphorus, black phosphorus, -and that made with acid oil, and other varieties. All unadulterated. -Every description of good drugs he sells, wholesale and retail. - -“Solid phosphorus, wholesale, 50s. an ounce, and retail, £3 sterling, -the ounce.” - - - THE ENGLISH APOTHECARIES. - -Although the Grocers were the recognised drug dealers of this country, -apothecaries who were associated in their Guild were also recognised. -Some authorities name Richard Fitznigel as apothecary to Henry II -before he was made Bishop of London. But this evidence cannot be -trusted. The first definite allusion to an apothecary in England occurs -in 1345, when Edward III granted a pension of sixpence a day for life -to Coursus de Gangeland, an apothecary of London, in recognition of -his services in attending on the king during his illness in Scotland. -The record of this grant is found in Rymer’s “Foedera,” which was not -published until 1704, but Rymer was historiographer royal, appointed -by William III, and his work was a compilation from official archives. -An earlier mention of an apothecary is found in the Scottish Exchequer -Rolls wherein it appears that on the death of Robert the Bruce, in -1329, payments were made to John the Apothecary, presumably for -materials for embalming the king’s body. Dr. J. Mason Good, who wrote -a “History of Medicine, so far as it relates to the Profession of the -Apothecary,” in 1795, mentions, on the authority of Regner, that J. -de Falcand de Luca publicly vended medicines in London in 1357, while -Freind (“History of Medicine,” 1725) states that Pierre de Montpellier -was appointed Apothecary to Edward III in 1360. - -It is clear, therefore, that the apothecary was a familiar professional -personage in England five hundred years ago. Conclusive evidence of his -practice is given by Chaucer, who, in the Prologue to the “Canterbury -Tales” (written in the last quarter of the fourteenth century), -describing a “Doctour of Phisike” says-- - - Ful reddy hadde he his apothecaries - To send him dragges and his lettuaries - For eche of hem made other for to Winne. - -The satirical suggestion of the mutual obligations of physicians and -apothecaries has been familiar for all these centuries. - -It seems certain that in Henry VIII’s reign the apothecaries were -doing a considerable amount of medical practice, besides selling -drugs. The Act of 1511 incorporating the College of Physicians and -giving them the exclusive right to practise physic in London and -for seven miles round, was largely used, if not intended, against -apothecaries. In 1542, however, an Act was passed which rather modified -the severe restrictions of the original statute, and under the new law -apothecaries became more aggressive. In Mary’s reign the Physicians -again got the legislative advantage, and there is a record in the -archives of the College of Physicians (preserved by Dr. Goodall, who -wrote “A History of the Proceedings of the College against Empiricks,” -in 1684) stating that in Queen Elizabeth’s reign the President and -Censors of the College summoned the Wardens of the Grocers’ Company -and all the apothecaries of London and the suburbs to appear before -them, “and enjoyned them that when they made a dispensation of medicine -they should expose their several ingredients (of which they were -composed) to open view in their shops for six or eight days that so the -physicians passing by might judge of the goodness of them, and prevent -their buying or selling any corrupt or decayed medicines.” The grocers -and apothecaries do not appear to have raised any objection to this -decree. Whether they obeyed it or not is not stated. - - - INCORPORATION OF THE APOTHECARIES. - -The first Charter of Incorporation was granted to the apothecaries by -James I in 1606, but this did not separate them from their old foes, -the grocers. They continued their efforts, however, and with the aid of -friends at Court they obtained a new Charter in 1617, which gave them -an entirely independent existence as a City Guild under the title of -the Society of the Apothecaries. This is the only London guild which -has from its incorporation to the present time admitted only actual -apothecaries to its fraternity. - -Another peculiarity claimed by one of the Company’s historians (Dr. J. -Corfe: “The Apothecary”) is that the Guild of Apothecaries is the only -City Company which is called a Society. He believes that this may be -attributed to the supposed fact that the corporation was modelled on a -similar association founded at Naples in 1540 under the name of Societa -Scientifica. - - [Illustration: SIR THEODORE MAYERNE. - - The original painting by Rubens, of which the above is a copy, - was in the collection of Dr. Mead, and was sold in 1754 for - £115. It passed into the possession of the Earl of Bessborough - and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and then through the hands of - some dealers, and in 1848 was bought by the Royal College of - Physicians for £33 12_s._ -] - -Sir Theodore de Mayerne, the King’s first physician, and Gideon de -Laune, pharmacien or apothecary to the Queen, Anne of Denmark, were -the supporters of the apothecaries in rescuing them from the control -of the grocers. Both of these men deserve honourable mention in the -chronicles of British pharmacy. It happens that both were of foreign -origin and of the Protestant faith, two of that eminent crowd of -immigrants of high principle and distinguished ability who served -England so well in the seventeenth century when they found themselves -“not wanted” in France. - -Mayerne was a Swiss by birth, but a Frenchman by education and -adoption, and had been physician to Henri IV. But he incurred the -bitter animosity of the Paris Faculty, led by the fanatic Gui Patin, -partly on account of his religious heresy, and partly because he -prescribed chemical medicines. By a unanimous vote the Paris College -of Physicians resolved in 1603 that he must not be met by any of -its members in consultation. He continued, however, to practise in -Paris until an English peer whom he had treated took him to London -and introduced him to James I, who made him physician to the Queen. -Mayerne, however, soon returned to Paris, but in 1611 he settled in -London on the invitation of the King, who made him his first physician. -He had a great deal to do with the compilation of the first London -Pharmacopœia, and is reputed to have introduced calomel and black wash -into medical practice. Subsequently he was appointed physician to -Charles I and Queen Henriette, but after the execution of the King he -retired into private life, and though nominally physician to Charles II -he never practised at that Court. He died at Chelsea in 1665. - -Gideon de Laune was also a man of considerable influence. Dr. Corfe -regards him as almost the founder of the Society of Apothecaries, but -Mr. Barrett, who recently wrote a history of that Society, suggests -that he could not have been so much thought of by his contemporaries, -as he was only elected to the Mastership some years after the Charter -had been granted, and then only after a contest. At any rate the -apothecaries must have largely owed the Charter to his influence. He -lived in Blackfriars and called himself a “Pharmacopœius,” but we also -read of him as an importer of drugs, and it is probable that he traded -as a merchant. That he was a man of position is evident from the fact -that on one occasion he fetched the Queen, Anne of Denmark, from Norway. - -Gideon de Laune was born at Rheims in 1565, and was brought to England -as a boy by his father, who was a Protestant pastor. A Nonconformist -writer of the same surname who got into trouble in the reigns of -Charles II and James II, and was befriended by De Foe, referring to -Gideon as a relative, says of him that when he died at the age of 97 -he had near as many thousands of pounds as he had years; that he had -thirty-seven children by one wife; and that his funeral was attended -by sixty grandchildren. It has been ascertained, however, that his -children only numbered seventeen, and that he died at the age of 94; so -that the later De Laune who wrote in 1681 cannot be implicitly relied -upon when figures are concerned. Another thing he tells us of Gideon is -that “his famous pill is in great request to this day notwithstanding -the swarms of pretenders to pill-making.” - -The Grocers’ Company warmly resented the secession of the apothecaries -who had been their subordinate partners so long, but their formal -petition of complaint called forth a cruel snub from the King. Grocers -were but merchants, said James, the business of the apothecaries was -a mystery; “Wherefore I think it fitting they should be a corporation -of themselves.” The grocers, however, got some of their own back a few -years later when James demanded a subsidy from the city for the relief -of the Palatinate. The grocers and the apothecaries were assessed at -£500 between them. Towards this the apothecaries, pleading poverty, -offered £20. The grocers ridiculed this offer, and having paid £300 as -their share, left their old associates to find the other £200, which -they had to do somehow. - -About the same time the new corporation vigorously opposed an -application for a Charter made by the distillers of London. The -grocers supported the distillers, and the apothecaries failed in -their opposition. Sir Theodore Mayerne told them that their monopoly -of distillation was only intended to extend to the distillation of -medicinal spirits and waters. Mr. Barrett quotes from the old records -another curious instance of the contest for monopolies which was -characteristic of the period. In 1620, one John Woolf Rumbler having -obtained from the King a concession of the sole right of making -“mercuric sublimate,” applied to the Court of Apothecaries that he -might enjoy the same without their contradiction. This “upon advised -consideration,” the Court refused to grant. It is not stated whether -the will of the King or that of the apothecaries prevailed in the end. - -The story of the jealousies which arose between the physicians and the -apothecaries is a long and tedious one; innumerable pamphlets were -written on both sides of the controversy, and the dispute figures in -English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Pope -very neatly expressed the views of the physicians in the familiar verse -in the “Essay on Criticism” in which, comparing the old critics of -Greece who “fanned the poet’s fire, And taught the world with reason to -admire,” with those of his own day who - - Against the poets their own arms they turned - Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn’d, - -illustrated the position by introducing the - - Modern pothecaries, taught the art - By doctors’ bills to play the doctors’ part, - Bold in the practice of mistaken rules, - Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools. - -This was written in 1709. - -The apothecaries strengthened their position as medical practitioners -in the public esteem by remaining at their posts during the Great -Plague in London in 1665 when most of the physicians fled from the -stricken city. Between this date and the end of the seventeenth century -the quarrel between the two sections of the profession constantly -grew in bitterness. Some of the allegations of extortion made against -the apothecaries are almost incredible. In Dr. Goodall’s “Historical -Account of the Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians against -Empiricks and Unlicensed Practisers” (1684), it is reported that George -Buller who gave the college some trouble in 1633 had charged 30_s._ -each for 25 pills; £37 10_s._ for the boxful. Three were given to a -Mrs. Style for a sore leg, and she died the same night. A Dr. Tenant -prosecuted by the college in James I’s reign “was so impudent and -unconscionable in the rating of his medicines that he charged £6 for -one pill and the same for an apozeme.” - -Dr. R. Pitt, F.R.S., in “Crafts and Frauds of Physic Exposed,” 1703 -(a book written expressly to defend the establishment of dispensaries -by the Physicians), states that apothecaries had been known to make -£150 out of a single case, and that in a recent instance (which had -apparently come before the law courts) the apothecary had made £320. -In every bill of £100 Dr. Pitt says the charges were £90 more than the -shop prices for the medicine. - -In Jacob Bell’s “Historical Sketch of the Progress of Pharmacy in Great -Britain” an apothecary’s bill for medicines for one day, supplied to a -Mr. Dalby of Ludgate Hill, is quoted from a pamphlet called “The Wisdom -of the Nation is Foolishness.” It is as follows: - - An Emulsion, 4_s._ 6_d._ A Mucilage, 3_s._ 4_d._ Gelly of - Hartshorn, 4_s._ Plaster to dress Blister, 1_s._ An Emollient - Glister, 2_s._ 6_d._ An ivory pipe, armed 1_s._ A Cordial - Bolus, 2_s._ 6_d._ The same again, 2_s._ 6_d._ A cordial - draught, 2_s._ 4_d._ The same again, 2_s._ 4_d._ Another - bolus, 2_s._ 6_d._ Another draught, 2_s._ 4_d._ A glass of - cordial spirits, 3_s._ 6_d._ Blistering plaster to the arm, - 5_s._ The same to the wrists, 5_s._ Two boluses again, 5_s._ - Two draughts again, 4_s._ 8_d._ Another emulsion, 4_s._ 6_d._ - Another pearl julep, 4_s._ 6_d._ - -Mr. Dalby’s bill for five days came to £17 2_s._ 10_d._, and this was -declared to be not an isolated case but illustrative of the practice of -apothecaries when attending patients of the higher classes. - - - CONTEST BETWEEN THE PHYSICIANS AND APOTHECARIES. - -In 1687 the College of Physicians adopted a resolution binding all -Fellows, Candidates, and Licentiates of the College to give advice -gratis to their neighbouring sick poor when desired within the city -of London or seven miles round. But in view of the gross extortions -of the apothecaries it was asked, What was the use of the physicians’ -charity if the cost of compounding the medicines was to be prohibitory? -The apothecaries, of course, denied that the examples of their -charges which were quoted were at all general, and probably they -were not. It was not to the interest of the apothecaries to destroy -free prescribing. Indeed a proposal was made to the physicians on -behalf of a numerous body of London apothecaries to accept a tariff -for medicines dispensed for the poor to be fixed by the physicians -themselves. - -The relations of the two bodies had become, however, so strained that -arrangement was no longer possible. The apothecaries had in fact -obtained the upper hand. They treated many cases themselves, and -calling in the physician was largely within their discretion. At this -time (about 1700) the ordinary fee paid to a physician was 10_s._ -University graduates expected more, but they too, in the majority -of cases, were only too glad to take the half sovereign, and it was -alleged that they would sometimes pay the apothecary who called them a -percentage off this. - -Such was the condition of affairs when in 1696 an influential section -of the physicians, fifty-three of them, associated themselves in the -establishment of Dispensaries, where medicines should be compounded -and supplied to the poor at cost price. The fifty-three subscribed ten -pounds each, and Dispensaries were opened at the College premises in -Warwick Lane, in St. Martin’s Lane, and St. Peter’s Alley, Cornhill. - -Needless to say, the war now waxed fiercer than ever. The physicians -were divided among themselves, and the anti-dispensarians refused to -meet the dispensarians in consultation. The apothecaries naturally -recommended the anti-dispensarians to their patients, and consequently -it was only the independent ones who could afford to maintain the -struggle. Scurrilous pamphlets were written on both sides, and one -long poem, Garth’s Dispensary, which was less venomous than most of -the literature on the subject, but which as a poem had no merits which -could justify the reputation it attained, complicated the struggle -from the physicians’ point of view. Johnson says that in addition to -its intrinsic merit it “co-operated with passions and prejudices then -prevalent.” His sympathies are indicated by his remark that “it was on -the side of charity against the intrigues of interest, and of regular -learning against licentious usurpation of medical authority.” One -line in the book (the last in the passage quoted below) has attained -currency in the English language. Expressing satirically the complaints -of the apothecaries, Garth says: - - Our manufactures now the doctors sell, - And their intrinsic value meanly tell; - Nay, they discover too (their spite is such) - That health, than crowns more valued, costs not much; - Whilst we must shape our conduct by these rules, - To cheat as tradesmen or to fail as fools. - - - THE APOTHECARIES WIN. - -Notwithstanding the sympathy of Dr. Johnson, Pope, and many other -famous contemporaries, the quarrel ended in the comparative triumph of -the apothecaries. - -The physicians, though reluctant to enforce what they believed to be -their statutory powers, were goaded into law, and at last brought -an action against a London apothecary named William Rose, who they -alleged had infringed the Act passed in the reign of Henry VIII. Rose -had attended a butcher in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields named Seale, and -had administered “proper medicines” to him. He had no licence from -the Faculty, and in his treatment of Seale had not acted under the -direction of any physician. He had neither taken nor demanded any fee -for his advice. - -Those were the facts found by the jury who first heard the case. The -College claimed a penalty of five pounds per month for the period -during which Rose had thus practised. The Charter granted to the -physicians in the tenth year of Henry VIII, and confirmed by an Act of -Parliament passed in the fourteenth and fifteenth year of that reign, -contained a clause forbidding any person not admitted by the College -to practise the faculty of medicine in London or within seven miles -thereof under a penalty of one hundred solidi for every month during -which he should thus infringe the law. - -The jury having found the facts already quoted, referred to the -Court of Queen’s Bench the legal question whether the acts performed -constituted the practice of medicine within the meaning of the Act. The -case was argued three times in the Court of Queen’s Bench--(so it is -stated in the report of the proceedings in the House of Lords),--and -ultimately the judges decided unanimously in favour of the contention -of the College. Thereupon, on behalf of Rose a writ of error was moved -for in the House of Lords demanding a reversal of the judgment. The -counsel who argued the appeal were S. Dodd for Rose, and F. Brown for -the College. The case was heard on the 15th of March, 1703. - -In support of the appeal it was argued that if the judgment -were allowed to stand it would ruin not only Rose but all other -apothecaries. That the Act was a very old one, and that the constant -usage and practice ought to be taken into account. That if this -judgment were right the apothecary would not dare to sell a few -lozenges or a little electuary to any person asking for a remedy for -a cold, or in other common cases where a medicine had a known and -certain effect. That to give a monopoly in the treatment of disease -to physicians would have most mischievous consequences; both rich and -poor would be seriously taxed, and in the case of sudden accidents or -illnesses in the night when apothecaries were so frequently sent for, -the danger of not permitting them to supply the necessary medicine -might often be most serious. - -To these contentions the counsel for the College replied that by -several orders physicians had bound themselves to attend the poor -free, either at their own offices, or, if sent for, at the patient’s -house. That out of consideration for the poor they had gone further by -establishing Dispensaries where the medicines they prescribed could be -obtained at not more than one-third of the price which the apothecaries -had been in the habit of charging. That in sudden emergencies an -apothecary or anyone else was justified in doing his best to relieve -his neighbours, but that in London, at least, a skilled physician -was as available as an apothecary, and that this emergency argument -ought not to be used to permit apothecaries to undertake all sorts of -serious diseases at their leisure. That there was nothing to prevent -apothecaries selling whatever medicines they were asked for, but that -to permit them to treat cases however slight involved both danger and -expense, because a mistake made at the beginning of a distemper might -lead to a long illness, and in any case the apothecary would charge for -much more medicine than was necessary. - -After hearing the arguments “it was ordered and adjudged that the -judgment given in the Court of Queen’s Bench be reversed.” - - - THE APOTHECARIES AND THE CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS. - -From this period the apothecaries became recognised medical -practitioners, the Society granted medical diplomas, and a hundred -years later (1815) they obtained an Act which gave them powers against -other persons similar to those which the physicians thought they -possessed against them. Persons not qualified by them were forbidden -to “act or practise as apothecaries” under a penalty of £20; and the -courts have held that to practise as an apothecary is to judge of -internal disease by symptoms, and to supply medicine to cure that -disease. The chemists and druggists who had largely succeeded to the -old business of the apothecaries opposed this provision, and the -apothecaries, to buy off their opposition, offered to insert a clause -in their Act which would allow all persons who should at that time -or thereafter carry on that business to do so “as fully and amply to -all intents and purposes as they might have done in case this Act had -not been made.” The chemists were not content with this provision, -and drafted another which defined their business as consisting in the -“buying, preparing, compounding, dispensing and vending drugs, and -medicinal compounds, wholesale and retail.” The apothecaries accepted -this alteration, and subsequently obtained penalties from chemists who -had prescribed remedies for customers. Such prescribing would have -been legal if the druggists had accepted the provision proposed by -the apothecaries; but they had limited themselves out of it. In the -actions which the Society of Apothecaries have brought against chemists -the apothecaries have often reproduced with scrupulous fidelity the -arguments used against themselves by the physicians in Rose’s case. - -The Dispensaries established by the physicians were not long -maintained, but apparently they provided the material of the modern -chemist and druggist. “We have reason to believe,” writes Jacob Bell in -his Historical Sketch of the Progress of Pharmacy in Great Britain, -“that the Assistants employed and instructed by the Physicians at these -institutions became dispensing chemists on their own account; and that -some of the apothecaries who found their craft in danger followed the -example, from which source we may date the origin of the chemists and -druggists.” - -In the course of the eighteenth century chemists and druggists had to a -large extent replaced apothecaries as keepers of shops where medicines -were sold and dispensed, and even when the businesses were owned by -apothecaries, they usually styled themselves chemists and druggists. -In the year 1841 an attempt was made to get a Bill through Parliament -which would have made it penal to recommend any medicine for the sake -of gain. The Bill was introduced by a Mr. Hawes, and the chemists -and druggists of London opposed it with such vigour that it was -ultimately withdrawn. In order to be prepared against future attacks -the victorious chemists and druggists then formed the Pharmaceutical -Society of Great Britain, which was incorporated by Royal Charter in -1842. An Act protecting the title of pharmaceutical chemist was passed -in 1852, and in 1868 another Act, requiring all future chemists and -druggists to pass examinations and be registered, and restricting to -them the sale of poisons, became law. - - - - - IX - - MAGIC AND MEDICINE - - “Amulets and things to be borne about I find prescribed, taxed - by some, approved by others. Look for them in Mizaldus, Porta, - Albertus, etc. A ring made with the hoof of an ass’s right - forefoot, carried about, etc. I say, with Renodeus, they are - not altogether to be rejected. Piony doth help epilepsies. - Pretious stones most diseases. A wolf’s dung carried about - helps the cholick. A spider an ague, etc. Such medicines are - to be exploded that consist of words, characters, spells, - and charms, which can do no good at all, but out of a strong - conceit, as Pomponatious proves, or the devil’s policy, that - is the first founder and teacher of them.” - BURTON: “Anatomy of Melancholy.” - - -Charms, enchantments, amulets, incantations, talismans, phylacteries, -and all the armoury of witchcraft and magic have been intimately mixed -up with pharmacy and medicine in all countries and in all ages. The -degradation of the Greek term pharmakeia from its original meaning of -the art of preparing medicine to sorcery and poisoning is evidence -of the prevalence of debasing superstitions in the practice of -medicine among the cultivated Greeks. Hermes the Egyptian, Zoroaster -the Persian, and Solomon the Hebrew were famous among the early -practitioners and teachers of magic. These names served to conjure -with. Those who bore them were probably wise men above the average -who were above such tricks as were attributed to them. But it suited -the purpose or the business of those who made their living out of the -superstitions of the people to pretend to trace their practices to -universally revered heroes of a dim past. - -Not that the whole of the magical rites associated with the art of -healing were based on conscious fraud. The beliefs of savage or -untutored races in demons which cause diseases is natural, it may -almost be said reasonable. What more natural when they see one of their -tribe seized with an epileptic fit than to assume the presence of an -invisible foe? Or if a contagious plague or small-pox or fever attacks -their village, is it not an inevitable conclusion that angry spirits -have attacked the tribe, perhaps for some unknown offence? From such a -basis the idea of sacrifice to the avenging fiend follows obviously. -In some parts of China if a person accidentally kicks a stone and soon -afterwards falls ill the relatives go to that stone and offer fruit, -wine, or other treasures, and it may be that the patient recovers. In -that case the efficacy of the treatment is demonstrated, and only those -who do not desire to believe will question it; if the patient should -die the proof is not less conclusive of the demon’s malignity. - -In some primitive peoples, among the New Zealand natives, for example, -it is believed that a separate demon exists for each distinct disease; -one for ague, one for epilepsy, one for toothache, and so forth. This -too, seems reasonable. Each of those demons has something which will -please or frighten him. So amulets, talismans, charms come into use. -The North American Indians, however, generally attribute all disease to -one evil spirit only. Consequently, their treatment of all complaints -is the same. - - - EGYPTIAN, JEWISH, AND ARABIC MAGIC. - -The Egyptians, according to Celsus, believed that there were thirty-six -demons or divinities in the air, to each of whom was attributed a -separate part or organ of the human body. In the event of disease -affecting one of these parts the priest-physician invoked the demon, -calling him by his name, and requiring him in a special form of words -to cure the afflicted part. - -Solomon was credited among many Eastern people with having discovered -many of the secrets of controlling diseases by magical processes. -According to Josephus he composed and bequeathed to posterity a book of -these magical secrets. Hezekiah is said to have suppressed this work -because it was leading the people to pray to other powers than Jehovah. -But some of the secrets of Solomon were handed down in certain families -by tradition. Josephus relates that a certain Jew named Eleazor drew -a demon from the nose of a possessed person in the presence of the -Emperor Vespasian and a number of Roman officers, by the aid of a magic -ring and a form of invocation. In order to prove that the demon thus -expelled had a real separate existence, he ordered it to upset a vessel -of water which stood on the floor. This was done. Books professing to -give Solomon’s secrets were not uncommon among Christians as well as -Jews. Goethe alluded to such a treatise in “Faust” in the line - - Für solche halbe Höllenbrut, Ist Salomoni’s Schlüssel gut. - -Throughout their history the Jewish people have studied and practised -magic as a means of healing. According to the Book of Enoch the -daughters of men were instructed in “incantations, exorcisms, and the -cutting of roots” by the sons of God who came to earth and associated -with them. The Greeks and Romans always held Jewish sorcery in the -highest esteem, and the Arabs accepted their teaching with implicit -confidence. The Talmud is full of magical formulas, and the Kaballah, a -mystic theosophy which combined Israelitish traditions with Alexandrian -philosophy, and began to be known about the tenth century, was -unquestionably the foundation of the sophistry of Paracelsus and his -followers. - -In the Middle Ages, and in some communities until quite recent times, -belief in the occult powers of Jews, which they had themselves -inculcated, was firm and universal, and became the reason, or at -least the excuse, for much of the persecution they had to suffer. For -the punishment of sorcery and witchcraft was not based on a belief -that fraud had been practised, but resulted from a conviction of the -terrible truth of the claims which had been put forward. - -The Jews of Western Europe have lost or abandoned many of the -traditional practices which have been associated with their popular -medicines from time immemorial. But in the East, especially in Turkey -and Syria, quaint prayers and antiquated materia medica are still -associated as they were in the days of the Babylonian captivity. Dogs’ -livers, earthworms, hares’ feet, live ants, human bones, doves’ dung, -wolves’ entrails, and powdered mummy still rank high as remedies, while -for patients who can afford it such precious products as dew from -Mount Carmel are prescribed. Invocations, prayers, and superstitious -practices form the stock in trade of the “Gabbetes,” generally elderly -persons who attend on the sick. They have a multitude of infallible -cures in their repertoires. Powdered, freshly roasted earthworms in -wine, or live grasshoppers in water, are given by them for biliousness. -For bronchial complaints they write some Hebrew letters on a new plate, -wash it off with wine, add three grains of a citron which has been -used at the Tabernacle festival, and give this as a draught. Dogs’ -excrements made up with honey form a poultice for sore eyes, mummy or -human bones ground up with honey is a precious tonic, and wolves’ liver -is a cure for fits. But the administration of these remedies must be -accompanied by the necessary invocation, generally to the names of -patriarchs, angels, or prophets, but often mere gibberish, such as -“Adar, gar, vedar, gar,” which is the formula for use with a toothache -remedy. - -The phylacteries still worn by modern Jews at certain parts of -their services, now perhaps by most of them only in accordance -with inveterate custom, have been in all ages esteemed by them as -protecting them against evil and demoniac influences. They are leathern -receptacles, which they bind on their left arms and on their foreheads -in literal obedience to the Mosaic instructions in the passages -transcribed, and contained in the cases, from Exodus c. 13, v. 1-10, -and c. 13, v. 11-16, Deuteronomy c. 6, v. 4-9, and c. 9, v. 13-21. To -a modern reader these passages appear to protest against superstitions -and heathenish beliefs and practices, but the rabbis and scribes -taught that these and the mesuza, the similar passages affixed to -the doorposts, would avert physical and spiritual dangers, and they -invented minute instructions for the preparation of the inscriptions. -A scribe, for example, who had commenced to write one of the passages, -was not to allow himself to be interrupted by any human distraction, -not even if the king asked him a question. - -All the eastern nations trusted largely to amulets of various kinds for -the prevention and treatment of disease. Galen quotes from Nechepsus, -an Egyptian king, who lived about 630 B.C., who wrote that a -green jasper cut in the form of a dragon surrounded by rays, applied -externally would cure indigestion and strengthen the stomach. Among -the books attributed to Hermes was one entitled “The Thirty-six Herbs -Sacred to Horoscopes.” Of this book Galen says it is only a waste of -time to read it. The title, however, as Leclerc has pointed out, rather -curiously confirms the statement attributed to Celsus which is found in -Origen’s treatise, “Contra Celsum,” to which allusion has already been -made. - -Amulets are still in general use in the East. Bertherand in “Medicine -of the Arabs” says the uneducated Arab of to-day when he has anything -the matter with him goes to his priest and pays him a fee for which -the priest gives him a little paper about two inches square on which -certain phrases are written. This is put up in a leathern case, -and worn as near the affected part as is possible. The richer Arab -women wear silver cases with texts from the Koran in them. But it is -essential that the paper must have been written on a Friday, a little -before sunset, and with ink in which myrrh and saffron have been -dissolved. - -In the Third Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the -Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum (London: Baillière, Tindall, & -Cox, 1908), Dr. R. G. Anderson writes an interesting chapter on the -medical superstitions of the people of Kordofan, and gives a number -of illustrations of amulets and written charms actually in use by the -Arabs of that country. “To the native,” says Dr. Anderson, “no process -is too absurd for belief, and often, within his limits, no price too -high to accomplish a cure.” Most of them wear talismans of some kind. -Some of them spend a great part of their scanty earnings on charms to -cure some chronic disease, stone in the bladder, for example. The son -of the late Mahdi presented to Dr. Anderson a charm which his father -wore round the arm above the elbow, designed against evil spirits and -the evil eye. It consisted of a square case containing a written charm, -and a bag filled with a preparation of roots. The charms worn by the -natives generally consist of quotations from the Koran, often repeated -many times and with signs of the great prophets interspersed. The -principal of these signs are the following:-- - - [Illustration: _Solomon._] - - [Illustration: _Enoch._] - - [Illustration: _David._] - - [Illustration: _Lot._] - - [Illustration: _Seth._] - - [Illustration: “LOHN” (OR WRITING BOARD).] - -The annexed illustration has been kindly lent by Mr. Wellcome (on -behalf of the Gordon Memorial College) from the Report mentioned above. -It represents a “Lohn,” or writing board on which Koranic phrases or -mystic inscriptions have been written by Fikis (holy men). When the -writing is dry it is washed off and the fluid is taken internally or -applied externally. - - - THE ABRACADABRA MYSTERY. - -Abracadabra was the most famous of the ancient charms or talismans -employed in medicine. Its mystic meaning has been the subject of much -ingenious investigation, but even its derivation has not been agreed -upon. The first mention of the term is found in the poem “De Medicina -Praecepta Saluberrima,” by Quintus Serenus Samonicus. Samonicus was -a noted physician in Rome in the second and third centuries. He was -a favourite with the Emperor Severus, and accompanied him in his -expedition to Britain A.D. 208. Severus died at York in A.D. 211, -and in the following year his son Caracalla had his brother Geta, -and 20,000 other people supposed to be favourable to Geta’s claims, -assassinated. Among the victims was Serenus Samonicus. The poem, which -is the only existing work of Serenus, consists of 1,115 hexameter lines -which illustrate the medical practice and superstitions of the period -when it was written. The lines in which the word “Abracadabra,” and the -way to employ it are introduced are these:-- - - Inscribis chartae, quod dicitur Abracadabra, - Saepius: et subter repetas, sed detrahe summae, - Et magis atque magis desint elementa figuris - Singula, quae semper rapies et coetera figes, - Donec in angustam redigatur litera conum. - His lino nexis collum redimire memento. - -In a paper on Serenus Samonicus by Dr. Barnes of Carlisle, contributed -to the _St. Louis Medical Review_, the following translation of the -above passage is given. A semitertian fever of a particular character -is the disease under discussion. - -“Write several times on a piece of paper the word ‘Abracadabra,’ and -repeat the word in the lines below, but take away letters from the -complete word and let the letters fall away one at a time in each -succeeding line. Take these away ever, but keep the rest until the -writing is reduced to a narrow cone. Remember to tie these papers with -flax and bind them round the neck.” - -The charm was written in several ways all in conformity with the -instructions. Dr. Barnes gives these specimens: - - A B R A C A D A B R A a b r a c a d a b r a - A B R A C A D A B R a b r a c a d a b r - A B R A C A D A B a b r a c a d a b - A B R A C A D A a b r a c a d a - A B R A C A D a b r a c a d - A B R A C A a b r a c a ABRACADABRA - A B R A C a b r a c BRACADABR - A B R A a b r a RACADAB - A B R a b r ACADA - A B a b CAD - A a A - -After wearing the charm for nine days it had to be thrown over the -shoulder into a stream running eastwards. In cases which resisted this -talisman Serenus recommended the application of lion’s fat, or yellow -coral with green emeralds tied to the skin of a cat and worn round the -neck. - -Serenus Samonicus is believed to have been a disciple of a notorious -Christian heretic named Basilides, who lived in the early part of the -second century, and was himself the founder of a sect branching out -of the gnostics. Basilides had added to their beliefs some fanciful -notions based on the teachings of Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyre, -especially in regard to names and numbers. To him is attributed the -invention of the mystic word “abraxas,” which in Greek numeration -represents the total 365, thus:--a--1, b--2, r--100, a--1, -x--60, a--1, s--200. This word is supposed to have been a numeric -representation of the Persian sungod, or if it was invented by -Basilides, more likely indicated the 365 emanations of the infinite -Deity. It has been generally supposed that abracadabra was derived from -abraxas. - -There are, however, other interpretations. Littré associates it -with the Hebrew words, Ab, Ruach, Dabar; Father, Holy Ghost, Word. -Dr. King, an authority on the curious gnostic gems well-known to -antiquarians, regards this explanation as purely fanciful and suggests -that Abracadabra is a modification of the term Ablathanabla, a word -frequently met with on the gems alluded to, and meaning Our Father, -Thou art Our Father. Others hold that Ablathanabla is a corruption of -Abracadabra. An ingenious correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ thinks -that a more likely Hebrew origin of the term than the one favoured by -Littré would be Abrai seda brai, which would signify Out, bad spirit, -out. It is agreed that the word should be pronounced Abrasadabra. -Another likely origin, suggested by Colonel C. R. Conder in “The Rise -of Man” (1908), p. 314, is Abrak-ha-dabra, a Hebrew phrase meaning -“I bless the deed.” The triangular form of the charm was no doubt -significant of the Trinity in Unity. - - - GREEK AND ROMAN MAGIC. - -Pythagoras taught that holding dill in the left hand would prevent -epilepsy. Serapion of Alexandria (B.C. 278) prescribed for -epilepsy the warty excrescences on the forelegs of animals, camel’s -brain and gall, rennet of seal, dung of crocodile, blood of turtle, -and other animal products. Pliny alludes to a tradition, that a root -of autumnal nettle would cure a tertian fever, provided that when -it is dug the patient’s name and his parent’s names are pronounced -aloud; that the longest tooth of a black dog worn as an amulet would -cure quartan fever; that the snout and tips of the ears of a mouse, -the animal itself to run free, wrapped in a rose coloured patch, also -worn as an amulet, would similarly cure the same disease; the right -eye of a living lizard wrapped in a piece of goat’s skin; and a herb -picked from the head of a statue and tied up with red thread, are other -specimens of the amulets popular in his time. But Pliny appears to -doubt if all these treatments can be trusted. He mentions one, that is -that the heart of a hen placed on a woman’s left breast while she is -asleep will make her tell all her secrets, and this he characterizes as -a portentous lie. Mr. Cockayne quoting this, remarks dryly, “Perhaps -he had tried it.” Alexander of Tralles recommends a number of amulets, -some of which he mentions he has proved. Thus for colic he names the -dung of a wolf with some bits of bone in it in a closed tube worn on -the right arm or thigh; an octagonal iron ring on which are engraved -the words “Flee, flee, ho, ho, Bile, the lark was searching” good -for bilious disorders; for gout, gather henbane when the moon is in -Aquarius or Pisces before sunset with the thumb and third finger of the -left hand, saying at the time an invocation inviting the holy herb to -come to the house of blank and cure M. or N.; with a lot more. - -The Greeks named the Furies Eumenides, good people, evidently with the -idea of propitiating them. For a similar reason fairies were known as -good folk by our ancestors. - - - ENGLISH FOLK-LORE SUPERSTITIONS. - -It would be as tedious as it would be useless to relate at any length -the multitude of silly superstitions which make up the medicinal -folk-lore of this and other countries. Methods of curing warts, -toothache, ague, worms, and other common complaints are familiar to -everyone. The idea that toothache is caused by tiny worms which can be -expelled by henbane, is very ancient and still exists. A process from -one of the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms converted into modern English by the -Rev. Oswald Cockayne may be quoted as a sample:-- - -“For tooth worms take acorn meal and henbane seed and wax, of all -equally much, mingle them together, work into a wax candle and burn it, -let it reek into the mouth, put a black cloth under, and the worms will -fall on it.” - -Marcellus, a late Latin medical author whose work was translated -into Saxon, gave a simpler remedy. It was to say “Argidam, Margidum, -Sturdigum,” thrice, then spit into a frog’s mouth and set him free, -requesting him at the same time to carry off the toothache. - -Another popular cure for toothache in early England was to wear a -piece of parchment on which the following charm was written:--“As St. -Peter sat at the gate of Jerusalem our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus -Christ, passed by and said, What aileth thee? He said Lord, my teeth -ache. He said, Arise and follow me and thy teeth shall never ache any -more.” - -Sir Kenelm Digby’s method was less tempting. He directed that the -patient should scratch his gum with an iron nail until he made it -bleed, and should then drive the nail with the blood upon it into a -wooden beam. He will never have toothache again, says this sage. - -For warts the cures are innumerable. They are all more or less like -this: Steal a piece of meat from a butcher’s stall or basket, bury it -secretly at a gateway where four lanes meet. As the meat decays the -warts will die away. An apple cut into slices and rubbed on the warts -and buried is equally efficacious. So is a snail which after being -rubbed on the warts is impaled on a thorn and left to die. - -A room hung with red cloth was esteemed in many countries to be -effective against certain diseases, small-pox especially. John of -Gaddesden relates how he cured Edward II’s son by this device. The -prejudice in favour of red flannel which still exists, for tying a -piece of it round sore throats is probably a remnant of the fancy that -red was specially obnoxious to evil spirits. The Romans hung red coral -round the necks of their infants to protect them from the evil eye. -This practice, too, has come down to our day. - - [Illustration] - -Among other charms and incantations quoted by Mr. Cockayne in his -account of Saxon Leechdoms we find that for a baby’s recovery “some -would creep through a hole in the ground and stop it up behind them -with thorns,” “if cattle have a disease of the lungs, burn (something -undeciphered) on midsummer’s day; add holy water, and pour it into -their mouths on midsummer’s morrow; and sing over them: Ps. 51, Ps. 17, -and the Athanasian Creed.” “If anything has been stolen from you write -a copy of the annexed diagram and put it into thy left shoe under the -heel. Then thou shalt soon hear of it.” - - - TRANSFERRING DISEASES. - -It was widely believed that disease could be transferred by means -of certain silly formalities. This was a very ancient notion. Pliny -explains how pains in the stomach could be transferred to a duck or a -puppy. A prescription of about two hundred years ago for the cure of -convulsions was to take parings of the sick man’s nails, some hair from -his eyebrows, and a halfpenny, and wrap them all in a clout which had -been round his head. This package must be laid in a gateway where four -lanes meet, and the first person who opened it would take the sickness -and relieve the patient of it. A certain John Dougall was prosecuted -in Edinburgh in 1695 for prescribing this treatment. A more gruesome -but less unjust proceeding was to transfer the disease to the dead. -An example is the treatment of boils quoted from Mr. W. G. Black’s -“Folk Medicine.” The boil was to be poulticed three days and nights, -after which the poultices and cloths employed were to be placed in the -coffin with a dead person and buried with the corpse. In Lancashire -warts could be transferred by rubbing each with a cinder which must be -wrapped in paper and laid where four roads meet. As before, the person -who opens this parcel will take the warts from the present owner. In -Devonshire a child could be cured of whooping cough by putting one -of its hairs between slices of bread and butter and giving these to -a dog. If the dog coughed, as was probable, the whooping cough was -transferred. - - - WITCHES’ POWERS. - -The powers of witches were extensive but at the same time curiously -restricted. When Agnes Simpson was tried in Scotland in 1590 she -confessed that to compass the death of James VI she had hung up a black -toad for nine days and caught the juice which dropped from it. If she -could have obtained a piece of linen which the king had worn she could -have killed him by applying to it some of this venom, which would have -caused him such pain as if he had lain on sharp thorns or needles. - -Another means they had of inflicting torture was to make an effigy in -wax or clay of their victim and then to stick pins into it or beat it. -This would cause the person represented the pain which it was desired -to inflict. - - - THE UNIVERSAL TENDENCY. - -It would merely try the patience of the reader to enumerate even a -tithe of the absurd things which have been and are being used by -people, civilised and savage, as charms, talismans, and amulets. The -teraphim which Rachel stole from her father Laban, the magic knots of -the Chaldeans, the gold and stone ornaments of the Egyptians, which -they not only wore themselves but often attached to their mummies--a -multitude of these going back as far as the flint amulets of the -predynastic period, are to be seen in the British Museum--the precious -stones whose virtues were discovered by Orpheus, the infinite variety -of gold and silver ornaments adopted by the Romans with superstitious -notions, the fish, ichthys, being the initials of the Greek words for -Jesus Christ, the Lord, our Saviour, engraved on stones and worn by -the early Christians, the Gnostic gems, the coral necklaces, the bezoar -stones, the toad ashes, the strands of the ropes used for hanging -criminals, the magnets of the middle ages and of modern times, and -a thousand other things, credited with magical curative properties, -might be cited. Besides these there are myriads of forms of words -written or spoken, some pious, some gibberish, which have been used and -recommended both with and without drugs. - -Schelenz in “Geschichte der Pharmacie” (1904) quotes from Jakob Mærlant -of Bruges, “the Father of Flemish science” (born about 1235) the -recommendation of an “Amulettring” on the stone of which the figure of -Mercury was engraved, and which would make the wearer healthy, “die -mæct sinen traghere ghesont.” (See Cramp Rings, p. 305.) - -How widespread has been the belief in the power of amulets and charms -may be gathered from a few instances of such superstitions among -famous persons. Lord Bacon was convinced that warts could be cured by -rubbing lard on them and transferring the lard to a post. The warts -would die when the lard dried. Robert Boyle attributed the cure of a -hæmorrhage to wearing some moss from a dead man’s skull. The father of -Sir Christopher Wren relates that Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer of -England in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, kept off the gout by always wearing -a blue ribbon studded with a particular kind of snail shells round his -leg. Whenever he left it off the pain returned violently. Burton in -the “Anatomy of Melancholy” (1621) says St. John’s Wort gathered on a -Friday in the horn of Jupiter, when it comes to his effectual operation -(that is about full moon in July), hung about the neck will mightily -help melancholy and drive away fantastical spirits. - -Pepys writing on May 28, 1667, says, “My wife went down with Jane and -W. Hewer to Woolwich in order to get a little ayre, and to lie there -to-night and so to gather May Dew to-morrow morning, which Mrs. Turner -hath taught her is the only thing to wash her face with; and I am -content with it.” But Mrs. Turner ought to have explained to Mrs. Pepys -that to preserve beauty it was necessary to collect the May Dew on the -first of the month. - -Catherine de Medici wore a piece of an infant’s skin as a charm, and -Lord Bryon presented an amulet of this nature to Prince Metternich. -Pascal died with some undecipherable inscription sewn into his clothes. -Charles V always wore a sachet of dried silkworms to protect him from -vertigo. The Emperor Augustus wore a piece of the skin of a sea calf -to keep the lightning from injuring him, and the Emperor Tiberius wore -laurel round his neck for the same reason when a thunderstorm seemed -to be approaching. Thyreus reports that in 1568 the Prince of Orange -condemned a Spaniard to be shot, but that the soldiers could not hit -him. They undressed him and found he was wearing an amulet bearing -certain mysterious figures. They took this from him, and then killed -him without further difficulty. The famous German physician, Frederick -Hoffman, tells seriously of a gouty subject he knew who could tell when -an attack was approaching by a stone in a ring which he wore changing -colour. - - - - - X - - DOGMAS AND DELUSIONS. - - See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled, - Mountains of casuistry heap’d o’er her head; - Philosophy that lean’d on Heav’n before - Shrinks to her Second Cause and is no more. - Physic of Metaphysic begs defence, - And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense. - See Mystery to Mathematics fly; - In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. - POPE--“The Dunciad” (641-648). - - - ELEMENTS AND PHLOGISTON. - -The ancient idea that earth, air, fire, and water were the elements of -Nature was held by chemists in the 18th century. Empedocles appears to -have been the author of this theory, which was adopted by Aristotle. -Some speculative philosophers, however, taught that all of these were -derived from one original first principle; some held that this was -water, some earth, some fire, and others air. Paracelsus, who does not -seem to have objected to this idea, contributed another fantastic one -to accompany it. According to him everything was composed of sulphur, -salt, and mercury; but he did not mean by these the material sulphur, -salt, and mercury as we know them, but some sort of refined essence of -these. These three essentials came to be tabulated thus:-- - - SALT. SULPHUR. MERCURY. - Unpleasant and bitter. Sweet. Acid. - Body. Soul. Spirit. - Matter. Form. Idea. - Patient. Agent. Informant or movent. - Art. Nature. Intelligence. - Sense. Judgment. Intellect. - Material. Spiritual. Glorious. - -This is taken from Beguin, who explains that the mercury, sulphur, -and salt of this classification are not those “mixt and concrete -bodies such as are vulgarly sold by merchants. Mercury, which combines -the elements of air and water, Sulphur represents Fire, and Salt, -Earth.” “But the said principles, to speak properly, are neither -bodies; because they are plainly spiritual, by reason of the influx -of celestial seeds, with which they are impregnated: nor spirits, -because corporeal, but they participate of either nature; and have been -insignized by Phylosophers with various names, or at the least unto -them they have alluded these.” - -Instances of the combination of these principles are given. If you burn -green woods, you first have a wateriness, mercury; then there goes -forth an oleaginous substance easily inflammable, sulphur; lastly, a -dry and terrestrial substance remains, salt. Milk contains a sulphurous -buttery substance; mercurial, whey; saline, cheese. Eggs: white, -mercury, yolk, sulphur, shell, salt. Antimony regulus, mercury, red -sulphur conceiving flame; a salt which is vomitive. - - [Illustration: GEORGE ERNEST STAHL. - - Born at Anspach, 1660; died at Berlin, 1734. Stahl was - the originator of the “phlogiston theory” which generally - prevailed in chemistry until Lavoisier disproved it in the - last quarter of the 18th century. -] - -Nowhere do you get these principles pure. Mercury (the metal) contains -both sulphur and salt; so with the others. - -Becker, the predecessor of Stahl, was not quite satisfied with the -orthodox opinion, and improved upon it by limiting the elements -to water and earth; but he recognised three earths, vitrifiable, -inflammable, and mercurial. The last yielded the metals. Stahl was -inclined to go back to the four elements again, but he had his doubts -about their really elementary character. He, however, concentrated his -attention on fire, out of which he evolved his well-known phlogiston -theory. This substance, if it was a substance, was conceived as -floating about all through the atmosphere, but only revealing itself -by its effects when it came into contact with material bodies. There -was some doubt whether it possessed the attribute of weight at all; -but its properties were supposed to be quiescent when it became united -with a substance which thereby became phlogisticated. It needed to -be excited in some special way before it could be brought again into -activity. When combined it was in a passive condition. - -The amusing features of the phlogiston theory only developed when -it came to be realised that when the phlogiston was driven out of a -body, as in the case of the calcination of a metal, the calx remaining -was heavier than the metal with the phlogiston had been. The first -explanation of this phenomenon was that phlogiston not only possessed -no heaviness, but was actually endowed with a faculty of lightness. -This hypothesis was, however, a little too far-fetched for even the -seventeenth century. Boerhaave thereupon discovered that as the -phlogiston escaped it attacked the vessel in which the metal was -calcined, and combined some of that with the metal. This notion would -not stand experiment, but Baume’s explanation of what happened was -singularly ingenious. He insisted that phlogiston was appreciably -ponderable. But, he said, when it is absorbed into a metal or other -substance it does not combine with that substance, but is constantly in -motion in the interstices of the molecules. So that as a bird in a cage -does not add to the weight of the cage so long as it is flying about, -no more does phlogiston add to the weight of the metal in which it is -similarly flying about. But when the calcination takes place the dead -phlogiston, as it may be called, does actually combine with the metal, -and thus the increase of weight is accounted for. - - - HUMOURS AND DEGREES. - -The doctrine of the “humours,” or humoral pathology, as it is generally -termed, is usually traced to Hippocrates. It is set forth in his book -on the Nature of Man, which Galen regarded as a genuine treatise of the -Physician of Cos, but which other critics have supposed to have been -written by one or more of his disciples or successors. At any rate, it -is believed to represent his views. Plato elaborated the theory, and -Galen gave it dogmatic form. - -The human body was composed not exactly of the four elements, earth, -air, fire, and water, but of the essences of these elements. The fluid -parts, the blood, the phlegm, the bile, and the black bile, were the -four humours. There were also three kinds of spirits, natural, vital, -and animal, which put the humours in motion. - -The blood was the humour which nourished the various parts of the -body, and was the source of animal heat. The bile kept the passages of -the body open, and served to promote the digestion of the food. The -phlegm kept the nerves, the muscles, the cartilages, the tongue, and -other organs supple, thus facilitating their movements. The black bile -(the melancholy, Hippocrates termed it) was a link between the other -humours and sustained them. The proportion of these humours occasioned -the temperaments, and it is hardly necessary to remark that this -fancy still prevails in our language; the sanguine, the bilious, the -phlegmatic, and the atrabilious or melancholy natures being familiar -descriptions to this day. - -The humours had different characters. The blood was naturally hot and -humid, the phlegm cold and humid, the bile hot and dry, and the black -bile cold and dry. Alterations of the humours would cause diseased -conditions; distempers was the appropriate term. There might be a too -abundant provision of one or more of the humours. A plethora of blood -would cause drowsiness, difficulty of breathing, fatty degeneration. -A plethora of either of the other humours would have the effect of -causing corruption of the blood; plethora of bile, for example, -would result in a jaundiced condition, bad breath, a bitter taste in -the mouth, and other familiar symptoms. Hæmorrhoids, leprosy, and -cancer might result from a plethora of the melancholic humour; colds, -catarrhs, rheumatisms were occasioned by a superabundance of the phlegm. - -It must not be supposed that Galen or any other authority pretended -that the humours were the sole causes of disease. Ancient pathology -was a most complicated structure which cannot be even outlined here. -The theory of the humours is only indicated in order to show how these -explained the action of drugs. To these were attributed hot, humid, -cold, and dry qualities to a larger or less extent. Galen classifies -them in four degrees--that is to say, a drug might be hot, humid, cold, -or dry in the first, second, third, or fourth degree. Consequently the -physician had to estimate first which humour was predominant, and in -what degree, and then he had to select the drug which would counteract -the disproportionate heat, cold, humidity, or dryness. Of course he -had his manuals to guide him. Thus Culpepper tells us that horehound, -for example, is “hot in the second degree, and dry in the third”; herb -Trinity, or pansies, on the other hand, “are cold and moist, both herbs -and flowers”; and so forth. Medicines which applied to the skin would -raise a blister, mustard, for example, are hot in the fourth degree; -those which provoke sweat abundantly, and thus “cut tough and compacted -humours” (Culpepper) are hot in the third degree. Opium was cold in the -fourth degree, and therefore should only be given alone to mitigate -violent pain. In ordinary cases it is wise to moderate the coldness of -the opium by combining something of the first degree of cold or heat -with it. - -An amusing illustration of the reverence which this doctrine of the -temperatures inspired is furnished by Sprengel in the second volume -of his History of Medicine. Dealing with the Arab period, he tells us -that Jacob-Ebn-Izhak-Alkhendi, one of the most celebrated authors of -his nation, who lived in the ninth century, and cultivated mathematics, -philosophy, and astrology as well as medicine, wrote a book on the -subject before us, extending Galen’s theory to compound medicines, -explaining their action in accordance with the principles of harmony -in music. The degrees he explains progress in geometric ratio, so -that the fourth degree counts as 16 compared with unity. He sets out -his proposition thus: _x_ = _b_^{_n_-1}_a_; _a_ being the first, _b_ -the last, _x_ the exponent, and _n_ the number of the terms. Sprengel -has pity on those of us who are not familiar with mathematical -manipulations, and gives an example to make the formula clear. - - Medicament. Weight. Hot. Cold. Humid. Dry. - Cardamoms ʒi 1 ½ ½ 1 - Sugar ʒii 2 1 1 2 - Indigo ʒi ½ 1 ½ 1 - Myrobalans ʒii 1 2 1 2 - --- ----- ----- --- --- - ʒvi 4½ 4½ 3 6 - -This preparation therefore forms a mixture exactly balanced in hot -and cold properties, but twice as dry as it is humid; the mixture is -therefore dry in the first degree. If the total had shown twelve of -the dry to three of the humid qualities, it would have been dry in -the second degree. When it is remembered that in addition to these -calculations the physician had to realise that drugs adapted for one -part of the body might be of no use for another, it will be perceived -that the art of prescribing was a serious business under the sway of -the old dogmas. - - - THE ROSICRUCIANS. - -It has never been pretended, so far as I am aware, that the Rosicrucian -mystics of the middle ages did anything for the advancement of -pharmacy. They are only mentioned here because they claimed the power -of curing disease, and also because it happens that the fiction -which created the legends concerning them was almost contemporaneous -with the not unsimilar one (if the latter be a fiction) which made a -historical figure of Basil Valentine. Between 1614 and 1616 three works -were published professing to reveal the history of the brethren of -the Rosy Cross. The first was known as Fama Fraternitatis, the second -was the Confessio Fraternitatis, and the third and most important was -the “Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz.” The treatises are -written in a mystic jargon, and have been interpreted as alchemical -or religious parables, though vast numbers of learned men adopted -the records as statements of facts. It was asserted that Christian -Rosencreutz, a German, born in 1378, had travelled in the East, and -from the wise men of Arabia and other countries had learnt the secrets -of their knowledge, religious, necromantic, and alchemical. On his -return to Germany he and seven other persons formed this fraternity, -which was to be kept secret for a hundred years. The brethren, it -is suggested, communicated to each other their discoveries and the -knowledge which had been transmitted to them to communicate with -each other. They were to treat the sick poor free, were to wear no -distinctive dress, but they used the letters C.R. They knew how to -make gold, but this was not of much value to them, for they did not -seek wealth. They were to meet once a year, and each one appointed his -own successor, but there were to be no tombstones or other memorials. -Christian Rosencreutz himself is reported to have died at the age of -106, and long afterwards his skeleton was found in a house, a wall -having been built over him. Their chief business being to heal the -sick poor, they must have known much about medicine, but the books do -not reveal anything of any use. They acquired their knowledge, not by -study, but by the direct illumination of God. The theories--such as -they were--were Paracelsian, and the fraternity, though mystic, was -Protestant. - -The most curious feature of the story is that the almost obviously -fictitious character of the documents which announced it should have -been so widely believed. Very soon after their publication German -students were fiercely disputing concerning the authenticity of the -revelations, and the controversy continued for two hundred years. Much -learned investigation into the origin of the first treatises has been -made, and the most usual conclusion has been that they were written by -a German theologian, Johann Valentin Andreas, of Württemberg, b. 1586, -d. 1654. He is said to have declared before his death that he wrote the -alleged history expressly as a work of fiction. - - - THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES - -was at least intelligible. It associated itself, too, with the pious -utterances so frequent among the mediæval teachers and practitioners -of medicine. The theory was that the Creator in providing herbs for -the service of man had stamped on them, at least in many instances, an -indication of their special remedial value. The adoption of ginseng -root by the Chinese as a remedy for impotence, and of mandrake by the -Hebrews and Greeks in the treatment of sterility, those roots often -resembling the male form, have been often cited as evidence of the -antiquity of the general dogma.... But isolated instances of that -kind are very far from proving the existence of systematic belief. -Hippocrates states that diseases are sometimes cured by the use of -“like” remedies; but he was not the founder of homœopathy. - -It is likely that the belief in a special indication of the virtues -of remedies grew up slowly in the monasteries, and was originated, -perhaps, by noticing some curious coincidences. It found wide -acceptation in the sixteenth century, largely owing to the confident -belief in the doctrine expressed in the writings of Paracelsus. -Oswald Crollius and Giovanni Batista Porta, both mystical medical -authors, taught the idea with enthusiasm. But it can hardly be said -that it maintained its influence to any appreciable extent beyond the -seventeenth century. Dr. Paris describes the doctrine of signatures as -“the most absurd and preposterous hypothesis that has disgraced the -annals of medicine”; but except that it may have led to experiments -with a few valueless herbs, it is difficult to see sufficient reason -for this extravagant condemnation of a poetic fancy. - -The signatures of some drugs were no doubt observed after their virtues -had been discovered. Poppy, for instance, under the doctrine was -appropriated to brain disorders, on account of its shape like a head. -But its reputation as a brain soother was much more ancient than the -inference. - -It is only necessary to give a few specimens of the inductive reasoning -involved in the doctrine of signatures as revealed by the authors of -the old herbals. The saxifrages were supposed to break up rocks; their -medicinal value in stone in the bladder was therefore manifest. Roses -were recommended in blood disorders, rhubarb and saffron in bilious -complaints, turmeric in jaundice, all on account of their colour. -Trefoil “defendeth the heart against the noisome vapour of the spleen,” -says William Coles in his “Art of Simpling,” “not only because the -leaf is triangular like the heart of a man, but because each leaf -contains the perfect icon of a heart and in the proper flesh colour.” -Aristolochia Clematitis was called birthwort, and from the shape of its -corolla was believed to be useful in parturition. Physalis alkekengi, -bladder wort, owed its reputation as a cleanser of the bladder and -urinary passages to its inflated calyx. Tormentilla officinalis, -blood root, has a red root, and would therefore cure bloody fluxes. -Scrophularia nodosa, kernel wort, has kernels or tubers attached to its -roots, and was consequently predestined for the treatment of scrofulous -glands of the neck. Canterbury bells, from their long throats, were -allocated to the cure of sore throats. Thistles, because of their -prickles, would cure a stitch in the side. Scorpion grass, the old name -of the forget-me-not, has a spike which was likened to the tail of a -scorpion, and was therefore a remedy for the sting of a scorpion. [The -name forget-me-not was applied in England, until about a century ago, -to the Ground Pine (Ajuga Chamœpitys), for the unpoetical reason that -it left a nauseous taste in the mouth.] - -Oswald Crollius, who describes himself as Medicus et Philosophus -Hermeticus, in his “Tractatus de Signatures,” writes a long and very -pious preface explaining the importance of the knowledge of signatures. -It is the most useful part of botany, he observes, and yet not a -tenth part of living physicians have fitted themselves to practise -from this study to the satisfaction of their patients. His inferences -from the plants and animals he mentions are often very far-fetched, -but he gives his conclusions as if they had been mathematically -demonstrated. Never once does he intimate that a signature is capable -of two interpretations. A few illustrations not mentioned above may be -selected from his treatise. - -Walnuts have the complete signature of the head. From the shell, -therefore, a salt can be made of special use for wounds of the -pericranium. The inner part of the shell will make a decoction for -injuries to the skull; the pellicle surrounding the kernel makes a -medicine for inflammation of the membrane of the brain; and the kernel -itself nourishes and strengthens the brain. The down on the quince -shows that a decoction of that fruit will prevent the hair falling out. -So will the moss that grows on trees. The asarum has the signature of -the ears. A conserve of its flowers will therefore help the hearing and -the memory. Herb Paris, euphrasia, chamomile, hieracium, and many other -herbs yield preparations for the eyes. Potentilla flowers bear the -pupil of the eye, and may similarly be employed. The seed receptacle -of the henbane resembles the formation of the jaw. That is why these -seeds are good for toothache. The lemon indicates the heart, ginger the -belly, cassia fistula the bowels, aristolochia the womb, plantago the -nerves and veins, palma Christi and fig leaves the hands. - -The signatures sometimes simulate the diseases themselves. Lily of the -valley has a flower hanging like a drop; it is good for apoplexy. The -date, according to Paracelsus, cures cancer; dock seeds, red colcothar, -and acorus palustris will cure erysipelas; red santal, geraniums, -coral, blood stones, and tormentilla, are indicated in hæmorrhage; -rhubarb in yellow bile; wolves’ livers in liver complaints, foxes’ -lungs in pulmonary affections, and dried worms powdered in goats’ milk -to expel worms. The fame of vipers as a remedy was largely due to the -theory of the renewal of their youth. Tartarus, or salt of man’s urine, -is good against tartar and calculi. - -Colour was a very usual signature. Red hangings were strongly advocated -in medical books for the beds of patients with small-pox. John of -Gaddesden, physician to Edward II, says, “When I saw the son of the -renowned King of England lying sick of the small-pox I took care that -everything round the bed should be of a red colour, which succeeded so -completely that the Prince was restored to perfect health without the -vestige of a pustule.” - - - METALS AND PRECIOUS STONES. - -It will be noticed that parts of animals are credited in the examples -just quoted with remedial properties. This was a natural extension -of the doctrine. Metals, too, were credited with medicinal virtues -corresponding with their names or with the deities and planets with -which they had been so long associated. The sun ruled the heart, gold -was the sun’s metal, therefore gold was especially a cordial. The -moon, silver, and the head were similarly associated. Iron was a tonic -because Mars was strong. - -“Have a care,” says Culpepper, “you use not such medicines to one part -of your body which are appropriated to another; for if your brain be -overheated and you use such medicines as cool the heart or liver you -may make mad work.” - -But it was not quite so simple a thing as it may seem to be to select -the proper remedy, because there were conditions which made it -necessary to follow an antipathetical treatment. For instance, Saturn -ruling the bones caused toothache; but if Jupiter happened to be in -the ascendant, the proper drug to employ was one in the service of -the opposing planet. Modern astronomy has removed the heavenly bodies -so far from us that we have ceased to regard them in the friendly way -which once characterised our relations with them. To quote Culpepper -again: “It will seem strange to none but madmen and fools that the -stars should have influence upon the body of man, considering he being -an epitomy of the Creation must needs have a celestial world within -himself; for ... if there be an unity in the Godhead there must needs -be an unity in all His works, and a dependency between them, and not -that God made the Creation to hang together like a rope of sand.” - - - SYMPATHETIC REMEDIES. - -Among the strange theories which have found acceptance in medical -history, mainly it would seem by reason of their utter baselessness and -absurdity, none is more unaccountable than the belief in the so-called -sympathetic remedies. There is abundant material for a long chapter on -this particular manifestation of faith in the impossible, but a few -prominent instances of the remarkable method of treatment comprised in -the designation will suffice to prove that it was seriously adopted by -men capable of thinking intelligently. - -The germ of the idea goes back to very early ages. Dr. J. G. Frazer, -the famous authority on primitive beliefs, traces the commandment in -the Pentateuch, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk,” to -an ancient prejudice against the boiling of milk in any circumstances, -on the ground that this would cause suffering to the animal which -yielded the milk. If the suffering could be thus conveyed, it was -logical to believe that healing was similarly capable of transference. - -Pliny (quoted by Cornelius Agrippa) says: “If any person shall be sorry -for a blow he has given another, afar off or near at hand, if he shall -presently spit into the middle of the hand with which he gave the blow, -the party that was smitten shall presently be free from pain.” - -Paracelsus developed the notion with the confidence which he was wont -to bestow on theories which involved far-fetched explanations. This was -his formula for “Unguentum Sympatheticum”:-- - -Take 4 oz. each of boar’s and bear’s fat, boil slowly for half an hour, -then pour on cold water. Skim off the floating bit, rejecting that -which sinks. (The older the animals yielding the fat, the better.) - -Take of powdered burnt worms, of dried boar’s brain, of red sandal -wood, of mummy, of bloodstone, 1 oz. of each. Then collect 1 drachm -of the moss from the skull of a man who died a violent death, one who -had been hanged, preferably, and had not been buried. This should be -collected at the rising of the moon, and under Venus if possible, but -certainly not under Mars or Saturn. With all these ingredients make an -ointment, which keep in a closed glass vessel. If it becomes dry on -keeping it can be softened with a little fresh lard or virgin honey. -The ointment must be prepared in the autumn. - -Paracelsus describes the methods of applying this ointment, the -precautions to be taken, and the manner in which it exerts its -influence. It was the weapon which inflicted the wound which was to be -anointed, and it would be effective no matter how far away the wounded -person might be. It would not answer if an artery had been severed, -or if the heart, the brain, or the liver had suffered the lesion. The -wound was to be kept properly bandaged, and the bandages were to be -first wetted with the patient’s urine. The anointment of the weapon -was to be repeated every day in the case of a serious wound, or every -second or third day when the wound was not so severe, and the weapon -was to be wrapped after anointment in a clean linen cloth, and kept -free from dust and draughts, or the patient would experience much pain. -The anointment of the weapon acted on the wound by a magnetic current -through the air direct to the healing balsam which exists in every -living body, just as the heat of the sun passes through the air. - -Paracelsus also prescribed the leaves of the Polygonum persicaria to -be applied to sores and ulcers, and then buried. One of his disciples -explains that the object of burying the leaves was that they attracted -the evil spirits like a magnet, and thus drew these spirits from the -patient to the earth. - -The sympathetic egg was another device to cheat diseases, attributed to -the same inventive genius. An empty chicken’s egg was to be filled with -warm blood from a healthy person, carefully sealed and placed under -a brooding hen for a week or two, so that its vitality should not be -impaired. It was then heated in an oven for some hours at a temperature -sufficient to bake bread. To cure a case this egg was placed in contact -with the affected part and then buried. It was assumed that it would -inevitably take the disease with it, as healthy and concentrated blood -must have a stronger affinity for disease than a weaker sort. - -Robert Fludd, M.D., the Rosicrucian, who fell under the displeasure -of the College of Physicians on account of his unsound views from a -Galenical standpoint, was a warm advocate of the Paracelsian Weapon -Salve. In reply to a contemporary doctor who had ridiculed the theory -he waxes earnest, and at times sarcastic. He explains that “an ointment -composed of the moss of human bones, mummy (which is the human body -combined with balm), human fat, and added to these the blood, which is -the beginning and food of them all, must have a spiritual power, for -with the blood the bright soul doth abide and operateth after a hidden -manner. Then as there is a spiritual line protracted or extended in the -Ayre between the wounded person and the Box of Ointment like the beam -of the Sun from the Sun, so this animal beam is the faithful conductor -of the Healing nature from the box of the balsam to the wounded body. -And if it were not for that line which conveys the wholesome and -salutiferous spirit, the value of the ointment would evaporate or sluce -out this way or that way and so would bring no benefit to the wounded -persons.” - -Van Helmont, Descartes, Batista Porta, and other leaders of science, -in the seventeenth century, espoused the theory cordially enough. Van -Helmont’s contribution to the evidence on which it was founded is -hard to beat. In his “De Magnetica Vulnerum Curatione,” written about -1644, he relates that a citizen of Brussels having lost his nose in a -combat in Italy, repaired to a surgeon of Bologna named Tagliacozzi, -who provided him with another, taking the required strip of flesh from -the arm of a servant. This answered admirably, and the Brussels man -returned home. But thirteen months later he found his nose was getting -cold; and then it began to putrefy. The explanation, of course, was -that the servant from whom the flesh had been borrowed had died. Van -Helmont adds, “Superstites sunt horum testes oculati Bruxellae”; there -are still eye-witnesses of this case at Brussels. - -Moss from a dead man’s skull is a principal ingredient in all the -sympathetic ointments, and the condition that the dead man should have -died a violent death is generally insisted on. But Van Helmont, quoting -from one Goclenius, adds another condition still more absurd. It is -that the dead man’s name should only have three letters. Thus, for -example, Dod would do, but not Dodd. - -Sir Gilbert Talbot (in the time of Charles II) communicated to the -Royal Society particulars of a cure he had made with Sympathetic -Powder. An English mariner was stabbed in four places at Venice, and -bled for three days without intermission. Sir Gilbert, who happened -to be at Venice at the same time, was told of this disaster. He sent -for some of the man’s blood and mixed Sympathetic Powder with it. -At the same time he sent a man to bind up the patient’s wounds with -clean linen. Soon after he visited the mariner and found all the -wounds closed, and the man much comforted. Three days later the poor -fellow was able to call on Sir Gilbert to thank him, but even then “he -appeared like a ghost with noe blood left in his body.” - - [Illustration: MARQUISE DE SÉVIGNÉ. - - Born 1626, died 1696, whose famous “letters” are of great - historical importance, frequently introduces references to the - medicine of the period, and was herself a faithful disciple of - many of its quackeries. -] - -Madame de Sévigné, an experienced amateur in medical matters, provides -interesting evidence of the popularity of the powder of sympathy. -Writing to her daughter on January 28th, 1685, she tells her that “a -little wound which was believed to have been healed had shown signs of -revolt; but it is only for the honour of being cured by your powder -of sympathy. The Baume Tranquille is of no account now; your powder -of sympathy is a perfectly divine remedy. My sore has changed its -appearance and is now half dried and cured.” On February 7th, 1685, she -writes again:--“I am afraid the powder of sympathy is only suitable -for old standing wounds. It has only cured the least troublesome of -mine. I am now using the black ointment, which is admirable.” Even the -black ointment proved unfaithful, for in June of the same year the -marchioness writes that she has gone to the Capucins of the Louvre. -They did not believe in the powder of sympathy; they had something much -better. They gave her certain herbs which were to be applied to the -affected part and removed twice a day. Those removed are to be buried; -“and laugh if you like, as they decay so will the wound heal, and thus -by a gentle and imperceptible transpiration I shall cure the most -ill-treated leg in the world.” - - [Illustration: SIR KENELM DIGBY. - - (From a painting by Vandyke in the Bodleian Gallery, Oxford.)] - -The name of Sir Kenelm Digby is more closely associated with the -“powder of sympathy” than that of any other person, and indeed he is -often credited with the invention of the idea; but this was not the -case. He was an extraordinary man who played a rather prominent part -in the stirring days of the Stuarts. His father, Sir Everard Digby, -was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and was duly executed. Kenelm -must have been gifted with unusual attractions or plausibility to have -overcome this unfortunate stain on his pedigree, but he managed it, and -history introduces him to us at the court of that suspicious monarch, - -James I., while he was quite a young man. He had inherited an income of -£3,000 a year, and seems to have been popular with the King and with -his fellow courtiers. But he was not contented to lead an idle life, -so he pressed James to give him a commission to go forth and steal -some Spanish galleons, which was the gentlemanly thing to do in those -days. James consented, but at the last moment it was discovered that -the commission would not be in order unless it was countersigned by -the Lord High Admiral, who was away from England at the time. James -therefore simply granted the buccaneer a licence to undertake a voyage -“for the increase of his knowledge.” Digby scoured the Mediterranean -for a year or two, captured some French, Spanish, and Flemish ships, -and won a rather severe engagement with French and Venetian vessels -at Scanderoon in the Levant. This exploit was celebrated by Digby’s -friend, Ben Jonson, in verse, which can only be termed deathless on -account of its particularly imbecile ending:-- - - Witness his action done at Scanderoon - Upon his birthday, the eleventh of June. - -The writer of Digby’s epitaph plagiarised the essence of this brilliant -strophe in the following lines:-- - - Born on the day he died, the eleventh of June, - And that day bravely fought at Scanderoon. - It’s rare that one and the same day should be - His day of birth and death and victory. - -On his return home after thus distinguishing himself, Digby was -knighted, changed his religion occasionally, was imprisoned and -banished at intervals, and dabbled in science between times, or shone -in society in London, Paris, or Rome, visiting the two last-named -cities frequently on real or pretended diplomatic missions. - -During his residence in France, in 1658, he lectured to the University -of Montpellier on his sympathetic powder, and the fame of this -miraculous compound soon reached England. When he came back he -professed to be shy of using it lest he should be accused of wizardry. -But an occasion soon occurred when he was compelled to take the risk -for the sake of a friend. Thomas Howel, the Duke of Buckingham’s -secretary, was seriously wounded in trying to prevent a duel between -two friends of his, and the doctors prognosticated gangrene and -probably death. The friends of the wounded man appealed to Sir Kenelm, -who generously consented to do his best. He told the attendants to -bring him a rag on which was some of the sufferer’s blood. They -brought the garter which had been used as a bandage and which was -still thick with blood. He soaked this in a basin of water in which he -had dissolved a handful of his sympathetic powder. An hour later the -patient said he felt an agreeable coolness. The fever and pain rapidly -abated, and in a few days the cure was complete. It was reported that -the Duke of Buckingham testified to the genuineness of the cure and -that the king had taken a keen interest in the treatment. - -Digby asserted that the secret of the powder was imparted to him by -a Carmelite monk whom he met at Florence. His laboratory assistant, -George Hartman, published a “Book of Chymicall Secrets,” in 1682, after -Sir Kenelm’s death, and therein explained that the Powder of Sympathy, -which was then made by himself (Hartman), and “sold by a bookseller -in Cornhill named Brookes” was prepared “by dissolving good English -vitriol in as little warm water as will suffice, filter, evaporate, and -set aside until fair, large, green crystals are formed. Spread these -in the sun until they whiten. Then crush them coarsely and again dry -in the sun.” Other recipes say it should be dried in the sun gently (a -French formula says “amoureusement”) for 365 days. - -Sir Kenelm’s scientific explanation of the action of his sympathetic -powder is on the same lines as the others I have quoted. Briefly it -was that the rays of the sun extracted from the blood and the vitriol -associated with it the spirit of each in minute atoms. At the same time -the inflamed wound was exhaling hot atoms and making way for a current -of air. The air charged with the atoms of blood and vitriol were -attracted to it, and acted curatively. - -In a letter written by Straus to Sir Kenelm, it is related that Lord -Gilborne had followed the system, but his method was described as -“the dry way.” A carpenter had cut himself severely with an axe. The -offending axe still bespattered with blood was smeared with the proper -ointment and hung up in a cupboard. The wound was going on well, but -one day it suddenly became violently painful again. On investigation it -was found that the axe had fallen from the nail on which it was hung. - -Inscribed on the plate attached to the portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby -in the National Portrait Gallery, it is stated that “His character -has been summed up as a prodigy of learning, credulity, valour, and -romance.” Although this appreciation is quoted the author is not named. -Other testimonials to his character and reliability are to be found -in contemporary literature. Evelyn alludes to him as “a teller of a -strange things.” Clarendon describes him as “a person very eminent -and notorious throughout the whole course of his life from his cradle -to his grave. A man of very extraordinary person and presence; a -wonderful graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy, and such a volubility -of language as surprised and delighted.” Lady Fanshawe met him at -Calais with the Earl of Strafford and others and says, “much excellent -discourse passed; but, as was reason, most share was Sir Kenelm Digby’s -who had enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories than might be -averred.” At last he told the company about the barnacle goose he had -seen in Jersey; a barnacle which changes to a bird, and at this they -all laughed incredulously. But Lady Fanshawe says this “was the only -thing true he had declaimed with them. This was his infirmity, though -otherwise of most excellent parts, and a very fine-bred gentleman.” In -John Aubrey’s “Brief Lives” (“set down between 1669 and 1696”) Digby is -described as “such a goodly person, gigantique and great voice, and had -so graceful elocution and noble address, etc., that had he been drop’t -out of the clowdes in any part of the world he would have made himself -respected.” - -It may be of interest to add that a daughter of Sir Kenelm Digby’s -second son married a Sir John Conway, of Flintshire. Her granddaughter, -Honora, married a Sir John Glynne whose great-grandson, Sir Stephen -Glynne, was the father of the late Mrs. W. E. Gladstone. - -In 1690, Lemery had the courage to express some doubts about this -powder of sympathy, and in 1773 Baumé declared its pretensions to be -absolutely illusory. - -To conclude the account of this curious delusion, a few quotations from -English literature may be added. - -There are several allusions to sympathetic cures in Hudibras. For -instance, - - For by his side a pouch he wore - Replete with strange hermetick powder - That wounds nine miles point blank would solder, - By skilful chemist at great cost - Extracted from a rotten post. - -And again, - - ’Tis true a scorpion’s oil is said - To cure the wounds the vermin made; - And weapons dress’d with salves restore - And heal the wounds they made before. - -In Dryden’s _Tempest_, the sympathetic treatment is referred to. -Hippolito has been wounded by Fernando, and Miranda instructed by -Ariel, visits him. Ariel says, “Anoint the sword which pierced him with -this weapon salve, and wrap it close from air.” The following is the -next scene between Hippolito and Miranda. - - _Hip._ Oh! my wound pains me. - - _Mir._ I am come to ease you. [_Unwrapping the sword._ - - _Hip._ Alas! I feel the cold air come to me. - My wound shoots worse than ever. - - [_Miranda wipes and anoints the sword._ - - _Mir._ Does it still grieve you? - - _Hip._ Now, methinks, there’s something laid just upon it. - - _Mir._ Do you find no ease? - - _Hip._ Yes, yes; upon the sudden all the pain - Is leaving me; Sweet heaven, how I am eased. - -Lastly, in the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Scott alludes to this same -superstition in the lines - - But she has ta’en the broken lance - And washed it from the clotted gore - And salved the splinter o’er and o’er. - -It would appear from the explanations already given that by washing the -gore away she destroyed the communication between the wound and the -remedy. - - - ANIMAL MAGNETISM. - -The first allusion to the application of the magnet as a cure for -disease is found in the works of Aetius, who wrote in the early part -of the sixth century. He mentions that holding a magnet in the hand is -said to give relief in gout. He does not profess to have tested this -treatment himself. Writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -recommend it strongly for toothache, headache, convulsions, and -nerve disorders. About the end of the seventeenth century magnetic -tooth-picks and earpicks were sold. To these were attributed the -virtues of preventing and healing pains in those organs. - -Paracelsus originated the theory of animal magnetism. The mysterious -properties possessed by the loadstone and transferable from that body -to iron, were according to Paracelsus an influence drawn directly from -the stars and possessed by all animate beings. It was a fluid which -he called Magnale. By it he explained the movements of certain plants -which follow the course of the sun, and it was on the basis of this -hypothesis that he composed his sympathetic ointment and explained the -action of talismans. Paracelsus applied the magnet in epilepsy, and -also prepared a magisterium magnetis. - -Glauber professed to have a secret magnet which would draw only the -essence or tincture from iron, leaving the gross body behind. With -this he made a tincture of Mars and Venus, thus “robbing the dragon of -the golden fleece which it guards.” This is understood to mean that he -dissolved iron and copper in aqua fortis. And as Jason restored his -aged father to youth again, so would this tincture prove a wonderful -restorative. He commenced to test it on one occasion and very soon -black curly hair began to grow on his bald head. But he had not enough -of the tincture to permit him to carry on the experiment, and though he -had a great longing to make some more, he apparently put off doing so -until it was too late. - -Van Helmont, Fludd, and other physicians of mystic instincts, were -among the protagonists of animal magnetism, and physicians administered -pulverised magnet in salves, plasters, pills and potions. But in 1660 -Dr. Gilbert, of Colchester, noted that, when powdered, the loadstone -no longer possessed magnetic properties. Ultimately, therefore, it was -understood that the powder of magnet was not capable of producing any -other effects than any other ferruginous substance. But the belief in -magnets applied to the body was by no means dissipated. The theory was -exploited by various practitioners, but notably towards the latter part -of the eighteenth century, when the Viennese doctor, F. A. Mesmer, -excited such a vogue in Paris that the Court, the Government, the -Academy of Sciences, and aristocratic society generally were ranged in -pro-and anti-Mesmer sections. Franklin stated that at one time Mesmer -was taking more money in fees than all the regular physicians of Paris -put together. And yet Mesmer’s explanations of the phenomena attending -his performances were only an amplification of the doctrines which -Paracelsus had first imagined. - -The excitement did not spread to England to any great extent, but -about the same time an American named Perkins created a great deal of -stir with his metallic tractors, which sent the nation tractor-mad for -the time. Dr. Haygarth, of Bath, contributed to the failure of this -delusion by a series of experiments on patients with pieces of wood -painted to resemble the tractors from which equally wonderful relief -was felt, proving that the cures such as they were, could only have -been the consequence of faith. - - - THE TREATMENT OF ITCH. - -The history of the treatment of itch is such a curious instance of the -blind acceptance of authority through many centuries, in the course -of which the true explanation lay close at hand, that it is worth -narrating briefly. - -It is stated in some histories that the disease was known to the -Chinese some thousands of years ago, and the name they gave it, -Tchong-kiai, which means pustules formed by a worm, indicates that at -least when that term was adopted they had some acquaintance with the -character of the disease. - -Some writers have supposed that certain of the uncleannesses alluded -to in the Book of Leviticus have reference to this complaint; and it -is quite possible that in old times it acquired a much more severe -character than it ever has now, owing to neglect or improper treatment. -Psora, in Greek, and the equivalent term Scabies, in Latin, are -supposed to have at least included the itch, though in all probability -those words comprehended a number of skin diseases which are now more -exactly distinguished. Hippocrates mentions psora, and apparently -treated it solely by the internal administration of diluents and -purgatives. Aristotle mentions not only the disease but the insects -found, he said, in the blisters. Celsus advocated the application of -ointments composed of a miscellaneous lot of drugs, such as verdigris, -myrrh, nitre, white lead, and sulphur. Galen hints at the danger of -external applications which might drive the disease inwards. In Cicero, -Horace, Juvenal, and other of the classical writers, the word scabies -is used to indicate something unnatural; showing that it had come to be -adopted metaphorically. - -The Arab writers are much more explicit. Rhazes, Haly Abbas, and -Avicenna are very definite in their descriptions of the nature of the -complaint, and how it is transmitted from one person to another; but -Avicenna’s mode of treatment was directed to the expulsion of the -supposed vicious humours from the body by bleeding and purgatives, -especially by a purgative called Hamech. At the same time he advised -that the constitution should be reinforced by suitable diet and -astringent medicines. - -Avenzoar of Seville, a remarkable observer, who lived in the twelfth -century, alludes to a malady of the skin, common among the people, and -known as Soab. This, he says, is caused by a tiny insect, so small that -it can scarcely be seen, which, hidden beneath the epidermis, escapes -when a puncture has been made. - -One would have supposed that the doctors were at that time on the -eve of understanding the itch correctly, and in fact the writers of -the next few centuries were at least quite clear about the acarus. -Ambrose Paré, for example, who lived through the greater part of the -sixteenth century, uses this language:--“Les cirons sont petits animaux -cachés dans le cuir, sous lequel ils se trainent, rampent, et rongent -petit par petit, excitant une facheuse demangeaison et gratelle;” and -elsewhere “Ces cirons doivent se tirer avec espingles ou aiguilles.” - -All this time, however, the complaint was regarded as a disturbance of -the humours which had to be treated by suitable internal medicines. -In a standard work, _De Morbis Cutaneis_, by Mercuriali, published at -Venice in 1601, the author attributes the disease to perverted humours, -and says it is contagious because the liquid containing the contagious -principle is deposited on or in the skin. - -This view, or something like it, continued to be the orthodox opinion -at least up to the seventeenth century. Van Helmont’s personal -experience of the itch is referred to in dealing with that eccentric -genius who was converted from Galenism to Paracelsianism as a -consequence of his cure; but he never got beyond the idea that the -cause of the complaint was a specific ferment. - -The earliest really scientific contribution to the study of this -disorder may be credited to Thomas Mouffet, of London, who, in a -treatise published in 1634, entitled _Insectorum sive Minimorum -Animalium Theatrum_, showed not only that the animalculæ were -constantly associated with the complaint, but made it clear that they -were not to be found in the vesicles, but in the tunnels connected with -these. For this was the stumbling block of most of the investigators. -It had been so often stated that the parasites were to be found in the -vesicles, that when they were not there the theory failed. Mouffet’s -exposition ought to have led to a correct understanding of the cause of -the complaint, but it was practically ignored. - -About this time the microscope was invented, and in 1657 a German -naturalist named Hauptmann published a rough drawing of the insect -magnified. A better, but still imperfect, representation of it was -given a few years later by Etmuller. - -In 1687 a pharmacist of Leghorn, named Cestoni, induced a Dr. Bonomo of -that city to join him in making a series of experiments to prove that -the acarus was the cause of itch. They had both observed the women of -the city extracting the insects from the hands of their children by -the aid of needles, and the result of their research was a treatise in -which the parasitic nature of the complaint was maintained, and the -uselessness of internal remedies was insisted on. These intelligent -Italians recommended sulphur or mercury ointment as the essential -application. - -Even with this evidence before them the doctors went on faithful to -their theory of humours. Linnæus supported the view of Bonomo and -Cestoni, but made the mistake of identifying the itch parasite with -the cheese mite. The great medical authorities of the eighteenth -century, such as Hoffmann and Boerhaave, still recommended general -treatment, and a long list of drugs might be compiled which were -supposed to be suitable in the treatment of itch. Among these, luckily, -some parasiticides were included, and, consequently, the disease did -get cured by these, but the wrong things got the credit. About the -end of the eighteenth century Hahnemann promulgated the theory that -the “psoric miasm” of which the itch eruption was the symptomatic -manifestation, was the cause of a large proportion of chronic diseases. - -Some observers thought there were two kinds of itch, one caused by the -acarus, the other independent of it. Bolder theorists held that the -insect was the product of the disease. The dispute continued until -1834, in which year Francois Renucci, a native of Corsica, and at the -time assistant to the eminent surgeon d’Alibert at the Hôpital St. -Louis, Paris, undertook to extract the acarus in any genuine case of -itch. As a boy he had seen the poor women extract it in Corsica, as -Bonomo and Cestoni had seen others do it at Leghorn, though his learned -master at the hospital remained sceptical for some years. It was near -the middle of the nineteenth century before the parasitic character of -itch was universally acknowledged. - - - - - XI - - MASTERS IN PHARMACY - - We are guilty, we hope, of no irreverence towards those great - nations to which the human race owes art, science, taste, - civil and intellectual freedom, when we say that the stock - bequeathed by them to us has been so carefully improved that - the accumulated interest now exceeds the principal. - MACAULAY: “Essay on Lord Bacon” (1837). - - - DIOSCORIDES. - -It has been a subject of lively dispute whether Dioscorides lived -before or after Pliny. It seems certain that one of these authors -copied from the other on particular matters, and in neither case is -credit given. Pliny was born A.D. 23 and died A.D. 79, and would -therefore have lived under the Emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, -Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. Suidas, the historian, who -probably wrote in the tenth century, dates Dioscorides as contemporary -with Antony and Cleopatra, about B.C. 40, and some Arab authorities say -he wrote at the time of Ptolemy VII, which would be still a hundred -years earlier. But Dioscorides dedicates his great work on materia -medica to Areus Asclepiades, who is otherwise unknown, but mentions as -a friend of his patron the consul Licinius Bassus. There was a consul -Lecanius Bassus in the reign of Nero, and it is therefore generally -supposed that Dioscorides was in his prime at that period, and would -consequently be a contemporary of Pliny’s. It is possible that both -authors drew from another common source. - -Dioscorides was a native of Anazarbus in Cilicia, a province where -the Greek spoken and written was proverbially provincial. Our word -solecism is believed to have been derived from the town of Soloe in -the same district. The Greek of Dioscorides is alleged to have been -far from classical. He himself apologises for it in his preface, and -Galen remarks upon it. Nevertheless Dioscorides maintained for at -least sixteen centuries the premier position among authorities on -materia medica. Galen complains that he was sometimes too indefinite -in his description of plants, that he does not indicate exactly enough -the diseases in which they are useful, and that he does not explain -the degrees of heat, cold, dryness, and humidity which characterise -them. He will often content himself with saying that a herb is hot -or cold, as the case may be. As an illustration of one of his other -criticisms Galen mentions the Polygonum, of which he notes that -Dioscorides says “it is useful for those who urinate with difficulty.” -But Galen adds that he does not particularise precisely the cases of -which this is a symptom and which the Polygonum is good for. But these -defects notwithstanding, Galen recognises that Dioscorides is the best -authority on the subject of the materials of medicine. - -It is generally stated that Dioscorides was a physician; but of this -there is no certain evidence. According to his own account he was -devoted to the study and observation of plants and medical substances -generally, and in order to see them in their native lands he -accompanied the Roman armies through Greece, Italy, and Asia Minor. -This was the easiest method of visiting foreign countries in those -days. It is not unlikely that he went as assistant to a physician, -perhaps to the one to whom he dedicated his book. That is to say, -he may have been an army compounder. Suidas says of him that he was -nicknamed Phocas, because his face was covered with stains of the shape -of lentils. - -In his treatise on materia medica, “Peri Ules Iatrikes,” or, according -to Photius, originally “Peri Ules,” On Matter, only, he describes -some six hundred plants, limiting himself to those which had or -were supposed to have medicinal virtues. He mentions, besides, the -therapeutic properties of many animal substances. Among these are -roasted grasshoppers, for bladder disorders; the liver of an ass for -epilepsy; seven bugs enclosed in the skin of a bean to be taken in -intermittent fever; and a spider applied to the temples for headache. - -Dioscorides also gives a formula for the Sal Viperum, which was a noted -remedy in his time and for long afterwards. His process was to roast -a viper alive in a new earthen pot with some figs, common salt, and -honey, reducing the whole to ashes. A little spikenard was added to the -ashes. Pliny only adds fennel and frankincense to the viper, but Galen -and later authors make the salt a much more complicated mixture. - -His botany is very defective. He classifies plants in the crudest way; -often only by a similarity of names. Of many his only description is -that it is “well-known,” a habit which has got him into much trouble -with modern investigators who have looked into his work for historical -evidence verifying the records of herbs named in other works. Hyssop -is an example. As stated in the section entitled “The Pharmacy of -the Bible,” it has not been found possible to identify the several -references to hyssop in the Bible. Dioscorides contents himself by -saying that it is a well-known plant, and then gives its medicinal -qualities. But that his hyssop was not the plant known to us by that -name is evident from the fact that in the same chapter he describes -the “Chrysocome,” and says of it that it flowers in racemes like the -hyssop. He also speaks of an origanum which has leaves arranged like an -umbel, similar to that of the hyssop. It is evident, therefore, that -his hyssop and ours are not the same plant. - -The mineral medicines in use in his time are also included in the -treatise of Dioscorides. He mentions argentum vivum, cinnabar, -verdigris, the calces of lead and antimony, flowers of brass, rust of -iron, litharge, pompholix, several earths, sal ammoniac, nitre, and -other substances. - -Other treatises, one on poisons and the bites of venomous animals, -and another on medicines easy to prepare, have been attributed to -Dioscorides, but it is not generally accepted that he was the author. -The best known translation of Dioscorides into Latin was made by -Matthiolus of Sienna in the sixteenth century. The MS. from which -Matthiolus worked is still preserved at Vienna and is believed to have -been written in the sixth century. - -The very competent authority Kurt Sprengel, while recognising the -defects in the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, credits him with the -record of many valuable observations. His descriptions of myrrh, -bdellium, laudanum, asafoetida, gum ammoniacum, opium, and squill are -selected as particularly useful; the accounts he gives of treatments -since abandoned (some of which are mentioned above, but to these -Sprengel adds the application of wool fat to wounds which has been -revived since he wrote), are of special interest; and the German -historian further justly points out that many remedies re-discovered in -modern times were referred to by Dioscorides. Among these are castor -oil, though Dioscorides only alludes to the external application of -this substance; male fern against tape worms; elm bark for eruptions; -horehound in phthisis; and aloes for ulcers. He describes many chemical -processes very intelligently, and was the first to indicate means of -discovering the adulterations of drugs. - - - GALEN. - -No writer of either ancient or modern times can compare with Claudius -Galenus probably in the abundance of his output, but certainly in -the influence he exercised over the generations that followed him. -For fifteen hundred years the doctrines he formulated, the compound -medicines he either introduced or endorsed, and the treatments he -recommended commanded almost universal submission among medical -practitioners. In Dr. Monk’s Roll of the College of Physicians, mention -is made of a Dr. Geynes who was admitted to the Fellowship of the -College in 1560, “but not until he had signed a recantation of his -error in having impugned the infallibility of Galen.”[2] This was at -the time when to deny Galen meant to follow Paracelsus, and the contest -was fiercer just then than at any time before or since. - - [Illustration: - - There is of course no authentic likeness of Galen in - existence. The Royal College of Physicians possesses - an unquestionably antique bust, copied in Pettigrew’s - Medical Portraits (and illustrated in the margin), which - is traditionally credited with being a representation of - the Physician of Pergamos. It was presented to the College - by Lord Ashburton, to whom it was presented by Alexander - Adair, who had acquired it from his relative Robert Adair, - principal surgeon to the British forces at the siege of - Quebec. This Robert Adair was a man of considerable eminence - in his profession, and is described as a man of character - and a scholar. Beyond this very slight evidence there is no - authority for the presumption that the bust was intended for - Galen. The other portrait is copied from the diploma of the - Pharmaceutical Society, but this is not said to have any - history. With these may be compared the portrait given on the - title page of the first London Pharmacopœia. The conclusion - will probably be reached that we have no idea what manner of - man the eminent physician was. -] - -Galen was born at Pergamos, in Asia Minor, A.D. 131, and died -in the same city between A.D. 200 and 210. His father was an -architect of considerable fortune, and the son was at first destined to -be a philosopher, but while he was going through his courses of logic, -Nicon (the father) was advised in a dream to direct the youth’s studies -in the direction of medicine. It will be seen directly that Galen’s -career was a good deal influenced by dreams. - -Nothing was spared to obtain for the youth the best education -available, though his father died when he was 21. After exhausting the -Pergamos teachers, Galen studied at Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria. -Then he travelled for some years through Cilicia, Phœnicia, Palestine, -Scyros, and the Isles of Crete and Cyprus. He commenced practice at -Pergamos when he was 29 and was appointed Physician to the School of -Gladiators in that city. At 33 he removed to Rome and soon acquired the -confidence and friendship of many distinguished persons, among them -Septimus Severus, the Consul and afterwards Emperor, Sergius Paulus, -the Prætor, the uncle of the reigning Emperor, Lucius Verus, many of -whom he cured of various illnesses. - -His success caused bitter jealousy among the other Greek physicians -then practising in Rome. They called him Paradoxologos, and Logiatros, -which meant that he was a boaster and a master of phrases. It appears -that he was able to hold his own in this wordy warfare. Some of -his opponents he described as Asses of Thessaly, and he also made -allegations against their competence and probity. However, he quitted -Rome in the year 167, and as at a later time he left Aquilea, both -movings being coincident with the occurrence of serious plagues, his -reputation for courage has suffered. It was at this period of his -life that he visited Palestine to see the shrub which yielded Balm of -Gilead, and then proceeded to Armenia to satisfy himself in regard to -the preparation of the Terra Sigillata. He was able to report that the -general belief that blood was used in the process was incorrect. - -It was to Aquilea that Galen was sent for by the Emperor Marcus -Aurelius, who was there preparing a campaign against the Marcomans, -a Germanic nation dwelling in what is now called Bohemia. Marcus -Aurelius was in the habit of taking Theriaca, and would have none but -that which had been prepared by Galen. He urged Galen to accompany -him on his expedition, but the physician declined the honour and the -danger, alleging that Æsculapius had appeared to him in a dream, and -had forbidden him to take the journey. The Emperor therefore sent him -to Rome and charged him with the medical care of his son Commodus, then -11 years of age. Galen is said to have done the world the ill-service -of saving the life of this monster. Galen retained the favour of Marcus -Aurelius till the death of the Emperor, and continued to make Theriaca -for his successors, Commodus, Pertinax, and Septimus Severus. He died -during the reign of the last named Emperor. - -Galen is sometimes said to have kept a pharmacy in the Via d’Acra at -Rome, but his “apotheca” there appears to have been a house where his -writings were kept and where other physicians came to consult them. -This house was afterwards burned, and it is supposed that a number of -the physician’s manuscripts were destroyed in that fire. - -His medical fame began to develop soon after his death. In about a -hundred years Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, reproaches the world with -treating Galen almost as a divinity. Nearly all the later Roman medical -writers drew freely from his works, and some seemed to depend entirely -on them. Arabic medicine was largely based on Galen’s teaching, and it -was the Arabic manuscripts translated into Latin which furnished the -base of the medical teaching of Europe from the eleventh and twelfth -centuries to the eighteenth. - -Galen aimed to create a perfect system of physiology, pathology, and -treatment. He is alleged to have written 500 treatises on medicine, and -250 on other subjects, philosophy, laws, grammar. Nothing like this -number remains, and the so-called “books” are often what we should call -articles. His known and accepted medical works number eighty-five. All -his writings were originally in Greek. - - - ORIBASIUS. - -Oribasius, like Galen, was a native of Pergamos, and was physician -to and friend of the Emperor Julian. He is noted for having compiled -seventy-two books in which he collected all the medical science of -preceding writers. This was undertaken at the instance of Julian. Only -seventeen of these books have been preserved to modern times. Oribasius -adds to his compilation many original observations of his own, and in -these often shows remarkable good sense. He was the originator of the -necklace method of treatment, for he recommends a necklace of beads -made of peony wood to be worn in epilepsy, but does not rely on this -means alone. - - - AETIUS. - -Aetius, who lived either in the fifth or sixth century, was also a -compiler, but he was besides a great authority on plasters, which he -discusses and describes at enormous length. He was a Christian, and -gives formulas of words to be said when making medicinal compounds, -such as “O God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, give to this remedy -the virtues necessary for it.” In the works of Aetius, mention is made -of several nostrums famous in his time for which fabulous prices were -charged. The Collyrium of Danaus was sold in Constantinople for 120 -numismata. If this means the nummus aureus of Roman money it would be -equal to nearly £100 of our money. At this price, Aetius says, the -Collyrium could only be had with difficulty. He also mentions a Colical -Antidote of Nicostratus called very presumptuously Isotheos (equal to -God), which sold for two talents. - -The remedy devised by Aetius for gout was called Antidotos ex duobus -Centaureae generibus, and was the same as the compound which became -popular in this country under the title of Duke of Portland’s Powder. -(See page 309). Aetius prescribed a regimen along with his medicine -extending over a year. In September the patient was to take milk; -in October, garlic; in November to abstain from baths; December, no -cabbage; in January to take a glass of pure wine every morning; in -February to eat no beet; in March to be allowed sweets in both food -and drink; in April, no horse radish; in May, no Polypus (a favourite -dish); in June, to drink cold water in the morning; in July, no venery; -in August, no mallows. - - - ALEXANDER OF TRALLES. - -This writer, who acquired considerable celebrity as a medical -authority, lived a little later than Aetius, towards the end of the -sixth century. He was a native of Tralles, in Lydia, and is much -esteemed by the principal medical historians, Sprengel, Leclerc, -Freind, and others who have studied his writings. Especially notable -is his independence of opinion; he does not hesitate occasionally to -criticise even Galen. He impresses strongly on his readers the danger -of becoming bound to a particular system of treatment. The causes of -each disease are to be found, and the practitioner is not to be guided -exclusively by symptoms. Among his favourite drugs were castorum, which -he gave in fevers and many other maladies; he had known several persons -snatched from the jaws of death by its use in lethargy (apoplexy); bole -Armeniac, in epilepsy and melancholia; grapes and other ripe fruits -instead of astringents in dysentery; rhubarb appeared as a medicine for -the first time in his writings, but only as an astringent; and he was -the first to use cantharides for blisters in gout instead of soothing -applications. His treatment of gout by internal remedies and regimen -recalls that of Aetius and is worth quoting. He prescribed an electuary -composed of myrrh, coral, cloves, rue, peony, and aristolochia. This -was to be taken regularly every day for a hundred days. Then it was to -be discontinued for fifteen days. After that it was to be recommenced -and continued during 460 days, but only taking a dose every other day; -then after another interval thirty-five more doses were to be taken on -alternate days, making 365 doses altogether in the course of nearly two -years. Meanwhile the diet was strictly regulated, and it may well be -that Alexander only provided the medicine to amuse his patient while -he cured the gout by a calculated reduction of his luxuries. Alexander -of Tralles was the author who recommended hermodactyls, supposed to be -a kind of colchicum in gout; a remedy which was forgotten until its -use was revived in a French proprietary medicine. His prescription -compounded hermodactyls, ginger, pepper, cummin seeds, anise seeds, -and scammony. He says it will enable sufferers who take it to walk -immediately. He is supposed to have been the first to advocate the -administration of iron for the removal of obstructions. - - - MESUË AND SERAPION. - -These names are often met with in old medical and pharmaceutical books, -and there is an “elder” and a “younger” of each of them, so that it may -be desirable to explain who they all were. The elder and the younger -of each are sometimes confused. Serapion the Elder, or Serapion of -Alexandria, as he is more frequently named in medical history, lived -in the Egyptian city about 200 B.C., and was the recognised -leader of the sect of the Empirics in medicine. He is credited with -the formula that medicine rested on the three bases, Observation, -History, and Analogy. No work of his has survived, but he is alleged to -have violently attacked the theories of Hippocrates, and to have made -great use of such animal products as castorum, the brain of the camel, -the excrements of the crocodile, the blood of the tortoise, and the -testicles of the boar. - -Serapion the Younger was an Arabian physician who lived towards the -end of the tenth century and wrote a work on materia medica which was -much used for some five or six hundred years. - -Mesuë the Elder was first physician at the court of Haroun-al-Raschid -in the ninth century. He was born at Khouz, near Nineveh, in 776, and -died at Bagdad in 855. Under his superintendence the School of Medicine -of Bagdad was founded by Haroun. Although a Nestorian Christian, Mesuë -retained his position as first physician to five Caliphs after Haroun. -To his teaching the introduction of the milder purgatives, such as -senna, tamarinds, and certain fruits is supposed to be due. His Arabic -name was Jahiah-Ebn-Masawaih. - -Mesuë the Younger is the authority generally meant when formulas under -his name, sometimes quaintly called Dr. Mesuë in old English books, are -quoted. He lived at Cairo about the year 1000. He was a Christian, like -his earlier namesake, and is believed to have been a pupil or perhaps -a companion of Avicenna; at all events, when the latter got into -disgrace it is alleged that both he and Mesuë took refuge in Damascus. -At Damascus Mesuë wrote his great work known in Latin as Receptarium -Antidotarii. From the time of the invention of printing down to the -middle of the seventeenth century, when pharmacopœias became general, -more than seventy editions of this work, mostly in Latin, but a few in -Italian, have been counted. In some of the Latin translations he is -described as “John, the son of Mesuë, the son of Hamech, the son of -Abdel, king of Damascus.” This dignity has been traced to a confusion -of the Arabic names, one of which was very similar to the word meaning -king. Nearly half of the formulæ in the first London Pharmacopœia were -quoted from him. - - - NICOLAS MYREPSUS. - -For several centuries before the era of modern pharmacopœias the -Antidotary of Nicolas Myrepsus was the standard formulary, and from -this the early dispensatories were largely compiled. This Nicolas, -who was not the Nicolas Praepositus of Salerno, is sometimes named -Nicolas Alexandrinus. He appears to have been a practising physician at -Constantinople, and as he bore the title of Actuarius, it is supposed -that he was physician to the Emperor. He is believed to have lived in -the thirteenth century. Myrepsus, which means ointment maker, was a -name which he assumed or which was applied to him, probably in allusion -to his Antidotary. - -This was the largest and most catholic of all the collections of -medical formulas which had then appeared. Galen and the Greek -physicians, the Arabs, Jews, and Christians who had written on -medicine, were all drawn upon. A Latin translation by Leonard Fuchs, -published at Nuremberg in 1658, contains 2,656 prescriptions, every -possible illness being thus provided against. The title page declares -the work to be “Useful as well for the medical profession and for the -seplasarii.” The original is said to have been written in barbarous -Greek. - -Sprengel, who has hardly patience to devote a single page to this -famous Antidotary, tells us that the compiler was grossly ignorant -and superstitious. He gives an instance of his reproduction of some -Arab formulæ. One is the use of arsenic as a spice to counteract the -deadly effects of poisons. This advice was copied, he says, down to -the seventeenth century. It was Nicolas’s rendering of the Arabic word -Darsini, which meant cannella, and which they so named because it was -brought from China. - -The compounds collected in this Antidotary are of the familiar -complicated character of which so many specimens are given in this -volume. Many of the titles are curious and probably reminiscent of -the pious credulity of the period when Myrepsus lived. There is, for -example, the Salt of the Holy Apostles, which taken morning and evening -with meals, would preserve the sight, prevent the hair from falling -out, relieve difficulty of breathing, and keep the breath sweet. It was -obtained by grinding together a mixture of herbs and seeds (hyssop, -wild carrot, cummin, pennyroyal, and pepper) with common salt. The Salt -of St. Luke was similar but contained a few more ingredients. - -A Sal Purgatorius prescribed for the Pope Nicholas consisted of sal -ammoniac, 3 oz., scammony, 3 drachms, poppy seeds, 2 drachms, orris -root, 3 drachms, pepper, 13 grains, one date, pine nut 25 grains, and -squill 2 drachms. This might be made into an electuary with honey. - -Antidotus Acharistos, which means unthanked antidote, is stated -to be so named because it cured so quickly that patients were not -sufficiently grateful. They did not realise how bad they might have -been without it. - -An electuary said to have been prescribed for King David for his -melancholy was composed of aloes, opium, saffron, lign-aloes, myrrh, -and some other spices, made up with honey. A Sal Sacerdotale (salt -combined with a few spices) stated to have been used by the prophets in -the time of Elijah had come down to this Antidotary through St. Paul. - - - RAYMOND LULLY. - -The life of Raymond Lully is so romantic that it is worth telling, -though it only touches pharmaceutical history occasionally. Born at -Palma, in the island of Majorca, in 1235, in a good position of life, -he married at the age of twenty-two, and had two sons and a daughter. -But home life was not what he desired, and he continued to live the -life of a gallant, serenading young girls, writing verses to them, and -giving balls and banquets, to the serious derangement of his fortune. -Ultimately he conceived a violent passion for a beautiful and virtuous -married woman named Ambrosia de Castello who was living at Majorca with -her husband. She, to check this libertine’s ardour, showed him her -breast, ravaged by cancer. This so afflicted him that he set himself -to study medicine with the object of discovering a cure for the cruel -disease. With the study of medicine and of alchemy he now associated -an insatiable longing for the deliverance of the world from Mohammedan -error. He renounced the world, including it would seem his wife and -children (though it is recorded that he first shared his possessions -with his wife), and went to live on a mountain in a hut which he -built with his own hands. This career, however, did not promise an -early enough extirpation of infidels, so before long Lully is found -travelling, and residing at Paris, Rome, Vienna, Genoa, Tunis, and in -other cities, preaching new crusades, importuning the Pope to establish -new orders of missionary Christians, and at intervals writing books on -medicine. He had invented a sort of mathematical scheme which in his -opinion absolutely proved the truth of Christianity, and by the use of -diagrams he hoped to convert the Saracens. His ideas are set forth, -if not explained, in his _Ars Magna_. In the course of his strange -life he visited Palestine and Cyprus, and at Naples in 1293 he made -the acquaintance of Arnold de Villanova. This learned man taught Lully -much, and found a fervent discipline in him. He was more than seventy -when, according to tradition, he travelled to London with the object -of urging on Edward III a new war against the Saracens. Edward alleged -his want of means, but Lully was prepared to meet the difficulty, -and some of the historians of the science of the period assert that -he coined a lot of gold for the purpose of the new crusade. Edward -promptly used this money for the war with France, in which he was more -interested. Disappointed and disgusted, Lully left England, and some -time after, at the age of seventy-eight, set out to visit Jerusalem. -Having accomplished that journey he visited several of the cities of -North Africa on his way back, and at Bougia, after preaching with his -usual vehemence against the Mohammedan heresy, he was stoned by the -Moors and left for dead. Some friendly merchants took his body on their -ship bound for his native Majorca. He revived, but died on the voyage -in his eightieth year, A.D. 1415. His tomb is still shown in -the church of San Francisco in the City of Palma. - - [Illustration: RAYMOND LULLY. - - (From a portrait in the Royal Court and State Library, Munich.)] - -Raymond Lully is particularly famous in pharmaceutical history for -the general use of the aqua vitae or aqua ardens which he introduced. -He had learned the process of distilling it from wine from Arnold of -Villanova, who had himself probably acquired it from the Arab chemists -of Spain, but Lully discovered the art of concentrating the spirit -by means of carbonate of potash. Of the aqua vitae which he made he -declared that “the taste of it exceedeth all other tastes, and the -smell of it all other smells.” - - - FRASCATOR. - -Hieronymo Frascatoro, generally known as Jerome Frascator, was a -physician and poet of high repute in the early part of the sixteenth -century. Frascator was born at Verona in 1483 and died near that city -in 1553. As a physician he aided the Pope, Paul III, to get the Council -of Trent removed from Germany to Italy by alarming the delegates into -believing that they were in imminent danger of an epidemic. They -therefore adjourned to Bologna. Frascator especially studied infectious -diseases, and his celebrated Diascordium, which is described in the -section entitled “The Four Officinal Capitals,” was invented as a -remedy for the Plague. His great literary fame depended principally on -a Latin poem he wrote with the now repellent title of “Syphillides, -sive Morbi Gallici,” in three books. This was published in 1530. The -author did not accept the view that this disease had been imported from -America. He held that it had been known in ancient times, and that it -was caused by a peculiar corruption of the air. His hero, Syphilis, -had given offence to Apollo, who, in revenge, had poisoned the air he -breathed. Syphilis is cured by plunging three times in a subterraneous -stream of quicksilver. The best classical scholars of the age regarded -the poem as the finest Latin work written since the days when that -language was in its full life, and they compared it appreciatively with -the poems of Virgil. The following lines will serve as a specimen:-- - - ... nam saepius ipsi - Carne sua exutos artus, squallentia ossa - Vidimes, et foedo rosa era dehiscere hiatu - Ora, atque exiles renentia guttura voces. - -The name of the disease was acquired from this poem, and though it -has a Greek form and appearance, no ancient derivative for it can be -suggested. Frascator also wrote a poem on hydrophobia. - - - BASIL VALENTINE. - -The name and works of Basil Valentine are inseparably associated with -the medical use of antimony. His “Currus Triumphalis Antimonii” (the -Triumphal Chariot of Antimony) is stated in all text-books to have -been the earliest description of the virtues of this important remedy, -and of the forms in which it might be prescribed. And very wonderful -indeed is the chemical knowledge displayed in this and other of -Valentine’s writings. - - [Illustration: BASIL VALENTINE. - - (From the Collection of Etchings in the Royal Gallery, Munich.)] - -Basil Valentine explains the process of fusing iron with this stibium -and obtaining thereby “by a particular manipulation a curious star -which the wise men before me called the signet star of philosophy.” -He commences the treatise already mentioned by explaining that he is -a monk of the Order of St. Benedict, which (I quote from an English -translation by Theodore Kirkringius, M.D., published at London in 1678) -“requires another manner of Spirit of Holiness than the common state -of mortals exercised in the profane business of this World.” - -After thus introducing himself he proceeds to mingle chemistry, piety, -and abuse of the physicians and apothecaries of his day with much -repetition though with considerable shrewdness for about fifty pages. -At last, after many false starts, he expounds the origin and nature of -antimony, thus:-- - -“Antimony is a mineral made of the vapour of the Earth changed into -water, which spiritual syderal Transmutation is the true Astrum of -Antimony; which water, by the stars first, afterwards by the Element -of Fire which resides in the Element of Air, is extracted from the -Elementary Earth, and by coagulation formally changed into a tangible -essence, in which tangible essence is found very much of Sulphur -predominating, of Mercury not so much, and of Salt the least of the -three. Yet it assumes so much Salt as it thence acquires an hard and -unmalleable Mass. The principal quality of it is dry and hot, or rather -burning; of cold and humidity it hath very little in it, as there is in -common Mercury; in corporal Gold also is more heat than cold. These may -suffice to be spoken of the matter, and three fundamental principles of -Antimony, how by the Archeus in the Element of Earth it is brought to -perfection.” - -It needs some practice in reading alchemical writings to make out -the drift of this rhapsody, and no profit would be gained by a clear -interpretation of the mysticism. It may, however, be noted that the -Archeus was a sort of friendly demon who worked at the formation of -metals in the bowels of the earth; that all metals were supposed to -be compounds of sulphur, mercury, and salt in varying proportions, -the sulphur and the salt, however, being refined spiritual essences -of the substances we know by these names; and that it was a necessary -compliment to pay to any product which it was intended to honour to -trace its ancestry to the four elements. - -As the author goes on to deal with the various compounds or derivatives -from antimony, it is abundantly clear that he writes from practical -experience. He describes the Regulus of Antimony (the metal), the glass -(an oxy-sulphide), a tincture made from the glass, an oil, an elixir, -the flowers, the liver, the white calx, a balsam, and others. - -Basil Valentine’s scathing contempt for contemporary medical -practitioners calls for quotation. “The doctor,” he says, “knows not -what medicines he prescribes to the sick; whether the colour of them be -white, black, grey, or blew, he cannot tell; nor doth this wretched man -know whether the medicament he gives be dry or hot, cold or humid.... -Their furnaces stand in the Apothecaries’ shops to which they seldom -or never come. A paper scroll in which their usual Recipe is written -serves their purpose to the full, which Bill being by some Apothecary’s -boy or servant received, he with great noise thumps out of his mortar -every medicine, and all the health of the sick.” - -Valentine concludes his “Triumphal Chariot” by thus apostrophising -contemporary practitioners:--“Ah, you poor miserable people, physicians -without experience, pretended teachers who write long prescriptions on -large sheets of paper; you apothecaries with your vast marmites, as -large as may be seen in the kitchens of great lords where they feed -hundreds of people; all you so very blind, rub your eyes and refresh -your sight that you may be cured of your blindness.” - -In the same treatise Basil Valentine describes spirit of salt which he -had obtained by the action of oil of vitriol on marine salt; brandy, -distilled from wine; and how to get copper from pyrites by first -obtaining a sulphate, then precipitating the metal by plunging into the -solution a blade of iron. This operation was a favourite evidence with -later alchemists of the transmutation of iron into copper. - -According to some of his biographers Basil Valentine was born in -1393; others are judiciously vague and variously suggest the twelfth, -thirteenth, or fourteenth century. That he was a Benedictine monk, he -tells us himself, and several monasteries of the order have been named -where he is supposed to have lived and laboured. - -Many medical historians have doubted whether such a person as Basil -Valentine ever existed. His writings are said to have been circulated -in manuscript, but no one has ever pretended to have seen one of those -manuscripts, and the earliest known edition of any of Basil Valentine’s -works was published about 1601, by Johann Thölde, a chemist, and part -owner of salt works at Frankenhausen in Thuringia. It is rather a large -claim on our credulity, or incredulity, to assume that Thölde was -himself the author of the works attributed to the old monk, and that -he devised the entire fiction of the alleged discoveries, chemistry -and all. It was not an uncommon thing among the alchemists and other -writers of the middle ages to represent their books as the works of -someone of acknowledged fame, just as the more ancient theologians were -wont to credit one of the apostles or venerated fathers with their -inventions. But it was not common for a discoverer to hide himself -behind a fictitious sage whose existence he had himself invented. This -theory is, however, held by some chemical critics. - -It is certain that the real Basil Valentine could not have been so -ancient as he was generally believed to be. Syphilis is referred to in -the “Triumphal Chariot” as the new malady of soldiers (Neue Krankheit -der Kriegsleute), as morbus Gallicus, and lues Gallica. It was not -known by these names until the invasion of Naples by the French in -1495. Another allusion in the same treatise is to the use of antimony -in the manufacture of type metal, which was certainly not adopted at -any time at which Basil Valentine could have lived. Another reason -for questioning his actual existence is that the most diligent search -has failed to discover his name either on the provincial list or on -the general roll of the Benedictine monks preserved in the archives -of the order at Rome. Boerhaave asserted that the Benedictines had -no monastery at Erfurt, which was generally assigned as the home of -Valentine. - -A curious item of evidence bearing on the allegation that Thölde was -the fabricator of Basil Valentine’s works, or at least of part of -them, has been indicated by Dr. Ferguson, of Glasgow, in his notes on -Dr. Young’s collection of alchemical works. Thölde, it appears, had -written a book in his own name entitled “Haliographia.” This is divided -into four sections, namely: 1. Various kinds of Salts. 2. Extraction -of Salts. 3. Salt Springs. 