Opera omnia medico-chymica

14 PRACTICAL CHYMIATRY | BY DR. JOHANN HARTMANN 15

The primary anodyne pain-relieving medicine used to induce sleep, being free from all poison and impurity, is highly refined. These preparations incorporate the soothing sulfur of vitriol iron or copper sulfate, which cannot be said of the lesser remedies. Therefore, their power is more effective and their use more fruitful.

Opiated Laudanum

Take as much of the best Opium the dried latex of the poppy as you wish. Cut it into small, thin pieces and dry it in a glass dish over a slow ash fire until it can be easily crushed into powder with the fingers. It should smell strongly of "stinking sulfur," which is the foul odor it possesses at the start, though this is consumed through evaporation. Afterward, extract the opium by pouring vinegar over it to a height of five or six fingers, and let it digest steep in gentle heat in a sand bath for three days. Separate the colored vinegar from the dregs, filter it, and distill it in a Bain-Marie a water bath until it reaches the consistency of honey. Dissolve this again in rose water, filter it once more, and remove the water through distillation. Keep the resulting extract.

Extract of Saffron

Take also a quantity of Crocus Saffron. Extract its essence with spirit of wine distilled alcohol by repeatedly pouring on fresh spirit until it is no longer colored. The colored spirit is then distilled through an alembic a distilling apparatus so that the extract remains at the bottom like honey. Now, take two ounces of the Extract of Opium, one ounce of salt of pearls alkaline salt derived from pearls dissolved in acid, and six drachms of the Saffron extract. Mix them together, adding at the end one drachm of musk, one drachm of ambergris, and six drops (or half a drachm) of oil of cloves. Keep this for use in a closed vessel. The dose is from 4 to 6 grains, given in the form of gilded pills, or in a suitable water, or in syrup of poppies, or in a Cardiac Confection a restorative heart tonic. If the pain is vehement or if there is wakefulness, give one pill three hours after dinner, a second at midnight, and if the pain does not cease, a third toward dawn.

It is also applied externally as an Alabastrine Ointment. Take two ounces of the ointment and one drachm of opiated laudanum. Make an ointment, or dissolve it in the water of nightshade, roses, or red poppies. Soak linen cloths in the solution and apply them, as will be shown in the proper place.

Opiated Laudanum

Take two ounces of the species of Diambra an aromatic cordial powder containing ambergris. Pour over it the best rectified spirit of wine so it stands two fingers above the powder. Let it sit in infusion for 14 days. Afterward, pour off half of the tincture and add two ounces of opium. Let these sit again in infusion for 14 days. Afterward, pour off the clear liquid and separate the spirit of wine using a very gentle heat until it reaches the consistency of a thin syrup. To this extract, add one drachm each of dissolved coral and pearls, half an ounce of the best prepared amber, and one drachm of hartshorn calcined deer antler. Pour in the remainder of the Diambra tincture and let it stand in the sun or a warm place. Near the end, add six grains each of Musk, half an ounce of Saffron, and four drops each of the oils of Cinnamon and Cloves. Mix. The dose is from 2 to 3 grains.

I. In Cephalea chronic or severe headache or any pains of the head, the use of Aqua Benedicta Blessed Water, here a chemical emetic usually made from antimony is very beneficial when given in a set dose on an empty stomach. See the notes on Crollius.

II. The Syrup made from Aqua Benedicta has the same effect.

III. Purgation is performed:
1. By Laxative Diasenna a senna-based compound,
2. By the vegetable Panchymagogum a medicine that purges all humors.
3. By prepared roots of hellebore.
4. By prepared Scammony a resinous purgative from the bindweed plant.
5. By Mercurius dulcis Calomel or mild mercury chloride.
6. By Mercurius vitae Mercury of Life, an antimonial emetic.
7. By corrected Flowers of Antimony antimony trioxide.
8. By the specific purging medicine of Paracelsus, which is highly commended. See the notes on Crollius.

Camphorated pills from Ladanum

Among internal remedies are listed the "Capital Pills," which do not purge but rather comfort the head, made from Ladanum. They are as follows:
Take 6 grains of camphor oil. Camphor oil is made this way: dissolve Camphor in an equal amount of oil of spike.
Take one drachm of the Extract of Gum Ladanum made with spirit of wine, and three grains of the best Musk.

Mix and make into pills weighing 4 grains each using marjoram water and mucilage of tragacanth. The dose is 2 or at most 3 pills, repeated if necessary. They should be given long after eating, around evening. The "Philosophical Spirit of Vitriol" given in wine is also rightly added to these.

Since all pain is removed in three ways: 1. By those things which remove the cause of the pain, being contrary to it. 2. By Anodynes soothing agents, which as paregorics mitigating medicines ease the cause of the pain, making it uniform and gently thinning it. 3. By Narcotics, which cause the pain not to be felt. These do not properly remove the cause of the pain, except perhaps through the sleep they cause, during which the cause might be eased and "cooked" matured or processed by the body's heat. A very violent pain indicates a Narcotic; a milder pain indicates an Anodyne.

