The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy

by C. J. S. Thompson

Paracelsus is said to have been the first to use mercury internally; he also employed opium, antimony, and lead largely in his treatment; and devised a process for the preparation of red oxide of mercury. He was sent for to many of the European Courts, and by the interest of Erasmus was made Professor of Chemistry at Bale, the first chair that was established in Europe. It was here while seated in his chair, that with arrogant impudence he burnt with great solemnity the writings of Galen and Avicenna, saying that “if God would not impart the secrets of physic, it was not only allowable, but was justifiable, to consult the devil”.

He had the greatest contempt for his fellow physicians, and said he had more knowledge in the very down on his bald pate than was in all their writings, and in the buckles of his shoes there was more learning than in Galen and Avicenna, and in his beard more experience than all their universities. The man was a mass of conceit and egotism, yet feared and liked by the people for his boldness.

Latterly he took to drinking heavily, seldom taking off his clothes for many nights together. At length he broke down, and the end came at the age of forty-eight, when this singular man died after a few hours’ illness at Saltzburg, in Austria, a bottle of his boasted panacea for all ills being found in his pocket. He believed the human body to be composed of salt, sulphur, and mercury, and that in these “three fast substances” health and disease consist. To give Paracelsus his due, although empiricism and quackery were the chief elements in his career, he exerted an undoubted influence on the medical practice of his time, and with all his egotism did his best to advance the science and art of medicine.

The next pioneer was Van Helmont, who flourished some hundred years later. He was the first to notice the existence of gases, also to use alum in uterine hæmorrhage, through which he acquired a great reputation.

Little was known of materia medica by the nations of the West from the eighth to the tenth century. The chief cultivation of medicinal herbs took place in the monasteries, each having its own botanical garden, which contributed much to the progress of medicine. At this time the knowledge of the medicinal value of herbs and roots was much more advanced in the East, and we find that during the reign of Almansour, in the eighth century, a large school was founded at Bagdad, which became a refuge for scientists when exiled from Athens and Alexandria. The works of Aristotle and Galen were translated into Syriac, and the greatest generosity and encouragement were shown to savants who settled there. Before this the Arabs had considerable knowledge of the use of plants in medicine, and had made some valuable discoveries. Their physicians recommended the use of senna, tamarinds, and cassia in place of the violent purgatives used by the Greek physicians, and a number of new plants were introduced by Rhazes from India, Persia, and Syria. Mesué wrote his treatise on medicine (De Remedica), which, on being translated into Latin, was used as a manual in all the schools up to the Renaissance.

Constantine was the first to introduce the most noted Arabic works into Europe, himself a writer of no little repute. Then several Arab travellers added to the store of knowledge; among these, Ebor-Taitor, a native of Malaga, travelled in Asia to study plants, and eventually became minister of the Caliph at Cairo.

Otho, of Cremona, in a poem of 1500 lines, contributed his knowledge of plants, and John of Milan, in his Code of the School of Salerno, compiled the discoveries of a century in medical botany.

Coming to the twelfth century, scientific progress was not so rapid, yet all the investigation that was made originated in the study of medicine. Most of the monasteries and convents besides their botanical gardens, had collections of minerals and animals, which were carefully watched and tended, and the monks and nuns would not only administer to the sick of their own orders, but also to the suffering who claimed their charity. Once lodged there, the treatment was good and wholesome, and consisted mostly of decoctions of simples, backed up by good kitchen medicine, quietness, and rest. One or two monks who had a special knowledge of herbs were usually allotted to this department. It can then hardly be wondered at, that during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries most of the records we have of medicine are from works by the brethren of the monasteries. An excellent collection of recipes, comprising also a summary of plants, animals, and minerals was compiled by Hildegarde, Abbess of Bingen, and called the Jardin de Santé.

This good lady, like many other abbesses of her time, was much interested in the art of healing. She cultivated her own medicinal plants, and carefully noted down their properties for the use of others, and thus left a valuable record.