1 A.D.: The first Dry Powdered Inhalers

Today we may think of the dry powder inhaler (DPI) as a relatively new concept. We often credit the Intal Spinhaler, first produced in the 1960s, as the first DPI. Yet we would be wrong. The first one was actually used in the ancient world.

In an 1876 book, John Solis Cohen said that Galen explained how the ancient physician Aesculapius blew "an astringent powder into the larynx by means of a bent reed" in patients who presented with angina, or chest pain. (1, page 336)

The medicines used were nutgall and myrrh.

So chances are pretty good other physicians in the ancient world relied on patients inhaling powders as remedies for various respiratory ailments (and probably other ailments too) all the way back to the beginning of civilization, and maybe even into the primitive world.

References:

1. Cohen, John Solis, "Inhalation in the treatment of disease," 1876

1519: Cortes, Spaniards destroy American culture

The Spanish Conquistadors were known to keep their shoes on for several days, and rarely bathed. So they must have presented as rancid smelling people, compared to the natives they encountered in America.

The Aztec, the Inca and the Maya were known to bathe daily in the lakes and streams, and wash their faces and hands after meals. They even took steam bath as part of their healing and religious ceremonies. (Hakim) All of this must have really impressed upon the rancid smelling Spaniards. (Foster)

Given this picture, it's hard to picture in my mind how Montezuma, the king of the Aztec, could have possibly believed that Cortes was the god sent from the Heavens to save the Aztecs. You would think that if Cortes was an Aztec god, when he took off his shoes you would have found gold and silver, as opposed to maggots. Unfortunately Montezuma, in his utter surprise, was caught off guard. Instead of responding as the vigilance of the Alexander-the-Great-type warrior he was, he hesitated. And it was perhaps this brief hesitation that allowed Cortes the opportunity to destroy all that was left of the mighty Aztec civilization.

Since the materia medica contained religious content, even they were destroyed. This made it so historians had a tough time recreating the history of these great people. The Spaniards did such a good job of burning the contents of Mayan structures, that even to this day historians have trouble understanding their civilization, and why their great cities were abandoned in 1200 A.D. Lacking a Mayan Rosetta Stone, linguists still struggle to understand the Mayan language.

Surely the history of mankind is a history of wars, but the way the various civilizations of MesoAmerica met their demise is especially troubling, and sad. Yet that's the way it is (was).

The Spanish went through all the Aztec, Inca and Mayan structures and burned all that would burn, with the intent of replacing native American culture with their own. They went through all temples and burned the contents, including the medical documents. Where Aztec temples to the gods once stood, Catholic Churches were created. In the process, the Spaniards destroyed nearly all knowledge of the once mighty and proud native American civilizations.

Yet thankfully not even the Spaniards could destroy everything. Some documents did survive, including one book that has helped historians understand the health and healing process among the Maya. This book is called the "Ritual of the Bacads."

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1453: The world wakes up to science

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)

From about the time of Jesus to the Renaissance of the 16th century, there were few advances in medicine and science. The Greek terms asthma and dyspnea had made their way into the vocabularies of physicians, yet little was considered about their causes. Theories speculated air contained a life-giving substance, although what it contained was left to speculation.  That was all about to change. 

Up until this time the works of the famous Greco-Roman physician Claudius Galen of the 2nd century were considered the gold standard in medicine.  Science wasn't needed, because everything any physician could possibly need to know about any diseases and air was in one of Galen's books 

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

This started to change when the dark ages ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This is believed by many historians to have ended the dark ages and sparked a Renaissance where lost Greek and Roman wisdom was recaptured.

It was in 1514 that Galen's reign as supreme master and god of medical superstitions took a major hit. This was the year Nicolaus Copernicus was questioning the belief that the Earth was the center of the Universe and started writing his theories about the earth rotating the sun. Out of fear of being rejected and maybe even killed, his works weren't published until eight years after his death in 1543.

This one event got many people to thinking, or, better yet, inspired thinkers to become courageous, thus gave birth to the age of reason, or the Renaissance. This was a time people started questioning the views that were etched in stone by the Ancient Greeks and followed through the Middle Ages.

This was a time of fresh ideas based on science as opposed to superstitions and false logic. New ideas were formed in physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, alchemy and medicine.

Copernicus was the first to use scientific research as opposed to superstitions in science (at least he was the first to publish such results).

