YARROW, CALLED NOSE-BLEED, MILFOIL AND THOUSAND-LEAL.

Descript.] It hath many long leaves spread upon the ground, finely cut, and divided into many small parts. Its flowers are white, but not all of a whiteness and stayed in knots, upon divers green stalks which rise from among the leaves.

Place.] It is frequent in all pastures.

Time.] It flowers late, even in the latter end of August.

Government and virtues.] It is under the influence of Venus. An ointment of them cures wounds, and is most fit for such as have inflammations, it being an herb of Dame Venus; it stops the terms in women, being boiled in white wine, and the decoction drank; as also the bloody flux; the ointment of it is not only good for green wounds, but also for ulcers and fistulas, especially such as abound with moisture. It stays the shedding of hair, the head being bathed with the decoction of it; inwardly taken it helps the retentive faculty of the stomach: it helps the gonorrhea in men, and the whites in women, and helps such as cannot hold their water; and the leaves chewed in the mouth eases the tooth-ache, and these virtues being put together, shew the herb to be drying and binding. Achilles is supposed to be the first that left the virtues of this herb to posterity, having learned them of this master Chiron, the Centaur; and certainly a very profitable herb it is in cramps, and therefore called Militaris.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING SYRUPS, CONSERVES,
&c. &c.

Having in divers places of this Treatise promised you the way of making Syrups, Conserves, Oils, Ointments, &c., of herbs, roots, flowers, &c. whereby you may have them ready for your use at such times when they cannot be had otherwise; I come now to perform what I promised, and you shall find me rather better than worse than my word.

That this may be done methodically, I shall divide my directions into two grand sections, and each section into several chapters, and then you shall see it look with such a countenance as this is.

SECTION I.
Of gathering, drying, and keeping Simples, and their juices.

[CHAP. I.]Of leaves of Herbs, &c.
[CHAP. II.]Of Flowers.
[CHAP. III.] Of Seeds.
[CHAP. IV.]Of Roots.
[CHAP. V.]Of Barks.
[CHAP. VI.]Of Juices.

SECTION II.
Of making and keeping Compounds.

[CHAP. I.]Of distilled waters.
[CHAP. II.]Of Syrups.
[CHAP. III.]Of Juleps.
[CHAP. IV.]Of Decoctions.
[CHAP. V.]Of Oils.
[CHAP. VI.]Of Electuaries.
[CHAP. VII.]Of Conserves.
[CHAP. VIII.] Of Preserves.
[CHAP. IX.]Of Lohochs.
[CHAP. X.]Of Ointments.
[CHAP. XI.]Of Plaisters.
[CHAP. XII.]Of Poultices.
[CHAP. XIII.]Of Troches.
[CHAP. XIV.]Of Pills.
[CHAP. XV.]The way of fitting Medicines to Compound Diseases.

Of all these in order.

CHAPTER I.
Of Leaves of Herbs, or Trees.

1. Of leaves, choose only such as are green, and full of juice; pick them carefully, and cast away such as are any way declining, for they will putrify the rest: So shall one handful be worth ten of those you buy at the physic herb shops.

2. Note what places they most delight to grow in, and gather them there; for Betony that grows in the shade, is far better than that which grows in the Sun, because it delights in the shade; so also such herbs as delight to grow near the water, shall be gathered near it, though happily you may find some of them upon dry ground: The Treatise will inform you where every herb delights to grow.

3. The leaves of such herbs as run up to seed, are not so good when they are in flower as before (some few excepted, the leaves of which are seldom or never used) in such cases, if through ignorance they were not known, or through negligence forgotten, you had better take the top and the flowers, then the leaf.

4. Dry them well in the Sun, and not in the shade, as the saying of physicians is; for if the sun draw away the virtues of the herb, it must need do the like by hay, by the same rule, which the experience of every country farmer will explode for a notable piece of nonsense.

5. Such as are artists in astrology, (and indeed none else are fit to make physicians) such I advise; let the planet that governs the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the herbs of Mars, let Mars be in the mid heaven, for in those houses they delight; let the Moon apply to them by good aspect, and let her not be in the houses of her enemies; if you cannot well stay till she apply to them, let her apply to a planet of the same triplicity; if you cannot wait that time neither, let her be with a fixed star of their nature.

6. Having well dried them, put them up in brown paper, sewing the paper up like a sack, and press them not too hard together, and keep them in a dry place near the fire.

7. As for the duration of dried herbs, a just time cannot be given, let authors prate their pleasure; for,

1st. Such as grow upon dry grounds will keep better than such as grow on moist.

2dly, Such herbs as are full of juice, will not keep so long as such as are drier.

3dly. Such herbs as are well dried, will keep longer than such as are slack dried. Yet you may know when they are corrupted, by their loss of colour, or smell, or both; and if they be corrupted, reason will tell you that they must needs corrupt the bodies of those people that take them.

4. Gather all leaves in the hour of that planet that governs them.

CHAPTER II.
Of Flowers.

1. The flower, which is the beauty of the plant, and of none of the least use in physick, grows yearly, and is to be gathered when it is in its prime.

2. As for the time of gathering them, let the planetary hour, and the planet they come of, be observed, as we shewed you in the foregoing chapter: as for the time of the day, let it be when the sun shine upon them, that so they may be dry; for, if you gather either flowers or herbs when they are wet or dewy, they will not keep.

3. Dry them well in the sun, and keep them in papers near the fire, as I shewed you in the foregoing chapter.

4. So long as they retain the colour and smell, they are good; either of them being gone, so is the virtue also.

CHAPTER III.
Of Seeds.

1. The seed is that part of the plant which is endowed with a vital faculty to bring forth its like, and it contains potentially the whole plant in it.

2. As for place, let them be gathered from the place where they delight to grow.

3. Let them be full ripe when they are gathered; and forget not the celestial harmony before mentioned, for I have found by experience that their virtues are twice as great at such times as others: “There is an appointed time for every thing under the sun.”

4. When you have gathered them, dry them a little, and but a little in the sun, before you lay them up.

5. You need not be so careful of keeping them so near the fire, as the other before-mentioned, because they are fuller of spirit, and therefore not so subject to corrupt.

6. As for the time of their duration, it is palpable they will keep a good many years; yet, they are best the first year, and this I make appear by a good argument. They will grow sooner the first year they be set, therefore then they are in their prime; and it is an easy matter to renew them yearly.

CHAPTER IV.
Of Roots.

1. Of roots, chuse such as are neither rotten nor worm-eaten, but proper in their taste, colour, and smell; such as exceed neither in softness nor hardness.

