Willows in medical history
Willows ( Salix spec. ). Theophrastus of Eresos described several willow species in his natural history of plants , which Kurt Sprengel interpreted as Salix purpurea , Salix alba and Salix caprea .
The Roman encyclopaedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus recommended an overlay of willow leaves boiled in vinegar for the follow-up treatment of the rectal and uterus incident.
The therapeutic indications given by Pedanios Dioscurides ( De materia medica ) and Pliny the Elder ( Naturalis historia ) largely agree. It is therefore believed that both drew from the same sources.
| Pastures. Indications for Pedanios Dioskurides | Pastures. Indications for Pliny the Elder |
| the fruits ( pussy willow ), leaves, bark and juice have astringent force | |
| the finely grated leaves ingested with pepper and wine heal the intestinal obstruction | |
| the juice promotes urine excretion and removes all foci of pus inside the body | |
| the leaves ingested with water prevent conception | the leaves, taken in the drink, inhibit excessive sexual drive and eliminate it completely if one drinks them more often |
| the fruit (pussy willow) and the bark help spew blood | the fruit (pussy willow) before it is fully ripe helps against blood spitting |
| the bark burned and mixed with vinegar drives away calluses | the ashes of the bark mixed with water heals skin calluses |
| the decoction of the leaves and the bark as an envelope drive away small beef | the ashes of the bark mixed with the juice heals skin spots on the face |
| the leaves of the yolk willow relieve headaches when they are placed on the forehead | |
| the sap of leaves and bark mixed with rose oil cures ear disorders | the juice is poured into the ears with rose oil |
| the decoction of the leaves and the bark as an envelope help against Podagra | the decoction of the leaves and the bark use as envelope at Podagra |
| the juice obtained from the bark at the time of flowering drives away the darkening of the pupil | the juice obtained at flowering time is used to cleanse everything that is a hindrance to the eyes |
Galen mentioned the willows in his instructions for making pavers.
Even Alexander of Tralles described a prepared tetes willow patch, which he recommended for the treatment of patients suffering from blood-spitting. He also stated that gargle water made from willow leaves cleanses and heals and that a decoction of willow root bark is used externally to treat rheumatic complaints.
The Islamic doctors of the Middle Ages drew their indications from the works of the Greco-Roman classics (Dioscorides and Pliny). They classified the willows as "cold and dry" according to the criteria of the juice theory .
In the Physica ascribed to Hildegard von Bingen (12th century), willow was classified as useless for internal consumption and as limited useful for external use.
Other authors of the Latin Middle Ages drew their indications from the works of the Greco-Roman classics (Dioscurides and Pliny). For example, in the 13th century the older German Macer and Albertus Magnus , in the 14th century Konrad von Megenberg , in the 15th century the little book on the burnt-out waters attributed to the Viennese doctor Michael Puff and the Mainz herb book incunabula ( Herbarius Moguntinus 1484 - Gart der Health 1485 - Hortus sanitatis 1491).
The surgeon and botanist Hieronymus Brunschwig differentiated between four types of willow in his small distilling book published in 1500 :
- ſproß widen = Salix fragilis
- hor widen = Salix alba var. vitellina
- red wilgen = "wilgen male" = Salix purpurea and
- wiſſ wilgen = felber = "wilgen wyblin" = Salix caprea
Otto Brunfels and Leonhart Fuchs described three and Hieronymus Bock four species of willow from the botanist-doctors of the 16th century :
- band willow - bring red thin toe willow - one thinks for the noble ones = Salix purpurea
- Bruch willow - clad with white bark - eind but totally mirb - do not serve to give at all = Salix fragilis
- brook weiden - have gel ſchelet - generally wake up at the bank of the flowing waters = Salix alba var. vitellina and
- blettern with esch colored barks vnnd - - give the best fence - rope graze or associate toe Widde in Hornung - vnd in Meien the toes bast vnd seiler - to some hand bawer dishes = Salix caprea
They derived the medicinal uses of the plants that they indicated from the works of the Greco-Roman classics (Dioscurides and Pliny).