4. Salts obtained from metals, minerals, -animals, and vegetables. This Part 4 of the work was subsequently -published by Thölde among Basil Valentine’s writings. One of two things -therefore is obvious. Either Thölde adopted a work by Valentine and -issued it as his own, or one at least of the pieces alleged to have -been by Valentine was really by Thölde. - -Basil Valentine, meaning the valiant king, has assuredly an alchemical -ring about it. It is exactly such a name as might be invented by one -of the scientific fictionists of the middle ages. It is impossible, -too, to read the “Triumphal Chariot,” at least when suspicion has been -awakened, without feeling that the character of the pious monk is a -little overdone. A really devout monk would hardly be proclaiming his -piety on every page with so much vehemence. Then there is the legend -which accounts for the long lost manuscripts. It is explained that they -were revealed to someone, unnamed, when a pillar in a church at Erfurt -was struck and split open by lightning, the manuscripts having been -buried in that pillar. When this happened is not recorded. - -In Kopp’s “Beitrage zur Geschichte der Chemie” the learned author -argued that Thölde could only be regarded as an editor of Basil -Valentine’s works, because when they were published they gave so many -new chemical facts and observations that it was impossible to think -that Thölde would have denied himself the credit of the discoveries if -they had been his in fact. That book was published in 1875. In “Die -Alchemie,” which Kopp published in 1886, he refers to Basil Valentine, -and says that there is reason to think that the works attributed to him -were an intentional literary deception perpetrated by Thölde. - - - PARACELSUS: HIS CAREER. - -No one man in history exercised such a revolutionary influence -on medicine and pharmacy as the erratic genius Philipus Aureolus -Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim. The name Paracelsus is believed to -have been coined by himself, probably with the intention of somewhat -Latinising his patronymic, von Hohenheim, and also perhaps as claiming -to rank with the famous Roman physician and medical writer, Celsus. The -family of Bombast was an old and honourable one from Württemberg, but -the father of the founder of the iatro-chemists was a physician who had -settled at Maria-Einsiedeln, a small town in Switzerland, not far from -Zurich. He (the father) died at Villach, in Carinthia, in 1534, aged 71. - -Theophrastus was an only child. He was born in 1490 or 1491, and owed -to his father the first inclination of his mind towards medicine and -alchemy. Later he was taught classics at a convent school, and at 16 -went to the University of Basel. Apparently he did not stay there -long. Classical studies, and the reverence of authorities, which the -Universities taught, never attracted him. He is found next at Wurzburg, -in the laboratory of Trithemius, an abbot of that city, and a famous -adept in alchemy, astrology, and magic generally. He must have acquired -much chemical skill in that laboratory, and, doubtless, many of his -mystic views began to shape themselves under the instruction of the -learned abbot. But Paracelsus was not content with the artificial ideas -of the alchemists. By some means he became acquainted with the wealthy -Sigismund Fugger, a mine owner in the Tyrol, and either as assistant or -friend he joined him. The Fuggers were the Rothschilds of Germany at -that time, and one of them entertained Charles V at Augsburg, when the -famous diet at which the Emperor was to crush the Reformation was held -in that city. On that occasion the wealthy merchant made a cinnamon -fire for the Emperor, and lighted it with a bond representing a large -sum which Charles owed him. - -In the Tyrolese mines Paracelsus learned much about minerals, about -diseases, and about men. Then he travelled through various parts of -Europe, paying his way by his medical and surgical skill, or, as his -enemies said, by conjuring and necromancy. He states that he was in -the wars in Venice, Denmark, and the Netherlands; it is supposed as an -army surgeon, for he afterwards declared that he then learned to cure -forty diseases of the body. He boasted that he learned from gypsies, -physicians, barbers, executioners, and from all kinds of people. He -claims also to have been in Tartary, and to have accompanied the -Khan’s son to Constantinople. Van Helmont tells us that it was in this -city that he met an adept who gave him the philosopher’s stone. Other -chroniclers relate that this adept was a certain Solomon Trismensinus, -who also possessed the elixir of life, and had been met with some two -hundred years later. - -Although Paracelsus in his writings appears to hold the current belief -in the transmutation of metals, and in the possibility of producing -medicines capable of indefinitely prolonging life, he wasted no -energy in dreaming about these, as the alchemists generally did. The -production of gold does not seem to have interested him, and his aims -in medicine were always eminently practical. It is true that he named -his compounds catholicons, elixirs, and panaceas, but they were all -real remedies for specific complaints; and in the treatment of these he -must have been marvellously successful. - -Whether he ever went to Tartary or not, and whether he served in -any wars or not, may be doubtful. His critics find no evidence of -acquaintance with foreign languages or customs in his works, and they -do find indications of very elementary notions of geography. But it -is certain that for ten years he was peregrinating somewhere; if his -travels were confined to Germany the effect was the same. Germany -was big enough to teach him. Passionately eager to wrest from Nature -all her secrets, gifted with extraordinary powers of observation and -imagination, with unbounded confidence in himself, and bold even to -recklessness as an experimenter, this was a man who could not be -suppressed. Armed with his new and powerful drugs, and not afraid to -administer them, cures were inevitable; other consequences also, in all -probability. - -When, therefore, Paracelsus arrived at Basel, in the year 1525, in the -thirty-second year of his age, his fame had preceded him. Probably -he was backed by high influence. According to his own account he had -cured eighteen princes during his travels, and some of these may have -recommended him to the University authorities. It is to the credit -of Paracelsus that he was warmly supported by the saintly priest -Œcolampadius (Hausschein), who subsequently threw in his lot with -the reformers. Besides being appointed to the chair of medicine and -surgery, Paracelsus was made city physician. - -His lectures were such as had never been heard before at a university. -He began his course by burning the works of Galen and Avicenna in a -chafing dish, and denouncing the slavish reliance on authority which -at that time characterised medical teaching and practice. He taught -from his own experience, and he gave his lectures in German. Many -quotations of his boastful utterance have been handed down to us, and -they match well with what we know of him from his recognised writings. -All the universities had less experience than he, and the very down on -his neck was more learned than all the authors. He likened himself to -Hippocrates, the one ancient whom he esteemed. He contrasted himself -with the doctors in white gloves who feared to soil their fingers in -the laboratory. “Follow me,” he cried; “not I you, Avicenna, Galen, -Rhazes, Montagnana, Mesuë, and ye others. Ye of Paris, of Montpellier, -of Swabia, of Cologne, of Vienna; from the banks of the Danube, of the -Rhine, from the islands of the seas, from Italy, Dalmatia, Sarmatia, -and Athens, Greeks, Arabs, Israelites. I shall be the monarch, and mine -shall be the monarchy.” - -In his capacity as city physician he naturally created many enemies -among his fellow practitioners. His friends said he cured the cases -which they found hopeless; they said he only gave temporary relief at -the best, and that his remedies often killed the patients. He fell -foul, too, of the apothecaries. He denounced their drugs and their -ignorance. The three years he spent in Basel must have been lively both -for him and his opponents. - -“In the beginning,” he says, “I threw myself with fervent zeal on the -teachers. But when I saw that nothing resulted from their practice -but killing, laming, and distorting; that they deemed most complaints -incurable; and that they administered scarcely anything but syrups, -laxatives, purgatives, and oatmeal gruel, with everlasting clysters, I -determined to abandon such a miserable art and seek truth elsewhere.” -Again he says: “The apothecaries are my enemies because I will not -empty their boxes. My recipes are simple and do not call for forty -or fifty ingredients. I seek to cure the sick, not to enrich the -apothecaries.” - -His career at Basel was brought to a close by a dispute with a -prebendary of the cathedral named Lichtenfels, whom he had treated. -The canon, in pain, had promised him 200 florins if he would cure him. -The cure was not disputed, but as Paracelsus had only given him a few -little pills, the clergyman relied on the legal tariff. Paracelsus -sued him, and the court awarded the legal fee, which was six florins. -The doctor published his comments on the case, and it can readily be -supposed that they were of such a character as to amount to contempt of -court. He found it advisable to leave Basel hurriedly. - -Between 1528 and 1535 he lived and practised at Colmar, Esslingen, -Nuremberg, Noerdlingen, Munich, Regensburg, Amberg, Meran, St. Gall, -and Zurich. From Switzerland he again set forth, and records of him are -to be traced in Carinthia and Hungary. Lastly, the Prince Palatine, -Duke Ernst of Bavaria, took him under his protection, and settled him -at Salzburg. There a few months afterwards he died. From dissipation -and exhaustion, say his enemies; by assassination, say his friends. A -German surgeon who examined his skull when the body was exhumed thirty -years after death, found in it a fracture of the temporal bone, which, -he declared, could only have been produced during life, because the -bones of a solid but desiccated skull could not have separated as -was the case here. It was suggested that some hirelings of the local -doctors whose prospects were endangered by this formidable invader had -“accidentally” pushed him down some rocks, and that it was then that -the fracture was caused. A monument to this great medical revolutionist -is still to be seen by the chapel of St. Philip Neri, at Salzburg. It -is a broken pyramid of white marble, with a cavity in which is his -portrait, and a Latin inscription which commemorates his cures of -diseases, and his generosity to the poor in the following terms:-- - - “Conditur hic Philippus Theophrastus, insignis Medicinæ - Doctor, qui dira illa vulnera, lepram, podagram, hydroposim, - aliaque insanabilia contagia mirificu arte sustulit; ac bona - sua in pauperes distribuenda collocandaque honoravit. Anno - 1541, die 24 Septembr. vitam cum morte mutavit.” - - (“Here lies Philippus Theophrastus, the famous Doctor of - Medicine, who by his wonderful art cured the worst wounds, - leprosy, gout, dropsy, and other diseases deemed incurable and - to his honour, shared his possessions with the poor.”) - -Among the contemporaries of Paracelsus were Luther, Columbus, -and Copernicus. Their names alone are sufficient to show how the -long-suppressed energy of the human intellect was at that period -bursting forth. These four men were perhaps the greatest emancipators -of the human race from the chains of slavish obedience to authority -in the past thousand years. Paracelsus was not, so far as is known, a -Lutheran Protestant. But he could not help sympathising with his heroic -countryman. “The enemies of Luther,” he wrote, “are to a great extent -fanatics, knaves, bigots, and rogues. You call me a medical Luther, -but you do not intend to honour me by giving me that name. The enemies -of Luther are those whose kitchen prospects are interfered with by his -reforms. I leave Luther to defend what he says, as I will defend what -I say. That which you wish for Luther you wish for me; you wish us -both to the fire.” There was, indeed, much in common between these two -independent souls. - -Columbus landed in the Western world the year before Paracelsus was -born. Luther burnt the Pope’s Bull at Wittenberg in 1520, and it was -this action of his which at the time at least thrilled the German -nation more than any other event in the history of the Reformation. -It is evident that Paracelsus, in imitating the conduct of his famous -contemporary, was only demonstrating his conviction that scientific, no -less than religious, thought needed to free itself from the shackles of -tyrannic tradition. - - - HIS CHARACTER. - -Such details of the personality of Paracelsus as have come down to -us were written by his enemies. Erastus, a theologian as well as a -physician, who may have met Paracelsus, and who fiercely attacked his -system, depreciates him on hearsay. But Operinus, a disciple who had -such reverence for him that when Paracelsus left Basel, he accompanied -him and was with him night and day for two years, wrote a letter about -him after his death to which it is impossible not to attach great -importance. - -In this letter Operinus expresses the most unbounded admiration of -Paracelsus’s medical skill; of the certainty and promptitude of his -cures; and especially of the “miracles” he performed in the treatment -of malignant ulcers. But, adds Operinus, “I never discovered in him any -piety or erudition.” He had never seen him pray. He was as contemptuous -of Luther as he was of the Pope. Said no one had discovered the true -meaning or got at the kernel of the Scriptures. - -During the two years he lived with him, Operinus declares Paracelsus -was almost constantly drunk. He was scarcely sober two hours at a time. -He would go to taverns and challenge the peasantry to drink against -him. When he had taken a quantity of wine, he would put his finger in -his throat and vomit. Then he could start again. And yet Operinus also -reports how perpetually he worked in his laboratory. The fire there -was always burning, and something was being prepared, “some sublimate -or arsenic, some safran of iron, or his marvellous opodeldoch.” -Moreover, however drunk he might be he could always dictate, and -Operinus says “his ideas were as clear and consecutive as those of the -most sober could be.” - -According to this same letter Paracelsus had been an abstainer until -he was 25. He cared nothing for women. Operinus had never known him -undress. He would lie down with his sword by his side, and in the night -would sometimes spring up and slash at the walls and ceiling. When his -clothes got too dirty he would take them off and give them to the first -passer, and buy new ones. How he got his money Operinus did not know. -At night he often had not an obolus; in the morning he would have a new -purse filled with gold. - -It is not easy to form a fair judgment of Paracelsus from this sketch. -Many writers conclude that Operinus was spiteful because Paracelsus -would not tell him his secrets. More likely Operinus left his master -because his religious sentiments were shocked by him. Paracelsus was -evidently a born mocker, and it may be that he took a malicious delight -in making his disciple’s flesh creep. Operinus gives an instance of -the levity with which his master treated serious subjects. He was sent -for one day to see a poor person who was very ill. His first question -was whether the patient had taken anything. “He has taken the holy -sacrament,” was the reply. “Oh, very well,” said Paracelsus, “if he -has another physician he has no need of me.” I think Operinus wrote in -good faith, but the stories of the doctor’s drunkenness must have been -exaggerated. It is inconceivable that he could have been so constantly -drunk, and yet always at work. Operinus, it may be added, returned to -Basel and set up as a printer, but failed and died in poverty. - -Robert Browning’s dramatic poem of “Paracelsus” has been much praised -by the admirers of the poet. It was written when Browning was 23, -and represents in dramatic form the ambitious aspirations of a youth -of genius who believes he has if mission in life; has intellectual -confidence in his own powers; and the assurance that it is the Deity -who calls him to the work. - - In some time, His good time, I shall arrive; - He guides me. - -His bitter disappointment with his professorship at Basel, and his -contempt for those who brought about his fall there, are depicted, and -the effect which the realisation that his aims had proved impossible -had on his habits and character is suggested; and at last, on his -death-bed in a cell in the Hospital of St. Sebastian at Salzburg, he -tells his faithful friend, Festus, who has all his life sought to -restrain the ambitions which have possessed him-- - - You know the obstacles which taught me tricks - So foreign to my nature, envy, hate, - Blind opposition, brutal prejudice, - Bald ignorance--what wonder if I sank - To humour men the way they most approved. - -“A study of intellectual egotism,” this poem has been called. -Paracelsus was an egotist, without doubt. Indeed, egotism seems -a ludicrously insignificant term to apply to his gorgeous -self-appreciation. But it is, perhaps, a little difficult to recognise -the wild untameable energy of this astonishing medical reformer in the -prolix preacher represented in the poem. - -Butler’s verse (in “Hudibras”) may be taken to represent the popular -view held about Paracelsus after the first enthusiasm of his followers -had cooled down - - Bombastus kept a Devil’s bird, - Shut in the pommel of his sword, - That taught him all the cunning pranks - Of past and future mountebanks. - -German studies of Paracelsus have been very numerous during the past -fifty years, and the general tendency has been greatly to enhance his -fame. - -After the death of Paracelsus, the Archbishop of Cologne desired to -collect his works, many of which were in manuscript and scattered -all over Germany. By this time there were many treatises attributed -to him which he never wrote. It was a paying business to discover a -new document by the famous doctor. It is believed that the fraudulent -publications were far more numerous than the genuine ones, and it -is quite possible that injustice has been done to his memory by the -association with his name of some other peoples’ absurdities. - - - HIS MYSTICISM. - -The mystic views of Paracelsus, or those attributed to him, are curious -rather than useful. He seemed to have had as much capacity for belief -as he had disbelief in other philosophers’ speculations. He believed -in gnomes in the interior of the earth, undines in the seas, sylphs in -the air, and salamanders in fire. These were the Elementals, beings -composed of soul-substance, but not necessarily influencing our lives. -The Elementals know only the mysteries of the particular element in -which they live. There is life in all matter. Every mineral, vegetable, -and animal has its astral body. - -That of the minerals is called Stannar or Trughat; of the vegetable -kingdom, Leffas; while the astral bodies of animals are their Evestra. -The Evestrum may travel about apart from its body; it may live long -after the death of the body. Ghosts are, in fact, the Evestra of the -departed. If you commit suicide the Evestrum does not recognise the -act; it goes on as if the body were going on also until its appointed -time. - -Man is a microcosm; the universe is the macrocosm. Not that they are -comparable to each other; they are one in reality, divided only by -form. If you are not spiritually enlightened you may not be able to -perceive this. Each plant on earth has its star. There is a stella -absinthii, a stella rorismarini. If we could compile a complete -“herbarium spirituale sidereum” we should be fully equipped to treat -disease. Star influences also form our soul-essences. This accounts for -our varying temperaments and talents. - -The material part of man, the living body, is the Mumia. This is -managed by the Archæus, which rules over everybody; it is the vital -principle. It provides the internal balsam which heals wounds or -diseases, and controls the action of the various organs. - -His theories of mercury, sulphur, and salt, as the constituents of all -things, seem at first likely to lead to something conceivable if not -credible. But before we grasp the idea we are switched off into the -spiritual world again. It is the sidereal mercury, sulphur, and salt, -spirit, soul, and body, to which he is alluding. - - - HIS CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL INNOVATIONS. - -These fantastic notions permeate all the medical treatises of -Paracelsus. But every now and then there are indications of keen -insight which go some way towards explaining his success as a -physician; for it cannot be doubted that he did effect many remarkable -cures. His European fame was not won by mere boasting. His treatise, -_De Morbis ex Tartare oriundus_, is admittedly full of sound sense. - -Some of his chemical observations are startling for their anticipations -of later discoveries. If there were no air, he says, all living beings -would die. There must be air for wood to burn. Tin, calcined, increases -in weight; some air is fixed on the metal. When water and sulphuric -acid attack a metal there is effervescence; that is due to the escape -of some air from the water. He calls metals that have rusted, dead. - -Saffron of Mars (the peroxide) is dead iron. Verdigris is dead copper. -Red oxide of mercury is dead mercury. But, he adds, these dead metals -can be revivified, “reduced to the metallic state,” are his exact words -(and it is to be noted that he was the first chemist to employ the -term “reduce” in this sense), by means of coal. Elsewhere he describes -digestion as a solution of food; putrefaction as a transmutation. He -knew how to separate gold from silver by nitric acid. It is quite -certain that the writer of Paracelsus’s works was a singularly -observant and intelligent chemist. He had “a wolfish hunger after -knowledge,” says Browning. - -“Have you heard,” wrote Gui Patin to a friend a hundred years after the -death of the famous revolutionary, “that ‘Paracelsus’ is being printed -at Geneva in four volumes in folio? What a shame that so wicked a book -should find presses and printers which cannot be found for better -things. I would rather see the Koran printed. It would not deceive so -many people. Chemistry is the false money of our profession.” - - - HIS PHARMACY. - -The composition of Paracelsus’s laudanum, the name of which he no -doubt invented, has never been satisfactorily ascertained. Paracelsus -himself made a great secret of it, and probably used the term for -several medicines. It was generally, at least, a preparation of opium, -sometimes opium itself. He is believed to have carried opium in the -pommel of his sword, and this he called the “stone of immortality.” - -Next to opium he believed in mercury, and was largely influential in -popularising this metal and its preparations for the treatment of -syphilis. It was principally employed externally before his time. -He mocked at “the wooden doctors with their guaiacum decoctions,” -and at the “waggon grease with which they smeared their patients.” -He used turpith mineral (the yellow sulphate), and alembroth salt -(ammonio-chloride), though he did not invent these names, and it is -possible that he did not mean by them the same substances as the -alchemists did. Operinus states that he always gave precipitated -mercury (red precipitate, apparently) as a purgative. He gave it in -pills with a little theriaca or cherry juice. This he also appears to -have designated laudanum. It is certain that he gave other purgatives -besides. - -It must be admitted that if Basil Valentine is a mythical character, -the reputation of Paracelsus is greatly enhanced. Nowhere does the -latter claim to have been the first to introduce antimony into -medical practice, but it is certain that it could not have been used -to any great extent before his time. If we suppose that the works -attributed to Basil Valentine were fictitious, so far, that is, as -their authorship is concerned, they were compiled about fifty years -after the death of Paracelsus, and at the time when his fame was at -its zenith. Many of the allusions to antimony contained in those -treatises might have been collected from the traditions of the master’s -conversations and writings, much from his immediate disciples, and the -whole skilfully blended by a literary artist. - -Paracelsus praises highly his magistery of antimony, the essence, the -arcanum, the virtue of antimony. Of this, he says, you will find no -account in your books of medicine. This is how to prepare it. Take -care at the outset that nothing corrupts the antimony; but keep it -entire without any change of form. For under this form the arcanum lies -concealed. No deadhead must remain, but it must be reduced by a third -cohobation into a third nature. Then the arcanum is yielded. Dose, 4 -grains taken with quintessence of melissa. - -His “Lilium,” or tinctura metallorum, given as an alterative and -for many complaints, was formulated in a very elaborate way by his -disciples, but simplified it consisted of antimony, 4, tin 1, copper -1, melted together in a crucible, the alloy powdered, and combined (in -the crucible) with nitre 6, and cream of tartar 6, added gradually. The -mixture while still hot was transferred to a matrass containing strong -alcohol 32, digested, and filtered. - -Besides mercury and antimony, of which he made great use, iron, lead, -copper, and arsenic were among the mineral medicines prescribed by -him. He made an arseniate of potash by heating arsenic with saltpetre. -He had great faith in vitriol, and the spirit which he extracted from -it by distillation. This “spirit” he again distilled with alcohol and -thereby produced an ethereal solution. His “specificum purgans” was -afterwards said to be sulphate of potash. He recommended sublimed -sulphur in inflammatory maladies, saffron of Mars in dysentery, and -salts of tin against worms. - -Whether his formulas were purposely obscure in so many cases, or -whether mystery is due to the carelessness or ignorance of the copyists -cannot be known. Much of his chemical and pharmaceutical advice is -clear enough. - -Honey he extols as a liquor rather divine than human, inasmuch as it -falls from heaven upon the herbs. To get its quintessence you are to -distil from it in a capacious retort a liquid, red like blood. This is -distilled over and over again in a bain mariæ until you get a liquid of -the colour of gold and of such pleasant odour that the like cannot be -found in the world. This quintessence is itself good for many things, -but from it the precious potable gold may be made. The juice of a -lemon with this quintessence will dissolve leaf gold in warm ashes -in forty-eight hours. With this Paracelsus says he has effected many -wonderful cures which people thought he accomplished by enchantment. -Elsewhere he speaks of an arcanum drawn from vitriol which is so -excellent that he prefers it to that drawn from gold. - -He refers with great respect to alchemy and the true alchemists, -but with considerable shrewdness in regard to their professions of -transmuting other metals into gold. He considered it remarkable that -a man should be able to convert one substance into another in a few -short days or weeks, while Nature requires years to bring about a -similar result; but he will not deny the possibility. What he insists -on, however, is that from metals and fire most valuable remedies can be -obtained; and the apothecary who does not understand the right way of -producing these is but a servant in the kitchen, and not a master cook. - -Hellebore was an important medicine with Paracelsus. The white, he -said, was suitable for persons under 50, the black for persons over -50. Physicians ought to understand that Nature provides different -medicines for old and for young persons, for men and for women. The -ancient physicians, although they did not know how to get the essence -of the hellebore, had discovered its value for old persons. They found -that people who took it after 50 became younger and more vigorous. -Their method was to gather the hellebore when the moon was in one of -the signs of conservation, to dry it in an east wind, to powder it and -mix with it its own weight of sugar. The dose of this powder was as -much as could be taken up with three fingers night and morning. The -vaunted essence was simply a spirituous tincture. It was more effective -if mistletoe, pellitory and peony seeds were combined with it. It was -a great remedy for epilepsy, gout, palsy and dropsy. In the first it -not merely purges out the humours, but drives away the epileptic body -itself. The root must be gathered in the waning of the moon, when it is -in the sign Libra, and on a Friday. - - [Illustration: PARACELSUS (A).] - -Paracelsus made balsam from herbs by digesting them in their own -moisture until they putrefied, and then distilling the putrefied -material. He obtained a number of essential oils and used them freely -as quintessences. He defines quintessences thus:--Every substance is a -compound of various elements, among which there is one which dominates -the others, and impresses its own character on the compound. This -dominating element, disengaged, is the quintessence. This term he -obtained from Aristotle. - -His oil of eggs was obtained by boiling the eggs very hard, then -powdering them, and distilling until an oil rose to the surface. This -he recommended against scalds and burns. Oil of aniseed he prescribed -in colds to be put in the nostrils and applied to the temples on going -to bed. Oil of tartar rectified in a sand-bath until it acquires a -golden colour will cure ulcers and stone. Coral would quicken fancy, -but drive away vain visions, spectres, and melancholy. Oil of a man’s -excrements, twice distilled, is good to apply in fistulas, and also -in baldness. Oil of a man’s skull which had never been buried got by -distillation was given in 3 grain doses for epilepsy. - - [Illustration: PARACELSUS (B).] - -He had abundant faith in animal remedies. His “Confectio -Anti-Epileptica,” formulated by his interpreter, Oswald Crollius, is as -follows:--First get three human skulls from men who have died a violent -death and have not been buried. Dry in the air and coarsely crush. Then -place in a retort and apply a gradually increasing heat. The liquor -that passed over was to be distilled three times over the same fæces. -Eight ounces of this liquor were to be slowly distilled with 3 drachms -each of species of diamusk, castorum, and anacardine honey. To the -distilled liquor 4 scruples of liquor of pearls and one scruple of oil -of vitriol were to be added. Of the resulting medicine one teaspoonful -was to be taken in the morning, fasting, by epileptic subjects, for -nine days consecutively. - - [Illustration: PARACELSUS (C).] - -An Arcanum Corallinum of Paracelsus which was included in some of the -earlier London Pharmacopœias, was simply red precipitate prepared in a -special manner. The Committee of the College of Physicians which sat -in 1745 to revise that work rejected this product with the remark that -an arcanum was not a secret known only to some adept, but was simply -a medicine which produces its effect by some hidden property. (This -might be said of many medicines now as well as then.) They recognised, -however, that “Paracelsus, whose supercilious ignorance merits our -scorn and indignation,” did use the term in the sense of a secret -remedy. - -The Pharmacy of Paracelsus is so frequently referred to in other -sections of this book that it is not necessary to deal with it here -at greater length. It is evident, however, that some of the formulas -he devised, some of the names he coined, and some of the theories he -advanced have entered into our daily practice; and even the dogmas -now obsolete which are sometimes quoted to show how superior is our -knowledge to his, served to quicken thought and speculation. - - - PORTRAITS OF PARACELSUS. - - The portraits of Paracelsus to be found in old books, as - well as some celebrated paintings, are curiously various - as likenesses. The oldest and by far the most frequent - representation of him on title pages of his works is more - or less similar to the portrait marked A, p. 247. - This particular drawing was copied from one in the print room - of the British Museum. Portrait B is copied from - a painting attributed to Rubens which was for a long time - in the Duke of Marlborough’s collection at Blenheim. It was - sold publicly in 1886 in London for £125 and is now in the - “Collection Kums” at Antwerp. There is a similar painting, - believed to be a copy of this one, in the Bodleian Library at - Oxford. - - In the year 1875, at an exhibition of historical paintings - held at Nancy (France), a painting “attributed to Albert - Dürer,” and bearing his name in a cartouche, was exhibited and - described as “Portrait presumé de Paracelse.” It was not a - copy but was unmistakably the same person as the one shown in - the painting of Rubens. It came from a private collection and - was sold to a local dealer for 2,000 francs, and afterwards - disposed of to an unknown stranger for 3,000 francs. It has - not been traced since. Dürer died in 1528 (thirteen years - before the date of the death of Paracelsus). There is no - mention of this likeness in any of his letters. It may have - been the work of one of his pupils. - - The third portrait (C) which is unlike either of the - others professes to have been painted from life (“Tintoretto - ad vivum pinxit”) by Jacope Robusti, more commonly known as - Tintoretto. The original has not been found, and the earliest - print from it was a copper-plate engraving in a collection - issued by Bitiskius of Geneva in 1658. The picture here given - is a reduced copy of that engraving from a phototype made by - Messrs. Angerer and Göschl, of Vienna, and published in a - valuable work by the late Dr. Carl Aberle in 1890 entitled - “Grabdenkmal, Schadel, und Abbildungen des Theophrastus - Paracelsus.” The publisher of that book, Mr. Heinrich Dieter, - has kindly permitted me to use this picture. - - Tintoretto scarcely left Venice all his life, and it has been - supposed that he may have become acquainted with Paracelsus - when the latter was, as he said he was, an army surgeon in the - Venetian army in the years 1521-1525. Dr. Aberle points out - that if Tintoretto was born in 1518, as is generally supposed, - the painting from life was impossible; even if he was born in - 1512, as has also been asserted, it was unlikely. Moreover, - the gentle-looking person represented, whose amiable “bedside - manner” is obviously depicted in the portrait, could not - possibly have been the untamable Paracelsus if any reliance - can be placed on the art of physiognomy. - - - NICHOLAS CULPEPPER. - -This well-known writer, whose “Herbal” has been familiar to many -past generations as a family medicine book, deserves a place among -our Masters in Pharmacy for the freedom, and occasional acuteness -with which he criticised the first and second editions of the London -Pharmacopœia. One specimen of his sarcastic style must suffice. The -official formula for Mel Helleboratum was to infuse 3 lbs. of white -hellebore in 14 lbs. of water for three days; then boil it to half its -bulk; strain; add 3 lbs. of honey and boil to the consistence of honey. -This is Culpepper’s comment (in his “Physicians’ Library”):-- - - “What a _monstrum horrendum_, horrible, terrible recipe - have we got here:--A pound of white hellebore boiled in 14 - lbs. of water to seven. I would ask the College whether the - hellebore will not lose its virtue in the twentieth part of - this infusion and decoction (for it must be infused, forsooth, - three days to a minute) if a man may make so bold as to tell - them the truth. A Taylor’s Goose being boiled that time would - make a decoction near as strong as the hellebore, but this - they will not believe. Well, then, be it so. Imagine the - hellebore still remaining in its vigour after being so long - tired out with a tedious boiling (for less boiling would boil - an ox), what should the medicine do? Purge melancholy, say - they. But from whom? From men or beasts? The devil would not - take it unless it were poured down his throat with a horn. - I will not say they intended to kill men, _cum privilegio_; - that’s too gross. I charitably judge them. Either the virtue - of the hellebore will fly away in such a martyrdom, or else it - will remain in the decoction. If it evaporate away, then is - the medicine good for nothing; if it remain in it is enough to - spoil the strongest man living. (1.) Because it is too strong. - (2.) Because it is not corrected in the least. And because - they have not corrected that, I take leave to correct them.” - - [Illustration: CULPEPPER. - - (From an old book of his.) -] - -This passage is not selected as a favourable specimen of Culpepper’s -pharmaceutical skill, but as a sample of the manner in which he often -rates “the College.” His own opinions are open to quite as severe -criticism. A large part of his lore is astrological; and he is very -confident about the doctrine of signatures. But he knew herbs well, and -his general advice is sound. - -Perhaps many of those who have studied his works have formed the idea -that he was a bent old man with a long grey beard, who busied himself -with the collection of simples. He was, in fact, a soldier, and died -at the early age of 38. His portraits and the descriptions of him -by his astrological friends represent him as a smart, brisk young -Londoner, fluent in speech and animated in gesture, gay in company, but -with frequent fits of melancholy, an extraordinarily good conceit of -himself, and plenty of reason for it. - - [Illustration: CULPEPPER’S HOUSE. - - (From an old book of his.)] - -Culpepper lived in the stirring times of the Civil War, and fought -on one side or the other, it is not certain which. Most likely, -judging from the frequent pious expressions in his works, he was a -Parliamentarian. He was severely wounded in the chest in one of the -battles, but it is not known in which. It is probable that it was this -wound which caused the lung disease from which he died. - -Such information as we have of Culpepper’s career is gathered from -his own works, and from some brutal attacks on him in certain public -prints. He describes himself on the title-pages of some of his big -books as “M.D.,” but there is no evidence that he ever graduated. -He lived, at least during his married life, at Red Lion Street, -Spitalfields, and there he carried on his medical practice. Probably -it was a large one, for he evidently understood the art of advertising -himself. He claims to have been the only doctor in London at the time -who gave advice gratis to the poor, and his frequent comments on the -cost of the pharmacopœia preparations suggest that the majority of his -patients were not of the fashionable class. - -Nicholas Culpepper was apprenticed to an apothecary in Great St. -Helen’s, Bishopsgate, and at the same time a certain Marchmont -Nedham was a solicitor’s clerk in Jewry Street. Nedham became the -most notorious journalist in England, and founded and edited in turn -the _Mercurius Britannicus_, an anti-royalist paper, the _Mercurius -Pragmaticus_, violently anti-Commonwealth, and the _Mercurius -Politicus_, subsidised by Cromwell’s government, and supervised by -Mr. John Milton. This publication, amalgamated with the _Public -Intelligencer_, its principal rival, has descended to us as the _London -Gazette_. Probably Nedham and Culpepper were friends in their early -days, and they may have been comrades in arms when the war broke -out. But evidently they became fierce enemies later. In _Mercurius -Pragmaticus_ Nedham, pretending to review Culpepper’s translation of -the official Dispensatory, takes the opportunity of pouring on him a -tirade of scurrilous abuse. The translation, he says, “is filthily -done,” which was certainly not true. This is the only piece of -criticism in the article. The rest deals with the author personally. -Nedham informs his readers that Culpepper was the son of a Surrey -parson, “one of those who deceive men in matters belonging to their -most precious souls.” That meant that he was a Nonconformist. Nicholas -himself, according to Nedham, had been an Independent, a Brownist, -an Anabaptist, a Seeker, and a Manifestationist, but had ultimately -become an Atheist. During his apprenticeship “he ran away from his -master upon his lewd debauchery”; afterwards he became a compositor, -then a “figure-flinger,” and lived about Moorfields on cozenage. After -making vile insinuations about his wife, Nedham states that by two -years’ drunken labour Culpepper had “gallimawfred the Apothecaries’ -Book into nonsense”; that he wore an old black coat lined with plush -which his stationer (publisher) had got for him in Long Lane to hide -his knavery, having been till then a most despicable ragged fellow; -“looks as if he had been stued in a tanpit; a frowzy headed coxcomb.” -He was aiming to “monopolise to himself all the knavery and cozenage -that ever an apothecary’s shop was capable of.” - -Culpepper’s works answer this spiteful caricature, for at any rate -he must have been a man of considerable attainments, and of immense -industry. That his writings acquired no little popularity is best -proved by the fact that after his death it was good business to forge -others somewhat resembling them and pass them off as his. - - - TURQUET DE MAYERNE. - -Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, Baron Aulbone of France, was born at -Geneva in 1573, of a Calvinistic family and studied for the medical -profession first at Heidelberg and afterwards at Montpellier. Moving -to Paris he acquired popularity as a lecturer on anatomy to surgeons, -and on pharmacy to apothecaries. His inclination towards chemical -remedies brought him to the notice of Rivierus, the first physician to -Henri IV, and he was appointed one of the king’s physicians. But his -medical heterodoxy offended the faculty, and his Protestantism raised -enemies for him at court. The king, who valued Turquet, did his best -to persuade him to conform to the Church of Rome as he himself had -done, and to moderate the rancour of his professional foes. But he was -unsuccessful in both efforts. Still Henri tried to keep him, ignoring -his heresies, and perhaps rather sympathising with them. But the queen, -Marie de Medici, insisted on Turquet’s dismissal, and the Faculty -of Paris was no whit behind the queen in intolerance. Coupling him -with a quack named Pierre Pena, a foreigner then practising medicine -illicitly at Paris, they issued a decree forbidding all physicians who -acknowledged their control to consult with De Turquer, and exhorting -practitioners of all nations to avoid him and all similar pests, and to -persevere in the doctrines of Hippocrates and Galen. - -Turquet de Mayerne came to England evidently with a high reputation, -for he was soon appointed first physician to the king (James I) and -queen, and held the same position under Charles I and Charles II. He -seems to have kept in retirement during the Commonwealth, though in -1628 it appears from his manuscript records (“Ephemerides Anglicæ,” -he called them) that he was consulted by a “Mons. Cromwell” whom he -describes as “Valde melancholicus.” He died at Chelsea in 1655 at the -age of 82. It was in England that he used the name of Mayerne. - -De Mayerne exercised a considerable influence on English pharmacy. The -Society of Apothecaries owed to him their separate incorporation, and -the first London Pharmacopœia was compiled and authorised probably to -some extent at his instigation. He certainly wrote the preface to it. -Paris quotes him as prescribing among absurd and disgusting remedies -“the secundines of a woman in her first labour of a male child, the -bowels of a mole cut open alive, and the mummy made of the lungs of a -man who had died a violent death.” But such remedies were common to -all practitioners in England and France at the time. The principal -ingredient in a gout powder which he composed was the raspings of an -unburied human skull. He devised an ointment for hypochondria which was -called the Balsam of Bats. It contained adders, bats, sucking whelps, -earthworms, hog’s grease, marrow of a stag, and the thigh bone of an -ox. On the other hand, Mayerne is credited with the introduction of -calomel and black wash into medical practice. - - - VAN HELMONT. - -Jean Baptiste Van Helmont, born at Brussels in 1577, and died at -Vilvorde near that city in 1644, was an erratic genius whose writings -and experiments sometimes astonish us by their lucidity and insight, -and again baffle us by their mysticism and puerility. - -Van Helmont was of aristocratic Flemish descent, and possessed some -wealth. He was a voracious student and a brilliant lecturer. At the -University of Louvain, however, where he spent several years, he -refused to take any degree because he believed that such academic -distinctions only ministered to pride. He resolved at the same time -to devote his life to the service of the poor, and with this in view -he made over his property to his sister, and set himself to study -medicine. His gift of exposition was so great that the authorities of -the University insisted on his acceptance of the chair of Surgery, -though that was the branch of medical practice he knew least about, and -though it was contrary to the statutes of the faculty to appoint a -person as Professor not formally qualified. - - [Illustration: J. B. VAN HELMONT. 1577-1644. - - (From an engraving in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.) -] - -For a time things went well, but Van Helmont got tired of medical -teaching before the University became tired of him. The particular -occasion which disgusted him with medical science was that he -contracted the itch, and though he consulted many eminent physicians -could not get cured of it. He came to the conclusion that the pretended -art of healing was a fraud, and he consequently resolved to shake the -dust of it from his feet, after he had recovered from the weakening -effects of the purgatives which had been prescribed for his complaint. - -Then he set forth on his travels, and in the course of them he met with -a quack who cured him of his itch by means of sulphur and mercury. -After this he became a violent anti-Galenist. He studied the works of -Paracelsus, and after some years came back to his native country full -of ideas and phantasies. - -By marrying a wealthy woman Van Helmont became independent, and his -scientific career now commenced. He erected and fitted a laboratory at -Vilvorde, and devoted his time and skill to the study of chemistry, -medicine, and philosophy. He described himself as “Medicus per Ignem,” -and was one of the most earnest believers in the possibility of -discovering the philosopher’s stone, and the elixir of life. Indeed he -claimed that he had actually transmuted mercury into gold, and by his -medical compounds it is alleged that he performed such miraculous cures -that the Jesuits actually brought him before the Inquisition. - -The advance in chemistry for which he is most famous was the discovery -of carbonic acid gas, and the first steps in the recognition of the -various kinds of gases. Previous to his discovery chemists had no clear -perception of a distinction between the various gases; they reckoned -them all as air. Geber and other predecessors of Van Helmont had -observed that certain vapours were incorporated in material bodies, -and they regarded these as the spirits, or souls, of those bodies. Van -Helmont was the first actually to separate and examine one of these -vapours. He tracked this gas through many of the compounds in which -it is combined or formed: he got it from limestone, from potashes, -from burning coal, from certain natural mineral waters, and from the -fermentation of bread, wine, and beer. He found that it could be -compressed in wines and thus yield the sparkling beverages we know so -well. He also observed that it extinguished flame, and asphyxiated -animals. He alludes to other kinds of vapour, but does not precisely -define them. The carbon dioxide he named “gas sylvestre.” - -This was the first use of the term gas. “Hunc spiritum, hactenus -ignotum, novo nomine gas voco.” (I call this spirit, heretofore -unknown, by the new name gas.) What suggested this name to him is not -certain. Some have supposed that it was a modification of the Flemish, -_geest_, spirit; by others it is traced to the verb _gaschen_, to boil, -or ferment; and by many its derivation from chaos is assumed. - -His physiology was a modification of that of Paracelsus. An Archeus -within ruled the organism with the assistance of sub-archei for -different parts of the body. Ferments stirred these archei into -activity. In this way the processes of digestion were accounted for. -The vital spirit, a kind of gas, causes the pulsation of the arteries. -The Soul of Man he assigned to the stomach. The exact locality of -this important adjunct was a subject of keen discussion among the -philosophers of that age. Van Helmont’s conclusive argument for the -stomach as its habitation was the undoubted fact that trouble or bad -news had the effect of destroying the appetite. - - - GLAUBER - -John Rudolph Glauber, who was born at Carlstadt, in Germany, in 1603, -contributed largely to pharmaceutical knowledge, and deserves to be -remembered by his many investigations, and perhaps even more for the -clear common sense which he brought to bear on his chemical work. For -though he retained a confident belief in the dreams of alchemy, he does -not appear to have let that belief interfere with his practical labour; -and some of his processes were so well devised that they have hardly -been altered from his day to ours. - -Not much is known of his history except what he himself wrote or what -was related of him by his contemporaries. According to his own account -he took to chemistry when as a young man he got cured of a troublesome -stomach complaint by drinking some mineral waters. Eager to discover -what was the essential chemical in those waters to which he owed his -health he set to work on his experiments. The result was the discovery -of sulphate of soda, which he called “Sal mirabile,” but which all -subsequent generations have known as Glauber’s Salts. This, it happens, -was the one of his discoveries of which he was not particularly -vain, for he supposed that he had only obtained from another source -Paracelsus’s sal enixon, which was in fact sulphate of potash. His own -account of this discovery is necessarily of pharmaceutical interest. He -gives it in his work _De Natura Salium_, as follows:-- - - In the course of my youthful travels I was attacked at Vienna - with a violent fever known there as the Hungarian disease, to - which strangers are especially liable. My enfeebled stomach - rejected all food. On the advice of several friends I dragged - myself to a certain spring situated about a league from - Newstadt. I had brought with me a loaf of bread, but with no - hope of being able to eat it. Arrived at the spring I took the - loaf from my pocket and made a hole in it so that I could use - it as a cup. As I drank the water my appetite returned, and I - ended by eating the improvised cup in its turn. I made several - visits to the spring and was soon miraculously cured of my - illness. I asked what was the nature of the water and was told - it was “salpeter-wasser.” - -Glauber was twenty-one at that time, and knew nothing of chemistry. -Later he analysed the water and got from it, after evaporation, long -crystals, which, he says, a superficial observer might confuse with -saltpetre; but he soon satisfied himself that it was something quite -different. Subsequently he obtained an identical salt from the residue -in his retort after distilling marine salt and vitriol to obtain spirit -of salt. As already stated, he believed he had produced the “sal -enixon” of Paracelsus. But in memory of the benefit he had himself -experienced from its use he gave it the title of “sal mirabile.” - - [Illustration: - - In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the sign of - “Glauber’s Head” appears to have been used in this country by - some chemical manufacturers. The picture annexed is from one - of these signs which was used more than a hundred years ago - by Slinger and Son, of York, and is now in the possession of - Messrs. Raimes and Co., of that city, who have kindly given me - a photograph of it. It is a wooden bust which was once gilded, - and presumably presents the traditional likeness of the famous - German chemist. -] - -This distillation of sulphuric acid with sea-salt, which yielded -spirit of salt, or as it is now called hydrochloric acid, was probably -Glauber’s principal contribution to the development of chemistry. -He observed the gas given off from the salt, and it is a wonder -that with his acuteness he did not isolate and describe the element -chlorine. He called it the spirit of rectified salt, and described it -as a spirit of the colour of fire, which passed into the receiver, -and which would dissolve metals and most minerals. He noted that if -digested with dephlegmated (concentrated) spirit of wine his spirit -of salt formed a layer of oily substance, which was the oil of wine, -“an excellent cordial and very agreeable.” He distilled ammonia from -bones, and showed how to make sal ammoniac by the addition of sea -salt. His sulphate of ammonia, now so largely used as a fertiliser and -in the production of other ammonia salts, was known for a long time -as “Sal ammoniacum secretum Glauberi.” He made sulphate of copper, -and his investigation of the acetum lignorum, now called pyroligneous -acid, though he did not claim to have discovered this substance, was -of the greatest value. He produced artificial gems, made chlorides of -arsenic and zinc, and added considerably to the chemistry of wine and -spirit-making. - -Glauber worked at many subjects for manufacturers, and sold his secrets -in many cases. His enemies asserted that he sold the same secret -several times, and that he not unfrequently sold secrets which would -not work. It is impossible now to test the truth of these accusations. -Probably some of the allegations made against him were due to the fact -that those who bought his processes were not as skilful as he was. -One secret which he claimed to have discovered he would neither sell -nor publish. It was that of the Alkahest, or universal solvent. To -make this known might, he feared, “encourage the luxury, pride, and -godlessness of poor humanity.” - -Oliver Cromwell wrote in an old volume of Glauber’s Alchemy: “This -Glauber is an errant knave. I doe bethinke me he speaketh of wonders -which cannot be accomplished; but it is lawful for man too the -endeavour.” - -Glauber complained that he was not appreciated, which was probably -true. “I grieve over the ignorance of my contemporaries,” he wrote, -“and the ingratitude of men. Men are always envious, wicked, -ungrateful. For myself, faithful to the maxim, _Ora et Labora_, I -fulfil my career, do what I can, and await my reward.” Elsewhere he -writes, “If I have not done all the good in the world that I should -have desired, it has been the perversity of men that has hindered me.” -His employees, he says, were unfaithful. Having learned his processes, -they became inflated with pride, and left him. Apparently there was a -good business to be done in chemical secrets at that time. But Glauber -did not give away all he knew, and he found it best to do all his -important work himself. “I have learnt by expensive experience,” he -wrote, “the truth of the proverb, ‘Wer seine Sachen will gethan haben -recht, Muss selbsten seyn Herr und Knecht.’” - -Although all Glauber’s books appeared with Latin titles they were -written in German. - - - GOULARD. - -Thomas Goulard was a surgeon of Montpellier with rather more than a -local reputation. He was counsellor to the king, perpetual mayor -of the town of Alet, lecturer and demonstrator royal in surgery, -demonstrator royal of anatomy in the College of Physicians, fellow -of the Royal Academies of Sciences in Montpellier, Toulouse, Lyons, -and Nancy, pensioner of the king and of the province of Languedoc for -lithotomy, and surgeon to the Military Hospital of Montpellier. His -treatise on “The Extract of Saturn” was published about the middle of -the eighteenth century, and his name and the preparations he devised -were soon spread all over Europe. White lead and sugar of lead, and -litharge as the basis of plasters had been familiar in medical practice -for centuries; and Galen and other great authorities had highly -commended lead preparations for eye diseases and for general lotions. -The preparation of sugar of lead is indicated in the works attributed -to Basil Valentine. Goulard’s special merit consisted in the care -which he gave to the production of his “Extract of Saturn,” and in his -intelligent experiments with it, and its various preparations in the -treatment of external complaints. - -Goulard made his extract of Saturn by boiling together golden litharge -and strong French wine vinegar at a moderate heat for about an hour, -stirring all the while, and after cooling drawing off for use the clear -supernatant liquor. Diluting this extract by adding 100 drops to a -quart of river water with four teaspoonfuls of brandy, made what he -called his Vegeto-Mineral Water, which he used for lotions. His cerate -of Saturn was made by melting 4 oz. of wax in 11 oz. of olive oil, and -incorporating with this 6 lbs. of vegeto-mineral water (containing -4 oz. of extract of Saturn). A cataplasm was made by gently boiling -the vegeto-mineral water with crumb of bread. A pomatum was prepared -by combining 4 oz. of the extract with a cerate composed of 8 oz. of -wax in 18 oz. of rose ointment. This was made stronger or milder as -the case might need. There was another pomatum made with the extract -of Saturn, sulphur, and alum, for the treatment of itch; and several -plasters for rheumatic complaints. Goulard gave full details of the -various uses of these applications in inflammations, bruises, wounds, -abscesses, erysipelas, ophthalmia, ulcers, cancers, whitlows, tetters, -piles, itch, and other complaints. His own experience was supported by -that of other practitioners. - -In giving the results of his experience thus freely and completely, -Goulard was aware of the sacrifice he was making. “I flatter myself,” -he says, “that the world is in some measure indebted to me for -publishing this medicine, which, if concealed in my own breast, might -have turned out much more to my private emolument”; at the same time -he did not object to reap some profit from his investigations, if this -could be done. At the end of the English translation of his book, -a copy of a document is printed addressed to his fellow student of -fifty years before, Mr. G. Arnaud, practising as a surgeon in London, -engaging to supply to him, and to him only, a sufficient quantity of -extract of Saturn made by himself, to be distributed by the said Mr. -Arnaud, or by those commissioned by him, over all the dominions of his -British Majesty. - - - SCHEELE. - -Karl Wilhelm Scheele is the most famous of pharmacists, and has few -equals in scientific history. He was the seventh child of a merchant at -Stralsund, then in the possession of Sweden, and was born on December -9th, 1742. He had a fair education and at school was diligent and apt -in acquiring knowledge. If he was born with a gift, if his genius was -anything more than an immense capacity for taking pains, this aptness -was the faculty which distinguished Scheele from other men. He made -thousands of experiments and never forgot what he had learned from any -one of them; he read such scientific books as he could get, and never -needed to refer to them again. His friend Retsius, a pharmacist like -himself as a young man, but subsequently Director of the Museum of -Lund, has recorded Scheele’s remarkable power in this respect. “When he -was at Malmö,” he writes (this was when Scheele was about twenty-four -years of age), “he bought as many books as his small pay enabled him to -procure. He would read these once or twice, and would then remember all -that interested him, and never consulted them again.” - - [Illustration: KARL WILHELM SCHEELE.] - -An elder brother of Karl had been apprenticed to an apothecary at -Gothenburg, but had died during his apprenticeship. Karl went to this -apothecary, a Mr. Bauch, as apprentice at the age of fourteen, and -remained there till Bauch sold his business in 1765. Then he went to -another apothecary named Kjellström at Malmö. Three years later he was -chief assistant to a Mr. Scharenberg at Stockholm. His next move was -to Upsala with a Mr. Lokk, who appreciated his assistant and gave him -plenty of time for his scientific work. - -Lastly, he took the management of a pharmacy at Köping for a widow -who owned it, and after an anxious time in clearing the business from -debt, he bought the business in 1776 and for the rest of his short life -was in fairly comfortable circumstances. Ill-health then pursued him, -rheumatism and attacks of melancholy. In the spring of 1786, in the -forty-fourth year of his age, after suffering for two months from a -slow fever, he died. Two days before his death he married the widow of -his predecessor, whose business he had rescued from ruin, so that she -might repossess it. A few months later she married again. - -That was Scheele’s life as a pharmacist; patient, plodding, -conscientious, only moderately successful, and shadowed by many -disappointments. The work he accomplished as a scientific chemist -would have been marvellous if he had had all his time to do it in; -under the actual circumstances in which it was performed it is simply -incomprehensible. A bare catalogue of his achievements is all that can -be noted here, but it must be remembered that he never announced any -discovery until he had checked his first conclusions by repeated and -varied tests. - - [Illustration: SCHEELE’S PHARMACY AT KÖPING.] - -An account of an investigation of cream of tartar resulting in the -isolation of tartaric acid was his first published paper. He next -made an examination of fluor-spar from which resulted the separation -of fluoric acid. From this on the suggestion of Bergmann he proceeded -to a series of experiments on black oxide of manganese which besides -showing the many important combinations of the metal led the chemist -direct to his wonderful discoveries of oxygen, chlorine, and barytes. -This work put him on the track of the observations set forth in his -famous work on “Air and Fire.” In this he explained the composition of -the atmosphere, which, he said, consisted of two gases, one of which he -named “empyreal” or “fire-air,” the same as he had obtained from black -oxide of manganese, and other substances. He realised and described -with much acuteness the part this gas played in nature, and the rest of -the book contained many remarkable observations which showed how nearly -Scheele approached the new ideas which Lavoisier was to formulate only -a few years later. “Air and Fire” was not issued till 1777, three -years after Priestley had demonstrated the separate existence and -characteristics of what he termed “dephlogisticated air.” But it is -well known that the long delay of Scheele’s printer in completing -his work was one of the disappointments of his life, and there is -evidence that his discovery of oxygen was actually made in 1773, a -year before Priestley had isolated the same element. Both of these -great experimenters missed the full significance of their observations -through the confusing influence of the phlogiston theory, which neither -of them questioned, and which was so soon to be destroyed as the direct -result of their labours. - -Among the other investigations which Scheele carried out were his -proof that plumbago was a form of carbon, his invention of a new -process for the manufacture of calomel, his discovery of lactic, malic, -oxalic, citric, and gallic acids, of glycerin, and his exposition of -the chemical process which yielded Prussian blue, with his incidental -isolation of prussic acid, a substance which he described minutely -though he gives no hint whatever to show that he knew anything of its -poisonous nature. - -The subjects mentioned by no means exhaust the mere titles of the work -which Scheele accomplished; they are only the more popular of his -results. The value of his scientific accomplishments was appreciated -in his lifetime, but not fully until the advance of chemistry set them -out in their true perspective. Then it was realised how completely and -accurately he had finished the many inquiries which he had taken in -hand. - - - A PHARMACEUTICAL PANTHEON. - -The School of Pharmacy of Paris, built in 1880, honours a number of -pharmacists of historic fame by placing a series of medallions on the -façade of the building, as well as statues of two specially eminent -representatives of the profession in the Court of Honour. These two are -Vauquelin and Parmentier. - - [Illustration: ÉCOLE DE PHARMACIE, PARIS. - - (From photo sold at School.) -] - -Louis Nicolas Vauquelin was director of the School from its foundation -in 1803 until his death in 1829. He also held professorships at the -School of Mines, at the Polytechnic School, and with the Faculty -of Medicine. He began his career as a boy in the laboratory of a -pharmacist at Rouen, and later got a situation with M. Cheradame, -a pharmacist in Paris. Cheradame was related to Fourcroy, to whom -he introduced his pupil. Fourcroy paid him £12 a year with board -and lodging, but he proved such an indefatigable worker that in no -long time he became the colleague, the friend, and the indispensable -substitute of his master in his analyses as well as in his lectures. He -is cited as the discoverer of chromium, of glucinium, and of several -animal products; but his most important work was a series of chemical -investigations on belladonna, cinchona, ipecacuanha, and other drugs, -which it is recognised opened the way for the definite separation of -some of the most valuable of the alkaloids accomplished afterwards by -Pelletier, Caventou, Robiquet, and others. Vauquelin published more -than 250 scientific articles. - - [Illustration VAUQUELIN. - - (Origin unknown.)] - -Antoine Augustin Parmentier (born 1737, died 1813), after serving -an apprenticeship with a pharmacist at Montpellier, joined the -pharmaceutical service in the army, and distinguished himself in the -war in Germany, especially in the course of an epidemic by which the -French soldiers suffered seriously. He was taken prisoner five times, -and at one period had to support himself almost entirely on potatoes. -On the last occasion he obtained employment with a Frankfort chemist -named Meyer, who would have gladly kept him with him. But Parmentier -preferred to return to his own country, and obtained an appointment -in the pharmacy of the Hotel des Invalides, rising to the post of -chief apothecary there in a few years. A prize offered by the Academy -of Besançon for the best means of averting the calamities of famine -was won by him in 1771, his German experience being utilised in his -advocacy of the cultivation of potatoes. These tubers, though they -had been widely cultivated in France in the sixteenth century, had -gone entirely out of favour, and were at that time only given to -cattle. The people had come to believe that they occasioned leprosy -and various fevers. Parmentier worked with rare perseverance to combat -this prejudice. He cultivated potatoes on an apparently hopeless -piece of land which the Government placed at his disposal, and when -the flowers appeared he made a bouquet of them and presented it to -Louis XVI, who wore the blossoms in his button-hole. His triumph was -complete, for very soon the potato was again cultivated all through -France. The royalist favour that he had enjoyed put him in some danger -during the Revolution; but in the latter days of the Convention, which -had deprived him of his official position and salary, he was employed -to organise the pharmaceutical service of the army. He also invented -a syrup of grapes which he proposed to the Minister of War as a -substitute for sugar during the continental blockade. - -The medallions, in the order in which they appear on the façade of -the École de Pharmacie, represent the following French and foreign -pharmacists:-- - -Antoine Jerome Balard, the discoverer of bromine (born 1802, died -1876), was a native of Montpellier, where he qualified as a pharmacist -and commenced business. As a student he had worked with the salts -deposited from a salt marsh in the neighbourhood, and had been struck -with a coloration which certain tests gave with a solution of sulphate -of soda obtained from the marsh. Pursuing his experiments, he arrived -at the discovery of bromine, the element which formed the link -between chlorine and iodine. This early success won for him a medal -from the Royal Society of London and a professorship of chemistry at -Montpellier, and subsequently raised him to high scientific positions -in Paris. Balard did much more scientific work, among which was the -elaboration of a process for the production of potash salts from salt -marshes. He had worked at this for some twenty years, and had taken -patents for his methods, when the announcement of the discovery of the -potash deposits at Stassfurt effectually destroyed all his hope of -commercial success. - -Joseph Bienaimé Caventou (born at St. Omer 1795, died 1877) carried on -for many years an important pharmaceutical business in Paris. His fame -rests on his association with Pelletier in the discovery of quinine in -1820. - -Joseph Pelletier (born 1788, died 1842) was the son of a Paris -pharmacist, and was one of the most brilliant workers in pharmacy known -to us. He is best known for his isolation of quinine. Either alone, or -in association with others, he investigated the nature of ipecacuanha, -nux vomica, colchicum, cevadilla, hellebore, pepper, opium, and -other drugs, and a long series of alkaloids is credited to him. He -also contributed valuable researches on cochineal, santal, turmeric, -and other colouring materials. To him and his associate, Caventou, -the Institute awarded the Prix Monthyon of 10,000 francs for their -discovery of quinine, and this was the only reward they obtained for -their cinchona researches, for they took out no patents. - - [Illustration: JOSEPH PELLETIER. 1788-1842. - - (Discoverer--with Caventou--of Quinine.) -] - -Pierre Robiquet (born at Rennes in 1780, died at Paris, 1840) served -his apprenticeship to pharmacy at Lorient, and afterwards studied under -Fourcroy and Vauquelin at Paris. His studies were interrupted by the -conscription, which compelled him to serve under Napoleon in the Army -of Italy. Returning to pharmacy after Marengo, he ultimately became the -proprietor of a pharmacy, and to that business he added the manufacture -of certain fine chemicals. His first scientific work was the separation -of asparagin, accomplished in association with Vauquelin, in 1805. His -later studies were in connection with opium (from which he extracted -codeine), on liquorice, cantharides, barytes, and nickel. - -André Constant Dumeril (born at Amiens, 1774, died 1860) was a -physician, but distinguished himself as a naturalist and anatomist. -He had been associated with Cuvier in early life. Latterly he was -consulting physician to Louis Philippe. - -Antoine Louis Brongniart (born 1742, died 1804) was the son of a -pharmacist of Paris, and became himself pharmacien to Louis XVI. He -also served the Convention as a military pharmacist, and was placed on -the Council of Health of the Army. In association with Hassenfratz who -was one of the organisers of the insurrection of August 10th, 1792, -and himself a professor at the School of Mines, Brongniart edited a -“Journal des Sciences, Arts, et Metiers” during the Revolution. - -The next medallion memorialises Scheele, the great Swedish pharmacist -and chemist, of whose career details have already been given. - -Pierre Bayen (born at Chalons s/Marne, 1725, died 1798) was an army -pharmacist for about half of his life, and to him was largely due the -organisation of that service. He was with the French Army in Germany -all through the Seven Years’ War, 1757-1763. Among his scientific works -were examinations of many of the natural mineral waters of France, and -a careful investigation into the alleged danger of tin vessels used -for cooking. Two German chemists, Margraff and Henkel, had reported -the presence of arsenic in tin utensils generally, and the knowledge -of this fact had produced a panic among housekeepers. Bayen went into -the subject thoroughly and was able to publish a reassuring report. -To him, too, belongs the glory of having been one of the chemists -before Lavoisier to prove that metals gain and do not lose weight on -calcination in the air. - -Pierre Joseph Macquer, Master of Pharmacy and Doctor of Medicine -(born 1718, died 1784), came of a noble Scotch family who had settled -in France on account of their adherence to the Catholic faith, made -some notable chemical discoveries, and became director of the royal -porcelain factory at Sèvres. He worked on kaolin, magnesia, arsenic, -gold, platinum, and the diamond. The bi-arseniate of arsenic was for -a long time known as Macquer’s arsenical salt. Macquer was not quite -satisfied with Stahl’s phlogiston theory, and tried to modify it; -but he would not accept the doctrines of Lavoisier. He proposed to -substitute light for phlogiston, and regarded light as precipitated -from the air in certain conditions. These notions attracted no support. - -Guillaume François Rouelle (born near Caen, 1703, died 1770) was in -youth an enthusiastic student of chemistry, the rudiments of which he -taught himself in the village smithy. Going to Paris he obtained a -situation in the pharmacy which had been Lemery’s, and subsequently -established one of his own in the Rue Jacob. There he commenced -courses of private lectures which were characterised by such intimate -knowledge, and flavoured with such earnestness and, as appears from -the stories given by pupils, by a good deal of eccentricity, that they -became the popular resort of chemical students. Lavoisier is believed -to have attended them. Commencing his lectures in full professional -costume, he would soon become animated and absorbed in his subject, -and throwing off his gown, cap, wig and cravat, delighted his hearers -with his vigour. Rouelle was offered the position of apothecary to the -king, but declined the honour as it would have involved the abandonment -of his lectures. His chief published work was the classification of -salts into neutral, acid, and basic. He also closely investigated -medicinal plants, and got so near to the discovery of alkaloids as the -separation of what he called the immediate principles, making a number -of vegetable extracts. - -Etienne François Geoffrey (born 1672, died 1731), the son of a Paris -apothecary, himself of high reputation, for it was at his house that -the first meetings were held which resulted in the formation of the -Academy of Sciences, studied pharmacy at Montpellier, and qualified -there. Returning to Paris he went through the medical course and -submitted for his doctorate three theses which show the bent of his -mind. The first examined whether all diseases have one origin and can -be cured by one remedy, the second aimed to prove that the philosophic -physician must also be an operative chemist, and the third dealt -with the inquiry whether man had developed from a worm. Geoffrey was -attached as physician to the English embassy for some time and was -elected to the Royal Society of London. Afterwards he became professor -of medicine and pharmacy at the College of France. His chief works were -pharmacological researches on iron, on vitriol, on fermentation, and on -some mineral waters. He wrote a notable treatise on Materia Medica. - -Albert Seba was an apothecary of Amsterdam, who spent some part of his -early life in the Dutch Indies. He was born in 1668 and died in 1736. -He was particularly noted for a great collection illustrating all the -branches of natural history, finer than any other then known in Europe. -Peter the Great having seen this collection bought it for a large sum -and presented it to the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, where it -is still preserved. - -Anxious to pay due honour to the distinguished pharmacists of other -nations, the authorities of the School of Pharmacy introduce the -medallions of Dante and Sir Isaac Newton. The Italian poet’s connection -with pharmacy was the entirely nominal inscription of his name in -the guild of apothecaries of the city of Florence; there are almost -slighter grounds to the right of claiming the English philosopher among -pharmacists, his immediate association with the business having been -that as a schoolboy he lodged at Grantham with an apothecary of the -name of Clark. In his later years he worked with Boyle on ether. - -Moses Charas figures between these two. Living between the years 1618 -and 1698, Charas attained European celebrity. He was the first French -pharmacist to prepare the famous Theriaca. This he did in the presence -of a number of magistrates and physicians. He also wrote a treatise on -the compound. For nine years he was demonstrator of chemistry at the -King’s Garden at Paris, but he was a Protestant, and the Revocation of -the Edict of Nantes in 1685 drove him from France. Charles II received -him cordially in London, and made him a doctor. Afterwards he went to -Holland, and from there the King of Spain sent for him to attend on -him in a serious illness. While at Toledo he got into trouble with -the ecclesiastics in a singular manner. An archbishop of Toledo being -canonised, his successor announced that snakes in that archbishopric -should henceforth lose their venom. This was a special temptation to -Moses Charas. He was strong on vipers. He had made medicine of many -of them, he had written a book about them, and he knew all there was -to know about them. He knew something about archbishops too, which -ought to have prevented him from publicly demonstrating the vanity of -the proclamation. But he must needs show to some influential friends -a local viper he had caught and make it bite two chickens, both of -which died promptly. This demonstration got talked about, and Charas -was prosecuted on a charge of attempting to overthrow an established -belief. He was imprisoned by the Inquisition, but after four months he -abjured Protestantism, and was set free. It must be remembered that he -was 72 years of age. On his return to France Louis XIV received him -kindly, and had him elected to the Academy of Sciences. Charas’s chief -work was a Pharmacopœia, which was in great vogue, and was translated -into all the principal modern languages, even into Chinese. - -Nicolas Lemery (born at Rouen, 1645, died 1715), a self-taught chemist -and pharmacist, exercised an enormous influence in science and -medicine. He opened a pharmacy in the Rue Galande, Paris, and there -taught chemistry orally and practically. His course was an immense -success. Fashionable people thronged to his lectures, and students came -from all countries to get the advantage of his teaching. He, too, was a -Protestant, and was struck by the storm of religious animosity. Charles -II had the opportunity of showing him hospitality in London, and seems -to have manifested towards him much friendliness. The University of -Berlin likewise made him tempting proposals, but Lemery could only feel -at home in France. Things seemed quieter and he returned, only to find -in a short time that the condition was worse for Protestants than ever. -The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes prevented him from following -either of his professions, pharmacy or medicine; and for their sake -he adopted the Catholic faith. His “Universal Pharmacopœia” and his -“Dictionary of Simple Drugs” were published after these troubles, and -they are the works by which he won his lasting reputation. - -Gilles François Boulduc (1675-1742) was for many years first apothecary -to Louis XIV, and an authority on pharmaceutical matters in his time. -By his essays he helped to popularise Epsom, Glauber’s, and Seignette’s -salts in France. - -Antoine Baumé (born at Senlis, 1728, died 1804), the son of an -innkeeper, after an imperfect education in the provinces, got into the -famous establishment of Geoffrey at Paris and made such good use of -his opportunities that he became Professor of Chemistry at the College -of France when he was 25. A practical and extraordinarily industrious -chemist, he wrote much, invented the areometer which bears his name, -founded a factory of sal ammoniac, and bleaching works for silk by a -process which he devised. Baumé did good service, too, in dispelling -many of the traditional superstitions of pharmacy, such as the -complicated formulas and disgusting ingredients which were so common in -his time. He was never content to accept any views on trust. - -The three medallions which follow are those of Lavoisier, Berthollet, -and Chaptal; great chemists whose right to be represented cannot -be challenged, but whose works were not specially associated with -pharmacy. These three all lived at the time of the Revolution. -Lavoisier was one of its most distinguished victims, Berthollet became -the companion and adviser of Napoleon in Egypt, and Chaptal was the -chemist commissioned by the Convention to provide gunpowder for -its ragged troops. He became one of Napoleon’s Ministers under the -Consulate. - -André Laugier (1770-1832), who comes next, was a relative and pupil of -Fourcroy, and became an Army pharmacist, serving through Bonaparte’s -Egyptian campaign. His works were mostly on mineralogical subjects. - -Georges Simon Serullas (1774-1832) was another military pharmacist -who served in the Napoleonic wars. He was, later, chief pharmacist at -the military hospital of Val de Grace, where he devoted much study to -many medicinal chemicals, such as cyanic acid, iodides, bromides, and -chlorides of cyanogen, hydrobromic ether, etc. - -Thénard (1777-1857), the eminent chemist, follows. He was very poor -when he asked Vauquelin to receive him as a pupil without pay. He only -secured the benefit he asked for because the chemist’s sister happened -to want a boy at the time to help her in the kitchen. He became a peer -of France in 1832. To him we owe peroxide of hydrogen. - -Nicolas J. B. Guibourt (1790-1867), Professor of Materia Medica at -the School of Pharmacy, was author of a well-known “History of Simple -Drugs,” and other works. He is often quoted in “Pharmacographia.” - -Achille Valenciennes (1794-1865) was noted as a naturalist, and -especially as a zoologist. He was Cuvier’s most trusted assistant in -the preparation of certain of his works. For many years Valenciennes -was Professor of Zoology at the School of Pharmacy, Paris. - -Baron Liebig (1803-1873), was placed in a pharmacy at Heppenheim as a -youth, but remained there only ten months. His chemical works are well -known. - - [Illustration: BARON LIEBIG.] - -Charles Frederick Gerhardt (1816-1856), born at Strasburg (then a -French city), one of Liebig’s most brilliant pupils, was for some years -Professor of Chemistry at Montpellier in succession to Balard. Later, -he founded a laboratory at Paris, and finally accepted the Chair of -Chemistry at Strasburg. He was one of the founders of modern organic -chemistry, and the originator of the type theory. - -Theophile Jules Pelouze (1807-1867) held a position in the -pharmaceutical service of the Salpêtrière Hospital at Paris, when, one -day in the country, he was overtaken by a torrential storm. A carriage -passing, the pedestrian appealed to the driver to take him inside. No -notice was taken of his request, so the indignant young pharmacist -ran after the vehicle and seized the reins. Having stopped the horse, -he delivered a severe lecture to the driver on his lack of courtesy -and humanity. The passenger in the carriage invited him to enter and -share the shelter. This gentleman was M. Gay-Lussac, the most eminent -chemist in Paris at the time. The acquaintance thus curiously commenced -resulted in Pelouze becoming Gay-Lussac’s laboratory assistant. He -ultimately succeeded his employer at the Polytechnic School and, later -still, was promoted to the Chair which Thénard had occupied at the -College of France. Pelouze was a voluminous writer, and did useful -work on the production of native sugar. In conjunction with Liebig he -discovered œnanthic ether. - -Sir Humphry Davy served an apprenticeship with a Mr. Borlase, an -apothecary of Penzance, but afterwards exchanged physic for science. -He died at Geneva in 1829 at the age of 51, after a life crowded with -scientific triumphs. - - [Illustration: SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.] - -Antoine Jussieu was the eldest of the three sons of Laurent Jussieu, -a master in pharmacy at Lyons. Antoine was born in 1686, and began -to collect plants from his childhood. His two brothers, Bernard and -Joseph, followed in his steps, and they, and Bernard’s son, Antoine -Laurent, constitute the famous Jussieu dynasty, from whom we have -received the natural system of botanical classification. The story is a -long and interesting one, but it is outside the scope of these notes. -It must be remarked, however, that to Antoine Jussieu is due the credit -of the introduction of the coffee plant into the western hemisphere. -The island of Martinique was where the first coffee shrub was planted. - -Fourcroy, another chemist of the Revolutionary period, comes next and -is followed by - -Nicolas Houel (1520-1584), who was the founder of the School of -Pharmacy of Paris. He was an apothecary, and out of the ample fortune -which he had made from his profession, endowed a “House of Christian -Charity.” He stipulated that it was to be a school for young orphans -born of legal marriages, there to be instructed to serve and honour -God, to acquire good literary instruction, and to learn the art of the -apothecary. He also provided that the establishment should furnish -medicines to the sick poor, who did not wish to go to the hospital, -gratuitously. The institution consisted of a chapel, a school, a -complete pharmacy, a garden of simples, and a hospital. The charity -was duly authorised by Henri III and Queen Loise of Lorraine, but this -did not prevent Henri IV taking possession of it in 1596, and using it -as a home for his wounded soldiers. That was the origin of the Hotel -des Invalides. Louis XIII transferred the Invalides to the Château of -Bicêtre, and gave the school to the Sisters of St. Lazare. In 1622, -however, the Parliament of Paris took the matter in hand and restored -the property to the corporation of Apothecaries on condition that they -would carry out the bequest of Houel. In 1777 Louis XVI made it the -College of Pharmacy, and after the Convention the Directory declared -it to be the Free School of Pharmacy. When pharmacy was reorganised in -France during Napoleon’s consulate, the institution became the Paris -School of Pharmacy. - -Jan Swammerdam, a famous Dutch anatomist (1637-1680), comes next, and -after him, Claude Bernard, the physiologist (1813-1878), who began -his career in a poor little pharmacy at Lyons. Jean Baptiste Dumas, -born 1800, and living when the medallion was placed, also commenced -his career in a small pharmacy at Alais (Gard), his native town. Dumas -was one of the greatest chemists of the century. The doctrine of -substitution of radicles in chemical compounds was suggested by him. He -died April 11, 1884, at Cannes. - - - - - XII - - ROYAL AND NOBLE PHARMACISTS. - - We know what Heaven or Hell may bring, - But no man knoweth the mind of a King. - RUDYARD KIPLING--“Ballad of the King’s Jest.” - - -In the “Myths of Pharmacy” it has been shown that some of the most -honoured of the deities of the ancient world interested themselves in -pharmacy. To a greater or less extent many important personages in -the world’s history since have occupied some of their leisure in the -endeavour to extract or compound some new and effective remedies. - - - CLASSICAL LEGENDS. - -Chin-Nong, Emperor of China, who died 2699 B.C., is reckoned -to have been the founder of pharmacy in the Far East. He studied plants -and composed a Herbal used to this day. It is related of him that he -discovered seventy poisonous plants and an equal number of antidotes to -them. He describes how to make extracts and decoctions, what they are -good for, and had some notions of analysis. Chin-Nong was the second -of the nine sovereigns who preceded the establishment of the Chinese -dynasties. To him is also attributed the invention of the plough. - -The Emperor Adrian, whose curiosity and literary tastes led him to the -study of astrology, magic, and medicine, composed an antidote which was -known as Adrianum, and which consisted of more than forty ingredients, -of which opium, henbane, and euphorbium were the principal. - -Attalus III, the last king of Pergamos in Asia Minor, who died about -134 B.C., bequeathing his kingdom to the Romans who already -controlled it, was a worthless and cruel prince, but of some reputation -in pharmacy. Having poisoned his uncle, the reigning king, Attalus -soon wearied of public affairs, and devoted his time to gardening, -and especially to the cultivation of poisonous and medicinal plants. -Plutarch expressly mentions henbane, hellebore, hemlock, and lotus as -among the herbs which he studied, and Justin reports that he amused -himself by sending to his friends presents of fruits, mixing poisonous -ones with the others. He is credited with the invention of our white -lead ointment and Celsus and Galen mention a plaster and an antidote as -among his achievements. Marcellus has preserved a prescription which he -says Attalus devised for diseases of the liver and spleen, for dropsy, -and for improving a lurid complexion. It consisted of saffron, Indian -nard, cassia, cinnamon, myrrh, schœnanthus, and costus, made into an -electuary with honey, and kept in a silver box. - -_Gentius, King of Illyria_, discovered the medicinal value of the -gentian and introduced it into medical practice. The plant is supposed -to have acquired its name from this king. Gentius was induced by -Perseus, King of Macedon, to declare war against the Romans, Perseus -promising to support him with money and other aid. This he failed to -do and Gentius was defeated and taken prisoner by Anicius after a war -which lasted only thirty days. - - - MITHRIDATIUM. - -Mithridates VI, commonly called “the Great,” King of Pontus in Asia -Minor, was born 134 B.C., and succeeded his father on the -throne at the age of twelve. Next to Hannibal he was the most -troublesome foe the Roman Republic had to deal with. His several wars -with that power occupied twenty-six years of his life. Sylla, Lucullus, -and Pompey, in succession, led Roman armies against him, and gained -battles again and again, but he was only at last completely conquered -by the last-named general after long and costly efforts. - -Mithridates was a valiant soldier and a skilful general, but a monster -of cruelty. He was apparently a learned man, or at least one who -took interest in learning. The fable of his medicinal secrets took -possession of the imagination of the Romans. They were especially -attracted by the stories of his famous antidote. According to some he -invented this himself; others say the secret was communicated to him by -a Persian physician named Zopyrus. Celsus states that a physician of -this name gave a similar secret to one of the Egyptian Ptolemies. This -may have been the same Zopyrus, for Mithridates lived in the time of -the Ptolemies. The Egyptian antidote was handed down to us under the -name of Ambrosia. - -When Pompey had finally defeated Mithridates he took possession of a -quantity of the tyrant’s papers at Nicopolis, and it was reported that -among these were his medicinal formulas. Mithridates meanwhile was -seeking help to prosecute the war. But his allies, his own son, and his -soldiers were all tired of him. In his despair he poisoned his wife and -daughters, and then took poison himself. But according to the legend, -propagated perhaps by some clever advertising quacks in Rome, he had so -successfully immunised his body to the effects of all poisons that they -would now take no effect. Consequently he had to call in the assistance -of a Gallic soldier, who despatched his chief with a spear. The story -of his defeat and death are historic; the poison story is legend which, -however it was originated, was no doubt good value in the drug stores -of Rome, where the confection of Mithridates was soon sold. As will -be stated immediately there is abundant reason to believe that the -alleged formula which Pompey was said to have discovered and to have -had translated was devised at home. - -In 1745 when a new London Pharmacopœia was nearly ready for issue, -a scholarly exposure of the absurdity of the compound which still -occupied space in that and in all other official formularies, along -with its equally egregious companion, Theriaca, was published by Dr. -William Heberden, a leading physician of the day, and though it was too -late to cause the deletion of the formulas in the edition of 1746, that -was the last time they appeared in the Pharmacopœia, though they had -been given in all the issues of that work from 1618 onwards. No better -completion of the history of this preparation can be given than that -which Dr. Heberden wrote 165 years ago. The King of Pontus, he assumed, -like many other ancient royalties, was pleased to affect special skill -in the production of medicines, and it is not surprising that his -courtiers should have flattered him on this accomplishment. Thus the -opinion prevailed among his enemies as well as in his own kingdom that -his achievements in pharmacy approached the miraculous. His conqueror, -Pompey, apparently shared the popular belief, and took uncommon care in -the ransack of his effects, after Mithridates had been compelled to fly -from the field, to secure for himself his medical writings. According -to Quintus Serenus Samonicus, however, the Roman general was amused at -his own credulity when, instead of a vast and precious arcana he found -himself in possession of only a few trifling and worthless receipts. - - [Illustration: DR. WILLIAM HEBERDEN. 1710-1801. - - (From a mezzotint in the British Museum.) -] - -The anticipation of some marvellous secrets was so universal, and the -Roman publishers so well disposed to cater for this, that it is not -to be wondered at that a confection of Mithridates and stories of -its miraculous power soon found their way into literature. A pompous -formula, which it was professed had been discovered among the papers -of Mithridates captured by Pompey came to be known under the title of -Antidotum Mithridatium. It is noteworthy that Plutarch, who in his life -of Pompey mentions that certain love letters and documents helping to -interpret dreams were among these papers, makes no allusion to the -medical recipe; while Samonicus states explicitly that, notwithstanding -the many formulæ which had got into circulation pretending to be -that of the genuine confection, the only one found in the cabinet of -Mithridates was a trivial one for a compound of 20 leaves of rue, 1 -grain of salt, 2 nuts, and 2 dried figs. So that, Dr. Heberden remarks, -the King of Pontus may have been as much a stranger to the medicine to -which his name was attached as many eminent physicians of this day are -to medicines associated with their names. - -The compound, made from the probably spurious formula, however, -acquired an immense fame. Some of the Roman emperors are declared to -have compounded it with their own hands. Galen says that whoever took a -proper dose in the morning was ensured against poison throughout that -day. Great physicians studied it with a view of making it, if possible, -more perfect. The most important modification of the formula was made -by Andromachus, Nero’s physician, who omitted the scink, added vipers, -and increased the proportion of opium. He changed the name to Galene, -but this was not retained, and in Trajan’s time the name of Theriaca -was the accepted designation, a title which has lasted throughout the -subsequent centuries. - -Dr. Heberden’s criticism of the composition is as effective now as -when he wrote, but it should be remembered that in his day there was a -Theriacal party in medicine; to us the comments seem obvious. He points -out that in the formula as it then appeared in the Pharmacopœia no -regard was had to the known virtues of the simples, nor to the rules of -artful composition. There was no foundation for the wonderful stories -told concerning it, and the utmost that could then be said of it was -that it was a diaphoretic, “which is commonly the virtue of a medicine -which has none.” - -But even if undesigning chance did happen to hit upon a mixture which -possessed such marvellous virtues, what foundation was there, he asked, -for believing that any other fortuitous concourse of ingredients would -be similarly successful? This preparation had scarcely continued the -same for a hundred years at a time. According to Celsus, who first -described it, it consisted of thirty-eight simples. Before the time -of Nero five of these had been struck out and twenty new ones added. -Andromachus omitted six and added twenty-eight; leaving seventy-five -net. Aetius in the fifth century, and Myrepsus in the twelfth gave -very different accounts of it, and since then the formulas had been -constantly fluctuating. Some of the original ingredients were, Dr. -Heberden said, utterly unknown in his time; others could only be -guessed at. About a century previously a dispute about Balm of Gilead, -which was one of the constituents, had been referred to the Pope, who, -however, prudently declined to exercise his infallibility on this -subject. - -Authorities were not agreed whether it was better old or new. Galen -said the virtue of the opium was mitigated by keeping; Juncker said it -fermented, and by fermentation the power of the opium was exalted three -or fourfold. - - - A PHARMACEUTICAL POPE. - -Peter of Spain, a native of Lisbon, was a physician who became Pope -under the title of John XXI. He died in 1277. He wrote a treatise on -medicine, or rather made a collection of formulas, including most of -the absurd ones then current and adding a few of his own. One was to -carry about a parchment on which were written the names of Gaspard, -Balthasar, and Melchior, the three wise men of the East, as a sure -preservative from epilepsy. Another was a method of curing a diarrhœa -by filling a human bone with the excrements of a patient, and throwing -it into a river. The diarrhœa would cease when the bone was emptied of -its contents. - - - HENRY VIII (OF ENGLAND) - -was fond of dabbling with medicine. In Brewer’s history of his reign, -referring to the years 1516-18, we are told:-- - -“The amusements of court were diversified by hunting and out-door -sports in the morning; in the afternoon by Memo’s music, by the -consecration and distribution of cramp rings, or the invention of -plasters and compounding of medicines, an occupation in which the King -took unusual pleasure.” - -In the British Museum among the Sloane MSS. there is one numbered 1047, -entitled Dr. Butt’s Diary, which records many of these pharmaceutical -achievements of the monarch. Dr. Butt was the King’s physician and -was no doubt his guide in these experiments. Dr. Butt, or Butts, -is referred to in Strype’s “Life of Cranmer” and in Shakespeare’s -“Henry VIII.” Many of the liniments and cataplasms formulated are for -excoriations or ulcers in the legs, a disease, as Dr. Brewer notes, -“common in those days, and from which the King himself suffered.” - -Among the contents of the Diary are “The King’s Majesty’s own Plaster.” -It is described as a plaster devised by the king to heal ulcers -without pain. It was a compound of pearls and guaiacum wood. There are -in the manuscript formulas for other plasters “devised by the King -at Greenwich and made at Westminster” to heal excoriations, to heal -swellings in the ankles, one for my lady Anne of Cleves “to mollify -and resolve, comfort and cease pain of cold and windy causes”; and an -ointment to cool and “let” (prevent) inflammations, and take away itch. - -Other formulas by Dr. Butt himself, and by other contemporary doctors, -are comprised in this Diary. - -Sir H. Halford, in an article “On the Deaths of Some Eminent Persons,” -printed in 1835, says of Henry VIII, who died of dropsy at the age of -56, that he was “a great dabbler in physic, and offered medical advice -on all occasions which presented themselves, and also made up the -medicines.” - - - QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND - -appears to have been an amateur prescriber. Etmuller states that -she sent a formula for a “cephalica-cardiac medicine” to the Holy -Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, himself a dabbler in various scientific -quackeries. It consisted of amber, musk, and civet, dissolved in spirit -of roses. It is further on record that the English queen selected -doctors and pharmacists for Ivan the Terrible of Russia. In Wadd’s -Memorabilia, one of her Majesty’s quarter’s bills from her apothecary, -Hugo Morgan, is quoted. It amounted to £83 7_s._ 8_d._, and included -the following items:--A confection made like manus Christi with bezoar -stone and unicorn’s horn, 11_s._; a royal sweetmeat with incised -rhubarb, 1_s._ 4_d._; rose water for the king of Navarre’s ambassador, -1_s._; a conserve of barberries with preserved damascene plums, and -other things for Mr. Ralegh, 6_s._; sweet scent to be used at the -christening of Sir Richard Knightley’s son, 2_s._ - - - THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY’S WATER. - -Rosemary has at times enjoyed a high reputation among medicinal herbs. -Arnold of Villa Nova affirms that he had often seen cancers, gangrenes, -and fistulas, which would yield to no other medicine, dry up and become -perfectly cured by frequently bathing them with a spirituous infusion -of rosemary. His disciple, Raymond Lully, extracted the essential oil -by distillation. - -The name probably assisted the fame of the plant. In the middle ages it -was believed to be associated with the Virgin. It was in fact derived -from Ros and Maris, meaning Dew of the Sea; probably because it grew -near the shores of the Mediterranean. - -“Here’s rosemary for you; that’s for remembrance.” So says Ophelia in -Hamlet; and many other poets and chroniclers relate how the plant was -used at funerals and weddings as a symbol of constancy. It is supposed -that this signification arose from the medicinal employment of rosemary -to improve the memory. It may easily have happened, however, that the -medicinal use followed the emblematical idea. - -Old books and some modern ones tell the legend of the Queen of Hungary -and her rosemary remedy. It is alleged in pharmaceutical treatises -published in the nineteenth century that a document is preserved in the -Imperial Library at Vienna, dated 1235, and written by Queen Elisabeth -of Hungary, thus expressed:-- - - “I, Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary, being very infirm and much - troubled with gout, in the seventy-second year of my age, - used for a year this recipe given to me by an ancient hermit, - whom I never saw before nor since; and was not only cured - but recovered my strength, and appeared to all so remarkably - beautiful that the King of Poland asked me in marriage, he - being a widower and I a widow. I, however, refused him for - the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, from one of whose angels I - believe I received the remedy.” - - The royal formula is as follows:--“Take aqua vitae, four - times distilled, 3 parts; the tops and flowers of rosemary, 2 - parts; put these together in a closed vessel, let them stand - in a gentle heat fifty hours, and then distil them. Take one - teaspoonful of this in the morning once every week, and let - your face and diseased limb be washed with it every morning.” - -Beckmann investigated this story and came to the conclusion that the -name “Eau de La Reine d’Hongrie” had been adopted by some vendors of -a spirit of rosemary “in order to give greater consequence and credit -to their commodity”; in other words, he suggests that the interesting -narrative was only a clever advertisement. - -The only Queen Elisabeth of Hungary was the wife of King Charles -Robert, and daughter of Ladislaus, King of Poland. She died in 1380, -and for more than ten years before that date either her brother, -Casimir II, or her son Louis, was the reigning sovereign in Poland, -and neither of these can be supposed to have been her suitor. The -alleged date of the document quoted would better suit St. Elisabeth of -Hungary, and some old writers attribute the formula and the story to -her. But she was never queen of Hungary, and moreover she died in 1231 -at the age of 25. Beckmann also denies the statement that the document -pretended to be in Queen Elisabeth’s writing is preserved in the -Imperial Library at Vienna. The whole narrative is traced to a German -named Hoyer, in 1716, and he apparently copied it from a French medical -writer named Prevot, who published it in 1659. Prevot attributes the -story to “St. Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary,” and says he copied both the -history and the formula from an old breviary in the possession of his -friend, Francis Podacather, a Cyprus nobleman, who had inherited it -from his ancestors. This is the one little possibility of truth in the -record, for it appears that Queen Elisabeth of Hungary did mention two -breviaries in her will, and it may have been that one of these was the -one which the Cyprus nobleman possessed. - - - THE ROYAL TOUCH.--THE KING’S EVIL. - -There are several instances in ancient history illustrating the healing -virtue residing or alleged to reside in the person of a king. Pyrrhus, -King of Epirus, according to Plutarch, cured colics and affections of -the spleen by laying patients on their backs and passing his great toe -over their bodies. Suelin relates that when the Emperor Vespasian was -at Alexandria a poor blind man came to him saying that the god Serapis -had revealed to him that if he, the Emperor, would touch his eyes with -his spittle, his sight would be restored. Vespasian was angry and would -have driven the man away, but some of those around him urged him to -exercise his power, and at last he consented and cured the poor man of -his blindness and some others of lameness. Cœlius Spartianus declares -that the Emperor Adrian cured dropsy by touching patients with the -tips of his fingers. The Eddas tell how King Olaf healed the wounds of -Egill, the Icelandic hero, by laying on of hands and singing proverbs. -A legend of the counts of Hapsburg declares that at one time they could -cure a sick person by kissing him. - -The superstition crystallised itself in the practice of the English -and French kings of touching for the cure of scrofula, or king’s evil -as the disease consequently came to be named. The term scrofula is -itself one of the curiosities of etymology. Scrofula is the diminutive -of scrota, a sow, and means a little pig. It is conjectured that the -name was adopted from the idea of pigs burrowing under the surface of -straw and likening to that the pig’s back sort of shape of the ulcers -characteristic of the disease. - -The first English king who undertook this treatment, so far as is -known, was Edward the Confessor, who reigned from 1042 to 1066. But -there is evidence that the French kings had practised it earlier. -Robert the Pious (970-1031), son of Hughes Capet, is said to have -exercised the miraculous power, and Church legend goes back five -hundred years before this, attributing the origin of the gift to the -date of the conversion of Clovis, A.D. 496. On that occasion -the holy oil for the coronation of the Conqueror was brought direct -from heaven in a phial carried by a dove, and the healing faculty was -conferred at the same time. Most of the French kings down to Louis XV -continued to touch, and it was even suggested that the practice should -be resumed by Louis XVIII after the Restoration in 1815, but that -monarch’s advisers prudently resolved that it would not do to risk the -ridicule of modern France. - -The records of Edward the Confessor’s miraculous feats of healing -are obtained from William of Malmesbury, who wrote his Chronicles in -the first half of the 12th century, about a hundred years after the -Confessor’s reign. The earliest printed edition of the Chronicles -appeared in 1577, and Shakespeare undoubtedly drew from it the -description of the ceremony which is given in Macbeth (Act iv, Sc. 3). -Malcolm and Macduff are represented as being in England “in a room of -the King’s palace” (Edward the Confessor’s). The doctor tells them - - There are a crew of wretched souls - That stay his cure: their malady convinces - The great assay of art; but at his touch-- - Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand-- - They presently amend. - -Asked about the nature of the disease the doctor says “’Tis called the -evil,” and he adds - - How he solicits Heaven - Himself best knows: but strangely visited people, - All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, - The mere despair of surgery, he cures, - Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, - Put on with holy prayers: and ’tis spoken, - To the succeeding royalty he leaves - The healing benediction. - -There is no evidence that any of the Norman kings performed the rite, -but it is on record that Henry II performed cures by touching, and -allusions to the practice by Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, and -Henry IV have been found in old manuscripts. It is probable, too, that -the other kings preceding the Tudors followed the fashion when the -interval between their wars gave them the necessary leisure. From Henry -VII to Queen Anne all our rulers except Cromwell “touched.” Oliver, -not being able to claim the virtue by reason of his descent, would -certainly not have been trusted, and Dutch William had no sympathy -with the superstition. It is recorded of him that once he yielded to -importunity and went through the form of touching. “God gave thee -better health and more sense” was the unsentimental benediction he -pronounced. Queen Anne, as is well known, “touched” Dr. Johnson in his -childhood, but it is recorded that in this case no cure was effected. -Boswell says that Johnson’s mother in taking the child (who was then -between two and three years old) to London for the ceremony was -acting on the advice of Sir John Floyer, who was at that time a noted -physician at Lichfield. The “touch-piece” presented by Queen Anne to -Dr. Johnson is preserved in the British Museum. The Pretender, Charles -Edward, touched someone at Holyrood House, Edinburgh, and his partisans -said a cure was effected in three weeks. Which proved his right to the -throne of England. - -The story told by William of Malmesbury about Edward the Confessor is -that “a young woman that had a husband about the same age as herself, -but no child, was afflicted with overflowing of humours in her neck, -which broke out in great nobbs, was commanded in a dream to apply to -the King to wash it. To court she goes, and the King being at his -Devotions all alone dip’d his fingers in water and dabbel’d the woman’s -neck, and he had no sooner taken away his hand than she found herself -better.” William goes on to tell that within a week she was well, and -that within a year she was brought to bed of twins. - -Modern doctors have forgotten and despised the strange story of this -royal touch, but two and three centuries ago they very seriously -discussed it. Reports of marvellous and numerous cures were -confidently related, and the writers who had no faith in the virtue -of the performance admitted the genuineness of many of the cases. -Sergeant-Surgeon Dickens, Queen Anne’s surgeon, narrated the most -curious instance. At the request of one young woman he brought her to -the Queen to be touched. After the performance he impressed upon her -the importance of never parting with the gold medal which was given to -all patients; for it appears that he had reason to expect that she was -likely to sell it. She promised always to retain it, and in due course -she was cured. In time, thinking all risk had passed, she disposed -of the touch-piece; the disease returned; she confessed her fault -penitently to Dr. Dickens, and by his aid was touched again, and once -more cured. Surgeon Wiseman, chief surgeon in Charles I’s army, and -afterwards Sergeant-Surgeon in Charles II’s household, described the -cures effected by that monarch. He had been an eye-witness of hundreds -of cures, he says. Many other testimonies of the same kind might be -quoted, but it is as well to remark that a habit grew up of describing -the touching itself as a cure. - -Careful and intelligent inquiries into the alleged success of the -practice by investigators who were by no means believers in any actual -royal virtue, but who yet admitted unhesitatingly the reality of many -of the claimed cures, are on record. Among treatises of this character -may be mentioned “A Free and Impartial Inquiry into the Antiquity and -Efficacy of Touching for the King’s Evil,” by William Beckett, F.R.S., -a well known surgeon, 1722, and “Criterion, or Miracles Examined,” by -Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, 1754. Both of these writers admit -that cures did result from the King’s touch; the Bishop says that he -personally knew a man who had been healed. Mr. Beckett deals with -these cures with much judgment. He points out how likely it was that -the excitement of the visit to the court, both in anticipation and in -realisation, and the impressive ceremony there conducted, would in -many instances so affect the constitution, causing the blood to course -through the veins more quickly, as to effect a cure. - -Mr. Beckett also gives extremely good reasons for doubting whether -Edward the Confessor ever did “touch” for scrofula. The gift is not -mentioned in the Bull of Pope Alexander III by which the Confessor was -canonised, nor by several earlier writers than William of Malmesbury, -monks only too eager to glorify their benefactor. - -Henry VII was the first to surround the ceremony of touching with an -imposing religious service, and to give a touch-piece to the patient. -Henry VIII does not seem to have followed the practice of his father to -any great extent, and there was some disturbance about it in the next -few reigns. The Catholics denied that Queen Elizabeth could possess the -healing virtue, and when actual cures were cited to them one of their -bishops declared that these were due, not to the royal virtue, but to -the virtue of the sign of the cross. All the Stuart kings, Charles -II particularly, exercised their hereditary powers most diligently. -Macaulay states that Charles II touched nearly one hundred thousand -persons during his reign. In his record year, 1682, he performed the -rite eight thousand five hundred times. - -Evelyn gives the following account of the performance, which, as will -be seen, was no light duty. He describes it thus: - -“Sitting under his state in the Banqueting House, the chirurgeons cause -the sick to be brought or led up to the throne, where, they kneeling, -ye King strokes their faces and cheeks with both his hands at once, at -which instant a chaplaine in his formalities says:--‘He put his hands -upon them and healed them.’ This he said to every one in particular. -When they have been all touched, they come up again in the same order; -and the other chaplaine kneeling, and having an angel of gold strung -on white ribbon on his arms delivers them one by one to His Majestie, -who puts them about the necks of the touched as they passe, while -the first chaplaine repeats ‘That is ye true light which came into -ye world.’ Then follows an epistle (as at first a gospel) with the -liturgy, prayers for the sick, with some alteration, and then the Lord -Chamberlain and the Comptroller of the Household bring a basin, ewer, -and towel, for his Majesty to wash.” - -In 1684 Thomas Rosewell, evidently an unrepentant Puritan, was tried -before Judge Jeffries on a charge of high treason, the indictment -alleging that he had said “the people made a flocking to the king -upon pretence of being healed of the king’s evil, which he could not -do.” Rosewell had further declared that he and others, being priests -and prophets, could do as much as the king. And Rosewell had told how -Jeroboam’s hand had dried up when he would have seized the man of God -who had prophesied against him, and how the king’s hand had been -restored on the prayer of the prophet. In his defence Rosewell had -sneered at the Latin of the indictment, which spoke of the “Morbus -Regni Anglici,” which, as he said, would mean the disease of the -English kingdom, not the king’s evil. Jeffries, having taunted the -prisoner and his witnesses with being “snivelling saints,” insisted on -a verdict of guilty, and would no doubt have had the mocker’s ears cut -off; but it is satisfactory to know that Charles II, who probably had -not more faith in his healing power than the accused, ordered him to be -pardoned. - -The English prayer-book contained a form of service for this ceremony -up to the year 1719. - -Queen Anne was the last ruler in England to touch. There is no record -of any of the Georges attempting the miracle, but the young Pretender, -Charles Edward, when claiming to be Prince of Wales, touched a female -child at Holyrood House in 1745, and is said to have effected a cure, -and after his death in 1780 his brother, Cardinal York, still touched -at Rome. - -Louis XV was the last King of France who touched. Louis XIV fulfilled -the duty on a larger scale, and doubtless with the utmost confidence in -his royal virtue. The formula used by the kings of France when they had -touched a patient was “Le roi te touche, Dieu te guerisse” (“The king -touches thee; may God heal thee”). It is said that Henri of Navarre, -when in the thick of the fight at Ivry (1590), as he laid about him -with his sword right and left, gaily shouted this familiar expression. - - - CRAMP RINGS. - -Faith in “cramp rings” corresponds in many respects with the -reverential confidence in the royal touch as a cure for scrofula. -The former, however, appears to have been of entirely English origin. -Legend attributes the first cramp ring to Edward the Confessor. - -St. Edward on his death-bed is alleged to have given a ring from his -finger to the Abbot of Westminster with the explanation that it had -been brought to him not long before by a pilgrim from Jerusalem to whom -it had been given by a mysterious stranger, presumably a visitant from -the world of spirits, who had bidden him give the ring to the king -with the message that his end was near. The ring was preserved as a -relic at Westminster for some time, and was found to possess miraculous -efficacy for the cure of epilepsy and cramp. It was next heard of at -Havering in Essex, the very name of which place, according to Camden, -furnished evidence of the accuracy of the tradition. Havering was -obviously a contraction of “have the ring.” So at least thought the old -etymologists. - -When the relic disappeared is not recorded; but the Tudor kings were -in the habit of contributing a certain amount of gold and silver as an -offering to the Cross every Good Friday, and the metal being made into -rings was consecrated by them, in accordance with a form of service -which was included in old English prayer books (see Burnett’s History -of the Reformation, Part 2, Book 2, No. 25). This was actually used -until the reign of Queen Anne. Andrew Boorde, in his “Breviary of -Health,” 1557, says: “The kynges of England doth halow every yere cramp -rynges ye which rynges worn on one’s finger doth helpe them whyche hath -ye cramp.” They seem to have been regarded especially as a protection -against epilepsy, and courtiers were much importuned to obtain some for -persons afflicted. - -The process of hallowing the rings is described in Brand’s “Popular -Antiquities.” A crucifix was laid on a cushion in the royal chapel, and -a piece of carpet was spread in front of it. The king entered in state, -and when he came to the carpet crept on it to the crucifix. There the -rings were brought to him in a silver dish, and he blessed them. - -In the Harleian Manuscripts (295 f119) a letter is preserved dated -the xxi. daie of June, 1518, from Lord Berners (the translator of -Froissart), then ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. He writes from -Saragoza “to my Lord Cardinall’s grace” (Wolsey), “If your grace -remember me with some crampe rynges ye shall doo a thing muche looked -for; and I trust to bestowe thaym well with Goddes grace, who evermor -preserve and encrease your most reverent astate.” - -It does not appear certain that the royal consecration of these rings -was continued after the reign of Queen Mary; but cramp rings continued -in esteem almost until our own time in some parts of the country. In -Brand’s book, and in several numbers of _Notes and Queries_ references -to superstitions in connection with these, their production and the -wearing of them particularly against epilepsy, are recorded. Sometimes, -to be effective, the rings must have been made from coffin handles, or -coffin nails, the coffins from which they have been taken having been -buried; or rings of silver or gold, manufactured while the story of the -Passion of the Saviour was being read, would possess curative power. -So would a ring made from silver collected at a Communion service, -preferably on Easter Sunday. In Berkshire, a ring made from five -sixpences collected from five bachelors, none of whom must know the -purpose of the collection, and formed by a bachelor smith into a ring -was believed in; and in Suffolk, not very long since, nine bachelors -contributed a crooked sixpence each to make a ring for a young woman -in the village to wear for the cure of epileptic fits to which she was -subject. - - - THE EARL OF WARWICK’S POWDER. - -The Earl of Warwick’s Powder is named in many old English, and more -frequently still in foreign dispensatories and pharmacopœias, appearing -generally under the title of “Pulvis Comitis de Warwick, or Pulvis -Warwiciensis,” sometimes also as “Pulvis Cornacchini.” It is the -original of our Pulv. Scammon Co, and was given in the P.L. 1721 in its -pristine form, thus:-- - - Scammony, prepared with the fumes of sulphur, 2 ounces. - Diaphoretic antimony, 1 ounce. - Cream of tartar, ½ ounce. - -In the P.L. 1746 the pulvis e scammonio compositus, made from four -parts of scammony and three parts of burnt hartshorn, was substituted -for the above, but neither this nor the modern compound scammony -powder, consisting of scammony, jalap, and ginger, can be regarded as -representing the original Earl of Warwick’s powder. - -The Earl of Warwick from whom the powder acquired its name was Robert -Dudley, son of the famous Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth’s -favourite, and of Kenilworth notoriety. His mother was the widow of -Lord Sheffield, and there was much dispute about the legitimacy of the -child, but the evidence goes to show that Leicester married her two -days before the birth of the boy. He afterwards abandoned her, but he -left his estates to the boy. Young Robert Dudley grew up a singularly -handsome and popular youth. He led an adventurous life, voyaging, -exploring, and fighting Spanish ships. He failed to establish his -claims to his titles and estates in England, and ultimately settled at -Florence, where he became a Catholic, and distinguished himself as an -engineer and architect. He won the favour of Ferdinand II, Emperor of -Austria, who created him Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland, -and the Pope recognised his nobility. He died in Italy in 1649. The -chroniclers of the time refer to a book he is said to have written -under the title of _Catholicon_, which was “in good esteem among -physicians.” If it existed it was probably a collection of medical -formulæ, but it is not unlikely that this supposed book has been -confused with one written by a Dr. Cornacchini, of Pisa, and dedicated -to Dudley. In that work, which is known, the powder is described, -and its invention is attributed to the Earl. It is alleged to have -possessed marvellous medicinal virtues. - - - DUKE OF PORTLAND’S GOUT POWDER. - -Under this title a powder had a great reputation about the middle of -the eighteenth century, and well on into the nineteenth century. The -powder was composed of aristolochia rotunda (birthwort root), gentian -root, and the tops and leaves of germander, ground pine, and centaury, -of each equal parts. One drachm was to be taken every morning, -fasting, for three months, and then ½ drachm for the rest of the year. -Particular directions in regard to diet were given with the formula. - -The compound was evidently only a slight modification of several to -be found in the works of the later Latin authors, Aetius, Alexander -of Trailles, and Paul of Egineta. These were entitled Tetrapharmacum, -Antidotus Podagrica ex duobus centauriae generibus, Diatesseron, and -other names. The “duobus” remedy was an electuary prescribed by Aetius, -and a piece the size of a hazel nut had to be taken every morning for -a year. Hence it was called medicamentum ad annum. This, or something -very like it, was in use in Italy for centuries under the name of -Pulvis Principis Mirandolæ, and spread from there to the neighbouring -countries. An Englishman long resident in Switzerland had compiled -a manuscript collection of medical formulæ, and his son, who became -acquainted with the Duke of Portland of the period, persuaded him to -give this gout remedy a trial. The result was so satisfactory that the -Duke had the formula and the diet directions printed on leaflets, and -these were given to anyone who asked for them. - - - SIR WALTER RALEIGH’S GREAT CORDIAL. - -During his twelve years’ imprisonment in the Tower in the earlier part -of the reign of James I, Sir Walter Raleigh was allowed a room in -which he fitted up a laboratory, and divided his time between chemical -experiments and literary labours. It was believed that Raleigh had -brought with him from Guiana some wonderful curative balsam, and this -opinion, combined with the knowledge that he dabbled largely with -retorts and alembics in the Tower, ensured a lively public interest in -his “Great Cordial” when it was available. - -The Queen, Anne of Denmark, and Prince Henry, were both warm partisans -of Raleigh, and did their best to get him released. The Queen was -convinced that the “Great Cordial” had saved her life in a serious -illness, and Prince Henry took a particular interest in Raleigh’s -experiments. When the Prince was on his death-bed Raleigh sent him some -of the cordial, declaring, it was reported, that it would certainly -cure him provided he had not been poisoned. This unwise suggestion -coming to James’s ears greatly incensed him, and darkened Raleigh’s -prospects of life and freedom considerably. - - [Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH. - - (From a mezzotint in the British Museum.) -] - -No known authentic formula of the cordial exists, but Charles II was -curious about it, and his French apothecary, Le Febre, on the king’s -command, prepared some of the compound from data then available, and -wrote a treatise on it which was afterwards translated into English -by Peter Lebon. Evelyn records in his diary the demonstration of the -composition given by Le Febre to the Court on September 20, 1662. - -The cordial then consisted of forty roots, seeds, herbs, etc., -macerated in spirit of wine, and distilled. With the distillate were -combined bezoar stones, pearls, coral, deer’s horn, amber, musk, -antimony, various earths, sugar, and much besides. Vipers’ flesh, with -the heart and liver, and “mineral unicorn” were added later on the -suggestion of Sir Kenelm Digby. The official history of this strange -concoction is appended. - -Confectio Raleighana was first official in the London Pharmacopœia of -1721. The formula was-- - - Rasurae C. Cervi lb. i. - - Carnis viperarum c. cordibus et hepatibus, 6 oz. - - Flor. Borag., rosmar., calendulae, roris solis, rosarum rub., - sambuci, ana lb. ss. - - Herb. scordii, cardui benedicti, melissæ, dictamni cretici, - menthæ, majoranæ, betonicæ, ana manipules duodecim. - - Succi Kermis, Sem. card. maj., cubebarum, Bacc. junip., macis, - nuc. mosch., caryoph., croci, ana 2 oz. - - Cinnam. opt., cort. lign. sassaf., cort. flav. malorum - citriorum, aurantiorum, ana 3 oz. - - Lign. aloes, sassafras, ana 6 oz. - - Rad. angelic., valerian, sylvest., fraxinell, seu dictamni - alb., serpentar. Virginianæ, Zedoariæ, tormentillæ bistort, - Aristoloch. long., Aristoloch. rotund., gentianæ, imperatoriæ, - ana 1½ oz. - -These were to be cut up or crushed, and a tincture made from them with -rectified spirit. The tincture was to be evaporated in a sand-bath, -the expressed magma was then to be burned, and the ashes, lixiviated in -water, were to be added to the extract. - -Then the following powders were to be added to this liquid to form -a confection:--Bezoar stone, Eastern and western, of each 1½ oz.; -Eastern pearls, 2 oz.; red coral, 3 oz.; Eastern Bole, Terra Sigillata, -calcined hartshorn, ambergris, of each 1 oz.; musk, 1½ drachms; -powdered sugar, 2 lb. - -In the P.L. 1746 Confectio Raleighana appears as Confectio Cardiaca. -It is expressly stated that this new name is substituted for the old -one. The formula is simplified, but the resemblance to the original can -be traced. It runs thus:--Summitatum Rorismar, recent., Bacc, Junip., -ana lb. i; Sem. card., min. decort., Zedoariæ, Croci. ana lb. ss. Make -a tincture with these with about 1½ gallons of diluted spirit, and -afterwards reduce it to 2½ lb. by evaporating at a gentle heat; then -add the following, all in the finest powder:--Compound powder of crabs’ -shells, 16 oz. This was prepared powder of crab shells, 1 lb.; pearls -and red coral, of each 3 oz.; cinnamon and nutmegs, of each 2 oz.; -cloves, 1 oz.; sugar, 2 lb. To make a confection. - -In the P.L. 1788 the compound is still further simplified, and -acquires the name of Confectio Aromatica. The index of that work gives -“Confectio Aromatica vice Confectio Cardiaca.” The formula now runs -thus:--Zedoaria, coarsely powdered, saffron, of each, ½ lb.; water, 3 -lb. Macerate for 24 hours, express and strain. Evaporate the strained -liquor to 1½ lb., and add the following, all in fine powder:--compound -powder of crabs’ shells, 16 oz.; cinnamon, nutmeg, of each 2 oz.; -cloves, 8 oz.; cardamom seeds, ½ oz.; sugar, 2 lb. Make a confection. - -In the 1809 P.L. the zedoary is abandoned, the quantity of saffron is -reduced to 2 ounces, the pulv. chelis cancrorum co. is described as -testarum præp., and there is no maceration of any of the ingredients. -The powders are simply mixed, and the water added little by little -until the proper consistence is attained. - -This formula is retained in the Pharmacopœias of 1824 and 1836, but -in that of 1851 the powdered shells became prepared chalk. In the -Edinburgh Pharmacopœia of 1841, and in that of Dublin of 1850, the -confection was made from aromatic powders of similar composition, made -into confections in P.E. with syrup of orange peel, and in P.D. with -simple syrup and clarified honey. All that remains of this historic -remedy is Pulvis Cretæ Aromaticus B.P., and from this the saffron has -been entirely removed. - -Raleigh’s Cordial occasionally turns up in histories. In Aubrey’s -“Brief Lives,” it is stated that “Sir Walter Raleigh was a great -chymist, and amongst some MSS. receipts I have seen some secrets from -him. He made an excellent cordiall, good in feavers. Mr. Robert Boyle -has the recipe and does great cures by it.” - -In Strickland’s “Lives of the Queens of England” (Vol. VIII, p. 122) we -are told that, according to the newspapers of the day, William III, in -his last illness was kept alive all through his last night by the use -of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Cordial. - -In Lord John Hervey’s “Memoirs of the Reign of George II” (Vol. III, p. -294), the details of the last illness of Queen Caroline, who died in -1737, are narrated. Snake root and Sir Walter Raleigh’s Cordial were -prescribed for her. As the latter took some time to prepare, Ransby, -house surgeon to the King, said one cordial was as good as another, -and gave her Usquebaugh. She, however, took the other mixture when it -came. Afterwards Daffy’s Elixir and mint water were administered. - - - TAR WATER AS A PANACEA. - -George Berkeley was born in 1685 in Kilkenny county, Ireland, but -claimed to be of English extraction. He graduated at Trinity College, -Dublin, and became a Fellow of that College. His metaphysical -speculations made him famous. He was the originator of the view that -the actual existence of matter was not capable of proof. Having been -appointed Dean of Derry he was well provided for, but just then he -became enthusiastically desirous to convert and civilise the North -American Indians. With this object in view he proposed to establish -a University at Bermuda to train students for the work. He got some -college friends to join him, collected about £5,000 from wealthy -supporters, and after long negotiations persuaded the House of Commons -to recommend George I. to grant him a contribution of £20,000 which -never came. It was during that time that he learned of the medicinal -efficacy of tar water from some of the Indian tribes whom he visited. -Some time after his return he was made Bishop of Cloyne, and worked -indefatigably in his diocese. A terrible winter in 1739-40 caused -great distress and was followed by an epidemic of small-pox. It was -then that the Bishop remembered his American experiences. He gave tar -water as a remedy and tar water as a prophylactic, with the result, -as he reported, that those who took the disease had it very mildly if -they had taken tar water. Convinced of its value he gave it in other -illnesses with such success that with characteristic enthusiasm he -came to believe that he had discovered a panacea. Some reports of this -treatment had been published in certain magazines, but in the spring -of 1744 a little book by the Bishop appeared giving a full account of -his experiences. It was entitled “A Chain of Philosophical Reflections -and Enquiries concerning the virtues of Tar Water, and divers other -subjects connected together and arising one from another.” The treatise -was eagerly read and discussed both in Ireland and England. A second -edition was required in a few weeks, and to this the author gave the -short title “Siris” (Greek for chain). - - [Illustration: BERKELEY. - - (From the British Museum.) -] - -The Bishop’s theory was an attractive one. The pine trees he argued, -had accumulated from the sunlight and the air a large proportion of the -vital element of the universe, and condensed it in the tar which they -yielded. The vital element could be drawn off by water and conveyed to -the human organism. - -It is not necessary here to follow out his chain of reasoning from -the vital element in tar up to the Supreme Mind from which that vital -principle emanated. On the way the author quoted freely and effectively -from Plato and Pythagoras, from Theophrastus and Pliny, from Boerhaave -and Boyle, and from many other authorities. He showed how the balsams -and resins of the ancient world were of the same nature as tar. Van -Helmont said, “Whoever can make myrrh soluble by the human body has the -secret of prolonging his days,” and Boerhaave had recognised that there -was truth in this remark on account of the anti-putrefactive power of -the myrrh. This was the power which tar possessed in so large a degree. -Homberg had made gold by introducing the vital element in the form of -light into the pores of mercury. The process was too expensive to make -the production of gold by this means profitable, but the fact showed an -analogy with the concentration of the same element in the tar. - -Berkeley’s process for making the tar water was simply to pour 1 gallon -of cold water on a quart of tar; stir it with a wooden ladle for five -or six minutes, and then set the vessel aside for three days and -nights to let the tar subside. The water was then to be drawn off and -kept in well-stoppered bottles. Ordinarily half a pint might be taken -fasting morning and night, but to cure disease much larger doses might -be given. It had proved of extraordinary value not only in small-pox, -but also in eruptions and ulcers, ulceration of the bowels and of the -lungs, consumptive cough, pleurisy, dropsy, and gravel. It greatly -aided digestion, and consequently prevented gout. It was a remedy in -all inflammatory disorders and fevers. It was a cordial which cheered, -warmed, and comforted, with no injurious effects. - -The nation went wild over this discovery. “The Bishop of Cloyne has -made tar water as fashionable as Vauxhall or Ranelagh,” wrote Duncombe. - -The Bishop’s book was translated into most of the European languages, -and tar water attained some degree of popularity on the Continent. -It owed no little of its success in this country to the opposition -it met with from medical writers. The public at once concluded that -they were very anxious about their “kitchen prospects,” to use the -symbolism of Paracelsus. Every attack on tar water called forth several -replies. Berkeley himself responded to some of the criticisms by very -poor verses, which he got a friend to send to the journals with strict -injunctions to keep his name secret. - -Paris in “Pharmacologia” refers to the tar water mania, asking “What -but the spell of authority could have inspired a general belief that -the sooty washings of rosin would act as a universal remedy?” It need -hardly be pointed out that the general belief was rather a revolt -against authority than an acceptance of it. - -Dr. Young, the author of “Night Thoughts,” wrote: “They who have -experienced the wonderful effects of tar water reveal its excellences -to others. I say reveal, because they are beyond what any can -conceive by reason or natural light. But others disbelieve them -though the revelation is attested past all scruple, because to them -such excellences are incomprehensible. Now give me leave to say that -this infidelity may possibly be as fatal to morbid bodies as other -infidelity is to morbid souls. I say this in honest zeal for your -welfare. I am confident if you persist you’ll be greatly benefited by -it. In old obstinate, chronical complaints, it probably will not show -its virtue under three months; though secretly it is doing good all the -time.” - - - KINGS BUY SECRET REMEDIES. - -In past times it was not unusual for monarchs to purchase from the -inventors of panaceas the secrets of their composition for publication -for the benefit of their subjects. Several instances are mentioned in -other chapters of this book. Among these may be noted Goddard’s Drops, -bought by Charles II., Glauber’s Kermes Mineral or Poudre des Chartres, -Talbor’s Tincture of Bark, and Helvetius’s Ipecacuanha, the secrets of -which were obtained by Louis XIV for fancy prices. In Louis XIV’s reign -the French Government purchased from the Prieur de Cabrier an arcanum -to cure rupture without bandages or operations. The recipe, which was -made public, was that a few drops of spirit of salt were to be taken -in red wine frequently during the day. Mr. Stephens’s Cure for the -Stone was transferred to the public by a payment authorised by Act of -Parliament. - -The Emperor Joseph II of Austria paid 1,500 florins somewhere about -the year 1785 for the formula for a secret febrifuge which was at that -time enjoying extreme popularity. It proved to be simply an alcoholic -tincture of box bark (_Buxus sempervirens_). The remedy lost its -prestige as soon as the secret was gone. - - - _Nouffer’s Tapeworm Cure._ - -Louis XVI gave 18,000 livres (about £700) to a Madame Nouffer or -Nuffer for a noted cure for tapeworm, which she had inherited from her -deceased husband. As the result of the king’s purchase, a little book -was published in 1775 explaining fully the treatment. - -Nouffer was a surgeon living at Morat, in Switzerland. He had practised -his special worm cure treatment for many years, and by it he had -acquired a considerable local fame. After his death his widow, who -knew all about the secret, continued to receive patients. Among those -who came to her was a Russian, Prince Baryantinski, who was staying in -the neighbourhood and had heard of the cure. He had been troubled for -years with tapeworm, and Madame Nouffer’s remedy cured him. The Prince -reported the facts to his regular physician at Paris, and consequently -cases were sent from that city to the Swiss lady. She was so successful -that the king was induced to give her the sum named for the revelation -of her method, which was briefly as follows:-- - -For a day or two the patient was fed on buttered toast only. Meanwhile -enemas of mallow and marshmallow with a little salt and olive oil were -administered. Then, early in the morning, 3 drachms of powder of male -fern in a teacupful of water was taken. Candied lemon was chewed after -the dose to relieve the nauseousness, and the mouth was washed out with -an aromatic water. If the patient vomited the medicine another dose -was given. Two hours after the male fern a bolus containing 12 grains -each of calomel and resin of scammony, with 5 grains of gamboge, and -with confection of hyacinth as the excipient, had to be taken. A cup -of warm tea was recommended shortly after the bolus. The doses quoted -were regarded as average ones. They might be modified according to the -strength of the patient. Generally the treatment narrated sufficed to -expel the worm. If it did not, the whole proceeding was repeated. - -Male fern was a remedy mentioned by Dioscorides and other ancient -writers, but it had been forgotten for centuries until Madame Nouffer’s -system brought it to the recollection of medical practitioners. It -again fell out of use, but a French physician named Jobert revived its -popularity in 1869. He was assisted in the preparation of the remedy by -Mr. Hepp, pharmacien of the Civil Hospital of Strasburg. - - - _Bestucheff’s Tincture and La Mothe’s Golden Drops._ - -Alexis Petrovitch Bestoujeff-Rumine, commonly called Count von -Bestoujeff or Bestucheff, was in the service of the Elector George of -Hanover when that Prince was called to reign over Great Britain. He -thereupon became George’s ambassador at St. Petersburg. On the death -of Peter the Great Bestucheff withdrew from the British diplomatic -service, and commenced a varied and stormy political career, under the -three Empresses Anna, Elizabeth, and Catherine II, who, with brief -intervals, succeeded each other on the Russian throne. He was Foreign -Minister under the first, Grand Chancellor and then a disgraced exile -under the second, recalled and highly honoured by Catherine. During his -banishment he interested himself in a remedy which became enormously -popular at that epoch, known in France as the Golden Drops of General -La Mothe, and in Germany and Russia as Bestucheff’s Tincture. La Mothe -had been in the service of Leopold Ragotzky, Prince of Transylvania, -but retiring from the Army he went to live at Paris and took these -golden drops with him. They were a tincture of perchloride of iron -with spirit of ether, but the public believed them to be a solution of -gold. They were recommended as a marvellous restorative medicine, and -sold (in Paris) at 25 livres (nearly £1) for the half-ounce bottle. -So famous were they that Louis XV sent 200 bottles to the Pope as a -particularly precious gift. Subsequently Louis gave La Mothe a pension -of 4,000 livres a year for the right of making the drops for his Hotel -des Invalides, La Mothe and his widow after him retaining the right to -sell to the public. - -Bestucheff sold his recipe to the Empress Catherine for 3,000 roubles, -and by her orders it was passed on to the College of Medicine of St. -Petersburg, which published it under the title of the Tinctura Tonica -Nervina Bestucheffi. The formula at first published was chemically -absurd, but Klaproth corrected it, and the prestige of the quack -medicine was destroyed. But an ethereal tincture of perchloride of iron -was adopted in most of the Continental pharmacopœias. - -It is not clear whether Bestucheff and La Mothe were in association at -any time, but their preparations were similar if not identical. - -Under the rule of Napoleon I the French Government bought several -formulas of secret remedies for about £100 each. None of them either -had or has since acquired any popular reputation. The formulas were -published in the medical and pharmaceutical journals of the time. - - - - - XIII - - CHEMICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHARMACY - - - Chymistry. “An art whereby sensible bodies contained in - vessels, or capable of being contained therein, are so changed - by means of certain instruments, and principally fire, that - their several powers and virtues are thereby discovered, with - a view to philosophy or medicine.”