PREFACE. 



MANKIND are fubjed to innu- 

 merable difeafes, from which 

 other animals are exempted. But 

 from whence do thefe difeafes arife ? 

 From the feeds of mortality in the 

 human frame ? From luxury and in- 

 temperance ? Or from an indifcreet 

 ufe of vegetable and mineral poi- 

 fons in the preparation of our food ? 

 — From the laft of thefe fources we 

 certainly derive many troublefome, 

 and fometimes fatal diforders : fo 

 that, on many occasions, w^e may 

 exclaim wath the fons of the pro- 

 phets% ^^ There is death in the 

 pot!- 



* a Kings iv. 40. 



The 



