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106
Communications
THE PILLS OF POPE ALEXANDER. In the Cartulary of
Glasgow in its oldest shape, the Registrum fetus, there were certain
entries, somewhat apart from the business of the See, which Professor
Cosmo Innes in editing the Registrum Glasgueme in 1843 relegated to
an appendix. Amongst them was one very interesting reminiscence of
early medicine, and yet more interesting and mysterious there was a
charm against
colic. The latter was the subject of an essay by Dr.
Alex. Tille, who, in Scots Lore, pp. 61-78, discussed at some length the
significance of 'Thebal Guth Guthani,' the words of power which were
The former
prescribed as the posy of a ring to be used contra dolorem ylii.
has apparently
hitherto escaped examination. The two formulae are
printed on p. 610 of the Registrum, and in the preface, p. liv, Professor
Innes said of them :
* The medical prescriptions against colic savouring shrewdly of art magical,
and the recipe for the famous pills which the Pope Alexander himself had
deigned to use, are at least characteristic and amusing.
hand as old as 1200.'
They are both in a
It is the simplest way of treating the matter to reprint here the prescrip-
tion for the pills in order to make clear what follows :
Pilule famose.
Pilule iste confecte fuerunt in presentia nostra quarum species electe erant
et recentes earum uero commendationes sunt satis famose videlicet quia
pre omnibus uisum clarificant auditum corroborant spiritualia confortant
memoriam reparant sanitatem custodiunt regunt pre omnibus corpus
humanum.
earum uero
Invenimus quod papa Alexander qualibet die eis utebatur
recepcio talis est. Recipe calami aromatici cubebe nucis
muscate macis spice epithimi carpobalsami squinanti masticis asari
gariofilorum ana dragmas duas turbith colloquintide ana dragmas tres
singulorum mirabolanorum ana 35
dragmas ij agarici sene ana vnciam
seriis aloen citocrini ad pondus omnium. Confice. De usu uero &
administratione istarum pilularum secundum quod experti sumus dicimus
quod vij uel ix ad quantitatem ciceris uel quartum
pisi in nebulis de quarto in
cum omni securitate precedente vsu oximellis dare possunt.
Quamuis quidam aliter sentiant dicentes propter exhibicionem istarum
pilularum dietam assuetam nullatenus esse permutandam. De hora uero
sumendi nulla sit hesitatio quia in nocte ante sompnum instantem debent
sumi.
Not rashly should the layman adventure himself among the physicians
whether in this age or in that of the vague pontiff Alexander, who, lacking
his due ordinal number, may be hard to determine. But the presentment
of a variant will certainly be admissible as an inoffensive commentary on
this prescription, and may supply the best note on the claim of the pill to
clear the eyesight, strengthen the hearing, comfort the soul, repair the
memory, guard the health, and, above all, regulate the human body. Its
variety of ingredients, including calamus root, cubeb, nutmeg, gum, spikenard,
gillyflower, colocynth, myrobalan, agaric, senna and aloes, may be