--BOERHAAVE. Quoted - as a definition in Johnson’s Dictionary, 1755. - - - ACIDS, ALKALIES, AND SALTS. - -Under the above title almost the entire history of chemistry might -be easily comprehended. The gradual growth of definite meanings -attached to these terms has been coincident with the attainment of -accurate notions concerning the composition of bodies. To the ancient -philosophers sour wine, acetum vinæ, or acetum as it is still called, -was the only acid definitely known. When the alchemists became busy -trying to extract the virtue out of all substances they produced -several acids by distillation. These they called, for example, -spirit of vitriol, spirit of nitre, spirit of salt, meaning our -sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids respectively. They regarded -everything obtained by distillation as a spirit. When the theorists -came forward, Becher, Stahl, and their followers, they treated these -acids as original constituents of the substances from which they were -obtained. Thus, when sulphur was burned phlogiston was set free, and -acid remained. Lavoisier believed that the acidifying principle had -been discovered in oxygen, and it was on this theory that he gave that -element its name. But this idea broke down when Davy proved that there -was no oxygen in the so-called muriatic, or oxy-muriatic acid. It was -the subsequent recognition of the law of substitution which made it -clear that the acids are, in fact, salts of hydrogen or of some metal -substituted for the hydrogen. - -The history of alkalies is as varied as is that of acids. The -distinction between caustic alkalies and mild alkalies was a problem as -far back as Dioscorides. By burning limestone caustic lime is produced. -It was not an unreasonable presumption that the fire had created this -causticity, and this theory was held with regard to all the alkalies -until it was proved by Joseph Black, in 1756, that the caustic alkali -was the result of a gas, fixed air, he named it, being driven off from -the mild alkali. - -The ancient Jews prepared what they called Borith (translated “soap” -in Jeremiah, ii, 22, and Malachi, iii, 2) by filtering water through -vegetable ashes. Borith was therefore an impure carbonate of potash. -It is probable that the salt-wort was generally employed for this -purpose, and some of the old versions of the Old Testament give the -herb “Borith” as the proper sense of the passages referred to above. -In any case the alkaline solution produced from vegetable ashes was -used for bleaching and cleansing purposes. The Roman “lixivium” was -similarly prepared, and the process is still followed in some countries -where there are dense forests. The Arabic word “al-kali” was apparently -applied to the product from the word “qaly,” which meant “to roast.” -The earliest known use of the term is, however, found in the works -of Albertus Magnus, early in the thirteenth century. A process of -making caustic potash by filtering water through vegetable ashes with -quicklime is described in the works attributed to Geber, but this -is in a treatise now known to have been written in the thirteenth -or fourteenth century. It was only in 1736 that the three alkalies, -soda, potash, and ammonia, were definitely distinguished by Duhamel as -mineral, vegetable, and animal or volatile alkalies. - -A formula for a solution of caustic potash was given in the P.L., -1746, under the title of Lixivium Saponarium. Equal parts of Russian -potashes and quicklime were mixed, wetted until the lime was slaked, -water afterwards added freely, and after agitation the solution poured -off. This was ten years before Black’s classic investigation already -referred to. Before Black, and for some time afterwards, there were -several theories in explanation of the action of the lime on the -potashes. The lime had been tamed, but the potash had become more -virulent. One popular suggestion was that the lime had withdrawn a -kind of mucilage from the potashes; another that it had the effect -of developing the power of the potashes by a mechanical process of -comminution. A German chemist named Meyer, who vigorously opposed -Black’s conclusions, maintained that the lime contained a certain -Acidum Causticum or Acidum Pingue, which potashes extracted from it. - -In the P.L., 1788, the process was altered by increasing the proportion -of the lime, and the product was described as Aqua Kali Puri. -Subsequently the proportion of the lime employed was reduced. - -The word “salt” is traced back to the Greek “hals,” the sea, from which -was formed the adjective “salos,” fluctuating (like the waves), and -subsequently the Latin “sal.” Marine salt was therefore the original -salt, and salts in chemistry were substances more or less resembling -sea-salt. Generally, the term was limited to solids which had a taste -and were soluble in water, but the notion was developed that salt was -a constituent of everything, and this salt was extracted, and was -liable to get a new name each time. Salt of wormwood, for instance, is -one of the names which has survived as a synonym for salt of tartar, -or carbonate of potash. Paracelsus insisted that all the metals were -composed of salt, sulphur, and mercury, but these substances were -idealised in his jargon and corresponded with the body, soul, and -spirit, respectively. - -Lavoisier was the first chemist who sought to define salts -scientifically. He regarded them as a combination of an acid with a -basic oxide. But when the true nature of chlorine was discovered it was -found that this definition would exclude salt itself. This led to the -adoption of the terms “haloid” and “amphide” salts, the former being -compounds of two elements (now the combination of chlorine, bromine, -iodine, cyanogen, or fluorine with a metal), and the latter being -compounds of two oxides. The names were invented by Berzelius. Since -then salts have been the subjects of various modern theories, electric -and other, but they are always substances in which hydrogen or a metal -substituted for it is combined with a radical. In a wide sense the -acids are also salts. - - - ALCOHOL. - -Al-koh’l was an Arabic word indicating the sulphide of antimony so -generally used by Eastern women to darken their eyebrows, eyelashes, -and the eyes themselves. Similar words are found in other ancient -languages. Cohal in Chaldee is related to the Hebrew kakhal used in -Ezekiel, xxiii, 40, in the sense of to paint or stain. The primary -meaning of alcohol therefore is a stain. Being used especially in -reference to the finely levigated sulphide of antimony, the meaning -was gradually extended to other impalpable powders, and in alchemical -writings the alcohol of Mars, a reduced iron, the alcohol of sulphur, -flowers of brimstone, and similar expressions are common. As late as -1773 Baumé, in his “Chymie Experimentale,” gives “powders of the finest -tenuity” as the first definition, and “spirit of wine rectified to -the utmost degree” as the second explanation of the term alcohol. As -certain of the finest powders were obtained by sublimation the transfer -of the word to a fluid produced by a similar method is intelligible, -and thus came the alcohol of wine, which has supplanted all the other -alcohols. - -Distillation is a very ancient process. Evidence exists of its use -by the Chinese in the most remote period of their history, and -possibly they distilled wine. But so far as can be traced spirit was -not produced from wine previous to the thirteenth century. Berthelot -investigated some alleged early references to it and came to the -conclusion indicated. Aristotle alludes to the possibility of rendering -sea water potable by vaporising it, and he also notes elsewhere that -wine gives off an exhalation which emits a flame. Theophrastus mentions -that wine poured on a fire as in libations can produce a flame. Pliny -indicates a particular locality which produced a wine of Falerno, -which was the only wine that could be inflamed by contact with fire. -At Alexandria, in the first century of the Christian era, condensing -apparatus was invented, and descriptions of the apparatus used are -known, but no allusion to the distillation of wine occurs in any -existing reference to the chemistry of that period. Rhazes, who died in -A.D. 925, is alleged to have mentioned a spirit distilled from -wine, but Berthelot shows that this is a misunderstanding of a passage -relating to false or artificial wines. - -Water distilled from roses is mentioned by Nicander, about 140 B.C., -and the same author employs the term ambix for the pot or apparatus -from which this water was obtained. The Arabs adopted this word, and -prefixing to it their article, al, made it into alembic. This in -English appeared for some centuries in the abbreviated form of limbeck. -The Greek ambix was a cup-shaped vessel which was set on or in a fire, -as a crucible was used. - -Pissaeleum was a peculiar form of distillation practised by the Romans. -It was an oil of pitch made by hanging a fleece of wool over a vessel -in which pitch was being boiled. The vapour which collected was pressed -out and used. - -Distilled waters from roses and aromatic herbs figured prominently -in the pharmacy of the Arabs, and Geber, perhaps in the eighth -century, describes the process, and may have used it for other than -pharmaceutical purposes. Avicenna likens the body of man to a still, -the stomach being the kettle, the head the cap, and the nostrils the -cooling tube from which the distillate drips. - -M. Berthelot gives the following from the Book of Fires of Marcus -Grecas, which he says could not be earlier than 1300, as the first -definite indication of a method of producing what was called aqua -ardens. “Take a black wine, thick and old. To ¼ lb. of this add 2 -scruples of sulphur vivum in very fine powder, and 2 scruples of common -salt in coarse fragments, and 1 or 2 lbs. of tartar extracted from a -good white wine. Place all in a copper alembic and distil off the aqua -ardens.” The addition of the salt and sulphur, M. Berthelot explains, -was to counteract the supposed humidity. - -Albucasis, a Spanish Arab of the eleventh century, is supposed from -some obscure expressions in his writings to have known how to make a -spirit from wine; but Arnold of Villa Nova, who wrote in the latter -part of the thirteenth century, is the first explicitly to refer to it. -He does not intimate that he had discovered it himself, but he appears -to treat it as something comparatively new. Aqua vini is what he calls -it, but some name it, he says, aqua vitæ, or water which preserves -itself always, and golden water. It is well called water of life, he -says, because it strengthens the body and prolongs life. He distilled -herbs with it such as rosemary and sage, and highly commended the -medicinal virtue of these tinctures. - -It is worth remarking that when Henry II invaded and conquered Ireland -in the twelfth century the inhabitants were making and drinking a -product which they termed uisge-beatha, now abbreviated into whisky, -the exact meaning of the name being water of life. - -Raymond Lully, who acquired much of his chemical lore from Arnold of -Villa Nova, was even more enthusiastic in praise of the aqua vitæ than -his teacher. “The taste of it exceedeth all other tastes, and the -smell all other smells,” he wrote. Elsewhere he describes it as “of -marveylous use and commoditie a little before the joyning of battle to -styre and encourage the soldiers’ minds.” He believed it to be the -panacea so long sought, and regarded its discovery as evidence that -the end of the world was near. The process for making the aqua vitæ as -described by Lully was to digest limpid and well-flavoured red or white -wine for twenty days in a closed vessel in fermenting horse-dung. It -was then to be distilled drop by drop from a gentle fire in a sand-bath. - -The chemical constitution of alcohol was speculated upon rather -wildly by the chemists who experimented on it before Lavoisier. -It was held to be a combination of phlogiston with water, but -the phlogiston-philosophers disagreed on the question whether it -contained an oil. Stahl, however, later supported by Macquer, found -that an oil was actually separated from it if mixed with water and -allowed to evaporate slowly in the open air, after treating it with -an acid. Lavoisier, in 1781, carefully analysed spirit of wine and -found that 1 lb. yielded 4 oz. 4 drms. 37½ grains of carbon, 1 oz. 2 -drms. 5½ grains of inflammable gas (hydrogen), and 10 oz. 1 drm. 29 -grains of water. It was de Saussure who later, following Lavoisier’s -methods of investigation, but with an absolute alcohol which had -been recently produced by Lowitz, a Russian chemist, showed that -oxygen was a constituent of alcohol. Berthelot succeeded in making -alcohol synthetically in 1854. His process was to shake olefiant -gas (C_{2}H_{4}) vigorously with sulphuric acid, dilute the mixture -with eight to ten parts of water, and distil. Meldola, however (“The -Chemical Synthesis of Vital Products,” 1904), insists that an English -chemist, Henry Hennell, anticipated Berthelot in this discovery. - - - ALUM. - -Alum is a substance which considerably mystified the ancient chemists, -who knew the salt but did not understand its composition. Ancient -writers like Pliny and Dioscorides were acquainted with a product which -the former called alumen and which is evidently the same as had been -described by Dioscorides under the name of Stypteria. Pliny says there -were several varieties of this mineral used in dyeing, and it is clear -from his account that his alumen was sometimes sulphate of iron and -sometimes a mixture of sulphate of iron with an aluminous earth. It is -the fact that where the various vitriols are found they are generally -associated with aluminous earth. - -Alum as we know it was first prepared in the East and used for dyeing -purposes. Alum works were in existence some time subsequent to the -twelfth century at a place named Rocca in Syria, which may have been a -town of that name on the Euphrates, or more probably was Edessa, which -was originally known as Roccha. It has been supposed that it was the -manufacture of alum at this place which bequeathed to us the name of -Rock or Rocha alum, but the Historical English Dictionary says this -derivation is “evidently unfounded.” - -The alchemists were familiar with alum and knew it to be a combination -of sulphuric acid with an unknown earth. Van Helmont was the first to -employ alum as a styptic in uterine hæmorrhage, and Helvetius made a -great reputation for a styptic he recommended for similar cases. His -pills were composed of alum 10 parts, dragon’s blood 3 parts, honey -of roses q.s., made into 4 grain pills, of which six were to be taken -daily. Alum and nutmeg equal parts were given in agues. Paris says the -addition of nutmeg to alum corrects its tendency to disturb the bowels. -It has also been advocated in cancer and typhoid, but these internal -uses have been generally abandoned. Spirit of Alum is occasionally met -with in alchemical writings. It was water charged with sulphuric acid -obtained by the distillation of alum over a naked fire. - -Until the fifteenth century the only alum factories from which Europe -was supplied were at Constantinople, Smyrna, and Trebizonde. Beckman -relates that an alum factory was founded in the Isle of Ischia, on -the coast of Tuscany, by a Genoese merchant named Bartholomew Perdix, -who had learnt the art at Rocca. Very soon afterwards John de Castro, -a Paduan who had been engaged in cloth dyeing at Constantinople but -had lost all his property when that city was captured by Mahomet II -in 1453, was appointed to an office in the Treasury of the Apostolic -Chamber, and in the course of his duties found what he believed to be -an aluminous rock at Tolfa, near Civita Vecchia. He asked the Pope, -Pius II, to allow him to experiment, but it was some years before the -necessary permission was granted. When at last the truth of Castro’s -surmise was established the Pope was greatly interested. He looked -upon the discovery as a great Christian victory over the Turks, and -handsomely rewarded de Castro, to whom, besides, a monument was erected -in Padua inscribed “Joanni de Castro, Aluminis inventor.” The factory -brought in a splendid revenue to the Apostolic exchequer, and the Pope -did his utmost to retain the monopoly, for when in consequence of -the extravagant prices to which the Tolfa alum was raised merchants -began again to buy the Eastern product his Holiness issued a decree -prohibiting Christians from purchasing from the infidels under pain -of excommunication. Later, when, in Charles I’s reign, Sir Thomas -Challoner discovered an aluminous deposit near his home at Guisborough -in Yorkshire, and persuaded some of the Pope’s workmen to come there to -work the schist, he and those whom he had tempted away were solemnly -and most vigorously “cursed.” - -Meanwhile the nature of the earth with which the sulphuric acid was -combined remained unknown to chemists. Stahl worked at the problem and -came to the conclusion that it was lime. The younger Geoffroy, a famous -pharmacist of Paris, ascertained (1728) that the earth of alum was -identical with that of argillaceous earth and Alumina was for some time -called Argile. Marggraf observed that he could not get alum crystals -from a combination of argile and sulphuric acid, but noting that in -the old factories it had been the custom to add putrid urine to the -solution, for which carbonate of potash was subsequently substituted, -went so far as to make the salt, but did not appreciate that it was -actually a double salt. The name alumina which the earth now bears -was given to it by Morveau. It was Vauquelin (another pharmacist) who -clearly proved the composition of alum, and Lavoisier first suggested -that alumina was the oxide of a metal. Sir Humphry Davy agreed with -this view but failed to isolate the metal. Oersted was the first to -actually extract aluminium from the oxide, but his process was an -impracticable one, but in 1828 Woehler, and in 1858 Deville, found -means of producing the metal in sufficient abundance to make it a -valuable article of industry. - - - AMMONIA. - -The chemical history of ammonia commences in Egypt with Sal -Ammoniac. This is mentioned by Pliny under the name of Hammoniacus -sal. Dioscorides also alludes to it; but in neither case does the -description given fit in satisfactorily with the product known to us. -Dioscorides, for instance, states that sal ammoniac is particularly -prized if it can lie easily split up into rectangular fragments. It -has been conjectured that what was called sal ammoniac by the ancient -writers was, at least sometimes, rock salt. - -The name is generally supposed to have been derived from that of the -Egyptian deity, Amn or Amen, or Ammon as the Greeks called him, and -in the belief that he was the same god as Jupiter he is referred to -in classical literature as Zeus-Ammon or Jupiter-Ammon. The principal -temple of this god was situated in an oasis of the Libyan desert which -was then known as Ammonia (now Siwah), and if, as is supposed, the -salt was found or produced in that locality its name is thus accounted -for. Gum ammoniacum was likewise so called in the belief that it was -obtained in that district, though the gum with which we are familiar -and which comes from India and Persia, is quite a different article -from the African gum the name of which it has usurped. Pliny derives -the name of the salt from the Greek “ammos,” sand, as it was found in -the sand of the desert; an explanation which overlooks the fact that -the stuff was called by a similar name in a country where the sand was -not called ammos. In old Latin, French, and English writings “armoniac” -is often met with. This was not inaccurate spelling; it was suggested -by the opinion that the word was connected with Greek, armonia, a -fastening or joining, from the use of sal ammoniac in soldering metals. - -That Pliny did sometimes meet with the genuine sal ammoniac is -conjectured by his allusion to the “vehement odour” arising when lime -was mixed with natrum. Probably this natrum was sal ammoniac. Among the -Arabs the term sal ammoniac often means rock salt; but in the writings -attributed to Geber, some of which may be as late as the twelfth or -thirteenth century, our sal ammoniac is distinctly described. It is -also exactly described by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century, -who mentions an artificial as well as a natural product, but does not -indicate how the former was made. From this time sal ammoniac became -a common and much-prized substance in alchemical investigations, as -from it chlorides were obtained. The “volatile spirit of sal ammoniac” -was made by distilling a solution of sal ammoniac with quicklime, and -of course the same product was obtained in other ways, especially -by distilling harts’ horns, and this was always regarded as having -peculiarly valuable properties. A “sal ammoniacum fixum” was known to -the alchemists of the fifteenth century. It was obtained as a residue -after sal ammoniac and quicklime had been sublimed. It was simply -chloride of calcium. - -The so-called natural sal ammoniac was for centuries brought from -Egypt, and was supposed to have been mined in the earth or sand of -that country. In 1716 the younger Geoffroy came to the conclusion -that it must be a product of sublimation, and he read a paper to the -French Academy giving his reasons for this opinion. Homberg and Lemery -opposed this view with so much bitterness, however, that the paper was -not printed. In 1719 M. Lemaire, French Consul at Cairo, sent to the -Academy an account of the method by which sal ammoniac was produced in -Egypt, and this report definitely confirmed the opinion which Geoffroy -had formed. It was, said M. Lemaire, simply a salt sublimed from soot. -The fuel used in Egypt was exclusively the dung of camels and other -animals which had been dried by the sun. It consisted largely of -sal ammoniac, and this was retained in the soot. For a long time an -artificial sal ammoniac had been manufactured at Venice, and a commoner -sort also came from Holland. These were reputed to be made from human -or animal urine. The manufacture of sal ammoniac was commenced in -London early in the eighteenth century by a Mr. Goodwin. - -A formula for Sal Ammoniacum Factitium in Quincy’s Dispensatory (1724) -is as follows:--Take of Urine lb. x.; of Sea-salt lb. ii.; of Wood soot -lb. i.; boil these together in a mass, then put them in a subliming -pot with a proper head, and there will rise up what forms these cakes. -Dr. James (1764) states that at Newcastle one gallon of the bittern or -liquor which drains from common salt whilst making, was mixed with 3 -gallons of urine. The mixture was set aside for 48 hours to effervesce -and subside. Afterwards the clear liquor was drawn off and evaporated -in leaden vessels to crystallisation. The crystals were sublimed. A -sal ammoniacum volatile was made by subliming sal ammoniac and salt of -tartar (or lime or chalk) together. Sometimes some spices were put into -the retort. This salt was used for smelling-bottles. Aqua regia was -made by distilling sal ammoniac and saltpetre together. - -Sal Volatile Oleosum was introduced by Sylvius (de la Boe) about the -year 1650. It became a medicated stimulant of the utmost popularity, -and there were many formulas for it. One of the most famous was -Goddard’s Drop. (See page 319). - -Ammonia in gaseous form was first obtained by Priestley in 1774. -He called it alkaline air. Scheele soon after established that it -contained nitrogen and Berthollet proved its chemical composition in -1785. - - - SPIRITUS AMMONIÆ AROMATICUS - -was first inserted in the P.L. 1721, under the title of “Spiritus Salis -Volatilis Oleosus.” Cinnamon, mace, cloves, citron, sal ammoniac, and -salts of tartar were distilled with spirit of wine. In 1746 the process -was altered, sal ammoniac and fixed alkali being first distilled with -proof spirit to yield “spiritus salis anmioniaci dulcis,” to which -essential oils of lemon, nutmeg, and cloves were added, and the mixture -was then re-distilled. In 1788 the spirit became spiritus ammoniæ -compositus, and the redistillation when the oils had been added was -omitted. The name spiritus ammoniæ aromaticus was first adopted in the -P.L. 1809, and has been retained ever since, though the process of -making it has been frequently varied. That title was first given to it -in the Dublin Pharmacopœia of 1807. Spiritus Salinus Aromaticus was the -first title adopted in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. It was a preparation -similar to that of the P.L., but angelica, marjoram, galangal, anthos -flowers, orange, and lemon were additional flavours. - -Quincy (1724) credits Sylvius with the invention of this spirit, which -he refers to as “mightily now in use,” and as “a most noble cephalic -and cordial.” It had “almost excluded the use of spirit of hartshorn.” -This preparation, invented by Sylvius, was called the Carminative -Spirit of Sylvius. - -Mindererus’s Spirit, made from distilled vinegar and the volatile -spirit of hartshorn, is believed by many competent authorities to have -possessed virtues which are not contained in the modern liquor ammonii -acetati. The late Professor Redwood was one of these. He believed that -the old preparation contained a trace of cyanic ether. The new liquor, -he said, made from strong caustic solution of ammonia and strong acetic -acid, “is but the ghost of the old preparation. It is as unlike the -true Mindererus’s Spirit as a glass of vapid distilled water is unlike -the sparkling crystal water as it springs from a gushing fountain” -(_Pharm. Jnl._, Vol. V., N.S. p. 408). Mindererus was a physician of -Augsburg who died in 1621. It was Boerhaave in 1732 who advocated the -use of Mindererus’s Spirit and made it popular. - -Eau de Luce, which was official in the P.L. 1824, under the title of -Spiritus Ammoniæ Succinatus, was an ammonia compound which became -popular in France, and, in some degree all over Europe, about the -middle of the eighteenth century, and was apparently first sold for -removing grease from cloth and other fabrics. It is said that one of -the pupils of Bernard Jussieu, having been bitten by a viper, applied -some of the preparation, and was cured by it. It thence acquired a -medical fame, which it still retains. The P.L. formula ordered 3 -drachms of mastic, 4 minims of oil of amber, and 14 minims of oil of -lavender to be dissolved in 9 fluid drachms of rectified spirit, and -mixed with 10 fluid ounces of solution of ammonia. In some of the -Continental pharmacopœias a much larger proportion of oil of amber is -prescribed, and sometimes only that and spirit of ammonia. In some -soap is ordered. In the P.L., 1851, the oil of amber was omitted. -It has been recommended for external application in rheumatism and -paralysis. - -It has been generally asserted that this preparation was devised by a -pharmacist of Lille (some say of Amsterdam), of the name of Luce. It -is also asserted that a Paris pharmacist named Dubalen originated it, -and that he and his successor Juliot made it popular; that Luce of -Lille imitated it, but that not being able to get it purely white added -some copper and gave it a blue tint which came to be a mark of its -genuineness. Among the names applied to it have been Aqua Luccana, Aqua -Sancti Luciæ, Aqua Lucii, and Eau de Lusse. - - - BROMINE. - -Bromine, isolated by Balard in 1826, was named by the discoverer -Muride, from Muria, brine. Its actual name was suggested by Gay Lussac -from Bromos, a stench. - -Schultzenberger relates, on the authority of Stas, that some years -before the discovery of bromine by Balard, a bottle of nearly pure -bromine was sent to Liebig by a German company of manufacturers of -salt, with the request that he would examine it. Somewhat carelessly -the great chemist tested the product and assumed that it was chloride -of iodine. But he put away the bottle, probably with the intention of -investigating it more closely when he had more leisure. When he heard -of Balard’s discovery he turned to this bottle and realised what he had -missed. Schultzenberger says he kept it in a special cupboard labelled -“Cupboard of Mistakes,” and would sometimes show it to his friends as -an example of the danger of coming to a conclusion too promptly. - - - COLLODION. - -Pyroxylin was discovered by Schönbein in 1847, and the next year an -American medical student at Boston, Massachussets, described in the -American Journal of the Medical Sciences his experiments showing the -use that could be made of this substance in surgery when dissolved in -ether and alcohol. By painting it on a band of leather one inch wide -and attaching this to the hand, he caused the band to adhere so firmly -that it could not be detached by a weight of twenty pounds. - - - EPSOM SALTS. - -The medicinal value of the Epsom springs was discovered, it is -believed, towards the end of the sixteenth century, in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. According to a local tradition the particular spring -which became so famous was not used for any purpose until one very -dry summer, when the farmer on whose land it existed bethought him to -dig the ground round about the spring, so as to make a pond for his -cattle to drink from. Having done this he found that the animals would -not touch the water, and on tasting it himself he appreciated their -objection to it. The peculiar merits of the water becoming known, -certain London physicians sent patients to Epsom to drink it, and it -proved especially useful in the cases of some who suffered with old -ulcers. Apparently the sores were washed with it. The name of the -farmer who contributed this important item to medical history was Henry -Wicker or Wickes. - -In 1621 the owner of the estate where the spring had been found walled -in the well, and erected a shed for the convenience of the sick -visitors, who were then resorting to Epsom in increasing numbers. -By 1640 the Epsom Spa had become famous. The third Lord North, who -published a book called the Forest of Varieties in 1645, claimed to -have been the first to have made known the virtues of both the Epsom -and the Tonbridge waters to the King’s sick subjects, “the journey to -the German Spa being too expensive and inconvenient to sick persons, -and great sums of money being thereby carried out of the kingdom.” - -After the Restoration Epsom became a fashionable watering-place. Before -1700 a ball-room had been built, and a promenade laid out; a number of -new inns and boarding-houses had been opened; sedan-chairs and hackney -coaches crowded the streets; and sports and play of all kinds were -provided. Pepys mentions visits to Epsom more than once in his Diary, -and Charles II and some of his favourites were there occasionally. The -town reached its zenith of gaiety in the reign of Queen Anne, who with -her husband, Prince George of Denmark, frequently drove from Windsor to -Epsom to drink the waters. - -An apothecary living at Epsom in those times, and who had prospered -abundantly from the influx of visitors, is alleged to have done much to -check the hopeful prospects of the Surrey village. Much wanted more, -and Mr. Levingstern, the practitioner referred to, thought he saw his -way to a large fortune. He found another spring about half a mile from -the Old Wells, bought the land on which it was situated, built on it a -large assembly room for music, dancing, and gambling, and provided a -multitude of attractions, including games, fashion shops, and other -luxuries. At first he drew the crowds away from the Old Wells. But his -Epsom water did not give satisfaction. For some reason it brought the -remedial fame of the springs generally into disrepute. Then Levingstern -bought the lease of the Old Wells, and, unwisely it may be thought, -shut them up altogether. The glory of Epsom had departed, and though -several efforts were made subsequently to tempt society back to it, -they were invariably unsuccessful. The building at the Old Wells was -pulled down in 1802, and a private house built on the site. This house -is called The Wells, and the original well is still to be seen in the -garden. The very site of Mr. Levingstern’s “New Wells” is now doubtful. -He died in 1827. - -In 1695 Nehemiah Grew, physician, and secretary of the Royal Society, -wrote a treatise “On the Bitter Cathartic Salt in the Epsom Water.” -Dr. Grew names 1620 as about the date when the medicinal spring was -discovered at Epsom by a countryman, and he says that for about ten -years the countrypeople only used it to wash external ulcers. He -relates that it was Lord Dudley North, who apparently lived near by, -who first began to take it as a medicine. He had been in the habit -of visiting the German spas, as he “laboured under a melancholy -disposition.” He used it, we are told, with abundant success, and -regarded it as a medicine sent from heaven. Among those whom he induced -to take the Epsom waters were Maria de Medicis, the mother of the wife -of Charles I, Lord Goring, the Earl of Norwich, and many other persons -of quality. These having shown the way, the physicians of London began -to recommend the waters, and then, Dr. Grew tells us, the place got -crowded, as many as 2,000 persons having taken the water in a single -day. - - [Illustration: DR. NEHEMIAH GREW. - - Born, 1628; died, 1711. - - (From an engraving by R. White, from life.) - - Dr. Grew was for many years secretary of the Royal Society and - editor of the _Philosophical Transactions_. He was one of the - pioneers of the science of structural botany and author of - _The Anatomy of Plants_. -] - -It was Dr. Grew who first extracted the salt from the Epsom water, and -his treatise deals principally with that. He describes the effect of -adding all sorts of chemicals, oil of vitriol, salt of tartar, nitre, -galls, syrup of violets, and other substances to the solution; explains -how it differs from the sal mirabilis (sulphate of soda); and writes of -its delicate bitter taste as if he were commenting on a new wine. It -most resembles the crystals of silver, he says, in the similitude of -taste. - -As to the medicinal value of this salt Dr. Grew says it is free from -the malignant quality of most cathartics, never violently agitates the -humours, nor causes sickness, faintings, or pains in the bowels. He -recommends it for digestive disorders, heartburn, loss of appetite, -and colic; in hypochondriacal distemper, in stone, diabetes, jaundice, -vertigo, and (to quote the English translation) “in wandering gout, -vulgarly but erroneously called the rheumatism.” It will exterminate -worms in children in doses of 1½ to 2 drachms, if given after 1, 2, or -3 grains of mercurius dulcis, according to age. Epsom salts were not to -be given in dropsy, intermittent fevers, chlorosis, blood-spitting, to -paralytics, or to women with child. - -“I generally prescribe,” writes the doctor, “one, two, or three pints -of water, aromatised with a little mace, to which I add ½ oz. or 1 oz., -or a greater dose of the salt.” He gives a specimen prescription which -orders 1 oz. or 10 drachms of the salt in 2 quarts of spring water, -with 1 drachm of mace. This dose (2 quarts, remember) was to be taken -in the morning in the course of two hours, generally warm, and taking -a little exercise meanwhile. This was what was called an apozem. You -might add to the apozem, if thought desirable, 3 drachms of senna and -1½ oz. or 2 oz. of flaky manna. - -Mr. Francis Moult, Chymist, at the sign of the Glauber’s Head, Watling -Street, London, translated Dr. Grew’s treatise into English, and gave -a copy to buyers of the Bitter Purging Salts. Probably he was the -“furnace philosopher” referred to by Quincy (see below), though it is -difficult to see what there was to object to in his action. - -George and Francis Moult (the latter was, no doubt, the chymist who -kept the shop in Watling Street) in about the year 1700 found a more -abundant supply of the popular salt in a spring at Shooter’s Hill, -where it is recorded they boiled down as much as 200 barrels of the -water in a week, obtaining some 2 cwt. of salt from these. Some time -after, a Dr. Hoy discovered a new method of producing an artificial -salt which corresponded in all respects with the cathartic salts -obtained from Epsom water, and which by reason of the price soon drove -the latter out of the market, and caused the Shooter’s Hill works to -be closed. It was known that Hoy’s salt was made from sea water, and -at first it was alleged to be the sal mirabilis of Glauber, sulphate -of soda. But this was disproved, and experiments were carried on at -the salt works belonging to Lady Carrington at Portsmouth, and later -at Lymington, where the manufacture settled for many years, the source -being the residue after salt had been made, called the bittern--salts -of magnesium, in fact. This was the principal source of supply, though -it was made in many places and under various patents until in 1816 Dr. -Henry, of Manchester, took out a patent for the production of sulphate -of magnesia from dolomite. - -It should be mentioned that it was by the examination of Epsom salts -that Black was led to his epoch-making discovery of the distinction -between the alkaline earths, and also of fixed air, in 1754. - -In Quincy’s “Dispensatory” (1724), medicinal waters like those of Epsom -are described as Aquæ Aluminosæ. It is stated that there are many -in England, scarce a county without them. The principal ones about -London are at Epsom, Acton, Dulwich, and North-hall. They all “abound -with a salt of an aluminous and nitrous nature,” and “greatly deterge -the stomach and bowels.” But it is easy to take them too frequently, -so that “the salts will too much get into the blood, which by their -grossness will gradually be collected in the capillaries and glands to -obstruct them and occasion fevers.” After some more advice Quincy adds-- - - “It is difficult to pass this article without setting a mark - upon that abominable cheat which is now sold by the name - of Epsom waters. Dr. Grew, who was a most worthy physician - and an industrious experimenter, made trial how much salt - these waters would leave upon evaporation, and found that a - gallon left about two drams, or near, according to my best - remembrance, for I have not his writings by me. He likewise - found the salt thus procured answered the virtues of the water - in its cathartic qualities. Of this an account was given - before the Royal Society in a Latin dissertation. But the - avaricious craft of a certain furnace-philosopher could not - let this useful discovery in natural knowledge rest under the - improvement and proper use of persons of integrity; but he - pretended to make a great quantity for sale; and to recommend - his salt translated the Doctor’s Lecture into English to give - away as a quack-bill.” - -Quincy proceeds to tell us how other competitors came in, and how -the price was so reduced that what was first sold at one shilling an -ounce, and could not honestly be made under (Quincy apparently refers -to the salt made by evaporation), came down in a short time to thirty -shillings per hundredweight. - - - ETHER. - -The action of sulphuric acid on spirit of wine is alluded to in -the works of Raymond Lully in the thirteenth century, and in those -attributed to Basil Valentine, by whom the product is described as -“an agreeable essence and of good odour.” Valerius Cordus, in 1517, -described a liquor which he called Oleum Vitrioli Dulce in his -“Chemical Pharmacopœia.” This was intended to represent the Spiritus -Vitrioli Antepilepticus Paracelsi. It was prepared by distilling a -mixture of equal parts of sulphuric acid and spirit of wine, after this -mixture had been digested in hot ashes for two months. Probably the -product obtained by Cordus was what came to be called later the sweet -oil of wine, and not what we know as sulphuric ether. - -The first ether made for medicinal purposes was manufactured in the -laboratory directed by Robert Boyle, and it is said that he and Sir -Isaac Newton made some experiments with it at the time. A paper -describing his ether investigations was published by Newton in the -“Philosophical Transactions” for May, 1700. In 1700 a paper on ether -was published by Dr. Frobenius in the “Philosophical Transactions,” and -in the same publication in 1741 a further paper appeared giving the -process by which Frobenius had prepared his “Spiritus Vini Ethereus.” -Equal parts of oil of vitriol and highly rectified spirit of wine by -weight were distilled until a dense liquid began to pass; the retort -was then cooled, half the original weight of spirit was added, and -the distillation again renewed. This process was repeated as long as -ether was produced. Frobenius had been associated with Ambrose Godfrey -in Boyle’s laboratory, and Godfrey had been supplying ether for some -years, but he does not seem to have published his process. It was in -Frobenius’s first paper, published in 1730, that the name of ether was -first proposed for the product, which had been previously known as Aqua -Lulliana, Aqua Temperata, Oleum Dulce Paracelsi, and such-like fancy -titles. Frobenius, it was understood, was a _nom de plume_. Ambrose -Godfrey Hanckwitz, Boyle’s chemist, sharply criticised Frobenius’s -article, said it was a rhapsody in the style of the alchemists, and -that the experiments indicated had been already described by Boyle. -Godfrey was, in fact, at that time making and selling this interesting -substance. In France, the Duke of Orleans, a clever chemist, who was -suspected to have had some association with the famous poisonings of -his time, and whose laboratory was at the Abbaye Ste. Genevieve, was -the first to produce ether in quantities of a pint at a time. - -Hoffmann’s “Mineral Anodyne Liquor,” the original of our Spiritus -Ætheris Co., was a semi-secret preparation much prescribed by the -famous inventor. He said it was composed of the dulcified spirit of -vitriol and the aromatic oil which came over after it. But he did not -state in what proportion he mixed these, nor the exact process he -followed. - -The chemical nature of sulphuric ether was long in doubt. Macquer, who -considered that ether was alcohol deprived of its aqueous principle, -was the most accurate of the early investigators. Scheele held -that ether was dephlogisticated alcohol. Pelletier described it as -alcohol oxygenised at the expense of the sulphuric acid. De Saussure, -Gay-Lussac, and Liebig studied the substance, but it was Dumas and -Boullay in 1837, and Williamson in 1854, who cleared up the chemistry -of ethers. - -Ether is alcohol, two molecules deprived of H_{2}O [alcohol, -C_{2}H_{5}O HO; ether, (C_{2}H_{5})_{2}O]. Distilling spirit of wine -and sulphuric acid together, it seemed obvious that the sulphuric -acid should possess itself of the H_{2}O, and leave the ether. But on -this theory it was not possible to explain the invariable formation -of sulphovinic acid (a sulphate of ethyl) in the process, nor the -simultaneous distillation of water with the ether. Williamson proved -that the acid first combined with the alcohol molecule, setting -the water free, and that then an excess of alcohol decomposed the -sulphovinic acid thus formed into free sulphuric acid and ether, this -circuit proceeding continuously. - - - SPIRIT OF NITROUS ETHER. - -This popular medicine has been traced back to Raymond Lully in the -thirteenth century, and to Basil Valentine. But the doctor who brought -it into general use was Sylvius (de la Boe) of Leyden, for whom it was -sold as a lithontryptic at a very high price. It first appeared in -the P.L., 1746, as Spiritus Nitri dulcis. In English this was for a -long time called “dulcified spirit of nitre,” and in the form of sweet -spirit of nitre still remains on our labels. In the P.L., 1788, the -title was changed to Spiritus Ætheris nitrosi, and in that of 1809 to -Spiritus Ætheris nitrici. The process ordered in the first official -formula was to distil 6 oz. (apoth. weight) of nitric acid of 1·5 -specific gravity, with 32 fluid oz. of rectified spirit. Successive -reductions were made in the proportion and strength of the acid in the -pharmacopœias of 1809, 1824, and 1851, to 3½ fluid ounces of nitric -acid, sp. gr. 1·42, with 40 fluid ounces of rectified spirit, and a -product of 28 fluid ounces. The object of these several modifications -was to avoid the violent reaction which affected the nature of the -product. - - - ETHIOPS. - -Æthiops or Ethiops originally meant a negro or something black. The -word is alleged to have been derived from aithein, to burn, and ops, -the face, but this etymology was probably devised to fit the facts. -There is no historical evidence in its favour. Most likely the word -was a native African one of unknown meaning. It became a popular -pharmaceutical term two or three hundred years ago, but is now almost -obsolete, at least in this country. In France several mercurial -preparations are still known by the name of Ethiops. There are, for -instance, the Ethiops magnesium, the Ethiops saccharine, and the -Ethiops gommeux; combinations of mercury with magnesia, sugar, and gum -acacia respectively. These designations echo the mysteries of alchemy. - -Ethiops alone meant Ethiops Mineral. This was a combination of mercury -and sulphur, generally equal parts, rubbed together until all the -mercury was killed. It was a very uncertain preparation, but was -believed to be specially good for worms. “Infallible against the -itch,” says Quincy, 1724. Its chemical composition varied from a mere -mixture of the two substances to a mixture of sulphur and bisulphide -of mercury, according to the conditions in which it was kept. It was -formerly known as the hypnotic powder of Jacobi. - -Ethiops Martial was the black oxide of iron. It was a mixture of -protoxide and sesquioxide of iron. Lemery’s process was the one -usually recommended, but perhaps not always followed. It was to keep -iron filings always covered with water and frequently stirred for -several months until the oxide was a smooth black powder. Lemery’s -Crocus Martis was a similar preparation but contained more of the -sesquioxide. The Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopœias of 1826 ordered -simply scales of iron collected from a blacksmith’s anvil, purified by -applying a magnet, and reduced to a fine powder. This was a favourite -preparation of iron with Sydenham. Made into pills with extract of -wormwood, the Ethiops Martial constituted the pilula ferri of Swediaur. - -Ethiopic pills were similar to Plummer’s pills (pil. calomel. co.). -Guy’s ethiopic powder was once a well-known remedy for worms. It was -composed of equal parts of pure rasped tin, mercury, and sulphur. -Vegetable ethiops was the ashes of fucus vesiculosus which were -given in scrofulous complaints and in goitre before iodine was -discovered. The ashes contain a small proportion of iodine. Dr. Runel -(“Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water,” 1759) says it far exceeds -burnt sponge in virtue. - -Huxham recommended an Aethiops Antimoniale, composed of two parts of -sulphide of antimony and one part of flowers of sulphur. The older -Aethiops Antimoniale was a combination of antimony chloride with -mercury, and was given in venereal and scrofulous complaints. Mercury -with chalk was sometimes called absorbent ethiops, or alkalised ethiops. - - - IODINE - -was discovered by Bernard Courtois in 1811. Courtois, who was born at -Dijon in 1777, was apprenticed to a pharmacist at Auxerre named Fremy, -grandfather of the noted chemist of that name, and was afterwards -associated as assistant with Seguin, Thénard, and Fourcroy. He had -worked with the first-named of these in the isolation of the active -principle of opium, whereby Seguin so nearly secured the glory of -the discovery of the alkaloids. In 1811 Courtois was manufacturing -artificial nitre, and experimenting on the extraction of alkali from -seaweed. He had crystallised soda from some of the mother liquor until -it would yield no more crystals, and then he warmed the liquor in a -vessel to which a little sulphuric acid had been accidentally added. -He was surprised to see beautiful violet vapours disengaged, and from -these scales of a grayish-black colour and of metallic lustre were -deposited. - -Courtois was too busy at the time to follow up his discovery, but he -brought it to the notice of a chemist friend named Clement. The latter -presented a report of his experiments to the Academy of Sciences on -November 20th, 1813, two years after Courtois’s first observation. No -suggestion was made by Courtois or Clement of the new substance being -an element. - -This deduction became the occasion of an acrimonious dispute between -Gay-Lussac and Humphry Davy. The English chemist happened to be in -Paris (by special favour of Napoleon) at the time when Clement read -his paper. He immediately commenced experimenting, and was apparently -the first to suspect the elementary nature of iodine. His claim -was confirmed by a communication he made to Cuvier. But Gay-Lussac -forestalled his announcement in a paper he read at the Academy on -December 6th, 1813. Davy complained of the trick Gay-Lussac played him, -and Hofer, who investigated the circumstances, came to the conclusion -that Davy was certainly the first to recognise iodine as a simple -_body_, and to give it its name from the Greek, Ion, violet. Ion was -originally Fion, but had lost its initial. The Latin viola was derived -from the original word. - -Jean Francois Coindet, of Geneva (an Edinburgh graduate), suspected -that iodine was the active constituent of burnt sponge, which had long -been empirically employed in goitre and scrofula, and having proved -that this was the case, was the first physician to use iodine as a -remedy. The pharmaceutical forms and the medical uses of iodine have -been very numerous during the century which has almost elapsed since -its introduction, but it would be impossible even to detail them here. - -Iodoform was first prepared by Serullas about 1828, and its chemical -composition was elucidated by Dumas soon after. It was first used in -medicine by Bouchardat in 1836, and then dropped out of practice for -about twenty years, when it again appeared in French treatises, and its -use soon became general as an antiseptic application. - -Bernard Courtois was awarded 6,000 francs by the Academy of Sciences in -1832, but he died in Paris in 1838 in poverty. He had been ruined in -1815 by the competition of East Indian saltpetre with the artificial -nitre which he was manufacturing. In that year the prohibitive duty on -the native product was removed. When the Academy awarded 6,000 francs -to Courtois it also voted 3,000 francs to Coindet, who had so promptly -made medical use of Courtois’ discovery. - - - LITHIUM. - -Lithium, the oxide of which was discovered in 1807 by Arfwedson, was -first suggested as a remedy for gout by Dr. Ure in 1843. He based his -proposal on an observation by Lipowitz of the singular power of lithium -in dissolving uric acid. Dr. Garrod popularised the employment of the -carbonate of lithium in medicine. Most of the natural mineral waters -which had acquired a reputation in gouty affections have been found to -contain lithium. - - - MAGNESIA. - -The first use of carbonate of magnesia medicinally was in the form -of a secret medicine which must have acquired much popularity in the -beginning of the eighteenth century. It was prepared, says Bergmann, -by a regular canon at Rome, sold under the title of the powder of the -Count of Palma, and credited with almost universal virtues. The method -of preparation was rigidly concealed, but it evidently attracted the -attention of chemists and physicians, for it appears that in 1707 -Valentini published a process by which a similar product could be -obtained from the mother liquor of “nitre” (soda) by calcination. In -1709 Slevogt obtained a powder exactly resembling it by precipitating -magnesia from a solution of the sulphate by potash. Lancisi reported -on it in 1717, and in 1722 Hoffmann went near to explaining the -distinction between the several earthy salts, which in his time were -all regarded as calcareous. - -Hoffmann’s process to obtain the powder was to add a solution of -carbonate of potash to the mother liquor from which rough nitre had -been obtained (solution of chloride of magnesium), and collect the -precipitate. This being yielded by two clear solutions gave to the -carbonate of magnesia precipitated the name of Miraculum Chemicum. - -Magnesia was the name of a district in Thessaly, and of two cities in -Asia Minor. The Greek “magnesia lithos,” magnesian stone, has been -frequently applied to the lodestone, but this can hardly have been -correct, as the magnesian stone was described as white and shining -like silver. Liddell and Scott think talc was more probably the -substance. The alchemists sometimes mention a magnesia, but the name -seems to have been a very elastic one with them. The Historical English -Dictionary quotes the following reference to the word from “Norton Ord. -Alch.,” 1477:--“Another stone you must have ... a stone glittering -with perspicuitie ... the price of an ounce conveniently is Twenty -Shillings. Her name is Magnetia. Few people her knows.” - -Paracelsus uses the term in the sense of an amalgam. He writes of the -Magnesia of Gold. In Pomet’s “History of Drugs,” 1712, magnesia meant -manganese. Hoffmann, 1722, first applied the name to oxide of magnesia, -adapting it from the medical Latin term, magnes carneus, flesh magnet, -because it adheres so strongly to the lips, the fancy being that it -attracts the flesh as the lodestone attracts iron. - -Hoffmann’s observations on magnesia and its salts, which were published -in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, were very intelligent, -and undoubtedly it was he who first distinguished magnesia from chalk. -He says “A number of springs, among which I may mention Eger, Elster, -Schwalbach, and Wilding, contain a neutral salt which has not yet -received a name, and which is almost unknown. I have also found it -in the waters of Hornhausen which owe to this salt their aperient -and diuretic properties. Authors commonly call it nitre; but it has -nothing in common with nitre. It is not inflammable, its crystallising -form is entirely different, and it does not yield aqua fortis. It is a -neutral salt similar to the arcanum duplicatum (sulphate of potash), -bitter in taste, and producing on the tongue a sensation of cold.” -He further states that the salt in question appears to proceed from -the combination of sulphuric acid with a calcareous earth of alkaline -nature. The combination “is effected in the bosom of the earth.” In -another of his works Hoffmann distinguishes the magnesian salt from one -of lime, showing particularly that the latter was but slightly soluble -and had scarcely any taste. Crabs’ eyes and egg shells he notes combine -with sulphuric acid and form salts with no taste. The sulphate of this -earth (Epsom salt) he found had a strong bitter taste. - -The true character of magnesia and its salts was not clearly understood -until Joseph Black unravelled the complications of the alkaline salts -by his historic investigation, which became one of the most noted -epochs of chemistry by its incidental revelation of the combination of -the caustic alkalies with what Black termed “fixed air,” subsequently -named carbonic acid gas by Lavoisier in 1784. When Black was studying -medicine at Edinburgh a lively controversy was in progress in medical -circles on the mode of action of the lithontriptic medicines which -had lately been introduced. Drs. Whytt and Aston, both university -professors, were the leaders in this dispute. Whytt held that lime -water made from oyster shells was more effective for dissolving calculi -in the bladder than lime water prepared from ordinary calcareous stone. -Alston insisted that the latter was preferable. Black was interested, -and his experiments convinced him of the scientific importance of his -discoveries. He postponed taking his degree for some time in order -to be sure of his facts. His graduation thesis, which was dated June -11, 1754, was entitled “De humore acide cibis orto et magnesia alba.” -His full treatise, “Experiments upon magnesia alba, quicklime, and -some other alkaline substances,” was published in 1756. It had been -previously believed that the process of calcining certain alkaline -salts whereby caustic alkalies were produced was explained by the -combination with the salt of an acrid principle derived from the -fire. Now it was shown that something was lost in the process; that -the calcined alkali weighed less than the salt experimented with. The -something expelled Black proved was an air, and an air different from -that of the atmosphere, which was generally supposed to be the one -air of the universe. He identified it with the “gas sylvestre” of Van -Helmont, and named it “fixed air.” Magnesia alba first appeared in the -London Pharmacopœia of 1787 under that name. - - [Illustration: JOSEPH BLACK LECTURING (AFTER JOHN RAY) - - (From a print in the British Museum.) -] - -The oxide of magnesia was believed to be an elementary substance until -Sir Humphry Davy separated the metal from the earth by his electrolytic -method in the presence of mercury. By this means he obtained an -amalgam, and by oxidising this he reproduced magnesia and left the -mercury free, thus proving that the earth was an oxide of a metal. -In 1830 Bussy isolated the magnesium by heating in a glass tube some -potassium covered with fragments of chloride of magnesium, and washing -away the chloride of potassium formed. Magnesium in small globules -was left in the tube. The metal is now prepared on an industrial -scale either by electrolysis, or by fusing fluor-spar with sodium. At -present the uses of magnesium and of its derivatives are infinitesimal -in comparison with the vast quantities available in deposits, as in -dolomite, and in the sea. - - - NITRE - -among the ancient Greeks and Romans generally meant carbonate of soda, -sometimes carbonate of potash. The Arab chemists, however, clearly -described nitrate of potash. In the works attributed to Geber and -Marcus Græcus, especially, its characters are represented. Raymond -Lully, in the thirteenth century, mentions sal nitri, and evidently -alludes to saltpetre, and Roger Bacon always meant nitrate of potash -when he wrote of nitre. It was not, however, until the seventeenth -century that the term acquired the definite meaning which we attach to -it. - -At the beginning of that century there was much discussion as to the -formation of nitre, as it had been held that the acid which combined -with the alkali was ready formed in the atmosphere. Glauber was the -first to argue that vegetables formed saltpetre from the soil. Stahl -taught that the acid constituent of nitre was vitriolic acid combined -with phlogiston emanating from putrefying vegetable matter. - -After gunpowder had become a prime necessity of life, saltpetre bounded -upwards in the estimation of kings and statesmen. In France in 1540 -an Edict was issued commissioning officials called “salpêtriers” in -all districts who were authorised to seek for saltpetre in cellars, -stables, dovecotes, and other places where it was formed naturally. -No one was permitted to pull down a building of any sort without -first giving due notice to the salpêtriers. The “Salpêtrière” Asylum -in Paris recalls one of the national factories of nitre. During the -French Revolution citizens were “invited” to lixiviate the soil and -ceilings of their cellars, stables, etc., and to supply the Republic -with saltpetre for gunpowder. The Government paid 24 sous, 1s., a pound -for the nitre thus procured, though, as this was no doubt paid in -assignats, it was cheap enough. It was estimated that 16,000,000 lbs. a -year were thus provided. - - - PETROLEUM. - -Under the name of naphtha and other designations petroleum has been -known and used from the earliest times. The Persians were the first, -as far as is known, to employ it for lighting, and also for cooking. -They likewise made use of it as a liniment for rheumatism. So in this -country, a kind of petroleum was sold as a liniment under the name of -British oil; and in America, long before the great oil industry had -been thought of, petroleum was popular as a liniment for rheumatism -under the name of Seneca Oil. - -Asphalt, or Bitumen of Judæa, was used by the Egyptians for embalming. -Probably they reduced its solidity by naphtha. Naphtha was employed -by Medea to render the robe which she presented to her rival Glauca -inflammable, and this legend is given to account for the name of Oil -of Medea, by which petroleum was anciently known. It was no doubt the -principal ingredient in the Greek Fire of the middle ages. - -Petroleum has been called by many other names. Oil of Peter or Petre -was a common one, meaning, like petroleum, simply rock oil. Myrepsus, -in the thirteenth century, refers to it as Allicola. The monks called -it sometimes oil of St. Barbarus, and oil of St. Catherine. - -Dioscorides said naphtha was useful as an application in dimness of -sight. Two centuries ago it was occasionally given in doses of a few -drops for worms, and was frequently applied in toothache. Petroleum -Barbadense, Barbadoes tar, had some reputation in pectoral complaints -in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was admitted into the -P.L. as the menstruum for sulphur in the balsamum sulphuris Barbadense. - - - PHOSPHORUS. - -Phosphorus, or its Latin equivalent, Lucifer, was the name given by the -ancient astronomers to the planet Venus when it appeared as a morning -star. When it shone as an evening star they called it Hesperus. Do we -invent such seductive names now, or do they only seem attractive to us -because they are ancient or foreign? - -The phosphorescent properties of certain earths had been occasionally -noticed by naturalists, but no observation of the kind has been traced -in ancient writings. The earliest allusion to a “fire-stone” known -occurs in the work of a gossipy French historian named De Thou. In -a history of his own times this writer relates that in 1550, when -Henri II made his state entry into Boulogne on the occasion of its -restoration to France by the English, a stranger in foreign costume -presented the king with a fire-stone which, he said, had been brought -from India. De Thou narrates that this wonderful stone glowed with -inconceivable splendour, was so hot that it could not be touched -without danger, and that if confined in a close space it would spring -with force into the air. - -Sometime early in the seventeenth century, a shoemaker of Bologna, one -Vincent Cascariolo, who, in addition to his ordinary business dabbled -in alchemy, discovered a stone in the neighbourhood of his city which -was luminous in the dark. The stone, which is now known to have been -a sulphate of barium, and which the shoemaker calcined, ground, and -formed into little round discs about the size of a shilling, and sold -for a fancy price, was called the sun-stone. The discs, exposed to a -strong light for a few minutes and then withdrawn into a dark room, -gave out the incandescent light which we know so well. The discovery -excited keen interest among scientific men all over Europe. - - [Illustration: JOHANN KUNCKEL. - - (From the Collection of Etchings in the Royal Gallery at Berlin.) -] - -About 1668 two alchemists named Bauduin and Frueben, who lived at -Grossenhayn in Saxony, conceived the idea of extracting by chemical -processes the spirit of the world (Spiritus Mundi). Their notion was -to combine earth, air, fire, and water in their alembic, and to obtain -the essences of all of these in one distillate. They dissolved lime in -nitric acid, evaporated to dryness, exposed the residue to the air, -and let it absorb humidity. They then distilled this substance and -obtained the humidity in a pure form. History does not tell us what -questions they put to their spirit of the world when they had thus -caught it. It appears, however, that the stuff attained a great sale. -It was supplied at 12 groschen the loth, equal to about 1s. 6d. per -ounce, and lords and peasants came after it eagerly. Rain-water would -have been just as good, Kunckel, who tells the story, remarks. But one -day Bauduin broke one of the vessels in which was contained some of the -calcined nitrate of lime, and he observed that this, like the Bologna -stone, was luminous in the dark after exposure to sunlight. Bauduin -appreciated the importance of his discovery, and, taking some of his -earth to Dresden, talked about it there. Kunckel, who was then the -Elector’s pharmacist, and keenly interested in new discoveries, heard -about this curious substance, and was very curious to find out all he -could. He visited Bauduin and tried to draw from him the details of -his process. But Bauduin was very shy of Kunckel, and the latter has -left an amusing account of an evening he spent with his quarry. Kunckel -tried to talk chemistry, but Bauduin would only take interest in music. -At last, however, Kunckel induced Bauduin to go out of the room to -fetch a concave mirror to see if with that the precious phosphorus (for -Bauduin had already appropriated this name to the stuff) would absorb -the light. While Bauduin was gone Kunckel managed to nip a morsel with -his finger-nail. With this, aided by the fragments of information he -had been able to steal from Bauduin’s conversation, he commenced to -experiment by treating chalk with nitric acid, and ultimately succeeded -in producing the coveted luminous earth. He sent a little lump of it to -Bauduin as an acknowledgment of the pleasant musical evening the latter -had given him. - -It was now 1669. Kunckel was visiting Hamburg, and there he showed to -a scientific friend a piece of his “phosphorus.” To his surprise the -friend was not at all astonished at it, but told Kunckel that an old -doctor in Hamburg had produced something much more wonderful. Brandt -was the name of the local alchemist. He had been in business, had -failed, and was now practising medicine enough to keep him, but was -devoting his heart and soul and all his spare time to the discovery of -the philosopher’s stone. The two friends visited Brandt, who showed -them the real “phosphor” which he had produced, to which, of course, -the other substances compared as dip candles might to the electric -light, but nothing would induce the old gentleman to disclose any -details of his process. Kunckel wrote to a scientific friend happily -named Krafft at Dresden about the new “phosphor.” Honour seems to have -been cheap among scientific friends at that time, for Krafft posted off -to Hamburg, without saying anything to Kunckel about his intention, -caught Brandt in a different humour, or perhaps specially hard-up, and -bought his secret for 200 thalers. - -According to another story, the German chemist Homberg also succeeded -in securing Brandt’s secret by taking to him as a present one of those -weather prognosticators in which a figure of a man and another of a -woman come out of doors or go in when it is going to be wet or fine, as -the case may be; a toy which had just then been invented. - -Stimulated perhaps by Brandt’s obstinacy and Krafft’s treachery, -Kunckel set to work and in time succeeded in manufacturing phosphorus. -It may be taken as certain that he had picked old Brandt’s brains a -little, and his own skill and shrewdness enabled him to fill up the -gaps in his knowledge. However he acquired the art, he soon became the -first practical manufacturer of phosphorus. - -Brandt discovered phosphorus because he had arrived at the conviction -that the philosopher’s stone was to be got from urine. In the course of -his experiments with that liquid, phosphorus came out unexpectedly from -the process of distilling urine with sand and lime. - -The new substance excited great curiosity in scientific circles all -over Europe, but the German chemists who knew anything about it kept -their information secret, and only misleading stories of its origin -were published. Robert Boyle, however, who was travelling on the -Continent when the interest in the discovery was keenest, got a hint -of the method of manufacture, and on his return to England proceeded -to experiment. His operator and assistant in these investigations -was Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz, who became the founder of a London -pharmaceutical business which still exists. Ultimately Boyle and -Hanckwitz were completely successful, and for many years the “English -phosphorus” supplied by Hanckwitz from his laboratory in Southampton -Street, Strand, monopolised the European market. According to a -pamphlet published by him, entitled “Historia Phosphori et Fama,” the -continental phosphorus was an “unctuous, dawbing oyliness,” while his -was the “right glacial” kind. - -In 1680 Boyle deposited with the Royal Society, of which he was then -president, a sealed packet containing an account of his experiments and -of his process for the production of the “Icy Noctiluca,” as he called -his phosphorus. - -It is related in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Paris for -1737 that in that year a stranger appeared in Paris and offered for -a stipulated reward to communicate the process of making phosphorus -to the French Government. A committee of the Academy, with Hellot as -its president, was appointed to witness the stranger’s manipulation. -According to the report of this committee, the experiment was -completely successful. - -It only remains to add, to complete the history, that in 1769, Gahn, a -Swedish mine owner, discovered phosphorus in bones, and that working -from this observation Scheele in 1775 devised the process for the -manufacture of phosphorus which is still followed. - -Such a remarkable substance as phosphorus, extracted as it had been -from the human body, was evidently marked out for medical uses. -Experiments were soon commenced with it. Kunckel’s “luminous pills” -were the first in the field, so far as is known. His report was -published in the “Chemische Anmerkungen” in 1721. He gave it in -three-grain doses, and reported that it had a calmative effect! -Subsequently it was tried in various diseases by continental -practitioners. Mentz commended it in colic, Langensalz in asthenic -fevers, Bonneken in tetanus, Wetkard in apoplexy, and Trampel in gout. - -In 1769 Alphonse Leroy, of Paris, reported a curious experience. He was -sent for to a patient apparently on the point of death from phthisis. -Seeing that the case was hopeless, he prepared and administered a -placebo of sugared water. Calling the next day, Leroy found his patient -somewhat revived, and on examining the sugar which he had used for -his solution, he found that some phosphorus had been kept in it for -a long time. The patient was much too far gone to recover, but she -survived for fifteen days, and Leroy attributed this amelioration to -the phosphorised water which he had accidentally given her. - -Gahn discovered phosphorus in the bones in 1768, and in 1779 another -German chemist named Hensing ascertained its presence in a fatty matter -which he extracted from the brain. Medical theories were naturally -based on these observations. Couerbe, a French chemist quoted by Dr. -Churchill, wrote thus in 1830: - - “The want of phosphorus in the brain would reduce man to - the sad condition of the brute; an excess of this element - irritates the nervous system, excites the individual, and - throws him into that terrible state of disturbance called - madness, or mental alienation; a moderate proportion gives - rise to the sublimest ideas, and produces that admirable - harmony which spiritualists call the soul.” - -British practitioners took but very little notice of phosphorus as a -remedy in the first century of its career, although it remained for a -large part of that period an English product. - -It is rather curious, too, that neither in this country nor on the -Continent did it get into the hands of the empirics, as mercury, -antimony, and other dangerous drugs did. It may be supposed that it -was not so much the danger that checked them as the pharmaceutical -difficulties in the way of preparing suitable medicines. The earliest -preparations of phosphorus, such as Kunckel’s pills, were a combination -of it in a free state with conserve of roses. This method was gradually -abandoned on account of the difficulty of subdividing the phosphorus -so perfectly that the dose could be measured accurately. But as Dr. -Ashburton Thompson remarks,[3] “although it is not so specifically -mentioned, the uncertainty of action which imperfectly divided -phosphorus exhibits” had something to do with the rejection of the old -formulas. That is putting it very gently. The three-grain doses must -have killed more people than they cured. The author just quoted says -that in the early days “the dose employed seldom fell below 3 grains, -while it occasionally rose as high as 12 grains.” Even Leroy, he adds, -instituted his experiments by taking a bolus of 3 grains, and he did -not seriously suffer from it. The recommended dose has been regularly -declining. In 1855 Dr. Hughes Bennett gave it at one-fortieth to -one-eighth of a grain. The Pharmacopœia now prescribes one-hundredth to -one-twentieth of a grain. - - - THE HYPOPHOSPHITES. - -The hypophosphites in the form of syrup were introduced by Dr. J. F. -Churchill, of Paris, as specifics in consumptive diseases about 1857. -His preference of these salts over the phosphates was based on the -theory that the deficiency in the system in a phthisical condition -was not of phosphates, which had been completely oxidised, but of -a phosphide in an oxidisable condition, and this requirement was -fulfilled by the hypophosphites. The latter he compared to wood or -coal, the phosphates to ashes, so far as active energy was concerned. -Dr. Churchill’s interest in a special manufacture of the hypophosphite -syrups prejudiced the medical profession against his theories, and it -is not certain that he got a fair hearing in consequence. The general -verdict was that his results were not obtained by other experimenters, -but for a good many years past syrups of the hypophosphites have been -among the most popular of our general tonics. - -Phosphorus is soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, bisulphide of -carbon, and to a very small extent in water. - - * * * * * - -Phosphor paste as a vermin killer was ordered by the Prussian -Government to be substituted for arsenical compounds in 1843, and it is -probable that to some degree the alteration has been successful, though -in France it was found that phosphorus in this form became a popular -agent for suicide and criminal poisoning. - - - SAL PRUNELLA - -was at one time in high esteem, as it was believed that by the process -adopted for making it the nitre was specially purified. Purified nitre -was melted in an iron pot and a little flowers of sulphur (1 oz. to 2 -lb.) was sprinkled on it, a little at a time. The sulphur deflagrating -was supposed to exercise the purifying influence on the nitre. The -actual effect was to convert a small part of the nitrate of potash into -sulphate. It was first called Sal Prunella in Germany from the belief -that it was a specific against a certain plum-coloured quinsy of an -epidemic character. Boerhaave advised the omission of the sulphur, but -believed that melting the pure nitre and moulding it was of medicinal -value by evaporating aqueous moisture. - -Nitre and flowers of sulphur were deflagrated together before the Sal -Prunella theory was invented, equal quantities being employed. The -resulting combination, which was of course sulphate of potash, was -known as Sal Polychrestum, the Salt of Many Virtues. - - - SAL GEMMÆ. - -Sal Gemmæ or Sal Fossile was the name given to rock salt, particularly -to the transparent and the tinted varieties. It was believed to be more -penetrating than the salt derived from sea water, and this property -Lemery ascribed to the circumstance that it had never been dissolved in -water, and therefore retained all its native keenness. - - - SPIRIT OF SALT. - -Spiritus Salis Marini Glauberi was one of the products discovered by -Glauber, to whom we owe the name of spirit of salt. He was a keen -observer and remarked on the suffocating vapour yielded as soon as -oil of vitriol was poured on sea-salt. It is astonishing to his -biographers that he just missed discovering chlorine. The spirit of -salt was highly recommended for many medicinal uses; for exciting the -appetite, correcting the bile, curing gangrene, and dissolving stone. -Its remarkable property of assisting nitric acid to dissolve gold was -soon observed and was attributed to its penetrating power. - - - TARTAR. - -Tartarus was the mythological hell where the gods imprisoned and -punished those who had offended them. Virgil represents it as -surrounded by three walls and the river Phlegethon, whose waters were -sulphur and pitch. Its entrance was protected by a tower wrapped in a -cloud three times as black as the darkest night, a gate which the gods -themselves could not break, and guarded by Cerberus. - -There is nothing to associate this dismal place with the tartar of -chemistry, except that in old books it is said that Paracelsus so named -the product because it “produces oil, water, tincture, and salt, which -burn the patient as Tartarus does.” Paracelsus did not invent the name -of tartar; it is found in many alchemical books long before his time. -The earliest found use of it is in an alchemical work by Hortulcuus, an -English alchemist of the eleventh century. - -Paracelsus was writing about “tartarous diseases” (“De Morbis -Tartareis”), those, that is, which resulted from the deposit of -concretions. Stone, gravel, and gout were among these diseases of -tartar, and evidently it was this morbid tartar which he associated -with the legendary Tartarus. The word tartar, applied to the deposit -from wine, is sometimes supposed to have descended from an Egyptian -term, dardarot, meaning an eternal habitation, and etymologists -generally prefer it as the origin of the name. If it was, the sense -development of the term as applied to the chemical is not clear. The -Greek word _tartarizein_, meaning to shiver with cold, does not help -much in tracing the history of the word. Another frequently advocated -derivation is the Arab, _durd_, dregs, sediment, which it is said was -actually applied to the tartar of wine. It appears, too, that the Arabs -used this term also as we do to represent the deposit on teeth; they -also had a word, _dirad_, to mean a shedding of teeth, and by _darda_ -they signified a toothless old woman. Some etymologists consider, -however, that the transition from durd to tartar would be most unlikely. - -When the alchemists began to experiment with tartar their first process -would be to distil it. The residue left in their retorts they called -the salt of tartar. They knew this substance under other names, salt -of wormwood, for instance, but they did not recognise the identity. By -treating tartar with vinegar they produced acetate of potash, which -they called regenerated tartar. Oswald Crollius, the compiler of the -first European pharmacopœia, gave the name of vitriolated tartar to -what we now know as sulphate of potash. - -The iatro-chemists of the next century, who obtained it by various -methods, gave to sulphate of potash distinct names which show in what -esteem it was held. Among other designations it appears as Specificum -purgans, Arcanum duplicatum, Nitrum fixum, Panacea holsatica, and Sel -de duobus. Glaser, who produced it from sulphur, saltpetre, and urine -distilled together, sold it as Sal Polychrest of Glaser. - -Cream of tartar was known to the ancients under the name of Fæx Vini, -which is the designation for it used by Dioscorides. - -The tartar of wine was found to be only soluble in water with -difficulty; but if boiled in water a turbid liquor was yielded which in -the boiled condition continually threw up a sort of skin or scum. This -was taken off with a skimmer and dried; it was naturally called Cream -of Tartar. - -Paracelsus and other chemists distilled this cream and got an oil -from it which they called oil or spirit of tartar. It was chiefly a -pyro-tartaric acid with some empyreumatic constituents. It was a thin, -light yellow, bitter tasting but rather tart, and pleasant smelling -oil, and was credited with remarkable penetrating powers. It was used -in disorders of the ligaments, membranes, and tendons. Particularly -surprising to them was the fact that the residue of a distinctly acid -substance was a strong alkali. This “salt of tartar” was found to yield -another oil called oleum tartari per deliquium, or lixivium tartari, -which was the name by which it was called in the Pharmacopœia. Salt of -tartar and cream of tartar together yielded the tartarum tartarisatus. -It was when making this that Seignette produced by accident his double -tartrate of potash and soda, now familiarly known as Rochelle salt. - - - VITRIOL. - -Visitando Interiora Terræ Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem -Veram Medicinam. (Visiting the interior of the earth you may find, by -rectifying the occult stone, the true medicine.) This acrostic is first -found in the works attributed to Basil Valentine. - -The vitriols enjoyed an enormous reputation in medicine, at least until -their chemical composition was definitely explained by Geoffrey in -1728. It was certainly known that the green vitriols contained iron, -and they were sometimes named vitriol of Mars; that the blue vitriols -contained copper, which obtained for them the designation of vitriol -of Venus; and the white was understood to be associated with calamine, -though by some it was supposed to be only green vitriol which had been -calcined. - -The name of vitriol cannot be traced further back than to Albertus -Magnus in the thirteenth century. He expressly applies the term to -atramentum viride, the Latin name for sulphate of iron. Presumably -it was given to the salt on account of its glassy appearance. The -alchemists, on distilling these vitriols found that they always yielded -a spirit or oil, to which they naturally gave the name of spirit or oil -of vitriol. - -In Greek the vitriols were called chalcanthon, as they were extracted -from brass; the common name in Latin was atramentum sutorium, because -they were employed for making leather black. Dioscorides states that -this substance is a valuable emetic, should be taken after eating -poisonous fungi, and will expel worms. Pliny recommends it for the cure -of ulcers, and Galen used it as a collyrium. There was a good deal of -confusion between the vitriols and the alums, and the Greek stypteria -and the Latin alumens were often an aluminous earth combined with some -vitriol. Pliny gives a test for the purity of what he calls alum, which -consists in dropping on it some pomegranate juice, when, he says, it -should turn black if it is pure. Evidently his alum contained sulphate -of iron. - -Paracelsus declared that, with proper chemical management, vitriol -was capable of furnishing the fourth part of all necessary medicine. -It contained in itself the power of curing jaundice, gravel, stone, -fevers, worms, and epilepsy. - -Mayerne was another strong advocate of the medicinal virtues of -vitriol. According to him it possessed the most diverse properties. It -was hot and cold, attenuative and incressant, aperitive and astringent, -coagulative and dissolvant, corroborative, purgative, and sudorific. - -A multitude of medicines were made from the vitriols. A vitriolum -camphoratum was included in the P.L. of 1721 by distilling spirit of -camphor from calcined vitriol; but Quincy remarks:--“Its intention I am -not acquainted with, nor have ever met with it in prescription.” In Dr. -Walter Harris’s “Pharmacopœia Anti-Empirica,” 1683, allusion is made to -a remedy made by one Bovius, which consisted of spirit of vitriol, and -was designed to lie a universal remedy. Added to an infusion of balm, -marjoram, and bugloss, it would cure headache and vertigo; with rose -water, fevers; with fumitory water, itch; with fennel water it would -restore decayed memory; with plantain water it was a remedy against -diarrhœa; and with lettuce water it became a narcotic. “A rare fellow,” -quaintly comments the doctor. Homberg’s narcotic salt of vitriol was a -combination of green vitriol and borax made after a very complicated -process. The Gilla Vitrioli was a purified white vitriol used as -an emetic. Spiritus Vitrioli dulcis was an imitation of Hoffmann’s -Anodyne. This distilled with hartshorn made the Diaphoretic Vitriol. - -One of the precious secrets of the alchemists, occasionally sold to -kings and wealthy amateurs, was that of converting iron into copper -by means of blue vitriol. A strong solution of the salt was prepared, -and an iron blade, or any iron instrument, was immersed in it for a -certain time. When taken out it appeared to be a blade or instrument -of copper. Kunckel was the first chemist to explain the fallacy. - -Elixir of Vitriol was devised by Adrian Mynsicht, a famous German -physician, in the early part of the seventeenth century. He published -an Armamentarium Medico-Chymicum which became very popular. His Elixir -(under the name of Elixir Vitrioli Mynsichti) was first given in the -P.L. of 1721 as follows:--cinnamon, ginger, cloves, of each 3 drachms: -calamus aromaticus, 1 oz.; galangal root, 1½ oz.; sage, mint, of each ½ -oz.; cubebs, nutmegs, of each 2 oz.; lign. aloes, lemon peel, of each 1 -drachm; candied sugar, 3 oz. Digest in spirit of wine, 1½ lb., and oil -of vitriol 1 lb. for twenty days. Then filter. - -In the P.L. 1746 the formula was simplified by mixing 4 oz. of oil of -vitriol with 1 lb. of Aromatic Tincture, and the title was changed -to Elixir Vitrioli Acidum. In the P.L. 1778 there was no Elixir of -Vitriol, dilute sulphuric acid taking its place. This was then called -Acidum Vitriolicum Dilutum. Under the name of Acidum Sulphuricum -Aromaticum, however, an acidulated tincture, flavoured with ginger -and cinnamon, was retained, and this, with the synonym of Elixir of -Vitriol, is still in the B.P. - -Quincy (1724) states that this medicine had lately come greatly in -practice, and deservedly. “It mightily strengthens the stomach,” -he says, “and does good service in relaxations from debauches and -overfeeding.” - -The alga “nostoch,” so-called by Paracelsus, who also described it as -flos cœlorum, acquired the name of vegetable vitriol, and sometimes -spittle of the stars, because it appeared after rains in places where -it had not been seen before. - - - - - XIV - - MEDICINES FROM THE METALS - - Metals are all identical in their essence; they only differ by - their form. The form depends on accidental causes which the - artist must seek to discover. The accidents interfere with the - regular combinations of sulphur and mercury; for every metal - is a combination of these two substances. When pure sulphur - meets pure mercury, gold results sooner or later by the action - of nature. Species are immutable and cannot be transformed - from one into the other; but lead, copper, iron, silver, &c., - are not species. They only appear to be from their diverse - forms. - ALBERTUS MAGNUS:--“De Alchemia.” (About 1250.) - - - ANTIMONY. - -Some of the old writers insisted that antimony (the native sulphide) -was used as a medicine by Hippocrates who called it Tetragonon, which -simply meant four-cornered, and of which we also know that it was made -up with the milk of a woman. The reason which the iatro-chemists gave -for believing that this compound was made from antimony was worthy of -the age when it was the practice to apply enigmatic names to medicinal -substances, a practice, however, quite foreign to Hippocrates. They -understood the term to imply four natures or virtues, and they said -antimony had four virtues, namely, sudorific, emetic, purgative, and -cordial; therefore tetragonon meant antimony. - - - THE ETYMOLOGY OF ANTIMONY. - -The name of this metal is one of the curiosities of philology. The -old legend was that Basil Valentine, testing his medicine on some of -his brother monks, killed a few of them. “Those who have ears for -etymological sounds,” says Paris in “Pharmacologia,” “will instantly -recognise the origin of the word antimonachos, or monks-bane.” Another -version of the monk story is to the effect that after Basil Valentine -had been experimenting with antimony in his laboratory he threw some of -his compounds out of the window, and pigs came and ate them. He noticed -that after the purgative action had passed off the pigs fattened. On -this hint he administered the same antimonial preparation to certain -monks who were emaciated by long fasts, and they died through the -violence of the remedy. - -These stories were probably the invention of some French punster, -who worked them into shape out of the French name of the substance, -antimoine, which, without the change of a letter, might mean bad for -the monk. Littré entirely demolished any possibility of their truth -by discovering the name in the writings of the Salernitan physician, -Constantine, the African, who lived at the end of the eleventh century, -three or four hundred years before the earliest dates suggested for -Basil Valentine. - -Other suggested derivations have been anti-monos, for the reason that -the sulphide was never found alone; anti-menein, in reference to its -tonic properties; and anti-minium, because it was used as an eye -paint in the place of red lead. These are all guesses unsupported by -evidence. - -The modern philological theory is that the early Latin stibium and the -late Latin antimonium have the same etymological origin. Stibium was -the Latinised form of the Greek stimmi. Stimmi declined as stimmid--and -this may have found its way into the Arabic through a conjectural -isthimmid to the known Arabic name uthmud, which via athmud and athmoud -became Latinised again into antimonium. - - - AL-KOHOL. - -The antimony known to the ancients as stibium or stimuli was the native -sulphide which Eastern women used for darkening their eyelashes. -Probably it was used by Jezebel when, expecting Jehu at Samaria, “she -painted her eyes and tired her head.” The Hebrew expression is “she -put her eyes in paint,” and the Hebrew word for the paint is Phuph; -(2 Kings, c. 9, v. 30). In Ezekiel, c. 23, v. 40, a debauched woman -is described who painted her eyes, and in this case the Hebrew word -employed is Kohol. The Septuagint translated both Phuph and Kohol by -stimmi. The method is still used by Arabic women. They have a little -silver or ivory rod which they damp and dip into a finely levigated -powder called ismed, and draw this between the eyelids. Karrenhappuch, -one of Job’s daughters, meant a vessel of antimony. The writer of -the Book of Enoch says that the angel Azazel taught the practice to -women before the Flood. He “taught men to make swords, and knives, and -shields, and coats of mail, and made known to them metals, and the art -of working them; bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, -and the beautifying of the eyebrows, and the most costly and choicest -stones, and all colouring tinctures, so that the world was changed.” -Some of the early Christian fathers condemned the vanity. “Inunge -oculos non stibio diaboli, sed collyrio Christi,” writes Tertullian. - - - ALCHEMICAL HOPES OF ANTIMONY. - -The alchemists and the early chemical physicians had great hopes of -antimony. “They tormented it in every possible manner,” says Fourcroy, -“in the hope of getting from it a universal remedy.” With it, too, -they were convinced that they were coming near to the transmutation -of other metals into gold. Noticing how readily it formed alloys with -other metals they named it Lupus Metallorum, the Wolf of Metals. -Their process for getting the Powder of Projection, as well as can be -gathered from their mystic jargon was to first fuse the crude antimony, -the sulphide, with iron which withdrew the sulphur from the antimony. -The metal thus obtained they called the Martial Regulus of Antimony. -Regulus, or little king, implied an impure gold. Combining this with -corrosive sublimate and silver, and subliming the mixture they got the -lunar butter of antimony. The sublimation had to be repeated eight or -ten times, the residue, or fæces, being added to the sublimate every -time. At last the sublimed butter of antimony was transferred to an -oval glass vessel capable of containing twelve times its quantity, -and hermetically sealed. The Philosophic Egg, as the vessel with its -contents was called, was then placed in a sand-bath and kept at a -moderate heat for several months. When it had become converted into a -red powder, the operation was finished. This powder was the Powder of -Projection. It was sprinkled on other metals in a state of fusion, -mercury being an ingredient of the fused mass, and yellow gold was -produced. - - - ANTIMONIAL COMPOUNDS. - -By other processes the early experimenters obtained various other -products. By simply heating crude antimony in a crucible they would -sometimes get a vitreous substance in consequence of some of the silica -of the crucible combining with the antimony. That was their glass of -antimony, which was generally an oxide with some sulphide. In other -cases the so-called liver of antimony resulted, a compound containing -a larger proportion of the sulphide. This they also called crocus -metallorum or saffron of the metals, and one or other of these products -was originally the basis of antimonial wine. - -It was digested with Rhine wine, and the tartar of the wine formed a -tartrate of antimony, but, as may be supposed, the composition of the -wine was very variable. Emetic tartar was subsequently substituted for -the liver. - -The crystalline protoxide of antimony obtained by inflaming, -volatilising, and condensing the regulus was known as argentine flowers -of antimony. The regulus heated with nitric acid yielded a compound of -metal with antimonious acid, and was called mineral bezoar; a compound, -really a suboxide, got by fusing sulphide of antimony and nitre was -called diaphoretic antimony; the chloride, first made by distilling -crude antimony (the native sulphide) with corrosive sublimate, yielded -the thick soft butter of antimony; the addition of water to this -chemical caused the precipitation of a white oxychloride which was -long known as Algaroth’s powder, or mercury of life. It contained no -mercury, but was the most popular emetic before the introduction of -the tartrate. Victor Algarotti, who introduced it, was a physician, of -Verona, who died in 1603. It was alleged that he was poisoned by his -local rivals in consequence of the success of his remedy. He was also -the inventor of a quintessence of gold. - -The regulus of antimony in alloy with some tin was used to make the -antimony cups from which antimonial wine originated. It was also made -into the pilulæ perpetuæ, or everlasting pills, which, passing through -the body almost unchanged, were kept as a family remedy and taken -again and again. It is probable that the surface of these pills became -slightly oxidised, and consequently acquired a medicinal effect. - - - KERMES MINERAL. - -One of the most famous of the antimony compounds was the kermes -mineral, which it is understood was invented by Glauber about 1651. He -made it by treating a solution of the oxide of antimony with cream of -tartar, and then passing a current of sulphuretted hydrogen through -the solution. An orange-red powder was obtained, and famous cures were -effected by it. Glauber kept his process secret, but a Dr. de Chastenay -learnt it after Glauber’s death from one of his pupils and confided -it to a surgeon named La Ligerie, who in his turn communicated it to -Brother Simon, a Carthusian monk, who at once commenced successfully to -treat his brother monks with it, and soon after the Poudre des Chartres -was one of the most popular remedies in France for many serious -diseases, small-pox, ague, dropsy, syphilis, and many others. In 1720 -Louis XIV bought the formula for its preparation for a considerable -sum from La Ligerie. It has been agreed by chemists, Berzelius and -others, who have studied Kermes Mineral, that it is a mixture of about -40 per cent. or less of oxide of antimony with a hydrated sulphide of -the metal, and a small proportion of sulphide of sodium or potassium -(according to the method of preparation). It is still official in the -Pharmacopœias of the United States and of many Continental countries. - -From the solution from which the Kermes had been deposited a further -precipitate was obtained by the addition of hydrochloric acid. This, -too, was a mixture, consisting of protosulphide and persulphide of -antimony with some sulphur. It was the golden sulphuret which in -association with calomel became so noted in the form of Plummer’s -powder and Plummer’s pills. The powder was at first known as Plummer’s -Æthiops Medicinalis. - -It would be tedious to go through the multitude of antimonial -compounds which have become official, and it would be impossible -in any reasonable space even to enumerate the quack medicines with -an antimonial base which were so recklessly sold in this and other -countries, especially in the earlier half of the seventeenth century. -The most important of all the antimonial compounds, or, at least, the -one which has maintained the favour of the medical profession in all -countries, is, of course, the tartrate of antimony and potassium, -emetic tartar. - - - EMETIC TARTAR. - -Adrian Mynsicht, physician to the Duke of Mecklenburg in the early part -of the seventeenth century, is generally credited with the invention -of emetic tartar. Certainly the earliest known description of it is -found in his “Thesaurus Medico-Chymicum,” published in 1631. But Hofer -has pointed out that the mixture known as the Earl of Warwick’s Powder, -which consisted of scammony, diaphoretic antimony (a binantimoniate of -potash) and cream of tartar, which Cornachinus of Pisa described in -1620, was really its forerunner, and he considers that the salt was -recognised in medicine before Mynsicht published his description. - -Glauber, in 1648, described the process of making Mynsicht’s emetic -tartar from cream of tartar and argentine flowers of antimony. - - - ANTIMONY CONTROVERSY. - -No medicine has been more violently attacked or so enthusiastically -praised as antimony. The virulent antagonism to it manifested by the -Faculty of Physicians of Paris was unquestionably the exciting cause -of much of the fame to which it attained. It is generally stated that -on the instigation of the Faculty the Parliament of Paris decreed -that it should not be employed in medicines at all. This, however, -has been proved to be incorrect. Certainly the Faculty in 1566 did, -in fact, forbid its own licentiates to use it, and actually expelled -one of their most able associates, Turquet de Mayerne, because he had -disobeyed their injunction. But M. Teallier has shown by documentary -evidence that the decree of the Parliament did not go beyond requiring -that antimony should not be supplied for medicinal use except on the -order of a qualified physician. The action of the Faculty, although -approved for a time, was later almost disregarded, and when the -court physicians cured the young king, Louis XIV, in 1657, by the -administration of antimony, the defeat of the anti-antimonists was -completed. The repeal of the decree against antimonials was dated 1666, -just a century after its promulgation. - -Louis XIV was taken dangerously ill at Calais, in 1657, when he was -19 years of age. A physician (Voltaire says a quack) of Abbeville had -the audacity to treat him by the administration of emetic tartar, and -the King himself and his Court were convinced that he owed his life to -this remedy. The opponents of antimony were silenced, though they did -not yield in their opinion. Gui Patin, who had termed the new medicine -“tartre stygiè” (its usual French name was tartre stibié), protested -against the attempt to canonise this poison, and asserted that the cure -of the king was due to his own excellent constitution. - -To illustrate the earnestness, not to say the ferocity, of medical -controversy at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the record of -the expulsion of Turquet de Mayerne from the College of Physicians of -Paris, in 1603, quoted from the minutes of the College and translated -by Nedham, may be given. It should be remembered that Turquet was -the favourite physician of Henri IV, and, nominally, his offence was -that he had published a defence of his friend, Quercetanus, who had -prescribed mercurial and antimonial medicines. The minute is in the -following terms:-- - - The College of Physicians in the University of Paris, being - lawfully congregated, having heard the Report made by the - Censor to whom the business of examining the Apology published - under the name of Turquet de Mayerne, was committed, do with - unanimous consent condemn the same as an infamous libel, - stuffed with lying reproaches and impudent calumnies, which - could not have proceeded from any but an unlearned, impudent, - drunken, mad fellow: And do judge the said Turquet to be - unworthy to practise physick in any place because of his - rashness, impudence, and ignorance of true physick: But do - exhort all physicians which practise Physick in any nations or - places whatsoever that they will drive the said Turquet and - such like monsters of men and opinions out of their company - and coasts; and that they will constantly continue in the - doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. Moreover, they forbid all - men that are of the Society of the Physicians of Paris, that - they do not admit a consultation with Turquet or such like - person. Whosoever shall presume to act contrary shall be - deprived of all honours, emoluments, and privileges of the - University and be expunged out of the regent Physicians. - Dated December 5, 1603. - - [Illustration: ANTIMONY CUP. - - (From an illustration to a note by Professor Redwood in the - _Pharmaceutical Journal_, July 1, 1858.) -] - - - ANTIMONY CUPS (POCULA EMETICA) - -were in use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, more perhaps -in Germany than in this country. The one illustrated is in the Museum -of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street. It was bought for a shilling at a -sale at Christies’ in 1858, and was described in the catalogue as “An -old metal cup, with German inscription and coronet, gilt, in woodcase.” -The cups are said to have been made of an alloy of tin and antimony, -and wine standing for a time in one of them would become slightly -impregnated with emetic tartar, the tartar of the wine acting on the -film of oxide of antimony which would form on the inner surface of the -cup. How far these cups were used in families does not appear, but it -is said they were common in monasteries, and that monks who took too -much wine were punished by having to drink some more which had been -standing in the poculum emeticum. Dr. Walter Harris, in “Pharmacopœia -Anti-Empirica” (1683) refers to the cups, and says, “their day is -pretty well over. It is rare to meet with one now.” - -It was supposed by the early chemical physicians that antimony imparted -emetic properties to wine without any loss of weight. Angelo Sala tells -of a German who attained some fame in his time by letting out a piece -of glass of antimony on hire. The patient was instructed to immerse -this in a cup of wine for three, four, or five hours (according to the -strength of the person prescribed for), and then to drink the wine. The -practitioner charged a fee of a dozen fresh eggs for the use of his -stone, and, as he had hundreds of clients, patients had to wait their -turn for their emetic. - - - BISMUTH. - -Bismuth, the metal, was not known to the ancients nor to the Arabs. It -was first mentioned under that name by Agricola, in 1546, in “De Natura -Fossilium,” and was not then regarded as a distinct body. Agricola -considered it to be a form of lead, and other mining chemists believed -that it gradually changed into silver. The Magistery (trisnitrate or -oxynitrate) was the secret blanc de fard which Lemery sold in large -quantities as a cosmetic. He bought the secret from an unknown chemist -and made a large fortune out of it. His process was to dissolve one -ounce of the metal in two ounces of nitric acid and to pour on the -solution five or six pints of water in which one ounce of sea-salt -had been dissolved. The sea-salt would yield a proportion of bismuth -oxychloride in the precipitate. Lemery made a pomatum, ʒi to the -ounce, and a lotion, ʒi to ʒiv of lily water. - -Until the latter part of the eighteenth century bismuth salts were -regarded as poisonous and were scarcely used in medicine by way of -internal administration. Even Odier, of Geneva, to whom we owe the -introduction of this medicine in dyspepsia and diarrhœa, prescribed it -in 1 grain doses with 10 grains each of magnesia and sugar. - -Lemery says the bismuth of his time was a compound made in England from -the gross and impure tin found in the English mines. “The workmen mix -this tin with equal parts of tartar and saltpetre. This mixture they -throw by degrees into crucibles made red hot in a large fire. When -this is melted they pour it into greased iron mortars and let it cool. -Afterwards they separate the regulus at the bottom from the scoriæ and -wash it well. This is the tin-glass, which may be called the regulus of -tin.” Pomet says much the same about the composition. He adds, “It is -so true that tin-glass is artificial that I have made it myself, and am -ready to show it to those who won’t believe me.” - -Those writers belonged to the first quarter of the eighteenth century. -A quarter of a century later Quincy is telling us that the metal called -Bismuth “is composed of tin, tartar, and arsenic, made in the northern -parts of Germany, and from thence brought to England.” - -Meanwhile Stahl and Dufay had been studying bismuth and had established -its character and elementary nature. - -Liquor Bismuthi et Ammonii Citratis was introduced into the B.P. 1867, -as an imitation of the proprietary Liquor Bismuthi, which Mr. G. F. -Schacht, pharmaceutical chemist, of Clifton, had invented a few years -previously. It was found that the official preparation differed from -the proprietary one in taste and action principally because no attempt -had been made to free it from the nitric acid used to dissolve the -bismuth. This was corrected in 1885 by a liquor prepared from citrate -of bismuth dissolved by solution of ammonia. This method has been -further elaborated. Continental physicians have not favoured a solution -of bismuth. They consider that the remedial value of bismuth depends on -its insolubility; this view now obtains in England also. - -Trochisci Bismuthi Compositi of the B.P. 1864, were believed to -be intended to imitate the “Heartburn Tablets,” made by Dr. Burt, -an eminent medical practitioner of Edinburgh in the early part -of the nineteenth century, and sold for him at a guinea a pound. -Notwithstanding the price, perhaps because of it, these tablets -attained to considerable popularity. It was said that Dr. Burt and his -apprentices made all he supplied in his kitchen. Some said that his -tablets contained no bismuth, the antacid properties being due entirely -to chalk. In 1867 rose-flavour was substituted for cinnamon in the -official lozenges, and in 1898 the oxynitrate of bismuth gave place to -oxycarbonate. - - - GOLD. - - For gold in physick is a cordiall, - Therefore he loved gold in special. - Chaucer’s _Doctour of Phisike_. - -The employment of gold as a remedy is but rarely mentioned in ancient -medical literature. Gold leaf was probably used by the Egyptians to -cover abrasions of the skin. Pieces of it have been found on mummies -apparently so applied. Some of the Arab alchemists, Geber among them, -are believed to have made some kind of elixir of life from gold, but -their writings are too enigmatical to be trusted. Avicenna mentions -gold among blood purifiers, and the gilding of pills originated with -the Eastern pharmacists. Probably it was believed that the gold added -to the efficacy of the pills. It was not, however, until the period of -chemical medicine in Europe that gold attained its special fame. - -Arnold of Villa Nova, and Raymond Lully were among the advocates of -the medicinal virtues of gold; but in the century before Paracelsus -appeared, Brassavolus, Fallopius, and other writers questioned its -virtues. With Paracelsus, Quercetanus, Libavius, Crollius, and others -of that age, however, gold entered fully into its kingdom. They could -hardly exalt it too highly. But it is difficult to ascertain from the -writings of this period what the chemical physicians understood by gold. - -Paracelsus says it needs much preparation before it can be -administered. To make their aurum potabile some of the alchemists -professed to separate the salt from the fixed sulphur, which they held -was the real principle of gold, its seed, as some of them called it, -and to obtain this in such a form that it could be taken in any liquor. -The seed of gold was with many of them the universal medicine which -would cure all diseases, and prolong life indefinitely. It was the -sulphur of the sun with which that body revivifies nature. - -Paracelsus prescribed gold for purifying blood, and intimates that -it is useful as an antidote in cases of poisoning, and will prevent -miscarriages in women. He considered it not so cordial as emeralds, but -more so than silver. He also states that if put into the mouth of a -newly-born babe it will prevent the devil from acquiring power over the -child. - -The Archidoxa Medicinæ of Paracelsus, his famous Elixir of Long -Life, is believed to have been a compound of gold and corrosive -sublimate. He recommended gold especially in diseases connected with -the heart, the organ which the sun was supposed to rule. Among the -earlier Paracelsians Angelo Sala wrote a treatise on gold, entitled -“Chrysologia, seu Examen Auri Chymicum,” Hamburg, 1622. Sachsens -prepared a Tinctura Solis secundem secretiorem Paracelsi Mentem -preparata. But Thurneyssen, who carried on his quackeries on the -largest scale, did the most to push the gold business. His Magistery -of the Sun attained to great popularity in Germany, and these and -his other preparations, together with the astrological almanacks -and talismans which he sold, enabled him to live in great splendour -at Frankfort, where he is said to have employed 200 persons in his -laboratory. His fame departed, however, and he died in poverty at -Cologne, in 1595. - - - AURUM POTABILE. - -Roger Bacon is said to have held that potable gold was the true elixir -of life. He told Pope Nicholas IV that an old man in Sicily, ploughing, -found one day a golden phial containing a yellow liquid. He thought it -was dew, drank in off, and was immediately transformed into a hale, -robust, handsome, and highly accomplished youth. He entered into the -service of the King of Sicily, and remained at court for the next -eighty years. - -Francis Anthony was a famous quack in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and -James I. The College of Physicians took proceedings against him several -times, fined him and imprisoned him, but aristocratic influences were -exerted on his behalf and ultimately the College found it prudent to -let him alone. His panacea “Aurum potabile” professed to be a solution -of gold, and the wealthy classes of the period had unbounded belief in -its wonderful remedial virtues. Some years after the death of Anthony -the famous Honourable Robert Boyle (the “Father of philosophy and -brother of the Earl of Cork”) in the “Sceptical Chymist” wrote that -though he was prejudiced against all such compositions, he had known -(and he describes) some such wonderful cures resulting from this aurum -potabile that he was compelled to bear testimony to its efficacy. Boyle -also states that he had seen in part the preparation of this nostrum. -He rather enigmatically reports that there was but a single ingredient -associated with the gold, that this came from above, and was reputed to -be one of the simplest substances in nature. - - * * * * * - -Anthony claimed that his product would cure most diseases; vomitings, -fluxes, stoppages, fevers, plague, and palsies were included among -the evils which it overcame. Several of the well-known physicians of -the time wrote angry pamphlets denouncing Anthony’s pretensions. Dr. -Matthew Gwynne’s “Aurum non aurum,” and Dr. Cotta’s “Cotta contra -Antonium” were two of the most noted. Of course these gave Anthony -opportunities of reply, and largely promoted the business. In one of -his later publications Anthony boldly offered to exhibit his process -to a committee of proper and unbiassed witnesses with the object of -proving that the compound was truly a solution of gold. The challenge -appears to have been accepted, and the Master of the Mint, Baron -Thomas Knivet, and other experts were present when the test was made. -According to Gwynne the result was failure, but I do not find any -unprejudiced report of the experiment. - -The writer of the life of Anthony in the old “Biographia Britannica,” -who is his warm partisan, gives what he declares to have been the -genuine formula for the aurum potabile. It had long been in the -possession of Anthony’s descendants, he says, and was given to him -(the author of the biography) by an eminent chemist. If this is true -it is evident that a solution of gold would not have resulted from the -process. - -This is what the alleged Anthony’s manuscript prescribes:--The object, -Anthony says, is to so far open the gold that its sulphur may become -active. To open it a liquor and a salt are required, these together -forming the menstruum. The liquor was 3 pints of red wine vinegar -distilled from a gallon; the salt was block tin burnt to ashes in an -iron pan; these to be mixed and distilled again and again. Take one -ounce of filed gold, and heat it in a crucible with white salt; take it -out and grind the mixture; heat again; wash with water until no taste -of salt is left; mix this with the menstruum, one ounce to the pint, -digest, and evaporate to the consistence of honey. The Aurum Potabile -was made by dissolving this in spirit of wine. - -Whatever may have been the opinion of the experts who watched Anthony -make his Aurum Potabile, the sale of the panacea was not destroyed, -perhaps not injured by the result. Anthony made a handsome fortune out -of it and continued to sell it largely until his death in 1623, and -according to the authority already quoted, his son John Anthony, who -qualified as an M.D. and held the licence of the College, derived a -considerable income from the sale of the remedy. Dr. Munk, however, in -the “Roll of the College of Physicians” intimates that this gentleman -was free from the hereditary stain. “He succeeded to the more reputable -part of his father’s practice,” is the pleasant way in which Dr. Munk -describes John Anthony, M.D. John, however, wrote the following epitaph -on his father: - - Though poisonous Envy ever sought to blame - Or hide the fruits of thy Intention; - Yet shall all they commend that high design - Of purest gold to make a Medicine - That feel thy Help by that thy rare Invention. - -Glauber (1650) expounds “the true method of making Aurum Potabile,” -knowledge of which, he says, was bestowed on him from the highest. -“Haply there will be some,” he remarks at the beginning of his treatise -on this subject, who will deny “that gold is the Son of the Sun, -or a metallic body, fixed and perfect, proceeding from the rays of -the Sun; asking how the Solary immaterial rays can be made material -and corporeal?” But this only shows how ignorant they are of the -generation of metals and minerals. Disposing of such incredulity by a -few comments, and referring the sceptics to his treatise De Generatione -Metallorum, he deals with several other irrelevant matters, and at last -describes his process in prolix and unintelligible terms. - -“℞ of living gold one part, and three parts of quick mercury, not of -the vulgar, but the philosophical everywhere to be found without -charges or labour.” He recommends, but not as essential, the addition -to the gold of an equal part of silver. “The mixture of male and female -will yield a greater variety of colours, and who knoweth the power of -the cordial union of gold and silver?” These metals being mixed in a -philosophical vessel will be dissolved by the mercury in a quarter of -an hour, acquiring a purple colour. Heating for half an hour, this -will be changed to a green. The compound is to be dissolved in water -of dew, the solution filtered and abstracted in a glass alembic three -times until the greenness turns to a black like ink, “stinking like a -carcase.” After standing for forty hours the blackness and stink will -depart, leaving a milky white solution. This is to be dried to a white -mass, which will change into divers colours, ultimately becoming a -finer green than formerly. That green gold is to be dissolved in spirit -of wine, to which it will impart a quintessence, red as blood, which -is the quickening tincture, a superfluous ashy body being left. After -some more distillations and abstractions a strong red solution will be -obtained which is capable of being diluted with any liquid and may be -kept as a panacea for the most desperate diseases. Next to “the stone” -this is the best of all medicines. - -The author cautions his readers against the yellow or red waters sold -by distillers of wine at a great price as potable gold. Further he -explains that the solution of gold made with aqua regia or spirit of -salt is of little or no medicinal value, because the Archeus cannot -digest it, but can only separate the gold and discharge it in the -excrements. - -In the “Secrets of Alexis” (John Wight’s translation) a recipe for a -potable liquor of gold is given which “conserveth the youth and health -of man, and will heal every disease that is thought incurable in the -space of seven doses at the furthest.” Gold leaf, lemon juice, honey, -common salt, and spirit of wine were to be frequently distilled. “The -oftener it is distilled the better it be.” - -Kenelm Digby made a tincture of gold thus:--Gold calcined with three -salts and ground with flowers of sulphur; burnt in a reverberatory -furnace twelve times, and then digested with spirit of wine. - -Lemery gives a formula for potable gold, or tincture of gold, or -diaphoretic sulphur of gold:--Dissolve any quantity of gold you like in -aqua regia; evaporate to dryness, and make a paste of the residue with -essence of cannella. Then digest it in spirit. He adds, sarcastically -I suppose, “This tincture is a good cordial because of the essence of -cannella and the spirit of wine.” - -About 1540 Antoine Lecoque, a physician of Paris, acquired considerable -reputation for his cures of syphilis by gold. Fallopius, Hoffmann, -and Dr. Pitcairn, of Edinburgh, more or less fully adopted his -treatment, but the theory gradually dropped out of medical practice. -It was revived early in the nineteenth century by Dr. Chrestien, of -Montpellier, a physician of considerable reputation, and his ardent -advocacy had for a time considerable effect. But subsequent trials in -the French hospitals gave negative results. - -There were, no doubt, many honest attempts to make aurum potabile, -and certainly there were a multitude of frauds palmed off on to a -public who had come to believe in the miraculous remedial powers of -the precious metal. The following is one of the simplest formulas for -extracting the virtue of gold. It is given in “Lewis’s Dispensatory,” -1785, but not with any suggestion of its medicinal value:--One drachm -of fine gold was dissolved in 2 ounces of aqua regia. To the solution -1 ounce of essential oil of rosemary was added, and the mixture well -shaken. The yellow colour of the acid solution was transferred to the -oil, which was decanted off, and diluted with 5 ounces of spirit of -wine. The mixture was digested for a month, and then acquired a purple -colour. Lewis explains that the oil takes up some of the gold, which, -however, is deposited on the sides of the glass, or floats on the -surface in the form of a slight film. - - - AURUM FULMINANS - -was described in the works attributed to Basil Valentine, and later -by Oswald Crollius. It is sometimes termed Volatile Gold. Valentine -explains very clearly the process of making it, that is, by dissolving -gold leaf in aqua regia and precipitating the fulminating gold by -salt of tartar. By treatment with vinegar or sulphur its explosive -properties were to be reduced. It was supposed to possess the medicinal -value of gold in a special degree, and was particularly recommended -as a diaphoretic. It appears from reports that it occasioned violent -diarrhœas, and was, no doubt, often fatal. The so-called Mosaic Gold, -which was given as a remedy for convulsions in children, was an amalgam -of mercury with tin, ground with sulphur and sal ammoniac. - -Hahnemann insisted that gold had great curative powers, and several -homœopathic physicians of our time have highly extolled it. Dr. J. C. -Burnett, in “Gold as a Remedy,” recommended triturations of gold leaf, -one in a million, as a marvellous heart tonic, especially in cases of -difficult breathing in old age. - - - IRON. - -Iron was not regarded as of special medicinal value by the ancients. -The alleged administration of the rust of iron by Melampus was -apparently looked upon as a miracle, and though this instance is often -quoted as the earliest record of ferruginous treatment, it does not -appear to have been copied. Classical allusions, such as that of the -rust of the spear of Telephus being employed to heal the wounds which -the weapon had inflicted, which is referred to by Homer, can hardly be -treated as evidences of the surgical skill of that period. Iron is not -mentioned as a remedial agent by Hippocrates, but Dioscorides refers to -its astringent property, and on this account recommends it in uterine -hæmorrhage. He states that it will prevent conception; it subsequently -acquired the opposite reputation. The same authority, as well as -Celsus, Pliny, and others, allude to a practice of quenching a red-hot -iron in wine or water in order to produce a remedy for dysentery, weak -stomachs, or enlargement of the spleen. - -The later Latin physicians made very little use of iron or its -compounds. Oribasius and Aetius write of the uses of its oxide -outwardly in the treatment of ulcers, and Alexander of Tralles -prescribes both an infusion and the metal in substance for a scirrhus -of the spleen. He was probably the earliest physician who discovered -its value as a deobstruent. Rhazes, the Arab, gave it in substance, and -in several combined forms, but Avicenna regarded iron as a dangerous -drug, and suggested that, if any had been accidentally taken, some -loadstone should be administered to counteract any evil consequences. - -Vitriol (sulphate of iron and sulphate of copper) was the iron medicine -most in use up to the sixteenth century; but it was not given with -the special intention of giving iron. Paracelsus had great faith in -the Arcanum Vitrioli, which, indeed, appears to have been sulphur. He -also introduced the use of the magnet, but only externally. It was in -the century after him that the salts of Mars came into general medical -use. In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the -preparations of iron became very numerous. Iron filings brought into an -alcohol, that is very finely powdered, were much employed, sometimes -alone and sometimes saccharated, or combined with sugar candy. Crocus -martis was the sesquioxide, æthiops martial was the black oxide, -and flores martis, made by subliming iron filings and sal ammoniac, -yielding an ammoniated chloride of iron, was included in the several -British pharmacopœias of the eighteenth century. - -The association of iron with Mars probably influenced the early -chemical physicians in their adoption of iron salts in anæmic -complaints, and as general tonics. The undoubted effect of iron -remedies in chlorotic disease was naturally observed, and the -reputation of the metal was established for the treatment of this -condition long before it was discovered that iron is an invariable -constituent of the human body. When this physiological fact came to be -recognised it was supposed that the action of iron salts was explained; -but, in fact, the investigations of the last century have only tended -to make this theory doubtful. - -It is known that in health the proportion of iron in the body is fairly -constant. An average man’s blood contains about 38 grains, almost all -of which is contained in the hæmoglobin. He requires from one to two -grains every day to make up for waste, and this he gets in the meat and -vegetable food which he absorbs. The vegetables obtain iron from the -soil, and animals acquire it from the corn, roots, or grasses which -they eat. So far as is known it is from these sources only that human -beings assimilate the iron they require. It is very doubtful whether -a particle of the iron administered in any of the multitudinous forms -which pharmacy provides is retained. A noted modern physiologist, -Kletzinsky, says “From all the hundredweights of iron given to anæmics -and chlorotics during centuries not a single blood corpuscle has -been formed.” For all that there is no medical practitioner of any -considerable experience who has not found directly beneficial results -follow the administration of these medicines in such cases. - -To Sydenham and Willis, two of the most famous physicians of the -seventeenth century, the general employment of iron as a medicine may -be traced. Sydenham, in his treatise on hysteric diseases, which, he -says, are occasioned by the animal spirits being not rightly disposed, -and not as some supposed by the corruption of the blood with the -menstrual fluid, points out that the treatment must be directed to -the strengthening of the blood, for that is the fountain and origin -of the spirits. In cachexies, loss of appetite, chlorosis, and in -all diseases which we describe as anæmic, he recommends that if the -patient is strong enough recourse should be had first to bleeding, -this to be followed by a thirty days’ course of chalybeate medicine. -Then he describes, much the same as modern treatises do, how rapidly -iron quickens the pulses, and freshens the pale countenances. In his -experience he has found that it is better to give it in substance than -in any of the preparations, “for busy chemists make this as well as -other excellent medicines worse rather than better by their perverse -and over officious diligence” (Pechey’s translation). He advises 8 -grains of steel filings made into two pills with extract of wormwood to -be taken early in the morning and at 5 p.m. for thirty days; a draught -of wormwood wine to follow each dose. “Next to the steel in substance,” -he adds, “I choose the syrup of it prepared with filings of steel -or iron infused in cold Rhenish wine till the wine is sufficiently -impregnated, and afterwards strained and boiled to the consistence of a -syrup with a sufficient quantity of sugar.” - - [Illustration: DR. THOMAS SYDENHAM. 1624-1689. - - (Originator of Sydenham’s Laudanum.) -] - -Dr. Willis had a secret preparation of iron of which Dr. Walter Harris, -physician in ordinary to Charles II, in “Pharmacologia Anti-Empirica” -(1683), writes:--“The best preparation of any that iron can yield us -is a secret of Dr. Willis. It has hitherto been a great secret and -sold at a great price. It was known as Dr. Willis’s Preparation of -Steel.” Dr. Harris thinks it will not be an unacceptable service to -the public to communicate this masterpiece of that eminent and ever -famous man. “It was no strained stately magistery, no sublimation or -salification, no calcined crocus, and no chemical mystery; but an easy -and a natural way of opening this hard body that it may open ours.” It -was given particularly for the removal of obstructions. The formula -was equal parts of iron filings and crude tartar powdered and mixed -with water in a damp mass in a glazed earthen vessel. This was to be -dried over a slow fire or in the sun; wetted and dried again; and this -process repeated four or five times. It might be given in white wine, -or made into a syrup, or into pills, electuary, or lozenges. Dr. Willis -preferred the crude tartar because the cream of tartar sold by the -druggists was generally a cheat, often combined with alum. The crude -could be bought at 6d. to 8d. per lb. In the apothecaries’ shops cream -of tartar was sold at 3s. to 3s. 6d. per lb. - - [Illustration: THOMAS WILLIS, M.D. 1621-1675.] - -Quincy (1724), who frequently offers explanations of the exact way in -which medicines exercise their remedial power, thus scientifically -describes the action of iron in removing obstructions:--“Mechanics -teach nothing more plainly than that the momenta of all percussions -are as the rectangles under the gravities and celerities of the moving -bodies. By how much more gravity then a metalline particle has more -than any other particle in the Blood, if their celerities are equal, -by so much the greater will the stroke of the metalline particle be -against everything that stands in its way than of any other not so -heavy; and therefore will any Obstruction in the Glands and Capillaries -be sooner removed by such particles than by those which are lighter. -This is a way of reasoning that is plain to the meanest Capacity.” - -Tartarised iron has always been a favourite form for its -administration. The Balls of Mars (boules de Mars, or boules de -Nancy), still a popular medicine in France, are a tartarised iron -prepared by a complicated process. First, a decoction of vulnerary -species is made from 12 parts of water and 2 of the species. This is -strained and poured on 12 parts of pure iron filings in powder. The -mixture is evaporated to dryness and powdered. On this powder another -decoction, 18 of water and 3 of species, is poured, and 12 parts of -red tartar added. This compound is evaporated to the consistence of a -firm paste, and a third decoction, 35 water and 5 species, is added -to 25 of the paste and 25 of red tartar. This is evaporated to the -proper consistence to make balls, which are usually about 1 oz. or 2 -oz. in weight. They are kept to dry and then wrapped in wrapper. They -are taken in doses of 4 to 5 grains much as Blaud’s pills are taken -here. Sometimes the balls are dipped in water until a brown colour is -imparted to the liquid. This water is also used as an application to -bruises. - -Mistura Ferri Composita was adopted in the P.L., 1809, from the formula -of his anti-hectic mixture which Dr. Moses Griffith, of Colchester, -had published thirty or forty years previously. Paris quotes it as a -successful instance of a medical combination which could not receive -the sanction of chemical law; and he testifies to the opposition -offered on that ground to its official acceptance, but adds that -subsequent inquiry had proved that the chemical decompositions which -constituted the objections to its use were in fact the causes of its -utility. It yields a protocarbonate of iron in suspension, and a -sulphate of potash in solution. The compound of iron is in the state in -which it is most active. - -As evidence of the faith in ferruginous waters as tonics of the -generative system, Phillips quotes from the thesis of Dr. Jacques, of -Paris, a curious marriage contract said to have been common at one time -among the burghers of Frankfort to the effect that their wives should -not visit the iron springs of Schwalbach more than twice in their lives -for fear of being too fruitful. The story looks suspiciously like an -advertisement of Schwalbach. - -Tincture of perchloride of iron acquired its reputation in the 18th -century from the secret medicines known as La Mothe’s “gouttes d’or,” -and Bestucheff’s Nerve Tincture (see page 321). The formula of the -latter, published by the Academy of Medicine of St. Petersburg, was -corrected by Klaproth, and under various names and in different forms -found its way into all the pharmacopœias. Klaproth’s process was to -dissolve powdered iron in a mixture of muriatic acid 3, and nitric acid -1; evaporate to dryness, and then leave the mass to deliquesce to a -brown liquor. Mix this with twice its weight of sulphuric ether. The -saturated ethereal solution to be mixed with twice its volume of spirit -of wine, and kept in small bottles exposed to light until the liquid -acquired the proper golden tint. A similar preparation is retained in -the French Codex under the title of ethereal-alcoholic tincture of -muriate of iron. - -Reduced Iron, or Iron reduced by hydrogen, was first prepared by -Theodore Quevenne, chief pharmacist of the Hôpital de la Charité, -about the year 1854. Pharmacological experiments were made with it by -himself in association with Dr. Miquelard. It was believed at first -that the metallic iron obtained by the process described, which was to -heat the hydrated oxide of iron in a porcelain tube to dull red, and -then to pass a current of hydrogen through the tube, was absolutely -pure, and from experiments on dogs they came to the conclusion that the -metal in this form was more assimilable than any of its salts. It had -besides the advantage of being almost tasteless. Quevenne’s treatise -describing the process and the experiments was published in 1854 under -the title of “Action physiologique et therapeutique des ferrugineux.” -Later investigations, while supporting the original opinion to a great -extent as to the assimilability of the reduced iron, established that -the product is not and cannot be pure. Dusart showed in 1884 that the -proportion of actual iron could not exceed 87 per cent., and was not -likely to be more than 84 per cent. Oxides, and carbonates of iron -were inevitable, while sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus, and silicon were -probable contaminations from the gas. - -Citrate of Iron in scales was introduced by Beral, of Paris, in 1831. -His formula is given in the _Pharm. Jnl._, vol. I, p. 594. - -Syrup of Phosphate of Iron was introduced in a paper read to the -Medical Society of London in 1851 by Dr. Routh, and Mr. Greenish -subsequently described to the Pharmaceutical Society the process by -which it was prepared. The formula was afterwards improved by Mr. Gale, -and his process was adopted in the B.P. It has since been modified. - -A solution of iodide of iron was first employed in medicine in this -country by Dr. A. T. Thomson some time in the ’30’s of the nineteenth -century. It was introduced into the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopœias -in the form of a solid salt, and in the latter also in the form of -a solution. Neither of those preparations could be preserved from -decomposition, and the first suggestion of a syrup appears to have -been made in Buchner’s Repertorium in 1839, and soon after by other -experimenters. Dr. Thomson gave a formula for a syrup of iodide of iron -to one of the earliest meetings of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1841, -reported in the first volume of the _Pharm. Jnl._ - - - LEAD. - -Lead is one of the ancient metals and was associated in classical -writings with Saturn. The lead compounds used by the ancients in -medicine were white lead or ceruse (carbonate and hydrate), and -litharge (oxide). Ceruse is supposed to owe its name to cera, and to -mean waxy; litharge is from Greek, and means silver stone; it was -regarded as the scum of silver. Red lead or minium was also used to -some extent in the form of an ointment. - -Although not much used now as a medicine for internal administration, -lead in various forms has been tried and advocated by doctors, -usually as a sedative. The Pil. Plumbi c. Opio is what remains in -our Pharmacopœia of these recommendations. Galen mentions lead as -a remedy in leprosy and plague, and little bullets of lead were at -one time given in cases of twisted bowels. The sedative property of -lead salts has caused them to be prescribed for neuralgia, hysteria, -and convulsive coughs; Goulard, recognising the anticatarrhal and -astringent effects of the acetate, recommended it in urethritis; and -on the theory that lead poisoning and phthisis were incompatible -French practitioners at one time hoped to find in lead a remedy for -tuberculosis. - -Litharge was the basis of most of the popular plasters, and a century -or two ago there were about a hundred of these either official or in -demand. Litharge was called lithargyrum auri or lithargyrum argenti, -according to its colour; but the deeper tint was only the result of a -stronger fire in preparing the oxide. White lead was an ingredient in -several well-known old ointments, the unguentum tripharmacum of Mesuë, -which was the ceratum lithargyri of Galen, the unguentum nutritum, the -unguentum diapomphologos, in which it was associated with pompholyx -or oxide of zinc, and others. To a large extent these ointments were -superseded after Goulard’s time by the unguentum Saturninum which he -introduced. The ointment of Rhazes was composed of white lead, wax, and -camphor dissolved in oil of roses. He also ordered the addition of the -white of an egg to every half-pound, but this came to be omitted as it -caused the ointment to become odorous. The Mother’s Ointment (onguent -de la Mère) has long been a favourite ointment in France for promoting -suppuration, and it is included in the Codex. It was made empirically -by a nun at the Hotel Dieu, named La Mère Thecle, and as it became much -sought after she furnished the formula. It is made by heating together -mutton suet, lard, and butter, and when vapours are being exhaled, -finely powdered litharge is sifted into the fats, causing a violent -effervescence. Some wax and pure black pitch are afterwards added. The -process has been studied by several pharmacists, and the conclusion -come to is that the fats are decomposed and a number of fatty acids -with some acroleine are produced. The operation is a rather dangerous -one, especially if there is any naked light in the vicinity. - -Magistery of Saturn was a white lead precipitated from a solution of -the acetate by carbonate of potash. This was the principal ingredient -in the Powder of Saturn devised by Mynsicht. The other components of -this powder, which was recommended in phthisis and asthma especially, -were magistery of sulphur (lac sulphuris), squine root, flowers of -sulphur, pearls, coral, oatmeal, Armenian bole, flowers of benzoin, -olibanum, sugar candy, saffron, and cassia. - -The chief apostle of lead in medical practice was Goulard, whose name -has become inseparably associated with the solution of the acetate. -Some account of the bearer of this familiar name, and of his medicinal -preparations of lead will be found in the section on Masters in -Pharmacy. - - - QUICKSILVER - -is first alluded to in Greek writings by Theophrastus, about 315 -B.C., but it was certainly known and used medicinally by the -Chinese and in India long before. Apparently, too, it was known by the -Egyptians. Dioscorides invented the name hydrargyrum, or fluid silver, -for it. Pliny treats it as a dangerous poison. Galen adopted the -opinion that the metal is poisonous, but states that he had no personal -knowledge of its effects. With these authors argentum vivum was the -term generally used to mean the native quicksilver, while hydrargyrum -was more usually employed to describe the quicksilver obtained from the -sulphide, cinnabar. Ancient writers appear to have regarded the two -substances as distinct. Dioscorides points out that cinnabar was often -confused with minium (red lead). The name Mercury, and the association -of the metal (or demi-metal, as it was often regarded) with the planet -and with its sign, formerly associated with tin, dates from the middle -ages. It is mentioned first in this connection in a list of metals by -Stephanus of Alexandria, in the seventh century. - - [Illustration] - - - ARABS USED MERCURY MEDICINALLY. - -The Arabs, who inherited the medical lore of the Greeks, and probably -added to this in the case of mercury knowledge acquired from India, -were much interested in mercury. In the chemical works attributed to -Geber not only the metal itself, but its compounds, red precipitate -and corrosive sublimate, are described. Much use of mercury was made -by the Arabs in the form of ointments for skin diseases, for which -Mesuë recommended it, and Avicenna was probably the first physician -to express doubt in regard to the poisonous nature of the metal. He -observed that many persons had swallowed it without any bad effect, and -he noted that it passed through the body unchanged. - - - MERCURY PRESCRIBED INTERNALLY. - -Fallopius (1523-1562) remarks that in his time shepherds gave -quicksilver to sheep and cattle to kill worms, and Brassavolus -(1500-1554) states that he had given it to children in doses of from 2 -to 20 grains, and had expelled worms by that means. Matthiolus (died -1577) relates that he had known women take a pound of it at a dose with -the object of procuring abortion, and says it had not produced any bad -result. - - - FRICTIONS AND FUMIGATIONS. - -Sprengel fixes the year 1497 as that in which mercury was first -employed externally for the cure of syphilis. Frictions, fumigations, -and plasters were the earliest forms in which it was employed. -Berenger de Carpi, a famous surgeon and anatomist of Bologna, who -practised in the early part of the sixteenth century, is said to have -made an immense fortune by inventing and prescribing frictions with -mercurial ointment for syphilis. John de Vigo was a strong partisan of -fumigations in obstinate cases. His fumigations were made from cinnabar -and storax. It is not quite clear whether this physician gave red -precipitate internally in syphilis. He expressly indicates its internal -use in plague. - - - MERCURY A REMEDY FOR SYPHILIS. - -Peter Andrew Matthiolus, born at Sienna in 1500, died at Trent in -1577, latterly the first physician to the Archduke Ferdinand of -Austria, a botanist and author of “Commentaries on Dioscorides,” was, -according to Sprengel, the first who is known for certain to have -administered mercury internally. Paracelsus, however, was without doubt -the practitioner who popularised its use. He gave red precipitate, -corrosive sublimate, and nitrate of mercury, and describes how each -of these was made. Sprengel credits him also with acquaintance with -calomel, but other authors do not recognise this in any of his writings. - - - VIGO’S PLASTER. - -The Emplastrum Vigonium was a highly complicated compound, which was -held in great veneration and is the subject of innumerable comments -in the pharmaceutical writings of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and -eighteenth centuries. Charas, Lemery, Baumé, and others modified and -simplified it. John de Vigo was a native of Naples, where he was born -about 1460, and he became the first physician of Pope Julius II. His -plaster still figures in the French Codex, and contains 600 parts of -mercury by weight in 3,550 parts. This made into a liquid with olive -oil and spread on calico makes the sparadrap of Vigo, in which form it -is most frequently used, as an application to syphilitic eruptions. - -Ambrose Paré gives the earliest formula for Vigo’s plaster, which was -then called Emplastrum Vigonium seu de Ranis. It was looked upon as a -masterpiece of combination. First 3½ oz. of earthworms were washed in -water, and afterwards in wine. Then they and twenty-six live frogs were -macerated in 2 lb. of odoriferous wine, and the whole was boiled down -to two-thirds of its volume. A decoction of camel’s hay (andropogon -schœnanthus), French lavender, and matricaria (chamomilla) was then -mixed with this wine. Meanwhile 1 lb. of golden litharge had been -“nourished” for twelve hours with oils of chamomile, dill, lilies, and -saffron; these were melted down with 1 lb. each of the fat of the pig, -calf, and viper. Human fat might be used instead of that of vipers. -Juices of elder root and of elecampane with euphorbium, frankincense, -and oil of spike were then worked in and the whole melted with white -wax. Lastly, quicksilver extinguished by turpentine, styrax, oil of -bitter almonds, and oil of bay, were added. In Lemery’s time the -minimum proportion of mercury was 1 drachm to 1 oz. of the plaster. -There was also a simple Vigo’s plaster made without mercury. In the -Codex formula the worms, the frogs, the fats, the herbs, roots, and -oils have all gone, but some more aromatic resins are added. - - - THE FIRST MERCURIAL PILLS. - -The first formula for mercurial pills was one which Barbarossa II, a -famous pirate and king of Algiers, and admiral of the Turkish Fleet -under Soliman, Sultan of Turkey, sent to Francis I, king of France, -some time in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. The recipe -was published (says Dr. Etienne Michelon, of Tours, in his “Histoire -Pharmacotechnique de Mercure”) in 1537 by Petrus de Bayro, physician -to the Duke of Savoy. He does not give the exact formula, but Lemery -quotes it as follows:-- - -“Best aloes, and quicksilver extinguished by rose juice, aa 6 drachms; - -“Trochises of agaric, ½ oz.; selected rhubarb, 2 drachms; - -“Canella, myrrh, mastic, aa 1 drachm; musk, amber, aa 1 scruple; - -“Make a mass with Venice turpentine.” - -Lemery says you cannot kill the mercury with rose juice, but must use -some of the Venice turpentine. - -These pills were largely used in syphilis, but they were practically -superseded later by the pills of Belloste, which are still official in -the French Codex. These were very similar. Belloste was a French Army -surgeon, and his formula was devised about the year 1700. A formula for -them was published in the Pharmacopœia of Renaudot during Belloste’s -lifetime, but after the death of Belloste in 1730 his son tried to -make a mystery of the pills and sold them as a proprietary product, -which probably had the effect of making them popular. The formula of -Renaudot, which is also that of the Codex, was: Mercury, 24 (killed -with honey); aloes, 24; rhubarb, 12; scammony, 8; black pepper, 4. Made -into pills, each of which should contain 5 centigrams of mercury. - - - THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS. - -It was at the close of the fifteenth century that syphilis began to -spread through Europe. There are doubtful evidences of its existence -in both Europe and Asia long previously, but the theory is generally -accepted that it was brought from America by the sailors of the -earliest expeditions, while its rapid spread throughout the old world -in the decade from 1490 to 1500 has often been attributed to the -Spanish Jews in the first place, and also particularly to the siege -of Naples by the French in 1495. That large numbers of the French -soldiers then engaged contracted it in the course of that war is -undoubted, and as they were largely instrumental in spreading the -contagion the disease soon came to be known as the French disease, or -morbus Gallicus, though it has been questioned whether the adjective -was not originally a reference to the skin diseases known under the -name of “gale” or “itch.” The opinion that syphilis came from the west -is not universally adopted. It has been pointed out that Columbus only -reached Lisbon on March 6, 1493, on his return from his first voyage of -discovery; and there are several more or less authentic allusions to -the French disease before that date. - -The rapidity with which this epidemic seized on all the countries of -Europe, and the virulence of its symptoms, alarmed all classes and -staggered the medical men of the day. Special hospitals were opened -and Parliamentary edicts were promulgated in some of the French and -German cities, ordering all persons contaminated to at once leave the -neighbourhoods. Mercury was one of the first remedies to suggest itself -to practitioners. It had been employed by the Arabs in the form of -ointments and fumigations for skin diseases, and quacks and alchemists -had long experimented with it in the hope of extracting a panacea from -it. Before Paracelsus had begun to administer it, Torrella, physician -to the Borgias, had prescribed mercurial lotions made from corrosive -sublimate, and Jean de Vigo, of Naples, had compounded his mercurial -plaster, and mercurial ointment, and had even given red precipitate in -pills. - -At the time when syphilis was causing excitement through Europe -sarsaparilla and guaiacum were much praised as sudorifics, and -wonderful cures of syphilis by them were reported. The poet and -reformer Ulrich von Hutten wrote a book, De Morbo Gallico, in which he -related his own years of suffering from the disease, and his complete -cure by means of guaiacum in 30 days. “You may swallow these woods -up to the tomb,” said Paracelsus. He had not much more respect for -fumigations with cinnabar, which he regarded as a quack treatment by -which it was impossible to measure the dose of the mercury, though he -recognised that it cured sometimes. Red precipitate with theriacum -made into pills with cherry juice was his favourite remedy, and was -one of his laudanums. His Catholicon, or universal panacea, was a -preparation of gold and corrosive sublimate, which was largely used by -his followers under the name of Aurum Vitæ. - -Corrosive sublimate was the great quack remedy for syphilis for more -than a century, and the so-called vegetable remedies, syrups and -decoctions of guaiacum, sarsaparilla, and sassafras, maintained their -reputation largely in consequence of the perchloride of mercury, -which was so often added to them. Aqua Phagadænica, 1 drachm of -corrosive sublimate in 1 pint of lime water, was a very noted lotion -for venereal ulcers. It began from a formula by Jean Fernel, a Paris -medical professor and Galenist (1497-1558), who dissolved 6 grains of -sublimate in 3 oz. of plaintain water. This was known as the Eau Divine -de Fernel. By the time when Moses Charas published his Pharmacopœia -this lotion had acquired the name by which it was so long known, and -was made from ½ oz. of sublimate in 3 lb. of lime water, and ½ lb. of -spirit of wine. It yielded a precipitate which varied in colour from -yellow to red. - -A curious controversy prevailed for a long time among the chemical -and medical authorities in France in regard to a popular proprietary -remedy for syphilis known as Rob Boyveau-Laffecteur. It was sold as a -non-mercurial compound. It was first prepared or advertised in 1780 -by a war office official named Laffecteur, whose position enabled -him to get it largely used in the army. Subsequently a Paris doctor -named Boyveau bought a share in the business, but in time the partners -separated, and both sold the Rob. Boyveau wrote a bulky volume on -the treatment of syphilis, and in that he strongly praised the Rob. -After the deaths of Laffecteur and Boyveau the business came into the -hands of a Dr. Giraudeau, of St. Gervais. This was about the year -1829. In 1780 the Academie de Medicine had examined this preparation, -and had apparently, though not formally, tolerated its sale. Their -chemist, Bucquet, had been instructed specially to examine the syrup -for sublimate. He reported that he could not find any, but he was by -no means sure that there was none there, for he stated that he had -himself added 2 grains to a bottle, and could not afterwards detect -its presence. Between that time and 1829 several chemists studied the -subject, and came to the conclusion that if corrosive sublimate had -been added to the syrup the vegetable extractive or the molasses with -which it was made so concealed it or decomposed it into calomel that -it could not be detected. In 1829 Giraudeau was prosecuted for selling -secret medicines, and for this offence was fined 600 francs. But the -interesting feature of this trial was the testimony of Pelletier, -Chevallier, and Orfila that the Rob contained no mercurial. They -reported that the formula given by the maker might be the correct one, -but that in that case the mixture would contain too small a quantity -of active substances to possess the energetic properties claimed for -it. Guaiacum and sarsaparilla were the principal ingredients, but there -were also lobelia, astragalus root, several other herbs, and a little -opium. The history of this discussion is related at some length in Dr. -Michelon’s “Histoire Pharmacotechnique et Pharmacologique du Mercure” -(1908). - - - RED PRECIPITATE. - -Red precipitate was one of the first preparations of mercury known. -It is traced to Geber, but when the works attributed to that chemist -were written is doubtful. Avicenna in the tenth century was acquainted -with it. In his writings he says of the metal mercury that “warmed in a -closed vessel it loses its humidity, that is to say its liquid state, -and is changed into the nature of fire and becomes vermilion.” Being -obtained direct from mercury acted on by the air, it became known to -the early chemical experimenters as “precipitatus per se.” Paracelsus -obtained it by acting on mercury with aqua regia and heating the -solution until he got the red precipitate. Then he reduced it to the -necessary mildness for medicinal purposes by distilling spirit of wine -from it six or seven times. Charas described a method of obtaining the -precipitate by nitric acid but by a complicated process, and to the -product he gave the name of arcana corallina. Boyle obtained the red -oxide by boiling mercury in a bottle fitted with a stopper which was -provided with a narrow tube by which air was admitted. The product was -called Boyle’s Hell, because it was believed that it caused the metal -to suffer extreme agonies. - - - OTHER MERCURIAL PRECIPITATES. - -The multitude of experiments with mercury yielded many products, and -often the same product by a different process which acquired a distinct -name. - -Turbith mineral was a secret preparation with Oswald Crollius who gave -it this name, probably, it is supposed, on account of its resemblance -in colour to the Turbethum (Convolvulus) roots which were in his time -much used in medicine. It is a subsulphate, made by treating mercury -with oil of vitriol and precipitating with water. - -The precipitation of mercury by sal ammoniac was first described by -Beguin in 1632. For a time it was given as a purgative and in venereal -diseases. A double chloride of mercury and ammonium was also made by -the alchemists and was highly esteemed by them, especially as it was -soluble. It was called Sal Alembroth and also Sal Sapientiæ. The origin -of the first name is unknown, but it has been alleged to be of Chaldean -birth and to signify the key of knowledge. - -A green precipitate was obtained by dissolving mercury and copper -in nitric acid, and precipitating by vinegar. This was also used in -syphilis. - -Homberg put a little mercury into a bottle and attached it to the wheel -of a mill. The metal was thereby transformed into a black powder (the -protoxide.) - -By a careful and very gradual precipitation of a solution of nitrate of -mercury by ammonia Hahnemann obtained what he called soluble mercury. -Soubeiran proved that this precipitate was a mixture in variable -proportions of sub-nitrate and ammonio-proto-nitrate of mercury. - - - CALOMEL. - -Calomel was introduced into practice by Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne -about the year 1608. It has been said that he was the inventor of the -product, but as it was described and, perhaps, to some extent used -by other medical authorities, Crollius among these, who lived and -died before Turquet was born, this was evidently impossible. Theodore -Turquet de Mayerne had been a favourite physician to Henri IV, but -he had been compelled to leave Paris on account of the jealousies -of his medical contemporaries. His employment of mineral medicines, -antimony and mercury especially, was the occasion of bitter attacks, -but his professional heresy was perhaps actually less heinous than his -firm Protestantism. Both James I and Charles I accepted his services -and placed great confidence in his skill. He was instrumental, as -explained in another section, in the independent incorporation of the -apothecaries, and was also one of the most active promoters of the -publication of the “London Pharmacopœia.” - -It appears likely that Turquet invented the name by which this milder -form of mercurial has come to be most usually known. The alchemical -writers of the time called it Aquila Alba or Draco Mitigatus. A -notorious Paracelsian of Paris, Joseph Duchesne, but better known by -his Latinised surname of Quercetanus, who shared with Turquet the -animosity of Gui Patin and his medical confederates, and for similar -reasons, also made calomel and administered it, probably sold it, under -the designation of the mineral Panchymagogon, purger of all humours. -Panacea mercurialis, manna metallorum, and sublimatum dulce, were among -the other fanciful names given. It was believed by the old medical -chemists that the more frequently it was resublimed the more dulcified -it became. In fact, resublimation was likely to decompose it, and thus -to produce corrosive sublimate. - -What the name “calomel” was derived from has been the subject of much -conjecture. “Kalos melas,” beautiful black, is the obvious-looking -source, but it does not seem possible to fit any sense to this -suggested origin. A fanciful story of a black servant in the employ -of de Mayerne manufacturing a beautiful white medicine is told by -Pereira with the introduction of “as some say.” A good remedy for -black bile is another far-fetched etymology, and another conceives -the metal and the sublimate in the crucible as blackish becoming a -fair white. Some thirty years ago, in a correspondence published in -the “Chemist and Druggist,” Mr. T. B. Groves, of Weymouth, and “W. -R.” of Maidstone, both independently broached the idea that “kalos” -and “meli” (honey) were the constituents of the word, forming a sort -of rough translation of the recognised term, dulcified mercury; a not -unreasonable supposition, though this leaves the “kalos” not very well -accounted for. In Hooper’s “Medical Dictionary” it is plausibly guessed -that the name may have been originally applied to Ethiops Mineral, and -got transferred to the white product; and Paris quotes from Mr. Gray -the opinion that a mixture of calomel and scammony which was called the -calomel of Rivierus may have been the first application of the term, -meaning a mixture of a white and dark substance. - -Beguin (1608) is generally credited with having been the first -European writer to describe calomel. He gave it the name of “Draco -mitigatus” (corrosive sublimate being the dragon). But Berthelot, in -his “Chemistry of the Middle Ages,” has shown that the protochloride -of mercury was prepared as far back as Democritus, and that it is -described in certain Arab chemical writings. It is also alleged to have -been prepared in China, Thibet, and India many centuries before it -became known in Europe. - - - QUICKSILVER GIRDLES, - -made by applying to a cotton girdle mercury which had been beaten up -with the white of egg, were used in the treatment of itch before the -true character of that complaint was understood. - - - BASILIC POWDER - -was the old Earl of Warwick’s powder or Cornachino’s powder (equal -parts of scammony, diaphoretic antimony, and cream of tartar), to which -calomel, equal in weight to each of the other ingredients, was added. -But I have not succeeded in tracing why or when the name of basilic -(royal) was given to the compound. - - - CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. - -Van Swieten’s solution of corrosive sublimate was introduced in the -middle of the eighteenth century as a remedy for syphilis, and for a -long time was highly esteemed. Its author, Baron von Swieten, was of -Dutch birth, and was a pupil of Boerhaave. He was invited to Vienna by -the Empress Maria Theresa, and exercised an almost despotic authority -in medical treatment. His original formula was 24 grains of corrosive -sublimate dissolved in two quarts of whisky, a tablespoonful to be -taken night and morning, followed by a long draught of barley-water. - -Corrosive sublimate was the recognised cure for syphilis, at least in -Vienna, at that time. Maximilian Locher, another noted physician of the -same school, claimed to have cured 4,880 cases in eight years with the -drug. This was in 1762. - - - CINNABAR. - -The bisulphide of mercury (cinnabar) was also used in many nostrums. -Paris says it was the active ingredient in Chamberlain’s restorative -pills, “the most certain cure for the scrophula, king’s evil, fistula, -scurvy, and all impurities of the blood.” - - - “KILLING” MERCURY. - -The art of extinguishing or “killing” mercury has been discussed and -experimented on from the fifteenth century until the present day. -The modern use of steam machinery in the manufacture of mercurial -ointment, mercurial pills, and mercury with chalk has put a check on -the ingenuity of patient pharmacists, who were constantly discovering -some new method for accelerating the long labour of triturating, which -many operators still living can remember. Venice turpentine, or oil of -turpentine, various essential oils, sulphur, the saliva of a person -fasting, and rancid fat were among the earlier expedients adopted and -subsequently discarded. The turpentines made the ointment irritating, -the sulphur formed a compound, and the rancid fat was found to be worse -than the turpentines. Nitrate of potash, sulphate of potash, stearic -acid, oil of almonds and balsam of Peru, the precipitation of the -mercury from its solution in nitric acid, spermaceti, glycerin, and -oleate of mercury have been more modern aids. - -It would be outside the purpose of this sketch to deal with the -questions which the numerous processes suggested have raised. -Apparently it is not completely settled now whether the pill, the -powder, and the ointment depend for their efficiency on any chemical -action such as the oxidation of the metal in the cases of the two -former, or on a solution in the fat in the case of the ointment. These -theories have been held, and do not seem unlikely; but there also seems -good reason to believe that mercury in a state of minute division has -definite physiological effects by itself. At any rate, it is well -established that the more perfectly the quicksilver is “killed” the -more efficient is the resulting compound. - - - SILVER. - -The moon was universally admitted under the theory of the macrocosm -and the microcosm to rule the head, and as silver was the recognised -representative of Luna among the metals the deduction was obvious that -silver was the suitable remedy for all diseases affecting the brain, -as apoplexy, epilepsy, melancholia, vertigo, and failure of memory. -Tachenius relates that a certain silversmith had the gift of being -able to repeat word for word anything that he heard, and this power -he attributed to his absorption of particles of silver in the course -of his work. It does not appear, however, that all silversmiths were -similarly endowed. - -The Greek and Latin doctors make no allusion to silver as a medicine, -and the earliest evidence of its actual employment as a remedy is found -in the writings of Avicenna, who gave it in the metallic state “in -tremore cordis, in fœtore oris.” He is also believed to have introduced -the practice of silvering pills with the intention of thereby adding -to their efficacy. To John Damascenus, a Christian saint who lived -among the Arabs before Avicenna, is attributed the remark concerning -silver, “Remedium adhibitum est, et in omnibus itaque capitis morbis, -ob Lunæ, Argenti, et Cerebri sympathicam trinitatem.” This association -of the moon, silver, and the brain was believed in firmly by the -chemical doctors of the sixteenth century, and for a long time a -tincture of the moon, tinctura Lunæ, was the most famous remedy in -epilepsy and melancholia. A great many high authorities, among them -Boyle, Boerhaave, and Hoffmann in the eighteenth century, continued -to prescribe this tincture or the lunar pills, but silver gradually -dropped out of fashion. A great number of medical investigators since -have from time to time recommended the nitrate or the chloride of -silver in various diseases, but without succeeding in securing for -silver a permanent reputation as an internal medicine. - -The Pilulæ Lunares were generally composed of nitrate of silver -combined with opium, musk, and camphor. Nitrate of silver was given in -doses varying from a twentieth to a tenth of a grain. The tincture of -the moon was a solution of nitrate of silver with some copper, which -gave it a blue tint and probably was the active medicinal ingredient. -Fused nitrate of silver or lunar caustic seems to have succeeded to -the reputation of fused caustic potash as a cautery, and also to -have acquired the name of lapis infernalis (sometimes translated -“hell-stone” in old books) originally applied to the fused potash. - -The only reason assigned for this title is the keen pain caused by the -application of the caustic, though probably it was first adopted to -contrast it with the lapis divinus, which was a combination of sulphate -of copper and alum used as an application to the eyes. - -Christopher Glaser, pharmacien at the court of Louis XIV, who -subsequently had to leave France on suspicion of being implicated in -the Brinvilliers poisonings, was the first to make nitrate of silver in -sticks. - - - TIN. - -Tin came into medical use in the middle ages, and acquired its position -particularly as a vermifuge. For this purpose tin had a reputation -only second to mercury. Several compounds of this metal were popular -as medicines both official and as nostrums in the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries, and tin did not drop out of medicinal employment -until early in the nineteenth century. - -The beautiful mosaic gold (aurum musivum), a pet product with many -alchemists, was probably the first tin compound to be used in -medicine. It was made by first combining tin and mercury into an -amalgam, and then distilling this substance with sulphur and sal -ammoniac. It is now known to be a bisulphide of tin. The mercury only -facilitates the combination of the tin and the sulphur, and the sal -ammoniac has the effect of regularising the temperature in the process. -The product is a beautiful golden metal of crystalline structure and -brilliant lustre. It was given in doses of from 4 to 20 grains; was -sudorific and purgative; and was recommended in fevers, hysterical -complaints, and venereal disorders. The subsequent preparations of tin -which came to be used principally as vermifuges were the Calx Jovis -(the binoxide), the sal Jovis (sometimes the nitrate and sometimes the -chloride), and the Amalgama Jovis. These, however, were all ultimately -superseded by the simple powder of tin given either with chalk, sugar, -crabs’ eyes, or combined with honey or some conserve. The dose was -very various with different practitioners. Some prescribed only a -few grains, others gave up to a drachm, and Dr. Alston, an eminent -Edinburgh physician in the eighteenth century, said its success -depended on being administered in much larger doses. He recommended -an ounce with 4 ounces of treacle to be given on an empty stomach. To -be followed next day with ½ oz., and another ½ oz. the day after; the -course to be wound up by a cathartic. - -The Anti-hecticum Poterii was a combination of tin with iron and -antimony, to which nitrate of potash was added. It was sudorific and -was thought to be especially useful in the sweats of consumption and -blood spitting. Flake’s Anti-hæmorrhoidal Ointment was an amalgam -of tin made into an ointment with rose ointment, to which some red -precipitate was added. Brugnatelli’s Poudre Vermifuge was a sulphide of -tin. Spielman’s Vermifuge Electuary was simply tin filings and honey. - -Oxide of tin is the basis of certain applications for the finger nails. -As supplied by perfumers the pure oxide is coloured with carmine and -perfumed with lavender. Piesse says pure oxide of tin is similarly used -to polish tortoiseshell. - - - ZINC. - -The earliest known description of zinc as a metal is found in the -treatise on minerals by Paracelsus, and it is he who first designates -the metal by the name familiar to us. Paracelsus says: - -“There is another metal, zinc, which is in general unknown. It is -a distinct metal of a different origin, though adulterated with -many other metals. It can be melted, for it consists of three fluid -principles, but it is not malleable. In its colour it is unlike all -others, and does not grow in the same manner; but with its _ultima -materia_ I am as yet unacquainted, for it is almost as strange in its -properties as argentum vivum.” - -The alloy of zinc with copper which we call brass was known and much -prized by the Roman metal workers, and they also knew the zinc earth, -calamine, and used this in the production of brass. Who first separated -the metal from the earth is unknown; so too is the original inventor -of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc). Beckmann quotes authorities who -ascribe this to Julius, Duke of Brunswick, about 1570. Beckmann says -white vitriol was at first known as erzalaum, brass-alum, and later -as gallitzenstein, a name which he thinks may have been derived from -galls, as the vitriol and galls were for a long time the principal -articles used for making ink and for dyeing. Green vitriol, he adds, -was called green gallitzenstein. The true nature of several vitriols -was not understood until 1728, when Geoffrey studied and explained them. - -The ideas entertained of zinc by the chemists who studied it were -curious. Albertus Magnus held that it was a compound with iron; -Paracelsus leaned to the idea that it was copper in an altered form; -Kunckel fancied it was congealed mercury; Schluttn thought it was tin -rendered fragile by combination with some sulphur; Lemery supposed -it was a form of bismuth; Stahl held that brass was a combination of -copper with an earth and phlogiston; Libavius (1597) described zinc as -a peculiar kind of tin. The metal he examined came from India. - -The white oxide of zinc was originally known as pompholyx, which -is Greek for a bubble or blister, nihil album, lana philosophica, -and flores zinci. The unguentum diapompholygos, which was found in -the pharmacopœias of the eighteenth century, and was a legacy from -Myrepsus, was a compound of white lead and oxide of zinc in an ointment -which contained also the juice of nightshade berries and frankincense. -It was deemed to be a valuable application for malignant ulcers. - -Oxide of zinc as an internal medicine was introduced by Gaubius, -who was Professor of Medicine at Amsterdam about the middle of the -eighteenth century. It had been known and used under the name of -flowers of zinc from Glauber’s time. A shoemaker at Amsterdam, named -Ludemann, sold a medicine for epilepsy which he called Luna fixata, for -which he acquired some fame. Gaubius was interested in it and analysed -it. He found it to be simply oxide of zinc, and though he did not -endorse the particular medical claim put forward on its behalf he found -it useful for spasms and to promote digestion. - - - END OF VOL. I - - - R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Schelenz in “Geschichte der Pharmacie,” 1904, has collected -a remarkable number of facts and documents illustrative of the -development of pharmacy in Germany. He quotes a Nuremberg ordinance of -1350 which forbids physicians to be interested in the business of an -apothecary, and requires apothecaries to be satisfied with moderate -profits. - -[2] Dr. Monk gives a copy of the Latin minute in the books of the -College referring to this curious recantation. The actual words which -Geynes signed were these:--“Ego, Johannes Geynes, fateor Galenum in -iis, quae proposui contra eum, non errasse.” - -[3] “Free Phosphorus in Medicine,” 1874. - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -1. Obvious spelling, punctuation and printers’ errors have been -silently corrected. - -2. Where appropriate, original spelling has been retained. - -3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated words have been kept as in the -original. - -4. 