The New Chemical Medicine
The New Chemical Medicine
by Natalia Bachour
In the sixteenth century, new and revolutionary medical concepts emerged in Europe. The traditional school of Galenic medicine was confronted with a new doctrine called nova medicina, rooted in alchemy, astrology, magic and natural philosophy.
The main difference between the new and the old medicine was in their philosophy of illness and therapy. The Galenists considered health to be a state of balance between the four humours of the human body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Each of these was associated with two of the four primary qualities: hot, cold, dry and moist. Illness was thus an imbalance between the qualities or humours of the body, and was to be removed by eliminating the excess of one humour by bloodletting or purging, or by giving a medicine possessing its contrary quality. Paracelsus’s nova medicina, by contrast, rather than being a homogeneous logical system, comprised diverse alchemical, astrological and magical conceptions that were in part ambivalent and even contradictory. On the one hand, Paracelsus considered illness to be a specific entity requiring a specific cure for its elimination; on the other, he postulated the theory of the three principles, salt, sulphur and mercury, in correlation with the three states of matter, solid, fluid and volatile (as experienced by the alchemist in his laboratory). The three states of matter were thought to represent the immaterial principles of solidity or consistency, inflammability or combustibility, and spirituousness or volatility, respectively. Diseases were to be cured by remedies according to these principles. Paracelsus also used alchemical remedies in his therapy, including mercury and antimony derivatives applied internally, a practice unacceptable to Galenists...
Left: Frontispiece from Crollius’ Royal Chemistry (Basilica Chymica) which was translated into both Ottoman Turkish and Persian in the 17th century.
The New Chemical Medicine explains both theoretical principles and chemical operations in general, and gives instructions for the distillation of simples to prepare spirits and oils. However, it contains no recipes for the preparation of composite medicines. This gap was filled by The Royal Chemistry, which for the most part contains prescriptions for compound remedies. The Royal Chemistry contains two treatises. The first contains a preface (in which the translator differentiates between universal and particular therapies), followed by eight chapters on general cures including digestives, emetics, cathartics, diuretics, diaphoretics, restorers, analgesics and hypnotics, as well as odorifera. The second treatise is on remedies for specific diseases (specifica) that act by their occult properties (virtutes). The sequence of the categories of specific remedies is altered to match the classical order used in Arabic medical compendia, with diseases listed according to the organs affected (after the classical principle from head to heel), with non-organ-specific diseases discussed last. Each category contains the preparation method for one or several recipes, including chemical operations...
Right: The process of distillation as illustrated in a medieval Arabic manuscript.
The New Chemical Medicine and The Royal Chemistry were translated together into Ottoman Turkish, the first complete Ottoman translation being The Utmost Desire in the Treatment of Patients (Ġāyet ül-münā fī tedbīr il-marżā) by the physician Ḥasan Efendi. Ḥasan Efendi adds several explanations and synonyms in the margin of the text (Süleymaniye Library, MS Tahir Ağa 395). The Utmost Goal in the Treatment of Patients (Ġāyet ül-müteraḳḳī fī tedbīr il-marżā) is an anonymous, abridged version of the first translation. The structure of The New Chemical Medicine is maintained, but the content is greatly reduced by the omission of several passages and some preparations. The Royal Chemistry is radically reduced so as to contain only 15 preparations. The Guide of Wise Men: the Translation of Spagyric (Mürşid ül-elibbā fī tercemet ispaġiryā), the second complete Ottoman translation, by the Ottoman Chief Physician Gevrekzāde Ḥāfız Ḥasan (1140/1727–1216/1801), contains additional passages that represent a further integration of the text into the field of humoral pathology...
Left: Alchemical intruments. top: glass beaker; bottom: alembic and cucurbit.
Continue Reading?
Click here to purchase the 1001 cures book!
"The New Chemical Medicine" by Natalia Bachour
~ Chapter Twelve, Pages 120-129 ~
~ Chapter Twelve, Pages 120-129 ~
1001 Cures Book tells the fascinating story of how generations of physicians from different countries and creeds created a medical tradition admired by friend and foe. It influences the fates and fortunes of countless human beings, both East and West.