Examination of Officinal Medicines

...nidium, red, or Thomasian; why is "ambered" not added? Truly elegant. But perhaps one example can stand for all. Ha! A series of confections: Calamus root original: "Rad. Acori"; Sweet Flag, used for digestion, sweet almonds, anise, orange peels, and citron etc. Or if you prefer them candied, behold the same Calamus root, the fruit of sweet almonds, and peels of orange and citron etc. If, however, succulent things please the palate more, look: preserved Calamus root, orange and citron peels and many similar things. Nor are there lacking aromatic lozenges with musk, rose-flavored with and without musk, made from barberry juice, amber-infused, rosemary-flower and so on: likewise morsels small medicinal lozenges or "bites" of barberry juice, of citron, of quinces with spices and fruits, and the "Emperor’s morsel" with fruits. Behold "Imperial bread" original: "panem Caesareum", and Marchpane marzipan, both simple and compound with spices. Even Chocolate is ready at hand. It is a pity at least that most men are nauseated by the delicacies of the pharmacists, according to the proverb cited by Helmont Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644), a famous chemist and physician: "take that away, for it smells of the Apothecary shop"; otherwise the world would have little trouble doing without the confectioners occupied with those sweets and sugary confections; it would also lack the "water-merchants" café owners or street vendors serving the drinks of Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate to the idle masses.

§. 8.

I should believe, however, that those sweets are prepared for the sake of children; what then shall we offer to Men in place of sugary things? Without a doubt, those which come to be mentioned in the seventh place: preserved with salt and vinegar, suitable for exciting a greater appetite. Of this kind are Capers in vinegar or with salt, Citron flowers in vinegar, Lemons with salt, Olives with salt. Why do they not add pickled cucumbers with salted fish original: "halece"; likely anchovies or fish brine, or pickled cabbage sauerkraut with a well-salted and peppered sausage? Jokes aside. In a small town, where the pharmacist's labors and returns are more meager, nothing forbids him from selling even playing cards, and tobacco with pipes made for smoking, especially if shopkeepers are lacking: but in a noble, mercantile, imperial, or royal City, we do not see such a thing done. At the very least, they cannot be entered into the Catalogue of Medicines.