2. Give me leave to be a little critical against the vulgar received opinion, which is, That the sap falls down into the roots in the Autumn, and rises again in the Spring, as men go to bed at night, and rise in the morning; and this idle talk of untruth is so grounded in the heads, not only of the vulgar, but also of the learned, that a man cannot drive it out by reason. I pray let such sapmongers answer me this argument; If the sap falls into the roots in the fall of the leaf, and lies there all the Winter, then must the root grow only in the Winter. But the root grows not at all in the Winter, as experience teaches, but only in the Summer: Therefore, If you set an apple-kernel in the Spring, you shall find the root to grow to a pretty bigness in the Summer, and be not a whit bigger next Spring. What doth the sap do in the root all that while? Pick straws? ’Tis as rotten as a rotten post.

The truth is, when the sun declines from the tropic of Cancer, the sap begins to congeal both in root and branch; when he touches the tropic of Capricorn, and ascends to us-ward, it begins to wax thin again, and by degrees, as it congealed. But to proceed.

3. The drier time you gather the roots in, the better they are; for they have the less excrementitious moisture in them.

4. Such roots as are soft, your best way is to dry in the sun, or else hang them in the chimney corner upon a string; as for such as are hard, you may dry them any where.

5. Such roots as are great, will keep longer than such as are small; yet most of them will keep a year.

6. Such roots as are soft, it is your best way to keep them always near the fire, and to take this general rule for it: If in Winter-time you find any of your roots, herbs or flowers begin to be moist, as many times you shall (for it is your best way to look to them once a month) dry them by a very gentle fire; or, if you can with convenience keep them near the fire, you may save yourself the labour.

7. It is in vain to dry roots that may commonly be had, as Parsley, Fennel, Plantain, &c. but gather them only for present need.

CHAPTER V.
Of Barks.

1. Barks, which physicians use in medicine, are of these sorts: Of fruits, of roots, of boughs.

2. The barks of fruits are to be taken when the fruit is full ripe, as Oranges, Lemons, &c. but because I have nothing to do with exotics here, I pass them without any more words.

3. The barks of trees are best gathered in the Spring, if of oaks, or such great trees; because then they come easier off, and so you may dry them if you please; but indeed the best way is to gather all barks only for present use.

4. As for the barks of roots, ’tis thus to be gotten. Take the roots of such herbs as have a pith in them, as parsley, fennel, &c. slit them in the middle, and when you have taken out the pith (which you may easily do) that which remains is called (tho’ improperly) the bark, and indeed is only to be used.

CHAPTER VI.
Of Juices.

1. Juices are to be pressed out of herbs when they are young and tender, out of some stalks and tender tops of herbs and plants, and also out of some flowers.

2. Having gathered the herb, would you preserve the juice of it, when it is very dry (for otherwise the juice will not be worth a button) bruise it very well in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, then having put it into a canvas bag, the herb I mean, not the mortar, for that will give but little juice, press it hard in a press, then take the juice and clarify it.

3. The manner of clarifying it is this: Put it into a pipkin or skillet, or some such thing, and set it over the fire; and when the scum arises, take it off; let it stand over the fire till no more scum arise; when you have your juice clarified, cast away the scum as a thing of no use.

4. When you have thus clarified it, you have two ways to preserve it all the year.

(1.) When it is cold, put it into a glass, and put so much oil on it as will cover it to the thickness of two fingers; the oil will swim at the top, and so keep the air from coming to putrify it: When you intend to use it, pour it into a porringer, and if any oil come out with it, you may easily scum it off with a spoon, and put the juice you use not into the glass again, it will quickly sink under the oil. This is the first way.

(2.) The second way is a little more difficult, and the juice of fruits is usually preserved this way. When you have clarified it, boil it over the fire, till (being cold) it be of the thickness of honey; This is most commonly used for diseases of the mouth, and is called Roba and Saba. And thus much for the first section, the second follows.

SECTION II.
The way of making and keeping all necessary Compounds.

CHAPTER I.
Of distilled Waters.

Hitherto we have spoken of medicines which consist in their own nature, which authors vulgarly call Simples, though sometimes improperly; for in truth, nothing is simple but pure elements; all things else are compounded of them. We come now to treat of the artificial medicines, in the form of which (because we must begin somewhere) we shall place distilled waters in which consider,

1. Waters are distilled of herbs, flowers, fruits, and roots.

2. We treat not of strong waters, but of cold, as being to act Galen’s part, and not Paracelsus’s.

3. The herbs ought to be distilled when they are in the greatest vigour, and so ought the flowers also.

4. The vulgar way of distillations which people use, because they know no better, is in a pewter still; and although distilled waters are the weakest of artificial medicines, and good for little but mixtures of other medicines, yet they are weaker by many degrees, than they would be were they distilled in sand. If I thought it not impossible, to teach you the way of distilling in sand, I would attempt it.

5. When you have distilled your water, put it into a glass, covered over with a paper pricked full of holes, so that the excrementitious and fiery vapours may exhale, which cause that settling in distilled waters called the Mother, which corrupt them, then cover it close, and keep it for your use.

6. Stopping distilled waters with a cork, makes them musty, and so does paper, if it but touch the water: it is best to stop them with a bladder, being first put in water, and bound over the top of the glass.

Such cold waters as are distilled in a pewter still (if well kept) will endure a year; such as are distilled in sand, as they are twice as strong, so they endure twice as long.

CHAPTER II.
Of Syrups.

1. A Syrup is a medicine of a liquid form, composed of infusion, decoction and juice. And, 1. For the more grateful taste. 2. For the better keeping of it: with a certain quantity of honey or sugar, hereafter mentioned, boiled to the thickness of new honey.

2. You see at the first view, That this aphorism divides itself into three branches, which deserve severally to be treated of, viz.

Of each of these, (for your instruction-sake, kind countrymen and women) I speak a word or two apart.

1st, Syrups made by infusion, are usually made of flowers, and of such flowers as soon lose their colour and strength by boiling, as roses, violets, peach flowers, &c. They are thus made: Having picked your flowers clean, to every pound of them add three pounds or three pints, which you will (for it is all one) of spring water, made boiling hot; first put your flowers into a pewter-pot, with a cover, and pour the water on them; then shutting the pot, let it stand by the fire, to keep hot twelve hours, and strain it out: (in such syrups as purge, as damask roses, peach flowers, &c. the usual, and indeed the best way, is to repeat this infusion, adding fresh flowers to the same liquor divers times, that so it may be the stronger) having strained it out, put the infusion into a pewter bason, or an earthen one well glazed, and to every pint of it add two pounds of sugar, which being only melted over the fire, without boiling, and scummed, will produce you the syrup you desire.