Among the doctors who described the plants in the 16th and 17th centuries without mentioning their medicinal effects, Andrea Cesalpino and Caspar Bauhin should be mentioned in particular . You have thus finally freed botany from the role of an auxiliary medical science and elevated it to an independent discipline. The medicinal use of willow preparations was only mentioned in reference works in the 17th century and until well over the middle of the 18th century, and only in passing here.
Willow bark as a substitute for cinchona bark
From the middle of the 17th century, the bitter tasting cinchona bark was used in Europe to treat alternating fever .
The bark was very expensive. The pharmacist's taxes indicated a significantly higher price for cinchona bark than for local bark:
| Augsburg Pharmacopoeia 1734 | Württemberg Pharmacopoeia 1741 | Frankfurt Pharmacopoeia 1747 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinchona bark | 16 cruc. / Pile. | 12 kr. / Loth | 80 Creutzer / Loth |
| Ash bark | 1 cruc. / Pile. | 1 Kr. / Loth | 1 Creutzer / Loth |
| Horse chestnut bark | 2 cruc. / Pile. | 2 Kr. / Loth | 1 Creutzer / Loth |
In search of an inexpensive domestic substitute for cinchona bark, the bark of native trees was examined in the 18th century, namely the bark of the ash (from 1712), the bark of the horse chestnut (from 1733) and the bark of the willow tree (from 1757 ).
The English clergyman Edward Stone announced in 1763 that from 1757 to 1762 he had a total of around 50 people suffering from intermittent fever with the dried powder of the bark of three to four year old shoots of the white willow (“salix alba, vulgaris, common white willow ”). In the sense of the doctrine of signatures , he started from the idea that the white willow grows in swampy areas, in which the intermittent fever also predominates. Accordingly, this plant must also have developed defenses against the intermittent fever. The bitter taste of the willow bark also reminded him of the taste of the cinchona bark. He began with a cautious dosage of about 1.3 g ( 20 grains ) every four hours and thus achieved a considerable reduction, but the feverish attacks were still not absent. He found the optimal dose and dosage form to be around 4 g ( 1 dram ), given every four hours at a fever-free interval. This dosage always led to the absence of fever attacks, except in a few chronic cases of four-day fever and autumn fever . But even these could be cured if he added 1/5 volume of cinchona bark to the willow bark. Stone could not determine any side effects of the willow bark therapy. He summed up his judgment: The willow bark has the same “absorbent”, “ astringent ” and “ febrifuge ” effects in intermittent fevers like the cinchona bark and it has all of their abilities, although perhaps not always in the same extent.
After he had already mentioned in a dissertation in 1763 that the cinchona bark could be replaced by local drugs, including willow bark, the Prussian mineralogist Carl Abraham Gerhard also wrote in his “Drug theory” in 1766 that he knew from experience that a distillate from the bark of young twigs of the broken willow is on a par with the cinchona bark preparations in terms of antifebrile , antiseptic and robotic properties. The Swedish doctor Peter Jonas Bergius disagreed in 1778 and announced that he had used the willow bark again and again for intermittent fever without any success.
In the first half of the 19th century, willow bark was listed in official pharmacopoeia as an antipyretic agent:
| County town | year | Pharmacopoeia title | Name of the drug | Types of willow used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 1805 | The Edinburgh new dispensatory ... | Cortex salicis | Salix alba , Salix pentandra , Salix fragilis |
| Prussia | 1805 | Prussian Pharmacopoeia ... | Cortex salicis | Salix pentandra |
| London | 1811 | The London dispensatory | Cortex salicis | Salix fragilis , Salix alba and Salix caprea |
| Bavaria | 1822/23 | Pharmacopoea Bavarica ... | Salix; Extractum salicis | Salix alba and Salix fragilis |
| Prussia | 1829 | Prussian Pharmacopoeia , 5th edition | Cortex salicis | Salix pentandra , Salix fragilis |
| London | 1833 | The London dispensatory , 7th edition | Cortex salicis and Salicina | Salix fragilis , Salix alba and Salix caprea |
| Hanover | 1833 | Pharmacopoeia Hannoverana nova. | Cortex salicis | Salix pentandra |
| to bathe | 1841 | Pharmacopoea Badensis. | Cortex salicis; Salicina. Willow bitter (salicin) | Salix purpurea |
| Prussia | 1848 | Commentar ... based on the 6th edition of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia | Cortex salicis | Salix pentandra , Salix fragilis |
| London | 1852 | The London dispensatory , 11th edition | Cortex salicis and salicins | Salix fragilis , Salix alba and Salix caprea |
| Prussia | 1865 | Commentar ... based on the 7th edition of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia | Cortex salicis and salicin are not listed |
In 1821 the French chemists Pelletier and Caventou examined the bark of the willow tree and the bark of the horse chestnut.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kurt Sprengel. Theophrast's natural history of plants . Friedrich Hammerich, Altona 1822, Part I Translation, pp. 114–115 (3rd book, chapter 13, section 7) ( digitized version ), p. 122–124 (3rd book, chapter 17, section 3) ( digitized version ); Part II Explanations, p. 113 (3rd book, chapter 13, section 7) Salix purpurea and Salix alba ( digitized version), pp. 119–120 (3rd book, chapter 17, section 3) The Kolytea am Ida ( Salix caprea ? ) ( Digitized version )
- ↑ A. Cornelii Celsi . De Medicina libri octo. Ad fidem optimorum librorum denuo recensuit adnotatione critica indicibusque instruxit C. Daremberg . Teubner, Leipzig 1859, pp. 259–260: At si anus ipse, vel os vulvae procidit… (digitized version ) ----- Aulus Cornelius Celsus. About Medicinal Science in Eight Books. Translated and explained by Eduard Scheller. Second edition. Revised by Walter Frieboes after the Daremberg text edition. Vieweg and Son, Braunschweig 1906, p. 360 (Book VI, Chapter 18, Section 10): Treatment of the prolapse of the rectum and the uterus (digital copy)
- ↑ Pedanios Dioskurides (1st century) De Medicinali Materia libri quinque. Translation: Julius Berendes . Enke, Stuttgart 1902, pp. 120–121 (Book I, Chapter 135): (digitized version)
- ↑ Pliny the Elder (1st century) Naturalis historia , Book XXIV, Chapter xxxvi (§ 56–58) Online edition Chicago Translation Külb 1855
- ^ Galenus (2nd century) De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus , lib. VI, cap. IX / 8 (based on the Kühn 1826 edition, vol. XI, p. 891) Florum. foliorum, corticis vires (digitalisat) --- De compositione medicamentorum per genera liber IV , chapter 13 (based on the edition Kühn 1826, vol. XIII, p. 740): Emplastrum nigrum ad ulcera curatu difficilia (digitalisat) --- De compositione medicamentorum per genera liber V , Chapter 3 (based on the Kühn 1826 edition, Vol. XIII, p. 800): Emplastrum ex salicibus (digitized version )
- ^ Theodor Puschmann . Alexander von Tralles . Original text and translation together with an introductory essay. Vienna 1879, Volume II, p. 140 (digitized version) , p. 197 (digitized version) , p. 545 (digitized version)
- ↑ Avicenna (10th – 11th centuries) Canon of Medicine . Book II. Simple Medicines. Translation and editing by Gerhard von Cremona and Arnaldus de Villanova . Revision by Andrea Alpago (1450–1521). Basel 1556, Cap. 686 (p. 311) (digitized version)
- ↑ Constantine the African (11th century) Liber des gradibus simplicium = translation of the Liber des gradibus simplicium by Ibn al-Jazzar (10th century) print. Opera . Basel 1536, p. 358: Salix ( digitized version )
- ^ Pseudo-Serapion (13th century) print. Venice 1497, sheet 117r: Salix (digitized)
- ↑ Abu Muhammad ibn al-Baitar (13th century) Kitāb al-jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiya wa al-aghdhiya - Large compilation of the powers of the well-known simple healing foods and foods. Translation. Joseph Sontheimer under the title Large compilation on the powers of the well-known simple healing and food. Hallberger, Stuttgart, Volume I 1840, pp. 381-382: Salix aegyptica Forsk. ( Digitized version ), Volume II 1842, p. 236: Salix ( digitized version )
- ↑ Hildegard von Bingen (12th century) Physica III / 36: Wida ; Physica III / 37: Common willow. --- Edition: Charles Victor Daremberg and Friedrich Anton Reuss (1810–1868). S. Hildegardis Abbatissae Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum Libri Novem. Migne, Paris 1855. Sp. 1239–1240 ( digitized version ) 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). --- Translation: Herbert Reier. Hildegard von Bingen Physika (1150–1157). Translated into German after the text edition by JP Migne, Paris 1882 . Kiel 1980, p. 134: Wida is cold and symbolizes vices because she pretends to be beautiful. It is less useful to people unless it serves them in some external way, but it is not suitable for medicine. Its fruit and juice are bitter and of no use to humans. It arouses and increases melancholy in those who eat it, makes them bitter inside and diminishes their health and happiness. --- The common willow is of the same nature as the willow and can be used in the same way.
