314 
Dr.  Christopher  Witt. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1905. 
theosophy,  magic  and  alchemy  with  which  they  were  surrounded, 
whether  religious  convictions  or  theosophic  vagaries  really  prevailed. 
One  chapter  at  least  of  this  Collegia  Pietatis  has  had  a  peculiar 
and  permanent  influence  on  the  development  of  the  medical  and 
pharmaceutical  sciences  in  these  United  States,  and  may,  therefore, 
be  discussed  at  greater  length. 
About  1690  there  was  founded  in  the  city  of  Erfurth,  in  Thur- 
ingia,  a  chapter  of  the  Collegia  Pietatis  under  the  patronage  or 
leadership  of  the  Rev.  August  Hermann  Francke,  then  the  assistant 
pastor  of  a  Lutheran  church  at  that  place.  The  secret  meetings  of 
this  organization  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  government 
authorities,  and,  after  some  investigation,  resulted  in  the  promulga- 
tion of  an  edict  suppressing  the  chapter  and  excommunicating 
Francke  from  the  State  Church.  Francke,  who  was  thus  com- 
pelled to  leave  Erfurt,  subsequently  went  to  Halle,  where  he  founded 
the  now  world-renowned  orphan  asylum,  generally  known  as  "  Das 
Hallische  Waisenhaus."  From  a  pharmaceutic  point  of  view,  the 
method  of  securing  funds  for  building  and  sustaining  this  institution, 
is  quite  interesting.  It  appears  that  among  the  earlier  members 
of  the  Erfurth  chapter  of  the  Collegia  Pietatis  was  an  alchemist  or 
chemist,  Burgstaller  by  name,  who,  at  his  death,  bequeathed  to 
Francke  the  receipts  for  compounding  certain  medicines.  These 
medicines  were  subsequently  made  and  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the 
orphanage  in  Halle.  They  were  supplied  through  a  regular  sys- 
tem of  agencies,  and  sold  in  every  country  of  the  world  to  which 
Lutheran  missionaries  had  access.  The  most  popular  among  these 
nostrums  was  the  "  Gold  Tincture,"  also  known  as  golden  drops, 
"  Mutter  Tropfen "  and  "  Goldendur "  in  this  country.  Large 
quantities  of  this  gold  tincture  were  sent  to  this  country,  particu- 
larly to  the  province  of  Pennsylvania,  and  even  at  the  present  time 
an  imitation  of  this  nostrum  constitutes  a  popular  household  remedy 
in  some  sections  of  Pennsylvania.  After  the  edict  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  chapter  of  Pietists,  at  Erfurth,  was  put  in  force  a  number 
of  the  members  under  the  leadership  of  Johann  Jacob  Zimmermann 
decided  to  emigrate  to  the  then  newly  founded  province  of  Penn- 
sylvania, where,  under  a  more  liberal  form  of  government,  they 
might  follow  their  mysterious  practices  without  being  molested, 
and  where  they  might  properly  prepare  themselves  for  the  coming 
of  the  millennium,  which  was  thought  to  be  close  at  hand.  Zimmer- 
