THE CHYMIATRIC PRACTICE | OF DR. JOHANN HARTMANN

...thin plates, as whole as possible. Nine of these should be gathered into a small pouch made of either linen or silk, and tied with a simple linen thread original: "Das in dem-felben Haufe gefponnen," German: which was spun in that same house and worn by the patient, though this detail matters little. 4. The amulet is to be hung from the neck down to the opening of the stomach, ensuring the pouch reaches that exact spot. Apply this pouch after the universal remedies have been administered to cleanse the body, at any time either before or after a paroxysm a sudden attack or seizure. The pouch should be left in place until the thread breaks on its own without any force and the pouch falls off. After this, neither the patient nor any animal should touch it with bare hands or feet. Instead, it should be buried deep in the earth using a tool, such as tongs, in a place where neither humans nor animals walk. Otherwise, if touched, the Epileptic disease will invade them again, or it may corrupt others who were not previously ill, which must be carefully avoided. With this amulet, even those who have suffered from this disease for a very long time can be cured.

Following the cure, patients must be very diligently preserved from all external causes that are otherwise harmful to this disease, which we have discussed previously.

Note: In adults, I am accustomed to making tubes out of larger hollowed-out twigs, through which they draw all their drink during the time they are wearing the amulet.

VII. Volatile Spirit of Vitriol sulfuric acid or sulfate, prepared in a double fashion, as described in the notes on Croll referring to Oswald Croll, a famous chymical physician, especially for adults.

VIII. Laudanum an opium-based painkiller for Epileptics, described in the opiologia treatise on opium and below regarding Apoplexy.

Collection of Peony Root. IX. Peony Root, specifically the male or "black" variety, for the female is of no efficacy. If it is suspended from the neck of an epileptic child, the disease yields. However, the root must be dug up in July during the waning moon, while the sun is in Leo, at midday on a Sunday. Collection of Oak Mistletoe. See below.

X. Oak Mistletoe, collected during the waning moon between the two feasts of Mary the Assumption on August 15 and the Nativity of Mary on September 8. That part which is cut closest to the oak tree is considered more noble.

Anti-epileptic Mixture. XI. Anti-epileptic Mixture, made in the following manner:
Spirit of green Vitriol made from Vitriol and the urine of boys, 2 ounces.
With peony root water and linden flower water, 1 ounce of each.

Mix. During a seizure, when the limbs are convulsed and twisted, administer 1 spoonful of this mixture drop by drop. Shortly after, they will come to themselves as their senses are collected. Upon noticing this, administer more, and do so a third time. If the seizure returns, as can happen, repeat the same process. Afterward, substances that comfort the brain should be used, such as Magistery a precipitate or refined extract of Coral, pearls, or human skull. These tablets are very powerful: 1/2 ounce of Magistery of human skull (which is first calcined, then evaporated through water until it is a powder like a magistery), 16 decorticated peony seeds, and sugar dissolved in theriacal related to theriac, a complex herbal jam water. Form into tablets according to the art, of which one or two should be given in the morning on an empty stomach, and in the evening long after a meal.

To overturn an impending epileptic seizure, if the patient feels certain signs, they should immediately take 1 pill of anti-epileptic laudanum or one anti-epileptic roll, or in the absence of these, 1 or 2 drops of oil of amber.

They should also anoint the nostrils with anti-apoplectic balsam or balsam of amber.

A present seizure is calmed in the following way. A wedge should be placed in the mouth of the fallen person so that it remains open and they do not bite their tongue. They should be called to in a loud voice, the nostrils constricted, and provoked with the following sternutatory a powder to induce sneezing:

White hellebore root, 1 dram.
Castoreum beaver secretion,
Euphorbium spurge resin, 1/2 dram of each.
Make a powder. A fumigation can also be made from white amber.

The curved limbs should be gently reduced to straightness, rubbed, and held firm.

The throat should be treated with extract of castoreum, oil of amber, or Mithridatium a famous complex antidote, or Theriac dissolved in epileptic water. The nostrils and temples should be smeared with apoplectic balsam.

If there is suspicion that the seizure is caused by foul humors collected in the stomach and exhaling to the head, it is useful to provoke vomiting with Aqua Benedicta Blessed Water, often a solution of antimony or white Vitriol dissolved in peony water in which oak mistletoe shavings have been boiled. Once the seizure is calmed, if there is fear of an immediate return, sharp enemas should be injected to divert the sharp humors rushing into the brain.