- ↑ Older German Macer . (13th century) Critical edition with extensive bibliographical information. Bernhard Schnell and William Crossgrove. The German Macer. Vulgate version. With an impression of the Latin Macer floridus "De virtutes herbarum". Issued critically. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2003, p. 373: Saliuunca - From the widen . After Schnell, this chapter is taken from the Spuria macri (Chapter 8). --- Heidelberg, Cpg 226, Alsace, 1459–1469, sheet 203v (digital copy ) . Transcription: Saluinca means small wide which is printing in the first grade and cold in the other. Saluinca churns out the head and the juice poured into the ore chews up the sere darjnn. The beef is roasted and tempered with it and painted on the nipples. When the wide blue should be scolded and the juice that is on it smeared with it leave the sick eyes there / jnn sin it she dies. Opffel juice vnd weyden small pieces and the pushed the juice together, mixed and used, spreads blood.
- ↑ Albertus Magnus (13th century). Critical Edition: Carl Jessen and Ernst Heinrich Meyer . Alberti Magni ex Ordine Praedicatorum. De vegetabilibus libri VII: historiae naturalis pars XVIII. Reimer, Berlin 1867. Lib. VI, Cap, 33 (p. 449) Salix alba ( digitized version )
- ↑ Konrad von Megenberg . 14th century. Main source: Thomas of Cantimpré , Liber de natura rerum . Output. Franz Pfeiffer . Konrad von Megenberg. Book of nature. Aue, Stuttgart 1861, p. 347 (IVa, 46): Von den Weiden (digitized version)
- ↑ Michael Puff . Little book about the burnt-out waters (15th century). Pressure. Bämler, Augsburg 1478: Felberplü (digitized version )
- ↑ Herbarius Moguntinus . Peter Schöffer , Mainz 1484. Part I, Chapter 136: Salix widen (digitized version )
- ↑ Gart der Gesundheit . Peter Schöffer , Mainz 1485, Cap. 357: Salix eyn wyde (digitized version )
- ^ Hortus sanitatis . Jacobus Meydenbach, Mainz 1491, Cap. 405 (digitized version)
- ↑ Herbarius Moguntinus 1484: ( picture link )
- ↑ Hortus sanitatis 1491: ( picture link )
- ↑ Otto Brunfels Herbal Book 1537: ( picture link )
- ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig . Small distilling book , Strasbourg 1500, sheet 113rv (digital copy )
- ↑ Otto Brunfels . Another part of the Teütschen Contrafayten Kreüterbůchs . Johann Schott, Strasbourg 1537, p. 169: Weidenbaum (digitized version)
- ↑ Leonhart Fuchs . New Kreütterbůch… Michael Isingrin, Basel 1543, chapter 126 (digitized version)
- ↑ Hieronymus Bock . Kreüter Bůch. ... Second, expanded edition. Wendel Rihel, Strasbourg 1546, part III, chapter 60 (sheet 52v – 53v) ( digital copy )
- ^ Johann Heinrich Dierbach . Contributions to Germany's flora. Groos, Heidelberg / Leipzig 1825–1833, Part IV 1833, pp. 36–38 (digitized p. 402)
- ↑ Brigitte Hoppe. Hieronymus Bock's herbal book . A. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1969, p. 368
- ↑ Andrea Cesalpino . De plantis libri XVI . Florence 1583, Book III / Chapter 46 (pp. 124–126): Salix ( digitized )
- ↑ Caspar Bauhin . Pinax theatri botanici . Basel 1623, pp. 473–474: Salix ( digitized version )
- ↑ Agnes Arber . Herbals. Their origin and evolution . Cambridge 1912, pp. 94-96: Caspar Bauhin (digitized) ; Pp. 116–118: Andrea Cesalpino (digitized version )
- ↑ Karl Maidwoman . History of botany . Fischer, Leipzig 1973, pp. 37-41
