Elixir of life. Pharmacological properties of Elixir Vitae Matthioli.
The history of science, especially of pharmacy and medicine, is connected with occult subjects such as religion, magic and alchemy. The last one we owe a lot of chemistry, physics and medicinal wisdom for example. Pharmacological properties of various plants, mineral salts and other substances, and methods of laboratory work. Nowadays scientists estimate the limit of human lifespan to 125 years. Does old recipes from XVI and XVII century pharmacopoeias and dispensatories have solution to prolong our live? I am not convinced but the old recipes could be great inspiration for planning new drugs research.
In my work I analyse 4 recipes for Elixir Vitae Matthioli- very popular in XVII and XVIII century type of theriac. The recipe for this elixir contains from 33 up to 38 ingredients, which we could divide into several groups: herbs from Lamiaceae family, spicy seasonings, field plants and smell amplifiers. In my article I tried to predict the pharmacological properties of this mixture, considering the method of manufacturing (maceration the ingredients in spiritus vini (ethanolum), then filtration and distillation).
Does old recipes could be an inspiration for us? Certainly. In 2015 Tu Youyou, Chinease scientist was awarded Nobel Prize for discovering the artemisinin- main anti-malarial drug nowadays. Other example is work of microbiologists from the University of Nottingham. In 2015 they found, that the medicine from XI century medicinal book made from garlic, onion, cow bile and white wine have unsuspected strong antimicrobial properties (it killed 90% of MRSA strains)
