Bolus armenicus

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Bolus armenicus , German Armenian clay is a clay healing earth is often called terra armena or terra armenia called and was during the Middle Ages to the synonym for medically used clay . Bolus armenicus was made up of contaminated aluminum oxides (Al 2 O 3 ) colored brown-red by iron oxide and silicic acid clay (aluminum silicates). As a commodity, it is also called (Armenian) sealing earth ( terra sigillata ).

Illustration of the cap. Terra sigillata in the Hortus sanitatis . Strasbourg 1491
Alchemical symbols from Onomatologia medica completa 1755

Nature of the clays

This is of a pasty consistency, more homogeneous and purer than the rather sandy healing earth . So already 1000 years ago it became a medicine known throughout Europe; after all, almost every medically used clay was given this name. In the universal lexicon by Johann Heinrich Zedler from 1733, bolus is any fat or clay-like earth that shines, that is soft to the touch, that is, tender and smooth, that has a red, pale red or yellow color and in the water or in the mouth like butter dissolves; it is closely related to the sealing earth. According to Zedler, this bolus was formerly found in the Levant (Lebanon) and in Armenia , and since the end of the Middle Ages (around 1500) it has also been mined in Central Europe. To this day, names such as Bolus Armenia or Armenian clay can be found in the pharmaceutical literature : This denotes naturally occurring clay that is reddish in color due to iron oxide , also called red chalk . Bolus Armenia or Terra Armenia were still regarded as quality terms in the 20th century . In 1938 Hager's Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice described the following: A clay that contains iron oxide and consists of a vivid red, earthy mass that is greasy to the touch, can be easily ground and behaves like white clay to water; this tone occurs naturally in Armenia and partly in Germany. It is differentiated from Bolus rubra , the red clay which is similar in composition, but usually less pure and darker. Today only the white clay Bolus alba is used medicinally: This is kaolin , a natural, crystalline, hydrous aluminum silicate; it is obtained from raw kaolin, a layered silicate. This clay is characterized by a high absorbency for water and - less strongly - oils. Internally, like charcoal, it is used for intestinal diseases and externally as a powder (usually mixed with starch or talc) for skin diseases.

History of the medicinally used clay

Already in Greco-Roman antiquity, the production of such earths, which are characterized by a high surface area of ​​their powder particles and thus have a detoxifying effect, was highly organized: These earths were mined at certain clay deposits, cleaned, pressed, packaged and loaded onto ships; Since each batch of clay was individually stamped, it is still called Terra sigillata (sealed earth) to this day. The origin can also be read from these stamps; the most famous clay in the Middle Ages ( incorrectly called "boole armonyak" in the Canterbury valleys of the 14th century) came from Armenia as described above - the bolus armenicus, the terra armena or the lutum armenicum. The ancient Greek doctors praised this clay as a protection against poisoning, whereby both the external (paste, wraps) and the internal use were described as detoxifying. In the "Gart der Gesundheit" (Gart der Gesundheit), which was printed in 1485, there are many indications for which bolus armenicus is supposed to help: as a powder a great medicine for every wound, for wheezing (asthma), as a drink for blood spitting or consumption, for bleeding diarrhea ( Dissentericis), against excessive menstrual bleeding and against fever during epidemic times, against bad blisters and ulcers - especially when pestilence prevails, triggered in wine and rose water an excellent protection against pestilence. In conclusion, the author of the "Gart" Wonnecke says: If the bolus armenicus does not help in one of the diseases that have been mentioned above, then another medicine rarely helps. From today's perspective, the active principle of the internal use of clay healing earth is based on the high surface area of ​​the powder particles, which can bind toxins; thus they have an acid-regulating effect, for diarrhea and for intestinal cleansing. These areas of application largely correspond to the healing earth.

Apparently, the Armenian sealing earth used to be adulterated with dried, white dog excrement.

