THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
Robert Sonnenschein
'e-
PICTORIAL HISTORY
ANCIENT PHARMACY;
efc0e0 of 6arf (UXebicaf practice.
BY HERMANN PETERS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND REVISED, WITH NUMEROUS
ADDITIONS,
BY DR. WILLIAM NETTER.
CHICAGO:
G. P. ENGELHARD & COMPANY.
1880.
COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY G. P. ENGELHARD & Co.
BROWN, PETTIBONK & Co., PRINTERS,
CHICAGO.
7-
(preface.
THE original work of Mr. Hermann Peters was a pioneer pathbreaker in
even the prolific German historical field. It was an outgrowth of Mr. Peters'
studies in the Germanic Museum at Nuremburg, and was pervaded by zeal
for the reputation of the old city. This gave the style of the work a quaint
fascination, which greatly increased its value in Germany, where intense
interest is felt concerning Nuremburg, where so much of Germany's art, science,
mechanical art and literature were fostered. The prominence of this quaint
Xuremburgian patriotism in the work, while not without its charm, was a
serious limitation and defect in a work intended for an English-speaking public.
The revision has therefore introduced many features of especial interest
to English-speaking pharmacists and physicians, while retaining for the most
part the style, arrangement and illustrations of the original.
The development of Pharmacy as a specialty of Medicine has been more
carefully discussed in the light of researches not pursued by Mr. Peters. The
original chapter on "Pharmacy in the Middle Ages" has been rewritten from
the standpoint of the researches of Gordon, Baas, Hallam and Meryon. The
chapter on "Ancient Pharmacopoeias " and that on the " Development and
Decline of Alchemy" have been considerably amplified, the former being
supplemented by the results of the researches of Dr. Charles Rice, of New
York, and other authorities.
The additions on the subject of American pharmacy are by Dr. James G.
Kiernan, to whom the editor is indebted for much assistance in all original
portions of the work. W. N.
3ffu0f raftone.
PAGE.
FRONTISPIECE, FROM COPPER- PLATE BY G. KELLER, 1605 i
MEDICINE IN SYMBOLISM. COPPER-PRINT, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 3
Isis 6
AESCULAPIUS AND HYGIEIA 8
AESCULAPIUS 9
COSMAS AND DAMIANUS 12
DRUGSTORE. FROM(H)<DRTUSSANITATIS. HANNSEN SCHOENSPERGER,
AUGSBURG, 1486 ,, 13
HIPPOCRATES 18
/ESCLEPIADES 19
GALEN 20
MEMORIAL OF APOTHECARIES' GUILD AT ULM, 1380 26
DRUG-STORE. WOODCUT FROM THE "ARS MEMORATIVA," OF ANTON
SORG, I470 27
DRUGSTORE. WOODCUT FROM "THE ART OF DISTILLING," 1505, BY
J. GRUNINGER 28
AN ASSORTMENT OF DRUG-CONTAINERS. FROM(H)ORTUSSANITATIS. . .29, 30
A DEALER IN RED EARTH. WOODCUT (ORTUS SANITATIS) 31
LABORATORY. FROM THE "ART OF DISTILLING " 32
FRONTISPIECE. P. A. MATTHIOLI, 1586 33
DRUG STORE OF 1536 35
DRUG-STORE OF 1548 36
DRUG-STORE OF 1568 37
APOTHECARY CYRIACUS SCHNAUS, 1565 42
FRONTISPIECE, 1652 45
PORTRAIT OF THEOPHR. PARACELSUS 48
PARACELSUS 50
LABORATORY, 1663 51
DRUG-STORE, 1663 53
DRUGGIST BASILIUS BESLER 54
JOURNEYMAN'S CERTIFICATE, 1743 56
WILLIAM HARVEY 61
FRONTISPIECE 63
DRUGGIST JOH. CHI. SOMMERHOFF 66
THE "COURT PHARMACY" AT RASTATT IN 1700 68
" STAR PHARMACY " AT NUREMBURG IN 1710 69
DRUG STORE AT KLATTAU IN 1733. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH 70
LABORATORY OF THE COURT PHARMACY AT KOENIGSBERG IN 1778 72
(vii)
Illustrations.
PACK.
ILLUSTRATION FROM KEITH'S " VIRGINIA," 1738 76
DISTILLING IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY 77
DISTILLING APPARATUS AND UTENSILS IN EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 81
ClRCULATORIES 82
RETORTS AND ALEMBICS 83
ANCIENT DISTILLATION 84
ALEMBICS 86
RETORTS , 87
DISTILLING APPARATUS 88
IMPROVED DISTILLING APPARATUS 89
DISTILLING APPARATUS, 1560 90
DISTILLING APPARATUS, 1567 91
FRENCH APPARATUS, 1560 92
DRY DISTILLING 93
ALCHEMIST'S FIREPLACE 95
FIRE-KETTLE AND DISTILLERY HEARTH 98
COPPEL HEARTH 99
DISTILLING SCENE 100
DISTILLING STOVES 101
ALTHANOR DISTILLING STOVE..- 102
WIND DISTILLING STOVE 103
DISTILLING APPARATUS 104
MIDDLE AGE STOVE 105
REVERBERATORY FURNACE 106
FRONTISPIECE. FROM THE DISPENSATORY OF VAL. CORDUS, 1666 109
PUBLIC DISPLAY OF THERIAC 117
DEMONS OF DISEASE 125
LOVE-CHARMS 137
MALE AND FEMALE MANDRAKE 141
MANDRAKE 142
DIGGING MANDRAKE 143
FRONTISPIECE 157
"THE WIND CARRIED HIM IN ITS BOWELS" 168
"THE EARTH NOURISHED HIM." 169
ALCHEMICAL Music 170
UNION OF "MERCURY" AND " SULPHUR." 17!
UNION OF THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF THE HERMAPHRODITE STONE. 173
ALCHEMICAL COIN 178
Contents.
CHAPTER I.
TUTELAR GODS AND PATRON SAINTS OF PHARMACY.
PAGE.
Common Origin of Pharmacy and Medicine Fetichism and Disease
Assyrian Pharmacy 5
Greek Myth of Prometheus Pandora's Box Isis 6
yEsculapius Podalirius Machaon Hygeia 7
yEsculapius and Hygeia 8
Prometheus, yEsculapius and the Priesthood Hospital Temples in Greece 9
Serpent Symbolism in Pharmacy Cosmas and Damian 10
Miracles of Surgery Sign of the Moor 1 1
Pharmacy, Medicine and Surgery in Symbolism 12
CHAPTER II.
PHARMACY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
Egyptian Pharmacy in the Reign of Sent (3500 B. C.) Pharmacy Among
the Assyrians Pharmacy Among the Hebrews and Chinese Ching
Nong 15
Chinese Pharmacy 16
Sanscrit Pharmacy State Poisons Philters Theocritus Pharmacy in
the Temples of ^Lsculapius Hippocrates 17
Grseco-Egyptian Pharmacy Erasistratos Serapion Mantias, Herak-
leides and Dioscorides 18
Mithridates Roman Pharmacy /Esclepiades 19
Themiston Menecrates Dioscorides Galen 20
Galen Ruffus Circulation of the Blood Nemesius " Hiera picra " -
Triallianus Chinese Rhubarb Homreopathy 21
Arabian Pharmacy Alkekendi Avicenna Averroes School of Salerno
Pharmacy in the Eleventh Century Arctuarius Arabian Phar-
macy Laws Pharmacy Laws of Frederic II (A. D. 1233) 22
" Confectionarii " and " Stationarii " Pharmacy in the Middle Ages
Spanish Pharmacy German Pharmacy in the Thirteenth Century. . . 23
German Pharmacy Laws Grocers, Spicers and Pharmacists English
Pharmacy in the Fourteenth Century Chaucer on Pharmacy 24
Belgian Pharmacy in the Thirteenth Century The First English Drug-
store The First French Drug-store A Fourteenth Century German
Apothecaress 25
(i.x)
Contents.
PAGE.
A Fifteenth Century Drug- Store The Mortar in Fifteenth Century Phar-
macy "Ortus Sanitatis" 27
Coats of Arms for Labek 29
Peripatetic Druggists 3 l
Pharmacal Laboratory of the Middle Ages 3 2
CHAPTER III.
PHARMACY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Sixteenth Century Drug-Store Labels 35
Directions for Keeping Drugs Shakespere's Apothecary The Use of
Stuffed Crocodiles 3 6
Sugar in Sixteenth Century Pharmacy 37
Poly-Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century English Pharmacy in the Six-
teenth Century Bulley n Medico- Pharmacal Conflicts French
Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century 38
Belgian, German, Dutch and Italian Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century
Adulteration Laws 39
Drug Bills in the Sixteenth Century 4
Defense of Sixteenth Century Pharmacists against Charges by Physicians. 41
Cyriac Schnaus War Pharmacy Separation of Spicers from Pharmacists. 43
CHAPTER IV.
PHARMACY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
American Drugs in the Seventeenth Century 47
Chemical Remedies Paracelsus 48
Avicenna, the Prince of Physicians '. 49
Origin of the Homoeopathic School 50
Chemical Medicine Nicholas Lemery Seventeenth Century Pharmacal
Laboratory 51
Human Skull as a Remedy Joseph Bechler Seventeenth Century Apoth-
ecary Shops Seventeenth Century Botany Csesalpinus 52
"Hortus Eystettensis " Basil Besler 53
Botanical Researches in Nuremburg Pharmaco-Medical Banquets 55
Pharmacist's Certificate, 1743 56
Seventeenth Century Pharmacal Education Journeyman Pharmacist's
Certificate Social Status of the German Pharmacist 57
Seventeenth Century Satirists and Pharmacy 58
Zacchias and Self Generated Poisons Italian Pharmacy The Apotheca-
ries Company in England 60
Social Status of the English Apothecary William Harvey 61
Seventeenth Century Pharmacy in America Dr. Edward Heldon Rev.
Jacob Green Giles Firmin William Davies American Pharmacy
Laws Salmon's Herbal . . 62
Contents.
CHAPTER V.
PHARMACY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Early English Pharmacy Laws Grocers and Apothecaries Company
Medico-Pharmacal Conflicts" Urinal of Physic " 65
John Christopher SommerhofF " Lexicon Pharmaceutico-Chymicum " . . 67
Eighteenth Century Drug-Stores 68,69
Fluid Containers Porcelain Substituted for Majolica Ware 70
Boettcher Eighteenth Century Pharmacal Laboratory 71
Pharmaceutical Conflicts with Distillers Prescription Percentages 72
Eighteenth Century Pharmacal Education Trommsdorf First Pharmacal
Journal Pharmacal Institute 73
The Pharmacist Scientists : Hudson, Ehrhart and Scheele Dr. Dover
Dover's Powder Thomas Fowler Fowler's Solution Dr. Stur
Eighteenth Century Irish Pharmacy Metrology in Ireland American
Pharmacy James Tagree Gov. Hunter The Van Burens The
" Red Drop " 74
John Johnstone American Patent Medicine " Tuscarora Rice " New
Jersey Pharmacy Law Jonathan Dickinson's " Materia Medica"
Dr. L. Vanderveer Scutellaria Robert Eastburn's Receipt Book
Schoepf and Barton's " Materia Medica" Dr. Tilton's Pharmaco-
poeiaDuncan's " Dispensatory " Lewis' "Materia Medica"
American Botany Dr. Cadwallader Calden Dr. Benjamin Rush. . . .75
Codliver Oil 76
CHAPTER VI.
DISTILLING APPARATUS.
Distilling Among the Greeks and Romans Synesius Rhazes of Bagdad
Arabian Distilling Furno of Basel Thaddaus of Florence
Arnoldus of Villanova Fifteenth Century Laws Regulating Distilling 79
Brunschwyck's Works on Distilling Sixteenth Century Distilling 80
Vials Curcubites Urinals . . 81
Circulatories Funnels , 82
Retorts Alembics 83
Methods of Distillation 85
Modified Alembics 86
Middle Age Retorts 87
Improvements in Distilling Basilius Valentinus 88
Metallic Apparatus 90
Ryff's " Distiller's Book" 91
French Distilling Apparatus 92
Contents.
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY CHEMICO-PHARMACAL STOVES AND FIRE-PLACES.
PAGE.
Alchemist's Fire-Places 97
Fire-Kettles Distillery Hearths 98
" Coppel ' ' Hearths 99
Taberncemontanus' " Medicine Book " 100
Distilling Stove Matthiolus' " Herb Book" 101
Althanor Distilling Stove 102
"Wind" Distilling Stove 103
Distilling Apparatus 104
Middle Age Stove 165
Reverberatory Furnace Fuel used by Alchemists 106
Artificial Hot Springs 107
CHAPTER VIII.
ANCIENT PHARMACOPOEIAS.
Ancient " Prayogamrita " Scribonius' " Compositiones Medica "
' ' Ibdal ' ' Nicolaus' " Antidotarium ' ' Piedmont Formulary ill
Myrepsius' "Antidotarium " "Antidotarium Magnum " " Pharmaco-
poeia Lugdensis " Nuiemburg Pharmacy Law " Luminare Majus "
Joh. Jac. M. de Bosco 112
Cordus Dispensatory Life of Cordus 113
Cordus' Preparations Greek, Roman and Arabian Receipts 1 14
Mithridat Theriac 1 16
Public Display of Theriac 117
Substitution American Drugs Chemicals 118
Animal Remedies Human Products 119
Sixteenth Century German, Italian and Spanish Pharmacopoeias Seven-
teenth Century English and Spanish Pharmacopoeias 120
French, Dutch, Belgian and Danish Pharmacopoeias Medical Cannibal-
ism Jalap Tolu Cinchona 121
Swedish, Prussian, Spanish, Swiss and Austrian Pharmacopoeias 122
Bohemian, Persian, American and Irish Pharmacopoeias Hog Lice Wine 123
CHAPTER IX.
MEDICAL SUPERSTITIONS.
Fetichism and Medicine Survival of Superstitions 127
Demon Possession Nineteenth Century Superstitions f< Water to Drive
Out Demons" "Amulets against the Plague '' 128
Amulets against Nosebleed "Remedy for Epilepsy 129
" Tablettes against Disease " Superstitions about Precious Stones 130
Contents.
PAGE.
Incantations against Disease Charms against Fever Amulets for Women
in Confinement 131
Horoscopes Similarities in Shape and Disease 132
Witchcraft Remedies " Sympathetic Egg." 133
Tree Charms Weapon Salve of Paracelsus 134
Astrology and Disease Memory Remedies 135
Persistence of Supeustition 136
CHAPTER X.
PHARMACY AND THE ART OF LOVE.
Early Philters Indian Hemp 139
Mandrake N 140
Use of the Mandrake in Early Jewish Times 141
Risks of Mandrake Gathering 143
Other Vegetable Philters of the Classical Era Theocritus and Lucian on
Philters 144
Incantation of Simaetha 145
Aphrodisiacs Satyrion Androgonos Thelygonos 147
Ebers' Philter" Hekt " Love Charms 148
Horace on Philters 149
Hippomane Petronius on Satyrion 150
Lucretius Philters in the Middle Ages Vervain 151
A Labor of Love 152
Diasatirion . 1 53
Love Powders Love Charms 154
CHAPTER XI.
ALCHEMY.
Modern Science and Alchemy 159
Origin of Alchemy 160
Tabula Smaragdina Twelfth Century Alchemy Albertus Magnus 161
Roger Bacon Raymond Lully Pope John XXII Canon Ripley " Six
Chemical Portals" '. 162
Chaucer on Alchemy 163
Norton Alchemy in Italy and England 164
Basil Valentine Rudolph II Luther on Alchemy Development of
Chemistry from Alchemy 165
Leibnitz Newton British Royal Society Ashmole The "Red Earth"
" Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum " 166
Majero's Atalanta 167
Alchemy in Music and Art 168
Alchemic Theories 1 70
Sulphur and its Ancient Names 171
^Enigma Regis Quinta Essentia 1 72
Contents.
PAGE.
Alchemical Symbols 175
Alchemy in the Eighteenth Century 176
Krohnemann and Alchemical Impostors 177
Alchemistic Gold Coins 1 78
Imprisonment of Krohnemann "Usufur," a Wonderful Gold-powder
Duke Cosmos II victimized 179
Execution of Count Cajetan Failure of the old Fire Philosophers 180
Epitaph of Alchemists Peter Woulfe 181
Woulfe's Peculiarities Deceit of Prince Rohan in.lSSo by the American
Alchemist Wise An American Alchemist 182
Table of Alchemistic Symbols 183
ufefar <o$e anb (patron Ji&inf of (Jttebicme anb (J^armacp.
Fig. 2.
MEDICINE, PHARMACY AND SURGERY.
(An allegorical representation of the Sixteenth Century).
(3)
I, Apollo, the science of all herbs have conceived ;
To me are their virtues and powers revealed.
Thus " Master of Art" by me was received.
A title mine own by eternity sealed.
HlERONYMCS BOCK.
(Book of Herbs, 1551.)
U)
HARMACY and medicine in most countries had
a common origin in the fetichtic philosophy of the
savage, which recognized a "soul" in even inani-
mate objects. Disease was the "soul" of one
object attacking another, and to drive this malign
influence off, noises, smells, and various contortions were em-
ployed, such as are still used by the "medicine men" of the
savages of to-day. The fact was empirically ascertained that
herbs* had beneficent properties which were at first explained on
the fetichtic philosophy. On this double basis of empiricism
and a fanciful philosophy developed pharmacy, medicine, and
most religions.
For a long period the religious incantations formed the chief
part in the treatment of disease. The chanter of litanies occu-
pied a higher place than the physician who applied the remedies.
This relationship was later removed. The cuneiform inscrip-
tions in Assyria contain a complete history of this evolution.
The earlier inscriptions give a prominent place to charms and
incantations in medicine. The later (B. C. 1640) contain
reference to classified diseases, their pathology, diagnosis and
treatment, including directions for the preparation of medicine.
One inscription, for example, directs the preparation of a pre-
scription for a " diseased gall bladder which devours the top of
a man's heart ; cypress extract, goat's milk, palm wine, barley,
ox and bear flesh, and the wine of the cellarer,"! are directed to
* Schultze, History of Fetichism.
t Sayce, "Translations of the Cuneiform Inscriptions.'
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
be made into a decoction by a medical specialist clearly prac-
ticing pharmacy.
The researches of Ebers leave little doubt that pharmacy
was practiced by one branch of the priesthood of Isis, to whom
prescriptions were sent by the physician-priest,
who, accompanied by a chanter of litanies or
charms, attended the sick.
Some of the Egyptian inscriptions indicate
that processes akin to distilling were practiced.*
How far these influenced the later discoveries
of the Arabian chemists is an open question,
since it is well known that the alleged de-
struction of the Alexandrian library is a
myth.
The Aryan f races had similar usages to
the Assyrians in regard to the commingling of
religion, pharmacy, and medicine. Chinese
pharmacy and pathology is a corrupted form
of the earlier Aryan views. One Aryan expression of the
indignation of the priests at the increasing tendency to the
separation of medicine and science from religion was to be
found in the Greek myth of Prometheus. When Prometheus,
an early friend of man, had wrenched fire from the hands of
Zeus, and presented it to the poor mortals, the wrath of the
king of the gods knew no bounds, and he determined upon
being revenged. Pursuant to this he ordered Hephsestos to
model a woman, and induced all the immortal gods to adorn
her with the costliest gifts at their command. The result was
a being of resplendent and fascinating loveliness, named Pan-
dora. To Hermes fell the lot of conducting her to the
earth and into the presence of Epimetheus. Although fore-
warned by his brother Prometheus, not to accept presents
from Zeus, Epimetheus nevertheless could not withstand the
beauty and attractiveness of Pandora, giving her hospitable
shelter and accepting from her a box as a gift from the gods.
Hardly had he lifted the lid when there poured forth from the
box waitings and lament, hunger and want, distress, sickness and
* Zeitschrift fur Egyptologie, 1865.
t History of Medicine, by Gordon.
Tutelar Gods and Patron Saints.
suffering immeasurable. Becoming terrified and quickly attempt-
ing to close the box, he saw that Hope, which was the last to
leave the box, had been caught by the lid, and thus the only
consoler of man ever afterward presented itself to him in a sadly
distorted condition. Ever since this occurrence wasting fevers
haunt the land, and pale and hollow-eyed disease pursues man
wherever he goes. But Prometheus, by order of Zeus, was
chained to the most desolate rock in the Caucasus.
The myth further tells us that a certain god took pity on
suffering man, and, in a measure at least, to console and help
him, taught him the art of healing. This god was ^Esculapius.
According to the legend, he was the son of Hermes and Caronis,
was born in the neighborhood of Epidaurus, and was there left
to his fate at the foot of a mountain. A goat there nourished
him,' and a shepherd dog protected and watched over him.
Later on Hermes intrusted his education to the Centaur Chiron,
who mainly instructed him in the art of healing. ^Esculapius
was an apt scholar, and very soon became such a master in the
art that he not only healed the sick and wounded, but even
brought the dead to life again. This restoration of the dead
excited the wrath of Pluto, the god of Hades, who complained
to Zeus, and the latter killed the culprit with a thunderbolt for
daring to interfere with the natural limits of human life.
Another later legend assigns as the real cause of his sudden and
ignoble taking off, that he had, contrary to the will of the gods,
taught the art of healing to man. The grateful mortals did not
forget their benefactor, and built temples in honor of .^Esculapius,
in which priests, of whom his two sons, Podalirius and Machaon,
were the first in order, further practiced and developed the art
of healing. ^Esculapius is pictured as a most worthy and wise-
looking, long-bearded man, bearing in his hand a staff around
which coiled a snake. The preparing of the medicine ordered
was left to Hygeia, the goddess of healing, who was the daughter,
or. according to others, the wife of ^Esculapius.
Thus modern healers, whose path in life is not always
strewn with roses, and whose efforts in behalf of suffering man
are frequently no more appreciated than were those of yscu-
lapius of old by the gods, may look to this patron saint for con-
solation, and furthermore take pride in the charming Hygeia,
8
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
who is portrayed as a youthful and beautiful woman, clad in a
long flowing robe, in the act of feeding a serpent from a shell.
In the medical works of the Romans, Greeks, and those of
the Middle Ages, these gods of healing are frequently referred
Fig. 4.
AESCULAPIUS AND HYGEIA.
(From a. plate of the Eighteenth Century).
to. Figure 4 represents these two gods. It is a reproduction
from a copper-plate executed by J. P. Funk, of Nuremburg, in
the eighteenth century. The picture bearing the inscription,
"Bibliotheca Wagneriana," served as a property mark in a
Ttitelar Gods and Patron Saints.
" Fauna suecica Carol. Linnsei," still preserved in the Germanic
museum. Whether or not the former owner of the book is iden-
tical with his namesake, the noted Famulus in Goethe's Faust,
we must leave undecided. But the portrayal of nature between
the figures of ^Esculapius and Hygeia at least vividly calls to
mind these words of Faust, rendered by Bayard Taylor :
" How grand a show ! but ah ! a show alone.
Thou boundless nature, how make thee my own ?
Where you, ye breasts ? Founts of all Being, shining,
Whereon hang Heaven's and Earth's desire,
Whereto our withered hearts aspire,
Ye flow, ye feed ; and am I vainly pining ?"
Although in the original myth Prometheus and ^Esculapius
appear as enemies to the priesthood, who believed in the fetichtic
doctrine of the origin of disease, the worship of the latter as a
subsidiary god soon became fashionable, while the observations
of Hippocrates and Galen, and the researches of the Athens
Archaeological Society* show that the temples of ^sculapius and
* Kumanudes, Athenaion; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Hygiea were in reality hospitals attended by skilled physicians.
The cure or improvement of the patient was ascribed to the
power of the god or goddess invoked by the worship or offerings
of the patient. Treatment was often indicated by the god, in
a vision, to the physician. Hippocrates, whose family had been
priests of ^Escupalius at Cos, directs physicians to pay particular
attention to the dreams of the patient and himself.
Fetichism rapidly passed into pure symbolism, and the prin-
ciple of life and health was early represented as a serpent, whose
graceful, stealthy motion had early excited curiosity. In many
of the Egyptian incantations for health this serpent worship
played a part. On one notable occasion Moses and the Hebrews
are found returning to this worship. The symbol early and
naturally became a medical one, and associated with ^Esculapius
and Hygiea.* Around the staff of yEsculapius a serpent winds,
and the assumption of this staff by an ordained priest was cele-
brated by an annual festival.f
When the intellectual revolution produced by the teachings
of Christ swept over the world the old gods and goddesses were
replaced by Christian saints. In Greece, in the places formerly
sacred to Hygeia, the Virgin is invoked to cure disease. In
Western Europe the holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damian, took
the place of ^Esculapius in popular worship, and their portraits
were henceforth frequently placed on the title pages of medical
works. The two saints, who were brothers, lived in the fourth
century. Deeply moved by the Christian religion, they were
actuated by the noblest motives, and practiced the art of healing
with the utmost self-sacrifice. When the Diocletian persecution
of Christians was inaugurated, they were arrested by order of
the city's mayor, Lysias, and condemned to death. The legend
says that during their execution and shortly thereafter, a num-
ber of miracles took place. In a book entitled "The Holy
Lives," printed by Martin Hupfuf, in the free and imperial city
of Strassburg in 1513, it is related that when the saints had
been thrown into the water with the purpose of drowning them,
an angel descended, and, freeing their bounden limbs, enabled
them to gain the shore. Lysias then ordered them to be burned,
Schultzc, History of Fetichism.
t Littre, Vol. IV.
J Merriam. Trans. N. V. Academy of Medicine, 1886.
Tutelar Gods and Patron Saints.
but the fire attacked the heathen and many of them perished.
They were then fastened to a cross, and Lysias ordered them to
be stoned to death and pierced by arrows ; but in each instance
these missiles proved to be boomerangs in the hands of the
would-be slayers. Becoming very much enraged at these futile
attempts, he had them beheaded, whereupon their souls took
flight heavenward. Their bodies were taken to Asyria and pre-
served in a chapel. Pope Felix procured some of their relics,
which he placed in a church built in honor of the two saints.
For centuries physicians and patients journeyed to the shrine
of the saintly patrons of medicine, and many patients were
reported to have been healed. One instance of miraculous
healing should here be recorded. A man with a diseased leg
had fervently implored them to come to his relief in his great
suffering, and his faith in the supernatural powers ascribed to
them was soon to be rewarded. One night he dreamed that they
were in his presence, and were holding counsel over his stricken
member. They concluded to replace it by a sound limb taken
from a Moor who had but recently died. When he awoke the
new member was in place, and at once served the purpose of a
useful limb, causing amazement among the populace, and serving
to confirm their belief in the superhuman powers of the saints.
To the fact that the limb of a Moor had served to perform
this miracle, as well as to the profound impression the occurrence
left upon the minds of men, is probably due the predilection that
so many druggists of the Middle Ages displayed toward the sign
of the Moor, which was by them so frequently chosen as a badge
or emblem, to which peculiarity, even at the present day, the
many "Apotheken zum Mohren " in Central Europe bear witness.
In many parts of Europe the 2;th day of September, the day of
martyrdom of these Catholic Christian saints, was celebrated in
a pompous manner. The Vienna Medical Society possesses a
copy of an invitation, in Latin, of the year 1700, in which physi-
cians, licentiates, baccalaureates, students, druggists and surgeons
are invited to take part in a grand celebration of the Cosmas
and Damian anniversary in the Stephans church at Vienna.
Very likely the pictures of the saints were on such occasions
multiplied and distributed among the populace, as is done at the
present time when a nation honors its heroes. The Vienna
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Medical Society also possesses t\vo copper-plates that evidently
served this purpose. Figure 6 is reproduced from one of these
plates.
Figure 2, which introduces this chapter, represents the art of
healing, with its sub-divisions, Medicine, Pharmacy and Surgery,
I 5 S COSHASET DAMIANVS AMOVERS
Fig. 6.
COSMAS AND DAMIANUS.
is from a copper-plate by an unknown master of the sixteenth
century. In the background a drug store stands revealed by the
peculiar bottles and containers displayed in the windows, and a
druggist appears at the door of his shop in plain garb, humbly
accepting a prescription from the hands of the physician. Phar-
macy is further represented by a mortar and distilling apparatus,
as well as by numerous roots and herbs promiscuously distributed
in the foreground.
n
Fig. 7.
(From a book cf 1486).
Noting his penury to myself I said :
And if a man did need a poisdn now,
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.
ROMEO AND JULIET,
to.
JJfinrmacy tit the
a.0es.
JHARMACY early attained a relatively high develop-
ment among the Egyptians. A papyrus of the
reign of Sent (3300 years B. C.) gives directions as
to the preparation of prescriptions. These were
given accompanied by incantations. By 1600 B. C.
medicine and pharmacy were as far advanced among the Egypt-
ians as at the time of Galen Claudius (200 A. D.) In the Ebers
papyri (1600 B. C.) is a formulary containing prescriptions of
famous physicians. Among these are several of a noted Assyrian
ophthalmologist living near Mt. Lebanon. Draughts, blisters,
powders, ointments, and clysters are the chief preparations men-
tioned. Mineral and vegetable drugs are used. That the " art of
the apothecary," however, already existed among Assyrians,
is shown by these prescriptions, as well as the inscriptions in
cuneiform letters* which give formulae for various diseases.
The Hebrews, from their association with the Egyptians and
the Assyrians, imbibed a taste for pharmacal and medical
studies, and the " art of the apothecary" is spoken of very early
in Old Testament history. This bias the Hebrews never lost.
They had a medical school of their own at Sora as late as
200 A. D.
The influence of the Cushito-Aryan civilization, which showed
itself in the wisdom of the Assyrians, left an impress on Central
Asia evident in the early development of pharmacy and medicine
among the Chinese, for Ching Nong, a contemporary of Menes I,
of Egypt, was learned in pharmacy. He studied botany and made
Sayce. (15)
1 6 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
decoctions and extracts. The Chinese drug-stores of to-day give
an idea of pharmacy as practiced for centuries among these
people.
Nearly all of the medicines, with a few important exceptions,
consist of nuts, berries, roots, barks, and herbs.' The subjoined
list, furnished by a Chinese physician in Philadelphia, gives some
idea of the substances actually employed in practice :
Ching fong tong. The root of a plant.
