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Pharmacological manuscript with 319 medicinal recipes, at least many for sexual ailments,
with a (presentation?) inscription in French to an unmarried woman

[MANUSCRIPT - PHARMACOLOGICAL].
[Medicinal recipes for sexual ailments].
[Germany?, ca. 1857]. Small 8vo (17 x 11 cm). Manuscript in Latin and German. Contemporary half tan cloth. 33, [35], [32 blank] pp.
€ 1,500
A mid-19th-century pharmacological manuscript, with recipes to treat many sexual ailments, with what appears to be a presentation inscription between the two parts to "Mademoiselle Josephine Castella sorti de l'asil le 16 Septembre 1857", so she appears to have been given the book (probably before part 2 was written) when she left some sort of asylum or other institution. Did she leave a job providing health care for women at some sort of institution, or had she been an inmate there? (a lady who had come into difficulties? or a high class prostitute?). There is clearly a fascinating story here, but it requires further study. The first part of the manuscript comprises neatly written Latin lists of ingredients for 202 numbered medicaments in a hierarchical classification scheme. Although they do not name their uses or the ailments they treat, spot checks show that some are sexual in nature, such as "Solut arsenic. Fowleri" (no. 173, used to treat uterine ailments) or "Decoct Zittmanni" (nos. 174 & 175, used to treat syphilis). Many include mineral or botanical poisons, such as mercury, arsenic, antimony and belladonna. The second part, in two numbered series of 5 and 108 recipes, is more hastily written in a second hand, in German and arranged under occasional headings indicating the ailments or the function of the medicine. Many of these are of a sexual nature: "Prophylaxis", "Gonorrhaea" (and two related headings), "Haüfige und schmerzhafte Erectionen', "Bubo sympathicus" (syphilis?) and several more. Many of the recipes are followed by a name, apparently the source of the recipe: Otto (by far the most frequent), Eisenmann, Schneider, Fischer, Simon, Langston Parker[?], J.A. Schmidt, A. Löffler, Knox, Vogler, Westberg, Wyatt and several others.
With occasional minor foxing but generally in very good condition. The sides are rubbed and the cloth of the spine has a few small tears, but the binding is structurally sound.
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Related Subjects:

Autographs, documents & manuscripts  >  Manuscripts & Documents
History, law & philosophy  >  Women Studies
Medicine & pharmacy  >  Medicine & Pharmacy after 1700 | Pharmacology / Pharmacopoeia