Elements. table and animal matters, otherwise called fusion, incineration, or concremation; and the change of metals into a powder, which in the fire either does not melt, or vitrifies, that is, runs into glass.

247. The metals which melt before ignition, are calcined by keeping them in fusion for some time. The free admission of air is essentially necessary to the success of this operation; and hence, when the surface of the metal appears covered with calx, this must be taken off or raked to one side; otherwise, the remainder, excluded from the air, will not undergo the change intended. If any coal, or other inflammable matter that does not contain a mineral acid, be suffered to fall into the vessel, the effect expected from this operation will not be produced, and part of what is already calcined will be revived or reduced; that is, it will return into its metallic form again.

248. Those metals which require a strong fire to melt in, calcine with a much less heat than is sufficient to make them flow. Hence the burning or scorification of such iron or copper vessels as are long exposed to a considerable fire without defense from the air. Gold and silver are not calcinable by any degree of fire.

249. In calcination, the metals visibly emit fumes; nevertheless, the weight of the calx proves greater than that of the metal employed. The antimonial regularly gains about one-eleventh part of its weight; zinc, sometimes one-tenth; tin, above one-sixth; and lead, in its conversion into minium, oftentimes one-fourth.

250. The calcination of metallic bodies (gold, silver, and mercury excepted) is greatly promoted by nitre. This salt, exposed to the fire in conjunction with any inflammable substances, extricates their inflammable matter, and bursts with it into flame, accompanied with a hissing noise: this process is usually termed deflagration or detonation.

251. All the metallic calces and scoriae are revived into their metallic state, by fusion with any vegetable or animal inflammable matter. They are all more difficult of fusion than the respective metals themselves; and scarcely any of them, those of lead and bismuth excepted, can be made to melt at all, without some addition, in the strongest fire that can be produced in the common furnaces. The additions called fluxes, employed for promoting the fusion, consist chiefly of fixed alkaline salts: a mixture of alkaline salt with inflammable matter, as powdered charcoal, is called a reducing flux, as contributing at the same time to bring the calx into fusion and to revive it into metal. Such a mixture is commonly prepared from one part of nitre and two parts of tartar; by grinding them well together, setting the powders on fire with a bit of coal or a red-hot iron, then covering the vessel, and suffering them to deflagrate or burn, till they are changed into a black alkaline coaly mass. This is the common reducing flux of the chemists; and is called from its colour, the black flux. Metallic calces, or scoriae, mingled with twice their weight of this compound, and exposed to a proper fire, in a clothe-covered crucible, melt, and resume their metallic form: but though they received an increase of weight in the calcination, the revived metal is always found to weigh considerably less than the quantity which the calx was made from.

For a more particular account of all these processes, and an explanation of the principles on which they depend, see Chemistry passim, and the articles themselves as they occur in the order of the alphabet.

PART II. PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS;

Containing those of the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, as directed in the last editions.

CHAP. I.

Pharmaceutical Preparations.

SECT. I. The more Simple Preparations.

The preparation of earthy and such other pulverable bodies as will not dissolve in water.

252. These substances are first to be pulverized in a mortar, and then levigated with a little water, upon a hard and smooth marble, into an impalpable powder: this is to be dried upon a chalk-stone, and afterwards set by for a few days, in a warm, or at least very dry place. L.

253. After this manner are to be prepared,

254. Verdigris. L.

255. Antimony. L. E.

256. Crab's claws. L. E.

257. Coral. L. E.

258. Chalk. L. E. This is first to be powdered, and then well washed with water, till the latter comes off without either colour or taste. E.

259. Bezoar stone; which is to be moistened in the levigation with spirit of wine instead of water. L.

Vol. VIII. quantities of them are prepared at once, to prevent their running into putrefaction; an accident which, in those circumstances, sometimes happens when they are levigated with water only. Crab's-eyes, which abound with animal gelatinous matter, are particularly liable to this inconvenience.

273. The caution given above for reducing antimony, calamine, and tutty, to the greatest subtlety possible, demands particular attention. The tenderness of the parts to which the two last are usually applied, requires them to be perfectly free from any admixture of gross irritating particles. The first, when not thoroughly comminuted, might not only, by its sharp needle-like spicula, wound the stomach, but likewise answers few valuable purposes as a medicine, proving either an useless load upon the visera, or at best passing off without any other sensible effect than an increase of the grossest evacuations; whilst, if reduced to a great degree of fineness, it turns out to be a medicine of considerable efficacy.

274. The most successful method of obtaining these powders of the requisite fineness, is to wash off the finer parts by means of water, and continue levigating the remainder till the whole becomes fine enough to remain for some time suspended in the fluid. The process is thus directed in the Edin. Pharm.

A quantity of water is to be poured upon the levigated powder, in a large vessel, and the vessel repeatedly shaken, that the finer parts of the powder may be diffused through the water: the liquor is then to be poured off, and let by till the powder settles. The gross part, which the water would not take up, is to be further levigated, and treated in the same manner.

After this method are prepared antimony, calamine, tutty, bloodstone, chalk, and lapis lazuli.

275. By this method, which is that commonly practised in the preparation of colours for the painter, powders may be obtained of any required degree of fineness; and without the least mixture of the gross parts, which are always found to remain in them after long continued levigation; all the coarser matter settles at first, and the finer powder continues suspended in the water, longer and longer, in proportion to the degree of its fineness. The same process may likewise be advantageously applied to other hard pulverable bodies of the mineral kingdom, or artificial preparations of them; provided they are not soluble in, or specifically lighter than, water. The animal and absorbent powders, crab's-claws, crab's-eyes, oyster-shells, egg-shells, chalk, pearl, coral, and bezoor, are not well adapted to this treatment; nor indeed do they require it. These substances are readily soluble in acid juices without much commination: if no acid is contained in the first passages, they are apt to concrete, with the mucous matter usually lodged there, into hard indissoluble masses; the greater degree of fineness they are reduced to, the more are they disposed to form such concretions, and enabled to obstruct the orifices of the small vessels.

276. The purification or trying of hog's lard and mutton suet.

Chop them into small pieces, and melt them by a gentle heat, with the addition of a little water; then strain them from the membranes.

The use of the water is to prevent the fat from burning and turning black; which it does very effectually, though it somewhat prolongs the process, and is likewise apt to be in part imbibed by the fat.

277. The purification of viper's fat.

Let the fat, separated from the intestines, be melted by a gentle fire, and then pressed thro' a thin linen cloth.

The quantity of this fat usually purified at a time is so small, that the heat may be easily regulated so as to prevent burning, without the addition of any water.

278. The despumation or clarifying of honey.

Let the honey be liquefied in a water-bath, (that is, by setting the vessel containing the honey in a vessel of hot water), and the scum which arises taken off.

The intention of this process is to purify the honey from wax or other drossy matters that have been united with it by the violence of the press in its separation from the comb, and from meal and such like substances which are sometimes fraudulently mingled with it. When the honey is rendered liquid and thin by the heat, these lighter matters rise freely to the surface.

279. The drying of squills.

Let the squill, cleared from its outer skin, be cut transversely into thin slices, and dried with a very gentle heat. The operation is known to have been successfully performed when the squill becomes brittle without losing its acrimony and bitterness.

By this method the squill dries much sooner than when only its several coats are separated, as has been usually directed; the internal part being here laid bare, which, in each of the entire coats, is covered with a thin skin, which impedes the exhalation of the moisture. The root loses, in this process, four fifths of its original weight; the parts which exhale appear to be merely watery: hence six grains of the dry root are equivalent to half a dram of it when fresh; a circumstance to be particularly regarded in the exhibition of this medicine.

280. The burning of sponge.

Burn the sponge in a close earthen vessel, until it becomes black and easily friable, then powder it in a glass or marble mortar. The sponge is to be cut in small pieces, and well freed from earthy matters previous to the operation, and is to be frequently stirred during the time of burning.

This medicine, only lately received in the dispensatory, has been in use for a considerable time, and employed against scrophulous disorders and cutaneous foulnesses, in doses of a scruple and upwards. Its virtues seem to depend upon a volatile salt, just formed and combined with its own oil; if the sponge be distilled with a stronger heat, it yields a large proportion of that salt in its proper form. The salt is in this preparation so far extricated, that if the burnt sponge be ground in a brass mortar, it corrodes the metal, so as to contract a disagreeable taint, and sometimes an emetic quality.

A good deal of address is requisite for managing this this process in perfection. The sponge should be cut small, and beaten for some time in a mortar, that all the stony matters may be got out, which, compared with the weight of the sponge when prepared, will sometimes amount to a considerable quantity. The burning should be discontinued as soon as ever the matter is become thoroughly black. If the quantity put into the vessel at once is large, the outside will be sufficiently burnt before the inside is affected; and the volatile part of the former will in part escape before that in the latter is begun to be formed. The best method of avoiding this inconvenience seems to be, to keep the sponge continually stirring, in such a machine as is used for the roasting of coffee.

281. The calcination of hartshorn. L.

Burn pieces of hartshorn in a potter's furnace, till they become perfectly white; then powder and levigate them after the same manner as the other earthy bodies.

