22 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



through the whole body, to counteract 

 its defects we become acquainted with 

 its USES. For it may happen that a 

 Medicine properly prepared, and given 

 in proper quantity, is, nevertheless, rather 

 harmful than curative, in certain diseases ; 

 and therefore we must discover the con- 

 ditions under which alone it is likely to 

 be beneficial. 



In answering this question, you 

 must observe whether the wound is 

 internal or external for the treatment 

 is widely different in the two cases. 

 Hence you must go to the root of every 

 disease, and determine whether it can be 

 cured by external remedies only, or 

 whether it must be driven out by internal 

 applications. For if its centre lie hid 

 within, you want a medicine which will 

 penetrate to the centre and restore it ; 



you contemplate as desirable. To discover the doctrine of 

 doses by experience is very risky, and yet this is the only 

 method by which it has been found out. In this matter we 

 may profit by the teaching of our predecessors, and withal be 

 rather over timid than over bold. Still, when Antimony is 

 properly prepared, it is as harmless as cassia or manna. But 

 in the first stages of its preparation, where it retains much of 

 its poisonous crudity, you ought to be very careful. 



