The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy

CHAPTER X.. Black Magic.

BLACK MAGIC.

Practice of magic by the early alchemists—Demonology—Initiation of novices—Taking the oath—The ceremonial—Perfumes employed—Composition of the incense used—Black magic by burning—Witchcraft—Methods of practice—Trial of the Duchess of Gloucester—The “evil eye”—Apparitions in the sky—A witches’ Sabbath—Appearance of the devil—Origin of the word “witch”—Their initiation and pact pages 83-89

CHAPTER XI.. Superstition and Its Influence on Medicine.

SUPERSTITION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON MEDICINE.

Origin of incantations and charms—The cure of disease by poetry and music—Ancient theory of the cause of disease—Precious stones as remedial agents—Influence of the planets on herbs—Survival of old superstitious customs—The “coral and bells”—Sympathetic powders—Curing by touch—Empirical nostrums—The doctrine of Signatories—Ancient superstitious practices pages 90-97

CHAPTER XII.. Love Philtres.

LOVE PHILTRES.

Composition of philtres—Roman love philtres—Law against their use—Greek Love philtres—Ingredients employed—Botanomancy—“Water of Magnanimity” pages 98-101

CHAPTER XIII.. The Pioneers of Pharmacy and Botany—Physic Gardens.

THE PIONEERS OF PHARMACY AND BOTANY—PHYSIC GARDENS.

Drugs used by the Arabs—Avicenna—Basil Valentine—Paracelsus—His life and teaching—Van Helmont—Monastic Gardens—Mesué—Ebor-Taitor—The medical treatment of the monks—Hildegarde—Gilbert and Hernicus Arviell—Simon de Cordo—Peter de Crescenzi—Bartholomew Glanvil—Advent of printing—George Agricola—Conrad Gesner—Jacques Gohory—The Jardin des Plantes—William Davisson—Matthias of Lille—Andrew Cesalpin—The first pharmacopœia—The London Pharmacopœia—The Dublin Pharmacopœia—The British Pharmacopœia—The Chelsea Physic Garden—Its origin—Thomas Dover—The “quicksilver doctor”—His exploits pages 102-117

CHAPTER XIV.. Amulets, Talismans and Charms.

AMULETS, TALISMANS AND CHARMS.

Their antiquity—Definition—Object of their use—Egyptian amulets—Grecian amulets—Roman amulets—Chinese amulets—Knightly talismans—Precious stones as talismans—Metallic amulets—Written amulets—Amulet rings—Curious articles used as amulets—Charms—The “Lee Penny”—The “Holy Hand”—Medical Charms—Early British charm—Toadstones—Medicinal virtues of the toad—Roman charm for prolonging life pages 118-137

CHAPTER XV.. Monk Physicians—Itinerant Doctors—Surgery in the Middle Ages.

MONK PHYSICIANS—ITINERANT DOCTORS—SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

Monk physicians and their methods of treatment—Early hospitals—Their originators—The first school of nurses—Medical faculties of the thirteenth century—Examinations for title of master physician and surgeon—Barber surgeons—Itinerant barbers in France—Credulity of the public—Medical art in the fifteenth century—Surgery in the time of the Crusades—Early tests for water—Methods of disinfection pages 138-146

CHAPTER XVI.. Plant Lore—Drug Charms—Folk Medicine.

PLANT LORE—DRUG CHARMS—FOLK MEDICINE.

The mystery of dragon’s blood—Charms and superstitious practises connected with dragon’s blood—Use of dragon’s blood by the ancients—Modern practitioners of magic—Magic properties attributed to the walnut—Sage—Rue—Henbane—Moon Wort—Solomon’s Seal—Anemone—Trefoil—St. John’s Wort—Dill—Thistle—House-leek—Pimpernell—Vervain—Magic wreathes—Hawkweed—Mountain Ash—Squill—Mandrake—Method of gathering the mandrake—Abrunes—The willow as a symbol of sorrow—Almonds—The bachelor’s button—The bean and nut—White hawthorn—Ferns and fern seeds—Leaves of peculiar shape—Black hellebore—Ceremonial rites observed when collecting the root—Peony—Forget-me-not—Elder pages 147-165

CHAPTER XVII.. Mummies and Their Use in Medicine—the Unicorn.

