INTRODUCTION 1 . 



Draughts are only little juleps, with more powerful ingre- 

 dients added to them. An ounce and half of a simple water, 

 three drachms of a strong water, one drachm of a syrup, 

 and forty drops of a tincture, make a draught ; but to these 

 may be added a simple of some power, to increase the vir- 

 tue. What waters, tinctures, syrups, or powders, shall be 

 used, will be determined from the case itself. 



Boluses are made with these powders in a certain dose. 

 A scruple, or half a drachm, is made into a sort of paste 

 with syrup. The common custom is to cover it with a 

 little leaf-gold, but this is better let alone : some use leaf- 

 brass, which is very pernicious. 



Electuaries are to be made of powders, conserves, and 

 syrups ; they differ from boluses in this, as well as in the 

 size, that the dose is smaller, although the piece taken be 

 as large ; which is owing to the conserve, that having in 

 general little virtue in comparison of the other ingredients. 

 This is the form most convenient for medicines that are to 

 be taken for a continuance of time, and the dose of which 

 needs not be so very punctually regarded. 



Thus, for an electuary against an hnbitual looseness, when 

 it exceeds the proper bounds ; mix together an ounce of 

 conserve of Red Roses, and six drachms of syrup of Cloves; 

 add to these, two drachms of powdered Bistort root, one 

 drachm of powdered Tormentil, and half a drachm of 

 toasted Rhubarb. This makes an electuary, a piece of 

 which, of the bigness of a nutmeg, taken once in two days, 

 will check the abundance of stools, without stopping the 

 customary looseness entirely : it will also be a pleasant 

 medicine. If a draught of tincture of Roses be taken after 

 this, it will increase the power. 



In this manner any person may supply the place of the 

 apothecary, to those who could not afford such assistance : 

 and experience is so good a guide, that they will be able in 

 most cases to save the expense of the doctor also ; with 

 very little danger of doing harm. The Galenical physic, 

 perhaps, will be found effectual in many more cases, by 

 those who stick to it solely, than they are aware who do 

 not use it : as to the mischief of medicine, that is almost 

 entirely chemical. It would be idle to say that chemical 

 medicines do not do great good ; but they require to be in 

 skilful hands : when the ignorant employ them, death is 

 more likely to be the consequence, than relief from the 

 disorder any other way. 



One useful observation may serve well to close this In- 

 troduction. Opiums, and medicines of that kind, to com- 

 pose persons to rest and to take off pain, will be often ne- 

 cessary ; but as they are the most powerful medicines the 

 family practitioner will have to do with, they are the most 

 capable of doing harm : the greatest care will therefore be 

 required in the right usa of them. 



As there are three different preparations described in this 

 book for answering this purpose, beside the opium, and that 

 solution of it in wine which is called laudanum ; these two 

 latter should be used very seldom. A syrup made of the 

 juice of the wild Lettuce, is an excellent medicine ; the 

 syrup of Diacodium, which is made of a strong decoction 

 of Poppy heads, is a little stronger than this ; and if some- 

 thing more powerful than these is required, there is the 

 Asthmatic Elixir. One or other of these may almost on 

 every occasion serve the purpose ; and it is almost impos- 

 sible that the use of them should be attended with danger. 

 Let opium or laudanum therefore be very rarely used ; 

 perhaps it might be well to say, not used at all ; for the 

 others will be able in almost all cases, if not universally to 

 answer the purpose. 



Concerning the Virtues of Plants which have not yet been tried. 



THE number of English plants, whose virtues are ascer- 

 tained, scarcely exceeds one thousand, while the catalogue 

 of those which are natives of our own country, as published 

 by Mr. Ray, amounts to many thousands : great numbers 

 therefore remain yet untried, and present an ample field for 

 our researches. 



To what purpose can a man devote the hours of his lei- 

 sure better, than to the discovering, among the number of 

 'the unregarded, virtues which may farther supply the cata- 

 logue of our own remedies, and make the roots and seeds 

 brought from remote countries less necessary ? What er 

 couragement to the attempt, that there are such multitude 

 of objects for the trial ! and that the discovering but one 

 remedy among them all, for a disease we knew not how so 

 well to cure before, is a source of more true honour, tliim 

 can be derived from all the useless knowledge in the world. 



If any suppose the trial dangerous, they mislead them- 

 selves; and to encourage so laudable an undertaking, let 

 it be observed, how little is the hazard, and how consider- 

 able the advantages, from what we know already. 



If a man were to be turned loose upon an island where 

 no person had set foot before, he might dread to taste of 

 any plant he saw, because he might not know but every 

 one he saw was fatal : and supposing him to have got 

 over this fear, the ignorance of the virtues of all would keep 

 him backward : but this is not at all the case with him 

 who shall at this time set about inquiring into the virtues 

 of plants in England. The poisonous plants, native of our 

 soil, are hardly a dozen, and these are charactered even to 

 the eye, by something singular or dismal in the aspect. 

 They are well known, and he has nothing to do but to 

 avoid them. For the rest, he has so many, whose uses and 

 qualities are already perfectly known, that he has a great 

 foundation to go upon in the search, because he can com- 

 pare those he does not know with them. Their tastes will 

 go a great way toward informing him : but this is not all, 

 their very outward figures will direct him ; for in general 

 those plants which agree in the external aspect, agree like- 

 wise in their virtues. 



To give an instance in the MarshmaDow. It is known to 

 work by urine, and to be good against the gravel. We will 

 suppose no more known concerning this kind. A person 

 desirous of extending this useful knowledge, finds that by 

 the taste of the root, which is insipid, and its mucilaginous 

 quality, he might have guessed this to be its virtue, from 

 what he before knew of medicine. The next plant he 

 meets, we will suppose is the common Mallow, and after- 

 wards the little wliite-flowered Mallow, which lies upon 

 the ground ; he tnstes the roots of these, and he finds they 

 are like the other : he will therefore guess that they have 

 the same virtues, and upon trial he will find it is so. 



But this is not all : if he had examined the Hower of the 

 Marshmallow, in what manner it was constructed, and how 

 the little threads grew within it, he would have found that 

 the flowers of these other two Mallows were, in all respects, 

 like those of the other; and farther, he would have found, 

 that the seeds of these two kinds were in the same manner 

 disposed in circular bodies : from this, he might, without 

 tasting their roots, have been led to guess that their vir- 

 tues were the same : or having guessed so much from this, 

 he might have been thence led to taste them, and by that 

 have been confirmed in it : but he might be carried far- 

 ther ; he would find the same sort of round cluster* of 

 j feeds in the Hollyhock in his garden ; and upon examining 



