40 



INTRODUCTION. 



has in a manner dried them to our hands : for they are not 

 to be gathered till perfectly ripe, and then they need very 

 little farther care. They are only to be spread for three or 

 four days upon a clean floor, where the air has free pas- 

 sage, but where the sun does not come ; and they are then 

 ready to be put up. 



The seeds used in medicine, may be referred to three 

 general kinds. They either grow in naked heads or umbels, 

 as in Fennel, Parsley, and the like ; or in pods, as in Mus- 

 tard and Cresses ; or in large fleshy fruits, as in Melon and 

 Cucumbers. In each case they must be left upon the plant 

 till perfectly ripe ; then they are only to be shook from the 

 heads upon the floor, or if in pods, a smart stroke or two 

 of the plant upon the floor, when they are thoroughly ripe, 

 will dislodge them. In the other case, the fruit must be 

 cut open, and they must be taken out from among the wet 

 matter, separated from the membranes that are about them, 

 and spread upon a table, in a dry place, where they must 

 be often turned and rubbed as they grow dry, that in the 

 end they may be perfectly dry and clean. 



Among the roots, a great many may be used fresh, but a 

 greater number are best dried. The black and white Briony, 

 the Arum, and some others, lose all their virtues in drying ; 

 and many that retain some, yet lose the greater part of it : 

 there are others which are excellent, both fresh and dried, 

 as the Marshmallow and some more. 



As. to the few which lose their virtue entirely in drying, 

 it will be best to keep some of them always in the garden, 

 that they may be taken up as they are wanted. The others 

 are to be managed according to their several natures, and 

 they do a great deal towards furnishing the druggist's shop, 

 which should be filled with medicines, the produce of our 

 own country. 



The best season for gathering roots for drying, is in the 

 early part of the spring : what nature does for plants when 

 they are just going to flower, she doe's for roots when the 

 leaves are just going to bud ; the juices are rich, fresh, and 

 full, and the virtue is strongest in them at this season ; 

 therefore they are to be then taken up. 



In the end of February and the beginning of March, the 

 ground should be searched for the first budding of leaves, 

 and the roots taken up. They are to be wiped clean, not 

 washed ; and, according to their several natures, prepared 

 for drying. 



Some are full of a mucilaginous juice, as Marshmallow, and 

 above all other roots, the Squill, and in some degree many 

 others of that kind ; these must be cut into thin slices cross- 

 wise, and they will dry best if laid upon a hair-cloth stretched 

 across a frame. They must be frequently turned, and be 

 very thoroughly dry before they are put up, else they will 

 become mouldy ; but, rightly prepared, they keep very well. 



Other roots have juices that evaporate more easily. These 

 have the virtue either throughout the whole substance, or 

 only in the outer part, and they are to be prepared according- 

 ly. When roots are of one uniform substance, they gene- 

 rally hare the virtue equal, or nearly so, in all parts. These 

 should be split open lengthwise, first cutting off the head, 

 and the little end ; or if considerably thick, they may be 

 quartered ; when this is done, they are to be strung upon 

 a line, by drawing a needle, threaded with a small twine, 

 through their thickest part, and they are then to be hung 

 up to dry in the manner of the herbs ; the line being 

 stretched across a room, the doors and windows of which 

 tire to be kept open in good weather. 



When roots consist of a sort of thick rind, or fleshy sub- 

 Stance within the rind, and a hard sticky part in the middle, 



this fleshy substance under it possesses all the virtues ; the 

 hard inner substance having none : in this case, the root is 

 to be split longwise as before, and the hard woody part is 

 to be taken out and thrown away : the rest is to be strung, 

 as before described, and dried in the same manner. 



When roots consist of fibres, these are generally connect- 

 ed to a head, if it be ever so small, and the best method ig 

 to split this in two, and then string up the separate parts 

 for drying. 



It is needless to enumerate the examples of the several 

 kinds of roots here ; they follow in their places : but if 

 charitable people would, on first looking over this book to 

 see what are most useful, order their gardener to take out 

 of his ground, and to seek in the fields the several roots 

 there mentioned, and see them dried and preserved accord- 

 ing to these directions, they would be possessed of a set of 

 drugs of a new kind indeed ; but they would save the price 

 of many brought from other countries, and might be used 

 with less danger. 



The barks of trees make but a small part of the English 

 drugs, and most of them are best fresh ; but such as will 

 preserve and retain their virtues dried, are very easily pre- 

 pared that way : nothing more is required than to cut them 

 into moderate pieces, and string them up in the same man- 

 ner as the roots. When they are dry, they are to be put up 

 as the others, and they will keep ever so long ; but in all 

 this time they are for the most part losing their virtues. 



It may be prudent to preserve drugs brought from abroad 

 a great while, because of their price ; but as these cost only 

 the trouble of gathering and preserving them, it is advisable 

 that the whole shop be renewed every year ; what is left 

 of the old parcel of every kind, being thrown away as 

 the fresh one is collected in its season. 



The place for keeping these should be a dry room, neither 

 damp nor hot ; and they should now and then be looked at, 

 to see that they are in order ; that they do not grow mouldy 

 or smell musty through damp, or become lighter, and lose 

 their virtue by too much heat. 



It may be proper just to mention, that the woods which 

 we use are best kept in the block, and shaved off as they 

 are wanted ; for being kept in shavings, they lose their 

 virtue : and in the same manner as to the foreign woods, 

 it is best to keep a block of Sassafrass, and of Lignum 

 Vita?, in the house, and cut them as they are wanted. 



As to the excrescences, such as the galls of the Oak, and 

 the burr upon the wild Briar, they are naturally so dry, 

 that they only require to be exposed a few days to the air 

 upon a table ; and then they may be put up with safety, 

 and will keep a long time. 



Lastly, the Funguses, such as Jew's-ears, and the like, 

 are to be gathered when they are full grown, and strung 

 upon a line : they must dry leisurely, or else they spoil : 

 they must be very well dried before they are put up, else 

 they will grow mouldy in damp weather ; and if once that 

 happen, no art can recover their virtues. 



Thus may a druggist's shop of a new kind be filled, and 

 it will consist of as many articles as those which receive 

 their furniture from abroad ; and there will be this advant- 

 age in having every thing ready ; that when custom has 

 made the virtues of the several things familiar, any person 

 may do from his judgment as the physician in his prescrip- 

 tion mix several things of like virtue together, and not 

 depend upon the virtues of any one singly, when the case 

 requires something of power. These roots and barks pow- 

 dered, will make as handsome and as efficacious boluses 

 and mixtures as any furnished by the apothecary. 