Written sources

Antiquity

  • Dioscurides De materia medica , 1st century, Book V, Cap. 113: Lemnian Earth . - ( Julius Berendes . Des Pedanius Dioskurides medicament theory in 5 books. Enke, Stuttgart 1902, p. 526) (digitized version)
  • Galen De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus liber IX , 3rd century, Cap 1: De terris . - (Kühn edition, Leipzig 1826, Volume XII, p. 165ff) (digital version )

Arab Middle Ages

  • Avicenna . Canon of Medicine , 10th to 11th centuries. Translation and editing by Gerhard von Cremona and Arnaldus de Villanova . - Revision by Andrea Alpago (1450–1521). Basel 1556 Book II. Simple Medicines. P. 254 ff. (Digitized version) - Cap. 419: De luto sigillato - Lemnia terra . Cap. 420: De luto absolute - Terra . Cap. 421: De luto armeno - Terra ex armenia . - Cap. 422: De luto samio - Terra samia . Cap. 423: De luto quod comeditur . Cap. 424: De luto terrae masticis - Terra chia . - Cap. 425: De luto cretico - Terra cretica . Cap. 426: De luto chimolea - Cimolia . Avicenna attributes hemostatic properties to the earth. The bolus armenus is said to be useful for plague bumps and especially to help with wounds. It is also said to be effective in treating catarrhs ​​and headaches, as well as ulcers of the respiratory and digestive tracts and fever.
  • Constantine the African . Liber de gradibus simplicium , 11th century (= translation of the Liber de gradibus simplicium of Ibn al-Jazzar . 10th century) Print. Opera . Basel 1536, p. 353: Bolus [armenicus] ... "valet contra fluxum sanguinis" ... Terra sigillata ... "valet contra diuturna vulnera" ... (digitized version )
  • Pseudo-Serapion , 13th century, print. Venice 1497, sheet 157 (Cap. 404–405): De luto armeno. De terra sigillata (digitized version)

Latin Middle Ages

15th century

Fig. For the chapter Bolus armenus in the Hortus sanitatis . Strasbourg 1491

16th century

  • Eucharius Rößlin : The Swangern frawen and hebammen Rossgarten , Worms 1513, Bolus armenus - a red trich
  • Lorenz Fries : Synonima and fair expression of the words as one is to write in the artzny, all herbs, Wurtzlen, Bluomen, Somen, rocks, juices and other things [...]. Strasbourg 1519, sheet XIIIv: bolus armenus - boli - Erdtrych uß armenien (digitized version )
  • Adam Lonitzer : Herbal Book Frankfurt am Main 1564, p. 54v-55r: Erdtrich - Leymen - Weisser Bolus - Rötelstein (digitized version )

17th and 18th century

Bolus Armenicus and other clay healing earths in a showcase from the holdings of the German Pharmacy Museum
  • Pharmacopoea Amstelredamensis. Amsterdam 1643, p. 82: Trochisci Terrae sigillatae (digitized version )
  • Johann Zwelfer . Pharmacopoeia Augustana Reformata, Et Eius Mantissa. Verhoeven, Gouda 1653, p. 712: Boli Armenae Praeparatio (digital copy )
  • Moyse Charas . Pharmacopée Royale Galenique et Chimique. Paris 1676, pp. 811–812: Des Préparations des Terres & des Bols (digitized version )
  • Pierre Pomet . Histoire générale des drogues, traitant des plantes, des animaux, & des mineraux; ouvrage enrichy de plus de quatre cent figures en taille-douce tirées d'aprés nature; avec un discours qui explique leurs differens noms, les pays d'où elles viennent, la maniere de connoître les veritables d'avec les falsifiées, & leurs proprietez, où l'on découvre l'erreur des anciens & des modern ... par le sieur Pierre Pomet .... Jean-Baptiste Loyson & Augustin Pillon Paris 1694
  • Johann Schröder . - La pharmacopée raisonnée de Schroder, commentée by Michel Ettmuller. Volume 2, T. Amaulry, Lyon 1698, pp. 232–251: Des terres (digitized version )
  • Nicolas Lémery . Complete material lexicon. First drafted in French [1699], but now after the third edition, which has been enlarged by a large [...] edition, translated into high German / by Christoph Friedrich Richtern, [...] . Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Braun, 1721.
  • Albrecht von Haller (ed.) Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon which explains all names and artificial words which are peculiar to the science of medicine and the art of pharmacy clearly and completely [...]. Ulm / Frankfurt / Leipzig 1755