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C Wootton</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. I of II</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: A. C Wootton</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 19, 2021 [eBook #65872]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Karin Spence, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY, VOL. I OF II ***</div> - - -<p id="half-title" class="p6">CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY</p> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <div class="figcenter" id="pm" > - <img - class="p2" - src="images/pm.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="center p-left sm">MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> - -<span class="xs">LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA<br /> - -MELBOURNE</span></p> - -<p class="center p-left sm">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> - -<span class="xs">NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO<br /> - -ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO</span></p> - -<p class="center p-left sm">THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br /> - -<span class="xs">TORONTO</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - - -<h1>CHRONICLES OF<br /> -PHARMACY</h1></div> - -<p class="center p-left xs p4">BY</p> - -<p class="center p-left sm">A. C. WOOTTON</p> - -<p class="center p-left sm p4">VOL. I</p> - -<p class="center p-left p4">MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br /> - -ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON<br /> - -1910</p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="smcap center p-left p6">Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,<br /> - -<span class="xs">BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND<br /> -BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</span></p></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>PREFACE</h2> - - -<p>Pharmacy, or the art of selecting, extracting, preparing, and -compounding medicines from vegetable, animal, and mineral substances, -is an acquirement which must have been almost as ancient as man himself -on the earth. In experimenting with fruits, seeds, leaves, or roots -with a view to the discovery of varieties of food, our remote ancestors -would occasionally find some of these, which, though not tempting to -the palate, possessed this or that property the value of which would -soon come to be recognised. The tradition of these virtues would be -handed down from generation to generation, and would ultimately become, -by various means, the heritage of the conquering and civilising races. -Of the hundreds of drugs yielded by the vegetable kingdom, collected -from all parts of the world, and used as remedies, in some cases for -thousands of years, I do not know of a single one which can surely be -traced to any historic or scientific personage. It is possible in many -instances to ascertain the exact or approximate date when a particular -substance was introduced to our markets, and sometimes to name the -physician, explorer, merchant, or conqueror to whom we are indebted -for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span> such an addition to our materia medica; but there is always a -history or a tradition behind our acquaintance with the new medicine, -going back to an undetermined past.</p> - -<p>In modern dispensatories the ever increasing accumulation of chemical, -botanical, histological, and therapeutic notes has tended to crowd out -the historic paragraphs which brightened the older treatises. Perhaps -this result is inevitable, but it is none the less to be regretted on -account of both the student and the adept in the art of pharmacy. “I -have always thought,” wrote Ferdinand Hoefer in the Introduction to his -still valuable “History of Chemistry” (1842), “that the best method -of popularising scientific studies, generally so little attractive, -consists in presenting, as in a panorama, the different phases a -science has passed through from its origin to its present condition.” -No science nor, indeed, any single item of knowledge, can be properly -appreciated apart from the records of its evolution; and it is as -important to be acquainted with the errors and misleading theories -which have prevailed in regard to it, as with the steps by which real -progress has been made.</p> - -<p>The history of drugs, investigations into their cultivation, their -commerce, their constitution, and their therapeutic effects, have -been dealt with by physicians and pharmacologists of the highest -eminence in both past and recent times. In Flückiger and Hanbury’s -“Pharmacographia” (Macmillan: 1874), earlier records were studied -with the most scrupulous care, and valuable new information acquired -by personal observation was presented. No other work of a similar -character was so original, so accurate, or so attractive as this. A -very important systematic study of drugs, profusely illustrated by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span> -reproductions of photographs showing particularly the methods whereby -they are produced and brought to our markets, by Professor Tschirch -of Berne, is now in course of publication by Tauchnitz of Leipsic. In -these humble “Chronicles” it has been impossible to avoid entirely -occasional visits to the domain so efficiently occupied by these great -authorities; but as a rule the subjects they have made their own have -been regarded as outside the scope of this volume.</p> - -<p>But the art of the apothecary, of pharmacy, as we should now say, -restricted to its narrowest signification, consists particularly of -the manipulation of drugs, the conversion of the raw material into the -manufactured product. The records of this art and mystery likewise go -back to the remotest periods of human history. In the course of ages -they become associated with magic, with theology, with alchemy, with -crimes and conscious frauds, with the strangest fancies, and dogmas, -and delusions, and with the severest science. Deities, kings, and -quacks, philosophers, priests, and poisoners, dreamers, seers, and -scientific chemists, have all helped to build the fabric of pharmacy, -and it is some features of their work which are imperfectly sketched in -these “Chronicles.”</p> - -<p>My original intention when I began to collect the materials for this -book was simply to trace back to their authors the formulas of the most -popular of our medicines, and to recall those which have lost their -reputation. I thought, and still think, that an explanation of the -modification of processes and of the variation of the ingredients of -compounds would be useful, but I have not accomplished this design. I -have been tempted from it into various by-paths, and probably in them -have often erred, and certainly have missed many objects of interest. I -shall be grateful to any critic, better informed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> than myself, who will -correct me where I have gone astray, or refer me to information which -I ought to have given. I may not have the opportunity of utilising -suggestions myself; but all that I receive will be carefully collated, -and may assist some future writer.</p> - -<p class="smcap r1">A. C. Wootton.</p> - -<p class="smcap hangingindent sm">4, Seymour Road, Finchley,<br /> -London, N.</p> - - -<h2 class="p4">PUBLISHERS’ NOTE</h2> - - -<p>As the author unhappily died while his book was still in the printer’s -hands, his friend, Mr. Peter MacEwan, editor of <i>The Chemist and -Druggist</i>, has been good enough to revise the proofs for press.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="contents"> - <tr> - <th class="chap">CHAPTER</th> - <th></th> - <th class="pag">PAGE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">I.</td> - <td class="cht">Myths of Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">II.</td> - <td class="cht">Pharmacy in the time of the Pharaohs</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">III.</td> - <td class="cht">Pharmacy in the Bible</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">IV.</td> - <td class="cht">The Pharmacy of Hippocrates</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">V.</td> - <td class="cht">From Hippocrates to Galen</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">VI.</td> - <td class="cht">Arab Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">VII.</td> - <td class="cht">From the Arabs to the Europeans</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">VIII.</td> - <td class="cht">Pharmacy in Great Britain</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">IX.</td> - <td class="cht">Magic and Medicine</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">X.</td> - <td class="cht">Dogmas and Delusions</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">XI.</td> - <td class="cht">Masters in Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">XII.</td> - <td class="cht">Royal and Noble Pharmacists</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">XIII.</td> - <td class="cht">Chemical Contributions to Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="chn">XIV.</td> - <td class="cht">Medicines from the Metals</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -<p class="center p-left">VOL. I</p> - -<table summary="illos"> - <tr> - <th></th> - <th class="pag1">PAGE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Isis</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p003a">3</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Osiris</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p003b">3</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Apollo</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p007">7</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Æsculapius</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p008">8</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Arms of the Society of Apothecaries</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p010">10</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Chiron the Centaur</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p015">15</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Achillea Milfoil</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p016">16</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Centaury</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p025">25</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Phœnix</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p026">26</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Unicorn</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p028">28</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Dragon</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p031">31</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The Dragon Tree</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p032">32</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Papyrus Ebers</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p041">41</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Hippocrates</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p085">85</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Interior of Mosque, Cordova</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p099">99</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Avicenna</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p108">108</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Nuremberg Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p120">120</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Sir Theodore Mayerne</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p145">145</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“Lohn”</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p163b">163</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">George Ernest Stahl</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p176">176</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Marquise de Sévigné</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p192">192</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Sir Kenelm Digby</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p194">194</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Galen</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p211a">211</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Raymond Lully</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p222">222</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Basil Valentine</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p225">225</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Paracelsus</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p247">247</a>, - <a href="#i_p248">248</a>, - <a href="#i_p249">249</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Culpepper</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p252">252</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Culpepper’s House</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p253">253</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">J. B. Van Helmont</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p258">258</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Glauber</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p262">262</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Karl Wilhelm Scheele</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p267">267</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Scheele’s Pharmacy</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p269">269</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">École de Pharmacie, Paris</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p271">271</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Vauquelin</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p272">272</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Joseph Pelletier</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p275">275</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Baron Liebig</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p283">283</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Sir Humphry Davy</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p284">284</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Dr. William Heberden</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p291">291</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Sir Walter Raleigh</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p311">311</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Berkeley</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p315">315</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Dr. Nehemiah Grew</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p343">343</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Joseph Black</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p357">357</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Johann Kunckel</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p362">362</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Antimony cup</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p385">385</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Dr. Thomas Sydenham</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p400">400</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Thomas Willis, M.D.</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p401">401</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Quicksilver bottles</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#i_p408">408</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - - -<h3>ERRATA<br /> - -<span class="subhed1">VOL. I</span></h3> - - -<p class="hangingindent1">Page 101. <i>Tenth line from top, for</i> Mesué <i>read</i> Mesuë.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent1"> „  211. <i>Sixth line from bottom, reference should be</i>: Vol. II., 63.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent1"> „  217. <i>Eighth line from top, reference should be</i>: Vol. II., 182.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent1"> „  224. <i>Top line, reference should be</i>: Vol. II., 37.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent1"> „  337. <i>Second line from top, additional reference</i>: Vol. II., 179.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent1"> „  419. <i>Ninth line from top, for</i> Panchymagogum <i>read</i> Panchymagogon.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p></div> - - -<p class="p4 xl">CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY</p> - - -<h2>MYTHS OF PHARMACY</h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Deorum immortalium inventioni consecrata est Ars -Medica.”—<span class="smcap">Cicero</span>, <i>Tusculan. Quaest.</i>, Lib. 3.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>The earliest medical practitioners of any sort and among all peoples -would almost certainly be, as we should designate them, herbalists; -women in many cases. How they came to acquire knowledge of the healing -properties of herbs it is futile to discuss. Old writers often -guess that they got hints by watching animals. Their own curiosity, -suggesting experiments, would probably be a more fruitful source of -their science, and from accidents, both happy and fatal, they would -gradually acquire empiric learning.</p> - -<p>Very soon these herb experts would begin to prepare their remedies so -as to make them easier to take or apply, making infusions, decoctions, -and ointments. Thus the Art of Pharmacy would be introduced.</p> - -<p>The herbalists and pharmacists among primitive tribes would accumulate -facts and experience, and finding that their skill and services had -a market value which enabled them to live without so much hard work -as their neighbours, they would naturally surround<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> their knowledge -with mystery, and keep it to themselves or in particular families. The -profession of medicine being thus started, the inevitable theories -of supernatural powers causing diseases would be encouraged, because -these would promote the mystery already gathering round the practice -of medicine, and from them would follow incantations, exorcisms, -the association of priestcraft with the healing arts, and the -superstitions, credulities, and impostures which have been its constant -companions, and which are still too much in evidence.</p> - - -<h3>THE INVENTORS OF MEDICINE</h3> - -<p>Medicine and Magic consequently became intimately associated, and -useful facts, superstitious practices, and conscious and unconscious -deceptions, became blended into a mosaic which formed a fixed and -reverenced System of Medicine. Again the supernatural powers were -called in and the credit of the revelation of this Art, that is its -total fabric, was attributed either to a divine being who had brought -it from above, or to some gifted and inspired creature, who in -consequence had been admitted into the family of the deities.</p> - -<p>In Egypt Osiris and Isis, brother and sister, and at the same time -husband and wife, were worshipped as the revealers of medical knowledge -among most other sciences. Formulas credited to Isis were in existence -in the time of Galen, but even that not too critical authority rejected -these traditions without hesitation. In ancient Egypt, however, the -priests who held in their possession all the secrets of medicine -claimed Isis as the founder of their science. Some old legends -explained that she acquired her knowledge of medicine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> from an angel -named Amnael, one of the sons of God of whom we read in the book of -Genesis. The science thus imparted to her was the price she exacted -from him for the surrender of herself to him. The son of Isis, Horus, -was identified by the Greeks with their Apollo, and to him also the -discovery of medicine is attributed.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p003a"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p003a.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Isis.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p003b"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p003b.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Osiris.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">From the Collection of Medals and other Antiquities of Casalius (17th -century).</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">In Leclerc’s <i>History of Medicine</i>.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The legend which associated “the sons of God” with the daughters -of men before the Flood, and the suggestion that they imparted a -knowledge of medicine to the inhabitants of the earth, is traceable -in the traditions of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Persians, -as well as in Jewish literature. In the 6th chapter of Genesis it is -said that “they saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they -took them wives of all that they chose.” From these unions came the -race of giants, and the wickedness of man so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> “great in the earth” -that the destruction of the race by the Flood resulted. The apocryphal -Book of Enoch, composed, it is agreed, about 100 or 150 years before -the birth of Christ, is very definite in regard to this legend, -showing that it was current among the Jews at that period. We read in -that Book, that “They (the angels) dwelt with them and taught them -sorcery, enchantments, the properties of roots and trees, magic signs, -and the art of observing the stars.” Alluding to one of these angels -particularly it is said “he taught them the use of the bracelets and -ornaments, the art of painting, of painting the eyelashes, the uses -of precious stones, and all sorts of tinctures, so that the world was -corrupted.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Hermes.</h4> - -<p>With Osiris and Isis is always associated the Egyptian Thoth whom the -Greeks called Hermes, and who is also identified with Mercury. He was -described as the friend, or the secretary, of Osiris. Eusebius quotes -an earlier author who identified Hermes with Moses; but if Moses was -the inventor of medicine and all other sciences it would be hardly -exact to speak of him as “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” -Thoth, who is also claimed as a Phoenician, as Canaan the son of Ham, -and as an associate of Saturn, attained perhaps the greatest fame -as an inventor of medicine. He was the presumed author of the six -sacred books which the Egyptian priests were bound to follow in their -treatment of the sick. One of these books was specially devoted to -pharmacy.</p> - -<p>Thoth, or Hermes, is supposed to have invented alchemy as well as -medicine, the art of writing, arith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>metic, laws, music, and the -cultivation of the olive. According to Jamblicus, who wrote on the -mysteries of Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Julian, the Egyptian -priests then recognised forty-two books as the genuine works of Hermes. -Six of these dealt respectively with anatomy, diseases in general, -women’s complaints, eye diseases, surgery, and the preparation of -remedies. Jamblicus is not sure of their authenticity, and, as already -stated, Galen uncompromisingly declares them to be apocryphal. Other -writers are far less modest than Jamblicus in their estimates of the -number of the writings of Hermes. Seleucus totals them at 20,000, and -Manethon says 38,000.</p> - -<p>The legend of Hermes apparently grew up among the Alexandrian writers -of the first century. It was from them that his surname Trismegistus -(thrice-great) originated. It was pretended that in the old Egyptian -temples the works of Hermes were kept on papyri, and that the priests -in treating diseases were bound to follow his directions implicitly. -If they did, and the patient died, they were exonerated; but if they -departed from the written instructions they were liable to be condemned -to death, even though the patient recovered.</p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say that in the preceding paragraph no -attempt has been made to discuss modern researches on ancient beliefs. -Greek scholars, for example, trace the Greek Hermes to an Indian -source, and assume the existence of two gods of the same name.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Bacchus, Ammon, and Zoroaster.</h4> - -<p>Bacchus, King of Assyria, and subsequently a deity, was claimed by some -of the Eastern nations as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> discoverer of medicine. He is supposed -to have taught the medicinal value of the ivy, but it is more likely -that he owes his medical reputation to his supposed invention of wine. -Some old writers identify him with Noah. Hammon, or Ammon, or Amen, -traced to Ham, the second son of Noah, has been honoured as having -originated medicine in Egypt. Some attribute the name of sal ammoniac -to the temple of Ammon in the Libyan oasis, on the theory that it -was first produced there from the dung of camels. Gum ammoniacum is -similarly supposed to have been the gum of a shrub which grew in that -locality. Zoroaster, who gave the Persians their religious system, is -also counted among the inventors of medicine, perhaps because he was so -generally regarded as the discoverer of magic.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Apollo.</h4> - -<p>Apollo, the reputed god of medicine among the Greeks, was the son of -Jupiter and Latona. His divinity became associated with the sun, and -his arrows, which often caused sudden death were, according to modern -expounders of ancient myths, only the rays of the sun. Many of his -attributes were similar to those which the Egyptians credited to Horus, -the son of Osiris and Isis, and it is evident that the Egyptian legend -was incorporated with that of the early Greeks. Besides being the god -of medicine Apollo was the deity of music, poetry, and eloquence, -and he was honoured as the inventor of all these arts. He evidently -possessed the jealousy of the artist in an abundant degree, for after -his musical competition with Pan, Apollo playing the lyre and Pan -the flute, when Tmolus, the arbiter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> had awarded the victory to the -former, Midas ventured to disagree with that opinion, and was thereupon -provided with a pair of asses’ ears. Marsyas, another flute player, -having challenged Apollo, was burnt alive.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p007"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p007.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Apollo.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Peon, sometimes identified with Apollo, was the physician of Olympus. -He is said to have first practised in Egypt. In the fifth book of the -'Iliad’ Homer describes how he cured the wound which Diomed had given -to Mars:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>—Peon sprinkling heavenly balm around,</div> - <div>Assuaged the glowing pangs and closed the wound.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Æsculapius.</h4> - -<p>Æsculapius, son of Apollo and Coronis, had a more immediate connection -with medicine than his father. He was taught its mysteries by Chiron -the Centaur,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> another of the legendary inventors of the art, who -also taught Achilles and others. Æsculapius became so skilful that -Castor and Pollux insisted on his accompanying the expedition of the -Argonauts. Ultimately he acquired the power of restoring the dead to -life. But this perfection of his art was his ruin.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p008"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p008.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Æsculapius.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">From the Casalius Collection of Medals, &c. (17th century).</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">From the Louvre Statue, Paris.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Pluto, alarmed for the future of his own dominions, complained to -Jupiter, and the Olympian ruler slew Æsculapius with a thunderbolt. -Apollo was so incensed at this cruel judgment that he killed the -Cyclops who had forged the thunderbolt. For this act of rebellion -Apollo was banished from Olympia and spent nine years on earth, for -some time as a shepherd in the service of the king of Thessaly. It was -during this period that the story of his adventure with Daphne,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> told -by Ovid, and from which the quotation on</p> - -<p class="smcap center p-left">The Arms of the Society of Apothecaries</p> - -<p class="p-left">(italicised below) is taken, occurred. Ovid relates that Apollo, -meeting Cupid, jeered at his child’s bows and arrows as mere -playthings. In revenge Cupid forged two arrows, one of gold and the -other of lead. The golden one he shot at Apollo, to excite desire; the -leaden arrow, which repelled desire, was shot at Daphne. The legend -ends by the nymph being metamorphosed into a laurel which Apollo -thenceforth wore as a wreath. One of the incidents narrated by Ovid -represents the god telling the nymph who he is. Dryden’s version makes -him say:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Perhaps thou knowest not my superior state</div> - <div>And from that ignorance proceeds thy hate.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">A somewhat uncouth method of seeking to ingratiate himself with the -reluctant lady. Among his attainments Apollo says:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Invention medicina meum est, <i>Opiferque per orbem</i></div> - <div><i>Dicor</i>, et herbam subjecta potentia nobis.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">Dryden versifies these lines thus:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Medicine is mine, what herbs and simples grow</div> - <div>In fields and forests, all their powers I know,</div> - <div>And am the great physician called below.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The arms of the Society of Apothecaries are thus described in Burke’s -“Encyclopædia of Heraldry,” 1851:</p> - -<p>“In shield, Apollo, the inventor of physic, with his head radiant, -holding in his left hand a bow, and in his right a serpent. About the -shield a helm, thereupon a mantle, and for the crest, upon a wreath -of their colours,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> a rhinoceros, supported by two unicorns, armed and -ungulated. Upon a compartment to make the achievement complete, this -motto: 'Opiferque per orbem dicor.’”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p010"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p010.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Arms of the Society of Apothecaries.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">It was William Camden, the famous antiquary and “Clarenceux King at -Arms” in James I.’s reign, who hunted out the middle of the above Latin -quotation for the newly incorporated Society of Apothecaries.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Sons of Æsculapius.</h4> - -<p>Æsculapius left two sons, who continued their father’s profession, -and three or four daughters. It is not possible to be chronologically -exact with these semi-mythical personages, but according to the usual -reckoning Æsculapius lived about 1250 <span class="sm">B.C.</span> He would have been -contemporary with Gideon, a judge of Israel, about two centuries after -the death of Moses, and two centuries before the reign of King David. -His sons Machaon and Podalirus were immortalised in the Iliad among the -Greek heroes who fought before Troy, and they exercised their surgical -and medical skill on their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> comrades, as Homer relates. When Menelaus -was wounded by an arrow shot by Pandarus, Machaon was sent for, and -“sucked the blood, and sovereign balm infused, which Chiron gave, and -Æsculapius used.”</p> - -<p>After the Trojan war both the brothers continued to exercise their art, -and some of their cures are recorded. Their sons after them likewise -practised medicine, and the earliest Æsculapian Temple is believed to -have been erected in memory of his grandfather by Spyrus, the second -son of Machaon, at Argos. Perhaps he only intended it as a home for -patients, or it may have been as an advertisement. From then, however, -the worship of Æsculapius spread, and we read of temples at Titane in -the Peloponnesus, at Tricca in Thessalia, at Trithorea, at Corinth, -at Epidaurus, at Cos, at Megalopolis in Arcadia, at Lar in Laconia, -at Drepher, at Drope, at Corona on the Gulf of Messina, at Egrum, at -Delos, at Cyllene, at Smyrna, and at Pergamos in Asia Minor. The Temple -of Epidaurus was for a long time the most important, but before the -time of Hippocrates that of Cos seems to have taken the lead.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Daughters of Æsculapius</h4> - -<p class="p-left">are often described as allegorical figures, Hygeia representing health, -and Panacea, medicine. Hygeia especially was widely worshipped by -Greeks, and when rich people recovered from an illness they often -had medals struck with her figure on the reverse. Pliny says it was -customary to offer her a simple cake of fine flour, to indicate the -connection between simple living and good health. Panacea was likewise -made a divinity. She presided over the administration of medicines. -Egrea and Jaso are but little known. The former (whose name signified -the light of the Sun) married a serpent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> and was changed into a -willow, while Jaso in the only known monument on which she appears, is -represented with a pot, probably of ointment, in her hand.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Prometheus.</h4> - -<p>More mythical than the story of Æsculapius, or even of Orpheus, who was -also alleged to have discovered some of the secrets of medicine, is -the legend of Prometheus who stole fire from heaven for the benefit of -mankind. According to the older mythologists Prometheus was the same as -Magog, and was the son of Japhet. Æschylus is the principal authority -on his tradition. After recounting many other wonderful things he -had done for humanity, the poet makes him say, “One of the greatest -subtilties I have invented is that when any one falls ill, and can find -no relief; can neither eat nor drink, and knows not with what to anoint -himself; when for want of the necessary remedies he must perish; then -I showed to men how to prepare healing medicine which should cure all -maladies.” Or as Dean Plumptre has rendered it:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i9">If any one fell ill</div> - <div>There was no help for him nor healing balm,</div> - <div>Nor unguent, nor yet potion; but for want</div> - <div>Of drugs they wasted till I showed to them</div> - <div>The blendings of all mild medicaments</div> - <div>Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In other words, Prometheus was the first pharmacist.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Melampus.</h4> - -<p>Melampus was a shepherd to whom we owe, as legend tells us, hellebore -(Gr. Melampodion) and iron as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> medicines. Melampus studied nature -closely, and, when young, brought up by hand some young serpents, who -were dutifully grateful for the cares he had bestowed on them. One day, -finding him asleep, two of them crept to his ears and so effectively -cleaned them with their tongues that when he woke he found he could -easily make out the language of birds, and hear a thousand things which -had previously been hidden from man. Thus he became a great magician. -In tending his goats he observed that whenever they ate the black -hellebore they were purged. Afterwards, many of the women of Argos were -stricken with a disease which made them mad. They ran about the fields -naked, and believed they were cows. Among the women so afflicted were -the three daughters of Proetus, the king of Argos. Melampus undertook -to cure the three princesses, and did so by giving them the milk of -the goats after they had eaten the hellebore. His reward was one of -them for his wife and a third of the kingdom. Another cure effected -by Melampus was by his treatment of Iphiclus, king of Phylacea, who -greatly desired to beget children. Melampus gave him rust of iron in -wine, and that remedy proved successful. This was the earliest Vinum -Ferri. Melampus is supposed to have lived about 1380 <span class="sm">B.C.</span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Glaucus.</h4> - -<p>Glaucus, son of Minos, king of Crete, was playing when a child and -fell into a large vat of honey, in which he was suffocated. The child -being lost the king sent for Polyidus of Argos, a famous magician, and -ordered him to discover his son. Polyidus having found the dead body -in the honey, it occurred to Minos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> that so clever a man could also -bring him back to life. He therefore commanded that the magician should -be put into the same vat. While perplexed at the problem before him, -Polyidus saw a serpent creeping towards the vat. He seized the beast -and killed him. Presently another serpent came, and looked on his dead -friend. The second went out of the place for a few minutes and returned -with a certain herb which he applied to the dead reptile and soon -restored him to life. Polyidus took the hint and used the same herb on -Glaucus with an equally satisfactory result. He restored him to his -father, who loaded the sorcerer with gifts. Unfortunately in telling -the other details of this history the narrator has forgotten to inform -us of the name of the herb which possessed such precious properties. -Polyidus, according to Pausanias, was a nephew of Melampus.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Chiron.</h4> - -<p>Chiron the Centaur was very famous for his knowledge of simples, which -he learned on Mount Pelion when hunting with Diana. The Centaury owes -its name to him, either because he used it as a remedy or because -it was applied to his wound. His great merit was that he taught his -knowledge of medicines to Æsculapius, to Hercules, to Achilles, and to -various other Greek heroes. In the Iliad Homer represents Eurypylus -wounded by an arrow asking Patroclus</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>With lukewarm water wash the gore away</div> - <div>With healing balms the raging smart allay</div> - <div>Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy,</div> - <div>Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.</div> - <div class="i7">(<i>Il.</i>, Bk. XI., Pope’s Translation.)</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">Chiron was shot in the foot by Hercules by an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> arrow which had been -dipped in the blood of the Hydra of Lerna, and the wound caused intense -agony. One fable says that Chiron healed this wound by applying to it -the herb which consequently bore the name of Centaury; but the more -usual version is that his grief at being immortal was so keen that -Hercules induced Jupiter to transfer that immortality to Prometheus, -and that Chiron was placed in the sky and forms the constellation -of Sagittarius. The Centaurs were a wild race inhabiting Thessaly. -Probably they were skilful horse tamers and riders, and from this may -have grown the fable of their form.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p015"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p015.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Chiron the Centaur.</p> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Achilles.</h4> - -<p>Achilles carried a spear at the siege of Troy which had the benign -power of healing the wounds it made.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> He discovered the virtues of -the plant Achillea Milfoil, but Pliny leaves it doubtful whether he -cured the wounds of his friend Telephas by that remedy or by verdigris -ointment, which he also invented.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p016"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p016.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Achillea Milfoil.</p> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Aristes.</h4> - -<p>Aristes, king of Arcadia, was another famous pupil of Chiron. He is -credited with having introduced the silphion or laser which became -a popular medicine and condiment with the ancients, and which was -long believed to have been their name for asafœtida, but which modern -authors have doubted, alleging that silphion was the product of Thapsia -silphion. Aristes is further said to have taught the art of collecting -honey and of cultivating the olive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Medea.</h4> - -<p>Medea of Colchis is one of the most discussed ladies of mythical -history. Euripides, Ovid, and other poets represented her for the -purposes of their poems as a fiend of inhuman ferocity. Some more -trustworthy historians believe that she was a princess who devoted -a great deal of study to the medicinal virtues of the plants which -grew in her country, and that she exercised her skill on the poor -and sick of her country. Certainly the marvellous murders attributed -to her must have been planned by a tragic poet to whom no conditions -were impossible. Diodorus declares that the Corinthians stoned her -and her sons, and afterwards paid Euripides five talents to justify -their crime. Medea’s claim to a place in this section is the adopted -theory that she discovered the poisonous properties of colchicum, -which derived its name from her country. Colchis had the reputation of -producing many poisonous plants; hence the Latin expression “venena -Colchica.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Morpheus.</h4> - -<p>Morpheus was, according to the Roman poets, the son or chief minister -of the god of sleep (Somnus). The god himself was represented as -living in Cimmerian darkness. Morpheus derived his name from Morphe, -(Gr., form or shape), from his supposed ability to mimic or assume -the form of any individual he desired to pose as in dreams. Thus Ovid -relates how he appeared to Alcyone in a dream as her husband, who had -been shipwrecked, and narrated to her all the circumstances of the -tragedy. Morpheus is represented with a poppy plant in his hand bearing -a capsule with which he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> supposed to touch those whom he desired -to put to sleep. He also had the wings of a butterfly to indicate his -lightness. Sertürner adopted the term “morphium” as the name of the -opium alkaloid which he had discovered.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Pythagoras.</h4> - -<p>Pythagoras, who lived in the sixth century before Christ, has been -the subject of so many legends that it is difficult to separate the -philosopher in him from the charlatan. He is said to have tamed wild -beasts with a word, to have visited hell, to have recounted his -previous stages of existence from the siege of Troy to his own life, -and to have accomplished many miracles. Probably these were the myths -which often gather round great men, and it is certain that from him -or from his disciples in his name much exact learning, especially in -mathematics, has reached us. Pythagoras was famous in many sciences. -His chief contribution to pharmacy was the invention of acetum scillae. -According to Pliny he wrote a treatise on squills, which he believed -possessed magic virtues. Pliny also states that he attributed magic -virtues to the cabbage, but it is not certain that he meant the -vegetable which we call the cabbage. Aniseed was another of his magic -plants. Holding aniseed in the left hand he recommended as a cure -for epilepsy, and he prescribed an anisated wine and also mustard to -counteract the poisonous effect of the bites of scorpions. An Antidotum -Pythagoras is given in some old books, but there is no authority for -supposing that this was devised by the philosopher. It was composed -of orris, 18 drachms and 2 scruples; gentian, 5 drachms; ginger, 4½ -drachms; black pepper, 4 drachms; honey, <i>q.s.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>THE PATRON SAINTS OF PHARMACY.</h3> - -<p>Cosmas and Damien, who are regarded as the patron saints of pharmacy -in many Catholic countries, were two brothers, Arabs by birth, but who -lived in the city of Egea, in Cilicia, where they practised medicine -gratuitously. Overtaken by the Diocletian persecution in the fourth -century, they were arrested and confessed their faith. Being condemned -to be drowned, it is related that an angel severed their bonds so that -they could gain the shore. They were then ordered to be burnt, but -the fire attacked their executioners, several of whom were killed. -Next they were fastened to a cross and archers shot arrows at them. -The arrows, however, were turned from them and struck those who had -placed them on the crosses. Finally they were beheaded, and their souls -were seen mounting heavenward. For centuries their tomb at Cyrus, in -Syria, was a shrine where miracles of healing were performed, and in -the sixth century the Emperor Justinian, who believed he had been -cured of a serious illness by their intercession, not only beautified -and fortified the Syrian city, but also built a beautiful church in -their honour at Constantinople. Later, their relics were removed to -Rome, and Pope Felix consecrated a church to them there. Physicians -and pharmacists throughout Catholic Europe celebrated their memory on -September 27th for centuries.</p> - - -<h3>FABLES OF PLANT MEDICINES.</h3> - -<p>The Mandrake (Atropa Mandragora) has been exceptionally famous in -medical history. Its reputation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> for the cure of sterility is alluded -to in the story of Leah and Rachel (Genesis xxx, 14–16). It is not, -however, certain that the Hebrew word “dudaim” should be translated -mandrake. Various Biblical scholars have questioned this which was -the Septuagint rendering. Lilies, violets, truffles, citrons, and -other fruits have been suggested. In Cant., vii, 14, the same plant -is described as fragrant, and the odour of the mandrake is said to be -disagreeable. Mandragora is described in Chinese books of medicine, -and from Hippocrates down to almost modern times every writer on the -art of healing treats it with reverence. Hippocrates asserts that a -small dose in wine, less than would occasion delirium, will relieve the -deepest depression and anxiety. The roots of the mandrake are often -of a forked shape and were supposed to represent the human form, some -being regarded as male and others as female. This fancy originated with -Pythagoras, who conferred on the mandrake the name of anthropomorphon. -It was said that when the roots were drawn from the earth they gave -a human shriek. Shakespeare in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> alludes to this -superstition:</p> - - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth</div> - <div>That living mortals hearing them run mad.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In <i>Othello</i> again Shakespeare refers to this medicine, and -particularly to its alleged narcotic properties:</p> - - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Not poppy, nor mandragora,</div> - <div>Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In <i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>, too, Cleopatra says, “Give me to drink -mandragora” (that she may sleep out the great gap of time while Antony -is away); and Banquo in <i>Macbeth</i>, when he asks, “Or have we eaten of -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> insane root that takes the reason prisoner?” is believed to allude -to the mandrake.</p> - -<p>There is a good deal of evidence that mandragora was used in ancient -and mediæval times not only as a soporific, but also as an anæsthetic. -Dioscorides explicitly asserts this property of the root more than -once. He describes a decoction of which a cupful is to be taken for -severe pains, or “before amputations, or the use of the cautery, to -prevent the pain of those operations.” Elsewhere he alludes to its -employment in parturition, and in another passage dealing with a wine -prepared from the external coat of the root, says, “The person who -drinks it falls in a profound sleep, and remains deprived of sense -three or four hours. Physicians apply this remedy when the necessity -for amputation occurs, or for applying the cautery.” Pliny refers -to the narcotic powers of the mandrake, and among later writers its -effects are often described. Josephus mentions a plant which he calls -Baaras, which cured demoniacs, but could only be procured at great -risk, or by employing a dog to uproot it, the dog being killed in the -process. This Baaras is supposed to have been mandrake. Dr. Lee in his -Hebrew Lexicon quotes from a Persian authority an allusion to a similar -root which, taken inwardly, “renders one insensible to the pain of even -cutting off a limb.”</p> - -<p>Baptista Porta describes the power of the mandrake in inducing deep -sleep, and in A. G. Meissner’s “Skizzen,” published at Carlsruhe in -1782, there is a story of Weiss, surgeon to Augustus, King of Poland -and Elector of Saxony, who surreptitiously administered a potion (of -what medicine is not stated) to his royal master, and during his -insensibility cut off a mortifying foot.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Amaranth, Ambrosia, and Athanasia.</h4> - -<p>Amaranth is the name which has been given to the genus of plants of -which Prince’s Feather and Love-Lies-Bleeding are species. This means -immortal and is the word used in the Epistle of St. Peter (v, 4), -the amaranthine crown of glory, or as translated in our version “the -crown of glory that fadeth not away.” Milton refers to the “immortal -amaranth, a flower which once in Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life -began to bloom.”</p> - -<p>Ambrosia, the food of the gods, sometimes alluded to as drink, and -sometimes as a sweet-smelling ointment, was also referred to by -Dioscorides and Pliny as a herb, but it is not known what particular -plant they meant. It was reputed to be nine times sweeter than honey. -The herb Ambrose of the old herbalists was the Chenopodium Botrys, but -C. Ambroisioides (the oak of Jerusalem), the wild sage, and the field -parsley have also borne the name. The Ambroisia of modern botanists is -a plant of the wormwood kind.</p> - -<p>Athanasia was abbreviated by the old herbalists into Tansy, and this -herb acquired the fame due to its distinguished designation. In -Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods, Jupiter tells Hercules to take with him -the beautiful Ganymede, whom he has stolen from earth, “and when he has -drunk of Athanasia (immortality) bring him back, and he shall be our -cupbearer.” Naturally the ancients sought for that herb, Athanasia, -which would yield immortality.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Myrrh.</h4> - -<p>Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyrus, King of Cyprus, having become -pregnant, was driven from home by her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> father, and fled to Arabia. The -story told by Ovid is that she had conceived a criminal passion for her -father, and that by deception she had taken her mother’s place by his -side one night. Lost in the desert and overcome by remorse, she had -prayed the gods to grant that she should no longer remain among the -living, nor be counted with the dead. Touched with pity for her, they -changed her into the tree which yields the gum which to this day bears -her name.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Nepenthe.</h4> - -<p>Nepenthe, or more correctly Nepenthes, is described by Homer in the -Odyssey as an Egyptian plant which Helen, the wife of Menelaus, had -received from Polydamna, wife of Thonis, King of Egypt. The word is -compounded of <i>ne</i>, negation, and <i>penthos</i>, pain or affliction. Helen -mixed it for Telemachus in “a mirth inspiring bowl” which would</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,</div> - <div>And dry the tearful sluices of despair.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">Its effects would last all through one day. No matter what horrors -surrounded,</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>From morn to eve, impassive and serene</div> - <div>The man entranced would view the dreadful scene.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Much discussion of Homer’s drug has of course resulted from his -description of these effects. Was it a mere poetic fancy of Homer’s and -was the name his invention, or was there an Egyptian drug known in his -time to which the properties he describes were attributed? Plutarch, -Philostratus, and some other ancient commentators suppose that the poet -is only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> representing in a materialistic form the charm of Helen’s -conversation and manner. The difficulty about that interpretation is -that he explicitly states that the remedy came from Egypt. Theophrastus -credits the opopanax with similar properties to those which Homer -claims, and Dioscorides is believed to allude to the same gum under the -name of Nectarion, which he indicates to have been of Egyptian origin. -This has been adopted by some old critics as the true nepenthes. Pliny -asserts that Helenium was the plant which yielded the mirth-inspiring -drug, but it is not clear that he means our elecampane. Borage and -bugloss have also had their advocates, Galen supporting the latter. -Rhazes voted for saffron. Cleopatra is assumed to have meant mandragora -when she asked for some nepenthe to make her forget her sorrow while -she was separated from Antony. Opium has of course been selected by -many commentators, but it could hardly have furnished a mirth-inspiring -bowl. Indian hemp or haschish seems to meet the requirements of -the verse better than any other drug. There are also reasons for -choosing hyoscyamus or stramonium. The Indian pitcher plants to which -Linnaeus gave the name of nepenthes are out of the question. A learned -contribution to this study may be found in the <i>Bulletin de Pharmacie</i>, -Vol. V. (1813), by M. J. J. Virey.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Belladonna.</h4> - -<p>Atropa Belladonna is the subject of several legends. How it came by -its several names it would be interesting to know. Atropa, from the -eldest sister of the Fates, she who carried the scissors with which she -cut the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> thread of life, is appropriate enough but not more to this -than to any other poison plant. Belladonna—so-called because Italian -ladies made a cosmetic from the berries with which to whiten their -complexions; so-called because the Spanish ladies made use of the plant -to dilate the pupils of their brilliant black eyes; so-called because -Leucota, an Italian poisoner, used it to destroy beautiful women. These -are among the explanations of the name which the old herbalists gave -without troubling themselves about historical evidence. Belladonna -is supposed to have been described by Dioscorides under the name of -Morella furiosum lethale, and by Pliny as Strychnos manikon. It was -used by Galen in cancerous affections, and its employment for this -purpose was revived in the 17th century, infusions of leaves being -administered both internally and externally. That it figured among -the philtres of the sorcerers cannot be doubted. Like mandragora, it -did not act by exciting amorous passions, but by rendering the victim -helpless.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Centaury.</h4> - -<p>The lesser Centaury (<i>Erythraea Centaurium</i>) is alleged to owe its -name to Chiron the Centaur, who is supposed to have taught medicine to -Æsculapius. The story which associates Chiron with the plant has been -given already.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p025"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p025.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Centaury.</p> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Mint.</h4> - -<p>Mentha was a nymph of the infernal regions beloved of Pinto. Prosperine -out of jealousy caused her to be metamorphosed into the plant which -thus acquired her name.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Dittany.</h4> - -<p>Dittany, the origanum Dictamnus, was reputed to possess wonderful -virtues for healing wounds. Æneas, wounded in a combat, was treated -by Iapyx, who had been specially taught by Apollo, but his simples -had no effect. Venus, touched by the sufferings of her son, thereupon -descended from heaven in a cloud, gathered some dittany on Mount Ida, -and secretly added it to the infusion with which Iapyx was vainly -trying to relieve the hero. She added some ambrosial elixir, and -suddenly the pain ceased, the flow of blood was arrested, the dart was -easily drawn from the wound, and Æneas recovered his strength.</p> - - -<h3>MYTHICAL ANIMALS.</h3> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Phœnix.</h4> - -<p>The Phœnix was largely adopted by the alchemists as their emblem, -and afterwards was a frequent sign used by pharmacists. According to -Herodotus this bird, which was worshipped by the Egyptians, was of -about the size of an eagle, with purple and gold plumage, and a purple -crest. Its eyes sparkled like stars; it lived a solitary life in the -Arabian desert, and either came to Heliopolis, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> city of the sun, to -die and be burned in the temple of that city, or its ashes were brought -there by its successor. There was only one phœnix at the same time, and -it lived for 500 years. The legends vary as to its longevity, but 500 -years is the period usually assigned. When the phœnix knew that its -time had come, it made its own funeral pyre out of spiced woods, and -the sun provided the fire. Out of the marrow of its bones came a worm, -which quickly grew into a new phœnix, who, after burying its parent in -Egypt, returned to Arabia.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p026"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p026.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Phœnix.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The Talmud relates some curious legends of the phœnix, which the Jews -believed to be immortal. One story is that when Eve had eaten the -forbidden fruit she gave some to all the animals in the Garden of Eden, -and that the phœnix was the only one which refused. Hence it escaped -the curse of death which overtook the rest of the animal creation. -Another legend is that when it was in the ark, and when all the -other animals were clamouring to be fed, the phœnix was quiet. Noah, -observing it, asked if it was not hungry, to which the phœnix replied, -“I saw you were busy, so would not trouble you,” an answer which so -pleased Noah that he blessed it with eternal life. In the book of Job, -xxix, 18, recalling his earlier glory, the patriarch says, “Then I said -I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.” Many -Jewish scholars believe that the word translated sand should be phœnix, -and our Revised Version gives “phœnix” as an alternative rendering. It -is easy to appreciate how aptly this would express Job’s idea. Some of -the Hebrew commentators translate the verse in Ps. ciii, 5, “So that -thy youth is renewed like the eagle,” by substituting phœnix for eagle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Unicorn</h4> - -<p class="p-left">had not quite passed into the region of fable when Pomet wrote his -History of Drugs very early in the 18th century, for though he does -not believe in the animal himself, he quotes from other authors not -so very long antecedent to him who did. He states, however, that what -was then sold as unicorn’s horn was in fact the horn or tusk of the -narwhal, a tooth which extends to the length of six to ten feet. The -unicorn, or monoceros was referred to by Aristotle, Pliny, Aelian, and -other ancient writers, and in later times it was described by various -travellers who, if they had not seen it themselves, had met with -persons who had.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p028"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p028.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Unicorn (after Bochaut’s Hierozoicon).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The details given by Aristotle are supposed to have been derived from -Ctesias, whose description of the Indian wild ass is what was adopted -with many embellishments for the fabulous unicorn. It is this author -who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> first notices the marvellous alexipharmic properties so long -attributed to the unicorn’s horn. Drinking vessels, he says, were made -of the horn, and those who used them were protected against poison, -convulsions, and epilepsy, provided that either just before or just -after taking the poison they drank wine or water from the cup made from -the horn. In the middle ages the horn of the unicorn was esteemed a -certain cure for the plague, malignant fevers, bites of serpents or of -mad dogs. It was to be made into a jelly to which a little saffron and -cochineal were to be added. Some writers allege that poisoned wounds -could be cured by merely holding the horn of a unicorn opposite the -wound. These horns are said, however, to have cost about ten times the -price of gold, so that not many sufferers could avail themselves of -them as a remedy.</p> - -<p>The unicorn is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, the -translators of the Authorised Version having followed the Septuagint in -which the Hebrew word Re’em was rendered by the Greek term Monokeros, -which corresponds with our unicorn. It is agreed that the word in the -original had no reference to the fabulous animal, but that the wild -ox, or ox antelope, a strong untameable beast, known in Palestine, was -intended. In the Revised Version wild ox is uniformly substituted for -unicorn. This animal is believed to have been the Urus mentioned by -Julius Cæsar as existing in his time in the forests of Central Europe, -and not entirely extinct until some 500 or 600 years ago.</p> - -<p>The translators evidently found a difficulty in associating the unicorn -with the Hebrew Re’em in Deut. xxxiii, 17, where we read of “the horns -of the unicorns.” In the Hebrew the horns are the plural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> but Re’em is -singular. But the horns of the unicorn would have been a contradiction -in terms.</p> - -<p>The allusions to the unicorn in Shakespeare all seem to show unbelief -in the legends. In the <i>Tempest</i> (Act 3, sc. 3) Sebastian says when -music is heard in the wood, “Now I will believe that there are -unicorns.” In <i>Julius Cæsar</i> (Act 2, sc. 1), Decius Brutus, recounting -Cæsar’s superstitions, says, “He loves to hear that unicorns may be -betrayed with trees”; and Timon of Athens raves about the unicorn among -the legendary animal beliefs (Act 4, sc. 3). An authority on heraldry, -Guillim, in 1660, however, comments thus on the scepticism of his -contemporaries: “Some have made doubt whether there be any such beast -as this or not. But the great esteem of his horns (in many places to be -seen) may take away that needless scruple.”</p> - -<p>The unicorn was introduced into the British royal arms by James I., who -substituted it for the red dragon with which Henry VII. had honoured -a Welsh contingent which helped him to win the battle of Bosworth -fighting under the banner of Cadwallydr. The unicorn had been a Scotch -emblem for several reigns before that of James I. (or VI.). The -Scottish pound of that period was known by the name of a unicorn from -the device stamped on it.</p> - -<p>Pomet tells us that in 1553 a unicorn’s horn was brought to the King of -France which was valued at £20,000 sterling; and that one presented to -Charles I. of England, supposed to be the largest one known, measured -7 feet long, and weighed 13 lbs. It is also related that Edward IV. -gave to the Duke of Burgundy who visited him, a gold cup set with -jewels, and with a piece of unicorn’s horn worked into the metal. One -large unicorn’s horn was owned by the city of Dresden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> and was valued -at 75,000 thalers. Occasionally a piece was sawn off to be used for -medical purposes. It was a city regulation that two persons of princely -rank should be present whenever this operation was performed. This was -in the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p>The unicorn was a frequent sign used by the old apothecaries. It was -also adopted by goldsmiths. The arms of the Society of Apothecaries are -supported by unicorns.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p031"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p031.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Dragon.</p> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Dragon</h4> - -<p class="p-left">was only associated with pharmacy by means of the “blood” which took -his name and was at one time popularly supposed to be yielded by him. I -know of no evidence in support of this statement, but it is sometimes -so reported. According to Pharmacographia dragon’s blood was first -obtained from Socotra and taken with other merchandise by the Arabs -to China. Possibly it was there that it acquired the name of dragon’s -blood, for the dragon has always been a much revered beast in that -country. Dioscorides called this product cinnabar. I find in old books -that the fruit of the calamus draconis on which the resin collects -along with scales (and this is the source of our present supply), when -stripped of its skin shows a design of a dragon. Lemery quoting from -“Monard and several other authors,” says, “When the skin is taken off -from this fruit there appears underneath the figure of a dragon as it -is represented by the painters, with wings expanded, a slender neck, -a hairy or bristle back, long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> tail, and feet armed with talons. They -pretend,” he adds, “that this figure gave the name to tree. But I -believe this circumstance fabulous because I never knew it confirmed by -any traveller.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p032"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p032.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">The Dragon Tree</span> (<i>Dracona Draco</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The tree illustrated above is at Teneriffe, and is, perhaps, the oldest -tree in the world. Humboldt, in 1799, found its trunk was forty-eight -feet in circumference.]</p> - -<p>Very likely the shrewd Arabs invented the name dragon’s blood to please -their Chinese customers, and it may be therefore that the tree acquired -its name from the resin, not the resin from the tree.</p> - -<p>Dragon’s blood was given in old pharmacy as a mild astringent, and was -one of the ingredients in the styptic pills of Helvetius. It was also -included in the formula for Locatelli’s balsam. Now it is chiefly used -as a varnish colouring, as for example in varnishes for violins. In -some parts of the country it has a reputation as a charm to restore -love. Maidens whose swains are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> unfaithful or neglectful procure a -piece, wrap it in paper, and throw it on the fire, saying:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>May he no pleasure or profit see</div> - <div>Till he come back again to me.</div> - <div class="i4">[Cuthbert Bede in <i>Notes and Queries</i>.</div> - <div class="i6">Series 1., Vol. II., p. 242.]</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Dragons are mentioned many times in the Authorised Version of the Old -Testament. In most of these instances jackals are substituted in the -Revised Version, and only once, I think, the alternative of crocodiles -is suggested in the margin, though in many instances it would obviously -be a better rendering, as has been pointed out by many scholars.</p> - - -<h4 class="small">THE SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY</h4> - -<blockquote class="sm"> - -<p class="p-left">which seeks to explain how the old myths, some poetical, many -disgusting, and all impossible, originated, is a modern study -which has fascinated a large number of learned scholars. -The old notion that they were merely allegorical forms of -representing facts and phenomena is not tenable in view of the -universality of the legends among the least cultivated races. -Professor Max Müller initiated a lively controversy some forty -years ago by suggesting that myths were a consequence of -language, a disease of language, as Mr. Andrew Lang has termed -it. He traced many of the Greek myths to Aryan sources, and -insisted that they had developed from the words or phrases -used to describe natural phenomena. Thus, for example, he -explained the myth of Apollo and Daphne (mentioned on page -9) by supposing that a phrase existed describing the Sun -following, or chasing, the Dawn. He even maintained that the -Sanskrit Ahana, dawn, was the derivation of Daphne. Words, of -course, were invented to convey some mental conception; that -conception, while it was intelligible, would (according to Max -Müller’s system) be developed into a story. The argument was -most ingeniously worked out, but it has not proved capable -of satisfying the conditions of the problem. How could it -suffice, for instance, to explain the occurrence of almost -identical myths treasured by the most degraded and widely -separated peoples? The more likely theory is that in a very -early stage of the savage mind the untrained imagination -tended inevitably to associate the facts of nature with -certain monstrous, obscene, and irrational forms. Perhaps -the most able exposition of this view, or something like it, -expounded within moderate limits, is to be found in an article -on Mythology contributed to the “Encyclopædia Britannica” by -Mr. Andrew Lang.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>II<br /> -<span class="subhed">PHARMACY IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: -in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for -thee.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>So wrote the prophet Jeremiah (xlvi, 11), and the passage seems to -suggest that Egypt in his time was famous for its medicines. Herodotus, -who narrated his travels in Egypt some two or three hundred years -later, conveys the same impression, and the records of the papyri which -have been deciphered within the last century confirm the opinion.</p> - -<p>Whatever may have been the case with other arts and sciences, it does -not appear that much progress was made in medicine in Egypt during -the thousands of years of its history which have been more or less -minutely traced. The discovery of remedies by various deities, by Isis -especially, or the indication of compounds invented for the relief of -the sufferings of the Sun-god Ra, before he retired to his heavenly -rest, is the burden of all the documents on which our knowledge of -Egyptian pharmacy is founded. It was criminal to add to or vary the -perfect prescriptions thus revealed, a provision which made advance -impossible to the extent to which it was enforced.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<p>“So wisely was medicine managed in Egypt,” says Herodotus, “that no -doctor was permitted to practise any but his own branch.” That is to -say, the doctors were all specialists; some treated the eyes, others -the teeth, the head, the skin, the stomach, and so forth. The doctors -were all priests, and were paid by the Treasury, but they were allowed -to take fees besides. Their recipes were often absurd and complicated, -but there is reason to suppose that their directions in regard to diet -and hygiene were sensible, and there is evidence that they paid some -attention to disinfection and cleanliness.</p> - -<p>The physicians were always priests, but all the priests were not -physicians; Clement of Alexandria says those who actually practised -were the lowest grade of priests. They prepared as well as prescribed -medicines, but relied perhaps more on magic, amulets, and invocations -than on drugs. The secrets of magic were, however, especially the -property of the highest grade of priests, the sages and soothsayers. -According to Celsus, the medical science of Egypt was founded on the -belief that the human body was divided into thirty-six parts, each one -being under the control of a separate demon or divinity. The art of -medicine consisted largely in knowing the names of these demons so as -to invoke the right one when an ailment had to be treated.</p> - -<p>Symbolical names were given to many of the herbs used as medicines. -The plant of Osiris was the ivy, the vervain was called Tears of Isis, -saffron was the blood of Thoth, and the squill was the eye of Typhon.</p> - -<p>Until the mystery of the Egyptian writings was unlocked, the key being -found about a century ago in the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone, of -which Napoleon first took possession, and which was subsequently taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -from the French by the British, and is now a familiar object in the -British Museum, knowledge of Egyptian science and life was limited to -the information which came to us from Greek and Roman authors; and this -was often fabulous. Now, however, the daily life of the subjects of the -Pharaohs has been revealed in wonderful minuteness by the papyri which -have been deciphered.</p> - -<p>Among the papyri preserved in various museums a number of medical and -pharmaceutical records have been found. Some medical prescriptions -inscribed on a papyrus in the British Museum (No. 10,059) are said to -be as old as the time of Khufu (Cheops), reckoned to have been about -3700 years <span class="sm">B.C.</span> Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, the Director of the -Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, -informs me that these prescriptions have not been translated, and that -no photograph of them is available. The Papyrus itself may be of about -1400 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, but it refers to some medical lore of the time of -Khufu, as a modern English book might quote some prescriptions of the -time of Alfred the Great.</p> - -<p>By far the most complete representation of the medicine and pharmacy -of ancient Egypt is comprised in the famous Papyrus Ebers, which was -discovered by Georg Ebers, Egyptologist and romancist, in the winter of -1872–3.</p> - -<p>Ebers and a friend were spending that winter in Egypt, and during -their residence at Thebes they made the acquaintance of a well-to-do -Arab from Luxor who appeared to know of some ancient papyri and other -relics. He first tried to pass off to them some of no particular value, -but Ebers was an expert and was not to be imposed on. Ultimately the -Arab brought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> him a Papyrus which he stated had been discovered -fourteen years previously between the knees of a mummy in the Theban -Necropolis. After examination Ebers was convinced of its genuineness -and bought it. His opinion was fully confirmed by all the authorities -when he brought it to Germany, and the contents have proved to be of -extreme value and interest in the delineation of the medical manners -and customs of the ancient Egyptians.</p> - -<p>This papyrus was wrapped in mummy cloths and packed in a metal case. It -is a single roll of yellow-brown papyrus of the finest quality, about -12 inches wide and more than 22 yards long. It is divided into 108 -columns each separately numbered. The numbering reaches actually 110, -but there are no numbers 28 and 29, though there is no hiatus in the -literary composition. Ebers supposes there may have been some religious -reason for not using the missing numbers. The writing is in black ink, -but the heads of sections and weights and measures are written with -red ink. The word “nefr” signifying “good” is written in the margin -against many of the formulæ in a different writing and in a paler ink, -evidently by someone who had used the book. It has been considered -possible that this was one of the six hermetic books on medicine -mentioned by Clement of Alexandria; but it is more likely to have been -a popular collection of medical formulæ from various sources.</p> - -<p>Internal evidence, satisfactory to experts, the writing, the name of -a king, and particularly a calendar attached to one of the sections, -establish the date of this document. The king named was Tjesor-ka-Ra, -and his throne-name was Amen-hetep I., the second king of the 18th -dynasty. The date assigned to the papyrus is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> about the year 1552 -<span class="sm">B.C.</span>, which, according to the conventional scriptural -chronology, would correspond with about the 21st year of the life of -Moses. If this estimation is approximately correct it follows that the -prescriptions of the papyrus are considerably older than those given in -the book of Exodus for the holy anointing oil and for incense, which in -old works are sometimes quoted as the earliest records of “the art of -the apothecary.”</p> - -<p>The papyrus begins by declaring that the writer had brought help from -the King of Eternity from Heliopolis; from the Goddess Mother to Sais, -she who alone could ensure protection. Speech had been given him to -tell how all pains and all mortal sicknesses might be driven away. Here -were chapters which would teach how to conjure away the diseases “from -this my head, from this my neck, from this my arm, from this my flesh, -from these my limbs. For Ra pities the sick; his teacher is Thuti” -(Thoth or Hermes) “who has given him words to make this book and to -save instructions to scholars and to physicians who will follow them, -so that what is dark shall be unriddled. For he whom the God loveth, he -maketh alive; I am one who loveth the God, and he maketh me alive.”</p> - -<p>Here are the words to speak when preparing the remedies for all parts -of the body: “As it shall be a thousand times. This is the book of the -healing of all sicknesses. That Isis may make free, make free. May Isis -heal me as she healed Horus of all pains which his brother Set had done -to him who killed his father Osiris. Oh, Isis, thou great magician, -heal me and save me from all wicked, frightful, and red things, from -demoniac and deadly diseases and illnesses of every kind. Oh, Ra. Oh, -Osiris.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - -<p>The form of words to be said when taking a remedy:—“Come remedy, -come drive it out of this my heart, out of these my limbs; Oh strong -magic power with the remedy.” On giving an emetic the conjuration to -be spoken was as follows:—“Oh, Demon, who dwellest in the body of ... -son of ...; Oh, thou, whose father is called the bringer down of heads, -whose name is Death, whose name is accursed for all eternity, come -forth.”</p> - -<p>The following shows how the Egyptian physicians diagnosed a liver -complaint: “When thou findest one with hardening of his re-het; when -eating he feels a pressure in the bowels, and the stomach is swollen; -feels ill while walking; look at him when lying outstretched, and if -thou findest his bowels hot, and a hardening in his stomach, say to -thyself, This is a liver complaint. Then make a remedy according to -the secrets of botanical knowledge from the plant pa-chestat and from -dates cut up. Mix it and put in water. The patient may drink it on -four mornings to purge his body. If after that thou findest both sides -of the bowels, namely, the right one hot and the left one cold, then -say, That is bile. Look at him again, and if thou findest his bowels -entirely cold then say to thyself, His liver is cleaned and purified; -he has taken the medicine, the medicine has taken effect.”</p> - -<p>Superstitious notions in connection with medicine are not more apparent -in the Ebers Papyrus than they are in any English herbal of three or -four hundred years ago. The majority of the drugs prescribed are of -vegetable origin, but there is a fair proportion of animal products, -and as in comparatively modern pharmacopœias these seem to have been -valued as remedies in the ratio of their nastiness. Lizards’ blood, -teeth of swine, putrid meat,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> stinking fat, moisture from pigs’ ears, -milk from a lying-in woman; the excreta of adults, of children, of -donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats, and other animals, and the dirt left by -flies on the walls, are among the remedies met with in the papyrus.</p> - -<p>Among the drugs named in the papyrus and identified are oil, wine, beer -(sweet and bitter), beer froth, yeast, vinegar, turpentine, various -gums and resins, figs, sebestens, myrrh, mastic, frankincense, opium, -wormwood, aloes, cummin, peppermint, cassia, carraway, coriander, -anise, fennel, saffron, sycamore and cyprus woods, lotus flowers, -linseed, juniper berries, henbane, and mandragora.</p> - -<p>There are certain substances, evidently metals by the suffixes, but -they have not been exactly identified. Neither gold, silver, nor tin -is included. One is supposed to be sulphur, another, electrum (a -combination of gold and silver), and another alluded to as “excrement -divine,” remains mysterious. Iron, lead, magnesia, lime, soda, nitre -and vermilion are among the mineral products which were then used in -medicine.</p> - -<p>It need hardly be said that scores of drugs named have only been -guessed at, and in regard to a number of them, it has not been possible -to get as far as this.</p> - -<p>Most of the prescriptions are fairly simple, but there are exceptions. -There is a poultice with thirty-five ingredients. Here is a specimen -of rather complicated pharmacy. It is ordered for what seems to have -been a common complaint of the stomach called setyt. Seeds of the sweet -woodruff, seeds of mene, and the plant called A’am, were to be reduced -to powder and mixed. Then seven stones had to be heated at a fire. -On these, one by one, some of the powder was to be sprinkled while -the stone was hot; it was then covered with a new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> pot in the bottom -of which a hole had been made. A reed was fitted to the hole and the -vapour inhaled. “Afterwards eat some fat,” says the writer.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p041"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p041.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Reduced Facsimile of a page of the Papyrus -Ebers.</p> -<blockquote> - -<p>The Papyrus Ebers has been reproduced by photography in -facsimile, and published in two magnificent volumes by Mr. -Wilhelm Engelmann, of Leipzig. Mr. Engelmann has kindly -permitted me to copy one of the pages from his work for this -book. The above is a reduced reproduction of page 47 of the -Papyrus. The photograph was taken at the British Museum.</p> - -<p>The first line of this page is the end of the instructions for -applying a mixture of powders rubbed down with date wine to -wounds and skin diseases to heal them. That compound was made -by the god Seb, the god of the earth, for the god Ra. Then -follows a complicated prescription devised by the goddess Nut, -the goddess of heaven, also for the god Ra, and like the last -to apply to wounds. It prescribes brickdust, pebble, soda, -and sea-salt, to be boiled in oils with some groats and other -vegetable matter. Isis next supplies a formula to relieve Ra -of pains in the head. It contains opium, coriander, absinth, -juniper berries, and honey. This was to be applied to the -head. Three other formulas for pains in the head, the last -for a pain on one side of the head (migraine), are given, -and then there is a break in the manuscript, and afterwards -some interesting instructions are given for the medicinal -employment of the ricinus (degm) tree. The stems infused in -water will make a lotion which will cure headache; the berries -chewed with beer will relieve constipation; the berries -crushed in oil will make a woman’s hair grow; and pressed into -a salve will cure abscesses if applied every morning for ten -days. The paragraph ends (but on the next page), as many of -them do, with the curious idiom, “As it shall be a thousand -times.” The translation is given in full (in German) in Dr. -Joachim’s <i>Papyros Ebers</i>. <i>Das älteste Buch über Heilkunde</i> -(Berlin, Georg. Reimer. 1890).</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">To draw the blood from a wound:—Foment it four times with a mixture -made from wax, fat, date wine, honey, and boiled horn; these -ingredients boiled with a certain quantity of water.</p> - -<p>To prevent the immoderate crying of children a mixture of the seeds of -the plant Sheben with some fly-dirt is recommended. It is supposed that -Sheben may have been the poppy. Incidentally it is remarked that if a -new-born baby cries “ny” that is a good sign; but it is a bad sign if -it cries “mbe.”</p> - -<p>To prevent the hair turning grey anoint it with the blood of a black -calf which has been boiled in oil; or with the fat of a rattlesnake. -When it falls out one remedy is to apply a mixture of six fats, namely -those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the -snake, and the ibex. To strengthen it anoint with the tooth of a donkey -crushed in honey.</p> - -<p>A few other prescriptions are appended.</p> - -<p>As Purges:—Mix milk, one part, yeast and honey, two parts each. Boil -and strain. A draught of this to be taken every morning for four days. -Pills compounded of equal parts of honey, absinth powder, and onion. -In another formula “kesebt” fruits are ordered with other ingredients. -Ebers conjectures that kesebt may have been the castor oil tree.</p> - -<p>For Headache:—Equal parts of frankincense, cummin, berries of u’an -tree and goosegrease are to be boiled together; the head to be anointed -with the mixture.</p> - -<p>For Worms:—Resin of acanthus, peppermint flowers, lettuce, and “as” -plant. Equal parts to make a plaster.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>For too much urine (diabetes):—Twigs of kadet plant ¼, grapes ⅛, honey -¼, berries of u’an tree 1/32, sweet beer 1⅙.</p> - -<p>As a Tonic:—Figs, sebestens, grapes, yeast, frankincense, cummin, -berries of u’an tree, wine, goosegrease, and sweet beer are recommended.</p> - -<p>An Application for Sore Eyes. Dried excrement of a child 1, honey 1, in -fresh milk.</p> - -<p>To make the hair grow:—Oil of the Nile horse 1, powder of mentha -montana 1, myrrh 1, mespen corn 1, vitriol of lead 1. Anoint. Another -formula prescribed for the same purpose was prepared for Schesch (a -queen of the 3rd dynasty) and consisted of equal parts of the heel of -the greyhound (from Abyssinia), of date blossoms, and of asses’ hoofs -boiled in oil.</p> - -<p>A long formula for an ointment “which the god Ra made for himself” -contains honey, wax, frankincense, onions, and a number of unidentified -plants. The dust of alabaster and powdered statues are prescribed as -applications for wounds.</p> - -<p>To stop Diarrhœa:—Green bulbs (? onions) ⅛, freshly cooked groats ⅛, -oil and honey ¼, wax 1/16, water ⅓ dena (a dena is about a pint). Take -four days.</p> - -<p>A plaster to remove pains from one side of the stomach:—Boil equal -parts of lettuce and dates in oil, and apply.</p> - -<p>Medicines against worms are numerous. Heftworms, believed to be thread -worms, are treated with pomegranate bark, sea-salt, ricinus, absinth, -and other unidentified drugs. For tape worms, mandrake fruits, castor -oil, peppermint, a preparation of lead, and other drugs are prescribed.</p> - -<p>Remedies which the God Su (god of the air), the God Seb (god of the -earth), the Goddess Nut (goddess of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> the sky), and other divinities had -devised are comprised in this collection. This is an application which -Isis prescribed for Ra’s headache:—Coriander, opium, absinth, juniper, -(another fruit), and honey.</p> - -<p>Remedies are also prescribed in this papyrus for diseases of the -stomach, the abdomen, and the urinary bladder; for the cure of -swellings of the glands in the groin; for the treatment of the eye, -for ulcers of the head, for greyness of the hair, and for promoting -its growth; to heal and strengthen the nerves; to cure diseases of the -tongue, to strengthen the teeth, to remove lice and fleas; to banish -pain; to sweeten the breath; and to strengthen the organs of hearing -and of smell.</p> - -<p>Quantities are indicated on the prescriptions by perpendicular lines -thus: <img src="images/i_044a.jpg" alt="" -style="height:1em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - one, <img src="images/i_044b.jpg" alt="" -style="height:1em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - two, <img src="images/i_044c.jpg" alt="" -style="height:1em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - three. Each of -these lines represents a unit. Ebers calls the unit a drachm and -supposes it to be equivalent to the Arabic dirhem, about forty-eight -English grains. The Egyptian system of numeration was decimal. Up to -nine lines were used; <img src="images/i_044d.jpg" alt="" -style="height:.5em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - was ten, and two, three or more of -these figures followed each other up to ninety. Then came <img src="images/i_044e.jpg" alt="" -style="height:.75em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - a hundred, <img src="images/i_044f.jpg" alt="" -style="height:1.5em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> - a thousand, and so on. Fractions were shown by the -figure <img src="images/i_044g.jpg" alt="" -style="height:.5em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> -, and this with three dots under it meant one-third, -with four dots one-fourth, or with the 10 sign under it, <img src="images/i_044h.jpg" alt="" -style="height:1em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> -one-tenth. Half was represented by <img src="images/i_044i.jpg" alt="" -style="height:.75em; padding:0 0em 0 0em;" /> -. The unit of liquid -measure is believed to have been the tenat, equal to three-fifths of a -litre, or rather more than an English pint.</p> - -<p>In the British Museum “Guide” Dr. Budge quotes the following -prescription “for driving away wrinkles of the face,” and gives the -same in hieroglyphics:—“Ball of incense, wax, fresh oil, and cypress -berries,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> equal parts. Crush, and rub down, and put in new milk, and -apply it to the face for six days. Take good heed.” Generally medicines -are directed to be taken or applied for four days; the ingredients are -very often four; and in many cases incantations are to be four times -repeated. The Pythagoreans swore by the number 4, and probably their -master acquired his reverence for that figure from Egypt.</p> - -<p>A sacred perfume called kyphi is prescribed to perfume the house -and clothes for sanitary reasons. It was composed of myrrh, juniper -berries, frankincense, cyprus wood, aloes wood, calamus of Asia, -mastic, and styrax.</p> - -<p>Among the Greek Papyri discovered in the last decade of the 19th -century at Oxyrinchus one quoted by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt in their -work on these papyri (Vol. II., p. 134) gives about a dozen formulas -for applications for the earache. These are believed to have been -written in the 2nd or 3rd century <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> One is:—Dilute some -gum with balsam of lilies; add honey and rose-extract. Twist some wool -with the oil in it round a probe, warm, and drop in. Onion juice, the -gall of an ox, the sap of a fir tree, alum and myrrh, and frankincense -in sweet wine, are among the other applications recommended.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>III<br /> - -<span class="subhed">PHARMACY IN THE BIBLE</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Pour bien entendre le Vieux Testament il est absolument -nécessaire d’approfondir l’Histoire Naturelle, aussi bien -que les mœurs des Orientaux. On y trouve à peu près trois -cents noms de végétaux; je ne sais combien de noms tirés du -règne animal, et un grand nombre qui désignent des pierres -précieuses.—T<span class="smcap">. D. Michaelis</span>, <i>Göttingen</i>, 1790.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>To some extent the habits and practices of the Israelites were -based on those of the Egyptians. But in the matter of medicines the -differences are more notable than the resemblances. In Egypt the -practice of medicine was entirely in the hands of the priesthood, -and was largely associated with magical arts. It appears, too, that -the Egyptian practitioners had acquired experience of a fairly wide -range of internal medicines. Among the Israelites the priests did not -practise medicine at all. Some of the prophets did, and they were -expected to exercise healing powers. Elijah and Elisha were frequently -called upon for help in this way, and the prescription of Isaiah of -a lump of figs to be laid on Hezekiah’s boil (2 Kings, xx, 7) will -be recalled. But among the Israelites physicians formed a distinct -profession, though it cannot be said that in all the history covered -by the Scriptures they performed the same functions. The physicians of -Joseph’s household<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> whom he commanded to embalm his father (Genesis -1, 2) were rather apothecaries. That, of course, was in Egypt. There -is a curious allusion to physicians in 2 Chronicles, xvi, 12, where -it is said that when Asa was exceedingly ill with a disease in his -feet “he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” Possibly -this means that he employed physicians who practised incantations. -Some commentators think, however, that the passage has reference to -himself, his name signifying a physician. In the apocryphal Book of -Ecclesiasticus physicians are alluded to in language which suggests -that at the time it was written there were doubts about the necessity -of physicians. Until recently this work was attributed to Joshua or -Jesus, the son of Sirach. It so appeared in the Greek manuscripts. But -a Hebrew manuscript discovered in 1896 shows that the author was Simon, -son of Jeshua, and critics agree that the date of its composition was -rather less than 200 years before Christ.</p> - -<p>This book, “Ecclesiasticus,” is professedly a collection of the grave -and short sentences of wise men. Those relating to medicine and -physicians are brought together in the first part of the 38th chapter. -They appear to be quoted from different authors, and several of the -verses are merely parallels. Thus we have, “Honour a physician with -the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him; for the -Lord hath created him.” And again, “Then give place to the physician, -for the Lord hath created him; let him not go from thee, for thou hast -need of him.” But the author of a verse inserted between these appears -to regard the physician as less essential. He says, “My son, in thy -sickness be not negligent; but pray unto the Lord, and He will make -thee whole.” The 15th verse is some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>what enigmatic, and may or may -not be complimentary. It runs, “He that sinneth before his Maker, let -him fall into the hand of the physician.” In the recently discovered -manuscript is the passage not previously known, “He that sinneth -against God will behave arrogantly before his physician.” Probably into -this may be read the converse idea that he that behaves arrogantly -towards his physician sinneth before God.</p> - -<p>In the same chapter we are told that “the Lord hath created medicines -out of the earth, and he that is wise will not abhor them.” Possibly -this was directed against the Jewish prejudice against bitter flavours. -Then the writer asks, “Was not the water made sweet with wood?” and he -says “of such” (the medicines) men to whom God hath given skill heal -men and take away their pains; and “of such doth the apothecary make a -confection.”</p> - -<p>The idea that physicians get their skill direct from God is prominent -in these passages, and is perhaps truer than we are willing to admit in -this age of curricula and examinations.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Medicines of the Jews.</h3> - -<p>The Papyrus Ebers was supposed by its discoverer to have been compiled -about the time when Moses was living in Egypt, a century before the -Exodus. There is no evidence in the Bible that the Jews brought with -them from the land of their captivity any of the medical lore which -that and other papyri not much later reveal. It is not certain that in -the whole of the Bible there is any distinct reference to a medicine -for internal administration. It is assumed that Rachel wanted the -mandrakes which Reuben found to make a remedy for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> sterility, but -that is not definitely stated. Nor is it certain that the Hebrew word -Dudaim, translated mandrakes, meant the shrub we know by that name. -Violets, lilies, jasmin, truffles, mushrooms, citrons, melons, and -other fruits have been proposed by various critics. There are three -passages in Jeremiah where Balm of Gilead is mentioned in a way which -may have meant that it was to be used as an internal remedy. These are -c. viii. v. 12, c. xlvi. v. 11, and c. li. v. 8. In two of these the -expression “take balm” is used, but it is quite possible to understand -this as meaning employ balm, and in all the passages the sense is -metaphorical.</p> - -<p>The Mishnah, the book of Jewish legends, which forms part of the -Talmud, mentions a treatise on medicines believed to have been compiled -by Solomon. Hezekiah is said to have “hidden” this work for fear that -the people should trust to that wisdom rather than to the Lord. The -Talmud also cites a treatise on pharmacology called Megillat-Sammanin, -but neither of these works has been preserved. In the Talmud an -infusion of onions in wine is mentioned as a means of healing an issue -of blood. It was necessary at the same time for someone to say to the -patient, “Be healed of thine issue of blood.” This remedy and the -formula to be spoken are strongly reminiscent of Egypt.</p> - -<p>The Talmud, though it was compiled in the early centuries of our era, -undoubtedly reflects the Jewish life and thought of many previous -ages, and consequently indicates fairly enough the condition of -therapeutics among the ancient Hebrews. Among its miscellaneous items -are cautions against the habit of taking medicine constantly also -against having teeth extracted need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>lessly. It advises that patients -should be permitted to eat anything they specially crave after. Among -its aphorisms are salt after meals, water after wine, onions for worms, -peppered wine for stomach disorders, injection of turpentine for stone -in the bladder. People may eat more before 40, drink more after 40. -Magic is plentifully supplied for the treatment of disease. To cure -ague, for instance, you must wait by a cross-road until you see an ant -carrying a load. Then you must pick up the ant and its load, place them -in a brass tube which you must seal up, saying as you do this, “Oh ant, -my load be upon thee, and thy load be upon me.”</p> - -<p>Towards the time of Christ the sect of the Essenes, ascetic in their -habits and communistic in their principles, cultivated, according to -Josephus, the art of medicine, “collecting roots and minerals” for this -purpose. Their designation may have been derived from this occupation.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Apothecary</h3> - -<p class="p-left">is, or was, familiar to readers of the Old Testament, but in the -revised translation he has partially disappeared. The earliest allusion -to him occurs in Exodus xxx., 25, where the holy anointing oil is -prescribed to be made “after the art of the apothecary”; and in the -same chapter, v. 29, incense is similarly ordered to be made into a -confection “after the art of the apothecary, tempered together.” The -Revised Version gives in both cases “the art of the perfumer,” and -instead of the incense being “tempered together” (c. xxx, v, 35) the -instruction is now rendered “seasoned with salt.” A further mention of -the art of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> the apothecary, or in the Revised Version, the perfumer, is -found again in connection with the same compounds in Exodus xxxvii., -29. In 2 Chronicles xvi., 14, the apothecaries’ art in the preparation -of sweet odours and divers kinds of spices for the burial of King Asa -is again alluded to, and this time without any apparent reason the -Revised Version retains the old term. The next quotation (Nehemiah, -iii, 8) is particularly interesting. The Authorised Version says -“Hananiah, the son of one of the apothecaries,” worked on the repair -of the walls of Jerusalem by the side of Haraiah of the goldsmiths. In -the Revised Version Hananiah is described as “one of the apothecaries.” -Hebrew scholars tell us that the idiom employed shows that these men -belonged to guilds of apothecaries and goldsmiths respectively; a -pretty little insight into ancient Jewish trade history.</p> - -<p>In Ecclesiastes, x, 1, we come to the oft quoted parallel, “Dead flies -cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour,” -this being likened to a little folly spoiling a reputation for wisdom. -The revisers have substituted perfumer for apothecary in this text. -They certainly ought to have changed ointment for pomade in the same -text to explain their view of the meaning of the passage.</p> - -<p>In the passage already quoted from the apocryphal book of -Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 8, “Of such doth the apothecary make a -confection,” and in xlix, 1, “The remembrance of Josias is like the -composition of the perfume made by the art of the apothecary,” the -revisers have not seen fit to alter the trade designation.</p> - -<p>The words translated apothecary, compound, ointment, and confection in -the passages cited, and in many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> others in the Hebrew scriptures, are -all inflexions of the root verb, Rakach (in which the final ch is a -strong aspirate or guttural). Gesenius says of this root, “The primary -idea appears to be in making the spices small which are mixed with -the oil.” The apothecary, therefore, may be regarded as a crusher, or -pounder.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Pharmacy, Disgraceful.</h3> - -<p>The Greek word, pharmakeia, the original of our “pharmacy,” had a -rather mixed history in its native language. It does not seem to have -exactly deteriorated, as words in all languages have a habit of doing, -for from the earliest times it was used concurrently to describe -the preparation of medicines, and also through its association with -drugs and poisons and the production of philtres, as equivalent to -sorcery and witchcraft. It is in this latter sense that it is employed -exclusively in the New Testament. St. Paul, for instance (in Galatians, -v, 20), enumerating the works of the flesh names it after idolatry. -The word appears as witchcraft in the Authorised, and as sorcery in -the Revised Version. Pharmakeia or one of its derivatives also occurs -several times in the Book of Revelations (ix, 21; xviii, 23; xxi, 8, -and xxii, 15), and is uniformly rendered sorcery or sorcerers in both -versions, and is associated with crime. Hippocrates uses the verb -Pharmakeuein with the meaning of to purge, but he elsewhere employs the -same word with the meaning of to drug a person, to give a stupefying -draught. In Homer the word “Pharmaka” appears in the senses of both -noxious and healing drugs, and also to represent enchanted potions or -philtres. The word “pharmakoi” in later times came to be used for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -criminals who were sacrificed for the benefit of the communities, and -thus it acquired its lowest stage of signification. It is remarkable -and unusual for a word which has once fallen as this one did to recover -its respectable position again.</p> - - -<h3>DRUGS NAMED IN THE BIBLE.</h3> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Balm of Gilead</h4> - -<p class="p-left">is now usually identified with the exudation from the Balsamum -Gileadense, known as Opobalsamum, a delicately odorous resinous -substance of a dark red colour, turning yellow as it solidifies. It -is not now used in modern pharmacy, except in the East. The London -Pharmacopœia of 1746 authorised the substitution of expressed oil of -nutmeg for it in the formula for Theriaca. Some Biblical commentators -have preferred to regard mastic as the original Balm of Gilead, and -others have thought that styrax has fulfilled the description. At this -day the monks of Jericho sell to tourists an oily gum extracted from -the Takkum, or Balanites Egyptiaca, as Balm of Gilead. It is put up -in tin cases, and is said to be useful in the treatment of sores and -wounds; but it cannot be the true Balm of the Bible.</p> - -<p>The references to Balm of Gilead in the Old Testament show that it was -exported from Arabia to Egypt from very early times. The Ishmaelites -“from Gilead” who bought Joseph, were carrying it down to Egypt with -other Eastern gums and spices (Genesis, xxxvii, 25). “A little balm” -was among the gifts which Jacob told his sons to take to the lord of -Egypt (Genesis, xliii, 11). This was the same substance: tsora in -Hebrew.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> The translation “balm” in the Authorised Version is said -in the Encyclopedia Biblica to be “an unfortunate inheritance from -Coverdale’s Bible.” Why it is unfortunate is not clear, unless it is -that the English word suggests the idea of a medicine. In the Genesis -references to the substance there is no indication that the tsora was -employed as a remedy, but in the Book of Jeremiah it is mentioned -three times (viii, 22; xlvi, 11; li, 8), and in all these allusions -its healing virtues are emphasised. Wyclif translates tsora in Genesis -“sweete gum,” and, in Jeremiah, “resyn.” Coverdale adopts “triacle” -in Jeremiah. The Septuagint rendered the Hebrew tsora into the Greek -retiné, resin.</p> - -<p>The text of the prophetic book leaves it open to doubt whether the balm -was for internal or external administration. Probably it was made into -an ointment.</p> - -<p>Gilead was the country on the East of the Jordan, not very defined in -extent, a geographical expression for the mountainous region which -the Israelites took from the Amorites. But it is not necessary to -suppose that the balsam was produced in that district. Josephus states -that the Balsamum Gileadense, the Opobalsamum tree, was grown in the -neighbourhood of Jericho; but he also reports the tradition that it was -brought to Judea by the Queen of Sheba when she visited Solomon. This -is not incompatible with the much earlier record of the Ishmaelites -carrying it “from Gilead” to Egypt. For the Sabaeans who inhabited the -southern part of Arabia were from very early times the great traders of -the East, and they would have supplied the balm to these Ishmaelites -in the regular course of commerce. The Sabaeans are believed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -have colonised Abyssinia, and the Queen of Sheba may have come from -that country. But whether the tree was originally grown in Africa or -Arabia, there is no doubt about the esteem in which it was held by many -nations. Strabo (<span class="sm">B.C.</span> 230) says: “In that most happy land of -the Sabaeans grow frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon; and on the coast -that is about Saba, the balsam also.” Many later writers allude to its -costliness and to its medicinal virtues; Pliny tells us that it was -preferred to all other odours. He also states that the tree was only -grown in Judea, and there only in two gardens, both belonging to the -King.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Incense.</h4> - -<p>The formula for the holy incense given in Exodus, xxx, 35, is -sufficiently definite. Taking it as it is translated in the Revised -Version, the prescription orders stacte, onycha, galbanum and -frankincense, equal parts; seasoned with salt; powdered.</p> - -<p>The word translated incense in that passage, and also in Deuteronomy, -xxxiii, 10, and in Jeremiah, xliv, 21, is Ketorah, which originally -meant a perfumed or savoury smoke. In the Septuagint the word used for -Ketorah is Thymiana. In other passages (Isaiah, xliii, 33, lx, 6, lxvi, -3; Jeremiah, vi, 20; xvii, 26, and xli, 5), the word used in Hebrew was -Lebonah. This in our Authorised Version appears each time as incense, -but in the Revised Version the name frankincense is uniformly adopted. -Lebonah meant whiteness, probably milkiness being understood in this -connection, and travellers state that when the gum exudes from the -tree it is milky-white. The Greek equivalent, libanos, occurs severed -times in the New Testament (Matt., ii, 11; Revelations, xviii, 3).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -The Arabic term was luban, and apparently olibanum is a modification -of this Arabic name with the article prefixed, Al-luban. The common -trade term “thus” is the Greek word for incense, and is derived from -the verb thuein, to sacrifice. Thurible was the Greek equivalent of the -censer. The same word has been modified into fume in English. There -is, besides, a common gum thus, obtained from the pines which yield -American turpentine.</p> - -<p>Olibanum, or frankincense, derived from various species of the -Boswellia, was greatly prized among many of the ancient nations, -especially by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Phœnicians. The -finest qualities were grown in Somaliland, but the stocks of these -were always bought up by the Arabs, who monopolised the commerce in -olibanum. It was believed for centuries that the shrub from which it -was obtained was a native of South Arabia, and an old Eastern legend -alluded to in the Apocalypse of Moses declares that Adam was allowed to -bring this tree with him when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. -Bruce, the African traveller, first ascertained its African origin. -The historical notes on Olibanum in “Pharmacographia” are extremely -interesting and complete.</p> - -<p>Stacte, in Hebrew Nataph, is frequently identified with opobalsamum, -and this interpretation is given in the margin of the Revised Version. -But there are reasons for regarding it as a particularly fine kind of -myrrh in drops or tears. Nataph meant something dropped or distilled.</p> - -<p>Galbanum, it is not disputed, was the galbanum known to us by the same -name. Its Hebrew name was Helbanah or Chelbanah. It has been an article -of commerce from very early times, but the exact plant from which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -it is obtained is very uncertain. Hanbury states that the Irvingite -chapels in London still use galbanum as an ingredient in their incense -in imitation of the ancient Jewish custom.</p> - -<p>Onycha has been the subject of much discussion. The balance of learned -opinion favours the view that it is the operculum of a species of -sea-snail found on the shores of the Red Sea. It is known as Unguis -odoratus, blatta Byzantina, and devil’s claw. Nubian women to this -day use it with myrrh, cloves, frankincense, and cinnamon, to perfume -themselves.</p> - -<p>The incense made from the formula just quoted was reserved specially -for the service of the tabernacle, and it was forbidden, under the -penalty of being cut off from his people, for any private person to -imitate it. It does not appear, however, that the Israelites continued -to use the same formula for their Temple services. Josephus states -that the incense of his day consisted of thirteen ingredients. These -were, as we learn from Talmudic instructions, in addition to the four -gums named in the Exodus formula, the salt with which it had to be -seasoned, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, mace, cinnamon, -and a certain herb which had the property of making the smoke of the -incense ascend straight, and in the form of a date palm. This herb was -only known to the family of Abtinas, to whom was entrusted the sole -right of preparing the incense for the Temple. Rooms were provided -for them in the precincts, and they supplied 368 minas (about 368 -lbs.) to the Temple for a year’s consumption; that was 1 lb. per day -and an extra 3 lbs. for the Day of Atonement. In the first century -(<span class="smcap">A.D.</span>) this family were dismissed because they refused to -divulge their secret. The Temple authorities sent to Alexandria for -some apothecaries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> to succeed them, but these Egyptian experts could -not make the smoke ascend properly, so the Abtinas had to be re-engaged -at a considerably increased salary. They gave as a reason for their -secrecy their fear that the Temple would soon be destroyed and their -incense would be used for idolatrous sacrifices.</p> - -<p>The incense now used in Catholic churches is not made according to -the Biblical formula. The following is a typical recipe in actual -use:—Olibanum, 450; benzoin, 250; storax, 120; sugar, 100; cascarilla, -60; nitre, 150.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Olive Oil.</h4> - -<p>Among all the ancient Eastern nations olive oil was one of the most -precious of products. It was used lavishly by the Egyptians for -the hair and the skin, as well as in all sorts of ceremonies. The -Israelites held it in the highest esteem before they went to Egypt, the -earliest allusion to it in the Scriptures being in Genesis, xxviii, 18, -where we read that Jacob poured oil on the stone which he set up at -Bethel, evidently with the idea of consecrating it. The Apocalypse of -Moses has a legend of Adam’s experience of its medicinal virtues in the -Garden of Eden. When he was in his 930th year he was seized with great -pain in his stomach and sickness. Then he told Eve to take Seth and go -as near as they could get to the Garden, and pray to God to permit an -angel to bring them some oil from the tree of mercy so that he might -anoint himself therewith and be free of his pain. Eve and Seth were, -however, met by the Archangel Michael, who told them to return to Adam, -for in three days the measure of his life would be fulfilled.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> - -<p>To the Israelites in the Desert the anticipation of the “corn and wine -and oil” of Canaan was always present, and throughout their history -there are abundant evidences of how they prized it.</p> - -<p>The prescription for the “holy anointing oil” given in Exodus, xxx, -23, is very remarkable. It was to be compounded of the following -ingredients:—</p> - -<table summary="ingredients" class="smaller"> - <tr> - <td class="left">Flowing myrrh</td> - <td class="ctr">500</td> - <td class="ctr">shekels.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="left">Sweet cinnamon</td> - <td class="ctr">250</td> - <td class="ctr">"</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="left">Sweet calamus</td> - <td class="ctr">250</td> - <td class="ctr">"</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="left">Cassia (or costus)</td> - <td class="ctr">500</td> - <td class="ctr">"</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="left">Olive oil</td> - <td class="ctr">One</td> - <td class="left">hin.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>It is the Revised Version which gives “flowing myrrh,” apparently the -gum which exudes spontaneously. The Authorised Version reads “pure -myrrh.” The Revised Version also suggests costus in the margin as an -alternative to cassia. This oil was to be kept very sacred. Any one who -should compound any oil like it was to be cut off from his people.</p> - -<p>A hin was a measure equivalent to about 5½ of our quarts. The shekel -was nearly 15 lbs., and some of the Rabbis insist that the “shekel of -the sanctuary” was twice the weight of the ordinary shekel. At the -lowest reckoning, less than 6 quarts of oil were to take up the extract -from nearly 90 lbs. of solid substance. It will be seen on reference -that the shekel weights are not definitely stated, but the verses can -hardly be otherwise read. Some critics have suggested that so many -shekels’ worth is intended, but this reading under the circumstances -is almost inadmissible. Maimonides, a great Jewish authority, says the -method was to boil the spices and gum in water until their odours were -extracted as fully as possible, and then to boil the water and the -oil together until the former was entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> evaporated. Doubtless the -expression “after the art of the apothecary” (or “perfumer,” R.V.) was -a sufficient explanation to those Israelites who had practised that art -in Egypt. The consistence of the oil could not have been thick, for -when used it trickled down on Aaron’s beard.</p> - -<p>Rabbinical legends say that the quantity of the holy oil prepared at -the time when it was first prescribed was such as would miraculously -suffice to anoint the Jewish priests and kings all through their -history. In the reign of Josiah the vessel containing the holy oil -was mysteriously hidden away with the ark, and will not be discovered -until the Messiah comes. Messiah, it need hardly be said, means simply -anointed; and Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Manna.</h4> - -<p>The manna of the wilderness provided for the children of Israel on -their journey towards Canaan has no claim to be regarded as a drug, -except that a drug has in modern times usurped its name. When the -Israelites first saw the small round particles “like hoar frost on -the ground” (Exodus, xvi, 14) they said, according to the Authorised -Version, “It is manna; for they wist not what it was.” The Revised -Version makes the sentence read more intelligibly by translating the -Hebrew word Man-hu interrogatively thus:—“What is it? For they wist -not what it was.” This Hebrew interrogation has been widely adopted -as the origin of the name, but it is more probable that the Hebrew -word man, a gift, is the true derivation. Ebers suggested the Egyptian -word<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> “manhu,” food, as a probable explanation. The Arabic word for the -manna of Sinai is still “man.” This is the substance which scientific -investigators have agreed is the manna described in Exodus. It is an -exudation from the Tamarisk mannifera, a shrub which grows in the -valleys of the Sinai peninsula, the manna being yielded from the young -branches after the punctures of certain insects. Another Eastern manna, -a Persian product from a leguminous plant, Alhagi Maurorum, and a manna -yielded by an evergreen oak in Kurdistan, are still sold and used in -some Eastern countries for food and medicine. But in Europe, and to -some extent in the East also, Sicilian manna, the product of an ash -tree, Fraxinus ornus, has displaced the old sorts since the fifteenth -century. The commerce in this article and its history were investigated -by Mr. Daniel Hanbury and described by him in Science Papers and in -Pharmacographia.</p> - -<p>The rabbinical legends concerning the manna of the wilderness are many -and strange. One is to the effect that when it lay on the ground all -the kings of the East and of the West could see it from their palace -windows. According to Zabdi ben Levi it was provided in such abundance -that it covered every morning an area of 2,000 cubits square and was -60 cubits in depth. Each day’s fall was sufficient to nourish the camp -for 2,000 years. The Book of Wisdom (xvi, 20, 21) tells us that the -manna so accommodated itself to every taste that it proved palatable -and pleasing to all. “Able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing -to every taste.” The rabbinical legends enlarge this statement and -assure us that to those Israelites who did not murmur the manna became -fish, flesh, fowl at will. This is in a degree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> based on the words in -Ps. lxxviii, 24, 25, in which it is described as “corn of heaven, bread -of the mighty, and meat to the full.” But the traditions say it could -not acquire the flavours of cucumbers, melons, garlic, or onions, all -of which were Egyptian relishes which were keenly regretted by the -tribes. It is also on record among the legends that the manna was pure -nourishment. All of it was assimilated; so that the grossest office of -the body was not exercised. It was provided expressly for the children -of Israel. If any stranger tried to collect any it slipped from his -grasp.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Bdellium.</h4> - -<p>Bdellium (Heb. Bedoloch) is mentioned in Genesis, ii, 12, as being -found along with gold and onyx in the land of Havilah, near the Garden -of Eden. The association with gold and onyx suggests that bdellium -was a precious stone. The Septuagint translates the word in Genesis, -anthrax, carbuncle; but renders the same Hebrew word in Numbers, xi, 7, -where the manna is likened to bdellium, by Krystallos, crystals. The -Greek bdellion described by Dioscorides and Pliny was the fragrant gum -from a species of Balsamodendron, and this word was almost certainly -derived from an Eastern source, and might easily have been originally -a generic term for pearls. Pearls would better than anything else fit -the reference in Numbers (“like coriander seed, and the appearance -thereof as the appearance of bdellium”), and this is the meaning -attached to the word in the rabbinical traditions. Some authorities -have conjectured that the “ד” (d) of bedolach may have been -substituted for “ר” (r) berolach, so that the beryl stone may -have been intended.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Aloes Wood.</h4> - -<p>References to aloes are frequent in the Scriptures. The first allusion -is found in Numbers, xxiv, 6, when in his poetic prophecy Balaam -describes Israel flourishing “as lign-aloes which the Lord hath -planted.” The other allusions occur in Psalm xlv, 8, Proverbs, vii, 17, -Canticles, iv, 14, and John, xix, 39. In the four last-named passages -aloes is associated with myrrh as a perfume. Of course it is understood -that the lign or lignum aloes, the perfumed wood of the aquilaria -agallocha, the eagle wood of India, is meant, but as that tree is -believed not to have been known except in the Malayan peninsula in the -days of Balaam, critics have remarked on the extraordinary circumstance -that it should be used as a simile by an orator in Palestine who would -naturally select objects for comparison familiar to his hearers. It has -been suggested, and with much force, that the original word in Balaam’s -prophecy may have been the Hebrew word for the palm or date tree. The -Septuagint translates the word “tents.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Myrrh.</h4> - -<p>It has been stated that the stacte ordered in the formula for incense -was probably a very fine kind of liquid myrrh (the flowing myrrh of -the holy oil formula). But myrrh (Heb. mur) is several times directly -mentioned. Esther purified herself for six months with oil of myrrh -(ii, 12); myrrh, aloes, and cassia are grouped as sweet odours in Ps. -xlv, 8; with cinnamon in the place of cassia in Prov., vii, 17, and in -numerous verses of the Song of Songs. In the New Testament it is named -among the gifts which the wise men brought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> the Saviour. Nicodemus -brought myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Jesus. On the cross St. -Matthew (xxvii, 34) names vinegar mixed with gall as a drink given -to Christ by the soldiers; in an apparently parallel passage in St. -Mark’s Gospel (xv, 23) wine with myrrh is the mixture described. It -is possible that Matthew writing in Syriac may have used the word mur -(myrrh) and that his translator into Greek read from his manuscript -Mar (gall). In Genesis, xxxvii, 25, and xliii, 11, the word translated -myrrh is Loth (not mur) in the Hebrew. The best opinion is that this -meant ladanum, the gum from the cistus labdaniferus which Dioscorides -states was scraped from the beards of goats which had fed on the leaves -of this shrub and had taken up some of the exuding gum.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Wormwood.</h4> - -<p>The Israelites had great objection to bitter flavours, and the coupling -of “gall and wormwood” expresses something extremely unpleasant. The -Hebrew word is La’anah, and the Septuagint twice renders this hemlock -(Hos., x, 4 and Amos, vi, 12) but in other places wormwood. The star -which fell from heaven and made the rivers bitter (Rev., viii, 11) was -called by the Greek name for wormwood, Apsinthos.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Hyssop.</h4> - -<p>Hyssop is a word which has occasioned much difference of opinion among -interpreters. The Hebrew word hezob was translated in the Septuagint -by hyssopos, and this word is used twice in the New Testament. From -references used in the Pentateuch it is clear that “a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> bunch of hyssop” -was employed in the Israelitish ritual for sprinkling purposes (Exodus, -xii, 22; Leviticus, xiv, 4 and 6; Numbers, xix, 6 and 18). From 1 -Kings, iv, 33, it appears that it was a shrub that grew in crevices of -walls; from Psalm li, 7, “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,” -it has been assumed to have possessed purgative properties, though it -is more likely that the allusion was to the ceremonial purification -of the law; according to St. John its stem was used to hand up the -sponge of vinegar to the Saviour on the cross, but St. Matthew and St. -Mark use the term calamus, or a reed. It may have been that a bunch -of hyssop was fixed to the reed and the sponge of vinegar placed on -the hyssop. Some learned commentators have conjectured that the word -hyssopos in St. John’s account was originally hysso, a well-known Greek -word for the Roman pilum or javelin. The other allusion in the New -Testament occurs in Hebrews, ix, 19, and is merely a quotation from the -Pentateuch.</p> - -<p>It has been found impossible to apply the descriptions quoted to any -one plant. That which we now call hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) does -not grow in Palestine. It is generally agreed that it was not that -shrub. The caper has been suggested and strongly supported, but the -best modern opinion is that the word was applied generically to several -kinds of origanum which were common in Syria.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Juniper.</h4> - -<p>The Hebrew word rothem, translated juniper in our Authorised Version, -has given much trouble to translators. The Septuagint merely converted -the Hebrew word into a Greek one, and the Vulgate followed the -Septuagint. The allusions to the tree are in 1 Kings,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> xix, 4 and 5, -where Elijah slept under a juniper tree; Job, xxx, 4, speaks of certain -men so poor that they cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots -for their meat; and Psalm cxx, 4, “Sharp arrows of the mighty with -coals of juniper.” The tree alluded to was almost certainly the Broom, -and it is so rendered in the Revised Version either in the text or -in the margin in all the instances. The Arabic name for the broom is -ratam, evidently a descendant of rothem. The Genista roetam is said to -be the largest and most conspicuous shrub in the deserts of Palestine, -and would be readily chosen for its shade by a weary traveller. The -mallows in the Book of Job are translated salt wort in the Revised -Version. Renan gives “They gather their salads from the bushes.” Salads -were regarded as indispensable by the poorest Jews. The coals of -juniper (or broom) are supposed to have reference to the lasting fire -which this wood furnishes, but other translations suggest as the proper -reading of the verse “The arrows of a warrior are the tongues of the -people of the tents of Misram.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Jonah’s Gourd.</h4> - -<p>The Gourd, of which we read in Jonah, iv, 6–10, is Kikaion in Hebrew, -and there has been some doubt what the plant could have been which grew -so rapidly and was so quickly destroyed. It is stated that the Lord -made this grow over the booth which the prophet had erected in a single -night, and provide a shade of which Jonah was “exceedingly glad.” The -next morning, however, a worm attacked it, and it withered.</p> - -<p>The author of “Harris’s Natural History of the Bible,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> Dr. Thaddeus -M. Harris, of Dorchester, Massachusetts (1824), quotes from an earlier -work, “Scripture Illustrated,” a curious account of a violent dispute -between St. Jerome and St. Augustine in reference to the identification -of this plant. According to this author “those pious fathers ... not -only differed in words, but from words they proceeded to blows; and -Jerome was accused of heresy at Rome by Augustine. Jerome thought the -plant was an ivy, and pleaded the authority of Aquila, Symmachus, -Theodotion, and others; Augustine thought it was a gourd, and he was -supported by the Seventy, the Syriac, the Arabic, &c. Had either of -them ever seen the plant? Neither. Let the errors of these pious men -teach us to think more mildly, if not more meekly, respecting our own -opinions; and not to exclaim Heresy, or to enforce the exclamation, -when the subject is of so little importance as—gourd <i>versus</i> ivy.”</p> - -<p>While endorsing the practical lesson which the author just cited -extracts from his rather unpleasant story, I think I ought to append to -this narrative another which is given in Gerard’s Herbal (1597) which -seems to be incompatible with the previously quoted account of the -quarrel. This is what Gerard writes:—</p> - -<p>“Ricinus, whereof mention is made in the fourth chapter and sixt verse -of the prophecie of Jonas, was called of the Talmudists kik, for in the -Talmud we reade Velo beschemen kik, that is in English, And not with -the oile of kik; which oile is called in the Arabian toong Alkerua, as -Rabbi Samuel the sonne of Hofni testifieth. Moreover a certain Rabbine -mooveth a question saying What is kik? Hereunto Resch Lachisch maketh -answer in Ghemara, saying Kik is nothing else but Jonas his kikaijon. -And that this is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> true it appeareth by that name kiki which the ancient -Greeke phisicions and the Aegyptians used, which Greeke word cometh -of the Hebrew kik. Hereby it appeereth that the olde writers long -ago, though unwittingly, called this plant by his true name. But the -olde Latine writers knew it by the name Cucurbita which evidently is -manifested by an Historie which St. Augustine recordeth in his Epistle -to St. Jerome where in effect he writeth thus:—That name kikaijon is -of small moment yet so small a matter caused a great tumult in Africa. -For on a time a certaine Bishop having occasion to intreat of this -which is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Jonas his prophecie (in -a collation or sermon which he made in his cathedral church or place -of assemblie), said that this plant was called Cucurbita, a Gourde, -because it increased to so great a quantitie in so short a space, or -else (saith he) it is called Hedera. Upon the novelty and untruth of -this doctrine the people were greatly offended, and there arose a -tumult and hurly burly, so that the bishop was inforced to go to the -Jews to aske their judgement as touching the name of this plant. And -when he had received of them the true name which was kikaijon, he made -his open recantation and confessed his error, and was justly accused of -being a falsifier of Holy Scripture.”</p> - -<p>I quote the letter as Gerard gives it without quite understanding it, -and I have not been able to trace its origin. But it is clear that if -St. Augustine thought it was such a small matter he would hardly have -quarrelled so violently with St. Jerome about it. Probably, however, -the story of the quarrel is founded on this letter. Moreover the -conclusion seems to be that the gourd was not a cucurbita but the Palma -Christi.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> - -<p>The importance of Jerome’s translation of the word representing the -plant to be Ivy (Hedera) is that he incorporated it into his Latin -version of the Bible known as the Vulgate. The much older Septuagint -(Greek) translation gives “kolokyntha,” the bottle gourd, as the -rendering of the Hebrew kikaion. The Swedish botanist and theologian -Celsius strongly supported the view that Jonah’s gourd was the Palma -Christi in his “Hierobotanicon; sive de Plantis Sacrae Scripturae,” -1746. But though this tree is of very rapid growth, and is planted -before houses in the East for its shade, and though philological -arguments are in its favour, Dr. Hastings (“Encyclopædia Biblica”) -rejects the suggestion and prefers the Septuagint version because -he thinks the passage clearly indicates that a vine is intended. He -considers there is no support, either botanical or etymological, for -the selection of ivy to represent the gourd.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Wild Gourds</h4> - -<p class="p-left">mentioned in 2 Kings, iv, 39, are generally supposed to have been -colocynth fruit, though the squirting cucumber (Ecbalium purgans) has -also been suggested. The plant on which this grows, however, would -hardly be called a wild vine, for it has no tendrils. The Jews were in -the habit of shredding various kinds of gourds in their pottage, and as -narrated, someone had brought a lapful of these gourds, the fruit of a -wild vine, and shredded them into the pottage which was being prepared -for the sons of the prophets. The mistake could hardly have been made -with the squirting cucumber, which is very common throughout Palestine, -but the colocynth only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> grew on barren sands like those near Gilgal, -and might easily be mistaken for the globe cucumber. The mistake was -discovered as soon as the pottage was tasted, and the alarm of “death -in the pot” was raised. Elisha, however, casting some meal in the pot -destroyed the bitter taste, and apparently rendered the pottage quite -harmless.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Horse Leech</h4> - -<p class="p-left">mentioned in Proverbs, xxx, 15, “The horse-leech hath two daughters, -crying Give, Give,” is a translation of Hebrew Aluka, the meaning -of which is not without doubt. The Hebrew word is interpreted by -corresponding terms in Arabic, but of these there are two, one meaning -the leech, and the other fate or destiny. The latter word is supposed -to have been derived from the former from the idea that every person’s -fate clings to him. Another similar Arabic word is Aluk, a female ghul -or vampire, who, it was believed, sucked the blood of those whom she -attacked.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Nitre</h4> - -<p class="p-left">is mentioned twice in the Old Testament, first in Proverbs, xxv, 20, -“As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart.” -In the Revised Version soda is given instead of nitre in the margin. -The other reference is in Jeremiah, ii, 22, “Though thou wash thee -with nitre, and take thee much sope.” In this passage the Revised -Version changes nitre to lye. The Hebrew word is Nether, the natrum -of the East, an impure carbonate of sodium which was condensed from -certain salt lakes, or obtained from marine plants. Vinegar would cause -effervescence with this substance, but not with nitrate of potash. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -soap in the same passage in Jeremiah, in Hebrew Borith, was either the -soap wort or a salt obtained from the ashes of herbs by lixiviation.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Mustard Seeds</h4> - -<p class="p-left">are mentioned twice by the Saviour as illustrations of something very -small: first as the small seed which grows into a tree, and second as -the measure of even a minute degree of faith. The weed did in fact grow -in Palestine to some ten or twelve feet in height.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Vinegar.</h4> - -<p>Homez in Hebrew, Oxus in Greek, is mentioned five times in the Old -Testament, and five times in the New Testament. It was used as a relish -by the Jews, the food being dipped into it before eating. The passages -where vinegar is mentioned in the accounts of the Crucifixion in the -several Gospels are not fully explained by Biblical scholars. The first -administration of vinegar to the Saviour was, according to St. Matthew, -vinegar mixed with gall; according to St. Mark, vinegar mixed with -myrrh. There are linguistic reasons for assuming that the additional -ingredient may have been opium, given with a merciful intention. But -both evangelists state that Jesus refused it. The second time vinegar -was given to him on a sponge, and St. Luke seems to suggest that this -was given in mockery. It is supposed that the vinegar was the posca, a -sour wine which was largely drunk by the Roman soldiers.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Anethon.</h4> - -<p>All translators agree that dill and not anise was the “anethon” named -with mint and cummin in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> passage, Matthew, xxiii, 23. Anise was -never grown in Palestine. The other herbs were common in gardens, -and the allusion to paying tithe on them, and to rue in a similar -connection in Luke, xi, 42, appears to refer to the scrupulous -observance of the letter of the law by the Pharisees, even down to -such an insignificant matter as the tithe on these almost valueless -herbs. The law did not, in fact, require tithe to be paid except on -productions which yielded income. It was therefore rather to satisfy -their own self-righteousness that the Pharisees insisted on paying the -contribution on mint and anise and cummin.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Saffron</h4> - -<p class="p-left">is only mentioned in the Song of Solomon, iv, 14, as one of the many -valuable products of an Eastern garden. There is not much doubt that -this was the crocus sativa known to medicine from the earliest times. -The Hebrew word, karkum, was kurkum in ancient Arabic, and this is -given in Arab dictionaries as equivalent to the more modern za-faran -from which our word is derived.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Pomegranates</h4> - -<p class="p-left">are always referred to in the Scriptures as luxuries. The spies sent -by Moses to see the land of Canaan brought back pomegranates with figs -and grapes (Numbers, xiii, 23); the same fruits are promised in Deut. -(viii, 8); the withering of the pomegranate tree is, with that of the -vine and fig tree, noted by the prophet Joel (i, 12) as a sign of -desolation. It is still highly prized as a fruit in the East.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Poultice of Figs</h4> - -<p class="p-left">applied to Hezekiah’s boil (2 Kings, xx, 7) is an interesting -reminiscence of Israelitish home medicine. The fig tree often appears -in the Bible. Some very learned Biblical commentators (Celsius, -Gesenius, Knobel, among them) have believed that the fig leaves with -which Adam and Eve made aprons were in fact the very long leaves of the -banana tree. This, however, is scarcely possible, as the banana is a -native of the Malay Archipelago, and there is no evidence that it was -known to the Jews at the time when the Pentateuch was written.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Spikenard</h4> - -<p class="p-left">is mentioned three times in the Song of Songs (i, 12, iv, 13, iv, 14), -and in the New Testament on two occasions (Mark xiv, 3, and John xii, -3), a box of spikenard ointment, “very costly” and “very precious” is, -in the instance recorded by St. Mark, poured on the Saviour’s head, -and in the narrative of St. John, is used to anoint His feet. On both -occasions we are told that the value of this box or vase was three -hundred pence. It is explained in the Revised Version that the coin -named was equivalent to about 8½d. The price of the ointment used was -therefore over ten pounds.</p> - -<p>In the Greek text the word used is nardos pitike. It has been variously -conjectured that the adjective may have meant liquid, genuine or -powdered; the word lends itself to either of those meanings. Or it may -have been a local term, or possibly it may have been altered from a -word which would have meant what we understand by “spike” in botany. -The most likely meaning is “genuine,” for we know that this product<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -was at that period a perfume in high esteem, and that there were -several qualities, the best, and by far the costliest, being brought -from India. The ointment employed was really an otto, and it was -imported into Rome and other cities of the Empire in alabaster vessels. -Dioscorides and Galen refer to it as nardostachys. The Arab name for it -was Sumbul Hindi, but this must not be confounded with the sumbul which -we know. The word sumbul simply means spike. The botanical origin of -the Scripture spikenard, the nardostachys of Dioscorides, was cleared -up, it is generally agreed, by Sir William Jones in 1790. He traced -it to a Himalayan plant of the valerian order which was afterwards -exactly identified by Royle. A Brahman gave some of the fibrous roots -to Sir William Jones, and told him it was employed in their religious -sacrifices.</p> - -<p>Pliny mentions an ointment of spikenard composed of the Indian nard, -with myrrh, balm, custos, amomum, and other ingredients, but the -“genuine” nard alluded to in the Gospels was probably the simple otto. -Pliny also states that the Indian nard was worth, in his time, in Rome, -one hundred denarii per pound.</p> - -<p>Horace mentions an onyx box of nard which was considered of equal value -with a large vessel of wine:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i4">Nardo vinum merebere</div> - <div>Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Eastern Imagery</h4> - -<p>In Ecclesiastes, xii, 5, the familiar words “and desire shall fail,” -have been changed in the Revised Version to “the caper-berry shall -fail.” This alteration does not strike the ordinary reader as an -improvement, but it appears that the Revised Version translation is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -reversion to that of the Septuagint, and is probably exactly correct. -It is supposed to mean the same thing. The caper has always been -recognised as a relish to meat, as we use it; and there is evidence -that it was given as a stimulating medicine among the Arabs in the -Middle Ages, and perhaps from very ancient times. The idea would be -therefore that even the caper-berry will not now have any effect. The -Revisers also suggest in the margin “burst” for “fail.” It is only a -question of points in Hebrew which word is intended, and some think -that the berry when fully ripe and bursting may have been an emblem of -death.</p> - -<p>The other clauses in the same verse have given rise to much difference -of opinion. “The almond tree shall flourish” is generally supposed -to indicate the white locks of the old man. But against this it is -objected that the almond blossom is not white, but pink; and by a -slight alteration of the original it is possible to read “the almond -(the fruit) shall be refused” or rejected; it is no longer a tempting -morsel.</p> - -<p>The almond and the almond tree (the same word may mean either) are -mentioned several times in the Bible. Jacob’s gifts to Joseph from -Canaan to Egypt included almonds. They were grown in Canaan and were -a luxury in Egypt. In Jeremiah, i, 11, the almond branch is used as -symbolical of hastening or awakening, which is the primary meaning of -the word, derived from the early appearance of the blossoms on the -almond tree.</p> - -<p>The third clause, “the grasshopper shall be a burden,” similarly -presents difficulties, but these hardly concern us here. Probably all -the metaphors conveyed distinct ideas to Eastern readers at that time, -but have lost their point to us.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> - -<p>The interpretation of the beautiful Hebrew poetry of the twelfth -chapter of Ecclesiastes, as given in Leclerc’s “History of Medicine,” -may be of interest. Leclerc says the chapter is an enigmatic -description of old age and its inconveniences, followed by death. The -sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are respectively the mind, the -judgment, the memory, and the other faculties of the soul, which are -gradually fading. The clouds and the rain are the catarrhs and the -fluxions incident to age. The guards of the house and the strong man -are the senses, the muscles, and the tendons. The grinders are the -teeth; those who look out through the windows is an allusion to the -sight. The doors shall be shut in the streets, and the sound of the -grinding is low, means that the mouth will scarcely open for speaking, -and that eating must be slow and quiet. The old man must rise at the -voice of the bird, for he cannot sleep. There is no more singing, and -reading and study are no longer pleasures. The fear of climbing, even -of walking, are next expressed; the white hair is signalised by the -almond blossom, and the flesh falling away by the grasshopper, though -the word burden may indicate the occasional unhealthy fattening of old -persons. The caper failing indicates the loss of the various appetites. -The silver cord represents the spinal marrow, the golden bowl the brain -or the heart; the pitcher, the skull; and the wheel, the lung. The long -home is the tomb.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>IV<br /> - -<span class="subhed">THE PHARMACY OF HIPPOCRATES.</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>When we search into the history of medicine and the -commencement of science, the first body of doctrine that -we meet with is the collection of writings attributed to -Hippocrates. Science ascends directly to that origin and there -stops. Everything that had been learned before the physician -of Cos has perished; and, curiously, there exists a great -gap after him as well as before him.... So that the writings -of Hippocrates remain isolated amongst the ruins of ancient -medical literature.—<span class="smcap">Littré.</span> Introduction to the -<i>Translation of the Works of Hippocrates</i>.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>About eight hundred years separated the periods of Æsculapius and -Hippocrates. During that long time the study of medicine in all its -branches was proceeding in intimate association with the various -philosophies for which Greece has always been famous. Intercourse -between Greece and Egypt, Persia, India, and other countries brought -into use a number of medicines, and probably these were introduced and -made popular by the shopkeepers and the travelling doctors, market -quacks as we should call them.</p> - -<p>Leclerc has collected a list of nearly four hundred simples which he -finds alluded to as remedies in the writings of Hippocrates. But these -include various milks, wines, fruits, vegetables, flits, and other -substances which we should hardly call drugs now. Omitting these and -certain other substances which cannot be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> identified I take from the -author named the following list of medicines employed or mentioned in -that far distant age;—</p> - -<ul> - <li>Abrotanum.</li> - <li>Absinthe.</li> - <li>Adiantum (maidenhair).</li> - <li>Agnus castus.</li> - <li>Algae (various).</li> - <li>Almonds.</li> - <li>Althaea.</li> - <li>Alum.</li> - <li>Amber.</li> - <li>Ammoniac.</li> - <li>Amomum.</li> - <li>Anagallis (a veronica).</li> - <li>Anagyris.</li> - <li>Anchusa.</li> - <li>Anemone.</li> - <li>Anethum.</li> - <li>Anise.</li> - <li>Anthemis.</li> - <li>Aparine (goose grease).</li> - <li>Aristolochia.</li> - <li>Armenian stone.</li> - <li>Asphalt.</li> - <li>Asphodel.</li> - <li>Atriplex.</li> - <li>Baccharis.</li> - <li>Balm.</li> - <li>Basil.</li> - <li>Bistort.</li> - <li>Blite.</li> - <li>Brass (flowers, filings, ashes).</li> - <li>Briar.</li> - <li>Bryony.</li> - <li>Burdock.</li> - <li>Cabbage.</li> - <li>Cachrys.</li> - <li>Calamus aromaticus.</li> - <li>Cantharides.</li> - <li>Capers.</li> - <li>Cardamom.</li> - <li>Carduus benedictus.</li> - <li>Carrot.</li> - <li>Castoreum.</li> - <li>Centaury.</li> - <li>Centipedes.</li> - <li>Chalcitis (red ochre).</li> - <li>Chenopodium.</li> - <li>Cinnamon.</li> - <li>Cinquefoil.</li> - <li>Clove.</li> - <li>Colocynth.</li> - <li>Coriander.</li> - <li>Crayfish.</li> - <li>Cress.</li> - <li>Cucumber (wild).</li> - <li>Cummin.</li> - <li>Cyclamen.</li> - <li>Cytisus.</li> - <li>Dictamnus.</li> - <li>Dog.</li> - <li>Dracontium.</li> - <li>Earths (various).</li> - <li>Elaterium.</li> - <li>Elder.</li> - <li>Erica.</li> - <li>Euphorbia.</li> - <li>Excrement of ass, goat, mule, goose, fox.</li> - <li>Fennel.</li> - <li>Fig tree (leaves, wood, fruit).</li> - <li>Foenugreek.</li> - <li>Frankincense.</li> - <li>Frogs.</li> - <li>Galbanum.</li> - <li>Galls.</li> - <li>Garlic.</li> - <li>Germander.</li> - <li>Goat (various parts).</li> - <li>Hawthorn.</li> - <li>Heather.</li> - <li>Hellebore (white and black).</li> - <li>Hemlock.</li> - <li>Henbane.</li> - <li>Honey.</li> - <li>Horehound.</li> - <li>Horns of ox, goat, stag.</li> - <li>Hyssop.</li> - <li>Isatis.</li> - <li>Ivy.</li> - <li>Juniper.</li> - <li>Laserpitium.</li> - <li>Laurel.</li> - <li>Lettuce.</li> - <li>Licorice.</li> - <li>Linseed.</li> - <li>Loadstone.</li> - <li>Lotus.</li> - <li>Lupins.</li> - <li>Magnesian stone.</li> - <li>Mallow.</li> - <li>Mandragora.</li> - <li>Mecon (?).</li> - <li>Melilot.</li> - <li>Mercurialis.</li> - <li>Minium.</li> - <li>Mints (various).</li> - <li>Mugwort.</li> - <li>Myrabolans.</li> - <li>Myrrh.</li> - <li>Myrtle.