[A New Spain medication: magisterial oil and salutiferous liquor]. / Un medicamento novohispano: aceite magistral y licor salutífero.

ABSTRACT

During the 16th century, physicians who lived and cured New Spain's population, attended their profession privately and institutionally; few of them were authors of medical works, and it is not easy to discover one who invented and used successfully medicament of his own development. We have found one, Joan Martel, a Spaniard, 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 Mexico City. In reward for his successfully medicament, he received the appointment of physician at the Royal Court Prison. This article is dedicated to him, and his until now unknown life, his work and the relation between his oil with a similar product in Spain. This study forms part of larger social-historical research that deals with "Physicians in New Spain, their social and professional roles (16 to 19 centuries)."