C 915 ) 
VL Fharmacologia feu ManuduSlio ad Materiam 
Medicam in qua Medicamenta Officinalia Sim- 
plicia y hoc eH Mineralia^ Vegetabilia, Anima- 
lia eorumque paries y in Medicina Officinis 
ufitata^ in Methodum naturalem digejia fuc- 
cifi&e & accurate defcribuntur^ cum noth 
generum CharaBerifticis, Specierum Synony- 
ink, different in viribns. Opm omnibus 
Medicis^PhilofophiSy Pharmacopceh, Chirurgk^ 
& fharmacopolk utilijpmum. A Samuels 
Dale. 
T"^ HE ufe of the Materia Medica feems to be as 
JL old as Mankind, whofe Infirmities fpringing up 
early, call'd for Remedies, which Inftind or Neceifity 
firft didtated, afterwards Obfervation and Experiment 
improvU The /Egyptians infcrib'd their Medicines on 
Pillars in the High-ways , and on the Walls of their 
Temples in great Cities, for the publick Inftruction and 
Prefervation of the People. The Greeks taking their 
Rudiments from them, cultivated the Medicinal Art , 
which by the peculiar Fertility of their Genius was rais'd 
to fuch a Perfe&ioa, that fucceeding Ages being not 
able to continue its growth, suffered it to degenerate. 
The Romans ( tho' extreamly civiliz'd ) thought it Ho- 
nour enough to Tranfcribe, or Epitomize the Greeks ; 
Scriloniiu Largus, Celfus, and Pliny were only Copifls. 
Hippocrates, Ariftotle, Theophraflm, Diofcorides , &c. 
Originals ; which Galen afterwards did indeed refine up- 
on, but the Lathes invented little or nothing. The 
Arabians, tho' very Luxurious in Fancy and Imagination, 
F F f corrupted 
