A far more illustrious patient was Lorenzo de’ Medici, “The Magnificent” (1448–1492), the celebrated ruler of Florence. When this plebeian prince lay dying of a fever at Careggi, just after that famous interview with Savonarola, his friends called in Lazaro da Ticino, a physician of reputation, who administered pulverized pearls. Politian, who was present, is credited with the statement that when the medicine was administered, to the inquiry as to how it tasted, Lorenzo replied: “As pleasant as anything can be to a dying man.”[367] Even the English philosopher, Francis Bacon (1561–1626), mentioned pearls among medicines for the prolongation of life. He adds: “Pearls are taken, either in a fine powder or in a kind of paste or solution made by the juice of very sour and fresh lemons. Sometimes they are given in aromatic confections, sometimes in a fluid form. Pearls no doubt have some affinity with the shells wherein they grow; perhaps may have nearly the same qualities as the shells of crawfish.”[368] Powdered pearl or mother-of-pearl mixed with lemon juice was used as a wash for the face, and was considered “the best in the world.”[369] The pearl powder and lemon juice were permitted to stand for a day or two and the combination was then filtered before using. Another method of preparing this was: Dissolve two or three ounces of fine seed-pearl in distilled vinegar, and when it is perfectly dissolved, pour the vinegar into a clean basin; then drop some oil of tartar upon it, and it will cast down the pearl into fine powder; then pour the vinegar clean off softly; put to the pearl clear conduit or spring water; pour that off, and do so often until the taste of the vinegar and tartar be clean gone; then dry the powder of pearl upon warm embers, and keep it for your use.[370] Through their composition of carbonate of lime, pearls possibly possess some slight therapeutic value, which, however, can easily be supplied by other materials—as the shell, for instance—and is entirely out of proportion to their market value as ornaments. Although pearls have lost their therapeutic prestige and no longer have a recognized place in materia medica, their healing qualities are not to be denied, for there are few ills to which women are subject that cannot be bettered or at least endured with greater patience when the sufferer receives a gift of pearls; the truth of which any doubting Thomas may easily verify in his own household to the limit of his purse-strings. Owing to their beauty and great value, pearls have been deemed particularly appropriate as a sacrifice in enriching a drink for a toast or tribute. Shakspere alludes to this in the words of King Claudius, the pearl being frequently designated _union_ in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: