THE PRACTICE OF DR. JOHANN HARTMANN

MELANCHOLY.

V. For Melancholy, the following are purgatives besides emetics:
1. Laxative powder of diasea original: "diaseæ"; likely referring to a compound made from sebesten plums, used as a gentle laxative.
2. Prepared hellebore root.
3. The best is the specific purgative of Paracelsus Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), the Swiss physician and alchemist who pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine.

For strengthening the brain, use:
1. Paracelsus’s Elixir of Property a famous alchemical tonic made from aloe, myrrh, and saffron.
2. Essence of Saffron extracted with distilled vine-water (vine-water is made from cut vines, which is then distilled for preservation).
3. Liquor of the Moon Liquor Lunæ; a solution of silver, mentioned above.
4. Extract of Alkermes a crimson medicinal drink made from kermes insects, traditionally used for the heart and brain with extract of Ladanum gum, adding a small portion of Amber and Musk in the form of pills.

Note: The Extract of Alkermes is made neither by Spirit of Wine distilled alcohol nor by any other solvent; the juice of fragrant apples alone is superior. This extract is preserved longer if, after the preparation is finished, Spirit of Wine is mixed in; for another preparation, see above regarding "strengtheners."

EXTRACT OF LAPIS LAZULI.

5. Extract of Lapis Lazuli: Take as much Lapis Lazuli the blue semi-precious stone, believed to purge "black bile" in ancient medicine as you please; heat it in the fire six or seven times, and quench it as many times in Spirit of Wine. Finally, reduce it to a powder and, with water of lemon balm, wash away the earthy dregs (abschlechen German: to wash or rinse away impurities). Reduce it to a very fine powder and digest it with Spirit of Wine in heat for 3 or 4 weeks. Finally, remove the Spirit of Wine from the whole by distillation and carefully save what remains. This is the Extract of Lapis Lazuli; the dose is from half a scruple to one scruple in cases of Melancholy, Epilepsy, Dizziness, and Headaches. It is an excellent remedy for Quartan fever a malarial fever where paroxysms occur every fourth day when taken in an appropriate liquid.

(VITRIOLATED GOLD.

Take 4 pounds of calcined Hungarian vitriol iron or copper sulfate, place it in a large, well-sealed glass cucurbit a gourd-shaped boiling flask and pour on 2 or 4 pounds of aqua fortis Strong water; Nitric acid and a little more spring water; the aqua fortis will then rise up violently in operation. Place the cucurbit in the furnace, and having fitted an alembic the "hood" of a still with a receiver, distill with a slow fire. First, red drops will come out, then after a quarter of an hour, the green liquor of vitriol will come out in abundance. Pour this green liquor of vitriol back into a cucurbit and, using a water bath, draw off as much water as possible. Upon the vitriol that remains, pour enough simple common water for it to dissolve. From this solution in a sealed cucurbit, draw off the spirits over an open fire, and you will receive a liquid as limpid and clear as spring water or mercury indicated by the symbol ⚩, which will reveal itself by its own peculiar sign of streaks, like a fan indicated by the symbol ℣. This liquid is a crystalline, slightly acidic gold indicated by the symbol ℵ, but it is not corrosive and can be safely taken into the body. If you cast Gold indicated by the symbol ☉ into it in a warm place, it will dissolve it fundamentally, joining itself with the distilled spirit. The dose is 6 or 10 drops. It is an excellent remedy in melancholy, fevers, and other diseases.)

Paracelsus places the specific medicine for Melancholy in the "Flowers of Antimony" a white oxide of antimony produced by sublimation, administered twice, three, or four times according to the stubbornness of the disease, given with a little Theriac an ancient "universal" herbal electuary.

For those suffering from melancholy, powder of fumitory should be given frequently, and they are cured. Likewise, water and preserves of Elecampane, and the Essence of Lesser Celandine, are wonderfully beneficial in Melancholy and Hypochondria in this period, "hypochondria" referred to physical distress in the upper abdomen thought to cause mental melancholy.

Zwinger’s remedy for Hypochondria.

Zwinger’s remedy for Hypochondria.
Take aperitive opening/laxative roots, half an ounce each;
bugloss,
Blessed Thistle, one pinch each;
a little Wormwood,
fennel seed, 1 dram;
Safflower, half an ounce;
senna leaves, 2.5 ounces;
agaric a medicinal fungus,
white tartar, half an ounce each;

Ginger,
Cinnamon, 1 dram each.
Prepare all these for wine: from this, let 3 cups be taken daily in the morning for 3 weeks, until the patient feels faint.

Secret anti-hypochondriac water.

A secret water of great reputation among physicians, very suitable for Hypochondriac Melancholy.
Take flowers of borage,
bugloss,
Arabian stoechas a type of lavender, half an ounce each;
rosemary,
marjoram,
lemon balm, 2.5 drams each.
Roots of bugloss, 2 ounces;
peony, 1 ounce;
water of bugloss,
borage, 3 ounces each.
Syrup of pomegranates, 2.5 ounces;
Coarse powder of Cinnamon,
galangal,
Cloves,
Saffron,
Basil seed, 1 dram each.
Pour over this 4 pounds of Rhenish wine; let them stand in infusion for 2 or 3 days, then distill in a water bath.

An excellent digestive for Hypochondria:
Take Crystalline Salt of Tartar, 1 scruple.
Oil of Vitriol Sulfuric acid or acid of sulfur, 20 grains.
Mix in plum broth or another broth; let it be repeated for two or three days. Afterward, let the patient be purged with a decoction of cholagogues medicines that drain bile and phlegmagogues medicines that drain phlegm, along with their correctives and gas-relieving agents.

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RABIES.

VII. In Rabies (Hydrophobia), the most noble medicine is a simple mixture used to make the patient sweat.

LOVE POTIONS.

VIII. For Love-Potions (or madness resulting from Love-Potions): 1. Emetics are necessary, such as "Blessed Water" an infusion of antimony or Croll’s Electuary of Glass of Antimony.

Preparation of the placenta powder.

2. Afterward, take a fresh placenta original: "secundinam"; the afterbirth (powder of placenta hardly lasts beyond two years). Separate the umbilical vein and the outer membrane; dry it in an oven so that it can be powdered. Give this powder (twice for two continuous days) to the patient after general treatments, from 1 dram to 2.5 drams, with half a scruple of Extract of Theriac, or with Theriacal water or spirit, or 1 ounce of a diaphoretic sweat-inducing medicine in acute cases. Give it with one or two spoonfuls of watercress juice, and at the same time, apply the following plaster to the stomach:
Take powder of colocynth bitter apple, 2 drams;
scammony a purgative resin, 1 dram;
masterwort root, 1.5 drams; rock salt,
both types of hellebore black and white, 1 dram each;
quince bark, half an ounce.
Let all be coarsely powdered; add oil of elder,
and as much wax as needed.
Make a Plaster. Let a portion be spread upon leather and applied to the stomach; leave it there for only half an hour, after which a sweat should be provoked. When all these things are finished, let the following electuary be given for several days.
Take juice of lemon balm,
St. John's wort, 2 ounces each;
Swallow-wort root, half an ounce;
a good magnet stone that attracts iron, 2 drams;
as much clarified honey as needed.
Make an Electuary. The dose is from 1 dram to 2.5 drams on an empty stomach several times, until the evil abates. (A little coral tincture, from 6 to 10 grains, can also be given daily at noon.)