Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

drugs. The English physicians fighting to maintain their lucrative business lost the
battle when the law allowing anybody to practise herbal medicine was passed,
because the physicians treated their patients badly. The Scottish physicians fared
better when a law was passed at the end of the century declared that only duly
qualified persons could practise medicine.
Chapter 5. 17 th Century
The end of the Renaissance and the start of the Age of Reason or
Enlightenment, but alchemy was still a strong influence.
1603 The first Royal Spanish Pharmacopoeia, the work ‘Officina
Medicamentorum’ [Recipes for making medicines], a book of more
than 400 pages that gathered the knowledge of the time on making
medicines of vegetable, animal and mineral origin. It began to be
written in 1601 by pharmacists from the Valencian Association of
Apothecaries (Col. Legi dels Apothecaris de la Ciutat y Regne de
Valencia), which is the oldest in the world and was finished in 1603.
A year later it was distributed throughout the Spanish Territories
which belonged to the crown of Aragon. This edition was authorised
by King Felipe III and is considered to be the first Royal Spanish
Pharmacopoeia (see 1581).
1604 ‘Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.’ By Basil Valentine. Transcribed by
Ben Fairweather. This was first published as ‘Triumph-Wagen
Antimonii... An Tag geben durch Johann Thölden. Mit einer Vorrede,
Doctoris Joachimi Tanckii.’ Leipsig, 1604. Basil Valentine was said
to have been active in the first half of the 15 th century, but he had not
been heard of before 1599 and his very existence has been doubted.
It is thought that it was written by Johann Thölde about 1604. His
style of writing is extremely extravagant and he starts by giving his
opponents’ views before going to great lengths praising antimony’s
virtues, which I have represented by one of his more modest
comments.
‘And, to begin here I say, Antimony is mere Venom, not of the kind
of the least Venoms, but such, as by which you may destroy Men
and Beasts, so venomous a power is diffused through the whole
Substance of this Mineral. Hence arises the common Exclamation of
all men. For the People, unskilful Doctors, and all Those, to whom
the ground of true Medicine is unknown, do with one mouth proclaim