guaiacum wood

Gaukes also popularized Species Lignorum, a variant of the numerous Guaiacum wood extracts that had been used to treat syphilis since the late 16th century.

The artist Jan van der Straet (also known as Johannes Stradanus) painted a scene of a wealthy man receiving treatment of syphilis with Guaiacum wood sometime around 1580.

The Spanish encountered guaiacum wood "when they conquered San Domingo; it was soon brought back to Europe, where it acquired an immense reputation in the sixteenth century as a cure for syphilis and certain other diseases..."