Chymical Cabinet of Medicines - Chÿmisches Artzneÿ-Cabinet

in which, together with the true universal medicine,
by which man can not only be maintained in continual health,
but also be brought to a great old age,

there are likewise several other medicines, prepared from the true foundation of Nature with the greatest diligence, which also serve as universals,

to be used with the greatest benefit for the preservation and expulsion of all diseases,

to be obtained from Albertus Petri,
medico-chymist.

With royal Polish and electoral princely Saxon privilege.

Brought to the press in Leipzig by Joh. Theod. Boetius,

1715.





There is indeed, in general, much great praise of universal medicines; but since such remedies, especially in chronic diseases, do not accomplish much, they are held to be of little worth.

Hence many remain in doubt whether a medicine can be found to which the name universal may rightly be applied. For although great things are attributed to antimony and to mercury, yet there is nothing that has consistently shown any special power to be found therein, and one can very well dispense with them in medicine.

Others busy themselves with gold, as with the noblest and most durable body, to seek in it such a medicine as could cure all diseases and bring man to a great old age; and in this they err less, for gold, as the purest metal, seems the most apt to yield the safest remedy. Yet because for the most part they do not proceed with it according to Nature, they obtain thereby for medicine a wholly unfit substance, which, though it be brought into a liquor, nevertheless soon melts again out of the same into its corpus. From this it clearly appears that in such a form nothing useful can be effected with it in the human body; for when the solvent is consumed in the stomach, the gold calx is deposited and then passes on again without having accomplished anything.

It is therefore likely that there is only a single medicine which can with justice retain the name “universal”: namely one which, like a lively fire, can unite itself with the juices of life, and thus is able to exert a powerful effect throughout the whole body, freeing it from all diseases and, with health constantly maintained, bringing it to a great old age.

Although many different processes for bringing gold into a liquor are now to be found everywhere, it appears that it is in vain to make from it some special show-remedy. Yet this namely, to separate the spirit and soul incorruptibly from the gold is still very little known, inasmuch as the corpus solis (body of the sun, i.e. the gold) for medicinal use is of no benefit, but rather is actually harmful. For spirit and soul alone have such a power as to unite themselves with the blood and vital juices of man, to cleanse them, to free them from all sickness, and to preserve them in continual health.

But what is here said of the spirit and soul of the gold is not meant in the sense of making from it a certain spiritus, sulphur, and salt, as some vainly strive to do; rather, it refers only to the spirit freed from the body, which, like a precious balm, holds within itself the noblest sulphur and salt, and is to be regarded as a true universal medicine. For only such a spiritual essence can enter into the natural juices of the human body, drive out what is impure from all parts, mightily strengthen the natural radical moisture and all the principal members head, heart and stomach and thus can set a person, renewed with constant health, into a great old age.

Just as now this medicine, as an incorruptible balsam, pervades the whole body and does not allow the least impurity to remain seated, so is it the surest medicament by which the otherwise held-to-be-incurable chiragra, podagra, gout and the like firmly rooted diseases can be happily cured. For it removes all harmful matter from which otherwise dreadful pains arise, and makes a person entirely healthy.

Thus also the noblest cordial, or heart-strengthening remedy, which in its operation far surpasses all other medicine.

And just as it is for pregnant women the best medicine, keeping mother and child in good health and making the birth easy, so it is also highly beneficial for those who through age are weak and unable for conjugal works; for it corrects and increases the seed in both sexes.

Taken together with nourishing foods, in Muscatel wine or Malmsey, it makes one lively and cheerful. Yet one would by this give no one instruction toward lust; for it would be the greatest sin to employ so noble a medicine for the promotion of wantonness, but rather the aim is at the right natural use, namely that the conjugal works, according to divine ordinance, be employed solely for the begetting of children.

Thus this [remedy], in that it strengthens the vital spirits and preserves them from all putrefaction, is also the surest medicine against the plague and every poisonous violence. If it is used daily, one is out of danger; and even if someone were infected with the plague, if help is quickly brought and the patient is then allowed to sweat from it, there is thereafter no further danger to be feared.

The dose is, for small children, 6 to 8 drops; for adults, 12 to 16; for the aged, 25 to 30 drops, in the best wine.

This shall therefore be enough concerning the true universal medicine, for to write more about it is regarded as unnecessary; since it is a thing that cannot be obtained in great quantity and without considerable cost.

But inasmuch as, by this universal way, one can obtain from aromatics or spices, blossoms, fruits and the like the noblest powers, which can yield a complete medicine, such remedies may rightly be placed next to the Universal in this cabinet under the name conversatio vitæ, or preservation of life. For in them, as it were, all the vigorous operations for preserving the body are gathered together in one rich centre, which renew a man, utterly drive away all diseases, and set him in constant health. For they, as a subtle balsam, warm the body and protect it from all putrefaction and harmfulness, and strengthens head, heart, and all the limbs.

It is therefore unnecessary to seek many medicines, one of which is to be useful for this disease and another for that, since with a single one everything can be accomplished. For just as all illnesses arise from inward disorder and impurity and then spread into all parts of the body some with heat, others with cold and, however it may come about, set the whole body in turmoil and thereby cause manifold complaints; so too is a single medicine sufficient to root out all diseases and to maintain the body in constant health, although such a thing appears impossible, since a hot and a cold fever are very far removed from one another, to be different from one another, and it therefore seems absurd to us to hear it said that one and the same medicine should be used for both a hot and a cold fever; yet such a thing is easy to understand, provided one has an exact knowledge of whence, and in what manner, so many kinds of diseases arise.

And if one wishes to object that the stone arises from other causes than a fever, and that these are so far distinguished from one another that no likeness between them can be found, so that it would be impossible to use one and the same remedy to cure both this is what causes many to consider a universal medicine to be a nonsensical thing and to reject it entirely. But that with one and the same medicine it should be possible to cure all diseases is, to one who is thoroughly practised in Nature, very well known and also easy to understand; so that one has no cause to marvel at it, and for this reason a further discourse upon it is regarded as unnecessary. That I have now made so brief a description of it is not without cause, for all books are full of words, with which, however, little is accomplished.

Here, however, is to be found what many seek and desire. The dose remains as fixed for the Universal; yet in stubborn diseases one may go up to 30 drops, it being necessary to remember that one should take it early in the morning and meanwhile abstain from unwholesome foods. With time and opportunity more concerning it may be reported.

Meanwhile, let it serve for further information that of the aforementioned medicaments, whole, half, and quarter-lot portions, kept in glass vessels and well secured with an impressed seal,

are to be had from
Herr Albertus Petri, medico-chymicus.

Of the Universal Medicine the lot costs ten rix-dollars.
Of the Conservatio Vitæ or Preservation of Life the lot costs two rix-dollars.

And from Joh. Theodorus Boetius in Leipzig at fair-times in Roth-Haupt’s Court by the Picture Hall, and outside such times in Mr. Meißner the university surgeon’s house in the Ritterstrasse, three flights up further information may be obtained as to where and when such medicaments are to be procured.