Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
August,  1921.  J 
Sal  Catharticum  Amarum. 
55i 
When  we  pause  to  survey  the  new  vista  and  see  the  wider  hori- 
zon, we  feel  that  the  measure  of  our  opportunities  is  well  expressed 
by  Rosetti : 
"Nay,  come  up  hither,  from  this  wave-washed  mound  unto  the 
furthest  flood  brim  look  with  me.  Then  reach  on  with  thy  thought 
'till  it  be  drowned;  miles  and  miles  further  though  the  last  line  be, 
and  though  thy  soul  sail  leagues  and  leagues  beyond,  still  leagues  be- 
yond those  leagues  there  is  more  sea." 
ABSTRACTED  AND  REPRINTED 
ARTICLES 
SAL  CATHARTICUM  AMARUM.* 
By  William  Kirkby,  M.  Sc. 
epsom  salt. 
There  is,  perhaps,  no  more  characteristically  English  medicine 
than  what  was  known  in  the  eighteenth  century  as  sal  anglicanum  or 
sal  catharticum  anglicanum,  or,  in  the  vernacular,  Epsom  salts.  A 
quite  rare  pamphlet  gave  the  first  account  of  the  production  and 
properties  of  this  drug.  It  was  written  by  a  physician  whose  name 
is  best  remembered  by  his  work  in  the  field  of  vegetable  and  animal 
anatomy.  It  is :  "Tractatus  de  Salis  cathartici  amari  in  Aquis  Ebes- 
hamensibus  et  hujusmodi  aliis  contenti  Natura  et  Usu.  Authore, 
Nehemia  Grew,  M.D.  Utriusque  Region  Societatis  Socio,  Londini, 
1695."  It  is  a  small  duodecimo  volume  of  96  pages.  In  Ince's  "A 
Century  of  Old  Books,"  A.  F.  Haselden  describes  a  translation  of  this 
which  was  made  by  Dr.  Joseph  Bridges,  "with  animad-versions  on  a 
late  corrupt  Translation  by  Francis  Moult,  Chymist,  London."  I 
don't  happen  to  possess  Bridges'  translation,  but  I  do  possess,  in 
addition  to  Grew's  original,  the  translation  by  the  said  Francis 
Moult,  although  it  does  not  bear  his  name.  It  is  more  interesting  as 
a  specimen  of  smart  advertising  than  for  any  other  reason.  The 
title  reads :  "A  Treatise  of  the  Nature  and  Use  of  the  Bitter  Purging 
Salt  contain' d  in  Epsom  and  such  other  Waters,  by  Nehemiah  Grew, 
M.  D.,  Fellow -of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  of  the  Royal  Society, 
London.  Printed  in  the  year  1697." 
^Reprinted  from  the  Pharm.  Journ.  and  Pharm.,  May,  1921. 
