A medieval sales pitch

'It eases diseases coming of cold. It comforts the heart. It heals all old and new sores on the head. It causes a good colour in a person . . . it eases the pain in the teeth and causes sweet breath . . . it heals the short-winded. It causes good digestion and appetite . . . and takes away belching . . . . It gives also courage in a young person and causes him to have a good memory'

 

- Hieronymous Braunschweig on the benefits of aqua vitae, a distillate of alcoholic beverages, in his 1512 work, Big Book of Distillation.  Quoted in "Jonathan Yardley on 'Drink'", Washington Post, 27 July 2008