Sylvius de la Boe, and Otho Tachenius, followed in the track of Van Helmont.
A prejudice in favour of chemical remedies having been thus introduced, the merited success which attended their operation, and the zeal and perseverance which distinguished the votaries of that science, soon kindled a more general enthusiasm in its favour. It is impossible to reduce into miniature the historical features of these chemical times, so as to bring them within the compass of a lecture: I must therefore rest satisfied with delineating a few of the more prominent outlines. The Galenists, who were in possession of the schools, and whose reasonings were fettered by the strongest predilection for their own doctrines, instantly took the alarm; and the celebrated contest ensued between the Galenical and Chemical sects, which has given such a controversial tone to the writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. As this revolt from orthodox authority was in a great degree attributed to the mischievous introduction and unmerited success of Antimonial remedies, so were the preparations of this metal denounced with all the virulence of party spirit;[[108]] and upon this occasion, in order to support their ground and oppress and persecute their adversaries, the Galenists actually solicited the assistance of secular power; the Supreme Council of Paris accordingly proscribed its use by an edict in 1566, and Besnier was expelled the faculty of medicine in 1609, for having administered it to a patient. In 1637, Antimonial wine was by public authority received into the number of purgatives; and in 1650, a new arrêt rescinded that of 1566, and again restored Antimony to public favour and general reputation; and before we conclude our remarks upon the revolutionary history of this extraordinary metal, it deserves to be remarked, that this very same government that had with such great virulence, and so little justice, persecuted every practitioner who had shewn any predilection for its use, in the year 1720 actually purchased the secret of an antimonial preparation called Panacea Glauberiana, and which has been since known by the title of Kermes Mineral, from a surgeon of the name of La Legerie, who had acquired the secret from a pupil of Glauber. Before this period the invention of Calomel had taken place; this preparation is first mentioned, although very obscurely, by Oswald Crollius, in his Basilica Chemica, in 1608, and in the same year Beguin described it most fully and clearly under the title of Draco Mitigatus, in his Tirocinium Chemicum, which he published in Paris.
Chemistry, at this period[[109]] took possession of the schools, and whilst it was gradually grafted into the theory of medicine, it soon became the only guide to its practice, the absurdity of which has been already dwelt upon.
In tracing the march of chemical improvement during the last century, we cannot but be struck with the new and powerful remedies which it has introduced, and the many unimportant and feeble articles which it has dismissed from medical practice.
In the present century, the rapid progress of Chemistry has outstripped the anticipations of its most sanguine votaries; and even in the department of vegetable analysis, a correctness has been attained, the very attempt at which had been abandoned by the most illustrious chemists of the former age as hopeless and chimerical; let us for instance only compare the results obtained by the Academicians of Paris, and published by Geoffroy, in their analyses of several hundred plants by the operation of heat, with the elegant and satisfactory researches in this branch of science lately conducted in the same country; whilst the former failed in establishing any distinction between the most inert and the most poisonous plants, the latter have succeeded in detecting, separating, and concentrating several of their most subtile constituents. Opium has been at length compelled to confess its secret source of action, and Ipecacuan to yield its emetic element in a state of perfect purity.
Our Pharmacopœias and Dispensatories[[110]] have cautiously kept pace with the scientific progress of the age; and in tracing them from their origin to the present time[[111]] it is gratifying to observe the gradual influence of knowledge in reducing the number of their articles—simplifying the composition of their formulæ—and improving the processes for their preparation.[[112]] Chemistry has also been the means of establishing the identity of many bodies which were long considered as specifically different; thus an extensive list of animal substances has been discarded, since it is known that they owe their properties to one and the same common principle, as to gelatine, albumen, carbonate of lime, &c.; so again the fixed alkaline salt produced by the incineration of different vegetables, has been found to be potass, from whatever plant it may have been obtained, with the exception of sea plants, and perhaps some of the Tetradynamia, the former of which yield Soda and the latter Ammonia. Previous to the Pharmacopœia of 1745, every vegetable was supposed to yield a salt essentially different, and therefore a number of alkaline preparations were recommended, each bearing the name of the particular plant from which it had been procured, as salt of Wormwood—salt of Broom,—Salt of Bean-Stalks, &c.
But, from the very nature and object of a Pharmacopœia, it cannot be supposed to proceed pari passu with the march of chemical science, indeed it would be dangerous that it should, for a chemical theory must receive the seal and stamp of experience before it can become current: a Pharmacopœia however is always an object of abuse, because it is a national work of authority, which is quite a sufficient reason why the ignorant and conceited should question its title to respect, and its claim to utility. “Plures audivi,” says Huxham, “totas blaterantes Pharmacopœias, qui tamen ne intellexerint quidem quid vel ipse pulsus significabat.”
It is very evident, that the greater number of these attacks has not been levelled with any view to elicit truth or to advance science, but to excite public attention, and to provoke unfair discussion for individual and unworthy advantage; their obscure and presumptuous authors vainly hope, that they may gain for their ephemeral writings some share of importance, and for themselves some degree of reputation, if they can only obtain notoriety by provoking a discussion with the College or with some of its responsible members, though such a combat should be sure to terminate in their defeat. Like the Scythian Abaris, who upon being wounded by Apollo, plucked the arrow from his side, and heedless of the pain and disgrace of his wound, exclaimed in triumph that the weapon would in future enable him to deliver Oracles.
It is not to such persons that the observations which are contained in this work are addressed, for with them I am most anxious to avoid a contest, in which, as a worthy Fellow of our College expresses it, “Victory itself must be disgraceful.”
When, however, we are assailed upon every occasion by a gentleman whose talents entitle him to respect, and whose public situation commands notice, I apprehend that a humble individual like myself, may, in the conscientious discharge of a public duty, deliver his sentiments from the chair to which he has been called by his professional brethren, without any risk of compromising the dignity of the College, or of drawing upon himself the charge of an unnecessary and injudicious interference.