MUMMIES AND THEIR USE IN MEDICINE—THE UNICORN.

The art of embalming and its antiquity—Various processes employed—The cost of embalming—The practitioners of the art—The drugs and substances employed—Process used for the poorer people—The veneration of mummies by the Egyptians—Trade in mummies for use in medicine—Fictitious mummies—How to tell genuine mummy—The dose and medicinal properties—The price in 1685—Varieties of mummies used in medicine—Process for preparing artificial mummy—Methods of administration—Human fat and its medicinal properties—Human skulls and their value—Human bones and other animal substances as remedial agents—The Unicorn—Its appearance described—Properties attributed to the horn—Where the horn was obtained—The value of the horn—A horn presented to King Charles I.—Virtues attributed to it pages 166-174

CHAPTER XVIII.. Origin of the Society of Apothecaries—Apothecaries and Their

ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES—APOTHECARIES AND THEIR PRACTICE—APOTHECARIES AND THEIR BILLS—CURIOUS REMEDIES—A DRUG PRICE LIST OF 1685.

Earliest record of an apothecary in England—Powers granted to the College of Physicians—Foundation of the Society of Apothecaries—Nicholas Culpepper—History of the Society—Charter granted—The first hall and council house—Examinations found necessary—The apothecaries and the druggists—The glass tax—Rules for the guidance of apothecaries—The sale of drugs and poisons restricted in Glasgow—A cavalier’s experience of apothecaries and their treatment—His doctor’s bill and his opinion on it—Apothecaries’ bills—Favourite methods of administration—Animal materia medica—Broth of viper—Curious remedies employed—Drugs used by the physician to King Edward I.—Physicking an ambassador—An apothecary’s advertisement—Physicians’ fees—Midwife’s fee in the seventeenth century—Ancient pharmaceutical preparations and their origin—Mediæval method of improving the complexion—Human blood as a remedial agent—Celtic recipes—A remedy for drunkenness—Oil of red dog and its preparation—Strange recipes—The “everlasting pill”—Cleopatra and the asp—Ancient method of changing the colour of the hair—The aloe of Scripture—Pharmacy 200 years ago—The cupidity of the apothecaries—Denouncing the apothecaries—Herb-women of London—The price of bottles in 1656—Popular preparations—A drug price-list of 1685 pages 175-211

CHAPTER XIX.. Pharmacy in the Time of Queen Elizabeth.

PHARMACY IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

An apothecary’s shop in the time of Queen Elizabeth—Description of the interior—The customers—Apothecaries’ prescriptions—Apothecaries’ guilds and their injunctions as to prayer—The itinerant dentist—Medicaments used in the time of Queen Elizabeth pages 212-220

CHAPTER XX.. Famous Empirics and Their Nostrums.

FAMOUS EMPIRICS AND THEIR NOSTRUMS.

Early methods of introducing a nostrum—The origin of quack medicines—The Elixir of Life—The Collyrium of Danares—Sympathetic Powder—Hoffman’s Water of Magnanimity—Dutch Drops—Eau Médicinale de Husson—Dr. James’ fever powder—Count St. Germain’s tea—Cagliostro’s Balm of Life—How the Count was confounded—Count Thün of Leipzig—Dr. Brodum and his “Nervous Cordial”—Dr. Solomon and his “Balm of Gilead”—How “the doctor” was punished—Perkin’s Tractors—An old ballad pages 221-228

CHAPTER XXI.. The Antiquity and History of the Mortar.

THE ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE MORTAR.

The origin of the mortar—Derivation of the name—Primitive mortars—Grain crushers—Egyptian mortars—Antiquity of the mortar in Africa—A Cingalese mortar—Roman mortaria—Manufactories of mortaria in Britain—Stone mortars—Wooden querns—Origin of the pestle and mortar as a trade sign—Iron mortars—Bell-metal mortars—Brass mortars—Copper mortars—Marble mortars—Modern mortars pages 229-237

PART II.. Alchemy and Pharmacy in Literature.

ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY IN LITERATURE.