Ho Shau U. Root of Aconitum Japonicum.
$f $ -y Tai tong kwai. Root of Aralia edulis.
Hung kwo ki. Fruit of wild Berberis Lycium.
Pak'ki. A kind of lung wort.
H\ 1 Ch'iin kung. " Nodular masses, consisting appar-
ently of the root-stock of some umbelliferous plant allied to
angelica."
# $ Kom ts'o. Liquorice root.
ift i> Wai shan. The root of a water plant.
Pak shut. The root of Atractylodes alba.
The herbs and barks are in large pieces, and the tubers and
roots usually entire. It is customary to cut the former in small
pieces, and slice the latter in delicate segments before placing
them in the drawers and boxes for sale. A large cleaver (yeuk
ts'oi k'ap), mounted with a hinge upon a slightly inclined table.
is employed to chop the grasses and herbs in convenient lengths,
while the tubers are sliced upon an instrument resembling a
carpenter's plane (yeuk p'b), inserted in a long bench upon which
the operator sits, the pieces falling through upon a tray placed
beneath. A canoe-shaped cast-iron mortar (yeuk shiin) is em-
ployed to reduce some nuts and minerals to powder. It stands
upon four legs, and a heavy iron disc is rolled backwards and
forwards within it by means of a wooden axle, to which the
operator applies his feet, while his hands are free to perform
other work.
The prescriptions furnished by the native doctors, which are
usually written upon Chinese letter paper, and a foot in length,
contain only a list of the names and quantities of the medicines
required, with concise directions for their preparation, no date
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages. 17
or signature being appended. The clerk weighs out the ingre-
dients, and places them separately upon a large sheet of paper,
going over them carefully afterward to prevent any possible
mistake. A hand balance (litang) is used, consisting of a deci-
mally graduated, ivory rod, from one end of which a brass scale
pan is suspended by silk threads. The smaller kind weigh from
one li to five and one-half leung, or Chinese ounces, and are
remarkably accurate. Some are powdered in the upright iron
mortar (chung horn), and others in the porcelain mortar (hii un);
certain roots and seeds are roasted in a pan, while others are
steeped for a few moments in Chinese rice spirits. The package
of medicine is carried home to be boiled, and the infusion taken
at one dose by the patient. Some Chinese prunes (hak tsb) are
usually furnished, to be eaten at the same time. The prescription,,
of which no record is kept, is returned with the medicine.
The extensive materia medica of the Aryans* and the
Sanscrit codt of ethics show that the apothecary's art was in
high esteem. The doctrine of transmigration of souls, as it
limited the field of surgery, gave increased importance to phar-
macology, botany and the preparation of drugs. The Greeks,
from an early period, like most Aryan people, had a tinge of
pharmacal knowledge, shown by the instruction given by the
Centaurs (symbols of foreign influence) to the various gods and
heroes. Pharmacy among the Greeks was stimulated by the
necessity of additions to the incantations of the priests. The
mixed religious and medical procedures in the marvels recorded
in the temples of Hygiea and ^sculapius indicate this.
An additional stimulus was given by the use of a poison by
the state for public executions, and the necessity the fair sex felt
of adding to their attractions. A poem.of Theocritus (" Pharma-
ceutica") deals chiefly with philters, then a profitable branch of
pharmacy, which, even to the present day, survives in the "love
powders," so largely in demand in certain districts of our larger
cities.
In the temples of ^Esculapius the art of medicine became
somewhat systematized ; pharmacists resided within the walls,
while the physicians went forth among the people. This is
obvious from many of the facts cited by Hippocrates (B. C. 460-
* Gordon, History of Medicine.
1 8 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
370), who gathered up many of the observations recorded by his
predecessors. He was the seventh of seven of the same name,
and the most illustrious of a long line of medical men. Phar-
macy and medicine, which had begun to diverge under the
^Esclepiades, became united in his person. Hippocrates carried
his drugs with him.
Greek and Egyptian medicine and pharmacy commingled at
Alexandria, where every science of the period was stimulated by
the Ptolemies (323-30 B. C.) Among the great pharmacists and
Fig. 8.
HIPPOCRATES.
physicians of this period were : Herophilos (335 B. C.), who
made great contributions to anatomy. He also made several
contributions to pharmacology. Serapion (280 B. C.) and
Mantias (250 B. C.) wrote formularies giving descriptions of drugs
and processes ; Herakleides added much to the pharmacology of
Hippocrates ; Appollonios, of Tyre, and Dioscorides, of Phakas,
were toxicologists, pharmacologists and magicians ;* Erasistratos
was the great anatomist of the period.
By the empirical school, which developed under the teach-
ings of Herophilos and Erasistratos (280 B. C.), pharmacology
and therapeutics were greatly studied. Through the experiments
on human beings of Mithridates and Attalos III, toxicology
* Baas, " Geschichte der Medicin."
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages.
received an impetus. The cosmetic art was advanced by Cleo-
patra, by Berenice and Arsenoea, who dabbled in this branch of
the pharmacy of the period. Kleophantos (138 B. C.), Nikan-
dros (136 B. C.), Kratenos (70 B. C.) and Heras (30 B. C.), con-
tributed much to pharmacology.
The early Roman writings on medicine discuss hygiene and
preventive medicine. Vegetius (386 B. C.) wrote a work on the
duties of army surgeons, which pays but little attention to phar-
macy. His directions, where not surgical, are chiefly dietetic
and hygienic.
Fig. 9.
JESCLEPIADES.
About 187 B. C., in consequence of an epidemic, a temple
was erected to ^Esculapius, and later one to Hygiea. This intro-
duced pharmacy and therapeutics into Rome. About 100 B. C.,
Arcagathus left Greece for Rome, and a " shop and surgery "
were purchased for him by the people. He practiced both
medicine and pharmacy. He was driven out on account of his
predilection for operations, and was succeeded in popular esteem
by ./Esclepiades, who had studied medicine at Alexandria, then
the great centre of Grseco-Egyptian medicine. He practiced an
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
expectant treatment and hydropathy, and denounced drugs and
venesection. Themiston, who was practically his pupil, suc-
ceeded him. Medicine soon became divided up into sects and
specialties. The tendency to pharmacy was shown in the exten-
sive use of drugs by some of these sects, who aco- >ed a peculiar
skill in dispensing.* Menecrates (i A. D.) was one of these. He
invented diachylon plaster, and used it for much the same pur-
poses for which it is employed to-day. Archigenes, who was
his successor, employed opium in dysentery.
Dioscorides, of Anazarba, who belonged to the Graeco-Roman
school of this period, was a great pioneer in pharmacy. He
extended the knowledge of botany and pharmacology in a work
which was recognized as an authority on the subject as late as
the seventeenth century, A. D. Dioscorides used powdered elm-
bark in skin diseases, and polypodium as an anthelmintic. He
described four hundred plants. His followers in pharmacology
were Varro (27 B. C.) and Macersen. Celsus was a commentator
rather than a pharmacist or physician.
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages.
Galen, the great reviver of medicine, who maintained his
supremacy for nearly fourteen hundred years, was at once phar-
macist, physician, botanist and surgeon. He united in his works
the various schools. He is on record as keeping a drug store in
Rome. His t 1 "ones as to disease still in small degree dominate
modern pathology. In many particulars he reproduced the
theories of the Aryan physicians, and that school of Aryan medi-
cine which prevailed in China. He was the first to secure the
aroma of plants by distillation. To the list of plants given by
Dioscorides he added nearly half as. many more. One class of
remedies described by him were called " Arteriacea," which
acted on the blood vessels -in a similar manner to the "vaso-
motor" remedies of lo-a^. .
In the next century appear three great names, Ruffus, who dis-
covered the function of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, Aurelianus,
and Leonidas. Isolation of contagious diseases was proposed by
Aurelianus and Leonidas, who were denounced by the public as
brutes for so doing. The next two centuries were periods of
decline. Nemesius, in his work " De Natura Hominis" (300 A.D.),
gives a theory of the circulation of the blood, which, imperfect
though it be, is a step forward in the direction of the modern
doctrine. Oribasius, in the fourth century, was an active phar-
macologist. ^Etius, in the fifth century, first made use of the
magnet in the treatment of disease.
Alexander Trallianus, in the sixth century, advised that age,
sex, and constitution be considered in treatment. He used col-
chicum in the treatment of gout, iron in the treatment of anaemia,
rhubarb in "liver weakness" and dysentery. He introduced the
mixture called "hiera picra" into medicine as an anthelmintic.
He distinguished between tape-worms, round worms, and thread
worms. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great enunciated
the dogma of Homoeopathy, which had been propounded in
China several centuries before.* Paulus ^Egineta, in the seventh
century, described Chinese rhubarb. As early as the second
century a Jewish University existed at Sora, where medicine was
taught.
With the rise of the Saracens into intellectual dominance, the
" Meryon, p. 115.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Grseco-Roman, Graeco-Egyptian, and Cushito-Aryan schools of
medicine and pharmacy became united.
The practitioners of medicine were held in high esteem by
the Arabians. Mahomet himself had a predilection for the
healing art. There is very good reason for believing that
numerous medical works were preserved from the destruction
of the Alexandrian library, by the Arabian physicians. It is
certain that the Arabs had medical schools at Alexandria for
more than a century after the alleged destruction of the
library.
The practice of pharmacy was greatly extended by the
Arabians, and among them the separation of medicine and
pharmacy was recognizable as early as the eighth century, and
was established by law in the eleventh. There were two great
schools among them. One held the view enunciated by Alke-
kendi in the ninth century, that " the activity of a medicine
increases in a duplicate ratio when compounded with others,"
and were polypharmacists. The other school, noticeably Avi-
cenna. opposed this view, which finally received its coup de grace
at the hands of Averroes in the twelfth century.
As many of the drugs used were imported from the East, a
branch of dealers sprung up who were to be distinguished from
the apothecaries. These were, properly speaking, physicians
who practiced pharmacy, and who existed in Italy as early as
the eleventh century. The school of Salerno compelled its
graduates* to swear not to give or accept percentages on pre-
scriptions. This school was founded in the seventh century,
and subsequently came under the control of the Arabs, and
adopted from them the practice of separating medicine from
pharmacy. Arctuarius, who wrote in the eleventh century, dis-
cusses pharmacy at great length. He describes laxatives in an
exhaustive manner, and discusses "distilled waters." It is
certain that establishments for dispensing medicines existed at
Cordova, Toledo, and other large towns under the dominion of
the Arabs, prior to the twelfth century, and establishments of this
character were placed under severe legal restrictions. From
their regulation Emperor Frederic II drew the material for
the law passed in 1233 (which remained in force for a long
* Meryon.
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages. 23
time in the Two Sicilies), for the regulation of the practice of
pharmacy.*
According to this law every medical man was required to
give information against any pharmacist who should sell bad
medicine. Pharmacists were divided into two classes. First,
the stationarii, who sold simple medicines and "non-magistral"
preparations, according to a tariff determined by competent
authorities; and, second, the confectionarii, whose business
consisted in scrupulously dispensing the prescriptions of the
medical men. All pharmacal establishments were placed under
the surveillance of the College of Medicine.
During the Middle Ages pharmacy was, to a great extent,
under control of the Arabian physicians. From contact with
them in the East, the religious orders (the Benedictines particu-
larly) devoted themselves to pharmacy, pharmacology and
therapeutics. These monks were forbidden to shed blood, with
the result that surgery fell largely into the hands of the barbers.
In the twelfth century the Benedictine monk, ^Egidus, wrote a
poetical treatise on drugs, which was long accepted by the
schools as an authority. The rise of alchemy, the toxicological
studies which the fashion of the age cultivated, and the taste
for spices, combined medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, toxicology,
the grocery business, the confectionery business and barber-
ing into one trade, which united the learned with the criminal
poisoner.
Under the auspices of the Saracens, pharmacy attained in
Spain and Italy a status it never lost. The development of
national life in Germany and England having taken place some-
what later than in other parts of Europe, the beginning of
pharmacal history in the former is of a comparatively recent
date. The cities give the earliest manifestations of the division
of labor in medicine, which signalizes the origin of independent
pharmacy.
In Germany the history of pharmacy begins in the thirteenth
century. In 1267 a drug-store is found to exist at Muenster, in
1285 one at Augsburg, and in 1318 still another one at Hildes-
heim. The latter was originally the property of the church, but
* Hoefer, Histoire de la Chimie depuis les Temps les plus recules jusqu'a notre
Epoque, 1842.
24 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
after the year 1365 was controlled by the city. Undoubtedly
other large German cities had drug-stores at this time, although
definite records are not extant. That the boundary line of
medicine and pharmacy was even then (1350) clearly defined is
proven by the existence of a parchment ordinance of the city of
Nuremberg. This decree ordains that the druggist shall con-
scientiously fill all written and verbal orders on him according
to his best ability ; that he shall use none but pure drugs ; that
he shall treat rich and poor with equal courtesy ; that he shall
be modest in his charges, and not demand more than he needs to
feed and clothe himself and those dependent upon him, allowing
a reasonable advance on the price of the drug as a compensation
for his services.
In those early days medicinal substances were largely imported
from Italy. The remainder consisted in great part of simple
mechanical mixtures and compounds. From these facts it is
evident that these early drug-stores partook largely of the char-
acter of grocery stores. They were, in fact, a survival of the
stationarii of the edict of 1233. In France and England grocers
and spicers were early united with apothecaries. There was,
however, not a little internecine contest between the mere drug
and spice seller and the practitioner of pharmacy. The first
considered himself only a merchant ; the latter affiliated with the
physicians and surgeons. This internecine strife led to a sep-
aration, to the great discomfiture of the grocers, who were
thus deprived of the profits arising from the sale of "strong
waters."
In 1345 King Edward III of England gave a pension of
of six pence a day to Coursus de Gangland, an .apothecary of
London, for taking care of and attending his majesty during his
illness in Scotland. That the separation of the apothecary from
the physician was pretty complete about this time, and that the
populace suspected both of giving and taking percentages on
prescriptions, will appear from the "Canterbury Tales," in
which Chaucer says about his physician :
" Full ready had he apotecaries
To send him drugs and lectuaries,
For each of them made other to winne
Their friendship was not new to begin."
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages, 25
The grocers and apothecaries were legally united in England
at this time by act of Parliament.
The first trace of a pharmacal corporate body is to be
found in Bruges, in Belgium, in 1297. This corporation pos-
sessed at the beginning of the fourteenth century a spacious hall
for its affairs, a seal, statutes, and a chapel. Here divine- service
was daily performed, new members were admitted and sworn in.
Besides other wares, they had the exclusive sale of medicines.
Members of distinguished families belonged to the guild, held
the office of magistrate and other positions of dignity. The
corporation, being possessed of great riches and privileges, gave
the town at different times large sums for patriotic purposes.
Our earliest knowledge of ancient established pharmacies we
owe to wood-cuts coeval with the early human exploits in fields
of science which collectively form the early chapters of a history
of civilization. The wood-cut of those olden days frequently
imparts clearer ideas concerning the pharmacist's life than words
could convey. Bruges is known to have had its apothecaries
from the earliest days of the fourteenth century. The first
recorded apothecary shop in London was mentioned in 1345, the
first in France in 1336, the first in Germany in the thirteenth
century.
A very ancient memorial of an apothecaries guild, Fig. n,
may be seen in the gateway of the Minster at Ulm (Germany).
It is an epitaph with the picture of a woman in the civilian dress
of the fourteenth century. She is seen standing on a dog, with
her head resting on a pillow, which bears the coat of arms of the
"Ehinger" family. The inscription on the margins of the
stone reads as follows : "In 1383. died, margareta. hainczen
winkel's daughter. apothecaress. On saint Mathews' day."
The presence of the " Ehinger " coat of arms lends plausibility
to the inference that the husband of the "apothecaress," "whose
family name is not given," was a member of the Ehinger family.
The dog under the female figure (frequently pictured in this
position on the epitaph of the female dead in the Middle Ages)
denotes that the soul of the departed has now surmounted all
carnal and earthly desires. During the Middle Ages and in
antiquity the dog was looked upon not as a symbol of faithful-
ness, but as an unclean animal.
Fig. ii.
MEMORIAL OK THE! APOTHECARIES GUILD AT ULM, A. D.
(26)
Pharmacy in tlie Middle
27
Figure 12, probably the oldest illustration of a drug-store
extant, is taken from the "Ars Memorativa," published by Anton
Sorg in 1470. Its most salient feature is a druggist comminuting
some drug in a three-legged mortar. Before the introduction of
chemistry into pharmacy the mortar was no doubt the pharma-
cist's principal companion, for the breaking up of crude
drugs was then his main pharmacal manipulation. The back-
Fig. 12.
ILLUSTRATION OF DRUG-STORE, 1430.
ground is taken up by shelves that are loaded down with con-
tainers from floor to ceiling.
Figure 7, which introduces this chapter, taken from the work
"Ortus sanitatis" (the "Garden of Health"), represents a
drug-store. At the end of the book are these words : "Gedruckt
vnd volendet diser Herbarius durch Hannsen schonsperger in der
Keserylichen statt zu Augspurg an sant -Bonifacius tag Anno
MCCCC vn in dem LXXXVI jare." [This herbarium was printed
and completed by Hannsen Schoensperger at the imperial city of
Augsburg, on Saint Bonifacius day, in the year 1486]. In the
foreground the figures of five men are outlined. These no doubt
are intended to represent the masters in medicine, since the
following names are inscribed below these outlines in the original :
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Galenus, Avicenna, Plinius, Serapion and Dioscorides. Back of
these figures stands a prescription counter, on which can be seen
a book, scale, mortar, and a number of boxes. At the table the
Fig. 13-
(From a book of 1505).
ancient prototype of the apprentice is lustily pounding away at
some obdurate root or herb, whilst the spirits of the great fathers
of medicine stand before his mind as worthy sires for emulation
and hallowed veneration.
Pharmacy in tlie Middle Ages. 29
Figure 13 is taken from a work by Hieronymus Brunschwygk,
entitled " Das nxiv Buch der rechten kunst zu distilliren. Ouch
von Marsilio Ficino vn andrer hochbero'mpter Artzte natiirliche
vnd gute kunst zu behalten den gesunden leib vnd zu vertryben
die kranckheit mit erlengerung des lebens," [The new book on the
art of distilling. Also the natural and good art of preserving a
healthy body, to banish disease and to prolong life ; by Marsilio
Ficino and other renowned doctors. Published in 1505]. An
earlier edition of this work was published by Grueninger at
Strassburg in 1500.
Fig. 14.
A WATER JUG.
In these illustrations of Middle Age pharmacies, it is to be
noted that, in place of labels, the containers bear the coats of
arms of titled families and the badges of cities.
The attaching of coats of arms to furniture and all household
utensils was much practiced in those days, and as in all probability
special containers were not made for pharmacies thus early, such
bottles and jars were chosen as could be found in the market, so
that although these escutcheons, etc., could serve no useful pur-
pose, they certainly proved to be quite ornamental.
Whether or not a system of numbering was in use for deter-
mining the contents, as in later centuries, is not known. The
stars in Figure 13 probably served for ornamental purposes only.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
In the " Ortus sanitatis," the containers in which medicinal sub-
stances were preserved, find frequent illustration. Distilled water
Fig- 15-
A VINEGAR JUG.
Fig. 16.
WOODEN BOX.
Fig. 17.
WOODEN BOX.
and vinegar were kept in earthen jars, Figures 14 and 15. Small
quantities of dry substances were kept in small wooden boxes,
Figure 16. Roots and herbs in larger quantities were kept in.
Pharmacy in the Middle Ages.
large, round wooden boxes, like Figure 17. Figure 18, taken
from the same work, depicts a peddler offering "red earth"
for sale. Red earth was used for a variety of purposes ; as
a polishing powder, as a paint, as a background in the pro-
cess of gilding, and by others as a curative agent. In the text
Fig. 18.
ANCIENT PEDDLER.
it is described as a "Bolus armenus vel lutum armenum," and
Armenia is specially emphasized as its source of introduction.
The laboratory of the Middle Age pharmacist appears in
Figure 19. An apprentice is handling a tripod over an open
fire under the direction of his master, but the furniture of a
laboratory of the Middle Ages was by no means so limited as
would appear from the illustration. The medical works of those
days speak of the multiplicity of apparatus and utensils then in.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Fig. 19.
PHARMACAL LABORATORY, A. D.
Fig. 20.
(From "Book of Herbs," 1586).
(33)
In my shop of drugs are stored
Many things of sweet accord,
Spices with sugar I combine,
Enemas and purges I divine.
To strengthen the weak and the sickly,
Refreshing draughts I furnish quickly.
All these, with utmost care,
On prescriptions I prepare.
HANS SACHS,
"True Description of all Professions." 1568.
in the Sixteenth <reitlury.
21, from the "Reformation of Pharmacy,
An Illustrated Book of Herbs ;" by Otto Brunfels,
of Mayence, depicts the interior of a sixteenth cen-
tury drug-store. The " Reformation of Pharmacy"
was originally an essay presented by Dr. Brunfels,
then city physician of Berne, to the Honorable Council of that
city. At the instance of his widow, the work was published at
Fig. 21.
DRUG-STORE, A. D. 1536.
Strasburgten years later, with this picture on its title page. From
this illustration it is obvious that labels were beginning to take
the place of the coats-of-arms of the earlier pharmacy. Brunfels
(35)
3"
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
describes with great care the containers for each kind of medi-
cine. Dry, delicate and aromatic herbs should be so preserved
as to prevent stagnation or a too ready escape of the odoriferous
principles with which their medicinal virtues are intimately asso-
ciated. Moist drugs must be kept in silver, glass or horn jars.
Eye unguents must be preserved in china, whereas marrow, lard
and crude matter of like character may be kept in zinc boxes.
Oils are best kept in glass. Species aromatic in gold or silver
material. Theriac, if genuine, would be worthy of a golden box,
but one of zinc or lead will answer.
Fig. 22.
DRUG-STORE, A. D. 1548.
The elaborate table coverings in Fig. 21, indicate that some
care was taken to please the eye. By way of ornamentation, to
ttract the customer and to give the store a more fantastic
appearance, it was decorated with strange animal forms, plants
d other curiosities. Fig. 22 (from "A Book of Confections,
Family Physician," by G. Ryff, of Strassburg, 1548), shows
?d crocodile for this purpose. This picture vividly recalls
he description of an apothecary given by Shakespere fifty years
later in " Romeo and Juliet :"
Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century.
I do remember an apothecary,
And hereabouts he dwells, which late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows
Culling of simples ; meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones :
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuffed, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes ; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scattered to make up a show.
" A True Description of all Professions," published at Frank-
furt in 1568, with wood-cuts by Jost Amman, and words by the
Fig. 23.
DRUG-STORE, 1568.
poetic son of St. Crispin, Hans Sachs, devotes a cut to the
apothecaries guild (Figure 23). Above the shelves proper are
cones of sugar. Ryff (" Family Physician ") says : " Honey and
sugar are the druggist's chief stock in trade. He uses it for his
confects, electuaries, preserves, syrups, julips and other precious
38 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
mixtures." Sugar, moreover, was one of the main sources of
income for the sixteenth century druggist. This century was
peculiarly unkind to the apothecaries, especially as they were
involved in perpetual contentions with the physicians.
From the twelfth century until the Reformation, Arabian phar-
macy, with its complicated mixtures, had been in the ascendancy.
But with the period of the Renaissance and the discovery of print-
ing, came the study of the Greek classics, and Arabianism, with
its complex therapeutics was banished from occidental medicine.
The teachings of Hippocrates and other Greeks, and Averroes,
dwelt largely on the dietetic treatment of the sick. The services
of the apothecary were, therefore, less demanded than formerly.
The position of the pharmacist in England was a relatively
high one. The separation of pharmacal from medical practice
was almost complete in the sixteenth century in England.
Bulleyn, " Queen Anne Bulleyn's cousin," a prominent apothe-
cary, laid down the following rules for the practice of pharmacy :
The apothecary must first serve God ; foresee the end, be cleanly, and pity
the poor. His place of dwelling and shop must be cleanly, to please the senses
withal. His garden must be at hand with plenty of herbs, seeds and roots.
He must read Dioscorides. He must have his mortars, stills, pots, filters,
glasses, boxes, clean and sweet. He must have two places in his shop, one
most clean for physic and the base place for chirurgic stuff. He is neither to
decrease nor diminish the physician's prescription. He is neither to buy nor
sell rotten drugs. He must be able to open well a vein, for to help pleurisy.
He is to meddle only in his own vocation, and to remember that his office is
only to be the physician's cook.
These rules, save, perhaps the last, are not so antiquated as
to merit oblivion. Long after the division of the practice of
medicine the apothecaries continued subordinate to the medical
practitioner, who used all possible endeavors to subject them to
his will. Jealousies arose between the two classes which occa-
sioned endless disputes.
In France these disputes assumed a somewhat farcical phase.
The physicians, enraged at advice being given by apothecaries,
determined to starve them out, and by prescribing only simple
remedies from herbalists they subdued the rebel apothecary,
obliging him to take the following oath :
I swear and promise before God, the Author and Creator of all things, One
tid divided in Three Persons, eternally blessed, that I will observe
strictly the following articles :
Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century. 39
First. I promise to live and die in the Christian faith.
Second. To love and honor my parents to the utmost ; also, to honor, respect
and render service, not only to the medical doctors who have imparted to me
the precepts of pharmacy, but also to my teachers and masters from whom I
have learned my trade.
Third. Not to slander any of my ancient teachers or masters, whoever they
may be ; also, to do all I can for the honor, glory and majesty of physic.
Fourth. Never to teach to ungrateful persons or fools the secrets and
mysteries of the trade ; never to do anything rashly without the advice of a
physician, or from the sole desire of gain ; never to give any medicine or purge
to invalids afflicted with acute disease without first consulting one of the faculty.
Fifth. Never to examine woman privately, unless by great necessity, or to
apply to them some necessary remedy; never to divulge the secrets confided tome.
Sixth. Never to administer poisons, nor recommend their administration,
even to our greatest enemies, nor to give drinks to produce abortion, without
the advice of a physician, also to execute accurately their prescriptions, without
adding or diminishing anything contained in them, that they may in every
respect be prepared " secundem artem.' y
Seventh. Never to use any succedaneum or substitute without the advice
of others wiser than myself; to disown and shun as a pestilence the scandalous
and pernicious practices of quacks, empirics and alchymists, which exist to the
great shame of the magistrates who tolerate them.
Lastly. To give aid and assistance indiscriminately to all who employ me,
and to keep no stale or bad drug in my shop. May God continue to bless me
so long as I continue to obey these things.
In Belgium, where the profession had become overcrowded, it
became necessary to limit the number. An act was passed in
1582 that no one should open an apothecary shop who had not
previously studied pharmacy during three years, and adduced
theoretical and practical demonstrations of his knowledge and
capabilities, and taken the oath of the body corporate. In 1585
a further act was enacted regarding the sale of arsenic. In
Bruges, in 1683, on complaint of the apothecaries, medical prac-
titioners were forbidden to dispense under heavy penalty. During
the first three days only of the annual fair were charlatans and
tooth-drawers allowed in the town. Over-crowding had left its
imprint on the profession elsewhere, notably in Amsterdam, Basel,
Venice, Nuremburg, etc., with the result that the devices for mak-
ing money that the apothecaries were compelled to adopt, threat-
ened general disorganization. To mitigate this evil, the Emperor
Charles V, at the Congress of Augsburg in 1548, decreed as follows :
" It having come to our ears that deteriorated and spurious drugs are being
dispensed on physicians' prescriptions, which, if taken into the system, will do
more harm than good, we do herewith decree, that it is our will that the
40 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
authorities in matters pertaining to the apothecaries' trade, should annually
visit and inspect their shops, and also fix the values of all materials there found,
so that the buyer shall in no way be deceived." *
This decree appears to have been heeded by the authorities
and to have borne fruit, for on July 8, 1551, the council of
Xuremburg passed a number of resolutions, one of which ordains
that " in future no new drug-store shall be established, nor shall
a new one take the place of any which may be discontinued."
When in 1578 Valerius Pfister found his business declining, the
city council ordered the other sixth druggist to buy his shop,
promising the latter that no new pharmacy "except the hospital
pharmacy" (which was the eighth), should be tolerated in Nurem-
burg.
Individual cities had instituted inspection of pharmacies at
an earlier day, Bruges in 1497 and Nuremburg in 1442. But in
the latter city all drug-stores were visited in one day; hence
the inspection cannot have been very thorough. Since phar-
macists, even at this early day, were accused of overcharging,
the evil was regulated by affixing a specific selling price to each
drug. Though the purchasing power of coin at that time is no
certain measure of its value now, yet the following apothecary's
bill of the sixteenth century may throw some light on the prices
of drugs :
SIR PAULUS BECHAIM.
March agth. Two draughts 64 pfg.
3Oth. One heart-water 42
Fresh cassia 56
Rose honey 16
Spices and herbs ' 56
3ist. Spices and herbs 4 2
Minth 4
April soth. One heart-water ........ 42
Manna 40. 18
Head-wash jg
Heart-flower g
Electuary ,g
Liver-water 2 .
Draught 26
Summa 2.JI. 2 lb. % pfg.
Paid, April 3oth, 1551.
ALBRECHT PFISTER.
From " Collegium Pharmaceuticum" of the city of Nuremburg, p. 149.
Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century.
Pharmacist Albrecht Pfister, who receipted this bill, was
born in 1500 and died in 1564. He owned a drug-store in
Binder Street, Nuremburg, still in existence and known as the
" Star- Pharmacy."
The condition of the drug trade is very lucidly pictured in a
memorial of the druggists of Nuremburg, in 1581, to the council,
defending themselves against charges made by physicians.
Many complaints therein enumerated are even now frequently
heard ; a few extracts from this memorial will therefore be of
interest :
May it please the Honorable Council to lend ear to our complaints, and in
conformity therewith to see fit, in such a manner, to protect our interests, that
henceforth we shall not be unduly oppressed by the physicians, and that each
of us shall be enabled to enjoy the just results of his labors. The following,
honorable sirs, forms the substance of our complaint :
1. The sale of all confections, formerly dispensed by us, has now fallen
into the hands of the sugar dealer.
