El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-06-19
AncientS Kne1O
Cosmetics And
Quack Doctors
Romans Used Cold Cream
And Galen Invented An
Amazing Panacea.


Washington. D. c.. June 1s--Do you
regard cold cream as an ultramodern
palliative2
Or pure food and drug laws as a
comparatively recent type Of legisla-
tions
Or the familiar cure air as an ~
to date quack device for the twentieth
century credulous2
You are wrong, according to Dr.
John A. Foote. who says;
Most people at some time or an
other use cold cream 1t seems quite
a modern luxury. Indispensable alike
to peer and peri, and adapted 10 many
and varied uses. In fact, one traveller
tells recently Of having some of his
cold cream eaten by tat. hungry
valet in Germany. So we are inclined
to regard il as a fairly modern pro-
duct And yet 'unguentum refriger-
ans cold cream has come down 10 Us
from Roman days The first formula
is attributed TO Galen, who lived ami
wrote in the second century What
we use today is practically the same
though doctor Gaien's original for
mula was initiated and improves
hundreds OF times
emperor Frederick II Of Sicily. in
1910 or 1871. published the first pure
LNOu anu AA4-r eAA-- 4AC ffe-1 ---~--
7O0 years ahead of DIT. Wiley. for ne
specified strict regulations Of the
standard OF drug purity. and provided
for drug inspectors, and fined all Of
Tenders.
The practice of medicine was also
regulated. A physician was required
to have a diploma from a university
before he could study medicine; then
he took a three year course in the
school OF medicine and one year prac-
tice under a practicins physician Spe-
ciai postgraduate work in anatomy
was required, If he was 10 do surgery
.All this was in the so called DARK
ages Even the fees OF physicians
and pharmacists were strictly regu-
lated by law and were in purchasing
value about the same as the charges
Of the present day. Physicians were
not allowed TO own drug stores and
drug adulterators were severely deals
with
''1lithradatium was the name Of the
great antidote OF Roman pharmacy-
It had from 40 TO so vegetable ingre-
dents. few OF which had any real
medicinal value except opium. ami
these drugs were blended with honey.
A WOndrOus Panaeea.
1T remained for Nero's physician,
AndrOmachus to put the finishing
touches 10 this wonderful compound
AndrOmachuS added Nipers flesh 10
the formula and called his new COM
pound theriaca- He wrote some verses
dedicated to Nero. describing this
medicine and claiming virtues for l.
which in our day would subject him
to prosecution under ,the antitrust
act Evidently ne belieyed he had ere
ated in this one compound 4 veritable
pharmaceutical monopoly
Galen. one OF the fathers Of meds-
cine. went even further. He recon- (
mended it as a cure for all poisons. :
bites. headaches. vertigo. deafness. {
epilepsy. apopleSy. dimness OF sigh-. +
loss of voice. asthma, coughs. splitting /
OF blood. tishtness Of breath. collie. the 1
lilac passion fappendicitisl. jaundice. I
hardening Of the spleen, stone. levers,
1ropsy. leprosy- melancholy. al pessf- I
lencss. etc Nowadays he would prob +
ably have included coupon thumb. I
golf shoulder and movie eve
AS Galen's writings dominated 3
medical thought for over 1900 years.
i is not surprising that this adger-
-isement made mithradatium. or Their
AGA. valued -emedy. Every physi-
sian Of note for centuries afterward .
slaimed some Improvement on the i
original formula"