BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
691 
“Secondly, like Mercury, you must always carry a caduceus or conjuring japan in 
your hand, capt with a civet bos, with which you must walk with Spanish gravity, as 
in deep contemplation upon an arbitrament between life and death. 
“ Thirdly 7 , a convenient lodging, not forgetting a hatch at the door,—a chamber 
hung with Dutch pictures or looking-glasses, belittered with empty bottles, gallipots, 
and vials filled with tap-droppings, or fair water coloured with Saunders. Any sexton 
will furnish your window with a shull , in hope of your custom, over which hang up 
the skeleton of a monkey, to proclaim your skill in anatomy. 
“ Fourthly, let your table be never without some old musty Greek or Arabick author, 
and the fourth book of Cornelius Agrippa’s ‘ Occult Philosophy ’ icicle open to amuse 
spectators; wdtli half a dozen gilt shillings, as so many guineas received that morn¬ 
ing for fees. 
“ Fifthly, fail not to oblige the neighbouring ale-houses to recommend you to 
enquirers, and hold correspondence with all the nurses and midwives near you, to 
applaud your skill at gossippings.” 
Surely Bob Sawyer or Old Parr could not have surpassed this. But when such 
physicians as Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Meade were found selling specifics and 
nostrums, it is not to wondered at if less educated men eagerly followed their 
example. 
One of the most prominent and successful of this class was William Reade, originally 
a tailor, a man unable to read, and of the lowest origin. Reade was lucky enough to 
he of some service to Queen Anne, who -was afflicted with weak ey r es. She forthwith 
appointed him her oculist, knighted him, and he rapidly obtained a large and lucra- 
tive practice ; and Sir William Reade’s splendid equipage and superb horses dazzled 
the eyes of the million, and converted them into his disciples. 
But all other competitors for empiric fame were distanced, as you will remember, 
by a woman , and it remained for Joanna Stephens to sound the deepest depths of 
British gullibility. John Bull is a patient and suffering creature, and in these days 
even he permits ducks and drakes to be made of his guineas in a wondei’ful manner; 
and, although he grumbles, as he hands over the coins or writes his cheque, he soon 
forgets the tax gatherer or the “ financier,” and, recovering his temper, returns to his 
ledger, or his cakes and ale. 
But never, surely, was John more miserably fleeced than when he handed Joanna 
Stephens £5000 for the disclosure of her wonderful recipes. After pocketing enormous 
fees for real or imaginary cures, and numbering amongst her patients dukes, earls, 
bishops, marquises, and baronets, Joanna nobly offered to divulge her secret for the 
sum named. To accomplish this a public subscription was commenced, and upwards 
of £1400 w r as obtained. But Joanna held out firmly for her terms, and the British 
House of Commons appointed a commission to inquire into the reputed cures, and this 
commission, deciding in the lady’s favour, granted the following astounding certificate, 
dated March 5th, 1739: — 
“We whose names are underwritten, being the major part of the justices appointed 
by Act of Parliament, entitled, 4 An Act for providing a reward to Joanna Stephens, 
upon proper discovery 7 to be made by her, for the use of the publick, of the medicines 
used by her,’ do certify that Joanna Stephens did with all convenient speed after the 
passing of this Act make a discovery to our satisfaction, for the use of the publick, of 
the said medicines, and of her method of preparing the same, and are convinced of 
the utility, efficacy, and dissolving power thereof.” 
And this precious document (dating only 131 years ago) is signed by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, the Bishops of Oxford and Gloucester, a long string of dukes and lords, 
and, worse than all, by Sharpe, Hawkins, and Cheselden, three of the leading physi¬ 
cians of the day. 
When Joanna had received her £5000, the wonderful receipts turned out to be 
forms for powders, decoction, and pills; the pow T der w r as composed of egg shells and 
snails, both calcined. The decoction was made by boiling some herbs (principally 
camomile and parsley) together with a ball consisting of soap, swines cresses burnt to 
blackness, and honey in water. And the precious pills consisted of snails calcined, 
wild carrot seeds, ashen keys, hips and haws, all burnt to a blackness, with soap and 
honey. In the original there appear minute instructions as to the preparation and 