2dly, Syrups made by decoction are usually made of compounds, yet may any simple herb be thus converted into syrup: Take the herb, root, or flowers you would make into a syrup, and bruise it a little; then boil it in a convenient quantity of spring water; the more water you boil it in, the weaker it will be; a handful of the herb or root is a convenient quantity for a pint of water, boil it till half the water be consumed, then let it stand till it be almost cold, and strain it through a woollen cloth, letting it run out at leisure: without pressing. To every pint of this decoction add one pound of sugar, and boil it over the fire till it come to a syrup, which you may know, if you now and then cool a little of it with a spoon: Scum it all the while it boils, and when it is sufficiently boiled, whilst it is hot, strain it again through a woollen cloth, but press it not. Thus you have the syrup perfected.

3dly, Syrups made of juice, are usually made of such herbs as are full of juice, and indeed they are better made into a syrup this way than any other; the operation is thus: Having beaten the herb in a stone mortar, with a wooden pestle, press out the juice, and clarify it, as you are taught before in the juices; then let the juice boil away till about a quarter of it be consumed; to a pint of this add a pound of sugar, and when it is boiled, strain it through a woollen cloth, as we taught you before, and keep it for your use.

3. If you make a syrup of roots that are any thing hard, as parsley, fennel, and grass roots, &c. when you have bruised them, lay them in steep some time in that water which you intend to boil them in hot, so will the virtue the better come out.

4. Keep your syrups either in glasses or stone pots, and stop them not with cork nor bladder, unless you would have the glass break, and the syrup lost, only bind paper about the mouth.

5. All syrups, if well made, continue a year with some advantage; yet such as are made by infusion, keep shortest.

CHAPTER III.
Of Juleps.

1. Juleps were first invented, as I suppose, in Arabia; and my reason is, because the word Julep is an Arabic word.

2. It signifies only a pleasant potion, as is vulgarly used by such as are sick, and want help, or such as are in health, and want no money to quench thirst.

3. Now-a-day it is commonly used—

4. Simple Juleps, (for I have nothing to say to compounds here) are thus made; Take a pint of such distilled water, as conduces to the cure of your distemper, which this treatise will plentifully furnish you with, to which add two ounces of syrup, conducing to the same effect; (I shall give you rules for it in the next chapter) mix them together, and drink a draught of it at your pleasure. If you love tart things, add ten drops of oil of vitriol to your pint, and shake it together, and it will have a fine grateful taste.

5. All juleps are made for present use; and therefore it is in vain to speak of their duration.

CHAPTER IV.
Of Decoctions.

1. All the difference between decoctions, and syrups made by decoction, is this; Syrups are made to keep, decoctions only for present use; for you can hardly keep a decoction a week at any time; if the weather be hot, not half so long.

2. Decoctions are made of leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, fruits or barks, conducing to the cure of the disease you make them for; are made in the same manner as we shewed you in syrups.

3. Decoctions made with wine last longer than such as are made with water; and if you take your decoction to cleanse the passages of the urine, or open obstructions, your best way is to make it with white wine instead of water, because this is penetrating.

4. Decoctions are of most use in such diseases as lie in the passages of the body, as the stomach, bowels, kidneys, passages of urine and bladder, because decoctions pass quicker to those places than any other form of medicines.

5. If you will sweeten your decoction with sugar, or any syrup fit for the occasion you take it for, which is better, you may, and no harm.

6. If in a decoction, you boil both roots, herbs, flowers, and seed together, let the roots boil a good while first, because they retain their virtue longest; then the next in order by the same rule, viz. 1. Barks. 2. The herbs. 3. The seeds. 4. The flowers. 5. The spices, if you put any in, because their virtues come soonest out.

7. Such things as by boiling cause sliminess to a decoction, as figs, quince-seed, linseed, &c. your best way is, after you have bruised them, to tie them up in a linen rag, as you tie up calf’s brains, and so boil them.

8. Keep all decoctions in a glass close stopped, and in the cooler place you keep them, the longer they will last ere they be sour.

Lastly, The usual dose to be given at one time, is usually two, three, four, or five ounces, according to the age and strength of the patient, the season of the year, the strength of the medicine, and the quality of the disease.

CHAPTER V.
Of Oils.

1. Oil Olive, which is commonly known by the name of Sallad Oil, I suppose, because it is usually eaten with sallads by them that love it, if it be pressed out of ripe olives, according to Galen, is temperate, and exceeds in no one quality.

2. Of oils, some are simple, and some are compound.

3 Simple oils, are such as are made of fruits or seeds by expression, as oil of sweet and bitter almonds, linseed and rape-seed oil, &c. of which see in my Dispensatory.

4. Compound oils, are made of oil of olives, and other simples, imagine herbs, flowers, roots, &c.

5. The way of making them is this: Having bruised the herbs or flowers you would make your oil of, put them into an earthen pot, and to two or three handfuls of them pour a pint of oil, cover the pot with a paper, set it in the sun about a fortnight or so, according as the sun is in hotness; then having warmed it very well by the fire, press out the herb, &c. very hard in a press, and add as many more herbs to the same oil; bruise the herbs (I mean not the oil) in like manner, set them in the sun as before; the oftener you repeat this, the stronger your oil will be; At last when you conceive it strong enough, boil both herbs and oil together, till the juice be consumed, which you may know by its bubbling, and the herbs will be crisp; then strain it while it is hot, and keep it in a stone or glass vessel for your use.

6. As for chymical oils, I have nothing to say here.

7. The general use of these oils, is for pains in the limbs, roughness of the skin, the itch, &c. as also for ointments and plaisters.

8. If you have occasion to use it for wounds or ulcers, in two ounces of oil, dissolve half an ounce of turpentine, the heat of the fire will quickly do it; for oil itself is offensive to wounds, and the turpentine qualifies it.

CHAPTER VI.
Of Electuaries.

Physicians make more a quoil than needs by half, about electuaries. I shall prescribe but one general way of making them up; as for ingredients, you may them as you please, and as you find occasion, by the last chapter.

1. That you may make electuaries when you need them, it is requisite that you keep always herbs, roots, flowers, seeds, &c. ready dried in your house, that so you may be in a readiness to beat them into powder when you need them.

2. It is better to keep them whole than beaten; for being beaten, they are more subject to lose their strength; because the air soon penetrates them.

