For several centuries before the era of modern pharmacopœias the
Antidotary of Nicolas Myrepsus was the standard formulary, and from
this the early dispensatories were largely compiled. This Nicolas,
who was not the Nicolas Praepositus of Salerno, is sometimes named
Nicolas Alexandrinus. He appears to have been a practising physician at
Constantinople, and as he bore the title of Actuarius, it is supposed
that he was physician to the Emperor. He is believed to have lived in
the thirteenth century. Myrepsus, which means ointment maker, was a
name which he assumed or which was applied to him, probably in allusion
to his Antidotary.
This was the largest and most catholic of all the collections of
medical formulas which had then appeared. Galen and the Greek
physicians, the Arabs, Jews, and Christians who had written on
medicine, were all drawn upon. A Latin translation by Leonard Fuchs,
published at Nuremberg in 1658, contains 2,656 prescriptions, every
possible illness being thus provided against. The title page declares
the work to be “Useful as well for the medical profession and for the
seplasarii.” The original is said to have been written in barbarous
Greek.
Sprengel, who has hardly patience to devote a single page to this
famous Antidotary, tells us that the compiler was grossly ignorant
and superstitious. He gives an instance of his reproduction of some
Arab formulæ. One is the use of arsenic as a spice to counteract the
deadly effects of poisons. This advice was copied, he says, down to
the seventeenth century. It was Nicolas’s rendering of the Arabic word
Darsini, which meant cannella, and which they so named because it was
brought from China.
The compounds collected in this Antidotary are of the familiar
complicated character of which so many specimens are given in this
volume. Many of the titles are curious and probably reminiscent of
the pious credulity of the period when Myrepsus lived. There is, for
example, the Salt of the Holy Apostles, which taken morning and evening
with meals, would preserve the sight, prevent the hair from falling
out, relieve difficulty of breathing, and keep the breath sweet. It was
obtained by grinding together a mixture of herbs and seeds (hyssop,
wild carrot, cummin, pennyroyal, and pepper) with common salt. The Salt
of St. Luke was similar but contained a few more ingredients.
A Sal Purgatorius prescribed for the Pope Nicholas consisted of sal
ammoniac, 3 oz., scammony, 3 drachms, poppy seeds, 2 drachms, orris
root, 3 drachms, pepper, 13 grains, one date, pine nut 25 grains, and
squill 2 drachms. This might be made into an electuary with honey.
Antidotus Acharistos, which means unthanked antidote, is stated
to be so named because it cured so quickly that patients were not
sufficiently grateful. They did not realise how bad they might have
been without it.
An electuary said to have been prescribed for King David for his
melancholy was composed of aloes, opium, saffron, lign-aloes, myrrh,
and some other spices, made up with honey. A Sal Sacerdotale (salt
combined with a few spices) stated to have been used by the prophets in
the time of Elijah had come down to this Antidotary through St. Paul.