- ↑ Nicolas Lémery . Dictionnaire universel des drogues simples, contenant leurs noms, origines, choix, principes, vertus, étymologies, et ce qu'il ya de particulier dans les animaux, dans les végétaux et dans les minéraux , Laurent d'Houry, Paris, 1699, p 675-676 (digitized version ) --- Complete Lexicon of Materials. Initially drafted in French, but now after the third, enlarged edition [...] translated into high German / By Christoph Friedrich Richtern , Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Braun, 1721, Sp. 987–988 (digitized version )
- ↑ Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon . Gaum, Ulm 1755, Sp 1200: Salicis juli, Salicis folia (digitized version )
- ↑ Jacques-Christophe Valmont de Bomare . Dictionnaire Raisonné Universel D'Histoire Naturelle: Contenant L'Histoire Des Animaux, Des Végétaux Et des Minéraux, Et celle des Corps célestes, des Météores, & des autres principaux Phénomenes de la Nature; Avec L'Histoire Et La Description Des Drogues Simples Tirées Des Trois Regnes; Et le détail de leurs usages dans la Médecine, dans l'Economie domestique & champêtre, & dans les Arts & Métiers. Didot, Volume 5, Paris 1764, pp. 128-131 Saule. P. 130: … L'écorce, les feuilles & les chatons des Saule sont estimés astringens & rafraîchissans. On dit que le duvet des chatons de Saule est propre à arrêter le sang. ... ( digitized version )
- ↑ Cortex Chinae flavae s. regiae . In: Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland . Poor Pharmacopoeia , 3rd edition 1818, pp. 30–31 (digitized version)
- ↑ Augsburg Pharmacopoeia . Augsburg 1734, Taxa p. 32 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Württemberg Pharmacopoeia . Stuttgart 1741, Taxa p. 12 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Taxa pharmaceutica universalis . Nuremberg 1747 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Friedrich August Flückiger : The cinchona bark presented in pharmacognostic terms. Gärtner, Berlin 1883 (digitized version) .
- ^ Friedrich August Flückiger: Name and History. In: Koehler's medicinal plants . Eugen Köhler, Gera 1887, Volume I, No 79: Cinchona (digitized version)
- ↑ According to Herman Boerhaave , "absorbentia" are means that absorb acid without changing it. William Cullen . Lectures on the materia medica. 2nd edition Whitestone, Dublin 1781, p. 32 (digitized version)
- ↑ Edward Stone . An account of the success of the bark of the Willow in the Cure of Agues . In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London , 53 (1763), 195–200 (digitized version )
- ↑ Jacques-Christophe Valmont de Bomare . Dictionnaire Raisonné Universel D'Histoire Naturelle: Contenant L'Histoire Des Animaux, Des Végétaux Et des Minéraux, Et celle des Corps célestes, des Météores, & des autres principaux Phénomenes de la Nature; Avec L'Histoire Et La Description Des Drogues Simples Tirées Des Trois Regnes; Et le détail de leurs usages dans la Médecine, dans l'Economie domestique & champêtre, & dans les Arts & Métiers. , 3rd ed., Bruyset, Lyon 1776, Volume 8, pp. 104-108. P. 106:… Les feuilles & les chatons de saule sont estimés astringens & rafraichissans. M. Ed. Stone vient de thunder dans le cinquante-troisième Volume des Transact. Philos. (Observat. XXXIII.) The détail du succès de l'écorce de saule vulgaire blanc pour la guérison des fièvres. Cette écorce, qui est fort amère, étant desséchée, puis réduite en poudre & administrée comme le quinquina, dissipe les fièvres: excepté la fièvre quarte & celle d'automne, que cette nouvelle poudre diminue bien, mais n'emporte quoi; elle ne les détruit qu'en la mêlant avec celle de l'écorce de Pérou appelée quinquina. On dit que le duvet des chatons de Saule est propre à arrêter le sang. ... ( digitized version )
