APPENDIX. 373 



of which little mention has been made here, be- 

 cause the attention has not been turned upon novel- 

 ty, but use, being found to belong' to a kind of milk- 

 wort, or polygala. The roots of the common 

 milkwort of our pastures being tried, have been 

 found to possess the same virtues, though in a 

 less degree. This plant would not have been re- 

 garded, if the other had not been found to be of 

 the same kind ; but to that we owe the knowledge of 

 its virtues. 



There is a great reason for seeking in our own 

 climate, plants of the same nature, and form, and 

 kind, with those which in other countries afford 

 us remedies ; that they are generally of the same 

 kind, and may be litter for our constitutions. This 

 is certain, that as the sun ripens the juices of plants in 

 hotter countries to mere virtue than with us, so it 

 make men's constitutions more able to bear their 

 effects. 



The Chinese will swallow such doses as are 

 poison to one of us. This we know in many in- 

 stances, and it ought to encourage us in the pre- 

 sent research ; because, it the same doses which 

 agree with them, are too much for us ; we may 

 also find, that other medicines, of the same kind 

 of virtues, though in a less degree, may also 

 be found to agree better with our constitutions. 

 I would not carry so far as some have done, that 

 opinion of nature's having provided in every 

 country the remedies for the diseases of that coun- 

 try : God is the author of nature, and he know- 

 ing there would be commerce among mankind, 

 knew that would not be necessary. But not- 

 withstanding that it may be necessary in some 

 casts, and convenient in manv, for us to have drugs 

 from abroad, yet in general it will be better for us 

 to be cured by those herbs we may find at home ; 