The intention here is, totally to burn out and expel the oil, salt, and other volatile parts, so as to leave only a white infusible animal earth. For this purpose, a strong fire and the free admixture of air are necessary. The potter's furnace is directed merely for the sake of convenience; where this is not to be had, any common furnace or stove may be made to serve: on the bottom of the grate spread some lighted charcoal, and above this lay the horns. The whole will burn vehemently; the vegetable matter is reduced to ashes; and the horns are burnt to whiteness, still retaining their original form, by which they are easily distinguished from the other: they ought to be separated as soon as grown cold, to prevent their imbuing any fixed salt from the vegetable ashes moistened by the air. The horns left after the distillation of the volatile salt and oil of hartshorn are as proper for this use as any other; that process only collecting such parts as are here dissipated in the air.

Calcined hartshorn is the purest of the animal absorbent powders; as being perfectly free from any glutinous or oily matter, which most of the others abound with. It appears nevertheless to be one of the weakest in absorbent power, or the most difficult of solution in acids.

282. The extraction of pulps. L.

Unripe pulpy fruits, and ripe ones if they are dry, are to be boiled in a small quantity of water until they become soft; then press out the pulp thro' a strong hair-sieve, and afterwards boil it down to a due consistence, in an earthen vessel, over a gentle fire; taking care to keep the matter continually stirring, to prevent its burning.

283. The pulp of caca fittularis is in like manner to be boiled out from the bruised pod, and reduced afterwards to a proper consistence, by evaporating the water.

284. The pulps of fruits that are both ripe and fresh, are to be pressed out thro' the sieve, without any previous boiling.

285. The straining of storax. L.

Soften storax calamita in hot water; then press it out betwixt warm iron plates; and separate the storax, now purified, from the water.

The storax commonly met with, stands greatly in need of purification. It contains a large quantity of woody matter, which this process effectually frees it from, though in other respects liable to some inconveniences. The woody substance in some measure defends the storax from the action of the press, and retains part of it behind; at the same time that the storax is apt to suffer a considerable dissipation of its volatile parts, in which its fragrance and principal virtue consist. To prevent as much as possible this last inconvenience, the operator ought carefully to avoid using a greater heat than is absolutely necessary; and as soon as the storax is sufficiently softened, to be expeditions in the straining of it.

Storax may be excellently purified by means of spirit of wine, which this resin totally dissolves in, so as to pass thro' a filter, the impurities alone being left. If the storax is afterwards wanted in a solid form, it may be recovered from this solution by gently distilling off the spirit, which will elevate very little of its flavour, or by pouring to it a quantity of water. See Sect. vi. § 3.

286. Strained opium, or the Thebaic extract. L.

Take of opium, cut into slices, one pound; dissolve it into the consistence of a pulp, in a pint of boiling water, with care to prevent its burning; and whilst it remains quite hot, strongly press it from the feces, thro' a linen-cloth; the strained opium is then to be reduced, by a water-bath or other gentle heat, to its original consistence.

Opium, thus softened by a small quantity of water, passes the strainer entire, the feces only being left behind. If it was dissolved in a large quantity of water, its resinous and gummy parts would be separated from one another.

Where large quantities of opium are purified at once, the infusion is most commodiously performed in a water-bath; but small quantities may be very safely infusified, by placing the vessel immediately over a gentle fire, the matter being kept stirring, and the vessel occasionally removed from the fire whenever there is any suspicion of its becoming too hot. The grosser impurities of the opium are by this process effectually separated; but some of its heterogeneous admixtures, consisting chiefly of dust and farinaceous matters, are so fine, as partly to pass along with it through the pores of the strainer when diluted by the press: this manifestly appears upon boiling the strained opium in water, and afterwards in spirit; when a considerable quantity of earthy matter will be left, which is not soluble in either of those menstrua.

287. The other gums, as ammoniacum, galbanum, asafoetida, and the like, are purified after the same manner; only here a larger quantity of water may be made use of without injury. If the resinous part happens to subside, take it out, and reserve it to be added again towards the end of the infusion, that it may unite with the rest into one uniform mass.

Any gum that melts easily, as galbanum, may likewise be purified by including it in a bladder, and keeping it in boiling water, until the gum becomes soft enough to be pressed from its impurities through a canvas strainer. L. 288. Preparation of millepedes, &c.

The millepedes are to be inclosed in a thin canvas cloth, and suspended over hot spirit of wine, in a close vessel, till they are killed by the steam, and rendered friable. L. E.

Purification of iron filings.—Let the filings be laid upon a sieve, and a magnet applied below, so that they may be gradually attracted through it. E.

Preparation of iron filings.—Let purified filings of iron be laid in a moist place till they fall down in rust, which is to be rubbed into an exceeding fine powder. E.

Sect. II. Substances extracted from Vegetables by Expression.

§ 1. Juices.

289. Juices are obtained from the succulent parts of plants, by including them, after being properly cut, bruised, &c. in a hair-bag, and pressing them, between wooden cheeks, in the common screw-press, as long as any liquor drops from them.

290. The harder fruits require to be previously well beaten or ground; but herbs are to be only moderately bruised; for if these are over bruised, a large quantity of the herbaceous matter will be forced out along with the juice. Hempen or woollen bags are apt to communicate a disagreeable flavour; the threads of these likewise swell in proportion as they imbibe moisture, so as in great measure to prevent the free percolation of the juice.

291. The fluids thus extracted from succulent fruits, both of the acid and sweet kind; from most of the acrid herbs, as scurvy-grafts and water-cresses; from the acid herbs, as forrel and wood-forrel; from the aperient laxative plants, as dandelion and hawkweed; and from sundry other vegetables, contain great part of the peculiar taste and virtues of the respective subjects. The juices, on the other hand, extracted from most of the aromatic herbs, as those of mint and the fragrant Turkey balm, commonly called balm of gilead, have scarce any thing of the flavour of the plants, and seem to differ little from decoctions of them, made in water, boiled till the volatile odorous parts have been dissipated. Many of the odoriferous flowers, as the lily, violet, hyacinth, not only impart nothing of their fragrance to their juice, but have it totally destroyed by the previous bruising. From want of sufficient attention to these particulars, practitioners have been frequently deceived in the effects of preparations of this class; juice of mint has been often prescribed as a stomachic, though it wants those qualities by which mint itself, and its other preparations, operate in that intention.

292. The juices thus quickly pressed out from plants, differ from those which flow spontaneously or from incisions; these last consisting chiefly of such fluids as are not diffused through the whole substance of the vegetable subject, but elaborated in distinct vessels, or secreted into particular receptacles. From poppy-heads, slightly wounded, there issues a thick milky liquor, which dries, by a moderate warmth, into opium; whilst the juice obtained from them by pressure is of a dark green colour, and far weaker virtue.

293. Juices newly expressed are generally thick, viscid, and very impure: by colature, a quantity of gross matter is separated, the juice becomes thinner, limpid, and better fitted for medicinal purposes, though as yet not entirely pure: on standing, it becomes again turbid, and apt to run into a fermentative or putrefactive state. Clarification with whites of eggs renders the juices more perfectly fine; but there are few that will bear this treatment without a manifest injury to their flavour, taste, and virtue.

294. The most effectual method of purifying and preserving these liquors is, to let the strained liquors stand in a cool place till they have deposited their grosser feces, and then gently pass them several times thro' a fine strainer till perfectly clear; when about \(\frac{1}{5}\) th part their weight of good spirit of wine may be added, and the whole suffered to stand as before: a fresh sediment will now be deposited, from which the liquor is to be poured off, strained again, and put into small bottles that have been washed with spirits and dried. A little oil is to be poured on the surface, so as very nearly to fill the bottles, and the mouths closed with leather, paper, or stopped with straw, as the flasks in which Florence wine is brought to us: this serves to keep out dust, and suffers the air, which in process of time arises from all vegetable liquors, to escape; which air would otherwise endanger the bursting of the glasses, or, being imbibed afresh, render their contents vapid and foul. The bottles are to be kept on the bottom of a good cellar or vault, placed up to the necks in sand. By this method, juices may be preserved a year or two; and some for much longer time.

295. The scorbutic juices, &c.

Take of the juice of garden scurvy-grafts, two pints; brooklime, water-cresses, each one pint; Seville oranges, a pint and quarter. Mix them together, let them stand till the feces have subsided, and then either pour the liquor off clear, or pass it through a strainer. L.

Take of juice of garden scurvy-grafts, oranges, water-cresses, each two pints; spirituous nutmeg-water, half a pint. Mix all together, and set by the liquor till the feces have subsided; then pour off the clear. E.

These juices are of considerable use for the purposes expressed in the title; and may be taken, from an ounce or two to a quarter of a pint, two or three times a day. They generally increase the urinary secretion, and sometimes introduce a laxative habit.

296. Insipidated juice, commonly called extract, of wolfsbane.

Let the fresh leaves of wolfsbane be included in a canvas bag, and strongly squeezed in a press, in order to give out their juice, which is to be insipidated to the consistence of thick honey, in vessels exposed to the steam of boiling water, keeping it carefully stirring towards the end.

After the same manner are prepared the insipidated juices or extracts of belladonna, flammula jovis, hyoscyamus, and stramonium. E.

297. Insipidated juice, or extract, of hemlock.

Having expressed the juice of the fresh leaves and stalks of hemlock while in flower, as directed for wolfsbane, bene, and inspissated it to the consistence of honey; let the whole cool, and then add as much of the powder of dried hemlock-leaves as is sufficient to make the mass of a due consistence for pills. Care, however, must be taken, that the evaporation proceed only as far as to admit about a fifth part of the powder.