</li> - <li>Narcissus.</li> - <li>Nard.</li> - <li>Nitre.</li> - <li>Oak.</li> - <li>Oenanthe.</li> - <li>Oesypus.</li> - <li>Olive.</li> - <li>Onions.</li> - <li>Origanum.</li> - <li>Orpiment.</li> - <li>Ostrich.</li> - <li>Ox-gall.</li> - <li>Ox (liver, gall, urine).</li> - <li>Panax.</li> - <li>Parthenium.</li> - <li>Pennyroyal.</li> - <li>Peony.</li> - <li>Pepper.</li> - <li>Persea (sebestens).</li> - <li>Persil.</li> - <li>Peucedanum.</li> - <li>Phaseolus.</li> - <li>Philistium.</li> - <li>Pine.</li> - <li>Pitch.</li> - <li>Pomegranate.</li> - <li>Poppy.</li> - <li>Quicklime.</li> - <li>Quince.</li> - <li>Ranunculus.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></li> - <li>Red spider.</li> - <li>Resin.</li> - <li>Rhamnus.</li> - <li>Rhus.</li> - <li>Ricinus.</li> - <li>Rock rose.</li> - <li>Rose.</li> - <li>Rosemary.</li> - <li>Ruby.</li> - <li>Rue.</li> - <li>Saffron.</li> - <li>Sagapenum.</li> - <li>Sage.</li> - <li>Salt.</li> - <li>Samphire.</li> - <li>Sandarach.</li> - <li>Scammony.</li> - <li>Sea water.</li> - <li>Secundines of a woman.</li> - <li>Sepia.</li> - <li>Serpent.</li> - <li>Sesame.</li> - <li>Seseli.</li> - <li>Silver.</li> - <li>Sisymbrium.</li> - <li>Solanum.</li> - <li>Spurge.</li> - <li>Squill.</li> - <li>Stag (horns, &c.).</li> - <li>Stavesacre.</li> - <li>Styrax.</li> - <li>Succinum.</li> - <li>Sulphur.</li> - <li>Sweat.</li> - <li>Tarragon.</li> - <li>Tetragonon.</li> - <li>Thaspia.</li> - <li>Thistles (various).</li> - <li>Thlapsi.</li> - <li>Thuja.</li> - <li>Thyme.</li> - <li>Torpedo (fish).</li> - <li>Trigonum.</li> - <li>Tribulus.</li> - <li>Turpentine.</li> - <li>Turtle.</li> - <li>Umbilicus veneris.</li> - <li>Verbascum.</li> - <li>Verbena.</li> - <li>Verdigris.</li> - <li>Verjuice.</li> - <li>Violet.</li> - <li>Wax.</li> - <li>Willow.</li> - <li>Woad.</li> - <li>Worms.</li> - <li>Worm seed.</li> -</ul> - -<p>This list may be taken to have comprised pretty fairly the materia -medica of the Greeks as it was known to them when Hippocrates -practised, and as it is not claimed that he introduced any new -medicines it may be assumed that these formed the basis of the remedies -used in the temples of Æsculapius, though perhaps some of them were -only popular medicines.</p> - -<p>The temples of Æsculapius were in all those ages the repositories of -such medical and pharmaceutical knowledge as was acquired. The priests -of these temples were called Asclepiades, and they professed to be the -descendants of the god. Probably the employment of internal medicines -was a comparatively late development. Plato remarks on the necessarily -limited medical knowledge of Æsculapius. Wounds, bites of serpents, and -occasional epidemics, he observes, were the principal troubles which -the earliest physicians had to treat. Catarrhs, gout, dysentery, and -lung diseases only came with luxury. Plutarch and Pindar say much the -same. The latter specially mentions that Æsculapius had recourse to -prayers, hymns, and incantations in mystic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> words and in verses called -epaioide, or carmina, from which came the idea and name of charm.</p> - -<p>In later times these temples were beautiful places, generally situated -in the most healthy localities, and amid lovely scenery. They were -either in forests or surrounded by gardens. A stream of pure water ran -through the grounds, and the neighbourhood of a medicinal spring was -chosen if possible. The patients who resorted to them were required to -purify themselves rigorously, to fast for some time before presenting -themselves in the temple, to abstain from wine for a still longer -preliminary period, and thus to appreciate the solemnity of the -intercession which was to be made for them. On entering the temple -they found much to impress them. They were shown the records of cures, -especially of diseases similar to their own; their fasts had brought -them into a mental condition ready to accept a miracle, the ceremonies -which they witnessed were imposing, and at last they were left to sleep -before the altar. That dreams should come under those circumstances was -not wonderful; nor was it surprising that in the morning the priests -should be prepared to interpret these dreams. Not unfrequently the -patients saw some mysterious shapes in their dreams which suggested to -the priests the medicines which ought to be administered. For no doubt -they did administer medicines, though for many centuries they observed -the strictest secrecy in reference to all their knowledge and practices.</p> - -<p>It need hardly be added that offerings were made to the god, to the -service of the temple, and to the priests personally by grateful -patients who had obtained benefit. At one of the temples it is said -it was the custom to throw pieces of gold or silver into a well for -the god. At others pieces of carving representing the part which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> had -been the seat of disease were sold to those who had been cured, and -these were again presented to the temple, and, it may be surmised, sold -again. That cures were effected is likely enough. The excitement, the -anticipation, the deep impressions made by the novel surroundings had -great influence on many minds, and through the minds on the bodies. -Records of these cures were engraved on tablets and fixed on the walls -of the temples.</p> - -<p>Sprengel gives a translation of four of these inscriptions found at the -Temple of Æsculapius which had been built on the Isle of the Tiber, -near Rome. The first relates that a certain Gaius, a blind man, was -told by the oracle to pray in the temple, then cross the floor from -right to left, lay the five fingers of his right hand on the altar, -and afterwards carry his hand to his eyes. He did so, and recovered -his sight in the presence of a large crowd. The next record is also a -cure of blindness. A soldier named Valerius Aper was told to mix the -blood of a white cock with honey and apply the mixture to his eyes for -three successive days. He, too, was cured, and thanked the god before -all the people. Julian was cured of spitting of blood. His case had -been considered hopeless. The treatment prescribed was mixing seeds -of the fir apple with honey, and eating the compound for three days. -The fourth cure was of a son of Lucius who was desperately ill with -pleurisy. The god told him in a dream to take ashes from the altar, mix -them with wine, and apply to his side.</p> - -<p>The legend of the foundation of this Roman temple is curious. In the -days of the republic on the occasion of an epidemic in the city the -sibylline books were consulted, with the result that an embassy was -sent to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> Epidaurus to ask for the help of Æsculapius. Quintus Ogulnius -was appointed for this mission. On arriving at Epidaurus the Romans -were astonished to see a large serpent depart from the temple, make its -way to the shore, and leap on the vessel, where it proceeded at once -to the cabin of Ogulnius. Some of the priests followed the serpent and -accompanied the Romans on the return journey. The vessel stopped at -Antium, and the serpent left the ship and proceeded to the Temple of -Æsculapius in that city. After three days he returned, and the voyage -was continued. Casting anchor at the mouth of the Tiber the serpent -again left the vessel and settled itself on a small island. There it -rolled itself up, thus indicating its intention of settling on that -spot. The god, it was understood, had selected that island as the site -for his temple, and there it was erected.</p> - -<p>As might be expected, some of the less reverent of the Greek writers -found subjects for satire in the worship of Æsculapius. Aristophanes -in one of his comedies makes a servant relate how his master, Plautus, -who was blind, was restored to sight at the Æsculapian temple. Having -placed their offerings on the altar and performed other ceremonies, -this servant says that Plautus and he laid down on beds of straw. When -the lights were extinguished the priest came round and enjoined them to -sleep and to keep silence if they should hear any noise. Later the god -himself came and wiped the eyes of Plautus with a piece of white linen. -Panacea followed him and covered the face of Plautus with a purple -veil. Then on a signal from the deity two serpents glided under the -veil, and having licked his eyes Plautus recovered his sight.</p> - -<p>It cannot be doubted that in the course of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> centuries a large -amount of empiric knowledge was accumulated at these temples, and -probably the pretence of supernatural aid was far more rare than we -suppose. In an exhaustive study of the subject recently published -by Dr. Aravintinos, of Athens, that authority expresses the opinion -that the temples served as hospitals for all kinds of sufferers, and -that arrangements were provided in them for prolonged treatment. He -thinks that in special cases the treatment was carried out during the -mysterious sleep, when it was desired to keep from the patient an exact -knowledge of what was being done; but generally he supposes a course -of normal medication or hygiene was followed. Forty-two inscriptions -have been discovered, but on analysing these Dr. Aravintinos comes to -the conclusion that they record in most cases only cures effected by -rational means, and not by miracles. He finds massage, purgatives, -emetics, diaphoresis, bleeding, baths, poulticing, and such like -methods indicated, and though the sleeps, possibly hypnotic, are often -mentioned, this is not by any means the case invariably.</p> - -<p>About a century before Hippocrates wrote and practised, the Asclepiads -began to reveal their secrets. The revolt against the mysteries and -trickeries of the temples was incited by the infidelity to their oaths -of certain of the Italian disciples of Pythagoras. The school of -philosophy and medicine founded by that mystic aimed also to keep his -doctrines secret, but when the colony he had established at Crotona, -in South Italy, was dispersed by the attacks of the mob, a number of -the initiates travelled about under the title of Periodeutes practising -medicine often in close proximity to an Æsculapian temple. The first -of the Asclepiads to yield to this competition were those of Cnidos, -but the school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> of Cos was not long after them. The direct ancestors of -Hippocrates were among the teachers of the temple who became eager to -make known the accumulated science in their possession, and thus by the -time when the famous teacher was born (460 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>) the world was -ripe for his intellect to have free play.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Hippocrates.</h3> - -<p>Hippocrates was born in Cos, as far as can be ascertained, about the -year 460 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, and is alleged to have lived to be 99, or, as -some say, 109 years of age. It is claimed that his father, Heraclides, -was a direct descendant of Æsculapius, and that his mother, Phenarita, -was of the family of Hercules. His father and his paternal ancestors -in a long line were all priests of the Æsculapian temples, and his -sons and their sons after them also practised medicine in the same -surroundings. The family, traceable for nearly 300 years, among whom -were seven of the name of Hippocrates, were all, it would appear, -singularly free from the charlatanism which the Greek dramatists -attributed to the Æsculapian practitioners, from the superstition which -overlaid the medical science of so many older and later centuries, and -especially from the fantastic pharmacy which was to develop to such an -absurd extent in the following five hundred years.</p> - -<p>It is not possible to distinguish with any confidence the genuine -from the spurious writings attributed to Hippocrates which have come -down to us. But the note which even his imitators sought to copy was -one of directness, lucidity, and candour. He tells of his failures as -simply as of his successes. He does not seek to deduce a system from -his experience, and though he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> is reputed to be the originator of the -theory of the humours, he does not allow the doctrine to influence his -treatment, which is based on experience.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p085"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p085.jpg" - alt="" /> -<blockquote> - -<p>This portrait of Hippocrates, which is given in Leclerc’s -“History of Medicine,” is stated to be copied from a medal -in the collection of Fulvius Ursinus, a celebrated Italian -connoisseur. It is believed that the medal was struck by the -people of Cos at some long distant time in honour of their -famous compatriot. A bust in the British Museum, found near -Albano, among some ruins conjectured to have been the villa -of Marcus Varro, is presumed to represent Hippocrates on the -evidence of the likeness it bears to the head on this medal.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The medical views of Hippocrates do not concern us here except as -they affect his pharmaceutical practice; but a very long chapter -might be written on his pharmacy, that is to say, on the use he made -of drugs in the treatment of disease. Galen believed that he made -his preparations with his own hand, or at least<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> superintended their -preparation. Leclerc’s list of the medicaments mentioned as such in the -works attributed to Hippocrates have been already quoted, and it will -be found that after deducting the fruits and vegetables, the milks of -cows, goats, asses, mules, sheep, and bitches, as well as other things -which perhaps we should hardly reckon as medicaments, there remain -between one hundred and two hundred drugs which are still found in our -drug shops. There are a great many animal products, some copper and -lead derivatives, alum, and the earths so much esteemed; but evidently -the bulk of his materia medica was drawn from the vegetable kingdom.</p> - -<p>Hippocrates was considerably interested in pharmacy. Galen makes him -say, “We know the nature of medicaments and simples, and make many -different preparations with them; some in one way, some in another. -Some simples must be gathered early, some late; some we dry, some we -crush, some we cook,” &c. He made fomentations, poultices, gargles, -pessaries, katapotia (things to swallow, large pills), ointments, oils, -cerates, collyria, looches, tablets, and inhalations, which he called -perfumes. For quinsy, for example, he burned sulphur and asphalte with -hyssop. He gave narcotics, including, it is supposed, the juice of -the poppy and henbane seeds, and mandragora; purgatives, sudorifics, -emetics, and enemas. His purgative drugs were generally drastic ones: -the hellebores, elaterium, colocynth, scammony, thapsia, and a species -of rhamnus.</p> - -<p>Hippocrates describes methods for what he calls purging the head and -the lungs, that is, by means of sneezing and coughing. He explains how -he diminishes the acridity of spurge juice by dropping a little of it -on a dried fig, whereby he gets a good remedy for dropsy. He has a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -medicine which he calls Tetragonon, or four-cornered. Galen conjectures -that this was a tablet of crude antimony. Leclerc more reasonably -suggests that it was a term for certain special kinds of lozenges, and -points out that not long after Hippocrates physicians used a trochiscus -trigonus, or three-cornered lozenge for another purpose.</p> - -<p>Although he used many drugs, Hippocrates is especially insistent on -Diet as the most important aid to health. He claims to have been the -first physician who had written on this subject, and this assertion is -confirmed by Plato, who, however, somewhat grimly commends the ancient -doctors for neglecting this branch of treatment, for, he says, the -modern ones have converted life into a tedious death. Barley water is -repeatedly recommended by the physician of Cos, with various additions -to suit the particular case under consideration. Oxymel is the usual -associate, but dill, leeks, oil, salt, vinegar, and goats’ fat also -figure.</p> - -<p>Particular instructions are also given about the wine to be drunk, -the kind, and the quantity of water with which it is to be diluted in -spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In one place, at the end of the -3rd Book on Diet, a word is used which apparently means that persons -fatigued with long labour should “drink unto gaiety” occasionally; but -there is some doubt about the correct translation of that word.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>V<br /> - -<span class="subhed">FROM HIPPOCRATES TO GALEN.</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Medicine is a science which hath been more professed -than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced; the -labour having been, in my judgment, rather in circle than -in progression. For I find much iteration, but small -addition.—<span class="smcap">Bacon</span>, “Advancement of Learning.”—Book 2.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>The fame of Hippocrates caused naturally a great multiplication of -works attributed to him. The Ptolemies when founding the Library of -Alexandria, which they were determined should be more important than -that of Pergamos, commissioned captains of ships and other travellers -to buy manuscripts of the Greek physician at almost any price; an -excellent method of encouraging forgeries. The works attributed to -Hippocrates have been subject to the keenest scrutiny by scholars, but -even now the verdict of Galen in regard to their genuine or spurious -character is the consideration which carries the greatest weight. Even -the imitations go to prove how free the physician of Cos was from -superstitious practices or prejudiced theories.</p> - -<p>Between him and Galen an interval of some six hundred years elapsed -and, especially in the latter half of that period, pharmacy developed -into enormous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> importance. Not that it necessarily advanced. But the -faith in drugs, and especially in the art of compounding them, and -the wild polypharmacy which grew up in Alexandria and Rome in the -first two centuries of our era, of which Galen shows so much approval, -add inestimably to the chronicles of pharmacy. It was during the -interval between Hippocrates and Galen that the many sects of ancient -medicine, the Dogmatics, the Stoics, the Empirics, the Methodics, -and the Eclectics were born and flourished. Some of these encouraged -the administration of special remedies. But probably a far greater -influence was exercised on the pharmacy of the ancient world by the new -commerce with Africa and the East which the Ptolemies did so much to -foster, and by the travelling quacks and the prescribing druggists who -exploited the drugs of foreign origin which now came into the market.</p> - -<p>Serapion of Alexandria, one of the most famous of the Empirics, who is -supposed to have lived in the second century, was largely responsible -for the introduction of the animal remedies which were to figure so -prominently in the pharmacy of the succeeding seventeen centuries. -Among his specifics were the brain of a camel, the excrements of the -crocodile, the heart of the hare, the blood of the tortoise, and the -testicles of the wild boar.</p> - -<p>The Empirics were the boldest users of drugs, and so far as can be -judged, were the practitioners who brought opium into general medicinal -esteem. One of the most famous doctors of this sect, Heraclides, made -several narcotic compounds which are commended by Galen. One of these -formulæ prescribed for cholera was 2 drms. of henbane seeds, 1 drm. -of anise, and ½ drm. of opium, made into 30 pills, one for a dose. -Another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> which was recommended for coughs was composed of 4 drms. each -of juice of hemlock, juice of henbane, castorum, white pepper, and -costus; and 1 drm. each of myrrh and opium.</p> - -<p>Musa, a freed slave of Augustus, and apparently a sort of medical -charlatan, but a great favourite with the Emperor, is alleged to have -introduced the flesh of vipers into medical use especially for the cure -of ulcers.</p> - -<p>Celsus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, whose works are recognized as the -storehouses of the science of Imperial Rome, belonged to the period -under review. Celsus wrote either a little before or a little after the -commencement of our era. He was the first eminent author who wrote on -medicine in Latin. Pliny died <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 79, suffocated by the gases -from Vesuvius, which in his eagerness to observe he had approached too -near during an eruption. Dioscorides is supposed to have lived a little -before Pliny, who apparently quotes him, but curiously never mentions -his name, though usually most scrupulous in regard to his authorities.</p> - -<p>Themison, who lived at Rome in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and -who is said to have been the first physician to have distinguished -rheumatism from gout, is noted in pharmacy as the author of the formulæ -for Diagredium and Diacodium. He praised the plantain as a universal -remedy, and is also the earliest medical writer to mention the use of -leeches in the treatment of illness.</p> - -<p>Several of the writers on medical subjects of this period adopted -the method of prescribing their formulas and the instructions for -compounding them in verse. The most famous instance is that of -Andromachus, physician to Nero, whose elegiac verses describing -the composition of his Theriakon are quoted by Galen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> The idea -was that the formula thus presented was less likely to be tampered -with. Theriakon as invented contained 61 ingredients. Its principal -improvement on the more ancient Mithridatum was the addition of dried -vipers. Andromachus appears to have acquired a large and lucrative -practice in Rome at the time when wealth was most lavishly squandered.</p> - -<p>Among other medical verse writers were Servilius Damocrates, who -lived in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, and who invented a famous -tooth powder, a number of malagmata, (emollient poultices), acopa -(liniments for pains), electuaries, and plasters; and Herennius Philon, -a physician of Tarsus (about <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 50), whose fame rests on his -philonium, a compound designed to relieve colic pains, which appear -to have been specially frequent at that period. This philonium was -composed of opium, saffron, pyrethrum, euphorbium, pepper, henbane, -spikenard, and honey.</p> - -<p>Menecrates, physician to Tiberius, and said to have written 155 works, -was the inventor of diachylon plaster, but his diachylon was a compound -of many juices (as the name implies) along with lead plaster.</p> - -<p>The Romans were curiously badly off for regular doctors until Julius -Cæsar specially tempted some to come from Greece and Egypt by offers -of citizenship. Augustus, too, warmly encouraged the settlement in the -city of trained medical men.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Pharmacy in the Roman Empire.</h3> - -<p>The separation of the practices of medicine, pharmacy, and surgery, -which became general though never universal, was of course a gradual -process. Galen expresses the opinion that Hippocrates prepared the -medicines he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> prescribed with his own hands, or at least superintended -the production of them. According to Celsus, it was in Alexandria and -about the year 300 <span class="sm">B.C.</span> that the division of the practice of -medicine into distinct branches was first noticeable. The sections he -names were Dietetics, Surgery and Pharmaceutics.</p> - -<p>The physicians who practised dietetics were like our consultants, -only more so. They were above all things philosophers, the recognised -successors of the Greek thinkers and theorists, and but too often -their imitators. Although they owed their designation to their general -authority on régime, they prescribed and invented medicines. The -pharmaceutical section came to be called in Latin medicamentarii, -and their history corresponds closely with that of our English -apothecaries. At first they prepared and administered the medicines -which the physicians ordered. But in Alexandria and Rome they gradually -assumed the position of general practitioners. To another class, -designated by Pliny Vulnerarii, was left the treatment of wounds, and -probably of tumours and ulcers. The necessity of a lower grade of -medical practitioners in Rome is manifest from a remark of Galen’s to -the effect that no physician, meaning a person in his own rank, would -attend to diseases of minor importance.</p> - -<p>It is worthy of note that the Latin designation medicamentarius, which -was nearly equivalent to the Greek pharmacopolis, was similarly used -to mean a poisoner, while pharmakon in Greek and medicamentus in Latin -might mean either a medicine or a poison.</p> - -<p>It is noted elsewhere (page <a href="#Page_52">52</a>) that the word pharmakeia when it occurs -in the New Testament is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> universally translated in our versions by the -term sorcery or some similar word. At the time when the Apostles wrote -this was evidently the prevalent meaning attached to the term. But -in earlier Greek literature the reputable and the disgraceful ideas -associated with the word seem to have run side by side for centuries. -Homer uses pharmakon in both senses; Plato makes pharmakeuein mean to -administer a remedy, while Herodotus adopts it to signify the practice -of sorcery. Apparently this word came from an earlier, pharmassein, -which was derived from a root implying to mix, and the gradual sense -development was that of producing an effect by means of drugs. They -might produce purging, they might produce a colour, or they might -produce love.</p> - -<p>The multiplication of names for the various classes connected with -medicine and pharmacy in the Roman world is rather confusing. As the -language of medicine up to and including Galen was largely Greek, many -of the designations employed were those which had been drawn from that -tongue. The name Pharmacopeus, used in Greek to denote certain handlers -of drugs, had always a sinister signification. It suggested a purveyor -of noxious drugs, a compounder of philtres, a vendor of poisons. -The men who kept shops for the sale of drugs generally were called -pharmacopoloi. This term was not free from reproach, because it was a -common appellation, not only of the shopkeepers strictly so-called, but -was also applied to the periodeutes, or agyrtoi, travelling quacks or -assembly gatherers, or as they came to be named in Latin, circulatores -or circumforanei.</p> - -<p>These itinerant drug sellers are occasionally referred to by the -classic authors. Lucian speaks of one hawking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> a cough mixture about -the streets; and Cicero, in his Oratia pro Cluentio, suggests that the -travelling pharmacopolists who attended the markets of country towns -were not unwilling to sell poisons as well as medicines when they were -wanted. One of these is specifically named, Lucius Clodius, and the -orator suggests that he was bribed to supply medicines to a certain -lady which were to have a fatal effect.</p> - -<p>The designation Periodeutes meant originally, and always in strict -legal terminology, physicians who visited their patients. The term was -also used among the Christians to describe the ministers charged to -visit the sick and poor in their dioceses.</p> - -<p>The tramp doctor in time gets tired of his vagabond life, and, it may -be, a little weary of hearing his own voice. If he has saved a little -money, therefore, the attractions of a shop in the city, where he can -exercise his healing on people who seek him, appeal strongly to him. -So in Greece and in the Roman Empire the charlatans settled in little -shops and were called iatroi epidiphrioi or sellularii medici, meaning -sedentary doctors. But all these were pharmacopoloi.</p> - -<p>Peculiarly interesting is the suggestion made by Epicurus and intended -as a sneer, that Aristotle was one of these pharmacopoloi in his -younger days. According to Epicurus the philosopher having first -wasted his patrimony in riotous living and then served as a soldier, -afterwards sold antidotes in the markets up to the time when he joined -Plato’s classes.</p> - -<p>Seplasia was the ordinary name in Rome for a druggist’s shop, and -those who kept them were designated Seplasiarii or Pigmentarii. These -names appear to have been used without much recognition of their -original meanings. Strictly the Seplasiarii were ointment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> makers, -and though the Pigmentarii were no doubt at first sellers of dyes and -colours, they evidently came to include medicines in their stocks of -pigments, and Coelius Aurelianus, in writing on stomach complaints, -alludes to aloes as a pigment. Greek designations corresponding to -those just quoted were Pantopoloi and Kadolikoi (the latter used -by Galen in referring to the trader who supplied the drugs for the -theriacum prepared in the palace of the Emperor Antoninus). Kopopoloi, -and Migmatopoloi, both of which words meant dealers in all sorts of -small wares, were like the mercers in this country when shopkeeping -first began. The shops of perfumers were myropolia or myrophecia, the -perfumers themselves were myrepsi. A general term in Latin for any sort -of shop where medicines were sold or surgical operations performed was -Medicina. This was in the days before the Empire, when there was no -usual distinction between the branches of the healing art.</p> - -<p>Pharmacotribae, strictly drug-grinders, may have been compounders, and -it has also been conjectured that they were the assistants employed by -the Seplasiarii or Roman druggists.</p> - -<p>Herbalists were of very ancient Greek lineage, under the names of -Botanologoi, who were collectors of simples, and who, to enhance the -price of their wares, pretended to have to gather them with many -superstitious observances; and Rhizotomoi, or root-cutters. The name -Apothek, which came to be appropriated to the warehouse where medicinal -herbs were kept, and which is to-day the German equivalent of our -pharmacy, or chemist’s shop, meant originally any warehouse, and from -it has been derived the French boutique and the Spanish bodega.</p> - -<p>The earlier Greek and Roman physicians were in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> habit of themselves -preparing the medicines they prescribed for their patients. But -naturally they did not gather their own herbs, and as many of those -used for medicine were exotics, it is obvious that they could not have -done so if they had wished. The herbalists who undertook this duty -(botanologoi in Greek) developed into the seplasiarii, pharmacopoloi, -medicamentarii, and pigmentarii already mentioned. Beckmann says they -competed with the regular physicians, having acquired a knowledge of -the healing virtues of the commodities they sold, and the methods -of compounding them. This could not help happening, but it ought to -be remembered that the physicians of all countries had themselves -developed from herbalists, that is, if we abandon the theories of -miraculous instruction which are found among the legends of Egypt, -Assyria, India, and Greece.</p> - -<p>How similar the relations of the doctors and druggists of ancient Rome -were with those still prevailing in this country may be gathered from -a reproach levelled by Pliny against physicians contemporary with him -(Bk. xxxiv, 11) to the effect that they purchased their medicines from -the seplasiarii without knowing of what they were composed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>VI<br /> - -<span class="subhed">ARAB PHARMACY.</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>In the science of medicine the Arabians have been deservedly -applauded. The names of Mesua and Geber, of Razis and -Avicenna, are ranked with the Grecian masters; in the city -of Bagdad 860 physicians were licensed to exercise their -lucrative profession; in Spain the lives of the Catholic -princes were entrusted to the skill of the Saracens; -and the School of Salerno, their legitimate offspring, -revived in Italy and Europe the precepts of the healing -art.—<span class="smcap">Gibbon</span>: “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” -Chap. LII.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>No period of European history is more astonishing than the records -of the triumphant progress of the Arab power under the influence of -the faith of Islam. From the earliest times this grand Semitic race -was distinguished for learning of a certain character, for gravity, -piety, superstition, a poetic imagination, and eloquence. Centuries -of independence, jealously guarded, and innumerable local feuds made -the material of perfect soldiers, and when Mohammed had grafted on the -native religious character his own faith and missionary zeal the Arab -army, the Saracens, as they came to be called, filled with fanatic -fervour, and utterly indifferent to death, or, rather, eager for it as -the introduction to the Paradise which their prophet had seen and told -them of, formed such an irresistible force as on a small scale has only -been reproduced by Cromwell in our nation.</p> - -<p>But the rapidity of the conquests of Mohammedanism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> was perhaps less -remarkable than the extraordinary assimilation of ancient learning and -the development of new science among these hitherto unlettered Arabs. -Mohammed was born in the year 569 of our era. The Koran was the first -substantial piece of Arabic literature. Alexandria was taken and Egypt -conquered by the Moslems under Amrou in <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 640, Persia and -Syria having been previously subdued. Amrou was himself disposed to -yield to the solicitations of some Greek grammarians, who implored him -to spare the great Library of the city, the depository of the learning -of the ancient world. But he considered it necessary to refer the -request to the Caliph Omar. The reply of the Commander of the Faithful -is one of the most familiar of the stories in Gibbon’s fascinating -history. “If the writings support the Koran they are superfluous; if -they oppose it they are pernicious; burn them.” It is declared that the -papers and manuscripts served as fuel for the baths of the city for six -months.</p> - -<p>The destruction of the Alexandrian Library is often alluded to as a -signal triumph of barbarism over civilisation. Gibbon cynically remarks -that “if the ponderous mass of Arian and Monophysite controversy were -indeed consumed in the public baths a philosopher may allow with a -smile that it was ultimately devoted to the benefit of mankind.” But at -least the spirit which animated Omar in 640 may be noted for comparison -with the encouragement of learning which was soon to characterise the -Arab rulers.</p> - -<p>Only a lifetime later, in <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 711, the sons of the -Alexandrian conquerors invaded Spain, and within the same century -made their western capital, Cordova, the greatest centre of learning, -civilisation, and luxury in Europe. The following quotation from Dr. -Draper’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe” will give -an idea of this achievement:</p> - - - -<blockquote> - -<p>Scarcely had the Arabs become firmly settled in Spain than -they commenced a brilliant career. Adopting what had become -the established policy of the Commanders of the Faithful -in Asia, the Emirs of Cordova distinguished themselves as -patrons of learning, and set an example of refinement strongly -contrasting with the condition of the native European Princes. -Cordova under their administration, at the highest point of -their prosperity, boasted of more than two hundred thousand -houses, and more than a million inhabitants. After sunset a -man might walk through it in a straight line for ten miles by -the light of the public lamps. Seven hundred years after this -time there was not so much as one public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> lamp in London. Its -streets were solidly paved. In Paris, centuries subsequently, -whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day stepped -up to his ankles in mud. Other cities, as Granada, Seville, -Toledo, considered themselves rivals of Cordova. The palaces -of the Khalifs were magnificently decorated. Those sovereigns -might well look down with supercilious contempt on the -dwellings of the rulers of Germany, France, and England, which -were scarcely better than stables—chimneyless, windowless, -with a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape, like the -wigwams of certain Indians.</p></blockquote> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p099"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p099.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Interior of Mosque, Cordova.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">About the same time the passion for learning was growing in the East. -Bagdad was founded <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 762, and about the year 800 Haroun -Al-Raschid founded the famous university of that city. Libraries -and schools were established throughout the two sections of the -Saracenic dominions. Greek and Latin works of philosophy and science -were translated, but the licentious and blasphemous mythology of the -classical poets was abhorred by this serious nation, and no Arabic -versions of Olympian fables were ever made. Astronomy, mathematics, -metaphysics, and the arts of agriculture, of horticulture, of -architecture, of war, and of commerce, were advanced to an extent -which this century does not realise, while amid all this progress the -study of chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy was pursued with particular -eagerness.</p> - -<p>Curiously the Arabs owed their instruction in these branches of -knowledge to those whom we are accustomed to regard as their -traditional foes. The dispersion of the Nestorians after the -condemnation of their doctrines by the Council of Ephesus in -<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 431 resulted in the foundation of a Chaldean Church and -the establishment of famous colleges in Syria and Persia. In these the -science of the Greeks, the philosophy of Aristotle, and the medical -teaching of Hippocrates were kept alive when they had been banished by -the Church from Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>stantinople. The Jews had also acquired special -fame for medical skill throughout the East, and they and the Nestorians -appear to have associated in some of the schools. It was to these -teachers the Arabs turned when, having assured their military success, -they demanded intellectual advancement. The Caliphs not only tolerated, -they welcomed the assistance of the “unbelievers,” and, in fact, -depended on them for the equipment of their own schools, and for the -private tuition of their children. To John Mesuë, a Nestorian, and a -famous writer on medicine and pharmacy, Haroun Al-Raschid entrusted the -superintendence of the public schools of Bagdad.</p> - -<p>The first Nestorian college is believed to have been established in the -city of Dschondisabour in Chuzistan (Nishapoor), before the revelation -of Mohammed. Theology and Medicine were particularly studied at this -seat of learning, and a hospital was established to which the medical -students were admitted, but they had first to be examined in the -Psalms, the New Testament, and in certain books of prayers.</p> - -<p>It was the Caliph Almansor and his immediate successor, Haroun -Al-Raschid, who between them made Bagdad a centre of study. Students -and professors came thither from all parts of the then civilised world, -and the Caliphs welcomed, and indeed invited, both Christians and Jews -to teach there. Hospitals were established in the city, and the first -public pharmacies or dispensaries were provided in Bagdad by Haroun -Al-Raschid. It is on record that in <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 807 envoys from that -monarch came to the court of Charlemagne bringing gifts of balsams, -nard, ointments, drugs, and medicines.</p> - -<p>Arabic medicine was based on the works of Hippo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>crates and Galen, -which were for the most part translated first into Syriac, and then -into Arabic. It does not come within the scope of this work to narrate -or estimate the advance in medicine which may be accredited to the -Arabian writers and practitioners. Medical historians do not allow that -they contributed much original service to either anatomy, physiology, -pathology, or surgery; but it is admitted by every student that their -maintenance of scholarship through the half dozen centuries during -which Europe was sunk in the most abject ignorance and superstition -entitles them to the gratitude of all who have lived since. The -medicine of Avicenna was perhaps much the same as that of Galen. Both -were accepted by the physicians of England, France, and Germany with -the slavish deference which the long burial of the critical faculties -had made inevitable, and which needed the vigorous abuse of Paracelsus -to quicken into activity.</p> - -<p>Whatever may have been the case with medicine it cannot be denied that -the Arabs contributed largely to the development of its ministering -arts, chemistry and pharmacy. The achievements attributed to Geber in -the eighth century were probably not due to any single adept. Tradition -assigned the glory to him and, likely enough, if such a chemist really -lived and acquired fame, other investigators who followed him for a -century or two adopted the pious fraud so frequently met with in other -branches of study in the early centuries of our era of attributing -theories or discoveries to some venerated teacher in order to assure -for them immediate acceptance. However this may be, it is not the less -established that the chemistry of Geber, or of Geber and others, was in -fact the fruit of Arab industry and genius.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> - -<p>Our language indicates to some extent what Pharmacy owes to the -Arabs. Alcohol, julep, syrup, sugar, alkermes, are Arabic names; -the general employment in medicine of rhubarb, senna, camphor, -manna, musk, nutmegs, cloves, bezoar stones, cassia, tamarinds, -reached us through them. They first distilled rose water. They first -established pharmacies, and from the time of Haroun Al-Raschid there -is evidence that the Government controlled the quality and prices of -the medicine sold in them. Sabor-Ebn-Sahel, president of the school -of Dschondisabour, was the author of the earliest pharmacopœia, which -was entitled “Krabadin”; and Hassan-Ali-Ebno-Talmid of Bagdad in the -tenth century, and Avicenna (Al-Hussein-Ben-Abdallah-Ebn-Sina) in the -eleventh century prepared collections of formulas which were used as -pharmacopœias.</p> - -<p>It was the Arabs who raised pharmacy to its proper dignity. We do not -read of any noted pharmacists among them who were not physicians, but -the latter were all keen students of the materia medica, and occupied -themselves largely with pharmaceutical studies. But it is evident that -there was a distinct profession of pharmacy. We read of Avicenna, -for example, taking refuge with an apothecary at Hamdan, and there -composing some of his famous works. Elsewhere a quotation from Rhazes -gives some indication of the irregular practice of medicine which has -prevailed in every country and among all nations; and Sprengel quotes -some translated items from various Arabic authors which show that -as early as the ninth century the Government sanctioned the book of -pharmaceutical formulas, compiled by Sabor-Ebn-Sahel, director of the -School of Dschondisabour, already mentioned. His work was frequently -imitated in later times. The first London Pharma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>copœia was professedly -based largely on the Formulary of Mesuë.</p> - -<p>There is also evidence that both in civil life and in the army the -pharmacists were closely supervised. Their medicines were inspected, -and the prices at which they were sold to the public were controlled by -law.</p> - -<p>The development and progress of medicine and its associated sciences -among the Arabs may be very concisely sketched. The flight of -Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, the Hejira as it is called, from which -the Mohommedan era is dated, corresponds in our chronology with -<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 622. The prophet died in 632. Contemporary with him lived -a priest at Alexandria named Ahrun or Aaron, who compiled from Greek -writers thirty books which he called the Pandects of Physic. These -were translated into Syriac and Arabic about 683 by a Jew of Bassora -named Maserdschawaih-Ebn-Dschaldschal. It is not in existence, and is -only known by references to it made by Rhazes. The first allusion to -small-pox known to history was contained in these Pandects. Serapion -quotes a number of formulas which he says were invented by Ahrun. -In 772 Almansor, the Caliph who founded the city of Bagdad, brought -thither from Nishabur (Dschondisabour) in Persia, a famous Christian -physician named George Baktischwah, who stayed for some time, and -at the request of Almansor translated into Arabic certain books on -Physic. He then returned to his own land, but his son was afterwards -a physician in great favour with the two succeeding Caliphs, Almohdi -and Haroun Al-Raschid. Freind states that when the elder Baktischwah -returned to Persia Almansor presented him with 10,000 pieces of gold, -and that Al-Raschid paid the younger Baktischwah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> an annual salary -of 10,000 drachmas. The last-named ruler also brought to Bagdad the -Nestorian Christian, Jahiah-Ebn-Masawaih, who, under the name of Mesuë -the Elder, retained a reputation for his formulas even up to the -publication of the London Pharmacopœia.</p> - -<p>Mesuë is noted for his opposition to the violent purgative medicines -which the Greek and Roman physicians had made common, and he had much -to do with the popularisation, if not with the introduction of, senna, -cassia, tamarinds, sebestens, myrabolans, and jujube. He modified the -effects of certain remedies by judicious combinations, as, for example, -by giving violet root and lemon juice with scammony. He gave pine bark -and decoction of hyssop as emetics, and recommended the pancreas of the -hare as a styptic in diarrhœa.</p> - -<p>A disciple of Mesuë’s, Ebn-Izak, added greatly to the medical resources -of the Arabs by translations of the works of Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny, -Paul of Egineta, and other Greek authors.</p> - -<p>Abu-Moussah-Dschafar-Al-Soli, commonly called Geber, the equivalent -of his middle name, is supposed to have lived in the eighth century. -It has already been remarked that the chemical discoveries attributed -to this philosopher were probably the achievements of many workers, -and were afterwards collected and passed on to posterity as his alone. -From him are dated the introduction into science, to be adopted later -in medicine, of corrosive sublimate, of red precipitate, of nitric and -nitro-muriatic acids, and of nitrate of silver.</p> - -<p>These chemical discoveries must have been made within the hundred years -from 750 to 850, because Rhazes, who wrote in the latter half of the -ninth century, mentions them. Geber has been supposed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> have claimed -to have discovered the philosopher’s stone, and to have made the -universal medicine. But it is not at all certain that he contemplated -medicine at all. His language is highly figurative, and probably when -he says his gold had cured six lepers he meant only that he had, or -thought he had, extracted gold from six baser metals.</p> - -<p>Rhazes, whose Europeanised name is the modification of Arrasi, which -was the final member of a long series of Eastern patronymics, was of -Persian birth, and commenced his studies in that country with music -and astronomy. When he was thirty he removed to Bagdad, and it was not -until then that he took up the sciences of chemistry and medicine. -Subsequently he was made director of the hospital of Bagdad, and -his lectures on the medical art were attended by students from many -countries. His principal work was entitled Hhawi, which has been -translated Continent, apparently because it was supposed to contain -all there was to know about medicine. The style of this treatise is -that of notes without method, and it is certain that it could not have -been written entirely by Rhazes, as authorities are named who did not -live until after he had died. The theory is that Rhazes left a quantity -of notes of his lectures and cases, and that some of his disciples -afterwards published them with additions, but without much editing.</p> - -<p>Among the methods of treatment for which Rhazes is responsible may -be mentioned that of phthisis, with milk and sugar; of high fever, -with cold water; of weakness of the stomach and of the digestive -organs, with cold water and buttermilk; and he advises sufferers -from melancholia to play chess. He states that fever is not itself -a disease, but an effort of nature to cast out a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> disease. He was -particularly careful in the use of purgatives, which he said were apt -to occasion irritation of the intestinal canal, and in dysentery he -relied usually on fruits, rice, and farinaceous food, though in severe -cases he ordered quicklime, arsenic, and opium. In Freind’s History -of Medicine (1727) a translation of some comments of Rhazes on the -impostors of his day shows better than the citations already given how -just and, it may be said, modern were the ideas of this practitioner of -more than a thousand years ago. It may be added that Freind is not very -complimentary to Rhazes generally. I append an abbreviation of this -interesting notice of the quackery of the ninth century.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>There are so many little arts used by mountebanks and -pretenders to physic that an entire treatise, had I mind to -write one, would not contain them. Their impudence is equal to -their guilt in tormenting persons in their last hours. Some -of them profess to cure the falling sickness (epilepsy) by -making an issue at the back of the head in form of a cross, -and pretending to take something out of the opening which -they held all the time in their hands. Others give out that -they will draw snakes out of their patients’ noses; this they -seem to do by putting an iron probe up the nostril until the -blood comes. Then they draw out an artificial worm, made of -liver. Other tricks are to remove white specks from the eye, -to draw water from the ear, worms from the teeth, stones from -the bladder, or phlegm from various parts of the body, always -having concealed the substance in their hands which they -pretend to extract. Another performance is to collect the evil -humours of the body into one place by rubbing that part with -winter cherries until they cause an inflammation. Then they -apply some oil to heal the place. Some assure their patients -they have swallowed glass. To prove this they tickle the -throat with a feather to induce vomiting, when some particles -of glass are ejected which were put there by the feather. No -wise man ought to trust his life in their hands, nor take any -of their medicines which have proved fatal to many.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Rhazes writes of aqua vitæ, but it is now accepted that he only means -a kind of wine. The distillation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> wine was not practised till a -century after him. Mercury in the form of ointment and corrosive -sublimate were applied by him externally, the latter for itch; yellow -and red arsenic and sulphates of iron and copper were also among his -external remedies. Borax (which he called tenker), saltpetre, red -coral, various precious stones, and oil of ants, are included among the -internal remedies which he advises.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p108"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p108.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Avicenna.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">As represented on the diploma of the Pharmaceutical Society.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The Arab author who acquired by far the greatest fame in Western -lands, and who, indeed, shared with Galen the unquestioning obedience -of myriads of medical practitioners throughout Europe until -Paracelsus shook his authority five hundred years after his death, -was Al-Hussein-Abou-Ali-Ben-Abdallah-Ebn-Sina, which picturesque name -loses its Eastern atmosphere in the transmutation of its two concluding -phrases into Avicenna. This famous man was born at Bokhara in 980; at -twelve years of age he knew the Koran by heart; at sixteen he was a -skilful physician; at eighteen he operated on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> the Caliph Nuhh with -such brilliant success that his fame was established. In the course -of a varied life he was at one time a Vizier, and soon afterwards -in prison for being concerned in some sedition. He escaped from -prison and lived for a long time concealed in the house of a friendly -apothecary, where he wrote a large part of his voluminous “Canon.” He -spent the later years of his life at Ispahan, where he was in great -favour with the Caliph Ola-Oddaula, and he died at Hamdan in 1038 in -the fifty-eighth year of his age. He had led an irregular life, and it -was said of him that all his philosophy failed to make him moral, and -all his knowledge of medicine left him unable to take care of his own -health.</p> - -<p>Competent critics who have studied the medical teaching of Avicenna -have not been able to discover wherein its merits have justified the -high esteem to which it attained. The explanation appears to be that -what Avicenna lacked in originality he made up in method. The main -body of his “Canon” is a judicious selection from the Greek and Latin -physicians, and from Rhazes and other of his Arabic predecessors. -He wrote a great deal on drugs and remedies, but it has been found -impossible to identify many of the substances of his Materia Medica, as -in many cases the names he gives evidently do not apply to those given -by Serapion, Rhazes, and other writers. He often prescribed camphor, -and alluded to several different kinds; a solution of manna was a -favourite medicine with him; he regarded corrosive sublimate as the -most deadly of all poisons, but used it externally; iron he had three -names for, probably different compounds; he had great faith in gold, -silver, and precious stones; it was probably he who introduced the -silvering and gilding of pills, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> his object was not to make them -more pleasant to take, but to add to their medicinal effect.</p> - -<p>Serapion the younger, and Mesuë the younger, who both lived soon after -the time of Avicenna, were principally writers on Materia Medica, from -whose works later authors borrowed freely.</p> - -<p>The subsequent Arab authorities of particular note came from among -the Western Saracens. Albucasis of Cordova, Avenzoar of Seville, and -Averrhoes of Cordova, who are all believed to have flourished in the -twelfth century, were the most celebrated. Albucasis was a great -surgeon and describes the operations of his period with wonderful -clearness and intelligence. Avenzoar was a physician who interested -himself largely in pharmacy. He was reputed to have lived to the age of -135 and to have accumulated experience from his 20th year to the day -of his death. Averrhoes knew Avenzoar personally, but was younger. He -was a philosopher and somewhat of a freethinker who interested himself -in medical matters. We are naturally more concerned with Avenzoar than -with the others.</p> - -<p>It is evident from the books left by Avenzoar, whose full name was -Abdel-Malek-Abou-Merwan-Ebn-Zohr, that in his time the practices of -medicine, surgery, and pharmacy were quite distinct in Spain, and he -apologises to the higher branch of the profession for his interest -in those practices which were usually left to their servants. But he -states that from his youth he took delight in studying how to make -syrups and electuaries, and a strong desire to know the operation -of medicines and how to combine them and to extract their virtues. -He writes about poisons and antidotes; has a chapter on the oil -alquimesci,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> which Freind renders oil of eggs, and Sprengel calls -oil of dates. Avenzoar says his father brought it from the East, and -that it was a marvellous lithontryptic. He tells how mastic corrects -scammony, and sweet almonds colocynth. He is the earliest writer -to refer to the medicinal virtues of the bezoar stones. He gives a -different account of the origin of these stones from that of other -authors. The best, he says, comes from the East and is got from the -eyes of stags. The stags eat serpents to make them strong, and at once -to prevent any injury their instinct impels them to run into streams -and stand in the water up to their necks. They do not drink any water. -If they did they would die immediately; but standing in the stream -gradually reduces the force of the poison, and then a liquor exudes by -the eyelids which coagulates and forms a stone which may grow to the -size of a chestnut, which ultimately falls off. According to another -Arab author, Abdalanarack, the bezoar stone acquired such a celebrity -in Spain that a palace in Cordova was given in exchange for one.</p> - -<p>Moses Maimonides, the most famous Jewish scholar and theologian of the -middle ages, must be mentioned among the exponents of Arab pharmacy. -He was born at Cordova in 1139, and studied medicine under Averrhoes, -but when he was twenty-five the then Mohammedan ruler of Spain required -him to be converted or quit the kingdom. Maimonides therefore went -to Cairo, and became physician to Saladin, the well-known hero of -Crusade wars, who was then Sultan of Egypt. Among his duties he had -to superintend the preparation of theriaca and mithridatium for the -Court. The drugs for these compounds, Maimonides says, had to be -brought from the East and the West at great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> expenditure of time and -money. Consequently, “the illustrious Kadi Fakhil,” (who was apparently -one of Saladin’s ministers), “whose days may God prolong, ordered the -most humble of his servants in 595 (<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1198) to compose a -treatise, small, and showing what ought to be done immediately for a -person bitten by a venomous animal.” The treatise which Maimonides -composed, in obedience to this order, he called “Fakhiliteh.” This -small popular manual reflects in general the pharmacy of Spain and is -of no particular interest. The author considers that for all kinds of -poisons and venoms the most efficacious antidote is an emerald, laid on -the stomach or held in the mouth; and he notes the virtues of theriaca, -mithridatium, and of bezoar. But the Kadi was thinking of poor people, -and therefore more ordinary remedies were also named. A pigeon killed -and cut in two pieces might be applied to painful wounds, but if -this was not available warm vinegar with flour and olive oil might -be substituted. Vomiting must be excited, and to destroy the virus a -mixture of asafœtida, sulphur, salt, onions, mint, orange-pips, and the -excrement of pigeons, ducks, or goats, compounded with honey and taken -in wine, was recommended. The wisdom of Rhazes, of Avenzoar, and of -other great authorities was also drawn from.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>VII<br /> - -<span class="subhed">FROM THE ARABS TO THE EUROPEANS</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Mediciners, like the medicines which they employ, are often -useful, though the one were by birth and manners the vilest -of humanity, as the others are in many cases extracted from -the basest materials. Men may use the assistance of pagans and -infidels in their need, and there is reason to think that one -cause of their being permitted to remain on earth is that they -might minister to the convenience of true Christians.”—The -Archbishop of Tyre in Sir Walter Scott’s <i>Talisman</i>.</p></blockquote> - - -<p>It would require a very long chapter and would be outside the scope of -this work to attempt to trace in any detail the manner in which the -ancient wisdom and science of the Greek and Latin authors, which was -so marvellously preserved by the iconoclastic Arabs, was transferred, -when their passion for study and research began to fail, to European -nations. It has been alleged that the Crusades served to bring the -attainments of the Eastern Saracens to the knowledge of the West -through learning picked up by the physicians and others who accompanied -the Christian armies against the Mohammedans.</p> - -<p>But there is no evidence and not much probability that Europeans -acquired any Eastern science of value through the Crusades. Indirectly -medicine ultimately profited greatly by the commerce which these -marvellous wars opened up between the East and the West,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> and the -diseases which were spread as the consequence of the intimate -association of the unwholesome hordes from all the nations concerned, -resulted in the establishment of thousands of hospitals all over -Europe. The provision of homes for the sick was far more common among -the Mohammedans than among the Christians of that period. Activity of -thought was stimulated, and medical science must have shared in the -effects of spirit of inquiry. Some historians have supposed that the -infusion of astrological superstitions into the teaching and practice -of medicine was largely traceable to the communion with the East in -these Holy Wars: but this idea is not supported by anything that we -know of the Arab doctors. “I have not found the union of astrology -with medicine taught by any writer of that nation,” says Sprengel; and -his authority is very great. On the other hand the philosophers and -theologians of that age were only too eager to seize upon anything -mystic, and plenty of materials for their speculations were found in -the Greek and Latin manuscripts handed down to them. Superstitions -entered into the mental furniture of the age much more directly from -Rome and Alexandria than from Bagdad.</p> - -<p>That the Arabs of the East could have taught their Christian foes much -useful knowledge cannot be doubted. The letter from the Patriarch of -Jerusalem to Alfred the Great (see page 131), for example, is proof of -the pharmaceutical superiority of the Syrians over the Saxons at that -time.</p> - -<p>M. Berthelot has shown by abundant evidence in his “History of Alchemy” -that the Latin works dealing with chemistry of the thirteenth, -fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries which were very numerous in -Christendom, were almost exclusively drawn from Arabic sources.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> Such -chemical learning as the Arabs had collected from Greek writers, as -well as that which they had added from their own investigations, in -this way found its way back to the heirs of the original owners as they -may be called.</p> - -<p>We read likewise of Constantine the African, who, about the year 1050, -came to Salerno after a long residence in the East, and gave to the -medical school of that city the translations he had made from Arab -authors. But, notwithstanding these evidences of Eastern culture, it -is certain that the actual introduction of pharmacy into the Northern -European countries is much more largely due to the Spanish Mohammedans. -In the Middle Ages poor Arabs and Jews who had studied medicine in the -schools of Cordova and Seville tramped through France and Germany, -selling their remedies, and teaching many things to the monks and -priests who, in spite of repeated papal edicts forbidding them to sell -medicines, did in fact cultivate all branches of the art of healing, -including many superstitions. The edicts themselves are evidence that -they sold their services to those who could afford to pay for them.</p> - -<p>The Medical School of Salerno, already mentioned, was the principal -link between the later Greek physicians and the teaching institutions -which remain with us to this day, as, for instance, the universities -of Paris, Naples, Oxford, Padua, Vienna, and others of later fame. The -origin of the school of Salerno is unknown, but it was certainly in -existence in the ninth century. It was long supposed to have developed -from a monastic institution, but it is now generally believed to have -been always a secular school. Its historian, Mazza of Naples, 1681, -quotes an ancient chronicle which names Rabbi Elinus (a Jew), Pontus -(a Greek),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> Adala (a Saracen), and Salernus (a Roman) as its founders, -but there is no evidence of the epoch to which this refers. Although -other subjects were taught at Salerno, it became specially noted for -its medical school, and in the ninth century it had assumed the title -of Civitas Hippocratica. William of Normandy resorted to Salerno prior -to his conquest of England, and a dietetic treatise in verse exists -dedicated to his son Robert. It has been claimed that the works of -Hippocrates and Galen were studied at Salerno from its earliest days, -but so far as this was the case it was by the intermediary of Jewish -doctors, who themselves derived their knowledge from Arab sources, that -these were available. The original texts of the Greek and Latin authors -were not in the hands of European scholars till Aldus of Venice began -to reproduce them early in the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p>The pharmaceutical knowledge to which the famous school attained may -be judged by the reputation which attended the Antidotary of Nicolas -Prepositus, who was director of the school in the first half of the -twelfth century. In this Antidotary are found the absurd formulas -pretending to have been invented or used by the Apostle Paul and -others. “Sal Sacerdotale quo utebantur sacerdotales tempore Heliae -prophetae” is among these. In the course of the next century or -two medical students from England, Germany, Italy, and France went -to Cordova, Toledo, and Seville, and there wrote translations of -the medical works used in those schools. These translations by the -end of the thirteenth century were so universally accepted as to -eclipse Salerno, which from then began to decline in fame, Bologna, -Montpellier, Padua, and Leyden gradually partitioning among themselves -its old reputation. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> the medical school of Salerno actually existed -until 1811, when it was dissolved by a decree of Napoleon I.</p> - -<p>As evidence of the monopoly of Avicenna in the medical schools of -Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and doubtless for -a long period previously, the following from the preface to a Latin -translation of the works of Paulus Egineta is quoted by Leclerc:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Avicenna, who is regarded as the Prince and most excellent of -all physicians, is read and expounded in all the schools; and -the ninth book of Rhazes, physician to the Caliph Almansor, -is similarly read and commented on. These are believed to -teach the whole art of healing. A few later writers, such -as Betruchius, Gatinaria, Guaynerius, and Valescus, are -occasionally cited, and now and then Hippocrates, Galen, -and Dioscorides are quoted, but all the other Greek writers -are unknown. The Latin translations of a few of the books -of Galen and Hippocrates which are in use are very corrupt -and barbarous, and are only admitted at the pleasure of the -Arabian Princes, and this favour is but rarely conceded.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The most notable event in the history of pharmacy after the earlier -Crusades was an edict regulating the practice of both medicine and -pharmacy issued by Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of -Sicily. This monarch, probably the ablest ruler in the Middle Ages, who -died in 1250, had great esteem for Arab learning. Mohammedans and Jews -were encouraged to come to Naples during his reign, and he facilitated -by all means in his power the introduction of such innovations as had -been acquired from Cordova and Bagdad.</p> - -<p>The edict referred to mentions “apotheca,” meaning thereby only the -warehouses where prepared medicines were stored. Those who compounded -the medicines were termed “confectionarii,” the places or shops where -they were sold were called “stationes,” and the persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> who supplied -them, “stationarii.” It is not quite clear whether the confectionarii -and the stationarii were the same persons. Probably they were -sometimes, but not necessarily always. Apparently the stationarii -were generally the drug importers and dealers, and the confectionarii -were the compounders. Both had to be licensed by the Medical School -of Salerno; and among the duties imposed upon the physician, one -was to inform the authorities if he came to discover that any -“confectionarius” had falsified medicines. Longfellow alludes to this -provision in the “Golden Legend”—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>To report if any confectionarius</div> - <div>Mingles his drugs with matters various.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The physician was strictly forbidden to enter into any arrangement -with a druggist whereby he would derive any profit by the sale of -medicaments, and he was not permitted himself to conduct a pharmacy. -The “confectioners” were required to take an oath to prepare all -medicines according to the Antidotary of the Salernian School. Their -profits were limited and graduated, less being allowed on those of -frequent consumption than on those which they had to keep for more -than a year. Pharmacies were only allowed in the principal cities, -and in each such city two notable master-apothecaries were appointed -to supervise them. The “confectioners” had to make their syrups -and electuaries and other compounds in the presence of these two -inspectors, and if they were detected in any attempt at fraud their -property was subject to confiscation. If one of the inspectors was -found to have been a party to the fraud his punishment was death.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“It is well known,” says Beckmann in “Ancient Inventions,” -“that almost all political institutions on this side the Alps, -and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> particularly everything that concerned education, were -copied from Italian models. These were the only patterns then -to be found; and the monks despatched from the papal court -saw they could lay no better foundation for the Pontiff’s -power and their own aggrandizement than by inducing other -States to follow the examples set them in Italy. Medical -establishments were formed, therefore, everywhere at first -according to the plan of that at Salerno. Particular places -for vending medicines were more necessary in other countries -than in Italy. The physicians of that period used no other -drugs than those recommended by the ancients; and as these had -to be procured from the Levant, Greece, Arabia, and India, -it was necessary to send thither for them. Besides, herbs, -to be confided in, could only be gathered when the sun and -planets were in certain constellations, and certificates of -their being so were necessary to give them reputation. All -this was impossible without a distinct employment, and it -was found convenient to suffer dealers in drugs gradually to -acquire monopolies. The preparation of medicines was becoming -more difficult and expensive. The invention of distillation, -sublimation, and other chemical processes necessitated -laboratories, furnaces, and costly apparatus; so that it was -thought proper that those who devoted themselves to pharmacy -should be indemnified by an exclusive trade; and monopolists -could be kept under closer inspection so that the danger -of their selling improper drugs or poisons was lessened or -entirely removed. They were also allowed to deal in sweetmeats -and confectionery, which were then great luxuries; and in some -places they were required to give presents of these delicacies -to the magistrates on certain festivals.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>This extract shows how the German provision of protected pharmacy -originated. In many of the chief cities the apothecaries’ shops -were established by, and belonged to, the King or Queen, or the -municipality. Sometimes, as at Stuttgart, there was a contract between -the ruler and the apothecary, the former agreeing to provide a certain -quantity of wine, barley, and rye; while the apothecary in return was -to supply the Court with its necessary confectionery.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p120"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p120.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">The Reproduction of a Sixteenth Century Pharmacy in -the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Beckmann gives much minute information concerning the establishment of -apothecaries’ shops in the chief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> cities of Germany.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He mentions a -conjecture that there was a pharmacy at Augsburg in the thirteenth and -fourteenth centuries, but exact dates begin with the fifteenth century. -There was a female apothecary established at Augsburg in 1445, and the -city paid her a salary. At Stuttgart, in 1458, Count Ulric authorised -one Glatz to open a pharmacy. There was one existing at Frankfort -in 1472. The police regulations of Basle in 1440 mention the public -physician and his duty, adding that “what costly things people may wish -to have from the apothecary’s shop they must pay for.” The magistrates -of Berlin, in 1488, granted to one Hans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> Zebender a free house, a -certain provision of rye, no taxes, and the assurance that no other -apothecary should reside in the city. But the Elector Joachim granted a -new patent to another apothecary in 1499. At Halle there was only one -apothecary. In that year the Archbishop, with the confirmation of the -Chapter, granted to his physician, von Wyke, the privilege of opening -another, but gave at the same time the assurance that no more should be -permitted in the city “to eternity.”</p> - -<p>In France apothecaries were in business as such certainly before -1250. A charter of the church of Cahors, dated 1178, describes the -retail shopkeepers of the town as “apothecarii,” the term being used -evidently as “boutiquiers” is now, and signifying nothing more than -shopkeepers. The meaning, however, soon became restricted to dealers in -drugs and spices. In the middle of the next century John of Garlande -alludes to “appotecarii,” who sold confections and electuaries, roots -and herbs, ginger, pepper, cumin, and other spices, wax, sugar, and -licorice. Officially, however, these tradesmen were classed at that -time among the “espiciers.” The two guilds, indeed, continued in -formal association until 1777, but royal ordinances of 1484 and 1514 -clearly established the distinction between them. Even in 1271 the -Faculty of Medicine of Paris forbade “herborists and apothecaries” to -practise medicine. Special responsibilities, duties, and privileges -were expressly provided for the apothecaries, and in the ordinance of -1514 it is specifically declared that though the apothecary is always a -grocer, the grocer is not necessarily an apothecary. (“Qui est espicier -n’est pas apothicaire, et qui est apothicaire est espicier.”)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the fourteenth century the apothecaries of Paris were required to -subscribe to a formal oath before they were permitted to practise. -They swore to live and die in the Christian faith, to speak no evil of -their teachers or masters, to do all in their power for the honour, -glory, ornament, and majesty of medicine, to give no remedy or purge -without the authority of a physician, to supply no drugs to procure -abortion, to prepare exactly physicians’ prescriptions, neither -adding, subtracting, nor substituting anything without the express -permission of the physician, to avoid the practices of charlatans as -they would the plague, and to keep no bad or old drug in their stocks. -An ordinance of 1359 provides that no one shall be granted the title of -master-apothecary unless he can show that he can read recipes.</p> - -<p>The edict of 1484, issued during the minority of Charles VIII, sets -forth that, “We, of our certain science, especial grace, full power, -and royal authority, do say, declare, statuate, and ordain” the -curriculum to be observed by those who desire to learn the trade -of an apothecary. A four years’ apprenticeship was essential, and -the aspirant had to dispense prescriptions, recognise drugs, and -prepare “chefs d’œuvres” in wax and confectionery in the presence of -appointed master-apothecaries. Latin was added to the examination in -1536, and ten years’ experience after the apprenticeship was also -insisted upon ultimately before the candidate could be admitted as -a master-apothecary. One of the ordinances of the sixteenth century -gave to the apothecaries the monopoly in the manufacture and sale of -gingerbread.</p> - -<p>These edicts all related particularly to the apothecaries of Paris. -There were similar ones in the provinces, with some peculiarities. At -Dijon, for example, it was provided that no apothecary could receive a -legacy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> from one of his clients. <i>En revanche</i> he had the first claim -on the estate of a deceased debtor for the payment of his account.</p> - -<p>In 1629 the Hotel de Ville of Paris granted to the apothecaries of -that city a banner and blazon, the latter, which I do not venture to -translate, being thus described:—“Couppé d’azur et d’or, et sur l’or -deux nefs de gueulle flottantes aux bannieres de France, accompagnés -de deux estoiles a cinq poincts de gueulle avec la devise 'Lances et -pondera servant,’ et telles qu’elles sont cy-dessous empreinctes.”</p> - -<p>In 1682, under Louis XV, after the Brinvilliers panic, the poison -register was introduced, and regulations were framed forbidding -apothecaries to sell any arsenic, sublimate, or drug reputed to be a -poison except to persons known to them, and who signed the register -stating what use they intended to make of their purchase. Earlier in -the same reign the practice of pharmacy was strictly forbidden to -persons professing the reformed religion.</p> - -<p>The last of the royal edicts applying to pharmacy was issued in 1777 -by Louis XVI, and, as already stated, this was the authority which -finally separated the apothecaries from the grocers. Then came the -Revolution, and in 1791 all restrictions on trades or professions, -including pharmacy, were abolished. Some accidents having occurred, the -Assembly passed an ordinance on April 14, 1791, declaring that the old -laws, statutes, and regulations governing the teaching and practice of -pharmacy should remain in force until a new code should be framed. This -did not appear until April, 1803, under Napoleon’s Consulate, and the -law, which is still in force, is to this day cited in legal proceedings -as the law of Germinal, year XI.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>VIII<br /> - -<span class="subhed">PHARMACY IN GREAT BRITAIN.</span></h2> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>For none but a clever dialectician</div> - <div>Can hope to become a great physician:</div> - <div>That has been settled long ago.</div> - <div>Logic makes an important part</div> - <div>Of the mystery of the healing art;</div> - <div>For without it how could you hope to show</div> - <div>That nobody knows so much as you know.</div> - <div class="i4">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>: “Golden Legend.”</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<h4 class="smcap">British Pharmacy in Saxon England.</h4> - -<p>The condition of medicine and pharmacy in Saxon times has been -carefully portrayed in three volumes published, in 1864, under the -authority of the Master of the Rolls at the expense of the Treasury. -These were edited by the Rev. Oswald Cockayne, M.A., and appeared -under the title of “Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft.” Many old -documents were translated and explained, and from these the ideas of -medicine in these islands a thousand years ago were made manifest.</p> - -<p>Mr. Cockayne gave at length a Saxon Herbarium, written, he supposed, -about the year 1000, and professing to be a translation from -Apuleius, a Roman physician of the second century, with additions -from Dioscorides, and some from native science. A few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> specimens will -suffice to show the character of the herb treatment in England before -the Conquest.</p> - - -<h4><span class="smcap">Cress</span>, <span class="smcap">Watercress</span> (Nasturtium officinale).</h4> - -<p>1. This wort is not sown, but it is produced of itself in wylls -(springs), and in brooks, also it is written that in some lands it will -grow against walls.</p> - -<p>2. In the case that a man’s hair fall off take juice of the wort which -one nameth nasturtium, and by another name cress; put it on the nose; -the hair shall wax (grow).</p> - -<p>3. For sore of head, that is for scurf and for itch, take seed of this -same wort and goose grease. Pound together. It draws from the head the -whiteness of the scurf.</p> - -<p>4. For soreness of the body (the Latin word is ad cruditatem, -indigestion) take this same wort nasturtium, and pennyroyal; seethe -them in water, give to drink; then amendest thou the soreness of the -body, and the evil departs.</p> - -<p>5. Against swellings, take this same wort, and pound it with oil; lay -over the swellings; then take leaves of the same wort, and lay them -thereto.</p> - -<p>6. Against warts, take this same wort and yeast, pound together, lay -thereto, they be soon taken away.</p> - - -<h3><span class="smcap">Maythe</span> (Anthemis nobilis).</h3> - -<p>For sore of eyes, let a man take ere the upgoing of the sun, the wort -which is called Chamaimelon, and by another name Maythe, and when a man -taketh it let him say that he will take it against white specks, and -against soreness of the eyes; let him next take the ooze, and smear the -eyes therewith.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - - -<h3><span class="smcap">Poppy</span> (Papaver somniferum).</h3> - -<p>1. For sore of eyes, that is what we denominate blearedness, take the -ooze of this wort, which the Greeks name Makona and the Romans Papaver -album, and the Engles call white poppy, or the stalk with the fruit; -lay it to the eyes.</p> - -<p>2. For sore of temples or of the head, take ooze of this same wort, -pound with vinegar, and lay upon the sore; it alleviates the sore.</p> - -<p>3. For sleeplessness, take ooze of this same wort, smear the man with -it, and soon thou sendest the sleep on him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Many of the herbs named in the Herbarium were employed for other -purposes than those for which they were used in later practice. Comfrey -is recommended for one “bursten within.” It was to be roasted in hot -ashes and mixed with honey; then to be taken fasting. But nothing is -said of its bone-setting property. Mullein, subsequently famous as -a pectoral medicine, is recommended in the Herbarium as an external -application in gout, and to carry about to prevent the attacks of wild -beasts. Dill is prescribed as a remedy against local itching; fennel in -cough and sore bladder; and madder for broken legs, which it would cure -in three days.</p> - -<p>To prevent sea-sickness the traveller had to smear himself with a -mixture of pennyroyal and wormwood in oil and vinegar. Peony laid over -a lunatic would soon cause him to upheave himself whole; and vervain or -verbena if carried on the person would ensure a man from being barked -at by dogs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">A Professed Translation.</h4> - -<p>The next document presented is the Medicina de Quadrupedibus of Sextus -Placitus, an unknown personage, who adds to the interest of his -narrative by pretending that “a king of the Egyptians, Idpartus he was -highten,” sent this treatise to the Emperor Octavius Cæsar, “for,” he -said, “I wist thee worthy of this.” Probably this manuscript was not -a translation at all; if it was, the pretended authors were almost -certainly fictitious. Most of the instructions here given relate to the -medicinal uses of animals. The idea that foxes’ lungs will strengthen -ours is hardly dead yet. Here it is in this old Saxon document:—</p> - -<p>“For oppressive hard drawn breathing, a fox’s lung sodden and put into -sweetened wine, and administered, is wonderfully healthy.”</p> - -<p>The fox had many other uses. Foxes’ grease would heal many kinds -of sores. His sinews soaked in honey would cure a sore throat; his -“naturam” wrapped round the head would banish headache; his “coillon” -rubbed on warts would break them up and remove them; and dimness of -sight could be relieved by his gall mingled with honey. The worst -recipe is:</p> - -<p>For disease of joints. Take a living fox and seethe him till the bones -alone are left. Let the man go down therein frequently, and into -another bath. Let him do so very oft. Wonderfully it healeth.</p> - -<p>There are scores of cures from parts of animals, some of them very -disgusting. A few more specimens of decent ones must suffice.</p> - -<p>For oversleeping, a hare’s brain in wine is given for a drink. -Wonderfully it amendeth.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> - -<p>To get sleep a goat’s horn laid under the head turneth waking into -sleep.</p> - -<p>For sleep lay a wolf’s head under the pillow; the unhealthy shall sleep.</p> - -<p>Let those who suffer apparitions eat lion’s flesh; they will not after -that suffer any apparition.</p> - -<p>For any fracture, take a hound’s brain laid upon wool and bind upon the -broken place for fourteen days; then will it be firmly amended, and -there shall be a need for a firmer binding up.</p> - -<p>If thou frequently smearest and touchest children’s gums with bitches’ -milk, the teeth wax without sore.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Various Leechdoms.</h4> - -<p>Some “Fly-Leaf Leechdoms” of unknown authorship follow. In these -information concerning the four humours is given, hot and cold, moist -and dry remedies are distinguished, and we are told of the forty-five -dies caniculares “in which no leech can properly give aid to any -sick man.” It is carefully noted that the same disorder may occur -from different causes, and quite scientifically the practitioner is -advised to vary his treatment accordingly. Thus, for example, dealing -with “host” (cough) we are told that “it hath a manifold access, as -the spittles are various. Whilom it cometh of immoderate heat, whilom -of immoderate cold, whilom of immoderate dryness.” The remedies must -depend on the causes of the complaint. The “tokens” of “a diseased -maw” of “a half head’s ache” (megrims) and of other distempers are set -forth with graphic simplicity, and often sensible advice as to diet -and medicine is given. But not infrequently the remedy may not be an -easily procurable one. For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> instance “If one drink a creeping thing in -water, let him cut open a sheep instantly and drink the sheep’s blood -hot”; and “if a man will eat rind which cometh out of Paradise no venom -will damage him.” The writer considerately adds that such rind is “hard -gotten.”</p> - -<p>The following is apparently adapted from Alexander of Tralles, or some -other of the later classical authors.</p> - -<p>“Against gout and against the wristdrop; take the wort hermodactylus, -by another name titulosa, that is in our own language the great crow -leek; take this leek’s heads and dry them thoroughly, and take thereof -by weight of two and a half pennies, and pyrethrum and Roman rinds, and -cummin, and a fourth part of laurel berries, and of the other worts, -of by weight of a halfpenny, and six pepper corns, unweighed, and -grind all to dust, and add wine two egg-shells full; this is a true -leechcraft. Give it to the man to drink till that he be hole.”</p> - -<p>A few other recipes in the Leechbooks may be quoted:—</p> - -<p>For headache take a vessel full of leaves of green rue, and a spoonful -of mustard seed, rub together, add the white of an egg, a spoonful, -that the salve may be thick. Smear with a feather on the side which is -not sore.</p> - -<p>For ache of half the head (megrim) take the red nettle of one stalk, -bruise it, mingle with vinegar and the white of an egg, put all -together, anoint therewith.</p> - -<p>For mistiness of the eyes take juice of fennel and of rose and of rue, -and of dumbledores’ honey; (the dumbledore is apis bombinatrix); and -kid’s gall,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> mixed together. Smear the eyes with this. Again, take live -periwinkles burnt to ashes; and let him mix the ashes with dumbledores’ -honey.</p> - -<p>For sore and ache of ears take juice of henbane, make it lukewarm, and -then drip it on the ear; then the sore stilleth. Or, take garlic and -onion and goose fat, melt them together, squeeze them on the ear. Or, -take emmets’ eggs, crush them, squeeze them on the ear.</p> - -<p>For the upper tooth ache:—Take leaves of withewind (convolvulus), -wring them on the nose. For the nether tooth ache, slit with the -tenaculum till they bleed.</p> - -<p>For coughs, mugwort, marrubium, yarrow, red nettle, and other herbs are -recommended generally boiled in ale, sometimes in milk.</p> - -<p>Pock disease (small-pox) is dealt with, but not very seriously. It -is of interest because the classical writers do not mention it. The -Arab Rhazes wrote a treatise on it about <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 923. A few herb -drinks are prescribed in the Leechbooks, and to prevent the pitting -“one must delve away each pock with a thorn, then drip wine or alder -drink within them, then they will not be seen.”</p> - -<p>Against lice:—One pennyweight of quicksilver and two of old butter.</p> - -<p>Against itch:—Take ship tar, and ivy tar, and oil, rub together, add a -third part of salt; smear with that.</p> - -<p>In case a man should overdrink himself, let him drink betony in water -before his other drink.</p> - -<p>For mickle travelling over land, lest he tire, let him take mugwort to -him in hand or put it in his shoe, lest he should weary, and when he -will pluck it, before the upgoing of the sun, let him say these words, -“I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> take thee, artemisia, lest I be weary on the way.” Sign it -with the sign of the cross when thou pullest it up.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Helias to Alfred.</h4> - -<p>In one of the Leechbooks translated by Mr. Cockayne is found a letter -on medicines from Helias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to King Alfred the -Great. Mr. Cockayne believes it to be authentic. There was a patriarch -of that name at Jerusalem contemporary with Alfred, and the medicines -he recommends are such as were obtainable in the Syrian drug shops -at that date. It is to be presumed that the information was given in -reply to a request for some recipes from the king. Helias recommends -scammony, ammoniacum, gum dragon, aloes, galbanum, balsam, petroleum, -triacle, and alabaster. Of petroleum he writes:—</p> - -<p>“It is good to drink simple for inward tenderness, and to smear on -outwardly on a winter’s day, since it hath very much heat; hence one -shall drink it in winter; and it is good if for anyone his speech -faileth, then let him take it; and make the mark of Christ under his -tongue, and swallow a little of it. Also if a man become out of his -wits, then let him take part of it, and make Christ’s mark on every -limb, except the cross on the forehead, that shall be of balsam, and -the other on the top of his head.”</p> - -<p>The patriarch had strong faith in Theriaca, and the directions he gives -for its administration are minute, and would be explicit if he had only -explained how much he meant by “a little bit.”</p> - -<p>“Theriaca,” he says, “is a good drink for all inward tenderness, and -the man who so behaves himself as is here said, he may much help -himself. On the day on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> which he will drink Triacle he shall fast until -midday, and not let wind blow on him that day; then let him go to the -bath, let him sit there till he sweat; then let him take a cup, put a -little warm water in it, then let him take a little bit of the triacle, -and mingle with the water, and drain through some thin raiment, then -drink it, and let him then go to his bed and wrap himself up warm, and -so lie till he sweat well; then let him arise and sit up and clothe -himself, and then take his meat at noon (three hours after midday), and -protect himself earnestly against the wind that day; then I believe to -God it will help the man much.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Early English Medical Practice.</h4> - -<p>In the thirteenth century Roger Bacon, the great man of science, wrote -on medicine, alchemy, magic, and astrology, as well as most other -sciences. He believed that a universal remedy was attainable, and urged -Pope Clement IV to give his powerful aid to its discovery. Nothing -particular remains of his medical studies.</p> - -<p>Gilbert Anglicanus, who was a contemporary of Bacon, and wrote a -Compendium of Medicine, a tedious collection of the most fantastic -theories of disease, was more advanced in pharmacy than in the -treatment of disease. He describes at considerable length the manner of -extinguishing mercury to make an ointment, recommending particularly -the addition of some mustard seed to facilitate the process. He gives -particulars of the preparation of the oil of tartar per deliquium, and -proposes a solution of acetate of ammonia in anticipation of Mindererus -four hundred years later. Gilbert’s formula is thus expressed:—</p> - -<p>“Conteratur sal armoniacum minutim, et superin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>fundatur frequenter et -paullatim acetum, et cooperiatur et moveatur, ut evanescet sal.”</p> - -<p>Ant’s eggs, oil of scorpions, and lion’s flesh is his prescription for -apoplexy, but he does not explain how the last ingredient was to be -obtained in England. Several of his formulas are quoted in the first -London Pharmacopœia. For the expulsion of calculi he prescribes the -blood of a young goat which has been fed on diuretic herbs such as -persil and saxifrage.</p> - -<p>Chaucer, whose writings belong to the latter half of the fourteenth -century, has left on record a graphic picture of the “Doctour of -Phisike” of his day, and the old poet is as gently sarcastic about his -pilgrim’s “science” as a writer of five hundred years later might have -been. “He was grounded in astronomy,” we are told, and—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Well could he fortune the ascendant</div> - <div>Of his images for his patient</div> - <div>He knew the cause of every malady</div> - <div>Were it of cold, or hot, or moist, or dry,</div> - <div>And where engendered and of what humour.</div> - <div>He was a very perfect practisour.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>His library was a wonderful one considering the rarity of books at that -time.</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Well knew he the olde Esculapius</div> - <div>And Dioscorides, and eek Rufus</div> - <div>Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien,</div> - <div>Serapyon, Razis, and Avicen,</div> - <div>Averrois, Damascien, and Constantyn,</div> - <div>Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The doctor was careful about his food, “his study was but little on the -Bible,” he dressed well, but was inclined to save in his expenses.</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>He kept that he won in the pestilence.</div> - <div>For gold in phisike is a cordialle</div> - <div>There fore he loved gold in special.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> - -<p>The original of Chaucer’s “Doctour of Phisike” has been sometimes -supposed to have been the well-known John of Gaddesden, physician -to Edward II, Professor of Medicine at Merton College, Oxford, a -Prebendary of the Church, and the author of “Rosa Anglicana.” This -work, although full of absurdities and crude ideas of medicine -and pharmacy, became the popular medical treatise in England, was -translated into several European languages, and reprinted many times -in this country during the two hundred years which followed its first -appearance. The author named it the Rose, he says, because, as the -rose has five sepals, his book is divided into five parts; and as the -rose excels all other flowers, so his book is superior to all other -treatises on medicine. It was probably published between 1310 and 1320.</p> - -<p>John of Gaddesden’s work well illustrates the pharmacy of the period, -for he was great on drugs. He taught that aqua vitæ (brandy) was a -polychrest, or complete remedy; that swines’ excrement was a sovereign -cure for hæmorrhage; that a sponge steeped in a mixture of vinegar, -roses, wormwood, and rain-water, and laid on the stomach, would check -vomiting and purging; that toothache and other pains might be cured by -saying a Paternoster and an Ave for the souls of the father and mother -of St. Phillip; a boar’s bladder, taken when full of urine and dried -in an oven, is recommended as a cure for epilepsy; a wine of fennel -and parsley for blindness; and a mixture of whatever herbs came into -his mind—for example, “apium, petroselinum, endive, scolopendron, -chicory, liver-wort, scariola, lettuce, maidenhair, plantain, ivory -shavings, sandal wood, violets, and vinegar”—is ordered as a digestive -drink. Add to such senseless recipes as these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> a number of equally -unintelligent charms, and a fair idea of the condition of medical -science in England in the fourteenth century is obtained. It does not -compare at all favourably with the condition to which the Arabs in -Spain had elevated the art two and three hundred years before.</p> - -<p>Bernard of Gordon, who wrote from Montpellier, but is believed to have -been a Scotchman, was the author of the “Lilium Medicinæ,” published -about 1307 or 1309. The work was known to John of Gaddesden, for he -quotes from it. Perhaps he had it in his mind when he observed that -the rose excels all other flowers. Mainly it was a compilation from -Arabic writers with the addition of many scholastic subtleties and -astrological reveries. It is noticeable in this author and in John of -Gaddesden how careful both are to distinguish between the treatment of -the rich and the poor. The latter, for example, states that dropsy can -be cured by spikenard, but he advises practitioners never to give this -costly medicine without first receiving pay for it. Gordon recommends -for a poor person’s cough that he should be ordered to hold his breath -frequently during the day for as long as possible, and if that does not -cure he is to breathe fire.</p> - -<p>John Mirfield also wrote his “Breviarium Bartholomei” in the latter -part of the fourteenth century. Dr. Norman Moore in his “History of -the Study of Medicine” has freely quoted from this old work, and gives -several facsimile pages from some of the earliest manuscript copies of -it. Dr. Moore regards the Breviarium with special interest as it is -the first book on medicine in any way connected with his hospital, the -oldest in London. Mirfield, relating some of the cures performed by -his master, mentions that a woman came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> to him having lost her speech. -The master rubbed her palate with some “theodoricon emperisticon” -and with a little “diacostorium.” She soon recovered. An apothecary -brought a youth to the hospital with a carbuncle on his face, and his -throat and neck swollen beyond belief. The master said the youth must -go home to die. “Is there then no remedy?” asked the apothecary. The -physician replied, “I believe most truly that if thou wert to give -tyriacum in a large dose, there would be a chance that he might live.” -The apothecary gave two doses of ʒij. each, which caused a -profuse perspiration, and in due course the youth recovered. He advises -smelling and swallowing musk, aloes wood, storax, calamita, and amber -to prevent infection in cold weather, and in warm weather sandal wood, -roses, camphor, acetositas citri, sour milk, and vinegar, taking syrup -of vinegar in the morning and syrup of violets at midday. For gout he -prescribes an ointment the principal constituent of which is goose -grease. The preparation of this remedy is explained metrically. The -verses begin thus:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Anser sumatur, Veteranus qui videatur,</div> - <div>Post deplumetur, Intralibus evacuetur.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Rheumatism was to be treated with olive oil, and the pharmacist is -directed to warm it while he repeats the Psalm “Quare fremerunt gentes” -as far as “Postula a me et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam,” then the -Gloria and two prayers. This recitation was to be repeated seven times. -There were no clocks available at that time, and this therefore was the -method of prescribing the length of an operation. Dr. Moore says he -finds this direction would cover about a quarter of an hour.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> - -<p>Medical treatises in verse were frequent and popular in England in the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There are several in the British -Museum. A curious specimen is preserved in the Royal Library at -Stockholm, and it is reproduced in readable English in “Archeologia,” -Vol. XXX, with notes by the translator, Mr. George Stephens, and by Dr. -Pettigrew. They both believe it was written in the fourteenth century. -It consists of 1485 lines. Of these it will suffice to give the first -four, and one specimen of its sections. It begins thus:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>In foure parties of amā</div> - <div>Be gynneth ye sekenesse yt yie han</div> - <div>In heed, in wombe, or i ye splene</div> - <div>Or i bleddyr, yese iiij I mene.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The following is entitled in the margin “Hed werk.”</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Amedicyn I hawe i Myde</div> - <div>For hedwerk to telle as I fynde</div> - <div>To taken eysyl pulyole ryale</div> - <div>And camamyle to sethe wt all;</div> - <div>And wt ye jous anoyte yi nosthryll well</div> - <div>A make aplaister of ye toyerdel;</div> - <div>And do it in a good grete clowte</div> - <div>And wynde yi heed yer wt abowte;</div> - <div>As soon as it be leyde yeron</div> - <div>All yi hedwerk xal away gon.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Two other specimens of these early poetical recipes from other authors -may be quoted:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>ffor defhed of ye hed.</div> - <div class="i3">For defhed of hed & for dullerynge</div> - <div class="i3">I fynde wrete dyuers thynge</div> - <div class="i3">Take oporcyon (a portion) of boiys vryne</div> - <div class="i3">And mege it wt honey good & fyne</div> - <div class="i3">And i ye ere late it caste</div> - <div class="i3">Ye herynge schal amede in haste.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>ffor to slepe well</div> - <div class="i3">Qwo so may not slepe wel</div> - <div class="i3">Take egrimonye afayre del</div> - <div class="i3">And ley it vnder his heed on nyth</div> - <div class="i3">And it schall hym do slepe aryth</div> - <div class="i3">For of his slepe schal he not wakyn</div> - <div class="i3">Tyll it be fro vnder his heed takyn.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Early English Drug Trade.</h4> - -<p>The development of pharmacy as a separate organisation was later in -England than on the Continent, and was very gradual. In the Norman -period the retail trade in drugs and spices and most other commodities -was in the hands of the mercers. These were, in fact, general -shopkeepers, deriving their designation from merx, merchandise. They -attended fairs and markets, and in the few large towns had permanent -booths. Under the Plantagenets a part of the south side of “Chepe” -roughly extending from where is now Bow Church to Friday Street was -occupied by their stores, and was known as the Mercery. Behind these -booths were the meadows of Crownsild, sloping down to what it may be -hoped was then the silvery Thames. Probably sheep and cattle fed on the -pastures which Cannon Street and Upper Thames Street have since usurped.</p> - -<p>But English traders were beginning to feel their feet, and other guilds -were pushing forward. The Easterlings (East Germans from the Baltic -coasts and the Hanse towns) brought goods from the East and placed -them on the English market, and the Pepperers and Spicers distributed -them to the public. The Easterlings, it may be mentioned, have left us -the word sterling to commemorate their sojourn among us. The Mercers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -meanwhile were getting above the shop. They were becoming merchant -adventurers, and had no desire to contest the trade in small things -with the Pepperers of Sopers’ Lane, or the Spicers of Chepe. Their -other small wares fell into the hands of the Haberdashers.</p> - -<p>There is evidence of a guild of Pepperers in London as early as 1180. -As a company they appear to have been ruined by the demands of Edward -III for subsidies for his French and Scottish campaigns. From their -ashes, including those of the Spicerers, arose the Grocers, the sellers -“en gros.” They are heard of in the fourteenth century, and were -apparently incorporated by letters patent from Edward III in 1345, -but their first known charter was granted by Henry VI in 1429, while -in 1453 that King conferred on them the charge of the King’s beam, by -which all imported merchandise was weighed, a charge of 1d. per 20 lbs. -being authorised for the service. In 1457 they were given the exclusive -power of garbling (cleansing and separating) drugs, spices, and other -imported merchandise, and they also had the duty of examining the drugs -and medicinal wares sold by the apothecaries. The law requiring certain -drugs to be officially “garbled” before they could be sold was repealed -by an Act passed in the sixth year of Queen Anne’s reign.</p> - -<p>The earliest record of the exercise of their authority over -apothecaries is found in 1456, when the minutes of the Company show -that they imposed a fine on John Ashfield “for making untrue powder of -ginger, cinnamon, and saunders.” Other similar items appear from time -to time. In 1612 Mr. Lownes, apothecary to Prince Charles, complained -to the Company that Michael Easen, a grocer-apothecary, “had supplied -him with divers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> defective apothecaries’ wares,” and the offender was -committed to the Poultry Comptoir.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Bucklersbury.</h4> - -<p>Bucklersbury was the centre and headquarters of the London drug trade, -at least from the Tudor to the Hanoverian periods. Shakespeare in “The -Merry Wives of Windsor” makes Falstaff refer to “the lisping hawthorn -buds that come like women in men’s apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury -in sample time.” Stow (1598) says of this thoroughfare that “This -whole street on both sides throughout is possessed of grocers and -apothecaries.” Ben Jonson calls it “Apothecarie Street.” This dramatist -in “Westward Ho!” makes Mrs. Tenderhook say “Go into Bucklersbury and -fetch me two ounces of preserved melons; look there be no tobacco taken -in the shop when he weighs it.” Later in a self-asserting poem to his -bookseller, Ben Jonson says of one of his books, objecting to vulgar -advertising methods,</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>If without these vile arts it will not sell,</div> - <div>Send it to Bucklersbury, there ’twill well.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In Charles II’s reign Mouffet speaks of Bucklersbury being replete with -physic, drugs, and spicery, and says it was so perfumed at the time of -the plague with the pounding of spices, melting of gums, and making of -perfumes, that it escaped that great plague. A quotation from Pennant -in Cassell’s “Old and New London” shows that in the reign of William -III Bucklersbury was the resort of ladies of fashion to purchase teas, -furs, and other Indian goods; and the king is said to have been angry -with the queen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> for visiting these shops, which appear from some lines -of Prior to have been sometimes perverted to places of intrigue.</p> - -<p>The street acquired its name from a family called the Bokerells or -Buckerells, who lived there in the thirteenth century. Stow gives a -different account. He states that there was a tower in the street named -Carnet’s Tower, and that a grocery named Buckle who had acquired it -was assisting in pulling it down, intending to erect a goodly frame of -timber in its place, when a part fell on him, which so sore bruised him -that it shortened his life.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">A Chemist’s Advertisement in the Seventeenth Century.</h4> - -<p>A London chemist’s advertisement (about 1680–1690) runs thus:—</p> - -<p>“Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz, chemist in London, Southampton Street, -Covent Garden, continues faithfully to prepare all sorts of remedies, -chemical and galenical. He hopes that his friends will continue their -favours. Good cordials can be procured at his establishment, as well as -Royal English drops, and other articles such as Powders of Kent, Zell, -and Contrajerva, Cordial red powder, Gaskoins powder, with and without -bezoar, English smelling salts, true Glauber’s salt, Epsom salt, and -volatile salt of ammonia, stronger than the former. Human skull and -hartshorn, essence of Ambergris, volatile essence of lavender, musk -and citron, essence of viper, essence for the hair, vulnerary balsam, -commendeur, balsam for apoplexy, red spirit of purgative cochliaria, -spirit of white cochliaria, and others. Honey water, lavender water of -two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> kinds, Queen of Hungary water, orange flower water, arquebusade.</p> - -<p>“For the information of the curious, he is the only one in London -who makes inflammable phosphorus, which can be preserved in water. -Phosphorus of Bolognian stone, flowers of phosphorus, black phosphorus, -and that made with acid oil, and other varieties. All unadulterated. -Every description of good drugs he sells, wholesale and retail.</p> - -<p>“Solid phosphorus, wholesale, 50s. an ounce, and retail, £3 sterling, -the ounce.”</p> - - -<h3><span class="smcap">The English Apothecaries.</span></h3> - -<p>Although the Grocers were the recognised drug dealers of this country, -apothecaries who were associated in their Guild were also recognised. -Some authorities name Richard Fitznigel as apothecary to Henry II -before he was made Bishop of London. But this evidence cannot be -trusted. The first definite allusion to an apothecary in England occurs -in 1345, when Edward III granted a pension of sixpence a day for life -to Coursus de Gangeland, an apothecary of London, in recognition of -his services in attending on the king during his illness in Scotland. -The record of this grant is found in Rymer’s “Foedera,” which was not -published until 1704, but Rymer was historiographer royal, appointed -by William III, and his work was a compilation from official archives. -An earlier mention of an apothecary is found in the Scottish Exchequer -Rolls wherein it appears that on the death of Robert the Bruce, in -1329, payments were made to John the Apothecary, presumably for -materials for embalming the king’s body. Dr. J. Mason Good, who wrote -a “History of Medicine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> so far as it relates to the Profession of the -Apothecary,” in 1795, mentions, on the authority of Regner, that J. -de Falcand de Luca publicly vended medicines in London in 1357, while -Freind (“History of Medicine,” 1725) states that Pierre de Montpellier -was appointed Apothecary to Edward III in 1360.</p> - -<p>It is clear, therefore, that the apothecary was a familiar professional -personage in England five hundred years ago. Conclusive evidence of his -practice is given by Chaucer, who, in the Prologue to the “Canterbury -Tales” (written in the last quarter of the fourteenth century), -describing a “Doctour of Phisike” says—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Ful reddy hadde he his apothecaries</div> - <div>To send him dragges and his lettuaries</div> - <div>For eche of hem made other for to Winne.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The satirical suggestion of the mutual obligations of physicians and -apothecaries has been familiar for all these centuries.</p> - -<p>It seems certain that in Henry VIII’s reign the apothecaries were -doing a considerable amount of medical practice, besides selling -drugs. The Act of 1511 incorporating the College of Physicians and -giving them the exclusive right to practise physic in London and -for seven miles round, was largely used, if not intended, against -apothecaries. In 1542, however, an Act was passed which rather modified -the severe restrictions of the original statute, and under the new law -apothecaries became more aggressive. In Mary’s reign the Physicians -again got the legislative advantage, and there is a record in the -archives of the College of Physicians (preserved by Dr. Goodall, who -wrote “A History of the Proceedings of the College against Empiricks,” -in 1684) stating that in Queen Elizabeth’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> reign the President and -Censors of the College summoned the Wardens of the Grocers’ Company -and all the apothecaries of London and the suburbs to appear before -them, “and enjoyned them that when they made a dispensation of medicine -they should expose their several ingredients (of which they were -composed) to open view in their shops for six or eight days that so the -physicians passing by might judge of the goodness of them, and prevent -their buying or selling any corrupt or decayed medicines.” The grocers -and apothecaries do not appear to have raised any objection to this -decree. Whether they obeyed it or not is not stated.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Incorporation of the Apothecaries.</h4> - -<p>The first Charter of Incorporation was granted to the apothecaries by -James I in 1606, but this did not separate them from their old foes, -the grocers. They continued their efforts, however, and with the aid of -friends at Court they obtained a new Charter in 1617, which gave them -an entirely independent existence as a City Guild under the title of -the Society of the Apothecaries. This is the only London guild which -has from its incorporation to the present time admitted only actual -apothecaries to its fraternity.</p> - -<p>Another peculiarity claimed by one of the Company’s historians (Dr. J. -Corfe: “The Apothecary”) is that the Guild of Apothecaries is the only -City Company which is called a Society. He believes that this may be -attributed to the supposed fact that the corporation was modelled on a -similar association founded at Naples in 1540 under the name of Societa -Scientifica.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p145"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p145.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Sir Theodore Mayerne.</p> -<blockquote> - -<p>The original painting by Rubens, of which the above is a copy, -was in the collection of Dr. Mead, and was sold in 1754 for -£115. It passed into the possession of the Earl of Bessborough -and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and then through the hands of -some dealers, and in 1848 was bought by the Royal College of -Physicians for £33 12<i>s.</i></p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Sir Theodore de Mayerne, the King’s first physician, and Gideon de -Laune, pharmacien or apothecary to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> Queen, Anne of Denmark, were -the supporters of the apothecaries in rescuing them from the control -of the grocers. Both of these men deserve honourable mention in the -chronicles of British pharmacy. It happens that both were of foreign -origin and of the Protestant faith, two of that eminent crowd of -immigrants of high<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> principle and distinguished ability who served -England so well in the seventeenth century when they found themselves -“not wanted” in France.</p> - -<p>Mayerne was a Swiss by birth, but a Frenchman by education and -adoption, and had been physician to Henri IV. But he incurred the -bitter animosity of the Paris Faculty, led by the fanatic Gui Patin, -partly on account of his religious heresy, and partly because he -prescribed chemical medicines. By a unanimous vote the Paris College -of Physicians resolved in 1603 that he must not be met by any of -its members in consultation. He continued, however, to practise in -Paris until an English peer whom he had treated took him to London -and introduced him to James I, who made him physician to the Queen. -Mayerne, however, soon returned to Paris, but in 1611 he settled in -London on the invitation of the King, who made him his first physician. -He had a great deal to do with the compilation of the first London -Pharmacopœia, and is reputed to have introduced calomel and black wash -into medical practice. Subsequently he was appointed physician to -Charles I and Queen Henriette, but after the execution of the King he -retired into private life, and though nominally physician to Charles II -he never practised at that Court. He died at Chelsea in 1665.</p> - -<p>Gideon de Laune was also a man of considerable influence. Dr. Corfe -regards him as almost the founder of the Society of Apothecaries, but -Mr. Barrett, who recently wrote a history of that Society, suggests -that he could not have been so much thought of by his contemporaries, -as he was only elected to the Mastership some years after the Charter -had been granted, and then only after a contest. At any rate the -apothecaries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> must have largely owed the Charter to his influence. He -lived in Blackfriars and called himself a “Pharmacopœius,” but we also -read of him as an importer of drugs, and it is probable that he traded -as a merchant. That he was a man of position is evident from the fact -that on one occasion he fetched the Queen, Anne of Denmark, from Norway.</p> - -<p>Gideon de Laune was born at Rheims in 1565, and was brought to England -as a boy by his father, who was a Protestant pastor. A Nonconformist -writer of the same surname who got into trouble in the reigns of -Charles II and James II, and was befriended by De Foe, referring to -Gideon as a relative, says of him that when he died at the age of 97 -he had near as many thousands of pounds as he had years; that he had -thirty-seven children by one wife; and that his funeral was attended -by sixty grandchildren. It has been ascertained, however, that his -children only numbered seventeen, and that he died at the age of 94; so -that the later De Laune who wrote in 1681 cannot be implicitly relied -upon when figures are concerned. Another thing he tells us of Gideon is -that “his famous pill is in great request to this day notwithstanding -the swarms of pretenders to pill-making.”</p> - -<p>The Grocers’ Company warmly resented the secession of the apothecaries -who had been their subordinate partners so long, but their formal -petition of complaint called forth a cruel snub from the King. Grocers -were but merchants, said James, the business of the apothecaries was -a mystery; “Wherefore I think it fitting they should be a corporation -of themselves.” The grocers, however, got some of their own back a few -years later when James demanded a subsidy from the city for the relief -of the Palatinate. The grocers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> the apothecaries were assessed at -£500 between them. Towards this the apothecaries, pleading poverty, -offered £20. The grocers ridiculed this offer, and having paid £300 as -their share, left their old associates to find the other £200, which -they had to do somehow.</p> - -<p>About the same time the new corporation vigorously opposed an -application for a Charter made by the distillers of London. The -grocers supported the distillers, and the apothecaries failed in -their opposition. Sir Theodore Mayerne told them that their monopoly -of distillation was only intended to extend to the distillation of -medicinal spirits and waters. Mr. Barrett quotes from the old records -another curious instance of the contest for monopolies which was -characteristic of the period. In 1620, one John Woolf Rumbler having -obtained from the King a concession of the sole right of making -“mercuric sublimate,” applied to the Court of Apothecaries that he -might enjoy the same without their contradiction. This “upon advised -consideration,” the Court refused to grant. It is not stated whether -the will of the King or that of the apothecaries prevailed in the end.</p> - -<p>The story of the jealousies which arose between the physicians and the -apothecaries is a long and tedious one; innumerable pamphlets were -written on both sides of the controversy, and the dispute figures in -English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Pope -very neatly expressed the views of the physicians in the familiar verse -in the “Essay on Criticism” in which, comparing the old critics of -Greece who “fanned the poet’s fire, And taught the world with reason to -admire,” with those of his own day who</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Against the poets their own arms they turned</div> - <div>Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn’d,</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p-left">illustrated the position by introducing the</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i2">Modern pothecaries, taught the art</div> - <div>By doctors’ bills to play the doctors’ part,</div> - <div>Bold in the practice of mistaken rules,</div> - <div>Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>This was written in 1709.</p> - -<p>The apothecaries strengthened their position as medical practitioners -in the public esteem by remaining at their posts during the Great -Plague in London in 1665 when most of the physicians fled from the -stricken city. Between this date and the end of the seventeenth century -the quarrel between the two sections of the profession constantly -grew in bitterness. Some of the allegations of extortion made against -the apothecaries are almost incredible. In Dr. Goodall’s “Historical -Account of the Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians against -Empiricks and Unlicensed Practisers” (1684), it is reported that George -Buller who gave the college some trouble in 1633 had charged 30<i>s.</i> -each for 25 pills; £37 10<i>s.</i> for the boxful. Three were given to a -Mrs. Style for a sore leg, and she died the same night. A Dr. Tenant -prosecuted by the college in James I’s reign “was so impudent and -unconscionable in the rating of his medicines that he charged £6 for -one pill and the same for an apozeme.”</p> - -<p>Dr. R. Pitt, F.R.S., in “Crafts and Frauds of Physic Exposed,” 1703 -(a book written expressly to defend the establishment of dispensaries -by the Physicians), states that apothecaries had been known to make -£150 out of a single case, and that in a recent instance (which had -apparently come before the law courts) the apothecary had made £320. -In every bill of £100 Dr. Pitt says the charges were £90 more than the -shop prices for the medicine.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - -<p>In Jacob Bell’s “Historical Sketch of the Progress of Pharmacy in Great -Britain” an apothecary’s bill for medicines for one day, supplied to a -Mr. Dalby of Ludgate Hill, is quoted from a pamphlet called “The Wisdom -of the Nation is Foolishness.” It is as follows:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>An Emulsion, 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> A Mucilage, 3<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> Gelly of -Hartshorn, 4<i>s.</i> Plaster to dress Blister, 1<i>s.</i> An Emollient -Glister, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> An ivory pipe, armed 1<i>s.</i> A Cordial -Bolus, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> The same again, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> A cordial -draught, 2<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> The same again, 2<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> Another -bolus, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Another draught, 2<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> A glass of -cordial spirits, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Blistering plaster to the arm, -5<i>s.</i> The same to the wrists, 5<i>s.</i> Two boluses again, 5<i>s.</i> -Two draughts again, 4<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> Another emulsion, 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> -Another pearl julep, 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p></blockquote> - -<p>Mr. Dalby’s bill for five days came to £17 2<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i>, and this was -declared to be not an isolated case but illustrative of the practice of -apothecaries when attending patients of the higher classes.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Contest between the Physicians and Apothecaries.</h4> - -<p>In 1687 the College of Physicians adopted a resolution binding all -Fellows, Candidates, and Licentiates of the College to give advice -gratis to their neighbouring sick poor when desired within the city -of London or seven miles round. But in view of the gross extortions -of the apothecaries it was asked, What was the use of the physicians’ -charity if the cost of compounding the medicines was to be prohibitory? -The apothecaries, of course, denied that the examples of their -charges which were quoted were at all general, and probably they -were not. It was not to the interest of the apothecaries to destroy -free prescribing. Indeed a proposal was made to the physicians on -behalf of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> numerous body of London apothecaries to accept a tariff -for medicines dispensed for the poor to be fixed by the physicians -themselves.</p> - -<p>The relations of the two bodies had become, however, so strained that -arrangement was no longer possible. The apothecaries had in fact -obtained the upper hand. They treated many cases themselves, and -calling in the physician was largely within their discretion. At this -time (about 1700) the ordinary fee paid to a physician was 10<i>s.</i> -University graduates expected more, but they too, in the majority -of cases, were only too glad to take the half sovereign, and it was -alleged that they would sometimes pay the apothecary who called them a -percentage off this.</p> - -<p>Such was the condition of affairs when in 1696 an influential section -of the physicians, fifty-three of them, associated themselves in the -establishment of Dispensaries, where medicines should be compounded -and supplied to the poor at cost price. The fifty-three subscribed ten -pounds each, and Dispensaries were opened at the College premises in -Warwick Lane, in St. Martin’s Lane, and St. Peter’s Alley, Cornhill.</p> - -<p>Needless to say, the war now waxed fiercer than ever. The physicians -were divided among themselves, and the anti-dispensarians refused to -meet the dispensarians in consultation. The apothecaries naturally -recommended the anti-dispensarians to their patients, and consequently -it was only the independent ones who could afford to maintain the -struggle. Scurrilous pamphlets were written on both sides, and one -long poem, Garth’s Dispensary, which was less venomous than most of -the literature on the subject, but which as a poem had no merits which -could justify the reputation it attained, complicated the struggle -from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> the physicians’ point of view. Johnson says that in addition to -its intrinsic merit it “co-operated with passions and prejudices then -prevalent.” His sympathies are indicated by his remark that “it was on -the side of charity against the intrigues of interest, and of regular -learning against licentious usurpation of medical authority.” One -line in the book (the last in the passage quoted below) has attained -currency in the English language. Expressing satirically the complaints -of the apothecaries, Garth says:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Our manufactures now the doctors sell,</div> - <div>And their intrinsic value meanly tell;</div> - <div>Nay, they discover too (their spite is such)</div> - <div>That health, than crowns more valued, costs not much;</div> - <div>Whilst we must shape our conduct by these rules,</div> - <div>To cheat as tradesmen or to fail as fools.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<h4 class="smcap">The Apothecaries Win.</h4> - -<p>Notwithstanding the sympathy of Dr. Johnson, Pope, and many other -famous contemporaries, the quarrel ended in the comparative triumph of -the apothecaries.</p> - -<p>The physicians, though reluctant to enforce what they believed to be -their statutory powers, were goaded into law, and at last brought -an action against a London apothecary named William Rose, who they -alleged had infringed the Act passed in the reign of Henry VIII. Rose -had attended a butcher in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields named Seale, and -had administered “proper medicines” to him. He had no licence from -the Faculty, and in his treatment of Seale had not acted under the -direction of any physician. He had neither taken nor demanded any fee -for his advice.</p> - -<p>Those were the facts found by the jury who first heard the case. The -College claimed a penalty of five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> pounds per month for the period -during which Rose had thus practised. The Charter granted to the -physicians in the tenth year of Henry VIII, and confirmed by an Act of -Parliament passed in the fourteenth and fifteenth year of that reign, -contained a clause forbidding any person not admitted by the College -to practise the faculty of medicine in London or within seven miles -thereof under a penalty of one hundred solidi for every month during -which he should thus infringe the law.</p> - -<p>The jury having found the facts already quoted, referred to the -Court of Queen’s Bench the legal question whether the acts performed -constituted the practice of medicine within the meaning of the Act. The -case was argued three times in the Court of Queen’s Bench—(so it is -stated in the report of the proceedings in the House of Lords),—and -ultimately the judges decided unanimously in favour of the contention -of the College. Thereupon, on behalf of Rose a writ of error was moved -for in the House of Lords demanding a reversal of the judgment. The -counsel who argued the appeal were S. Dodd for Rose, and F. Brown for -the College. The case was heard on the 15th of March, 1703.</p> - -<p>In support of the appeal it was argued that if the judgment -were allowed to stand it would ruin not only Rose but all other -apothecaries. That the Act was a very old one, and that the constant -usage and practice ought to be taken into account. That if this -judgment were right the apothecary would not dare to sell a few -lozenges or a little electuary to any person asking for a remedy for -a cold, or in other common cases where a medicine had a known and -certain effect. That to give a monopoly in the treatment of disease -to physicians would have most mischievous consequences; both rich and -poor would be seriously taxed, and in the case of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> sudden accidents or -illnesses in the night when apothecaries were so frequently sent for, -the danger of not permitting them to supply the necessary medicine -might often be most serious.</p> - -<p>To these contentions the counsel for the College replied that by -several orders physicians had bound themselves to attend the poor -free, either at their own offices, or, if sent for, at the patient’s -house. That out of consideration for the poor they had gone further by -establishing Dispensaries where the medicines they prescribed could be -obtained at not more than one-third of the price which the apothecaries -had been in the habit of charging. That in sudden emergencies an -apothecary or anyone else was justified in doing his best to relieve -his neighbours, but that in London, at least, a skilled physician -was as available as an apothecary, and that this emergency argument -ought not to be used to permit apothecaries to undertake all sorts of -serious diseases at their leisure. That there was nothing to prevent -apothecaries selling whatever medicines they were asked for, but that -to permit them to treat cases however slight involved both danger and -expense, because a mistake made at the beginning of a distemper might -lead to a long illness, and in any case the apothecary would charge for -much more medicine than was necessary.</p> - -<p>After hearing the arguments “it was ordered and adjudged that the -judgment given in the Court of Queen’s Bench be reversed.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Apothecaries and the Chemists and Druggists.</h4> - -<p>From this period the apothecaries became recognised medical -practitioners, the Society granted medical dip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>lomas, and a hundred -years later (1815) they obtained an Act which gave them powers against -other persons similar to those which the physicians thought they -possessed against them. Persons not qualified by them were forbidden -to “act or practise as apothecaries” under a penalty of £20; and the -courts have held that to practise as an apothecary is to judge of -internal disease by symptoms, and to supply medicine to cure that -disease. The chemists and druggists who had largely succeeded to the -old business of the apothecaries opposed this provision, and the -apothecaries, to buy off their opposition, offered to insert a clause -in their Act which would allow all persons who should at that time -or thereafter carry on that business to do so “as fully and amply to -all intents and purposes as they might have done in case this Act had -not been made.” The chemists were not content with this provision, -and drafted another which defined their business as consisting in the -“buying, preparing, compounding, dispensing and vending drugs, and -medicinal compounds, wholesale and retail.” The apothecaries accepted -this alteration, and subsequently obtained penalties from chemists who -had prescribed remedies for customers. Such prescribing would have -been legal if the druggists had accepted the provision proposed by -the apothecaries; but they had limited themselves out of it. In the -actions which the Society of Apothecaries have brought against chemists -the apothecaries have often reproduced with scrupulous fidelity the -arguments used against themselves by the physicians in Rose’s case.</p> - -<p>The Dispensaries established by the physicians were not long -maintained, but apparently they provided the material of the modern -chemist and druggist. “We have reason to believe,” writes Jacob Bell in -his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> Historical Sketch of the Progress of Pharmacy in Great Britain, -“that the Assistants employed and instructed by the Physicians at these -institutions became dispensing chemists on their own account; and that -some of the apothecaries who found their craft in danger followed the -example, from which source we may date the origin of the chemists and -druggists.”</p> - -<p>In the course of the eighteenth century chemists and druggists had to a -large extent replaced apothecaries as keepers of shops where medicines -were sold and dispensed, and even when the businesses were owned by -apothecaries, they usually styled themselves chemists and druggists. -In the year 1841 an attempt was made to get a Bill through Parliament -which would have made it penal to recommend any medicine for the sake -of gain. The Bill was introduced by a Mr. Hawes, and the chemists -and druggists of London opposed it with such vigour that it was -ultimately withdrawn. In order to be prepared against future attacks -the victorious chemists and druggists then formed the Pharmaceutical -Society of Great Britain, which was incorporated by Royal Charter in -1842. An Act protecting the title of pharmaceutical chemist was passed -in 1852, and in 1868 another Act, requiring all future chemists and -druggists to pass examinations and be registered, and restricting to -them the sale of poisons, became law.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>IX<br /> - -<span class="subhed">MAGIC AND MEDICINE</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Amulets and things to be borne about I find prescribed, taxed -by some, approved by others. Look for them in Mizaldus, Porta, -Albertus, etc. A ring made with the hoof of an ass’s right -forefoot, carried about, etc. I say, with Renodeus, they are -not altogether to be rejected. Piony doth help epilepsies. -Pretious stones most diseases. A wolf’s dung carried about -helps the cholick. A spider an ague, etc. Such medicines are -to be exploded that consist of words, characters, spells, -and charms, which can do no good at all, but out of a strong -conceit, as Pomponatious proves, or the devil’s policy, that -is the first founder and teacher of them.”</p> - -<p class="p0 r1"><span class="smcap">Burton</span>: “Anatomy of Melancholy.”</p></blockquote> - - -<p>Charms, enchantments, amulets, incantations, talismans, phylacteries, -and all the armoury of witchcraft and magic have been intimately mixed -up with pharmacy and medicine in all countries and in all ages. The -degradation of the Greek term pharmakeia from its original meaning of -the art of preparing medicine to sorcery and poisoning is evidence -of the prevalence of debasing superstitions in the practice of -medicine among the cultivated Greeks. Hermes the Egyptian, Zoroaster -the Persian, and Solomon the Hebrew were famous among the early -practitioners and teachers of magic. These names served to conjure -with. Those who bore them were probably wise men above the average<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -who were above such tricks as were attributed to them. But it suited -the purpose or the business of those who made their living out of the -superstitions of the people to pretend to trace their practices to -universally revered heroes of a dim past.</p> - -<p>Not that the whole of the magical rites associated with the art of -healing were based on conscious fraud. The beliefs of savage or -untutored races in demons which cause diseases is natural, it may -almost be said reasonable. What more natural when they see one of their -tribe seized with an epileptic fit than to assume the presence of an -invisible foe? Or if a contagious plague or small-pox or fever attacks -their village, is it not an inevitable conclusion that angry spirits -have attacked the tribe, perhaps for some unknown offence? From such a -basis the idea of sacrifice to the avenging fiend follows obviously. -In some parts of China if a person accidentally kicks a stone and soon -afterwards falls ill the relatives go to that stone and offer fruit, -wine, or other treasures, and it may be that the patient recovers. In -that case the efficacy of the treatment is demonstrated, and only those -who do not desire to believe will question it; if the patient should -die the proof is not less conclusive of the demon’s malignity.</p> - -<p>In some primitive peoples, among the New Zealand natives, for example, -it is believed that a separate demon exists for each distinct disease; -one for ague, one for epilepsy, one for toothache, and so forth. This -too, seems reasonable. Each of those demons has something which will -please or frighten him. So amulets, talismans, charms come into use. -The North American Indians, however, generally attribute all disease to -one evil spirit only. Consequently, their treatment of all complaints -is the same.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Egyptian, Jewish, and Arabic Magic.</h3> - -<p>The Egyptians, according to Celsus, believed that there were thirty-six -demons or divinities in the air, to each of whom was attributed a -separate part or organ of the human body. In the event of disease -affecting one of these parts the priest-physician invoked the demon, -calling him by his name, and requiring him in a special form of words -to cure the afflicted part.</p> - -<p>Solomon was credited among many Eastern people with having discovered -many of the secrets of controlling diseases by magical processes. -According to Josephus he composed and bequeathed to posterity a book of -these magical secrets. Hezekiah is said to have suppressed this work -because it was leading the people to pray to other powers than Jehovah. -But some of the secrets of Solomon were handed down in certain families -by tradition. Josephus relates that a certain Jew named Eleazor drew -a demon from the nose of a possessed person in the presence of the -Emperor Vespasian and a number of Roman officers, by the aid of a magic -ring and a form of invocation. In order to prove that the demon thus -expelled had a real separate existence, he ordered it to upset a vessel -of water which stood on the floor. This was done. Books professing to -give Solomon’s secrets were not uncommon among Christians as well as -Jews. Goethe alluded to such a treatise in “Faust” in the line</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Für solche halbe Höllenbrut, Ist Salomoni’s Schlüssel gut.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Throughout their history the Jewish people have studied and practised -magic as a means of healing. According to the Book of Enoch the -daughters of men were instructed in “incantations, exorcisms, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -cutting of roots” by the sons of God who came to earth and associated -with them. The Greeks and Romans always held Jewish sorcery in the -highest esteem, and the Arabs accepted their teaching with implicit -confidence. The Talmud is full of magical formulas, and the Kaballah, a -mystic theosophy which combined Israelitish traditions with Alexandrian -philosophy, and began to be known about the tenth century, was -unquestionably the foundation of the sophistry of Paracelsus and his -followers.</p> - -<p>In the Middle Ages, and in some communities until quite recent times, -belief in the occult powers of Jews, which they had themselves -inculcated, was firm and universal, and became the reason, or at -least the excuse, for much of the persecution they had to suffer. For -the punishment of sorcery and witchcraft was not based on a belief -that fraud had been practised, but resulted from a conviction of the -terrible truth of the claims which had been put forward.</p> - -<p>The Jews of Western Europe have lost or abandoned many of the -traditional practices which have been associated with their popular -medicines from time immemorial. But in the East, especially in Turkey -and Syria, quaint prayers and antiquated materia medica are still -associated as they were in the days of the Babylonian captivity. Dogs’ -livers, earthworms, hares’ feet, live ants, human bones, doves’ dung, -wolves’ entrails, and powdered mummy still rank high as remedies, while -for patients who can afford it such precious products as dew from -Mount Carmel are prescribed. Invocations, prayers, and superstitious -practices form the stock in trade of the “Gabbetes,” generally elderly -persons who attend on the sick. They have a multitude of infallible -cures in their repertoires.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> Powdered, freshly roasted earthworms in -wine, or live grasshoppers in water, are given by them for biliousness. -For bronchial complaints they write some Hebrew letters on a new plate, -wash it off with wine, add three grains of a citron which has been -used at the Tabernacle festival, and give this as a draught. Dogs’ -excrements made up with honey form a poultice for sore eyes, mummy or -human bones ground up with honey is a precious tonic, and wolves’ liver -is a cure for fits. But the administration of these remedies must be -accompanied by the necessary invocation, generally to the names of -patriarchs, angels, or prophets, but often mere gibberish, such as -“Adar, gar, vedar, gar,” which is the formula for use with a toothache -remedy.</p> - -<p>The phylacteries still worn by modern Jews at certain parts of -their services, now perhaps by most of them only in accordance -with inveterate custom, have been in all ages esteemed by them as -protecting them against evil and demoniac influences. They are leathern -receptacles, which they bind on their left arms and on their foreheads -in literal obedience to the Mosaic instructions in the passages -transcribed, and contained in the cases, from Exodus c. 13, v. 1–10, -and c. 13, v. 11–16, Deuteronomy c. 6, v. 4–9, and c. 9, v. 13–21. To -a modern reader these passages appear to protest against superstitions -and heathenish beliefs and practices, but the rabbis and scribes -taught that these and the mesuza, the similar passages affixed to -the doorposts, would avert physical and spiritual dangers, and they -invented minute instructions for the preparation of the inscriptions. -A scribe, for example, who had commenced to write one of the passages, -was not to allow himself to be interrupted by any human distraction, -not even if the king asked him a question.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> - -<p>All the eastern nations trusted largely to amulets of various kinds for -the prevention and treatment of disease. Galen quotes from Nechepsus, -an Egyptian king, who lived about 630 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, who wrote that a -green jasper cut in the form of a dragon surrounded by rays, applied -externally would cure indigestion and strengthen the stomach. Among -the books attributed to Hermes was one entitled “The Thirty-six Herbs -Sacred to Horoscopes.” Of this book Galen says it is only a waste of -time to read it. The title, however, as Leclerc has pointed out, rather -curiously confirms the statement attributed to Celsus which is found in -Origen’s treatise, “Contra Celsum,” to which allusion has already been -made.</p> - -<p>Amulets are still in general use in the East. Bertherand in “Medicine -of the Arabs” says the uneducated Arab of to-day when he has anything -the matter with him goes to his priest and pays him a fee for which -the priest gives him a little paper about two inches square on which -certain phrases are written. This is put up in a leathern case, -and worn as near the affected part as is possible. The richer Arab -women wear silver cases with texts from the Koran in them. But it is -essential that the paper must have been written on a Friday, a little -before sunset, and with ink in which myrrh and saffron have been -dissolved.</p> - -<p>In the Third Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the -Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum (London: Baillière, Tindall, & -Cox, 1908), Dr. R. G. Anderson writes an interesting chapter on the -medical superstitions of the people of Kordofan, and gives a number -of illustrations of amulets and written charms actually in use by the -Arabs of that country. “To the native,” says Dr. Anderson, “no process -is too absurd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> for belief, and often, within his limits, no price too -high to accomplish a cure.” Most of them wear talismans of some kind. -Some of them spend a great part of their scanty earnings on charms to -cure some chronic disease, stone in the bladder, for example. The son -of the late Mahdi presented to Dr. Anderson a charm which his father -wore round the arm above the elbow, designed against evil spirits and -the evil eye. It consisted of a square case containing a written charm, -and a bag filled with a preparation of roots. The charms worn by the -natives generally consist of quotations from the Koran, often repeated -many times and with signs of the great prophets interspersed. The -principal of these signs are the following:—</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p163a"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p163a.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><i>Solomon.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><i>Enoch.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><i>David.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><i>Lot.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><i>Seth.</i></p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p163b"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p163b.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">“Lohn” (or Writing Board).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The annexed illustration has been kindly lent by Mr. Wellcome (on -behalf of the Gordon Memorial College) from the Report mentioned above. -It represents a “Lohn,” or writing board on which Koranic phrases or -mystic inscriptions have been written by Fikis (holy men). When the -writing is dry it is washed off and the fluid is taken internally or -applied externally.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Abracadabra Mystery.