New Drugs for the Dutch Republic The Commodification of Fever Remedies in the Netherlands (c. 1650-1800) Klein, Wouter New Drugs for the Dutch Republic. The Commodification of Fever Remedies in the Netherlands (c. 1650-1800) / W. Klein – Utrecht: Freudenthal Institute, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University / FI Scientific Library (formerly published as FIsme Scientific Library, CD-β Scientific Library) no. 101, 2018 Dissertation Utrecht University. With references. Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands. ISBN: 978-90-70786-42-7 Cover design: Vormgeving Faculteit Bètawetenschappen Cover image: fragment of “Allegory on botany” (Allegorie op de plantkunde), frontispiece of N. Lémery, Woordenboek of Algemeene Verhandeling der enkele Droogeryen (Te Rotterdam: By Jan Daniel Beman 1743) Printed by: Xerox, Utrecht © 2018 Wouter Klein, Utrecht, the Netherlands New Drugs for the Dutch Republic The Commodification of Fever Remedies in the Netherlands (c. 1650-1800) Nieuwe Geneesmiddelen voor de Nederlandse Republiek. De Commodificatie van Koortsmiddelen in Nederland (ca. 1650-1800) (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 12 december 2018 des middags te 12.45 uur door Wouter Klein geboren op 27 mei 1987 te Gouda Promotoren: Prof. dr. A.H.L.M. Pieters Prof. dr. H.G.M. Jorink Arcana revelata vilescunt.1 1 “Secrets which have been revealed decline in value.” Herman Boerhaave to Joannes Baptista Bassand, 24-06-1728, in: G.A. Lindeboom (ed.), Boerhaave’s Correspondence, 3 vols. Analecta Boerhaaviana 3, 5 and 8 (Leiden: E.J. Brill 1962- 1979), vol. 2, 268-269. Contents List of Maps, Tables and Figures ....................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ....................................................................... 13 Note on Translations, Currency, Weights and Measures ..................... 16 General Introduction ................................................................. 18 Chapter 1. The Hidden History of a Famous Drug: Tracing the Medical and Public Acceptance of Peruvian Bark in Early Modern Western Europe (c. 1650-1720) ..................................................... 55 Chapter 2. Brokers in Amsterdam and the Drug Trade: Essential Intermediaries on the Medical Market in the Eighteenth Century......... 78 Chapter 3. Selling Fever Remedies: Meanings and Uses of Medical Terminology in Medicine and Commerce ............................ 125 Chapter 4. Secret Remedies and Territorial Practices: The Growing Market for Irregular Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic ........................................................................... 170 Chapter 5. Competing Medical Substances during an Epidemic: Causes and Consequences of the Interference of Peruvian Bark and Cascarilla (1720-1740) ......................................................... 196 Chapter 6. Creating Time Capsules for Historical Research in the Early Modern Period: Reconstructing Trajectories of Plant Medicines .................................................................................. 245 Conclusion ............................................................................... 272 Appendix. Pharmacopoeias in the Low Countries (1636-1795) ........ 285 Bibliography .............................................................................. 302 Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch) ............................................... 327 Curriculum vitae ......................................................................... 335 FI Scientific Library ..................................................................... 336 7 List of Maps, Tables and Figures Unless stated otherwise, all tables and figures are based on the two data sets of newspaper advertisements (Database 1 and 2), which are discussed in the General Introduction. The screenshots of the Time Capsule system in Chapter 6 were derived from the project’s platform. Map 1 The Dutch Republic in the eighteenth century 17 Source: made by UvA-kaartenmakers Figure 1a Francesco Torti’s ‘fever tree’ (1712) 29 Source: Torti, Therapeutice specialis (1712), facing p. 666 https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qgqu5a58 Figure 1b Detail of Torti’s ‘fever tree’ (1712) 30 Source: same as for Figure 1a Figure 2 Number of digitized newspaper issues in Delpher 37 (1680-1799) Figure 3a Example of an eighteenth-century Dutch newspaper 39 (1732) Source: Leydse Courant, 27-06-1732 https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011013555 Figure 3b Close-up of medical advertisements from Figure 3a 41 Source: Leydse Courant, 27-06-1732 https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011013555:mpeg21:a 0006 Figure 4 Text sections in