2. Counter sales are now made by all the large spice and cheap corner
grocery shops, thus robbing the druggist of a source of profit that he is justly
entitled to.
3. The sale of sundries, such as sealing wax, fumigating pastiles, paper
ink and pens, is now taking place in common huckster shops.
4. The sugar dealers are not only selling confections but also all kinds
of fruit juices, electuaries of quinces, and all such preserves that do not deterio-
rate in the course of a year.
5. All distilled waters, oils, and the like, which were formerly kept by
druggists only, are now indiscriminately sold by any ignoramus who imagines
himself qualified to engage in this traffic.
6. Unguenta and Emplastra, which certainly belong to the exclusive
field of pharmacy, are now dispensed by barbers and ignorant physicians, who
are neither justified by precedent nor by qualification to handle these things.
7. Now, many expensive medicamenta are, every year, carried over and
deteriorate, because the doctors do not prescribe them, and they prove a total
loss to the druggist. Of such medicines we will but enumerate the fruit juices,
the purging elixir of roses, etc. ; furthermore, the "electuaria solutiva, tarn in
liqtiida, quam in solida forma," and the " massa pillularum et trochiscorum
genera."
In this summary it will be noticed the delightful confectiones
are entirely forgotten. Species and confectiones comfortativae are
also overlooked. The principal cause of this state of things is,
that the " physicians are eternally devising new and extraor-
dinary remedies." After dilating upon other more or less impor-
tant points, the memorial further says :
Dv GEAECHTEnGoT SEaAOT/HYLFV MIR AVS ALLER ANGST VNf NO!/ ^TcH DEIN
HEYLIGL FVNF WVNDEN ROT. j VERZ1IH! MIR HERR tEIN SIND7 VND SCHV1.DT/ ER2FYO
DE1NCZNAD VTD HVLUfVERl-ElHE MIR DEMV7 VND GICWLOToAil 5VTJDLICH JVST
HER* VON MIRTREIB/DIRBETEHL ICH SEEI'EHH. VNB LtiB/etH
AVCH KINDT VND WEJB. HERR GOT DEIN HYIFT AN VNS BEVEIS../ OIKSAGEN
W1R LOB EHKVKD PRilS / tjmoR V Ns HzRR VND SCHLAFT )A LEIS" OEJN AvO
SEMI AV VNS ALLI ZEIT' IN NOTTEN SEI VQN VNS MIGHT WEJTv jO<AJ.7 VNS
IN FwiGKEiT' AJUEN *
Fig. 24.
AN APOTHECARY, 1565.
1 Translation Foot-note, page 43.
(42)
Pharmacy in the Sixteenth Century.
" We were pained to learn that the physicians have charged us with selling
adulterated and injurious drugs, and declare that the public had on this
account withdrawn its patronage from us. Self preservation and honor demand
that we no longer remain quiet under these accusations. Albeit, there may be
persons who do not wish to deal with us, there are, nevertheless, numbers that
prefer to be treated by us, and if we deny them the succor asked for, and send
them to the physician, they will be displeased and go without any treatment what-
ever. This much, also, is certain, that if we would dispense medicines in all
cases where we are called upon to prescribe, we would shortly have more
patients than the physicians. We have, furthermore, abundant proof that the
physicians frequently overstep the boundary line of their field. They, for
instance, prescribe in German, so that any barber or old woman can prepare
the medicine, and the druggist is ignored."
No further proof is needed that the golden age of pharmacy
is not to be found in the past.
Figure 24, from an etching dated 1565, in the Germanic
Museum, depicts a representative sixteenth century pharmacist,
named Cyriacus Schnaus, kneeling on his mortar absorbed in
offering a fervent prayer. Schnaus practiced the black art, and
is mentioned with the printers of his time. He is known to have
been engaged in literary pursuits.
In Germany at the close of this century the services of the
apothecary had become so important that in times of war
regular field pharmacies were organized. Works were published
in 1582 and 1596 giving directions for furnishing traveling and
field pharmacies. The Nuremburg complaint made against the
spicers and sugar-bakers indicates that grocers and herbalists
were becoming separate occupations, and that the pharmacist
was assuming more the position of a professional man and less
that of a tradesman, considerably to his pecuniary detriment.
Toward the end of the present century this tendency to separa-
tion became especially marked in the Grocer's Company of
England, which then' included the apothecaries. The " Station-
arii" and " Confectionarii" of the thirteenth century had become
merged in the fourteenth, but were now beginning a final separa-
tion into grocers, spicers, sugar-bakers, and apothecaries.
Fig. 25.
(From a " Medical Code," 1652).
(45)
' What once we did as Nature's secret rate,
We now do coolly investigate,
And what once Dame Nature organized,
That is by us now crystallized."
FAUST.
Sour.
pltormacy tn tfi* SeuiMttecnth (T.ctiturij.
)OD-ENGRAVING, which had attained its highest
development during the sixteenth century, was,,
at the beginning of the seventeenth century, sup-
planted by copper-plate, which had been grad-
ually growing in favor. The wood-cut, from the
time of the Thirty-years War down to the nineteenth century.
fell into almost entire disuse. To the Englishman, Thomas.
Bewick, is due what might properly be called the rediscovery of
the woodcut, early in the present century. Owing to the greater
expense of the copper-print, the seventeenth century books con-
tain much fewer illustrations than those of the time immediately
precedent. This dearth of illustrations is discernible in the
pharmacal publications of the period under consideration.
Fig. 25 is a copperprint from the title-page of an ordinance
concerning the tax regulations of drugs in the city of Nuremburg
in 1652. It depicts the ancient classical medical authorities. To
the left is the Greek physician, Hippocrates, and to the right
Galenus of Pergamus, who practiced in Rome.
The numerous additions to the materia medica of the seven-
teenth century brought about a considerable change in the
equipment of pharmacies. Two causes were influential in bring-
ing about this increase in the materia medica, the extensive
introduction of American drugs, and the adoption of chemical
remedies. The latter had, in isolated instances, been employed
in the sixteenth century. The introduction of chemical remedies
into therapeutics is largely due to " Philippus Theophrastus
Bombastus, of Hohenheim," known as "Paracelsus" (Figure 26).
(47)
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
He was born in. 1490 near Einsiedeln, in the Canton Schwyz,
and began his medical studies in the University of Basel. His
extensive knowledge of the natural sciences, acquired during his
sojourn at other renowned universities, his close observations
during his extensive travels over Europe, together with his
FHJLIPPV.y THTOPHRAS-n
Fig. 26.
PARACELSUS.
(From a work, 1568).
knowledge of medicine, eminently qualified him for the duties of
city physician of Basel, which office he accepted in 1526. The
following year he lectured at the university.
In imitation of Luther, who had inaugurated his church
reformation by burning the bulls of the Pope, Paracelsus began
Pharmacy in the Seventeenth Century.
49
his reformatory activity by burning the highly prized works of
the Arabian, Avicenna, " the Prince of Physicians," and those
of other medical authorities, on St. John's day, in the year
1527, exclaiming, "I have burned all these books so that all
misery may be carried away with their smoke." Like Luther,
he discarded Latin, and wrote the greater number of his books
in German, the language of the people, a proceeding directly
opposed to all customs and usages. He afterward boasted that
he had not read a book in ten years. He protested that his
shoebuckles were more learned than Galen and Avicenna. He
had a dogma of his own. This man, in whom learning and
quackery were so singularly combined, "believed that the human
body was a microcosm," which corresponded to the "macro-
cosm," and contained in itself all parts of visible nature, sun,
moon, stars and the poles of heaven. Disease, according to his
mystical conception, was not natural but spiritual. Therefore
some remedy had to be introduced which was antagonistic, not
to the disease in a physical sense, but to the spiritual seed of the
disease. These remedies were called "Arcana," a word which
implied a mysterious connection between the remedy and the
essence of the disease and in its relation to medicine, somewhat
akin to the word " specific," at the present day.
Great importance was attached to chemically prepared reme-
dies, as containing the essence or spiritual quality of the material
from which they were derived. His followers were therefore
known as "chemical" physicians. The most notorious of that
school in England was a certain Anthony. Paracelsus still
accepted the old physical elements, but attributed qualities to
them more in conformity with modern views. Altogether he held
that his "arcana" were semi-spiritual beings like the "quinta
essentia" of Aristotle ; he nevertheless believed that he could
dissolve or extract them by means of water, alcohol, or acids.
While his principle was fallacious and led to many errors, it
nevertheless contributed to the displacement of the complicated
galenical preparations by the discovery of tinctures, extracts, and
metallic salts, thereby very materially simplifying the art of pre-
scribing. He believed God had ordained that man should be
guided by the outward forms and psychical impressions of objects
in nature, in applying remedies in disease ; and he accordingly
5<D History of Ancient Pharmacy.
chose his remedies, not on the principle of their action, but on
their resemblance or sympathetic relations to the patient and his
disease. In this wise the notorious teachings of the " Signatures"
were revived, which under different names had swayed the minds
of men in ancient times.
On the strength of these and similar earlier notions the doc-
trines of "similia similibus curantur " were at a later day adopted
Fig. 27.
PARACELSUS, BOMBAST VON HOHENHEIM.
(From a wood-cut of 1563).
by Hahnemann, as a fundamental principle in homoeopathy.
After the death of Paracelsus his adherents rapidly multiplied.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century two antagonistic
parties lay claim to the true science of medicine, the Galenists
and the Paracelsists. Their animosity grew deeper and deeper,
and whilst the Thirty-years War was devastating Germany, battle-
cries of a different character were influencing the minds of con-
tending parties in the realm of ^Esculapius. But the Galenico-
Arabian school, which had succeeded in 1643 a t Paris in having
an edict issued forbidding the use of metallic salts, was finally
vanquished. The medicinal preparations of Paracelsus (tinctures,
extracts, and chemicals) secured recognition in pharmacy.
Pharmacy in the Seventeenth Century.
5 1
Chemistry, which thus far had been subordinated to alchemistic
hypotheses, triumphantly entered the laboratories of the seven-
teenth century, and electuaries like mithridates and theriac were
supplanted by more strictly scientific preparations. The pictur-
esquely descriptive methods of the old alchemists were not suited
to the more simple and scientific manipulations instituted. When
chemistry, therefore, entered the service of medicine, more rational
Fig. 28.
PHARMACAL LABORATORY, 1663.
modes of expression were adopted. One Oswald Troll, physician
to the Prifice of Anhalt, made himself conspicuous in 1608 by
publishing his "Basilica chymica," in which he gives very intel-
ligible directions for the preparation of chemicals. The Parisian
druggist, Nicholas Lemery,was particularly instrumental in paving
the way for this innovation, by publishing his work, " Cours de
Chimie," in 1675. This work evinced a lucid style unknown
before his day, which soon secured for it a translation into English,
German, Spanish, Italian, and Latin.
5-
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
The principal changes connected with pharmacy in the
seventeenth century, took place in the laboratory. Some of
tttese are to be observed in Figure 28, taken from a religious work
of 1663. On the portable stove is a distilling apparatus, now
out of use, which consists of a simple glass retort and helm
or cover, known as an " alembic," from " anfii\ (a cover)." Pos-
sibly, at this very moment, the liquor crani humani was in
process of distillation, for just about this time the notion pre-
vailed that all medicines for man must be obtained out of the
microcosmos itself. Nicolas Lemery says, in " Cours de Chimie,"
that the officinal human skull, "cranium humanum," must be
procured from a young, vigorous, and but recently killed and as
yet unburied man, to secure all the " principia activa." This
distillate was good for the " falling sickness," gout, apoplexy,
somnolency, and dysmenorrhoea. It was a diaphoretic and a
powerful antidote for poisons. From this 'it would appear that
the old fetichism held its own in the realm of therapeutics.
In 1663 the chemist Joseph Bechler, in his " Parnassus Medicin-
alis Illustratus," enumerates the following diseases that the differ-
ent parts of the human body will cure, as follows :
Powdered human bone in red wine will cure dysentery. The marrow and
oil distilled from bone is good for rheumatism. Prepared human skull is a sure
cure for the falling sickness. Moss grown on a skull is an haemostatic. Mummy
dissolves coagulated blood, relieves cough and pain in the spleen, and is also
very beneficial in flatulency and delayed menstruation. Human fat, when
properly rubbed into the skin, restores weak limbs. The wearing of a belt
made of human skin facilitates labor and mitigates its pain. Water distilled
from human hair and mixed with honey promotes the growth of hair," etc.
Fig. 29 (from the same work as the preceding picture) shows
the interior of an apothecary's shop. It does not present any
striking improvement over those of the previous century, though
the apothecaries had advanced in scientific attainments to a
marked degree. They not only cultivated chemistry, but also
earnestly entered upon the study of botany. From the total lack
of system in botanical works of the day, it was extremely diffi-
cult to recognize plants by their mere description. Csesalpinus,
professor of botany at Pisa, had, at the close of the sixteenth
century, endeavored to classify the plant world in fifteen classes,
according to their flowers and fruits, but his work was not gen-
Pharmacy in the Seventeenth Century.
53
erally accepted, and the necessity of illustrations to convey cor-
rect ideas of plants, was much greater than at the present day ;
The botanical works of the sixteenth century were therefore
elaborately supplied with wood-cuts. In the seventeenth cen-
tury, the copper-print takes their place. The first large work of
the kind illustrated with the latter, is the " Hortus Eystettensis,"
published by the druggist, Basilius Besler, in 1613. The illustra-
Fig. 29.
DRUG-STORE, 1663.
tions are very artistic and true to nature, and hardly eclipsed by
modern productions. The plants are classified without reference
'either to their structure or time of florescence. The author
could not, however, abstain from incorporating his portrait, of
which Fig. 30 is a reduced copy. The margin bears this inscrip-
tion :
" Basil. Besler Noricus, artis pharmaceuticse, chymicae amator singularis
rei herbaria: studiosus aetatis suae 51 anno 1612."
This would indicate that he was born in 1561. From the annals
of the Collegii Pharmaceutici it appears that he was the proprie-
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Fig. 30-
A PHARMACIST OF 1613.
tor of the Haymarket pharmacy in Nuremburg from 1586 to
1629, when he died. This drug-store was discontinued in 1792.
After the death of Besler, botany was extensively studied by the
druggists of Nuremburg. To this end, they in 1668 associated
Pharmacy in the Seventeenth Century. 55
themselves with the physicians, and thereafter it was their cus-
tom to make botanical excursions in common, in the fall and
and spring of the year, and such plants which were found to pos-
sess peculiar medicinal properties, were classified and described
in the Annals of the College of Physicians. A trip of this kind
was called an "herbation." These herbations ordinarily wound
up with a banquet in a neighboring town, or in a club-room in
the city. These gatherings were anything but dry and formal
affairs, as the surviving specimens of their poetry revel in melo-
dious rhyme.
That excessive abstinence did not injure the physician and
pharmacist becomes evident from the magnitude of the accom-
panying bill from among the archives of the Nuremburg " Col-
legii Pharmaceutici "
To MR. WURFFBAIN'S HERBATION, May 16, i(x)8, at which nineteen persons
were present.
2 Dishes Stew Florin, 3.20
2 Meat pies, 12 chickens and veal " 7.40
2 Dishes, 3 sour tongues 1.48
I Dish, 8 Ibs. fish " 2.40
1 6Geese " 3-36
2 Dishes, 12 chickens " 4-4^
1 Dish, 2 Rabbits and 10 wild ducks ' 4 1 4
2 Dishes, 36 cheese cakes. i 12
2 " Lobsters " L44
2 " Hop balls 1.36
I Westphalian ham " 2.00
Collation " 3-
Wheat and rye bread " -46
1 Barrel of Wine and I pail " 24.48
Waiter " -45
2 Dishes of asparagus l -44
6 Plates of raddish " - 2 4
Florin, 62.45
CHRISTOPH ZINNERER,
Wine Merchant.
IV. B. Together, 19 persons. Makes for each person, 4 Florin and 4
Kreuzer.
These gentlemen evidently knew how to combine business
with pleasure. In any event it is apparent that the druggists of
Nuremberg, at least, did not maintain an indifferent attitude
Pharmacy in tlie Seventeenth Centnrv. 57
toward the natural sciences, and that they contributed a very
respectable share to the fundamental material upon which, in
the eighteenth century, Becher, Stahl, Lavoisier, Linnaeus, Cad-
wallader Colden, Steele, Priestley and others reared the grand
superstructures of chemistry and botany.
The education of the pharmacist was still largely based on
'his trade experiences, although those, who adopted the profes-
sion were obliged to possess some knowledge of Latin. The
apprenticeship lasted from five to six years, and at the end of
this time the apprentice was, by his master, created a "journey-
man." The certificate issued on such occasions was of great
elegance, frequently elaborately ornamented, and written on
parchment. The accompanying illustration is a reduced copy
of one of those issued in 1743, the original of which exists in the
Germanic Museum.
The journeyman apothecary was usually obliged to pass an
examination before the Decanum Collegii at the time of applying
for a situation. The duties of a drug clerk were embodied in the
following regulations :
Every journeyman apothecary shall take an oath that he will faithfully
serve, not only his master, but also the members of the community at large.
That he will prepare all medicines "secundem artem," and of pure drugs,
whether they be such as are annually examined by the authorities or not.
That he will dispense no poison, opiate or emmenagogue without the knowl-
edge of the master, or endanger the life of any one by his carelessness. That
he will not deliberately change a physician's prescription, and will abstain from
excessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks, and will at all times set a good ex-
ample to the apprentice. That he will not leave the shop without the knowl-
edge of the master, and particularly not absent himself at night. That he will '
be devoted to his master, to the Visitatori Medico, and to each of the doctors of
the incorporated Collegio Medico. He shall swear that he will do all this
according to his best ability."
On assuming control of a pharmacy as a proprietor, he was
required to pass a supplementary examination. Apothecaries
ranked with the third estate. When, in the seventeenth century,
it became customary for apothecaries in Germany to take an
academic course, they claimed to rank with the learned class,
and emphasized this by wearing " caput-coats " and sabres.
Tradespeople were not allowed to wear sabres, hence the police
interfered and suppressed this demonstration of their budding
5 8 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
greatness. Thereupon the combined apothecaries of Nuremburg
petitioned the Council, dilating upon the injustice of the action
taken against them. They refer to the fact that in other cities,
Frankfurth, Ulm, Strassburg, Augsburg and Vienna, while trades-
people were debarred from the wearing of sabres, apothecaries,,
nevertheless, are allowed to do so. This is no more than just,
since many have matriculated at universities, some have attended
academies, and others have even graduated as doctors. " This
injunction," they further say, " rests all the more heavily upon
us, when we consider that our profession is not a trade, but is in
reality a free art."
This petition, whose results are not recorded, clearly demon-
strates that the social position of the pharmacists then, as now,
was somewhat disputed in Germany, when contrasted with that
of the technical practitioners, the learned and the tradesmen.
That the prominent position of the pharmacist should have led
satirists to attack their short-comings was but natural. Father
"Abraham a Sancta Clara," in " Description of All Professions-
and Trades," published in 1699, usually deals very leniently with
them, but can not abstain from a gentle reprimand. " On the
whole," he says, " the druggists can not be too highly praised,
and, if it were possible, their glory should be written in lines of
potable gold which they know how to prepare so skillfully.
Their daily life also is, for the most part, religious and faultless.
Still one also finds some who have many ' scruples ' in their shops,
but never allow ' scruples ' to interfere in their dealings with their
fellow man. They boast of having in stock all kinds of Medica-
menta, such as Emollientia, Resolventia, Condensentia, Aperi-
entia, Constipantia, Attrahentia, Repercutientia, Abstergentia,.
Expurgantia, Attenuantia, Illinentia, Maturantia, Conglutinantia,
Cientia, Expellentia, etc., but more frequently one finds there
Fallentia ; that is, superannuated species, that are more harmful
than beneficial to the patient. This results from a habit they
have of buying, at a cheap price, goods that have been kept in
stock at some grocers from time immemorial, and that smell
worse than Lazarus in his grave. Then you will frequently meet
with a druggist who has spent his entire apprenticeship behind
the mortar, and knows nothing about any ' crout ' (herb) excepting
it be the ' sour ' kind, which he will recognize when it is cooked
Pharmacy in the Seventeenth Centui
59
with a saddle of pork. Then, again, he will make more mistakes
than the children of the prophet in the days of Elisha, who
gathered in the bitter colocynth in place of healing herbs."
Moscherosch, a seventeenth century satirist, displays a cyn-
ically sarcastic feeling toward the medical world. In a book
published in 1643, he says :
"The drug-shops are veritable arsenals, and the keepers
thereof, the druggists, are gunsmiths in the service of the
Medicis." "For," says he, "everything you find in their shops
remind one of war and war-implements. There is, in the first
place, the mortar, with its very appropriate name, which seems
to barricade and break down the gates of the human system.
The syringe, when it projects the enema, may be likened unto a
pistol. The pills are the musket balls. The Medici stand for
grim death himself. The Medicamentia purgantia are the gen-
uine fire ef purgatorium ; the barbers are the devils, and the
drug -shop is a diminutive hades, whilst the patient represents
the poor, lost and condemned soul. The druggists display in
their shops slips of paper covered with strange and wonderful
hieroglyphs, that neither Vitzliputzli or Tlaloc of Mexico, nor
Vlastu of Cusco, nor Quetzaalcoale of Chalula, nor the Chiappa
Cariba, nor Tamaraca of Brazil, nor the Deumus of Calechut,
nor the Novientium of the Alsacians of old, nor Mercurius of
Speyer, nor the Natagia of the Tartars could decipher. The
directions on these papers are usually preceded by ' Rec,' which
in fact stands for per decem, and means that one prescription
out of ten may help, or, more properly speaking, that of ten
patients one may escape. They are called patients when they
get into the hands of the fraternity, for from that moment they
are condemned to suffer all the tortures of the damned."
" Furthermore, we meet with the word 'Ana,' which little word
we derive from the French 'Asne' or 'Ane' (ass, fool), but
really originates from Ana, the son of Zibeon, who invented the
mule whilst herding his father's jackasses in the desert, and what
word could more appropriately serve as an affix to a prescription
than 'Ana,' since it takes but a careless ass to deprive an
honest man of health and life. And then come the ' Drachmae,'
' Unciae,' ' Scrupuli,' Grana,' which have the shape of snakes,
scorpions, and blind-worms, or at least are possessed of their
60 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
venom. And all these beautiful things so comfort the patient
that his soul would almost take flight at sight of them. And then
they apply such outlandish Indian and Turkish names to their
simples and other foul herbs, that one would imagine they
intended to conjure old Satan himself. Such names for instance
as Opoponach, Tregoricarum, Petroselinum, Herba Borith,
Chamaespartion, Diaphaeniconis, Scolopendrion, Diatrionpi-
pereon, Ophiostaphylon, Zoophthalmon, etc., which, upon close
examination, prove to be every-day parsley, cornflower, sanicle,
houseleek, tamarisk, juniper, red white, and yellow carrots, and
the like. They call beans and lentils by such strange names to
tempt the patient's curiosity and induce him to pay an extra
price for the same. Their mixtures are frequently so loathsome,
as to taste and odor, that one would expect to see the worst dis-
ease leave the body in haste to escape the contamination. The
designation, medical composita, is another term to the point, for
when your druggist mixes pepper and mouse-dung, and runs it
through the mill, he may dispense it with a clear conscience, for
the patient is paying his money for a remedy that is clearly as
composite as the most exacting can desire." That the druggists
should have haunted Mosercsch in his dreams was not sur-
prising. One of these dreams he describes as follows :
"Then there followed a rabble of apothecaries with mortars,
jingling pestles, suppositoria, balneis marise, spatula, syringes, etc.,
which were all loaded with deadly missiles and powder. They
also carried many boxes and bottles labeled 'medicine,' but in
reality containing poison only."
On another occasion he says : "After considering this matter
m all earnestness, I have come to the conclusion that all this
nourning and lamenting we are obliged to bestow upon the
ad, is really ushered in by the death-knell of the pestles on the
Is of the apothecaries' mortar, and only ceases with the
requiem and the sounding of the church bell."
It is of interest to note that in Italy, Zacchias, during this
itury, advanced the view that there were self-generated poisons
is practically the view at present held concerning the
* and leucomaines of Selmi and Brieger. In England
:.stenc e of the Apothecaries Company seems to have placed
soc.al status of the apothecaries on a pretty well-defined
Pharmacy in Hie Seventeenth Century 61
basis. The apothecary held in popular estimation and social
dignity a place close to the physician. Physicians to the king
were always accompanied by a staff of apothecaries. At the
death-bed of Charles II both appear, and the administration of
a volatile preparation from a human skull indicates that his
disease was looked upon rather as " falling sickness" than apo-
plexy. The coffee-houses of this period, which were a leading
Fig. 36-
WILLIAM HARVEY.
feature of its social life, were visited by both physicians and
apothecaries at certain times of the day under circumstances
which show that both were regarded as members of a common
profession.
William Harvey, the demonstrator of the circulation of the
blood, was a staunch friend of the Apothecaries Company, and
aided it with Charles I. He was a great student of pharma-^
cology, and did not regard the use of animal products with much
favor. He is often mentioned as visiting the coffee houses in
company with apothecaries.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Pharmacy in English speaking America during the seven-
teenth century was largely based on English usages, more or less
modified by practices derived from the Indians. As a result, a
great many quack doctors and apothecaries sprang into promi-
nence. These led Virginia to attempt the legal regulation of
those who charged exorbitant fees, for in 1636 a law was passed
regulating the fees of surgeons and apothecaries. Prominent
among the early Virginian colonists who were at once surgeons
and apothecaries was Dr. Edward Heldon, who had been a friend
and pall-bearer of Shakespere. In Massachusetts, pharmacy
was largely in the hands of the Indians, schoolmasters, old
women and clergymen. The last were generally skilled apoth-
ecaries, who had learned pharmacy during periods of persecution,
and practiced it for ostensible means of subsistence while preach-
ing. The Rev. Jacob Green was at once lawyer, schoolmaster,
miller, distiller, apothecary and physician. The witchcraft epi-
demic brought the practitioners of pharmacy into suspicion as
selling poison for spells. As a rule the general merchants sold
drugs to the apothecaries. As early as 1647 Giles Firmin, of
Boston, had firmly established himself as devoting special atten-
tion to pharmacy. In 1646 the first store distinctly devoted to
pharmacy was opened in Boston by William Davies.
Under the Duke of York's government, the province of New
Jersey made an attempt to regulate the practice of apothecaries
in 1664, which provided for penalties for injury. In New York
there was a tendency exhibited to separate pharmacy from medi-
cine. The quacks were exceedingly numerous in the city, and
attempts were made to punish them for infraction of the Duke's
laws passed in 1664. In 1689, when the revolution broke out,
one work held in esteem in the practice of pharmacy, was Sal-
mon's Herbal, originally printed in London in 1676. During
the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century it was
in high repute among American pharmacists.
Fig. 37-
REPRESENTATION OF THE SOURCES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA.
(63)
( With glasses, boxes, round me stacked,
And instruments together hurled,
Ancestral lumber, stuffed and packed-
Such is my world ! and what a world
FAUST.
Pharmacy in th* 3EIgtttetI| Century.
(HE contentions of the Apothecaries and the Sur-
geons in England had resulted in the victory of
apothecaries by the passage of Act 34, Henry VIII,
in 1543, which protected them in counter prescrib-
ing. James I, in 1608, united them with the
grocers, under the title of the "Warden and Commonalty of the
Mystery of Grocers." To do this he revoked the charter of the
old Grocers and Apothecaries Company. In 1617 the apothe-
caries were finally separated from the grocers, and the Apothe-
caries Company was created. This became a very important
body, as the apothecary was now regarded as a practitioner of a.
medical specialty rather than a mere merchant. By degrees they
gained so much public confidence, and began to take so active a.
part in the practice of medicine, that they had the audacity, when
preparing an electuary or bolus, to reason on the propriety of its
administration, to recommend a polypharmaceutical physician in
preference to a prescriber of simples. To crown all, they began
visiting patients themselves. This state of affairs occasioned
a great variety of publications. The coarse wit and low abuse
which abounded in these publications, are an evidence of the
general ignorance of the contending parties, although some men
of eminence might occasionally have been led into the errors
of their contemporaries.
In 1665 a curious work was published by Dr. Record, "The
Urinal of Physic." This contained an appendix, "A Treatise
Concerning the Abuses of Physicians and Apothecaries." This
treatise states that the latter " actually ventured to give purges,
(6s)
9 CHRISIUBHORVS S QMMERHOFF
Fig. 38-
A PHARMACIST, A.
(66)
D. 1700.
Pharmacy in the Eighteenth Centur\. 67
without the advice of the physician," which was in those days
considered a serious offense. Every year added to the list of
offenses. They were accused by the physicians of all sorts of
misdeeds. In 1696 the College of Physicians established their
own dispensary. The accusations continually directed against
the apothecaries for selling bad medicines, furnished an excellent
excuse for the formation of a joint-stock company, and the
establishment of a laboratory at their hall for their own use, and
for supplying members with drugs. This resulted in great injury
to the manufacturing chemists and druggists ; for, not content
with supplying their own members, they obtained the orders of
government for medical stores. The physicians, on the other
hand, obtained the well known "Act for the Better Viewing of
Drugs, etc., for Ten Miles Around London," which gave the
apothecaries great offense, and occasioned the publication of a
variety of squibs on both sides.
The pharmacists appear to have placed the profession on a
sounder basis at this time preparatory to entering on a more
promising era. That the apothecary's life had by this time
experienced a vast improvement is shown by the more elaborate
furnishing of the shops and laboratories.
Figure 37 on the title page depicted the provinces of nature
that have at various times sustained the reign of ^sculapius.
The picture is taken from the " Lexicon Pharmaceutico-Chymi-
cum," by J. C. Sommerhorf, published in 1701. The marked
preponderance of scroll-work at once stamps it as the product
of a time when the renaissance style had degenerated into the
pseudo-classical, and there were foreshadowings of the rococo
period. Although the author, as pictured in Figure 38, wears a
wig of very respectable proportions, he had not yet adopted the
cue which became a craze in this pseudo-classical period,
styled by the Germans " Die Zopfzeit " (the cue or tail period).
