Notes on pharmacy in the olden time, collected and illustrated / by John Eagle.

  • Eagle, John
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on pharmacy in the olden time, collected and illustrated / by John Eagle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    descendents. What an end to the history of a I'liaraohl To be carefully embalmed with the choicest andc('st- liest jireservatives by artists of the greatest skill, Ihcn with all the pomj) of State iiagcmitry to lie dei)osilcd in a Koval mausoleum, there to rest unthought of for centuries, lait at last to be taken (ait. c utu]), preseril)- cd as ])hysic by iihysieians, and s;old liy the aix theeai'ies at two shilling\s the drachm. It seems as if physiciims were allowed too much license , and too much res] ect Avas paid to their example, certainly in this instance for the strong-belief that every orthodox physician'had in the prophylactic and curative efficacy ( f jiresia vcd dead bodies doubtless originated the cusl.om of all Koyal personages, and others who could afford it, wearing a piece of mummy next to the heart as a preservative against poison and infection. Not the lea.st interesting among the curiosities of the old Materia Medica is the root of Atropa jMand- ragora which most authorities consider to be the ])lant mentioned in the book of Genesis. Ghapt. 30. verse. 14 though Lemery says the mandrake of the ancients was <piite a different plant. Nevertheless it is certain that for many centuries mandrake root was believed to bo a cure for barrenness, and this belief was shared in both by the Faculty as well as the Public. IMany import- ant preparations described in early pharmacopauas contain mandrake root and in the earliest printed Flerbals the male and fcuu le plants were shown thus
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