19th century

  • Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland . Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent: fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804… avec deux atlas, qui renferment, l'un les vues des Cordillèrres et les monumens des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique, et l ' autre des cartes geographiques et physiques . Maze, Paris 1819, pp. 609ff. (Digital copy) --- Journey to the equinoctial areas of the new continent in the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 and 1804 . Cotta, Tübingen 1823, 4th part, 8th book, p. 555ff. (Digitized version)
    • different earths that are eaten by the indigenous peoples of South America with different effects
    • German clay: In Germany the workers in the sandstone pits of the Kiffhauser mountain spread a fine clay, which they call stone butter, on their bread instead of butter. They find it very filling and easy to digest. (P. 568 digitized version)
  • Heinrich Friedrich Link . Bol, bolus . In: Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Medicinal Sciences . Volume 6, JW Boike, Berlin 1831, pp. 140–141 (digitized version )
  • Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal . Sealing earth . In: Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Medical Sciences, Volume 31, JW Boike, Berlin 1843, p. 617 (digitized version)
  • Theodor Husemann . Bolus alba, argilla; White tuna, white bolus. In: Handbook of the entire drug theory. 2nd edition, Springer, Berlin 1883. Volume I, pp. 382–383 (digitized version )

literature

  • Dieter Lehmann: Two medical prescription books of the 15th century from the Upper Rhine. Part I: Text and Glossary. Horst Wellm, Pattensen / Han. 1985, now at Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg (= Würzburg medical-historical research , 34), ISBN 3-921456-63-0 , p. 160.
  • Johannes Gottfried Mayer , Katharina Englert: Clay healing earth. Terra Armena. The rediscovery of an ancient means of internal cleansing. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag , Kreuzlingen / Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-7205-5010-9
  • Jörg Mildenberger: Anton Trutmann's “Pharmacopoeia”. Part 2: Dictionary. 5 volumes, Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1997 (= Würzburg medical-historical research , 56), ISBN 3-8260-1398-0 , Volume 1, pp. 242–244.
  • Thomas Freller. Terra Melitensis. Story of a famous early modern antidote. In: Geschichte der Pharmazie, 49 (1997), Heft 2, pp. 17–26 (digitized version )
  • Claus Priesner . Terra sigillata . In: Claus Priesner and Karin Figala (Eds.) Alchemie. Lexicon of a Hermetic Science. CH Beck, Munich 1998, pp. 357-358

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Martin: The 'Ulmer Wundarznei'. Introduction - Text - Glossary on a monument to German specialist prose from the 15th century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1991 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 52), ISBN 3-88479-801-4 (also medical dissertation Würzburg 1990), p. 120.
  2. ↑ Fragment VIII (G), line 790.
  3. ↑ Jürgen Martin: The 'Ulmer Wundarznei'. Introduction - Text - Glossary on a monument to German specialist prose from the 15th century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1991 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 52), ISBN 3-88479-801-4 (also medical dissertation Würzburg 1990), p. 178 (“tera sigillata that is wiß hundstreck”).
  4. ↑ Johannes Gottfried Mayer, Katharina Englert: Clay healing earth. Terra Armena. The rediscovery of an ancient means of internal cleansing. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag , Kreuzlingen / Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-7205-5010-9 , p. 7ff.
  5. ↑ Based on the Paris manuscript. Liber beate Hildegardis subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum et sic de aliis quam multis bonis. Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Codex 6952 f. 156-232. Complete handwriting. 15th century (1425–1450)
  6. ↑ Edouard Nicaise (ed.): La grande chirurgie de Guy de Chauliac, chirurgien, maître en médecine de l'université de Montpellier, composée en l'an 1363. Editions Alcan, Paris 1890 (digitized)
  7. ↑ Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert (ed.). Annals of Physics . Volume 28, Hall 1808, p. 492 (digitized version)