But he lived to see King Frederic I introduce the cue into the
army. The "Lexicon" was prefaced by poetic effusions by
SommerhofPs friend. The burden of these were the glorification
of himseM" and his labors. Despite Sommerhoffs undeniable
indebtedness to similar works of lesser scope, one of his friends
indulges in the following :
(68)
Pharmacy in the Eighteenth Century.
" May the result of his labors and pains in the past,
With his name, like pure gold, eternally last."
As a slight contribution to the realization of this wish, his
portrait is here introduced, more especially as it serves at the
same time to give an excellent idea of a representative pharma-
cist of the eighteenth century.
Fig. 40.
"STAR" PHARMACY AT NUREMBURG, A. D. i 7I o.
Fig. 39 depicts the court-pharmacy at Rastatt. A Latin
inscription beneath the original reads : " This picture was dedi-
cated to his most gracious master, the Commander-in-Chief of
the army, Ludwig William, Count of Baden, by pharmacist Joh.
L. Kellner." Kellner, who bought this pharmacy in 1697, had
doubtless served under this count as a field-apothecary during
his campaign against the Turks, since a field-pharmacy, pre-
served in this store for two hundred years, has recently been
turned over to the Germanic Museum.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Fig. 40 represents the old " Star Pharmacy " at Nuremburg as
it appeared before its removal to its present quarters in Binder
street. Much of the old furniture, boxes and bottles were
brought over to the new stand at the time of the removal (1728),
and remain to the present day. The drawers are similar to
Fig. 41.
DRUG-STORE AT KLATTAU, A. D. 1733.
those of modern construction. The bottles and containers for
fluids, in lieu of ground stoppers, are furnished with a zinc cap,
which is screwed down over the neck of the bottles. The beau-
tiful and richly-painted majolica ware, made in Italy and in use
in Europe from the sixteenth century to the middle of the eight-
eenth, is to be seen in the " Star Pharmacy " at the present day.
When the ornamental majolica ware was supplanted by sober
white china the pharmacies were deprived of much of their
quaint and picturesque appearance. The discovery of porcelain
Pharmacy in the Eighteenth Century. 71
by Joh. F. Boettcher caused the more expensive majolica to fall
into disuse. Boettcher began his chemical studies in a Berlin
drug-store laboratory in 1701. His master, " Zorn," was engaged
in alchemistic studies, and Boettcher had an excellent oppor-
tunity for learning the secrets of the art. His remarkably suc-
cessful experiments soon gave him the reputation of being able,
by the aid of some secret agency, to make gold. When this
rumor reached the ears of King Frederic I of Prussia he ordered
his arrest, but Boettcher, receiving timely warning, escaped to
Saxony. Fearing that the fugitive would be kidnapped by the
Prussians, who had demanded his extradition, he was brought
to Dresden for greater safety. The Saxon ruler himself soon
became convinced that Boettcher could make gold, and demanded
the secret. Boettcher refused to comply, and was placed under
strict surveillance, and practically imprisoned. He was coaxed
by his guards to prosecute his experimental search for the
philosopher's stone, and, in 1704, accidentally discovered brown
jasper, and, in 1709, white porcelain. The latter, in 1710,
became a staple manufacture of Meissen under the direction of
Boettcher. From the middle of the eighteenth century it was in
general use in the pharmacies.
Figure 41 shows the interior of a drug-store at Klattau,
Bohemia. The present proprietor of the store relates that the
pharmacy was established by the Jesuits in 1733, who controlled
their own artisans, and introduced the same style of architecture
as that in vogue in their churches. At the time of their expul-
sion in 1810 the business went into private hands. The peculiar
scroll-like embellishments of the rococo period are absent.
This work, therefore, belongs to the period immediately pre-
cedent, styled, as before mentioned, the "Zopfzeit" period.
Figure 42 (from "A Text-book of the Apothecaries Act," by
Karl Hagen, 1778) represents the laboratory of the court-phar-
macy at Koenigsberg. The fire-place and distilling apparatus
are particularly conspicuous, and in their construction approach
modern appliances. Karl Hagen, who lived in the latter half of
the eighteenth century, superintended this laboratory, and was
professor of physics and chemistry at the university. Beside
the "Text-book of the Apothecaries Art," of which eight editions
were published, he wrote "The Elements of Experimental
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Chemistry," and "The Fundamental Principles of Chemistry."
Hagen, therefore, exerted a great influence in the education of
the pharmacists of his time. The wide experience evident in
these works was no doubt gathered by him in the laboratory
here pictured.
The practice of pharmacy in the eighteenth century was by
no means as remunerative as has been asserted. Its field was as
much invaded by grocers, spice dealers, distillers, etc., as it
Fig. 42.
LABORATORY OF COURT PHARMACY AT KOENIGSBERG, A. D. 1778.
now is by notion dealers, etc. The archives of the Nuremburg
Collegii Pharmaceutici are encumbered with memorials respect-
ing the grievances of the apothecaries and the replies of the
accused thereto. These memorials are, as a rule, only a reca-
pitulation of similar complaints cited in preceding centuries.
In some instances the druggists suffered pecuniary losses from
causes entirely of their own creation. One was the habit of
sending New Year's presents to physicians and to customers,
which had grown to such proportions that the government inter-
fered. The Anspach Gazette, November 23, 1796, contains this
announcement :
Since. the practice among apothecaries of giving New Year's gifts to phy-
sicians and patients has been extensively abused, it should forthwith be discon-
tinued. Apothecaries are therefore forbidden under severe penalty to continue
this destructive and demoralizing practice. This order is herewith made known
to the general public. THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND WAR!
Nov. 1 6, 1796.
Pharmacy in the Eighteenth Century. 73
Although the eighteenth century pharmacists, more than ever
before, were intent upon surrounding themselves with a scientific
halo, and dubbed their apprentices " Discipuli," and the jour-
neyman clerks " Subjecti," their education was still rudimentary,
and but few possessed scientific attainments. A thorough knowl-
edge of the natural sciences was not demanded, and what they
knew was limited to what could be acquired in every-day experi-
ences. The renowned Fr. Hoffman, who was professor at Halle
from 1694 to 1743, in defining what knowledge the apothecary
should possess, says : " The apothecary should know that an
acid and an alkali, when brought in contact, will effervesce. It
will suffice if he but know the effect, although he may be igno-
rant of the cause." Unflattering as Hoffman's assertion may
seem, he was in the main correct in his premises. The learned
apothecary, Trommsdorf, of Erfurt, takes a similar view of the
state of pharmacy in the eighteenth century. Speaking of his
apprenticeship, he says : " Rarely did I find men that approached
my ideal. More frequently, on the other hand, I met with in-
competency and slovenliness. Seldom, even, did I find a proper
appreciation of the pharmacist's important calling by the gen-
eral public. Pharmacy was almost universally looked upon as
a trade, and the pharmacist as a mere tradesman. This fact
pained me the more, the firmer I became convinced that phar-
macy is a worthy branch of the natural sciences, and its devo-
tees deserve the honors so freely bestowed on workers in other
departments of the sciences. But how few of the druggists
themselves were permeated by the importance of their calling !"
The recognition of this deplorable state of affairs induced
Trommsdorf to employ all his powers in the furtherance of the
art of pharmacy. In 1794 he published a pharmacal journal,
and in 1795 founded a chemico-pharmacal institute, which met
" a long felt want," since the universities,were not yet supplied
with laboratories adapted to the requirements of pharmacists.
The studies in this institute embraced logic, mathematics,
physics, botany, zoology, mineralogy, chemistry and pharmacy.
Thus an opportunity was offered for the study of the branches
of pharmacy which are at the present day a part of the univer-
sities. The result of this innovation was to lift pharmacy from
its humble sphere and elevate it to the dignity of a scientific
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
profession. Many apothecaries of the eighteenth century gained
renown in the field of the sciences, in evidence of which the
names of Ehrhart, Funk, Hudson, Geoffrey, Marggraf, Scheele,
Weigleb,etc.,etc., may be cited. They belonged to the apothe-
cary's class, and will always be remembered in connection with
chemistry and botany. The question, at times propounded,
whether these men acquired their prominence because of their
having been pharmacists, or in spite of or independent of this
fact, can hardly be answered in a manner which will redound to
the credit of pharmacy.
Dr. Dover, the inventor of Dover's powder, had been edu-
cated as an apothecary, and was a great friend and pupil of
Sydenham. He began practice in Bristol, England, but despite
his drug-store adjunct to practice, did not make a great financial
success. Some merchants fitted out privateers, which were very
successful in taking Spanish ships. He sailed with them as
physician, and on February 2, 1708, visited Juan Fernandez,
where he found and brought away Alexander Selkirk, the origi-
nal of "Robinson Crusoe." In 1711 he began practice in
London, and apothecaries and patients consulted him at the
Jerusalem Coffee House. The originator of Fowler's solution,
Thomas Fowler, of Stratford, was born in 1736. He also had
been educated as an apothecary. Dr. Steer, the introducer of
opodeldoc, a native of England, was a prominent apothecary of
the eighteenth century.
In Ireland, during this period, the metrology was exceedingly
confused ; troy weight and avoirdupois were both used by apoth-
ecaries, and many complaints resulted.
The social status of the pharmacist in some of the American
provinces during the early part of the eighteenth century is shown
by the enumeration of Jas. Tagree among the prominent citizens
of New York City, in 1703, as an apothecary. The only other
legally recognized apothecary in the province of New York, for
a number of years, was Governor Hunter, who presided over the
destinies of the colony for the decade, ending 1719. The Van
Burens soon after began the practice of pharmacy in New York.
They had, as early as 1706, practised pharmacy in New Bruns-
wick, N. J., and Philadelphia. Their preparation, "The Red
Drop," retained its reputation late into the nineteenth century.
Pharmacy in the Eighteenth Century. 75
John Johnstone practiced pharmacy at Perth Amboy early in
the eighteenth century. He was very active in public service,
and occupied several important positions. Some of his descend-
ants still continue to practice pharmacy.
The first patent medicine was called "Tuscarora Rice," sold
as a " consumption cure," by a Mrs. Masters, in 1711, and had a
wide-spread reputation. She erected a large manufactory, and
probably inaugurated the patent medicine trade in the United
States. Indian medicine men of the "Sagwa" variety, and
other traveling quacks, perambulated the country, selling worth-
less decoctions. These were stopped in New Jersey, in 1772, by
a law passed at the instance of the State Medical Society which
had been established in 1766. This law prohibited practice by
mountebank doctors, or the sale of drugs or medicines by them.
Under this act most of the drug-stores were run by licensees.
The general merchants sold the crude drugs, and not infrequently
came into conflict with the law.
Among the prominent practitioners of pharmacy in this cen-
tury was the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, of Elizabethtown, N. J.,
who wrote on the preparation of the ordinary vegetable drugs of
America for medicinal use. Dr. Lawrence Vanderveer, of Mill-
stone, N. J., was another pharmacist who gained celebrity by his
introduction of scutellaria into medicine. Mr. Robert Eastburn,
of New Brunswick, published a pharmacal work entitled a
"Collection of Receipts," in 1755.
Later in the century, the mental activity consequent on the
American Revolution resulted in the publication of the works of
Schoepf and Barton on Materia Medica, and the publication, in
1778, of an army pharmacopoeia under the auspices of Dr. Tilton,
Of Delaware. Salmon's " Herbal," the Dispensatory of Duncan,
the Materia Medica of Lewis, long continued to be the chief
text books. The influence of Salmon's " Herbal" was undoubt-
edly stimulating to the study of botany. From it Dr. Cadwallader
Golden, the pharmacist-physician governor of New York, received
the stimulus which led to his botanical studies, afterward so com-
mended by Linnaeus.
That there was great enthusiasm manifested in the study of
the indigenous vegetable materia medica is obvious from the
writings of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who anticipates that therefrom
7
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
will result cures of many diseases. These botanical studies, in
no small degree, brought about the disuse of the lancet.
The merchants who sold crude drugs were much addicted to
adulteration, and one of them, Carnes of New York, is stated by
Dr. Francis to have sold colored sawdust for rhubarb.
(From Keith's " Virginia,'" 1738).
Cod-liver oil began to assume a very prominent part in the
armamentarium of American pharmacy in this century.
Ancient ^efiffing
Fig. 43-
(From a Copper-Print, i6th Century).
(77)
; Now 'tis evaporated and invisible,
And upward flies, whence its airy source,
Then to the earth returns again,
That first unto it gave birth.
Even so we live and die,
Now bound, and now as vapor fly. "
GOETHE.
Ancient Distillin
[ISTILLATION the process by which volatile sub-
stances are separated from those of a more fixed
character does not appear to have been much
practiced by the early Greeks and Romans. The
earliest reference made to it we trace to Synesius,
who, about 410 B. C.,was Bishop of Ptolemais.* The Arabian
Galen, "Rhazes of Bagdad," likens the process of distillation to
the condition in nasal catarrh. " The stomach," he says," is the
kettle, the head is the cap, and the nose is the conducting and
cooling tube, from which the product of distillation drips."'
From this we learn that the public must have been quite familiar
with the process, and, in fact, we find it frequently referred to in
Arabian medical works.
In the thirteenth century, Furno of Basel, Thaddaus of Flor-
ence, arid Arnoldus of Villanova, were largely instrumental in
introducing the products of distillation into the occidental ma-
teria medica, which effort was particularly successful in the case
of brandy and alcohol. These were very soon extensively used
as a beverage, so that about the year A. D. 1500, laws were deemed
necessary in several European states to counteract by legal re-
strictions the growing tendency to over-indulgence. The law of
Nuremburg decreed that brandy should neither be sold in shops
nor in the open market-place on Sundays or other holidays.
The increasing consumption of spirits, and the consequent
multiplication of distilled medicinal waters, are abundant proof
that the art of distilling had made considerable progress in the
* Kopp, History of Chemistry.
(79)
go History of Ancient Pharmacy.
fifteenth century. Hieronymus Brunschwyck gives us a very lucid
description of the apparatus in use in his day, in " The New
Book on the Art of Distilling,'- and " The Art of Distilling Com-
posite Things," both richly illustrated with wood-cuts. We have
drawn largely on these books for our information.
The first book was published on the 8th of May, 1500, and
the other a few years later. At that time the word " distil," " to
drip," had a wider application than at the present day.
What in modern times is known as maceration, digestion,
filtration, percolation and extraction, were all embraced under
the head of distillation. Before the distillation proper of any
substance was attempted, it was first subjected to a process of
digestion in a glass retort for purposes of solution and softening.
A great variety of methods were employed to obtain the requi-
site degree of warmth. One primitive method is thus described :
"In a convenient locality, preferably in a cellar, a pit five feet
deep was excavated. This was partially filled with a layer of
unslaked lime ; upon this followed a layer of horse manure,
whereupon the vessel with the material was brought into place,
and .the whole covered up with another liberal supply of horse
dung. The lime was then slaked by the pouring on of lukewarm
water, thereby establishing a sort of fermentation, and an elevated
temperature, which was maintained for several days, whereupon
the substances in the pit were renewed, and the process repeated
as often as found expedient." The simpler method of digesting
matter by the aid of the sun or heat from a stove was also resorted
to. To augment the sun's heat concave mirrors were employed.
The digesting retort was placed between one of these and the
sun, so as to receive the direct rays, and also the reflected heat
from the mirror.
Other peculiar methods, resorted to in the Middle Ages for
securing an elevated temperature in the process of digestion, con-
sisted in placing the vessels in ant-hills, in bread, ashes, in a
water-bath, etc. For digesting in bread, the vessel was packed
in dough, placed in an oven and baked like ordinary bread.
The forms of the vessels employed were as varied as the methods
for securing the required elevation of temperature. Particular
stress was laid upon the importance of choosing such vessels as
favored the return of the condensed vapors to the bottom of the
Ancient Distilling Apparatus.
8 1
vessel, so that the fluids could again penetrate the macerating
substance, and thus repeatedly make the circuit.
The following illustrations, taken from the works of Brunsch-
wyck, show us a number of these vessels :
Fig. 44.
i, VIAL, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
5, CUCURBITE.
Fig. 44 a, was known as a vial. Fig. 44 b, was called a cucur-
bite from its resemblance to the shape of a gourd.
Fig. 45. URINALS.
Figs. 45 a, b and c, represent a variety of urinals. Fig. 46
a and 6, are simple circulatories ; c, a circulatory with lateral
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
.
beak ; d, a double circulatory, and e, a pelican circulatory, with
two conducting tubes for the returning fluid.
d
Fig. 46 a, b, e, rfand e. rClRCULATORlES.
The funnels of the Middle Ages were, likewise,
somewhat differently shaped than at present, as
shown in the figure. Brunschwyck says they were
used to separate oil and water and for conveying acids
from one vessel into another. They were probably
not used in the clarifying of liquids, since the process
of filtering through paper had not been introduced. In
his time liquids were clarified by running them through
.a linen or woolen bag, or they were " distilled per
V
Ancient Distilling Apparatus.
Fig. 47^-
THE ALEMBIC.
filtram." This process consisted in placing the liquid to be
clarified in a bowl or pan, and connecting it with a vessel
on a lower plane by means of a strip of felt or woolen cloth.
By virtue of the capillary action of these bodies, the fluid was
Ancient Distilling Apparatus. 85
carried over and dripped into the lower vessel. In the case
of very volatile substances two retorts were used, the beak of the
lower one being cemented into that of the higher one, see Fig.
47. The liquid was then carried over by the strip of felt which
had previously been properly adjusted on the inside of the retorts.
The most ancient form of distilling apparatus was probably
the alembic, from the Greek, meaning " a cover ;" and the
Arabian article " al," originally applied to the head of a still
only. The alembic was placed on an earthen vessel or glass
cucurbite, and cemented to the latter, and after a receiver
had been adjusted to the beak of the alembic, this primitive
distilling apparatus was complete in all its details. Fig. 47^.
In Fig. 48 we see one of these apparatus in use, placed on an
ordinary distilling stove. Although the distillation is pictured
as taking place in a garden, it is not "probable that it was prac-
ticed in the open air, exposed to wind and weather. It is well
known that the artists of the Middle Ages not only sought to
emphasize the minutest details of the objects pictured, but they
also attempted to demonstrate their association with the objects
in nature, by placing these in juxtaposition, no matter how much
out of place the one or the other might be, and without appar-
ently ever being aware of the impropriety of such an arrangement.
The plant world was, as we have seen, the main source of medici-
nal waters, and in the distillation of the latter women frequently
took part. Hence the artist places the apparatus in a garden in
which, beside the two apothecaries, are two women engaged in
gathering plants ; all these details serving to indicate that the
object of the distillation was the gaining of medicinal waters.
The glass still-heads known as alembics were made in a variety
of styles.
The early alembic had the great fault that it allowed the
vapors that condensed on its surface to flow back into the
vessel too readily, thus greatly retarding the process, Fig. 490.
This defect was remedied by making a groove on the inside
wall, and near the neck of the alembic, Fig. 49^ with which the
opening into the beak was continuous. Thus the condensed
liquid collected in this groove and was conducted to the beak,
toward which the groove was slightly inclined.
The lack of a cooling apparatus was a very serious obstacle
86
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
to a successful and profitable distillation, on account of the
escape of large quantities of uncondensed vapors. To obviate
this in a measure, and to gain a larger cooling surface, the alem-
bics were constructed in the shape of tall cones (see Fig. 49^),
and were made of glazed earthenware, copper, zinc or lead, and
Fig. 49. ALEMBICS.
placed over shallow vessels of like material. This style was
mostly used for the distilling of water.
The Middle Age retorts were, on account of their impractica-
e shape, adapted only to such liquids that during ebullition
i not escape through the beak. Their use for distilling pur-
es was therefore limited, and found application mostly for the
distillation per filtram," before described, and for purposes of
Ancient Distilling Apparatus. 87
digestion. To render the distilling vessels, which were in greater
part made of glass, more resisting to the heat of an open fire,
they were encased in a mass composed of clay, hemp-hatchel,
horse-dung and wine. This mass was applied to the depth of
one-half inch and allowed to dry. If, in spite of this precaution,
the vessel should crack, a cloth, spread with
a putty of red-lead, lime, flour and the white
of egg, was placed over the fissure. The
cloth used for this purpose was previously
saturated with salt water and white of egg to
render it fire-proof. For cementing the still-
heads to the container and the receiving
vessel to the former, a variety of pastes were
in use. When a high degree of temperature
was required, the so-called Lutum sapientise
Middle Age Retort.
was used. This cement was composed of
clay, horse-dung, ground brick, ground iron, salt water and white
of egg. When a lesser temperature sufficed,
a paste composed of starch and soaked paper
was applied.
Common retorts served as receivers, but
in case of very volatile substances, vessels
with a lateral beak were substituted (see
Fig. 50). In consequence of the constantly
increasing consumption of spirits, the small
glass apparatus could no longer supply the
demand, and gradually the copper kettles,
not very unlike our modern apparatus (Fig. Fig. 50.
51), came into use. To condense the vapors, the still-head was
made in the shape of a so-called " Moor's head," being sur-
mounted by a copper mantel which was filled with cold water.
For the purpose of rectification, the spirit was repeatedly and
slowly distilled through a head without the customary furrow,
the lower orifice of the head having been plugged with a sponge
saturated in oil. The water, which was vaporized simultaneously
with the alcohol, was condensed on the sponge, whilst the alcohol
vapors passed through the pores of the sponge, and after being
condensed in the cooling apparatus, escaped into the receiver.
To obtain an alcohol of a still higher percentage, an apparatus
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
is described in Figure 52, which maybe considered as a fore-
runner of those in use at the present day. Here we see the retort
connected with a worm-like tube that repeatedly passes through
a larger upright tube filled with cold water. The vapor, as it
Fig.
DISTILLING APPARATUS.
rises in this tube, experiences an insufficient refrigeration, and
the more volatile alcohol, finding its way to the remotest coil,
finally condenses and reaches the receptacle ; whereas the water,
which condenses earlier, finds its way back to the kettle or retort.
That Basilius Valentinus had, in the fifteenth century, advised
the use of tartrate of potassa for the dehydration of alcohol, is
Ancient Distilling Apparatus.
8 9
no doubt known to the reader, and needs but incidentally to be
recalled here. An exact determination of its strength was im-
possible before the discovery of the alcoholometer at the close
Fig. 52-
IMPROVED DISTILLING APPARATUS.
of the eighteenth century. Brunschwyck thought he had
obtained spirits of the highest possible percentage, when a linen
cloth saturated with it would also be destroyed after the alcohol
had been ignited and entirely consumed. In case of very
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
hydrous alcohol the remaining water, of course, protected the
linen from the flame. Another test consisted in dropping olive
oil into the spirits ; if the oil sank to the bottom, the alcohol was
proof. Since the specific gravity of olive oil is 0.915 an alcohol
of sixty per cent, met this requirement. In place of the linen
test, we later find mention of the powder test. Powder saturated
with alcohol of proper strength should burn with a puff after the
Fig- 53-
DISTILLING APPARATUS, 1560.
alcohol had been consumed. Albertus Magnus has called atten-
tion to the fact that distillates from metal apparatus frequently
:arry with them metallic impurities, and, based on this authority,
Brunschwyck also warns against the indiscriminate use of such
apparatus. The Nuremburg apothecary ordinance of June 7,
555 entirely forbids their employment in drug-stores. This
order was, however, soon found to overreach itself as applied to
pharmacy, and in the ordinances of 1592 we find no more mention
it In the Middle Ages distilling by druggists had been
Ancient Distilling Apparatus.
limited to medicinal waters, but when in the sixteenth century
they entered upon the distilling of more volatile subtances, they
felt the need of adopting the cooling apparatus already in use in
distilleries. The books of the latter half of the sixteenth century
that treat on this subject, show that just about this time the great-
est improvements were being made in the line of cooling appli-
Fig. 54-
"The Distiller's Book," by G. Ryff, 1567, furnishes a number
of illustrations bearing on this subject. In Fig. 53, the cap has
two conducting pipes that pass obliquely through a barrel filled
with water. Ryff acknowledges that for distilling larger quantities
this apparatus is entirely unsatisfactory, and in its place recom-
mends the apparatus shown in Fig. 54. Fig. 55 represents an
apparatus used in France at this time. In connection with the
renewal of the water in the cooling apparatus, the fact that the
warmer water rises to the surface and the cooler water collects
9 2
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
in the lower part of the vessel, appears to have been entirely over-
looked or was not understood. In comparing the apparatus here
Fig. 55-
APPARATUS IN USE IN FRANCE IN 1560.
pictured with those of modern construction, we therefore miss in
the former the afferent tube for conveying the cold water to the
base of the tub, and the effer-
ent tube for conveying away
the heated surface-water. To
secure, by one and the same
operation, both the pure or
more volatile and the more
sluggish product, an apparatus
like the one shown in Fig. 56
was used. The helm was sup-
plied with two conducting tubes,
each of which was continuous
with a groove around the inner
wall of the helm, on the plane
of their division.
Fig. 57 shows a section of
a stove and apparatus used in
process for dry distillation, per
descensum. The stove was Fig. 56.
divided into two compartments by a diaphragmatic contrivance,
into a central opening of which an earthen vessel was cemented
Ancient Distilling Apparatus.
93
from below. The mouth of this vessel, which opened into the
upper half of the stove, was covered over by a piece of perforated
tin. Over this a similar vessel,
previously filled with the sub-
stance to be distilled, was in-
verted, and the mouths of the two
pots carefully adjusted. A fire
was then started around the upper
pot, causing the products of dis-
tillation, the heavy tar oils, to
drip through the holes in the tin
into the lower vessel, where they
could be secured by means of a
conducting tube at the bottom of
the pot. For want of a stove the
Fig. 57-
lower pot was frequently sunk into the ground and a fire started
around the upper one, when the same object was attained. The
oleum juniperi empyreumaticum was prepared in this manner.
Fig. 58-
ALCHEMIST'S FIRE-PLACE, 1618.
(95)
' What friend is like the might of fire,
When men can watch and wield the ire ?
Whate'er we shape or work, we owe
Still to that heaven-descended glow."
SCHILLER (The Lay of the Bell).
|Jet>en.
- places an5 Soucs.
]HE important office assigned to fire in the labors
of alchemists the precursors of the modern
chemists early led to the construction of special
hearths and stoves, by which the heat required in
the practice of the hermetic art could be con-
veniently supplied and regulated. As early as the ninth century
the Arabian "Geber," who lived in Seville, wrote a work which
has come down to us in the Latin version, as " De Fornacibus
Construendis," in which he describes stoves for calcinating,,
melting and distilling.
As a result of the advancement of pharmacy in the occi-
dental countries after the twelfth century, the principles under-
went vast changes and improvements. The principal stoves in
use in the Middle Ages for the preparation of medicines, and in
particular those used in the process of distilling, are minutely
described in the two books by Hieronymus Brunschwyck,
referred to in the preceding chapter. In Figure 48, Chapter
Six, a stove of the most simple construction is shown. This
class of stoves was built of brick or glazed tile, that could be
readily taken apart and readjusted. On one side, at the base,
was an aperture for the introduction of fuel and the removal of
ashes, and on either side were lesser openings for draught pur-
poses. On the other side of the stove, opposite the main aper-
ture, were two openings for the escape of the smoke. When
distilling from a fire-proof kettle, this was placed directly over
the open fire in an opening left in the top of the stove. But in
case glass, earthen or lead vessels were employed, the distillation
(97)
9*
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
was proceeded with either "per cinerem" or "per aretiam."
To this end ashes or sand were spread two or three inches deep
on an iron or stone plate, with which the opening in the top of
Fig. 60.
DISTILLERY HEARTH.
the stove had been closed, and upon this the distilling vessel
was placed. To distil with the aid of a water bath, " per balneum
maria;," this simple stove was turned into a so-called coppel
Early Chemico-Pharmacal Fire-Places and Stoves.
99
stove, by cementing a copper kettle into the opening in place of
the plate which had before served as a cover. This was called
a " coppel," and was filled with water, into which the distilling
vessel was placed. To keep the latter in position it was weighted
above and below with leaden rings. To protect the hot stones
from injury by water, which might escape during ebullition, the
copper kettle was
ordinarily supplied
with a lateral pipe
to conduct the over-
flow to a safe dis-
tance. Fig. 59.
For the purpose
of carrying on sev-
eral distilla-
tions on the
same fire, the
so-called dis-
tillinghearths
(Fig. 60) were
devised, con-
structed of
baked or sun-
dried brick.
Thesehearths
were divided
into an upper
and a lower
compartment
by means of a
grate. In the
Fig. 61.
COPPEL HEARTH.
lower part was an opening for the removal of the ashes, and t
for allowing air to reach the fuel above the grate. The fuel
was introduced through an opening in the centre of the iron
plate covering the stove. The smoke escaped through holes left
at the corners. To regulate the fire, some of these holes were
closed by means of earthen plugs. The iron plate was partially
covered by tiles, leaving open spaces at intervals that were filled
up with sand, upon which the distilling vessels were placed.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
In Fig. 60 we see four distilling pans placed in these sand-
baths, and surmounted by the tall condensing caps spoken of in a
former chapter. To utilize one fire to the utmost, these hearths
were made of large dimensions, frequently with ten to thirty
coppels. These coppels were not made of copper, as in the case
of the water-bath described above, but of clay, on account of its
greater cheapness and resistance to fire. Fig. 61 shows us one
of these coppel hearths with thirteen stills covered by alembics.
When the process of distillation was begun a receiver was, of
course, attached to the beak of each alembic, as shown in con-
Fig. 62.
DISTILLING SCENE, A. D. 1597.
nection with two of them in the illustration. These coppel
hearths somewhat resemble the galley stoves of our chemical
factories ; the latter being so named from the fact, that when
fully equipped with retorts, their appearance calls to mind the
row of oars protruding from a galley. In Fig. 62, which is taken
from " The New Medicine Book," by Jacob Theodor Tabernse-
montanus, published at Neustadt in 1592, is seen a distilling
apparatus, set up in a garden. In this case the hearth is arranged
terrace-like. From a description of the process we learn, that
"Numerous copper or earthen vessels are placed upon the
Early Chemico-Pharmacal Fire- Places and Stoves. 101
hearth ; they are then filled with the fresh comminuted herbs,
which have been saturated with water or wine. Over each vessel
is turned a beaked cap, and the small vessels receive the water
as it drops from the beaks."
Fig. 63.
DISTILLING STOVE, A. D. 1586.