3. If they be not dry enough to beat into powder when you need them, dry them by a gentle fire till they are so.

4. Having beaten them, sift them through a fine tiffany searce, that no great pieces may be found in your electuary.

5. To one ounce of your powder add three ounces of clarified honey; this quantity I hold to be sufficient. If you would make more or less electuary, vary your proportion accordingly.

6. Mix them well together in a mortar, and take this for a truth, you cannot mix them too much.

7. The way to clarify honey, is to set it over the fire in a convenient vessel, till the scum rise, and when the scum is taken off, it is clarified.

8. The usual dose of cordial electuaries, is from half a dram to two drams; of purging electuaries, from half an ounce to an ounce.

9. The manner of keeping them is in a pot.

10. The time of taking them, is either in a morning fasting, and fasting an hour after them; or at night going to bed, three or four hours after supper.

CHAPTER VII.
Of Conserves.

1. The way of making conserves is two-fold, one of herbs and flowers, and the other of fruits.

2. Conserves of herbs and flowers, are thus made: if you make your conserves of herbs, as of scurvy-grass, wormwood, rue, and the like, take only the leaves and tender tops (for you may beat your heart out before you can beat the stalks small) and having beaten them, weigh them, and to every pound of them add three pounds of sugar, you cannot beat them too much.

3. Conserves of fruits, as of barberries, sloes and the like, is thus made: First, Scald the fruit, then rub the pulp through a thick hair sieve made for the purpose, called a pulping sieve; you may do it for a need with the back of a spoon: then take this pulp thus drawn, and add to it its weight of sugar, and no more; put it into a pewter vessel, and over a charcoal fire; stir it up and down till the sugar be melted, and your conserve is made.

4. Thus you have the way of making conserves; the way of keeping them is in earthen pots.

5. The dose is usually the quantity of a nutmeg at a time morning and evening, or (unless they are purging) when you please.

6. Of conserves, some keep many years, as conserves of roses: others but a year, as conserves of Borage, Bugloss, Cowslips and the like.

7. Have a care of the working of some conserves presently after they are made; look to them once a day, and stir them about; conserves of Borage, Bugloss, Wormwood, have got an excellent faculty at that sport.

8. You may know when your conserves are almost spoiled by this; you shall find a hard crust at top with little holes in it, as though worms had been eating there.

CHAPTER VIII.
Of Preserves.

Of Preserves are sundry sorts, and the operation of all being somewhat different, we will handle them all apart. These are preserved with sugar:

1. Flowers are very seldom preserved; I never saw any that I remember, save only cowslip flowers, and that was a great fashion in Sussex when I was a boy. It is thus done, Take a flat glass, we call them jat glasses; strew on a laying of fine sugar, on that a laying of flowers, and on that another laying of sugar, on that another laying of flowers, so do till your glass be full; then tie it over with a paper, and in a little time, you shall have very excellent and pleasant preserves.

There is another way of preserving flowers; namely, with vinegar and salt, as they pickle capers and broom-buds; but as I have little skill in it myself, I cannot teach you.

2. Fruits, as quinces, and the like, are preserved two ways;

(1.) Boil them well in water, and then pulp them through a sieve, as we shewed you before; then with the like quantity of sugar, boil the water they were boiled in into a syrup, viz. a pound of sugar to a pint of liquor; to every pound of this syrup, add four ounces of the pulp; then boil it with a very gentle fire to their right consistence, which you may easily know if you drop a drop of it upon a trencher; if it be enough, it will not stick to your fingers when it is cold.

(2.) Another way to preserve fruits is this; First, Pare off the rind; then cut them in halves, and take out the core: then boil them in water till they are soft; if you know when beef is boiled enough, you may easily know when they are; Then boil the water with its like weight of sugar into a syrup; put the syrup into a pot, and put the boiled fruit as whole as you left it when you cut it into it, and let it remain until you have occasion to use it.

3. Roots are thus preserved; First, Scrape them very clean, and cleanse them from the pith, if they have any, for some roots have not, as Eringo and the like; Boil them in water till they be soft, as we shewed you before in the fruits; then boil the water you boiled the root in into a syrup, as we shewed you before; then keep the root whole in the syrup till you use them.

4. As for barks, we have but few come to our hands to be done, and of those the few that I can remember, are, oranges, lemons, citrons, and the outer bark of walnuts, which grow without-side the shell, for the shells themselves would make but scurvy preserves; these be they I can remember, if there be any more put them into the number.

The way of preserving these, is not all one in authors, for some are bitter, some are hot; such as are bitter, say authors, must be soaked in warm water, oftentimes changing till their bitter taste be fled; But I like not this way and my reason is this; Because I doubt when their bitterness is gone, so is their virtue also; I shall then prescribe one common way, namely, the same with the former, viz. First, boil them whole till they be soft, then make a syrup with sugar and the liquor you boil them in, and keep the barks in the syrup.

5. They are kept in glasses or in glaz’d pots.

6. The preserved flowers will keep a year, if you can forbear eating of them; the roots and barks much longer.

7. This art was plainly and first invented for delicacy, yet came afterwards to be of excellent use in physic; For,

(1.) Hereby medicines are made pleasant for sick and squeamish stomachs, which else would loath them.

(2.) Hereby they are preserved from decaying a long time.

CHAPTER IX.
Of Lohocks.

1. That which the Arabians call Lohocks, and the Greeks Eclegma, the Latins call Linctus, and in plain English signifies nothing else but a thing to be licked up.

2. They are in body thicker than a syrup, and not so thick as an electuary.

3. The manner of taking them is, often to take a little with a liquorice stick, and let it go down at leisure.

4. They are easily thus made; Make a decoction of pectoral herbs, and the treatise will furnish you with enough, and when you have strained it, with twice its weight of honey or sugar, boil it to a lohock; if you are molested with much phlegm, honey is better than sugar; and if you add a little vinegar to it, you will do well; if not, I hold sugar to be better than honey.

5. It is kept in pots, and may be kept a year and longer.

6. It is excellent for roughness of the wind-pipe, inflammations and ulcers of the lungs, difficulty of breathing, asthmas, coughs, and distillation of humours.

CHAPTER X.
Of Ointments.

