BOOK 8: ON MEDICINES ACCORDING TO THE AFFECTED PLACES

I have frequently stated that anyone who wishes to follow what I am saying must be thoroughly practiced in the treatise on simple medicines. Without an exact and distinct knowledge of the power of each individual simple ingredient, it is impossible to understand a compound medicine. One cannot determine its classification among similar types: whether it belongs to the mildest, the strongest, the middle, or some intermediate category.

Therefore, he Andromachus, the physician whose work Galen is reviewing. wrote the first formula for a windpipe medicine arteriaca not far from the beginning of his book. In this section, he provides treatments for internal bodily conditions. He wrote the recipe in these exact words:
"The windpipe medicine I use. Take 1 drachma of frankincense—though in another manuscript it says 4—1 drachma of myrrh—though in another it says 4—1 drachma of saffron—though in another it says 4—2 drachmas of squill The sea onion, or Urginea maritima, often used in ancient medicine to clear the airways., and 3 sextarii of Cretan sweet wine A sextarius was approximately half a liter. This recipe calls for about 1.5 liters of wine.. The squill is boiled in the sweet wine until the liquid thickens. Then the squill is discarded, and the remaining ingredients are sprinkled in."

If this medicine did not include the squill, it would be numbered among the most mild preparations. [529] Since only a very small amount of frankincense, myrrh, and saffron is added to three sextarii of Cretan sweet wine, the mixture remains almost entirely Cretan wine. It is clear that the medicine called...