In the "Herb-Book" of Matthiolus, published in 1586, a
somewhat similar stove is pictured and described, Fig. 63, in
which the vessels placed on the stove, as in the preceding
picture, are superseded by the tiles themselves, made in imita-
tion of jars, as is plainly seen in the two upper rows depicted
in Fig. 63. Matthiolus, in describing this stove, says it "is
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
extensively used at Venice. The distillation proceeds quickly
and satisfactorily, for in twenty-four hours it will distil over 100
pounds of water. The stove is built round, and is made by a
potter, just as he would any other tile stove or hearth that we
Fig. 64.
ALTHANOR DISTILLING STOVE.
use in our homes. The hollow tiles encircle the stove in a num-
ber of layers, and are glazed and shaped almost like urinal
glasses. These tiles are capped by glass distilling helms, which
are simply turned over them. The receivers are attached to the
beaks, and held in place by strings that are tied to the knob on
the helm. Now, when one wishes to distil, a fire is started in the
Early Chemico-Pharmacal Fire-Places and Stoves.
103
stove, but the plants or flowers are not yet put into the tile vessels,
for the excessive heat would destroy their properties. It is,
therefore, better to wait until the maximum heat has subsided.
Then, when the stove is reasonably hot, it is closed tightly, so
that it may retain an equable temperature as long as possible.
Now you may introduce the plants and flowers into the cavities,
turn the glass helms over them, and allow the distillation to pro-
ceed. The resulting distillate will be much finer than that
obtained by means of zinc vessels."
Fig. 65.
"WIND" DISTILLING STOVE.
For tedious and protracted fire operations the so-called lazy
"Heintz"* or "Althanor" (from aSavaro?, everlasting, immor-
tal) was the most desirable and serviceable heating apparatus.
The distinguishing feature of this stove was a tall pipe, Fig. 64,
closed at the top by a cover, containing the fuel, which, as in
the modern American stoves, gradually found its way down to
the grate to take the place of the fuel consumed. These hearths
were usually supplied with three or four coppels, and each of
these with its own fire-place, which was connected with the pipe
*A corruption of the word " Heinrich."
IO4 History of Ancient Pharmacy,
furnishing the fuel. Each fire-place had an opening, controlled
by a register, for the escape of the smoke. By the manipulation
of these registers and the closing of the ash-ports the fire was
regulated. For the distillation of many pharmaceutical prepara-
tions the highest degree of temperature, consistent with complete
control over the operation, was required. To effect this it was
found necessary to be able to regulate the supply of air. These
features were embodied in greatest perfection in the " Wind-
stove," Fig. 65.. A powerful draught was established by means
Fig. 66.
DISTILLING APPARATUS.
of a stove-pipe, as at the present day. The pipe served for the
introduction of fuel and for the escape of the smoke. The fire-
place could be shut off from the flue by these registers, and in
addition the draft could be entirely suppressed by means of a
cover on the pipe, so that the fire was at all time under absolute
control. To utilize the great amount of heat constantly going
to waste, Brunschwyck describes a device, Fig. 66, which, on.
account of its complicated nature, was probably not often
resorted to, and should rather be classed with the other numer-
ous technical playthings of the Middle Ages. It consisted in.
extending the stove-pipe to an upper floor in the house, and
then guiding it through a wooden tub filled with water. The
Early Chemico-Pharmacal Fire- Places and Stoves. 105
pipe imparted enough heat to the water to make this available
for digestion and the distillation of very volatile substances.
For creating an intense heat to melt metals, without resorting to
a blast, Brunschwyck describes a stove constructed on the same
plan as the modern wind-stove. But while the modern wind-
stove usually consists of a sheet-iron mantel, lined with fire-
proof cement, the Middle Age stove, as seen in Fig. 67, is con-
Fig. 67.
MIDDLE AGE STOVE.
structed of wedge-shaped tiles, like those now frequently used in
the construction of wells and chimneys. As in the modern stove,
the interior was divided by a grate, underneath which, in the
walls of the stove, numerous air holes were left. The fuel con-
sisted of wood or charcoal, and the metal to be melted was
packed into a crucible and placed in the fire.
Since in many instances the proximity of the fire proved to
be a disturbing element in the calcinating and melting processes,
a stove was desired in which the substance could be subjected to a
io6
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
high degree of heat without bringing it in contact with the flame.
One of these stoves, known as a " reverberatory" furnace, is
shown in Figure 68. At the junction of the lower with the mid-
dle third is a grate for the support of the fire. The substance to
be operated upon were placed in a separate chamber, against
which the flames were directed, and upon which, by a special
flue arrangement, they were deflected or reverberated on passing
from the fire-chamber to the chimney. Brunschwyck recom-
J I I 1 j_
I
Fig. 68.
REVERBERATORY FURNACE.
mends this stove for making gold powder, which, according to
his method, was effected by melting together gold and mercury,
triturating the amalgam and then driving out the mercury by
heating the compound in the reverberatory furnace. These stoves
naturally found more application in metallurgical processes than
in pharmacal manipulations.
Besides enumerating tan-bark, wood and charcoal, Ryff, in
1567, also mentions mineral coal for fuel, which he declares to
be of inestimable value to alchemists. He draws a comparison
between the living heat produced by these substances, and the
artificial heat by which the activity of nature is imitated, which
latter in the interior of the earth heats the waters that rise to the
Early Chemico-Pharmacal Fire-Places and Stoves. 107
surface, and furnish us with the wonderful natural springs for the
cure of disease. " To imitate this heat," he says, " take one part
of fresh, hot unslaked lime, one-half part sulphur, one-quarter
part saltpetre and one-eighth part nice clean alum. Powder each
ingredient separately and promptly mix them. Put them into a
brass globe, which is then closed, so as to insure the contents
against the action of air and water. It is then placed in a tub
of water. The steam from the warm lime will attach itself to
the inner wall of the globe, and will be resolved into drops by
the action of the cold water on the outside of the globe, which
drops, in their turn, will be attracted by the alum. This mois-
ture, with the inherent moisture of the alum, will cause the latter
to melt, whereupon the lime will become very hot and burn. To
maintain its ardor the saltpetre has been added to furnish it with
air, and the sulphur to supply it with nourishment, without which
two conditions no fire can be maintained. If you prepare this
self-heating globe with scrupulous care, you may derive great
benefit from it, for if you make it large enough you can heat a
large tub of water with it, and thus secure a kind of natural heat-
ing bath, similar to the hot springs."
Ancient $0armacopoeiac.
Fig. 69.
(From Title-page of Pharmacopoeia of 1666).
(109)
" O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies,
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities!
For nought so vile that on the earth doth live,
But to the earth some special good doth give."
ROMEO AND JULIET,
m*.
Ancient Pharmacopoeias.
that the cuneiform inscriptions con-
tain formularies corresponding, in some respects,
to the modern idea of a Pharmacopoeia, the earli-
est collection of formulas, showing evidence of
supervision over drugs, was the " Prayogamrita '"
of Vardy-achin-tamani, a Sanscrit work. The " Compositiones
Medica " of Scribonius Longus, written 42 A. D., is evidence of
a Roman attempt to fix some standard.
About 900 A. D. appeared the "Ibdal," an Arabian book of
formulas, which gave directions as to the preparation of drugs.
Under the influence of this Arabic training, the school founded
at Salerno in the seventh century, with an academy founded at
Naples in the eleventh century, long maintained an enviable
reputation. Through the influence of these schools, drug-stores,
called " Stationares," were established throughout Italy. In the
first medical ordinance for Naples and Sicily, under Frederic 11^
the apothecaries were directed to be governed by the " Antido-
tarium " of Nicolaus, the superintendent of the medical school
at Salerno. This Dispensatory contains about one hundred and
fifty galenical preparations, alphabetically arranged, and gives a
description of their medicinal properties, with directions for
administration. This work, with the medical works of Avicenna r
Serapion, Scribonius and others, formed a nucleus for more elab-
orate productions in the interest of the Apothecaries Guild.
A " formulary " of the eleventh century, now in the archives
of Piedmont, is devoted, first, to receipts for making good ink
and illuminative parchment. The vegetable remedies enumer-
(ni)
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
ated include aloes, camphor, cassia, lettuce, opium, rue, linseed,
mustard, etc. The formulary is largely based on the work of
Lucius Apuleius Platonicus on the virtue of herbs.
The Antidotarium of Myrepsius was the authority in the
thirteenth century. The " Antidotarium Magnum seu Dispensa-
torium ad Aromatorios," extensively used in Italy, was published
at Florence in 1498. These Italian works were long recognized
as the chief authorities elsewhere. The study of the science in
Italy gave an impetus to science all over Europe.
The sixteenth century was marked by the appearance of a
number of pharmacopoeias in the modern sense of the term.
The Latin countries first began to exhibit evidences of an inde-
pendence of the Italian yoke, for in 1543, Lyons established and
published the " Pharmacopeia Lugdensis."* In southern Ger-
many the sixteenth century was the golden era. The arts and
sciences were being cultivated by men like Diirer, Vischer and
Krafft. The reformatory spirit of the age was shown in the field
of medicine, by the enactment of rational medical laws. Apoth-
ecaries' ordinances, dating from the earliest days of the century,
were supplemented by one enacted in 1529 by the Nuremburg
Senate, which, among other things, fixed methods for the prepa-
ration of m'edicines. One extract reads :
All the Laxativa, such as Electuaria and Pillulae, must be prepared and
dispensed by the druggists in accordance with the directions in the book known
as the Luminare majus. To avoid any error or oversight in the preparation of
these Laxativa, and to insure even preparations by all druggists, these Laxativa
have been carefully copied fron\,the Luminare majus by the doctors of medicine.
Each druggist will be furnished with a copy, by which he must be guided, to the
exclusion of all other formulas.
The "Luminare majus " was a collection of formula from the
later Greek, Roman and Arabian medical works. Its author,
the Alexandrian Joh. Jac. Manlius de Bosco, added a lengthy
explanation to each formula, thus making it rather a text-book
than a pharmacopoeia. Strictly speaking, only one of the works
hitherto mentioned deserves the title of pharmacopoeia, as they
were more like the ancient Egyptian formularies deciphered by
Ebers, and the Assyrian translated by Sayce. All, however, are
of value in tracing the evolution of the pharmacopoeia.
* Rice, Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences.
Ancient Pharmacopoeias. 113
The first work corresponding to the modern idea of a phar-
macopoeia, which received legal sanction in Europe, was the
result of the labors of Valerius Cordus. This " Pharmacorum
Conficiendorum Ratio, Vulgo Vocant Dispensatorium," was pub-
lished without a date by John Petreyers at Nuremburg. Its.
author was born February 18, 1515,31 Simtshausen, in Hesse.
His father, Enricius Cordus, was professor of medicine at Mar-
burg. Valerius and his brother entered the University very
early, and received its baccalaureate degree in 1531. Valerius
went to Wittenburg where he became a teacher. In 1543 he pro-
ceeded to Italy to study, and died at Rome, December 25, 1544.
There are many contradictory reports in historical literature
concerning his Dispensatory. The preface to the first edition
states that "Valerius Cordus, the son of Enrich Cordus, while on
his journey to Italy to assuage his thirst for knowledge, stopped
at Nuremburg and was well received by its circle of learned
men." He associated particularly with the physicians who,
upon learning that he had carefully compiled a work containing
all old and new medical preparations, with many improve-
ments of his own, and that this book had been introduced in
manuscript form in a number of cities in Saxony, requested him
to furnish a copy for the Nuremburg druggists. Valerius, doubt-
ing that they would adopt his formulas without legal sanction,,
turned over his manuscript to the Senate for examination and
approval. The Senate accepted it with thanks, and appointed
a committee of physicians to investigate the formulas, so that in
case changes were found necessary they could be made with the
approval of thq author. This committee declared it to be the
best and most complete work of the kind extant. The Senate
ordered it printed, and directed all druggists to-- prepare their
medicines according to the directions therein laid down. The
author died in Italy before the book was printed. It was pub-
lished after his death by the High Senate of Nuremburg as " a
lasting memorial to the learned and brilliant youth, Valerius
Cordus."
The Dispensatory, which appeared in September, 1546, seems
to have created quite a sensation, for even outside of Nuremberg
it passed through numerous editions and reprints. The follow-
ing are known: One Parisian in 1548; three Lyonaise, 1552,
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
1559 and 1599; two Venetian, 1556 and 1563, and one Antwer-
pian, 1580. The book, like all scientific works of the period,
was printed in Latin. The names of the compounds were
derived, in part, from the ingredients, in part from their proper-
ties, or, finally, from the name of the author. According to the
first-mentioned method of nomenclature, a plaster which con-
tained the juice of fenugreek, linseed and marshmallow, was
called Emplastrum diachylon, "plaster with juice." A plaster
containing vinegar and saffron was called Emplastrum oxycro-
ceum, "sour saffron plaster." In the course of time these
plasters underwent changes and improvements, and the substance
to which the remedy owed its name was frequently omitted.
The modern Emplastr. diachylon contains no juices, and the
Emplastr. oxycroceum of to-day does not contain vinegar, and
but infrequently saffron.
The names of many preparations by this modification in
their preparation became problems for the philologist. The
etymological obscurity of opodeldoc, which has become pro-
verbial, is an instance. Its origin may be easily traced to the
old opodeldoc plaster of the last Nuremburg edition of the
" Dispensatorii Valerii Cordi." This does not contain any
ingredients found in modern opodeldoc, but its then chief com-
ponent parts were Opoponax, Bedellium and Aristolochi root.
The first sylable of the first word, Opo- ; the second syllable of
the second word, -del-, and the last syllable of the third word,
-loch, gives Opodelloch, as Paracelsus wrote it, which became
Opodeltoch, and finally, Opodeldoc. Simples are mentioned by
Cordus only when special manipulation is required to render
them serviceable as remedies.
The most important part of his book is a collection of receipts
by Greek, Roman and Arabian physicians, by Dioscorides, of
Sicily ; Galenus, of Pergamus ; Andromachus, the body physician
of Nero ; Rhazes, of Bagdad, " the Arabian Galen ; Avicenna
("Scheich el Reis," or "prince of physician's)"; Mesu6, the
younger, and Nicolaus Prsepositus, of Salerno. The formulary
contained chiefly substances derived from the vegetable and
animal kingdoms. The compounds were of a class known as
Galenical preparations from the noted Roman physician, Clau-
dius Galenus, who placed great faith in complex compounds.
Ancient Pharmacopc
The heterogeneous character of the innumerable ingredients of
many of those compounds impress the modern mind with the
idea that human life must have been greatly endangered by such
remedies. It is easy to believe that Shakespere, a master in
combining poetical fancy with devotion to fact, must have been
acquainted with Cordus' work, for many of the latter's com-
pounds recall the witch's broth in " Macbeth " :
" Round about the cauldron go ;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter' d venom, sleeping got,
Boil them first i' the charmed pot.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake ;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin' d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd i' the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab :
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
' For the ingredients of our cauldron."
The preparations in Cordus' Dispensatory are divided into
Aromatics, Opiates, Confections, Conserves, Purges, Pills, Syr-
ups, Electuaries, Plasters, Cerates, Troches, Salves and Oils.
There are additional directions for some few simples. Antidotes
and disinfectants, classed with the opiates, appear to have been
the main remedies in the time of Cordus. The principal repre-
sentatives of these were the two electuaries, " Theriac " and
" Mithridat." Both were originally intended as antidotes, but at
n6 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
a later day fallen into repute as remedies for contagious
diseases.
Mithridat was a compound originally invented by Mith-
ridates Eupator, King of Pontus, who lived in constant fear
of poison, and studieoj toxicology by testing poisons on crimi-
nals, and taking poisons and their antidotes himself every
day in the year. His system became so accustomed to the
poisons, that when, on the day of his defeat by Pompey, he
attempted to poison himself to avoid capture, the poison failed,
and he ordered one of his soldiers to kill him. Among the
papers of the defeated king, Pompey found the receipt for this
electuary, which had a great reputation. This receipt, and other
medical manuscripts found with the body, were translated by
Pompey's freedman, the grammarian, Lenseus, into Latin. Thus,
as Pliny* says, "Pompey benefited society no less than the state
by his victory."
Originally the receipt for Mithridat was not very complicated,
but was improved upon by Damocrates, the body physician of
Nero. This improved formula, containing fifty-five ingredients,
is introduced by Cordus in his Dispensatory. Andromachus,
another body physician of Nero, still further improved upon the
formula and increased its ingredients.
One of his principal additions was the flesh of snakes, whence
the name Teriac or Theriac, from the snake " Tyrus." He con-
secrated this electuary to his royal protege in a poem, enumerating
all its ingredients, which Galen has preserved. This " Theriac "
of Andromachus was introduced in all dispensatories, and was
to be found in the Pharmacopoeia Germanica of 1882 ; although
the sixty-four ingredients given in the Dispensatory of Cordus,
had dwindled to twelve. Theriac apparently occupied an im-
portant position in medicine down to the present century.
Brunschwyck, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, writes :
" When Theriac is to be made, each of its component parts
should be exposed for at least two months in a public place, as
at Venice, so that the wise men and doctors may inspect them,
and determine whether or not they are fit for use."
Figure 70, from Brunschwyck's " Book for the Distillation
of Composite Things," depicts a public display of vessels con-
' C. Plinius.. Natural History, Vol. 25, Ch. 3.
Ancient ' Pharmacopoeias. 117
taining the ingredients of Theriac. The two human figures
represent a doctor and a druggist. The two banners at the
corners of the table are decorated with Venetian lions, since
Venetian Theriac had the greatest reputation. As the display
lasted several months, it certainly did not take place in the open
air, and the object of the illustration in placing the table on the
street, was to convey the idea that it was a public affair. In
Fig. 7-
Germany, Theriac was prepared under official supervision ; the
Nuremburg apothecaries' ordinance provides that "no Theriac
shall in future be branded with the seal of the city unless it have
been previously examined and declared worthy of the same by
the doctors of medicine : every druggist must know the age of
the Theriac he sells. Inasmuch as its action changes very
materially with age, the buyer should in all instances be informed
of this, so that he may not be deceived." From the publicity
u8 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
given the matter, the preparation of Theriac soon grew to be a
state festival. The last public preparation of Theriac took place
at Nuremberg in 1754. Since then it has gradually lost ground,
and this Nestor of medicines now pines out its existence in out-
of-the-way corners of a few antiquated pharmacies, where some
spider has kindly spun a veil of mourning around it. " Sic tran-
sit gloria mundi." Even simples were obtained, according to
the methods of Cordus, by very complicated procedures. To
prepare goafs-blood, formerly officinal, the druggist was obliged
to feed a middle-aged buck, for one month, on celery, parsley
and other Umbelliferae, slaughter him in early summer when the
sun was in the Tropic of Cancer, and dry the blood in an oven.
As the Dispensatory of Cordus was based entirely on the
Galenico-Arabian school, the quinta essentia, tinctures, extracts
and chemicals were wanting. Distillation is briefly referred to
in connection with a a few ethereal oils. The distilled waters
are omitted, not because they were not used, but because they
were already so well known that, with the simples, they could be
disregarded. As the pharmacist had, in a great measure, to
depend on foreign drugs, not always obtainable, because of
defective methods of communication, he was tempted to practice
substitution. The custom of substitution advocated by Galen
became so general in the Middle Ages that it was found expedient
to designate the proper succedanea. In an appendix to the
Cordus Dispensatory, under the heading, "De Succedaneis
Quid pro Quo," the Parisian physician enumerates the following
substitutes : " For the winter cherry, take common nightshade ;
for^ colocynth, take castor beans ; for oil of laurel, take tar ; for
storax, take castor ; for ginger, take pellitory root." The substi-
tutes do not always possess the same properties as the drugs that
they supplant. This custom probably had bad results.
In the 1592 edition of the Cordic Dispensatory edited by the
Collegii Medici, American drugs are introduced, among them
sarsaparilla and sassafras. Oddly enough guaiac, which was
administered to Ulric von Hutten, who died of syphilis, is not
mentioned in this edition. Another American drug was tobacco,
used in skin diseases. Among the chemicals are found the
natural salts, alum, borax, saltpetre, etc. ; and a number of Sales
arteficiosi. These latter, sal absinthii, sal alkekengi, sal tartari,
Ancient Pharmacopoeias. ng
etc., are derived from the ash of plants and other substances,
and consisted, in nearly every instance, of potash carbonate,
while their name merely indicated the source whence they were
derived. The artificial metallic salts, advocated by Paracelsus,
are wanting in this edition. By the medical laws of 1592, attached
to this Dispensatory, doctors and barbers are forbidden the use
of the Paracelsian salts, such as Turpethum minerale, Mercurius
praecipitatus, and Aurum vitae.
A chapter on extracts and distilled waters was also incorpo-
rated. Plants and animals are pressed into service for this pur-
pose. Aqua caponis and Aqua pullorum, "distillates of capon
and pullet," are recommended as strengthening draughts and
for inflammatory chest diseases. The 1598 edition of the
Dispensatory, edited by the Collegii Medici, mentions among
American drugs guaiac wood and white jalap (Radix mechoa-
cannae) now obsolete. To secure remedies from the animal
kingdom the druggist was compelled to war with numerous
animals ; he was called upon to furnish " Epar lupi," or Wolf-
liver ; " Pulmo vulpis," fox lung. This still survives in the
name of a syrup which contains no fox lung ; " Cervi os de
corde," deer spine ; " Gallinarum stomachorum interiores pel-
liculae," inner membrane of a chicken stomach, which still
survives in " ingluvin ;" " Lana succida," sheep's wool ; "Lucii
mandibula," the toothed jaw of a pike; " Pili leporis" and
" Talus leporis," rabbit hair and foot, still used by negroes ;
"Grsecum album," white excrement of a dog; "Lapis fellus
bovini," gallstones of an ox, still used in the shape of ox-gall ;
swallows, sparrows, scorpions and centipedes were burned to
ashes before being admitted into the kingdom of ^Esculapius
under the names of ." Hirundines ustse," " Passeres troglody-
tides," " Scorpiones," etc. Fat from every animal had to be
procured. The sixteenth century pharmacist must have re-
garded with envious eye his plump fellow being, for he was also
asked to keep in stock " poor sinner's fat," " Adeps hominis."
" Cranium humanum," and " Oleum ossium humanorum " were
also highly prized medicines. In this edition of the Dispensa-
tary some of the more powerful metallic salts are introduced,
such as white arsenic, the red and yellow arsenic sulphides, red
precipitate, and corrosive sublimate. Of the mineral acids, sul-
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
phuric acid alone is mentioned. On the whole, the sixteenth
century materia medica, as represented by the pharmacal body
corporate, was comparatively refined. Cordus' Dispensatory
contains comparatively few of the disgusting remedies in use in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the mere suggestion
of which shocks modern taste.
Many of the larger German cities introduced pharmacopoeias
of their own in the sixteenth century. Thus, in 1564, the " Phar-
macopoeia sen Medicamentarium pro Republica Augustana,"
was published at Augsburg, edited by the physician, Adolf Occo.
In 1565 the Pharmacopoeia of the City of Cologne was issued.
A pharmacopoeia was also published at Basel, by Dr. Foes, in
the year 1561.
The sixteenth century was quite prolific in pharmacopoeias.
One was published at Mantua, Italy, in 1559, and one at Ber-
gamo, in 1580. In Spain, the University town of Salamanca
caught the spirit of the age by publishing a Pharmacopoeia in
1588. These all bore some resemblance to the work of Cordus,
which was but natural, since all bore traces of the Italian
influence.
In the seventeenth century (1601), Spain, at the Great Univer-
sity of Salamanca, published the first new Pharmacopoeia. In
this century the influence of the separation of the apotheca-
ries from the grocers in England, was shown in the necessity
felt for some official standard, whence came the first English
Pharmacopoeia, the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, published in
1618. Subsequent editions of this work were published in 1650,
1677, 1721 and 1746. The early English pharmacopoeias were
largely compilations from the works of Mesue, Nicolaus, and
authors of this class, even as late as 1721.
The College of Physicians, in the preface to their 1746 edition
of the Pharmacopoeia, declare that " it is certainly a disgrace
and just reproach if pharmacy should any longer abound with
these inartificial and irregular mixtures, which the ignorance of
the first ages introduced, and the perpetual fear and jealousies
enforced ; against which the ancients endlessly busied themselves
in the search of antidotes, which, for the most part, they super-
stitiously and dotingly derived from oracles, dreams and astro-
logical fancies ; and, vainly hoping to frame compositions that
Ancient Pharmacopoeias.
might surely prevail against every species of poison, they
amassed together whatever they had imagined to be endowed
with alexipharmic powers. By this procedure the simplicity of
physic was lost, and a wantonness in mixing, enlarging and
accumulating took place, which has continued even to our own
time." The Lyons Pharmacopoeia long remained without a
French competitor, for the first Pharmacopoeia issued at Paris
appeared in 1637. This was republished in 1639 as a Codex.
Burdigal published its own Pharmacopoeia in 1643 ; Toulons
followed its example in 1648, and Valenciennes in 1651.
In the Netherlands, each of the prominent cities issuepl its
own Pharmacopoeia ; Amsterdam in 1636 ; Leyden in 1638 ;
Brussels in 1639 ; Lille in 1640 ; Gand and The Hague in 1652 ;
Utrecht and Louvaine in 1656 ; and Antwerp in 1661.
A pharmacopoeia also appeared at Stralsund in 1645. The
first Danish pharmacopoeia, the " Pharmacopoeia Hofmensis,"
was published in 1658.
In 1666, the fifth and last edition of the Cordic Dispensatory
left the press. On the title-page of this edition is the copper-
print reproduced on the first page of this chapter, Fig. 69.
The lower part furnishes a birds-eye view of Nuremburg, while
above and suspended in the clouds is seen a disciple of ^scul-
apius, mounted on a dragon, and directing four fiery steeds.
Materia medica had undergone a great change since the preced-
ing edition (1612) was issued. The list of remedies of animal
origin was greatly augmented, and excrementitious substances
were given special prominence. Medical cannibalism also
increased in an alarming degree. Belts of human skin and
woman butter enter upon the scene ; boy's urine, distilled with
Hungarian vitriol, produced the Spiritus antipilepticus, an empy-
reumatic distillate employed in epilepsy. After the same formula
Spiritus calvariae humanae and Spiritus ossium humanorum were
prepared. Besides these disgusting remedies, whose adoption
does not redound to the glory of medicine in the seventeenth
century, many useful remedies were also introduced, which have
retained their reputation to the present day. Cinchona is men-
tioned for the first time. Among American drugs still in use,
Jalap, Peru and Tolu balsam are added. The tinctures and
essences recommended bv Paracelsus, and the number of
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
" Salia " and " Chymica," have also been multiplied. Ammonia
carbonate, mixed with a variety of empyreumatic substances,
comes in for its share of attention under the names of " Sal vola-
tile cranii humani," " cornu cervi," " succini," " viperarum " and
"urinae." "Sal jovis" is prepared by dissolving zinc-ash, and
" Sal saturni " by dissolving red lead in vinegar." " Mercurius
prjecipitatus albus " is prepared by dissolving mercury in nitric
acid, and the adding to this a solution of sodium chloride. The
resulting precipitate is a mild mercury chloride, identical with
our white precipitate. Antimony, although not mentioned in
this Dispensatory, had found a wide application in medicine.
Antimony goblets were in use in the seventeenth century in.
convents. Monks addicted to wine were compelled to use these
goblets. When the wine remained in contact with the metal for
a brief period, it dissolved the antimony, forming a wine of
antimony, which nauseated, and was said to have created an
aversion to the favorite drink. The everlasting pills, " Pillulae
perpetuse," of our forefathers, were also made of the metallic
antimony. These were handed down from generation to genera-
tion as a precious heirloom, for, as a contemporaneous writer
says : " Though they may have passed through the system an
hundred times, they will always purge, and one will scarcely
notice any diminution in their size."
In the 1666 edition of the Cordic Dispensatory so many
chemicals, extracts and tinctures are mentioned, together with
the old galenical formulas, that it may properly be called a
representative work of the medical era foreshadowed by Para-
celsus. With the exception of the alkaloids (not discovered until
the nineteenth century) it contains all classes of remedies found
in modern pharmacopoeias. The first Swedish pharmacopoeia >
"The Pharmacopoeia Holmensis," appeared in 1686.
The first Prussian pharmacal standard was the " Dispensa-
torum Brandenburgii," issued in 1698. Toward the close of the
seventeenth century Spain published Pharmacopoeias at Barce-
lona in 1686, and at Saragossa in 1698. The first Swiss Pharma-
copoeia, "The Pharmacopoeia Helvetiorum," appeared in 1677.
Haarlem, in Holland, issued a Pharmacopoeia in 1693. The
eighteenth century saw several new Pharmacopoeias issued. The
first Austrian Pharmacopoeia was issued in 1739, and w *s revised
Ancient Pharmacopoeias. 123
by StOrck in 1774. The first Bohemian Pharmacopoeia appeared
at Prague in 1739. Even Persia issued one in 1771, the
" Makzan el Adwyn."
Dort, in Holland, issued one in 1708, and Almeria, in Spain,
one in 1724.
In consequence of the efforts of Dr. Tilton, of Delaware, to
reform the commissary department of Washington's Army, the
first American Pharmacopoeia was published at Philadelphia in
1778.
Not until the troubles of 1789 had quieted down did the first
Irish Pharmacopoeia appear in 1794.
As an illustration of the character of English Dispensatories
in the eighteenth century the following formula is cited from
the "Pharmacopoeia Officinalis Extemporanea " or "Complete
English Dispensatory," London, 1741.
Vinum Millepedum (Hog-Lice Wine). Take hog-lice, half a pound, put
them alive into two pounds of white port wine, and after some days' infusion
strain and press out very hard ; then put in saffron -.wo drachms, salt of steel
one drachm, and salt of amber two scruples, and after three or four days strain
and filter for use. This is an admirable medicine against the jaundice, dropsy
or any cachectic habit. It greatly deterges all the viscera, and throws off a
great deal of superfluous humors by urine. It may be given twice a day, two
ounces at a time.
Qttefcicaf
Fig. 71.
DEMONS OF DISEASE.
