-IMPROVEMENT OF PHYSIC 22s 
, and Indian crefs , and the all~fawce y ought 
to be fold in the fhops frefh, and not dry- 
ed *, in order to be of any fervice in the 
fcurvy. The recent root of the r of e-wort 
is vaftly fuperior to the dry in head-achs. 
Befides it ought carefully to be confider- 
ed in what part of a plant its vertue re- 
fides. Thus it is the juice of the poppy , 
that fpreads over the brain, as it were, a 
Lethean drowfinefs ; and not the feeds^ 
for thefe are eatable. The fagacity of the 
moderns has reduced the immenfe num- 
ber of diftilled waters to a very fmall lift. 
I 7- 
Negleft in cultivating plants. Hence apothe- 
caries are neceffitated to fell plants which they 
have had by them many years, and which have 
loft all their vertues. 
The fpikenard is more durable, perhaps than 
any other plant ; for it will keep its fra- 
grance above an age, as appears by Burfe- 
rus’s Herbary. But other plants are very 
different in this refpeft. e. g. the root of 
ginfengi tho 5 a great reftorative, being fo 
very coftly, is feldom prefcribed ; and when 
it is, it generally has loft its properties 
thro" age. For which reafon we ought to 
con- 
