FREITAG, Johann

by Johann Freitag

£3,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

Rare first and only edition of this guide to purgatives derived from chemical medicine and alchemy. The author Freitag (1581-1641) was professor of medicine at Osnabrück, where he was also physician to the bishop, to whom this work is dedicated. He combines chemical medicine with humoral theories based on Greek Hippocratic and Galenic medicine, producing what is both a serious theoretical work on humoral purgation and a practical guide with recipes and instructions. Freitag uses Paracelsian recipes for several purgatives, which is interesting given the vocal opposition to Paracelsianism for which he became known, especially in his battles with his nemesis Daniel Sennert (1572-1637). Freitag first advises on preparation of the humours for purgation, which ones must be thickened, made dry, cold, etc., and how to do so, using baths, diet and medicines. If not purged, he warns, humours can putrefy, which leads to fevers and abscesses. Freitag advocates bleeding in extreme cases but prefers pharmaceutical purgatives. He describes, for example, the use of such purgatives in cases of dysentery. The second part of the book is a catalogue of botanical ingredients, stones and chemicals, describing their effects on the humours and what they can purge, and providing recipes for their use in syrups, electuaries, etc. The third book then revisits these ingredients and describes how to make them into pills, drawing chiefly on the Arabic physician Mesue. . . ..The final book is a study of m

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.