(From a book published A. D. i
(125)
Now the magic fire prepare,
And from graves uprooted tear
Trees, whose horrors gloomy spread
Round the mansions of the dead ;
Bring the eggs and plumage foul
Of a midnight shrieking owl.
Be they well besmeared with blood
Of the blackest venom'd toad ;
From their various climates bring
Every herb that taints the spring ;
Then into the charm be thrown,
Snatch'd from famished bitch, a bone ;
Burn them all with magic flame
Kindled first by Colchian dame."
HORACE (Ode V, Book V).
(126)
(Time.
Icdicnl Superstition.
, the sponsor for miracle, and half-
brother of faith, in the early centuries so dominated
all fields of human endeavor, that it would be a
difficult matter to name a science under whose
cloak it has not practiced its wild pranks. The
exact science of astronomy lay hidden in astrology, which reared
a numerous progeny of augurs, soothsayers and interpreters of
dreams. It was parent to the many simpletons who, misled by
alchemy, endeavored, with the aid of the " philosopher's stone,"
to turn everything into gold, and make man immortal. Religious
superstitions gave birth to sorcery, to apparitions, hobgoblins and
phantoms ; and prompted the interpreters of human laws to
institute the abominable ordeals of fire and water, subsequently
eclipsed in cruelty by the witchcraft laws. It is not astonishing
that superstition should have usurped a seat and secured even
legal -recognition in the domain of medicine, when its fetich tic
origin is remembered. The medical literature of the ( Middle
Ages shows that many devotees of the art of healing exerted the
ignoble skill of swimming with the' tide of superstition, and of
subordinating their profession to its mandates.
Medical superstition was largely based on certain views as to
the nature of disease. Before man had accustomed himself to
look for cause and effect in the domain of nature, and before
physiology had cleared up the secrets of the mechanical pro-
cesses associated with life, the cause of disease was sought for,
not in the degenerative changes and perverted tissue metamor-
phosis of the body itself, but in the influence of some external
(127)
J2 8 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
evil agent, promptly personified, in accordance with the custom
of early man, when he could find no other explanation for natural
mutations affecting his well-being. A higher power, a demon
under the guise of disease, took possession of its victim. This
view of disease was not only almost universally accepted by the
illiterate classes, but was so firmly rooted in the minds of learned
physicians that traces of it a/e detectable in medical works of
the eighteenth century. An eminent professor of Medical Juris-
prudence in an American college, displayed decided traces of
these old superstitions when, in October, 1888, he publicly
stated that insanity of the sexual perversion type was an evi-
dence of demoniacal possession. Certain outcast clergymen
reap a golden harvest by pretending to exorcise the insane in
the larger cities of the United States. With these facts in mind,
it is not surprising that in the Middle Ages, mental diseases,
epilepsy and nightmare were, without hesitation, declared to be
due to visitations of ghosts and spirits.
Brunschwyck's " Book for Distilling Composite Things " has
a chapter entitled "A Good Water to Drive out Demons and
Demonic Spirits," which is introduced by a picture of a number
of these diabolical monsters (Figure 71). When forced to con-
tend with such conceptions, the efforts of the healing art were
necessarily directed along different channels than at the present
day, and consisted in great part of banishing and warding off
the encroachments of these demons of disease. The most
varied means were adopted to accomplish this end. Talismen
and amulets were much in favor. These means of protection,
still employed by some people, were formerly extensively pre-
scribed by physicians. As late as 1731 the " Dispensatorium
Regium Electorate Borusso-Brandenburgicum " contains a for-
mula for an amulet to ward off the plague, the terror of the
Middle Ages. This formula seems rather to have originated in
a witch's-kitchen than in the august College of Physicians of the
youthful Prussian kingdom. The following is the formula, from
a Pharmacopoeia one hundred and fifty years old :
" Helmonfs Amulet for the Plague. Although some may dis-
parage the virtues of this remedy, it has nevertheless proven its
efficacy in many instances, particularly during the war between
the imperialists and rebels in Hungary, where the plague raged
Medical Superstition.
129
in a terrible manner. It gained such a reputation throughout
the country that all barbers and blear-eyed witches ' are already
acquainted with its virtues. It is prepared in the following man-
ner : Large, old frogs, caught in the month of June, are hung
up by their hind legs over a dish covered with wax, which has
been placed over a moderate fire. After a few days the frogs
discharge horrible fumes and slaver, which attract every kind
of worms and flies. These stick to the wax, and add their own
drivel to the mess. When the frogs are dead, roast and mix
them with the carefully preserved mixture of wax and drivel,
and shape this compound into small rolls, or imitate the shapes
of frogs. One of these is sewn into a cloth, and worn in the
region of the heart, suspended by a silk thread around the neck.
The longer one wears these the more certainly will he be pro-
tected from the ravages of the plague."
The "Corpus Pharmaceutico-Chymico-Medicum Universale,"
of Joh. H. Junkens, published in 1697, contains a still richer
collection of similar formulas. The supposition was, that disease
entertained the same dislike for these disgusting and nauseating
substances as the human being, and the wearer of them, there-
fore, had nothing to fear from the demons of disease. It is for
this reason that the component parts of many amulets are not of
very delicate nature. For epistaxis, Junkens, in his " Univer-
sal Pharmacopoeia," recommends the following compound under
the euphonious name of " Sacculus pro amuleto in hsemorrhagia
narium Senneri." "A small bag of red silk, filled with frog's ash,
moss from a human skull, sea beans, frog's-root, etc., is worn
suspended from the neck by a silken thread." The moss from
human skull, " Usnea cranii humani," was either Parmelia saxatilis
or Parmelia omphalodes. Lemery, in the " Cours de Chimie,"
published in 1675, says of it: "When the skulls have been
exposed to the air for many years, a kind of green moss grows
upon them which is called Usne. It is imported from Ireland,
where it is customary to allow executed criminals to hang on
posts in the field until they drop oft" piecemeal. After the skin
and meat have disappeared, the moss develops on the skull. It
is very astringent, and stops bleeding when applied externally.
Taken internally it is also good for epilepsy, for it contains an
abundance of volatile cranial salts."
130 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Sea beans are the lids of a certain snail's shell (Turbo cochlus,
rugosus, etc). The shells were worn as amulets for epistaxis,
used as a vermifuge and diuretic, and applied to the abdomen in
colic. Oswald Troll, in his " Basilica Chymica," gives minute
directions for preparing amulets, as follows :
Zenexton seu Xenzethon Paracelsi. First you have an instrument made for
modeling tablettes that shall weigh \y 2 drachms each. This instrument is to
consist of three parts, (i) An upper plate engraved with a seal, embodying a
snake. (2) A lower part made in the shape of an anvil, with a scorpion engraved
on the upper surface ; and (3) a ring to retain the mass when it is compressed
between the upper and lower pieces. The instrument should be made at a time
when sun and moon enter the sign of the scorpion. The tablettes should also be
made at this time, or, at least, when the moon enters the sign of the scorpion ;
foiin this manner the things on high and those of the lower regions are married
by a sympathetic and inseparable union. These amulets or constellated tablettes
are composed of
*' 2 ounces dried frogs.
Zenith juvencularurn (Sanguinis menstrui primi), as much as you can secure.
Yt ounce white or red arsenic.
3 drachms tormentilla.
1 drachm pearls (that have not been perforated).
J drachm each of corals, hyacinths and -emeralds.
2 scruples of oriental saffron.
To please the sense of smell, a few grains of musk or ambergris may be added.
All parts are now finely powdered and made into a mass by the admixture
of tragacanth and rosewater."
The tablettes (Pentacula) are now formed at the time men-
tioned, and by the instrument described above ; or, if one prefer,
they may be made in the shape of a heart.
" Use. These Pentacula are worn between the wearing
apparel in the region of the heart. They not only fortify the
wearer against the plague, but also counteract all poisons and
nullify pernicious astral influences."
Precious stones were reputed to have power to protect from
disease, and were consequently worn for this purpose, set in gold,
silver or steel. Diamonds worn on the left arm were a protec-
tion against madness, wild animals, war, quarrels, poison and
delirium. That precious stones were quite generally pressed
into this service, is witnessed by the " Zenexton pro ditioribus
Magnatibus," the preparation of which is thus described by
Oswald Troll -.
Medical Superstition, 131
" A capsule of purest gold is made, and into it a golden tube,
whose walls are perforated by numerous openings, is securely
fastened. On one side of the capsule a brilliant sapphire is
attached, and surrounded by four frog-stones ; the other side
being similarly embellished by a large hyacinth. The capsule
is then filled with ground frogs and the best of vinegar, and the
perforated tube running through the centre of the capsule is filled
with shreds of linen, 'Quod primo virginis menstruo, quse annum
decimum quintum nondum excesserit madefacum fuit,' having a
care that the contents of the capsule and those of the tube may
come in contact by way of the openings in the latter. This
mutual contact is productive of an element of sympathy, which
in its turn is antagonistic to all poisons, as has been conclusively
proven by those who have worn this amulet during epidemics of
plague."
Incantations were used to drive out disease. The peasantry
in many parts of Europe place more confidence to-day in the
conjuring and appeasing of disease by magical agencies than in
the practices of qualified physicians. These ceremonies are
ordinarily directed by pock-marked, wrinkled, blear-eyed old
women. After repeating some traditional mystic rite, which, on
account of its mere verbal transmission, varies greatly, the Holy
Trinity is invoked, and fire drawn from a stone, by means of a
steel, three times in succession. The sick person leaves the old
hag inspired with new hope, and, since time cures many ills, the
faith in these village sibyls will not soon die out.
Healing powers were attributed not only to spoken but written
words. The words chosen for this purpose were usually entirely
meaningless, or taken from some oriental language. For the less
he comprehends their meaning the more is the patient convinced
of their deep magical significance. Where the modern physician
prescribes quinine for fever, his ancient predecessors prescribed
the simple word "Abracadabra," written on a- piece of paper,
which was swallowed by the patient, whereupon the fever was
expected to leave the body. Small triangular slips of paper, upon
which words from the Bible were written by consecrated hands,
were taken by women in difficult confinements. The belief was
current that the executioner, as the servant of death, could issue
passports for the latter, which would protect the bearer from the
History of Ancient Pharmacy,
hangman, from death and wounds. The use of these passports
with them still prevailed among the soldiery of the Thirty-years
War. The methods and notions involved in the preparation of
amulets demonstrate what a powerful factor astrology was at one
time in medicine.
The custom of casting the patient's horoscope was almost
universal during the Middle Ages. On the notion of a relation-
ship between the metals and the planets, elsewhere described, a
metal was frequently chosen as a remedy, which bore the same
name as the planet which most frequently entered the constella-
tion associated with the patient's being. At the present day,
even, many people will take a vermifuge only at the waning of
the moon. A foreboding appears to have permeated the notions
entertained in the Middle Ages, that the individual members of
creation held a certain mutual relationship to each other ; no
attempt was made to explain this interdependence by natural
laws, but the belief was accepted of a magical bond which united
all creation, and of a secret sympathy permeating all nature.
The preponderating notion that the world was created for the
exclusive benefit of man, conditioned an affinity between the
entire cosmos and the microcosm, and led to the belief that the
relationship existing between certain objects in nature and man,
could be detected either by outward similarities or by secret
signs and agencies. Such notions led medicine into strange
channels. Remedies were consequently not administered on the
principle of their action, but because of their supposed sympa-
thetic relationship to the patient or his disease. Liverwort
(Hepatica triloba) was used in liver disease, because its leaves
had the shape of that organ, and on the brown under-surface its
color. Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare), whose flower simulates
a snake's head, was of course good for snake-bite. Celandine
(Chelidonium majus) was looked upon as a present from heaven
(cceli donum), since its yellow flower and yellow sap were con-
clusive evidence that it was presented to man by the Creator to
cure jaundice. Ramson (Gladiolus communis) has sword-like
leaves, and its bulbs, covered with a net-like skin, resemble the
meshes of an armor, all of which demonstrated that Providence
had designed this plant to render man proof against the acci-
dents of the battlefield ; hence the old knights frequently carried
Medical Superstition. 133
one of these roots under their steel armor, believing that they
were thereby not only protected against wounds, but were ensured
a victory.
At the present day roots and herbs are still used in connection
with superstitious practices. Many a peasant in the Black
Forest, at Christmas-time, buys a root each of Radix victorialis
longa and Radix victorialis rotunda, and buries this pair under
the door-sill, hoping thereby to banish all witches and demons
of disease, which are prone to wander about, particularly on
Christmas eve.
The peasant of the Hartz mountains has not heard of the
modern scape-goats, the "bacteria." When his milk turns blue,
he charges this to witches. To protect his milk from them noth-
ing, in his opinion, is so effective as the blue-eyed ground ivy
(Glechoma hederacea). He winds a wreath of it, and on the
Maynight " Walpurgis' night," when the witches from all quarters
of the globe hold high carnival on the Brocken, he milks his
cows through this wreath so that his milk shall be protected for
the coming year.
It was considered an easy matter to transfer a disease to
anything with which it had a secret sympathy (an interchange-
able term for affinity and relationship). The action of the so-
called mummy or sympathetic egg, extensively employed by
Theophrastus Bombastus Paracelsus, of Hohenheim, in the six-
teenth century, and by his followers, the so-called Paracelsists,
after him, was accounted for on this notion. To prepare this
mummy an empty chicken's egg, filled with warm blood from a
healthy individual, was carefully sealed and at once placed under
a brooding hen, so that its vitality should not escape with the
decreasing temperature. After a few weeks it was placed in an
oven and subjected to heat for a length of time sufficient to bake
bread. An egg prepared in this manner was supposed to cure
every disease ; for, as the blood was supposed to be the true
seat of disease, every disease would naturally have a greater
affinity for this egg which contained blood in such a concen-
trated form. The disease being thus bound to escape to the
sympathetic- egg, it was only necessary, for a cure in a given
case, to place the egg in contact with the diseased part and sub-
sequently bury it in the earth.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Trees were supposed to be effective mediums to charm away
disease. Since Judas was believed to have hanged himself to
an elder tree, the elder was supposed to possess magical powers.
Inasmuch as the administration of an infusion of its leaves
causes diaphoresis and heat, the tea was, on the principle of
" Similia similibus curantur," credited with being in secret sym-
patfly with fevers, and would cure them if begged to do so in a
suppliant mood. For this reason, at the present day, fever
patients in North Germany repair to the elder tree, and speak
these words :
" O beloved elder tree,
Of my fever set me free ;
Since Tudas false from you did hang,
I give to you my fev'rish pang."
The patient then breaks a twig from the tree and plants it in
the ground, whereupon, if the cure progresses as it should, the
fever leaves the sufferer and follows the course of the twig into
the earth, like lightning gliding along the rod.
The price of the drug, also, is oftentimes of importance. In
north Germany seven, and in France nine, are preferred num-
bers. When a sibyl buys camphor to wear in a bag for her
rheumatism, she always buys nine-pence worth, as otherwise it
would not help. The belief was current that certain remedies
could cure a patient in absentia. One celebrated remedy of this
kind was the wonderful weapon salve of Paracelsus, which con-
sisted of boar's and bear's fat, rain-worms, hog's-brain, yellow
sandal, mummy, bloodstone and moss from the skull of a hanged
criminal, which latter was to be gathered at the waxing of the
moon. The author of the formula says : " The virtues of this
salve are remarkable, for with it you can heal all kinds of
wounds, though the patient be miles away, provided you can but
secure the weapon with which the wound was inflicted. This
weapon must be greased once a day with this salve, then tied up
in a clean linen cloth and preserved in a warm locality. It
should be protected from dust and cold draughts, otherwise the
patient would experience great pain and become delirious.
Although this cure may appear supernatural, and consequently
be discountenanced by many, I can, nevertheless, assure the
reader that this is not the case, for those initiated in the natural
Medical Superstition. 135
sciences know from experience, and have proven by diligent
research, that .the cure is accomplished by means of a certain
magnetic force that emanates from the stars, and acts upon the
salve, conveying the latter's magnetic force through the air and
to the wound."
The influence exerted by astrology on medicine in those days
is again illustrated here. In Hesse, also, according to popu-
lar belief, patients were cured in absentia. In the case of a
fractured limb, particularly of an animal, the surgical magician
bandaged the broken leg of a table or chair, at the same time
repeating his magic rite. The bandaged object was not to be
interfered with for nine days, when at the expiration of this time,
not the broken table-leg, but the patient's limb, would have
re-united.
At all times man's most fervent desire has been to lift the
veil that hides from him the future. Hieronymus Bock, in his
" New Herb-Book of the Actions and Names of Herbs that
Grow in Germany," Strassburg, 1551, relates that the large gall-
nuts possess the property of disclosing whether the coming year
will be a prosperous one, or whether war will desolate or pesti-
lence rule the land. " In the month of January take a well-pre-
served gall-nut, and, on breaking it in two, you will find one of
three things, a fly, a maggot, or a spider. The fly denotes war ;
the maggot, hard times; and the spider, disease." The vegetable
excrescence known as the gall-nut is produced by the deposit of
the eggs of the insect (Cynips gallae tinctoria) in the bark and
leaves of the oak (Quercus infectoria). This causes an increased
flow of sap to these parts, and by the time the larvae have fairly
developed, they find themselves thoroughly protected by a pulpy
growth. In the course of its generative metamorphosis the larva
changes into a chrysalis, and finally into the gall insect, which
escapes from the gall-nut. As the gall-insect failed to protect its
discovery of the process of manufacturing gall-nuts, other insects,
some of them resembling a spider more than a fly, encroach upon
its prerogatives. This latter fact, coupled with the different
stages of development in which the gall-insect is found during
its generative changes, accounts for the various specimens of
animal life met with in the gall-nut.
The healing art of old was also called upon to prop up the
136 . History of Ancient Pharmacy.
memory. One remedy of this kind is the fruit of Anacardium.
" One-half ounce of this taken internally strengthens the intel-
lect, banishes forgetfulness, and is good for weakness of the brain
resulting from cold or moisture." Many of these superstitions
still persist to the present day. The "hoodoo" and the "mas-
cot " play an active part in modern life. Witchcraft trials, under
a modified form, have recently occurred in a western State ; and
the " witch doctress " is in use in Brooklyn. The old fetichtic
ideas hold their own. With respectable American college profes-
sors proclaiming their belief in demon possession ; with medical
journals containing articles advocating similar doctrines ; with
Georgia medical dreamers advocating " hairless dogs " in the
treatment of rheumatism on the " sympathy " principle ; with the
"hunchback"-touching guard against disease in full luxuriance
in an Atlantic city ; with vast industries devoted to the manu-
facture of "patent" medicines, and a popular press teeming
with their marvelous virtues, it is hardly time to boast about
general enlightenment, and acridly criticise the Middle Ages. An
age which accepts remedies prescribed by " spirits," " angels,"
etc., cannot be too tolerant of the errors -of preceding periods.
ie of &ot>e.
Thou'lt find, this drink thy blood compelling,
Each woman beautiful as Helen."
FAUST.
(138)
cy anft illnnic of COO
|HE important part which "love" plays in the drama
of life, prepares us for the discovery that men
and women, at a very early period, resorted to
magical influences for exciting the affections.
The belief existed among the older nations, as
among the lower orders to-day, that there were magical and
physical agents by means of which one person could secure
the passionate love of another. The belief in the magical
agents was a survival of the teachings of fetichism. The belief
in the physical agents arose from the influence certain drugs
were observed to exert on the mind. From the " wine which
maketh glad the heart of man," to the "grief dispelling ne-
penthe " of Homer, was but a step. Nepenthe was presented
by Helen to Telemachus at the house of Menelaus the Good,
that he might forget his sorrows. The formula for this drink
had been obtained from " Polydamnoes, wife of Thous of Egypt,
where the rich earth brings forth precious but also many
dangerous herbs." The composition of Homer's "nepenthe"
cannot now be determined, but it seems certain that the "nepen-
thes destillatoria " of Linnaeus was not its source. It has been
asserted that it was prepared from the Egyptian henbane (hyos-
cyamus datura and albus) used by the priests to appease the
evil principle. Typhon Miquel* declares that the poppy, whose
properties were known before the days of Hippocrates, corre-
sponds most to the description given of vrjitevSeS. It has been
said that it was a decoction of Indian Hemp, whose intoxicating
properties were known from a very remote period.
* Homeric Flora. (139)
I40 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Herodotus, "Father of History," says that the "Scythians
place in the ground three stakes inclining toward each other, and
fasten woolen blankets tightly over them. In the space between
the stakes is a pan filled with red-hot stones. There grows in
their country a species of hemp which resembles flax, only it is
taller and thicker. The Scythians throw the seeds of this hemp
upon the hot stones, when immediately a thick vapor arises,
more dense than in a Grecian sweat-bath. This steaming takes
the place of a bath with the Scythians, and under its influence
they give utterance to shouts of delight." Hasheesh is still
extracted from gunjah, the leaves, flowers and fruits of the female
hemp plant. This, in Mohammedan countries, takes the place of
alcoholic drinks, and was used by the " Old Man of the Moun-
tain " to transport his dupes to an imaginary paradise filled with
houris. In moderate doses it produces cheerfulness, and hence
has been used in the treatment of melancholia. The Asiatics
call it the "Exciter of Desire," the "Cementer of Friendship"
and the "Laugh Provoker." " Bang," used by the Malays as an
intoxicant, contains hasheesh. As hasheesh, bang and opium
(when smoked) produce voluptuous visions and sensations, the
conclusion was naturally drawn that these or similar agents could
produce love. The older fetichism also gave rise to the belief
in the love charm. From the two conceptions sprang the Greek
myth Circe. The traffic in charms was not so dangerous as that
in philters, which were an early source of revenue to the Greeks.
The results of this traffic were so infamous that it was forbidden
by Lycurgus and Solon, whose laws crushed out the native dealers.
Later, foreign sorceresses gained a foothold on Grecian soil.
Keramiekos, "the Potters' Quarter" of Athens, where laborers
and tradespeople dwelt, swarmed with Phrygian and Thessalian
hags who sold poisons, aphrodisiacs and love-charms. The
majority of these substances were no doubt narcotics.
In ancient times the. mandrake (Mandragora officinalis),
which grows very abundantly in Greece, enjoyed the greatest
reputation as a philter. For ages it had been reputed to have
magical properties. It is probably referred to by Homer when
speaking of the excellent remedy that Hermes gave to Odysseus
to counteract the charmed draught administered by Circe ;
"Black is its root, and milk-white its flower, Moly 'tis named by
Pharmacy and Magic of Love. 141
the gods ; For mortals 'tis difficult to dig it, but to celestials all
is possible." The black, carrot-like root, which in its lower half
frequently parts into two branches, and is beset by small hirsute
filaments, somewhat resembles the human form, whence the
name given by Pythagoras, dvSpaoitonopcpr] man-like shape.
Columella called it the " Planta semihominis" half-man plant.
altaimmatt cclmttfalcatm fraro ceMi c
Fig. 73- Fi S" 74>
MALE MANDRAKE. FEMALE MANDRAKE.
Pliny the Elder says that "overindulgence in it will cause death,
but in moderation it produces a gentle soporific effect. An in-
fusion of it is taken for snake-bite, and is given before operations
to dull the senses, for in some instances the mere smelling of it
will induce sleep." Frontinus says that Marhabel, when sent by
142
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
the Carthaginians to subdue the rebellious Africans, used this
soporific quality of mandrake to vanquish the enemy. He placed
mandrake in wine, and feigning a retreat, allowed this to fall
into the hands of the enemy who, drinking, fell into deep slum-
ber and were easily captured.
Dioscorides, Pliny, and later botanists, differentiate between
male and female plants, probably varieties of the same species.
Dioscorides calls the male "Morion," and the female, " Thrida-
cias." The " Ortus sanitatis," of 1486, has figures of two man-
drakes reproduced in figures 73 and 74.
The artist enormously exaggerated the natural appearance of
the roo s.
The King James version of the Bible says that Reuben,
gathered mandrake, and his mother, Leah, bribed
Rachel,* the favorite, with them, to permit her
to enjoy Jacob's affection.
The old chap books turned the biblical story
into the use of mandrake root, as a philter, by
Leah. It therefore gained great repute as a love
potion in the period antecedent to the "Refor-
mation." Theriac dealers and hunters carved
the roots into shapes resembling little men and
women, and often substituted the root of Bry-
onia. They then sunk grass and millet-seeds
into the head part, and buried these in moist
ground until filaments grew which resembled
hair. When dried, these figures were called
mandrakes, and were bought at a high price for
household deities. In secret they were richly
dressed, received a share of each meal, and Fig
were bathed in wine on Saturday evening. They, MANDRAKE.
like "fern-seed," had the power to confer invisibility. They
made the poor rich, healed all diseases, and made their owner
fortunate in love.
Figure 75 represents one of these mandrakes now in the
Germanic Museum at Nuremburg.
The price of the root was enhanced by the story that it grew
under the gallows of a victim of a judicial murder, and could
* Genesis xxx, 14-16.
Pharmacy and Magic of Love.
'43
only be dug at great risk to life, since that its horrible shrieks,
when drawn from the earth, might strike the hearer dead. In
gathering it the ears had to be closed with wax. One end of a rope
was tied to the root, and the other to a black dog, who perished
in pulling it out. Figure 76 (a reduced copy of a fifteenth cen-
tury picture, in the Germanic Museum), represents this procedure.
Fig. 76.
As an additional precaution, the digger blows a horn to drown
the death-dealing shrieks of the mandrake. Goethe, on one
occasion refers to this tradition :
" One twaddles and rants about the black dog,
Another prates and dotes on the mandrake."
Even Pliny speaks of the dangers associated with the digging,
of the mandrake. "Whoever would dig it must avoid having the
wind against him, and when he digs should face in the direction
of the setting sun."
144
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
Another love charm employed by the Greeks was the Thes-
salian herb " Catananche," which cannot now be identified.
The modern "Catananche coerulea" is identical with the
"Datisca cannabina " of Dioscorides. Pliny mentions Cata-
nanche very briefly, as follows : " For the purpose of exposing
this humbug, it suffices to say, that the only reason that this
plant was supposed to possess powers to charm, was because
that, upon drying, it assumed a shape somewhat resembling the
talons of a hawk." On the basis of this meagre report, some
feel justified in declaring it to be " Ornithopus compressus," or
the Astragalus pugniformis. Properties similar to those of
Catananche were ascribed to the plant "Cemos," probably the
Plantago cretica.
When these physical agents did not produce the desired
result, or when they produced grave mischief, incantations
were employed to secure the love so much coveted. Theocritus,
who lived at Syracuse 300 B. C., vividly describes these incanta-
tions in his "Sorceress." The enamored Simaetha, a maid of
Syracuse, finding herself betrayed and slighted by her beloved
Delphis, determines upon. regaining his love by charms and
incantations. For this purpose she repairs with her servant,
Thestylis, by the light of the moon, to the cross-roads between
the city and the sea. The object of their incantations is to
cause the person, on whom the charm is designed to work, to
suffer like the inanimate objects used in the ceremonial. She
begins the rite by encircling the cauldron with bands of finest
wool. She then calls upon the gentle Selene, and the repulsive
Hecate (whom Theocritus identifies with Artemis), to assist her.
Hecate, thought to be a three-headed, snake-haired and snake-
footed witch of extraordinary size, disguised in black, and
accompanied by giant dogs, wandered about at midnight, and
as she loitered about the cross-roads was called- the cross-roads
goddess. At the beginning of the incantation proper, Simaetha
spins a top, and during the incantation, whilst sacrificing the
necessary objects, she speaks the following words, in which she
discloses all the varied emotions of a rejected lover :
Pharmacy and Magic of Love.
' Where are my laurels ? and my philters, where ?
Quick bring them, Thestylis the charm prepare ;
This purple fillet round the cauldron strain,
That I with spells may prove my perjur'd swain ;
For since he rapt my door twelve days are fled,
Nor knows he whether I'm alive or dead ;
Perhaps to some new face his heart's inclined,
For love has wings, and he a changeful mind.
To the Palaestra with the morn I'll go,
And see and ask him, why he shuns me so ?
Meanwhile my charms shall work : O queen of night !
Pale moon, assist me with refulgent light ;
My imprecations I address to thee,
Great goddess, and infernal Hecatfe
Stain'd with black gore, whom even gaunt mastiffs dread,
Whene'er she haunts the mansions of the dead ;
Hail, horrid Hecatfe ! and aid me still
With Circe's power, or Perimeda's skill,
Or mad Medea's art, Restore, my charms,
My lingering Delphis to my longing arms."
' The cake's consum'd burn, Thestylis, the rest
In flames ; what frenzy has your mind possest ?
Am I your scorn, that thus you disobey,
Base maid, my strict commands ? Strew salt and say,
' Thus Delphis' bones I strew, Restore, my charms,
The perjur'd Delphis to my longing arms.' "
' Delphis inflames my bosom with desire ;
For him I burn this laurel in the fire ;
And as it fumes and crackles in the blaze,
And without ashes instantly decays,
So may the flesh of Delphis burn, My charms,
Restore the perjur'd Delphis to my arms.
1 As melts this waxen form, by fire defac'd,
So in love's flames may Myndian Delphis waste ;
And as this brazen wheel, tho' quick roll'd round,
Returns, and in its orbit still is found,
So may his love return, Restore my charms,
The lingering Delphis to my longing arms.
: I'll stew the bran, Diana's power can bow
Rough Rhadamanth, and all that's stern below,
Hark ! hark ! The village dogs ! the goddess soon
Will come the dogs terrific bay the moon
Strike, strike the sounding brass, Restore, my charms,
Restore false Delphis to my longing arms.
I4 6 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
" Calm is the ocean, silent is the wind,
But griefs black tempest rages in my mind,
I burn for him whose perfidy betray 'd
My innocence ; and me, ah, thoughtless maid !
Robb'd of my richest gem, Restore, my charms,
False Delphis to my long-deluded arms.
" I pour libations thrice, and thrice I pray ;
O shine, great goddess, with auspicious ray .
Whoe'er she be, blest nymph ! that now detains
My fugitive in Love's delightful chains ;
Be she forever in oblivion lost,
Like Ariadne, 'lorn on Dia's coast,
Abandon'd by false Theseus, O, my charms,
Restore the lovely Delphis to my arms.
