Mr. G.——’s Shop.
Paracelsus without its powders or gums.
Oxycroceum of a dark colour.
Diascordium of a thin substance.
Gascoin’s powder without bezoar. [This was the compound powder of crabs’ claws much used in measles, smallpox, and all spotted fevers. It contained in addition to bezoar and crabs’ eyes, red coral, white amber, hart’s horn philosophically prepared, and jelly of English vipers’ skins.]
London Laudanum hard, without smell or colour.
Pil. ex duobus without the oil of cloves. [This was reckoned one of the best and most general pills in the Dispensatory, being strong but yet safe. It was especially useful against scurvy, dropsy, and gout. It consisted of colocynth, scammony, and cloves.]
Mr. S——’s Shop.
Diascordium of a thin body without the gums.
Mithridate no colour of saffron. [This was the remedy par excellence until the middle of the eighteenth century. It was said to owe its name to Mithridates, King of Pontus and Bithynia, who invented it. Like Diascordium it was an electuary, though it was more complex, for it contained over fifty ingredients. Mithridate was reputed to cure the bites and stings of any poisonous animal. It expelled poison and cured nearly every disease. It was not only a cure, but a preservative against the plague and all pestilential and infectious fevers.]