1. Various are the ways of making ointments, which authors have left to posterity, which I shall omit, and quote one which is easiest to be made, and therefore most beneficial to people that are ignorant in physic, for whose sake I write this. It is thus done:

Bruise those herbs, flowers, or roots, you will make an ointment of, and to two handfuls of your bruised herbs add a pound of hog’s grease dried, or cleansed from the skins, beat them very well together in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, then put it into a stone pot, (the herb and grease I mean, not the mortar,) cover it with a paper and set it either in the sun, or some other warm place; three, four, or five days, that it may melt; then take it out and boil it a little; then whilst it is hot, strain it out, pressing it out very hard in a press: to this grease add as many more herbs bruised as before; let them stand in like manner as long, then boil them as you did the former; If you think your ointment is not strong enough, you may do it the third and fourth time; yet this I will tell you, the fuller of juice the herbs are, the sooner will your ointment be strong; the last time you boil it, boil it so long till your herbs be crisp, and the juice consumed, then strain it pressing it hard in a press, and to every pound of ointment add two ounces of turpentine, and as much wax, because grease is offensive to wounds, as well as oil.

2. Ointments are vulgarly known to be kept in pots, and will last above a year, some above two years.

CHAPTER XI.
Of Plaisters.

1. The Greeks made their plaisters of divers simples, and put metals into the most of them, if not all; for having reduced their metals into powder, they mixed them with that fatty substance whereof the rest of the plaister consisted, whilst it was thus hot, continually stirring it up and down, lest it should sink to the bottom; so they continually stirred it till it was stiff; then they made it up in rolls, which when they needed for use, they could melt by the fire again.

2. The Arabians made up theirs with oil and fat, which needed not so long boiling.

3. The Greeks emplaisters consisted of these ingredients, metals, stones, divers sorts of earth, feces, juices, liquors, seeds, roots, herbs, excrements of creatures, wax, rosin, gums.

CHAPTER XII.
Of Poultices.

1. Poultices are those kind of things which the Latins call Cataplasmata, and our learned fellows, that if they can read English, that’s all, call them Cataplasms, because ’tis a crabbed word few understand; it is indeed a very fine kind of medicine to ripen sores.

2. They are made of herbs and roots, fitted for the disease, and members afflicted, being chopped small, and boiled in water almost to a jelly; then by adding a little barleymeal, or meal of lupins, and a little oil, or rough sweet suet, which I hold to be better, spread upon a cloth and apply to the grieved places.

3. Their use is to ease pain, to break sores, to cool inflammations, to dissolve hardness, to ease the spleen, to concoct humours, and dissipate swellings.

4. I beseech you take this caution along with you; Use no poultices (if you can help it) that are of an healing nature, before you have first cleansed the body, because they are subject to draw the humours to them from every part of the body.

CHAPTER XIII.
Of Troches.

1. The Latins call them Placentula, or little cakes, and the Greeks Prochikois, Kukliscoi, and Artiscoi; they are usually little round flat cakes, or you may make them square if you will.

2. Their first invention was, that powders being so kept might resist the intermission of air, and so endure pure the longer.

3. Besides, they are easier carried in the pockets of such as travel; as many a man (for example) is forced to travel whose stomach is too cold, or at least not so hot as it should be, which is most proper, for the stomach is never cold till a man be dead; in such a case, it is better to carry troches of wormwood, or galangal, in a paper in his pocket, than to lay a gallipot along with him.

4. They are made thus; At night when you go to bed, take two drams of fine gum tragacanth; put it into a gallipot, and put half a quarter of a pint of any distilled water fitting for the purpose you would make your troches for to cover it, and the next morning you shall find it in such a jelly as the physicians call mucilage; With this you may (with a little pains taken) make a powder into a paste, and that paste into cakes called troches.

5. Having made them, dry them in the shade, and keep them in a pot for your use.

CHAPTER XIV.
Of Pills.

1. They are called Pilulæ, because they resemble little balls; the Greeks call them Catapotia.

2. It is the opinion of modern physicians, that this way of making medicines, was invented only to deceive the palate, that so by swallowing them down whole, the bitterness of the medicine might not be perceived, or at least it might not be unsufferable: and indeed most of their pills, though not all, are very bitter.

3. I am of a clean contrary opinion to this. I rather think they were done up in this hard form, that so they might be the longer in digesting; and my opinion is grounded upon reason too, not upon fancy, or hearsay. The first invention of pills was to purge the head, now, as I told you before, such infirmities as lie near the passages were best removed by decoctions, because they pass to the grieved part soonest; so here, if the infirmity lies in the head, or any other remote part, the best way is to use pills, because they are longer in digestion, and therefore the better able to call the offending humour to them.

4. If I should tell you here a long tale of medicine working by sympathy and antipathy, you would not understand a word of it: They that are set to make physicians may find it in the treatise. All modern physicians know not what belongs to a sympathetical cure, no more than a cuckow what belongs to flats and sharps in music, but follow the vulgar road, and call it a hidden quality, because ’tis hidden from the eyes of dunces, and indeed none but astrologers can give a reason for it; and physic without reason is like a pudding without fat.

5. The way to make pills is very easy, for with the help of a pestle and mortar, and a little diligence, you may make any powder into pills, either with syrup, or the jelly I told you before.

CHAPTER XV.
The way of mixing Medicines according to the Cause of the Disease, and Parts of the Body afflicted.

This being indeed the key of the work, I shall be somewhat the more diligent in it. I shall deliver myself thus;

1. To the Vulgar.

2. To such as study Astrology; or such as study physic astrologically.

1st, To the Vulgar. Kind souls, I am sorry it hath been your hard mishap to have been so long trained in such Egyptian darkness which to your sorrow may be felt; The vulgar road of physic is not my practice, and I am therefore the more unfit to give you advice. I have now published a little book, (Galen’s Art of Physic,) which will fully instruct you, not only in the knowledge of your own bodies, but also in fit medicines to remedy each part of it when afflicted; in the mean season take

1. With the disease, regard the cause, and the part of the body afflicted; for example, suppose a woman be subject to miscarry, through wind, thus do;

(1.) Look Abortion in the table of diseases, and you shall be directed by that, how many herbs prevent miscarriage.

(2.) Look Wind in the same table, and you shall see how many of these herbs expel wind.

These are the herbs medicinal for your grief.

2. In all diseases strengthen the part of the body afflicted.

3. In mix’d diseases there lies some difficulty, for sometimes two parts of the body are afflicted with contrary humours, as sometimes the liver is afflicted with choler and water, as when a man hath both the dropsy and the yellow-jaundice; and this is usually mortal.

In the former, Suppose the brain be too cool and moist, and the liver be too hot and dry; thus do;

1. Keep your head outwardly warm.

2. Accustom yourself to the smell of hot herbs.

3. Take a pill that heats the head at night going to bed.

4. In the morning take a decoction that cools the liver, for that quickly passes the stomach, and is at the liver immediately.

You must not think, courteous people, that I can spend time to give you examples of all diseases; These are enough to let you see so much light as you without art are able to receive; If I should set you to look at the sun, I should dazzle your eyes, and make you blind.

