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 i 3. Now-a-day it is commonly used- 

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

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

 it 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 i say to compounds here) are thus made; 

 have the syrup perfected. jTake 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 j 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 > 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 \ add ten drops of oil of vitriol to your pint 

 away till about a quarter of it be consumed ; ; 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 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. I 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 diffe rence between decoc- 

 wh.ch you intend to boil them in hot, so wilh ti &nd syrups made . by dec oction, is 

 the virtue the better come out. j thi Syrup / are F m ade to keep, decoction, 



4. Keep your syrups either in glasses or : Qnl ^ * nt use; for * can hardj 

 stone pots, and stop them not with cork nor keep ft d j coction a week at d f f 

 bladder, unless you would have the glass ^ the ^^ be h < ha , fso , 



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



I flowers, seeds, fruits or barks, conducing to 

 . All syrup.s, if well made, continue a j the cufe of the disease make them f or . 



year with some advantage ; yet such as are ; are maf]e in the same manner as we shewed 

 made by mtusion, keep shortest j you in syrups 



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



r)f j , than such as are made "with water ; and if 



UJ Juleps. y OU ^g y 0ur decoct j on to deanse tin- 



1. JULEPS were first invented, as I sup- 1 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, aspirating, 

 vulgarly used by such as are sick, and: 4-. I) 



)ecoctions are of most use in such 



