Compendio de los Boticarios

Compendio de los Boticarios

The Compendio de los Boticarios or “Compendium of the Apothecaries” was published on November 25th, 1515, but some typographic details indicate that it was not put on the market until a later date. Some elements appear to have been printed at a later time, specifically after the arrival of Charles V (1500–58) in Spain in the autumn of 1517. The identity of the translator remains unknown, although he is believed to be a doctor from Tudela who was also responsible for translating the Servidor by Albuchasis. The treatise, concerned with the manufacture of remedies, contains the names and details of many plants found in Spain and explains several of the chemical processes involved. Detailed instructions are given for their harvesting, preparation, storage, and shelf-life as well as clear orientation tables, actual harvesting and collecting calendars are set up for plant harvesting. Remedies include love potions and aphrodisiacs, sleeping pills and other narcotics; even recipes for causing an abortion are expressly referred to.

A Systematic Pharmacological Handbook

Saladinus found existing handbooks for apothecaries to be inadequate and thus sought to summarize the knowledge he acquired in his own studies and experience. For example, he suggests the widespread use of sugar in remedies and appears to be quite knowledgeable about the product. Saladinus created a systematic manual structured in the form of questions and answers in which he took into account all aspects of the profession of the apothecary from entrance exams to practice. In the introduction, he emphasizes how a pharmacist's ignorance could be detrimental to the doctor, devotes a separate chapter to the pharmacist's duties, and points out the need for a series of essential readings for a correct exercise of the profession. The sheer number of translations and reprintings of his Compendium, which continued with interruption until 1623, attests to its quality and enduring popularity.

Who Was Saladinus?

The author is alternatively known by the names Saladino d'Ascoli or Saladino Ferro and although neither the dates of his birth or death is known to us, there are concrete records of his life. Only recently has it been ascertained that he was not originally from Ascoli Satriano, but from Ascoli Piceno and nothing is known of his family. He has sometimes been confused with a doctor of a similar name from the 12th/13th centuries. What is known is that he studied in Padua for ten years under inter alia Cando Candi before he graduated on September 10th, 1431. He is recorded as living with his family in the seaside town of Monopoli in 1448 and would later patronize the construction of the chapel of St. Jerome in the cathedral. Saladinus found himself in nearby Bitonto in 1451, where he was given a position at the university and contracted by the mayors to provide medical services to the people. In addition to his salary, Saladinus was provided with a home cum aqua, was exempted from taxes, and could flee the city in the event of plague. He then entered into the service of the Prince of Taranto, Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini (1401–63), who gained control of the city in February of 1460. Saladinus may have been alive first edition of his work was published in Bologna on March 12th, 1488 but would certainly have passed away by the time the present Spanish edition was published in 1515.