MATERIA MEDICA. 
The art of cooker}', as applied to vegetable 
substances, is principally useful in destroying 
the native acrimony, and rendering the tex- 
ture softer of some, and by conceiting the 
acerb juices of others into saccharine mat- 
ter, T he boiling of cabbage, of asparagus, 
&c.. are examples of the one, the baking of 
unripe pears is an instance of the other. The 
above are all chemical processes ; they are 
too familiar to need description. 
Another mode by which the nourishment 
of mankind is facilitated, is the mechanic ; rt 
of grinding farinaceous seeds into powder; 
and, in some instances, exposing them after- 
wards to a fermenting process, as in the mak- 
ing of bread, and then to the action of tire 
by baking or boiling. The mill-stones, by 
which the process of grinding is effected, 
have been quaintly termed the artificial teeth 
of society. It has been suggested by Dr. 
Darwin, that “ some soft kinds of wood, es- 
pecially when they have undergone a kind of 
fermentation, and become looser, might, by 
being subjected to the action of the mill- 
stones, be probably used as food in the times 
of famine. Nor is it improbable,” continues 
our ingenious speculator, “ that hay which 
has been kept in stacks, so as to undergo the 
saccharine process, may be so managed by 
grinding and by fermentation with yeast, 
like bread, as to serve in part for the susten- 
ance of mankind in times of great scarcity, j 
Dr. Priestley gave to a cow, for some time, a 
strong infusion of hay in large quantities for j 
drink, and found that she produced during 
this treatment above double the quantity of 
milk. Hence if bread cannot be made from ! 
ground hay, there is great reason to suspect 
that a nutritive beverage may be thus prepar- 
ed, either in its saccharine state, or ferment- 
ed into a kind of beer. In times of great 
scarcity there are other vegetables, which, 
though not in common use, would most pro- 
bably afford wholesome nourishment, either 
by boiling them, or drying and grinding 
them, or by both those processes in succes- 
sion. Of these perhaps are the tops and 
barks of all those vegetables which are armed 
with thorns or prickles, as gooseberry-trees, 
holly, gorse, and perhaps hawthorn. The in- 
ner bark of the elm-tree makes a kind of 
gruel ; and the roots of fern, and probably 
very many other roots, as of grass and clo- 
ver taken up in winter, might yield nourish- 
ment, either by boiling or baking, and sepa- 
rating the fibres from the pulp by beating 
them ; or by getting only the starch from 
those which possess an acrid mucilage, as the 
white betony. And the alburnum of perhaps 
all trees, and especially of those which bleed 
in spring, might produce a saccharine and 
mucilaginous liquor, by boiling it. in the win- 
ter or spring. ” 
OF DRINK. 
u Water,” says Dr. Darwin, “ must be 
considered as a part of our nutriment, be- 
cause so much of it enters the composition of 
our fluids ; and because vegetables are be- 
lieved to draw almost the whole of their nou- 
rishment from this source.” It may, how- 
ever, be questioned whether pure elementary 
water taken into the stomach acts upon the 
system as a nutrimental matter in any other 
mode than by procuring the solution, and 
thus facilitating the assimilation, of solid ali- 
ments 
I Water is the natural and proper drink of 
man. It is the basis of all other liquids ; and 
the larger proportion of water that enters 
their composition, the more easily, in a state 
of Health, and provided proper food has been 
taken, are tne solution and digestion of such 
food effected, 
'! his fluid, however, is never or seldom 
taken in a state of entire purity. Even in 
nature’s laboratory it is invariably impreg- 
nated with foreign substances ; and it is this 
admixture of extraneous matter which con- 
stitutes its varieties. Thus we have snow 
water, rain water, spring water, river. water, 
and water from lakes, wells, and swamps, each 
| possessing their individual characteristics, 
j Spring water is, in general, most free from 
I impurities; it is, however, less suited for 
■ drink than the water of rivers, as it almost 
J constantly contains calcareous, or saline in- 
! gredients. The calcareous earth dissolved 
i in the water of many springs, has been sup- 
posed indeed by Dr. Darwin to contribute to 
our nourishment in the manner that lime proves 
useful in agriculture. This p inciple, how- 
j ever is not perhaps fully established ; and we 
; believe that too much ’stress has by theorists 
j in general been laid on the specific qualities 
, of water, as modifying both the bodily and 
| intellectual character of individuals and na- 
i lions. The cretinism and fatuity of the Alp- 
jine valleys were formerly attributed to the 
waters of these countries, but are now more 
commonly, and we believe more justly, re- 
ferred to constitutional propensity, innutri- 
tions food, and a humid unhealthy atmo- 
sphere. 
