gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Pierre Pomet’s A Complete History of Drugs, supplemented with material by Nicolas Lémery and Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, is an extensive English materia medica describing medicinal substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals and their origins, preparation, properties, trade, and therapeutic uses. The work incorporates information from pharmacy, natural history, travel, and commerce and is illustrated with numerous representations of medicinal materials. Of particular interest to gemologists are sections devoted to precious stones, pearls, coral, bezoars, amber, and other mineral or gem-related substances employed medicinally, recording contemporary beliefs about their virtues and methods of preparation. The book provides valuable evidence for the continuing pharmaceutical use of gemstones and other precious materials in early 18th-century Europe and for the close relationship between pharmacy, natural history, gem commerce, and traditional lapidary medicine.