just as it could in Damascus a thousand, or in Rome and Alexandria two thousand years ago. Probably it is the oldest pharmaceutical compound still in existence. Through all the centuries the hiera picra known to the public has been a preparation of aloes. The adjuncts have varied but aloes has always been the essential ingredient, with one celebrated exception.
The origin of this medicine is variously stated by medical historians. The common theory is that it first acquired fame as a remedy employed in one or other of the Æsculapian Temples. This may have been the case, but there is no evidence in support of the suggestion. It is possible that the name may have suggested the notion, and the drug vendors of Rome would certainly not discourage the fancy.
Before the time of Julius Cæsar there were no physicians in Rome. Greek practitioners of the minor arts of medicine, such as bath-keepers, corn-cutters, tooth-drawers, and herbalists crowded into the great city as it became rich, and opened shops which were known as "medicinas," and it is likely that most of these brought with them a more or less famous "hiera," claiming that it had been compounded from a genuine Temple formula.
Leclerc, an excellent authority on all matters concerning ancient medicine, attributes the first Hiera to Themison of Laodicea, who practised in Rome about 50 B.C., and who is reputed to have been the first physician to make use of leeches. The Hiera of Themison was composed of 100 drachms of aloes, with 1 oz. each of mastic, saffron, Indian nard, carpobalsamum, and asarum.
The Hiera of Galen, which was modified from that of Archigenes, was originally in the following form:—