CHAPTER I. PAGES Chaucer 239-252

CHAPTER II. Shakespeare 253-277

CHAPTER III. Spenser 278-282

CHAPTER IV. Goethe 283-291

CHAPTER V. Le Sage 292-299

CHAPTER VI. Ben. Jonson 300-302

CHAPTER VII. Sir Walter Scott 303-305

CHAPTER VIII. Dumas 306-311

CHAPTER IX. Reade 312-321

CHAPTER X. Dickens, Thackeray 322-328

CHAPTER XI. Marryat 329-335

ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY:

THEIR MYSTERY AND ROMANCE.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

THE DAWN OF THE ART OF HEALING.

The birth of the art of healing goes back to a period of great antiquity. The instinct that first led man to utilise the fruits of the earth for his bodily sustenance, may perchance have suggested the herbs which grew around him as a means of alleviating the ills of his flesh.

It is a matter of doubt whether medicine as an art was first practised in Egypt or China; from recent research probably the former, as at the time of the writing of the Ebers Papyrus, B.C. 1550, the Egyptians had a considerable knowledge of the use of herbs and other bodies for medicinal purposes.

The art of medicine had two foundations—empiricism and superstition—which have influenced it from its birth down to the present time.

The most ancient record of medicine and pharmacy known was discovered at Kahun in 1889, near the pyramid of Illahun in the ruins of an ancient town, which had apparently been inhabited by the builders of the pyramid. It dates from the twelfth dynasty, B.C. 2700 to 2500, more than a thousand years before the Exodus.

Besides containing instructions for midwives, it includes numerous formulæ for the treatment of various complaints, composed of such very homely articles as beer, cow’s milk, honey, oil, onions, herbs, dates, and other fruits.

The Ebers Papyrus, which was found reposing between the legs of a mummy, throws a light on ancient Egyptian pharmacy, and was written in the reign of King Amenhotep I., of the eighteenth dynasty. It commences as follows: “Beginning of the chapter of applying medicaments to every part of the patient.

“I have come forth from Heliopolis with the mighty ones of the Temple of the Sun, the wielders of protection, the princes of eternity.

“Rescuing (?) I have come forth from Sais with the Mothers of the Gods, who have given me their protection.

“I have magic formulæ made by the Universal Lord to drive out the stroke of god and goddess, the Male Death and Female Death, et cetera, that is in this my head, in this my neck, in this my shoulder, in this my flesh, in these my limbs, to punish the above-named enchanters (?) who introduce disturbance into this my flesh.”

Etc. is probably a direction ad lib. for the doctor speaking the formulæ.

Such formulæ, evidently for recitation during the treatment, continue for a page and a half. The book has thus no general title, but plunges at once into the mysteries of the profession.

“Beginning of the mystery of the physician who knows the motion of the heart. There are vessels in it to every limb. When any physician, doctor, or amulet-maker puts his fingers upon the top of the head, upon the occiput, upon the hands, upon the chest, upon the arms, upon the legs, he communicates (?) with the heart, for its vessels extend to every limb, wherefore it is called the starting-point of every limb.”

The following may be taken as an example of the recipes given in the manuscript:—

“A remedy for the belly that is painful: Cummin 1∕64 hin, goose-grease 1∕8 hin, milk 1∕16 hekt; cool, strain, and drink”. The hin is about 29 cubic inches, and the 1∕16 hekt 18 cubic inches; the prescription is thus roundly 1∕2 cubic inch of cummin, and 4 of goose fat, in half a pint of milk.

This papyrus contains 110 pages, each page consisting of about twenty-two lines of bold Hieratic writing. It may be described as an encyclopædia of medicine as known and practised by the Egyptians of the eighteenth dynasty, and it contains prescriptions of all kinds of diseases—some borrowed from Syrian medical lore, and some of such great antiquity that they are ascribed to the mythological ages, when the gods yet reigned personally on earth. Among others is given the recipe for an application whereby Osiris cured Ra of a headache. In this papyrus is an example of an old Egyptian diagnosis and therapeutics, as follows: “When thou findest any one with a hardness in his re-hit (pit of the stomach), and when, after eating, he feels a pressure on his intestines, his hit is swollen and he feels bad in walking like one who suffers from heat in his back, then observe him when he lies stretched out, and if thou findest his intestines hot and a hardness in his re-hit, say unto thyself, This is a disease of the liver. Then prepare for thyself according to the secrets of the science from the plant pa-che-test and dates, mix them, and give in water.”

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