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Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Name: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Author: Robert Burton

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholySubsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The…

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1651 English Page · Branch 648 of 1495

Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The…

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1651 English

392–393

After a purge, 3 or 4 gr. of Bezoar stone, and 3. gr. of Amber Greece, drunk, or taken in Borage or Bugloss water, in which gold hot hath been quenched, will do much good, and the purge shall diminish less (the heart so refreshed) of the strength and substance of the body.

℞. confect. Alkermes ʒ ß lap. Bezor. ℈ j. Succini albi subtiliss. pulverisat. ℈ jj. cum Syrup. de cort. citri; fiat electuarium.

To Bezoars stone most subscribe, Manardus, and many others, it takes away sadness, and makes him merry that useth it; I have seen some that have been much diseased with faintness, swounings, and melancholy, that taking the weight of three grains of this stone, in the water of Oxtongue, have been cured. Garcias ab Horto brags how many desperate cures he hath done upon melancholy men by this alone, when all Physicians had forsaken them.

But Alchermes many except against; in some cases it may help, if it be good and of the best, such as that of Monspelier in France, which Iodocus Sincerus Itinerario Galliæ, so much magnifies, and would have no traveller omit to see it made. But it is not so generall a medicine as the other. Fernelius consil. 49. suspects Alchermes, by reason of its heat, nothing (saith he) sooner exasperates this disease, then the use of hot working meats and medicines, and would have them for that cause warily taken.

I conclude therefore of this and all other medicines, as Thucydides of the plague at Athens; No remedy could be prescribed for it, Nam quod uni profuit, hoc aliis erat exitio: There is no Catholike medicine to be had: that which helps one, is pernicious to another.

Diamargaritum frigidum, Diambra, Diaboraginatum, Electuarium lætificans Galeni & Rhasis, de Gemmis, Dianthos, Diamoscum dulce & amarum, Electuarium Conciliatoris, syrup. Cidoniorum de pomis, conserves of Roses, Violets, Fumitory, Enula campana, Satyrion, Limmons, Orange-pills condite, &c. have their good use.

℞. Diamoschi dulcis & amari ana ʒ ij. Diabuglossati, Diaboraginati, sacchari violacei ana ʒ j. misce cum syrupo de pomis.

Every Physician is full of such receipts, one only I will add for the rareness of it, which I finde recorded by many learned Authors, as an approved medicine against dotage, head-melancholy, and such diseases of the brain.

7934.BurtonPrinted page 392, c: “Gartias ab Horto aromatum lib. 1. cap. 15. adversus omnes morbos melancholicos conducit, & venenum. Ego (inquit) utor in morbis melancholicis, &c. & deploratos hujus usu ad pristinam sanitatem restitui. See more in Bauhinus book de lap. Bezoar c. 45.” Gartias ab Horto, On Aromatics, book 1, chapter 15: “It is helpful against all melancholic diseases and poison. I use it,” he says, “in melancholic diseases, and so forth; and by its use I have restored desperate cases to their former health.” Burton adds a reference to Bauhin’s book On the Bezoar Stone, chapter 45. The margin prints Gartias, whereas the body has Garcias.

7936.BurtonPrinted page 393, d: “Edit. 1617. Monspelii electuarium fit preciosissimum Alcherm. &c.” Edition of 1617: “At Montpellier the extremely precious electuary of alkermes is made,” and so forth.

7937.BurtonPrinted page 393, e: “Nihil morbum hunc æque exasperat, ac alimentorum vel calidiorum usus. Alchermes ideo suspectus, & quod semel moneam, caute adhibenda calida medicamenta.” “Nothing aggravates this disease so much as the use of even somewhat hot foods. Alkermes is therefore suspect, and, to give the warning once for all, hot medicines must be used cautiously.”

7942.BurtonPrinted page 393, f: “Skenkius l. 1. Observat. de Mania, ad mentis alienationem, & desipientiam vitio cerebri obortam, in manuscripto codice Germanico, tale medicamentum reperi.” Schenck, Observations, book 1, on mania: “For mental alienation and derangement arising from a disorder of the brain, I found the following medicine in a German manuscript book.” This margin lacks a visible f anchor in the body; it is placed with the introduction to the ram’s-head recipe to which it refers.

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The…

p. 648

After a purge, three or four grains of bezoar stone and three grains of ambergris, drunk or taken in borage or bugloss water in which hot gold has been quenched, will do much good; with the heart thus refreshed, the purge will take away less of the body’s strength and substance.

Take half a dram of confection of alkermes; one scruple of bezoar stone; two scruples of white amber, very finely powdered. With syrup of citron peel, make an electuary.

Most endorse bezoar stone: Manardus and many others. “It takes away sadness and makes its user cheerful. I have seen people much afflicted with weakness, fainting fits and melancholy cured by taking three grains by weight of this stone in oxtongue water.” Garcias ab Horto boasts of how many desperate cases of melancholy he has cured with this alone, when all physicians had abandoned them.

