Diacalaminta Simplex
Powder of Calamint Lesser

Tradition:

Western

Source / Author:

Nicholas Myrepsus

Herb Name Calamint Pennyroyal Black Pepper Siler Montane seed Parsley seed Lovage seed Ameos seed Aniseed Thyme tops Ginger Cinnamon Celery seed

Latin Calamintha officinalis Mentha pulegium Piper nigrum Siler montanum Petroselinum crispum Levisticum officinale Ammi majus Pimpinella anisum Thymus vulgaris Zingiber officinalis Cinnamonum zeylanicum Apium graveolens Amount 3 dr., 2 scr. ea. 2 dr., 1 scr. 2 scr. ea. 1 scruple

dr = drams, scr. =  scruples

Preparation:

Prepare a Powder. It can be made into an Electuary with Honey or Sugar dissolved in Rose water.

Function:

Warms the Kidney, Bladder, Stomach and Bowels, clears Cold Phlegm, relieves Wind, moves Qi, promotes Urine

Use:

“Especially valid for every disease of the chest from coldness, especially for those who are in old age”. (Nicholas, Antidotarium)
1. used for cold-type pain of the Stomach, Bowels, or Kidneys;
2. poor Digestion
3. Nausea from Cold and Wind;
4. Cough, Wheezing from Cold phlegm (especially in the aged)
5. good for Cold-Wind-Damp type joint pain including Sciatica.
6. Stones
7. Amenorrhea
8. Dysmenorrhea

Dose:

1⁄2–1 dram, morning and night in Honey, pulp of Prunes, a suitable Broth or Syrup, or a Decoction of Elecampane and Licorice.

Cautions:

None noted

Modifications:

‘It heats and comforts cold bodies, cuts thick and gross phlegm, provokes urine and the menses. I confess this [reformed version]differs something from Galen, but is better for our bodies in my opinion than his. It expels Wind exceedingly, you may take half a dram of the powder at a time. There is nothing surer than that all their powders will keep better in Electuaries than they will in powders, and into such a body, you may make it with two pound and an half of white sugar dissolved in rose water’. (Culpeper)
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