2dly, To such as study Astrology, (who are the only men I know that are fit to study physic, physic without astrology being like a lamp without oil) you are the men I exceedingly respect, and such documents as my brain can give you at present (being absent from my study) I shall give you.

1. Fortify the body with herbs of the nature of the Lord of the Ascendant, ’tis no matter whether he be a Fortune or Infortune in this case.

2. Let your medicine be something antipathetical to the Lord of the sixth.

3. Let your medicine be something of the nature of the sign ascending.

4. If the Lord of the Tenth be strong, make use of his medicines.

5. If this cannot well be, make use of the medicines of the Light of Time.

6. Be sure always to fortify the grieved part of the body by sympathetical remedies.

7. Regard the heart, keep that upon the wheels, because the Sun is the foundation of life, and therefore those universal remedies, Aurum Potabile, and the Philosopher’s Stone, cure all diseases by fortifying the heart.

THE
ENGLISH PHYSICIAN
AND
FAMILY DISPENSATORY.

AN ASTROLOGO-PHYSICAL DISCOURSE OF THE HUMAN VIRTUES IN THE BODY OF MAN; BOTH PRINCIPAL AND ADMINISTERING.

Human virtues are either PRINCIPAL for procreation, and conservation; or ADMINISTRING, for Attraction, Digestion, Retention, or Expulsion.

Virtues conservative, are Vital, Natural, and Animal.

By the natural are bred Blood, Choler, Flegm, and Melancholy.

The animal virtue is Intellective, and Sensitive.

The Intellective is Imagination, Judgment, and Memory.

The sensitive is Common, and Particular.

The particular is Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, and Feeling.

The scope of this discourse is, To preserve in soundness and vigour, the mind and understanding of man; to strengthen the brain, preserve the body in health, to teach a man to be an able co-artificer, or helper of nature, to withstand and expel Diseases.

I shall touch only the principal faculties both of body and mind; which being kept in a due decorum, preserve the body in health, and the mind in vigour.

I shall in this place speak of them only in the general, as they are laid down to your view in the Synopsis, in the former pages, and in the same order.

Virtue Procreative.] The first in order, is the Virtue Procreative: for natural regards not only the conservation of itself, but to beget its like, and conserve in Species.

The seat of this is the Member of Generation, and is governed principally by the influence of Venus.

It is augmented and encreased by the strength of Venus, by her Herbs, Roots, Trees, Minerals, &c.

It is diminished and purged by those of Mars, and quite extinguished by those of Saturn.

Observe the hour and Medicines of Venus, to fortify; of Mars, to cleanse this virtue; of Saturn, to extinguish it.

Conservative.] The conservative virtue is Vital, Natural, Animal.

Vital.] The Vital spirit hath its residence in the heart, and is dispersed from it by the Arteries; and is governed by the influence of the Sun. And it is to the body, as the Sun is to the Creation; as the heart is in the Microcosm, so is the Sun in the Megacosm: for as the Sun gives life, light, and motion to the Creation, so doth the heart to the body; therefore it is called Sol Corporis, as the Sun is called Cor Cœli, because their operations are similar.

Inimical and destructive to this virtue, are Saturn and Mars.

The Herbs and Plants of Sol, wonderfully fortify it.

Natural.] The natural faculty or virtue resides in the liver, and is generally governed by Jupiter, Quasi Juvans Pater; its office is to nourish the body, and is dispersed through the body by the veins.

From this are bred four particular humours, Blood, Choler, Flegm, and Melancholy.

Blood is made of meat perfectly concocted, in quality hot and moist, governed by Jupiter: It is by a third concoction transmuted into flesh, the superfluity of it into seed, and its receptacle is the veins, by which it is dispersed through the body.

Choler is made of meat more than perfectly concocted; and it is the spume or froth of blood: it clarifies all the humours, heats the body, nourishes the apprehension, as blood doth the judgment: It is in quality hot and dry; fortifies the attractive faculty, as blood doth the digestive; moves man to activity and valour: its receptacle is the gall, and it is under the influence of Mars.

Flegm is made of meat not perfectly digested; it fortifies the virtue expulsive, makes the body slippery, fit for ejection; it fortifies the brain by its consimilitude with it; yet it spoils apprehension by its antipathy to it: It qualifies choler, cools and moistens the heart, thereby sustaining it, and the whole body, from the fiery effects, which continual motion would produce. Its receptacle is the lungs, and is governed by Venus, some say by the Moon, perhaps it may be governed by them both, it is cold and moist in quality.

Melancholy is the sediment of blood, cold and dry in quality, fortifying the retentive faculty, and memory; makes men sober, solid, and staid, fit for study; stays the unbridled toys of lustful blood, stays the wandering thoughts, and reduces them home to the centre: its receptacle is in the spleen, and it is governed by Saturn.

Of all these humours blood is the chief, all the rest are superfluities of blood; yet are they necessary superfluities, for without any of them, man cannot live.

Namely; Choler is the fiery superfluities; Flegm, the Watery; Melancholy, the Earthly.

Animal.] The third principal virtue remains, which is Animal; its residence is in the brain, and Mercury is the general significator of it. Ptolomy held the Moon signified the Animal virtue; and I am of opinion, both Mercury and the Moon dispose it; and my reason is, 1, Because both of them in nativities, either fortify, or impedite it. 2, Ill directions to either, or from either, afflict it, as good ones help it. Indeed the Moon rules the bulk of it, as also the sensitive part of it: Mercury the rational part: and that’s the reason, if in a nativity the Moon be stronger than Mercury, sense many times over-powers reason; but if Mercury be strong, and the Moon weak, reason will be master ordinarily in despite of sense.

It is divided into Intellective, and Sensitive.

1. Intellective.] The Intellectual resides in the brain, within the Pia mater, is governed generally by Mercury.

It is divided into Imagination, Judgment, and Memory.

Imagination is seated in the forepart of the brain; it is hot and dry in quality, quick, active, always working; it receives vapours from the heart, and coins them into thoughts: it never sleeps, but always is working, both when the man is sleeping and waking; only when Judgment is awake it regulates the Imagination, which runs at random when Judgment is asleep, and forms any thought according to the nature of the vapour sent up to it. Mercury is out of question the disposer of it.

A man may easily perceive his Judgment asleep before himself many times, and then he shall perceive his thoughts run at random.

Judgment always sleeps when men do, Imagination never sleeps; Memory sometimes sleeps when men sleep, and sometimes it doth not: so then when memory is awake, and the man asleep, then memory remembers what apprehension coins, and that is a dream: The thoughts would have been the same, if memory had not been awake to remember it.

