The Anatomy of Melancholy

Fernel, Method of Medicine, book 5, chapter 16, admits that it is “a terrible purge and difficult to take, yet suitable for strong men with robust bodies.” Pieter van Foreest and Capivaccius forbid taking the substance itself but permit a decoction or infusion, the two methods P. Monavius prefers above all others in letter 231 in Scholtz. Jacchinus, commenting on the ninth book of Rhazes, recommends a recipe of his own; Penottus another, chemically prepared; and Evonymus another.

Hildesheim, Gleanings, book 2, On Melancholy, gives many examples of its use and a variety of recipes. Heurnius, Medical Practice, book 7, chapter 14, calls it “a harmless medicine, after all, if properly prepared.” Only its root is used, and that may be kept for many years. Some administer the substance itself, among them Fallopius and Brasavola, who boasts that he was the first to restore its use.

He tells how, at the Duke of Ferrara’s court, he cured a madman named Melatasta, thought to be possessed, with a single purge of black hellebore given as the substance itself. The recipe can be found there; the man’s excrement was like ink, and “he recovered completely at once.”

Vidus Vidius, a Dutch physician, refuses to allow the substance itself, and most agree with him. Instead, as before, he permits a decoction or infusion, or, best of all, an extract, which he prefers to the rest and calls “a pleasant medicine”: a sweet, mild medicine that may safely be given to women, children and weak people. Baracellus, in his Delightful Garden, calls it “a medicine of the highest excellence”: a medicine of great worth and distinction. Quercetan, in his Spagyric Pharmacopoeia, and many others tell wonders of the extract.

Above all the others, Paracelsus is this plant’s greatest admirer, especially of its extract. He calls it “theriac, earthly balm”: another theriac, a balm of the earth, “worth all the rest,” everything in one; “the sole and final refuge for curing this disease, gout, epilepsy, leprosy and so on.” If this will not help, no medicine in the world can, except a mineral one: it is the last resort.

Mattioli laughs at those who object to it. Although some reject it on Mesue’s authority and dare not venture to prescribe it, “I,” he says, “have used it successfully six hundred times without harm, and shared it with several worthy physicians, who have thanked me warmly for it.” For recipes, dosage, preparation and other cautions concerning this single substance, consult him, Brasavola, Baracellus, Codronchus and the others.