Iatrochemistry

Frontispiece to Thomas Willis' 1663 book "Diatribae duae medico-philosophicae - quarum prior agit de fermentatione", a treatise on fermentation as a mysterious key to transformations (from mash to beer or from health to fevers), engraved and published by Gerbrandus Schagen in Amsterdam

Iatrochemistry (or chemical medicine) is a branch of both chemistry and medicine. The word "iatro" was the Greek word for "physician" or "medicine." Having its roots in alchemy, iatrochemistry seeks to provide chemical solutions to diseases and medical ailments.

This area of science has fallen out of use in Europe since the rise of modern establishment medicine. However, iatrochemistry was popular between 1525 and 1660, especially in Flanders. Its most notable leader was Paracelsus, an important Swiss alchemist of the 16th century. Iatrochemists believed that physical health was dependent on a specific balance of bodily fluids. Iatrochemical therapies and concepts are still in wide use in South Asia, East Asia and amongst their diasporic communities worldwide.

History in Europe

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Coelum philosophorum by Philippus Ulstadius, 1527.

The preparation of medicines had become a part of alchemy by the early modern period. Around 1350, John of Rupescissa advocated the extraction of the "essence" of both plants and minerals. He often used two relatively new substances during this time period: an alcohol distilled from wine and strong mineral acids. Later, the author "Pseudo-Lull" (i.e. Ramon Llull or one of his followers) picked up and helped in expanding John of Rupescissa's theory.

The most impact vocal proponent of iatrochemistry was Theopharastus von Honhenheim, also known as Paracelsus (1493-1541). He put his effort into the transmutation of metals and emphasized iatrochemistry in his works. Paracelsus believed that diseases were caused by poisons, but the poisons were not entirely negative. He suggested that poisons, or diseases, can also be cured by poisons. Thus, poisons could have beneficial medical effects. Paracelsus's claim led to many chemically prepared medicines in this time period contained toxic components: arsenic, antimony, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals. However, his views were not accepted by many scholars until his incoherent writings were organized into more systematic form by his followers. Gradually, many physicians accepted Paracelsian remedies although some disagreed with Paracelsus's philosophy. Later, the physicians introduced chemical medicine in form of iatrochemistry, a system of medical explanation and practice.

Philipp Ulstad, who wrote some of the first books on chemical medicine, paved the way for a closer link between alchemy and medicine. His lucid, concise prose made Coelum philosophorum' (1527) one of the most reissued chemical-medicine books of the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the early seventeenth century, Jan Baptista van Helmont came to the scene. He studied the human body and its functions, and applied his knowledge of "chymistry" as a way of understanding and curing the body. He claimed that iatrochemists stressed the chemical reaction of effervescence, fermentation, and putrefaction as the basis of all physiology. Van Helmont used chemical methods to study bodily products such as urine and blood. His discoveries combined with Paracelsus's built the fundamentals of chemical preparation of medicines and the use of chemical methods in order to diagnosis the diseases.

History in South Asia

Iatrochemistry forms a major part of the Indian alchemical tradition (Sanskrit rasaśāstra, रसशास्त्र). Alchemical texts start to be composed in Sanskrit in South Asia from the end of the first millennium CE, and a flourishing literature developed and continued even into the twentieth century. These works contain extensive chapters on the use of alchemical recipes for healing.

Challenge to Galenic physiology

Iatrochemistry was a new practice in the 17th century, a time when traditional medicines were based on a legacy from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. Much of this tradition was derived from Galen and Avicenna. The iatrochemists rejected the traditional medical theory, mostly from Galenic traditionalists. Galen traditionalists sought to establish the balance of temperament within the bodies. There are two pairs of qualities, hot and cold, and wet and dry. Sickness came from the imbalance of one quality. That is, a cold was an excess of heat (hot quality), so it can be cured by reducing hot quality or by increasing cold quality. The iatrochemists, influenced by Paracelsus's belief, believed that the sickness was from the outside source, not because of the imbalance of the body.

Another controversy between Galenic traditionalists and iatrochemists was the way to use herbs. The Galenic traditionalists thought that the strength of remedies relied on the amount of plant materials that was used. The iatrochemists, however, supported the chemical preparation of materials of remedies to increase the effectiveness of the materials or to find the stronger medicine.

Additionally, Galenic traditionalists argued that chemically prepared medicines were poisonous, and the iatrochemists were inadequately trained. The former was true, and, in some cases, both were correct. Since Paracelsus claimed that poisons could have beneficial medical effects, the number of toxic ingredients used in chemical medicines had increased. Galenic traditionalists later adapted medical method and some remedies to use in their own fields.

See also

• Antivenom

Further reading

• Conrad, Lawrence; Nutton, Vivian; et al. The Western Medical Tradition: 800 BC To AD 1800. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Debus, Allen G., The English Paracelsians. [Franklin Watts, Inc., New York], 1965.
• Lawrence M. Principe, "Transmutations: Alchemy in Art." CHP publications. ISBN 0-941901-32-7
• Lawrence M. Principe, "The Secrets of Alchemy." The University of Chicago Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-226-92378-9
• Mary Lindemann, "Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe." Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-42592-6