204 THE COMPLETE HERBAL 



letting it run out at leisure : without press- j want help, or such as are in health, and want 

 ing. To every pint of this decoction add I no money to quench thirst, 

 one pound of sugar, and boil it over the | 3. Novv-a-day it is commonly used- 

 rire till it come to a syrup, which you may j 1. To prepare the body for purgation, 

 know, if you now and then cool a little of? 2. To open obstructions and the pores 

 "t with a spoon : Scum it all the while it: 3. To digest tough humours, 

 boils, and when it is sufficiently boiled, ; 4. To qualify hot distempers, &c. 

 whilst it is hot, strain it again through a 4. Simple Juleps, (for I have nothing to 

 woollen cloth, but press it not. Thus you j say to compounds here) are thus made; 

 have the syrup perfected. j Take a pint of such distilled water, as con- 



3dly, Syrups made of juice, are usually I duces to the cure of your distemper, which 

 made of such herbs as are full of juice, and $ this treatise will plentifully furnish you 

 indeed they are better made into a syrup; with, to which add two ounces of syrup, 

 this way than any other; the operation is 'conducing to the same effect; (I shall give 

 thus : Having beaten the herb in a stone | you rules for it in the next chapter) mix 

 mortar, with a wooden pestle, press out the j them together, and drink a draught of it at 

 juice, and clarify it, as you are taught be- j your pleasure. If you love tart things, 

 fore in the juices ; then let the juice boil J add ten drops of oil of vitriol to your pint ; 

 away till about a quarter of it be consumed ; 5 and shake it together, and it will have a fine 

 to a pint of this add a pound of sugar, and j grateful taste. 



when it is boiled, strain it through a woollen $ 5. All juleps are made for present use; 

 cloth, as we taught you before, and keep it | and therefore it is in vain to speak of their 

 for your use. j duration. 



3. If you make a syrup of roots that are j c H A P T E R i v . 

 any thing hard, as parsley, fennel, and grass | 



roots, &c. when you have bruised them, j Of Decoctions. 



lay them in steep some time in that water j ^ ALL the difference between decoc . 



which you intend to boil them in hot, so will ti and syrups made by dec oction, is 



the virtue the better come out. \ thig g are made to keep, decoctions 



4. Keep your syrups either in glasses or j Qnl & ^ resent use; for can har(]J 

 stone pots, and stop them not with cork nor ke / a d ^ coction a week at any time f f 

 bladder, unless you would have the glass the feather be hot, not half so long, 

 break, and the syrup lost, only bind paper? 2 Decoctions are made of leaves, roots, 



* Ut A ,, C m -r < flowers, seeds, fruits or barks, conducing to 



5. All syrups, if well made, continue a j the cure of the disease ou make them f or 



year with some advantage ; yet such as are j are made in the same manner as we shewgd j 

 made by infusion, keep shortest | you in syrupSt 



CHAPTER ii i. 3. Decoctions made with wine last longer 



Of j j ! than such as are made 'with water ; and if 



Uj Juleps. *you take your decoction to cleanse the 



1. JULEPS were first invented, as I sup- passages of the urine, or open obstructions, 

 pose, in Arabia; and my reason is, because! your best way is to make it with white 

 the word Julep is an Arabic word. : wine instead of water, because this is pene- 



2. It signifies only a pleasant potion, asjtrating. 



is vulgarly used by such as are sick, and J 4. Decoctions are of most use in such 



