Manus Christi

The names Manus Christi and Palma Christi (Christ's hand) have been used in botanical and pharmacological works since the late Middle Ages

1. for the name of the wonder tree ( Ricinus communis ),
2. for the designation of palm-shaped orchid roots and
3. for the designation of medicinal preparations that were produced as sugar trituration .

An important part of these sugar triturations were the so-called Flores cordiales (heart blossoms) or Flores cardinales.

As Flores cordiales or Flores cardinales, the flowers of borage , the flowers of the common ox-tongues , the flowers of fragrant violets and the flowers of roses have been referred to since early modern times .

The medicinal preparations called Elaeosacchara from the 18th to the 20th century are derived from the sugar triturations called Manus Christi.

designation	composition	Effect / indications	Qualities derived from the theory of juices	swell
Manus Christi simplex = Zuccarum rosatum in tabulis	Rose water (distillate) and sugar	Strengthens and cools the heart and all internal organs	Sugar. Warm in the first and humid in the second degree. Roses. Cold in the first and dry in the end of the second degree.	Ibn Butlan . Taqwim es-sihha . Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina. Constantinus africanus . Liber de gradibus simplicium = translation of Liber de gradibus simplicium of Ibn al-Jazzar . Pressure. Opera . Basel 1536, p. 344 (digitized version) . Hieronymus Brunschwig . Liber de arte distillandi de compositis. Basel 1512, sheet 151r-151v (digital copy ) .
Manus Christi Boraginatus	Borage water ………. and sugar	Mourning and melancholy, heart tremors, mange and leprosy	Borage. Warm and humid in the first degree.	Constantinus africanus. Druck Basel 1536, p. 348 (digitized version) . Brunschwig 1512, sheet 151v.
Manus Christi buglossatus	Ox tongue water and sugar	Temperate the heart strengthens	Ox tongues. Warm and humid in the first degree. Spreads melancholy cholera out of melancholy, nonsensical people	Avicenna . De viribus cordis. Edition Alpago 1556, p. 564r (digitized version ) . Brunschwig 1512, sheet 151v.
Manus Christi violatus	Violet water ………… and sugar	Good for great weakness and fainting with dehydration	Violet. Cold in the end of the first and damp in the beginning of the second degree.	Constantinus africanus. Druck Basel 1536, p. 344 (digitized version) . Brunschwig 1512, sheet 151v.

A variant of the Christ hands was made from musk and sugar. It should strengthen the heart and brain and use the memory. Particularly valuable versions were “Manus Christi boraginatum aureum (MC with gold leaf )”, “Manus Christi perlata (MC with mother-of-pearl )” and “Manus Christi de lapidibus preciosis (MC with precious stones )”.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig . Large distilling book. Strasbourg 1512, sheet 151vb: “… Tres sunt flores Cardinales / this is ox tongues blooming / Burretsch blooming / vnd fyelin. However, quite a few speak. Quatuor sunt flores Cardinales / then they thůnt dar zů Seblůmen [ yellow pond rose or white water lily ]. But in the truth it is too cold / and were better pink / when the heart doesn’t want to suffer superfluous celts / when people live in cold and fruit / or tempered / so are lake flowers cold and fruit / roses cold and trucking. etc. So let me stay dry by the people ... " (digitized)
2. ↑ Nicolas Lémery . Complete material lexicon . Complete material lexicon. Initially designed in French, but now after the third edition, enlarged by a large one [...] translated into High German / by Christoph Friedrich Richtern, [...]. Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Braun, 1721. Col. 179: Borrago (digitized version ) Col. 190: Buglossum (digitized version )
3. ↑ Ludwig Vogel. Formula or recipe dictionary. Keyser, Erfurt 1805, volume 2, p. 5: Flores cordiales quatuor. The flowers of boretsch (Borago), ox-tongue (Buglossa), roses and violets (Viola ororata). Flores cordiales tres. The previous ones without the roses. (Digitized version)
4. ↑ Brunschwig 1512 Journal 80r (digitized) , 152r (digitized)
5. ^ Johann Peter Eberhard. Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon… August Lebrecht, Ulm, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1772, column 403: “Christi manus rotulae, or saccharum perlatum, pearl sugar; are white cakes or tents, like the white power cakes that are dissolved by sugar with rose water and mixed with a little ground prepared pearl nut: they are sometimes taken with strengthening and cooling powder and milk from seeds. " (digitalisat)