- ↑ Carl Abraham Gerhard . Materia Medica or Doctrine of Medicines . Rüdiger, Berlin 1766, pp. 301–303 (digitized version )
- ↑ Carl Abraham Gerhard. Triga dissertationum physico-medicarium . JH Rudiger, Berlin 1763, pp. 83–85 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Peter Jonas Bergius . Materia medica e regno vegetabili sistens simplicia officinalia, pariter atque culinaria . Volume II, Hesselberg, Stockholm 1778, pp. 787–788 ( digitized version )
- ↑ William Cullen . A treatise of the materia medica. Edinburgh 1789, Volume II, pp. 114–115 ( digitized version) --- Samuel Hahnemann (translator). William Cullen's Treatise on the Materia Medica . Schwickert, Leipzig 1790. Volume II, pp. 139–140 ( digitized version )
- ^ The Edinburgh new dispensatory… Isaiah Thomas, Worcester 1805, p. 347 (digitized version)
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Borussica or Prussian Pharmacopoeia. Translated from Latin and accompanied by comments and additions by Dr. Carl Wilhelm Juch . Stein, Nürnberg 1805, p. 39 (digitized version)
- ↑ Anthony Todd Thomson (1778-1849). The London dispensatory . Longman, London 1811, pp. 346–348 (digitized version )
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Bavarica, Jussu Regio edita , Joseph Lindauer - München1822, (1) p. 119 Salix (digitized version ) --- Bavarian Pharmacopoeia, published on royal orders. Translated from the Latin . Joseph Lindauer - Munich 1823, (1) pp. 128–129 Salix (digitized version )
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Bavarica, Jussu Regio edita , Joseph Lindauer - München1822, (2) p. 200 Extractum salicis (digitized version ) --- Bavarian Pharmacopoeia, published on royal orders. Translated from the Latin . Joseph Lindauer - Munich 1823, (2) p. 67 Extractum salicis (digitized version )
- ^ H. Staberoh (translator). Prussian Pharmacopoeia , 5th edition, CF Plahn, Berlin 1829, p. 99: Salix. Cortex (digitized version)
- ↑ Anthony Todd Thomson (1778-1849). The London dispensatory . Longman, 7th edition, London 1833, pp. 580-582 (digitized version )
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Hannoverana nova . Hanover 1833, p. 33: Cortex Salicis laureae (digital copy )
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Badensis , pp. 14–15 Cortex salicis (digital copy )
- ↑ Pharmacopoea Badensis , p. 277 Salicina. Willow bitter (salicin). (Digitized version)
- ^ Friedrich Mohr . Commentary on the Prussian Pharmacopoeia: along with a translation of the text ... After the sixth edition of the Pharmakcopoea borussica . Friedrich Vieweg, Braunschweig, 1848, Volume I, pp. 324-25 Cortex Salicis willow bark (digitized version )
- ↑ Anthony Todd Thomson (1778-1849). The London dispensatory . Longman, 11th edition, London 1852, pp. 632–634 (digitized)
- ↑ Commentary on the Prussian Pharmacopoeia: including translation of the text ... Based on the seventh edition of the Pharmacopoea borussica (digitized version )
- ↑ Pelletier and Caventou . Notes on the composition chimique des écorces de saule et de marronnier d'Inde . In: Journal de pharmacie et des sciences accessories , Volume VII (1821), pp. 123–128 (digitized version ) --- Chemical remarks on willow bark and horse chestnut bark . From Pelletier and Caventou. In: Repertory for Pharmacie Volume XII (1822) pp. 213–222 (digitized version )