Perhaps among the most significant contributions to science came from Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who in 1543 discovered that the planets revolve around the sun.  Out of fear of persecution, his works weren't published until after his death, although they had an astounding impact on other great minds, thus opening the door for the scientific revolution that followed.

Galileo Galileo was the first to oppose the Church during his lifetime. As a result Galileo became famous, and because of this he is now called the father of modern science.

In 1609 Galileo Galilee  (1564-1642) invented the telescope,  (1, page 255), and continued on to make astronomical observations that supported the works of Copernicus.  He had the courage to face the dogmatic Church, and published his works during his lifetime.  As a result, he was arrested for heresy and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.  His energy, courage and sacrifices, however, made him a significant player in the scientific revolution.  By history, he is considered among the fathers of modern physics and science.

Fielding Hudson Garrison, in his book "Introduction to the history of medicine," said that the works of investigators such as Copernicus and Galileo, and other such great men, also had an impact on medicine.  For example, in 1600 Galileo invented a "rude thermometer or thermoscope, and as early as 1600 (Johannes) Kepler had used pulse-counting to time his astronomic observations."  (1, page 258)

Surely investigators studied the stars and planets, they also studied plants, animals and humans, learning much about anatomy, how life is created and sustained, and about diseases.  Also investigated was the air we breathe, and its relationship with the sustenance of life.

Thanks to these two men, over the next few hundred years diseases like asthma would be better understood, and theories about air and the purpose of breathing would be proven false and replaced with scientific fact.

References:

1. Garrison, Fielding Hudson, "Introduction to the history of medicine," 1921, 

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1492: Columbus discovers tobacco

Effigy Pipe similar to what Columbus may have seen (4)

What would the profession of respiratory be like if it weren't for all the good folks who smoked pipes, cigars and cigarettes? There would probably still be work for us, although barely as much.

Today, as we travel back in our time machine, we find ourselves in a year of discovery.  It's 1492 and Christopher sets off on a journey across the Atlantic seeking the Indies, China and gold to take back to the king.  He was promised a 10 percent profit, and fame.  While he obtained the fame, he did so by discovering tobacco for the Old World, not by finding any gold or other riches.

He and his men were introduced to dried leaves, although they had no idea what they were used for, nor what to do with them.  So they basically cast them away to the dismay of the American Natives, of whom they referred to as the Indios because they thought they were in the Indonesian Islands. (1, page 16) (2, page 4) 

A few months into his journey, now convinced he was in China, he set two of his men -- Luis De Torres and Rodrigo de Xerex -- off on a journey to meet the Great Khan.  They never found the Khan because they were not in China.  What the two men did find was later recounted by Spanish writer Bartoleme de las Casas: (2, page 16)  

"The two Christians met many men and women who were carrying glowing coals in their hands, as well as good smelling herbs. They were dried plants, like small muskets made of paper that children play with during the Easter festivities. They set one end on fire and inhaled and drank the smoke in the other. It is said that in this way they become sleepy and drunk, but also they got rid of their tiredness. The people called these small muskets tobacco."

In this way, even while they weren't aware of it, Christopher Columbus introduced the Old World to tobacco, and the inhalation of tobacco. Although in his journal the night Torres and Xerex returned from their journey, Columbus merely marked the events off as trivial, writing: (2, page 18)

"My two people met many people crossing their path to reach their villages, men and women, carrying in their hand a burning brand and burning herbs which they use to produce fragrant smoke."I

It's possible by writing "fragrant smoke," Columbus was referring to the use of smoke in Europe mainly as a means of producing good smells.  It's also possible the men explained the natives blowing the smoke in their faces, which may have been a showing of respect to the men of whom they believed were gods.  (2, page 18)

On many occasions Columbus mentioned the natives standing around watching them and smoking the leaves of tobacco with their muskets.  Yet there was no mention of whether or not Columbus brought any of the stuff back with him to Spain.  But Rodrego de Xerex stuffed some tobacco into his pockets, made his own musket for smoking it, and became addicted.

