Pharmacologia, or, The history of medicinal substances : with a view to establish the art of prescribing and of composing extemporaneous formulæ upon fixed and scientific principles ; illustrated by formulæ, in which the intention of each element is designated by key letters / by John Ayrton Paris.

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1820
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacologia, or, The history of medicinal substances : with a view to establish the art of prescribing and of composing extemporaneous formulæ upon fixed and scientific principles ; illustrated by formulæ, in which the intention of each element is designated by key letters / by John Ayrton Paris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    30/606 (page 10)
    were the guardians of the temple, prepared the re- medies and directed their application, and thus com- menced the profession of physic. With respect to the actual natui-e of these remedies, it is useless to en- quire; the lapse of ages, loss of records, change of language, and ambiguity of description, have rendered every learned research unsatisfactory; indeed we are in doubt with regard to many of the medicines which even Hippocrates employed. It is however clearly shewn by the earliest records, that the ancients were in the possession of many powerful remedies; thus Melarapus of Argos, the most ancient Greek physician with whom we are acquainted, is said to have cured one of the Argonauts of sterility, by administering the rust of iron in wine for ten days; and the same physician used hellebore, as a purge, on the daughters - of king Praetus, who were afflicted with melancholy. Venesection was also a remedy of very early origin, for Podalirius, on his return from the Trojan war, cured the daughter of Damethus, who had fallen from a height, by bleeding her in both arms. Opium, or a preparation of the poppy, was certainly known in the earliest ages ; it was probably opium that Helen mixed with wine, and gave to the guests of Mene- laus, under the expressive name of nepenthe^* to drive away their cares, and increase their hilarity; and this conjecture receives much support from the fact, bags, the ofFeringa on the altar. The patients, during tliis period, re- posed on the skins of sacrificed rams, in order that they might procure celestial visions, As soon as they were believed to be asleep, a priest, clothed in the dress of Esculapius, imitating his manners, and a«com- panied by the daughters of the god, that is, by young actresses, tho- roughly instructed in their parts, entered, and delivered a medical opinion. * Odyss. A.