128 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



a recipe for Spiritus Ambrcc (p. 36), he says, "If a 

 few grains of civet be added to the composition, the 

 tincture will be yet richer, for that the bodies of the 

 musk and amber will be thereby more admirably 

 opened, it being a more excellent and volatile 

 sulphur." In another recipe he repeats the addition, 

 " Where note, that the civet and spirit of roses are 

 added, the better to open the bodies of the other 

 perfumes;" and, again, in the Tinctura Ambrccgrisa, 

 (p. 220), " civit and burning spirit of roses are added, 

 the better to open the bodies of the other perfumes." 

 Among other prescriptions Salmon also inserts musk 

 and civet in the following : 



The "most odoriferous essence," Esscntiis Regia, 

 m. 157), recommended as "a great cardiack . . . 

 and takes away fainting and swooning fits . . . and 

 they who love tobacco may perfume their tobacco 

 with the same." 



The "excellent cosmetick," Tinctura Amygdaloides 

 (pp. 17 1-2), which was warranted to cure asthma, 

 erysipelas, sore eyes, and all manner of skin eruptions. 



The "admirable pulmonick," Flores benzoitii, 



tions from the resemblance of the noise of coughing 

 and husky speaking to that of a dog's voice, and that 

 the names misled our too literal founders of modern 

 physic into the ascription of kindred (and thereby 

 curative) qualities to the dog itself and things 

 doggy. 



At any rate the Album gracutn and similar prepara- 

 tions for a long while possessed a high value in the 

 laboratory, and, in reputed cures for all kinds of 

 cynanche, were of frequent, almost constant, occur- 

 rence. The excrement was preferred of a dry 

 character and white colour, and generally underwent 

 a preparation to modify its repulsiveness. Bate 

 fairly teems with instances of its use from which I 

 quote the following : 



Linctus synanchicus (p. 616), " a lambative for the 

 quinsie," included six drams of this ingredient, finely 

 powdered. Salmon evidently approved of it, for he 

 repeated the dose — a spoonful — " every hour, or hour- 

 and-half at farthest, till the .distemper seems to be 

 alleviated." 



Gargarisma svnanchium (p. 675), included six 



Fig. 76. — Hedgehog. 



Fig. 77. — Seal. 



which, its author rather unfortunately tells us, "helps 

 deafness, noise and pains in the ears," &c; and 

 other recipes (pp. 377-82). 



Dog. — One of the most remarkable of former 

 remedies, and one held in great repute for disorders 

 of the throat, was the feces of dogs. This reputation 

 perhaps arose from the premise that such complaints 

 were very prevalent among the dog kind, and from a 

 belief in the ancient maxim — so often applied in the 

 healing art — that like will conquer like : the " hair 

 of the dog that bit you " principle. But it is 

 possible that the origin of this remedy had a still 

 more frail foundation. Cynanche (literally dog- 

 strangle), was the generic name given to sore throat, 

 mumps, quinsy, and other ailments of the cervical 

 region, and cynanchica were the medicines applied 

 for their relief. Hooper derives these names "from 

 dogs being said to be subject " to the said affections 

 (pp. 247 and 595) ; but he probably indicates their 

 true origin when he observes that in C. trachialis (or 

 croup), the patient utters a sound " something 

 between the yelping and barking of a dog." It is 

 likely that the ancients adopted these canine designa- 



drams of the white preparation. It was nominally 

 "for a quinsie," but, we learn, also "good against 

 ulcers of the mouth, thrushes, &c." 



Emplastrum synanchicum (p. 703), included six 

 ounces of the white kind, powdered, and mixed with 

 oil of roses, flour, wax, and honey. It was "applied 

 to the jugular and parts of the neck below the ears, 

 where the pain is." 



Cataplastna synanchicum (p. 705), "a pultice for a 

 quinsey," included one ounce, white, mixed with 

 conserve of roses and syrup of meconium (poppy 

 juice). It was "to be applied under the chin, from 

 ear to ear, after blood-letting." 



Early in the present century, however, Hooper 

 speaks with some shame of the use of this unsavoury 

 nostrum. It was, he writes (p. 29), "formerly 

 applied as a discutient to the inside of the throat in 

 quinsies, being first mixed with honey ; " but adds, 

 " medicines of this kind have long since justly sunk 

 into disuse." 



The bones of the dog were utilised where animal 

 salts or "spirits" were required. Dog's fat was 

 thought to possess some virtue in colics, and portions 

 of their hair or flesh, or the whole carcase were 