As a side story here, Xerex was seen smoking by the Spaniards, who believed he was smoking because he came back cursed.  He was stripped of his riches and thrown into jail.  Yet it wouldn't be long after the death of Columbus that more Europeans would become addicted to tobacco

Others set sail to the New World.  Amerigo Vespucci is mainly known as the first person to describe American Natives chewing tobacco.  Spanish historian Gonzalo Fernandz de Oviedo y Valdes later described from Haiti:

The caciques, or principle men, have hollow sticks about a span long less than the thickness of the smallest finger. These tubes have two channels, merging into one. And these they put into their nostrils and the other end in the smoke of the burning herb …. And they breathe in the smoke, once, twice, thrice, or as often as they can, until they lose their senses, and for a great space they lie stretched out on the ground without intelligence and stupefied as in a dream. It is to this instrument with which they inhale the smoke that the Indians gave the name tobacco and not to the herb or the resulting stupor, as some have believed. (3, 4)

Another method described of inhaling tobacco smoke was by inhaling it:

The smoker would use a hollow, Y-shaped cane, similar in appearance to a slingshot but not as wide across the top.  He would pack the top ends into his nostril and place the bottom at the tip of his musket, breathing in the smoke through this device, working up a holy buzz.  (1, page 17)

Throughout the 16th century various native tribes in both South and North America were observed inhaling the smoke of tobacco via pipes.  Joseph C. Winter, in his book "Tobacco use by Native North Americans," explained that in 1518 tobacco seeds made their way back to Spain, and soon thereafter tobacco was "rapidly taken around the world." (5, page 3)

Winter said tobacco is among the genus Nicotiana, "which along with 95 other genera, belongs to the Solanaccaea family of plants.  This large and important family has given humanity dozens of useful plants in addition to tobacco, such as potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplants, petunias, jimsonweed, henbane, mandrake, beladonna, and many other edible fruits, vegetables and tubers, as well as ornamentals, drugs, and medicinal plants." (5, page 3)

Winter also said that tobacco is indigenous to both South and North America, and that it was...

...probably domesticated many thousands of years ago in South America, then slowly carried north from one Indian campsite to another through Central America and Mexico all the way to the eastern woodlands of North America, where it arrived by about A.D. 160.  It appears to have been introduced into the southwestern United States by A.D 720, if not earlier.  Seeds of what is probably this very important species have been discovered throughout the eastern woodlands, as well as in the U.S., Southwest and Mexico.  It is mainly smoked in pipes and cornhusk cigarettes. (5, page 4)

By 1545 Iroquois tribes were observed smoking tobacco pipes.  (5, page 2)

Virgil J. Vogul said the...

...Menominees inhaled tobacco smoke to induce a narcotic state.  The blowing of tobacco smoke into the ear for earache was reported in this century among the Chickahominys, the Mohegans, and the Malecites... Louisiana Choctaws blew tobacco smoke on snakebites." (2, page 380-385)

Various tribes throughout the Americas participated in smoking rituals, some of which involved in passing the pipe (carved out of either stone or wood) from warrior to warrior as a peace offering.  There is no knowledge as to when tobacco was first inhaled in the Americas, and therefore no proof that native Americans were the first to inhale smoke from a pipe, which, for all practical purposes, is an inhaler. (6, page (380-385)

Winter also notes that Jimsonweed and other relatives of the datura family of plants were also smoked by various tribes, producing a hallucinogenic effect, although tobacco continued to be the most common plant smoked in the Americas.  (3, page 31)

Some Americans recognized, as had the ancient Egyptians and natives of India --Atropa Belladonna and Atropa Strammonium come from the Solanaccaea family of plants, that these agents also have a mild bronchodilating effect, working well for people with breathing difficulties, such as asthma.

Regardless, this was how the inhalation of smoke made its way from the Americas to Europe.  It wouldn't be until the 18th century that inhalation of medicinal smoke would be introduced from India to Europe and America.

References:

1. Burns, Eric, "The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco," 
2. Davis, Kenneth C., "Don't Know Much About History: Anniversary Edition: Everything You Need To Know About American History But Never Learned," 2011, New York, Harper Collins
3. Castiglioni, Arturo, Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Inc., "Tobacco: Volume 4," 1943, 31 pages (need better reference), also this quote can be found on reference #4 below (jimmausartifacts.com)
4. Maus, Jim, "An Extraordinary NC Raven Effigy Pipe," jimmausartifacts.com, http://www.jimmausartifacts.com/nc-raven-effigy-pipe/, accessed 9/22/12
5. Winter, Joseph C., "Tobacco use by Native North Americans," Joseph C. Winter, editor, 2000, The University of Oklahoma Press
6. Vogel, Virgil J., "American Indian Medicine," 1970, London, Oklahoma University Press

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1268: Bacon discovers carbon dioxide

Roger Bacon was perhaps the first to conceiveof the idea
 that a substance, later called carbon dioxide,
was in the air in cellars where grapeswere fermenting.
 He does not get credit for the discovery of CO2, however.  

