Liber de Arte Distillandi was a practical manual for medicinal and alchemical distillation by German physician Hieronymous Brunschwig. COURTESY OF NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
During the Middle Ages, alchemists developed sophisticated ways to tap the medicinal powers of the Earth’s bounty. Depending on the ailment being treated, flowers, herbs, spices, minerals, and animal flesh all potentially held cures, which could be extracted employing methods not unlike those used by modern organic chemists and pharmacologists. Liber de Arte Distillandi, published in present day Strasbourg, France, in 1512, is a compilation of centuries of knowledge intended by its author, German surgeon Hieronymus Brunschwig, to serve as a layman’s guide to the preparation of these natural medicines.
With detailed instructions, ranging from the right times to collect herbs to the exact specifications for constructing distillation equipment, Brunschwig hoped to make medicinal alchemy accessible to “the common people that dwell far from medicines ...
