INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 63 



" Oh, he died in phyfic;" if I wondered, it was 

 becaufe I heard fucli news fo feldom. 



To return to the purging receipts in Mr, 

 Taplin's book, many of them are liable to 

 considerable objection; fome are very injudi- 

 cious and incongruous compofitions. Thofe 

 intended againft worms, are very needlefsly 

 compofed of Barbadoes aloes, and other rough 

 and dangerous articles, too probable to annoy 

 the Horfe as well as the vermin, He has 

 ordered an addition of two drachms and a half 

 of calomel to purge, No. 3. which already 

 contained common aloes and diagridium ; and 

 yet he had in his obfervations (page 5.) made 

 a violent outcry becaufe Gibfon prefcribed 

 half an ounce of calomel in a fingle ball. 

 zEthiop's mineral and fulphur, alfo jalap and 

 India rhubarb, we find frequently jumbled 

 together, I fuppofe for the fake of variety and 

 (hew. Such mode of prefcription is no doubt 

 original ; at any rate it was neither purloined 

 from Gibfon, Bracken, or Bartlet. The India 

 rhubarb appears to me to contain (I caution 

 the reader that I am fpeaking without autho- 

 rity) a good deal of refin, fimilar in quality 

 and effects to that of jalap. I have frequently 

 witneffed a confiderable degree of naufea and 

 diforder, both in human and brute patients, 

 from taking this inferior kind of rhubarb; and 

 cannot help apprehending that thofe gentle- 

 men. 