Even though Galen's theories about air held sway over the scientific community, there were various great minds along the way that doubted Galen, and based on their own observations, set out to perform experiments that would prove Galen wrong.

Roger Bacon (1213-1294) was born in Kilchester in Somersetshireto to a wealthy family when Henry III (1207-1272) was the King of England.  He spent 8-10,000 pounds performing his own experiments, went to Oxford, "where his great abilities were soon recognized."  He then moved to Paris, "the center of intellectual learning at the time," said historian Thomas Bradford. (14, page 112)

He was "disgusted with the superficial scholastic methods at the time, and devoted himself to the study of languages and experimental research," said Bradford.  (14, page 112)

Bradford said he ended up back at Oxford by 1250 and found himself a member of the Fransiscan order. (4, pages 112-113)

 "His fame spread at Oxford, although it was whispered that he had dealings in magic and the black arts.  Some doubts of his orthodoxy were expressed, and in 1257 Bonaventura, the General of his orders, forbade his lectures at Oxford, and commanded him to leave the town and place himself under the command of the body in Paris.  There he remained for ten years under constant supervision, suffering great privations, and not allowed to write anything that might be published." (4, pages 112-113)

During his life there was much scorn and animosity toward the medical profession and science in general, although somehow he gained the respect of Pope Clement IV (1195-1268) who "wrote to Bacon ordering him, notwithstanding the interdict of his superiors, to write out and send him a treaties on the sciences. Previous to this he, discouraged, had composed but little; but taking heart of grace and despite of the many obstacles thrown in his way by the jealousy of his superiors and brother friars, he completed in 18 months three large treatises, the Opus Magnus, Opus Minus and Opus Tertium. In 1268, Bacon was released and allowed to return to Oxford, where he continued his labors in experimental science, and in completing his numerous treatises. He wrote a great many works on alchemy, philosophy and physics." (14, page 113)

So Bacon's life is yet another example of how hard it was for great minds in this era to perform experiments, and to get their works published.  However, he made the observation that air in cellars where grapes were fermenting was not normal, and prolonged exposure resulted in mental changes and possibly death.  He determined there was a substance in this that he called gas sylvestre.  This gas later became known as carbon dioxide.

References:

1. Tissier
2. Lagerkvist, Ulf, "The Enigma of Ferment," 2005, Singapore, World Scientific Publishing
3. Potter, Elizabeth, "Gender and Boyle's Law of Gases," 2001, Indiana University Press
4. Newman, William R, et al, "Alchemy Tried in the Fire," 2002, University of Chicago
5. Lehrs, Ernst, "Man or Matter," 1958, Great Britain, Whistable Litho Ltd.
6. Jindel, S.K., "Oxygen Therapy," 2008, pages 5-8
7. Hill, Leonard, Benjamin Moore, Arthur Phillip Beddard, John James Rickard, etc., editors, "Recent Advances in Physiology and bio-chemistry," 1908, London, Edward Arnold
8. Hamilton, William, "A History of Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy," 1831, Vol. I, London, New Burlington
9. Osler, William Henry, "The evolution of Modern Medicine: A series of lectures delivered at Yale University on the Sillman Foundation in April, 1913," 1921, New Haven, Yale University Press
10. Osler, ibid, pages 170, reference referring to William Harvey: Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus, Francofurti, 1628, G. Moreton's facsimile reprint and translation, Canterbury, 1894, p. 48. 20 Ibid., p. 49.
11. Garrison, Fielding Hudson, "Introduction to the history of medicine," 1921, London, 
12. Baker, Christopher, editor, "The Great Cultural Eras of the Western World: Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution 1600-1720: A biographical dictionary," 2002, CT, Greenwood Publishing; Herman Boerhavve published Biblia Naturae (Bible of Nature) in 1737, which was a two volume compilation of the works of Jan Swammerdam. Can you read Latin?
13. Garrison, op cit, 266; (Samuel) Pepy's Diary, Mynors Bright's ed., London, 1900, v, 191
14. Bradford, Thomas Lindsley, writer, Robert Ray Roth, editor, “Quiz questions on the history of medicine from the lectures of Thomas Lindley Bradford M.D.,” 1898, Philadelphia, Hohn Joseph McVey
15. Brock, Arthur John, "Galen on the natural faculties," 1916, London, New York, William Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons
16. "History of Chemistry," historyworld.net, http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kpt, accessed 7/6/14

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1576: Cardano finds new remedy for asthma?

Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576)

It was sort of by chance that our next subject enters our history of asthma.  His name was Gerolamo Cardano, and he's often given credit as the first to suspect asthma was a reaction to substances in the air around us, and the best remedy was avoidance of such substances.  

The story goes that he was born illegitimately in 1501 to a lawyer who taught him mathematics.  He was a brilliant child, and highly critical, so he was not well liked.  Realizing he had a mental advantage over others, he became consumed by the gambling bug.  These vices would plague him his entire life.

Yet while a vice of his own making, his gambling worked to the advantage of everyone as this is what lead him to devising his rules of probability, which ultimately lead him to becoming one of the founders of that field.

In 1524, he used this newly obtained wisdom to write a book called "Liber de ludo aleae" which translates into "Book on games of chance."  Yet this book would not be published until 1663.

He earned his medical degree in 1525 and set up a small practice that didn't take off mainly due to his reputation.  So he returned to gambling, and it got so bad that he had to barter off his wife's jewelry and some furniture.  (1)

Cardano wrote over 130 books

Eventually he was able to get a job teaching math in Milan that afforded him free time to get his practice going. After curing a few patients, his reputation improved and he was admitted into the College of Physicians in 1539.   (1)

This was when his writing career took off.  He published books on mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, theology and mathematics.   He became famous for his ability to create and solve equations.  His most famous book was an algebra book published in 1545 called "Ars Magna." (1)  

He became professor of medicine at Pravia University and became rich and even more famous.  In his quest to study asthma, and develop his own remedies, he took up the task of reading Maimonides Treaties on Asthma.  It was about this time, in 1552, he was summoned by one of the richest and most famous men in the world to solve a stubborn case of the asthma.

John Hamilton was the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Andrews and a member of a famous family in Scotland, and he was struck with a pretty bad case of asthma. His doctor believed his asthma was caused because his brain was cold and this caused phlegm to build up in the chest, yet Hamilton's asthma did not get better by any of his "warming" therapies, such as making rooms hot and smoky. (4)

Cardano in 1553

Desperate for a remedy, Hamilton summoned Cardano who immediately accepted the invitation. After examining Hamilton's habits for six weeks Cardano decided Hamilton's asthma was caused by too much heat and not too much cold.  His asthma, thus, was caused by a life of luxury and venery. (2)

Cardanos remedies were designed to cool the body:

1. A simple life
2. Cold water to the head followed by cold water showers
3. Inhalations of elaterium
4. Aplications of an ointment of tar, mustard, euphorbium (derived from herb sometimes called 'asthma weed', honey, of anthardus, and blister-fly to the skull
5. No feathers under his pillow (silk, straw and seaweed instead)
6. No fires in the fireplace (2)

Hamilton's health almost immediately improved.  Cardano was paid heavily for his cure, not just in finances but by improved fame. He published his remedies in his book "Consilia," which is a report on individual cases and the treatments that worked.

Many writers have given him credit as the first to recognize allergens and to suspect that allergen avoidance will prevent asthma. 

Yet not so fast.  The truth is Cardano might simply have been lucky.  You see, he, like many physicians -- including Hamilton's former physician -- believed diseases were caused by an imbalance of the four humors.  

Cardano didn't believe that feathers, fires and smoke triggered asthma per se, he believed they produced heat, causing a humoral imbalance.  Still, Hamilton avoided these things, and his asthma got better, many other asthmatics of the era avoided those things too, and, in many cases, their asthma got better too.

Ars Magna

Yet Cardano's good fortune would end.  His daughter died of syphilis after years of selling herself as a prostitute, although her death spearheaded one of the earliest ever books on the condition.

