A New Spain medication, magisterial olive and salutiferous liquor

Abstract

During the 16th century, physicians who lived and cure New Spain’s population, attended their profession privately and institutionally; few of them where authors of medical works, but it is not easy to discover one who invented and used a successfully medicament of his own development. We have found one, Joan Martel, a Spanish, who came to New Spain and here cured and served. He invented and used a salutiferous oil and liquor widely accepted by other physicians, but mainly by the neighbors of México City. In reward for his successfully medicament, he received the appointment of physician at the Royal Court Prison. This article is dedicated to him, until now unknown life, his work and the relation between his oil with a similar product in Spain. This study forms part of a greater social-historical research, the one who deals with “Physicians in New Spain, their social and professional roles (16 to 19 centuries)”.