Likewise, a cupping glass with scarification should be applied to the shoulders, and if a plethora excess of blood is present, a vein should be cut.

Once this is done, one must proceed to cut out the "epileptic root" the underlying cause. After a good rule of living is prescribed, one must reach a universal evacuation of the whole body, observing the rules of practitioners in this area. Sometimes it is useful to mix into the purgatives extract of scammony, Blessed Water, extract of black hellebore, and to purge the prepared body frequently with Mercurius dulcis calomel or mild mercury chloride, Mercury of Life, or flowers of Antimony.

From here, one must move to head purges and those things which contribute by their specific properties, not neglecting those things which dry and greatly strengthen the head.

Anti-epileptic Tablets

1/2 ounce of peony root, 1 dram.
Magistery of pearls,
Corals, 1 1/2 drams of each.
Magistery of human skull, 1/2 dram.
Sugar dissolved in linden flower water, as much as suffices.

Make tablets. Give one or two in the morning on an empty stomach and in the evening long after dinner.

Epileptic Water. 2 ounces of lily of the valley flowers. Infuse in a sufficient quantity of noble wine, digest for 10 days, or until it Epileptic Water. has efficacy.

Fresh linden flowers, 1/2 pound.
Peony, 1 1/2 ounces.
Distill in a Mariae Balneum a water bath to dryness. In the distillate, infuse again:

Peony root, 1 ounce,
White dittany,
Oak mistletoe, 1/2 dram of each,
Prepared human skull, 1/2 dram,
Pellitory root, 1/2 dram,
Castoreum, 1 dram,
Rue leaves, 1 handful,
Arabic stoechas flowers French lavender,
Lavender, 2 pinches of each,
Betony flowers, 2 pinches,
Cubebs,
Mace, 1 dram of each,
Cinnamon, 1 dram.
Prepared squill, 2 drams.

Digest again for 15 days, then distill through an alembic a distilling apparatus in a water bath, and the water is reserved for use. Dose: 1/2 dram to 1 dram.

For the enema in epilepsy, see the following chapter.

For the Balsam, also see the following chapter.

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TWO SECRETS TO BE WELL NOTED HERE.

In the head of a pig, behind the ears on both sides, you will find two petrous stone-like bones in which the cochlea inner ear structure is located. These bones, pulverized and administered in a suitable vehicle, are an excellent specific for epilepsy. On their internal surface, they have the exact signature a natural mark or shape of a "dead head" a skull. Those small bones from the right side of the head benefit males, and those from the left side benefit females. Here is their figure: A diagram shows two small, oddly shaped bones labeled 'External Face' and 'Internal Face'.

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Peony root heals the epileptic, the effects of which I have proven in some who had suffered since birth for twenty years. However, this requires something that is often unknown: that it be collected at the time of its exaltation astrological peak of power. Many think the right time is when the Sun enters the sign of Leo, but this is false. Truly, it should be dug up when the Sun enters the sign of Libra, which will be around September 12th. It is given in the weight of 1 dram, continuing for a time.

Note: These specifics will work more successfully if they have been exposed to the rays of the moon for some time.

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In any kind of Apoplexy, the following are distinguished:
I. Spirit of the human brain, which was mentioned under Epilepsy.
II. Spirit of human arterial blood, the powers of which Dr. Grasshoff of Strasbourg infinitely commends in his book on human life recently published in quarto, 1615. See the operations and powers of both there, in several observations held by him. He calls the spirit of arterial blood "Blessed Water" and the spirit of the human brain "Golden Water."

(If human blood is lacking, that which is extracted from animals, especially stags and does, can be substituted with the same success. The phlegm watery distillate is drawn off through an alembic, and the spirit and oil through a retort. These must be separated. To preserve the blood, spirit of wine should be poured over it, though this is not necessary if it is to be distilled fresh.)

