The émigré and the weapon salve György Lányi’s dissertation on the unguentum armarium

Abstract

In the 16th–17th centuries, the weapon salve (Waffensalbe, unguentum armarium, hoplokrisma) was considered to be one of the most effective iatromagical preparations. The weapon salve attributed to Paracelsus was claimed to be a cure for the healing of wounds at a distance (actio in distans). On the basis of sympathetic powers, the salve supposedly could heal a wound in a painless manner. The alleged cure was widely discussed in medical and theological circles in the 17th century. The disputes did not revolve around the efficacy of the ointment but rather concerned whether the possible wound-healing was due to demonic forces, i.e. whether the weapon salve belonged to magia naturalis or magia daemoniaca. A number of well-known physicians and scientists of the time also joined this discourse, such as Daniel Sennert (1572–1637), Jan Baptista van Helmont (1580–1644) or Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680). György Lányi (Juraj Lani, 1646–1701), the one of the galleyslaves priests, Lutheran émigré also took a stand on the issue. His treatise, Diaskepsis philosophiae naturalis de unguento armario (Leipzig, 1680) reviews the writings and opinions that had emerged in the debate on the weapon salve up to that time.