[The Prince's theriac. The marvellous early modern powers of garlic]

Garlic (Allium sativum) is depicted in the Early Modern Era as having a vast range of medical applicability. Based on herbals I collocate those ascribed medical effects between the 16th and 18th centuries to show that in this period--and up to the beginning of the 19th century--the powers of garlic in these descriptions slowly fade out until they eclipse totally, leaving it without medical value. Both the inital and the concluding findings are not correspondant with the modern empirical state of knowledge. This can be explained by three interwoven developments: the secularisation of the natural sciences in the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the altered asthetical perception of odours and new practices of social differentiation.