41 Hippomanes, a plant Arcadia bears,
Makes the colts mad, and stimulates the mares,
O'er hills, thro' streams they rage ; O, could I see
Young Delphis thus run madding after me,
And quit the fam'd Palrestra ! O, my charms,
Restore false Delphis to my longing arms.
This garment's fringe, which Delphis wont to wear,
To burn in flames I into tatters tear.
Oh, cruel Love ! that my best life-blood drains
From my pale limbs, and empties all my veins,
As leeches suck young steeds, Restore, my charms,
My lingering Delphis to my longing arms.
41 A lizard bruis'd shall make a potent bowl,
And charm, to-morrow, his obdurate soul ;
Meanwhile this potion on his threshold spill,
Where, though despis'd, my soul inhabits still ;
. No kindness he nor pity will repay ;
Spit on the threshold, Thestylis, and say,
Thus Delphis' bongs I strew', Restore, my charms,
The dear, deluding Delphis to my arms.
FAWKE'S THEOCRITUS,
(Idyllum II, Pharmaceutica)."
Lucian, the satirist, who lived three hundred years after
Theocritus, describes a love incantation in a dialogue between
Melitta and Bacchis :
"Bacchis There is, dear friend, an able sorceress in Syria. Her methods,
Melitta, are simple ; she takes but a drachma and a loaf of bread, and upon
this seven obolus must also lie, some salt, sulphur and a torch. These she
Pharmacy and Magic of Lore. 147
takes, and a jug of wine is procured, and, if possible, a piece of clothing or the
slippers "-
" Melitta I have his slippers ! "
" Bacchis These she hangs from a nail, and under them burns the sulphur,
and of the salt she also throws some into the fire. During this act she speaks
the names of both parties, yours and his. Then she draws a top from her
bosom and spins it, whilst, with fluent tongue, she repeats a magic rite in
barbarous and dreadful sounding words. This is the way in which she did it
that time, and shortly thereafter Phanias, in spite of his comrades' jeers and the
entreaties of Phoebe, with whom he was together, returned to my arms,
evidently in consequence of this incantation."
The Greeks used aphrodisiac preparations, which were termed
Satyrion, from the satyrs, the symbols of sensuality. These satyr-
ions were often composed of orchids, chosen on account of the
suggestive shape of their bulbs. They were often destitute of
aught but imaginary aphrodisiac properties. Pliny says that their
properties often became manifest when taken into the hand, but
were much more powerfully developed when taken in dry wines.
Dogwort (Anacamptis pyramidalis), which has two bulbs, one
withered and the other fresh and juicy, is called cynosorchis by
Theophrastus, who says that in Thessaly the men drink the
larger fresh root in goat's-milk as an aphrodisiac, and the smaller
as a sexual sedative. They are therefore antagonistic. This
belief in the aphrodisiac powers of the orchid was almost univer-
sal, and survives to-day in the popular designation of the bulb-
pair, in some parts of the United States, as "Adam and Eve."
Among the Northern nations the legend was prevalent that the
giantess, Brana, presented Bronn-grass to her love, Halfdan, while
Freya (the goddess of love), presented Freya-grass to those she
met. Both "grasses" were orchids. The plant Cratsegis was
also used in satyrion. Of it two varieties were mentioned,
" Thelygonos," the girl-producing, and "Androgonos," the boy-
producing kind. They are supposed to be identical with the
mercury-weed (Mercurialis tomentosa), which belongs to the
Dicecia.
The superstitions associated with these bulbs no doubt
sprung from their peculiar shape, for, in antiquity, the action of
the drugs was supposed to depend on similarities and secret signs.
Pliny further mentions, as ingredients of love-charms, the " Ster-
gethron" (Sempervivium tectorum), " Horminos agrios " (Salvia
I4 8 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
silvestris," and the " sea-fennel" (Crithmum maritimum), which
latter Hecate served to Theseus at table as a vegetable.
The practice of love-magic by the" Egyptians is evident from
numerous formulae on the papyri unearthed by Ebers, who, in his
" Uarda," gives an exquisite picture of an old sorceress Hekt.
Paaker, the villain of the story, enters her cave to secure a love-
charm. " At the side of the sorceress was a wheel suspended
between the teeth of a wooden fork, and kept in perpetual-
motion. A large coal-black tom-cat cowered at her side, and
sniffed at the heads of crows and owls deprived of their eyes.
When Paaker entered the cave, the old crone shrieked : 'Does
the water boil ? Then throw in the ape's eye and the ibis feather,
and the linen rags with the black signs. * * * This alone
binds hearts. Three is the man ; Four is the woman ; and Seven
the indivisible ! ' "
The grammarian, Apion, of Oasis, in Egypt, who lived during
the reign of the Emperors Tiberius and Claudius, maintains,
according to Pliny, that the mere touching the herb Anacamp-
seros (Sedum anacampseros), would rekindle love, even should
hate have usurped its place.
At no time was there more barefaced deception practiced
with oracles, spirits and conjurations ; never was the trade of the
juggler and sorceress easier or more lucrative, and nowhere was
the art of preparing love-charms better developed, than at Rome
during the reign of the first emperors. The riches garnered in
this capital of the world lent an air of ease to life, which led to
all sorts of -demoralizing practices.
Attempts were often made to exchange, by magical or medici-
nal means, these riches for the love so much courted and coveted
by mankind in all ages. In this, the Sagse and Medicae willingly
lent a helping hand. These closely allied Sagas and Medicae
came from the ranks of immoral crones, who not only plied a
lucrative trade in love-charms but treated venereal diseases,
practiced abortion, and in cold blood suffocated burdensome
newly-born infants in the folds of their dress. In the vile dens
of these unprincipled women, the deadly Halicacabum, pre-
pared from the winter cherry (Physalis somnifera) and the com-
mon night-shade (Solanum nigrum), was kept on sale for the
removal of inconvenient rivals.
Pharmacy and Magic of Love, 149
In reviewing the various Trychnos or Strychnos species,
Pliny states that the Halicacabum, "in the dose of one drachm,
awakens carnal desires, and causes visionary forms and pictures
to appear as real. Double this dose will cause actual madness,
and a further increase, death." At night the Sagse culled poison-
ous herbs, and took bones and hair from the dead with which
to prepare the vile decoctions used by them.
Horace, who one night met the notorious Canidia (mentioned
by several Roman writers) on the yEsquilian Hill, the " Potter's
Field " of Rome, thus describes her practices :
" But oh ! nor thief, nor savage beast,
That used these gardens to infest,
E'er gave me half such care and pains
As they, who turn poor people's brains
With venom' d drug and magic lay
These I can never fright away.
For when the beauteous queen of night
Uplifts her head adorn'd with light,
Hither they come, pernicious crones !
To gather poisonous herbs and bones.
Canidia, with dishevelled hair,
(Black was her robe, her feet were bare),
With Sagana, infernal dame !
Her elder sister, hither came.
With yellings dire they fill'd the place,
And hideous pale was cither's face.
Soon with their nails they scrap' d the ground,
And filled a magic trench profound
With a black lamb's thick streaming gore,
Whose members with their teeth they tore,
That they may charm some sprite to tell
Some curious anecdote from hell.
The beldams then two figures brought ;
Of wool and wax the forms were wrought ;
The woolen was erect and tall,
And scourg'd the waxen image small,
Which in a suppliant, servile mood,
With dying air just gasping stood.
On Hecate one beldam calls ;
The other to the furies bawls,
While serpents crawl along the ground,
And hell-born bitches howl around.
The blushing moon, to shun the sight,
Behind a tomb withdrew her light."
FRANCIS' HORACE (Satire VII).
! 50 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
One of Canidia's decoctions was known as the "cup of
desire," but the ingredients of this draught have not been
preserved.
According to the tradition, the most common ingredient of
Roman philters was the " Hippomane." This, Pliny states, was
said to possess such powers, that a brazen mare, in the casting
of which Hippomane had been incorporated, caused stallions
brought in its vicinity to be transported with passion. The old
writers differ much as to the nature and origin of this drug. At
all events it should not be confounded with the mancinella tree
(Hippomane Mancinella), whose shade, as the legend says, will
cause the death of the person sleeping in it. According to
Theocritus it was an Arcadian herb, on eating which the horses
became frantic. Pliny, however, says : " On the forehead of a
new-born colt is found a fleshy protuberance, which is swallowed
by the mother before allowing the colt -to suckle. This fleshy
growth was used by the Sagae in the preparation of Hippomane."
Ovid and Juvenal adopt this view of the nature of Hippomane.
This matter admits of a very simple explanation. The colts, like
the young of most animals, when born, are surrounded by a mem-
brane. To facilitate the liberation of the colt, the mother
swallows this and the afterbirth.* During this process a liquid,
frequently mixed with a dark, solid mass, escapes, which latter
was collected and, in all probability, was used in the preparation
of the drug. Evidently Hippomane was already in part classed
with the " Aphrodisiaca " which the Sagae prepared, and which
had actual aphrodisiac properties.
Satyrion is mentioned in the " Satyricon " of Petronius, which
was written to satirize Nero. From the description there given,
this potion seems to have been a very active aphrodisiac. As a
rule, these drinks were known as "Aquae amatrices," and were
very much in vogue among the Romans. Substances of the most
varied origin were incorporated in these infernal decoctions.
Gall of wild boars, ambergris, turtle-eggs, sea-mullets, cuttlefish
(the latter were known as " Uvse marinae "), smelts, cantharides,
crickets and other animals and their products, were extracted
by wine. The plant-kingdom contributed its share to these
compounds. According to Martial, puff-balls, probably Lyco-
* Except in England.
Pharmacy and Magic of Love. 151
perdon cervinum, and other fungi, were also employed. Ovid
mentions a number of these substances, all of which were more
or less injurious, and had many victims. Lucretius, who, in his
didactic poem, " De Rerum Natura," advocated the philosophy
of Epicurus, is said to have taken his life during the delirium of
a terrible satyriasis caused by these draughts. Lucullus, the
bon vivant, came to his end in a similar manner. His freedman,
Kalisthenes, gave him a love-drink for the purpose of retaining
his good-will forever, from the effects of which he died.*
In the Middle Ages, the belief in philters was wide-spread.
Gottfried, of Strassburg, in the thirteenth century, states that the
love of " Tristan and Isolde," was the result of a love-drink.
The mother prepared a love-draught, which Isolde, her daughter,
princess of Eyreland, was to drink with her betrothed, King Mark,
upon reaching Cornwall. By a servant's oversight, the potion is
divided between Tristan and Isolde, and no sooner had they
tasted of it, when both fell deeply in love. Although the author
of " Tristan and Isolde," is very frank, and describes lovers in
attitudes which modern erotic poets pass over in silence, he does
not disclose the ingredients of this draught.
In Germany, henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) enjoyed consider-
able reputation as a philter. It was the root of this plant which
the rat-catcher of Hamelin employed to secure a kiss from
Regina, the proud daughter of the Burgomaster Gruwelholt.
The sequel of this beautiful romance reveals that during the
celebration of her engagement to Heribert, her love for the rat-
catcher broke out ; and
" She flew to the arms of the fiddler,
And love distracted, caressed him."
In " The Book of Nature " of Megenberg, written in 1350,
various herbs are recommended as philters. " The vervain
(Verbena officinalis), which creates love between man and
woman, is of great service to sorcerers ; and this they know full
well that have been in the net, but they will not let the secret
out." Vervain, in Anglo-Saxon countries, hindered " witches of
their will."
Love-charms begin now to assume a purely fetichtic char-
* Plutarch, chapter 45.
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
acter. The influence of Christianity turned the inspired sor-
ceress of pagan days into witches. The Nicors of the North-
ern races became united into " Old Nick." The god "Pan " of
the Romans became the Devil. The superstitions of the people
did not vanish but became changed. Rites which had been
divine became devilish. The hysterical females and nervous men
who had been the admired of the gods and goddesses, became
the devil's brides or husbands, the incubi and succubi of the
Middle Ages. The witches of the period, like the fortune tellers
of the present day, sought to inspire terror in order to secure
power. The older superstitions descended to them from the
traditional practices of the pagan sorceress, but became degraded
into the older fetichtic ideas of the soul of the individual enter-
ing into his or her belongings, whence their advocacy and
administration of so many disgusting agents for awakening
love. They advised the lover to secure such things from the
adored one as would be likely to possess the peculiarities of
the individual in the highest degree. The hair, nails and pieces
of soiled linen were exceedingly valued, and were burned to ashes
and thus administered as love powders. Females frequently
sent their chosen ones the co-called " love-cakes," promising
themselves great results therefrom. To prepare these the enam-
ored fair one was obliged to resort to a peculiar procedure. She
had to remove all her clothing in the presence of the witch.
Then, lying down, a board was strapped to her loins, upon which
a small stove was placed in which the cake was baked. The
heat of the stove imparted a perspiring glow to the maiden which
gave the bread its finishing touch and flavor. It was then sent,
while still warm, to her indifferent lover. Suspecting nothing,
he eats ; suddenly the blood rushes to his heart, and ardent love
for the devoted bread-maker possesses him. The illustration on
the title page of this chapter (taken from an oil painting in the
museum at Leipzig) represents such a labor of love. The ingre-
dients evidently possess extraordinary powers, for the lover has
already hastened hither and appears at the door in the back-
ground.
Stimulating aphrodisiacs were much in use in the earlier
centuries of the Middle Ages, since Avicenna says that the
plague-like skin-diseases of the ninth century were largely due to
Pharmacy and Magic of Love. 153
these drugs. The " Diasatirion " of Mesue was greatly lauded.
Of its properties it is said : "Valet 'ad erectionem virgae, multi-
plicat sperma et desiderium coeundi." Its formula, as given in
the Cordic Dispensatory of 1546, is reproduced in the original,
as it will hardly bear effective translation :
9 Secacul. albi et mundi et elixati in decocto Cicefum, quorum prima
aqua, in qua decoquebantur, sit effusa, lib. I
Testiculorum vulpis unc. VIII
Radic. raphani unc. Ill
Rad. Luph. plani unc. II
Terantur hae tres radices posteriores et infundatur super eas lactis bubuli
aut ovili tantum, ut lac duos digitos emineat, ajiciendo
Olei sesami
Butyri recentis non saliti ana unc. IIII
Coquanter cum facilitate usque ad consumptionem lactis et donee omnino
remollitae sint radices et habeant justarh spissitudinem instar pultis crassioris,
nam si aqueum quod in lacte et radicibus est non consumatur, situm contrahit
hoc medicamentum. Postea adfunde omnibus hisce praedictis radicibus.
Mellis despumati optimi lib. VI
Succi Caeparum recentium lib. I ft
coque omnia simul ad perfectam decoctionem delude ab igne depone, et insperge
subsequentium specierum minutissimum pulverem.
Caudarum Scinccium renibus et semine unc. I
Seminis erucae
Zingiberis
Been albi
Been rubei
Linguae avis, id est semen fraxini arboris
Semanis nasturtii
Cinnamomi
Piperis longi
Seminis Bauciae
Seminis napi
Pulpae seminis Asparagi maxime recentis ana drach. Ill
Confice cum eis, ultimo vero adjiceantur subsequentia.
Pinearum mundatarum lib. I ft
Fisticorum, id est, Pistaciorum mundatorum unc. X
Confice et misce omnia optime et aromatica cum
Moschi boni drach. I
The parts' of the wolf and skink contained in the formula,
indicate that the mixture was not merely intended as a philter,
but served on occasions as a remedy for impotence. Signs,
offering love-charms and philters, are still to be seen in certain
I54 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
quarters in all large cities, which is evidence that the belief in
them has not disappeared from nineteenth century civilization.
Love-lorn maidens still wend their way to the drug-store and
puzzle a modest clerk with a demand for a " love-powder." If
he were to hand them a coal with the advice of Goethe :
" Take this coal, with it do thou mark
His arm, his cloak, or his shoulder ;
In his heart a pang he'll feel,
But the coal delay not to swallow.
" Neither of wine nor of water dare drink,
And this night at your door he will sigh ;
This coal from a distant land cometh,
On a funeral pile it hath reposed "
they would leave his store happy and contented, and try the
experiment at once. Numerous domestic methods are still
employed to capture and retain the love of others. Many an
enamored swain in northern Germany still wears about him for
this purpose the blood of a bat, or the heart of a swallow, or
he presents his love with an apple that he has carried in his
arm-pit for sometime. The efficacy of this last endeavor will
be readily accepted by the adherents of Prof. Jaeger's fragrant
soul-theory ; for, unquestionably, the apple will convey to the
adored one some particles of the lover's soul-substance the
"anthropin," whose presence Jaeger easily demonstrated by
neuro-analysis with Hipps chronoscope, but which the skeptical
chemists continue to. call by the names kapron, kaprin and
kapryl acids.
In centra-distinction to love-provoking methods, a belief in
love-destroying agents is also current among the people. Thus,
lovers must not present each other with sharp instruments, such as
scissors, knives and needles, iest they " cut love." Many similar
notions, current at the present time, might be cited, but these
suffice to show how deeply the superstitious notions concerning
love-charms are rooted in the human mind. Although the old
forms may have fa'len away, the " nameless yearning " contin-
ually develops new blossoms on the old trunk of superstition.
These fallacious notions certainly nourished more luxuriantly in
antiquity, when the exuberant imagination and wanton sensuality
Pharmacy and Magic of Love.
'55
had not yet been hedged in by a progressive intellectual culture ;
still, even in very early days, an occasional warning against the
foolish belief in love-charms is heard. Ovid has answered the
question, "What is to be thought of love-philters?" entirely in
conformity with modern views.
Fig. 77-
(157)
This natural process, by help of craft then consummate,
Dissolveth the Elixir in its unctious humiditie,
Then in balnea of Mary together let them circulate,
Like new honey or oil, till they perfectly thick^d be ;
Then will that medicine heal all manner infirmity,
And turn all metal to Sonne and Moone most perfectly,
Then shall you have both great Elixir and aurum potabile,
Ky the grace and will of God, to whom be laud eternally."
From verses dedicatory of George Ripley " The English Alchemy st
and Canon of Bridlingtonf addressed to King Edward IV.
(158)
Cfapter (Efeuen.
Alchemy: Its D cu clopiiic-n t and JBecItt
IRANSMUTATION of the metals, the dream of the
alchemists, was abandoned as the wildest of fancies
after the discovery of the " elements" now recog-
nized. Spectral analysis has, however, gradually
aroused suspicion as to the elementary nature of
these elements, so that the present drift of chemical thought is
well represented by Mr. Crookes in his address before the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, when he approv-
ingly quoted Faraday's words : " To discover a new element is
a fine thing, but if you could decompose an element, it would be
a discovery indeed worth making. ... To decompose the metals,
then to reform them, to change them from one to another, and to
realize the once absurd notion of transmutation, are the problems
now given to the chemist for solution."
The labors of the alchemist are better appreciated to-day
than they have been for many a decade. The longing for truth
which inspires modern science, inspired these old votaries of
knowledge in a degree no less ardent and determined.
The dreams of the early alchemists were not always of the
sordid type ascribed to them, although the necessity of securing
aid from "practical" capitalists led the most sincere to place
the " gold-making " side uppermost, just as the scientist of to-day
dwells on the " practical " results to secure the aid of plutocrats
who are indifferent to the intellectual riches of science. The
early alchemists assumed the trade practices and designations so
common in the Middle Ages. The disciples were called " fire
philosophers" or alchemists, answering to the apprentices of the
160 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
various "crafts" or "mysteries," as all trades were then
designated; while the "masters" of the trades became the
" adepts " of the alchemist. In consonance with the spirit of
the times these " adepts " assumed the owl-like self-satisfied air
of concealed wisdom characteristic of those who had reached
the height of a "master" of a "mystery" or "craft," and
called themselves <?zAotfo<poS nar fZoxijY.
They are usually thought of as old men, but very brief reflec-
tion dispels this notion. Many of the alchemists did their best
work before middle age. As alchemy and astrology occupied
the place that science does to-day, it was but natural that they
should cast a spell over young and enthusiastic minds. Like
modern science, alchemy captivated the best and highest circles
of society. Venerable monks, renowned physicians, illustrious
university professors, mighty statesmen, pious popes and crowned
heads were worshippers of alchemy. To it secret hours were
given in secluded chambers, behind fire-proof laboratory walls,
where they labored day and night at the "Althanor," as the
blast-stove of the fire-philosophers was called.
Alchemy is usually traced to the teachings of Hermes Tris-
megistos, and is hence called the "hermetic" art. It is certain
that among the Egyptians chemical studies were a favorite
pursuit. The Ayrans and the Chinese were also devoted to
them, and at a very early period they had thereby discovered
gunpowder. Traces of their teachings and those of the Assyri-
ans, who also paid much attention to these studies, had been left
in Central Asia, whence they had been brought to Rome and
Greece.
About 400 A. D., the doctrine of the transmutation of metals
began to assume prominence. The Greek orator, Themistus
Euphrades, in his eighth speech, incidentally speaks of the
transmutation of copper into silver and gold as a universally
accepted fact. Before the intellectual vigor produced by the
contact of the Crusaders with eastern civilization had begun to
show itself in Europe, all study was rather quiescent under the
turmoil of these periods of "storm and stress." Still such studies
were being pursued, for the works of Geber of Seville, written
in the ninth century, were too comprehensive to have been the
first beginning of the science.
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline. 161
From the time of the Crusades all science received an impe-
tus. Alchemy began to appear prominently in the tenth and the
eleventh centuries. The English alchemist, Hortulanus, wrote a
Latin paraphrase of the " Tabula Smaragdina," which was said
to have originated with Hermes Trismegistos and occupied a
conspicuous place in the literature of the alchemist. A transla-
tion of the paraphrase is as follows :
THE EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES TRISMEGISTOS.
These are the words of the secret of Hermes, which were written upon the
emerald tablet, found in a dark hole where the body of Hermes was buried.
Discoursing as follows :
True it is, and without deceit, certainly and truthfully, that which is below
is also above, and that which is above is made like all things by one thing ; his
father is Sol and his mother Luna. The wind carried him in its bowels. He
was nourished by the earth, which is father of all secrets of the world. His
power is absolute. When turned to the earth, it separates the soil from the fire,
the subtile from the coarse with great skill. It rises from the earth to the heaven,
and returns from the heaven to the earth, and takes upon itself the forces of all
that is high and all that is low. Here you have the essence of the world. All
poverty and darkness will flee thee, and everything comparable to darkness.
Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus, possessing the three parts of all
philosophy. All this has come to pass as I have described. '
Much of the seeming obscurity of alchemical literature was
due to the desire to prevent the feudal barons, and other thieves
of the period, from seizing on the adepts who thus adopted
secrecy as a means of protection. This obscurity long remained
in science, but was over-estimated by the popular miscomprehen-
sion of the necessity of technical terms. The seeming jargon of
the alchemists was not greater than that of the early anatomists,
which, while etymologically jargon, has acquired by long-con-
tinued usage fixity and clearness of meaning.
The twelfth century witnessed a great development of alchemy
The works of yEgidus show that a large literature was being
accumulated. Albertus Magnus made extensive studies in the
early part of the thirteenth century. By his chemical labors,
growing out of the search for the " elixir of life," and the " phi-
losopher's stone," he paved the way for his great successor, Roger
Bacon, who attempted to systematize all the knowledge of the
time. It was left for the nineteenth century to disentomb his
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
works from the alcoves of Oxford library, and do his labors
justice. He really placed the study of chemistry on a firm basis.
He enthusiastically pursued the search for the " philosopher's
stone," and the "elixir of life." He introduced gunpowder into
Europe. Though much of his writings seem obscure, yet it has
been aptly said by Gordon, "As even happens in more recent
times, Roger Bacon, in the thirteenth century, concealed much
useful information under that jargon of languages which was so
fashionable in that time." Bacon really led the way in modern
science by insisting on the necessity of experiments in the
acquirement. In all respects he anticipated the inductive phi-
losophy of his famous namesake, Francis Bacon. The inductive
philosophy was the great gift of the alchemists, whose experi-
ments stood out in bold relief for their usefulness as compared
with the "word- juggling" of the Scotists and Thomists, who had
captured the Universities. Raymond Lully wrote several works
on alchemy during this century, which were accepted authorities.
His discussion of the " tabula smaragdina," was the " authority "
on that subject, then one of importance.
The study of alchemy took on such proportions in the four-
teenth century that Pope John XXII, who later became a devotee
of the art, condemned the hermetic art as a diabolical deception,
and issued a severe bull to restrict its practice. The sincere
alchemists, however, claimed, and, judged by the Pope's subse-
quent career, this claim seems justifiable, that this bull was issued
against pretenders and swindlers who were befouling the fair
fame of alchemy by their tricks. Certainly the bull was taken
in this sense by priests, for Canon Ripley, of Bridlington, Eng-
land, in the fourteenth century, wrote an alchemical work, " The
Six Chemical Portals." He explains that alchemists " purposely
use mystic language to discourage the fools, for although we
write primarily for the edification of the disciples of the art, we
also write for the mystification of those owls and bats that can
neither bear the splendor of the sun nor the light of the moon.
On these we practice many cabalistic deceits, which harmonize
with their ill-favored fantasy." Ripley certainly succeeded in
his attempt at mystifying his readers, for his formulas are so
incongruous and contradictory as to be absolutely unintelligible.
This is well illustrated by the following passage :
Alchemy: Its Development and Decline. 163
" The bird of Hermes is my name,
Eating my wings to make me tame.
In the sea withouten lesse
Standeth the bird is Hermes
Fating his wings variable,
And thereby makete himself more stable.
When all his feathers be agone
He standeth still there as a stone ;
Here is now both white and red,
And also the stone to quicken the dead ;
All and some, withouten fable,
Both hard, and nesh, and malleable.
Understand now well aright,
And thanke God of this Light."
Ripley also wrote a " Compound of Alchemy." He was a
very assiduous student, and thus describes his experience :
" Many amalgame did I make,
Wenyng to fix these to grett avayle,
And thereto sulphur dyd I take ;
Tarter, eggs whyts, and the oyl of the snayle,
But ever of my purpose dyd I fayle ;
For what for the more and what for the lesse, ,
Evermore something wanting there was."
He then gives a long list of ingredients, and concludes :
" Thus I roastyd and boylyd, as one of Geber's cooks,
And oft tymes my wynning in the asks I sought ;
For I was discevyd wyth many false books,
Whereby untrue thus truly I wrought ;
But all such experiments avayled me nought ;
But brought me in danger and in combraunce,
By losse of my goods and other grevaunce."
The swindling alchemist early made his appearance, and was
satirized by Chaucer in his " Canterbury Tales."
" The priest him busieth, all that ever he can
To don as this Chanoun, this cursed man,
Commandeth him, and fast blew the fire.
For to come to the effect of his desire ;
And this Chanoun right in the meanwhile
All ready was this priest eft to beguile,
And for a countenance in his hand bare
An hollow stick (take, keep, and beware),
In the end of which an ounce, and no more,
Of silver limaille put was as before ;
j 64 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
"Was in his coal, and stopped with wax well
For to keep in his limaille every del.
And while this priest was in his business
This Chanoun with his stick gave him dresf,
To him anon, and his powder cast in,
As he did erst (the devil out of his skin)
Him turn, I pray to God, for his falsehede),
For he was ever false in thought and deed,
And with his stick above the crosslet,
That was ordained with that false get,
He stirreth the coals, til relenten gan
The wax again the fire as every man
But he a fool be, wot well it wote need,
And all that in the stick was out yede ;
And in the crosslet hastily it fell."
Norton was an active "adept" in the fifteenth century. His
"Ordinal," published in 1477, opens thus :
" Maistryeful, merveilous, and archaimaistrye
Is the tincture of holy alkimy.
A wonderful science, secrete philosophic ;
A singular gift and grace of the Almightie,
Which never was found by the labour of mann ;
But by teaching or revelacion begann.
It was never for money sold or bought,
By any mann which for it has sought,
But given to an able mann by grace,
Wrought with great cost, by long laisir and space,
It helpeth a man when he hath neede ;
It voideth vain glory, hope and also dreade ;
It voideth ambitiousness, extortion and excesse ;
It fenceth adversity that she doe not oppresse."
Italy swarmed with alchemists in the fifteenth century. The
Senate of Venice, in 1468, passed stringent laws prohibiting
them from further pursuing their vocation. The Nuremburg
Senate, in 1493, enacted laws for suppressing alchemy. "For
many people have, by its practice, not only been ruined in purse,
but have also experienced irreparable injury to their moral
nature, and have consequently fallen into disgrace."
In the reign of Henry VI of England, an act was passed
which ordains " That no one shall henceforth multiply gold or
silver, nor use the craft of multiplication, because many persons
by color of this multiplication make false money, to the great
deceit of the King, and the injury of the people."
Alchemy: Its Development and Decline. 165
One of the greatest alchemists of the fifteenth century was
Basil Valentine, to whom is due the discovery of antimony. The
following instructions to his disciples show that he was a true
scientist :
First, therefore, the name of God ought to be called on religiously with a
pure heart and sound conscience, without ambition, hypocrisy, and other abuses,
such as are pride, arrogance, disdain, worldly boasting, and oppression of our
neighbors, and other enormities of that kind, all of which are to be totally eradi-
cated out of the heart Whosoever, therefore, hath resolved within him-
self to seek the top of terrestrials, that is, the knowledge of the good lodging
in every creature lying dormant, or covered in stones, herbs, roots, seeds, living
creatures, plants, minerals, metals, and the like, let him cast behind him all
worldly cares, and other appurtenances, and expect release with his whole heart
by humble prayer, and his hope shall not fail. Men who began and pursued
their life-long toil in this spirit are not to be spoken of without great respect.
Emperor Rudolph II, in the sixteenth century, was an ardent
student of alchemy. He invited alchemists from far and near
to his court. After his death, in 1612, 8,400 pounds of gold, and
6,000 pounds of silver, cast in earthen-pots, were found among
his effects, which led to the belief that Rudolph II had been an
adept.
Among the leaders of the " Reformation," alchemy acquired
friends. Luther says : " The art of Alchemy is, in truth and in
fact, the philosophy of the wise. I think highly of it, not only
for its inherent virtues and usefulness in the distilling and sub-
liming of metals, herbs and waters, but also for its grand and
beautiful similitude to the resurrection of the dead on the day of
judgment." The swindling type of alchemist became very fre-
quent in the sixteenth century, and fell under the ridicule of Ben
Jonson. The real scientist continued his studies, discoveries of
value followed, and a useful foundation was laid for the advances
made in the next century. The publication of the works of
Francis Bacon stimulated the spirit of philosophical research.
