The Anatomy of Melancholy

I find another excellent compound water in Rubeus, On Distillation, section 3. Citing Savonarola, he praises it highly “for those who are solitary, dull, dejected or sad without cause, or troubled by trembling of the heart.” In the same place he cites other excellent compound waters for melancholy, “provided their melancholy is not inflamed and their bodily constitution is not too hot.” Evonimus has a valuable aqua vitae for this purpose, for those of a cold constitution.

But he and most other writers recommend potable gold; and every writer prescribes clarified whey, especially from goat’s milk, with borage, bugloss, endive, chicory and so on. Some prescribe it at any time without restriction; others prescribe a good draught every morning before eating for thirty consecutive days in spring. Syrups are very good and often used to prepare this humour for evacuation from the heart, spleen, liver and other parts. These include syrup of borage—Laurentius highly praises a famous borage syrup for this purpose in his Treatise on Melancholy—King Sabor’s apple syrup, now obsolete, and syrups of thyme, dodder of thyme, hops, scolopendria, fumitory, maidenhair, Bizantine and so on.

These are mostly used to prepare for other medicines, mixed with distilled waters of the same nature or otherwise made into juleps. Thick preparations are conserves or confections: conserves of borage, bugloss, balm, fumitory, chicory, maidenhair, violets, roses, wormwood and so on; confections such as theriac, mithridate, eclegms or linctures, and the like.

Solid preparations include aromatic confections. The hot ones are Diambra, Diamargaritum calidum, Dianthus, Diamoschum dulce, Electuarium de gemmis, the cheering preparation of Galen and Rhazes, Diagalinga, Diacimynum, Dianisum, Diatrion piperion, Diazinziber, Diacapers and Diacinnamonum. The cold ones include Diamargaritum frigidum, Diacorolli, Diarrhodon Abbatis, Diacodion and so on, as any pharmacopoeia will show you, together with the tablets or lozenges made from them, candied preparations and the like.

External preparations, used as occasion requires, include amulets and oils, hot and cold: oils of chamomile, stoechas, violets, roses, almonds, poppy, water lily, mandrake and so on, for use after bathing or to bring on sleep. Ointments are compounded from those ingredients, oils, wax and the like, such as Alablastritum Populeum. Some are hot and some cold, to moisten, induce sleep and remedy other symptoms.

Liniments are made from the same materials for the same purposes. Plasters consist of herbs, flowers, roots and so on, mixed and boiled together with oils and other liquids. Cataplasms, salves or poultices are made from fresh herbs, pounded or boiled in water until soft, and applied to the upper abdominal regions and other parts when the body is empty.