JOHANN HARTMANN,

Doctor of Medicine,

COUNSELOR AND CHIEF PHYSICIAN TO THE PRINCES OF HESSE.

THE PRACTICE OF CHEMICAL MEDICINE,

original: "Praxis Chymiatrica"; the application of chemical principles to the preparation of medicines and the treatment of disease.

With Annotations by

CONRAD JOHRENIUS,

Doctor of Medicine and Public Professor.

INTRODUCTION.

Large decorative initial 'F' within a square border, featuring a woodcut scene of figures in a landscape with foliage.

For anyone intending to proceed successfully in the practice of Chemical Medicine, two things must be considered: 1. That he understands the disease well. 2. That he has appropriate and choice remedies ready at hand. The first is learned from Pathology The branch of medicine focused on the causes and nature of diseases.; the second from Therapeutics The branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of disease and the action of remedial agents., which in this context is primarily Chemical. In matters of Pathology, the most learned Fernelius Jean Fernel (1497–1558), a highly influential French physician who introduced the term "pathology." should be consulted. In Therapeutics, which especially concerns Pharmacy, chemical remedies excel in this regard—specifically specifics and indeed reliable medicines? original: "ἰσιοπίσα"; likely a Greek-derived term for medicines with specific, trusted effects., in which two things the entire system of chemical healing consists. Therefore, before we arrive at the diseases and symptoms of individual parts of the body, it will not be useless to first present universal medicines organized into certain classes, from which universal cures for particular diseases are to be sought. Since, however, the most frequent intention in Medical Practice is Evacuation The process of clearing "corrupt humors" or waste from the body.: we rightly judge that a physician who knows how to administer this properly through swift, safe, and pleasant medicines possesses the primary strength of Practice. Therefore, as we are about to treat the cure of the principal diseases, it will be worth the effort to first present those universal evacuating remedies which are to be offered in almost every disease.

Furthermore, since nature is normally accustomed to expelling the source original: "mineram"; literally the "ore" or "mineral source" of the illness, reflecting the chemical/alchemical worldview. of a disease through four pathways: 1. through the upper parts [the mouth], 2. through the lower parts [the bowels], 3. through the urinary bladder, and 4. through the surface of the body [the skin]. The Physician, as the servant of nature, rightly imitates her in these, and for that reason establishes four classes of evacuating medicines: namely, Emetics original: "Vomitoriorum"; medicines that induce vomiting., Purgatives original: "Purgantium"; medicines that cleanse the bowels., Diuretics Medicines that increase urine production., and Diaphoretics Medicines that induce sweating.. These he draws, according to the diversity of the patient and the disease, sometimes from vegetables [plants] and sometimes from minerals.

However, just as these come into use in individual diseases, so too—more often because of a weakness of strength or the intensity of pain—the patient must now be comforted, and now the pain must be mitigated; thus, he employs strengthening tonics and painkillers original: "confortantia & anodyna", which are to be presented before the specific cures.