# Gallia moschata

**Gallia muscata**

**Known today as.** A named compound perfume of the apothecary, made into troches of aloeswood, ambergris, and musk. The *Antidotarium Nicolai* gives a different *confectio gallie muscate*, of mastic, gum, and camphor with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and musk.

Kind: Compound

## What did Canale use it for?

In the pills (ch. 6).

## What does modern science say?

A perfume: Culpeper says the troches strengthen the brain and heart and “cause a sweet breath.”

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **musk**: one drachm
- **ambergris**: three drachms
- **aloes-wood**: five drachms
- **gum tragacanth**: the binder

**Mechanism.** Troches of aloes-wood, ambergris, and musk bound with tragacanth in rose water: a perfume, which Mesue says goes into compound medicines and gives the body and the mouth a good smell.

**Dose.** Culpeper gives none, for its price.

**Standing.** Obsolete.

## What lore surrounds it?

Culpeper would not give a dose: “They are of an extream price, therefore I pass by the dose.”

## What did the older authorities say?

**Mesue.** The *Grabadin* gives the *confectio gallie muscate*: aloes-wood, ambergris, and musk made up with gum tragacanth and rose water into sealed troches; it strengthens the brain and the heart, goes into compound medicines, and gives the body and the mouth a good smell.

**The *Ricettario fiorentino*.** Of 1567 gives Mesue’s troches of *gallia muscata*: aloes-wood, ambergris, and musk, with mucilage of tragacanth made in rose water, shaped like myrtle leaves.

## Sources

- Mesue, *Grabadin*.
- *Ricettario fiorentino* (1567). Florence: Arte de’ Medici e Speziali.
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *Pharmacopoeia Londinensis*, “Gallia Moschata.”

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*Gallia moschata.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gallia-moschata

Historical description, not medical advice.