But many object to alkermes. In some cases it may help, if it is good and of the finest quality, such as that made at Montpellier in France, which Iodocus Sincerus praises so highly in his Journey through France: he would have no traveller miss seeing it made. But it is not as generally applicable a medicine as the other. Fernelius, consultation 49, distrusts alkermes because of its heat: nothing, he says, aggravates this disease more readily than foods and medicines that act by heating, and he would therefore have them taken cautiously.

I therefore conclude about this and all other medicines as Thucydides does about the plague at Athens: no remedy could be prescribed for it, “for what benefited one proved fatal to others.” There is no universal medicine to be had: what helps one person harms another.

The cold pearl preparation, the ambergris and borage preparations, the cheering electuary of Galen and Rhazes, the electuary of gems, Dianthos, the sweet and bitter musk confections, the Conciliator’s electuary, syrup of quinces, of apples, conserves of roses, violets, fumitory, elecampane, satyrion and lemons, preserved orange peel and so on all have their proper uses.

Take two drams each of the sweet and bitter musk confections; one dram each of bugloss confection, borage confection and violet sugar. Mix with syrup of apples.

Every physician’s writings are full of such recipes. I will add just one because it is unusual: I find it recorded by many learned authors as a proven medicine for mental derangement, head melancholy and similar diseases of the brain.

7932.Amber Greece means ambergris. Burton’s next recipe specifies white amber instead: the two are not silently made identical. Quenching hot gold means plunging the heated metal into the liquid. Grains are historical apothecaries’ weights; the amounts are preserved without modern conversions.

7933.The prescription signs represent take (℞), dram (ʒ), scruple (℈) and half (ß). Final j is the terminal form of i in Roman numerals: j means one, jj two. An electuary is a medicinal paste made with a sweet carrier. This recipe gives one scruple of bezoar, whereas the preceding prose gives three or four grains; both are retained.

7935.Oxtongue is a name for bugloss. The first-person claim belongs to quoted medical testimony, not Burton’s observation. Orta’s Colloquy 45, in Markham’s 1913 translation, pp. 364–365, reports uses against melancholy and a secondhand account of restored strength. This contextual parallel does not establish Burton’s three-grain claim or the Latin passage cited as book 1, chapter 15. Orta’s name appears in several Latinized forms.

7938.Alchermes and Alkermes are variant forms of the same medicine’s name. The original margin speaks of even somewhat hot foods, while the body includes hot-working medicines as well. Montpellier is the French place name; the particular travel-book passage and Fernelius consultation remain to be collated.

7939.Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.51.2, says that a treatment beneficial to one person harmed another. Burton quotes a Latin version with the stronger exitio, “destruction” or “death,” then supplies his own English gloss. Catholike means universal or applicable to everyone, without a denominational meaning here.

7940.These are established pharmaceutical compound names, not fully specified recipes. The transparent ingredient names and lætificans (“cheering”) are translated; Dianthos and the Conciliator’s title are retained. Satyrion denotes an orchid used medicinally. The compressed syrup. Cidoniorum de pomis is preserved without inserting an unprinted conjunction in the original; the modern list reads it as syrups of quinces and apples.

7941.Ana means “of each”: two drams of each musk confection, then one dram of each of the three remaining ingredients. Saccharum violaceum is sugar prepared with violets. The amounts are the printed recipe, not a standardized modern formulation.

7943.Approved means reported as tested or effective; rareness means unusualness. Dotage here denotes mental derangement, rather than simply the infirmity of old age. The nearby f margin introduces this recipe even though no matching body marker is visible.

About This Reading Edition

Robert Burton’s Anatomy ranges across medicine, philosophy, poetry, religion, and everyday life in its inquiry into melancholy. This complete parallel edition pairs the 1651 English text with a close modern English rendering, preserving the three Partitions, Democritus Junior’s address to the reader, verse, and the historical index.

Historical Text and Translation

The historical text follows the sixth edition, printed at Oxford for Henry Cripps in 1651, using the McGill University Library copy. The supplied edition documents missing printed pages 98–99 supplied from another 1651 copy at the Bavarian State Library. Historical folio labels and their irregularities remain visible; web reader numbers identify reflowed passages and do not claim to reproduce PDF pagination.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the close modern English rendering and editorial matter. All 8,755 original and modern passage pairs remain aligned, with verse breaks, italics, continuations, and linked annotations preserved. Burton’s 6,781 historical notes retain their attribution; 6,895 editorial notes remain distinct. The introduction, Note on the Text, contextual lexicon, indexes, source documentation, and bibliography are included. The engraved frontispiece remains available in the original downloads.

Rights

Burton’s historical text is in the public domain. The modern English rendering, introduction, notes, and editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and appear with the site owner’s permission. The complete supplied PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown files remain available unchanged. The PDF and Word edition preserve the original parallel page layout.