Luzienwasser

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Luzienwasser (also Luciuswasser, Eau de Luce, Aqua luce, Aqua lucia, Aqua lucii, Aqua luciae) is a smelling water that was developed in France in the middle of the 18th century, probably by the pharmacist Ducallon from Paris. The name Luzienwasser goes back to a pharmacist from Lille named Luce, who was the first to make the recipe public.

composition

It is a mixture consisting mainly of alcohol and ammonia , to which a few drops of purified amber oil and soap have been added. This gave the liquid a milky-white appearance. The mixing ratio given in pharmaceutical handbooks of the 18th and 19th centuries ranges from 24 parts of alcohol, 8 parts of ammonia and 1 part of amber oil to recipes in which the mixture consists predominantly of ammonia.

use

Luzienwasser was used primarily as a home remedy for fainting until the 20th century. For this purpose, an open bottle with Lucien water was held directly under the nose of the affected person so that the strongly smelling volatile components of the substance got into the respiratory tract. In the case of insect bites and snakebites, Luzienwasser was applied to the infected area. Inwardly, Luzienwasser was z. B. used for cramps and convulsive cough. Old pharmaceutical handbooks point out the risk of blindness if even small amounts of the substance get into the eyes.

literature

  • D. Johann Heinrich Moritz Poppe: Noth and Hülfs lexicon for the protection of human life from all conceivable accidents and for rescue from the dangers on land and water. Nuremberg 1811. Full text

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Samuel Hahnemann: Apothekerlexikon . Leipzig 1793.
  2. ↑ M. Ehrmann (Ed.): Handbook of the pharmaceutical goods and preparations customer as a complete explanation of the Austrian Pharmacopoeia. Vienna 1826. Full text
  3. ↑ u. a. August Ludwig Ferdinand Dörffurt: New German pharmacist book after the last edition of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia. Leipzig 1804. Full text
  4. ↑ Brehm's Thierleben. General knowledge of the animal kingdom, first volume, first division: mammals, first volume: monkeys and apes, flutter animals, predators. Leipzig 1883.