Take of the Juice of Alchermes five Ounces; Cloves two Ounces and a Half; Musk and Ambergrise, of each Half a Dram; Loaf Sugar ten Pounds; Proof Spirit eleven Gallons; digest the whole a Fortnight in a close Vessel, and filter thro’ a Flannel Bag for use. Some add thirty Leaves of Gold; but the Medicine is not at all the better for it.
Either of the above Recipes will produce an excellent Cordial; good in Tremblings, Faintings, and Lowness of Spirits, &c. Also in Nauseas and Griping Pains of the Stomach and Bowels.
CHAP. LIV.
Of Cardamum, or All-fours.
This Water has its Name from the four Ingredients in its Composition; and in some Countries is greatly used by the poorer Sort of People.
Recipe for making ten Gallons of Cardamum.
Take of Pimento, Caraway and Coriander-seeds, and Lemon-peel, of each three Pounds; of Malt Spirits eleven Gallons; Water three Gallons. Draw off with a gentle Fire, dulcify with ordinary Sugar, and make up the Goods, to the Strength you desire with clean Water.
This is rarely called for unless by the poor Sort of People, who are induced to use it from its Cheapness; tho’ it is a better Cordial than many drawn from dearer Ingredients. It is an excellent Carminative, and is often sold for Aqua Mirabilis.
CHAP. LV.
Of Geneva.
There was formerly kept in the Apothecaries Shops a distilled spirituous Water of Juniper; but the Vulgar being fond of it as a Dram, the Distillers supplanted the Apothecaries, and sold it under the Name of Geneva. The common Sort however is not made from Juniper-berries as it ought to be, but from Oil of Turpentine; the Method of which we shall give in the Sequel of this Chapter.
Juniper-berries are a roundish Fruit, of the Size of a Pea. They wither and wrinkle in the drying, and we meet with them variously corrugated, and usually covered with a bluish resinous Dust when fresh. They should be chosen fresh, plump, full of Pulp, and of a strong Taste and Smell. They are usually imported from Germany, tho’ we have plenty of the Trees in England. It is but small with us, rarely rising to more than three or four Feet in Height, and scarce ever exceeding five or six. Some of the Juniper Shrubs are Males, some Females of the same Species; the Male Shrubs produce in April or May a small Kind of Juli with Apices on them very large, and full of Farina; the Females produce none of these Juli but only the Berries, which do not ripen till the second Year, and then do not immediately fall off, so that it is no uncommon thing to see three Sets of Berries, or the Berries of three different Years at once on the same Tree.