Peter Andrew Matthiolus, born at Sienna in 1500, died at Trent in
1577, latterly the first physician to the Archduke Ferdinand of
Austria, a botanist and author of “Commentaries on Dioscorides,” was,
according to Sprengel, the first who is known for certain to have
administered mercury internally. Paracelsus, however, was without doubt
the practitioner who popularised its use. He gave red precipitate,
corrosive sublimate, and nitrate of mercury, and describes how each
of these was made. Sprengel credits him also with acquaintance with
calomel, but other authors do not recognise this in any of his writings.