2nd g. V. 126., Mav 29. '58.1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



4iS 



once sifTtiified "res ad medicinam spectantes;" and 

 " speciator," or " speclalis," a chemist and drug- 

 gist. " Quoniam necessarium est quod medici- 

 nalia a spetialihus et aromatariis administrentur," 

 " Speciatores operent secundum quod eis pra^cepit 

 Antidotarius, vel secundum quod visum fuerit 

 medico competenti." In short, a knowledge of 

 spieery was a knowledge of pharmaceutics. " Spe- 

 ciehis quoque et antidotis et prognosticis Hippo- 

 cratis singulariter erat instructus." 



Hence, to come to particulars, for a dose : 

 '• When you haue sliced your Rhabarb .... seeth 

 .... and when it is cold put thereto .... cina- 

 mom and clones " QNew Counsell against the Pesti- 

 lence). 



For pills : " Cinamom one dram, Ginger halfe 

 a scruple." 



For an oil (to be dropped into the ear), with 

 other ingredients, " Clones, and a lytle musket 



For a suffumigacio : " Frankenseiise, Cinaber, 

 Antimonie, Clones, and such lyke." 



And in like manner, which is still more to our 

 present purpose, for external applications, such as 

 ointments, plasters, and salves : — 



For an oyntment, wherewith to " anoynt the re- 

 gion of the heart," " Cinnamom, Clones, Lauen- 

 der flowers," &c. And again : " Nutmegges one 

 ounce, Clones and Cinamom, of eche halfe an 



ounce With the same oyle you may anoynt 



your teples and nostrels." 



For a plaster, in HoUerius, amongst other in- 

 gredients, " piper niger et aU)us [ ! ] amomum, xylo- 

 balsamum, myrrha." Well may he add, " sufficit 

 ad emplastrum." 



And again, for a plaster or salve, myrrh, pepper, 

 " ac condita ai'omutibns," 



Spices, then (" species, aromata, Gallis espices"), 

 and spices not only administered in doses, but 

 applied externally in oyntments, plasters, and salves, 

 were a chosen weapon with which the leech of 

 mediaeval times combated the dart of Death. Be 

 it observed, too, that spices were the choice and 

 more cosily medicaments, those which were ad- 

 ministered to patients who paid the best. Hence 

 the sarcastic couplet : — 



" Pro solis verbis montanis utimur herbis ; 

 Pro caris rebus, piffmentis et speciebus." 



(" Pigmentum, Gallice epice.'' Pigmentum, which 

 afterwards became pimentum, seems to have been 

 originally picumentum : — 



" Et de picumens y ot assez." 



The pigmentarius was the apwfiaroirccXris, or phar- 

 macopola). 



Hence it is that Chaucer employs the word 

 spiced, where we should say salved. The word 

 salved, indeed, is used by Chaucer himself, but in 

 a different sense. To "salue" is with him to 

 salute; "saluings" are salutations. For a con- 

 science medicated but not purged, he says not, as 



we should say, a salved conscience, but a spiced 

 conscience. The good " personne" made himself 

 "no spiced conscience." He did not spice (i. e. 

 salve) his conscience with feigned excuses and 

 evasive pleas, but did his duty faithfully, without 

 fear or favour. 



Canhedort. — 

 " But now to j'ou, ye lovirs that bin here, 

 Was Troilus not in a cankedort. 

 That lay, and might the whispring of 'hem here ? " 

 Troil. and Cres. ii. 1751-3. 



Troilus in a cankedort was probably Troilus in, 

 a kinked ort ; that is, in an entangled or embarrassed 

 sitvMtion, in afix. 



Ort is a very old German word, signifying a 

 place, situation, or position. Conf. in Sc, airt. 



To kink, as pointed out in Bell's Annotated Edi- 

 tion of Chaucer, signi6es to entangle. The first 

 syllable of kinked acquiring the French pronun- 

 ciation, not at all an unlikely thing in Chaucer's 

 days, kinked would become kanked or canked. 

 Hence canked ort, or cankedort. 



It should also be mentioned, by way of illustra- 

 tion, that kink is the spontaneous complication of 

 a rope, when it twists upon itself. The term is 

 nautical (in Fr. " coque dans les cordages," Fal 

 coner, edit. Burney). Kink occurs in the Danish 

 language, and also in the Swedish. A rope thus 

 screwed is said to be kinked. If a kinked rope is 

 running through a pulley, when the kink reaches 

 the pulley the rope will run no farther, — it is in a 

 fix. So was Troilus. Thomas Bots. 



Forms of Civility. — In the fourth of the dia- 

 logues which form the second part of Mandeville's 

 Fable of the Bees, the following passage occurs, 

 as an explanation of the rationale of forms of 

 civility : — 



" All those postures and flexions of body and limbs 

 had, in all probability, their rise from the adulation that 

 was paid to conquerors and tjTants, who, having every- 

 body to fear, were always alarmed at the least shadow of 

 opposition, and never better pleased than with submissive 

 and defenceless postures : and you see that they have all 

 a tendency that way; they promise security, and are 

 silent endeavours to ease and rid them, not only of their 

 fears, but likewise every suspicion of harm approaching 

 them ; such as lying prostrate on our faces, touching the 

 ground with our heads, kneeling, bowing low, laying our 

 hands upon our breasts, or holding them behind us, fold- 

 ing our arms together, and all the cringing that can be 

 made to demonstrate that we neither indulge our ease, 

 nor stand upon our guard. These are evident signs, and 

 convincing proofs to a superior that we have a mean opi - 

 nion of ourselves in respect to him, that we are at his 

 mercy, and have no thought to resist, much less to attack 

 him ; and, therefore, it is highly probable that saying, 

 your servant, and pulling off the hat, were at first demon- 

 strations of obedience to those that claimed it." 



There can be no doubt that the forms of civility, 



