[New thoughts on the hypothesis of the origin of the balm of Commander of Pernes: it originated from the balm of Jerusalem].
The Baume du commandeur appears in France in 1694 in the Histoire générale des drogues... written by Pomet. It is a drug for healing wounds which also has numerous internal uses. Still present in formularies and occasionally used, its invention is attributed to Gaspard de Pernes, commander of the Order of Malta in Toul, in France, at this period. However, some observations have induced me to think that the drug originated in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the XVIlth century, and was derived from the Jerusalem Balsam of the Franciscans of St. Savior Monastery's pharmacy, in Jerusalem.
Labrude
Pierre
P
Faculté de pharmacie, BP 80403, 54001 Nancy Cedex, France. labrude@pharma.uhp-nancy.fr
D005602:France; D049670:History, 17th Century; D007557:Israel; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000266:history*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000266:history*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy
D028321:Plant Preparations