His eldest of four sons was convicted of poisoning his wife and this son was beheaded in 1560.  Another son was a gambler.  Cardano was now the father of a killer, and he became a hated man.  He was relieved of his post as professor of medicine at Privia.  

To make matters worse he was convicted of heresy for casting the horoscope of Jesus, and spent time in jail for that.   He bequested the help of Hamilton to get him off the hook, and Hamilton was able to convince authorities to release the physician.  Yet Hamilton himself was soon therafter hanged.

Throughout his colorful life he wrote over 130 books.  And while he's remembered mainly for his accomplishments in algebra, the story of how he cured the archbishop of his asthma is one we asthmatics will cherish forever.

He later admitted himself he lost a lot of time and accomplishments by his gambling, which included chess and poker.  He passed away in 1576 with 100 books left unfinished. In his will dated 1566, his advice to his eldest son's boy Fazio was to avoid gambling.  

References:

1.  Gerolamo Cardano, stetson.edu, http://www2.stetson.edu/~efriedma/periodictable/html/Cd.html, accessed 7/4/14 
2. Jackson, mark, "Asthma: The Biography," 2006, New York

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1500: The quest for the philosopher's stone

An alchemist in search of the philosopher's stone in his laboratory.

If you lived with asthma in the medieval world, during the 16th or 17th centuries, perhaps you believed in the power of the philosopher's stone, or that by working ardently in their laboratories an alchemist would discover a substance that would heal all sickness, and offer eternal life with vast riches and unlimited wisdom.

To understand about the philosophers stone we have to travel back in time to the beginning of the world, to a time when the gods realized they were tired of living alone and were eager to create a planet and populate it with people to keep them company. One god had the power to take the four basic elements -- fire, earth, water and air -- to form the sun and all the planets.

He was called Thoth in ancient Egypt, Hermes Trismegistos in ancient Greece, and Mercury in ancient Rome.  He was the messenger to the gods and had access to all the wisdom of the world, and therefore was the first philosopher.  While he was a god in mythology, it's also possible he was an actual person at one time, only turned into a god by his legacy.

As secretary to the gods, he had access to all the wisdom of the heavens.  As messenger, he had the ability to communicate with philosophers on earth. Perhaps the first people he communicated with were the ancient Egyptians, of whom we find our first evidence that alchemy and chemistry was practiced.

As we learned earlier in this history, the term "khemi" comes from the Egyptian term for 'the black earth,' which is in reference to the black soil of the great Nile River.  Yet the terms 'al' and 'khemi' are Arabic terms.  (7, page 21-22)

It was by communicating with the god Thoth, Egyptian philosophers were able to learn all the wisdom of the god.  In this way, they learned the esoteric wisdom necessary to blend various substances in order to create an elixir of life.  It was also by this process that lead to many of the medicines used by Egyptian priest/physicians.  They, in essence, became the first chemists and alchemists.

Through the ancient philosophers Thoth wrote 40 books filled with all the knowledge that he was willing to share.  Since they called him Hermes, the Greeks referred to these writings as the Hermetic Books.  Since they were thought to have been written on an emerald tablet, some refer to them as the 'emerald tablet.'

Regardless, the pages of the Hermetic books contained the wisdom Thoth/Hermes/Mercury used to create the cosmos.  While the book is lost, it is thought that this first philosopher used the four basic elements and combined: (5, page 28)

• Philosophical Salt, which is all wisdom
• Mercury, which is personal skill and application
• Sulphur, which is vital energy and fire of will (5, page 28)(4, page 366)

These primordial substances are often referred to as "the substances of the philosophers and not those commonly designed by these names, said Grillot de Givry, in his 1931 book "Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy." (4, page 365)

No one knew what was formed by combining these three substances. Since many thought it was stone, it's often referred to as the philosopher's stone. Yet some thought it was a powdery substance used to create a magical elixir, an elixir of life, that would turn basic items into precious items, base metals -- such as copper, aluminum, cobalt, iron and lead -- into precious gold. It would reveal all wisdom, and heal all wounds, and cure all sickness, and create immortality.

Alchemists believed that by working arduously in their laboratories mixing this chemical and that chemical, perhaps by heating them in their athenor (type of furnace that was capable of maintaining a uniform and durable heat for a long time, according to merriam-webster.com), they would ultimately create a natural environment for a substance similar to the philosopher's stone to form.

