“After decades of close, focused work in variable light, Mercator was finding that he was unable to distinguish letters in broad daylight. His own diagnosis of the condition was less that it was due to normal declining of sharpness in vision, which comes with age, but that thick and viscous humours had enveloped the optic nerve. The Duke's personal physician, Reiner Solenander, prescribed the most reliable remedy known: the flower euphrasy, or “eyebright.” Mercator was instructed to dry it and then to drink it as a solution in good Rhineland wine, the doses to be taken in the morning, before lunch, at midday, before and during dinner. After several months Mercator did indeed notice an improvement. “Thanks to this herb, the humours have been wonderfully dissolved, diluted and washed out of my head. However, as it is the sharpness of vision which is weakening I think it more useful to chew fennel seeds without neglecting to keep up a moderate dose of euphrasy.” (

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The efficacy of statins in preventing coronary artery disease and cerebral vascular disease is now undenied. Yet the cost of these medications remains in many cases prohibitive. In …