Spirit of wine

Statema, B. C. P.

Food & Drink

Spirit of wine

Acqua di vita

Known today as: Distilled alcohol.
Kind: Food & Drink, in 2 older authorities
Constituents: ethanol
Earliest authority here: Arnald of Villanova
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 9: Anointings

Revised October 3, 2026: Tradition, lore, modern assessment, and sources extended. Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Spirit of wine: what did Canale use it for?

A solvent in the oil (ch. 9).

Spirit of wine: what does modern science say?

A solvent. Ethanol is the extraction solvent of liquid extracts and tinctures, “necessary for extraction of some constituents”; rectified spirit is distilled at 96–96.5 per cent.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

ethanol ChEMBL

Mechanism

Ethanol is a central nervous system depressant; as a 70 per cent solution it kills microbes better than pure ethanol, dissolving their membranes and denaturing their proteins. Its metabolite acetaldehyde is a known carcinogen, and many symptoms of intoxication are put down to it.

Toxic dose

Anaesthetic coma at a blood level of 0.4 per cent.

Standing

Ethanol in alcoholic beverages is classed by IARC as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1); the solvent of the pharmacopoeia’s tinctures.

IARC (2010). Monographs, vol. 96: alcohol consumption and ethyl carbamate. Read in part · the text read

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Spirit of wine: what lore surrounds it?

Aqua vitae is Latin for “water of life,” and the name passed to the local spirits: whiskey from the Irish uisce beatha, eau de vie in France, acquavite in Italy, akvavit in Scandinavia.

Used in These Compounds

Spirit of wine is an ingredient of 1 compound medicine in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.

Spirit of wine: what did the older authorities say?

Arnald of Villanova: The physician of the Crown of Aragon (c. 1240–1311), by the reference article’s account the first physician to use alcohol as an antiseptic, wrote a short treatise, De vinis, on the medicinal use of wine.
John of Rupescissa: The fourteenth-century alchemist held the newly found spirit to be an imperishable, life-giving “fifth essence,” or quintessence, and studied its medical properties.

Sources

[41] European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC). Herbal monographs, assessment reports and public statements, ema.europa.eu, cited under the herb concerned: aniseed (summary, EMA/305345/2016); Aristolochia (public statement, EMEA/HMPC/138381/2005); asarone (public statement, EMEA/HMPC/139215/2005); caraway (EMA/HMPC/715092/2013); centaury (EMA/HMPC/277493/2015); chicory root (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/113041/2010); cinnamon (EMA/HMPC/246774/2009); clove (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/534946/2010); ethanol in herbal products (reflection paper, EMA/HMPC/85114/2008); fennel (EMEA/HMPC/372839/2016, Rev. 1, 2024); fumitory (draft assessment report, EMA/HMPC/367013/2021); greater celandine (public statement, EMA/HMPC/743927/2010); hops (EMA/HMPC/682384/2013); horehound (EMA/HMPC/604271/2012); mallow (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/749518/2016); marshmallow root (Althaeae radix); melissa (summary, EMA/HMPC/310761/2013); myrrh (assessment report and monograph, EMA/HMPC/96910/2010 and 96911/2010); peppermint oil (assessment report, EMEA/HMPC/349465/2006); pyrrolizidine alkaloids (public statement, EMA/HMPC/893108/2011); rhubarb (EMA/HMPC/113700/2019); sage (Salviae officinalis folium); wormwood (EMA/HMPC/751490/2016). Read in full · the text read

“Aqua vitae.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in full · the text read
“Arnaldus de Villa Nova.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in full · the text read
“Rectified spirit.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in part · the text read
“Ethanol.” Wikipedia (read 2 October 2026). Read in part · the text read
Canale, F. (1622). Del modo di conoscer et sanare i maleficiati. Brescia. Read in part · the text read

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)

Sources

7 cited: 3 read in full, 4 read in part.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026

Chicago: “Spirit of wine.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/spirit-of-wine.
MLA: “Spirit of wine.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/spirit-of-wine. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Spirit of wine. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/spirit-of-wine

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