If the pain arises from a "hot imbalance" of the brain or from hot vapors exhaling, such as in a fever, one can address it after evacuation via a clyster enema. A vein should be opened immediately, especially if there is plethora an excess of blood or an imbalance of the whole body. Or, focusing more on the affected part, cupping glasses with scarification light scratching of the skin should be applied to the shoulder blades. Indeed, in great pains, they may be applied several times on the same day without scarification. Then, a frontal anodyne should be applied, such as this:
Frontal Anodyne

Take half a drachm of Opiated Laudanum.
Three ounces each of nightshade water and rose water.
Half an ounce of vinegar of roses.

Mix, and apply linen cloths moistened with these to the forehead. Let the patient also frequently smell rose water in which Camphor has been dissolved, and wash the face with the same. Internally, give those things that alter the imbalance, draw out harmful humors, and have anodyne power, such as the Laudanums mentioned above.

If the pain does not yield in this way, one must turn to Vesicatories blistering agents, which should be applied to the top of the head or the neck near the nape.

If, however, the pain arises from a "cold imbalance" of the brain, whether with or without physical matter, one must abstain from the aforementioned medicines and turn to those commonly prescribed by practitioners. The physician should keep among his most suitable remedies the vinegar and Oxymel of Squill vinegar and honey of sea onion, elderflower water, and the oils and waters of pennyroyal, rosemary, dill, and parsley. These last two, applied externally either together or alone after the necessary preliminaries, soothe such pain, digest and dissipate the matter, or dispose it so it can later be easily drawn out by Errhines medicines snuffed up the nose to cause sneezing and Apophlegmatisms medicines chewed to draw out phlegm.

Anointing the temples, the forehead, and the coronal suture the joint at the top of the skull is extremely helpful. Expressed oil of nutmeg and "Apoplectic Balsam" smeared in the nostrils are also useful, as are the balsams of cinnamon and amber. Small silk bags in the form of a cap are also very useful: these are sewn with spices and "capital herbs" herbs specific to the head. Bags made of four parts millet and one part toasted salt, applied to the head three or four times daily after being heated, are also recommended.

If this condition does not yield to ordinary remedies, one may raise blisters behind the ears on the lower part. When these break, cabbage leaves are placed over them to keep the blisters open. When it is time to heal them, they are anointed with the "White Ointment of Rhazes." If the disease is long-lasting and rebellious, a seton a thread passed through the skin to maintain an opening or a potential or actual cautery burning of the skin may be applied.

If the headache arises due to a "living sympathy" with the stomach, and it afflicts the patient continuously or at intervals, an infusion of Crocus Metallorum Saffron of Metals, a preparation of Antimony or Flowers of Antimony made in betony or mint water should be given frequently. Mercury of Life and the Panacea a universal cure-all are also useful, as they are for pain caused by cold humors. In such cases, powders made from bone, coriander spices, prepared anise, or "Abbot's Diarrhodon" a rose-based digestive powder, and "Diamofchus" a musk-based compound taken after meals are extremely helpful, always taking care of

the stomach as well as the head, which should be comforted with scented balsams and other remedies, taken internally and applied externally.

Vervain for headaches.

In every headache, distilled water of Verbena Vervain is commended as an appropriate arcanum secret remedy. Four ounces of it taken with three drops of spirit of vitriol often helps. The whole crushed verbena plant applied to the head, or a piece of it, or the whole plant with its root hung from the neck by a thread so the root points upward, acts as an amulet.

NB. The Verbena should first be dug up with the earth still clinging to the root. Afterward, the root itself should be pulled through the earth in reverse order.

original: "(In doloribus capitis ex Tartaro...)"
In headaches arising from Tartar metabolic waste or stony deposits in the body, which are the most atrocious and sharp, I will reveal to you, Benevolent Reader, a secret remedy whose powers I have often proven by experience and have seen nothing better.

Take a quantity of the best purified and crystallized nitre. Place it in a crucible that has been gradually heated to a glow and well-covered. When the nitre flows like clear water, throw in a small glowing coal. A flame will immediately arise with a whistling and hissing sound. Do this repeatedly and successively. When the nitre stops flaming and hissing, continue a very vehement fire for a quarter of an hour. After the fixed nitre has cooled, break the crucible and take it out. Place it in a cold, damp place in a cellar. At the mere contact of the air, it will first turn into a buttery substance, and then into a deliquium a liquid formed by absorbing moisture from the air. A thick, yellowish-white humor will form, like "Oil of Tartar" made by deliquium. When this is done, take the herb Betony and distill a water from it. Pour this water over fresh Betony that has been bruised in a stone mortar. To every liter of water, add about two or three ounces of that liquefied nitre. Let it stand in a glass in a temperately warm place. Within 24 hours, the water will be intensely tinted. Filter this and give two ounces to the patient twice. You will find the operation to be stupendous.

