Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...
's ''Traité des fardemens et confitures'', variously entitled ''Moult utile opuscule...'' and ''Le vrai et parfaict embellissement de la face...'', was first published in 1555, even though it contained a ''Proem'', or prologue, dated 1552. Clearly the work of an
apothecary
''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...
, it contained recipes for preparing
cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...
and
preserves, the latter based largely on
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
, which was controlled at the time by the apothecaries' guilds.
[See history of suga]
here
Content
Among the topics covered (which include removing spots from the face ''with mercury'') were:
A. THE COSMETICS MANUAL
* Chapter VI: ''To make a perfect
nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...
oil''
* Chapter VIII
he one giving Nostradamus's famous plague remedy ''To make the basis of a perfectly good and excellent aromatic powder''
* Chapter X: ''To make a sweet smelling, long lasting paste''
* Chapter XI: ''Another method for making aromatic balls''
* Chapter XIII: ''Powder for cleaning and whitening the teeth''
* Chapter XIIII: ''Another more excellent method for cleaning the teeth, even rotten ones''
y filing them down* Chapter XV: ''Perfumed water for impregnating the shapes or forms mentioned above''
* Chapter XVIII (1556): ''To truly make the lovers’ sexual potion which the ancients used for love-making''
* Chapter XXIIII: ''How to make the hair golden blond''
* Chapter XXVI
ften erroneously described as for an aphrodisiac: ''A supreme and very useful composition for the health of the human body''
* Chapter XXVII: ''There follows the way in which one should use the above mentioned composition''
B. THE COOKBOOK
* Chapter III: ''To make candied
orange peel, using sugar or honey''
* Chapter VIII: ''How to make a jam or preserve with heart cherries''
* Chapter XV: ''To make a quince">orange (fruit)">orange peel, using sugar or honey''
* Chapter VIII: ''How to make a jam or preserve with heart cherries''
* Chapter XV: ''To make a quince jelly of superb beauty, goodness, flavour and excellence fit to set before a King''
* Chapter XXIIII: ''To preserve pears''
* Chapter XXV: ''To make a very fine sugar candy''
* Chapter XXVII: ''To make marzipan''
* Chapter XXIX: ''To make a laxative rose syrup''
The book was translated into German language, German in 1574, then the German was revised in 1994, and finally the ''German'' was translated into
English under the title ''The Elixirs of Nostradamus'' (Moyer Bell, 1996). Needless to say, the fourth-hand results of this process were unreliable, if not downright dangerous: the term ''roses rouges incarnées'', for example, was routinely translated as 'black orchids', and ''urines'' (urine) came out as 'drinking wells'.
References
Sources
* Lemesurier, P., ''The Nostradamus Encyclopedia'' (Godsfield/St Martin's, 1997)
* Lemesurier, P., ''The Unknown Nostradamus'' (O Books, 2003)
* Wilson, I., ''Nostradamus: The Evidence'' (Orion, 2002)/ ''Nostradamus: The Man Behind the Prophecies'' (St Martin's 2007)
Nostradamus' Recipe For Cherry Jelly
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traite des fardemens
1555 books
Nostradamus
Pharmacy