These thoughts are commonly (I mean in sleep, when they are purely natural,) framed according to the nature of the humour, called complexion, which is predominate in the body; and if the humour be peccant it is always so.

So that it is one of the surest rules to know a man’s own complexion, by his dreams, I mean a man void of distractions, or deep studies: (this most assuredly shews Mercury to dispose of the Imagination, as also because it is mutable, applying itself to any object, as Mercury’s nature is to do;) for then the imagination will follow its old bent; for if a man be bent upon a business, his apprehension will work as much when he is asleep, and find out as many truths by study, as when the man is awake; and perhaps more too, because then it is not hindered by ocular objects.

And thus much for imagination, which is governed by Mercury, and fortified by his influence; and is also strong or weak in man, according as Mercury is strong or weak in the nativity.

Judgment is seated in the midst of the brain, to shew that it ought to bear rule over all the other faculties: it is the judge of the little world, to approve of what is good, and reject what is bad; it is the seat of reason, and the guide of actions; so that all failings are committed through its infirmity, it not rightly judging between a real and an apparent good. It is hot and moist in quality, and under the influence of Jupiter.

Memory is seated in the hinder cell of the brain, it is the great register to the little world; and its office is to record things either done and past, or to be done.

It is in quality cold and dry, melancholic, and therefore generally melancholic men have best memories, and most tenacious every way. It is under the dominion of Saturn, and is fortified by his influence, but purged by the luminaries.

2. Sensitive.] The second part of the animal virtue, is sensitive, and it is divided into two parts, common and particular.

Common sense is an imaginary term, and that which gives virtue to all the particular senses, and knits and unites them together within the Pia Mater. It is regulated by Mercury, (perhaps this is one reason why men are so fickle-headed) and its office is to preserve a harmony among the senses.

Particular senses are five, viz. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling.

These senses are united in one, in the brain, by the common sense, but are operatively distinguished into their several seats, and places of residence.

The sight resides in the eyes, and particularly in the christaline humour. It is in quality cold and moist, and governed by the luminaries. They who have them weak in their genesis, have always weak sights; if one of them be so, the weakness possesses but one eye.

The hearing resides in the ears; is in quality, cold and dry, melancholy, and under the dominion of Saturn.

The smelling resides in the nose, is in quality hot and dry, choleric, and that is the reason choleric creatures have so good smells, as dogs. It is under the influence of Mars.

The taste resides in the palate, which is placed at the root of the tongue on purpose to discern what food is congruous for the stomach, and what not; as the meseraik veins are placed to discern what nourishment is proper for the liver to convert into blood. In some very few men, and but a few, and in those few, but in few instances these two tasters agree not, and that is the reason some men covet meats that make them sick, viz. the taste craves them, and the meseraik veins reject them: In quality hot and moist, and is ruled by Jupiter.

The feeling is deputed to no particular organ, but is spread abroad, over the whole body; is of all qualities, hot, cold, dry, and moist, and is the index of all tangible things; for if it were only hot alone, it could not feel a quality contrary, viz. cold, and this might be spoken of other qualities. It is under the dominion of Venus, some say, Mercury: A thousand to one, but it is under Mercury.

The four ADMINISTERING VIRTUES are, attractive, digestive, retentive, and expulsive.

The attractive virtue is hot and dry, hot by quality, active, or principal, and that appears because the fountain of all heat is attractive, viz. the sun. Dry by a quality passive, or an effect of its heat; its office is to remain in the body, and call for what nature wants.

It is under the influence of the Sun, say authors, and not under Mars, because he is of a corrupting nature, yet if we cast an impartial eye upon experience, we shall find, that martial men call for meat none of the least, and for drink the most of all other men, although many times they corrupt the body by it, and therefore I see no reason why Mars being of the same quality with the Sun, should not have a share in the dominion. It is in vain to object, that the influence of Mars is evil, and therefore he should have no dominion over this virtue; for then,

1. By the same rule, he should have no dominion at all in the body of man.

2. All the virtues in man are naturally evil, and corrupted by Adam’s fall.

This attractive virtue ought to be fortified when the Moon is in fiery signs, viz. Aries and Sagitary, but not in Leo, for the sign is so violent, that no physic ought to be given when the Moon is there: (and why not Leo, seeing that is the most attractive sign of all; and that’s the reason such as have it ascending in their genesis, are such greedy eaters.) If you cannot stay till the Moon be in one of them, let one of them ascend when you administer the medicine.

The digestive virtue is hot and moist, and is the principal of them all, the other like handmaids attend it.

The attractive virtue draws that which it should digest, and serves continually to feed and supply it.

The retentive virtue, retains the substance with it, till it be perfectly digested.

The expulsive virtue casteth out, expels what is superfluous by digestion. It is under the influence of Jupiter, and fortified by his herbs and plants, &c. In fortifying it, let your Moon be in Gemini, Aquary, or the first half of Libra, or if matters be come to that extremity, that you cannot stay till that time, let one of them ascend, but both of them together would do better, always provided that the Moon be not in the ascendent. I cannot believe the Moon afflicts the ascendent so much as they talk of, if she be well dignified, and in a sign she delights in.

The retentive virtue is in quality cold and dry; cold, because the nature of cold is to compress, witness the ice; dry, because the nature of dryness, is to keep and hold what is compressed. It is under the influence of Saturn, and that is the reason why usually Saturnine men are so covetous and tenacious. In fortifying of it, make use of the herbs and plants, &c. of Saturn, and let the Moon be in Taurus or Virgo, Capricorn is not so good, say authors, (I can give no reason for that neither;) let not Saturn nor his ill aspect molest the ascendent.

The expulsive faculty is cold and moist; cold because that compasses the superfluities; moist, because that makes the body slippery and fit for ejection, and disposes it to it. It is under the dominion of Luna, with whom you may join Venus, because she is of the same nature.

Also in whatsoever is before written, of the nature of the planets, take notice, that fixed stars of the same nature, work the same effect.

In fortifying this, (which ought to be done in all purgations,) let the Moon be in Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces, or let one of these signs ascend.

Although I did what I could throughout the whole book to express myself in such a language as might be understood by all, and therefore avoided terms of art as much as might be, Yet, 1. Some words of necessity fall in which need explanation. 2. It would be very tedious at the end of every receipt to repeat over and over again, the way of administration of the receipt, or ordering your bodies after it, or to instruct you in the mixture of medicines, and indeed would do nothing else but stuff the book full of tautology.

To answer to both these is my task at this time.