Note: In this way, you can extract a tincture from all specific vegetables. If you want the exact powers of the medicine, labor to separate the menstruum solvent, which you can do by adding a large amount of spirit of wine. This will receive the tincture while the menstruum is pushed to the bottom.

NB. In this way, you can also prepare the best tincture of antimony.

I. An epithema a liquid poultice made from crayfish.
II. The best spirit of wine, which is extremely effective for a headache from "crapula" a hangover, especially if the testicles are fomented with a sponge soaked in wine vinegar or common water and then squeezed out.

III. An epithema of Zedoary: powder of Zedoary is moistened with elderflower water (or water with vervain and betony) and applied properly to the nape of the neck.

IV. In hemicrania migraine affecting one side of the head, especially the "clavus" a sensation of a nail being driven into the head, the root of turmeric is helpful when taken (one drachm) with vervain and pontic wormwood (half an ounce each). In "Hungarian fevers," these are boiled in wine with rose water to make an epithema.

V. A compound water as follows:
Take two ounces each of rose and elderflower water.
One drachm of Camphor.
Three or six grains of the best Musk.
Half an ounce of Carline Thistle extract.
One drachm of oil of spike.
Dissolve the Camphor in the oil of spike, then mix everything. Apply it on cloths to the aching head during great and intense heat. In fevers from the heat of the sun, it should be applied to the temples and forehead.

VI. There is a specific for "cold" headaches, such as those that often vex women, especially if they feel as if something cold and fluctuating is stuck in the back of the head. Take two ounces of long pepper. Essence of long pepper: crush it into a coarse powder in a mortar, then extract it with spirit of wine and keep it. The use is as follows: Make a small bag of coarsely powdered white amber. Soak the bag in this essence of long pepper and apply it warm to the coronal suture. This is most beneficial. If necessary, a general evacuation of the bowels should precede it.

VII. In the most serious headaches (with wakefulness and urgent catarrhs drainage of fluids), one must resort to Opiated Laudanum, as other things will profit nothing.

VIII. Take some river crayfish, moisten them with rose vinegar, crush them, and wrap them around the head in the place of a plaster.

IX. Plantain root hung from the neck cures specific headaches.

X. Soft ivy leaves toasted with Oxyrhodinum a mixture of rose oil and vinegar should be applied to the forehead and temples. This is excellent for "bilious" headaches.

XI. Verbena, as said above, is a remarkable specific used both internally and externally.

XII. Peach kernels crushed with betony or vervain water and applied are wonderfully helpful in headaches from a cold cause.

Alabaster Ointment

XIII. Ointment of Alabaster.
Take one handful of blackberry bush ashes.
One small handful of Rue leaves.
Two ounces of fresh Chamomile flowers.
Half an ounce of Alabaster stone, very finely powdered.
Half an ounce of oil of Roses.
Half an ounce of Wax.
Two ounces of white wine.
Place in a new glazed pot for three days, then boil until the wine is consumed. Let it cool. Add the whites of four eggs and mix.

In such cases of desipientia mental confusion, delirium, or foolishness, give:
I. All things being equal, Aqua Benedicta.

II. "Green Juice of the Moon" (otherwise known as Liquor of the Moon and Potable Silver Potable Silver). A true tincture requires a universal menstruum. It is made this way:
Take five parts of the best purified oil of tartar potassium carbonate solution.
Take one part of white sealed earth medicinal clay.
Powder them very finely on a porphyry a hard stone slab. Then, place them in a crucible covered and sealed with clay. Observe the grades of fire in a wind-furnace, starting low, until at last they remain in a vehement fire for 24 hours, almost to the point of melting. (The matter does not actually flow because of the sealed earth, but it appears as if it might). When everything has cooled, the "water of tartar" is found in the crucible like green glass. Take this out and reduce it to a fine powder. Take one part of this and two parts of "Calx of Silver" silver reduced to powder which was dissolved without Aqua Fortis nitric acid and precipitated by copper in a large amount of water, then washed of all acrimony. Mix them carefully. Put them back in a cemented and luted box or crucible in a sand bath and apply a slow fire at first. Afterward, apply a stronger fire from below and above. Put it in a wide-bottomed vessel with the best spirit of wine for 12 hours, ensuring it does not melt; if it melts, repeat the work. When cool, take it out of the vessel and grind it finely. In a wide-bottomed cucurbit a gourd-shaped glass vessel, add the best spirit of wine to extract the redness. The redness does not come from the silver (which only contains blue or green color) but from the tartar over 6, 7, or 8 days. Decant this spirit and add more, repeating the extraction of the red or yellow color as before. Keep all the extractions. After the redness is extracted, the silver in the cucurbit appears somewhat blue. Dry this gradually and grind it into a powder on marble. Keep it carefully. Distill the collected red extractions in a Bain-Marie; the spirit of wine will come over, but all the redness will remain in the glass like blood. Grind this very finely with the reserved blue silver...