Disclosing the composition of unknown historical drug formulations: an emblematic case from the Spezieria of St. Maria della Scala in Rome.

This paper reports a pioneering study of an unknown historical drug formulation preserved in the Spezieria of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, founded at the end of the seventeenth century by the Discalced Carmelites. Due to limited literature related to pharmaceutical remedies and drugs of the Early Modern Era (between the XV and XVIII centuries) and the complexity in their formulations, the study of these drugs represents a great challenge. The untargeted nature of the selected drug required a multi-analytical approach with complementary techniques to formulate a compositional hypothesis: FT-IR spectroscopy, gas chromatography-associated/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were successfully employed to identify different organic compounds. Systematic archaeobotanical research was performed as well, allowing us to acquire data related to the possible genus of plants from which these natural compounds derive and their geographical origin. The unknown drug formulation turned out to be a complex mixture used as an ointment with an anti-inflammatory purpose. It mainly contains a mixture of Venetian turpentine; a Pine resin (colophony) from the Pinaceae family; an exudate of a plant from South America, whose identified components are triterpenic compounds such as alpha- and beta-amyrins, betulin and lupeol; and saturated fatty acids which act as carriers and/or to reduce the viscosity of abovementioned exudates and resins. The study of historical drugs is important not only in order to know the practices handed down by the speziali in the past but also to reconstruct historical recipes, which can inspire new dermatological, cosmetic, hygienic and current healing products.Graphical abstract.

A Consideration on the Origin of Seishu Hanaoka's Nyugan-jun and Nyugan-jun Furoku.

Nyugan-jun is a manual that was used at Hanaoka's school, Shunrinken, describing two oral medicines and three ointments routinely administered after breast cancer surgery. Nyugan-jun Furoku is also a manual that was used at the school, depicting a variety of diseases of the breast, and oral concoctions to be administered. The earliest manuscript of both manuals was transcribed in February 1812. A manuscript of Ben-nyugansho narabini Chiho Soko, written by Ryozo Chiba in 1811, includes descriptions of an oral medicine and four ointments routinely given after breast cancer surgery. Although Choeito was only a common oral concoction in Nyugan-jun and Chiba's manuscript, the latter bears an original trace of Nyugan-jun. This indicates that Nyugan-jun and Nyugan-jun Furoku were completed by the end of February 1812, and their completion dates were not before August 1811.

Skull lichens: a curious chapter in the history of phytotherapy.

Lichens growing on skulls were known in late medieval times as usnea or moss of a dead man's skull and were recommended as highly beneficial in various diseases. They were, in addition, the main ingredient of Unguentum armariun, a liniment used in a curious medical practice: the magnetic cure of wounds. We can place this chapter of the history of phytotherapy within the wider cultural context of the period, which saw the definition of nature become increasingly more fluid and open to a variety of novel interpretations.

Antonio Grossich- on the centenary of his introduction of iodine tincture painting in the preoperative infection control.

The article presents the life and achievements of Doctor Antonio Grossich, the head of the Department of surgery and gynecology of the Civic hospital in Rijeka. He wrote several literary works, but deserves to be remembered for his clinical and experimental work on antiseptic and aseptic procedure. He introduced the method of painting the operative field with 10% iodine tincture at first in traumas, then in general surgery. The method, for its rapidity, efficacy and not expensive had soon a worldwide success. He also participated actively in the political life of Rijeka before and after the World War I.

Romancing the salve: Sir Kenelm Digby and the powder of sympathy.

Sir Kenelm Digby's A Late Discourse ... Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy (1658) is usually read in the context of seventeenth-century explanations of the weapon-salve. The salve supposedly worked by being applied to the weapon that made a wound rather than to the wound itself. But Digby's essay was as much an effort to claim priority for a powdered version of the sympathetic cure as an explanation of how the cure worked. A close examination of Digby's claims in the Late Discourse in the context of his own earlier work and of works by his contemporaries shows his priority claim to have been false. It was recognized as such by his most knowledgeable associates. The story of Digby's fabrications offers a case study of the generic and rhetorical terms in which seventeenth-century English thinkers made and challenged natural-philosophical claims.

Gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric investigations of organic residues from Roman glass unguentaria.

A combination of gas chromatographic (GC) and mass spectrometric (MS) techniques, including direct exposure-MS (DE-MS), high-temperature GC-MS (HTGC-MS) and GC-MS of neutral and acid fractions, was employed to study the composition and recognise origin of the organic materials used to manufacture balm residues surviving in a series of glass unguentaria recovered from excavations of a Roman villa (Villa B) in the ancient town of Oplontis (Naples, Italy). DE-MS provided comprehensive 'fingerprint' information on the solvent soluble components of the contents of the unguentaria, while GC-MS analyses provided detailed molecular compositions, highlighting the presence of a wide range of compound classes including mid- and long-chain fatty acids, long-chain hydroxy-acids, n-alkanols, alkandiols, n-alkanes, long-chain monoesters, phytosterols and diterpenoid acids. Characteristic biomarkers and their distributions indicate the presence of beeswax, Pinaceae resin and another wax, as the main organic constituents of all of the preparations examined. In particular, the occurrence of phytosterols and long-chain monoesters, in which the acyl moiety was not exclusively palmitic acid, suggested the presence of a second waxy-lipid constituent of plant origin. The results are consistent with beeswax being used in the preparation of the cosmetics preserved in the unguentaria, while the other lipids are most likely the residue of some as yet unidentified plant extract(s), possibly deriving from the cuticular waxes of flowers and/or leaves. The composition of the extracts are consistent with the ancient practices of maceration and/or "enfleurage", in which lipid-based materials, such as beeswax, animal fat or vegetables oils, were used to extract aromatic and fragrant substances from resin, flowers, spices and scented wood, in order to produce unguents and balms.