The growing science of astronomy dealt the astrological part of
alchemy a severe blow, and injured it in the estimation of the
learned, who had begun to separate the chaff from the wheat.
Evidences of a growing science of chemistry are discernible
in the sixteenth century. In 1654 an alchemist's society was
formed at Nuremburg, with the preacher Daniel Wulfel at its
head, which remained in existence until 1694. In 1666 the great
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
philosopher, G. W. Leibnitz, received the degree of doctor of
laws at Altdorf, and visited savants of Nuremburg, where he
heard of this society of learned men, who were secretly endeav-
oring, by chemical experiments, to discover the "philosopher's
stone."
Leibnitz was of an inquisitive turn of mind, and determined
to gain an insight into chemistry. To secure admission into
this august circle he devised a clever scheme. He read a num-
ber of profound chemical works, and collated all obscure words
and sentences. From these he framed an incomprehensible
letter, which he sent to the priest, with a petition for admission
to the secret society. The priest, on reading the letter, con-
cluded that Leibnitz must be an " adept," and not only intro-
duced him into the laboratory, but begged him to accept a
salaried position as secretary, which he did. Leibnitz left
Nuremberg in 1667, and consequently did not hold this office for
a great length of time. Traces of his alchemical studies are
evident in his correspondence concerning Newton.
The influence of Francis Bacon showed itself in the scientific
study of alchemy in England during the seventeenth century.
The "Royal Society " was formed under the protectorate of
Cromwell, and its effects were visible in the subsequent reign.
King Charles II, Prince Rupert (of whose chemical studies
"Prince Rupert's drop" preserves the memory), the Duke of Buck-
ingham, merchants, and even poets, ardently devoted themselves
to the labors of the laboratory. Dryden, in his "Annus Mirabilis,"
glowingly describes the advances made and prophesies others.
The Marquis of Worcester devises- a rude steam engine as a
result of his studies, and pronounces it a "forcible instrument of
propulsion." Traces of the infant science of agricultural chem-
istry are found at this time as a result of the stimulus then given
to chemistry. Nor was the hypothesis of the transmutation of
metals entirely lost sight of in these studies. Newton spent many
hours in his laboratory working at this problem. In his letters
to Boyle there are constant references to this pursuit, and to a
mysterious red earth needed to complete the transmutation.
Elias Ashmole, the founder of the Ashmolean Museum, took
occasion to collate the works of the old alchemists in his rare
book, published in 1652, the "Theatrum Chemicum Britanni-
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline. 167
cum." These labors point to a growing interest in alchemic
literature. In his preface Ashmole says of himself:
I must profess I know enough to hold my tongue, but not enough to
speak, and the no less real than miraculous fruits I have found in my diligent
inquiry into this arcana, lead me on to such degrees of admiration they com-
mand silence, and force me to loose my tongue. Howbeit there are few stocks
that are fitted to inoculate the grafts of science upon ; they are mysteries
uncommunicable to all but adepts, and those that have been devoted from their
cradle to serve and wait at this altar and they, perhaps, were, with St. Paul,
caught up into Paradise, and as he heard unspeakable words so they wrought
impossible works.
Frequent attempts were made to explain and amplify the prin-
ciples laid down in alchemical works, by the introduction of
picturesque, obscure and mystical circumlocutions. Poetry,
music and art were frequently pressed into service. Alchemy is
expounded by aid of these agents in the " Atalanta fugiens, hoc est
emblemata nova de secretis naturae chymica. Authore Michaele
Majero. Oppenheimii, 1618," from which Fig. 77, on the title-
page of this chapter is taken. This illustration is intended to
demonstrate the dangers of the search for the " philosopher's
stone," which is compared to the wooing of the swift-footed, beau-
tiful Boeotian, Atalanta. According to the myth, she stipulated that
every suitor must run a race with her, in which he was given a
start. In case she did not overtake him, she was to be his wife ;
otherwise he was to die. Many suitors had perished in this
manner, when Hippomenes, by the aid of Aphrodite, outwitted
Atalanta. The goddess gave him golden apples, which he drop-
ped in the path of his pursuer. Atalanta lost so much time pick-
ing these up, that Hippomenes reached the goal first. He forgot
to thank the kind goddess, who, in revenge, excited him to such
vehement manifestations of love, that he embraced his bride in
the temple of Zeus. To punish this desecration, the lovers were
turned into lions. The garden of the Hesperides is included in
this pictorial rendering of the Atalanta legend. In this garden
the three daughters of night and the hundred-headed cerberus
watched the golden apples, which Hera had received as a pres-
ent from Goea at the time of her marriage with Zeus. Hercules
secured these apples and brought them to Eurystheus, who re-
turned them to him. Hercules then presented them to Athena,
who returned them to the gardens of the Hesperides. Every
1 68
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
precept in this book appears as an epigram, with notes for a
choral melody. A German translation of the verse is given, and
with it a copper-print, designed as an allegorical explanation of
the precepts it was designed to inculcate. Each chapter winds
up with a verbose supplementary explanation in Latin. Figures
78 and 79, from this work, refer to the alchemistic precepts
Fig. 78-
borrowed from the "Tabula Smaragdina." Figure 78 illus-
trates the theme, " The wind carried him in its bowels ; " and
Figure 79 the theme, He was nourished by the earth." The
meaning of this picture is best shown by the following prose
translation of the epigram to which it refers :
Romulus was nourished by a wolf, and Jupiter, as the legend says, by a
'. fed by animals were certainly great men ; but how much greater
must he be who was nourished by the earth."
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline.
169
The notes on following page (Fig. 80) comprise the melody of
the Latin epigram. This poetico-musico pictorial explanation
rather conduces to obscurity than to facilitate a solution of the
problem.
The influence which astrology exerted on the figurative
writings of the alchemists is unmistakeable. Thus there was
Fig. 79-
supposed to be a close conformity between the seven known
metals and the seven so-called planets. This belief was carried
into modern chemistry. Each metal was named after the planet
upon which it was nominally dependent. Gold was called the
sun ; silver, the moon ; iron, mars ; mercury, mercury ; tin,
jupiter ; copper, venus ; and lead, saturn. According to the
alchemists no planet could suffer a modification without awaken-
ing the sympathy of the corresponding metal. This sympathy
was, according to astrologico-alchemistic views, transmitted by
ijo
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
infinitely minute bodies, which proceeded from the planets and
metals. These molecules were so constructed that they could
readily enter the pores of the corresponding planet or metal, but
never into those of a foreign body. If by chance they came in
contact with a foreign body they would not be retained or in
any event could not serve as nourishment. Each of the seven
f>im.
Romu lus hir ta lu
pat preflitfc fed uberacapras
fegS^^^4^N^g^
Jupiter & di ftis fet tut adefle des.
Romu lus hir ta lu
pae'prcfliue fed ubera caprae
m
Jupiter & di ibs, icr
adcffc fides.
ZZ.6 ^T~ ^ ~"^^^^~T~X^ "~~ __ ' _ '
Romulus hirta lupae prefllile fed ubcra caprar
t+3^+==X- 4 -*.J>+l f =^ zz
Jupiter & di&s /ertur adefTe fides.
Fig. 80.
planets had its day of the week on which it manifested its influ-
ence over its particular metal. To be successful all work with
gold must be begun on Sunday ; with silver, on Monday ; with
iron, on Tuesday, etc. All metals were supposed to contain
mercury and sulphur. These designations, however, were not
those of the substances now known by these names, but others
df an entirely different character, of the nature of which the
alchemists themselves had no clear conception. Therefore, they
spoke of them allegorically, or in respect to their activity.
Alchemy: Its Development and Decline. 171
Sulphur (Sulphur philosophorum) was of an almost spiritual
nature ; it was the light, the fire and the combustible matter
thought to. be inherent in all bodies, the phlogiston of early
chemistry. It was the male element, and contained the " Punc-
tum seminale activum " needed in the evolution of new bodies
and substances. Alchemistic writers refer to it by many different
names, " House of the Spirit," " Father," " Elementary Fire,"
"Magical Steel," " Elementary Oil," " Elementary Sulphurous-
Fig. 81.
ness," " Cadmi-blood," "Adamic-earth," " Heart of Saturn,"
etc. The female element required to evolve a new body was
"Mercurius"; upon it the male, "Sulphur," by intimate con-
tact, impressed the germ of the object to be evolved.
" Mercury," the connecting link between spirit and body,
also known as Encheiresis naturae, was present in the three
realms of nature. In the mineral kingdom it was "mineral
moisture." In the animal kingdom, "elementary moisture,"
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
upon which depended blood and life ; in the plant kingdom, the
force or " spiritus mundi," which promoted the growth of the
plants. By the old fire philosophers it was called " a water which
does not moisten the hands," a " dry moisture " or the " corporeal
spirit."
This peculiar "sulphur" and the "mercury," either sepa-
rately or combined in an hermaphrodite being, were called the
"lapis philosophorum," which was also known as the "universal
menstruum," the "great magister," the "red tincture," the "secret
elixir," the "quinta essentia," etc. The philosopher's stone is
pictured by the alchemists as an hermaphrodite being; "sulphur"
as the king or sun, and " mercury" as the queen or moon. Fig.
81 (a wood cut from the "Rosarium Philosophorum," printed by
Cyriacus Jacobus, at Frankfurt, in 1550), shows the father and
the mother of the hermaphrodite stone, in the act of uniting.
The stone itself is allegorically represented in figure 82. To
indicate the enigmatical character of this being, it is surrounded
by the animals that took part, according to the allegory, in the
formation of the stone. In honor of the latter, the following
verse is appended to this picture, called the " ^Enigma Regis."
" Here a king is born indeed,
None can boast of nobler breed ;
Formed he was by art or nature,
His birth he owes to no known creature.
Of philosophers he is the son,
Of their power an incarnate one ;
Health and life he freely gave,
And every wish that man may crave ;
Silver, gold and gems so rare,
Youth and strength and all that's fair;
From him flee anger, grief and pains,
Whoe'er from God this gift obtains.
Thus, the philosopher's stone, not only changed metals into
gold, but, according to some, could change any substance into
gold, cure all diseases, and control, renew and rejuvenate animal
life.
Every alchemist goes into raptures over the " quinta essen-
tia," the soul of the four elements. The alchemists, Artephius
and Cagliostro, claimed to have lived over one thousand years
by the aid of this elixir. Ripley lauds its medicinal virtues in a
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline.
rapturous style, calling it the greatest medicine in the world. He
declares " It is the true tree of life, which gratifies all desires of
the person possessing it. It rejuvenates, retards old age, strength-
ens and restores health. It will not only produce a new growth
of hair, but, properly applied, will prevent hair from turning
Fig. 82.
REPRESENTATION OF THE FORMATION OF THE HERMAPHRODITE STONE.
gray." The"quinta essentia," which was sold at a high price
under the name of "aurum potabile," was, for the most part,
golden-yellow vegetable tinctures of about the same value as the
" infallible hair restorers " of the barber.
Diverse methods were adopted to secure the great desid-
eratum. Some alchemists sought the philosopher's stone in
I74 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
honey, manna, sugar or wine ; others in vegetables, like rose-
mary and marquory, or in gums, blood, urine or excrements.
Some sought it in may-dew and rainwater. Astrologists went to
the extent of imprisoning the sun's rays, and attempting to cal-
cine and powder them. The rays were supposed to consist of
pure golden sparks, which contained the seed of gold. The dead
were not allowed to rest in the grave. From their decaying
bodies saltpetre was extracted, which was regarded as the soul
of the philosopher's stone, the " true microcosm."
Other fire philosophers considered various kinds of earth ; for
example, marl, as the " chaos " from which God made the world,
and sought for the seed of all things, the " panspermion," in the
earth itself. This seed was thought to be a formless, peculiar
being, which possessed the power to create all things, gold being
the most distinguished.
Opposed to these theories was a party headed by Raymond
Lully and Basil Valentine, who boldly asserted that the light ot
Nature was but the light of an ignis fatuus or glow-worm. This
party had for the cardinal principle in their philosophy, " Omne
simile suum simile," and consequently sought the seed of gold in
gold itself. They considered other metals as merely furnishing
a fruitful soil in which the gold seed was sown, and which would,
by a process of interstitial displacement, develop and grow like
a plant. For purposes of fructification, it was thought essential
to steep golden seed in its own moisture. This gold-like
moisture, called " metallic water," was no doubt mercury. It
was not, however, the common marketable article, "but only
such as had been skillfully extracted from the objects in which
it is found in nature. The ' Mercurius philosophorum ' is not
found on the face of the earth, but, as Philaletha says, ' is the
son that is prepared by us.'" The purification of mercury,
essential to its union with gold to form the philosopher's stone,
is given much attention in alchemistic literature. Numerous for-
mulas for mercurial compounds are given, from which purified
mercury can be obtained. The " Hermetic Philosophy " of John
d'Espagnet, gives a formula for preparing mild mercury chloride,
which does not materially differ from the modern process. The
descriptive part, however, is so characteristic of the times, that
it merits reproduction here :
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline.
J 75
" The eagle and the lion, after being thoroughly cleansed, are put together
in a transparent reservoir. This is tightly closed, so that their breath cannot
escape, or air enter from without. The eagle will dismember and eat the lion :
and when his stomach is swollen, and he has become dropsical, he will, by a
wonderful transformation, be changed into a coal-black raven, which will grad-
ually spread its feathers and begin to fly, and shake water from the clouds until
he has become wet several times, lost his feathers, and finally fallen to the
bottom, when he will be changed into a snow-white swan."
The "eagle" is the volatile mercury, which, combined with
the "lion," or mercuric chloride, produces the black compound,.
" the raven," from which the mild mercury chloride, the white
swan, is made by sublimation from a glass retort, to which an
air-tight receptacle has been adjusted, after the surplus of mer-
cury, here called " water," has become separated. The purifi-
cation and sublimation of mercury was repeated seven times.
The seed gold had to be cleansed an equal number of times
before it, was amalgamated. The gold was to battle with the
seven eagles of the philosophical "arsenic," and then unite
itself with the two doves of Diana. The eagles indicate the
mercurial volatility of the metal used, called " philosophical
arsenic " (properly speaking, antimony), with which the gold
was to be melted seven times. This is an old method for purify-
ing gold. By the heating process the foreign metals and admix-
tures which frequently accompany the gold are slaked with the
antimony and a little saltpetre, whilst the pure gold, the king of
metals, subsides to the bottom of the crucible.
" But before the gold is mixed with its water it must be
reduced to the finest powder possible or it will withstand solu-
tion." To reduce gold to this fine powder it was, according to-
an old formula, melted with two parts of silver, called by the
alchemists, the two doves from Diana's forest, that is, the metallic
kingdom, and this alloy was treated with nitric acid. The
silver was dissolved by the acid, and the gold remained
undissolved in the acid as a very fine powder, although still
somewhat contaminated by small particles of silver. This gold
powder, which the alchemists believed to be absolutely pure,
readily united with mercury under the influence of a gentle heat,
and it was this mixture which represented the " true hermaphro-
dite," whose male generic element descended from the most
perfect of metals, and whose female force is a delicate mineral
I7 6 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
whiteness. It was supposed to contain the egg from which the
"philosopher's stone " was developed.
To this end a glass retort was filled with the amalgam, placed
in a nest-like contrivance on a stove, and subjected to a gentle,
even heat for nearly a year, " because it also takes a kernel of
wheat that length of time to develop and produce new kernels."
The " stone " was not to be disturbed during this process of devel-
opment, as its incipient vitality might thus be easily destroyed.
During the first three months, its embryonic period, it was kept at
an animal temperature. At the end of this time it had changed into
white " magisterium," and could change baser metals into silver.
The temperature was then gradually raised in five stages of vari-
able duration, during which time the stone changed color like a
chameleon. From the original black raven, which had changed
into a white dove, a Tyrian purple color was to result, which was
the true "philosopher's stone." " Projection " (sprinkling it on
molten metal), would change a metal into gold. Ripley says
that one grain could change one hundred ounces of mercury into
the so-called red tincture, and calculates that with this exactly
119,010^ pounds of mercury could be changed into gold.
Raymond Lully, during his sojourn in London, is said to have
transformed 50,000 pounds of mercury into gold for King
Edward III, from which the first rose-nobles were coined. The
credibility of this story, gravely related by the Abbe Cremer,
receives a severe shock, when, in spite of this abundant supply
of gold, King Edward III is forced to increase the taxes to carry
on his war against France, and to coin money from his own and
the queen's crown, and from the gold vessels of churches and
cloisters.
Koehler, in 1744, related in his numismatical work, that the
Emperor Frederic III, although not a disciple of alchemy,
changed, on January 15, 1648, at Prague, three pounds of mer-
cury into two and one-half pounds of gold by means of one grain
of a red powder, given him by a man named Richthausen. He
created this man a Baron of Chaos, and from the gold a medal
was made which bore an inscription referring to the artificial
origin of the gold. This medal was long preserved in the Vienna
Treasury.
Urban Hjoerne, a renowned chemist of his day, reports a
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline. 177
similar case of transformation from Sweden. The Saxon lieu-
tenant, Paykull, was taken prisoner by Charles XII, at Warsau,
in 1705, and condemned to death. He promised to make one
million dollars worth of gold each year, if his life were spared.
Paykull changed lead into gold by means of a tincture, rendered
fire-proof by the addition of antimony, sulphur and saltpetre. In
the presence of Hamilton, the master of ordnance, Paykull, with
an ounce of this mixture, changed six ounces of lead into gold.
To make a counter-test, Hamilton mixed the powders at home.
Paykull next day added some of the tincture, and the whole was
melted together with a quantity of lead. Gold to the value of
one hundred and forty-seven ducats was secured. Out of this
gold medals of two-ducat weight were coined, and inscribed as
follows : " Hoc aurum arte chemica conflavit Holmiae, 1706.
O. A. v. Paykull." Paykull, despite his skill, was executed.
The gold-makers, though for the most part, generous and in-
dustrious, devoting themselves to the enrichment of others, rather
than themselves, frequently met a cruel fate. George Honauer
promised to transform thirty-six hundred weight of iron inta
gold for the Prince of Wirtemburg. The prince detected a boy,
who had been concealed in the laboratory, in the act of putting
gold into the crucible. He thereupon ordered a gallows to be
constructed of iron from which the false gold-maker was hung
in 1597. In 1606 a gold-maker, named Andreas von Muehlen-
dorf, was hung at Stuttgart on this same gallows, which gained
further repute in 1738, by its services in the execution of minister
Joseph Suess, who knew, without the aid of the " hermetic art,"
better than " adepts," how to make gold.
Chr. Wm. Krohnemann, in 1677, entered the service of the
Marquis of Brandenburg, with the rank of colonel. In a short
time he won a high reputation as a gold-maker, and was rapidly-
promoted to the directorship of the mint and mines. From gold
ostensibly made by Krohnemann, seven different medals were
coined, which are pictured and described in the "Book of Odd
Historical Coins," published in 1771. Figure 83, taken from this
book, represents the first, the largest and rarest specimen in
the Krohnemann numismatic cabinet. On the obverse is a
fettered Mercury, who holds in his hand a staff, terminating in a
sun, emblematic of gold. The whole figure serves as an alchem-
i 7 8
History of Ancient Pharmacy.
istic symbol It is surrounded by a Latin dedicatory inscription to
"Mar-rave Christian Ernst, 1677." The reverse bears a Latin
inscription to the following effect : " Let it be known to all, that
Fig. 83.
ALCHEMISTIC GOLD COINS.
what by many is supposed to be the work of nature only, can
also be accomplished by art. This product is witness thereof, to
the honor of God, for the well-being of thy neighbor and the
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline. 179
admiration of the wide world." The last coin made by Krohne-
mann was a small medal dedicated to Margravess Sophia Louise,
of Brandenburg, in 1681. After this medal had been coined,
Krohnemann was suspected of deception, and imprisoned in
1681, in the Plassenburg citadel. He continued his experiments
until 1686, when he escaped. He was recaptured, tried and
found guilty of having abstracted gold and silver ware from the
Margrave's treasury, for use in his deception. As it was also
proven that he unlawfully cohabited with his jaileress, he was
condemned to be hanged for fraud, theft and adultery. In the
course of the trial it was demonstrated that Krohnemann had
worked according to a formula in general use among the alchem-
ists of his day. Berzelius, in his text-book, thus describes it :
" Mercury, verdigris, vitriol and salt are digested with strong vinegar in an
iron-pot, and stirred with an iron rod until the mass takes on the consistency of
butter. The remaining liquid, which is an amalgam of copper, is pressed
through leather, and then put into a crucible with even parts of curcuma and
tutia, whereupon the crucible is heated by a blast. The curcuma reduces the
tutia, which is an impure oxide of zinc, and the copper in the amalgam unites
with the zinc to form brass. Krohnemann surreptitiously added gold ; hence
his product was an alloy of copper, gold and zinc."
A quack named Daniel supplied Italian apothecaries with a
wonderful gold-powder called " Usufur." Pretending that the
art of compounding this usufur with other drugs was a mystery
known only to himself, he directed his patients not to permit the
apothecaries to mix the ingredients of his prescriptions, but to
buy them (including the usufur), and bring them to him for com-
pounding. His "art" consisted in compounding the drugs, but
omitting the golden " usufur," in which manner he succeeded in
having restored to him the gold-powder, which he had pre-
viously sold at a high price. The powder soon became famous
under the shrewd practices of the quack, who finally offered to
teach Duke Cosmos II, of Florence, the art of making gold. He
asked the duke himself to buy the " usufur " at a drug-store, and
with this the experiment was of course a success. After the
duke had repeatedly succeeded in making gold according to
directions, he paid Daniel 20,000 ducats, who thereupon fled
beyond the border to France, whence he wrote the duke how he
had been victimized.
Alchemy was practiced at the Saxon court during the reign
Z 8o History of Ancient Pharmacy.
of Prince August (1553 to 1586), who had the reputation of an
" adept." One of his collaborators, David Benter, after many
trials, failed to produce gold, whereupon he was imprisoned on
the strength of an opinion rendered by the highest court of
justice at Leipzig. Having written on the walls of his cell,
"Caged cats catch no mice ; " and having renewed his promises,
he was released to renew his experiments. He lost faith in his
ability to prove his pretensions, and poisoned himself, which
probably saved him the fate of John Hector von Kletten-
berg, a Saxon alchemist, decapitated in 1620. Count Cajetan,
in 1705, in the presence of Frederic I of Prussia, changed, by
means of his red tincture, one pound of mercury into gold. He
did not keep his promise of making six million dollars of gold in
six weeks, and in 1709 was hanged, draped in gold leaf, which
became the customary method of dealing with alchemists.
The numerous deceptions practiced in connection with the
philosopher's stone, explain the solemn oaths of witnesses of
known integrity, whose testimony would otherwise be unimpeach-
able, but who were in reality themselves duped and deceived.
Contemporaneous writers did not fail to remonstrate against
alchemistic pretensions, and vigorously expose their fallacy. The
enlightened Parisian apothecary, Nicol. Lemery, in his " Cours
de Chimie," calls alchemy satirically, " Ars sine arte, cujus prin-
cipium mentiri, medium laborare et finis mendicare." "An art-
less art, whose beginning is a lie, whose middle is work, and
whose end is poverty."
Although the old fire-philosophers failed to realize their ulti-
mate hope, their labors were not entirely in vain. The belief in
the feasibility of metal transmutation stimulated wide research
in the domain of nature. The search for the philosopher's
stone revealed truths which form the basis of modern chem-
istry, which has been infinitely more successful than its parent,
alchemy, in filling with gold the coffers of its disciples. For
paving the way to this result, a debt of gratitude is due to
alchemy. In spite of the numerous deceptions practiced by the
impostors among its disciples, sympathy must be felt with the
sincere alchemists in contemplating their indomitable courage
and patience in the presence of centuries of repeated failures
and disappointments. Lord Bacon says :
Alchemy : Its Development and Decline. 181
" The alchemist goes on with an eternal hope, and where his
matters succeed not, lays the blame upon his own errors, and
accuses himself as having not sufficiently understood either the
terms of his art, or his author ; whence he either hearkens out
for traditions and auricular whispers, or else fancies he made
some mistake as to the exact quantity of the. ingredients, or
nicety of the experiment ; and thus repeats the operation with-
out end. If, in the meantime, among all the chances of experi-
ments, he throws any which appear either new or useful, he feeds
his mind with these as so many earnests ; boasts and extols them
above measure ; and conceives great hopes of what is behind.
' Now the marriage is consummated ! ' he exclaims ; the ' philoso-
pher's stone is found,' only to be again deceived. To-day, trans-
ported with wild ecstacy ; to-morrow, dejected by utter despair.
Thus oscillating, he plodded through life, until kind death stepped
in to put an end to his weird fancies." His epitaph was written
by Spenser, and none could be more to the point :
" To lose good days that might be better spent,
To waste long nights in pensive discontent ;
To spend to-day, to put back to-morrow ;
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow ;
To fret his soul with crosses and with cares,
To eat his heart through comfortless despairs :
Unhappy wight ! born to disastrous end,
That did his life in tedious tendance spend."
Early in the eighteenth century the passion for making gold
still prevailed ; but, at the close of the century it lost ground
fast, and was swept away by the new chemistry, which regarded
the metals as elements. Concerning one of the last true believers
in the "hermetic art," Peter Wo ulfe, Mr. Brande* says: "He
occupied chambers in Barnard's inn, while residing in London,
and usually spent the summer in Paris. His rooms, which were
extensive, were so filled with furnaces and apparatus, that it was
difficult to reach his fireside. A friend told me that he once put
down his hat, and never could find it again, such was the confu-
sion of boxes, packages and parcels that lay about the chamber.
His breakfast hour was four in the morning; a few of his select
friends were occasionally invited to this repast, to whom a secret
^Quarterly Review, Vol. XXVI.
182 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
signal was given, by which they gained entrance. He had long
vainly searched for the elixir, and attributed his repeated failures
to the want of due preparation by pious and charitable acts. I
understand that some of his apparatus is still extant, upon which
are supplications for success, and for the welfare of adepts.
Whenever he wished to break an acquaintance, or felt himself
offended, he resented the supposed injury by sending a present
to the offender, and never seeing him afterward. These presents
were sometimes of a curious description, and consisted usually
of some expensive chemical product or preparation. He had an
heroic remedy for illness ; when he felt himself seriously indis-
posed, he took a place in the Edinburgh mail, and, having reached
that city, immediately came back in the returning coach to Lon-
don. A cold taken on one of these expeditions, terminated in
an inflammation of the lungs, of which he died in 1805.
" About the same time another solitary adept starved in Lon-
don. He was an editor of an evening journal, and expected to
compound the ' alcahest,' if he could only keep his materials
digested in a lamp-furnace for seven years. The lamp burnt
brightly for six years, eleven months, and some odd days, then
unluckily it went out. Why it went out the adept could never
guess ; but he was certain that if the flame would only have
burnt to the end of the septennary cycle, his experiment must
have succeeded."
The race of alchemists of the type of Krohnemann is not
entirely extinct, for, in 1880, an American called W 7 ise, duped a
member of the Rohan family, and a collateral descendant of the
"necklace cardinal," whom Cagliostro so deceived, by pretend-
ing to make gold. The first specimen made in Rohan's presence
was tested and proved pure. Rohan was not permitted to be
present at the process of "projection." Wise got a considerable
sum from Rohan, and then decamped.
Alchemy: Its Development and Decline. 183
LATER ALCHEMISTIC SYMBOLS.
From the primitive symbolism of alchemy grew up the com-
plicated system seen in the following table, which gave way in its
turn to the chemical symbolism of to-day :
-f Acetum Vinegar.
4- ' ' destillatum Distilled Vinegar.
A Aer Air.
Aerugo Greenspar.
O Alumen Alum.
Q- Ammoniac Ammoniac.
<5 Antimonium Antimony.
V Aqua Water.
^ AquaTortis Nitric Acid.
V? " R egis Nitro Hydrochloric Acid.
J ; Arena Sand.
D Argentum Silver.
O-o Arsenic Arsenic.
00 Auripigmentum Orpiment.
Q Aurum Gold.
y Baryta Barium.
j Bismuthum Bismuth.
CJ Borax Borax.
^ Calcium Calcium.
Camphora Camphor.
(y) Caput Mortuum Skull.
<Jo Cancer Crab.
cfc> Carbo Charcoal.
4^ Cineres Clavellati Potash.
<-|-i Cinis Ash.
y$ Cinnabaris Cinnabar.
XII Crystalli Crystal.
9 Cuprum, Venus Copper.
3 Detur Let it be given.
% Detur Signetur Let it be given and writ
Cf Dies Day.
O* Ferrum Iron.
B Herba Herb.
X Hora Hour.
184 History of Ancient Pharmacy.
A Ignes Fire.
^7 Lapis Stone.
^ Magnesi Magnesia.
Ex] Menstruum Menstruum.
^ Mercurius Mercury.
\R Mistura Mixture.
(J) Nitrum Saltpetre.
> Nox Night.
$) Oleum ^Etherum Ethereal Oil.
ee Oxymel Oxymel.
<> Phosphorus .' Phosphorus.
J7) Platinum Platinum.
^ Plumbum Lead.
=^ Prsecipitatum Precipitate.
ff) Prseparare Prepare Powders.
5 Pulv. Pulvis Powder.
tp Regulus Regulus.
(f Retorta Retort.
O Sal Salt.
OXOX Sal Ammoniacum Sal Ammoniac.
Sal Medium. Middle Salt.
QC? Sal Tartari Cream of Tartar.
a Sapo Soap.
/ Semis Half.
Spiritus Spirit.
tyy Spirit Vini Alcohol.
\^ " Rectificatus Rectified Alcohol.
W/ " Rectificatissumus Double Rectified Alcohol.
7i Stannum Tin
Sublimare Sublime.
$ Sulphur Sulphur.
<? Tartarus Tartan
Terre Earth.
V _ Terra Foliata Leaf Earth.
# Tinctura. Tincture.
Urina Urine.
0v Vitriolum Vitriol.
XX Vitrum Glass
% Volatile Volatile.
(J Zincum . .
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