That water however possesses great varie- 
ties, according to . the nature of the soil and 
situation of the place in which it is produced 
or contained, is undeniable ; and we shall 
here extract part of what is observed on these 
varieties by an attentive and judicious ob- 
server. 
" Spring water,” says Dr. Willich, 
“ originates partly from that of the sea, which 
has been changed into, vapours by subterra- 
neous heat, and partly from the atmosphere. 
As it is dissolved and purified in a variety of 
ways before it becomes visible to us, it is 
lighter and purer than other waters. 
“ Well water. Wells opened in a sandy 1 
soil are the purest. The more frequently a j 
well is used, ..the better; for the longer water 1 
stands unmoved, the sooner it turns putrid. 
“ River water is more pure and wholesome 
if it flows over a sandy and stony soil, than if 
it passes over muddy beds, or through towns, 
villages, and forests : water is rendered foul 
by fish, amphibious animals, and plants. 
“ Lake water much resembles river water, 
but being less agitated it is more impure. 
The water which, in cases of necessity, is 
obtained from swamps and ditches, is ’ the 
worst of all ; because a great variety of im- 
purities are there collected, which, in a stag- 
nant and soft soil, readily putrify,. 
“ Rain water is also impure, as it contains 
many saline and oily particles, soon putrefies, 
and principally consists of the joint exhalations 
of animals, vegetables, and minerals, of an 
immense number and variety of small insects 
and their eggs, seeds of plants, and the like. 
Rain water is particularly impure in places 
filled with many noxious vapours; such as 
marshy countries, and large manufacturing 
towns, where the fumes of metallic and other 
IOC) 
subsfances are mixed with rain. In high and 
elevated situations, at a distance from impure 
exhalation^, it no strong winds blow, and af- 
ter a gentle shower, rain water is then purest. 
In summer, however, on account of the co- 
pious exhalations, rain water is most objec- 
tionable. 
“ Snow water possesses the same proper- 
ties as rain water, but is purer ; both are 
soft, that is, without so many mineral and 
earthy particles as spring, well, and river wai- 
ters. Hail water, being produced in the 
higher regions ot the atmosphere, is still pu- 
rer from its cong, lations. Lastly, dew, as it 
arises from the evaporation of various bodies 
of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, is 
more or less impure, according to the dif- 
ferent regions and seasons.” 
On the different kinds and qualities of fer- 
mented and spirituous liquors, it does not fait 
within the compass of the present article to 
treat. They all consist of water as their base 
or vehicle, of more or less alcohol or ardent 
spirit according to their different degrees of 
strength, of sugar, and of the particular in- 
gredient- by which their nature is determined 
such as the grape in wine, the apple and pear 
in cyder and perry, the malt and hop in beer,' 
&x. &c. (See the respective articles in their 
alphabetical order.) It is only necessary here 
to observe, that, with few exceptions, fer- 
mented liquors, when immoderately taken,, 
are more detrimental than elementary fluids, , 
in proportion to the quantity that they con- 
tain of alcohol, or ardent spirit. 
With respect to the China tea and the cof- 
fee-berry, which have lately come into such 
general use in this country, we believe them 
to be much less injurious to the animal eco- 
nomy than some theorists have been disposed 
to conject ure. In excess, however, and when 
indulged in as substitutes for, and, as isrsome- 
times the case, almost to the exclusion of, 
nourishing diet, they are highly deleterious,, 
as they tend to the induction of a morbidly 
irritable condition of the nervous system. It 
I deserves to be remarked, that these stimuli- 
; do not, like alcohol, produce those formidable, 
! and often irremediable, disorders, affections 
' of the liver, dropsy, and apoplexy. 
An enumeration of spices (which, like spi- 
rituous liquors, are used as articles of diet 
with too great freedom) will be found under 
the head Aromatics, in a 'subsequent section 
of this article. 
PART II.. 
MF.DICJNALS,. 
We now proceed to the second division of 
our subject, or to the consideration of the 
materia medica in its more ordinary and li- 
mited signification. 
Various divisions and . modes of classifica- 
tion of those articles which are used in medi- 
cine, have been proposed and I adopted by 
different authors. Some systematic writers 
arrange the articles of the materia medica 
according to their alphabetical order: others 
have taken for the basis of their arrangement 
the more sensible properties of drugs, as de- 
tected by the taste ; thus reducing medicines 
to the different heads of bitterness, sweetness,, 
astringency, acidity, See.: while some have 
been regulated in their classification of medi- 
cinal articles, by their characters as objects 
ifi natural history. « As, however, the study 