</h3> - -<p>Abracadabra was the most famous of the ancient charms or talismans -employed in medicine. Its mystic meaning has been the subject of much -ingenious investigation, but even its derivation has not been agreed -upon. The first mention of the term is found in the poem “De Medicina -Praecepta Saluberrima,” by Quintus Serenus Samonicus. Samonicus was -a noted physician in Rome in the second and third centuries. He was -a favourite with the Emperor Severus, and accompanied him in his -expedition to Britain <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 208. Severus died at York in -<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 211, and in the following year his son Caracalla had his -brother Geta, and 20,000 other people supposed to be favourable to -Geta’s claims, assassinated. Among the victims was Serenus Samonicus. -The poem, which is the only existing work of Serenus, consists of 1,115 -hexameter lines which illustrate the medical practice and superstitions -of the period when it was written. The lines in which the word -“Abracadabra,” and the way to employ it are introduced are these:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Inscribis chartae, quod dicitur Abracadabra,</div> - <div>Saepius: et subter repetas, sed detrahe summae,</div> - <div>Et magis atque magis desint elementa figuris</div> - <div>Singula, quae semper rapies et coetera figes,</div> - <div>Donec in angustam redigatur litera conum.</div> - <div>His lino nexis collum redimire memento.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In a paper on Serenus Samonicus by Dr. Barnes of Carlisle, contributed -to the <i>St. Louis Medical Review</i>, the following translation of the -above passage is given. A semitertian fever of a particular character -is the disease under discussion.</p> - -<p>“Write several times on a piece of paper the word 'Abracadabra,’ and -repeat the word in the lines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> below, but take away letters from the -complete word and let the letters fall away one at a time in each -succeeding line. Take these away ever, but keep the rest until the -writing is reduced to a narrow cone. Remember to tie these papers with -flax and bind them round the neck.”</p> - -<p>The charm was written in several ways all in conformity with the -instructions. Dr. Barnes gives these specimens:</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p165" > - <img - class="p0" - src="images/i_p165.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> - -<p>After wearing the charm for nine days it had to be thrown over the -shoulder into a stream running eastwards. In cases which resisted this -talisman Serenus recommended the application of lion’s fat, or yellow -coral with green emeralds tied to the skin of a cat and worn round the -neck.</p> - -<p>Serenus Samonicus is believed to have been a disciple of a notorious -Christian heretic named Basilides, who lived in the early part of the -second century, and was himself the founder of a sect branching out -of the gnostics. Basilides had added to their beliefs some fanciful -notions based on the teachings of Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyre, -especially in regard to names and numbers. To him is attributed the -invention of the mystic word “abraxas,” which in Greek numeration -represents the total 365, thus:—a—1, b—2, r—100,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> a—1, -x—60, a—1, s—200. This word is supposed to have been a numeric -representation of the Persian sungod, or if it was invented by -Basilides, more likely indicated the 365 emanations of the infinite -Deity. It has been generally supposed that abracadabra was derived from -abraxas.</p> - -<p>There are, however, other interpretations. Littré associates it -with the Hebrew words, Ab, Ruach, Dabar; Father, Holy Ghost, Word. -Dr. King, an authority on the curious gnostic gems well-known to -antiquarians, regards this explanation as purely fanciful and suggests -that Abracadabra is a modification of the term Ablathanabla, a word -frequently met with on the gems alluded to, and meaning Our Father, -Thou art Our Father. Others hold that Ablathanabla is a corruption of -Abracadabra. An ingenious correspondent of <i>Notes and Queries</i> thinks -that a more likely Hebrew origin of the term than the one favoured by -Littré would be Abrai seda brai, which would signify Out, bad spirit, -out. It is agreed that the word should be pronounced Abrasadabra. -Another likely origin, suggested by Colonel C. R. Conder in “The Rise -of Man” (1908), p. 314, is Abrak-ha-dabra, a Hebrew phrase meaning -“I bless the deed.” The triangular form of the charm was no doubt -significant of the Trinity in Unity.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Greek and Roman Magic.</h3> - -<p>Pythagoras taught that holding dill in the left hand would prevent -epilepsy. Serapion of Alexandria (<span class="sm">B.C.</span> 278) prescribed for -epilepsy the warty excrescences on the forelegs of animals, camel’s -brain and gall, rennet of seal, dung of crocodile, blood of turtle, -and other animal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> products. Pliny alludes to a tradition, that a root -of autumnal nettle would cure a tertian fever, provided that when -it is dug the patient’s name and his parent’s names are pronounced -aloud; that the longest tooth of a black dog worn as an amulet would -cure quartan fever; that the snout and tips of the ears of a mouse, -the animal itself to run free, wrapped in a rose coloured patch, also -worn as an amulet, would similarly cure the same disease; the right -eye of a living lizard wrapped in a piece of goat’s skin; and a herb -picked from the head of a statue and tied up with red thread, are other -specimens of the amulets popular in his time. But Pliny appears to -doubt if all these treatments can be trusted. He mentions one, that is -that the heart of a hen placed on a woman’s left breast while she is -asleep will make her tell all her secrets, and this he characterizes as -a portentous lie. Mr. Cockayne quoting this, remarks dryly, “Perhaps -he had tried it.” Alexander of Tralles recommends a number of amulets, -some of which he mentions he has proved. Thus for colic he names the -dung of a wolf with some bits of bone in it in a closed tube worn on -the right arm or thigh; an octagonal iron ring on which are engraved -the words “Flee, flee, ho, ho, Bile, the lark was searching” good -for bilious disorders; for gout, gather henbane when the moon is in -Aquarius or Pisces before sunset with the thumb and third finger of the -left hand, saying at the time an invocation inviting the holy herb to -come to the house of blank and cure M. or N.; with a lot more.</p> - -<p>The Greeks named the Furies Eumenides, good people, evidently with the -idea of propitiating them. For a similar reason fairies were known as -good folk by our ancestors.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">English Folk-Lore Superstitions.</h3> - -<p>It would be as tedious as it would be useless to relate at any length -the multitude of silly superstitions which make up the medicinal -folk-lore of this and other countries. Methods of curing warts, -toothache, ague, worms, and other common complaints are familiar to -everyone. The idea that toothache is caused by tiny worms which can be -expelled by henbane, is very ancient and still exists. A process from -one of the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms converted into modern English by the -Rev. Oswald Cockayne may be quoted as a sample:—</p> - -<p>“For tooth worms take acorn meal and henbane seed and wax, of all -equally much, mingle them together, work into a wax candle and burn it, -let it reek into the mouth, put a black cloth under, and the worms will -fall on it.”</p> - -<p>Marcellus, a late Latin medical author whose work was translated -into Saxon, gave a simpler remedy. It was to say “Argidam, Margidum, -Sturdigum,” thrice, then spit into a frog’s mouth and set him free, -requesting him at the same time to carry off the toothache.</p> - -<p>Another popular cure for toothache in early England was to wear a -piece of parchment on which the following charm was written:—“As St. -Peter sat at the gate of Jerusalem our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus -Christ, passed by and said, What aileth thee? He said Lord, my teeth -ache. He said, Arise and follow me and thy teeth shall never ache any -more.”</p> - -<p>Sir Kenelm Digby’s method was less tempting. He directed that the -patient should scratch his gum with an iron nail until he made it -bleed, and should then drive the nail with the blood upon it into a -wooden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> beam. He will never have toothache again, says this sage.</p> - -<p>For warts the cures are innumerable. They are all more or less like -this: Steal a piece of meat from a butcher’s stall or basket, bury it -secretly at a gateway where four lanes meet. As the meat decays the -warts will die away. An apple cut into slices and rubbed on the warts -and buried is equally efficacious. So is a snail which after being -rubbed on the warts is impaled on a thorn and left to die.</p> - -<p>A room hung with red cloth was esteemed in many countries to be -effective against certain diseases, small-pox especially. John of -Gaddesden relates how he cured Edward II’s son by this device. The -prejudice in favour of red flannel which still exists, for tying a -piece of it round sore throats is probably a remnant of the fancy that -red was specially obnoxious to evil spirits. The Romans hung red coral -round the necks of their infants to protect them from the evil eye. -This practice, too, has come down to our day.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p169" > - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p169.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> - -<p>Among other charms and incantations quoted by Mr. Cockayne in his -account of Saxon Leechdoms we find that for a baby’s recovery “some -would creep through a hole in the ground and stop it up behind them -with thorns,” “if cattle have a disease of the lungs, burn (something -undeciphered) on midsummer’s day; add holy water, and pour it into -their mouths on midsummer’s morrow; and sing over them: Ps. 51, Ps. 17, -and the Athanasian Creed.” “If anything has been stolen from you write -a copy of the annexed diagram and put it into thy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> left shoe under the -heel. Then thou shalt soon hear of it.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Transferring Diseases.</h3> - -<p>It was widely believed that disease could be transferred by means -of certain silly formalities. This was a very ancient notion. Pliny -explains how pains in the stomach could be transferred to a duck or a -puppy. A prescription of about two hundred years ago for the cure of -convulsions was to take parings of the sick man’s nails, some hair from -his eyebrows, and a halfpenny, and wrap them all in a clout which had -been round his head. This package must be laid in a gateway where four -lanes meet, and the first person who opened it would take the sickness -and relieve the patient of it. A certain John Dougall was prosecuted -in Edinburgh in 1695 for prescribing this treatment. A more gruesome -but less unjust proceeding was to transfer the disease to the dead. -An example is the treatment of boils quoted from Mr. W. G. Black’s -“Folk Medicine.” The boil was to be poulticed three days and nights, -after which the poultices and cloths employed were to be placed in the -coffin with a dead person and buried with the corpse. In Lancashire -warts could be transferred by rubbing each with a cinder which must be -wrapped in paper and laid where four roads meet. As before, the person -who opens this parcel will take the warts from the present owner. In -Devonshire a child could be cured of whooping cough by putting one -of its hairs between slices of bread and butter and giving these to -a dog. If the dog coughed, as was probable, the whooping cough was -transferred.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Witches’ Powers.</h3> - -<p>The powers of witches were extensive but at the same time curiously -restricted. When Agnes Simpson was tried in Scotland in 1590 she -confessed that to compass the death of James VI she had hung up a black -toad for nine days and caught the juice which dropped from it. If she -could have obtained a piece of linen which the king had worn she could -have killed him by applying to it some of this venom, which would have -caused him such pain as if he had lain on sharp thorns or needles.</p> - -<p>Another means they had of inflicting torture was to make an effigy in -wax or clay of their victim and then to stick pins into it or beat it. -This would cause the person represented the pain which it was desired -to inflict.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Universal Tendency.</h3> - -<p>It would merely try the patience of the reader to enumerate even a -tithe of the absurd things which have been and are being used by -people, civilised and savage, as charms, talismans, and amulets. The -teraphim which Rachel stole from her father Laban, the magic knots of -the Chaldeans, the gold and stone ornaments of the Egyptians, which -they not only wore themselves but often attached to their mummies—a -multitude of these going back as far as the flint amulets of the -predynastic period, are to be seen in the British Museum—the precious -stones whose virtues were discovered by Orpheus, the infinite variety -of gold and silver ornaments adopted by the Romans with superstitious -notions, the fish, ichthys, being the initials of the Greek words for -Jesus Christ, the Lord, our Saviour, engraved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> on stones and worn by -the early Christians, the Gnostic gems, the coral necklaces, the bezoar -stones, the toad ashes, the strands of the ropes used for hanging -criminals, the magnets of the middle ages and of modern times, and -a thousand other things, credited with magical curative properties, -might be cited. Besides these there are myriads of forms of words -written or spoken, some pious, some gibberish, which have been used and -recommended both with and without drugs.</p> - -<p>Schelenz in “Geschichte der Pharmacie” (1904) quotes from Jakob Mærlant -of Bruges, “the Father of Flemish science” (born about 1235) the -recommendation of an “Amulettring” on the stone of which the figure of -Mercury was engraved, and which would make the wearer healthy, “die -mæct sinen traghere ghesont.” (See Cramp Rings, p. 305.)</p> - -<p>How widespread has been the belief in the power of amulets and charms -may be gathered from a few instances of such superstitions among -famous persons. Lord Bacon was convinced that warts could be cured by -rubbing lard on them and transferring the lard to a post. The warts -would die when the lard dried. Robert Boyle attributed the cure of a -hæmorrhage to wearing some moss from a dead man’s skull. The father of -Sir Christopher Wren relates that Lord Burghley, the Lord Treasurer of -England in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, kept off the gout by always wearing -a blue ribbon studded with a particular kind of snail shells round his -leg. Whenever he left it off the pain returned violently. Burton in -the “Anatomy of Melancholy” (1621) says St. John’s Wort gathered on a -Friday in the horn of Jupiter, when it comes to his effectual operation -(that is about full moon in July), hung about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> the neck will mightily -help melancholy and drive away fantastical spirits.</p> - -<p>Pepys writing on May 28, 1667, says, “My wife went down with Jane and -W. Hewer to Woolwich in order to get a little ayre, and to lie there -to-night and so to gather May Dew to-morrow morning, which Mrs. Turner -hath taught her is the only thing to wash her face with; and I am -content with it.” But Mrs. Turner ought to have explained to Mrs. Pepys -that to preserve beauty it was necessary to collect the May Dew on the -first of the month.</p> - -<p>Catherine de Medici wore a piece of an infant’s skin as a charm, and -Lord Bryon presented an amulet of this nature to Prince Metternich. -Pascal died with some undecipherable inscription sewn into his clothes. -Charles V always wore a sachet of dried silkworms to protect him from -vertigo. The Emperor Augustus wore a piece of the skin of a sea calf -to keep the lightning from injuring him, and the Emperor Tiberius wore -laurel round his neck for the same reason when a thunderstorm seemed -to be approaching. Thyreus reports that in 1568 the Prince of Orange -condemned a Spaniard to be shot, but that the soldiers could not hit -him. They undressed him and found he was wearing an amulet bearing -certain mysterious figures. They took this from him, and then killed -him without further difficulty. The famous German physician, Frederick -Hoffman, tells seriously of a gouty subject he knew who could tell when -an attack was approaching by a stone in a ring which he wore changing -colour.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>X<br /> - -<span class="subhed">DOGMAS AND DELUSIONS.</span></h2> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled,</div> - <div>Mountains of casuistry heap’d o’er her head;</div> - <div>Philosophy that lean’d on Heav’n before</div> - <div>Shrinks to her Second Cause and is no more.</div> - <div>Physic of Metaphysic begs defence,</div> - <div>And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense.</div> - <div>See Mystery to Mathematics fly;</div> - <div>In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die.</div> - <div class="i6"><span class="smcap">Pope</span>—“The Dunciad” (641–648).</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Elements and Phlogiston.</h3> - -<p>The ancient idea that earth, air, fire, and water were the elements of -Nature was held by chemists in the 18th century. Empedocles appears to -have been the author of this theory, which was adopted by Aristotle. -Some speculative philosophers, however, taught that all of these were -derived from one original first principle; some held that this was -water, some earth, some fire, and others air. Paracelsus, who does not -seem to have objected to this idea, contributed another fantastic one -to accompany it. According to him everything was composed of sulphur, -salt, and mercury; but he did not mean by these the material sulphur, -salt, and mercury as we know them, but some sort of refined essence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -these. These three essentials came to be tabulated thus:—</p> - -<table summary="essentials" class="smaller"> - <tr> - <td class="cht2">Salt.</td> - <td class="cht2">Sulphur.</td> - <td class="cht2">Mercury.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Unpleasant and bitter.</td> - <td class="cht1">Sweet.</td> - <td class="cht1">Acid.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Body.</td> - <td class="cht1">Soul.</td> - <td class="cht1">Spirit.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Matter.</td> - <td class="cht1">Form.</td> - <td class="cht1">Idea.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Patient.</td> - <td class="cht1">Agent.</td> - <td class="cht1">Informant or movent.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Art.</td> - <td class="cht1">Nature.</td> - <td class="cht1">Intelligence.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Sense.</td> - <td class="cht1">Judgment.</td> - <td class="cht1">Intellect.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht1">Material.</td> - <td class="cht1">Spiritual.</td> - <td class="cht1">Glorious.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>This is taken from Beguin, who explains that the mercury, sulphur, -and salt of this classification are not those “mixt and concrete -bodies such as are vulgarly sold by merchants. Mercury, which combines -the elements of air and water, Sulphur represents Fire, and Salt, -Earth.” “But the said principles, to speak properly, are neither -bodies; because they are plainly spiritual, by reason of the influx -of celestial seeds, with which they are impregnated: nor spirits, -because corporeal, but they participate of either nature; and have been -insignized by Phylosophers with various names, or at the least unto -them they have alluded these.”</p> - -<p>Instances of the combination of these principles are given. If you burn -green woods, you first have a wateriness, mercury; then there goes -forth an oleaginous substance easily inflammable, sulphur; lastly, a -dry and terrestrial substance remains, salt. Milk contains a sulphurous -buttery substance; mercurial, whey; saline, cheese. Eggs: white, -mercury, yolk, sulphur, shell, salt. Antimony regulus, mercury, red -sulphur conceiving flame; a salt which is vomitive.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p176"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p176.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">George Ernest Stahl.</p> -<blockquote> - -<p>Born at Anspach, 1660; died at Berlin, 1734. Stahl was -the originator of the “phlogiston theory” which generally -prevailed in chemistry until Lavoisier disproved it in the -last quarter of the 18th century.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Nowhere do you get these principles pure. Mercury (the metal) contains -both sulphur and salt; so with the others.</p> - -<p>Becker, the predecessor of Stahl, was not quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> satisfied with the -orthodox opinion, and improved upon it by limiting the elements -to water and earth; but he recognised three earths, vitrifiable, -inflammable, and mercurial. The last yielded the metals. Stahl was -inclined to go back to the four elements again, but he had his doubts -about their really elementary character. He, however, concentrated his -attention on fire, out of which he evolved his well-known phlogiston -theory. This substance, if it was a substance, was conceived as -floating about all through the atmosphere, but only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> revealing itself -by its effects when it came into contact with material bodies. There -was some doubt whether it possessed the attribute of weight at all; -but its properties were supposed to be quiescent when it became united -with a substance which thereby became phlogisticated. It needed to -be excited in some special way before it could be brought again into -activity. When combined it was in a passive condition.</p> - -<p>The amusing features of the phlogiston theory only developed when -it came to be realised that when the phlogiston was driven out of a -body, as in the case of the calcination of a metal, the calx remaining -was heavier than the metal with the phlogiston had been. The first -explanation of this phenomenon was that phlogiston not only possessed -no heaviness, but was actually endowed with a faculty of lightness. -This hypothesis was, however, a little too far-fetched for even the -seventeenth century. Boerhaave thereupon discovered that as the -phlogiston escaped it attacked the vessel in which the metal was -calcined, and combined some of that with the metal. This notion would -not stand experiment, but Baume’s explanation of what happened was -singularly ingenious. He insisted that phlogiston was appreciably -ponderable. But, he said, when it is absorbed into a metal or other -substance it does not combine with that substance, but is constantly in -motion in the interstices of the molecules. So that as a bird in a cage -does not add to the weight of the cage so long as it is flying about, -no more does phlogiston add to the weight of the metal in which it is -similarly flying about. But when the calcination takes place the dead -phlogiston, as it may be called, does actually combine with the metal, -and thus the increase of weight is accounted for.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Humours and Degrees.</h3> - -<p>The doctrine of the “humours,” or humoral pathology, as it is generally -termed, is usually traced to Hippocrates. It is set forth in his book -on the Nature of Man, which Galen regarded as a genuine treatise of the -Physician of Cos, but which other critics have supposed to have been -written by one or more of his disciples or successors. At any rate, it -is believed to represent his views. Plato elaborated the theory, and -Galen gave it dogmatic form.</p> - -<p>The human body was composed not exactly of the four elements, earth, -air, fire, and water, but of the essences of these elements. The fluid -parts, the blood, the phlegm, the bile, and the black bile, were the -four humours. There were also three kinds of spirits, natural, vital, -and animal, which put the humours in motion.</p> - -<p>The blood was the humour which nourished the various parts of the -body, and was the source of animal heat. The bile kept the passages of -the body open, and served to promote the digestion of the food. The -phlegm kept the nerves, the muscles, the cartilages, the tongue, and -other organs supple, thus facilitating their movements. The black bile -(the melancholy, Hippocrates termed it) was a link between the other -humours and sustained them. The proportion of these humours occasioned -the temperaments, and it is hardly necessary to remark that this -fancy still prevails in our language; the sanguine, the bilious, the -phlegmatic, and the atrabilious or melancholy natures being familiar -descriptions to this day.</p> - -<p>The humours had different characters. The blood was naturally hot and -humid, the phlegm cold and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> humid, the bile hot and dry, and the black -bile cold and dry. Alterations of the humours would cause diseased -conditions; distempers was the appropriate term. There might be a too -abundant provision of one or more of the humours. A plethora of blood -would cause drowsiness, difficulty of breathing, fatty degeneration. -A plethora of either of the other humours would have the effect of -causing corruption of the blood; plethora of bile, for example, -would result in a jaundiced condition, bad breath, a bitter taste in -the mouth, and other familiar symptoms. Hæmorrhoids, leprosy, and -cancer might result from a plethora of the melancholic humour; colds, -catarrhs, rheumatisms were occasioned by a superabundance of the phlegm.</p> - -<p>It must not be supposed that Galen or any other authority pretended -that the humours were the sole causes of disease. Ancient pathology -was a most complicated structure which cannot be even outlined here. -The theory of the humours is only indicated in order to show how these -explained the action of drugs. To these were attributed hot, humid, -cold, and dry qualities to a larger or less extent. Galen classifies -them in four degrees—that is to say, a drug might be hot, humid, cold, -or dry in the first, second, third, or fourth degree. Consequently the -physician had to estimate first which humour was predominant, and in -what degree, and then he had to select the drug which would counteract -the disproportionate heat, cold, humidity, or dryness. Of course he -had his manuals to guide him. Thus Culpepper tells us that horehound, -for example, is “hot in the second degree, and dry in the third”; herb -Trinity, or pansies, on the other hand, “are cold and moist, both herbs -and flowers”; and so forth. Medicines which applied to the skin would -raise a blister, mustard, for example,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> are hot in the fourth degree; -those which provoke sweat abundantly, and thus “cut tough and compacted -humours” (Culpepper) are hot in the third degree. Opium was cold in the -fourth degree, and therefore should only be given alone to mitigate -violent pain. In ordinary cases it is wise to moderate the coldness of -the opium by combining something of the first degree of cold or heat -with it.</p> - -<p>An amusing illustration of the reverence which this doctrine of the -temperatures inspired is furnished by Sprengel in the second volume -of his History of Medicine. Dealing with the Arab period, he tells us -that Jacob-Ebn-Izhak-Alkhendi, one of the most celebrated authors of -his nation, who lived in the ninth century, and cultivated mathematics, -philosophy, and astrology as well as medicine, wrote a book on the -subject before us, extending Galen’s theory to compound medicines, -explaining their action in accordance with the principles of harmony -in music. The degrees he explains progress in geometric ratio, so -that the fourth degree counts as 16 compared with unity. He sets out -his proposition thus: <i>x</i> = <i>b</i><sup><i>n</i>‑1</sup><i>a</i>; <i>a</i> being the first, <i>b</i> -the last, <i>x</i> the exponent, and <i>n</i> the number of the terms. Sprengel -has pity on those of us who are not familiar with mathematical -manipulations, and gives an example to make the formula clear.</p> - - -<table summary="formula" class="smaller"> - <tr> - <td class="cht3">Medicament.</td> - <td class="ctr">Weight.</td> - <td class="ctr">Hot.</td> - <td class="ctr">Cold.</td> - <td class="ctr">Humid.</td> - <td class="ctr">Dry.</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Cardamoms</td> - <td class="cht1">ʒi</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - <td class="cht1">½</td> - <td class="cht1">½</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Sugar</td> - <td class="cht1">ʒii</td> - <td class="cht1">2</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - <td class="cht1">2</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Indigo</td> - <td class="cht1">ʒi</td> - <td class="cht1">½</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - <td class="cht1">½</td> - <td class="cht1">1</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Myrobalans</td> - <td class="cht1 u">ʒii</td> - <td class="cht1 u">1</td> - <td class="cht1 u">2</td> - <td class="cht1 u">1</td> - <td class="cht1 u">2</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"></td> - <td class="cht1">ʒvi</td> - <td class="cht1">4½</td> - <td class="cht1">4½</td> - <td class="cht1">3</td> - <td class="cht1">6</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>This preparation therefore forms a mixture exactly balanced in hot -and cold properties, but twice as dry as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> it is humid; the mixture is -therefore dry in the first degree. If the total had shown twelve of -the dry to three of the humid qualities, it would have been dry in -the second degree. When it is remembered that in addition to these -calculations the physician had to realise that drugs adapted for one -part of the body might be of no use for another, it will be perceived -that the art of prescribing was a serious business under the sway of -the old dogmas.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Rosicrucians.</h3> - -<p>It has never been pretended, so far as I am aware, that the Rosicrucian -mystics of the middle ages did anything for the advancement of -pharmacy. They are only mentioned here because they claimed the power -of curing disease, and also because it happens that the fiction -which created the legends concerning them was almost contemporaneous -with the not unsimilar one (if the latter be a fiction) which made a -historical figure of Basil Valentine. Between 1614 and 1616 three works -were published professing to reveal the history of the brethren of -the Rosy Cross. The first was known as Fama Fraternitatis, the second -was the Confessio Fraternitatis, and the third and most important was -the “Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz.” The treatises are -written in a mystic jargon, and have been interpreted as alchemical -or religious parables, though vast numbers of learned men adopted -the records as statements of facts. It was asserted that Christian -Rosencreutz, a German, born in 1378, had travelled in the East, and -from the wise men of Arabia and other countries had learnt the secrets -of their knowledge, religious, necromantic, and alchemical. On his -return<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> to Germany he and seven other persons formed this fraternity, -which was to be kept secret for a hundred years. The brethren, it -is suggested, communicated to each other their discoveries and the -knowledge which had been transmitted to them to communicate with -each other. They were to treat the sick poor free, were to wear no -distinctive dress, but they used the letters C.R. They knew how to -make gold, but this was not of much value to them, for they did not -seek wealth. They were to meet once a year, and each one appointed his -own successor, but there were to be no tombstones or other memorials. -Christian Rosencreutz himself is reported to have died at the age of -106, and long afterwards his skeleton was found in a house, a wall -having been built over him. Their chief business being to heal the -sick poor, they must have known much about medicine, but the books do -not reveal anything of any use. They acquired their knowledge, not by -study, but by the direct illumination of God. The theories—such as -they were—were Paracelsian, and the fraternity, though mystic, was -Protestant.</p> - -<p>The most curious feature of the story is that the almost obviously -fictitious character of the documents which announced it should have -been so widely believed. Very soon after their publication German -students were fiercely disputing concerning the authenticity of the -revelations, and the controversy continued for two hundred years. Much -learned investigation into the origin of the first treatises has been -made, and the most usual conclusion has been that they were written by -a German theologian, Johann Valentin Andreas, of Württemberg, b. 1586, -d. 1654. He is said to have declared before his death that he wrote the -alleged history expressly as a work of fiction.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Doctrine of Signatures</h3> - -<p class="p-left">was at least intelligible. It associated itself, too, with the pious -utterances so frequent among the mediæval teachers and practitioners -of medicine. The theory was that the Creator in providing herbs for -the service of man had stamped on them, at least in many instances, an -indication of their special remedial value. The adoption of ginseng -root by the Chinese as a remedy for impotence, and of mandrake by the -Hebrews and Greeks in the treatment of sterility, those roots often -resembling the male form, have been often cited as evidence of the -antiquity of the general dogma.... But isolated instances of that -kind are very far from proving the existence of systematic belief. -Hippocrates states that diseases are sometimes cured by the use of -“like” remedies; but he was not the founder of homœopathy.</p> - -<p>It is likely that the belief in a special indication of the virtues -of remedies grew up slowly in the monasteries, and was originated, -perhaps, by noticing some curious coincidences. It found wide -acceptation in the sixteenth century, largely owing to the confident -belief in the doctrine expressed in the writings of Paracelsus. -Oswald Crollius and Giovanni Batista Porta, both mystical medical -authors, taught the idea with enthusiasm. But it can hardly be said -that it maintained its influence to any appreciable extent beyond the -seventeenth century. Dr. Paris describes the doctrine of signatures as -“the most absurd and preposterous hypothesis that has disgraced the -annals of medicine”; but except that it may have led to experiments -with a few valueless herbs, it is difficult to see sufficient reason -for this extravagant condemnation of a poetic fancy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> - -<p>The signatures of some drugs were no doubt observed after their virtues -had been discovered. Poppy, for instance, under the doctrine was -appropriated to brain disorders, on account of its shape like a head. -But its reputation as a brain soother was much more ancient than the -inference.</p> - -<p>It is only necessary to give a few specimens of the inductive reasoning -involved in the doctrine of signatures as revealed by the authors of -the old herbals. The saxifrages were supposed to break up rocks; their -medicinal value in stone in the bladder was therefore manifest. Roses -were recommended in blood disorders, rhubarb and saffron in bilious -complaints, turmeric in jaundice, all on account of their colour. -Trefoil “defendeth the heart against the noisome vapour of the spleen,” -says William Coles in his “Art of Simpling,” “not only because the -leaf is triangular like the heart of a man, but because each leaf -contains the perfect icon of a heart and in the proper flesh colour.” -Aristolochia Clematitis was called birthwort, and from the shape of its -corolla was believed to be useful in parturition. Physalis alkekengi, -bladder wort, owed its reputation as a cleanser of the bladder and -urinary passages to its inflated calyx. Tormentilla officinalis, -blood root, has a red root, and would therefore cure bloody fluxes. -Scrophularia nodosa, kernel wort, has kernels or tubers attached to its -roots, and was consequently predestined for the treatment of scrofulous -glands of the neck. Canterbury bells, from their long throats, were -allocated to the cure of sore throats. Thistles, because of their -prickles, would cure a stitch in the side. Scorpion grass, the old name -of the forget-me-not, has a spike which was likened to the tail of a -scorpion, and was therefore a remedy for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> the sting of a scorpion. [The -name forget-me-not was applied in England, until about a century ago, -to the Ground Pine (Ajuga Chamœpitys), for the unpoetical reason that -it left a nauseous taste in the mouth.]</p> - -<p>Oswald Crollius, who describes himself as Medicus et Philosophus -Hermeticus, in his “Tractatus de Signatures,” writes a long and very -pious preface explaining the importance of the knowledge of signatures. -It is the most useful part of botany, he observes, and yet not a -tenth part of living physicians have fitted themselves to practise -from this study to the satisfaction of their patients. His inferences -from the plants and animals he mentions are often very far-fetched, -but he gives his conclusions as if they had been mathematically -demonstrated. Never once does he intimate that a signature is capable -of two interpretations. A few illustrations not mentioned above may be -selected from his treatise.</p> - -<p>Walnuts have the complete signature of the head. From the shell, -therefore, a salt can be made of special use for wounds of the -pericranium. The inner part of the shell will make a decoction for -injuries to the skull; the pellicle surrounding the kernel makes a -medicine for inflammation of the membrane of the brain; and the kernel -itself nourishes and strengthens the brain. The down on the quince -shows that a decoction of that fruit will prevent the hair falling out. -So will the moss that grows on trees. The asarum has the signature of -the ears. A conserve of its flowers will therefore help the hearing and -the memory. Herb Paris, euphrasia, chamomile, hieracium, and many other -herbs yield preparations for the eyes. Potentilla flowers bear the -pupil of the eye, and may similarly be employed. The seed receptacle -of the hen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>bane resembles the formation of the jaw. That is why these -seeds are good for toothache. The lemon indicates the heart, ginger the -belly, cassia fistula the bowels, aristolochia the womb, plantago the -nerves and veins, palma Christi and fig leaves the hands.</p> - -<p>The signatures sometimes simulate the diseases themselves. Lily of the -valley has a flower hanging like a drop; it is good for apoplexy. The -date, according to Paracelsus, cures cancer; dock seeds, red colcothar, -and acorus palustris will cure erysipelas; red santal, geraniums, -coral, blood stones, and tormentilla, are indicated in hæmorrhage; -rhubarb in yellow bile; wolves’ livers in liver complaints, foxes’ -lungs in pulmonary affections, and dried worms powdered in goats’ milk -to expel worms. The fame of vipers as a remedy was largely due to the -theory of the renewal of their youth. Tartarus, or salt of man’s urine, -is good against tartar and calculi.</p> - -<p>Colour was a very usual signature. Red hangings were strongly advocated -in medical books for the beds of patients with small-pox. John of -Gaddesden, physician to Edward II, says, “When I saw the son of the -renowned King of England lying sick of the small-pox I took care that -everything round the bed should be of a red colour, which succeeded so -completely that the Prince was restored to perfect health without the -vestige of a pustule.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Metals and Precious Stones.</h3> - -<p>It will be noticed that parts of animals are credited in the examples -just quoted with remedial properties. This was a natural extension -of the doctrine. Metals, too, were credited with medicinal virtues -corresponding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> with their names or with the deities and planets with -which they had been so long associated. The sun ruled the heart, gold -was the sun’s metal, therefore gold was especially a cordial. The -moon, silver, and the head were similarly associated. Iron was a tonic -because Mars was strong.</p> - -<p>“Have a care,” says Culpepper, “you use not such medicines to one part -of your body which are appropriated to another; for if your brain be -overheated and you use such medicines as cool the heart or liver you -may make mad work.”</p> - -<p>But it was not quite so simple a thing as it may seem to be to select -the proper remedy, because there were conditions which made it -necessary to follow an antipathetical treatment. For instance, Saturn -ruling the bones caused toothache; but if Jupiter happened to be in -the ascendant, the proper drug to employ was one in the service of -the opposing planet. Modern astronomy has removed the heavenly bodies -so far from us that we have ceased to regard them in the friendly way -which once characterised our relations with them. To quote Culpepper -again: “It will seem strange to none but madmen and fools that the -stars should have influence upon the body of man, considering he being -an epitomy of the Creation must needs have a celestial world within -himself; for ... if there be an unity in the Godhead there must needs -be an unity in all His works, and a dependency between them, and not -that God made the Creation to hang together like a rope of sand.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Sympathetic Remedies.</h3> - -<p>Among the strange theories which have found acceptance in medical -history, mainly it would seem by reason of their utter baselessness and -absurdity, none is more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> unaccountable than the belief in the so-called -sympathetic remedies. There is abundant material for a long chapter on -this particular manifestation of faith in the impossible, but a few -prominent instances of the remarkable method of treatment comprised in -the designation will suffice to prove that it was seriously adopted by -men capable of thinking intelligently.</p> - -<p>The germ of the idea goes back to very early ages. Dr. J. G. Frazer, -the famous authority on primitive beliefs, traces the commandment in -the Pentateuch, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk,” to -an ancient prejudice against the boiling of milk in any circumstances, -on the ground that this would cause suffering to the animal which -yielded the milk. If the suffering could be thus conveyed, it was -logical to believe that healing was similarly capable of transference.</p> - -<p>Pliny (quoted by Cornelius Agrippa) says: “If any person shall be sorry -for a blow he has given another, afar off or near at hand, if he shall -presently spit into the middle of the hand with which he gave the blow, -the party that was smitten shall presently be free from pain.”</p> - -<p>Paracelsus developed the notion with the confidence which he was wont -to bestow on theories which involved far-fetched explanations. This was -his formula for “Unguentum Sympatheticum”:—</p> - -<p>Take 4 oz. each of boar’s and bear’s fat, boil slowly for half an hour, -then pour on cold water. Skim off the floating bit, rejecting that -which sinks. (The older the animals yielding the fat, the better.)</p> - -<p>Take of powdered burnt worms, of dried boar’s brain, of red sandal -wood, of mummy, of bloodstone, 1 oz. of each. Then collect 1 drachm -of the moss from the skull of a man who died a violent death, one who -had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> been hanged, preferably, and had not been buried. This should be -collected at the rising of the moon, and under Venus if possible, but -certainly not under Mars or Saturn. With all these ingredients make an -ointment, which keep in a closed glass vessel. If it becomes dry on -keeping it can be softened with a little fresh lard or virgin honey. -The ointment must be prepared in the autumn.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus describes the methods of applying this ointment, the -precautions to be taken, and the manner in which it exerts its -influence. It was the weapon which inflicted the wound which was to be -anointed, and it would be effective no matter how far away the wounded -person might be. It would not answer if an artery had been severed, -or if the heart, the brain, or the liver had suffered the lesion. The -wound was to be kept properly bandaged, and the bandages were to be -first wetted with the patient’s urine. The anointment of the weapon -was to be repeated every day in the case of a serious wound, or every -second or third day when the wound was not so severe, and the weapon -was to be wrapped after anointment in a clean linen cloth, and kept -free from dust and draughts, or the patient would experience much pain. -The anointment of the weapon acted on the wound by a magnetic current -through the air direct to the healing balsam which exists in every -living body, just as the heat of the sun passes through the air.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus also prescribed the leaves of the Polygonum persicaria to -be applied to sores and ulcers, and then buried. One of his disciples -explains that the object of burying the leaves was that they attracted -the evil spirits like a magnet, and thus drew these spirits from the -patient to the earth.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> - -<p>The sympathetic egg was another device to cheat diseases, attributed to -the same inventive genius. An empty chicken’s egg was to be filled with -warm blood from a healthy person, carefully sealed and placed under -a brooding hen for a week or two, so that its vitality should not be -impaired. It was then heated in an oven for some hours at a temperature -sufficient to bake bread. To cure a case this egg was placed in contact -with the affected part and then buried. It was assumed that it would -inevitably take the disease with it, as healthy and concentrated blood -must have a stronger affinity for disease than a weaker sort.</p> - -<p>Robert Fludd, M.D., the Rosicrucian, who fell under the displeasure -of the College of Physicians on account of his unsound views from a -Galenical standpoint, was a warm advocate of the Paracelsian Weapon -Salve. In reply to a contemporary doctor who had ridiculed the theory -he waxes earnest, and at times sarcastic. He explains that “an ointment -composed of the moss of human bones, mummy (which is the human body -combined with balm), human fat, and added to these the blood, which is -the beginning and food of them all, must have a spiritual power, for -with the blood the bright soul doth abide and operateth after a hidden -manner. Then as there is a spiritual line protracted or extended in the -Ayre between the wounded person and the Box of Ointment like the beam -of the Sun from the Sun, so this animal beam is the faithful conductor -of the Healing nature from the box of the balsam to the wounded body. -And if it were not for that line which conveys the wholesome and -salutiferous spirit, the value of the ointment would evaporate or sluce -out this way or that way and so would bring no benefit to the wounded -persons.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> - -<p>Van Helmont, Descartes, Batista Porta, and other leaders of science, -in the seventeenth century, espoused the theory cordially enough. Van -Helmont’s contribution to the evidence on which it was founded is -hard to beat. In his “De Magnetica Vulnerum Curatione,” written about -1644, he relates that a citizen of Brussels having lost his nose in a -combat in Italy, repaired to a surgeon of Bologna named Tagliacozzi, -who provided him with another, taking the required strip of flesh from -the arm of a servant. This answered admirably, and the Brussels man -returned home. But thirteen months later he found his nose was getting -cold; and then it began to putrefy. The explanation, of course, was -that the servant from whom the flesh had been borrowed had died. Van -Helmont adds, “Superstites sunt horum testes oculati Bruxellae”; there -are still eye-witnesses of this case at Brussels.</p> - -<p>Moss from a dead man’s skull is a principal ingredient in all the -sympathetic ointments, and the condition that the dead man should have -died a violent death is generally insisted on. But Van Helmont, quoting -from one Goclenius, adds another condition still more absurd. It is -that the dead man’s name should only have three letters. Thus, for -example, Dod would do, but not Dodd.</p> - -<p>Sir Gilbert Talbot (in the time of Charles II) communicated to the -Royal Society particulars of a cure he had made with Sympathetic -Powder. An English mariner was stabbed in four places at Venice, and -bled for three days without intermission. Sir Gilbert, who happened -to be at Venice at the same time, was told of this disaster. He sent -for some of the man’s blood and mixed Sympathetic Powder with it. -At the same time he sent a man to bind up the patient’s wounds with -clean linen. Soon after he visited the mariner and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> found all the -wounds closed, and the man much comforted. Three days later the poor -fellow was able to call on Sir Gilbert to thank him, but even then “he -appeared like a ghost with noe blood left in his body.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p192"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p192.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Marquise de Sévigné.</p> -<blockquote> - -<p>Born 1626, died 1696, whose famous “letters” are of great -historical importance, frequently introduces references to the -medicine of the period, and was herself a faithful disciple of -many of its quackeries.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Madame de Sévigné, an experienced amateur in medical matters, provides -interesting evidence of the popularity of the powder of sympathy. -Writing to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> her daughter on January 28th, 1685, she tells her that “a -little wound which was believed to have been healed had shown signs of -revolt; but it is only for the honour of being cured by your powder -of sympathy. The Baume Tranquille is of no account now; your powder -of sympathy is a perfectly divine remedy. My sore has changed its -appearance and is now half dried and cured.” On February 7th, 1685, she -writes again:—“I am afraid the powder of sympathy is only suitable -for old standing wounds. It has only cured the least troublesome of -mine. I am now using the black ointment, which is admirable.” Even the -black ointment proved unfaithful, for in June of the same year the -marchioness writes that she has gone to the Capucins of the Louvre. -They did not believe in the powder of sympathy; they had something much -better. They gave her certain herbs which were to be applied to the -affected part and removed twice a day. Those removed are to be buried; -“and laugh if you like, as they decay so will the wound heal, and thus -by a gentle and imperceptible transpiration I shall cure the most -ill-treated leg in the world.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p194"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p194.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Sir Kenelm Digby.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From a painting by Vandyke in the Bodleian Gallery, Oxford.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The name of Sir Kenelm Digby is more closely associated with the -“powder of sympathy” than that of any other person, and indeed he is -often credited with the invention of the idea; but this was not the -case. He was an extraordinary man who played a rather prominent part -in the stirring days of the Stuarts. His father, Sir Everard Digby, -was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and was duly executed. Kenelm -must have been gifted with unusual attractions or plausibility to have -overcome this unfortunate stain on his pedigree, but he managed it, and -history introduces him to us at the court of that suspicious monarch,</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> - -<p>James I., while he was quite a young man. He had inherited an income of -£3,000 a year, and seems to have been popular with the King and with -his fellow courtiers. But he was not contented to lead an idle life, -so he pressed James to give him a commission to go forth and steal -some Spanish galleons, which was the gentlemanly thing to do in those -days. James consented, but at the last moment it was discovered that -the commission would not be in order unless it was countersigned by -the Lord High Admiral, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> away from England at the time. James -therefore simply granted the buccaneer a licence to undertake a voyage -“for the increase of his knowledge.” Digby scoured the Mediterranean -for a year or two, captured some French, Spanish, and Flemish ships, -and won a rather severe engagement with French and Venetian vessels -at Scanderoon in the Levant. This exploit was celebrated by Digby’s -friend, Ben Jonson, in verse, which can only be termed deathless on -account of its particularly imbecile ending:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Witness his action done at Scanderoon</div> - <div>Upon his birthday, the eleventh of June.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">The writer of Digby’s epitaph plagiarised the essence of this brilliant -strophe in the following lines:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Born on the day he died, the eleventh of June,</div> - <div>And that day bravely fought at Scanderoon.</div> - <div>It’s rare that one and the same day should be</div> - <div>His day of birth and death and victory.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>On his return home after thus distinguishing himself, Digby was -knighted, changed his religion occasionally, was imprisoned and -banished at intervals, and dabbled in science between times, or shone -in society in London, Paris, or Rome, visiting the two last-named -cities frequently on real or pretended diplomatic missions.</p> - -<p>During his residence in France, in 1658, he lectured to the University -of Montpellier on his sympathetic powder, and the fame of this -miraculous compound soon reached England. When he came back he -professed to be shy of using it lest he should be accused of wizardry. -But an occasion soon occurred when he was compelled to take the risk -for the sake of a friend. Thomas Howel, the Duke of Buckingham’s -secretary, was seriously wounded in trying to prevent a duel between -two friends of his, and the doctors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> prognosticated gangrene and -probably death. The friends of the wounded man appealed to Sir Kenelm, -who generously consented to do his best. He told the attendants to -bring him a rag on which was some of the sufferer’s blood. They -brought the garter which had been used as a bandage and which was -still thick with blood. He soaked this in a basin of water in which he -had dissolved a handful of his sympathetic powder. An hour later the -patient said he felt an agreeable coolness. The fever and pain rapidly -abated, and in a few days the cure was complete. It was reported that -the Duke of Buckingham testified to the genuineness of the cure and -that the king had taken a keen interest in the treatment.</p> - -<p>Digby asserted that the secret of the powder was imparted to him by -a Carmelite monk whom he met at Florence. His laboratory assistant, -George Hartman, published a “Book of Chymicall Secrets,” in 1682, after -Sir Kenelm’s death, and therein explained that the Powder of Sympathy, -which was then made by himself (Hartman), and “sold by a bookseller -in Cornhill named Brookes” was prepared “by dissolving good English -vitriol in as little warm water as will suffice, filter, evaporate, and -set aside until fair, large, green crystals are formed. Spread these -in the sun until they whiten. Then crush them coarsely and again dry -in the sun.” Other recipes say it should be dried in the sun gently (a -French formula says “amoureusement”) for 365 days.</p> - -<p>Sir Kenelm’s scientific explanation of the action of his sympathetic -powder is on the same lines as the others I have quoted. Briefly it -was that the rays of the sun extracted from the blood and the vitriol -associated with it the spirit of each in minute atoms. At the same time -the inflamed wound was exhaling hot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> atoms and making way for a current -of air. The air charged with the atoms of blood and vitriol were -attracted to it, and acted curatively.</p> - -<p>In a letter written by Straus to Sir Kenelm, it is related that Lord -Gilborne had followed the system, but his method was described as -“the dry way.” A carpenter had cut himself severely with an axe. The -offending axe still bespattered with blood was smeared with the proper -ointment and hung up in a cupboard. The wound was going on well, but -one day it suddenly became violently painful again. On investigation it -was found that the axe had fallen from the nail on which it was hung.</p> - -<p>Inscribed on the plate attached to the portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby -in the National Portrait Gallery, it is stated that “His character -has been summed up as a prodigy of learning, credulity, valour, and -romance.” Although this appreciation is quoted the author is not named. -Other testimonials to his character and reliability are to be found -in contemporary literature. Evelyn alludes to him as “a teller of a -strange things.” Clarendon describes him as “a person very eminent -and notorious throughout the whole course of his life from his cradle -to his grave. A man of very extraordinary person and presence; a -wonderful graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy, and such a volubility -of language as surprised and delighted.” Lady Fanshawe met him at -Calais with the Earl of Strafford and others and says, “much excellent -discourse passed; but, as was reason, most share was Sir Kenelm Digby’s -who had enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories than might be -averred.” At last he told the company about the barnacle goose he had -seen in Jersey; a barnacle which changes to a bird, and at this they -all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> laughed incredulously. But Lady Fanshawe says this “was the only -thing true he had declaimed with them. This was his infirmity, though -otherwise of most excellent parts, and a very fine-bred gentleman.” In -John Aubrey’s “Brief Lives” (“set down between 1669 and 1696”) Digby is -described as “such a goodly person, gigantique and great voice, and had -so graceful elocution and noble address, etc., that had he been drop’t -out of the clowdes in any part of the world he would have made himself -respected.”</p> - -<p>It may be of interest to add that a daughter of Sir Kenelm Digby’s -second son married a Sir John Conway, of Flintshire. Her granddaughter, -Honora, married a Sir John Glynne whose great-grandson, Sir Stephen -Glynne, was the father of the late Mrs. W. E. Gladstone.</p> - -<p>In 1690, Lemery had the courage to express some doubts about this -powder of sympathy, and in 1773 Baumé declared its pretensions to be -absolutely illusory.</p> - -<p>To conclude the account of this curious delusion, a few quotations from -English literature may be added.</p> - -<p>There are several allusions to sympathetic cures in Hudibras. For -instance,</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>For by his side a pouch he wore</div> - <div>Replete with strange hermetick powder</div> - <div>That wounds nine miles point blank would solder,</div> - <div>By skilful chemist at great cost</div> - <div>Extracted from a rotten post.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>And again,</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>’Tis true a scorpion’s oil is said</div> - <div>To cure the wounds the vermin made;</div> - <div>And weapons dress’d with salves restore</div> - <div>And heal the wounds they made before.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In Dryden’s <i>Tempest</i>, the sympathetic treatment is referred to. -Hippolito has been wounded by Fernando,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> and Miranda instructed by -Ariel, visits him. Ariel says, “Anoint the sword which pierced him with -this weapon salve, and wrap it close from air.” The following is the -next scene between Hippolito and Miranda.</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div><i>Hip.</i> Oh! my wound pains me.</div> - <div><i>Mir.</i> I am come to ease you.<span class="i2">[<i>Unwrapping the sword.</i></span></div> - <div><i>Hip.</i> Alas! I feel the cold air come to me.</div> - <div class="i2h">My wound shoots worse than ever.</div> - <div class="i7">[<i>Miranda wipes and anoints the sword.</i></div> - <div><i>Mir.</i> Does it still grieve you?</div> - <div><i>Hip.</i> Now, methinks, there’s something laid just upon it.</div> - <div><i>Mir.</i> Do you find no ease?</div> - <div><i>Hip.</i> Yes, yes; upon the sudden all the pain</div> - <div class="i2h">Is leaving me; Sweet heaven, how I am eased.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Lastly, in the <i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>, Scott alludes to this same -superstition in the lines</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>But she has ta’en the broken lance</div> - <div>And washed it from the clotted gore</div> - <div>And salved the splinter o’er and o’er.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>It would appear from the explanations already given that by washing the -gore away she destroyed the communication between the wound and the -remedy.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Animal Magnetism.</h3> - -<p>The first allusion to the application of the magnet as a cure for -disease is found in the works of Aetius, who wrote in the early part -of the sixth century. He mentions that holding a magnet in the hand is -said to give relief in gout. He does not profess to have tested this -treatment himself. Writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -recommend it strongly for toothache, headache, convulsions, and -nerve disorders. About the end of the seventeenth century magnetic -tooth-picks and earpicks were sold. To these were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> attributed the -virtues of preventing and healing pains in those organs.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus originated the theory of animal magnetism. The mysterious -properties possessed by the loadstone and transferable from that body -to iron, were according to Paracelsus an influence drawn directly from -the stars and possessed by all animate beings. It was a fluid which -he called Magnale. By it he explained the movements of certain plants -which follow the course of the sun, and it was on the basis of this -hypothesis that he composed his sympathetic ointment and explained the -action of talismans. Paracelsus applied the magnet in epilepsy, and -also prepared a magisterium magnetis.</p> - -<p>Glauber professed to have a secret magnet which would draw only the -essence or tincture from iron, leaving the gross body behind. With -this he made a tincture of Mars and Venus, thus “robbing the dragon of -the golden fleece which it guards.” This is understood to mean that he -dissolved iron and copper in aqua fortis. And as Jason restored his -aged father to youth again, so would this tincture prove a wonderful -restorative. He commenced to test it on one occasion and very soon -black curly hair began to grow on his bald head. But he had not enough -of the tincture to permit him to carry on the experiment, and though he -had a great longing to make some more, he apparently put off doing so -until it was too late.</p> - -<p>Van Helmont, Fludd, and other physicians of mystic instincts, were -among the protagonists of animal magnetism, and physicians administered -pulverised magnet in salves, plasters, pills and potions. But in 1660 -Dr. Gilbert, of Colchester, noted that, when powdered, the loadstone -no longer possessed magnetic properties. Ultimately, therefore, it was -understood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> that the powder of magnet was not capable of producing any -other effects than any other ferruginous substance. But the belief in -magnets applied to the body was by no means dissipated. The theory was -exploited by various practitioners, but notably towards the latter part -of the eighteenth century, when the Viennese doctor, F. A. Mesmer, -excited such a vogue in Paris that the Court, the Government, the -Academy of Sciences, and aristocratic society generally were ranged in -pro-and anti-Mesmer sections. Franklin stated that at one time Mesmer -was taking more money in fees than all the regular physicians of Paris -put together. And yet Mesmer’s explanations of the phenomena attending -his performances were only an amplification of the doctrines which -Paracelsus had first imagined.</p> - -<p>The excitement did not spread to England to any great extent, but -about the same time an American named Perkins created a great deal of -stir with his metallic tractors, which sent the nation tractor-mad for -the time. Dr. Haygarth, of Bath, contributed to the failure of this -delusion by a series of experiments on patients with pieces of wood -painted to resemble the tractors from which equally wonderful relief -was felt, proving that the cures such as they were, could only have -been the consequence of faith.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Treatment of Itch.</h3> - -<p>The history of the treatment of itch is such a curious instance of the -blind acceptance of authority through many centuries, in the course -of which the true explanation lay close at hand, that it is worth -narrating briefly.</p> - -<p>It is stated in some histories that the disease was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> known to the -Chinese some thousands of years ago, and the name they gave it, -Tchong-kiai, which means pustules formed by a worm, indicates that at -least when that term was adopted they had some acquaintance with the -character of the disease.</p> - -<p>Some writers have supposed that certain of the uncleannesses alluded -to in the Book of Leviticus have reference to this complaint; and it -is quite possible that in old times it acquired a much more severe -character than it ever has now, owing to neglect or improper treatment. -Psora, in Greek, and the equivalent term Scabies, in Latin, are -supposed to have at least included the itch, though in all probability -those words comprehended a number of skin diseases which are now more -exactly distinguished. Hippocrates mentions psora, and apparently -treated it solely by the internal administration of diluents and -purgatives. Aristotle mentions not only the disease but the insects -found, he said, in the blisters. Celsus advocated the application of -ointments composed of a miscellaneous lot of drugs, such as verdigris, -myrrh, nitre, white lead, and sulphur. Galen hints at the danger of -external applications which might drive the disease inwards. In Cicero, -Horace, Juvenal, and other of the classical writers, the word scabies -is used to indicate something unnatural; showing that it had come to be -adopted metaphorically.</p> - -<p>The Arab writers are much more explicit. Rhazes, Haly Abbas, and -Avicenna are very definite in their descriptions of the nature of the -complaint, and how it is transmitted from one person to another; but -Avicenna’s mode of treatment was directed to the expulsion of the -supposed vicious humours from the body by bleeding and purgatives, -especially by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> purgative called Hamech. At the same time he advised -that the constitution should be reinforced by suitable diet and -astringent medicines.</p> - -<p>Avenzoar of Seville, a remarkable observer, who lived in the twelfth -century, alludes to a malady of the skin, common among the people, and -known as Soab. This, he says, is caused by a tiny insect, so small that -it can scarcely be seen, which, hidden beneath the epidermis, escapes -when a puncture has been made.</p> - -<p>One would have supposed that the doctors were at that time on the -eve of understanding the itch correctly, and in fact the writers of -the next few centuries were at least quite clear about the acarus. -Ambrose Paré, for example, who lived through the greater part of the -sixteenth century, uses this language:—“Les cirons sont petits animaux -cachés dans le cuir, sous lequel ils se trainent, rampent, et rongent -petit par petit, excitant une facheuse demangeaison et gratelle;” and -elsewhere “Ces cirons doivent se tirer avec espingles ou aiguilles.”</p> - -<p>All this time, however, the complaint was regarded as a disturbance of -the humours which had to be treated by suitable internal medicines. -In a standard work, <i>De Morbis Cutaneis</i>, by Mercuriali, published at -Venice in 1601, the author attributes the disease to perverted humours, -and says it is contagious because the liquid containing the contagious -principle is deposited on or in the skin.</p> - -<p>This view, or something like it, continued to be the orthodox opinion -at least up to the seventeenth century. Van Helmont’s personal -experience of the itch is referred to in dealing with that eccentric -genius who was converted from Galenism to Paracelsianism as a -consequence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> of his cure; but he never got beyond the idea that the -cause of the complaint was a specific ferment.</p> - -<p>The earliest really scientific contribution to the study of this -disorder may be credited to Thomas Mouffet, of London, who, in a -treatise published in 1634, entitled <i>Insectorum sive Minimorum -Animalium Theatrum</i>, showed not only that the animalculæ were -constantly associated with the complaint, but made it clear that they -were not to be found in the vesicles, but in the tunnels connected with -these. For this was the stumbling block of most of the investigators. -It had been so often stated that the parasites were to be found in the -vesicles, that when they were not there the theory failed. Mouffet’s -exposition ought to have led to a correct understanding of the cause of -the complaint, but it was practically ignored.</p> - -<p>About this time the microscope was invented, and in 1657 a German -naturalist named Hauptmann published a rough drawing of the insect -magnified. A better, but still imperfect, representation of it was -given a few years later by Etmuller.</p> - -<p>In 1687 a pharmacist of Leghorn, named Cestoni, induced a Dr. Bonomo of -that city to join him in making a series of experiments to prove that -the acarus was the cause of itch. They had both observed the women of -the city extracting the insects from the hands of their children by -the aid of needles, and the result of their research was a treatise in -which the parasitic nature of the complaint was maintained, and the -uselessness of internal remedies was insisted on. These intelligent -Italians recommended sulphur or mercury ointment as the essential -application.</p> - -<p>Even with this evidence before them the doctors went on faithful to -their theory of humours. Linnæus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> supported the view of Bonomo and -Cestoni, but made the mistake of identifying the itch parasite with -the cheese mite. The great medical authorities of the eighteenth -century, such as Hoffmann and Boerhaave, still recommended general -treatment, and a long list of drugs might be compiled which were -supposed to be suitable in the treatment of itch. Among these, luckily, -some parasiticides were included, and, consequently, the disease did -get cured by these, but the wrong things got the credit. About the -end of the eighteenth century Hahnemann promulgated the theory that -the “psoric miasm” of which the itch eruption was the symptomatic -manifestation, was the cause of a large proportion of chronic diseases.</p> - -<p>Some observers thought there were two kinds of itch, one caused by the -acarus, the other independent of it. Bolder theorists held that the -insect was the product of the disease. The dispute continued until -1834, in which year Francois Renucci, a native of Corsica, and at the -time assistant to the eminent surgeon d’Alibert at the Hôpital St. -Louis, Paris, undertook to extract the acarus in any genuine case of -itch. As a boy he had seen the poor women extract it in Corsica, as -Bonomo and Cestoni had seen others do it at Leghorn, though his learned -master at the hospital remained sceptical for some years. It was near -the middle of the nineteenth century before the parasitic character of -itch was universally acknowledged.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>XI<br /> - -<span class="subhed">MASTERS IN PHARMACY</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>We are guilty, we hope, of no irreverence towards those great -nations to which the human race owes art, science, taste, -civil and intellectual freedom, when we say that the stock -bequeathed by them to us has been so carefully improved that -the accumulated interest now exceeds the principal.</p> - -<p class="p0 r1"><span class="smcap">Macaulay</span>: “Essay on Lord Bacon” (1837).</p></blockquote> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Dioscorides.</h3> - -<p>It has been a subject of lively dispute whether Dioscorides lived -before or after Pliny. It seems certain that one of these authors -copied from the other on particular matters, and in neither case is -credit given. Pliny was born <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 23 and died <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> -79, and would therefore have lived under the Emperors Tiberius, -Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. -Suidas, the historian, who probably wrote in the tenth century, -dates Dioscorides as contemporary with Antony and Cleopatra, about -<span class="sm">B.C.</span> 40, and some Arab authorities say he wrote at the -time of Ptolemy VII, which would be still a hundred years earlier. -But Dioscorides dedicates his great work on materia medica to Areus -Asclepiades, who is otherwise unknown, but mentions as a friend of his -patron the consul Licinius Bassus. There was a consul Lecanius Bassus -in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> reign of Nero, and it is therefore generally supposed that -Dioscorides was in his prime at that period, and would consequently be -a contemporary of Pliny’s. It is possible that both authors drew from -another common source.</p> - -<p>Dioscorides was a native of Anazarbus in Cilicia, a province where -the Greek spoken and written was proverbially provincial. Our word -solecism is believed to have been derived from the town of Soloe in -the same district. The Greek of Dioscorides is alleged to have been -far from classical. He himself apologises for it in his preface, and -Galen remarks upon it. Nevertheless Dioscorides maintained for at -least sixteen centuries the premier position among authorities on -materia medica. Galen complains that he was sometimes too indefinite -in his description of plants, that he does not indicate exactly enough -the diseases in which they are useful, and that he does not explain -the degrees of heat, cold, dryness, and humidity which characterise -them. He will often content himself with saying that a herb is hot -or cold, as the case may be. As an illustration of one of his other -criticisms Galen mentions the Polygonum, of which he notes that -Dioscorides says “it is useful for those who urinate with difficulty.” -But Galen adds that he does not particularise precisely the cases of -which this is a symptom and which the Polygonum is good for. But these -defects notwithstanding, Galen recognises that Dioscorides is the best -authority on the subject of the materials of medicine.</p> - -<p>It is generally stated that Dioscorides was a physician; but of this -there is no certain evidence. According to his own account he was -devoted to the study and observation of plants and medical substances -generally,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> and in order to see them in their native lands he -accompanied the Roman armies through Greece, Italy, and Asia Minor. -This was the easiest method of visiting foreign countries in those -days. It is not unlikely that he went as assistant to a physician, -perhaps to the one to whom he dedicated his book. That is to say, -he may have been an army compounder. Suidas says of him that he was -nicknamed Phocas, because his face was covered with stains of the shape -of lentils.</p> - -<p>In his treatise on materia medica, “Peri Ules Iatrikes,” or, according -to Photius, originally “Peri Ules,” On Matter, only, he describes -some six hundred plants, limiting himself to those which had or -were supposed to have medicinal virtues. He mentions, besides, the -therapeutic properties of many animal substances. Among these are -roasted grasshoppers, for bladder disorders; the liver of an ass for -epilepsy; seven bugs enclosed in the skin of a bean to be taken in -intermittent fever; and a spider applied to the temples for headache.</p> - -<p>Dioscorides also gives a formula for the Sal Viperum, which was a noted -remedy in his time and for long afterwards. His process was to roast -a viper alive in a new earthen pot with some figs, common salt, and -honey, reducing the whole to ashes. A little spikenard was added to the -ashes. Pliny only adds fennel and frankincense to the viper, but Galen -and later authors make the salt a much more complicated mixture.</p> - -<p>His botany is very defective. He classifies plants in the crudest way; -often only by a similarity of names. Of many his only description is -that it is “well-known,” a habit which has got him into much trouble -with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> modern investigators who have looked into his work for historical -evidence verifying the records of herbs named in other works. Hyssop -is an example. As stated in the section entitled “The Pharmacy of -the Bible,” it has not been found possible to identify the several -references to hyssop in the Bible. Dioscorides contents himself by -saying that it is a well-known plant, and then gives its medicinal -qualities. But that his hyssop was not the plant known to us by that -name is evident from the fact that in the same chapter he describes -the “Chrysocome,” and says of it that it flowers in racemes like the -hyssop. He also speaks of an origanum which has leaves arranged like an -umbel, similar to that of the hyssop. It is evident, therefore, that -his hyssop and ours are not the same plant.</p> - -<p>The mineral medicines in use in his time are also included in the -treatise of Dioscorides. He mentions argentum vivum, cinnabar, -verdigris, the calces of lead and antimony, flowers of brass, rust of -iron, litharge, pompholix, several earths, sal ammoniac, nitre, and -other substances.</p> - -<p>Other treatises, one on poisons and the bites of venomous animals, -and another on medicines easy to prepare, have been attributed to -Dioscorides, but it is not generally accepted that he was the author. -The best known translation of Dioscorides into Latin was made by -Matthiolus of Sienna in the sixteenth century. The MS. from which -Matthiolus worked is still preserved at Vienna and is believed to have -been written in the sixth century.</p> - -<p>The very competent authority Kurt Sprengel, while recognising the -defects in the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, credits him with the -record of many valuable observations. His descriptions of myrrh,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -bdellium, laudanum, asafoetida, gum ammoniacum, opium, and squill are -selected as particularly useful; the accounts he gives of treatments -since abandoned (some of which are mentioned above, but to these -Sprengel adds the application of wool fat to wounds which has been -revived since he wrote), are of special interest; and the German -historian further justly points out that many remedies re-discovered in -modern times were referred to by Dioscorides. Among these are castor -oil, though Dioscorides only alludes to the external application of -this substance; male fern against tape worms; elm bark for eruptions; -horehound in phthisis; and aloes for ulcers. He describes many chemical -processes very intelligently, and was the first to indicate means of -discovering the adulterations of drugs.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Galen.</h3> - -<p>No writer of either ancient or modern times can compare with Claudius -Galenus probably in the abundance of his output, but certainly in -the influence he exercised over the generations that followed him. -For fifteen hundred years the doctrines he formulated, the compound -medicines he either introduced or endorsed, and the treatments he -recommended commanded almost universal submission among medical -practitioners. In Dr. Monk’s Roll of the College of Physicians, mention -is made of a Dr. Geynes who was admitted to the Fellowship of the -College in 1560, “but not until he had signed a recantation of his -error in having impugned the infallibility of Galen.”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> was at -the time when to deny Galen meant to follow Paracelsus, and the contest -was fiercer just then than at any time before or since.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p211a" > - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p211a.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p211b" > - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p211b.jpg" - alt="" /> -<blockquote> -<p>There is of course no authentic likeness of Galen in -existence. The Royal College of Physicians possesses -an unquestionably antique bust, copied in Pettigrew’s -Medical Portraits (and illustrated in the margin), which -is traditionally credited with being a representation of -the Physician of Pergamos. It was presented to the College -by Lord Ashburton, to whom it was presented by Alexander -Adair, who had acquired it from his relative Robert Adair, -principal surgeon to the British forces at the siege of -Quebec. This Robert Adair was a man of considerable eminence -in his profession, and is described as a man of character -and a scholar. Beyond this very slight evidence there is no -authority for the presumption that the bust was intended for -Galen. The other portrait is copied from the diploma of the -Pharmaceutical Society, but this is not said to have any -history. With these may be compared the portrait given on the -title page of the first London Pharmacopœia. The conclusion -will probably be reached that we have no idea what manner of -man the eminent physician was.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Galen was born at Pergamos, in Asia Minor, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 131, and died -in the same city between <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 200 and 210. His father was an -architect of considerable fortune, and the son was at first destined to -be a philosopher, but while he was going through his courses of logic, -Nicon (the father) was advised in a dream to direct the youth’s studies -in the direction of medicine. It will be seen directly that Galen’s -career was a good deal influenced by dreams.</p> - -<p>Nothing was spared to obtain for the youth the best education -available, though his father died when he was 21. After exhausting the -Pergamos teachers, Galen studied at Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria. -Then he travelled for some years through Cilicia, Phœnicia, Palestine, -Scyros, and the Isles of Crete and Cyprus. He commenced practice at -Pergamos when he was 29 and was appointed Physician to the School of -Gladiators in that city. At 33 he removed to Rome and soon acquired the -confidence and friendship of many distinguished persons, among them -Septimus Severus, the Consul and afterwards Emperor, Sergius Paulus, -the Prætor, the uncle of the reigning Emperor, Lucius Verus, many of -whom he cured of various illnesses.</p> - -<p>His success caused bitter jealousy among the other Greek physicians -then practising in Rome. They called him Paradoxologos, and Logiatros, -which meant that he was a boaster and a master of phrases. It appears -that he was able to hold his own in this wordy warfare. Some of -his opponents he described as Asses of Thessaly, and he also made -allegations against their competence and probity. However, he quitted -Rome in the year<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> 167, and as at a later time he left Aquilea, both -movings being coincident with the occurrence of serious plagues, his -reputation for courage has suffered. It was at this period of his -life that he visited Palestine to see the shrub which yielded Balm of -Gilead, and then proceeded to Armenia to satisfy himself in regard to -the preparation of the Terra Sigillata. He was able to report that the -general belief that blood was used in the process was incorrect.</p> - -<p>It was to Aquilea that Galen was sent for by the Emperor Marcus -Aurelius, who was there preparing a campaign against the Marcomans, -a Germanic nation dwelling in what is now called Bohemia. Marcus -Aurelius was in the habit of taking Theriaca, and would have none but -that which had been prepared by Galen. He urged Galen to accompany -him on his expedition, but the physician declined the honour and the -danger, alleging that Æsculapius had appeared to him in a dream, and -had forbidden him to take the journey. The Emperor therefore sent him -to Rome and charged him with the medical care of his son Commodus, then -11 years of age. Galen is said to have done the world the ill-service -of saving the life of this monster. Galen retained the favour of Marcus -Aurelius till the death of the Emperor, and continued to make Theriaca -for his successors, Commodus, Pertinax, and Septimus Severus. He died -during the reign of the last named Emperor.</p> - -<p>Galen is sometimes said to have kept a pharmacy in the Via d’Acra at -Rome, but his “apotheca” there appears to have been a house where his -writings were kept and where other physicians came to consult them. -This house was afterwards burned, and it is supposed that a number of -the physician’s manuscripts were destroyed in that fire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> - -<p>His medical fame began to develop soon after his death. In about a -hundred years Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, reproaches the world with -treating Galen almost as a divinity. Nearly all the later Roman medical -writers drew freely from his works, and some seemed to depend entirely -on them. Arabic medicine was largely based on Galen’s teaching, and it -was the Arabic manuscripts translated into Latin which furnished the -base of the medical teaching of Europe from the eleventh and twelfth -centuries to the eighteenth.</p> - -<p>Galen aimed to create a perfect system of physiology, pathology, and -treatment. He is alleged to have written 500 treatises on medicine, and -250 on other subjects, philosophy, laws, grammar. Nothing like this -number remains, and the so-called “books” are often what we should call -articles. His known and accepted medical works number eighty-five. All -his writings were originally in Greek.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Oribasius.</h3> - -<p>Oribasius, like Galen, was a native of Pergamos, and was physician -to and friend of the Emperor Julian. He is noted for having compiled -seventy-two books in which he collected all the medical science of -preceding writers. This was undertaken at the instance of Julian. Only -seventeen of these books have been preserved to modern times. Oribasius -adds to his compilation many original observations of his own, and in -these often shows remarkable good sense. He was the originator of the -necklace method of treatment, for he recommends a necklace of beads -made of peony wood to be worn in epilepsy, but does not rely on this -means alone.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Aetius.</h3> - -<p>Aetius, who lived either in the fifth or sixth century, was also a -compiler, but he was besides a great authority on plasters, which he -discusses and describes at enormous length. He was a Christian, and -gives formulas of words to be said when making medicinal compounds, -such as “O God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, give to this remedy -the virtues necessary for it.” In the works of Aetius, mention is made -of several nostrums famous in his time for which fabulous prices were -charged. The Collyrium of Danaus was sold in Constantinople for 120 -numismata. If this means the nummus aureus of Roman money it would be -equal to nearly £100 of our money. At this price, Aetius says, the -Collyrium could only be had with difficulty. He also mentions a Colical -Antidote of Nicostratus called very presumptuously Isotheos (equal to -God), which sold for two talents.</p> - -<p>The remedy devised by Aetius for gout was called Antidotos ex duobus -Centaureae generibus, and was the same as the compound which became -popular in this country under the title of Duke of Portland’s Powder. -(See page 309). Aetius prescribed a regimen along with his medicine -extending over a year. In September the patient was to take milk; -in October, garlic; in November to abstain from baths; December, no -cabbage; in January to take a glass of pure wine every morning; in -February to eat no beet; in March to be allowed sweets in both food -and drink; in April, no horse radish; in May, no Polypus (a favourite -dish); in June, to drink cold water in the morning; in July, no venery; -in August, no mallows.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Alexander of Tralles.</h3> - -<p>This writer, who acquired considerable celebrity as a medical -authority, lived a little later than Aetius, towards the end of the -sixth century. He was a native of Tralles, in Lydia, and is much -esteemed by the principal medical historians, Sprengel, Leclerc, -Freind, and others who have studied his writings. Especially notable -is his independence of opinion; he does not hesitate occasionally to -criticise even Galen. He impresses strongly on his readers the danger -of becoming bound to a particular system of treatment. The causes of -each disease are to be found, and the practitioner is not to be guided -exclusively by symptoms. Among his favourite drugs were castorum, which -he gave in fevers and many other maladies; he had known several persons -snatched from the jaws of death by its use in lethargy (apoplexy); bole -Armeniac, in epilepsy and melancholia; grapes and other ripe fruits -instead of astringents in dysentery; rhubarb appeared as a medicine for -the first time in his writings, but only as an astringent; and he was -the first to use cantharides for blisters in gout instead of soothing -applications. His treatment of gout by internal remedies and regimen -recalls that of Aetius and is worth quoting. He prescribed an electuary -composed of myrrh, coral, cloves, rue, peony, and aristolochia. This -was to be taken regularly every day for a hundred days. Then it was to -be discontinued for fifteen days. After that it was to be recommenced -and continued during 460 days, but only taking a dose every other day; -then after another interval thirty-five more doses were to be taken on -alternate days, making 365 doses altogether in the course of nearly two -years. Meanwhile the diet was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> strictly regulated, and it may well be -that Alexander only provided the medicine to amuse his patient while -he cured the gout by a calculated reduction of his luxuries. Alexander -of Tralles was the author who recommended hermodactyls, supposed to be -a kind of colchicum in gout; a remedy which was forgotten until its -use was revived in a French proprietary medicine. His prescription -compounded hermodactyls, ginger, pepper, cummin seeds, anise seeds, -and scammony. He says it will enable sufferers who take it to walk -immediately. He is supposed to have been the first to advocate the -administration of iron for the removal of obstructions.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Mesuë and Serapion.</h3> - -<p>These names are often met with in old medical and pharmaceutical books, -and there is an “elder” and a “younger” of each of them, so that it may -be desirable to explain who they all were. The elder and the younger -of each are sometimes confused. Serapion the Elder, or Serapion of -Alexandria, as he is more frequently named in medical history, lived -in the Egyptian city about 200 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, and was the recognised -leader of the sect of the Empirics in medicine. He is credited with -the formula that medicine rested on the three bases, Observation, -History, and Analogy. No work of his has survived, but he is alleged to -have violently attacked the theories of Hippocrates, and to have made -great use of such animal products as castorum, the brain of the camel, -the excrements of the crocodile, the blood of the tortoise, and the -testicles of the boar.</p> - -<p>Serapion the Younger was an Arabian physician who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> lived towards the -end of the tenth century and wrote a work on materia medica which was -much used for some five or six hundred years.</p> - -<p>Mesuë the Elder was first physician at the court of Haroun-al-Raschid -in the ninth century. He was born at Khouz, near Nineveh, in 776, and -died at Bagdad in 855. Under his superintendence the School of Medicine -of Bagdad was founded by Haroun. Although a Nestorian Christian, Mesuë -retained his position as first physician to five Caliphs after Haroun. -To his teaching the introduction of the milder purgatives, such as -senna, tamarinds, and certain fruits is supposed to be due. His Arabic -name was Jahiah-Ebn-Masawaih.</p> - -<p>Mesuë the Younger is the authority generally meant when formulas under -his name, sometimes quaintly called Dr. Mesuë in old English books, are -quoted. He lived at Cairo about the year 1000. He was a Christian, like -his earlier namesake, and is believed to have been a pupil or perhaps -a companion of Avicenna; at all events, when the latter got into -disgrace it is alleged that both he and Mesuë took refuge in Damascus. -At Damascus Mesuë wrote his great work known in Latin as Receptarium -Antidotarii. From the time of the invention of printing down to the -middle of the seventeenth century, when pharmacopœias became general, -more than seventy editions of this work, mostly in Latin, but a few in -Italian, have been counted. In some of the Latin translations he is -described as “John, the son of Mesuë, the son of Hamech, the son of -Abdel, king of Damascus.” This dignity has been traced to a confusion -of the Arabic names, one of which was very similar to the word meaning -king. Nearly half of the formulæ in the first London Pharmacopœia were -quoted from him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Nicolas Myrepsus.</h3> - -<p>For several centuries before the era of modern pharmacopœias the -Antidotary of Nicolas Myrepsus was the standard formulary, and from -this the early dispensatories were largely compiled. This Nicolas, -who was not the Nicolas Praepositus of Salerno, is sometimes named -Nicolas Alexandrinus. He appears to have been a practising physician at -Constantinople, and as he bore the title of Actuarius, it is supposed -that he was physician to the Emperor. He is believed to have lived in -the thirteenth century. Myrepsus, which means ointment maker, was a -name which he assumed or which was applied to him, probably in allusion -to his Antidotary.</p> - -<p>This was the largest and most catholic of all the collections of -medical formulas which had then appeared. Galen and the Greek -physicians, the Arabs, Jews, and Christians who had written on -medicine, were all drawn upon. A Latin translation by Leonard Fuchs, -published at Nuremberg in 1658, contains 2,656 prescriptions, every -possible illness being thus provided against. The title page declares -the work to be “Useful as well for the medical profession and for the -seplasarii.” The original is said to have been written in barbarous -Greek.</p> - -<p>Sprengel, who has hardly patience to devote a single page to this -famous Antidotary, tells us that the compiler was grossly ignorant -and superstitious. He gives an instance of his reproduction of some -Arab formulæ. One is the use of arsenic as a spice to counteract the -deadly effects of poisons. This advice was copied, he says, down to -the seventeenth century. It was Nicolas’s rendering of the Arabic word -Darsini,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> which meant cannella, and which they so named because it was -brought from China.</p> - -<p>The compounds collected in this Antidotary are of the familiar -complicated character of which so many specimens are given in this -volume. Many of the titles are curious and probably reminiscent of -the pious credulity of the period when Myrepsus lived. There is, for -example, the Salt of the Holy Apostles, which taken morning and evening -with meals, would preserve the sight, prevent the hair from falling -out, relieve difficulty of breathing, and keep the breath sweet. It was -obtained by grinding together a mixture of herbs and seeds (hyssop, -wild carrot, cummin, pennyroyal, and pepper) with common salt. The Salt -of St. Luke was similar but contained a few more ingredients.</p> - -<p>A Sal Purgatorius prescribed for the Pope Nicholas consisted of sal -ammoniac, 3 oz., scammony, 3 drachms, poppy seeds, 2 drachms, orris -root, 3 drachms, pepper, 13 grains, one date, pine nut 25 grains, and -squill 2 drachms. This might be made into an electuary with honey.</p> - -<p>Antidotus Acharistos, which means unthanked antidote, is stated -to be so named because it cured so quickly that patients were not -sufficiently grateful. They did not realise how bad they might have -been without it.</p> - -<p>An electuary said to have been prescribed for King David for his -melancholy was composed of aloes, opium, saffron, lign-aloes, myrrh, -and some other spices, made up with honey. A Sal Sacerdotale (salt -combined with a few spices) stated to have been used by the prophets in -the time of Elijah had come down to this Antidotary through St. Paul.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Raymond Lully.</h3> - -<p>The life of Raymond Lully is so romantic that it is worth telling, -though it only touches pharmaceutical history occasionally. Born at -Palma, in the island of Majorca, in 1235, in a good position of life, -he married at the age of twenty-two, and had two sons and a daughter. -But home life was not what he desired, and he continued to live the -life of a gallant, serenading young girls, writing verses to them, and -giving balls and banquets, to the serious derangement of his fortune. -Ultimately he conceived a violent passion for a beautiful and virtuous -married woman named Ambrosia de Castello who was living at Majorca with -her husband. She, to check this libertine’s ardour, showed him her -breast, ravaged by cancer. This so afflicted him that he set himself -to study medicine with the object of discovering a cure for the cruel -disease. With the study of medicine and of alchemy he now associated -an insatiable longing for the deliverance of the world from Mohammedan -error. He renounced the world, including it would seem his wife and -children (though it is recorded that he first shared his possessions -with his wife), and went to live on a mountain in a hut which he -built with his own hands. This career, however, did not promise an -early enough extirpation of infidels, so before long Lully is found -travelling, and residing at Paris, Rome, Vienna, Genoa, Tunis, and in -other cities, preaching new crusades, importuning the Pope to establish -new orders of missionary Christians, and at intervals writing books on -medicine. He had invented a sort of mathematical scheme which in his -opinion absolutely proved the truth of Christianity, and by the use of -diagrams he hoped to convert the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> Saracens. His ideas are set forth, -if not explained, in his <i>Ars Magna</i>. In the course of his strange -life he visited Palestine and Cyprus, and at Naples in 1293 he made -the acquaintance of Arnold de Villanova. This learned man taught Lully -much, and found a fervent discipline in him. He was more than seventy -when, according to tradition, he travelled to London with the object -of urging on Edward III a new war against the Saracens. Edward alleged -his want of means, but Lully was prepared to meet the difficulty, -and some of the historians of the science of the period assert that -he coined a lot of gold for the purpose of the new crusade. Edward -promptly used this money for the war with France, in which he was more -interested. Disappointed and disgusted, Lully left England, and some -time after,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> at the age of seventy-eight, set out to visit Jerusalem. -Having accomplished that journey he visited several of the cities of -North Africa on his way back, and at Bougia, after preaching with his -usual vehemence against the Mohammedan heresy, he was stoned by the -Moors and left for dead. Some friendly merchants took his body on their -ship bound for his native Majorca. He revived, but died on the voyage -in his eightieth year, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1415. His tomb is still shown in -the church of San Francisco in the City of Palma.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p222"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p222.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Raymond Lully.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From a portrait in the Royal Court and State Library, Munich.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Raymond Lully is particularly famous in pharmaceutical history for -the general use of the aqua vitae or aqua ardens which he introduced. -He had learned the process of distilling it from wine from Arnold of -Villanova, who had himself probably acquired it from the Arab chemists -of Spain, but Lully discovered the art of concentrating the spirit -by means of carbonate of potash. Of the aqua vitae which he made he -declared that “the taste of it exceedeth all other tastes, and the -smell of it all other smells.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Frascator.</h3> - -<p>Hieronymo Frascatoro, generally known as Jerome Frascator, was a -physician and poet of high repute in the early part of the sixteenth -century. Frascator was born at Verona in 1483 and died near that city -in 1553. As a physician he aided the Pope, Paul III, to get the Council -of Trent removed from Germany to Italy by alarming the delegates into -believing that they were in imminent danger of an epidemic. They -therefore adjourned to Bologna. Frascator especially studied infectious -diseases, and his celebrated Diascordium, which is described in the -section entitled “The Four Officinal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> Capitals,” was invented as a -remedy for the Plague. His great literary fame depended principally on -a Latin poem he wrote with the now repellent title of “Syphillides, -sive Morbi Gallici,” in three books. This was published in 1530. The -author did not accept the view that this disease had been imported from -America. He held that it had been known in ancient times, and that it -was caused by a peculiar corruption of the air. His hero, Syphilis, -had given offence to Apollo, who, in revenge, had poisoned the air he -breathed. Syphilis is cured by plunging three times in a subterraneous -stream of quicksilver. The best classical scholars of the age regarded -the poem as the finest Latin work written since the days when that -language was in its full life, and they compared it appreciatively with -the poems of Virgil. The following lines will serve as a specimen:—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i4">... nam saepius ipsi</div> - <div>Carne sua exutos artus, squallentia ossa</div> - <div>Vidimes, et foedo rosa era dehiscere hiatu</div> - <div>Ora, atque exiles renentia guttura voces.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The name of the disease was acquired from this poem, and though it -has a Greek form and appearance, no ancient derivative for it can be -suggested. Frascator also wrote a poem on hydrophobia.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Basil Valentine.</h3> - -<p>The name and works of Basil Valentine are inseparably associated with -the medical use of antimony. His “Currus Triumphalis Antimonii” (the -Triumphal Chariot of Antimony) is stated in all text-books to have -been the earliest description of the virtues of this important remedy, -and of the forms in which it might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> be prescribed. And very wonderful -indeed is the chemical knowledge displayed in this and other of -Valentine’s writings.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p225"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p225.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Basil Valentine.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From the Collection of Etchings in the Royal Gallery, Munich.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Basil Valentine explains the process of fusing iron with this stibium -and obtaining thereby “by a particular manipulation a curious star -which the wise men before me called the signet star of philosophy.” -He commences the treatise already mentioned by explaining that he is -a monk of the Order of St. Benedict, which (I quote from an English -translation by Theodore Kirkringius, M.D., published at London in 1678) -“requires another manner of Spirit of Holiness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> than the common state -of mortals exercised in the profane business of this World.”</p> - -<p>After thus introducing himself he proceeds to mingle chemistry, piety, -and abuse of the physicians and apothecaries of his day with much -repetition though with considerable shrewdness for about fifty pages. -At last, after many false starts, he expounds the origin and nature of -antimony, thus:—</p> - -<p>“Antimony is a mineral made of the vapour of the Earth changed into -water, which spiritual syderal Transmutation is the true Astrum of -Antimony; which water, by the stars first, afterwards by the Element -of Fire which resides in the Element of Air, is extracted from the -Elementary Earth, and by coagulation formally changed into a tangible -essence, in which tangible essence is found very much of Sulphur -predominating, of Mercury not so much, and of Salt the least of the -three. Yet it assumes so much Salt as it thence acquires an hard and -unmalleable Mass. The principal quality of it is dry and hot, or rather -burning; of cold and humidity it hath very little in it, as there is in -common Mercury; in corporal Gold also is more heat than cold. These may -suffice to be spoken of the matter, and three fundamental principles of -Antimony, how by the Archeus in the Element of Earth it is brought to -perfection.”</p> - -<p>It needs some practice in reading alchemical writings to make out -the drift of this rhapsody, and no profit would be gained by a clear -interpretation of the mysticism. It may, however, be noted that the -Archeus was a sort of friendly demon who worked at the formation of -metals in the bowels of the earth; that all metals were supposed to -be compounds of sulphur, mercury, and salt in varying proportions, -the sulphur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> and the salt, however, being refined spiritual essences -of the substances we know by these names; and that it was a necessary -compliment to pay to any product which it was intended to honour to -trace its ancestry to the four elements.</p> - -<p>As the author goes on to deal with the various compounds or derivatives -from antimony, it is abundantly clear that he writes from practical -experience. He describes the Regulus of Antimony (the metal), the glass -(an oxy-sulphide), a tincture made from the glass, an oil, an elixir, -the flowers, the liver, the white calx, a balsam, and others.</p> - -<p>Basil Valentine’s scathing contempt for contemporary medical -practitioners calls for quotation. “The doctor,” he says, “knows not -what medicines he prescribes to the sick; whether the colour of them be -white, black, grey, or blew, he cannot tell; nor doth this wretched man -know whether the medicament he gives be dry or hot, cold or humid.... -Their furnaces stand in the Apothecaries’ shops to which they seldom -or never come. A paper scroll in which their usual Recipe is written -serves their purpose to the full, which Bill being by some Apothecary’s -boy or servant received, he with great noise thumps out of his mortar -every medicine, and all the health of the sick.”</p> - -<p>Valentine concludes his “Triumphal Chariot” by thus apostrophising -contemporary practitioners:—“Ah, you poor miserable people, physicians -without experience, pretended teachers who write long prescriptions on -large sheets of paper; you apothecaries with your vast marmites, as -large as may be seen in the kitchens of great lords where they feed -hundreds of people; all you so very blind, rub your eyes and refresh -your sight that you may be cured of your blindness.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the same treatise Basil Valentine describes spirit of salt which he -had obtained by the action of oil of vitriol on marine salt; brandy, -distilled from wine; and how to get copper from pyrites by first -obtaining a sulphate, then precipitating the metal by plunging into the -solution a blade of iron. This operation was a favourite evidence with -later alchemists of the transmutation of iron into copper.</p> - -<p>According to some of his biographers Basil Valentine was born in -1393; others are judiciously vague and variously suggest the twelfth, -thirteenth, or fourteenth century. That he was a Benedictine monk, he -tells us himself, and several monasteries of the order have been named -where he is supposed to have lived and laboured.</p> - -<p>Many medical historians have doubted whether such a person as Basil -Valentine ever existed. His writings are said to have been circulated -in manuscript, but no one has ever pretended to have seen one of those -manuscripts, and the earliest known edition of any of Basil Valentine’s -works was published about 1601, by Johann Thölde, a chemist, and part -owner of salt works at Frankenhausen in Thuringia. It is rather a large -claim on our credulity, or incredulity, to assume that Thölde was -himself the author of the works attributed to the old monk, and that -he devised the entire fiction of the alleged discoveries, chemistry -and all. It was not an uncommon thing among the alchemists and other -writers of the middle ages to represent their books as the works of -someone of acknowledged fame, just as the more ancient theologians were -wont to credit one of the apostles or venerated fathers with their -inventions. But it was not common for a discoverer to hide himself -behind a fictitious sage whose existence he had himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> invented. This -theory is, however, held by some chemical critics.</p> - -<p>It is certain that the real Basil Valentine could not have been so -ancient as he was generally believed to be. Syphilis is referred to in -the “Triumphal Chariot” as the new malady of soldiers (Neue Krankheit -der Kriegsleute), as morbus Gallicus, and lues Gallica. It was not -known by these names until the invasion of Naples by the French in -1495. Another allusion in the same treatise is to the use of antimony -in the manufacture of type metal, which was certainly not adopted at -any time at which Basil Valentine could have lived. Another reason -for questioning his actual existence is that the most diligent search -has failed to discover his name either on the provincial list or on -the general roll of the Benedictine monks preserved in the archives -of the order at Rome. Boerhaave asserted that the Benedictines had -no monastery at Erfurt, which was generally assigned as the home of -Valentine.</p> - -<p>A curious item of evidence bearing on the allegation that Thölde was -the fabricator of Basil Valentine’s works, or at least of part of -them, has been indicated by Dr. Ferguson, of Glasgow, in his notes on -Dr. Young’s collection of alchemical works. Thölde, it appears, had -written a book in his own name entitled “Haliographia.” This is divided -into four sections, namely: 1. Various kinds of Salts. 2. Extraction -of Salts. 3. Salt Springs. 4. Salts obtained from metals, minerals, -animals, and vegetables. This Part 4 of the work was subsequently -published by Thölde among Basil Valentine’s writings. One of two things -therefore is obvious. Either Thölde adopted a work by Valentine and -issued it as his own, or one at least of the pieces alleged to have -been by Valentine was really by Thölde.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - -<p>Basil Valentine, meaning the valiant king, has assuredly an alchemical -ring about it. It is exactly such a name as might be invented by one -of the scientific fictionists of the middle ages. It is impossible, -too, to read the “Triumphal Chariot,” at least when suspicion has been -awakened, without feeling that the character of the pious monk is a -little overdone. A really devout monk would hardly be proclaiming his -piety on every page with so much vehemence. Then there is the legend -which accounts for the long lost manuscripts. It is explained that they -were revealed to someone, unnamed, when a pillar in a church at Erfurt -was struck and split open by lightning, the manuscripts having been -buried in that pillar. When this happened is not recorded.</p> - -<p>In Kopp’s “Beitrage zur Geschichte der Chemie” the learned author -argued that Thölde could only be regarded as an editor of Basil -Valentine’s works, because when they were published they gave so many -new chemical facts and observations that it was impossible to think -that Thölde would have denied himself the credit of the discoveries if -they had been his in fact. That book was published in 1875. In “Die -Alchemie,” which Kopp published in 1886, he refers to Basil Valentine, -and says that there is reason to think that the works attributed to him -were an intentional literary deception perpetrated by Thölde.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Paracelsus: His Career.</h3> - -<p>No one man in history exercised such a revolutionary influence -on medicine and pharmacy as the erratic genius Philipus Aureolus -Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim. The name Paracelsus is believed to -have been coined by himself, probably with the intention of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> somewhat -Latinising his patronymic, von Hohenheim, and also perhaps as claiming -to rank with the famous Roman physician and medical writer, Celsus. The -family of Bombast was an old and honourable one from Württemberg, but -the father of the founder of the iatro-chemists was a physician who had -settled at Maria-Einsiedeln, a small town in Switzerland, not far from -Zurich. He (the father) died at Villach, in Carinthia, in 1534, aged 71.</p> - -<p>Theophrastus was an only child. He was born in 1490 or 1491, and owed -to his father the first inclination of his mind towards medicine and -alchemy. Later he was taught classics at a convent school, and at 16 -went to the University of Basel. Apparently he did not stay there -long. Classical studies, and the reverence of authorities, which the -Universities taught, never attracted him. He is found next at Wurzburg, -in the laboratory of Trithemius, an abbot of that city, and a famous -adept in alchemy, astrology, and magic generally. He must have acquired -much chemical skill in that laboratory, and, doubtless, many of his -mystic views began to shape themselves under the instruction of the -learned abbot. But Paracelsus was not content with the artificial ideas -of the alchemists. By some means he became acquainted with the wealthy -Sigismund Fugger, a mine owner in the Tyrol, and either as assistant or -friend he joined him. The Fuggers were the Rothschilds of Germany at -that time, and one of them entertained Charles V at Augsburg, when the -famous diet at which the Emperor was to crush the Reformation was held -in that city. On that occasion the wealthy merchant made a cinnamon -fire for the Emperor, and lighted it with a bond representing a large -sum which Charles owed him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the Tyrolese mines Paracelsus learned much about minerals, about -diseases, and about men. Then he travelled through various parts of -Europe, paying his way by his medical and surgical skill, or, as his -enemies said, by conjuring and necromancy. He states that he was in -the wars in Venice, Denmark, and the Netherlands; it is supposed as an -army surgeon, for he afterwards declared that he then learned to cure -forty diseases of the body. He boasted that he learned from gypsies, -physicians, barbers, executioners, and from all kinds of people. He -claims also to have been in Tartary, and to have accompanied the -Khan’s son to Constantinople. Van Helmont tells us that it was in this -city that he met an adept who gave him the philosopher’s stone. Other -chroniclers relate that this adept was a certain Solomon Trismensinus, -who also possessed the elixir of life, and had been met with some two -hundred years later.</p> - -<p>Although Paracelsus in his writings appears to hold the current belief -in the transmutation of metals, and in the possibility of producing -medicines capable of indefinitely prolonging life, he wasted no -energy in dreaming about these, as the alchemists generally did. The -production of gold does not seem to have interested him, and his aims -in medicine were always eminently practical. It is true that he named -his compounds catholicons, elixirs, and panaceas, but they were all -real remedies for specific complaints; and in the treatment of these he -must have been marvellously successful.</p> - -<p>Whether he ever went to Tartary or not, and whether he served in -any wars or not, may be doubtful. His critics find no evidence of -acquaintance with foreign languages or customs in his works, and they -do find indications of very elementary notions of geography.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> But it -is certain that for ten years he was peregrinating somewhere; if his -travels were confined to Germany the effect was the same. Germany -was big enough to teach him. Passionately eager to wrest from Nature -all her secrets, gifted with extraordinary powers of observation and -imagination, with unbounded confidence in himself, and bold even to -recklessness as an experimenter, this was a man who could not be -suppressed. Armed with his new and powerful drugs, and not afraid to -administer them, cures were inevitable; other consequences also, in all -probability.</p> - -<p>When, therefore, Paracelsus arrived at Basel, in the year 1525, in the -thirty-second year of his age, his fame had preceded him. Probably -he was backed by high influence. According to his own account he had -cured eighteen princes during his travels, and some of these may have -recommended him to the University authorities. It is to the credit -of Paracelsus that he was warmly supported by the saintly priest -Œcolampadius (Hausschein), who subsequently threw in his lot with -the reformers. Besides being appointed to the chair of medicine and -surgery, Paracelsus was made city physician.</p> - -<p>His lectures were such as had never been heard before at a university. -He began his course by burning the works of Galen and Avicenna in a -chafing dish, and denouncing the slavish reliance on authority which -at that time characterised medical teaching and practice. He taught -from his own experience, and he gave his lectures in German. Many -quotations of his boastful utterance have been handed down to us, and -they match well with what we know of him from his recognised writings. -All the universities had less experience than he, and the very down on -his neck was more learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> than all the authors. He likened himself to -Hippocrates, the one ancient whom he esteemed. He contrasted himself -with the doctors in white gloves who feared to soil their fingers in -the laboratory. “Follow me,” he cried; “not I you, Avicenna, Galen, -Rhazes, Montagnana, Mesuë, and ye others. Ye of Paris, of Montpellier, -of Swabia, of Cologne, of Vienna; from the banks of the Danube, of the -Rhine, from the islands of the seas, from Italy, Dalmatia, Sarmatia, -and Athens, Greeks, Arabs, Israelites. I shall be the monarch, and mine -shall be the monarchy.”</p> - -<p>In his capacity as city physician he naturally created many enemies -among his fellow practitioners. His friends said he cured the cases -which they found hopeless; they said he only gave temporary relief at -the best, and that his remedies often killed the patients. He fell -foul, too, of the apothecaries. He denounced their drugs and their -ignorance. The three years he spent in Basel must have been lively both -for him and his opponents.</p> - -<p>“In the beginning,” he says, “I threw myself with fervent zeal on the -teachers. But when I saw that nothing resulted from their practice -but killing, laming, and distorting; that they deemed most complaints -incurable; and that they administered scarcely anything but syrups, -laxatives, purgatives, and oatmeal gruel, with everlasting clysters, I -determined to abandon such a miserable art and seek truth elsewhere.” -Again he says: “The apothecaries are my enemies because I will not -empty their boxes. My recipes are simple and do not call for forty -or fifty ingredients. I seek to cure the sick, not to enrich the -apothecaries.”</p> - -<p>His career at Basel was brought to a close by a dispute with a -prebendary of the cathedral named<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> Lichtenfels, whom he had treated. -The canon, in pain, had promised him 200 florins if he would cure him. -The cure was not disputed, but as Paracelsus had only given him a few -little pills, the clergyman relied on the legal tariff. Paracelsus -sued him, and the court awarded the legal fee, which was six florins. -The doctor published his comments on the case, and it can readily be -supposed that they were of such a character as to amount to contempt of -court. He found it advisable to leave Basel hurriedly.</p> - -<p>Between 1528 and 1535 he lived and practised at Colmar, Esslingen, -Nuremberg, Noerdlingen, Munich, Regensburg, Amberg, Meran, St. Gall, -and Zurich. From Switzerland he again set forth, and records of him are -to be traced in Carinthia and Hungary. Lastly, the Prince Palatine, -Duke Ernst of Bavaria, took him under his protection, and settled him -at Salzburg. There a few months afterwards he died. From dissipation -and exhaustion, say his enemies; by assassination, say his friends. A -German surgeon who examined his skull when the body was exhumed thirty -years after death, found in it a fracture of the temporal bone, which, -he declared, could only have been produced during life, because the -bones of a solid but desiccated skull could not have separated as -was the case here. It was suggested that some hirelings of the local -doctors whose prospects were endangered by this formidable invader had -“accidentally” pushed him down some rocks, and that it was then that -the fracture was caused. A monument to this great medical revolutionist -is still to be seen by the chapel of St. Philip Neri, at Salzburg. It -is a broken pyramid of white marble, with a cavity in which is his -portrait, and a Latin inscription which commemorates his cures of -diseases,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> and his generosity to the poor in the following terms:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Conditur hic Philippus Theophrastus, insignis Medicinæ -Doctor, qui dira illa vulnera, lepram, podagram, hydroposim, -aliaque insanabilia contagia mirificu arte sustulit; ac bona -sua in pauperes distribuenda collocandaque honoravit. Anno -1541, die 24 Septembr. vitam cum morte mutavit.”</p> - -<p>(“Here lies Philippus Theophrastus, the famous Doctor of -Medicine, who by his wonderful art cured the worst wounds, -leprosy, gout, dropsy, and other diseases deemed incurable and -to his honour, shared his possessions with the poor.”)</p></blockquote> - -<p>Among the contemporaries of Paracelsus were Luther, Columbus, -and Copernicus. Their names alone are sufficient to show how the -long-suppressed energy of the human intellect was at that period -bursting forth. These four men were perhaps the greatest emancipators -of the human race from the chains of slavish obedience to authority -in the past thousand years. Paracelsus was not, so far as is known, a -Lutheran Protestant. But he could not help sympathising with his heroic -countryman. “The enemies of Luther,” he wrote, “are to a great extent -fanatics, knaves, bigots, and rogues. You call me a medical Luther, -but you do not intend to honour me by giving me that name. The enemies -of Luther are those whose kitchen prospects are interfered with by his -reforms. I leave Luther to defend what he says, as I will defend what -I say. That which you wish for Luther you wish for me; you wish us -both to the fire.” There was, indeed, much in common between these two -independent souls.</p> - -<p>Columbus landed in the Western world the year before Paracelsus was -born. Luther burnt the Pope’s Bull at Wittenberg in 1520, and it was -this action of his which at the time at least thrilled the German -nation more than any other event in the history of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> the Reformation. -It is evident that Paracelsus, in imitating the conduct of his famous -contemporary, was only demonstrating his conviction that scientific, no -less than religious, thought needed to free itself from the shackles of -tyrannic tradition.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">His Character.</h3> - -<p>Such details of the personality of Paracelsus as have come down to -us were written by his enemies. Erastus, a theologian as well as a -physician, who may have met Paracelsus, and who fiercely attacked his -system, depreciates him on hearsay. But Operinus, a disciple who had -such reverence for him that when Paracelsus left Basel, he accompanied -him and was with him night and day for two years, wrote a letter about -him after his death to which it is impossible not to attach great -importance.</p> - -<p>In this letter Operinus expresses the most unbounded admiration of -Paracelsus’s medical skill; of the certainty and promptitude of his -cures; and especially of the “miracles” he performed in the treatment -of malignant ulcers. But, adds Operinus, “I never discovered in him any -piety or erudition.” He had never seen him pray. He was as contemptuous -of Luther as he was of the Pope. Said no one had discovered the true -meaning or got at the kernel of the Scriptures.</p> - -<p>During the two years he lived with him, Operinus declares Paracelsus -was almost constantly drunk. He was scarcely sober two hours at a time. -He would go to taverns and challenge the peasantry to drink against -him. When he had taken a quantity of wine, he would put his finger in -his throat and vomit. Then he could start again. And yet Operinus also -reports<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> how perpetually he worked in his laboratory. The fire there -was always burning, and something was being prepared, “some sublimate -or arsenic, some safran of iron, or his marvellous opodeldoch.” -Moreover, however drunk he might be he could always dictate, and -Operinus says “his ideas were as clear and consecutive as those of the -most sober could be.”</p> - -<p>According to this same letter Paracelsus had been an abstainer until -he was 25. He cared nothing for women. Operinus had never known him -undress. He would lie down with his sword by his side, and in the night -would sometimes spring up and slash at the walls and ceiling. When his -clothes got too dirty he would take them off and give them to the first -passer, and buy new ones. How he got his money Operinus did not know. -At night he often had not an obolus; in the morning he would have a new -purse filled with gold.</p> - -<p>It is not easy to form a fair judgment of Paracelsus from this sketch. -Many writers conclude that Operinus was spiteful because Paracelsus -would not tell him his secrets. More likely Operinus left his master -because his religious sentiments were shocked by him. Paracelsus was -evidently a born mocker, and it may be that he took a malicious delight -in making his disciple’s flesh creep. Operinus gives an instance of -the levity with which his master treated serious subjects. He was sent -for one day to see a poor person who was very ill. His first question -was whether the patient had taken anything. “He has taken the holy -sacrament,” was the reply. “Oh, very well,” said Paracelsus, “if he -has another physician he has no need of me.” I think Operinus wrote in -good faith, but the stories of the doctor’s drunkenness must have been -exaggerated. It is inconceivable that he could have been so constantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> -drunk, and yet always at work. Operinus, it may be added, returned to -Basel and set up as a printer, but failed and died in poverty.</p> - -<p>Robert Browning’s dramatic poem of “Paracelsus” has been much praised -by the admirers of the poet. It was written when Browning was 23, -and represents in dramatic form the ambitious aspirations of a youth -of genius who believes he has if mission in life; has intellectual -confidence in his own powers; and the assurance that it is the Deity -who calls him to the work.</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>In some time, His good time, I shall arrive;</div> - <div>He guides me.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">His bitter disappointment with his professorship at Basel, and his -contempt for those who brought about his fall there, are depicted, and -the effect which the realisation that his aims had proved impossible -had on his habits and character is suggested; and at last, on his -death-bed in a cell in the Hospital of St. Sebastian at Salzburg, he -tells his faithful friend, Festus, who has all his life sought to -restrain the ambitions which have possessed him—</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>You know the obstacles which taught me tricks</div> - <div>So foreign to my nature, envy, hate,</div> - <div>Blind opposition, brutal prejudice,</div> - <div>Bald ignorance—what wonder if I sank</div> - <div>To humour men the way they most approved.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p class="p-left">“A study of intellectual egotism,” this poem has been called. -Paracelsus was an egotist, without doubt. Indeed, egotism seems -a ludicrously insignificant term to apply to his gorgeous -self-appreciation. But it is, perhaps, a little difficult to recognise -the wild untameable energy of this astonishing medical reformer in the -prolix preacher represented in the poem.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> - -<p>Butler’s verse (in “Hudibras”) may be taken to represent the popular -view held about Paracelsus after the first enthusiasm of his followers -had cooled down</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Bombastus kept a Devil’s bird,</div> - <div>Shut in the pommel of his sword,</div> - <div>That taught him all the cunning pranks</div> - <div>Of past and future mountebanks.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>German studies of Paracelsus have been very numerous during the past -fifty years, and the general tendency has been greatly to enhance his -fame.</p> - -<p>After the death of Paracelsus, the Archbishop of Cologne desired to -collect his works, many of which were in manuscript and scattered -all over Germany. By this time there were many treatises attributed -to him which he never wrote. It was a paying business to discover a -new document by the famous doctor. It is believed that the fraudulent -publications were far more numerous than the genuine ones, and it -is quite possible that injustice has been done to his memory by the -association with his name of some other peoples’ absurdities.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">His Mysticism.</h3> - -<p>The mystic views of Paracelsus, or those attributed to him, are curious -rather than useful. He seemed to have had as much capacity for belief -as he had disbelief in other philosophers’ speculations. He believed -in gnomes in the interior of the earth, undines in the seas, sylphs in -the air, and salamanders in fire. These were the Elementals, beings -composed of soul-substance, but not necessarily influencing our lives. -The Elementals know only the mysteries of the particular element in -which they live. There is life in all matter. Every mineral, vegetable, -and animal has its astral body.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p> - -<p>That of the minerals is called Stannar or Trughat; of the vegetable -kingdom, Leffas; while the astral bodies of animals are their Evestra. -The Evestrum may travel about apart from its body; it may live long -after the death of the body. Ghosts are, in fact, the Evestra of the -departed. If you commit suicide the Evestrum does not recognise the -act; it goes on as if the body were going on also until its appointed -time.</p> - -<p>Man is a microcosm; the universe is the macrocosm. Not that they are -comparable to each other; they are one in reality, divided only by -form. If you are not spiritually enlightened you may not be able to -perceive this. Each plant on earth has its star. There is a stella -absinthii, a stella rorismarini. If we could compile a complete -“herbarium spirituale sidereum” we should be fully equipped to treat -disease. Star influences also form our soul-essences. This accounts for -our varying temperaments and talents.</p> - -<p>The material part of man, the living body, is the Mumia. This is -managed by the Archæus, which rules over everybody; it is the vital -principle. It provides the internal balsam which heals wounds or -diseases, and controls the action of the various organs.</p> - -<p>His theories of mercury, sulphur, and salt, as the constituents of all -things, seem at first likely to lead to something conceivable if not -credible. But before we grasp the idea we are switched off into the -spiritual world again. It is the sidereal mercury, sulphur, and salt, -spirit, soul, and body, to which he is alluding.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">His Chemical and Pharmaceutical Innovations.</h3> - -<p>These fantastic notions permeate all the medical treatises of -Paracelsus. But every now and then there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> are indications of keen -insight which go some way towards explaining his success as a -physician; for it cannot be doubted that he did effect many remarkable -cures. His European fame was not won by mere boasting. His treatise, -<i>De Morbis ex Tartare oriundus</i>, is admittedly full of sound sense.</p> - -<p>Some of his chemical observations are startling for their anticipations -of later discoveries. If there were no air, he says, all living beings -would die. There must be air for wood to burn. Tin, calcined, increases -in weight; some air is fixed on the metal. When water and sulphuric -acid attack a metal there is effervescence; that is due to the escape -of some air from the water. He calls metals that have rusted, dead.</p> - -<p>Saffron of Mars (the peroxide) is dead iron. Verdigris is dead copper. -Red oxide of mercury is dead mercury. But, he adds, these dead metals -can be revivified, “reduced to the metallic state,” are his exact words -(and it is to be noted that he was the first chemist to employ the -term “reduce” in this sense), by means of coal. Elsewhere he describes -digestion as a solution of food; putrefaction as a transmutation. He -knew how to separate gold from silver by nitric acid. It is quite -certain that the writer of Paracelsus’s works was a singularly -observant and intelligent chemist. He had “a wolfish hunger after -knowledge,” says Browning.</p> - -<p>“Have you heard,” wrote Gui Patin to a friend a hundred years after the -death of the famous revolutionary, “that 'Paracelsus’ is being printed -at Geneva in four volumes in folio? What a shame that so wicked a book -should find presses and printers which cannot be found for better -things. I would rather see the Koran printed. It would not deceive so -many people. Chemistry is the false money of our profession.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">His Pharmacy.</h3> - -<p>The composition of Paracelsus’s laudanum, the name of which he no -doubt invented, has never been satisfactorily ascertained. Paracelsus -himself made a great secret of it, and probably used the term for -several medicines. It was generally, at least, a preparation of opium, -sometimes opium itself. He is believed to have carried opium in the -pommel of his sword, and this he called the “stone of immortality.”</p> - -<p>Next to opium he believed in mercury, and was largely influential in -popularising this metal and its preparations for the treatment of -syphilis. It was principally employed externally before his time. -He mocked at “the wooden doctors with their guaiacum decoctions,” -and at the “waggon grease with which they smeared their patients.” -He used turpith mineral (the yellow sulphate), and alembroth salt -(ammonio-chloride), though he did not invent these names, and it is -possible that he did not mean by them the same substances as the -alchemists did. Operinus states that he always gave precipitated -mercury (red precipitate, apparently) as a purgative. He gave it in -pills with a little theriaca or cherry juice. This he also appears to -have designated laudanum. It is certain that he gave other purgatives -besides.</p> - -<p>It must be admitted that if Basil Valentine is a mythical character, -the reputation of Paracelsus is greatly enhanced. Nowhere does the -latter claim to have been the first to introduce antimony into -medical practice, but it is certain that it could not have been used -to any great extent before his time. If we suppose that the works -attributed to Basil Valentine were fictitious, so far, that is, as -their authorship is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> concerned, they were compiled about fifty years -after the death of Paracelsus, and at the time when his fame was at -its zenith. Many of the allusions to antimony contained in those -treatises might have been collected from the traditions of the master’s -conversations and writings, much from his immediate disciples, and the -whole skilfully blended by a literary artist.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus praises highly his magistery of antimony, the essence, the -arcanum, the virtue of antimony. Of this, he says, you will find no -account in your books of medicine. This is how to prepare it. Take -care at the outset that nothing corrupts the antimony; but keep it -entire without any change of form. For under this form the arcanum lies -concealed. No deadhead must remain, but it must be reduced by a third -cohobation into a third nature. Then the arcanum is yielded. Dose, 4 -grains taken with quintessence of melissa.</p> - -<p>His “Lilium,” or tinctura metallorum, given as an alterative and -for many complaints, was formulated in a very elaborate way by his -disciples, but simplified it consisted of antimony, 4, tin 1, copper -1, melted together in a crucible, the alloy powdered, and combined (in -the crucible) with nitre 6, and cream of tartar 6, added gradually. The -mixture while still hot was transferred to a matrass containing strong -alcohol 32, digested, and filtered.</p> - -<p>Besides mercury and antimony, of which he made great use, iron, lead, -copper, and arsenic were among the mineral medicines prescribed by -him. He made an arseniate of potash by heating arsenic with saltpetre. -He had great faith in vitriol, and the spirit which he extracted from -it by distillation. This “spirit” he again distilled with alcohol and -thereby produced an ethereal solution. His “specificum purgans” was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -afterwards said to be sulphate of potash. He recommended sublimed -sulphur in inflammatory maladies, saffron of Mars in dysentery, and -salts of tin against worms.</p> - -<p>Whether his formulas were purposely obscure in so many cases, or -whether mystery is due to the carelessness or ignorance of the copyists -cannot be known. Much of his chemical and pharmaceutical advice is -clear enough.</p> - -<p>Honey he extols as a liquor rather divine than human, inasmuch as it -falls from heaven upon the herbs. To get its quintessence you are to -distil from it in a capacious retort a liquid, red like blood. This is -distilled over and over again in a bain mariæ until you get a liquid of -the colour of gold and of such pleasant odour that the like cannot be -found in the world. This quintessence is itself good for many things, -but from it the precious potable gold may be made. The juice of a -lemon with this quintessence will dissolve leaf gold in warm ashes -in forty-eight hours. With this Paracelsus says he has effected many -wonderful cures which people thought he accomplished by enchantment. -Elsewhere he speaks of an arcanum drawn from vitriol which is so -excellent that he prefers it to that drawn from gold.</p> - -<p>He refers with great respect to alchemy and the true alchemists, -but with considerable shrewdness in regard to their professions of -transmuting other metals into gold. He considered it remarkable that -a man should be able to convert one substance into another in a few -short days or weeks, while Nature requires years to bring about a -similar result; but he will not deny the possibility. What he insists -on, however, is that from metals and fire most valuable remedies can be -obtained; and the apothecary who does not understand the right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> way of -producing these is but a servant in the kitchen, and not a master cook.</p> - -<p>Hellebore was an important medicine with Paracelsus. The white, he -said, was suitable for persons under 50, the black for persons over -50. Physicians ought to understand that Nature provides different -medicines for old and for young persons, for men and for women. The -ancient physicians, although they did not know how to get the essence -of the hellebore, had discovered its value for old persons. They found -that people who took it after 50 became younger and more vigorous. -Their method was to gather the hellebore when the moon was in one of -the signs of conservation, to dry it in an east wind, to powder it and -mix with it its own weight of sugar. The dose of this powder was as -much as could be taken up with three fingers night and morning. The -vaunted essence was simply a spirituous tincture. It was more effective -if mistletoe, pellitory and peony seeds were combined with it. It was -a great remedy for epilepsy, gout, palsy and dropsy. In the first it -not merely purges out the humours, but drives away the epileptic body -itself. The root must be gathered in the waning of the moon, when it is -in the sign Libra, and on a Friday.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p247"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p247.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Paracelsus (a).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Paracelsus made balsam from herbs by digesting them in their own -moisture until they putrefied, and then distilling the putrefied -material. He obtained a number of essential oils and used them freely -as quintessences. He defines quintessences thus:—Every substance is a -compound of various elements, among which there is one which dominates -the others, and impresses its own character on the compound. This -dominating element, disengaged, is the quintessence. This term he -obtained from Aristotle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> - -<p>His oil of eggs was obtained by boiling the eggs very hard, then -powdering them, and distilling until an oil rose to the surface. This -he recommended against scalds and burns. Oil of aniseed he prescribed -in colds to be put in the nostrils and applied to the temples on going -to bed. Oil of tartar rectified in a sand-bath until it acquires a -golden colour will cure ulcers and stone. Coral would quicken fancy, -but drive away vain visions, spectres, and melancholy. Oil of a man’s -excrements, twice distilled, is good to apply in fistulas, and also -in baldness. Oil of a man’s skull which had never been buried got by -distillation was given in 3 grain doses for epilepsy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p248"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p248.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Paracelsus (b).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">He had abundant faith in animal remedies. His “Confectio -Anti-Epileptica,” formulated by his interpreter, Oswald Crollius, is as -follows:—First get three human skulls from men who have died a violent -death and have not been buried. Dry in the air and coarsely crush. Then -place in a retort and apply a gradually increasing heat. The liquor -that passed over was to be distilled three times over the same fæces. -Eight ounces of this liquor were to be slowly distilled with 3 drachms -each of species of diamusk, castorum, and anacardine honey. To the -distilled liquor 4 scruples of liquor of pearls and one scruple of oil -of vitriol were to be added. Of the resulting medicine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> one teaspoonful -was to be taken in the morning, fasting, by epileptic subjects, for -nine days consecutively.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p249"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p249.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Paracelsus (c).</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">An Arcanum Corallinum of Paracelsus which was included in some of the -earlier London Pharmacopœias, was simply red precipitate prepared in a -special manner. The Committee of the College of Physicians which sat -in 1745 to revise that work rejected this product with the remark that -an arcanum was not a secret known only to some adept, but was simply -a medicine which produces its effect by some hidden property. (This -might be said of many medicines now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> as well as then.) They recognised, -however, that “Paracelsus, whose supercilious ignorance merits our -scorn and indignation,” did use the term in the sense of a secret -remedy.</p> - -<p>The Pharmacy of Paracelsus is so frequently referred to in other -sections of this book that it is not necessary to deal with it here -at greater length. It is evident, however, that some of the formulas -he devised, some of the names he coined, and some of the theories he -advanced have entered into our daily practice; and even the dogmas -now obsolete which are sometimes quoted to show how superior is our -knowledge to his, served to quicken thought and speculation.</p> - - -<blockquote> - -<h4 class="smcap">Portraits of Paracelsus.</h4> - -<p>The portraits of Paracelsus to be found in old books, as -well as some celebrated paintings, are curiously various -as likenesses. The oldest and by far the most frequent -representation of him on title pages of his works is more -or less similar to the portrait marked <span class="smcap">A</span>, p. 247. -This particular drawing was copied from one in the print room -of the British Museum. Portrait <span class="smcap">B</span> is copied from -a painting attributed to Rubens which was for a long time -in the Duke of Marlborough’s collection at Blenheim. It was -sold publicly in 1886 in London for £125 and is now in the -“Collection Kums” at Antwerp. There is a similar painting, -believed to be a copy of this one, in the Bodleian Library at -Oxford.</p> - -<p>In the year 1875, at an exhibition of historical paintings -held at Nancy (France), a painting “attributed to Albert -Dürer,” and bearing his name in a cartouche, was exhibited and -described as “Portrait presumé de Paracelse.” It was not a -copy but was unmistakably the same person as the one shown in -the painting of Rubens. It came from a private collection and -was sold to a local dealer for 2,000 francs, and afterwards -disposed of to an unknown stranger for 3,000 francs. It has -not been traced since. Dürer died in 1528 (thirteen years -before the date of the death of Paracelsus). There is no -mention of this likeness in any of his letters. It may have -been the work of one of his pupils.</p> - -<p>The third portrait (<span class="smcap">C</span>) which is unlike either of the -others professes to have been painted from life (“Tintoretto -ad vivum pinxit”) by Jacope Robusti, more commonly known as -Tintoretto. The original has not been found, and the earliest -print from it was a copper-plate engraving in a collection -issued by Bitiskius of Geneva in 1658. The picture here given -is a reduced copy of that engraving from a phototype made by -Messrs. Angerer and Göschl, of Vienna, and published in a -valuable work by the late Dr. Carl Aberle in 1890 entitled -“Grabdenkmal, Schadel, und Abbildungen des Theophrastus -Paracelsus.” The publisher<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> of that book, Mr. Heinrich Dieter, -has kindly permitted me to use this picture.</p> - -<p>Tintoretto scarcely left Venice all his life, and it has been -supposed that he may have become acquainted with Paracelsus -when the latter was, as he said he was, an army surgeon in the -Venetian army in the years 1521–1525. Dr. Aberle points out -that if Tintoretto was born in 1518, as is generally supposed, -the painting from life was impossible; even if he was born in -1512, as has also been asserted, it was unlikely. Moreover, -the gentle-looking person represented, whose amiable “bedside -manner” is obviously depicted in the portrait, could not -possibly have been the untamable Paracelsus if any reliance -can be placed on the art of physiognomy.</p></blockquote> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Nicholas Culpepper.