CHEMICAL MEDICINE IN PRACTICE.

the principal sleep-inducing painkiller original: "anodynum somniferum", free from all poison and impurity, is best corrected; they also include the pain-killing sulfur of vitriol, which cannot be said of the previously mentioned substances. Hence, the power of these is more effective and their use safer.

Opiated Laudanum.

OPIATED LAUDANUM.

Take of the best Opium as much as you wish; cut it into small and thin pieces, and dry it in a glass dish over a gentle ash fire until it can be crumbled into powder by the fingers of its own accord, and until it smells good—namely, after the foul sulfur (which causes it to stink greatly at the start) has been consumed through evaporation. Afterward, extract it by pouring vinegar over it to a depth of 5 or 6 fingers, and let it digest in a sand bath for 3 days. Separate the colored vinegar from the dregs, filter it, and distill it in a water bath original: "B." for Balneum Mariae to the consistency of honey; dissolve this again in rose water, filter once more, and remove the water through distillation. Keep the extract.

Extract of Saffron.

Take also Saffron, as much as you wish. Extract it with tempered Spirit of Wine Spirit of Wine; high-proof alcohol or ethanol by pouring it over the saffron until it is no longer colored. The colored liquid is distilled through an alembic so that the extract remains at the bottom like honey. Now, therefore, Take 1 ounce of the Extract of Opium and 6 drachms of Salt of Pearls. Mix them, adding at the end 1 scruple of musk, 1 scruple of amber, and 6 drops (or half a scruple) of oil of Cloves. Keep for use in a closed vessel. The dose is from 4 to 6 grains in the form of gilded pills. Or, if the pain or sleeplessness is severe, it is given 3 hours after dinner in an appropriate water, or poppy syrup, or a Heart Cordial: one pill then, a second at midnight, and if it does not subside, a third toward dawn.

Take 2 ounces of the Ointment and 1 drachm of Opiated Laudanum. Make an ointment; or, it may be dissolved in the water of nightshade, roses, or red poppies, and linen cloths dipped in the solution are applied, as will be shown in the proper place.

ANOTHER LAUDANUM.

Another Opiated Laudanum.

Take 1 ounce of the Species diambrae a traditional aromatic spice mixture containing ambergris and musk; pour over it the best rectified Spirit of Wine so that it stands 2 fingers above. Let them sit in infusion for 14 days. Afterward, pour off half of the tincture and add 3 drachms of opium; let it sit again in infusion for 14 days. Afterward, let the clear part be poured off, and let the Spirit of Wine be separated by a very gentle heat until it reaches the consistency of a thin syrup. To this extract, add 1 scruple each of dissolved coral and pearls, half a scruple of the best prepared amber, and 1 scruple of hartshorn original: "c.c." for cornu cervi. Pour in the remaining tincture of the Species diambrae and let them stand in the sun or a warm place. Near the end, add 6 grains each of Musk and Saffron, and 4 drops each of the oils of Cinnamon and Cloves. Mix. The dose is from 2 to 3 grains.

THE HEADACHE.

I. In Cephalæa Cephalæa; a chronic or severe recurring headache or any pains of the head, the use of "Holy Water" original: "Aq. Benedicta," likely an antimonial preparation used as an emetic exhibited in a set dose on an empty stomach is very beneficial. See the notes on Crollius Oswald Croll (1560–1609), a prominent Paracelsian physician.
II. The Syrup made from "Holy Water" has the same effect.
III. Purging is performed:
1. By Laxative Senna,
2. By the vegetable Panchymagogum Panchymagogum; a universal "purger of all humors".
3. By prepared Hellebore roots,
4. By prepared Scammony,
5. By Mercurius dulcis sweet mercury; calomel or mercurous chloride,
6. By Mercurius vitae Mercury of life; an antimonial powder, not actually mercury.
7. By corrected Flowers of Antimony,
8. By the specific purging remedy of Paracelsus, which is most highly commended. See the notes on Crollius.

INTERNAL REMEDIES.

Head-strengthening pills made from Labdanum.

