Methodus medendi : a sketch of the development of therapeutics / by Sir William Henry Allchin.

  • Allchin, William Henry, Sir, 1846-1911.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Methodus medendi : a sketch of the development of therapeutics / by Sir William Henry Allchin. 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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    from forty to sixty, and “it was supposed that eacli of tliese medicinal substances prc'sc'rved its proper virtues in the midst of the common amalgam, wliich possessed the ]>ropei-ties of all the drills that ente,red into its compound, and thus foi'iiu'd a sort of panacea, j^ood for all diseases.”* In the London Lharmacop(eia for 1089 was a preparation named Antldofus matjna MaffltioU ndun'mn vc.nena ct 'pefttem, which contained 180 inoi-edients, .some of them hein^ compounds. 1 am tempted to (piote the following- ri^ht royal i-chkhIj'^ fi'oni Dr. Bulleyn’s hook; it was known as Electuarium de cjemmis;—“ d'ake two dnichms of white perles; two little pieces of .saphyre; jacinth, corneline, emeratddes, ^-ranettes of each an oimce; .setwal, the sweate roote doroTiike, the rind of pomecitron, mace, hasel seede, of each two drachms; of redde corall, amber, shaving of ivory, of each two drachms; rootes l)oth of white and red behen, ginger, long peper, .spicknard, folium indicum, .saffron, caixlamon, of each one drachm ; of troch. diarodon, ligm;m aloes, of each half a small handful; cinnamon, galinga, zurubeth, which is a kind of .setwal, of each one drachm and a half; thin pieces of gold and .sylver, of each half a .scruple; of musk, half a drachm, make your electuary with honey emblici, which is the fourth kind of mirobalans with roses, strained in equall partes, as much as will suffice. This healeth cold di.sea.ses of ye braine, harte, stomack. It is a medicine proved again.st the trembljmge of the harte, faynting, and .sonning, the weakne.ss of the stomacke, pen.sivenes, .solitarines. Kings and noblemen have u.sed this for their comfoi’t. It causeth them to be bold-spirited, the body to smell wel, and ingendreth to the face good coloure.” As some explanation of this extraordinaiy polypharmacy that for many centuries characterised the treatment of disease, it may be pointed out that “ it was generally supposed by our ancestors that it was necessary to correct and modify the action of all medicines, by adding others of an opposite nature, and remedies were often classified as hot and cold remedies, a ceiiain proportion of each class being combined according to the preponderance on one side or the other which was desired.”! The ve.ssel from which the potion was drunk frequently had as m\ich i-eputation for effecting a cure as did its contents. To drink from a .suicide’s skull has been regaitled as a cure for epilep.sy; and the ague cups, in use up to at least one hundred and fifty years ago, were so called from having hideous figures painted in the interior, and * History oj Medicine, by P. V. Renou.ard, M.D. Translated from the French 1)V T)r. C. O. Comegys, ISoG. t Ilislorkal Sketch of the krogrem of Pharmacy in Great Britain, by .Tacob Hell, 1842. Republished with additions by Thoophilus Redwood, 1880,