D. Joaquín Cusí Furtunet:primer farmacéutico especialista en la preparación de medicamentos oftalmológicos / Joaquín Cusí Furtunet: the first pharmaceutical specialist in preparing ophthalmic drugs

El objetivo principal de este estudio monográfico se dirige a procurar evitar el olvido, y a reconocer, así como a agradecer, el esfuerzo decidido de un farmacéutico español y catalán, muy vocacional, para en contrar las formulaciones medicamentosas más activas y más cómodas para los pacientes. Don Joaquín Cusí Furtunet, centró su mayor interés en la investigación y en el análisis tecnológico farmacéutico para conseguir, inicialmente, fórmulas magistrales de principios terapéuticos, y luego, especia lidades farmacéuticas, que se prescribieran como medicamentos seguros, eficaces y de calidades óptimas. A pesar de las condiciones de atraso científico de aquellos años, esto supuso un avance considerable en su época, pues todavía se utilizan algunas de las formulaciones desarrolladas por él. Este farmacéutico estudioso, inteligente e imaginativo, caracterizado por su voluntad férrea y su constancia en lograr cotas atas de progreso profesional, comenzó instalando una farmacia en Figueres (ciudad de Girona), aunque muchos de sus compañeros de curso lo hicieran en Barcelona. Desde Figueres irradió la importancia de sus trabajos hasta muchas partes del mundo y llegó a establecer los Laboratorios Norte de España, que luego se denominarían Laboratorios Cusí, reconocidos internacionalmente. También, don Joaquín Cusí Furtunet fue un coleccionista importante, especialmente de libros y de objetos relacionados con la Farmacia y la Medicina. Con las piezas interesantes de sus colecciones, y con la boti ca Antigua del Real Monasterio de Santa María La Mayor de Nájera (La Rioja), constituyó el importante Museo Cusí, famoso en todo el mundo (AU)

Local unorthodox healers of cancer in the Appalachian south.

This paper examines the local popular tradition of unorthodox cancer healers and treatments in the Appalachian South. An indepth case study of an unorthodox cancer healer is presented which focuses on his recruitment to the role of healer, the origin and method of his cancer treatment, and a profile of his client population. The case study is followed by a discussion of other unorthodox healers of cancer in the region for the purpose of elucidating the distinction between the local and mass popular traditions of unorthodox cancer medicine. There is an historically deep and enduring tradition of unorthodox cancer treatments in the Appalachian South, and no doubt other regions of the U.S. as well, which should be considered for a better understanding of the health care alternatives available and the health seeking behavior of individuals who use them.

A study in Renaissance psychotropic plant ointments.

Various historical sources from the Renaissance--including transcripts of trials for witchcraft, writings on demonology and textbooks of pharmaceutical botany--describe vegetal ointments prepared by women accused of witchcraft and endowed with marked psychoactive properties. Here, we examine the botanical composition and the possible pharmacological actions of these ointments. The results of our study suggest that recipes for narcotic and mind-altering salves were known to Renaissance folk healers, and were in part distinct from homologous preparations of educated medicine. In addition, our study reveals an unexpected connection of these vegetal psychotropes with archaic chtonic beliefs, confirming the tight association between rituals and cults entered on the Underworld and the image of the Medieval witch.

[Medical magic of Paracelsus and Paracelsus followers: weapon salve]. / Magische Medizin bei Paracelsus und den Paracelsisten: Die Waffensalbe.

The doctrine of 'transplantatio morborum' may be considered a branch of the 'magia naturalis'-philosophy which was widespread in the sixteenth century. According to this doctrine, ailments and remedies can be transferred from one body to another. A further example of this field of medicine is gun salve, which we find mentioned particularly in the works of the Paracelsists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even though salve of various types had already been used for some time in the treatment of stab wounds, gun salve was imputed to have magnetic properties which gave rise to 'actio in distans', whereby the smearing of gun salve onto the weapon caused the wound to be healed. An early example of a description of its formula can be found in the first book of the 'Archidoxis magica': one of the works which have been wrongly attributed to Paracelsus. Early in the seventeenth century, this formula for gun salve--frequently with modifications--found its way into the writings of the followers of Paracelsian doctrine: of Oswald Croll, for example, or Rudolph Goclenius. When the concept of 'actio in distans' was propounded, an argument soon developed as to whether gun salve should be classified under 'magia naturalis' or 'magia daemoniaca'. Determined opposition to Goclenius was proferred in the person of Jean Roberti, a Belgian Jesuit who accused the Protestant Goclenius of consorting with demons. A number of treatises appeared in close succession, with Johann Baptist van Helmont emerging as the mediator in the argument. Yet he too came under attack at the hand of the Jesuit Roberti, with the result that, at least by the time Athanasius Kircher had also become embroiled in the debate, the dispute was pursued principally between orthodox Trentino Catholicism and heterodox Protestantism. An analysis of the writings on the subject of gun salve demonstrates how easily a discussion which was originally of a purely medical, scientific nature could lead to a religious controversy in that denominational age.