§ 2. Expressed oils.

298. Expressed oils are obtained chiefly from certain seeds and kernels of fruits, by thoroughly pounding them in a stone-mortar, or, where the quantities are large, grinding them in mills, and then including them in a canvas bag, which is wrapped in a hair-cloth, and strongly pressed between iron plates. The canvas, if employed alone, would be squeezed to close to the plates of the press as to prevent the oil from running down: by the interposition of the hair-cloth, a free passage is allowed it.

299. Sundry machines have been contrived both for grinding the subject and pressing out the oil, in the way of business. To facilitate the expression, it is customary to warm either the plates of the press, or the subject itself after the grinding, by keeping it stirring in a proper vessel over the fire: the oil, liquefied by the heat, separates more freely and more plentifully. When the oil is designed for medicinal purposes, this practice is not to be allowed: for heat, especially if its degree is sufficient to be of any considerable advantage for promoting the separation, renders the oil less soft and palatable, impresses a disagreeable flavour, and increases its disposition to grow rancid: hence the colleges both of London and Edinburgh expressly require the operation to be performed without heat.

Nor are the oils to be kept in a warm place after their expression. Exposed but for a few days to a heat no greater than that of the human body, they lose their emollient quality, and become highly rancid and acrimonious. Too much care cannot be taken for preventing any tendency to this acid irritating state, in medicines so often used for abating immoderate irritation.

So much are these oils disposed to this injurious alteration, that they frequently contract an acrimony and rancidity while contained in the original subjects. Hence great care is requisite in the choice of the unctuous seeds and kernels, which are often met with very rancid: almonds are particularly liable to inconveniences of this kind.

300. Expressed oils are prepared for mechanic uses from sundry different subjects, as nuts, poppy-seed, hemp-seed, rape-seed, and others. Those directed for medicinal purposes in the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, are,

301. Oil of almonds. L. E. 302. Oil of linseed. L. E. 303. Oil of mustard seed. L. 304. Oil of ricinum. E. 305. The oil of almonds is prepared from the sweet and bitter almonds indifferently; the oils obtained from both sorts being altogether the same. Nor are the differences of the other oils very considerable, the discriminating qualities of the subjects not residing in the oils that are thus obtained by expression: the oil of mustard-seed is as soft, insipid, and void of pungency, as that of sweet almonds, the pungency of the mustard remaining entire in the cake left after the expression. The several oils differ in some of their properties from one another; but in medicinal qualities they appear to be all nearly alike, and agree in one common emollient virtue. They soften and relax the solids, and obtund acrimonious humours: and thus become serviceable, internally, in pains, inflammations, heat of urine, hoarseness, tickling coughs, &c.; in glysters, for lubricating the intestines, and promoting the ejection of indurated faeces; and in external applications for tension and rigidity of particular parts. Their common dose is half an ounce: in some cases, they are given to the quantity of three or four ounces. The most commodious forms of their exhibition we shall see hereafter, in the section of Emulsions.

306. The oils expressed from aromatic substances differ from the foregoing, in retaining for the most part an admixture of the aromatic matter of the subject. Thus nutmegs and mace yield, upon expression, an oil impregnated with the flavour of the spices; and an oil expressed from aniseeds, has a great share of the peculiar smell of the seeds. A purgative oil also is extracted in America from the purgative seeds of the ricinus. It does not appear that other qualities of vegetables are communicated to their expressed oils.

307. The rinds of the several varieties of oranges, lemons, and citrons, yield by a kind of expression their essential oils almost pure, and nearly similar to those which are obtained from them by distillation. The essential oils, in which the fragrance and aromatic warmth of these fruits reside, are contained in numerous little vehicles, which may be distinguished by the naked eye, spread all over the surface of the peel. If the rind is cut in slices, and the slices separately doubled or bent in different parts, and squeezed between the fingers, the vehicles burst at the bending, and discharge the oil in a number of fine slender jets. A glass-plate being set upright in a glass or porcelain vessel, and the slices squeezed against the plate, the little jets unite into drops upon the plate, and trickle down into the vessel beneath. But though this process affords the true native oil, in the same state wherein it existed in the subject, unaltered by fire or other agents, it is not practicable to advantage, unless where the fruit is very plentiful, as only a small part of the oil it contains can thus be extracted or collected.

The oil is more perfectly separated by rubbing the rind upon a lump of sugar. The sugar, by the inequality of its surface, produces the effect of a rasp in tearing open the oily vehicles; and in proportion as the vehicles are opened, the sugar imbibes the oil. When the outward part of the lump is sufficiently moistened, it is scraped off, and the operation continued on the fresh surface. The oil thus combined with the sugar, is fit for most of the uses to which it is applied in a fluid state. Indeed, the pure essential oils obtained by distillation are often purposely mixed with sugar, to render their use the more commodious.

Sect. III. Infusions in different Menstrua.

§ 1. Infusions and Decoctions in Water.

Water, the direct menstruum of gums and salts, extracts readily the gummy and saline parts of vegetables. Its action, however, is not limited to these; the resinous and oily principles being, in most vegetables, so intimately blended with the gummy and fatty, as to be in great part taken up along with them: some of the resinous cathartics, and most of the aromatic herbs, as well as bitters and astringents, yield to water the greatest part of their smell, taste, and medicinal virtue. Even of the pure essential oils and odoriferous resins of vegetables, separated from the other principles, water imbibes a part of the flavour; and by the artificial admixture of gummy or saline matter, the whole substance of the oil or resin is made dissoluble in water.

308. Of pure salts, water dissolves only certain determinate quantities, (see no 162): by applying heat, it is generally enabled to take up more than it can do in the cold, and this in proportion to the degree of heat; but as the liquor cools, this additional quantity separates, and the water retains no more than it would have dissolved without heat. With gummy substances, on the other hand, it unites unlimitedly, dissolving more and more of them till it loses its fluidity: here expedites the action of the water, but cannot enable it to take up more than it would do, by allowing it longer time in the cold. The active parts extracted from most vegetables by water, and oils and resins made soluble in water by the artificial admixture of gum, partake of this property of pure gums, being dissoluble without saturation.

309. It has been imagined that vegetables in a fresh state, while their oily, resinous, and other active parts, are already blended with a watery fluid, would yield their virtues to water more freely and more plentifully than when their native moisture has been dissipated by drying. Experience however shews, that dry vegetables in general give out more than fresh ones, water seeming to have little action upon them in their recent state. If, of two equal quantities of mint, one be infused fresh in water, and the other dried and then infused in the like quantity of water for the same length of time, the infusion of the dry herb will be remarkably the stronger: and the case appears to be the same in all the vegetables that have been tried.

310. In all the preparations described in this section, it is to be understood that the subjects must be moderately and newly dried; unless when they are expressly ordered to be taken fresh; in which case it is to be judged that their virtues are destroyed or impaired by drying.

311. The native colours of many vegetables are communicated to water along with their medicinal matter: many impart a colour different from their own; and others, tho' of a beautiful and deep colour themselves, give scarcely any to the menstruum. Of the first kind are the yellow and red flowers; of the second, the leaves of most plants; of the third, some of the blue flowers, as those of cyanus and larkspur. Acid liquors change the infusions of most flowers, the yellow ones excepted, to a red; and alkalies, both fixed and volatile, to a green.

312. From animal-substances, water extracts the gelatinous and nutritious parts, whence glues, gellies, broths, &c.; and along with these, it takes up principles of more activity, as the acrid matter of cantharides. It dissolves also some portion of calcined calcareous earths, both of the animal and of the mineral kingdom, but has no action on any other kind of earthly matter.

Art. i. Infusions in Cold Water.

313. Infusion of carduus.

Take an ounce of the dried leaves of carduus benedictus, and a pint of common water; let them steep for six hours without heat, and then filter the liquor through paper.

By this management, only the finer parts of the carduus are extracted, and the infusion proves an agreeable light bitter: it sits easier on the stomach than any other medicine of the bitter kind; whereas, by long continued maceration, or by the application of heat, the groser and more ungrateful parts are taken up, and the liquor becomes nauseous, so as to provoke vomiting. The light infusion is often given with great benefit in weaknesses of the stomach, where the common bitters do not agree. It may be flavoured at pleasure with aromatic materials; instead of pure water, a mixture thereof with some grateful distilled spirituous water, as 12 ounces of common water, and four of the spirituous water of orange-peel, may be used for the menstruum. The little quantity of spirit contained in this compound will not considerably vary the dissolving power of the water.

314. Many other vegetables may be advantageously treated in the same manner. From those which are weak in virtue, rich infusions may be obtained, by returning the liquor upon fresh quantities of the subject, the water loading itself more and more with the active parts. These loaded infusions are doubtless applicable to valuable purposes in medicine, as they contain, in a small compacts, the finer, more subtle, and active principles of vegetables, in a form readily miscible with the fluids of the human body.

315. Tincture of mint. E.

Take half an ounce of the dry leaves of spearmint, and a pint of simple mint-water. Steep them in a close vessel, in a warm place, for four hours, and then strain out the tincture.

The distilled water of mint is impregnated with as much of the volatile parts of the herb, as water can be made to retain by distillation. By infusion, however, it still takes up more, being equally effectual, as a menstruum, with fresh water; hence the tincture proves very rich in the virtue of the mint. This is another useful method of obtaining strong infusions from vegetables, and it may be varied at discretion; the distilled water of one plant may be employed as a menstruum for another.

