Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)Wootton, A. C.
History
Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wootton, A. C.
Pharmacy -- History
appears to have been an amateur prescriber. Etmuller states that
she sent a formula for a “cephalica-cardiac medicine” to the Holy
Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, himself a dabbler in various scientific
quackeries. It consisted of amber, musk, and civet, dissolved in spirit
of roses. It is further on record that the English queen selected
doctors and pharmacists for Ivan the Terrible of Russia. In Wadd’s
Memorabilia, one of her Majesty’s quarter’s bills from her apothecary,
Hugo Morgan, is quoted. It amounted to £83 7_s._ 8_d._, and included
the following items:--A confection made like manus Christi with bezoar
stone and unicorn’s horn, 11_s._; a royal sweetmeat with incised
rhubarb, 1_s._ 4_d._; rose water for the king of Navarre’s ambassador,
1_s._; a conserve of barberries with preserved damascene plums, and
other things for Mr. Ralegh, 6_s._; sweet scent to be used at the
christening of Sir Richard Knightley’s son, 2_s._
THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY’S WATER.
Rosemary has at times enjoyed a high reputation among medicinal herbs.
Arnold of Villa Nova affirms that he had often seen cancers, gangrenes,
and fistulas, which would yield to no other medicine, dry up and become
perfectly cured by frequently bathing them with a spirituous infusion
of rosemary. His disciple, Raymond Lully, extracted the essential oil
by distillation.
The name probably assisted the fame of the plant. In the middle ages it
was believed to be associated with the Virgin. It was in fact derived
from Ros and Maris, meaning Dew of the Sea; probably because it grew
near the shores of the Mediterranean.
“Here’s rosemary for you; that’s for remembrance.” So says Ophelia in
Hamlet; and many other poets and chroniclers relate how the plant was
used at funerals and weddings as a symbol of constancy. It is supposed
that this signification arose from the medicinal employment of rosemary
to improve the memory. It may easily have happened, however, that the
medicinal use followed the emblematical idea.
Old books and some modern ones tell the legend of the Queen of Hungary
and her rosemary remedy. It is alleged in pharmaceutical treatises
published in the nineteenth century that a document is preserved in the
Imperial Library at Vienna, dated 1235, and written by Queen Elisabeth
of Hungary, thus expressed:--
“I, Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary, being very infirm and much
troubled with gout, in the seventy-second year of my age,
used for a year this recipe given to me by an ancient hermit,
whom I never saw before nor since; and was not only cured
but recovered my strength, and appeared to all so remarkably
beautiful that the King of Poland asked me in marriage, he
being a widower and I a widow. I, however, refused him for
the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, from one of whose angels I
believe I received the remedy.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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