Francis Anthony (16 April 1550 - 26 May 1623) was a noted English apothecary and physician, imprisoned twice for practicing without a license. He made a considerable fortune from a secret remedy he developed called aurum potabile.
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Anthony was born in London on 16 April 1550, the son of Derrick Anthony, goldsmith, who held a position in the jewel office under Queen Elizabeth. He took an M.A. at Cambridge University and also studied chemistry becoming an M.D.[1]
He arrived in London in 1598 and commenced medical practice without a proper license; after six months, he was called before the president and censors of the Royal College of Physicians (a.d. 1600), and banned from practicing, after being examined in medicine and found inexpert. However he disregarded the injunction, and was subsequently fined five pounds and committed to prison; he was released by a warrant of the Lord Chief Justice. The college, however, objected and he was returned to prison.
Later, Anthony was again prosecuted for the same offense of unlicensed practice and ordered to pay a heavy fine; he refused and was jailed for eight months, being released at the petition of his wife, and on the ground of poverty, in 1602. He continued to practise in defiance of the college, and further proceedings were threatened, but not carried out, probably because Anthony had powerful friends at court. His practice consisted chiefly, if not entirely, in the prescription and sale of a secret remedy called aurum potabile, from which he made a considerable fortune.
He died 26 May 1623, leaving two sons: John Anthony (d. 28 April 1655), who became a physician in London; and Charles, who practised at Bedford. According to the writer in the Biographia Britannica (1747, i. 169), who professes to have derived his information from family manuscripts, Anthony was a man of high character and very liberal to the poor.
Anthony's career and his conflict with the College of Physicians illustrate the conditions of medical profession in the 17th century. He was censored by the college, not only because he practised without a license, or because he lauded chemical remedies and was against the traditional 'Galenical' — i.e. animal and vegetable drugs — but because he kept the composition of his remedy a secret, and put it forward as a panacea for all diseases.
Anthony was a man of some learning, and defended his panacea in several pamphlets, the two earliest being "Panacea Aurum" (Hamburg, 1598) and "Medicinæ Chymicæ et veri potabilis Auri assertio" (Cambridge, 1610). In these works he quoted many authors in support of his contention, chiefly alchemists, such as Raymond Lull and Arnaldus de Villa Nova. He referred to Paracelsus with an apology, but disclaimed any special debt to him, and, amongst others, to Conrad Gesner, who had written about aurum potabile in "The Treasure of Euonymus" (London, 1565, p. 177). Matthew Gwinne published an answer to Anthony's "Medicinæ Chymicæ" called "Aurum non Aurum etc." (London, 1611).[2]
Anthony published, in both a Latin and English edition, "Apologia Veritatis illucescentis pro Auro Potabili"/"The Apologie or Defence, etc of Aurum Potabile" (London, 1616). In these, Anthony argued that metals are excellent medicines, and gold most of all; and that he had found a way that it could be dissolved in a potable form to create a universal medicine. His adversaries denied both the superiority of metallic to other medicines and the special efficacy of gold, declaring that Anthony's method did not dissolve gold, and there was no such thing as a universal medicine.
Anthony offered to demonstrate his process to certain select witnesses; and it appears that a demonstration actually took place at the College of Physicians in 1609, in the presence of 'Baron' Thomas Knivet, the master of the mint, and other skilled persons. An ounce of gold was given to Anthony, which, however he failed to dissolve.[3] Although Anthony's process was actually given in the Biographia Britannica of 1747, this was on the unquestioned acceptance of one of his manuscripts;[4] and it is evident that the ultimate product described there could not contain any gold. In Anthony's last work he claimed that his remedy had cured many distinguished persons; this claim was attacked by one of the very patients cited in the work - a Dr. Cotta. In spite of these attacks potable gold became a very popular remedy.
The popular belief in the virtues of gold as a medicine, though based on fanciful grounds, was too deeply rooted to be shaken, and even -Robert Boyle, in 1685, commented that, though prejudiced against ‘aurum potabiles and the like’ (sic), he found a certain tincture of gold which had marvellous effects (Boyle on Specifick Medicines, London, 1685). It is now known that preparations of gold do have some, though not very potent, medicinal properties, though certainly not the marvellous powers attributed to preparations which, in the final analysis, could not have contained any gold in the first place!
"Anthony, Francis". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.