316. Infusion of Peruvian bark.

Take an ounce of Peruvian bark reduced into fine powder, and twelve ounces of water. Macerate without heat for twenty-four hours, occasionally shaking the vessel; then pour off the clear liquor, and pass it through a fine strainer.

The infusion appears to be one of the best preparations of the bark for weak stomachs, and may be given in doses of two or three ounces, in intermitting fevers, and in other disorders where the corroborating virtues of bark are required.

317. Tar- 317. Tar-water.

Take of tar, two pounds; water, one gallon. Stir them strongly together with a wooden rod; and after standing to settle for two days, pour off the water for use.

Tar-water was some time ago recommended to the world as a certain and safe medicine in almost all diseases; a slow yet effectual alternative in cachexies, fevers, chlorotic, hysterical, hypochondriacal, and other chronic complaints; and a sudden remedy in acute distempers which demand immediate relief, as pleuritis, peripneumonies, the small-pox, and all kinds of fevers in general. The medicine, though certainly far inferior to the character that has been given of it, is doubtless, in many cases, of considerable utility: it sensibly raises the pulse, and occasions some considerable evacuation, generally by perspiration or urine, though sometimes by stool or vomit; hence it is supposed to act by increasing the vis vitæ, and enabling nature to expel the morbid humors.

318. Lime-water.

Take a pound of quicklime, and a gallon and a half of water. Pour the water gradually upon the lime; and when the ebullition is over, let the whole stand to settle; then filter the liquor through paper. L.

Take a pound of fresh burnt quicklime, and two gallons of water. Pour the water by little and little upon the lime; and when the ebullition is over, strongly shake the vessel; then let the whole stand at rest, that the lime may settle; and after two days filter the liquor, which is to be kept in vessels closely stopped. E.

A lime-water may be prepared in the same manner from calcined oyster-shells.

321. Lime-water has been found of great service in scrophulous and scorbutic complaints; in some kinds of alvine fluxes, female weaknesses, and other disorders proceeding from a laxity and debility of the solids; particularly in corpulent and phlegmatic habits. It appears likewise to be possessed of a lithotrictive power, and in sundry calculous cases has procured considerable relief: the lime-water prepared from calcined oyster-shells is found to be, in this intention, more efficacious than that of the common stone or chalk lime. It is given internally, in the dose of a quarter of a pint, three or four times a-day; and likewise used externally for washing foul ulcers.

Compound lime-water. E.

Take of sassafras, root and bark, shaved, two ounces; nutmegs, well bruised, three drams; liquorice, sliced, one ounce; lime-water, fresh prepared, four pints. Digest them together for two days, in a very close vessel; and then strain the liquor.

Lime-water less compounded. L.

Take of liquorice, one ounce; sassafras-bark, half an ounce; simple lime-water, six pints. Macerate without heat for two days; and then strain the liquor.

Lime-water more compounded. L.

Take of guaiacum wood, shaved, half a pound; li-

quorice, one ounce; sassafras-bark, half an ounce; coriander-seeds, three drams; simple lime-water, six pints. Macerate without heat for two days; and then strain off the liquor.

In all these compositions, the additional articles take off the ill flavour of the lime-water, render it more grateful both to the palate and stomach, and at the same time considerably promote its medicinal efficacy, especially when intended against cutaneous disorders, and foulness of the blood and juices. They may be taken in the same quantities as the simple lime-water, and continued for some time; the patient keeping moderately warm during their use.

319. The Cretaceous potion.

Take of prepared chalk, gum arabic, of each one ounce; fine sugar, half an ounce; common water, two pints; spirituous nutmeg-water, two ounces. Mix them together. E.

Art ii. Infusions in Boiling Water.

320. Simple bitter infusion. L.

Take of gentian root, fresh yellow rind of lemon-peel, carefully freed from the inner white part, each half an ounce; dry yellow rind of Seville orange-peel, freed in like manner from the white, one dram and a half; boiling water, three quarters of a pint. Macerate for an hour or two; then filter the liquor through paper, or pass it through a strainer, without pressure.

This is a very elegant and useful bitter; as agreeable to the taste as can well be contrived, the pills communicating a fine flavour; which is the only addition that the gentian stands in need of.

321. Purging bitter infusion. L.

Take of fena, yellow rind of lemon-peel, fresh, each three drams; gentian root, yellow rind of Seville orange-peel, dry; lesser cardamom-seeds, freed from the husks, each half a dram; boiling water, five ounces by measure. Macerate them together; and when cold, strain off the liquor.

322. Bitter infusion with fena. E.

Take of fena, one dram; gentian root, sweet fennel-seeds, each half a dram; boiling water, a quarter of a pint. Infuse them for four hours, and then strain the liquor.

This infusion may likewise be prepared with two, three, or more times the quantity of fena.

Both these are useful purging bitters. The quantities here prescribed are intended for one dose; the first is the largest, and the other the smallest dose in which fena is usually given.

323. Common infusion of fena. L.

Take of fena, an ounce and a half; crystals of tartar, three drams; lesser cardamom-seeds, freed from the husks, two drams; water, one pint. Boil the crystals of tartar in the water until they are dissolved; then pour the water, whilst it continues boiling, upon the other ingredients; and when cold, strain off the liquor for use.

In the former L. Pharmacopoeia, an alkaline salt was used used in the infusion of senna, instead of the acid one here directed. The first was supposed to promote the operation of the medicine, by superadding a degree of purgative virtue of its own, and by enabling the water to extract somewhat more from the capital ingredient than it would be capable of doing by itself; whilst acids have rather a contrary effect. Experience, however, has sufficiently shown, that this infusion, and the following one with lemon-juice, do not fail in their intentions; and, in a medicine very nauseous to many, it is of principal consequence to prepare it so, that the lightest and least disagreeable parts may be extracted. Alkaline salts increase the offensiveness of the senna; whilst crystals of tartar considerably improve the colour of the infusion, and likewise render the taste to some persons less disagreeable. Soluble tartar should seem a good ingredient in these kinds of compositions, as it not only improves the taste, but promotes the purgative virtue of the medicine: this addition also renders the infusion less apt to gripe or occasion flatulencies.

324. Infusion of senna with lemon. L. Take of senna, an ounce and a half; yellow rind of lemon-peel, fresh, one ounce; lemon-juice, one ounce by measure; boiling water, one pint. Macerate them together; and when cold, strain off the infusion.

This is a very pleasant and sufficiently efficacious purge: the Committee observe, that it is the most agreeable form they have been able to contrive for the exhibition of senna to such as are more than ordinarily offended with its flavour. The dose is from two ounces to four.

325. Infusion of tamarinds with senna. L. Take of tamarinds, six drams; crystals of tartar, senna-leaves, of each one dram; coriander-seeds, half a dram; brown sugar, half an ounce; boiling water, eight ounces. Macerate the ingredients in a close earthen vessel unglazed, shaking it now and then. After four hours strain off the liquor. This infusion may be made with a double or triple quantity of senna.

326. Infusion of rhubarb. E. Take of rhubarb, half an ounce; boiling water, half a pint. Infuse them for a night, and to the strained liquor add one ounce of spirituous cinnamon-water.

This appears to be one of the best preparations of rhubarb when designed as a purgative; water extracting its virtue more effectually than either vinous or spirituous menstrua: in this respect rhubarb differs from most of the other vegetable cathartics.

327. Infusion of flammula jovis. E. Take of the dried leaves of the flammula jovis, two drams; boiling water, one pint. Macerate for a quarter of an hour; then let the liquor boil a little, and strain it. This may be made also with three or four drams of flammula jovis.

328. Tincture of roses. Take of red rose-buds, freed from the white heels, half an ounce; strong spirit (called oil) of vitriol, one scruple; boiling water, two pints and a half; double-refined sugar, one ounce and a half. First mingle the spirit of vitriol with the water in a glass or glazed earthen vessel, and in this mixture macerate the roses; when the liquor is grown cold, strain it, and add the sugar. L.

Take of red roses, cleared from the heels and dried, one ounce; spirit of vitriol, one dram; boiling water, four pints; white sugar, two-ounces. Macerate the roses with the boiling water for four hours in an unglazed earthen vessel; then add the acid, and, after the liquor is strained, the sugar. E.

This tincture is of an elegant red colour, and makes a very grateful addition to juleps in hemorrhages, and all cases that require mild coolers and subastringents; it is sometimes taken with balsams or electuaries of the bark; and likewise makes a good gargle.

329. Mucilage of gum-arabic. E. Take of gum-arabic in powder, four ounces; hot water, six ounces; mix them, diligently rubbing them together all the time, and strain through a linen cloth.

330. Mucilage of gum tragacanth. E. Take of gum tragacanth in powder, one ounce; hot water, half a pint. Macerate for 24 hours; then rub the ingredients well together, and squeeze the mucilage through a linen-cloth.

Art. iii. Decoctions.

331. The effect of boiling differs from that of infusion in some material particulars. One of the most obvious differences is, that as the essential oils of vegetables, in which their specific odours reside, are volatile in the heat of boiling water, they exhale in the boiling along with the watery stream, and thus are lost to the remaining decoction; whereas both in cold and hot infusions they are preserved. Odorous substances, and those in general whose virtues depend on their volatile parts, are therefore unfit for this treatment. The soluble parts of these may, nevertheless, be united in this form with those of bodies of a more fixed nature, by boiling the latter till their virtues are sufficiently extracted, and then infusing the former in this decoction.

