THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



10 



PADUA. ONE OF THE CENTER: 



FOR THE MANUFACTURE < - .IAN TREACLE IN 



THE MIDDLE AGES 



Theriaea. or Venetian treacle, was the great antidote of Roman pharmacy and was used 

 throughout the ages in various modifications for almost every conceivable illness. It 

 officially recognized by English physicians until 1788. The university cities of Italy were the 

 centers for its manufacture until Venice obtained a practical monopoly of the whole export 

 trade in drusrs. 



citis), jaundice, hardening of the spleen, 

 stone, fevers, dropsy, leprosy, melancholy, 

 all pestilences, etc. Nowadays he would 

 probably have included coupon thumb, 

 golf shoulder, and movie eye. 



As Galen's writings dominated medical 

 thought for over 1.500 years, it is not 

 surprising that this advertisement made 

 Mithradatium, or Theriaea, a valued 

 remedy. Every physician of note for 

 centuries afterward claimed some im- 

 provement on the original formula. 



And the "genuine formulas" or the 

 "improved formulas" were hawked about 

 by many a nostrum vender, until all sorts 

 of precautions were taken to hedge the 

 making of this preparation with an elabo- 

 rate ritual of a ceremonial nature. 



An old English book of "Leechcraft" 



tells of a letter of Helias. Patriarch of 

 Jerusalem, to King Alfred, expressing 

 concern for the King's illness and recom- 

 mending "Tyriaca" as a valuable remedy. 



The specific was first made at Con- 

 stantinople, then at Genoa, and finally at 

 Venice, when that city perfected its mo- 

 nopoly of the drug trade of Europe. This 

 Venetian Treacle, as it came to be called, 

 was sold at high prices. Evelyn, in his 

 diary, speaks of purchasing some "trea- 

 cle" in Venice after having seen the cere- 

 mony of its compounding. 



In Queen Elizabeth's time there was 

 much complaint in England of the dear- 

 ness of Venetian Treacle, and of the 

 spurious treacle sold by nostrum venders. 

 It was about this time that English phar- 

 macists began to presume to make their 