</h3> - -<p>This well-known writer, whose “Herbal” has been familiar to many -past generations as a family medicine book, deserves a place among -our Masters in Pharmacy for the freedom, and occasional acuteness -with which he criticised the first and second editions of the London -Pharmacopœia. One specimen of his sarcastic style must suffice. The -official formula for Mel Helleboratum was to infuse 3 lbs. of white -hellebore in 14 lbs. of water for three days; then boil it to half its -bulk; strain; add 3 lbs. of honey and boil to the consistence of honey. -This is Culpepper’s comment (in his “Physicians’ Library”):—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“What a <i>monstrum horrendum</i>, horrible, terrible recipe -have we got here:—A pound of white hellebore boiled in 14 -lbs. of water to seven. I would ask the College whether the -hellebore will not lose its virtue in the twentieth part of -this infusion and decoction (for it must be infused, forsooth, -three days to a minute) if a man may make so bold as to tell -them the truth. A Taylor’s Goose being boiled that time would -make a decoction near as strong as the hellebore, but this -they will not believe. Well, then, be it so. Imagine the -hellebore still remaining in its vigour after being so long -tired out with a tedious boiling (for less boiling would boil -an ox), what should the medicine do? Purge melancholy, say -they. But from whom? From men or beasts? The devil would not -take it unless it were poured down his throat with a horn. -I will not say they intended to kill men, <i>cum privilegio</i>; -that’s too gross. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> charitably judge them. Either the virtue -of the hellebore will fly away in such a martyrdom, or else it -will remain in the decoction. If it evaporate away, then is -the medicine good for nothing; if it remain in it is enough to -spoil the strongest man living. (1.) Because it is too strong. -(2.) Because it is not corrected in the least. And because -they have not corrected that, I take leave to correct them.”</p></blockquote> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p252"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p252.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Culpepper.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From an old book of his.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">This passage is not selected as a favourable specimen of Culpepper’s -pharmaceutical skill, but as a sample of the manner in which he often -rates “the College.” His own opinions are open to quite as severe -criticism. A large part of his lore is astrological; and he is very -confident about the doctrine of signatures. But he knew herbs well, and -his general advice is sound.</p> - -<p>Perhaps many of those who have studied his works have formed the idea -that he was a bent old man with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> a long grey beard, who busied himself -with the collection of simples. He was, in fact, a soldier, and died -at the early age of 38. His portraits and the descriptions of him -by his astrological friends represent him as a smart, brisk young -Londoner, fluent in speech and animated in gesture, gay in company, but -with frequent fits of melancholy, an extraordinarily good conceit of -himself, and plenty of reason for it.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p253"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p253.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Culpepper’s House.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From an old book of his.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Culpepper lived in the stirring times of the Civil War, and fought -on one side or the other, it is not certain which. Most likely, -judging from the frequent pious expressions in his works, he was a -Parliamentarian. He was severely wounded in the chest in one of the -battles, but it is not known in which. It is probable that it was this -wound which caused the lung disease from which he died.</p> - -<p>Such information as we have of Culpepper’s career is gathered from -his own works, and from some brutal attacks on him in certain public -prints. He describes himself on the title-pages of some of his big -books as “M.D.,” but there is no evidence that he ever graduated. -He lived, at least during his married life, at Red Lion Street, -Spitalfields, and there he carried on his medical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> practice. Probably -it was a large one, for he evidently understood the art of advertising -himself. He claims to have been the only doctor in London at the time -who gave advice gratis to the poor, and his frequent comments on the -cost of the pharmacopœia preparations suggest that the majority of his -patients were not of the fashionable class.</p> - -<p>Nicholas Culpepper was apprenticed to an apothecary in Great St. -Helen’s, Bishopsgate, and at the same time a certain Marchmont -Nedham was a solicitor’s clerk in Jewry Street. Nedham became the -most notorious journalist in England, and founded and edited in turn -the <i>Mercurius Britannicus</i>, an anti-royalist paper, the <i>Mercurius -Pragmaticus</i>, violently anti-Commonwealth, and the <i>Mercurius -Politicus</i>, subsidised by Cromwell’s government, and supervised by -Mr. John Milton. This publication, amalgamated with the <i>Public -Intelligencer</i>, its principal rival, has descended to us as the <i>London -Gazette</i>. Probably Nedham and Culpepper were friends in their early -days, and they may have been comrades in arms when the war broke -out. But evidently they became fierce enemies later. In <i>Mercurius -Pragmaticus</i> Nedham, pretending to review Culpepper’s translation of -the official Dispensatory, takes the opportunity of pouring on him a -tirade of scurrilous abuse. The translation, he says, “is filthily -done,” which was certainly not true. This is the only piece of -criticism in the article. The rest deals with the author personally. -Nedham informs his readers that Culpepper was the son of a Surrey -parson, “one of those who deceive men in matters belonging to their -most precious souls.” That meant that he was a Nonconformist. Nicholas -himself, according to Nedham, had been an Independent, a Brownist, -an Anabaptist, a Seeker, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> a Manifestationist, but had ultimately -become an Atheist. During his apprenticeship “he ran away from his -master upon his lewd debauchery”; afterwards he became a compositor, -then a “figure-flinger,” and lived about Moorfields on cozenage. After -making vile insinuations about his wife, Nedham states that by two -years’ drunken labour Culpepper had “gallimawfred the Apothecaries’ -Book into nonsense”; that he wore an old black coat lined with plush -which his stationer (publisher) had got for him in Long Lane to hide -his knavery, having been till then a most despicable ragged fellow; -“looks as if he had been stued in a tanpit; a frowzy headed coxcomb.” -He was aiming to “monopolise to himself all the knavery and cozenage -that ever an apothecary’s shop was capable of.”</p> - -<p>Culpepper’s works answer this spiteful caricature, for at any rate -he must have been a man of considerable attainments, and of immense -industry. That his writings acquired no little popularity is best -proved by the fact that after his death it was good business to forge -others somewhat resembling them and pass them off as his.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Turquet de Mayerne.</h3> - -<p>Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, Baron Aulbone of France, was born at -Geneva in 1573, of a Calvinistic family and studied for the medical -profession first at Heidelberg and afterwards at Montpellier. Moving -to Paris he acquired popularity as a lecturer on anatomy to surgeons, -and on pharmacy to apothecaries. His inclination towards chemical -remedies brought him to the notice of Rivierus, the first physician to -Henri IV, and he was appointed one of the king’s physicians. But his -medical heterodoxy offended the faculty, and his Protestantism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> raised -enemies for him at court. The king, who valued Turquet, did his best -to persuade him to conform to the Church of Rome as he himself had -done, and to moderate the rancour of his professional foes. But he was -unsuccessful in both efforts. Still Henri tried to keep him, ignoring -his heresies, and perhaps rather sympathising with them. But the queen, -Marie de Medici, insisted on Turquet’s dismissal, and the Faculty -of Paris was no whit behind the queen in intolerance. Coupling him -with a quack named Pierre Pena, a foreigner then practising medicine -illicitly at Paris, they issued a decree forbidding all physicians who -acknowledged their control to consult with De Turquer, and exhorting -practitioners of all nations to avoid him and all similar pests, and to -persevere in the doctrines of Hippocrates and Galen.</p> - -<p>Turquet de Mayerne came to England evidently with a high reputation, -for he was soon appointed first physician to the king (James I) and -queen, and held the same position under Charles I and Charles II. He -seems to have kept in retirement during the Commonwealth, though in -1628 it appears from his manuscript records (“Ephemerides Anglicæ,” -he called them) that he was consulted by a “Mons. Cromwell” whom he -describes as “Valde melancholicus.” He died at Chelsea in 1655 at the -age of 82. It was in England that he used the name of Mayerne.</p> - -<p>De Mayerne exercised a considerable influence on English pharmacy. The -Society of Apothecaries owed to him their separate incorporation, and -the first London Pharmacopœia was compiled and authorised probably to -some extent at his instigation. He certainly wrote the preface to it. -Paris quotes him as prescribing among absurd and disgusting remedies -“the secundines of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> woman in her first labour of a male child, the -bowels of a mole cut open alive, and the mummy made of the lungs of a -man who had died a violent death.” But such remedies were common to -all practitioners in England and France at the time. The principal -ingredient in a gout powder which he composed was the raspings of an -unburied human skull. He devised an ointment for hypochondria which was -called the Balsam of Bats. It contained adders, bats, sucking whelps, -earthworms, hog’s grease, marrow of a stag, and the thigh bone of an -ox. On the other hand, Mayerne is credited with the introduction of -calomel and black wash into medical practice.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Van Helmont.</h3> - -<p>Jean Baptiste Van Helmont, born at Brussels in 1577, and died at -Vilvorde near that city in 1644, was an erratic genius whose writings -and experiments sometimes astonish us by their lucidity and insight, -and again baffle us by their mysticism and puerility.</p> - -<p>Van Helmont was of aristocratic Flemish descent, and possessed some -wealth. He was a voracious student and a brilliant lecturer. At the -University of Louvain, however, where he spent several years, he -refused to take any degree because he believed that such academic -distinctions only ministered to pride. He resolved at the same time -to devote his life to the service of the poor, and with this in view -he made over his property to his sister, and set himself to study -medicine. His gift of exposition was so great that the authorities of -the University insisted on his acceptance of the chair of Surgery, -though that was the branch of medical practice he knew least about, and -though it was contrary to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> statutes of the faculty to appoint a -person as Professor not formally qualified.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p258"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p258.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">J. B. Van Helmont.</span> 1577–1644.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From an engraving in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">For a time things went well, but Van Helmont got tired of medical -teaching before the University became tired of him. The particular -occasion which disgusted him with medical science was that he -contracted the itch, and though he consulted many eminent physicians -could not get cured of it. He came to the conclusion that the pretended -art of healing was a fraud, and he consequently resolved to shake the -dust of it from his feet, after he had recovered from the weakening -effects of the purgatives which had been prescribed for his complaint.</p> - -<p>Then he set forth on his travels, and in the course of them he met with -a quack who cured him of his itch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> by means of sulphur and mercury. -After this he became a violent anti-Galenist. He studied the works of -Paracelsus, and after some years came back to his native country full -of ideas and phantasies.</p> - -<p>By marrying a wealthy woman Van Helmont became independent, and his -scientific career now commenced. He erected and fitted a laboratory at -Vilvorde, and devoted his time and skill to the study of chemistry, -medicine, and philosophy. He described himself as “Medicus per Ignem,” -and was one of the most earnest believers in the possibility of -discovering the philosopher’s stone, and the elixir of life. Indeed he -claimed that he had actually transmuted mercury into gold, and by his -medical compounds it is alleged that he performed such miraculous cures -that the Jesuits actually brought him before the Inquisition.</p> - -<p>The advance in chemistry for which he is most famous was the discovery -of carbonic acid gas, and the first steps in the recognition of the -various kinds of gases. Previous to his discovery chemists had no clear -perception of a distinction between the various gases; they reckoned -them all as air. Geber and other predecessors of Van Helmont had -observed that certain vapours were incorporated in material bodies, -and they regarded these as the spirits, or souls, of those bodies. Van -Helmont was the first actually to separate and examine one of these -vapours. He tracked this gas through many of the compounds in which -it is combined or formed: he got it from limestone, from potashes, -from burning coal, from certain natural mineral waters, and from the -fermentation of bread, wine, and beer. He found that it could be -compressed in wines and thus yield the sparkling beverages we know so -well. He also observed that it extinguished flame, and asphyxiated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> -animals. He alludes to other kinds of vapour, but does not precisely -define them. The carbon dioxide he named “gas sylvestre.”</p> - -<p>This was the first use of the term gas. “Hunc spiritum, hactenus -ignotum, novo nomine gas voco.” (I call this spirit, heretofore -unknown, by the new name gas.) What suggested this name to him is not -certain. Some have supposed that it was a modification of the Flemish, -<i>geest</i>, spirit; by others it is traced to the verb <i>gaschen</i>, to boil, -or ferment; and by many its derivation from chaos is assumed.</p> - -<p>His physiology was a modification of that of Paracelsus. An Archeus -within ruled the organism with the assistance of sub-archei for -different parts of the body. Ferments stirred these archei into -activity. In this way the processes of digestion were accounted for. -The vital spirit, a kind of gas, causes the pulsation of the arteries. -The Soul of Man he assigned to the stomach. The exact locality of -this important adjunct was a subject of keen discussion among the -philosophers of that age. Van Helmont’s conclusive argument for the -stomach as its habitation was the undoubted fact that trouble or bad -news had the effect of destroying the appetite.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Glauber</h3> - -<p>John Rudolph Glauber, who was born at Carlstadt, in Germany, in 1603, -contributed largely to pharmaceutical knowledge, and deserves to be -remembered by his many investigations, and perhaps even more for the -clear common sense which he brought to bear on his chemical work. For -though he retained a confident belief in the dreams of alchemy, he does -not appear to have let that belief interfere with his practical labour; -and some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> his processes were so well devised that they have hardly -been altered from his day to ours.</p> - -<p>Not much is known of his history except what he himself wrote or what -was related of him by his contemporaries. According to his own account -he took to chemistry when as a young man he got cured of a troublesome -stomach complaint by drinking some mineral waters. Eager to discover -what was the essential chemical in those waters to which he owed his -health he set to work on his experiments. The result was the discovery -of sulphate of soda, which he called “Sal mirabile,” but which all -subsequent generations have known as Glauber’s Salts. This, it happens, -was the one of his discoveries of which he was not particularly -vain, for he supposed that he had only obtained from another source -Paracelsus’s sal enixon, which was in fact sulphate of potash. His own -account of this discovery is necessarily of pharmaceutical interest. He -gives it in his work <i>De Natura Salium</i>, as follows:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>In the course of my youthful travels I was attacked at Vienna -with a violent fever known there as the Hungarian disease, to -which strangers are especially liable. My enfeebled stomach -rejected all food. On the advice of several friends I dragged -myself to a certain spring situated about a league from -Newstadt. I had brought with me a loaf of bread, but with no -hope of being able to eat it. Arrived at the spring I took the -loaf from my pocket and made a hole in it so that I could use -it as a cup. As I drank the water my appetite returned, and I -ended by eating the improvised cup in its turn. I made several -visits to the spring and was soon miraculously cured of my -illness. I asked what was the nature of the water and was told -it was “salpeter-wasser.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Glauber was twenty-one at that time, and knew nothing of chemistry. -Later he analysed the water and got from it, after evaporation, long -crystals, which, he says, a superficial observer might confuse with -saltpetre; but he soon satisfied himself that it was something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> quite -different. Subsequently he obtained an identical salt from the residue -in his retort after distilling marine salt and vitriol to obtain spirit -of salt. As already stated, he believed he had produced the “sal -enixon” of Paracelsus. But in memory of the benefit he had himself -experienced from its use he gave it the title of “sal mirabile.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p262"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p262.jpg" - alt="" /> -<blockquote> -<p>In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the sign of -“Glauber’s Head” appears to have been used in this country by -some chemical manufacturers. The picture annexed is from one -of these signs which was used more than a hundred years ago -by Slinger and Son, of York, and is now in the possession of -Messrs. Raimes and Co., of that city, who have kindly given me -a photograph of it. It is a wooden bust which was once gilded, -and presumably presents the traditional likeness of the famous -German chemist.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p2">This distillation of sulphuric acid with sea-salt, which yielded -spirit of salt, or as it is now called hydrochloric acid, was probably -Glauber’s principal contribution to the development of chemistry. -He observed the gas given off from the salt, and it is a wonder -that with his acuteness he did not isolate and describe the element -chlorine. He called it the spirit of rectified salt, and described it -as a spirit of the colour of fire, which passed into the receiver, -and which would dissolve metals and most minerals. He noted that if -digested with dephlegmated (concentrated) spirit of wine his spirit -of salt formed a layer of oily substance, which was the oil of wine, -“an excellent cordial and very agreeable.” He distilled ammonia from -bones, and showed how to make sal ammoniac by the addition of sea -salt. His sulphate of ammonia, now so largely used as a fertiliser and -in the production of other ammonia salts, was known for a long time -as “Sal ammoniacum secretum Glauberi.” He made sulphate of copper, -and his investigation of the acetum lignorum, now called pyroligneous -acid, though he did not claim to have discovered this substance, was -of the greatest value. He produced artificial gems, made chlorides of -arsenic and zinc, and added considerably to the chemistry of wine and -spirit-making.</p> - -<p>Glauber worked at many subjects for manufacturers, and sold his secrets -in many cases. His enemies asserted that he sold the same secret -several times, and that he not unfrequently sold secrets which would -not work. It is impossible now to test the truth of these accusations. -Probably some of the allegations made against him were due to the fact -that those who bought his processes were not as skilful as he was. -One secret which he claimed to have discovered he would neither<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> sell -nor publish. It was that of the Alkahest, or universal solvent. To -make this known might, he feared, “encourage the luxury, pride, and -godlessness of poor humanity.”</p> - -<p>Oliver Cromwell wrote in an old volume of Glauber’s Alchemy: “This -Glauber is an errant knave. I doe bethinke me he speaketh of wonders -which cannot be accomplished; but it is lawful for man too the -endeavour.”</p> - -<p>Glauber complained that he was not appreciated, which was probably -true. “I grieve over the ignorance of my contemporaries,” he wrote, -“and the ingratitude of men. Men are always envious, wicked, -ungrateful. For myself, faithful to the maxim, <i>Ora et Labora</i>, I -fulfil my career, do what I can, and await my reward.” Elsewhere he -writes, “If I have not done all the good in the world that I should -have desired, it has been the perversity of men that has hindered me.” -His employees, he says, were unfaithful. Having learned his processes, -they became inflated with pride, and left him. Apparently there was a -good business to be done in chemical secrets at that time. But Glauber -did not give away all he knew, and he found it best to do all his -important work himself. “I have learnt by expensive experience,” he -wrote, “the truth of the proverb, 'Wer seine Sachen will gethan haben -recht, Muss selbsten seyn Herr und Knecht.’”</p> - -<p>Although all Glauber’s books appeared with Latin titles they were -written in German.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Goulard.</h3> - -<p>Thomas Goulard was a surgeon of Montpellier with rather more than a -local reputation. He was counsellor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> to the king, perpetual mayor -of the town of Alet, lecturer and demonstrator royal in surgery, -demonstrator royal of anatomy in the College of Physicians, fellow -of the Royal Academies of Sciences in Montpellier, Toulouse, Lyons, -and Nancy, pensioner of the king and of the province of Languedoc for -lithotomy, and surgeon to the Military Hospital of Montpellier. His -treatise on “The Extract of Saturn” was published about the middle of -the eighteenth century, and his name and the preparations he devised -were soon spread all over Europe. White lead and sugar of lead, and -litharge as the basis of plasters had been familiar in medical practice -for centuries; and Galen and other great authorities had highly -commended lead preparations for eye diseases and for general lotions. -The preparation of sugar of lead is indicated in the works attributed -to Basil Valentine. Goulard’s special merit consisted in the care -which he gave to the production of his “Extract of Saturn,” and in his -intelligent experiments with it, and its various preparations in the -treatment of external complaints.</p> - -<p>Goulard made his extract of Saturn by boiling together golden litharge -and strong French wine vinegar at a moderate heat for about an hour, -stirring all the while, and after cooling drawing off for use the clear -supernatant liquor. Diluting this extract by adding 100 drops to a -quart of river water with four teaspoonfuls of brandy, made what he -called his Vegeto-Mineral Water, which he used for lotions. His cerate -of Saturn was made by melting 4 oz. of wax in 11 oz. of olive oil, and -incorporating with this 6 lbs. of vegeto-mineral water (containing -4 oz. of extract of Saturn). A cataplasm was made by gently boiling -the vegeto-mineral water with crumb of bread. A pomatum was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> prepared -by combining 4 oz. of the extract with a cerate composed of 8 oz. of -wax in 18 oz. of rose ointment. This was made stronger or milder as -the case might need. There was another pomatum made with the extract -of Saturn, sulphur, and alum, for the treatment of itch; and several -plasters for rheumatic complaints. Goulard gave full details of the -various uses of these applications in inflammations, bruises, wounds, -abscesses, erysipelas, ophthalmia, ulcers, cancers, whitlows, tetters, -piles, itch, and other complaints. His own experience was supported by -that of other practitioners.</p> - -<p>In giving the results of his experience thus freely and completely, -Goulard was aware of the sacrifice he was making. “I flatter myself,” -he says, “that the world is in some measure indebted to me for -publishing this medicine, which, if concealed in my own breast, might -have turned out much more to my private emolument”; at the same time -he did not object to reap some profit from his investigations, if this -could be done. At the end of the English translation of his book, -a copy of a document is printed addressed to his fellow student of -fifty years before, Mr. G. Arnaud, practising as a surgeon in London, -engaging to supply to him, and to him only, a sufficient quantity of -extract of Saturn made by himself, to be distributed by the said Mr. -Arnaud, or by those commissioned by him, over all the dominions of his -British Majesty.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Scheele.</h3> - -<p>Karl Wilhelm Scheele is the most famous of pharmacists, and has few -equals in scientific history. He was the seventh child of a merchant at -Stralsund,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> then in the possession of Sweden, and was born on December -9th, 1742. He had a fair education and at school was diligent and apt -in acquiring knowledge. If he was born with a gift, if his genius was -anything more than an immense capacity for taking pains, this aptness -was the faculty which distinguished Scheele from other men. He made -thousands of experiments and never forgot what he had learned from any -one of them; he read such scientific books as he could get, and never -needed to refer to them again. His friend Retsius, a pharmacist like -himself as a young man, but subsequently Director of the Museum of -Lund, has recorded Scheele’s remarkable power in this respect. “When he -was at Malmö,” he writes (this was when Scheele was about twenty-four -years of age), “he bought as many books as his small pay enabled him to -procure. He would read these once or twice, and would then remember all -that interested him, and never consulted them again.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p267"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p267.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Karl Wilhelm Scheele.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">An elder brother of Karl had been apprenticed to an apothecary at -Gothenburg, but had died during his apprenticeship. Karl went to this -apothecary, a Mr. Bauch, as apprentice at the age of fourteen, and -remained there till Bauch sold his business in 1765. Then he went to -another apothecary named Kjellström at Malmö. Three years later he was -chief assistant to a Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> Scharenberg at Stockholm. His next move was -to Upsala with a Mr. Lokk, who appreciated his assistant and gave him -plenty of time for his scientific work.</p> - -<p>Lastly, he took the management of a pharmacy at Köping for a widow -who owned it, and after an anxious time in clearing the business from -debt, he bought the business in 1776 and for the rest of his short life -was in fairly comfortable circumstances. Ill-health then pursued him, -rheumatism and attacks of melancholy. In the spring of 1786, in the -forty-fourth year of his age, after suffering for two months from a -slow fever, he died. Two days before his death he married the widow of -his predecessor, whose business he had rescued from ruin, so that she -might repossess it. A few months later she married again.</p> - -<p>That was Scheele’s life as a pharmacist; patient, plodding, -conscientious, only moderately successful, and shadowed by many -disappointments. The work he accomplished as a scientific chemist -would have been marvellous if he had had all his time to do it in; -under the actual circumstances in which it was performed it is simply -incomprehensible. A bare catalogue of his achievements is all that can -be noted here, but it must be remembered that he never announced any -discovery until he had checked his first conclusions by repeated and -varied tests.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p269"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p269.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Scheele’s Pharmacy at Köping.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">An account of an investigation of cream of tartar resulting in the -isolation of tartaric acid was his first published paper. He next -made an examination of fluor-spar from which resulted the separation -of fluoric acid. From this on the suggestion of Bergmann he proceeded -to a series of experiments on black oxide of manganese which besides -showing the many important combinations of the metal led the chemist -direct to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> wonderful discoveries of oxygen, chlorine, and barytes. -This work put him on the track of the observations set forth in his -famous work on “Air and Fire.” In this he explained the composition of -the atmosphere, which, he said, consisted of two gases, one of which he -named “empyreal” or “fire-air,” the same as he had obtained from black -oxide of manganese, and other substances. He realised and described -with much acuteness the part this gas played in nature, and the rest of -the book contained many remarkable observations which showed how nearly -Scheele approached the new ideas which Lavoisier was to formulate only -a few years later. “Air and Fire” was not issued till 1777, three -years after Priestley had demonstrated the separate existence and -characteristics of what he termed “dephlogisticated air.” But it is -well known that the long delay of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> Scheele’s printer in completing -his work was one of the disappointments of his life, and there is -evidence that his discovery of oxygen was actually made in 1773, a -year before Priestley had isolated the same element. Both of these -great experimenters missed the full significance of their observations -through the confusing influence of the phlogiston theory, which neither -of them questioned, and which was so soon to be destroyed as the direct -result of their labours.</p> - -<p>Among the other investigations which Scheele carried out were his -proof that plumbago was a form of carbon, his invention of a new -process for the manufacture of calomel, his discovery of lactic, malic, -oxalic, citric, and gallic acids, of glycerin, and his exposition of -the chemical process which yielded Prussian blue, with his incidental -isolation of prussic acid, a substance which he described minutely -though he gives no hint whatever to show that he knew anything of its -poisonous nature.</p> - -<p>The subjects mentioned by no means exhaust the mere titles of the work -which Scheele accomplished; they are only the more popular of his -results. The value of his scientific accomplishments was appreciated -in his lifetime, but not fully until the advance of chemistry set them -out in their true perspective. Then it was realised how completely and -accurately he had finished the many inquiries which he had taken in -hand.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">A Pharmaceutical Pantheon.</h3> - -<p>The School of Pharmacy of Paris, built in 1880, honours a number of -pharmacists of historic fame by placing a series of medallions on the -façade of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> building, as well as statues of two specially eminent -representatives of the profession in the Court of Honour. These two are -Vauquelin and Parmentier.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p271"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p271.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">École de Pharmacie, Paris.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From photo sold at School.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Louis Nicolas Vauquelin was director of the School from its foundation -in 1803 until his death in 1829. He also held professorships at the -School of Mines, at the Polytechnic School, and with the Faculty -of Medicine. He began his career as a boy in the laboratory of a -pharmacist at Rouen, and later got a situation with M. Cheradame, -a pharmacist in Paris. Cheradame was related to Fourcroy, to whom -he introduced his pupil. Fourcroy paid him £12 a year with board -and lodging, but he proved such an indefatigable worker that in no -long time he became the colleague, the friend, and the indispensable -substitute of his master in his analyses as well as in his lectures. He -is cited as the discoverer of chromium, of glucinium, and of several -animal products; but his most important work was a series of chemical -investigations on belladonna, cinchona,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> ipecacuanha, and other drugs, -which it is recognised opened the way for the definite separation of -some of the most valuable of the alkaloids accomplished afterwards by -Pelletier, Caventou, Robiquet, and others. Vauquelin published more -than 250 scientific articles.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p272"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p272.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Vauquelin.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(Origin unknown.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Antoine Augustin Parmentier (born 1737, died 1813), after serving -an apprenticeship with a pharmacist at Montpellier, joined the -pharmaceutical service in the army, and distinguished himself in the -war in Germany, especially in the course of an epidemic by which the -French soldiers suffered seriously. He was taken prisoner five times, -and at one period had to support himself almost entirely on potatoes. -On the last occasion he obtained employment with a Frankfort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> chemist -named Meyer, who would have gladly kept him with him. But Parmentier -preferred to return to his own country, and obtained an appointment -in the pharmacy of the Hotel des Invalides, rising to the post of -chief apothecary there in a few years. A prize offered by the Academy -of Besançon for the best means of averting the calamities of famine -was won by him in 1771, his German experience being utilised in his -advocacy of the cultivation of potatoes. These tubers, though they -had been widely cultivated in France in the sixteenth century, had -gone entirely out of favour, and were at that time only given to -cattle. The people had come to believe that they occasioned leprosy -and various fevers. Parmentier worked with rare perseverance to combat -this prejudice. He cultivated potatoes on an apparently hopeless -piece of land which the Government placed at his disposal, and when -the flowers appeared he made a bouquet of them and presented it to -Louis XVI, who wore the blossoms in his button-hole. His triumph was -complete, for very soon the potato was again cultivated all through -France. The royalist favour that he had enjoyed put him in some danger -during the Revolution; but in the latter days of the Convention, which -had deprived him of his official position and salary, he was employed -to organise the pharmaceutical service of the army. He also invented -a syrup of grapes which he proposed to the Minister of War as a -substitute for sugar during the continental blockade.</p> - -<p>The medallions, in the order in which they appear on the façade of -the École de Pharmacie, represent the following French and foreign -pharmacists:—</p> - -<p>Antoine Jerome Balard, the discoverer of bromine (born 1802, died -1876), was a native of Montpellier,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> where he qualified as a pharmacist -and commenced business. As a student he had worked with the salts -deposited from a salt marsh in the neighbourhood, and had been struck -with a coloration which certain tests gave with a solution of sulphate -of soda obtained from the marsh. Pursuing his experiments, he arrived -at the discovery of bromine, the element which formed the link -between chlorine and iodine. This early success won for him a medal -from the Royal Society of London and a professorship of chemistry at -Montpellier, and subsequently raised him to high scientific positions -in Paris. Balard did much more scientific work, among which was the -elaboration of a process for the production of potash salts from salt -marshes. He had worked at this for some twenty years, and had taken -patents for his methods, when the announcement of the discovery of the -potash deposits at Stassfurt effectually destroyed all his hope of -commercial success.</p> - -<p>Joseph Bienaimé Caventou (born at St. Omer 1795, died 1877) carried on -for many years an important pharmaceutical business in Paris. His fame -rests on his association with Pelletier in the discovery of quinine in -1820.</p> - -<p>Joseph Pelletier (born 1788, died 1842) was the son of a Paris -pharmacist, and was one of the most brilliant workers in pharmacy known -to us. He is best known for his isolation of quinine. Either alone, or -in association with others, he investigated the nature of ipecacuanha, -nux vomica, colchicum, cevadilla, hellebore, pepper, opium, and -other drugs, and a long series of alkaloids is credited to him. He -also contributed valuable researches on cochineal, santal, turmeric, -and other colouring materials. To him and his associate, Caventou, -the Institute awarded the Prix Monthyon of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> 10,000 francs for their -discovery of quinine, and this was the only reward they obtained for -their cinchona researches, for they took out no patents.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p275"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p275.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">Joseph Pelletier.</span> 1788–1842.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(Discoverer—with Caventou—of Quinine.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Pierre Robiquet (born at Rennes in 1780, died at Paris, 1840) served -his apprenticeship to pharmacy at Lorient, and afterwards studied under -Fourcroy and Vauquelin at Paris. His studies were interrupted by the -conscription, which compelled him to serve under Napoleon in the Army -of Italy. Returning to pharmacy after Marengo, he ultimately became the -proprietor of a pharmacy, and to that business he added the manufacture -of certain fine chemicals. His first scientific work was the separation -of asparagin, accomplished in association with Vauquelin, in 1805. His -later studies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> were in connection with opium (from which he extracted -codeine), on liquorice, cantharides, barytes, and nickel.</p> - -<p>André Constant Dumeril (born at Amiens, 1774, died 1860) was a -physician, but distinguished himself as a naturalist and anatomist. -He had been associated with Cuvier in early life. Latterly he was -consulting physician to Louis Philippe.</p> - -<p>Antoine Louis Brongniart (born 1742, died 1804) was the son of a -pharmacist of Paris, and became himself pharmacien to Louis XVI. He -also served the Convention as a military pharmacist, and was placed on -the Council of Health of the Army. In association with Hassenfratz who -was one of the organisers of the insurrection of August 10th, 1792, -and himself a professor at the School of Mines, Brongniart edited a -“Journal des Sciences, Arts, et Metiers” during the Revolution.</p> - -<p>The next medallion memorialises Scheele, the great Swedish pharmacist -and chemist, of whose career details have already been given.</p> - -<p>Pierre Bayen (born at Chalons s/Marne, 1725, died 1798) was an army -pharmacist for about half of his life, and to him was largely due the -organisation of that service. He was with the French Army in Germany -all through the Seven Years’ War, 1757–1763. Among his scientific works -were examinations of many of the natural mineral waters of France, and -a careful investigation into the alleged danger of tin vessels used -for cooking. Two German chemists, Margraff and Henkel, had reported -the presence of arsenic in tin utensils generally, and the knowledge -of this fact had produced a panic among housekeepers. Bayen went into -the subject thoroughly and was able to publish a reassuring report. -To him, too, belongs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> the glory of having been one of the chemists -before Lavoisier to prove that metals gain and do not lose weight on -calcination in the air.</p> - -<p>Pierre Joseph Macquer, Master of Pharmacy and Doctor of Medicine -(born 1718, died 1784), came of a noble Scotch family who had settled -in France on account of their adherence to the Catholic faith, made -some notable chemical discoveries, and became director of the royal -porcelain factory at Sèvres. He worked on kaolin, magnesia, arsenic, -gold, platinum, and the diamond. The bi-arseniate of arsenic was for -a long time known as Macquer’s arsenical salt. Macquer was not quite -satisfied with Stahl’s phlogiston theory, and tried to modify it; -but he would not accept the doctrines of Lavoisier. He proposed to -substitute light for phlogiston, and regarded light as precipitated -from the air in certain conditions. These notions attracted no support.</p> - -<p>Guillaume François Rouelle (born near Caen, 1703, died 1770) was in -youth an enthusiastic student of chemistry, the rudiments of which he -taught himself in the village smithy. Going to Paris he obtained a -situation in the pharmacy which had been Lemery’s, and subsequently -established one of his own in the Rue Jacob. There he commenced -courses of private lectures which were characterised by such intimate -knowledge, and flavoured with such earnestness and, as appears from -the stories given by pupils, by a good deal of eccentricity, that they -became the popular resort of chemical students. Lavoisier is believed -to have attended them. Commencing his lectures in full professional -costume, he would soon become animated and absorbed in his subject, -and throwing off his gown, cap, wig and cravat, delighted his hearers -with his vigour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> Rouelle was offered the position of apothecary to the -king, but declined the honour as it would have involved the abandonment -of his lectures. His chief published work was the classification of -salts into neutral, acid, and basic. He also closely investigated -medicinal plants, and got so near to the discovery of alkaloids as the -separation of what he called the immediate principles, making a number -of vegetable extracts.</p> - -<p>Etienne François Geoffrey (born 1672, died 1731), the son of a Paris -apothecary, himself of high reputation, for it was at his house that -the first meetings were held which resulted in the formation of the -Academy of Sciences, studied pharmacy at Montpellier, and qualified -there. Returning to Paris he went through the medical course and -submitted for his doctorate three theses which show the bent of his -mind. The first examined whether all diseases have one origin and can -be cured by one remedy, the second aimed to prove that the philosophic -physician must also be an operative chemist, and the third dealt -with the inquiry whether man had developed from a worm. Geoffrey was -attached as physician to the English embassy for some time and was -elected to the Royal Society of London. Afterwards he became professor -of medicine and pharmacy at the College of France. His chief works were -pharmacological researches on iron, on vitriol, on fermentation, and on -some mineral waters. He wrote a notable treatise on Materia Medica.</p> - -<p>Albert Seba was an apothecary of Amsterdam, who spent some part of his -early life in the Dutch Indies. He was born in 1668 and died in 1736. -He was particularly noted for a great collection illustrating all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> the -branches of natural history, finer than any other then known in Europe. -Peter the Great having seen this collection bought it for a large sum -and presented it to the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, where it -is still preserved.</p> - -<p>Anxious to pay due honour to the distinguished pharmacists of other -nations, the authorities of the School of Pharmacy introduce the -medallions of Dante and Sir Isaac Newton. The Italian poet’s connection -with pharmacy was the entirely nominal inscription of his name in -the guild of apothecaries of the city of Florence; there are almost -slighter grounds to the right of claiming the English philosopher among -pharmacists, his immediate association with the business having been -that as a schoolboy he lodged at Grantham with an apothecary of the -name of Clark. In his later years he worked with Boyle on ether.</p> - -<p>Moses Charas figures between these two. Living between the years 1618 -and 1698, Charas attained European celebrity. He was the first French -pharmacist to prepare the famous Theriaca. This he did in the presence -of a number of magistrates and physicians. He also wrote a treatise on -the compound. For nine years he was demonstrator of chemistry at the -King’s Garden at Paris, but he was a Protestant, and the Revocation of -the Edict of Nantes in 1685 drove him from France. Charles II received -him cordially in London, and made him a doctor. Afterwards he went to -Holland, and from there the King of Spain sent for him to attend on -him in a serious illness. While at Toledo he got into trouble with -the ecclesiastics in a singular manner. An archbishop of Toledo being -canonised, his successor announced that snakes in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> archbishopric -should henceforth lose their venom. This was a special temptation to -Moses Charas. He was strong on vipers. He had made medicine of many -of them, he had written a book about them, and he knew all there was -to know about them. He knew something about archbishops too, which -ought to have prevented him from publicly demonstrating the vanity of -the proclamation. But he must needs show to some influential friends -a local viper he had caught and make it bite two chickens, both of -which died promptly. This demonstration got talked about, and Charas -was prosecuted on a charge of attempting to overthrow an established -belief. He was imprisoned by the Inquisition, but after four months he -abjured Protestantism, and was set free. It must be remembered that he -was 72 years of age. On his return to France Louis XIV received him -kindly, and had him elected to the Academy of Sciences. Charas’s chief -work was a Pharmacopœia, which was in great vogue, and was translated -into all the principal modern languages, even into Chinese.</p> - -<p>Nicolas Lemery (born at Rouen, 1645, died 1715), a self-taught chemist -and pharmacist, exercised an enormous influence in science and -medicine. He opened a pharmacy in the Rue Galande, Paris, and there -taught chemistry orally and practically. His course was an immense -success. Fashionable people thronged to his lectures, and students came -from all countries to get the advantage of his teaching. He, too, was a -Protestant, and was struck by the storm of religious animosity. Charles -II had the opportunity of showing him hospitality in London, and seems -to have manifested towards him much friendliness. The University<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> of -Berlin likewise made him tempting proposals, but Lemery could only feel -at home in France. Things seemed quieter and he returned, only to find -in a short time that the condition was worse for Protestants than ever. -The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes prevented him from following -either of his professions, pharmacy or medicine; and for their sake -he adopted the Catholic faith. His “Universal Pharmacopœia” and his -“Dictionary of Simple Drugs” were published after these troubles, and -they are the works by which he won his lasting reputation.</p> - -<p>Gilles François Boulduc (1675–1742) was for many years first apothecary -to Louis XIV, and an authority on pharmaceutical matters in his time. -By his essays he helped to popularise Epsom, Glauber’s, and Seignette’s -salts in France.</p> - -<p>Antoine Baumé (born at Senlis, 1728, died 1804), the son of an -innkeeper, after an imperfect education in the provinces, got into the -famous establishment of Geoffrey at Paris and made such good use of -his opportunities that he became Professor of Chemistry at the College -of France when he was 25. A practical and extraordinarily industrious -chemist, he wrote much, invented the areometer which bears his name, -founded a factory of sal ammoniac, and bleaching works for silk by a -process which he devised. Baumé did good service, too, in dispelling -many of the traditional superstitions of pharmacy, such as the -complicated formulas and disgusting ingredients which were so common in -his time. He was never content to accept any views on trust.</p> - -<p>The three medallions which follow are those of Lavoisier, Berthollet, -and Chaptal; great chemists whose right to be represented cannot -be challenged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> but whose works were not specially associated with -pharmacy. These three all lived at the time of the Revolution. -Lavoisier was one of its most distinguished victims, Berthollet became -the companion and adviser of Napoleon in Egypt, and Chaptal was the -chemist commissioned by the Convention to provide gunpowder for -its ragged troops. He became one of Napoleon’s Ministers under the -Consulate.</p> - -<p>André Laugier (1770–1832), who comes next, was a relative and pupil of -Fourcroy, and became an Army pharmacist, serving through Bonaparte’s -Egyptian campaign. His works were mostly on mineralogical subjects.</p> - -<p>Georges Simon Serullas (1774–1832) was another military pharmacist -who served in the Napoleonic wars. He was, later, chief pharmacist at -the military hospital of Val de Grace, where he devoted much study to -many medicinal chemicals, such as cyanic acid, iodides, bromides, and -chlorides of cyanogen, hydrobromic ether, etc.</p> - -<p>Thénard (1777–1857), the eminent chemist, follows. He was very poor -when he asked Vauquelin to receive him as a pupil without pay. He only -secured the benefit he asked for because the chemist’s sister happened -to want a boy at the time to help her in the kitchen. He became a peer -of France in 1832. To him we owe peroxide of hydrogen.</p> - -<p>Nicolas J. B. Guibourt (1790–1867), Professor of Materia Medica at -the School of Pharmacy, was author of a well-known “History of Simple -Drugs,” and other works. He is often quoted in “Pharmacographia.”</p> - -<p>Achille Valenciennes (1794–1865) was noted as a naturalist, and -especially as a zoologist. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> Cuvier’s most trusted assistant in -the preparation of certain of his works. For many years Valenciennes -was Professor of Zoology at the School of Pharmacy, Paris.</p> - -<p>Baron Liebig (1803–1873), was placed in a pharmacy at Heppenheim as a -youth, but remained there only ten months. His chemical works are well -known.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p283"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p283.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Baron Liebig.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Charles Frederick Gerhardt (1816–1856), born at Strasburg (then a -French city), one of Liebig’s most brilliant pupils, was for some years -Professor of Chemistry at Montpellier in succession to Balard. Later, -he founded a laboratory at Paris, and finally accepted the Chair of -Chemistry at Strasburg. He was one of the founders of modern organic -chemistry, and the originator of the type theory.</p> - -<p>Theophile Jules Pelouze (1807–1867) held a position in the -pharmaceutical service of the Salpêtrière Hospital at Paris, when, one -day in the country, he was overtaken by a torrential storm. A carriage -passing, the pedestrian appealed to the driver to take him inside. No -notice was taken of his request, so the indignant young pharmacist -ran after the vehicle and seized the reins. Having stopped the horse, -he delivered a severe lecture to the driver on his lack of courtesy -and humanity. The passenger in the carriage invited him to enter and -share the shelter. This gentleman was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> M. Gay-Lussac, the most eminent -chemist in Paris at the time. The acquaintance thus curiously commenced -resulted in Pelouze becoming Gay-Lussac’s laboratory assistant. He -ultimately succeeded his employer at the Polytechnic School and, later -still, was promoted to the Chair which Thénard had occupied at the -College of France. Pelouze was a voluminous writer, and did useful -work on the production of native sugar. In conjunction with Liebig he -discovered œnanthic ether.</p> - -<p>Sir Humphry Davy served an apprenticeship with a Mr. Borlase, an -apothecary of Penzance, but afterwards exchanged physic for science. -He died at Geneva in 1829 at the age of 51, after a life crowded with -scientific triumphs.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p284"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p284.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Sir Humphry Davy.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Antoine Jussieu was the eldest of the three sons of Laurent Jussieu, -a master in pharmacy at Lyons. Antoine was born in 1686, and began -to collect plants from his childhood. His two brothers, Bernard and -Joseph, followed in his steps, and they, and Bernard’s son, Antoine -Laurent, constitute the famous Jussieu dynasty, from whom we have -received the natural system of botanical classification. The story is a -long and interesting one, but it is outside the scope of these notes. -It must be remarked, however, that to Antoine Jussieu is due the credit -of the introduction of the coffee plant into the western hemisphere. -The island of Martinique was where the first coffee shrub was planted.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> - -<p>Fourcroy, another chemist of the Revolutionary period, comes next and -is followed by</p> - -<p>Nicolas Houel (1520–1584), who was the founder of the School of -Pharmacy of Paris. He was an apothecary, and out of the ample fortune -which he had made from his profession, endowed a “House of Christian -Charity.” He stipulated that it was to be a school for young orphans -born of legal marriages, there to be instructed to serve and honour -God, to acquire good literary instruction, and to learn the art of the -apothecary. He also provided that the establishment should furnish -medicines to the sick poor, who did not wish to go to the hospital, -gratuitously. The institution consisted of a chapel, a school, a -complete pharmacy, a garden of simples, and a hospital. The charity -was duly authorised by Henri III and Queen Loise of Lorraine, but this -did not prevent Henri IV taking possession of it in 1596, and using it -as a home for his wounded soldiers. That was the origin of the Hotel -des Invalides. Louis XIII transferred the Invalides to the Château of -Bicêtre, and gave the school to the Sisters of St. Lazare. In 1622, -however, the Parliament of Paris took the matter in hand and restored -the property to the corporation of Apothecaries on condition that they -would carry out the bequest of Houel. In 1777 Louis XVI made it the -College of Pharmacy, and after the Convention the Directory declared -it to be the Free School of Pharmacy. When pharmacy was reorganised in -France during Napoleon’s consulate, the institution became the Paris -School of Pharmacy.</p> - -<p>Jan Swammerdam, a famous Dutch anatomist (1637–1680), comes next, and -after him, Claude Bernard, the physiologist (1813–1878), who began -his career in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> a poor little pharmacy at Lyons. Jean Baptiste Dumas, -born 1800, and living when the medallion was placed, also commenced -his career in a small pharmacy at Alais (Gard), his native town. Dumas -was one of the greatest chemists of the century. The doctrine of -substitution of radicles in chemical compounds was suggested by him. He -died April 11, 1884, at Cannes.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>XII<br /> - -<span class="subhed">ROYAL AND NOBLE PHARMACISTS.</span></h2> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,</div> - <div>But no man knoweth the mind of a King.</div> - <div class="i2"><span class="smcap">Rudyard Kipling</span>—“Ballad of the King’s Jest.”</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>In the “Myths of Pharmacy” it has been shown that some of the most -honoured of the deities of the ancient world interested themselves in -pharmacy. To a greater or less extent many important personages in -the world’s history since have occupied some of their leisure in the -endeavour to extract or compound some new and effective remedies.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Classical Legends.</h3> - -<p>Chin-Nong, Emperor of China, who died 2699 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, is reckoned -to have been the founder of pharmacy in the Far East. He studied plants -and composed a Herbal used to this day. It is related of him that he -discovered seventy poisonous plants and an equal number of antidotes to -them. He describes how to make extracts and decoctions, what they are -good for, and had some notions of analysis. Chin-Nong was the second -of the nine sovereigns who preceded the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> establishment of the Chinese -dynasties. To him is also attributed the invention of the plough.</p> - -<p>The Emperor Adrian, whose curiosity and literary tastes led him to the -study of astrology, magic, and medicine, composed an antidote which was -known as Adrianum, and which consisted of more than forty ingredients, -of which opium, henbane, and euphorbium were the principal.</p> - -<p>Attalus III, the last king of Pergamos in Asia Minor, who died about -134 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, bequeathing his kingdom to the Romans who already -controlled it, was a worthless and cruel prince, but of some reputation -in pharmacy. Having poisoned his uncle, the reigning king, Attalus -soon wearied of public affairs, and devoted his time to gardening, -and especially to the cultivation of poisonous and medicinal plants. -Plutarch expressly mentions henbane, hellebore, hemlock, and lotus as -among the herbs which he studied, and Justin reports that he amused -himself by sending to his friends presents of fruits, mixing poisonous -ones with the others. He is credited with the invention of our white -lead ointment and Celsus and Galen mention a plaster and an antidote as -among his achievements. Marcellus has preserved a prescription which he -says Attalus devised for diseases of the liver and spleen, for dropsy, -and for improving a lurid complexion. It consisted of saffron, Indian -nard, cassia, cinnamon, myrrh, schœnanthus, and costus, made into an -electuary with honey, and kept in a silver box.</p> - -<p><i>Gentius, King of Illyria</i>, discovered the medicinal value of the -gentian and introduced it into medical practice. The plant is supposed -to have acquired its name from this king. Gentius was induced by -Perseus, King of Macedon, to declare war against the Romans, Perseus -promising to support him with money and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> other aid. This he failed to -do and Gentius was defeated and taken prisoner by Anicius after a war -which lasted only thirty days.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Mithridatium.</h3> - -<p>Mithridates VI, commonly called “the Great,” King of Pontus in Asia -Minor, was born 134 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, and succeeded his father on the -throne at the age of twelve. Next to Hannibal he was the most -troublesome foe the Roman Republic had to deal with. His several wars -with that power occupied twenty-six years of his life. Sylla, Lucullus, -and Pompey, in succession, led Roman armies against him, and gained -battles again and again, but he was only at last completely conquered -by the last-named general after long and costly efforts.</p> - -<p>Mithridates was a valiant soldier and a skilful general, but a monster -of cruelty. He was apparently a learned man, or at least one who -took interest in learning. The fable of his medicinal secrets took -possession of the imagination of the Romans. They were especially -attracted by the stories of his famous antidote. According to some he -invented this himself; others say the secret was communicated to him by -a Persian physician named Zopyrus. Celsus states that a physician of -this name gave a similar secret to one of the Egyptian Ptolemies. This -may have been the same Zopyrus, for Mithridates lived in the time of -the Ptolemies. The Egyptian antidote was handed down to us under the -name of Ambrosia.</p> - -<p>When Pompey had finally defeated Mithridates he took possession of a -quantity of the tyrant’s papers at Nicopolis, and it was reported that -among these were his medicinal formulas. Mithridates meanwhile was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> -seeking help to prosecute the war. But his allies, his own son, and his -soldiers were all tired of him. In his despair he poisoned his wife and -daughters, and then took poison himself. But according to the legend, -propagated perhaps by some clever advertising quacks in Rome, he had so -successfully immunised his body to the effects of all poisons that they -would now take no effect. Consequently he had to call in the assistance -of a Gallic soldier, who despatched his chief with a spear. The story -of his defeat and death are historic; the poison story is legend which, -however it was originated, was no doubt good value in the drug stores -of Rome, where the confection of Mithridates was soon sold. As will -be stated immediately there is abundant reason to believe that the -alleged formula which Pompey was said to have discovered and to have -had translated was devised at home.</p> - -<p>In 1745 when a new London Pharmacopœia was nearly ready for issue, -a scholarly exposure of the absurdity of the compound which still -occupied space in that and in all other official formularies, along -with its equally egregious companion, Theriaca, was published by Dr. -William Heberden, a leading physician of the day, and though it was too -late to cause the deletion of the formulas in the edition of 1746, that -was the last time they appeared in the Pharmacopœia, though they had -been given in all the issues of that work from 1618 onwards. No better -completion of the history of this preparation can be given than that -which Dr. Heberden wrote 165 years ago. The King of Pontus, he assumed, -like many other ancient royalties, was pleased to affect special skill -in the production of medicines, and it is not surprising that his -courtiers should have flattered him on this accomplishment. Thus the -opinion pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>vailed among his enemies as well as in his own kingdom that -his achievements in pharmacy approached the miraculous. His conqueror, -Pompey, apparently shared the popular belief, and took uncommon care in -the ransack of his effects, after Mithridates had been compelled to fly -from the field, to secure for himself his medical writings. According -to Quintus Serenus Samonicus, however, the Roman general was amused at -his own credulity when, instead of a vast and precious arcana he found -himself in possession of only a few trifling and worthless receipts.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p291"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p291.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">Dr. William Heberden.</span> 1710–1801.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From a mezzotint in the British Museum.)</p> - </div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p2">The anticipation of some marvellous secrets was so universal, and the -Roman publishers so well disposed to cater for this, that it is not -to be wondered at that a confection of Mithridates and stories of -its miraculous power soon found their way into literature. A pompous -formula, which it was professed had been discovered among the papers -of Mithridates captured by Pompey came to be known under the title of -Antidotum Mithridatium. It is noteworthy that Plutarch, who in his life -of Pompey mentions that certain love letters and documents helping to -interpret dreams were among these papers, makes no allusion to the -medical recipe; while Samonicus states explicitly that, notwithstanding -the many formulæ which had got into circulation pretending to be -that of the genuine confection, the only one found in the cabinet of -Mithridates was a trivial one for a compound of 20 leaves of rue, 1 -grain of salt, 2 nuts, and 2 dried figs. So that, Dr. Heberden remarks, -the King of Pontus may have been as much a stranger to the medicine to -which his name was attached as many eminent physicians of this day are -to medicines associated with their names.</p> - -<p>The compound, made from the probably spurious formula, however, -acquired an immense fame. Some of the Roman emperors are declared to -have compounded it with their own hands. Galen says that whoever took a -proper dose in the morning was ensured against poison throughout that -day. Great physicians studied it with a view of making it, if possible, -more perfect. The most important modification of the formula was made -by Andromachus, Nero’s physician, who omitted the scink, added vipers, -and increased the proportion of opium. He changed the name to Galene, -but this was not retained, and in Trajan’s time the name of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> Theriaca -was the accepted designation, a title which has lasted throughout the -subsequent centuries.</p> - -<p>Dr. Heberden’s criticism of the composition is as effective now as -when he wrote, but it should be remembered that in his day there was a -Theriacal party in medicine; to us the comments seem obvious. He points -out that in the formula as it then appeared in the Pharmacopœia no -regard was had to the known virtues of the simples, nor to the rules of -artful composition. There was no foundation for the wonderful stories -told concerning it, and the utmost that could then be said of it was -that it was a diaphoretic, “which is commonly the virtue of a medicine -which has none.”</p> - -<p>But even if undesigning chance did happen to hit upon a mixture which -possessed such marvellous virtues, what foundation was there, he asked, -for believing that any other fortuitous concourse of ingredients would -be similarly successful? This preparation had scarcely continued the -same for a hundred years at a time. According to Celsus, who first -described it, it consisted of thirty-eight simples. Before the time -of Nero five of these had been struck out and twenty new ones added. -Andromachus omitted six and added twenty-eight; leaving seventy-five -net. Aetius in the fifth century, and Myrepsus in the twelfth gave -very different accounts of it, and since then the formulas had been -constantly fluctuating. Some of the original ingredients were, Dr. -Heberden said, utterly unknown in his time; others could only be -guessed at. About a century previously a dispute about Balm of Gilead, -which was one of the constituents, had been referred to the Pope, who, -however, prudently declined to exercise his infallibility on this -subject.</p> - -<p>Authorities were not agreed whether it was better old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> or new. Galen -said the virtue of the opium was mitigated by keeping; Juncker said it -fermented, and by fermentation the power of the opium was exalted three -or fourfold.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">A Pharmaceutical Pope.</h3> - -<p>Peter of Spain, a native of Lisbon, was a physician who became Pope -under the title of John XXI. He died in 1277. He wrote a treatise on -medicine, or rather made a collection of formulas, including most of -the absurd ones then current and adding a few of his own. One was to -carry about a parchment on which were written the names of Gaspard, -Balthasar, and Melchior, the three wise men of the East, as a sure -preservative from epilepsy. Another was a method of curing a diarrhœa -by filling a human bone with the excrements of a patient, and throwing -it into a river. The diarrhœa would cease when the bone was emptied of -its contents.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Henry VIII (of England)</h3> - -<p class="p-left">was fond of dabbling with medicine. In Brewer’s history of his reign, -referring to the years 1516–18, we are told:—</p> - -<p>“The amusements of court were diversified by hunting and out-door -sports in the morning; in the afternoon by Memo’s music, by the -consecration and distribution of cramp rings, or the invention of -plasters and compounding of medicines, an occupation in which the King -took unusual pleasure.”</p> - -<p>In the British Museum among the Sloane MSS. there is one numbered 1047, -entitled Dr. Butt’s Diary, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> records many of these pharmaceutical -achievements of the monarch. Dr. Butt was the King’s physician and -was no doubt his guide in these experiments. Dr. Butt, or Butts, -is referred to in Strype’s “Life of Cranmer” and in Shakespeare’s -“Henry VIII.” Many of the liniments and cataplasms formulated are for -excoriations or ulcers in the legs, a disease, as Dr. Brewer notes, -“common in those days, and from which the King himself suffered.”</p> - -<p>Among the contents of the Diary are “The King’s Majesty’s own Plaster.” -It is described as a plaster devised by the king to heal ulcers -without pain. It was a compound of pearls and guaiacum wood. There are -in the manuscript formulas for other plasters “devised by the King -at Greenwich and made at Westminster” to heal excoriations, to heal -swellings in the ankles, one for my lady Anne of Cleves “to mollify -and resolve, comfort and cease pain of cold and windy causes”; and an -ointment to cool and “let” (prevent) inflammations, and take away itch.</p> - -<p>Other formulas by Dr. Butt himself, and by other contemporary doctors, -are comprised in this Diary.</p> - -<p>Sir H. Halford, in an article “On the Deaths of Some Eminent Persons,” -printed in 1835, says of Henry VIII, who died of dropsy at the age of -56, that he was “a great dabbler in physic, and offered medical advice -on all occasions which presented themselves, and also made up the -medicines.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Queen Elizabeth of England</h3> - -<p class="p-left">appears to have been an amateur prescriber. Etmuller states that -she sent a formula for a “cephalica-cardiac medicine” to the Holy -Roman Emperor, Rudolf II,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> himself a dabbler in various scientific -quackeries. It consisted of amber, musk, and civet, dissolved in spirit -of roses. It is further on record that the English queen selected -doctors and pharmacists for Ivan the Terrible of Russia. In Wadd’s -Memorabilia, one of her Majesty’s quarter’s bills from her apothecary, -Hugo Morgan, is quoted. It amounted to £83 7<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>, and included -the following items:—A confection made like manus Christi with bezoar -stone and unicorn’s horn, 11<i>s.</i>; a royal sweetmeat with incised -rhubarb, 1<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>; rose water for the king of Navarre’s ambassador, -1<i>s.</i>; a conserve of barberries with preserved damascene plums, and -other things for Mr. Ralegh, 6<i>s.</i>; sweet scent to be used at the -christening of Sir Richard Knightley’s son, 2<i>s.</i></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Queen of Hungary’s Water.</h3> - -<p>Rosemary has at times enjoyed a high reputation among medicinal herbs. -Arnold of Villa Nova affirms that he had often seen cancers, gangrenes, -and fistulas, which would yield to no other medicine, dry up and become -perfectly cured by frequently bathing them with a spirituous infusion -of rosemary. His disciple, Raymond Lully, extracted the essential oil -by distillation.</p> - -<p>The name probably assisted the fame of the plant. In the middle ages it -was believed to be associated with the Virgin. It was in fact derived -from Ros and Maris, meaning Dew of the Sea; probably because it grew -near the shores of the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>“Here’s rosemary for you; that’s for remembrance.” So says Ophelia in -Hamlet; and many other poets and chroniclers relate how the plant was -used at funerals and weddings as a symbol of constancy. It is supposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> -that this signification arose from the medicinal employment of rosemary -to improve the memory. It may easily have happened, however, that the -medicinal use followed the emblematical idea.</p> - -<p>Old books and some modern ones tell the legend of the Queen of Hungary -and her rosemary remedy. It is alleged in pharmaceutical treatises -published in the nineteenth century that a document is preserved in the -Imperial Library at Vienna, dated 1235, and written by Queen Elisabeth -of Hungary, thus expressed:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“I, Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary, being very infirm and much -troubled with gout, in the seventy-second year of my age, -used for a year this recipe given to me by an ancient hermit, -whom I never saw before nor since; and was not only cured -but recovered my strength, and appeared to all so remarkably -beautiful that the King of Poland asked me in marriage, he -being a widower and I a widow. I, however, refused him for -the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, from one of whose angels I -believe I received the remedy.”</p> - -<p>The royal formula is as follows:—“Take aqua vitae, four -times distilled, 3 parts; the tops and flowers of rosemary, 2 -parts; put these together in a closed vessel, let them stand -in a gentle heat fifty hours, and then distil them. Take one -teaspoonful of this in the morning once every week, and let -your face and diseased limb be washed with it every morning.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Beckmann investigated this story and came to the conclusion that the -name “Eau de La Reine d’Hongrie” had been adopted by some vendors of -a spirit of rosemary “in order to give greater consequence and credit -to their commodity”; in other words, he suggests that the interesting -narrative was only a clever advertisement.</p> - -<p>The only Queen Elisabeth of Hungary was the wife of King Charles -Robert, and daughter of Ladislaus, King of Poland. She died in 1380, -and for more than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> ten years before that date either her brother, -Casimir II, or her son Louis, was the reigning sovereign in Poland, -and neither of these can be supposed to have been her suitor. The -alleged date of the document quoted would better suit St. Elisabeth of -Hungary, and some old writers attribute the formula and the story to -her. But she was never queen of Hungary, and moreover she died in 1231 -at the age of 25. Beckmann also denies the statement that the document -pretended to be in Queen Elisabeth’s writing is preserved in the -Imperial Library at Vienna. The whole narrative is traced to a German -named Hoyer, in 1716, and he apparently copied it from a French medical -writer named Prevot, who published it in 1659. Prevot attributes the -story to “St. Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary,” and says he copied both the -history and the formula from an old breviary in the possession of his -friend, Francis Podacather, a Cyprus nobleman, who had inherited it -from his ancestors. This is the one little possibility of truth in the -record, for it appears that Queen Elisabeth of Hungary did mention two -breviaries in her will, and it may have been that one of these was the -one which the Cyprus nobleman possessed.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Royal Touch.—The King’s Evil.</h3> - -<p>There are several instances in ancient history illustrating the healing -virtue residing or alleged to reside in the person of a king. Pyrrhus, -King of Epirus, according to Plutarch, cured colics and affections of -the spleen by laying patients on their backs and passing his great toe -over their bodies. Suelin relates that when the Emperor Vespasian was -at Alexandria a poor blind man came to him saying that the god Serapis -had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> revealed to him that if he, the Emperor, would touch his eyes with -his spittle, his sight would be restored. Vespasian was angry and would -have driven the man away, but some of those around him urged him to -exercise his power, and at last he consented and cured the poor man of -his blindness and some others of lameness. Cœlius Spartianus declares -that the Emperor Adrian cured dropsy by touching patients with the -tips of his fingers. The Eddas tell how King Olaf healed the wounds of -Egill, the Icelandic hero, by laying on of hands and singing proverbs. -A legend of the counts of Hapsburg declares that at one time they could -cure a sick person by kissing him.</p> - -<p>The superstition crystallised itself in the practice of the English -and French kings of touching for the cure of scrofula, or king’s evil -as the disease consequently came to be named. The term scrofula is -itself one of the curiosities of etymology. Scrofula is the diminutive -of scrota, a sow, and means a little pig. It is conjectured that the -name was adopted from the idea of pigs burrowing under the surface of -straw and likening to that the pig’s back sort of shape of the ulcers -characteristic of the disease.</p> - -<p>The first English king who undertook this treatment, so far as is -known, was Edward the Confessor, who reigned from 1042 to 1066. But -there is evidence that the French kings had practised it earlier. -Robert the Pious (970–1031), son of Hughes Capet, is said to have -exercised the miraculous power, and Church legend goes back five -hundred years before this, attributing the origin of the gift to the -date of the conversion of Clovis, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 496. On that occasion -the holy oil for the coronation of the Conqueror was brought direct -from heaven in a phial carried by a dove, and the healing faculty was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> -conferred at the same time. Most of the French kings down to Louis XV -continued to touch, and it was even suggested that the practice should -be resumed by Louis XVIII after the Restoration in 1815, but that -monarch’s advisers prudently resolved that it would not do to risk the -ridicule of modern France.</p> - -<p>The records of Edward the Confessor’s miraculous feats of healing -are obtained from William of Malmesbury, who wrote his Chronicles in -the first half of the 12th century, about a hundred years after the -Confessor’s reign. The earliest printed edition of the Chronicles -appeared in 1577, and Shakespeare undoubtedly drew from it the -description of the ceremony which is given in Macbeth (Act iv, Sc. 3). -Malcolm and Macduff are represented as being in England “in a room of -the King’s palace” (Edward the Confessor’s). The doctor tells them</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i2">There are a crew of wretched souls</div> - <div>That stay his cure: their malady convinces</div> - <div>The great assay of art; but at his touch—</div> - <div>Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand—</div> - <div>They presently amend.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Asked about the nature of the disease the doctor says “’Tis called the -evil,” and he adds</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i7">How he solicits Heaven</div> - <div>Himself best knows: but strangely visited people,</div> - <div>All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,</div> - <div>The mere despair of surgery, he cures,</div> - <div>Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,</div> - <div>Put on with holy prayers: and ’tis spoken,</div> - <div>To the succeeding royalty he leaves</div> - <div>The healing benediction.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>There is no evidence that any of the Norman kings performed the rite, -but it is on record that Henry II performed cures by touching, and -allusions to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> practice by Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, and -Henry IV have been found in old manuscripts. It is probable, too, that -the other kings preceding the Tudors followed the fashion when the -interval between their wars gave them the necessary leisure. From Henry -VII to Queen Anne all our rulers except Cromwell “touched.” Oliver, -not being able to claim the virtue by reason of his descent, would -certainly not have been trusted, and Dutch William had no sympathy -with the superstition. It is recorded of him that once he yielded to -importunity and went through the form of touching. “God gave thee -better health and more sense” was the unsentimental benediction he -pronounced. Queen Anne, as is well known, “touched” Dr. Johnson in his -childhood, but it is recorded that in this case no cure was effected. -Boswell says that Johnson’s mother in taking the child (who was then -between two and three years old) to London for the ceremony was -acting on the advice of Sir John Floyer, who was at that time a noted -physician at Lichfield. The “touch-piece” presented by Queen Anne to -Dr. Johnson is preserved in the British Museum. The Pretender, Charles -Edward, touched someone at Holyrood House, Edinburgh, and his partisans -said a cure was effected in three weeks. Which proved his right to the -throne of England.</p> - -<p>The story told by William of Malmesbury about Edward the Confessor is -that “a young woman that had a husband about the same age as herself, -but no child, was afflicted with overflowing of humours in her neck, -which broke out in great nobbs, was commanded in a dream to apply to -the King to wash it. To court she goes, and the King being at his -Devotions all alone dip’d his fingers in water and dabbel’d the woman’s -neck, and he had no sooner taken away his hand than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> she found herself -better.” William goes on to tell that within a week she was well, and -that within a year she was brought to bed of twins.</p> - -<p>Modern doctors have forgotten and despised the strange story of this -royal touch, but two and three centuries ago they very seriously -discussed it. Reports of marvellous and numerous cures were -confidently related, and the writers who had no faith in the virtue -of the performance admitted the genuineness of many of the cases. -Sergeant-Surgeon Dickens, Queen Anne’s surgeon, narrated the most -curious instance. At the request of one young woman he brought her to -the Queen to be touched. After the performance he impressed upon her -the importance of never parting with the gold medal which was given to -all patients; for it appears that he had reason to expect that she was -likely to sell it. She promised always to retain it, and in due course -she was cured. In time, thinking all risk had passed, she disposed -of the touch-piece; the disease returned; she confessed her fault -penitently to Dr. Dickens, and by his aid was touched again, and once -more cured. Surgeon Wiseman, chief surgeon in Charles I’s army, and -afterwards Sergeant-Surgeon in Charles II’s household, described the -cures effected by that monarch. He had been an eye-witness of hundreds -of cures, he says. Many other testimonies of the same kind might be -quoted, but it is as well to remark that a habit grew up of describing -the touching itself as a cure.</p> - -<p>Careful and intelligent inquiries into the alleged success of the -practice by investigators who were by no means believers in any actual -royal virtue, but who yet admitted unhesitatingly the reality of many -of the claimed cures, are on record. Among treatises of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> character -may be mentioned “A Free and Impartial Inquiry into the Antiquity and -Efficacy of Touching for the King’s Evil,” by William Beckett, F.R.S., -a well known surgeon, 1722, and “Criterion, or Miracles Examined,” by -Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, 1754. Both of these writers admit -that cures did result from the King’s touch; the Bishop says that he -personally knew a man who had been healed. Mr. Beckett deals with -these cures with much judgment. He points out how likely it was that -the excitement of the visit to the court, both in anticipation and in -realisation, and the impressive ceremony there conducted, would in -many instances so affect the constitution, causing the blood to course -through the veins more quickly, as to effect a cure.</p> - -<p>Mr. Beckett also gives extremely good reasons for doubting whether -Edward the Confessor ever did “touch” for scrofula. The gift is not -mentioned in the Bull of Pope Alexander III by which the Confessor was -canonised, nor by several earlier writers than William of Malmesbury, -monks only too eager to glorify their benefactor.</p> - -<p>Henry VII was the first to surround the ceremony of touching with an -imposing religious service, and to give a touch-piece to the patient. -Henry VIII does not seem to have followed the practice of his father to -any great extent, and there was some disturbance about it in the next -few reigns. The Catholics denied that Queen Elizabeth could possess the -healing virtue, and when actual cures were cited to them one of their -bishops declared that these were due, not to the royal virtue, but to -the virtue of the sign of the cross. All the Stuart kings, Charles -II particularly, exercised their hereditary powers most diligently. -Macaulay states<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> that Charles II touched nearly one hundred thousand -persons during his reign. In his record year, 1682, he performed the -rite eight thousand five hundred times.</p> - -<p>Evelyn gives the following account of the performance, which, as will -be seen, was no light duty. He describes it thus:</p> - -<p>“Sitting under his state in the Banqueting House, the chirurgeons cause -the sick to be brought or led up to the throne, where, they kneeling, -ye King strokes their faces and cheeks with both his hands at once, at -which instant a chaplaine in his formalities says:—'He put his hands -upon them and healed them.’ This he said to every one in particular. -When they have been all touched, they come up again in the same order; -and the other chaplaine kneeling, and having an angel of gold strung -on white ribbon on his arms delivers them one by one to His Majestie, -who puts them about the necks of the touched as they passe, while -the first chaplaine repeats 'That is ye true light which came into -ye world.’ Then follows an epistle (as at first a gospel) with the -liturgy, prayers for the sick, with some alteration, and then the Lord -Chamberlain and the Comptroller of the Household bring a basin, ewer, -and towel, for his Majesty to wash.”</p> - -<p>In 1684 Thomas Rosewell, evidently an unrepentant Puritan, was tried -before Judge Jeffries on a charge of high treason, the indictment -alleging that he had said “the people made a flocking to the king -upon pretence of being healed of the king’s evil, which he could not -do.” Rosewell had further declared that he and others, being priests -and prophets, could do as much as the king. And Rosewell had told how -Jeroboam’s hand had dried up when he would have seized the man of God -who had prophesied against him, and how the king’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> hand had been -restored on the prayer of the prophet. In his defence Rosewell had -sneered at the Latin of the indictment, which spoke of the “Morbus -Regni Anglici,” which, as he said, would mean the disease of the -English kingdom, not the king’s evil. Jeffries, having taunted the -prisoner and his witnesses with being “snivelling saints,” insisted on -a verdict of guilty, and would no doubt have had the mocker’s ears cut -off; but it is satisfactory to know that Charles II, who probably had -not more faith in his healing power than the accused, ordered him to be -pardoned.</p> - -<p>The English prayer-book contained a form of service for this ceremony -up to the year 1719.</p> - -<p>Queen Anne was the last ruler in England to touch. There is no record -of any of the Georges attempting the miracle, but the young Pretender, -Charles Edward, when claiming to be Prince of Wales, touched a female -child at Holyrood House in 1745, and is said to have effected a cure, -and after his death in 1780 his brother, Cardinal York, still touched -at Rome.</p> - -<p>Louis XV was the last King of France who touched. Louis XIV fulfilled -the duty on a larger scale, and doubtless with the utmost confidence in -his royal virtue. The formula used by the kings of France when they had -touched a patient was “Le roi te touche, Dieu te guerisse” (“The king -touches thee; may God heal thee”). It is said that Henri of Navarre, -when in the thick of the fight at Ivry (1590), as he laid about him -with his sword right and left, gaily shouted this familiar expression.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Cramp Rings.</h3> - -<p>Faith in “cramp rings” corresponds in many respects with the -reverential confidence in the royal touch as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> a cure for scrofula. -The former, however, appears to have been of entirely English origin. -Legend attributes the first cramp ring to Edward the Confessor.</p> - -<p>St. Edward on his death-bed is alleged to have given a ring from his -finger to the Abbot of Westminster with the explanation that it had -been brought to him not long before by a pilgrim from Jerusalem to whom -it had been given by a mysterious stranger, presumably a visitant from -the world of spirits, who had bidden him give the ring to the king -with the message that his end was near. The ring was preserved as a -relic at Westminster for some time, and was found to possess miraculous -efficacy for the cure of epilepsy and cramp. It was next heard of at -Havering in Essex, the very name of which place, according to Camden, -furnished evidence of the accuracy of the tradition. Havering was -obviously a contraction of “have the ring.” So at least thought the old -etymologists.</p> - -<p>When the relic disappeared is not recorded; but the Tudor kings were -in the habit of contributing a certain amount of gold and silver as an -offering to the Cross every Good Friday, and the metal being made into -rings was consecrated by them, in accordance with a form of service -which was included in old English prayer books (see Burnett’s History -of the Reformation, Part 2, Book 2, No. 25). This was actually used -until the reign of Queen Anne. Andrew Boorde, in his “Breviary of -Health,” 1557, says: “The kynges of England doth halow every yere cramp -rynges ye which rynges worn on one’s finger doth helpe them whyche hath -ye cramp.” They seem to have been regarded especially as a protection -against epilepsy, and courtiers were much importuned to obtain some for -persons afflicted.</p> - -<p>The process of hallowing the rings is described in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> Brand’s “Popular -Antiquities.” A crucifix was laid on a cushion in the royal chapel, and -a piece of carpet was spread in front of it. The king entered in state, -and when he came to the carpet crept on it to the crucifix. There the -rings were brought to him in a silver dish, and he blessed them.</p> - -<p>In the Harleian Manuscripts (295 f119) a letter is preserved dated -the xxi. daie of June, 1518, from Lord Berners (the translator of -Froissart), then ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. He writes from -Saragoza “to my Lord Cardinall’s grace” (Wolsey), “If your grace -remember me with some crampe rynges ye shall doo a thing muche looked -for; and I trust to bestowe thaym well with Goddes grace, who evermor -preserve and encrease your most reverent astate.”</p> - -<p>It does not appear certain that the royal consecration of these rings -was continued after the reign of Queen Mary; but cramp rings continued -in esteem almost until our own time in some parts of the country. In -Brand’s book, and in several numbers of <i>Notes and Queries</i> references -to superstitions in connection with these, their production and the -wearing of them particularly against epilepsy, are recorded. Sometimes, -to be effective, the rings must have been made from coffin handles, or -coffin nails, the coffins from which they have been taken having been -buried; or rings of silver or gold, manufactured while the story of the -Passion of the Saviour was being read, would possess curative power. -So would a ring made from silver collected at a Communion service, -preferably on Easter Sunday. In Berkshire, a ring made from five -sixpences collected from five bachelors, none of whom must know the -purpose of the collection, and formed by a bachelor smith into a ring -was believed in; and in Suffolk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> not very long since, nine bachelors -contributed a crooked sixpence each to make a ring for a young woman -in the village to wear for the cure of epileptic fits to which she was -subject.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Earl of Warwick’s Powder.</h3> - -<p>The Earl of Warwick’s Powder is named in many old English, and more -frequently still in foreign dispensatories and pharmacopœias, appearing -generally under the title of “Pulvis Comitis de Warwick, or Pulvis -Warwiciensis,” sometimes also as “Pulvis Cornacchini.” It is the -original of our Pulv. Scammon Co, and was given in the P.L. 1721 in its -pristine form, thus:—</p> - -<ul class="smaller"> - <li>Scammony, prepared with the fumes of sulphur, 2 ounces.</li> - <li>Diaphoretic antimony, 1 ounce.</li> - <li>Cream of tartar, ½ ounce.</li> -</ul> - -<p>In the P.L. 1746 the pulvis e scammonio compositus, made from four -parts of scammony and three parts of burnt hartshorn, was substituted -for the above, but neither this nor the modern compound scammony -powder, consisting of scammony, jalap, and ginger, can be regarded as -representing the original Earl of Warwick’s powder.</p> - -<p>The Earl of Warwick from whom the powder acquired its name was Robert -Dudley, son of the famous Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth’s -favourite, and of Kenilworth notoriety. His mother was the widow of -Lord Sheffield, and there was much dispute about the legitimacy of the -child, but the evidence goes to show that Leicester married her two -days before the birth of the boy. He afterwards abandoned her, but he -left his estates to the boy. Young Robert Dudley grew up a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> singularly -handsome and popular youth. He led an adventurous life, voyaging, -exploring, and fighting Spanish ships. He failed to establish his -claims to his titles and estates in England, and ultimately settled at -Florence, where he became a Catholic, and distinguished himself as an -engineer and architect. He won the favour of Ferdinand II, Emperor of -Austria, who created him Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland, -and the Pope recognised his nobility. He died in Italy in 1649. The -chroniclers of the time refer to a book he is said to have written -under the title of <i>Catholicon</i>, which was “in good esteem among -physicians.” If it existed it was probably a collection of medical -formulæ, but it is not unlikely that this supposed book has been -confused with one written by a Dr. Cornacchini, of Pisa, and dedicated -to Dudley. In that work, which is known, the powder is described, -and its invention is attributed to the Earl. It is alleged to have -possessed marvellous medicinal virtues.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Duke of Portland’s Gout Powder.</h3> - -<p>Under this title a powder had a great reputation about the middle of -the eighteenth century, and well on into the nineteenth century. The -powder was composed of aristolochia rotunda (birthwort root), gentian -root, and the tops and leaves of germander, ground pine, and centaury, -of each equal parts. One drachm was to be taken every morning, -fasting, for three months, and then ½ drachm for the rest of the year. -Particular directions in regard to diet were given with the formula.</p> - -<p>The compound was evidently only a slight modification of several to -be found in the works of the later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> Latin authors, Aetius, Alexander -of Trailles, and Paul of Egineta. These were entitled Tetrapharmacum, -Antidotus Podagrica ex duobus centauriae generibus, Diatesseron, and -other names. The “duobus” remedy was an electuary prescribed by Aetius, -and a piece the size of a hazel nut had to be taken every morning for -a year. Hence it was called medicamentum ad annum. This, or something -very like it, was in use in Italy for centuries under the name of -Pulvis Principis Mirandolæ, and spread from there to the neighbouring -countries. An Englishman long resident in Switzerland had compiled -a manuscript collection of medical formulæ, and his son, who became -acquainted with the Duke of Portland of the period, persuaded him to -give this gout remedy a trial. The result was so satisfactory that the -Duke had the formula and the diet directions printed on leaflets, and -these were given to anyone who asked for them.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Sir Walter Raleigh’s Great Cordial.</h3> - -<p>During his twelve years’ imprisonment in the Tower in the earlier part -of the reign of James I, Sir Walter Raleigh was allowed a room in -which he fitted up a laboratory, and divided his time between chemical -experiments and literary labours. It was believed that Raleigh had -brought with him from Guiana some wonderful curative balsam, and this -opinion, combined with the knowledge that he dabbled largely with -retorts and alembics in the Tower, ensured a lively public interest in -his “Great Cordial” when it was available.</p> - -<p>The Queen, Anne of Denmark, and Prince Henry, were both warm partisans -of Raleigh, and did their best to get him released. The Queen was -convinced that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> the “Great Cordial” had saved her life in a serious -illness, and Prince Henry took a particular interest in Raleigh’s -experiments. When the Prince was on his death-bed Raleigh sent him some -of the cordial, declaring, it was reported, that it would certainly -cure him provided he had not been poisoned. This unwise suggestion -coming to James’s ears greatly incensed him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> and darkened Raleigh’s -prospects of life and freedom considerably.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p311"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p311.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Sir Walter Raleigh.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From a mezzotint in the British Museum.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">No known authentic formula of the cordial exists, but Charles II was -curious about it, and his French apothecary, Le Febre, on the king’s -command, prepared some of the compound from data then available, and -wrote a treatise on it which was afterwards translated into English -by Peter Lebon. Evelyn records in his diary the demonstration of the -composition given by Le Febre to the Court on September 20, 1662.</p> - -<p>The cordial then consisted of forty roots, seeds, herbs, etc., -macerated in spirit of wine, and distilled. With the distillate were -combined bezoar stones, pearls, coral, deer’s horn, amber, musk, -antimony, various earths, sugar, and much besides. Vipers’ flesh, with -the heart and liver, and “mineral unicorn” were added later on the -suggestion of Sir Kenelm Digby. The official history of this strange -concoction is appended.</p> - -<p>Confectio Raleighana was first official in the London Pharmacopœia of -1721. The formula was—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Rasurae C. Cervi lb. i.</p> - -<p>Carnis viperarum c. cordibus et hepatibus, 6 oz.</p> - -<p>Flor. Borag., rosmar., calendulae, roris solis, rosarum rub., -sambuci, ana lb. ss.</p> - -<p>Herb. scordii, cardui benedicti, melissæ, dictamni cretici, -menthæ, majoranæ, betonicæ, ana manipules duodecim.</p> - -<p>Succi Kermis, Sem. card. maj., cubebarum, Bacc. junip., macis, -nuc. mosch., caryoph., croci, ana 2 oz.</p> - -<p>Cinnam. opt., cort. lign. sassaf., cort. flav. malorum -citriorum, aurantiorum, ana 3 oz.</p> - -<p>Lign. aloes, sassafras, ana 6 oz.</p> - -<p>Rad. angelic., valerian, sylvest., fraxinell, seu dictamni -alb., serpentar. Virginianæ, Zedoariæ, tormentillæ bistort, -Aristoloch. long., Aristoloch. rotund., gentianæ, imperatoriæ, -ana 1½ oz.</p></blockquote> - -<p>These were to be cut up or crushed, and a tincture made from them with -rectified spirit. The tincture was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> to be evaporated in a sand-bath, -the expressed magma was then to be burned, and the ashes, lixiviated in -water, were to be added to the extract.</p> - -<p>Then the following powders were to be added to this liquid to form -a confection:—Bezoar stone, Eastern and western, of each 1½ oz.; -Eastern pearls, 2 oz.; red coral, 3 oz.; Eastern Bole, Terra Sigillata, -calcined hartshorn, ambergris, of each 1 oz.; musk, 1½ drachms; -powdered sugar, 2 lb.</p> - -<p>In the P.L. 1746 Confectio Raleighana appears as Confectio Cardiaca. -It is expressly stated that this new name is substituted for the old -one. The formula is simplified, but the resemblance to the original can -be traced. It runs thus:—Summitatum Rorismar, recent., Bacc, Junip., -ana lb. i; Sem. card., min. decort., Zedoariæ, Croci. ana lb. ss. Make -a tincture with these with about 1½ gallons of diluted spirit, and -afterwards reduce it to 2½ lb. by evaporating at a gentle heat; then -add the following, all in the finest powder:—Compound powder of crabs’ -shells, 16 oz. This was prepared powder of crab shells, 1 lb.; pearls -and red coral, of each 3 oz.; cinnamon and nutmegs, of each 2 oz.; -cloves, 1 oz.; sugar, 2 lb. To make a confection.</p> - -<p>In the P.L. 1788 the compound is still further simplified, and -acquires the name of Confectio Aromatica. The index of that work gives -“Confectio Aromatica vice Confectio Cardiaca.” The formula now runs -thus:—Zedoaria, coarsely powdered, saffron, of each, ½ lb.; water, 3 -lb. Macerate for 24 hours, express and strain. Evaporate the strained -liquor to 1½ lb., and add the following, all in fine powder:—compound -powder of crabs’ shells, 16 oz.; cinnamon, nutmeg, of each 2 oz.; -cloves, 8 oz.; cardamom seeds, ½ oz.; sugar, 2 lb. Make a confection.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the 1809 P.L. the zedoary is abandoned, the quantity of saffron is -reduced to 2 ounces, the pulv. chelis cancrorum co. is described as -testarum præp., and there is no maceration of any of the ingredients. -The powders are simply mixed, and the water added little by little -until the proper consistence is attained.</p> - -<p>This formula is retained in the Pharmacopœias of 1824 and 1836, but -in that of 1851 the powdered shells became prepared chalk. In the -Edinburgh Pharmacopœia of 1841, and in that of Dublin of 1850, the -confection was made from aromatic powders of similar composition, made -into confections in P.E. with syrup of orange peel, and in P.D. with -simple syrup and clarified honey. All that remains of this historic -remedy is Pulvis Cretæ Aromaticus B.P., and from this the saffron has -been entirely removed.</p> - -<p>Raleigh’s Cordial occasionally turns up in histories. In Aubrey’s -“Brief Lives,” it is stated that “Sir Walter Raleigh was a great -chymist, and amongst some MSS. receipts I have seen some secrets from -him. He made an excellent cordiall, good in feavers. Mr. Robert Boyle -has the recipe and does great cures by it.”</p> - -<p>In Strickland’s “Lives of the Queens of England” (Vol. VIII, p. 122) we -are told that, according to the newspapers of the day, William III, in -his last illness was kept alive all through his last night by the use -of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Cordial.</p> - -<p>In Lord John Hervey’s “Memoirs of the Reign of George II” (Vol. III, p. -294), the details of the last illness of Queen Caroline, who died in -1737, are narrated. Snake root and Sir Walter Raleigh’s Cordial were -prescribed for her. As the latter took some time to prepare, Ransby, -house surgeon to the King, said one cordial was as good as another, -and gave her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> Usquebaugh. She, however, took the other mixture when it -came. Afterwards Daffy’s Elixir and mint water were administered.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Tar Water as a Panacea.</h3> - -<p>George Berkeley was born in 1685 in Kilkenny county, Ireland, but -claimed to be of English extraction. He graduated at Trinity College, -Dublin, and became a Fellow of that College. His metaphysical -speculations made him famous. He was the originator of the view that -the actual existence of matter was not capable of proof. Having been -appointed Dean of Derry he was well provided for, but just then he -became enthusiastically desirous to convert and civilise the North -American Indians. With this object in view he proposed to establish -a University at Bermuda to train students for the work. He got some -college friends to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> join him, collected about £5,000 from wealthy -supporters, and after long negotiations persuaded the House of Commons -to recommend George I. to grant him a contribution of £20,000 which -never came. It was during that time that he learned of the medicinal -efficacy of tar water from some of the Indian tribes whom he visited. -Some time after his return he was made Bishop of Cloyne, and worked -indefatigably in his diocese. A terrible winter in 1739–40 caused -great distress and was followed by an epidemic of small-pox. It was -then that the Bishop remembered his American experiences. He gave tar -water as a remedy and tar water as a prophylactic, with the result, -as he reported, that those who took the disease had it very mildly if -they had taken tar water. Convinced of its value he gave it in other -illnesses with such success that with characteristic enthusiasm he -came to believe that he had discovered a panacea. Some reports of this -treatment had been published in certain magazines, but in the spring -of 1744 a little book by the Bishop appeared giving a full account of -his experiences. It was entitled “A Chain of Philosophical Reflections -and Enquiries concerning the virtues of Tar Water, and divers other -subjects connected together and arising one from another.” The treatise -was eagerly read and discussed both in Ireland and England. A second -edition was required in a few weeks, and to this the author gave the -short title “Siris” (Greek for chain).</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p315"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p315.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Berkeley.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From the British Museum.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The Bishop’s theory was an attractive one. The pine trees he argued, -had accumulated from the sunlight and the air a large proportion of the -vital element of the universe, and condensed it in the tar which they -yielded. The vital element could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> be drawn off by water and conveyed to -the human organism.</p> - -<p>It is not necessary here to follow out his chain of reasoning from -the vital element in tar up to the Supreme Mind from which that vital -principle emanated. On the way the author quoted freely and effectively -from Plato and Pythagoras, from Theophrastus and Pliny, from Boerhaave -and Boyle, and from many other authorities. He showed how the balsams -and resins of the ancient world were of the same nature as tar. Van -Helmont said, “Whoever can make myrrh soluble by the human body has the -secret of prolonging his days,” and Boerhaave had recognised that there -was truth in this remark on account of the anti-putrefactive power of -the myrrh. This was the power which tar possessed in so large a degree. -Homberg had made gold by introducing the vital element in the form of -light into the pores of mercury. The process was too expensive to make -the production of gold by this means profitable, but the fact showed an -analogy with the concentration of the same element in the tar.</p> - -<p>Berkeley’s process for making the tar water was simply to pour 1 gallon -of cold water on a quart of tar; stir it with a wooden ladle for five -or six minutes, and then set the vessel aside for three days and -nights to let the tar subside. The water was then to be drawn off and -kept in well-stoppered bottles. Ordinarily half a pint might be taken -fasting morning and night, but to cure disease much larger doses might -be given. It had proved of extraordinary value not only in small-pox, -but also in eruptions and ulcers, ulceration of the bowels and of the -lungs, consumptive cough, pleurisy, dropsy, and gravel. It greatly -aided digestion, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> consequently prevented gout. It was a remedy in -all inflammatory disorders and fevers. It was a cordial which cheered, -warmed, and comforted, with no injurious effects.</p> - -<p>The nation went wild over this discovery. “The Bishop of Cloyne has -made tar water as fashionable as Vauxhall or Ranelagh,” wrote Duncombe.</p> - -<p>The Bishop’s book was translated into most of the European languages, -and tar water attained some degree of popularity on the Continent. -It owed no little of its success in this country to the opposition -it met with from medical writers. The public at once concluded that -they were very anxious about their “kitchen prospects,” to use the -symbolism of Paracelsus. Every attack on tar water called forth several -replies. Berkeley himself responded to some of the criticisms by very -poor verses, which he got a friend to send to the journals with strict -injunctions to keep his name secret.</p> - -<p>Paris in “Pharmacologia” refers to the tar water mania, asking “What -but the spell of authority could have inspired a general belief that -the sooty washings of rosin would act as a universal remedy?” It need -hardly be pointed out that the general belief was rather a revolt -against authority than an acceptance of it.</p> - -<p>Dr. Young, the author of “Night Thoughts,” wrote: “They who have -experienced the wonderful effects of tar water reveal its excellences -to others. I say reveal, because they are beyond what any can -conceive by reason or natural light. But others disbelieve them -though the revelation is attested past all scruple, because to them -such excellences are incomprehensible. Now give me leave to say that -this infidelity may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> possibly be as fatal to morbid bodies as other -infidelity is to morbid souls. I say this in honest zeal for your -welfare. I am confident if you persist you’ll be greatly benefited by -it. In old obstinate, chronical complaints, it probably will not show -its virtue under three months; though secretly it is doing good all the -time.”</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Kings Buy Secret Remedies.</h3> - -<p>In past times it was not unusual for monarchs to purchase from the -inventors of panaceas the secrets of their composition for publication -for the benefit of their subjects. Several instances are mentioned in -other chapters of this book. Among these may be noted Goddard’s Drops, -bought by Charles II., Glauber’s Kermes Mineral or Poudre des Chartres, -Talbor’s Tincture of Bark, and Helvetius’s Ipecacuanha, the secrets of -which were obtained by Louis XIV for fancy prices. In Louis XIV’s reign -the French Government purchased from the Prieur de Cabrier an arcanum -to cure rupture without bandages or operations. The recipe, which was -made public, was that a few drops of spirit of salt were to be taken -in red wine frequently during the day. Mr. Stephens’s Cure for the -Stone was transferred to the public by a payment authorised by Act of -Parliament.</p> - -<p>The Emperor Joseph II of Austria paid 1,500 florins somewhere about -the year 1785 for the formula for a secret febrifuge which was at that -time enjoying extreme popularity. It proved to be simply an alcoholic -tincture of box bark (<i>Buxus sempervirens</i>). The remedy lost its -prestige as soon as the secret was gone.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p> - - -<h4><i>Nouffer’s Tapeworm Cure.</i></h4> - -<p>Louis XVI gave 18,000 livres (about £700) to a Madame Nouffer or -Nuffer for a noted cure for tapeworm, which she had inherited from her -deceased husband. As the result of the king’s purchase, a little book -was published in 1775 explaining fully the treatment.</p> - -<p>Nouffer was a surgeon living at Morat, in Switzerland. He had practised -his special worm cure treatment for many years, and by it he had -acquired a considerable local fame. After his death his widow, who -knew all about the secret, continued to receive patients. Among those -who came to her was a Russian, Prince Baryantinski, who was staying in -the neighbourhood and had heard of the cure. He had been troubled for -years with tapeworm, and Madame Nouffer’s remedy cured him. The Prince -reported the facts to his regular physician at Paris, and consequently -cases were sent from that city to the Swiss lady. She was so successful -that the king was induced to give her the sum named for the revelation -of her method, which was briefly as follows:—</p> - -<p>For a day or two the patient was fed on buttered toast only. Meanwhile -enemas of mallow and marshmallow with a little salt and olive oil were -administered. Then, early in the morning, 3 drachms of powder of male -fern in a teacupful of water was taken. Candied lemon was chewed after -the dose to relieve the nauseousness, and the mouth was washed out with -an aromatic water. If the patient vomited the medicine another dose -was given. Two hours after the male fern a bolus containing 12 grains -each of calomel and resin of scammony, with 5 grains of gamboge, and -with confection of hyacinth as the excipient, had to be taken. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> cup -of warm tea was recommended shortly after the bolus. The doses quoted -were regarded as average ones. They might be modified according to the -strength of the patient. Generally the treatment narrated sufficed to -expel the worm. If it did not, the whole proceeding was repeated.</p> - -<p>Male fern was a remedy mentioned by Dioscorides and other ancient -writers, but it had been forgotten for centuries until Madame Nouffer’s -system brought it to the recollection of medical practitioners. It -again fell out of use, but a French physician named Jobert revived its -popularity in 1869. He was assisted in the preparation of the remedy by -Mr. Hepp, pharmacien of the Civil Hospital of Strasburg.</p> - - -<h4><i>Bestucheff’s Tincture and La Mothe’s Golden Drops.</i></h4> - -<p>Alexis Petrovitch Bestoujeff-Rumine, commonly called Count von -Bestoujeff or Bestucheff, was in the service of the Elector George of -Hanover when that Prince was called to reign over Great Britain. He -thereupon became George’s ambassador at St. Petersburg. On the death -of Peter the Great Bestucheff withdrew from the British diplomatic -service, and commenced a varied and stormy political career, under the -three Empresses Anna, Elizabeth, and Catherine II, who, with brief -intervals, succeeded each other on the Russian throne. He was Foreign -Minister under the first, Grand Chancellor and then a disgraced exile -under the second, recalled and highly honoured by Catherine. During his -banishment he interested himself in a remedy which became enormously -popular at that epoch, known in France as the Golden Drops of General -La Mothe, and in Germany and Russia as Bestucheff’s Tincture. La Mothe -had been in the service of Leopold Ragotzky,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> Prince of Transylvania, -but retiring from the Army he went to live at Paris and took these -golden drops with him. They were a tincture of perchloride of iron -with spirit of ether, but the public believed them to be a solution of -gold. They were recommended as a marvellous restorative medicine, and -sold (in Paris) at 25 livres (nearly £1) for the half-ounce bottle. -So famous were they that Louis XV sent 200 bottles to the Pope as a -particularly precious gift. Subsequently Louis gave La Mothe a pension -of 4,000 livres a year for the right of making the drops for his Hotel -des Invalides, La Mothe and his widow after him retaining the right to -sell to the public.</p> - -<p>Bestucheff sold his recipe to the Empress Catherine for 3,000 roubles, -and by her orders it was passed on to the College of Medicine of St. -Petersburg, which published it under the title of the Tinctura Tonica -Nervina Bestucheffi. The formula at first published was chemically -absurd, but Klaproth corrected it, and the prestige of the quack -medicine was destroyed. But an ethereal tincture of perchloride of iron -was adopted in most of the Continental pharmacopœias.</p> - -<p>It is not clear whether Bestucheff and La Mothe were in association at -any time, but their preparations were similar if not identical.</p> - -<p>Under the rule of Napoleon I the French Government bought several -formulas of secret remedies for about £100 each. None of them either -had or has since acquired any popular reputation. The formulas were -published in the medical and pharmaceutical journals of the time.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>XIII<br /> - -<span class="subhed">CHEMICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHARMACY</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Chymistry. “An art whereby sensible bodies contained in -vessels, or capable of being contained therein, are so changed -by means of certain instruments, and principally fire, that -their several powers and virtues are thereby discovered, with -a view to philosophy or medicine.”—<span class="smcap">Boerhaave.</span> Quoted -as a definition in Johnson’s Dictionary, 1755.</p></blockquote> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Acids, Alkalies, and Salts.</h3> - -<p>Under the above title almost the entire history of chemistry might -be easily comprehended. The gradual growth of definite meanings -attached to these terms has been coincident with the attainment of -accurate notions concerning the composition of bodies. To the ancient -philosophers sour wine, acetum vinæ, or acetum as it is still called, -was the only acid definitely known. When the alchemists became busy -trying to extract the virtue out of all substances they produced -several acids by distillation. These they called, for example, -spirit of vitriol, spirit of nitre, spirit of salt, meaning our -sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids respectively. They regarded -everything obtained by distillation as a spirit. When the theorists -came forward, Becher, Stahl, and their followers, they treated these -acids as original constituents of the substances from which they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> -obtained. Thus, when sulphur was burned phlogiston was set free, and -acid remained. Lavoisier believed that the acidifying principle had -been discovered in oxygen, and it was on this theory that he gave that -element its name. But this idea broke down when Davy proved that there -was no oxygen in the so-called muriatic, or oxy-muriatic acid. It was -the subsequent recognition of the law of substitution which made it -clear that the acids are, in fact, salts of hydrogen or of some metal -substituted for the hydrogen.</p> - -<p>The history of alkalies is as varied as is that of acids. The -distinction between caustic alkalies and mild alkalies was a problem as -far back as Dioscorides. By burning limestone caustic lime is produced. -It was not an unreasonable presumption that the fire had created this -causticity, and this theory was held with regard to all the alkalies -until it was proved by Joseph Black, in 1756, that the caustic alkali -was the result of a gas, fixed air, he named it, being driven off from -the mild alkali.</p> - -<p>The ancient Jews prepared what they called Borith (translated “soap” -in Jeremiah, ii, 22, and Malachi, iii, 2) by filtering water through -vegetable ashes. Borith was therefore an impure carbonate of potash. -It is probable that the salt-wort was generally employed for this -purpose, and some of the old versions of the Old Testament give the -herb “Borith” as the proper sense of the passages referred to above. -In any case the alkaline solution produced from vegetable ashes was -used for bleaching and cleansing purposes. The Roman “lixivium” was -similarly prepared, and the process is still followed in some countries -where there are dense forests. The Arabic word “al-kali” was apparently -applied to the product from the word “qaly,” which meant “to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> roast.” -The earliest known use of the term is, however, found in the works -of Albertus Magnus, early in the thirteenth century. A process of -making caustic potash by filtering water through vegetable ashes with -quicklime is described in the works attributed to Geber, but this -is in a treatise now known to have been written in the thirteenth -or fourteenth century. It was only in 1736 that the three alkalies, -soda, potash, and ammonia, were definitely distinguished by Duhamel as -mineral, vegetable, and animal or volatile alkalies.</p> - -<p>A formula for a solution of caustic potash was given in the P.L., -1746, under the title of Lixivium Saponarium. Equal parts of Russian -potashes and quicklime were mixed, wetted until the lime was slaked, -water afterwards added freely, and after agitation the solution poured -off. This was ten years before Black’s classic investigation already -referred to. Before Black, and for some time afterwards, there were -several theories in explanation of the action of the lime on the -potashes. The lime had been tamed, but the potash had become more -virulent. One popular suggestion was that the lime had withdrawn a -kind of mucilage from the potashes; another that it had the effect -of developing the power of the potashes by a mechanical process of -comminution. A German chemist named Meyer, who vigorously opposed -Black’s conclusions, maintained that the lime contained a certain -Acidum Causticum or Acidum Pingue, which potashes extracted from it.</p> - -<p>In the P.L., 1788, the process was altered by increasing the proportion -of the lime, and the product was described as Aqua Kali Puri. -Subsequently the proportion of the lime employed was reduced.</p> - -<p>The word “salt” is traced back to the Greek “hals,” the sea, from which -was formed the adjective “salos,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> fluctuating (like the waves), and -subsequently the Latin “sal.” Marine salt was therefore the original -salt, and salts in chemistry were substances more or less resembling -sea-salt. Generally, the term was limited to solids which had a taste -and were soluble in water, but the notion was developed that salt was -a constituent of everything, and this salt was extracted, and was -liable to get a new name each time. Salt of wormwood, for instance, is -one of the names which has survived as a synonym for salt of tartar, -or carbonate of potash. Paracelsus insisted that all the metals were -composed of salt, sulphur, and mercury, but these substances were -idealised in his jargon and corresponded with the body, soul, and -spirit, respectively.</p> - -<p>Lavoisier was the first chemist who sought to define salts -scientifically. He regarded them as a combination of an acid with a -basic oxide. But when the true nature of chlorine was discovered it was -found that this definition would exclude salt itself. This led to the -adoption of the terms “haloid” and “amphide” salts, the former being -compounds of two elements (now the combination of chlorine, bromine, -iodine, cyanogen, or fluorine with a metal), and the latter being -compounds of two oxides. The names were invented by Berzelius. Since -then salts have been the subjects of various modern theories, electric -and other, but they are always substances in which hydrogen or a metal -substituted for it is combined with a radical. In a wide sense the -acids are also salts.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Alcohol.</h3> - -<p>Al-koh’l was an Arabic word indicating the sulphide of antimony so -generally used by Eastern women to darken their eyebrows, eyelashes, -and the eyes them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>selves. Similar words are found in other ancient -languages. Cohal in Chaldee is related to the Hebrew kakhal used in -Ezekiel, xxiii, 40, in the sense of to paint or stain. The primary -meaning of alcohol therefore is a stain. Being used especially in -reference to the finely levigated sulphide of antimony, the meaning -was gradually extended to other impalpable powders, and in alchemical -writings the alcohol of Mars, a reduced iron, the alcohol of sulphur, -flowers of brimstone, and similar expressions are common. As late as -1773 Baumé, in his “Chymie Experimentale,” gives “powders of the finest -tenuity” as the first definition, and “spirit of wine rectified to -the utmost degree” as the second explanation of the term alcohol. As -certain of the finest powders were obtained by sublimation the transfer -of the word to a fluid produced by a similar method is intelligible, -and thus came the alcohol of wine, which has supplanted all the other -alcohols.</p> - -<p>Distillation is a very ancient process. Evidence exists of its use -by the Chinese in the most remote period of their history, and -possibly they distilled wine. But so far as can be traced spirit was -not produced from wine previous to the thirteenth century. Berthelot -investigated some alleged early references to it and came to the -conclusion indicated. Aristotle alludes to the possibility of rendering -sea water potable by vaporising it, and he also notes elsewhere that -wine gives off an exhalation which emits a flame. Theophrastus mentions -that wine poured on a fire as in libations can produce a flame. Pliny -indicates a particular locality which produced a wine of Falerno, -which was the only wine that could be inflamed by contact with fire. -At Alexandria, in the first century of the Christian era, condensing -apparatus was invented,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> and descriptions of the apparatus used are -known, but no allusion to the distillation of wine occurs in any -existing reference to the chemistry of that period. Rhazes, who died in -<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 925, is alleged to have mentioned a spirit distilled from -wine, but Berthelot shows that this is a misunderstanding of a passage -relating to false or artificial wines.</p> - -<p>Water distilled from roses is mentioned by Nicander, about 140 <span class="sm">B.C.</span>, -and the same author employs the term ambix for the pot or apparatus -from which this water was obtained. The Arabs adopted this word, and -prefixing to it their article, al, made it into alembic. This in -English appeared for some centuries in the abbreviated form of limbeck. -The Greek ambix was a cup-shaped vessel which was set on or in a fire, -as a crucible was used.</p> - -<p>Pissaeleum was a peculiar form of distillation practised by the Romans. -It was an oil of pitch made by hanging a fleece of wool over a vessel -in which pitch was being boiled. The vapour which collected was pressed -out and used.</p> - -<p>Distilled waters from roses and aromatic herbs figured prominently -in the pharmacy of the Arabs, and Geber, perhaps in the eighth -century, describes the process, and may have used it for other than -pharmaceutical purposes. Avicenna likens the body of man to a still, -the stomach being the kettle, the head the cap, and the nostrils the -cooling tube from which the distillate drips.</p> - -<p>M. Berthelot gives the following from the Book of Fires of Marcus -Grecas, which he says could not be earlier than 1300, as the first -definite indication of a method of producing what was called aqua -ardens. “Take a black wine, thick and old. To ¼ lb. of this add<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> 2 -scruples of sulphur vivum in very fine powder, and 2 scruples of common -salt in coarse fragments, and 1 or 2 lbs. of tartar extracted from a -good white wine. Place all in a copper alembic and distil off the aqua -ardens.” The addition of the salt and sulphur, M. Berthelot explains, -was to counteract the supposed humidity.</p> - -<p>Albucasis, a Spanish Arab of the eleventh century, is supposed from -some obscure expressions in his writings to have known how to make a -spirit from wine; but Arnold of Villa Nova, who wrote in the latter -part of the thirteenth century, is the first explicitly to refer to it. -He does not intimate that he had discovered it himself, but he appears -to treat it as something comparatively new. Aqua vini is what he calls -it, but some name it, he says, aqua vitæ, or water which preserves -itself always, and golden water. It is well called water of life, he -says, because it strengthens the body and prolongs life. He distilled -herbs with it such as rosemary and sage, and highly commended the -medicinal virtue of these tinctures.</p> - -<p>It is worth remarking that when Henry II invaded and conquered Ireland -in the twelfth century the inhabitants were making and drinking a -product which they termed uisge-beatha, now abbreviated into whisky, -the exact meaning of the name being water of life.</p> - -<p>Raymond Lully, who acquired much of his chemical lore from Arnold of -Villa Nova, was even more enthusiastic in praise of the aqua vitæ than -his teacher. “The taste of it exceedeth all other tastes, and the -smell all other smells,” he wrote. Elsewhere he describes it as “of -marveylous use and commoditie a little before the joyning of battle to -styre and encourage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> the soldiers’ minds.” He believed it to be the -panacea so long sought, and regarded its discovery as evidence that -the end of the world was near. The process for making the aqua vitæ as -described by Lully was to digest limpid and well-flavoured red or white -wine for twenty days in a closed vessel in fermenting horse-dung. It -was then to be distilled drop by drop from a gentle fire in a sand-bath.</p> - -<p>The chemical constitution of alcohol was speculated upon rather -wildly by the chemists who experimented on it before Lavoisier. -It was held to be a combination of phlogiston with water, but -the phlogiston-philosophers disagreed on the question whether it -contained an oil. Stahl, however, later supported by Macquer, found -that an oil was actually separated from it if mixed with water and -allowed to evaporate slowly in the open air, after treating it with -an acid. Lavoisier, in 1781, carefully analysed spirit of wine and -found that 1 lb. yielded 4 oz. 4 drms. 37½ grains of carbon, 1 oz. 2 -drms. 5½ grains of inflammable gas (hydrogen), and 10 oz. 1 drm. 29 -grains of water. It was de Saussure who later, following Lavoisier’s -methods of investigation, but with an absolute alcohol which had -been recently produced by Lowitz, a Russian chemist, showed that -oxygen was a constituent of alcohol. Berthelot succeeded in making -alcohol synthetically in 1854. His process was to shake olefiant -gas (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>) vigorously with sulphuric acid, dilute the mixture -with eight to ten parts of water, and distil. Meldola, however (“The -Chemical Synthesis of Vital Products,” 1904), insists that an English -chemist, Henry Hennell, anticipated Berthelot in this discovery.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Alum.</h3> - -<p>Alum is a substance which considerably mystified the ancient chemists, -who knew the salt but did not understand its composition. Ancient -writers like Pliny and Dioscorides were acquainted with a product which -the former called alumen and which is evidently the same as had been -described by Dioscorides under the name of Stypteria. Pliny says there -were several varieties of this mineral used in dyeing, and it is clear -from his account that his alumen was sometimes sulphate of iron and -sometimes a mixture of sulphate of iron with an aluminous earth. It is -the fact that where the various vitriols are found they are generally -associated with aluminous earth.</p> - -<p>Alum as we know it was first prepared in the East and used for dyeing -purposes. Alum works were in existence some time subsequent to the -twelfth century at a place named Rocca in Syria, which may have been a -town of that name on the Euphrates, or more probably was Edessa, which -was originally known as Roccha. It has been supposed that it was the -manufacture of alum at this place which bequeathed to us the name of -Rock or Rocha alum, but the Historical English Dictionary says this -derivation is “evidently unfounded.”</p> - -<p>The alchemists were familiar with alum and knew it to be a combination -of sulphuric acid with an unknown earth. Van Helmont was the first to -employ alum as a styptic in uterine hæmorrhage, and Helvetius made a -great reputation for a styptic he recommended for similar cases. His -pills were composed of alum 10 parts, dragon’s blood 3 parts, honey -of roses q.s., made into 4 grain pills, of which six were to be taken -daily.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> Alum and nutmeg equal parts were given in agues. Paris says the -addition of nutmeg to alum corrects its tendency to disturb the bowels. -It has also been advocated in cancer and typhoid, but these internal -uses have been generally abandoned. Spirit of Alum is occasionally met -with in alchemical writings. It was water charged with sulphuric acid -obtained by the distillation of alum over a naked fire.</p> - -<p>Until the fifteenth century the only alum factories from which Europe -was supplied were at Constantinople, Smyrna, and Trebizonde. Beckman -relates that an alum factory was founded in the Isle of Ischia, on -the coast of Tuscany, by a Genoese merchant named Bartholomew Perdix, -who had learnt the art at Rocca. Very soon afterwards John de Castro, -a Paduan who had been engaged in cloth dyeing at Constantinople but -had lost all his property when that city was captured by Mahomet II -in 1453, was appointed to an office in the Treasury of the Apostolic -Chamber, and in the course of his duties found what he believed to be -an aluminous rock at Tolfa, near Civita Vecchia. He asked the Pope, -Pius II, to allow him to experiment, but it was some years before the -necessary permission was granted. When at last the truth of Castro’s -surmise was established the Pope was greatly interested. He looked -upon the discovery as a great Christian victory over the Turks, and -handsomely rewarded de Castro, to whom, besides, a monument was erected -in Padua inscribed “Joanni de Castro, Aluminis inventor.” The factory -brought in a splendid revenue to the Apostolic exchequer, and the Pope -did his utmost to retain the monopoly, for when in consequence of -the extravagant prices to which the Tolfa alum was raised merchants -began again to buy the Eastern product his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> Holiness issued a decree -prohibiting Christians from purchasing from the infidels under pain -of excommunication. Later, when, in Charles I’s reign, Sir Thomas -Challoner discovered an aluminous deposit near his home at Guisborough -in Yorkshire, and persuaded some of the Pope’s workmen to come there to -work the schist, he and those whom he had tempted away were solemnly -and most vigorously “cursed.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the nature of the earth with which the sulphuric acid was -combined remained unknown to chemists. Stahl worked at the problem and -came to the conclusion that it was lime. The younger Geoffroy, a famous -pharmacist of Paris, ascertained (1728) that the earth of alum was -identical with that of argillaceous earth and Alumina was for some time -called Argile. Marggraf observed that he could not get alum crystals -from a combination of argile and sulphuric acid, but noting that in -the old factories it had been the custom to add putrid urine to the -solution, for which carbonate of potash was subsequently substituted, -went so far as to make the salt, but did not appreciate that it was -actually a double salt. The name alumina which the earth now bears -was given to it by Morveau. It was Vauquelin (another pharmacist) who -clearly proved the composition of alum, and Lavoisier first suggested -that alumina was the oxide of a metal. Sir Humphry Davy agreed with -this view but failed to isolate the metal. Oersted was the first to -actually extract aluminium from the oxide, but his process was an -impracticable one, but in 1828 Woehler, and in 1858 Deville, found -means of producing the metal in sufficient abundance to make it a -valuable article of industry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Ammonia.</h3> - -<p>The chemical history of ammonia commences in Egypt with Sal -Ammoniac. This is mentioned by Pliny under the name of Hammoniacus -sal. Dioscorides also alludes to it; but in neither case does the -description given fit in satisfactorily with the product known to us. -Dioscorides, for instance, states that sal ammoniac is particularly -prized if it can lie easily split up into rectangular fragments. It -has been conjectured that what was called sal ammoniac by the ancient -writers was, at least sometimes, rock salt.</p> - -<p>The name is generally supposed to have been derived from that of the -Egyptian deity, Amn or Amen, or Ammon as the Greeks called him, and -in the belief that he was the same god as Jupiter he is referred to -in classical literature as Zeus-Ammon or Jupiter-Ammon. The principal -temple of this god was situated in an oasis of the Libyan desert which -was then known as Ammonia (now Siwah), and if, as is supposed, the -salt was found or produced in that locality its name is thus accounted -for. Gum ammoniacum was likewise so called in the belief that it was -obtained in that district, though the gum with which we are familiar -and which comes from India and Persia, is quite a different article -from the African gum the name of which it has usurped. Pliny derives -the name of the salt from the Greek “ammos,” sand, as it was found in -the sand of the desert; an explanation which overlooks the fact that -the stuff was called by a similar name in a country where the sand was -not called ammos. In old Latin, French, and English writings “armoniac” -is often met with. This was not inaccurate spelling; it was suggested -by the opinion that the word was connected with Greek,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> armonia, a -fastening or joining, from the use of sal ammoniac in soldering metals.</p> - -<p>That Pliny did sometimes meet with the genuine sal ammoniac is -conjectured by his allusion to the “vehement odour” arising when lime -was mixed with natrum. Probably this natrum was sal ammoniac. Among the -Arabs the term sal ammoniac often means rock salt; but in the writings -attributed to Geber, some of which may be as late as the twelfth or -thirteenth century, our sal ammoniac is distinctly described. It is -also exactly described by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century, -who mentions an artificial as well as a natural product, but does not -indicate how the former was made. From this time sal ammoniac became -a common and much-prized substance in alchemical investigations, as -from it chlorides were obtained. The “volatile spirit of sal ammoniac” -was made by distilling a solution of sal ammoniac with quicklime, and -of course the same product was obtained in other ways, especially -by distilling harts’ horns, and this was always regarded as having -peculiarly valuable properties. A “sal ammoniacum fixum” was known to -the alchemists of the fifteenth century. It was obtained as a residue -after sal ammoniac and quicklime had been sublimed. It was simply -chloride of calcium.</p> - -<p>The so-called natural sal ammoniac was for centuries brought from -Egypt, and was supposed to have been mined in the earth or sand of -that country. In 1716 the younger Geoffroy came to the conclusion -that it must be a product of sublimation, and he read a paper to the -French Academy giving his reasons for this opinion. Homberg and Lemery -opposed this view with so much bitterness, however, that the paper was -not printed. In 1719 M. Lemaire, French Consul at Cairo,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> sent to the -Academy an account of the method by which sal ammoniac was produced in -Egypt, and this report definitely confirmed the opinion which Geoffroy -had formed. It was, said M. Lemaire, simply a salt sublimed from soot. -The fuel used in Egypt was exclusively the dung of camels and other -animals which had been dried by the sun. It consisted largely of -sal ammoniac, and this was retained in the soot. For a long time an -artificial sal ammoniac had been manufactured at Venice, and a commoner -sort also came from Holland. These were reputed to be made from human -or animal urine. The manufacture of sal ammoniac was commenced in -London early in the eighteenth century by a Mr. Goodwin.</p> - -<p>A formula for Sal Ammoniacum Factitium in Quincy’s Dispensatory (1724) -is as follows:—Take of Urine lb. x.; of Sea-salt lb. ii.; of Wood soot -lb. i.; boil these together in a mass, then put them in a subliming -pot with a proper head, and there will rise up what forms these cakes. -Dr. James (1764) states that at Newcastle one gallon of the bittern or -liquor which drains from common salt whilst making, was mixed with 3 -gallons of urine. The mixture was set aside for 48 hours to effervesce -and subside. Afterwards the clear liquor was drawn off and evaporated -in leaden vessels to crystallisation. The crystals were sublimed. A -sal ammoniacum volatile was made by subliming sal ammoniac and salt of -tartar (or lime or chalk) together. Sometimes some spices were put into -the retort. This salt was used for smelling-bottles. Aqua regia was -made by distilling sal ammoniac and saltpetre together.</p> - -<p>Sal Volatile Oleosum was introduced by Sylvius (de la Boe) about the -year 1650. It became a medicated stimulant of the utmost popularity, -and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> were many formulas for it. One of the most famous was -Goddard’s Drop. (See page 319).</p> - -<p>Ammonia in gaseous form was first obtained by Priestley in 1774. -He called it alkaline air. Scheele soon after established that it -contained nitrogen and Berthollet proved its chemical composition in -1785.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Spiritus Ammoniæ Aromaticus</h3> - -<p class="p-left">was first inserted in the P.L. 1721, under the title of “Spiritus Salis -Volatilis Oleosus.” Cinnamon, mace, cloves, citron, sal ammoniac, and -salts of tartar were distilled with spirit of wine. In 1746 the process -was altered, sal ammoniac and fixed alkali being first distilled with -proof spirit to yield “spiritus salis anmioniaci dulcis,” to which -essential oils of lemon, nutmeg, and cloves were added, and the mixture -was then re-distilled. In 1788 the spirit became spiritus ammoniæ -compositus, and the redistillation when the oils had been added was -omitted. The name spiritus ammoniæ aromaticus was first adopted in the -P.L. 1809, and has been retained ever since, though the process of -making it has been frequently varied. That title was first given to it -in the Dublin Pharmacopœia of 1807. Spiritus Salinus Aromaticus was the -first title adopted in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. It was a preparation -similar to that of the P.L., but angelica, marjoram, galangal, anthos -flowers, orange, and lemon were additional flavours.</p> - -<p>Quincy (1724) credits Sylvius with the invention of this spirit, which -he refers to as “mightily now in use,” and as “a most noble cephalic -and cordial.” It had “almost excluded the use of spirit of hartshorn.” -This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> preparation, invented by Sylvius, was called the Carminative -Spirit of Sylvius.</p> - -<p>Mindererus’s Spirit, made from distilled vinegar and the volatile -spirit of hartshorn, is believed by many competent authorities to have -possessed virtues which are not contained in the modern liquor ammonii -acetati. The late Professor Redwood was one of these. He believed that -the old preparation contained a trace of cyanic ether. The new liquor, -he said, made from strong caustic solution of ammonia and strong acetic -acid, “is but the ghost of the old preparation. It is as unlike the -true Mindererus’s Spirit as a glass of vapid distilled water is unlike -the sparkling crystal water as it springs from a gushing fountain” -(<i>Pharm. Jnl.</i>, Vol. V., N.S. p. 408). Mindererus was a physician of -Augsburg who died in 1621. It was Boerhaave in 1732 who advocated the -use of Mindererus’s Spirit and made it popular.</p> - -<p>Eau de Luce, which was official in the P.L. 1824, under the title of -Spiritus Ammoniæ Succinatus, was an ammonia compound which became -popular in France, and, in some degree all over Europe, about the -middle of the eighteenth century, and was apparently first sold for -removing grease from cloth and other fabrics. It is said that one of -the pupils of Bernard Jussieu, having been bitten by a viper, applied -some of the preparation, and was cured by it. It thence acquired a -medical fame, which it still retains. The P.L. formula ordered 3 -drachms of mastic, 4 minims of oil of amber, and 14 minims of oil of -lavender to be dissolved in 9 fluid drachms of rectified spirit, and -mixed with 10 fluid ounces of solution of ammonia. In some of the -Continental pharmacopœias a much larger proportion of oil of amber is -prescribed, and sometimes only that and spirit of ammonia. In some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> -soap is ordered. In the P.L., 1851, the oil of amber was omitted. -It has been recommended for external application in rheumatism and -paralysis.</p> - -<p>It has been generally asserted that this preparation was devised by a -pharmacist of Lille (some say of Amsterdam), of the name of Luce. It -is also asserted that a Paris pharmacist named Dubalen originated it, -and that he and his successor Juliot made it popular; that Luce of -Lille imitated it, but that not being able to get it purely white added -some copper and gave it a blue tint which came to be a mark of its -genuineness. Among the names applied to it have been Aqua Luccana, Aqua -Sancti Luciæ, Aqua Lucii, and Eau de Lusse.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Bromine.</h3> - -<p>Bromine, isolated by Balard in 1826, was named by the discoverer -Muride, from Muria, brine. Its actual name was suggested by Gay Lussac -from Bromos, a stench.</p> - -<p>Schultzenberger relates, on the authority of Stas, that some years -before the discovery of bromine by Balard, a bottle of nearly pure -bromine was sent to Liebig by a German company of manufacturers of -salt, with the request that he would examine it. Somewhat carelessly -the great chemist tested the product and assumed that it was chloride -of iodine. But he put away the bottle, probably with the intention of -investigating it more closely when he had more leisure. When he heard -of Balard’s discovery he turned to this bottle and realised what he had -missed. Schultzenberger says he kept it in a special cupboard labelled -“Cupboard of Mistakes,” and would sometimes show it to his friends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> as -an example of the danger of coming to a conclusion too promptly.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Collodion.</h3> - -<p>Pyroxylin was discovered by Schönbein in 1847, and the next year an -American medical student at Boston, Massachussets, described in the -American Journal of the Medical Sciences his experiments showing the -use that could be made of this substance in surgery when dissolved in -ether and alcohol. By painting it on a band of leather one inch wide -and attaching this to the hand, he caused the band to adhere so firmly -that it could not be detached by a weight of twenty pounds.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Epsom Salts.</h3> - -<p>The medicinal value of the Epsom springs was discovered, it is -believed, towards the end of the sixteenth century, in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth. According to a local tradition the particular spring -which became so famous was not used for any purpose until one very -dry summer, when the farmer on whose land it existed bethought him to -dig the ground round about the spring, so as to make a pond for his -cattle to drink from. Having done this he found that the animals would -not touch the water, and on tasting it himself he appreciated their -objection to it. The peculiar merits of the water becoming known, -certain London physicians sent patients to Epsom to drink it, and it -proved especially useful in the cases of some who suffered with old -ulcers. Apparently the sores were washed with it. The name of the -farmer who contributed this important item to medical history was Henry -Wicker or Wickes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span></p> - -<p>In 1621 the owner of the estate where the spring had been found walled -in the well, and erected a shed for the convenience of the sick -visitors, who were then resorting to Epsom in increasing numbers. -By 1640 the Epsom Spa had become famous. The third Lord North, who -published a book called the Forest of Varieties in 1645, claimed to -have been the first to have made known the virtues of both the Epsom -and the Tonbridge waters to the King’s sick subjects, “the journey to -the German Spa being too expensive and inconvenient to sick persons, -and great sums of money being thereby carried out of the kingdom.”</p> - -<p>After the Restoration Epsom became a fashionable watering-place. Before -1700 a ball-room had been built, and a promenade laid out; a number of -new inns and boarding-houses had been opened; sedan-chairs and hackney -coaches crowded the streets; and sports and play of all kinds were -provided. Pepys mentions visits to Epsom more than once in his Diary, -and Charles II and some of his favourites were there occasionally. The -town reached its zenith of gaiety in the reign of Queen Anne, who with -her husband, Prince George of Denmark, frequently drove from Windsor to -Epsom to drink the waters.