After the Arabs conquered Egypt in the 7th century A.D., they absorbed all the Egyptian knowledge of chemistry and alchemy. During the 11th century, European crusaders returned to Europe with Arabic wisdom, including knowledge of alchemy and the quest for the philosopher's stone. (7, page 247)

The stone, or powder, or whatever the primordial substance was, captured the imaginations of some of Europe's most impressive minds, including Paracelsus, Roger Bacon, Pope John XXII, Jon Baptiste van Helmont, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, and Raymond Lilly, among others.

Because these men must have worked as alchemists sureptitiously, they are often known as chemists. Either way, many went on to make significant contributions to both science and medicine.

Roger Bacon (1214-1294) was one of the early alchemists who lived in England. He performed many experiments and made many discoveries for the medical community, although what held him back, and created angst among the orthodoxy, was the belief that he was also dealing in magic and the black arts. As with other alchemists, he was also a believer in the philosopher's stone. While it was a challenge, he did manage to get his ideas published. (3, page 112-113)

Paracelsus (1493-1541) was an alchemist who believed all other elements -- earth, fire, water and air -- were derived from this element that was yet to be found, and the mysterious element was indeed the philosopher's stone.

While some chemists openly dabbled in alchemy as Bacon and Paracelsus did, some secretly dabbled in order to avoid the risks associated with being accused of dealing in magic, the black arts, or witchcraft.

Fielding Hudson Garrison, in his book "An introduction to the history of medicine," said:

Although the making of gold and silver and other magic practices was opposed by the Church in the famous bulls , "Spondent pariter" (1317) and "Super ittius specula" (1326) of (Pope) John XXII, alchemy became an intensive cult of extraordinary magnitude in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, because it appealed particularly to the lust of money, the love of life, and the corresponding fear of death. For the philosopher's stone, otherwise known as "the quintessence" or "grand magistery" was not only supposed to transmute the baser metals into gold, make precious stones and a universal solvent, but also conferred perfect health and length of days. It was described by all who claimed to have seen it as of a reddish luster. Raymond Lully (1232-1315) called it a carbuncle; Paracelsus likened it to a ruby; Berigard de Pisa, to a wild poppy with the smell of heated sea-salt; van Helmont, to saffron with the luster of glass. The choral symphony in praise of its capacity for maintaining health resembled the testimonials of "Vin Mariani" and other nostrums of our time. (1, page 286)

While alchemists used elements of chemistry, the art was essentially based on mythology and magic. This was why the Church opposed the art, thus punishing those accused of practicing alchemy, including those who admitted to searching for the pagan philosopher's stone, as these were the antithesis of Biblical beliefs.

Grillot de Givry said:

Through the whole of the Middle Ages and down to about the end of the seventeenth century -- even later in Germany, Spain, and Italy -- sorcerers were vilified, persecuted, and hunted down.  It was thought that the worst of punishments were reserved for them in eternity, and the tale ran that the Devil was often to be seen seizing a witch when her promised period of grace had run out, and carrying her off to the place in Hell she had undoubtedly earned." (4, page 195) 

If you had asthma during this period, a time when there were no true remedies for your disease, would it be worth risking eternal damnation to search for it, or would it be better to deal with it as best you can while worshiping the Bible under the hope of eternal comfort in Heaven?

References:

1. Garrison, Fielding Hudson, "Introduciton to the history of medicine," 1922, London, W.B. Saunders Company
2. "Dr. Anderson's, or the famous Scot's Pills," http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/10552/pages/2/page.pdf
3. Bradford, Thomas Lindsley, writer, Robert Ray Roth, editor, “Quiz questions on the history of medicine from the lectures of Thomas Lindley Bradford M.D.,” 1898, Philadelphia, Hohn Joseph McVey
4. deGivry, Grillot, "Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy," translated by J. Courtenay Locke, 1931, 1971, New York, Dover Publications, Inc
5. Swinburne, Clymer, "Alchemy and the Alchemists," volume 3, 1907, PA, The Philosophical Publishing Co.
6. Anonymous, "The Book of Acquarius: Alchemy and the Sorcerers Stone,"
7. Regardie, Israel, edited by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, "The Philosopher's Stone: Spiritual Alchemy, Psychology, and Ritual Magic," 2013, MN, Llewellyn Publications

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