THE MYSTERY AND ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS, LTD. THE MYSTERY AND ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY BY C. J. S. THOMPSON AUTHOR OF “POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES,” “THE CHEMIST’S COMPENDIUM,” “THE CULT OF BEAUTY,” ETC., ETC. LONDON THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS, LIMITED 28 & 29 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1897 PREFACE. It has been my endeavour in the following pages to sketch, however imperfectly, some phases of the romance and mystery that have surrounded the arts of medicine, alchemy, and pharmacy from the earliest period of which we have record down to the close of the eighteenth century. The influence of the past on the present is greater than we commonly suppose. In this age of rapid scientific progress and brilliant research, we are apt to overlook and lose sight of the patient labours of the early pioneers of science, many of whom laid the foundations of discoveries that have since proved of inestimable value to mankind. Hence the history of the past, whether in science or in art, is always worthy of study and attention. My thanks are due to the Editor of the _Pharmaceutical Journal_ for permission to reproduce several illustrations which appeared in its pages together with a portion of this work. C. J. S. T LIVERPOOL, 1897. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. THE DAWN OF THE ART OF HEALING. The foundation of the art of healing—The most ancient record of medicine and pharmacy—The _Ebers Papyrus_—Origin of the term pharmacist—Drugs used in ancient Egypt—Early Jewish medicines—The antiquity of medicine and alchemy in China—The Chinese and the Philosopher’s Stone—Ancient Chinese _materia medica_—The medical art in ancient Greece—The Grecian temples of medicine—Methods of treatment—The oath of Hippocrates _pages_ 1-13 CHAPTER II. THE WIZARDS OF EARLY GREECE. Tiresias—Abaris—Pythagoras—Epimenides—Empedocles—Aristras— Hermotimus _pages_ 14-23 CHAPTER III. THE WIZARDS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. A Roman sorceress—Virgil’s sorceress—Canidia—A witches’ incantation _pages_ 24-29 CHAPTER IV. THE FATHERS OF MEDICINE. Æsculapius—Hippocrates—Diocles—Praxagoras—Chrysippus— Hierphilus—Erasistratus—Serapion—Asclepiades—Galen—His system of treatment—Medical practice in the fifth century—Alexander of Tralles—The fees of Roman practitioners—Votive offerings for health—Roman _donaria_—Roman temples of healing _pages_ 30-38 CHAPTER V. THE EARLY AGE OF GREEK AND ROMAN PHARMACY.