</p> - -<p>An apothecary living at Epsom in those times, and who had prospered -abundantly from the influx of visitors, is alleged to have done much to -check the hopeful prospects of the Surrey village. Much wanted more, -and Mr. Levingstern, the practitioner referred to, thought he saw his -way to a large fortune. He found another spring about half a mile from -the Old Wells, bought the land on which it was situated, built on it a -large assembly room for music, dancing, and gambling, and provided a -multitude of attractions, including<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> games, fashion shops, and other -luxuries. At first he drew the crowds away from the Old Wells. But his -Epsom water did not give satisfaction. For some reason it brought the -remedial fame of the springs generally into disrepute. Then Levingstern -bought the lease of the Old Wells, and, unwisely it may be thought, -shut them up altogether. The glory of Epsom had departed, and though -several efforts were made subsequently to tempt society back to it, -they were invariably unsuccessful. The building at the Old Wells was -pulled down in 1802, and a private house built on the site. This house -is called The Wells, and the original well is still to be seen in the -garden. The very site of Mr. Levingstern’s “New Wells” is now doubtful. -He died in 1827.</p> - -<p>In 1695 Nehemiah Grew, physician, and secretary of the Royal Society, -wrote a treatise “On the Bitter Cathartic Salt in the Epsom Water.” -Dr. Grew names 1620 as about the date when the medicinal spring was -discovered at Epsom by a countryman, and he says that for about ten -years the countrypeople only used it to wash external ulcers. He -relates that it was Lord Dudley North, who apparently lived near by, -who first began to take it as a medicine. He had been in the habit -of visiting the German spas, as he “laboured under a melancholy -disposition.” He used it, we are told, with abundant success, and -regarded it as a medicine sent from heaven. Among those whom he induced -to take the Epsom waters were Maria de Medicis, the mother of the wife -of Charles I, Lord Goring, the Earl of Norwich, and many other persons -of quality. These having shown the way, the physicians of London began -to recommend the waters, and then, Dr. Grew tells us, the place got -crowded, as many as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> 2,000 persons having taken the water in a single -day.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p343"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p343.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Dr. Nehemiah Grew.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">Born, 1628; died, 1711.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From an engraving by R. White, from life.)</p> -<blockquote> -<p>Dr. Grew was for many years secretary of the Royal Society and -editor of the <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>. He was one of the -pioneers of the science of structural botany and author of -<i>The Anatomy of Plants</i>.</p></blockquote> - </div> - -<p class="p2">It was Dr. Grew who first extracted the salt from the Epsom water, and -his treatise deals principally with that. He describes the effect of -adding all sorts of chemicals, oil of vitriol, salt of tartar, nitre, -galls, syrup of violets, and other substances to the solution; explains -how it differs from the sal mirabilis (sulphate of soda); and writes of -its delicate bitter taste as if he were commenting on a new wine. It -most resembles the crystals of silver, he says, in the similitude of -taste.</p> - -<p>As to the medicinal value of this salt Dr. Grew says it is free from -the malignant quality of most cathartics, never violently agitates the -humours, nor causes sickness, faintings, or pains in the bowels. He -recommends it for digestive disorders, heartburn, loss of appetite, -and colic; in hypochondriacal distemper, in stone, diabetes, jaundice, -vertigo, and (to quote the English translation) “in wandering gout, -vulgarly but erroneously called the rheumatism.” It will exterminate -worms in children in doses of 1½ to 2 drachms, if given after 1, 2, or -3 grains of mercurius dulcis, according to age. Epsom salts were not to -be given in dropsy, intermittent fevers, chlorosis, blood-spitting, to -paralytics, or to women with child.</p> - -<p>“I generally prescribe,” writes the doctor, “one, two, or three pints -of water, aromatised with a little mace, to which I add ½ oz. or 1 oz., -or a greater dose of the salt.” He gives a specimen prescription which -orders 1 oz. or 10 drachms of the salt in 2 quarts of spring water, -with 1 drachm of mace. This dose (2 quarts, remember) was to be taken -in the morning in the course of two hours, generally warm, and taking -a little exercise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> meanwhile. This was what was called an apozem. You -might add to the apozem, if thought desirable, 3 drachms of senna and -1½ oz. or 2 oz. of flaky manna.</p> - -<p>Mr. Francis Moult, Chymist, at the sign of the Glauber’s Head, Watling -Street, London, translated Dr. Grew’s treatise into English, and gave -a copy to buyers of the Bitter Purging Salts. Probably he was the -“furnace philosopher” referred to by Quincy (see below), though it is -difficult to see what there was to object to in his action.</p> - -<p>George and Francis Moult (the latter was, no doubt, the chymist who -kept the shop in Watling Street) in about the year 1700 found a more -abundant supply of the popular salt in a spring at Shooter’s Hill, -where it is recorded they boiled down as much as 200 barrels of the -water in a week, obtaining some 2 cwt. of salt from these. Some time -after, a Dr. Hoy discovered a new method of producing an artificial -salt which corresponded in all respects with the cathartic salts -obtained from Epsom water, and which by reason of the price soon drove -the latter out of the market, and caused the Shooter’s Hill works to -be closed. It was known that Hoy’s salt was made from sea water, and -at first it was alleged to be the sal mirabilis of Glauber, sulphate -of soda. But this was disproved, and experiments were carried on at -the salt works belonging to Lady Carrington at Portsmouth, and later -at Lymington, where the manufacture settled for many years, the source -being the residue after salt had been made, called the bittern—salts -of magnesium, in fact. This was the principal source of supply, though -it was made in many places and under various patents until in 1816 Dr. -Henry, of Manchester, took out a patent for the production of sulphate -of magnesia from dolomite.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p> - -<p>It should be mentioned that it was by the examination of Epsom salts -that Black was led to his epoch-making discovery of the distinction -between the alkaline earths, and also of fixed air, in 1754.</p> - -<p>In Quincy’s “Dispensatory” (1724), medicinal waters like those of Epsom -are described as Aquæ Aluminosæ. It is stated that there are many -in England, scarce a county without them. The principal ones about -London are at Epsom, Acton, Dulwich, and North-hall. They all “abound -with a salt of an aluminous and nitrous nature,” and “greatly deterge -the stomach and bowels.” But it is easy to take them too frequently, -so that “the salts will too much get into the blood, which by their -grossness will gradually be collected in the capillaries and glands to -obstruct them and occasion fevers.” After some more advice Quincy adds—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“It is difficult to pass this article without setting a mark -upon that abominable cheat which is now sold by the name -of Epsom waters. Dr. Grew, who was a most worthy physician -and an industrious experimenter, made trial how much salt -these waters would leave upon evaporation, and found that a -gallon left about two drams, or near, according to my best -remembrance, for I have not his writings by me. He likewise -found the salt thus procured answered the virtues of the water -in its cathartic qualities. Of this an account was given -before the Royal Society in a Latin dissertation. But the -avaricious craft of a certain furnace-philosopher could not -let this useful discovery in natural knowledge rest under the -improvement and proper use of persons of integrity; but he -pretended to make a great quantity for sale; and to recommend -his salt translated the Doctor’s Lecture into English to give -away as a quack-bill.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Quincy proceeds to tell us how other competitors came in, and how -the price was so reduced that what was first sold at one shilling an -ounce, and could not honestly be made under (Quincy apparently refers -to the salt made by evaporation), came down in a short time to thirty -shillings per hundredweight.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Ether.</h3> - -<p>The action of sulphuric acid on spirit of wine is alluded to in -the works of Raymond Lully in the thirteenth century, and in those -attributed to Basil Valentine, by whom the product is described as -“an agreeable essence and of good odour.” Valerius Cordus, in 1517, -described a liquor which he called Oleum Vitrioli Dulce in his -“Chemical Pharmacopœia.” This was intended to represent the Spiritus -Vitrioli Antepilepticus Paracelsi. It was prepared by distilling a -mixture of equal parts of sulphuric acid and spirit of wine, after this -mixture had been digested in hot ashes for two months. Probably the -product obtained by Cordus was what came to be called later the sweet -oil of wine, and not what we know as sulphuric ether.</p> - -<p>The first ether made for medicinal purposes was manufactured in the -laboratory directed by Robert Boyle, and it is said that he and Sir -Isaac Newton made some experiments with it at the time. A paper -describing his ether investigations was published by Newton in the -“Philosophical Transactions” for May, 1700. In 1700 a paper on ether -was published by Dr. Frobenius in the “Philosophical Transactions,” and -in the same publication in 1741 a further paper appeared giving the -process by which Frobenius had prepared his “Spiritus Vini Ethereus.” -Equal parts of oil of vitriol and highly rectified spirit of wine by -weight were distilled until a dense liquid began to pass; the retort -was then cooled, half the original weight of spirit was added, and -the distillation again renewed. This process was repeated as long as -ether was produced. Frobenius had been associated with Ambrose Godfrey -in Boyle’s laboratory, and Godfrey had been supplying ether for some -years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> but he does not seem to have published his process. It was in -Frobenius’s first paper, published in 1730, that the name of ether was -first proposed for the product, which had been previously known as Aqua -Lulliana, Aqua Temperata, Oleum Dulce Paracelsi, and such-like fancy -titles. Frobenius, it was understood, was a <i>nom de plume</i>. Ambrose -Godfrey Hanckwitz, Boyle’s chemist, sharply criticised Frobenius’s -article, said it was a rhapsody in the style of the alchemists, and -that the experiments indicated had been already described by Boyle. -Godfrey was, in fact, at that time making and selling this interesting -substance. In France, the Duke of Orleans, a clever chemist, who was -suspected to have had some association with the famous poisonings of -his time, and whose laboratory was at the Abbaye Ste. Genevieve, was -the first to produce ether in quantities of a pint at a time.</p> - -<p>Hoffmann’s “Mineral Anodyne Liquor,” the original of our Spiritus -Ætheris Co., was a semi-secret preparation much prescribed by the -famous inventor. He said it was composed of the dulcified spirit of -vitriol and the aromatic oil which came over after it. But he did not -state in what proportion he mixed these, nor the exact process he -followed.</p> - -<p>The chemical nature of sulphuric ether was long in doubt. Macquer, who -considered that ether was alcohol deprived of its aqueous principle, -was the most accurate of the early investigators. Scheele held -that ether was dephlogisticated alcohol. Pelletier described it as -alcohol oxygenised at the expense of the sulphuric acid. De Saussure, -Gay-Lussac, and Liebig studied the substance, but it was Dumas and -Boullay in 1837, and Williamson in 1854, who cleared up the chemistry -of ethers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p> - -<p>Ether is alcohol, two molecules deprived of H<sub>2</sub>O [alcohol, -C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>O HO; ether, (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>2</sub>O]. Distilling spirit of wine -and sulphuric acid together, it seemed obvious that the sulphuric -acid should possess itself of the H<sub>2</sub>O, and leave the ether. But on -this theory it was not possible to explain the invariable formation -of sulphovinic acid (a sulphate of ethyl) in the process, nor the -simultaneous distillation of water with the ether. Williamson proved -that the acid first combined with the alcohol molecule, setting -the water free, and that then an excess of alcohol decomposed the -sulphovinic acid thus formed into free sulphuric acid and ether, this -circuit proceeding continuously.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Spirit of Nitrous Ether.</h3> - -<p>This popular medicine has been traced back to Raymond Lully in the -thirteenth century, and to Basil Valentine. But the doctor who brought -it into general use was Sylvius (de la Boe) of Leyden, for whom it was -sold as a lithontryptic at a very high price. It first appeared in -the P.L., 1746, as Spiritus Nitri dulcis. In English this was for a -long time called “dulcified spirit of nitre,” and in the form of sweet -spirit of nitre still remains on our labels. In the P.L., 1788, the -title was changed to Spiritus Ætheris nitrosi, and in that of 1809 to -Spiritus Ætheris nitrici. The process ordered in the first official -formula was to distil 6 oz. (apoth. weight) of nitric acid of 1·5 -specific gravity, with 32 fluid oz. of rectified spirit. Successive -reductions were made in the proportion and strength of the acid in the -pharmacopœias of 1809, 1824, and 1851, to 3½ fluid ounces of nitric -acid, sp. gr. 1·42, with 40 fluid ounces of rectified spirit, and a -product of 28 fluid ounces. The object of these several modifications -was to avoid the violent reaction which affected the nature of the -product.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Ethiops.</h3> - -<p>Æthiops or Ethiops originally meant a negro or something black. The -word is alleged to have been derived from aithein, to burn, and ops, -the face, but this etymology was probably devised to fit the facts. -There is no historical evidence in its favour. Most likely the word -was a native African one of unknown meaning. It became a popular -pharmaceutical term two or three hundred years ago, but is now almost -obsolete, at least in this country. In France several mercurial -preparations are still known by the name of Ethiops. There are, for -instance, the Ethiops magnesium, the Ethiops saccharine, and the -Ethiops gommeux; combinations of mercury with magnesia, sugar, and gum -acacia respectively. These designations echo the mysteries of alchemy.</p> - -<p>Ethiops alone meant Ethiops Mineral. This was a combination of mercury -and sulphur, generally equal parts, rubbed together until all the -mercury was killed. It was a very uncertain preparation, but was -believed to be specially good for worms. “Infallible against the -itch,” says Quincy, 1724. Its chemical composition varied from a mere -mixture of the two substances to a mixture of sulphur and bisulphide -of mercury, according to the conditions in which it was kept. It was -formerly known as the hypnotic powder of Jacobi.</p> - -<p>Ethiops Martial was the black oxide of iron. It was a mixture of -protoxide and sesquioxide of iron. Lemery’s process was the one -usually recommended, but perhaps not always followed. It was to keep -iron filings always covered with water and frequently stirred for -several months until the oxide was a smooth black powder. Lemery’s -Crocus Martis was a similar preparation but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> contained more of the -sesquioxide. The Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopœias of 1826 ordered -simply scales of iron collected from a blacksmith’s anvil, purified by -applying a magnet, and reduced to a fine powder. This was a favourite -preparation of iron with Sydenham. Made into pills with extract of -wormwood, the Ethiops Martial constituted the pilula ferri of Swediaur.</p> - -<p>Ethiopic pills were similar to Plummer’s pills (pil. calomel. co.). -Guy’s ethiopic powder was once a well-known remedy for worms. It was -composed of equal parts of pure rasped tin, mercury, and sulphur. -Vegetable ethiops was the ashes of fucus vesiculosus which were -given in scrofulous complaints and in goitre before iodine was -discovered. The ashes contain a small proportion of iodine. Dr. Runel -(“Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water,” 1759) says it far exceeds -burnt sponge in virtue.</p> - -<p>Huxham recommended an Aethiops Antimoniale, composed of two parts of -sulphide of antimony and one part of flowers of sulphur. The older -Aethiops Antimoniale was a combination of antimony chloride with -mercury, and was given in venereal and scrofulous complaints. Mercury -with chalk was sometimes called absorbent ethiops, or alkalised ethiops.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Iodine</h3> - -<p class="p-left">was discovered by Bernard Courtois in 1811. Courtois, who was born at -Dijon in 1777, was apprenticed to a pharmacist at Auxerre named Fremy, -grandfather of the noted chemist of that name, and was afterwards -associated as assistant with Seguin, Thénard, and Fourcroy. He had -worked with the first-named of these in the isolation of the active -principle of opium, whereby Seguin so nearly secured the glory of -the discovery of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> the alkaloids. In 1811 Courtois was manufacturing -artificial nitre, and experimenting on the extraction of alkali from -seaweed. He had crystallised soda from some of the mother liquor until -it would yield no more crystals, and then he warmed the liquor in a -vessel to which a little sulphuric acid had been accidentally added. -He was surprised to see beautiful violet vapours disengaged, and from -these scales of a grayish-black colour and of metallic lustre were -deposited.</p> - -<p>Courtois was too busy at the time to follow up his discovery, but he -brought it to the notice of a chemist friend named Clement. The latter -presented a report of his experiments to the Academy of Sciences on -November 20th, 1813, two years after Courtois’s first observation. No -suggestion was made by Courtois or Clement of the new substance being -an element.</p> - -<p>This deduction became the occasion of an acrimonious dispute between -Gay-Lussac and Humphry Davy. The English chemist happened to be in -Paris (by special favour of Napoleon) at the time when Clement read -his paper. He immediately commenced experimenting, and was apparently -the first to suspect the elementary nature of iodine. His claim -was confirmed by a communication he made to Cuvier. But Gay-Lussac -forestalled his announcement in a paper he read at the Academy on -December 6th, 1813. Davy complained of the trick Gay-Lussac played him, -and Hofer, who investigated the circumstances, came to the conclusion -that Davy was certainly the first to recognise iodine as a simple -<i>body</i>, and to give it its name from the Greek, Ion, violet. Ion was -originally Fion, but had lost its initial. The Latin viola was derived -from the original word.</p> - -<p>Jean Francois Coindet, of Geneva (an Edinburgh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> graduate), suspected -that iodine was the active constituent of burnt sponge, which had long -been empirically employed in goitre and scrofula, and having proved -that this was the case, was the first physician to use iodine as a -remedy. The pharmaceutical forms and the medical uses of iodine have -been very numerous during the century which has almost elapsed since -its introduction, but it would be impossible even to detail them here.</p> - -<p>Iodoform was first prepared by Serullas about 1828, and its chemical -composition was elucidated by Dumas soon after. It was first used in -medicine by Bouchardat in 1836, and then dropped out of practice for -about twenty years, when it again appeared in French treatises, and its -use soon became general as an antiseptic application.</p> - -<p>Bernard Courtois was awarded 6,000 francs by the Academy of Sciences in -1832, but he died in Paris in 1838 in poverty. He had been ruined in -1815 by the competition of East Indian saltpetre with the artificial -nitre which he was manufacturing. In that year the prohibitive duty on -the native product was removed. When the Academy awarded 6,000 francs -to Courtois it also voted 3,000 francs to Coindet, who had so promptly -made medical use of Courtois’ discovery.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Lithium.</h3> - -<p>Lithium, the oxide of which was discovered in 1807 by Arfwedson, was -first suggested as a remedy for gout by Dr. Ure in 1843. He based his -proposal on an observation by Lipowitz of the singular power of lithium -in dissolving uric acid. Dr. Garrod popularised the employment of the -carbonate of lithium in medicine. Most of the natural mineral waters -which had acquired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> a reputation in gouty affections have been found to -contain lithium.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Magnesia.</h3> - -<p>The first use of carbonate of magnesia medicinally was in the form -of a secret medicine which must have acquired much popularity in the -beginning of the eighteenth century. It was prepared, says Bergmann, -by a regular canon at Rome, sold under the title of the powder of the -Count of Palma, and credited with almost universal virtues. The method -of preparation was rigidly concealed, but it evidently attracted the -attention of chemists and physicians, for it appears that in 1707 -Valentini published a process by which a similar product could be -obtained from the mother liquor of “nitre” (soda) by calcination. In -1709 Slevogt obtained a powder exactly resembling it by precipitating -magnesia from a solution of the sulphate by potash. Lancisi reported -on it in 1717, and in 1722 Hoffmann went near to explaining the -distinction between the several earthy salts, which in his time were -all regarded as calcareous.</p> - -<p>Hoffmann’s process to obtain the powder was to add a solution of -carbonate of potash to the mother liquor from which rough nitre had -been obtained (solution of chloride of magnesium), and collect the -precipitate. This being yielded by two clear solutions gave to the -carbonate of magnesia precipitated the name of Miraculum Chemicum.</p> - -<p>Magnesia was the name of a district in Thessaly, and of two cities in -Asia Minor. The Greek “magnesia lithos,” magnesian stone, has been -frequently applied to the lodestone, but this can hardly have been -correct, as the magnesian stone was described as white and shining -like silver. Liddell and Scott think talc was more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> probably the -substance. The alchemists sometimes mention a magnesia, but the name -seems to have been a very elastic one with them. The Historical English -Dictionary quotes the following reference to the word from “Norton Ord. -Alch.,” 1477:—“Another stone you must have ... a stone glittering -with perspicuitie ... the price of an ounce conveniently is Twenty -Shillings. Her name is Magnetia. Few people her knows.”</p> - -<p>Paracelsus uses the term in the sense of an amalgam. He writes of the -Magnesia of Gold. In Pomet’s “History of Drugs,” 1712, magnesia meant -manganese. Hoffmann, 1722, first applied the name to oxide of magnesia, -adapting it from the medical Latin term, magnes carneus, flesh magnet, -because it adheres so strongly to the lips, the fancy being that it -attracts the flesh as the lodestone attracts iron.</p> - -<p>Hoffmann’s observations on magnesia and its salts, which were published -in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, were very intelligent, -and undoubtedly it was he who first distinguished magnesia from chalk. -He says “A number of springs, among which I may mention Eger, Elster, -Schwalbach, and Wilding, contain a neutral salt which has not yet -received a name, and which is almost unknown. I have also found it -in the waters of Hornhausen which owe to this salt their aperient -and diuretic properties. Authors commonly call it nitre; but it has -nothing in common with nitre. It is not inflammable, its crystallising -form is entirely different, and it does not yield aqua fortis. It is a -neutral salt similar to the arcanum duplicatum (sulphate of potash), -bitter in taste, and producing on the tongue a sensation of cold.” -He further states that the salt in question appears to proceed from -the combination of sulphuric acid with a calcareous earth of alkaline -nature. The combination “is effected in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> bosom of the earth.” In -another of his works Hoffmann distinguishes the magnesian salt from one -of lime, showing particularly that the latter was but slightly soluble -and had scarcely any taste. Crabs’ eyes and egg shells he notes combine -with sulphuric acid and form salts with no taste. The sulphate of this -earth (Epsom salt) he found had a strong bitter taste.</p> - -<p>The true character of magnesia and its salts was not clearly understood -until Joseph Black unravelled the complications of the alkaline salts -by his historic investigation, which became one of the most noted -epochs of chemistry by its incidental revelation of the combination of -the caustic alkalies with what Black termed “fixed air,” subsequently -named carbonic acid gas by Lavoisier in 1784. When Black was studying -medicine at Edinburgh a lively controversy was in progress in medical -circles on the mode of action of the lithontriptic medicines which -had lately been introduced. Drs. Whytt and Aston, both university -professors, were the leaders in this dispute. Whytt held that lime -water made from oyster shells was more effective for dissolving calculi -in the bladder than lime water prepared from ordinary calcareous stone. -Alston insisted that the latter was preferable. Black was interested, -and his experiments convinced him of the scientific importance of his -discoveries. He postponed taking his degree for some time in order -to be sure of his facts. His graduation thesis, which was dated June -11, 1754, was entitled “De humore acide cibis orto et magnesia alba.” -His full treatise, “Experiments upon magnesia alba, quicklime, and -some other alkaline substances,” was published in 1756. It had been -previously believed that the process of calcining certain alkaline -salts whereby caustic alkalies were produced was explained by the -combination with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> the salt of an acrid principle derived from the -fire. Now it was shown that something was lost in the process; that -the calcined alkali weighed less than the salt experimented with. The -something expelled Black proved was an air, and an air different from -that of the atmosphere, which was generally supposed to be the one -air of the universe. He identified it with the “gas sylvestre” of Van -Helmont, and named it “fixed air.” Magnesia alba first appeared in the -London Pharmacopœia of 1787 under that name.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p357"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p357.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Joseph Black Lecturing (after John Ray)</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From a print in the British Museum.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">The oxide of magnesia was believed to be an elementary substance until -Sir Humphry Davy separated the metal from the earth by his electrolytic -method in the presence of mercury. By this means he obtained an -amalgam, and by oxidising this he reproduced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> magnesia and left the -mercury free, thus proving that the earth was an oxide of a metal. -In 1830 Bussy isolated the magnesium by heating in a glass tube some -potassium covered with fragments of chloride of magnesium, and washing -away the chloride of potassium formed. Magnesium in small globules -was left in the tube. The metal is now prepared on an industrial -scale either by electrolysis, or by fusing fluor-spar with sodium. At -present the uses of magnesium and of its derivatives are infinitesimal -in comparison with the vast quantities available in deposits, as in -dolomite, and in the sea.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Nitre</h3> - -<p class="p-left">among the ancient Greeks and Romans generally meant carbonate of soda, -sometimes carbonate of potash. The Arab chemists, however, clearly -described nitrate of potash. In the works attributed to Geber and -Marcus Græcus, especially, its characters are represented. Raymond -Lully, in the thirteenth century, mentions sal nitri, and evidently -alludes to saltpetre, and Roger Bacon always meant nitrate of potash -when he wrote of nitre. It was not, however, until the seventeenth -century that the term acquired the definite meaning which we attach to -it.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of that century there was much discussion as to the -formation of nitre, as it had been held that the acid which combined -with the alkali was ready formed in the atmosphere. Glauber was the -first to argue that vegetables formed saltpetre from the soil. Stahl -taught that the acid constituent of nitre was vitriolic acid combined -with phlogiston emanating from putrefying vegetable matter.</p> - -<p>After gunpowder had become a prime necessity of life, saltpetre bounded -upwards in the estimation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> kings and statesmen. In France in 1540 -an Edict was issued commissioning officials called “salpêtriers” in -all districts who were authorised to seek for saltpetre in cellars, -stables, dovecotes, and other places where it was formed naturally. -No one was permitted to pull down a building of any sort without -first giving due notice to the salpêtriers. The “Salpêtrière” Asylum -in Paris recalls one of the national factories of nitre. During the -French Revolution citizens were “invited” to lixiviate the soil and -ceilings of their cellars, stables, etc., and to supply the Republic -with saltpetre for gunpowder. The Government paid 24 sous, 1s., a pound -for the nitre thus procured, though, as this was no doubt paid in -assignats, it was cheap enough. It was estimated that 16,000,000 lbs. a -year were thus provided.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Petroleum.</h3> - -<p>Under the name of naphtha and other designations petroleum has been -known and used from the earliest times. The Persians were the first, -as far as is known, to employ it for lighting, and also for cooking. -They likewise made use of it as a liniment for rheumatism. So in this -country, a kind of petroleum was sold as a liniment under the name of -British oil; and in America, long before the great oil industry had -been thought of, petroleum was popular as a liniment for rheumatism -under the name of Seneca Oil.</p> - -<p>Asphalt, or Bitumen of Judæa, was used by the Egyptians for embalming. -Probably they reduced its solidity by naphtha. Naphtha was employed -by Medea to render the robe which she presented to her rival Glauca -inflammable, and this legend is given to account for the name of Oil -of Medea, by which petroleum was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> anciently known. It was no doubt the -principal ingredient in the Greek Fire of the middle ages.</p> - -<p>Petroleum has been called by many other names. Oil of Peter or Petre -was a common one, meaning, like petroleum, simply rock oil. Myrepsus, -in the thirteenth century, refers to it as Allicola. The monks called -it sometimes oil of St. Barbarus, and oil of St. Catherine.</p> - -<p>Dioscorides said naphtha was useful as an application in dimness of -sight. Two centuries ago it was occasionally given in doses of a few -drops for worms, and was frequently applied in toothache. Petroleum -Barbadense, Barbadoes tar, had some reputation in pectoral complaints -in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was admitted into the -P.L. as the menstruum for sulphur in the balsamum sulphuris Barbadense.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Phosphorus.</h3> - -<p>Phosphorus, or its Latin equivalent, Lucifer, was the name given by the -ancient astronomers to the planet Venus when it appeared as a morning -star. When it shone as an evening star they called it Hesperus. Do we -invent such seductive names now, or do they only seem attractive to us -because they are ancient or foreign?</p> - -<p>The phosphorescent properties of certain earths had been occasionally -noticed by naturalists, but no observation of the kind has been traced -in ancient writings. The earliest allusion to a “fire-stone” known -occurs in the work of a gossipy French historian named De Thou. In -a history of his own times this writer relates that in 1550, when -Henri II made his state entry into Boulogne on the occasion of its -restoration to France by the English, a stranger in foreign costume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> -presented the king with a fire-stone which, he said, had been brought -from India. De Thou narrates that this wonderful stone glowed with -inconceivable splendour, was so hot that it could not be touched -without danger, and that if confined in a close space it would spring -with force into the air.</p> - -<p>Sometime early in the seventeenth century, a shoemaker of Bologna, one -Vincent Cascariolo, who, in addition to his ordinary business dabbled -in alchemy, discovered a stone in the neighbourhood of his city which -was luminous in the dark. The stone, which is now known to have been -a sulphate of barium, and which the shoemaker calcined, ground, and -formed into little round discs about the size of a shilling, and sold -for a fancy price, was called the sun-stone. The discs, exposed to a -strong light for a few minutes and then withdrawn into a dark room, -gave out the incandescent light which we know so well. The discovery -excited keen interest among scientific men all over Europe.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p362"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p362.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Johann Kunckel.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From the Collection of Etchings in the Royal Gallery at Berlin.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">About 1668 two alchemists named Bauduin and Frueben, who lived at -Grossenhayn in Saxony, conceived the idea of extracting by chemical -processes the spirit of the world (Spiritus Mundi). Their notion was -to combine earth, air, fire, and water in their alembic, and to obtain -the essences of all of these in one distillate. They dissolved lime in -nitric acid, evaporated to dryness, exposed the residue to the air, -and let it absorb humidity. They then distilled this substance and -obtained the humidity in a pure form. History does not tell us what -questions they put to their spirit of the world when they had thus -caught it. It appears, however, that the stuff attained a great sale. -It was supplied at 12 groschen the loth, equal to about 1s. 6d.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> per -ounce, and lords and peasants came after it eagerly. Rain-water would -have been just as good, Kunckel, who tells the story, remarks. But one -day Bauduin broke one of the vessels in which was contained some of the -calcined nitrate of lime, and he observed that this, like the Bologna -stone, was luminous in the dark after exposure to sunlight. Bauduin -appreciated the importance of his discovery, and, taking some of his -earth to Dresden, talked about it there. Kunckel, who was then the -Elector’s pharmacist, and keenly interested in new discoveries, heard -about this curious substance, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> was very curious to find out all he -could. He visited Bauduin and tried to draw from him the details of -his process. But Bauduin was very shy of Kunckel, and the latter has -left an amusing account of an evening he spent with his quarry. Kunckel -tried to talk chemistry, but Bauduin would only take interest in music. -At last, however, Kunckel induced Bauduin to go out of the room to -fetch a concave mirror to see if with that the precious phosphorus (for -Bauduin had already appropriated this name to the stuff) would absorb -the light. While Bauduin was gone Kunckel managed to nip a morsel with -his finger-nail. With this, aided by the fragments of information he -had been able to steal from Bauduin’s conversation, he commenced to -experiment by treating chalk with nitric acid, and ultimately succeeded -in producing the coveted luminous earth. He sent a little lump of it to -Bauduin as an acknowledgment of the pleasant musical evening the latter -had given him.</p> - -<p>It was now 1669. Kunckel was visiting Hamburg, and there he showed to -a scientific friend a piece of his “phosphorus.” To his surprise the -friend was not at all astonished at it, but told Kunckel that an old -doctor in Hamburg had produced something much more wonderful. Brandt -was the name of the local alchemist. He had been in business, had -failed, and was now practising medicine enough to keep him, but was -devoting his heart and soul and all his spare time to the discovery of -the philosopher’s stone. The two friends visited Brandt, who showed -them the real “phosphor” which he had produced, to which, of course, -the other substances compared as dip candles might to the electric -light, but nothing would induce the old gentleman to disclose any -details of his process. Kunckel wrote to a scientific<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> friend happily -named Krafft at Dresden about the new “phosphor.” Honour seems to have -been cheap among scientific friends at that time, for Krafft posted off -to Hamburg, without saying anything to Kunckel about his intention, -caught Brandt in a different humour, or perhaps specially hard-up, and -bought his secret for 200 thalers.</p> - -<p>According to another story, the German chemist Homberg also succeeded -in securing Brandt’s secret by taking to him as a present one of those -weather prognosticators in which a figure of a man and another of a -woman come out of doors or go in when it is going to be wet or fine, as -the case may be; a toy which had just then been invented.</p> - -<p>Stimulated perhaps by Brandt’s obstinacy and Krafft’s treachery, -Kunckel set to work and in time succeeded in manufacturing phosphorus. -It may be taken as certain that he had picked old Brandt’s brains a -little, and his own skill and shrewdness enabled him to fill up the -gaps in his knowledge. However he acquired the art, he soon became the -first practical manufacturer of phosphorus.</p> - -<p>Brandt discovered phosphorus because he had arrived at the conviction -that the philosopher’s stone was to be got from urine. In the course of -his experiments with that liquid, phosphorus came out unexpectedly from -the process of distilling urine with sand and lime.</p> - -<p>The new substance excited great curiosity in scientific circles all -over Europe, but the German chemists who knew anything about it kept -their information secret, and only misleading stories of its origin -were published. Robert Boyle, however, who was travelling on the -Continent when the interest in the discovery was keenest, got a hint -of the method of manufacture, and on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> return to England proceeded -to experiment. His operator and assistant in these investigations -was Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz, who became the founder of a London -pharmaceutical business which still exists. Ultimately Boyle and -Hanckwitz were completely successful, and for many years the “English -phosphorus” supplied by Hanckwitz from his laboratory in Southampton -Street, Strand, monopolised the European market. According to a -pamphlet published by him, entitled “Historia Phosphori et Fama,” the -continental phosphorus was an “unctuous, dawbing oyliness,” while his -was the “right glacial” kind.</p> - -<p>In 1680 Boyle deposited with the Royal Society, of which he was then -president, a sealed packet containing an account of his experiments and -of his process for the production of the “Icy Noctiluca,” as he called -his phosphorus.</p> - -<p>It is related in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Paris for -1737 that in that year a stranger appeared in Paris and offered for -a stipulated reward to communicate the process of making phosphorus -to the French Government. A committee of the Academy, with Hellot as -its president, was appointed to witness the stranger’s manipulation. -According to the report of this committee, the experiment was -completely successful.</p> - -<p>It only remains to add, to complete the history, that in 1769, Gahn, a -Swedish mine owner, discovered phosphorus in bones, and that working -from this observation Scheele in 1775 devised the process for the -manufacture of phosphorus which is still followed.</p> - -<p>Such a remarkable substance as phosphorus, extracted as it had been -from the human body, was evidently marked out for medical uses. -Experiments were soon commenced with it. Kunckel’s “luminous pills” -were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> the first in the field, so far as is known. His report was -published in the “Chemische Anmerkungen” in 1721. He gave it in -three-grain doses, and reported that it had a calmative effect! -Subsequently it was tried in various diseases by continental -practitioners. Mentz commended it in colic, Langensalz in asthenic -fevers, Bonneken in tetanus, Wetkard in apoplexy, and Trampel in gout.</p> - -<p>In 1769 Alphonse Leroy, of Paris, reported a curious experience. He was -sent for to a patient apparently on the point of death from phthisis. -Seeing that the case was hopeless, he prepared and administered a -placebo of sugared water. Calling the next day, Leroy found his patient -somewhat revived, and on examining the sugar which he had used for -his solution, he found that some phosphorus had been kept in it for -a long time. The patient was much too far gone to recover, but she -survived for fifteen days, and Leroy attributed this amelioration to -the phosphorised water which he had accidentally given her.</p> - -<p>Gahn discovered phosphorus in the bones in 1768, and in 1779 another -German chemist named Hensing ascertained its presence in a fatty matter -which he extracted from the brain. Medical theories were naturally -based on these observations. Couerbe, a French chemist quoted by Dr. -Churchill, wrote thus in 1830:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“The want of phosphorus in the brain would reduce man to -the sad condition of the brute; an excess of this element -irritates the nervous system, excites the individual, and -throws him into that terrible state of disturbance called -madness, or mental alienation; a moderate proportion gives -rise to the sublimest ideas, and produces that admirable -harmony which spiritualists call the soul.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>British practitioners took but very little notice of phosphorus as a -remedy in the first century of its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> career, although it remained for a -large part of that period an English product.</p> - -<p>It is rather curious, too, that neither in this country nor on the -Continent did it get into the hands of the empirics, as mercury, -antimony, and other dangerous drugs did. It may be supposed that it -was not so much the danger that checked them as the pharmaceutical -difficulties in the way of preparing suitable medicines. The earliest -preparations of phosphorus, such as Kunckel’s pills, were a combination -of it in a free state with conserve of roses. This method was gradually -abandoned on account of the difficulty of subdividing the phosphorus -so perfectly that the dose could be measured accurately. But as Dr. -Ashburton Thompson remarks,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> “although it is not so specifically -mentioned, the uncertainty of action which imperfectly divided -phosphorus exhibits” had something to do with the rejection of the old -formulas. That is putting it very gently. The three-grain doses must -have killed more people than they cured. The author just quoted says -that in the early days “the dose employed seldom fell below 3 grains, -while it occasionally rose as high as 12 grains.” Even Leroy, he adds, -instituted his experiments by taking a bolus of 3 grains, and he did -not seriously suffer from it. The recommended dose has been regularly -declining. In 1855 Dr. Hughes Bennett gave it at one-fortieth to -one-eighth of a grain. The Pharmacopœia now prescribes one-hundredth to -one-twentieth of a grain.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">The Hypophosphites.</h3> - -<p>The hypophosphites in the form of syrup were introduced by Dr. J. F. -Churchill, of Paris, as specifics in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> consumptive diseases about 1857. -His preference of these salts over the phosphates was based on the -theory that the deficiency in the system in a phthisical condition -was not of phosphates, which had been completely oxidised, but of -a phosphide in an oxidisable condition, and this requirement was -fulfilled by the hypophosphites. The latter he compared to wood or -coal, the phosphates to ashes, so far as active energy was concerned. -Dr. Churchill’s interest in a special manufacture of the hypophosphite -syrups prejudiced the medical profession against his theories, and it -is not certain that he got a fair hearing in consequence. The general -verdict was that his results were not obtained by other experimenters, -but for a good many years past syrups of the hypophosphites have been -among the most popular of our general tonics.</p> - -<p>Phosphorus is soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, bisulphide of -carbon, and to a very small extent in water.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Phosphor paste as a vermin killer was ordered by the Prussian -Government to be substituted for arsenical compounds in 1843, and it is -probable that to some degree the alteration has been successful, though -in France it was found that phosphorus in this form became a popular -agent for suicide and criminal poisoning.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Sal Prunella</h3> - -<p class="p-left">was at one time in high esteem, as it was believed that by the process -adopted for making it the nitre was specially purified. Purified nitre -was melted in an iron pot and a little flowers of sulphur (1 oz. to 2 -lb.) was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> sprinkled on it, a little at a time. The sulphur deflagrating -was supposed to exercise the purifying influence on the nitre. The -actual effect was to convert a small part of the nitrate of potash into -sulphate. It was first called Sal Prunella in Germany from the belief -that it was a specific against a certain plum-coloured quinsy of an -epidemic character. Boerhaave advised the omission of the sulphur, but -believed that melting the pure nitre and moulding it was of medicinal -value by evaporating aqueous moisture.</p> - -<p>Nitre and flowers of sulphur were deflagrated together before the Sal -Prunella theory was invented, equal quantities being employed. The -resulting combination, which was of course sulphate of potash, was -known as Sal Polychrestum, the Salt of Many Virtues.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Sal Gemmæ.</h3> - -<p>Sal Gemmæ or Sal Fossile was the name given to rock salt, particularly -to the transparent and the tinted varieties. It was believed to be more -penetrating than the salt derived from sea water, and this property -Lemery ascribed to the circumstance that it had never been dissolved in -water, and therefore retained all its native keenness.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Spirit of Salt.</h3> - -<p>Spiritus Salis Marini Glauberi was one of the products discovered by -Glauber, to whom we owe the name of spirit of salt. He was a keen -observer and remarked on the suffocating vapour yielded as soon as -oil of vitriol was poured on sea-salt. It is astonishing to his -biographers that he just missed discovering chlorine. The spirit of -salt was highly recommended for many medicinal uses;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> for exciting the -appetite, correcting the bile, curing gangrene, and dissolving stone. -Its remarkable property of assisting nitric acid to dissolve gold was -soon observed and was attributed to its penetrating power.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Tartar.</h3> - -<p>Tartarus was the mythological hell where the gods imprisoned and -punished those who had offended them. Virgil represents it as -surrounded by three walls and the river Phlegethon, whose waters were -sulphur and pitch. Its entrance was protected by a tower wrapped in a -cloud three times as black as the darkest night, a gate which the gods -themselves could not break, and guarded by Cerberus.</p> - -<p>There is nothing to associate this dismal place with the tartar of -chemistry, except that in old books it is said that Paracelsus so named -the product because it “produces oil, water, tincture, and salt, which -burn the patient as Tartarus does.” Paracelsus did not invent the name -of tartar; it is found in many alchemical books long before his time. -The earliest found use of it is in an alchemical work by Hortulcuus, an -English alchemist of the eleventh century.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus was writing about “tartarous diseases” (“De Morbis -Tartareis”), those, that is, which resulted from the deposit of -concretions. Stone, gravel, and gout were among these diseases of -tartar, and evidently it was this morbid tartar which he associated -with the legendary Tartarus. The word tartar, applied to the deposit -from wine, is sometimes supposed to have descended from an Egyptian -term, dardarot, meaning an eternal habitation, and etymologists -generally prefer it as the origin of the name. If it was, the sense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> -development of the term as applied to the chemical is not clear. The -Greek word <i>tartarizein</i>, meaning to shiver with cold, does not help -much in tracing the history of the word. Another frequently advocated -derivation is the Arab, <i>durd</i>, dregs, sediment, which it is said was -actually applied to the tartar of wine. It appears, too, that the Arabs -used this term also as we do to represent the deposit on teeth; they -also had a word, <i>dirad</i>, to mean a shedding of teeth, and by <i>darda</i> -they signified a toothless old woman. Some etymologists consider, -however, that the transition from durd to tartar would be most unlikely.</p> - -<p>When the alchemists began to experiment with tartar their first process -would be to distil it. The residue left in their retorts they called -the salt of tartar. They knew this substance under other names, salt -of wormwood, for instance, but they did not recognise the identity. By -treating tartar with vinegar they produced acetate of potash, which -they called regenerated tartar. Oswald Crollius, the compiler of the -first European pharmacopœia, gave the name of vitriolated tartar to -what we now know as sulphate of potash.</p> - -<p>The iatro-chemists of the next century, who obtained it by various -methods, gave to sulphate of potash distinct names which show in what -esteem it was held. Among other designations it appears as Specificum -purgans, Arcanum duplicatum, Nitrum fixum, Panacea holsatica, and Sel -de duobus. Glaser, who produced it from sulphur, saltpetre, and urine -distilled together, sold it as Sal Polychrest of Glaser.</p> - -<p>Cream of tartar was known to the ancients under the name of Fæx Vini, -which is the designation for it used by Dioscorides.</p> - -<p>The tartar of wine was found to be only soluble in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> water with -difficulty; but if boiled in water a turbid liquor was yielded which in -the boiled condition continually threw up a sort of skin or scum. This -was taken off with a skimmer and dried; it was naturally called Cream -of Tartar.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus and other chemists distilled this cream and got an oil -from it which they called oil or spirit of tartar. It was chiefly a -pyro-tartaric acid with some empyreumatic constituents. It was a thin, -light yellow, bitter tasting but rather tart, and pleasant smelling -oil, and was credited with remarkable penetrating powers. It was used -in disorders of the ligaments, membranes, and tendons. Particularly -surprising to them was the fact that the residue of a distinctly acid -substance was a strong alkali. This “salt of tartar” was found to yield -another oil called oleum tartari per deliquium, or lixivium tartari, -which was the name by which it was called in the Pharmacopœia. Salt of -tartar and cream of tartar together yielded the tartarum tartarisatus. -It was when making this that Seignette produced by accident his double -tartrate of potash and soda, now familiarly known as Rochelle salt.</p> - - -<h3 class="smcap">Vitriol.</h3> - -<p>Visitando Interiora Terræ Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem -Veram Medicinam. (Visiting the interior of the earth you may find, by -rectifying the occult stone, the true medicine.) This acrostic is first -found in the works attributed to Basil Valentine.</p> - -<p>The vitriols enjoyed an enormous reputation in medicine, at least until -their chemical composition was definitely explained by Geoffrey in -1728. It was certainly known that the green vitriols contained iron,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> -and they were sometimes named vitriol of Mars; that the blue vitriols -contained copper, which obtained for them the designation of vitriol -of Venus; and the white was understood to be associated with calamine, -though by some it was supposed to be only green vitriol which had been -calcined.</p> - -<p>The name of vitriol cannot be traced further back than to Albertus -Magnus in the thirteenth century. He expressly applies the term to -atramentum viride, the Latin name for sulphate of iron. Presumably -it was given to the salt on account of its glassy appearance. The -alchemists, on distilling these vitriols found that they always yielded -a spirit or oil, to which they naturally gave the name of spirit or oil -of vitriol.</p> - -<p>In Greek the vitriols were called chalcanthon, as they were extracted -from brass; the common name in Latin was atramentum sutorium, because -they were employed for making leather black. Dioscorides states that -this substance is a valuable emetic, should be taken after eating -poisonous fungi, and will expel worms. Pliny recommends it for the cure -of ulcers, and Galen used it as a collyrium. There was a good deal of -confusion between the vitriols and the alums, and the Greek stypteria -and the Latin alumens were often an aluminous earth combined with some -vitriol. Pliny gives a test for the purity of what he calls alum, which -consists in dropping on it some pomegranate juice, when, he says, it -should turn black if it is pure. Evidently his alum contained sulphate -of iron.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus declared that, with proper chemical management, vitriol -was capable of furnishing the fourth part of all necessary medicine. -It contained in itself the power of curing jaundice, gravel, stone, -fevers, worms, and epilepsy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mayerne was another strong advocate of the medicinal virtues of -vitriol. According to him it possessed the most diverse properties. It -was hot and cold, attenuative and incressant, aperitive and astringent, -coagulative and dissolvant, corroborative, purgative, and sudorific.</p> - -<p>A multitude of medicines were made from the vitriols. A vitriolum -camphoratum was included in the P.L. of 1721 by distilling spirit of -camphor from calcined vitriol; but Quincy remarks:—“Its intention I am -not acquainted with, nor have ever met with it in prescription.” In Dr. -Walter Harris’s “Pharmacopœia Anti-Empirica,” 1683, allusion is made to -a remedy made by one Bovius, which consisted of spirit of vitriol, and -was designed to lie a universal remedy. Added to an infusion of balm, -marjoram, and bugloss, it would cure headache and vertigo; with rose -water, fevers; with fumitory water, itch; with fennel water it would -restore decayed memory; with plantain water it was a remedy against -diarrhœa; and with lettuce water it became a narcotic. “A rare fellow,” -quaintly comments the doctor. Homberg’s narcotic salt of vitriol was a -combination of green vitriol and borax made after a very complicated -process. The Gilla Vitrioli was a purified white vitriol used as -an emetic. Spiritus Vitrioli dulcis was an imitation of Hoffmann’s -Anodyne. This distilled with hartshorn made the Diaphoretic Vitriol.</p> - -<p>One of the precious secrets of the alchemists, occasionally sold to -kings and wealthy amateurs, was that of converting iron into copper -by means of blue vitriol. A strong solution of the salt was prepared, -and an iron blade, or any iron instrument, was immersed in it for a -certain time. When taken out it appeared to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> blade or instrument -of copper. Kunckel was the first chemist to explain the fallacy.</p> - -<p>Elixir of Vitriol was devised by Adrian Mynsicht, a famous German -physician, in the early part of the seventeenth century. He published -an Armamentarium Medico-Chymicum which became very popular. His Elixir -(under the name of Elixir Vitrioli Mynsichti) was first given in the -P.L. of 1721 as follows:—cinnamon, ginger, cloves, of each 3 drachms: -calamus aromaticus, 1 oz.; galangal root, 1½ oz.; sage, mint, of each ½ -oz.; cubebs, nutmegs, of each 2 oz.; lign. aloes, lemon peel, of each 1 -drachm; candied sugar, 3 oz. Digest in spirit of wine, 1½ lb., and oil -of vitriol 1 lb. for twenty days. Then filter.</p> - -<p>In the P.L. 1746 the formula was simplified by mixing 4 oz. of oil of -vitriol with 1 lb. of Aromatic Tincture, and the title was changed -to Elixir Vitrioli Acidum. In the P.L. 1778 there was no Elixir of -Vitriol, dilute sulphuric acid taking its place. This was then called -Acidum Vitriolicum Dilutum. Under the name of Acidum Sulphuricum -Aromaticum, however, an acidulated tincture, flavoured with ginger -and cinnamon, was retained, and this, with the synonym of Elixir of -Vitriol, is still in the B.P.</p> - -<p>Quincy (1724) states that this medicine had lately come greatly in -practice, and deservedly. “It mightily strengthens the stomach,” -he says, “and does good service in relaxations from debauches and -overfeeding.”</p> - -<p>The alga “nostoch,” so-called by Paracelsus, who also described it as -flos cœlorum, acquired the name of vegetable vitriol, and sometimes -spittle of the stars, because it appeared after rains in places where -it had not been seen before.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span></p></div> - - -<h2>XIV<br /> - -<span class="subhed">MEDICINES FROM THE METALS</span></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Metals are all identical in their essence; they only differ by -their form. The form depends on accidental causes which the -artist must seek to discover. The accidents interfere with the -regular combinations of sulphur and mercury; for every metal -is a combination of these two substances. When pure sulphur -meets pure mercury, gold results sooner or later by the action -of nature. Species are immutable and cannot be transformed -from one into the other; but lead, copper, iron, silver, &c., -are not species. They only appear to be from their diverse -forms.</p> - -<p class="r1"><span class="smcap">Albertus Magnus</span>:—“De Alchemia.” (About 1250.) -</p></blockquote> - - -<h3>ANTIMONY.</h3> - -<p>Some of the old writers insisted that antimony (the native sulphide) -was used as a medicine by Hippocrates who called it Tetragonon, which -simply meant four-cornered, and of which we also know that it was made -up with the milk of a woman. The reason which the iatro-chemists gave -for believing that this compound was made from antimony was worthy of -the age when it was the practice to apply enigmatic names to medicinal -substances, a practice, however, quite foreign to Hippocrates. They -understood the term to imply four natures or virtues, and they said -antimony had four virtues, namely, sudorific, emetic, purgative, and -cordial; therefore tetragonon meant antimony.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Etymology of Antimony.</h4> - -<p>The name of this metal is one of the curiosities of philology. The -old legend was that Basil Valentine, testing his medicine on some of -his brother monks, killed a few of them. “Those who have ears for -etymological sounds,” says Paris in “Pharmacologia,” “will instantly -recognise the origin of the word antimonachos, or monks-bane.” Another -version of the monk story is to the effect that after Basil Valentine -had been experimenting with antimony in his laboratory he threw some of -his compounds out of the window, and pigs came and ate them. He noticed -that after the purgative action had passed off the pigs fattened. On -this hint he administered the same antimonial preparation to certain -monks who were emaciated by long fasts, and they died through the -violence of the remedy.</p> - -<p>These stories were probably the invention of some French punster, -who worked them into shape out of the French name of the substance, -antimoine, which, without the change of a letter, might mean bad for -the monk. Littré entirely demolished any possibility of their truth -by discovering the name in the writings of the Salernitan physician, -Constantine, the African, who lived at the end of the eleventh century, -three or four hundred years before the earliest dates suggested for -Basil Valentine.</p> - -<p>Other suggested derivations have been anti-monos, for the reason that -the sulphide was never found alone; anti-menein, in reference to its -tonic properties; and anti-minium, because it was used as an eye -paint in the place of red lead. These are all guesses unsupported by -evidence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span></p> - -<p>The modern philological theory is that the early Latin stibium and the -late Latin antimonium have the same etymological origin. Stibium was -the Latinised form of the Greek stimmi. Stimmi declined as stimmid—and -this may have found its way into the Arabic through a conjectural -isthimmid to the known Arabic name uthmud, which via athmud and athmoud -became Latinised again into antimonium.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Al-Kohol.</h4> - -<p>The antimony known to the ancients as stibium or stimuli was the native -sulphide which Eastern women used for darkening their eyelashes. -Probably it was used by Jezebel when, expecting Jehu at Samaria, “she -painted her eyes and tired her head.” The Hebrew expression is “she -put her eyes in paint,” and the Hebrew word for the paint is Phuph; -(2 Kings, c. 9, v. 30). In Ezekiel, c. 23, v. 40, a debauched woman -is described who painted her eyes, and in this case the Hebrew word -employed is Kohol. The Septuagint translated both Phuph and Kohol by -stimmi. The method is still used by Arabic women. They have a little -silver or ivory rod which they damp and dip into a finely levigated -powder called ismed, and draw this between the eyelids. Karrenhappuch, -one of Job’s daughters, meant a vessel of antimony. The writer of -the Book of Enoch says that the angel Azazel taught the practice to -women before the Flood. He “taught men to make swords, and knives, and -shields, and coats of mail, and made known to them metals, and the art -of working them; bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, -and the beautifying of the eyebrows, and the most costly and choicest -stones, and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> colouring tinctures, so that the world was changed.” -Some of the early Christian fathers condemned the vanity. “Inunge -oculos non stibio diaboli, sed collyrio Christi,” writes Tertullian.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Alchemical Hopes of Antimony.</h4> - -<p>The alchemists and the early chemical physicians had great hopes of -antimony. “They tormented it in every possible manner,” says Fourcroy, -“in the hope of getting from it a universal remedy.” With it, too, -they were convinced that they were coming near to the transmutation -of other metals into gold. Noticing how readily it formed alloys with -other metals they named it Lupus Metallorum, the Wolf of Metals. -Their process for getting the Powder of Projection, as well as can be -gathered from their mystic jargon was to first fuse the crude antimony, -the sulphide, with iron which withdrew the sulphur from the antimony. -The metal thus obtained they called the Martial Regulus of Antimony. -Regulus, or little king, implied an impure gold. Combining this with -corrosive sublimate and silver, and subliming the mixture they got the -lunar butter of antimony. The sublimation had to be repeated eight or -ten times, the residue, or fæces, being added to the sublimate every -time. At last the sublimed butter of antimony was transferred to an -oval glass vessel capable of containing twelve times its quantity, -and hermetically sealed. The Philosophic Egg, as the vessel with its -contents was called, was then placed in a sand-bath and kept at a -moderate heat for several months. When it had become converted into a -red powder, the operation was finished. This powder was the Powder of -Projection. It was sprinkled on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> other metals in a state of fusion, -mercury being an ingredient of the fused mass, and yellow gold was -produced.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Antimonial Compounds.</h4> - -<p>By other processes the early experimenters obtained various other -products. By simply heating crude antimony in a crucible they would -sometimes get a vitreous substance in consequence of some of the silica -of the crucible combining with the antimony. That was their glass of -antimony, which was generally an oxide with some sulphide. In other -cases the so-called liver of antimony resulted, a compound containing -a larger proportion of the sulphide. This they also called crocus -metallorum or saffron of the metals, and one or other of these products -was originally the basis of antimonial wine.</p> - -<p>It was digested with Rhine wine, and the tartar of the wine formed a -tartrate of antimony, but, as may be supposed, the composition of the -wine was very variable. Emetic tartar was subsequently substituted for -the liver.</p> - -<p>The crystalline protoxide of antimony obtained by inflaming, -volatilising, and condensing the regulus was known as argentine flowers -of antimony. The regulus heated with nitric acid yielded a compound of -metal with antimonious acid, and was called mineral bezoar; a compound, -really a suboxide, got by fusing sulphide of antimony and nitre was -called diaphoretic antimony; the chloride, first made by distilling -crude antimony (the native sulphide) with corrosive sublimate, yielded -the thick soft butter of antimony; the addition of water to this -chemical caused the precipitation of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> white oxychloride which was -long known as Algaroth’s powder, or mercury of life. It contained no -mercury, but was the most popular emetic before the introduction of -the tartrate. Victor Algarotti, who introduced it, was a physician, of -Verona, who died in 1603. It was alleged that he was poisoned by his -local rivals in consequence of the success of his remedy. He was also -the inventor of a quintessence of gold.</p> - -<p>The regulus of antimony in alloy with some tin was used to make the -antimony cups from which antimonial wine originated. It was also made -into the pilulæ perpetuæ, or everlasting pills, which, passing through -the body almost unchanged, were kept as a family remedy and taken -again and again. It is probable that the surface of these pills became -slightly oxidised, and consequently acquired a medicinal effect.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Kermes Mineral.</h4> - -<p>One of the most famous of the antimony compounds was the kermes -mineral, which it is understood was invented by Glauber about 1651. He -made it by treating a solution of the oxide of antimony with cream of -tartar, and then passing a current of sulphuretted hydrogen through -the solution. An orange-red powder was obtained, and famous cures were -effected by it. Glauber kept his process secret, but a Dr. de Chastenay -learnt it after Glauber’s death from one of his pupils and confided -it to a surgeon named La Ligerie, who in his turn communicated it to -Brother Simon, a Carthusian monk, who at once commenced successfully to -treat his brother monks with it, and soon after the Poudre des Chartres -was one of the most popular remedies in France for many serious -diseases, small-pox, ague, dropsy, syphilis,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> and many others. In 1720 -Louis XIV bought the formula for its preparation for a considerable -sum from La Ligerie. It has been agreed by chemists, Berzelius and -others, who have studied Kermes Mineral, that it is a mixture of about -40 per cent. or less of oxide of antimony with a hydrated sulphide of -the metal, and a small proportion of sulphide of sodium or potassium -(according to the method of preparation). It is still official in the -Pharmacopœias of the United States and of many Continental countries.</p> - -<p>From the solution from which the Kermes had been deposited a further -precipitate was obtained by the addition of hydrochloric acid. This, -too, was a mixture, consisting of protosulphide and persulphide of -antimony with some sulphur. It was the golden sulphuret which in -association with calomel became so noted in the form of Plummer’s -powder and Plummer’s pills. The powder was at first known as Plummer’s -Æthiops Medicinalis.</p> - -<p>It would be tedious to go through the multitude of antimonial -compounds which have become official, and it would be impossible -in any reasonable space even to enumerate the quack medicines with -an antimonial base which were so recklessly sold in this and other -countries, especially in the earlier half of the seventeenth century. -The most important of all the antimonial compounds, or, at least, the -one which has maintained the favour of the medical profession in all -countries, is, of course, the tartrate of antimony and potassium, -emetic tartar.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Emetic Tartar.</h4> - -<p>Adrian Mynsicht, physician to the Duke of Mecklenburg in the early part -of the seventeenth century, is generally credited with the invention -of emetic tartar.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> Certainly the earliest known description of it is -found in his “Thesaurus Medico-Chymicum,” published in 1631. But Hofer -has pointed out that the mixture known as the Earl of Warwick’s Powder, -which consisted of scammony, diaphoretic antimony (a binantimoniate of -potash) and cream of tartar, which Cornachinus of Pisa described in -1620, was really its forerunner, and he considers that the salt was -recognised in medicine before Mynsicht published his description.</p> - -<p>Glauber, in 1648, described the process of making Mynsicht’s emetic -tartar from cream of tartar and argentine flowers of antimony.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Antimony Controversy.</h4> - -<p>No medicine has been more violently attacked or so enthusiastically -praised as antimony. The virulent antagonism to it manifested by the -Faculty of Physicians of Paris was unquestionably the exciting cause -of much of the fame to which it attained. It is generally stated that -on the instigation of the Faculty the Parliament of Paris decreed -that it should not be employed in medicines at all. This, however, -has been proved to be incorrect. Certainly the Faculty in 1566 did, -in fact, forbid its own licentiates to use it, and actually expelled -one of their most able associates, Turquet de Mayerne, because he had -disobeyed their injunction. But M. Teallier has shown by documentary -evidence that the decree of the Parliament did not go beyond requiring -that antimony should not be supplied for medicinal use except on the -order of a qualified physician. The action of the Faculty, although -approved for a time, was later almost disregarded, and when the -court physicians cured the young king, Louis XIV, in 1657,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> by the -administration of antimony, the defeat of the anti-antimonists was -completed. The repeal of the decree against antimonials was dated 1666, -just a century after its promulgation.</p> - -<p>Louis XIV was taken dangerously ill at Calais, in 1657, when he was -19 years of age. A physician (Voltaire says a quack) of Abbeville had -the audacity to treat him by the administration of emetic tartar, and -the King himself and his Court were convinced that he owed his life to -this remedy. The opponents of antimony were silenced, though they did -not yield in their opinion. Gui Patin, who had termed the new medicine -“tartre stygiè” (its usual French name was tartre stibié), protested -against the attempt to canonise this poison, and asserted that the cure -of the king was due to his own excellent constitution.</p> - -<p>To illustrate the earnestness, not to say the ferocity, of medical -controversy at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the record of -the expulsion of Turquet de Mayerne from the College of Physicians of -Paris, in 1603, quoted from the minutes of the College and translated -by Nedham, may be given. It should be remembered that Turquet was -the favourite physician of Henri IV, and, nominally, his offence was -that he had published a defence of his friend, Quercetanus, who had -prescribed mercurial and antimonial medicines. The minute is in the -following terms:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The College of Physicians in the University of Paris, being -lawfully congregated, having heard the Report made by the -Censor to whom the business of examining the Apology published -under the name of Turquet de Mayerne, was committed, do with -unanimous consent condemn the same as an infamous libel, -stuffed with lying reproaches and impudent calumnies, which -could not have proceeded from any but an unlearned, impudent, -drunken, mad fellow: And do judge the said Turquet to be -unworthy to practise physick in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> any place because of his -rashness, impudence, and ignorance of true physick: But do -exhort all physicians which practise Physick in any nations or -places whatsoever that they will drive the said Turquet and -such like monsters of men and opinions out of their company -and coasts; and that they will constantly continue in the -doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. Moreover, they forbid all -men that are of the Society of the Physicians of Paris, that -they do not admit a consultation with Turquet or such like -person. Whosoever shall presume to act contrary shall be -deprived of all honours, emoluments, and privileges of the -University and be expunged out of the regent Physicians.</p> - -<p class="r1">Dated December 5, 1603.</p></blockquote> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p385"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p385.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left smcap">Antimony Cup.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(From an illustration to a note by Professor Redwood in the -<i>Pharmaceutical Journal</i>, July 1, 1858.)</p> - </div> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Antimony Cups (Pocula Emetica)</h4> - -<p class="p-left">were in use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, more perhaps -in Germany than in this country. The one illustrated is in the Museum -of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street. It was bought for a shilling at a -sale at Christies’ in 1858, and was described in the catalogue as “An -old metal cup, with German inscription and coronet, gilt, in woodcase.” -The cups are said to have been made of an alloy of tin and antimony, -and wine standing for a time in one of them would become slightly -impregnated with emetic tartar, the tartar of the wine acting on the -film of oxide of antimony which would form on the inner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> surface of the -cup. How far these cups were used in families does not appear, but it -is said they were common in monasteries, and that monks who took too -much wine were punished by having to drink some more which had been -standing in the poculum emeticum. Dr. Walter Harris, in “Pharmacopœia -Anti-Empirica” (1683) refers to the cups, and says, “their day is -pretty well over. It is rare to meet with one now.”</p> - -<p>It was supposed by the early chemical physicians that antimony imparted -emetic properties to wine without any loss of weight. Angelo Sala tells -of a German who attained some fame in his time by letting out a piece -of glass of antimony on hire. The patient was instructed to immerse -this in a cup of wine for three, four, or five hours (according to the -strength of the person prescribed for), and then to drink the wine. The -practitioner charged a fee of a dozen fresh eggs for the use of his -stone, and, as he had hundreds of clients, patients had to wait their -turn for their emetic.</p> - - -<h3>BISMUTH.</h3> - -<p>Bismuth, the metal, was not known to the ancients nor to the Arabs. It -was first mentioned under that name by Agricola, in 1546, in “De Natura -Fossilium,” and was not then regarded as a distinct body. Agricola -considered it to be a form of lead, and other mining chemists believed -that it gradually changed into silver. The Magistery (trisnitrate or -oxynitrate) was the secret blanc de fard which Lemery sold in large -quantities as a cosmetic. He bought the secret from an unknown chemist -and made a large fortune out of it. His process was to dissolve one -ounce of the metal in two ounces of nitric acid and to pour on the -solution five or six pints of water in which one ounce of sea-salt -had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> been dissolved. The sea-salt would yield a proportion of bismuth -oxychloride in the precipitate. Lemery made a pomatum, ʒi to the -ounce, and a lotion, ʒi to ʒiv of lily water.</p> - -<p>Until the latter part of the eighteenth century bismuth salts were -regarded as poisonous and were scarcely used in medicine by way of -internal administration. Even Odier, of Geneva, to whom we owe the -introduction of this medicine in dyspepsia and diarrhœa, prescribed it -in 1 grain doses with 10 grains each of magnesia and sugar.</p> - -<p>Lemery says the bismuth of his time was a compound made in England from -the gross and impure tin found in the English mines. “The workmen mix -this tin with equal parts of tartar and saltpetre. This mixture they -throw by degrees into crucibles made red hot in a large fire. When -this is melted they pour it into greased iron mortars and let it cool. -Afterwards they separate the regulus at the bottom from the scoriæ and -wash it well. This is the tin-glass, which may be called the regulus of -tin.” Pomet says much the same about the composition. He adds, “It is -so true that tin-glass is artificial that I have made it myself, and am -ready to show it to those who won’t believe me.”</p> - -<p>Those writers belonged to the first quarter of the eighteenth century. -A quarter of a century later Quincy is telling us that the metal called -Bismuth “is composed of tin, tartar, and arsenic, made in the northern -parts of Germany, and from thence brought to England.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Stahl and Dufay had been studying bismuth and had established -its character and elementary nature.</p> - -<p>Liquor Bismuthi et Ammonii Citratis was introduced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> into the B.P. 1867, -as an imitation of the proprietary Liquor Bismuthi, which Mr. G. F. -Schacht, pharmaceutical chemist, of Clifton, had invented a few years -previously. It was found that the official preparation differed from -the proprietary one in taste and action principally because no attempt -had been made to free it from the nitric acid used to dissolve the -bismuth. This was corrected in 1885 by a liquor prepared from citrate -of bismuth dissolved by solution of ammonia. This method has been -further elaborated. Continental physicians have not favoured a solution -of bismuth. They consider that the remedial value of bismuth depends on -its insolubility; this view now obtains in England also.</p> - -<p>Trochisci Bismuthi Compositi of the B.P. 1864, were believed to -be intended to imitate the “Heartburn Tablets,” made by Dr. Burt, -an eminent medical practitioner of Edinburgh in the early part -of the nineteenth century, and sold for him at a guinea a pound. -Notwithstanding the price, perhaps because of it, these tablets -attained to considerable popularity. It was said that Dr. Burt and his -apprentices made all he supplied in his kitchen. Some said that his -tablets contained no bismuth, the antacid properties being due entirely -to chalk. In 1867 rose-flavour was substituted for cinnamon in the -official lozenges, and in 1898 the oxynitrate of bismuth gave place to -oxycarbonate.</p> - - -<h3>GOLD.</h3> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>For gold in physick is a cordiall,</div> - <div>Therefore he loved gold in special.</div> - <div class="i6">Chaucer’s <i>Doctour of Phisike</i>.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>The employment of gold as a remedy is but rarely mentioned in ancient -medical literature. Gold leaf was probably used by the Egyptians to -cover abrasions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> the skin. Pieces of it have been found on mummies -apparently so applied. Some of the Arab alchemists, Geber among them, -are believed to have made some kind of elixir of life from gold, but -their writings are too enigmatical to be trusted. Avicenna mentions -gold among blood purifiers, and the gilding of pills originated with -the Eastern pharmacists. Probably it was believed that the gold added -to the efficacy of the pills. It was not, however, until the period of -chemical medicine in Europe that gold attained its special fame.</p> - -<p>Arnold of Villa Nova, and Raymond Lully were among the advocates of -the medicinal virtues of gold; but in the century before Paracelsus -appeared, Brassavolus, Fallopius, and other writers questioned its -virtues. With Paracelsus, Quercetanus, Libavius, Crollius, and others -of that age, however, gold entered fully into its kingdom. They could -hardly exalt it too highly. But it is difficult to ascertain from the -writings of this period what the chemical physicians understood by gold.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus says it needs much preparation before it can be -administered. To make their aurum potabile some of the alchemists -professed to separate the salt from the fixed sulphur, which they held -was the real principle of gold, its seed, as some of them called it, -and to obtain this in such a form that it could be taken in any liquor. -The seed of gold was with many of them the universal medicine which -would cure all diseases, and prolong life indefinitely. It was the -sulphur of the sun with which that body revivifies nature.</p> - -<p>Paracelsus prescribed gold for purifying blood, and intimates that -it is useful as an antidote in cases of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> poisoning, and will prevent -miscarriages in women. He considered it not so cordial as emeralds, but -more so than silver. He also states that if put into the mouth of a -newly-born babe it will prevent the devil from acquiring power over the -child.</p> - -<p>The Archidoxa Medicinæ of Paracelsus, his famous Elixir of Long -Life, is believed to have been a compound of gold and corrosive -sublimate. He recommended gold especially in diseases connected with -the heart, the organ which the sun was supposed to rule. Among the -earlier Paracelsians Angelo Sala wrote a treatise on gold, entitled -“Chrysologia, seu Examen Auri Chymicum,” Hamburg, 1622. Sachsens -prepared a Tinctura Solis secundem secretiorem Paracelsi Mentem -preparata. But Thurneyssen, who carried on his quackeries on the -largest scale, did the most to push the gold business. His Magistery -of the Sun attained to great popularity in Germany, and these and -his other preparations, together with the astrological almanacks -and talismans which he sold, enabled him to live in great splendour -at Frankfort, where he is said to have employed 200 persons in his -laboratory. His fame departed, however, and he died in poverty at -Cologne, in 1595.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Aurum Potabile.</h4> - -<p>Roger Bacon is said to have held that potable gold was the true elixir -of life. He told Pope Nicholas IV that an old man in Sicily, ploughing, -found one day a golden phial containing a yellow liquid. He thought it -was dew, drank in off, and was immediately transformed into a hale, -robust, handsome, and highly accomplished youth. He entered into the -service of the King of Sicily, and remained at court for the next -eighty years.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p> - -<p>Francis Anthony was a famous quack in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and -James I. The College of Physicians took proceedings against him several -times, fined him and imprisoned him, but aristocratic influences were -exerted on his behalf and ultimately the College found it prudent to -let him alone. His panacea “Aurum potabile” professed to be a solution -of gold, and the wealthy classes of the period had unbounded belief in -its wonderful remedial virtues. Some years after the death of Anthony -the famous Honourable Robert Boyle (the “Father of philosophy and -brother of the Earl of Cork”) in the “Sceptical Chymist” wrote that -though he was prejudiced against all such compositions, he had known -(and he describes) some such wonderful cures resulting from this aurum -potabile that he was compelled to bear testimony to its efficacy. Boyle -also states that he had seen in part the preparation of this nostrum. -He rather enigmatically reports that there was but a single ingredient -associated with the gold, that this came from above, and was reputed to -be one of the simplest substances in nature.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Anthony claimed that his product would cure most diseases; vomitings, -fluxes, stoppages, fevers, plague, and palsies were included among -the evils which it overcame. Several of the well-known physicians of -the time wrote angry pamphlets denouncing Anthony’s pretensions. Dr. -Matthew Gwynne’s “Aurum non aurum,” and Dr. Cotta’s “Cotta contra -Antonium” were two of the most noted. Of course these gave Anthony -opportunities of reply, and largely promoted the business. In one of -his later publications Anthony boldly offered to exhibit his process -to a committee of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> proper and unbiassed witnesses with the object of -proving that the compound was truly a solution of gold. The challenge -appears to have been accepted, and the Master of the Mint, Baron -Thomas Knivet, and other experts were present when the test was made. -According to Gwynne the result was failure, but I do not find any -unprejudiced report of the experiment.</p> - -<p>The writer of the life of Anthony in the old “Biographia Britannica,” -who is his warm partisan, gives what he declares to have been the -genuine formula for the aurum potabile. It had long been in the -possession of Anthony’s descendants, he says, and was given to him -(the author of the biography) by an eminent chemist. If this is true -it is evident that a solution of gold would not have resulted from the -process.</p> - -<p>This is what the alleged Anthony’s manuscript prescribes:—The object, -Anthony says, is to so far open the gold that its sulphur may become -active. To open it a liquor and a salt are required, these together -forming the menstruum. The liquor was 3 pints of red wine vinegar -distilled from a gallon; the salt was block tin burnt to ashes in an -iron pan; these to be mixed and distilled again and again. Take one -ounce of filed gold, and heat it in a crucible with white salt; take it -out and grind the mixture; heat again; wash with water until no taste -of salt is left; mix this with the menstruum, one ounce to the pint, -digest, and evaporate to the consistence of honey. The Aurum Potabile -was made by dissolving this in spirit of wine.</p> - -<p>Whatever may have been the opinion of the experts who watched Anthony -make his Aurum Potabile, the sale of the panacea was not destroyed, -perhaps not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> injured by the result. Anthony made a handsome fortune out -of it and continued to sell it largely until his death in 1623, and -according to the authority already quoted, his son John Anthony, who -qualified as an M.D. and held the licence of the College, derived a -considerable income from the sale of the remedy. Dr. Munk, however, in -the “Roll of the College of Physicians” intimates that this gentleman -was free from the hereditary stain. “He succeeded to the more reputable -part of his father’s practice,” is the pleasant way in which Dr. Munk -describes John Anthony, M.D. John, however, wrote the following epitaph -on his father:</p> - - <div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div>Though poisonous Envy ever sought to blame</div> - <div>Or hide the fruits of thy Intention;</div> - <div>Yet shall all they commend that high design</div> - <div>Of purest gold to make a Medicine</div> - <div>That feel thy Help by that thy rare Invention.</div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - -<p>Glauber (1650) expounds “the true method of making Aurum Potabile,” -knowledge of which, he says, was bestowed on him from the highest. -“Haply there will be some,” he remarks at the beginning of his treatise -on this subject, who will deny “that gold is the Son of the Sun, -or a metallic body, fixed and perfect, proceeding from the rays of -the Sun; asking how the Solary immaterial rays can be made material -and corporeal?” But this only shows how ignorant they are of the -generation of metals and minerals. Disposing of such incredulity by a -few comments, and referring the sceptics to his treatise De Generatione -Metallorum, he deals with several other irrelevant matters, and at last -describes his process in prolix and unintelligible terms.</p> - -<p>“℞ of living gold one part, and three parts of quick -mercury, not of the vulgar, but the philosophical every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>where to be -found without charges or labour.” He recommends, but not as essential, -the addition to the gold of an equal part of silver. “The mixture -of male and female will yield a greater variety of colours, and who -knoweth the power of the cordial union of gold and silver?” These -metals being mixed in a philosophical vessel will be dissolved by the -mercury in a quarter of an hour, acquiring a purple colour. Heating -for half an hour, this will be changed to a green. The compound is to -be dissolved in water of dew, the solution filtered and abstracted in -a glass alembic three times until the greenness turns to a black like -ink, “stinking like a carcase.” After standing for forty hours the -blackness and stink will depart, leaving a milky white solution. This -is to be dried to a white mass, which will change into divers colours, -ultimately becoming a finer green than formerly. That green gold is to -be dissolved in spirit of wine, to which it will impart a quintessence, -red as blood, which is the quickening tincture, a superfluous ashy body -being left. After some more distillations and abstractions a strong red -solution will be obtained which is capable of being diluted with any -liquid and may be kept as a panacea for the most desperate diseases. -Next to “the stone” this is the best of all medicines.</p> - -<p>The author cautions his readers against the yellow or red waters sold -by distillers of wine at a great price as potable gold. Further he -explains that the solution of gold made with aqua regia or spirit of -salt is of little or no medicinal value, because the Archeus cannot -digest it, but can only separate the gold and discharge it in the -excrements.</p> - -<p>In the “Secrets of Alexis” (John Wight’s translation) a recipe for a -potable liquor of gold is given which “conserveth the youth and health -of man, and will heal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> every disease that is thought incurable in the -space of seven doses at the furthest.” Gold leaf, lemon juice, honey, -common salt, and spirit of wine were to be frequently distilled. “The -oftener it is distilled the better it be.”</p> - -<p>Kenelm Digby made a tincture of gold thus:—Gold calcined with three -salts and ground with flowers of sulphur; burnt in a reverberatory -furnace twelve times, and then digested with spirit of wine.</p> - -<p>Lemery gives a formula for potable gold, or tincture of gold, or -diaphoretic sulphur of gold:—Dissolve any quantity of gold you like in -aqua regia; evaporate to dryness, and make a paste of the residue with -essence of cannella. Then digest it in spirit. He adds, sarcastically -I suppose, “This tincture is a good cordial because of the essence of -cannella and the spirit of wine.”</p> - -<p>About 1540 Antoine Lecoque, a physician of Paris, acquired considerable -reputation for his cures of syphilis by gold. Fallopius, Hoffmann, -and Dr. Pitcairn, of Edinburgh, more or less fully adopted his -treatment, but the theory gradually dropped out of medical practice. -It was revived early in the nineteenth century by Dr. Chrestien, of -Montpellier, a physician of considerable reputation, and his ardent -advocacy had for a time considerable effect. But subsequent trials in -the French hospitals gave negative results.</p> - -<p>There were, no doubt, many honest attempts to make aurum potabile, -and certainly there were a multitude of frauds palmed off on to a -public who had come to believe in the miraculous remedial powers of -the precious metal. The following is one of the simplest formulas for -extracting the virtue of gold. It is given in “Lewis’s Dispensatory,” -1785, but not with any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> suggestion of its medicinal value:—One drachm -of fine gold was dissolved in 2 ounces of aqua regia. To the solution -1 ounce of essential oil of rosemary was added, and the mixture well -shaken. The yellow colour of the acid solution was transferred to the -oil, which was decanted off, and diluted with 5 ounces of spirit of -wine. The mixture was digested for a month, and then acquired a purple -colour. Lewis explains that the oil takes up some of the gold, which, -however, is deposited on the sides of the glass, or floats on the -surface in the form of a slight film.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Aurum Fulminans</h4> - -<p class="p-left">was described in the works attributed to Basil Valentine, and later -by Oswald Crollius. It is sometimes termed Volatile Gold. Valentine -explains very clearly the process of making it, that is, by dissolving -gold leaf in aqua regia and precipitating the fulminating gold by -salt of tartar. By treatment with vinegar or sulphur its explosive -properties were to be reduced. It was supposed to possess the medicinal -value of gold in a special degree, and was particularly recommended -as a diaphoretic. It appears from reports that it occasioned violent -diarrhœas, and was, no doubt, often fatal. The so-called Mosaic Gold, -which was given as a remedy for convulsions in children, was an amalgam -of mercury with tin, ground with sulphur and sal ammoniac.</p> - -<p>Hahnemann insisted that gold had great curative powers, and several -homœopathic physicians of our time have highly extolled it. Dr. J. C. -Burnett, in “Gold as a Remedy,” recommended triturations of gold leaf, -one in a million, as a marvellous heart tonic, especially in cases of -difficult breathing in old age.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>IRON.</h3> - -<p>Iron was not regarded as of special medicinal value by the ancients. -The alleged administration of the rust of iron by Melampus was -apparently looked upon as a miracle, and though this instance is often -quoted as the earliest record of ferruginous treatment, it does not -appear to have been copied. Classical allusions, such as that of the -rust of the spear of Telephus being employed to heal the wounds which -the weapon had inflicted, which is referred to by Homer, can hardly be -treated as evidences of the surgical skill of that period. Iron is not -mentioned as a remedial agent by Hippocrates, but Dioscorides refers to -its astringent property, and on this account recommends it in uterine -hæmorrhage. He states that it will prevent conception; it subsequently -acquired the opposite reputation. The same authority, as well as -Celsus, Pliny, and others, allude to a practice of quenching a red-hot -iron in wine or water in order to produce a remedy for dysentery, weak -stomachs, or enlargement of the spleen.</p> - -<p>The later Latin physicians made very little use of iron or its -compounds. Oribasius and Aetius write of the uses of its oxide -outwardly in the treatment of ulcers, and Alexander of Tralles -prescribes both an infusion and the metal in substance for a scirrhus -of the spleen. He was probably the earliest physician who discovered -its value as a deobstruent. Rhazes, the Arab, gave it in substance, and -in several combined forms, but Avicenna regarded iron as a dangerous -drug, and suggested that, if any had been accidentally taken, some -loadstone should be administered to counteract any evil consequences.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span></p> - -<p>Vitriol (sulphate of iron and sulphate of copper) was the iron medicine -most in use up to the sixteenth century; but it was not given with -the special intention of giving iron. Paracelsus had great faith in -the Arcanum Vitrioli, which, indeed, appears to have been sulphur. He -also introduced the use of the magnet, but only externally. It was in -the century after him that the salts of Mars came into general medical -use. In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the -preparations of iron became very numerous. Iron filings brought into an -alcohol, that is very finely powdered, were much employed, sometimes -alone and sometimes saccharated, or combined with sugar candy. Crocus -martis was the sesquioxide, æthiops martial was the black oxide, -and flores martis, made by subliming iron filings and sal ammoniac, -yielding an ammoniated chloride of iron, was included in the several -British pharmacopœias of the eighteenth century.</p> - -<p>The association of iron with Mars probably influenced the early -chemical physicians in their adoption of iron salts in anæmic -complaints, and as general tonics. The undoubted effect of iron -remedies in chlorotic disease was naturally observed, and the -reputation of the metal was established for the treatment of this -condition long before it was discovered that iron is an invariable -constituent of the human body. When this physiological fact came to be -recognised it was supposed that the action of iron salts was explained; -but, in fact, the investigations of the last century have only tended -to make this theory doubtful.</p> - -<p>It is known that in health the proportion of iron in the body is fairly -constant. An average man’s blood contains about 38 grains, almost all -of which is con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>tained in the hæmoglobin. He requires from one to two -grains every day to make up for waste, and this he gets in the meat and -vegetable food which he absorbs. The vegetables obtain iron from the -soil, and animals acquire it from the corn, roots, or grasses which -they eat. So far as is known it is from these sources only that human -beings assimilate the iron they require. It is very doubtful whether -a particle of the iron administered in any of the multitudinous forms -which pharmacy provides is retained. A noted modern physiologist, -Kletzinsky, says “From all the hundredweights of iron given to anæmics -and chlorotics during centuries not a single blood corpuscle has -been formed.” For all that there is no medical practitioner of any -considerable experience who has not found directly beneficial results -follow the administration of these medicines in such cases.</p> - -<p>To Sydenham and Willis, two of the most famous physicians of the -seventeenth century, the general employment of iron as a medicine may -be traced. Sydenham, in his treatise on hysteric diseases, which, he -says, are occasioned by the animal spirits being not rightly disposed, -and not as some supposed by the corruption of the blood with the -menstrual fluid, points out that the treatment must be directed to -the strengthening of the blood, for that is the fountain and origin -of the spirits. In cachexies, loss of appetite, chlorosis, and in -all diseases which we describe as anæmic, he recommends that if the -patient is strong enough recourse should be had first to bleeding, -this to be followed by a thirty days’ course of chalybeate medicine. -Then he describes, much the same as modern treatises do, how rapidly -iron quickens the pulses, and freshens the pale countenances. In his -experience he has found that it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> better to give it in substance than -in any of the preparations, “for busy chemists make this as well as -other excellent medicines worse rather than better by their perverse -and over officious diligence” (Pechey’s translation). He advises 8 -grains of steel filings made into two pills with extract of wormwood to -be taken early in the morning and at 5 p.m. for thirty days; a draught -of wormwood wine to follow each dose. “Next to the steel in substance,” -he adds, “I choose the syrup of it prepared with filings of steel -or iron infused in cold Rhenish wine till the wine is sufficiently -impregnated, and afterwards strained and boiled to the consistence of a -syrup with a sufficient quantity of sugar.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p400"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p400.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">Dr. Thomas Sydenham.</span> 1624–1689.</p> - <p class="p0 center p-left sm">(Originator of Sydenham’s Laudanum.)</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Dr. Willis had a secret preparation of iron of which Dr. Walter Harris, -physician in ordinary to Charles II,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> in “Pharmacologia Anti-Empirica” -(1683), writes:—“The best preparation of any that iron can yield us -is a secret of Dr. Willis. It has hitherto been a great secret and -sold at a great price. It was known as Dr. Willis’s Preparation of -Steel.” Dr. Harris thinks it will not be an unacceptable service to -the public to communicate this masterpiece of that eminent and ever -famous man. “It was no strained stately magistery, no sublimation or -salification, no calcined crocus, and no chemical mystery; but an easy -and a natural way of opening this hard body that it may open ours.” It -was given particularly for the removal of obstructions. The formula -was equal parts of iron filings and crude tartar powdered and mixed -with water in a damp mass in a glazed earthen vessel. This was to be -dried over a slow fire or in the sun; wetted and dried again; and this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> -process repeated four or five times. It might be given in white wine, -or made into a syrup, or into pills, electuary, or lozenges. Dr. Willis -preferred the crude tartar because the cream of tartar sold by the -druggists was generally a cheat, often combined with alum. The crude -could be bought at 6d. to 8d. per lb. In the apothecaries’ shops cream -of tartar was sold at 3s. to 3s. 6d. per lb.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p401"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p401.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center p-left"><span class="smcap">Thomas Willis, M.D.</span> 1621–1675.</p> - </div> - -<p class="p2">Quincy (1724), who frequently offers explanations of the exact way in -which medicines exercise their remedial power, thus scientifically -describes the action of iron in removing obstructions:—“Mechanics -teach nothing more plainly than that the momenta of all percussions -are as the rectangles under the gravities and celerities of the moving -bodies. By how much more gravity then a metalline particle has more -than any other particle in the Blood, if their celerities are equal, -by so much the greater will the stroke of the metalline particle be -against everything that stands in its way than of any other not so -heavy; and therefore will any Obstruction in the Glands and Capillaries -be sooner removed by such particles than by those which are lighter. -This is a way of reasoning that is plain to the meanest Capacity.”</p> - -<p>Tartarised iron has always been a favourite form for its -administration. The Balls of Mars (boules de Mars, or boules de -Nancy), still a popular medicine in France, are a tartarised iron -prepared by a complicated process. First, a decoction of vulnerary -species is made from 12 parts of water and 2 of the species. This is -strained and poured on 12 parts of pure iron filings in powder. The -mixture is evaporated to dryness and powdered. On this powder another -decoction, 18 of water and 3 of species, is poured, and 12 parts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> of -red tartar added. This compound is evaporated to the consistence of a -firm paste, and a third decoction, 35 water and 5 species, is added -to 25 of the paste and 25 of red tartar. This is evaporated to the -proper consistence to make balls, which are usually about 1 oz. or 2 -oz. in weight. They are kept to dry and then wrapped in wrapper. They -are taken in doses of 4 to 5 grains much as Blaud’s pills are taken -here. Sometimes the balls are dipped in water until a brown colour is -imparted to the liquid. This water is also used as an application to -bruises.</p> - -<p>Mistura Ferri Composita was adopted in the P.L., 1809, from the formula -of his anti-hectic mixture which Dr. Moses Griffith, of Colchester, -had published thirty or forty years previously. Paris quotes it as a -successful instance of a medical combination which could not receive -the sanction of chemical law; and he testifies to the opposition -offered on that ground to its official acceptance, but adds that -subsequent inquiry had proved that the chemical decompositions which -constituted the objections to its use were in fact the causes of its -utility. It yields a protocarbonate of iron in suspension, and a -sulphate of potash in solution. The compound of iron is in the state in -which it is most active.</p> - -<p>As evidence of the faith in ferruginous waters as tonics of the -generative system, Phillips quotes from the thesis of Dr. Jacques, of -Paris, a curious marriage contract said to have been common at one time -among the burghers of Frankfort to the effect that their wives should -not visit the iron springs of Schwalbach more than twice in their lives -for fear of being too fruitful. The story looks suspiciously like an -advertisement of Schwalbach.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tincture of perchloride of iron acquired its reputation in the 18th -century from the secret medicines known as La Mothe’s “gouttes d’or,” -and Bestucheff’s Nerve Tincture (see page 321). The formula of the -latter, published by the Academy of Medicine of St. Petersburg, was -corrected by Klaproth, and under various names and in different forms -found its way into all the pharmacopœias. Klaproth’s process was to -dissolve powdered iron in a mixture of muriatic acid 3, and nitric acid -1; evaporate to dryness, and then leave the mass to deliquesce to a -brown liquor. Mix this with twice its weight of sulphuric ether. The -saturated ethereal solution to be mixed with twice its volume of spirit -of wine, and kept in small bottles exposed to light until the liquid -acquired the proper golden tint. A similar preparation is retained in -the French Codex under the title of ethereal-alcoholic tincture of -muriate of iron.</p> - -<p>Reduced Iron, or Iron reduced by hydrogen, was first prepared by -Theodore Quevenne, chief pharmacist of the Hôpital de la Charité, -about the year 1854. Pharmacological experiments were made with it by -himself in association with Dr. Miquelard. It was believed at first -that the metallic iron obtained by the process described, which was to -heat the hydrated oxide of iron in a porcelain tube to dull red, and -then to pass a current of hydrogen through the tube, was absolutely -pure, and from experiments on dogs they came to the conclusion that the -metal in this form was more assimilable than any of its salts. It had -besides the advantage of being almost tasteless. Quevenne’s treatise -describing the process and the experiments was published in 1854 under -the title of “Action physiologique et therapeutique des ferrugineux.” -Later in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>vestigations, while supporting the original opinion to a great -extent as to the assimilability of the reduced iron, established that -the product is not and cannot be pure. Dusart showed in 1884 that the -proportion of actual iron could not exceed 87 per cent., and was not -likely to be more than 84 per cent. Oxides, and carbonates of iron -were inevitable, while sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus, and silicon were -probable contaminations from the gas.</p> - -<p>Citrate of Iron in scales was introduced by Beral, of Paris, in 1831. -His formula is given in the <i>Pharm. Jnl.</i>, vol. I, p. 594.</p> - -<p>Syrup of Phosphate of Iron was introduced in a paper read to the -Medical Society of London in 1851 by Dr. Routh, and Mr. Greenish -subsequently described to the Pharmaceutical Society the process by -which it was prepared. The formula was afterwards improved by Mr. Gale, -and his process was adopted in the B.P. It has since been modified.</p> - -<p>A solution of iodide of iron was first employed in medicine in this -country by Dr. A. T. Thomson some time in the '30’s of the nineteenth -century. It was introduced into the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopœias -in the form of a solid salt, and in the latter also in the form of -a solution. Neither of those preparations could be preserved from -decomposition, and the first suggestion of a syrup appears to have -been made in Buchner’s Repertorium in 1839, and soon after by other -experimenters. Dr. Thomson gave a formula for a syrup of iodide of iron -to one of the earliest meetings of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1841, -reported in the first volume of the <i>Pharm. Jnl.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>LEAD.</h3> - -<p>Lead is one of the ancient metals and was associated in classical -writings with Saturn. The lead compounds used by the ancients in -medicine were white lead or ceruse (carbonate and hydrate), and -litharge (oxide). Ceruse is supposed to owe its name to cera, and to -mean waxy; litharge is from Greek, and means silver stone; it was -regarded as the scum of silver. Red lead or minium was also used to -some extent in the form of an ointment.</p> - -<p>Although not much used now as a medicine for internal administration, -lead in various forms has been tried and advocated by doctors, -usually as a sedative. The Pil. Plumbi c. Opio is what remains in -our Pharmacopœia of these recommendations. Galen mentions lead as -a remedy in leprosy and plague, and little bullets of lead were at -one time given in cases of twisted bowels. The sedative property of -lead salts has caused them to be prescribed for neuralgia, hysteria, -and convulsive coughs; Goulard, recognising the anticatarrhal and -astringent effects of the acetate, recommended it in urethritis; and -on the theory that lead poisoning and phthisis were incompatible -French practitioners at one time hoped to find in lead a remedy for -tuberculosis.</p> - -<p>Litharge was the basis of most of the popular plasters, and a century -or two ago there were about a hundred of these either official or in -demand. Litharge was called lithargyrum auri or lithargyrum argenti, -according to its colour; but the deeper tint was only the result of a -stronger fire in preparing the oxide. White lead was an ingredient in -several well-known old ointments, the unguentum tripharmacum of Mesuë, -which was the ceratum lithargyri of Galen, the unguentum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> nutritum, the -unguentum diapomphologos, in which it was associated with pompholyx -or oxide of zinc, and others. To a large extent these ointments were -superseded after Goulard’s time by the unguentum Saturninum which he -introduced. The ointment of Rhazes was composed of white lead, wax, and -camphor dissolved in oil of roses. He also ordered the addition of the -white of an egg to every half-pound, but this came to be omitted as it -caused the ointment to become odorous. The Mother’s Ointment (onguent -de la Mère) has long been a favourite ointment in France for promoting -suppuration, and it is included in the Codex. It was made empirically -by a nun at the Hotel Dieu, named La Mère Thecle, and as it became much -sought after she furnished the formula. It is made by heating together -mutton suet, lard, and butter, and when vapours are being exhaled, -finely powdered litharge is sifted into the fats, causing a violent -effervescence. Some wax and pure black pitch are afterwards added. The -process has been studied by several pharmacists, and the conclusion -come to is that the fats are decomposed and a number of fatty acids -with some acroleine are produced. The operation is a rather dangerous -one, especially if there is any naked light in the vicinity.</p> - -<p>Magistery of Saturn was a white lead precipitated from a solution of -the acetate by carbonate of potash. This was the principal ingredient -in the Powder of Saturn devised by Mynsicht. The other components of -this powder, which was recommended in phthisis and asthma especially, -were magistery of sulphur (lac sulphuris), squine root, flowers of -sulphur, pearls, coral, oatmeal, Armenian bole, flowers of benzoin, -olibanum, sugar candy, saffron, and cassia.</p> - -<p>The chief apostle of lead in medical practice was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> Goulard, whose name -has become inseparably associated with the solution of the acetate. -Some account of the bearer of this familiar name, and of his medicinal -preparations of lead will be found in the section on Masters in -Pharmacy.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="i_p408" > - <img - class="p2" - src="images/i_p408.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> - - -<h3>QUICKSILVER</h3> - -<p class="p-left">is first alluded to in Greek writings by Theophrastus, about 315 -<span class="sm">B.C.</span>, but it was certainly known and used medicinally by the -Chinese and in India long before. Apparently, too, it was known by the -Egyptians. Dioscorides invented the name hydrargyrum, or fluid silver, -for it. Pliny treats it as a dangerous poison. Galen adopted the -opinion that the metal is poisonous, but states that he had no personal -knowledge of its effects. With these authors argentum vivum was the -term generally used to mean the native quicksilver, while hydrargyrum -was more usually employed to describe the quicksilver obtained from the -sulphide, cinnabar. Ancient writers appear to have regarded the two -substances as distinct. Dioscorides points out that cinnabar was often -confused with minium (red lead). The name Mercury, and the association -of the metal (or demi-metal, as it was often regarded) with the planet -and with its sign, formerly associated with tin, dates from the middle -ages. It is mentioned first in this connection in a list of metals by -Stephanus of Alexandria, in the seventh century.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Arabs used Mercury Medicinally.</h4> - -<p>The Arabs, who inherited the medical lore of the Greeks, and probably -added to this in the case of mercury knowledge acquired from India, -were much interested in mercury. In the chemical works attributed to -Geber not only the metal itself, but its compounds, red precipitate -and corrosive sublimate, are described. Much use of mercury was made -by the Arabs in the form of ointments for skin diseases, for which -Mesuë recommended it, and Avicenna was probably the first physician -to express doubt in regard to the poisonous nature of the metal. He -observed that many persons had swallowed it without any bad effect, and -he noted that it passed through the body unchanged.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Mercury prescribed internally.</h4> - -<p>Fallopius (1523–1562) remarks that in his time shepherds gave -quicksilver to sheep and cattle to kill worms, and Brassavolus -(1500–1554) states that he had given it to children in doses of from 2 -to 20 grains, and had expelled worms by that means. Matthiolus (died -1577) relates that he had known women take a pound of it at a dose with -the object of procuring abortion, and says it had not produced any bad -result.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Frictions and Fumigations.</h4> - -<p>Sprengel fixes the year 1497 as that in which mercury was first -employed externally for the cure of syphilis. Frictions, fumigations, -and plasters were the earliest forms in which it was employed. -Berenger de Carpi, a famous surgeon and anatomist of Bologna, who -practised in the early part of the sixteenth century, is said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> to have -made an immense fortune by inventing and prescribing frictions with -mercurial ointment for syphilis. John de Vigo was a strong partisan of -fumigations in obstinate cases. His fumigations were made from cinnabar -and storax. It is not quite clear whether this physician gave red -precipitate internally in syphilis. He expressly indicates its internal -use in plague.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Mercury a Remedy for Syphilis.</h4> - -<p>Peter Andrew Matthiolus, born at Sienna in 1500, died at Trent in -1577, latterly the first physician to the Archduke Ferdinand of -Austria, a botanist and author of “Commentaries on Dioscorides,” was, -according to Sprengel, the first who is known for certain to have -administered mercury internally. Paracelsus, however, was without doubt -the practitioner who popularised its use. He gave red precipitate, -corrosive sublimate, and nitrate of mercury, and describes how each -of these was made. Sprengel credits him also with acquaintance with -calomel, but other authors do not recognise this in any of his writings.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Vigo’s Plaster.</h4> - -<p>The Emplastrum Vigonium was a highly complicated compound, which was -held in great veneration and is the subject of innumerable comments -in the pharmaceutical writings of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and -eighteenth centuries. Charas, Lemery, Baumé, and others modified and -simplified it. John de Vigo was a native of Naples, where he was born -about 1460, and he became the first physician of Pope Julius II. His -plaster still figures in the French Codex, and contains 600 parts of -mercury by weight in 3,550 parts. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> made into a liquid with olive -oil and spread on calico makes the sparadrap of Vigo, in which form it -is most frequently used, as an application to syphilitic eruptions.</p> - -<p>Ambrose Paré gives the earliest formula for Vigo’s plaster, which was -then called Emplastrum Vigonium seu de Ranis. It was looked upon as a -masterpiece of combination. First 3½ oz. of earthworms were washed in -water, and afterwards in wine. Then they and twenty-six live frogs were -macerated in 2 lb. of odoriferous wine, and the whole was boiled down -to two-thirds of its volume. A decoction of camel’s hay (andropogon -schœnanthus), French lavender, and matricaria (chamomilla) was then -mixed with this wine. Meanwhile 1 lb. of golden litharge had been -“nourished” for twelve hours with oils of chamomile, dill, lilies, and -saffron; these were melted down with 1 lb. each of the fat of the pig, -calf, and viper. Human fat might be used instead of that of vipers. -Juices of elder root and of elecampane with euphorbium, frankincense, -and oil of spike were then worked in and the whole melted with white -wax. Lastly, quicksilver extinguished by turpentine, styrax, oil of -bitter almonds, and oil of bay, were added. In Lemery’s time the -minimum proportion of mercury was 1 drachm to 1 oz. of the plaster. -There was also a simple Vigo’s plaster made without mercury. In the -Codex formula the worms, the frogs, the fats, the herbs, roots, and -oils have all gone, but some more aromatic resins are added.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The First Mercurial Pills.</h4> - -<p>The first formula for mercurial pills was one which Barbarossa II, a -famous pirate and king of Algiers, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> admiral of the Turkish Fleet -under Soliman, Sultan of Turkey, sent to Francis I, king of France, -some time in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. The recipe -was published (says Dr. Etienne Michelon, of Tours, in his “Histoire -Pharmacotechnique de Mercure”) in 1537 by Petrus de Bayro, physician -to the Duke of Savoy. He does not give the exact formula, but Lemery -quotes it as follows:—</p> - -<p>“Best aloes, and quicksilver extinguished by rose juice, aa 6 drachms;</p> - -<p>“Trochises of agaric, ½ oz.; selected rhubarb, 2 drachms;</p> - -<p>“Canella, myrrh, mastic, aa 1 drachm; musk, amber, aa 1 scruple;</p> - -<p>“Make a mass with Venice turpentine.”</p> - -<p>Lemery says you cannot kill the mercury with rose juice, but must use -some of the Venice turpentine.</p> - -<p>These pills were largely used in syphilis, but they were practically -superseded later by the pills of Belloste, which are still official in -the French Codex. These were very similar. Belloste was a French Army -surgeon, and his formula was devised about the year 1700. A formula for -them was published in the Pharmacopœia of Renaudot during Belloste’s -lifetime, but after the death of Belloste in 1730 his son tried to -make a mystery of the pills and sold them as a proprietary product, -which probably had the effect of making them popular. The formula of -Renaudot, which is also that of the Codex, was: Mercury, 24 (killed -with honey); aloes, 24; rhubarb, 12; scammony, 8; black pepper, 4. Made -into pills, each of which should contain 5 centigrams of mercury.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">The Treatment of Syphilis.</h4> - -<p>It was at the close of the fifteenth century that syphilis began to -spread through Europe. There are doubtful evidences of its existence -in both Europe and Asia long previously, but the theory is generally -accepted that it was brought from America by the sailors of the -earliest expeditions, while its rapid spread throughout the old world -in the decade from 1490 to 1500 has often been attributed to the -Spanish Jews in the first place, and also particularly to the siege -of Naples by the French in 1495. That large numbers of the French -soldiers then engaged contracted it in the course of that war is -undoubted, and as they were largely instrumental in spreading the -contagion the disease soon came to be known as the French disease, or -morbus Gallicus, though it has been questioned whether the adjective -was not originally a reference to the skin diseases known under the -name of “gale” or “itch.” The opinion that syphilis came from the west -is not universally adopted. It has been pointed out that Columbus only -reached Lisbon on March 6, 1493, on his return from his first voyage of -discovery; and there are several more or less authentic allusions to -the French disease before that date.</p> - -<p>The rapidity with which this epidemic seized on all the countries of -Europe, and the virulence of its symptoms, alarmed all classes and -staggered the medical men of the day. Special hospitals were opened -and Parliamentary edicts were promulgated in some of the French and -German cities, ordering all persons contaminated to at once leave the -neighbourhoods. Mercury was one of the first remedies to suggest itself -to practitioners. It had been employed by the Arabs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> in the form of -ointments and fumigations for skin diseases, and quacks and alchemists -had long experimented with it in the hope of extracting a panacea from -it. Before Paracelsus had begun to administer it, Torrella, physician -to the Borgias, had prescribed mercurial lotions made from corrosive -sublimate, and Jean de Vigo, of Naples, had compounded his mercurial -plaster, and mercurial ointment, and had even given red precipitate in -pills.</p> - -<p>At the time when syphilis was causing excitement through Europe -sarsaparilla and guaiacum were much praised as sudorifics, and -wonderful cures of syphilis by them were reported. The poet and -reformer Ulrich von Hutten wrote a book, De Morbo Gallico, in which he -related his own years of suffering from the disease, and his complete -cure by means of guaiacum in 30 days. “You may swallow these woods -up to the tomb,” said Paracelsus. He had not much more respect for -fumigations with cinnabar, which he regarded as a quack treatment by -which it was impossible to measure the dose of the mercury, though he -recognised that it cured sometimes. Red precipitate with theriacum -made into pills with cherry juice was his favourite remedy, and was -one of his laudanums. His Catholicon, or universal panacea, was a -preparation of gold and corrosive sublimate, which was largely used by -his followers under the name of Aurum Vitæ.</p> - -<p>Corrosive sublimate was the great quack remedy for syphilis for more -than a century, and the so-called vegetable remedies, syrups and -decoctions of guaiacum, sarsaparilla, and sassafras, maintained their -reputation largely in consequence of the perchloride of mercury, -which was so often added to them. Aqua Phagadænica, 1 drachm of -corrosive sublimate in 1 pint of lime water,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> was a very noted lotion -for venereal ulcers. It began from a formula by Jean Fernel, a Paris -medical professor and Galenist (1497–1558), who dissolved 6 grains of -sublimate in 3 oz. of plaintain water. This was known as the Eau Divine -de Fernel. By the time when Moses Charas published his Pharmacopœia -this lotion had acquired the name by which it was so long known, and -was made from ½ oz. of sublimate in 3 lb. of lime water, and ½ lb. of -spirit of wine. It yielded a precipitate which varied in colour from -yellow to red.</p> - -<p>A curious controversy prevailed for a long time among the chemical -and medical authorities in France in regard to a popular proprietary -remedy for syphilis known as Rob Boyveau-Laffecteur. It was sold as a -non-mercurial compound. It was first prepared or advertised in 1780 -by a war office official named Laffecteur, whose position enabled -him to get it largely used in the army. Subsequently a Paris doctor -named Boyveau bought a share in the business, but in time the partners -separated, and both sold the Rob. Boyveau wrote a bulky volume on -the treatment of syphilis, and in that he strongly praised the Rob. -After the deaths of Laffecteur and Boyveau the business came into the -hands of a Dr. Giraudeau, of St. Gervais. This was about the year -1829. In 1780 the Academie de Medicine had examined this preparation, -and had apparently, though not formally, tolerated its sale. Their -chemist, Bucquet, had been instructed specially to examine the syrup -for sublimate. He reported that he could not find any, but he was by -no means sure that there was none there, for he stated that he had -himself added 2 grains to a bottle, and could not afterwards detect -its presence. Between that time and 1829 several chemists studied the -subject, and came to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> conclusion that if corrosive sublimate had -been added to the syrup the vegetable extractive or the molasses with -which it was made so concealed it or decomposed it into calomel that -it could not be detected. In 1829 Giraudeau was prosecuted for selling -secret medicines, and for this offence was fined 600 francs. But the -interesting feature of this trial was the testimony of Pelletier, -Chevallier, and Orfila that the Rob contained no mercurial. They -reported that the formula given by the maker might be the correct one, -but that in that case the mixture would contain too small a quantity -of active substances to possess the energetic properties claimed for -it. Guaiacum and sarsaparilla were the principal ingredients, but there -were also lobelia, astragalus root, several other herbs, and a little -opium. The history of this discussion is related at some length in Dr. -Michelon’s “Histoire Pharmacotechnique et Pharmacologique du Mercure” -(1908).</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Red Precipitate.</h4> - -<p>Red precipitate was one of the first preparations of mercury known. -It is traced to Geber, but when the works attributed to that chemist -were written is doubtful. Avicenna in the tenth century was acquainted -with it. In his writings he says of the metal mercury that “warmed in a -closed vessel it loses its humidity, that is to say its liquid state, -and is changed into the nature of fire and becomes vermilion.” Being -obtained direct from mercury acted on by the air, it became known to -the early chemical experimenters as “precipitatus per se.” Paracelsus -obtained it by acting on mercury with aqua regia and heating the -solution until he got the red precipitate. Then he reduced it to the -necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> mildness for medicinal purposes by distilling spirit of wine -from it six or seven times. Charas described a method of obtaining the -precipitate by nitric acid but by a complicated process, and to the -product he gave the name of arcana corallina. Boyle obtained the red -oxide by boiling mercury in a bottle fitted with a stopper which was -provided with a narrow tube by which air was admitted. The product was -called Boyle’s Hell, because it was believed that it caused the metal -to suffer extreme agonies.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Other Mercurial Precipitates.</h4> - -<p>The multitude of experiments with mercury yielded many products, and -often the same product by a different process which acquired a distinct -name.</p> - -<p>Turbith mineral was a secret preparation with Oswald Crollius who gave -it this name, probably, it is supposed, on account of its resemblance -in colour to the Turbethum (Convolvulus) roots which were in his time -much used in medicine. It is a subsulphate, made by treating mercury -with oil of vitriol and precipitating with water.</p> - -<p>The precipitation of mercury by sal ammoniac was first described by -Beguin in 1632. For a time it was given as a purgative and in venereal -diseases. A double chloride of mercury and ammonium was also made by -the alchemists and was highly esteemed by them, especially as it was -soluble. It was called Sal Alembroth and also Sal Sapientiæ. The origin -of the first name is unknown, but it has been alleged to be of Chaldean -birth and to signify the key of knowledge.</p> - -<p>A green precipitate was obtained by dissolving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> mercury and copper -in nitric acid, and precipitating by vinegar. This was also used in -syphilis.</p> - -<p>Homberg put a little mercury into a bottle and attached it to the wheel -of a mill. The metal was thereby transformed into a black powder (the -protoxide.)</p> - -<p>By a careful and very gradual precipitation of a solution of nitrate of -mercury by ammonia Hahnemann obtained what he called soluble mercury. -Soubeiran proved that this precipitate was a mixture in variable -proportions of sub-nitrate and ammonio-proto-nitrate of mercury.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Calomel.</h4> - -<p>Calomel was introduced into practice by Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne -about the year 1608. It has been said that he was the inventor of the -product, but as it was described and, perhaps, to some extent used -by other medical authorities, Crollius among these, who lived and -died before Turquet was born, this was evidently impossible. Theodore -Turquet de Mayerne had been a favourite physician to Henri IV, but -he had been compelled to leave Paris on account of the jealousies -of his medical contemporaries. His employment of mineral medicines, -antimony and mercury especially, was the occasion of bitter attacks, -but his professional heresy was perhaps actually less heinous than his -firm Protestantism. Both James I and Charles I accepted his services -and placed great confidence in his skill. He was instrumental, as -explained in another section, in the independent incorporation of the -apothecaries, and was also one of the most active promoters of the -publication of the “London Pharmacopœia.”</p> - -<p>It appears likely that Turquet invented the name by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> which this milder -form of mercurial has come to be most usually known. The alchemical -writers of the time called it Aquila Alba or Draco Mitigatus. A -notorious Paracelsian of Paris, Joseph Duchesne, but better known by -his Latinised surname of Quercetanus, who shared with Turquet the -animosity of Gui Patin and his medical confederates, and for similar -reasons, also made calomel and administered it, probably sold it, under -the designation of the mineral Panchymagogon, purger of all humours. -Panacea mercurialis, manna metallorum, and sublimatum dulce, were among -the other fanciful names given. It was believed by the old medical -chemists that the more frequently it was resublimed the more dulcified -it became. In fact, resublimation was likely to decompose it, and thus -to produce corrosive sublimate.</p> - -<p>What the name “calomel” was derived from has been the subject of much -conjecture. “Kalos melas,” beautiful black, is the obvious-looking -source, but it does not seem possible to fit any sense to this -suggested origin. A fanciful story of a black servant in the employ -of de Mayerne manufacturing a beautiful white medicine is told by -Pereira with the introduction of “as some say.” A good remedy for -black bile is another far-fetched etymology, and another conceives -the metal and the sublimate in the crucible as blackish becoming a -fair white. Some thirty years ago, in a correspondence published in -the “Chemist and Druggist,” Mr. T. B. Groves, of Weymouth, and “W. -R.” of Maidstone, both independently broached the idea that “kalos” -and “meli” (honey) were the constituents of the word, forming a sort -of rough translation of the recognised term, dulcified mercury; a not -unreasonable supposition, though this leaves the “kalos” not very well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span> -accounted for. In Hooper’s “Medical Dictionary” it is plausibly guessed -that the name may have been originally applied to Ethiops Mineral, and -got transferred to the white product; and Paris quotes from Mr. Gray -the opinion that a mixture of calomel and scammony which was called the -calomel of Rivierus may have been the first application of the term, -meaning a mixture of a white and dark substance.</p> - -<p>Beguin (1608) is generally credited with having been the first -European writer to describe calomel. He gave it the name of “Draco -mitigatus” (corrosive sublimate being the dragon). But Berthelot, in -his “Chemistry of the Middle Ages,” has shown that the protochloride -of mercury was prepared as far back as Democritus, and that it is -described in certain Arab chemical writings. It is also alleged to have -been prepared in China, Thibet, and India many centuries before it -became known in Europe.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Quicksilver Girdles,</h4> - -<p class="p-left">made by applying to a cotton girdle mercury which had been beaten up -with the white of egg, were used in the treatment of itch before the -true character of that complaint was understood.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Basilic Powder</h4> - -<p class="p-left">was the old Earl of Warwick’s powder or Cornachino’s powder (equal -parts of scammony, diaphoretic antimony, and cream of tartar), to which -calomel, equal in weight to each of the other ingredients, was added. -But I have not succeeded in tracing why or when the name of basilic -(royal) was given to the compound.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Corrosive Sublimate.</h4> - -<p>Van Swieten’s solution of corrosive sublimate was introduced in the -middle of the eighteenth century as a remedy for syphilis, and for a -long time was highly esteemed. Its author, Baron von Swieten, was of -Dutch birth, and was a pupil of Boerhaave. He was invited to Vienna by -the Empress Maria Theresa, and exercised an almost despotic authority -in medical treatment. His original formula was 24 grains of corrosive -sublimate dissolved in two quarts of whisky, a tablespoonful to be -taken night and morning, followed by a long draught of barley-water.</p> - -<p>Corrosive sublimate was the recognised cure for syphilis, at least in -Vienna, at that time. Maximilian Locher, another noted physician of the -same school, claimed to have cured 4,880 cases in eight years with the -drug. This was in 1762.</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">Cinnabar.</h4> - -<p>The bisulphide of mercury (cinnabar) was also used in many nostrums. -Paris says it was the active ingredient in Chamberlain’s restorative -pills, “the most certain cure for the scrophula, king’s evil, fistula, -scurvy, and all impurities of the blood.”</p> - - -<h4 class="smcap">“Killing” Mercury.</h4> - -<p>The art of extinguishing or “killing” mercury has been discussed and -experimented on from the fifteenth century until the present day. -The modern use of steam machinery in the manufacture of mercurial -ointment, mercurial pills, and mercury with chalk has put a check on -the ingenuity of patient pharmacists, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> were constantly discovering -some new method for accelerating the long labour of triturating, which -many operators still living can remember. Venice turpentine, or oil of -turpentine, various essential oils, sulphur, the saliva of a person -fasting, and rancid fat were among the earlier expedients adopted and -subsequently discarded. The turpentines made the ointment irritating, -the sulphur formed a compound, and the rancid fat was found to be worse -than the turpentines. Nitrate of potash, sulphate of potash, stearic -acid, oil of almonds and balsam of Peru, the precipitation of the -mercury from its solution in nitric acid, spermaceti, glycerin, and -oleate of mercury have been more modern aids.</p> - -<p>It would be outside the purpose of this sketch to deal with the -questions which the numerous processes suggested have raised. -Apparently it is not completely settled now whether the pill, the -powder, and the ointment depend for their efficiency on any chemical -action such as the oxidation of the metal in the cases of the two -former, or on a solution in the fat in the case of the ointment. These -theories have been held, and do not seem unlikely; but there also seems -good reason to believe that mercury in a state of minute division has -definite physiological effects by itself. At any rate, it is well -established that the more perfectly the quicksilver is “killed” the -more efficient is the resulting compound.</p> - - -<h3>SILVER.</h3> - -<p>The moon was universally admitted under the theory of the macrocosm -and the microcosm to rule the head, and as silver was the recognised -representative of Luna among the metals the deduction was obvious that -silver<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> was the suitable remedy for all diseases affecting the brain, -as apoplexy, epilepsy, melancholia, vertigo, and failure of memory. -Tachenius relates that a certain silversmith had the gift of being -able to repeat word for word anything that he heard, and this power -he attributed to his absorption of particles of silver in the course -of his work. It does not appear, however, that all silversmiths were -similarly endowed.</p> - -<p>The Greek and Latin doctors make no allusion to silver as a medicine, -and the earliest evidence of its actual employment as a remedy is found -in the writings of Avicenna, who gave it in the metallic state “in -tremore cordis, in fœtore oris.” He is also believed to have introduced -the practice of silvering pills with the intention of thereby adding -to their efficacy. To John Damascenus, a Christian saint who lived -among the Arabs before Avicenna, is attributed the remark concerning -silver, “Remedium adhibitum est, et in omnibus itaque capitis morbis, -ob Lunæ, Argenti, et Cerebri sympathicam trinitatem.” This association -of the moon, silver, and the brain was believed in firmly by the -chemical doctors of the sixteenth century, and for a long time a -tincture of the moon, tinctura Lunæ, was the most famous remedy in -epilepsy and melancholia. A great many high authorities, among them -Boyle, Boerhaave, and Hoffmann in the eighteenth century, continued -to prescribe this tincture or the lunar pills, but silver gradually -dropped out of fashion. A great number of medical investigators since -have from time to time recommended the nitrate or the chloride of -silver in various diseases, but without succeeding in securing for -silver a permanent reputation as an internal medicine.</p> - -<p>The Pilulæ Lunares were generally composed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> nitrate of silver -combined with opium, musk, and camphor. Nitrate of silver was given in -doses varying from a twentieth to a tenth of a grain. The tincture of -the moon was a solution of nitrate of silver with some copper, which -gave it a blue tint and probably was the active medicinal ingredient. -Fused nitrate of silver or lunar caustic seems to have succeeded to -the reputation of fused caustic potash as a cautery, and also to -have acquired the name of lapis infernalis (sometimes translated -“hell-stone” in old books) originally applied to the fused potash.</p> - -<p>The only reason assigned for this title is the keen pain caused by the -application of the caustic, though probably it was first adopted to -contrast it with the lapis divinus, which was a combination of sulphate -of copper and alum used as an application to the eyes.</p> - -<p>Christopher Glaser, pharmacien at the court of Louis XIV, who -subsequently had to leave France on suspicion of being implicated in -the Brinvilliers poisonings, was the first to make nitrate of silver in -sticks.</p> - - -<h3>TIN.</h3> - -<p>Tin came into medical use in the middle ages, and acquired its position -particularly as a vermifuge. For this purpose tin had a reputation -only second to mercury. Several compounds of this metal were popular -as medicines both official and as nostrums in the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries, and tin did not drop out of medicinal employment -until early in the nineteenth century.</p> - -<p>The beautiful mosaic gold (aurum musivum), a pet product with many -alchemists, was probably the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> tin compound to be used in -medicine. It was made by first combining tin and mercury into an -amalgam, and then distilling this substance with sulphur and sal -ammoniac. It is now known to be a bisulphide of tin. The mercury only -facilitates the combination of the tin and the sulphur, and the sal -ammoniac has the effect of regularising the temperature in the process. -The product is a beautiful golden metal of crystalline structure and -brilliant lustre. It was given in doses of from 4 to 20 grains; was -sudorific and purgative; and was recommended in fevers, hysterical -complaints, and venereal disorders. The subsequent preparations of tin -which came to be used principally as vermifuges were the Calx Jovis -(the binoxide), the sal Jovis (sometimes the nitrate and sometimes the -chloride), and the Amalgama Jovis. These, however, were all ultimately -superseded by the simple powder of tin given either with chalk, sugar, -crabs’ eyes, or combined with honey or some conserve. The dose was -very various with different practitioners. Some prescribed only a -few grains, others gave up to a drachm, and Dr. Alston, an eminent -Edinburgh physician in the eighteenth century, said its success -depended on being administered in much larger doses. He recommended -an ounce with 4 ounces of treacle to be given on an empty stomach. To -be followed next day with ½ oz., and another ½ oz. the day after; the -course to be wound up by a cathartic.</p> - -<p>The Anti-hecticum Poterii was a combination of tin with iron and -antimony, to which nitrate of potash was added. It was sudorific and -was thought to be especially useful in the sweats of consumption and -blood spitting. Flake’s Anti-hæmorrhoidal Ointment was an amalgam -of tin made into an ointment with rose oint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>ment, to which some red -precipitate was added. Brugnatelli’s Poudre Vermifuge was a sulphide of -tin. Spielman’s Vermifuge Electuary was simply tin filings and honey.</p> - -<p>Oxide of tin is the basis of certain applications for the finger nails. -As supplied by perfumers the pure oxide is coloured with carmine and -perfumed with lavender. Piesse says pure oxide of tin is similarly used -to polish tortoiseshell.</p> - - -<h3>ZINC.</h3> - -<p>The earliest known description of zinc as a metal is found in the -treatise on minerals by Paracelsus, and it is he who first designates -the metal by the name familiar to us. Paracelsus says:</p> - -<p>“There is another metal, zinc, which is in general unknown. It is -a distinct metal of a different origin, though adulterated with -many other metals. It can be melted, for it consists of three fluid -principles, but it is not malleable. In its colour it is unlike all -others, and does not grow in the same manner; but with its <i>ultima -materia</i> I am as yet unacquainted, for it is almost as strange in its -properties as argentum vivum.”</p> - -<p>The alloy of zinc with copper which we call brass was known and much -prized by the Roman metal workers, and they also knew the zinc earth, -calamine, and used this in the production of brass. Who first separated -the metal from the earth is unknown; so too is the original inventor -of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc). Beckmann quotes authorities who -ascribe this to Julius, Duke of Brunswick, about 1570. Beckmann<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> says -white vitriol was at first known as erzalaum, brass-alum, and later -as gallitzenstein, a name which he thinks may have been derived from -galls, as the vitriol and galls were for a long time the principal -articles used for making ink and for dyeing. Green vitriol, he adds, -was called green gallitzenstein. The true nature of several vitriols -was not understood until 1728, when Geoffrey studied and explained them.</p> - -<p>The ideas entertained of zinc by the chemists who studied it were -curious. Albertus Magnus held that it was a compound with iron; -Paracelsus leaned to the idea that it was copper in an altered form; -Kunckel fancied it was congealed mercury; Schluttn thought it was tin -rendered fragile by combination with some sulphur; Lemery supposed -it was a form of bismuth; Stahl held that brass was a combination of -copper with an earth and phlogiston; Libavius (1597) described zinc as -a peculiar kind of tin. The metal he examined came from India.</p> - -<p>The white oxide of zinc was originally known as pompholyx, which -is Greek for a bubble or blister, nihil album, lana philosophica, -and flores zinci. The unguentum diapompholygos, which was found in -the pharmacopœias of the eighteenth century, and was a legacy from -Myrepsus, was a compound of white lead and oxide of zinc in an ointment -which contained also the juice of nightshade berries and frankincense. -It was deemed to be a valuable application for malignant ulcers.</p> - -<p>Oxide of zinc as an internal medicine was introduced by Gaubius, -who was Professor of Medicine at Amsterdam about the middle of the -eighteenth century. It had been known and used under the name of -flowers of zinc from Glauber's time. A shoemaker at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> Amsterdam, named -Ludemann, sold a medicine for epilepsy which he called Luna fixata, for -which he acquired some fame. Gaubius was interested in it and analysed -it. He found it to be simply oxide of zinc, and though he did not -endorse the particular medical claim put forward on its behalf he found -it useful for spasms and to promote digestion.</p> - - -<p class="center p-left xs p4">END OF VOL. I</p> - - -<p class="center p-left xs p6">R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Schelenz in “Geschichte der Pharmacie,” 1904, has -collected a remarkable number of facts and documents illustrative of -the development of pharmacy in Germany. He quotes a Nuremberg ordinance -of 1350 which forbids physicians to be interested in the business of -an apothecary, and requires apothecaries to be satisfied with moderate -profits.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Dr. Monk gives a copy of the Latin minute in the books of -the College referring to this curious recantation. The actual words -which Geynes signed were these:—“Ego, Johannes Geynes, fateor Galenum -in iis, quae proposui contra eum, non errasse.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> “Free Phosphorus in Medicine,” 1874.</p></div></div> - - -<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Notes:<br /> - -1. Obvious spelling, punctuation and printers’ errors have been -silently corrected.<br /> - -2. Where appropriate, original spelling has been retained.<br /> - -3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated words have been kept as in the -original.</p> - - - - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY, VOL. I OF II ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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