I. Mercury of Life antimony oxichloride administered in a proper dose. From frequent vomitings in robust patients, the first region of the belly is purged, and shortly after they come to themselves. This is especially true if an epilep-thema a medicinal plaster or compress for the head is made for the future on the coronal suture using pulverized amber shaped into an oblong quilted pouch. Furthermore, it is very beneficial if it is soaked in Aqua Vitae Water of Life, or strong alcohol or spirit of wine fortified with long pepper and sprinkled with several drops of oil of amber, then bound decently to the coronal suture. In weaker patients, where Mercury of Life is not given, a mild enema should be injected first, followed by sharper ones.

II. Sneezing powders provoke awakening, especially those made from the seeds of nigella black cumin and "Black Elder," which is the Black Hellebore of Paracelsus (with musk and amber). Seeds of lolium darnel and nigella are safer and better, for example:

Sneezing Powder. Marjoram leaves, 1 dram,
Nigella seeds, 1 dram,
Black hellebore root, 1 dram,
Best musk, 1/2 dram,
Ambergris, 6 grains.

Mix. Make a powder. A dose the size of a pea is blown forcefully into each nostril with a reed.

III. Smoke of partridge feathers. Likewise, smoke of amber, or even oil of amber taken into the nostrils very often with a partridge feather.

NB. In Apoplexy, that "Balsam of Life" is wonderful, made from those most noble balsams—namely the Oriental and the Turkish—and oils of aromatics, diligently prepared by the noble chymist Johann Eichtenacker. Dose: 2 to 4 grains in a simple mixture with appropriate water, as noted in the comments on Croll.

(Robert Boyle testifies that apoplectics were awakened by holding the "Spirit of the Sun" to the nostrils, and he describes its best and easiest way of distilling. He pours water into a cucurbit a gourd-shaped boiling flask together with sal ammoniac ammonium chloride, then adds powder of quicklime. Immediately, after fitting the head the top part of the still, he connects the receiver accurately and distills the spirit with the gentle heat of a water bath. He rectifies it once or twice. Hardly any spirit more excellent or more stinking is elicited, and besides other uses, it is especially conducive for hysterical women.)

In prevention, Croll’s Apoplectic Balsam is most conducive. Likewise, his apoplectic aqua vitae.

For both prevention and cure, my own Anti-apoplectic Water is uniquely beneficial, the composition of which Anti-apoplectic Water. is as follows:

Flowers of lily of the valley, collected in the month of May at sunrise (they must be mature and still dewy; put them immediately into a glass without any washing). Digest these fresh flowers, without their stalks, in noble wine (Malmsey or another sweet wine) in the sun. Leave them in a very well-closed glass until the lavender also blooms. Join the blue lavender flowers, carefully separated from their stems and stalks, in equal weight with the lily of the valley flowers in the same glass. Leave it firmly closed until the month of September. Finally, distill through an alembic in a water bath. The spirituous water that comes out first should be carefully reserved. It is truly precious and benefits apoplectics for both prevention and cure. The remainder can also be used, but in doses of 1 1/2 or 2 drams, according to the nature of the patient and the disease, with one or two drops of oil of amber on an empty stomach.

Another Apoplectic Water.
Primrose flowers, 1 pound,
Lavender, 1/2 pound,
Arabic stoechas, 1 ounce of each,
Linden,
Bugloss, 1/2 ounce of each,
Rosemary flowers,
Water lily, 1/2 ounce of each.
Peony root,
Avens, 10 drams of each,
Zedoary,
Mace,
Indian spikenard, 2 drams of each,
Florentine iris,
Oak mistletoe, 1 ounce of each,
Galangal,
Cloves, 6 drams of each,
Fresh citrons, Number 2,
Shavings of sassafras wood, 1/2 ounce.
Marjoram leaves,
Mugwort, 1/2 handful of each,
Rosemary, 1 handful,
Fennel seed,
Mountain hartwort,
Peony,
Basil, 2 drams of each.

After crushing and bruising these in a coarse manner, pour into a large matrass a long-necked glass flask:
Rose water, 1 pound.
Noble wine, 2 pounds.

Digest together for 3 days in a well-closed vessel. Then add fresh expressed juice of sage leaves, 6 ounces,
Betony,
Lemon balm,
Spirit of wine, 3 pounds.

Digest again for 3 days and distill in a water bath through an alembic to dryness. Let a cohobation the redistillation of a liquid over its own residue be performed once. Then, this water is rectified by itself in ashes or a water bath, distilling three parts, leaving the fourth, and drawing it into the beak of the alembic.