552 
Sal  Catharticum  Amaram. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(     August,  1921. 
The  translator's  "To  the  Reader"  is  quite  convincing  with  its 
air  of  honest  transparency.  "The  Reason  of  my  publishing  this 
Book  in  English  is,  the  general  Use  I  observe  to  be  made  of  the  Bit- 
ter Purging  Salt  in  this  town  and  elsewhere,  by  all  sorts  of  Persons, 
and  that  promiscuously,  in  all  cases,  as  People's  Fancies  or  Humours 
prompt  'em,  without  any  Advice  beyond  Publick  Fame,  or  the  good 
Woman  last  visited. 
"The  Sellers  of  this  Salt  are  likewise  such  as  use  to  dispose  of 
other  Catholick  or  Universal  Medicines,  who  neither  know  how  to 
direct  the  Buyer,  nor  care  what  becomes  of  the  Taker,  so  as 
they  attain  their  End,  their  part  of  their  Profit.  There  is  indeed 
this  difference :  That  other  Medicines  that  have  grown  Popular  were 
always  usher'd  out  with  printed  Directions,  or  Certificates  of  its  Vir- 
tues and  numberless  cures,  as  Daffy's  Elixir,  Spirit  of  Scurvy-grass, 
Atkins'  Oil  for  the  Gout,  etc.  Nay,  the  very  Disciples  of  Ponteus 
afford  for  publick  Benefit  a  printed  Encomium  for  a  Voucher  to  the 
Twelve-Penny  Packet.  This  I  thought  sufficient  to  Vindicate  my 
Translation  of  Dr.  Grew's  Nature  and  Use  of  the  Bitter  Purging 
Salt,  which  I  intend  to  give  to  those  who  buy  any  quantities  of  the 
Salt.  And  I'd  have  the  Reader  take  notice,  That  this  is  no  Quack- 
Bill,  no  boasting  Rhodomontado  of  any  Ignorant  Pretender,  no 
guilded  Bush  to  set  off  bad  Wine,  but  the  Observations  of  an  In- 
genious Physician,  Fellow  of  both  Societies,  and  published  by  him  in 
Latin,  for  the  information  of  the  Practicers  of  Physick,  and  for  no 
private  Interest  or  Profit.  But  I  can  scarce  believe  the  Doctor  ever 
foresaw  the  Consequence  of  his  Commendations  wou'd  be  the  push- 
ing every  Body  upon  the  Use  of  it  Hand  over  Head;  therefore  I 
doubt  not  his  Pardon  for  my  Translating  it  without  his  Knowledge, 
my  Design  being  not  to  discover  the  Secret  Method  of  its  Prepara- 
tion, but  to  prevent  by  these  Directions  the  Mischiefs  he  tells  us  may 
ensue  the  Abuse  of  so  good  a  Medicine.  Farewell." 
The  first  part  of  the  pamphlet  deals  with  the  nature  of  the  salt, 
and  the  second  part  with  the  use  of  it.  Grew  tells  us  that  the  Epsom 
spring  was  discovered  "in  or  about  the  year  1620."  It  seems  to  have 
been  found  a  little  earlier — namely,  in  1618,  at  least,  Thomas  Fuller 
says  so — by  a  farmer  called  Henry  Wicker,  who  noticed  that  his  cat- 
tle refused  to  drink  the  water  on  the  land,  notwithstanding  that  it 
was  a  dry  season,  and  who'  on  tasting  it  himself  found  that  it  was 
bitter.  For  about  ten  years  the  water  was  used  by  the  country 
people  as  an  external  remedy  for  ulcers,  but  by  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  Epsom  spring  had  acquired  a  considerable 
reputation  as  a  medicinal  water  for  internal  use.    Grew  says  that 
