i Treatise on 
Take of Rhubarb in Powder giij. the mercurial ' 
Panacea gj. Balfam of Capivi gifs. Mix them 
into an Eledtuary, and give gj. Morning and 
Evening in a Gonorrhoea, the Patient being 
purged every third or fourth Day with mer- 
curial Pills. 
Artic. XVI. Of Sarsaparil. 
Sarfa-pdrilla , et Sal fa-par ilia ^ Off. Under this 
Name in the Shops we meet with Roots or rather 
Flagella or long Switches, of the Thicknefs of a 
large Ruffi or Goofe-Quill, tough, flexible, and 
marked with Furrows quite along, with a thin Bark 
of • a brown or alhy Colour, under which is a 
white farinaceous Subftance, coarfe, foft, and eafy 
to be rubbed to Powder by the Fingers, being al- 
mofl: like Agaric, in Tafte fomewhat glutinous 
and bitterifh, though not unpleafant •, and a 
woody, fmooth Pith, or tough String, runs through 
the Middle. A great Number of thefe Switches 
or Twigs defcend from one Head or a fquammous 
Root as thick as one’s Thumb. It comes from 
New Spain , Peru , and Brafile. The beft Twigs 
are full, pithy, denfe, found, of a white Colour 
within, and about as thick as a Goofe-Quill, and 
like Twigs of Willow are eaflly pulled afunder in- 
to Shreads through their whole Length. When 
their Colour appears blackifh, or they are rotten, 
fo as to let fall much Dull or mealy Powder in 
Splitting, or when they are too thick, fuch as are 
brought from that Part of Brafile which is called 
Maranhaon , they are not fit to be ufed in Phyfick. 
The Roots of diverfe Plants are imported from 
America under the Name of Sarfaparil, bearing all 
a Refemblance or Affinity to the Smilax afpera . Of 
thefe Hernandez mentions four Species which grow 
in 
