The pharmaceutical contributions of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601): Translations and commentaries

The Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) also had a strong interest in alchemy. His writings reveal his medical interests in the form of four pharmaceutical preparations, at least one of which appears to have been his own invention. ese documents are translated into English for the rst time and comments made on their contents and the processes involved in their production. His receipts include an anti-pyretic water, his famous plague elixir, a medicine for epidemic diseases, and a mercury drug (mercuric sulfate or Turbith mineral). Brahe exercised a proprietary secrecy over his medical receipts which enjoyed wonder drug status and the contents of which became widely available only after his death.