Clarified honey, three times the weight of all the rest.
Philonium,
a famous antidote invented by Philon of Tarsus, who is supposed to have lived in the early part of the first century (a contemporary probably of Saul of Tarsus). Galen says of it that it had been in great reputation for a long time, and was one of the earliest of the compounds of the kind. Philon gives his formula in Greek verses and in such enigmatic language that it would be impossible to interpret it if Galen himself had not come to the rescue. Philon writes:—
Take of the red and odorous hairs of the young lad whose blood is shed on the fields of Mercury (saffron), as many drachms as we have senses; of the Nauplium Euboic (pyrethrum), 1 drachm; the same quantity of the murderer of the son of Menetius, preserved in sheeps’ bellies (euphorbium); add 20 drachms of white fire (white pepper); the same quantity of the beans of the pigs of Arcadia (henbane); one drachm of the plant which is falsely called a root, and which comes from a country renowned because of Jupiter Pissean (spikenard); write pium, and place at the head of the word the masculine article of the Greeks (opium) 10 drachms; and mix the whole with the work of the daughters of the bull of Athens (Attic honey).
The words in parentheses are the explanations of this rather unwieldy joke as they are provided by Galen. It is conjectured from an obscure passage in Pliny that this antidote was prescribed against a peculiar form of colic which became epidemic at Rome about the time when Philon was practising there.
Philonium was the original of the confection of opium which remained in our pharmacopœias until 1867. In the first London Pharmacopœia the formula was more similar to that which Galen gives; later, a modification by Nicolas Myrepsus was adopted, the most important change being the omission of the euphorbium. Until 1746 it was called Philonium Romanum. In the P.L. 1746, the ingredients were white pepper, ginger, caraway seeds, strained opium, and syrup of poppies (or of meconium, as it was called). This had been substituted for honey in all the English formulas. The name was also changed in 1746 to Philonium Londinense. The proportion of opium in Philonium was 1 grain in 36 grains.
Diascordium,
the last of the four officinal capitals, was a medicinal compilation by Hieronymus Frascatorius, and is given in his book “De Contagio et Morbis Contagiosis.” It was devised as a preventive of plague, but it acquired such popularity that Dr. James in the introduction to his Dispensatory (1747) writing of the conventional esteem in which so many compounds are held, says, “Thus the Venice Treacle invented by Andromachus under the reign of Nero, and the Diascordium of Frascatorius, have been used by almost every physician who has practised since their publication.” The original formula, which was adopted in its integrity in the first P.L., was as follows:—
Cinnamon, Cassia wood, aa ½ oz.; true scordium (water germander) 1 oz.; Cretan dittany, bistort galbanum, gum Arabic, aa ½ oz.; storax, 4½ drachms; opium, seeds of sorrel, aa 1½ drachm; gentian, ½ oz.; Armenian bole, 1½ oz.; sealed earth (Lemnian), ½ oz.; long pepper, ginger, aa 2 drachms; clarified honey, 2½ lb.; generous canary, 8 oz. Make into an electuary, S.A.
In the eighteenth century this compound became a popular household opiate, and was frequently given to children for soothing purposes, especially as the Pharmacopœia had substituted syrup of meconium (poppies) for the honey. As the preparation was rather a strong astringent it was doubly harmful as a frequently taken remedy. In the P.L. 1746 two species of diascordium were prescribed, one with and one without opium; at the same time a “pulvis e bolo compositus” was introduced in which the scordium, the dittany, the sorrel seeds, the storax, the sealed earth, the bistort, and the galbanum, as well as the wine, were omitted. Edinburgh likewise omitted the scordium and other ingredients, and made the preparation still more astringent by the addition of catechu and kino. This was called Confectio Japonica. The mangled remains of the various formulas are represented in the British Pharmacopœia by Pulvis Catechu Compositus.