After mercury, the second most popular remedy against syphilis was guaiac or “Holy Wood.” It was a substance obtained from evergreen trees indigenous to South America and the West Indies, becoming the remedy for wealthy patients while mercury was administered to the poor. Ulrich Ritter von Hutten was one of the most influential apologists of the guaiac treatment. He was a victim of both the disease and the pernicious treatments prescribed by doctors. In 1519, he published a biographical account of his experience with guaiac. After being treated with mercury for nine years, he claimed that he was completely cured with the new remedy. He died, however, only a few years after the alleged cure, plausibly from tertiary syphilis.
Ulrich Ritter von Hutten
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De guaici medicina et morbo gallico: liber unus Mainz: 1519 The Le Roy Crummer Collection