332. The extraction of the virtue of the subject is usually promoted or accelerated by a boiling heat; but this rule is less general than it is commonly supposed to be. We have already observed, that Peruvian bark gives out its virtue more perfectly by cold infusion than by decoction. In some cases, boiling occasions a manifest diffusion of the principles of the subject: thus, when almonds are triturated with cold water, their oil, blended with the mucilaginous or other soluble matter of the almond, unites with the water into a milky liquor called an emulsion; but on boiling them in water, the oil separates and rises to the surface; and if the most perfect emulsion be made to boil, a like separation happens.

333. The white decoction. L. Take of calcined hartshorn, prepared, two ounces; gum-arabic, two drams; water, three pints. Boil them till only two pints remain; and then strain off the liquor. This decoction is used as common drink in acute diseases attended with a looseness, and where acrimonious humours abound in the prime via. The gum is added in order to render the liquor lightly glutinous, and thus enable it to sustain more of the calx; which is the ingredient that the colour, but probably not the virtue, of the medicine depends upon. Calcined hartshorn has no quality from which it seems capable either of confining and strengthening the vessels, giving a greater degree of consistency to thin fluids, or obtunding acrimonious humours. It blunts and absorbs acid juices; but acrimony and acidity are very different: there are few (perhaps none of the acute) disorders of adults attended with the latter; and few of infants are unaccompanied therewith. Some have proposed starch as an ingredient in these kinds of decoctions; a small quantity of this soft gelatinous, farinaceous substance should seem to be greatly preferable to the earthy calx. It may be observed, that the water is not enabled by the boiling to dissolve any part of the calx; and that in the decoction the earth is only diffused in substance thro' the water, as it would be by agitation.

334. Decoction of the woods. E. Take of guaiacum shavings, three ounces; raisins of the sun, stoned, two ounces; sassafras wood shaved, liquorice sliced, of each one ounce; water, one gallon. Boil the guaiacum and raisins with the water, over a gentle fire, to the consumption of one half; adding towards the end, the sassafras and liquorice. Strain out the liquor without pressure.

This decoction is very well contrived; and if its use is duly continued, will do great service in some cutaneous diseases, foulness of the blood and juices, and some disorders of the breast; particularly in cold phlegmatic habits. It may be taken by itself in the quantity of a quarter of a pint, two or three times a day, or used as an assistant in a course of mercurial or antimonial alternatives; the patient in either case keeping warm, in order to promote the operation of the medicine.

335. Decoction of marshmallow root. E. Take of marshmallow root, moderately dried, six ounces; large raisins, stoned, two ounces; common water, six pints. Boil to four pints, adding the other ingredients towards the end. Strain out the liquor, and let it settle till fine.

This decoction is intended chiefly as an emollient, to be liberally drank of in nephritic paroxysms; in which cases, by softening and relaxing the parts, it frequently relieves the pain, and procures an easy passage for the fabulous matter. Two or three ounces of this decoction may be taken for a dose.

336. Pectoral decoction. L. Take common barley, stoned raisins, figs, each two ounces; liquorice, half an ounce; water, four pints. First boil the water with the barley, then add the raisins, and lastly (just before the end of the process) the figs and liquorice; the boiling is to be continued so long, that the liquor, when strained, may be no more than two pints. L.

This decoction is an useful soft pectoral; and very agreeable to the palate. It is a good auxiliary in sharp defluxions on the breast and lungs, and has sometimes done service by itself. It may be drank at pleasure.

337. Barley-water. L. E. Take of pearl-barley, two ounces; water, four pints. First wash the barley from the mealy matter that adheres to it, with some cold water; then boil it a little with about half a pint of fresh water, which will acquire a considerable tinge from it. Throw away this tinged water; put the barley into the water prescribed, made first to boil; and continue the boiling till half the water is wasted; then strain.

This liquor is to be drank freely, as a diluter, in fevers and other disorders. However trivial medicines of this class may appear to be, they are of greater importance in the cure of acute diseases, than many more laborious preparations.

338. Mucilage of quince-seeds. L. Take of quince-seeds, one dram; water, six ounces by measure. Boil them over a soft fire, till the water grows slimy almost like the white of an egg; then pass it through a linen cloth.

This is a pleasant soft mucilage, of a somewhat sweetish taste, and a light agreeable smell: in these respects, and in its easy solubility in water, it differs from the mucilage of gum-tragacanth, to which some have supposed it similar: it has another difference, to its disadvantage, being apt to grow mouldy in keeping.

[339]—349. Viper-broth. L. Take a middle-sized viper, freed from the head, skin, and intestines, and two pints of water. Boil them to a pint and a half; then remove the vessel from the fire; and when the liquor is grown cold, let the fat, which congeals upon the surface if the viper was fresh, be taken off. Into this broth, whilst warm, put a pullet of moderate size, drawn and freed from the skin, and all the fat, but with the flesh entire. Set the vessel on the fire again, that the liquor may boil; then remove it from the fire, take out the chicken, and immediately chop its flesh into little pieces: put these into the liquor again, set it over the fire, and as soon as it boils up, pour out the broth, first carefully taking off the scum.

Here all the circumstances subservient to the perfection of the broth are carefully set down: and even plain chicken-broth, for the use of the sick, ought to be made in a similar manner.

This seems to be one of the best preparations of the viper; all the benefit that can be expected from that animal being by this means obtained. It is very nutritious and restorative food: continued for a length of time, it has sometimes done good service in leprosy and other obstinate cutaneous diseases. The dried flesh of the vipers brought from abroad is not at all superior to the fresh vipers of our own country; the wines and tincture of the animal, probably, have little virtue; the volatile salt, however strongly recommended by some fome, does not appear to differ from that producible from every animal-substance.

350. Decoction of feneka. E. Take of feneka, rattlesnake root, one ounce; water, a pint and a half. Boil to one pint, and strain.

The virtues of this decoction will be easily under- stood from those of the root which it is prepared from. The dose, in hydropic cases, and rheumatic or arthritic complaints, is two ounces; to be repeated three or four times a-day, according to its effect.

351. The common fomentation. L. Take of abrotanum leaves dried, sea-wormwood tops dried, camomile-flowers dried, each one ounce; bay-leaves dried, half an ounce; water, six pints. Lightly boil them, and strain out the decoction for use.

It is left to the choice of the apothecary to take either the male or female abrotanum, that is, southernwood or lavender-cotton: which, though differing from one another, in some respect may be looked upon as similar with regard to the purposes for which this composition is intended: nor indeed can either of them give much assistance to camomile-flowers and wormwood. The use of this decoction is expressed in its title: spirit of wine, which is commonly added in fomentations, is left to be directed by the prescriber, in such quantity as particular cases may require.

352. The common decoction for glysters. L. Take of mallow-leaves dried, one ounce; camomile flowers dried, sweet fennel-seeds, each half an ounce; water, one pint. Boil them together, and strain out the decoction for use.

The title of this decoction sufficiently expresses its use, as the basis of glysters.

353. The common decoction. E. Take of camomile-flowers, one ounce; caraway-seeds, half an ounce; water, two quarts. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and then strain out the liquor.

This decoction is intended to answer the purposes of both the foregoing. It is less loaded with ingredients than either, but not perhaps for that reason the less useful.

§ 2. Wheys.

356. Mustard-whey. Take milk and water, of each a pint; bruised mustard-feed, an ounce and a half. Boil them together till the curd is perfectly separated; afterwards strain the whey through a cloth.

This is the most elegant, and by no means the least efficacious method of exhibiting mustard. It warms and invigorates the habit, and promotes the different secretions. Hence, in the low state of nervous fevers, it will often supply the place of wine. It is also of use in the chronic rheumatism, palpy, dropfy, &c. The addition of a little sugar will render it more agreeable.—The dose is an ordinary tea-cupful four or five times a-day.

357. Alum-whey. Boil two drams of powdered-alum in a pint of milk till it is curdled; then strain out the whey.

This whey is beneficial in an immoderate flow of the menes, and in a diabetes or excessive discharge of urine.—The dose is two, three, or four ounces, according as the stomach will bear it, three times a-day. If it should occasion vomiting, it may be diluted.

583. Scorbutic whey. This whey is made by boiling half a pint of the scorbutic juices in a quart of cow's milk. More benefit, however, is to be expected from eating the plants than from their expressed juices.

The scorbutic-plants are, bitter-oranges, brooklime, garden scurvy-grafts, and water-crescis.

§ 3. Vinegars.

359. Vinegar extracts the virtues of several medicinal substances in tolerable perfection: but at the same time its acidity makes a notable alteration in them, or superadds a virtue of a different kind; and hence it is more rarely employed in this intention than purely aqueous or spirituous menstrua. Some drugs, however, vinegar, for particular purposes, excellently afflicts or coincides with, as squills, garlic, ammoniacum, and others: and in many cases, where this acid is itself principally depended on, it may be advantageously impregnated with the flavour of certain vegetables; most of the odoriferous flowers impart to it their fragrance, together with a fine purplish or red colour. Violets, for instance, if fresh parcels of them are infused in vinegar in the cold for a little time, communicate to the liquor a pleasant flavour, and deep purplish red colour. Vinegar, like other acids, added to watery infusions or decoctions, generally precipitates a part of what the water had dissolved.

