[281]. We trust these observations will not create any alarm in the worthy Citizen; he may, with as much safety as pleasure, continue the laudable practice of regaling himself and friends with a cup of strong tea, in spite of the Turtle soup they may have taken, and that too without the least danger of converting their stomachs into tanneries, or their food into leather.
[282]. For a highly ingenious, and important extension of these views, see Aqua Marina. (Note.)
[283]. M. Dive, an apothecary of Mont de Marson, has lately announced that a current of carbonic acid, when passed through a solution of Tartrate of Potass, partly decomposes it; and he ascribes to the same agent the production of the Bi-tartrate in the juice of the grape during its fermentation: accordingly, by mixing neutral tartrate with fermentable materials, we shall produce Cream of Tartar in the fermented liquor. Journal de Pharm. Octob. 1821. p. 487.
[284]. In one remarkable case related by this Physician, the operation of the unbruised mustard-seed is stated to have been promoted by combining it with a decoction of Broom-tops. Query, Was not the adjunct in this case the only efficient part of the remedy?
[285]. The word “Venenum,” was employed by the ancients to signify both a poison and a medicine; in the former of these acceptations it is used by Virgil in the following passage:
“Picus equum domitor, quem capta cupidine conjunx
Aurea percussum virga, versumque VENENIS,
Fecit avem Circe, sparsitque coloribus alas.”
Æneid. Lib. vii.
In the latter sense it is used by Plautus—