"Aviso ao Público", printed broadside. Lisbon: Na officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, [1804]. Portuguese.

Public notice by the physician José Joaquim de Castro, descendant of a family of Anusim which held the knowledge of the formula for preparing the medicine "Água de Inglaterra" (= English Water) – the only known treatment for malaria at the time.

The present notice serves as a warning to the public regarding fake and counterfeit products. It includes guidelines for verifying the authenticity of the product, and issues a specific warning directed at counterfeiters who fill empty bottles of the authentic medicine with the counterfeit product. A price list of various products appears in the margins.
"Água de Inglaterra" was the name of a medicine produced from the bark of the Cinchona plant, from which quinine was produced – the only efficient treatment for malaria ath the time. The medicine was developed by Jacob de Castro Sarmento (1690-1762), a Portuguese-Jewish physician who became the first Jewish doctor of medicine in England. The recipe for this medicine was kept secret within his family and passed down through many generations.

Rare. Not listed in the NLI catalog. Only a few copies listed in the OCLC.

Approx. 36X45. Few stains. Minor marginal tears. Blank strip from lower margins (some 5 cm wide, without text) partly missing, without damage to printing.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.