360. Vinegar of squills. Take of dried squills, one pound; vinegar, six pints. Macerate the squills in the vinegar with a gentle heat; then press out the liquor, and set it by till the faces have subsided: the vinegar being afterwards poured off, add to it about one-twelfth its quantity of proof-spirit, that it may keep the longer from growing mothery. L. Take of the dried root of squills, four ounces; distilled vinegar, two pints; proof-spirit, two ounces. Macerate the root with the vinegar for eight days; then add the spirit; and when the faces have subsided, pour off the clear liquor. E.

This is a medicine of great antiquity: we find, in a treatise attributed to Galen, an account of its preparation, and of many particular virtues there ascribed to it. It is a very powerful stimulant, aperient, and attenuant of tenacious juices; and hence is frequently used with good success in disorders of the breast occasioned by a load of thick viscid phlegm, for promoting urine in hydropic cases, &c. The dose of this medicine is from a dram to half an ounce. Where crudities abound in the first passages, it may be given at first in a larger dose, to evacuate them by vomit. It is most conveniently exhibited along with cinnamon or other agreeable aromatic waters, which prevent the nausea it would otherwise, even in small doses, be apt to occasion.

§ 4. Wines. 361. The original intention of medicated wines was, that medicines, which were to be continued for a length of time, might be taken in the most familiar and agreeable form; by this means a course of remedies was complied with, notwithstanding the repugnance and aversion which the sick often manifest to those directly furnished from the shops; and hence the inferior sort of people had their medicated ales. Nevertheless, as vinous liquors excellently extract the virtues of several simples, and are not ill fitted for keeping, they have been employed as official menstrua also; and substances of the greatest efficacy are trifled in this form. As compounds of water and inflammable spirit, they take up such parts of vegetables and animals as are soluble in those liquors; though most of them abound at the same time with a mucilaginous or viscid substance, which renders them less effectual menstrua than purer mixtures of water and spirit. They contain likewise a subtle acid, which somewhat further obstructs their action on certain vegetable and animal matters, but enables them, in proportion to its quantity, to dissolve some bodies of the metallic kind, and thus impregnate themselves with the corroborating virtues of steel, the alternative and emetic powers of antimony, and the noxious qualities of lead.

Note. To all the medicated wines, after they have been strained, you may add about one-twentieth their quantity of proof-spirit to preserve them from fermentation. They may be conveniently kept in the same kind of glass-bottles that wines generally are for common uses, which should likewise be corked with the same care.

362—364. Alkaline aloetic wine. L.

Take of any fixed alkaline salt, eight ounces; colocynthine aloes, saffron, myrrh, each one ounce; sal ammoniac purified, six drams; mountain wine, two pints. Macerate without heat for a week or longer; then filter the wine through paper.

This is the elixir proprietatis Helmontii, with some little variations which affect the compounder rather than the composition.

Helmont and others have entertained a very high opinion of this medicine, and looked upon it as "a vivifying and preserving balsam, capable of continuing health and prolonging life to the utmost possible limits." The medicine is doubtless a very efficacious and useful one for many purposes; it may be so managed as to attenuate viscid juices and open obstructions in the remoter parts, and promote evacuation by almost all the emunctories. In doses of one, two, or three drams, it increases the urinary secretion; and if the patient is kept moderately warm, generally proves diaphoretic or sudorific; in larger doses, it gently loofens the belly.

365. a. Bitter wine. L.

Take of gentian root, yellow rind of lemon-peel, fresh, each one ounce; long pepper, two drams; mountain wine, two pints. Macerate without heat, and strain out the wine for use.

This is a very elegant bitter, which the addition of the long pepper renders considerably warmer than the watery infusion. Gentian and lemon-peel, as we have already seen, make a bitter of a very grateful flavour. "The spice here added was selected after the trial of many other materials."

365. b. Bitter wine. E.

Take of gentian root, half an ounce; Peruvian bark, one ounce; dried orange-peel, two drams; canella alba, one dram; proof-spirit, four ounces; white wine, two pints. First pour on the proof-spirit, then the wine; macerate four days, and strain.

This wine supplies the place of the stomachic tincture of the former pharmacopoeia.

366. Antimonial or emetic wine.

Take of crocus of antimony, washed, one ounce; mountain wine, a pint and a half. Digest without heat, and filter the wine through paper. L.

Take of glas of antimony, levigated, one ounce; white wine, one pint. Digest for three days, shaking the mixture now and then, and filter the liquor through paper. E.

The antimonial wine possesses the whole virtues of that mineral, and may be so dosed and managed as to perform all that can be effected by any antimonial preparation; with this advantage, that as the active part of the antimony is here already dissolved and rendered miscible with the animal-fluids, its operation is more certain. Given from ten to fifty or sixty drops, it acts generally as an alternative and diaphoretic; in larger doses, as a diuretic and cathartic; whilst three or four drams prove for the most part violently emetic. It has been chiefly used in this last intention, in some maniacal and apoplectic cases; and hence gained the name of emetic wine.

367. Steel-wine.

Take of iron filings, four ounces; cinnamon, mace, each half an ounce; Rhenish wine, four pints. Macerate without heat for a month, frequently shaking the vessel; then strain off the wine for use. L.

Take of iron filings, three ounces; cochineal, half a dram; Rhenish wine, two pints. Digest them together for twenty days, frequently shaking the vessel; and then pass the wine through a filter. E.

Both these wines are sufficiently elegant ones. Rhenish is an excellent menstruum for steel, and dissolves a considerable quantity of it; the cochineal, in the second, imparts a fine colour; and the spices, in the first, give the liquor an agreeable flavour, make it fit easier on the stomach, and likewise promote its medicinal efficacy.

368. Steel-wine is a very useful preparation of this metal, and frequently exhibited in chlorotic and other indispositions where chalybeates are proper. Boerhaave recommends it as one of the noblest medicines he was acquainted with, for promoting that power in the body by which blood is made, when weakened by a bare debility of the over-relaxed solids, and an indolent, cold, aqueous indisposition of the juices; for in this case, says he, no virtue of any vegetable or animal substance, no diet or regimen can effect that, which is effected by iron; but it proves hurtful where the vital powers are already too strong, whether this proceeds... ceeds from the fluids or the solids. The dose is from a dram to half an ounce; which may be repeated two or three times a-day.

369. Saffron-wine. L. Take of saffron, one ounce; canary, one pint. Macerate without heat, and strain off the wine.

Canary has been objected to by some as an improper menstruum for medicinal simples, since it contains a large quantity of unctuous matter, which impedes its dissolving power: a pint of this sort of wine left, upon evaporation, two ounces of a mellowing substance, not unlike honey boiled hard. It is nevertheless, for saffron, a very well adapted menstruum, as not only sufficiently loading itself with its virtues, but likewise coinciding in the general intention of the medicine, that of a cordial. The preparation made with Canary is also better fitted for keeping than when wines that have any tendency to acidity are employed; for tinctures of saffron drawn with these last soon lose their fine colour; whilst those made with the first retain it for a much longer time. The dose of this tincture is from one dram to three or more.

370. Wine of ipecacuanha. L. Take of ipecacuanha, two ounces; yellow rind of Seville orange peel, dried, half an ounce; Canary, two pints. Macerate without heat, and strain out the wine.

371. Tincture of ipecacuanha. E. Take of ipecacuanha in powder, one ounce; mountain wine, one pint. After three days digestion, let the tincture be filtered for use.

Both these wines are very mild and safe emetics, and equally serviceable in dysenteries also, with the ipecacuanha in substance; this root yielding nearly all its virtues both to the mountain and Canary wines here ordered, as it does a good share of them even to aqueous liquors. The common dose is an ounce, more or less, according to the age and strength of the patient.

372. Viper-wine. L. Take of dry vipers, two ounces; mountain, three pints. Macerate with a gentle heat for a week; and then strain off the wine.

It has been disputed, whether live or dry vipers are preferable for making this medicine: such as are moderately and newly dried, are perhaps the most eligible, since, by excetration, they seem to lose only their phlegmatic or aqueous parts. Whether they communicate to the wine, either when used fresh or dry, so much virtue as they are supposed to do, is greatly to be doubted. Some compositions under this name have been highly celebrated, as restoratives, in debilities and decays of constitution; but what virtues of this kind they possessed, were supplied chiefly from other ingredients.

373. Wine of milipedes. E. Take of live milipedes, bruised, two ounces; Rhenish wine, one pint. Pour the wine on the milipedes bruised a little; infuse for twelve hours, and strain off the liquor, and squeeze it out from the residuum.

This wine has been commended as an admirable cleanser of all the visceræ, yielding to nothing in the jaundice and obstructions of the kidneys or urinary passages, of excellent service in almost all chronic distempers, even in scrophulous and strumous swellings, and in defluxions of rheum upon the eyes. But those who expected these extraordinary virtues from it, have often been deceived; and at present there are few who have any great dependence on it. It is directed to be given from half an ounce to two ounces.

374. Cephalic tincture. E. Take of wild valerian root, four ounces; Virginian snakeroot, one ounce; rosemary tops, half an ounce; French white-wine, six pints. Digest them together for three days, and then filter the tincture.

This preparation promises to be a medicine of considerable utility as a cephalic, that is, in disorders of the nervous system, wherein the membranes of the brain are often principally affected, as in vertiginous, epileptic, and paralytic complaints.