a digitized eighteenth-century 45 newspaper (1732) Source: same as for Figure 3a Table 1 Search process for ‘china’ in eighteenth-century 49 newspapers Table 2 Relevance of historical spelling variants for ‘koorts’ in 50 Delpher Table 3 OCR variants for ‘koorts’ in Delpher 52 Table 4 Data features of sources on the drug trade in 84 Amsterdam 8 Maps, Tables and Figures Figure 5 Floor plan of the Bourse of Amsterdam (eighteenth 94 century) Source: http://beeldbank.amsterdam.nl/afbeelding/010056917855 Figure 6 Archival record of a public auction of drugs in 96 Amsterdam (1752) Source: Amsterdam City Archives, 5069, inv no. 27 (11-07- 1752) Figure 7 Advertisement for a public auction of drugs in 96 Amsterdam (1752) Source: Leydse Courant, 07-07-1752 https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010909425:mpeg21:a 0006 Figure 8 Mid-nineteenth-century impression of an auction in 97 the ‘Brackish Ground’ (Brakke Grond) in the Nes in Amsterdam Source: http://beeldbank.amsterdam.nl/afbeelding/010097002960 Figure 9 Brokers in drugs in Amsterdam (1700-1799) 102 Figure 10 Public auctions of drugs in Amsterdam (1700-1799), 106 that include Peruvian bark, and the number of newspaper advertisements for these same auctions Figure 11 Dutch shipping to and from Cádiz and the relationship 114 with public auctions of drugs in Amsterdam (1750- 1800) Source: shipping data derived from Klooster, Illicit Riches, 63 Map 2 The fleet/fare system in the early modern Spanish 118 Atlantic Source: made by UvA-kaartenmakers Figure 12a Availability of Peruvian bark on the world market 121 (1700-1778) Source: García-Baquero, Cádiz y el Atlántico, vol 2, 222-247 Figure 12b Availability of Peruvian bark on the world market 121 (1778-1799) Source: Fisher, Commercial Relations, 115 Figure 13 Newspaper advertisements for fever remedies (1680- 132 1799) Table 5 Top 20 of most often occurring fever remedies in 140 advertisements (1680-1799) 9 New Drugs for the Dutch Republic Figure 14 Disparity between advertisements for fever remedies 145 with high and with low advertising frequency (1680- 1799) Figure 15 Yearly number of newly occurring and disappearing 145 fever remedies from advertisements (1680-1799) Figure 16 Names of fever types in newspaper advertisements 162 (1680-1799) Figure 17 Specifics and panaceas for fever in advertisements 165 (1680-1799) Figure 18 Advertisements for ‘Swiss herbal tea’, in the cities 181 where the newspapers were published (1732-1799) Figure 19 Cities with distribution locations of ‘Swiss herbal tea’ 181 (1732-1799) Figure 20 Advertisements for ‘General dissolving and loosening 186 pills’, in the cities where the newspapers were published (1727-1767) Figure 21 Cities with distribution locations of ‘General dissolving 186 and loosening pills’ (1727-1767) Figure 22 Samples of Peruvian bark, in the articles by Van 202 Ranouw Source: Van Ranouw, “Vierde Verhandeling”, tab XXXII Figure 23 Illustration of cascarilla in Catesby’s Natural History 206 (1743) Source: Catesby, Natural History, vol 2, after p. 46 https://wellcomecollection.org/works/un67cvxt Figure 24 Illustration of cascarilla in Boehmer’s description 207 (1738) Source: Boehmer, De Cortice Cascarillae, 17 http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display /bsb10822926_00021.html Figure 25 Illustration of Peruvian bark in La Condamine’s 208 description (1738) Source: La Condamine, “Sur l’Arbre du Quinquina”, after p. 244 https://wellcomecollection.org/works/wvjzue8k Table 6 Occurrences of Peruvian bark in advertisements for 215 fever remedies (1727-1737) 10 Maps, Tables and Figures Table 7 Number of burials in cities in Holland (1720-1740) 219 Source: - Van der Woude, Noorderkwartier, vol. 3, 637 (for Alkmaar, Beemster, Edam, Broek and Assendelft); - Statistiek der Bevolking van Amsterdam tot 1921, 179 (for Amsterdam); - Wijsenbeek-Olthuis, Achter de Gevels van Delft, 410 (for Delft); - Leiden Regional Archives, 0501A, I.B.1.5. 3, inv. nos. 1332- 1335 (burials in Leiden, 1720-1740) (for Leiden); - Mentink and Van der Woude, Demografische Ontwikkeling, 126-127 (nos from the column ‘Totaal III’) (for Rotterdam) Figure 26 Number of burials in cities in Holland (1720-1740) 220 Source: same as for Table 7 Figure 27 Inspectors of the Collegium Medicum in Amsterdam 230 (1724) Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object no. SK-A-1635 http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7448 Table 8 Global influx of Peruvian bark in Spain (1720-1740) 233 Source: García-Baquero, Cádiz y el Atlántico, vol. 2, 222-235 Figure 28 Global Influx of Peruvian bark in Spain (1720-1740) 234 Source: same as for Table 8 Figure 29 Auctions of drugs in Amsterdam, and the number of 234 auctions including Peruvian bark (1720-1740)