Among INTERNAL remedies are listed the "Capital" (Head) pills—not for purging, but for strengthening—made from Labdanum; they are as follows:
Take 6 grains of Camphor oil. (Camphor oil is made thus: Camphor is dissolved in an equal amount of oil of spike lavender.)
Take 1 scruple of the Extract of Gum Labdanum made with Spirit of Wine, and 3 grains of the best Musk.

Mix and make into pills weighing 4 grains each using marjoram water and mucilage of Tragacanth. Dose: 2 or 3 pills at most, repeated if necessary. They should be given well away from mealtimes, around evening. To these may rightly be added the "Philosophical Spirit of Vitriol" likely a purified sulfuric acid administered in wine.

Pain is removed in three ways.

Since all pain is removed in three ways: 1. By those things which take away the cause of the pain, being contrary to it in this manner. 2. By Anodynes, which are soothing agents original: "paregorica" that mitigate the cause of the pain, making it uniform and gentle, and lightly thinning it. 3. By Narcotics, which make the pain not be felt: these do not properly take away the cause of the pain, unless by chance the sleep they cause when taken internally allows the cause to be mitigated and "cooked" processed by the body's heat. A very violent pain indicates a Narcotic; a milder one, an Anodyne.

If, therefore, the pain arises from some hot imbalance of the brain or from exhaling hot vapors, as in a fever, this can be countered (after first purging with an enema) by immediately opening a vein, especially if there is a "fullness of blood" Plethora; an excess of bodily fluids or an imbalance of the whole body. Or, if it concerns only the affected part, cupping glasses with scarification small skin incisions should be applied to the shoulder blades; indeed, in great pain, they may be applied several times on the same day without scarification. Then, a pain-killing "Frontal" a cloth applied to the forehead should be applied, such as this:
Pain-killing Frontal.

Take half a scruple of Opiated Laudanum,
3 ounces each of nightshade water and
rose water,
and 2 and a half drachms of rose vinegar.

The patient should also frequently smell rose water in which camphor has been dissolved, and wash the face with the same. Internally, give those things which alter the imbalance, lead out harmful humors, and have pain-killing power, such as the Laudanums mentioned above.

But if the pain does not yield in this way, one must turn to Blistering agents Vesicatoria; substances that cause medicinal blisters, which should be applied to the crown of the head or the neck near the nape.

If, however, the pain arises from a cold imbalance of the brain, whether with or without physical matter, one must abstain from the aforementioned medicines and turn to those commonly prescribed by practitioners. Among the most suitable, the Physician should have vinegar and oxymel of squill, elderflower water, and the oils and waters of pennyroyal, rosemary, dill, and parsley. When applied externally, the latter two (either alone or after necessary preparations) soothe such pain, digest and scatter the matter, or dispose it so that it can afterward be easily drawn out and scattered by sneezing powders original: "Errhinis" or phlegm-drawing medicines original: "Apophlegmatismis".

Anointing the temples, forehead, and the coronal suture is extremely helpful. Also useful are expressed oil of nutmeg and "Apoplectic Balsam" smeared in the nostrils, as well as balsams of Cinnamon and Amber. Small silk bags in the shape of a cap are also very beneficial; in these are sewn aromatics with herbs for the head, or those made from 4 parts millet and 1 part toasted salt. These should be applied to the head three or four times daily, though they must be warmed first.

If this condition does not yield to ordinary remedies, one may raise blisters behind the ears on the lower part; when these are raised and broken, cabbage leaves are placed over them to keep the blisters open. If you wish to heal them, they are anointed with Rhasis’ white ointment a traditional lead-based ointment attributed to the Persian physician Al-Razi. If the disease is long-lasting and stubborn, a seton a thread passed through the skin to maintain drainage or a potential or actual cautery branding or chemical burning may be applied.

But if the headache arises from a fault or "sympathy" of the stomach, and it afflicts the patient continuously or at intervals, an infusion of Crocus Metallorum Crocus of Metals; a preparation of antimony or Flowers of Antimony made in betony or mint water should be given frequently. Mercury of life and panacea are also useful here, as they are in pain caused by cold humors. In such cases, coarse powders made from prepared coriander, anise confections, and rose-flavored or musk-flavored lozenges taken after meals are also very helpful, always keeping a care for the stomach...