375. Vinous tincture of rhubarb. L. Take of rhubarb, two ounces; lesser cardamom seeds, freed from the husks, half an ounce; saffron, two drams; mountain wine, two pints. Macerate without heat, and then strain off the tincture.

This is a warm, cordial, laxative medicine. It is used chiefly in weakness of the stomach and bowels, and some kinds of loosenesses, for evacuating the offending matter, and strengthening the tone of the visceræ. It may be given from half a spoonful to three or four spoonfuls or more, according to the circumstances of the disorder, and the purposes it is intended to answer.

376. Tinctura sacra. Take of socotrine aloes, eight ounces; canella alba, two ounces; mountain wine, ten pints. Reduce the aloes and canella separately into powder; then mix, and pour on them the wine; afterwards macerate without heat, for a week or longer, occasionally shaking the vessel; lastly, strain off the wine. It will be convenient to mix with the powders some white sand, well washed from dirt, to prevent the aloes from concreting, which it is apt to do upon being moistened. L.

Take of socotrine aloes in powder, one ounce; Ginger, Jamaica pepper, each one dram; mountain wine, a pint and a half. Digest for seven days, shaking the mixture now and then, and then strain off the tincture. E.

This medicine has long been in great esteem, not only as a cathartic, but likewise as a stimulus; the wine dissolving all that part of the aloes in which these qualities reside, a portion only of the less active resinous matter being left. The aromatic ingredients are added to warm the medicine, and somewhat alleviate the ill flavour of the aloes: canella alba, or cloves, are said, among numerous materials that have been made trial of, to answer this end the most successfully.

The tinctura sacra appears from long experience, to be a medicine of excellent service in languid, phlegmatic habits, not only for cleansing the prime vice, but likewise for attenuating and dissolving viscid juices in the remoter parts, for stimulating the solids, warming the habit, promoting or exciting the uterine purgations, and the hemorrhoidal flux. The dose, as a purgative, is from one to two ounces, or more; it may be introduced into the habit, so as to be productive of excellent effects as an alterant, by giving it in small doses at proper intervals: thus managed, it does not for a considerable time operate remarkably by stool; but at length proves purgative, and occasions a lax habit of much longer continuance than that produced by the other common cathartics.

377. Thebaic tincture. L. [See no° 418.]

Take of strained opium, two ounces; cinnamon, cloves, each one dram; mountain wine, one pint. Macerate without heat for a week, and then filter the tincture through paper.

This is the liquid laudanum of Sydenham, with the exchange of Canary wine for mountain, and the omission of an ounce of saffron. The aromatics in the form above are in so small quantity, that the prescriber can scarce expect any considerable effect from them, the proportion of each that goes to a grain of opium, amounting to no more than the sixteenth part of a grain; even these minute proportions, however, are in good measure sufficient to take off the ill odour of the opium; which seems to be all that is intended by them.

378, 379. The principal advantages of exhibiting opium in this form are, that by being already dissolved, it exerts itself the sooner in the body; and that by some persons, liquids are more commodiously taken, than a bolus or pill. The common doses of the tincture are from ten drops to forty, fifty, or more, according to the exigences of the case. It were to be wished, that the dose could be more exactly ascertained, by weight or measure: as the drops may, according to different circumstances, vary in quantity, though in number the same; and as an error therein may, in some cases, be of mischievous consequences. Twenty drops contain at a medium about one grain of opium, or rather so much as that quantity of wine will extract from one grain; for the liquor does not dissolve the whole substance of the opium, nor is the solution equivalent in its effect to the full quantity of opium employed in it.

A liquid opiate, free from the inconveniences here complained of, will be described under the head of spirituous tinctures.

380. White dittany wine. E.

Take of white dittany root, one ounce; iron filings free from rust, three drams; white wine, one pint. Digest 25 hours, and then strain of the liquor.

§ 5. ALES.

381. There are two ways of impregnating malt-liquors with the virtues of medicinal substances: Macerating the subject in the liquor after the fermentation is completely finished; and fermenting it along with the liquor, or at least adding it towards the end of the fermentation, that, by the resolutive power of that process, its texture may be opened, and its medicinal parts more fully extracted. Neumann observes, that the active powers of many vegetables are not only effectually extracted, but extended, as it were, by fermentation: that so much pounded nutmeg as will lie on the point of a knife, gives a flavour to a large vat of fermenting ale; whereas, when the fermentation is finished, the quantity of liquor to which it gives a like impregnation, is comparatively inconsiderable.

As the medicinal ales are chiefly intended for diet-drinks, it is not necessary to be very exact with regard to their doses. In general, they may be taken to a pint or more in the day, and continued as long as necessary. They should not, however, be long used at a time, as all bitters are apt to affect the head when their use is persisted in.

382. Antiscorbutic ale.

Take of horseradish root, fresh, one pound; great water-dock root, sliced and dried, two pounds; water-trefoil, dried, four ounces. Infuse them in ten gallons of new ale.

In scorbutic disorders, this ale, used as common drink, generally does service.

383. Bitter ale.

Take of gentian root, four ounces; lemon peel, three ounces; canella alba, two ounces; ale, two gallons. Let the ingredients be cut small, and steeped in the ale without heat.

This is an agreeable stomachic ale, superior to the common purls and most other preparations of that kind.

384. Diuretic ale.

Take of mustard-seed and juniper-berries, each eight ounces; seeds of the wild carrot, six ounces; new small ale, ten gallons.

In gravelly complaints, and dropical habits, this is an useful diet-drink.

385. Opening ale.

Take of senna, four ounces; tops of lesser centaury, and wormwood, each three ounces; of socotrine aloes, half an ounce. Infuse in ten gallons of ale.

Half a pint of this ale may be taken twice a-day, or oftener if necessary, to keep the body open.

386. Dr Butler's ale.

Take of betony, sage, agrimony, garden scurvy-grass, Roman wormwood, each three handfuls; elecampane roots, each four ounces; new ale, four gallons. The herbs and roots are to be put in a bag, and hung in the ale while it works.

This liquor has so far obtained among the common people, as to have been frequently made and sold in public houses. It is used in the spring, for purifying the blood, and preventing scorbutic disorders.

387. Cephalic ale.

Take of wild valerian root, ten ounces; mustard seed, whole, six ounces; Virginian snakeroot, two ounces; rosemary, or sage, three ounces; new small ale, ten gallons. The ingredients of this composition are all of the warm and stimulating kind; and consequently tend to invigorate the nervous system, and promote the circulation of the fluids. In palsy, epilepsy, and vertigoes, some benefit may be expected from this liquor used as common drink.

§ 6. Spirituous Tinctures.

388. Rectified spirit of wine is the direct menstruum of the resins and essential oils of vegetables; and totally extracts these active principles from sundry vegetable matters, which yield them to water either not at all, or only in part. It dissolves likewise the sweet saccharine matter of vegetables; and generally those parts of animal-bodies in which their peculiar smells and tastes reside.

389. The virtues of many vegetables are extracted almost equally by water and rectified spirit; but in the watery and spirituous tinctures of them there is this difference, that the active parts in the watery extractions are blended with a large proportion of inert gummy matter, on which their solubility in this menstruum in great measure depends, while rectified spirit extracts them almost pure from gum. Hence, when the spirituous tinctures are mixed with watery liquors, a part of what the spirit had taken up from the subject generally separates and subsides, on account of its having been freed from that matter which, being blended with it in the original vegetable, made it soluble in water. This, however, is not universal; for the active parts of some vegetables, when extracted by rectified spirit, are not precipitated by water, being almost equally dissoluble in both menstrua.

390. Rectified spirit may be tinged by vegetables of all colours, except blue: the leaves of plants in general, which give out but little of their natural colour to watery liquors, communicate to spirit the whole of their green tincture, which for the most part proves elegant, though not very durable.

Fixed alkaline salts deepen the colour of spirituous tinctures; and hence have been supposed to promote the dissolving power of the menstruum, tho' this does not appear from experience: in the trials that have been made to determine this affair, no more was found to be taken up in the deep-coloured tinctures than in the paler ones, and often not so much: if the alkali be added after the extraction of the tincture, it will heighten the colour as much as when mixed with the ingredients at first. Nor is the addition of these salts in making tinctures useless only, but likewise prejudicial, as they in general injure the flavour of aromatics, and superadd a quality sometimes contrary to the intention of the medicine.—Volatile alkaline salts, in many cases, promote the action of the spirit. Acids generally weaken it, unless when the acid has been previously combined with the vinous spirit into a compound of new qualities, called dulcified spirit.

391. General rules for extracting tinctures.

I. The vegetable substances ought to be moderately and newly dried, unless they are expressly ordered otherwise. They should likewise be cut and bruised before the menstruum is poured on them.

II. If the digestion is performed in balneo, the whole success depends upon the proper management of the fire: it ought to be all along gentle, unless the hard texture of the subject should require it to be augmented; in which case the heat may be increased, so as to make the menstruum boil a little towards the end of the process.

III. Very large circulatory vessels ought to be employed for this purpose, which should be heated before they are luted together.

