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Francis Anthony (16 April 1550 – 26 May 1623) was a 16th-century physician and chemist. His father, Derrick Anthony, was a goldsmith in London, employed in the jewel office of Queen Elizabeth. He attended the University of Cambridge, receiving a master of arts degree in 1574. He studied the theory and practice of chemistry, leaving Cambridge at the age of 40. In 1598, he sent abroad his first treatise concerning the excellency of a medicine drawn from gold.
His practice consisted chiefly, if not entirely, in the prescription and sale of a secret remedy called "Aurum Potabile", which means "Drinkable Gold" in Latin, from which he derived a considerable fortune.
"There needs no verse to beautify thy praise,
Or keep in memory thy spotless name.
Religion, virtue and thy skill did rise
A three-fold pillar to thy lasting fame.
Though poisonous envy ever fought to blame
Or hide the fruits of thy intention,
Yet shall they commend that high design
Of purest gold to make a medicine,
That feel thy help by that, thy rare invention."The career of Anthony and his conflict with the college of Physicians illustrated the condition of medical profession in the 17th century. He was obnoxious to the college not only 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, in which he quotes several Authors, chiefly chemists, as Raymond, Lully, and Arnold, de Villa, Nora. He refers to Paracelsus with an apology, but disclaims any special debt to him, and among other authorities, to Conrad Gessner who had written of "Aurum Potabile" in his writings. Anthony labors to show that metals are excellent medicines, gold, most of all; that by his method it was dissolved in potable form and furnished a universal medicine.
His adversaries denied the superiority of metals to other medicines and the special efficacy of gold, and that there was no such thing as a universal medicine, and that Anthony's method did not dissolve gold. Anthony desired to demonstrate his process to certain select witnesses and it appears that a trial actually took place at the college of physicians in 1609 in the presence of Thomas Lord Knyvet, master of the mint, and other skilled persons, when an ounce of gold was given to Anthony which by his method failed to dissolve.
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