Take Flowers of Brimstone [(a)], Salt Petre purified, of each Half an Ounce; good White Precipitate [(b)], two Drams; Benzoin or Benjamin, a Dram.
Beat the Benjamin and Salt-Petre a good while in a Brass Mortar, till they are reduced into a very fine Powder, then mix the Flower of Brimstone and White Precipitate with them and keep this Powder for Use.
At Martinico when I had occasion to make use of it, I incorporated it with Butter of Chocolate; but in France, I substitute the best-scented Jessamin Pomatum: This Smell, joined with that of Benjamin, corrects the Smell of the Brimstone, which some Persons abhor.
I cannot sufficiently recommend this Pomatum, which always succeeds well, and I have often found it beneficial when every thing else fail’d.
You must not wonder if on the first, and sometimes the second Day, the Tettar seems more lively, or the Complection more dull; it is a sign that the Malignity is drawn out, and that the Seeds of it are destroy’d: you must therefore take heed of desisting, for the Skin in a little Time will be render’d as even and smooth as you can desire.
[(a)] To wit, those that are made in Holland, if they can be got.
[(b)] To know if the Precipitate be good, you may do thus; Put a little upon a live Coal, if it flies away, it is good; if it stays behind, it is nothing but powder’d Ceruss, or some such thing.
FINIS.