To the first: The words which need explaining, such as are obvious to my eye, are these that follow.

1. To distil in Balneo Mariæ, is the usual way of distilling in water. It is no more than to place your glass body which holds the matter to be distilled in a convenient vessel of water, when the water is cold (for fear of breaking) put a wisp of straw, or the like under it, to keep it from the bottom, then make the water boil, that so the spirit may be distilled forth; take not the glass out till the water be cold again, for fear of breaking: It is impossible for a man to learn how to do it, unless he saw it done.

2. Manica Hippocrates, Hippocrates’s sleeve, is a piece of woolen cloth, new and white, sewed together in form of a sugar-loaf. Its use is, to strain any syrup or decoction through, by pouring it into it, and suffering it to run through without pressing or crushing it.

3. Calcination, is a burning of a thing in a crucible or other such convenient vessel that will endure the fire. A crucible is such a thing as goldsmiths melt silver in, and founders metals; you may place it in the midst of the fire, with coals above, below, and on every side of it.

4. Filtrition, is straining of a liquid body through a brown paper: make up the paper in form of a funnel, the which having placed in a funnel, and the funnel and the paper in it in an empty glass, pour in the liquor you would filter, and let it run through at its leisure.

5. Coagulation, is curdling or hardening: it is used in physic for reducing a liquid body to hardness by the heat of the fire.

6. Whereas you find vital, natural, and animal spirits often mentioned in the virtues or receipts, I shall explain what they be, and what their operation is in the body of man.

The actions or operations of the animal virtues, are, 1. sensitive, 2. motive.

The sensitive is, 1. external, 2. internal.

The external senses are, 1. seeing, 2. hearing, 3. tasting, 4. smelling, 5. feeling.

The internal senses are, 1. the Imagination, to apprehend a thing. 2. Judgment, to judge of it. 3. Memory, to remember it.

The seat of all these is in the brain.

The vital spirits proceed from the heart, and cause in man mirth, joy, hope, trust, humanity, mildness, courage, &c. and their opposite: viz. sadness, fear, care, sorrow, despair, envy, hatred, stubbornness, revenge, &c. by heat natural or not natural.

The natural spirit nourishes the body throughout (as the vital quickens it, and the animal gives it sense and motion) its office is to alter or concoct food into chile, chile into blood, blood into flesh, to form, engender, nourish, and increase the body.

7. Infusion, is to steep a gross body into one more liquid.

8. Decoction, is the liquor in which any thing is boiled.

As for the manner of using or ordering the body after any sweating, or purging medicines, or pills, or the like, they will be found in different parts of the work, as also in the next page.

The different forms of making up medicines, as some into syrups, others into electuaries, pills, troches, &c. was partly to please the different palates of people, that so medicines might be more delightful, or at least less burdensome. You may make the mixtures of them in what form you please, only for your better instruction at present, accept of these few lines.

1. Consider, that all diseases are cured by their contraries, but all parts of the body maintained by their likes: then if heat be the cause of the disease, give the cold medicine appropriated to it; if wind, see how many medicines appropriated to that disease expel wind, and use them.

2. Have a care you use not such medicines to one part of your body which are appropriated to another, for if your brain be over heated, and you use such medicines as cool the heart or liver, you may make bad work.

3. The distilled water of any herb you would take for a disease, is a fit mixture for the syrup of the same herb, or to make any electuary into a drink, if you affect such liquid medicines best; if you have not the distilled water, make use of the decoction.

4. Diseases that lie in the parts of the body remote from the stomach and bowels, it is in vain to think to carry away the cause at once, and therefore you had best do it by degrees; pills, and such like medicines which are hard in the body, are fittest for such a business, because they are longest before they digest.

5. Use no strong medicines, if weak will serve the turn, you had better take one too weak by half, than too strong in the least.

6. Consider the natural temper of the part of the body afflicted, and maintain it in that, else you extinguish nature, as the heart is hot, the brain cold, or at least the coldest part of the body.

7. Observe this general rule; That such medicines as are hot in the first degree are most habitual to our bodies, because they are just of the heat of our blood.

8. All opening medicines, and such as provoke urine or the menses, or break the stone, may most conveniently be given in white wine, because white wine of itself is of an opening nature, and cleanses the veins.

9. Let all such medicines as are taken to stop fluxes or looseness, be taken before meat, about an hour before, more or less, that so they may strengthen the digestion and retentive faculty, before the food come into the stomach, but such as are subject to vomit up their meat, let them take such medicines as stay vomiting presently after meat, at the conclusion of their meals, that so they may close up the mouth of the stomach; and that is the reason why usually men eat a bit of cheese after meat, because by its sourness and binding it closes the mouth of the stomach, thereby staying belching and vomiting.

10. In taking purges be very careful, and that you may be so, observe these rules.

(1.) Consider what the humour offending is, and let the medicine be such as purges that humour, else you will weaken nature, not the disease.

(2.) Take notice, if the humour you would purge out be thin, then gentle medicines will serve the turn, but if it be tough and viscous, then such medicines as are cutting and opening, the night before you would take the purge.

(3.) In purging tough humours, forbear as much as may be such medicines as leave a binding quality behind them.

(4.) Have a care of taking purges when your body is astringent; your best way, is first to open it by a clyster.

(5.) In taking opening medicines, you may safely take them at night, eating but a little supper three or four hours before, and the next morning drinking a draught of warm posset-drink, and you need not fear to go about your business. In this manner you may take Lenitive Electuary, Diacatholicon, Pulp of Cassia, and the like gentle electuaries, as also all pills that have neither Diagrydium nor Colocynthus, in them. But all violent purges require a due ordering of the body; such ought to be taken in the morning after you are up, and not to sleep after them before they are done working, at least before night: two hours after you have taken them, drink a draught of warm posset-drink, or broth, and six hours after eat a bit of mutton, often walking about the chamber; let there be a good fire in the chamber, and stir not out of the chamber till the purge have done working, or not till next day.

Lastly, Take sweating medicines when you are in bed, covered warm, and in the time of your sweating drink posset-drink as hot as you can. If you sweat for a fever, boil sorrel and red sage in your posset-drink, sweat an hour or longer if your strength will permit, then (the chamber being kept very warm) shift yourself all but your head, about which (the cap which you sweat in being still kept on) wrap a napkin very hot, to repel the vapours back.

I confess these, or many of these directions may be found in one place of the book or other, and I delight as little to write tautology as another, but considering it might make for the public good, I inserted them in this place: if, notwithstanding, any will be so mad as to do themselves a mischief, the fault is not mine.