2) Up to the beginning of the sixteenth century:

The oils of benzoin, calamus, cedarwood, costus root, mastix, rose, rosemary, sage, spike, turpentine, juniperwood, frankincense, cinnamon.

To These Were Added:

From 1500 to 1540:

The oils of lignaloes, angelica, anise, cardamom, carpobalsam,3) cubeb, wild caraway, fennel, caraway, libanotis, lovage, mace, nutmeg, pastinaca savita, L, pimpinella, pepper (from Piper nigrum), celery, sandal wood, juniper berries, juniper tar (Oleum cadinum), mastix.

1) In addition to the Destillirbucher previously mentioned, the following pharmacopaeial works have been used in the compilation of this list: Of the Dispensatorium Noricum the editions of 1546, 1552, 1559, 1563, 1580, 1589, 1592 and 1612; of the Pharmacopaea Augustana the editions of 1580, 1597 and 1640; and the Dispensatorium Brandenburgicum of 1698.

Of the large number of municipal price ordinances the following were consulted: Frankfort-on-the-Main, for 1582, 1587, 1668, 1710; Nurnberg, for 1552, 1613, 1624, 1644, 1652; Worms, 1582; Strassburg, 1586; Wittenberg, 1599, 1632; Halberstadt, 1607, 1697; Halle 1643, 1700; Ulm, 1649; Bremen, 1644, 1664; Dresden, 1652; Leipzig, 1669, 1689, 1694; Berlin, 1574.

2) Bitter almond oil and several other poisonous oils, such as cherry laurel oil were excluded from general commerce on account of their poisonous properties. Hence they do not appear in the price ordinances. Inasmuch as they were not used medicinally when they first became known, they do not appear in the pharmacopoeias. Both of the above mentioned oils were known before the middle of the sixteenth century, bitter almond oil even during the middle ages. Oils of animal origin are not mentioned in the above list.

3) Carpobalsamum is the name applied in the fruits of Balsamea meccanensis, Gleditsch (Balsamodendron Opobalsamum, Kunth) which were formerly used for medicinal purposes.

From 1540 to 1589:

The oils of elecampane, ammoniac, horehound, anime, asafetida, basilicum, bdellium, mountain melissa (Calamintha montana), mountain thyme (Thymus acinos), amber, citrus, coriander, "costiver", dill, origanum, sweet marjoram, elemi, galbanum, galangal, guaiac, chamomile, Roman chamomile, spearmint, labdanum, lavender, lemon, spoonwort, laurel, marum verum, marjoram, balm, mints, carrot seeds, feverfew, cumin, myrrh, cloves, opopanax, parsley, pepper (from Piper longum), summer savoy (Satureja hortensis), European penny-royal, orange peel, tansy, wild thyme, rue, rhodium, saffron, sagapenum, sandarac, sassafras, false cumin, storax, tacamahac, thyme, iris, wormwood, hyssop, zedo-ary (root).

From 1589 to 1607:

The oils of Chaerophyllum bu/bosum, peppermint, savin, white mustard, seseli, zedoary (flowers).

From 1607 to 1652:

The oils of ginger, arbor vitae, costmary (Tanacetum Balsamita).

From 1652 to 1672:

The oil of cow-parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium), cascarilla, cypress, Anthriscus cerefolium, Eupatorium cannabinum, black mustard.

From 1672 to 1708:

The oils of valerian, bergamot, mugwort, box-tree, masterwort, neroli, Oleum templinum (from Pinus Pumilio).

From 1708 to 1730:

Bitter almond oil and oil of cajeput.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century a change took place in the tendencies underlying alchemistic activities. These were accompanied by the transition of the practice of the art of distillation to the laboratories of apothecary shops. They were due also, in part, to the revival of the desire for the transmutation of the metals and for the discovery of the lapis philoso-phorum that had been sought for many centuries. The place of distilling apparatus was resumed by furnaces and subliming apparatus. Having failed to find the panacea for all ills and the fount of youth in organized nature, attention was again directed to mineral and metallic substances.

Chemical science was continuously driven to false conclusions, not only by its experiments to convert base metals into gold, but also by its search for a quinta essentia by means of a separation of the "subtle and spirituous" from the "coarse and earthy" by means of distillation and sublimation. False doctrines frequently guided both the plan and execution of alchemistic research, and thus influenced the object of the experiment as well as the interpretation of the phenomena observed. Consequently, the results were correspondingly uncertain and often a matter of accident. Thus chemical knowledge proved a false structure without internal coherence. Considerable as was the sum total of empirical progress made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it served merely the purpose of supplying building material for a later period. Included in this progress was the discovery of numerous useful chemical preparations and volatile oils. In like manner as the lapis philo-sophorum, the highest and final power of (inanimate) nature was being sought in the former, so the quinta essentia, the true panacea for the restoration of health and the prolongation of life, was sought in the latter. Thus Philipp Ulstad and other enlightened investigators of the sixteenth century thought they had discovered this quinta essentia in the spirit of wine. Each success, true or only apparent, stimulated the disciples of spagyric and alchemistic art to renewed activity and strengthened their belief in the imaginary powers of the coveted products. To this class belonged the majority of medical and pharmaceutical laboratory experimenters.

Although the diligent practice of the art of distillation brought about considerable progress in the technique, the conception of the nature of the products remained under the bann of the traditional theosophic doctrines. This was also the time when the thirty years war produced such disastrous effects upon the cultural and spiritual life of Germany. This religious war, in which Germany fared worse than any other country, destroyed wealth and well being, and for nearly a century crippled the scientific and commercial life of the nation. Traditional knowledge and practice in the arts and crafts was largely lost. Superstition and the spagyric art were revived and abstract alchemy flourished once more in Christian Europe as it had done in the Arabic world.