34 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNOJ7I3. 



agarici 3J. gentian, dictamn. rad. tormentill. camphor, castor, rad. angelic, a. 

 jiss. misce. Stamp these species small, and pour upon them 1 J- pint of good 

 French brandy; then set it in a warm place in a well closed bottle, and extract 

 the tincture; of which tincture take 12 drops as a preservative: but those that 

 are already seized with the plague, or any malignant fever, must take a spoonful 

 of it, and sweat upon it. What the benefit of this arcanum may be, any ju- 

 dicious physician may judge for himself. For my part, I can neither commend 

 the composition nor the operation of it, not having found that in the disease it 

 performed any thing extraordinary ; nor was it so beneficial as much simpler 

 medicines. Those who made use of their own physicians, and conformed 

 themselves to their prescriptions, fared much the better for it; as having their 

 bodies seasonably prepared with alexipharmacs, bezoardics, antiscorbutics, dia- 

 phoretics, diuretics, gentle laxatives, &c. 



My own preservative was an essence, which was prepared of the species of 

 the essence of woods, saffron, aloes, and red myrrh, extracted with spirit of 

 wine, and adding to it the mixtura simplex : w'hich I found very beneficial, not 

 only towards preservation, but likewise in the cure. Dr. Achatius Muller, at 

 the very time when the plague was at the height, had great success with his 

 acetum antimonii ex minera, which was mixed with bezoardics. Besides my 

 essentia praeservativa, I gave sometimes a bezoardic powder at night, consisting 

 of the bezoardicum Senn. bezoardicum compositum Wagneri, or else this bezoar 

 mixed with specificum cephalicum Michaelis. And if there was the least ap- 

 pearance of the distemper, I ordered my sulphur minerale confortans, mixed 

 with a bezoardic or digestive. 



Among the various compositions of bezoardic powders, I ordered the follow- 

 ing very frequently to be taken, as much as would lie on the point of a knife, 

 especially if my patients had a terror upon them, or by reason of melancholy 

 found any alteration about them. To others I ordered it as a preservative, to 

 be taken in a morning mixed with beer. R. Rad. tormentill. scorzonerae, peta- 

 sitid. symphit. aristol. rot. lign. guaiac. colubrin. a. jij. rad. curcum. zedoar. a. 

 3SS. myrrh, rubr. 3J. corall. alb. conch, mar. a. 3iss. succin. fiav. terr. sigillat. 

 rubr. et alb. carnis viper, oculor. cane. bol. armen. corn. cerv. ust. a. ^ss. antim. 

 diaphor. 3vi. nitr. anodyn. min. 3ij. m. dosis 9j. ad 3J. 



Those who were obliged to be frequently or constantly with their patients, 

 made use of a vinegar prepared for that purpose, which they took inwardly, and 

 which they likewise smelled to. Others made use of rotulae sublinguales, of 

 which also there are many preparations. I preferred to them the placentulae 

 senectutis, which Dr. Sylvius Bocco in his curious observations has described. 

 These, when I visited my patients, I generally held in my mouth. To take 