Circulatory vessels are those which are so contrived, and of such a height, that the vapour which arises during the digestion may be cooled and condensed in the upper part, and fall down again into the liquor below: by this means the dissipation both of the spirit and of the volatile parts of the ingredients is prevented. They are generally composed of two long-necked matrafes or bolt-heads; the mouth of one of which is to be inserted into that of the other, and the juncture secured by a piece of wet bladder. The use of heating the vessels is, to expel a part of the air; which otherwise, rarefying in the process, would endanger bursting them or blowing off the uppermost matrafs. A single matraf with a long neck, or with a glass-pipe inserted into its mouth, is more commodious than the double vessel. See 182.

IV. The vessel is to be frequently shaken during the digestion.

V. All tinctures should be suffered to settle before they are committed either to the filter or strainer.

VI. In the tinctures (and diluted spirits likewise) designed for internal use, no other spirit (drawn from malt, molasses, or other fermented matter) is to be used than that expressly prescribed.

VII. Resin and resinous gums yield tinctures more successfully, if, after being ground into powder, they be mixed with some white sand well washed and dried, which will prevent their running into lumps by the heat. If the powders prescribed are sufficient for this purpose, such an addition is unnecessary.

392. Bitter tincture. L.

Take of gentian root, two ounces; yellow rind of Seville orange-peel, dried, one ounce; lesser cardamom-seeds, freed from the hulls, half an ounce; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and strain off the tincture.

393. Bitter tincture, or stomachic elixir. E.

Take of gentian root, two ounces; dried orange-peel, an ounce; canella alba, half an ounce; cochineal, half a dram; French brandy, two pints. Let them steep for four days, and then filter the elixir.

Both this and the preceding composition are very useful stomachic bitters.

394. Tincture of wormwood. E.

Take of the dried tops of wormwood in flower, four ounces; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Macerate for two days; and strain the liquor, pressing it out from the residuum; then pour it upon other two ounces of wormwood; macerate again for four days, and press through a linen-cloth; and lastly, filter the liquor.

395. Aromatic 395. Aromatic tincture.

Take of cinnamon, six drams; lesser cardomom-seeds, freed from the hulls, three drams; long-pepper, ginger, each two drams; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and then strain off the tincture. L.

Take of cinnamon, six drams; lesser cardomom-seeds, an ounce; angelica seeds, three drams; long-pepper, two drams; proof-spirit, two pints. Macerate for seven days; and then filter. E.

This is a very warm aromatic, too much so to be given without dilution. A teaspoonful or two may be taken in wine, or any other convenient vehicle, in languors, weaknesses of the stomach, flatulencies, and other like complaints. The stomachic tincture, described hereafter, is similar in intention to this; but contrived less hot of the spices, that it may be taken by itself.

396. Balsamic tincture.

Take of balsam of copaiba, one ounce and a half; balsam of Peru, half an ounce; English saffron, one dram; rectified spirit of wine, one pint. Digest these ingredients together, in a sand-heat, for three days; and then pass the tincture through a strainer.

This tincture is an excellent balsamic, both for internal and external purposes. It is usually given, in doses of 10, 20, or 30 drops, in the fluors albus, gleets, cachexies, some kinds of asthmas and nephritic complaints, for strengthening the tone of the viscera, and corroborating the nervous system in general. Some caution is requisite in the use of these resinous warm medicines; in cold, languid, phlegmatic habits, they have for the most part good effects; but in bilious and plethoric constitutions, where there is any tendency to inflammation or immoderate heat, they are manifestly prejudicial, and raise or continue febrile symptoms.

397. Tincture of cantharides.

Take of cantharides, bruised, two drams; cochineal, half a dram; proof-spirit, a pint and a half. Digest them together; and afterwards filter the tincture through paper. L.

Take of cantharides, two drams; rectified spirit of wine, a pint and a half. Digest for four days, and then filter the tincture. E.

These tinctures possess the whole virtues of the fly, and are the only preparations of it designed for internal use; tinctures being by far the most commodious and safe form for the exhibition of this active drug. The usual dose of these tinctures is from 10 to 20 drops, which may be taken in a glass of water, or any other more agreeable liquor, twice a day, and increased by two or three drops at a time, according to the effect.

398. Tincture of cardamoms.

Take of lesser cardomom-seeds, husked, half a pound; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and strain the tincture. L.

Take of lesser cardomom-seeds, six ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. Macerate for eight days; and then filter. E.

Tincture of cardamoms has been in use for a considerable time, though but lately received into the dispensatory. It is a pleasant, warm cordial, and may be taken, along with any proper vehicle, from a dram to a spoonful or two.

398. Tincture of castor.

Take of Russia castor, powdered, two ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest for ten days without heat, and strain off the tincture. L.

Take of Russia castor, an ounce and a half; rectified spirit of wine, one pint. Digest them for six days, and afterwards strain out the liquor. E.

400. Compound tincture of castor. E.

Take of Russia castor, one ounce; asafetida, half an ounce; vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, one pint. Digest for six days in a close-stopped phial, and then strain the tincture.

This composition is a medicine of real efficacy, particularly in hysterical disorders, and the several symptoms which accompany them. The vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, now used instead of the volatile oily spirit preferred, is an excellent menstruum both for the castor and the asafetida, and greatly adds to their virtues.

401, a. Tincture of cinnamon. L. E.

Take of cinnamon, an ounce and a half; proof-spirit, a pint. Digest without heat, and strain off the tincture.

The tincture of cinnamon possesses the restraining virtues of the cinnamon, as well as its aromatic cordial ones; and in this respect it differs from the distilled waters of the spice.

401, b. Volatile tincture of guaiacum. L.

Take of gum guaiacum, four ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, a pint and a half. Digest, without heat, in a vessel close stopped; and afterwards let the tincture be passed through a strainer.

This is a very elegant and efficacious tincture; the volatile spirit excellently dissolving the gum, and at the same time promoting its medicinal virtue. In rheumatic cases, a tea-spoonful, taken every morning and evening in any convenient vehicle, has proved of singular service.

402. Simple tincture of Peruvian bark. L. E.

Take of Peruvian bark, four ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest and strain.

A medicine of this kind has been for a long time pretty much in esteem, and usually kept in the shops, though but lately received into the dispensatory.

For general use, this is the most convenient of the bark-tinctures, the proof-spirit extracting nearly all the virtues of the bark. It may be given from a tea-spoonful to half an ounce, or an ounce, according to the different purposes it is intended to answer.

403. Volatile tincture of Peruvian bark. L.

Take of Peruvian bark, four ounces; spirit of sal ammoniac, two pints. Digest without heat in a vessel close stopped; and afterwards strain the tincture.

This tincture is but lightly impregnated with the virtues. virtues of the bark; and is so acrimonious, that the largest dose which can with safety be given of it, can contain only a very small quantity of the subject. The medicine nevertheless has its uses, and may be serviceable in some cases where the stronger are improper, as in difficulty of breathing, obstructions, and oppressions of the breast. Stronger tinctures of this kind may be obtained by means of dulcified spirit of sal ammoniac, or the spirit prepared with quicklime. All the three may be employed where a large quantity of bark is not required, as at the close of the cure of intermittents; in weaknesses of digestion, attended with a cold sensation at the stomach; and some fluxes, particularly those from the uterus, where the circulation is languid, the fibres relaxed, and where there is a periodical return of slight feverish complaints. In these cases, Dr Lewis says he has often experienced salutary effects from a tincture in dulcified spirit of sal ammoniac, given to the quantity of a teaspoonful five or six times a-day, in any appropriated vehicle.

404. Compound tincture of Peruvian bark. E. Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, three ounces; Virginia snakeroot, gentian, each two drams; French brandy, two pints. Let them steep together for three days, and afterwards filter the tincture.

The substances here joined to the bark, in many cases, promote its efficacy in the cure of intermittents; and not unfrequently, are absolutely necessary. In some ill habits, particularly where the juices are sluggish and tenacious, the viscera and abdominal glands obstructed, the bark by itself proves unsuccessful, if not injurious; whilst given in conjunction with corroborant stomachics and deobstruents, it rarely fails of the due effect. Gentian and Virginia snakeroot, are among the best additions for this purpose; to which it is often necessary to join chalybeat medicines also.

405. Tincture of saffron. E. Take of English saffron, one ounce; French brandy, one pint. After digesting them for five days, let the tincture be filtered out for use.

This tincture is similar in virtue to the saffron-wine, no 368. A spirituous menstruum is here preferred to the wine, as a tincture drawn with the former retains its elegant colour longer, and is not apt to deposit in keeping any part of what it had taken up from the saffron.

406. Tincture or essence of white dittany. E. Take of fresh dittany root, two ounces; rectified spirit of wine, 14 ounces. Digest for eight days, and filter.

407. Fetid tincture. E. Take of asafetida, two ounces; vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, one pint. Macerate for six days in a close-stopped phial, and strain.

This tincture possesses the virtues of the asafetida itself, and may be given from 10 drops to 50 or 60.

408. Tincture of foot. Take of wood-foot, two ounces; asafetida, one ounce; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest and strain. L. Take of shining wood foot, one ounce; asafetida, half an ounce; French brandy, a pint. Digest for six days, and strain. E.

These medicines are found serviceable, not only in hysterick cases, but likewise in other nervous disorders. They may be given from a tea spoonful to a common spoonful twice a day.

409. Tincture of jalap. Take of jalap-root, eight ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. After proper digestion, strain off the tincture. L. Take of jalap, in coarse powder, three ounces; French brandy, one pint. Digest them for eight days, and strain the tincture. E.

This tincture is an useful and mild purgative, the menstruum here employed taking up so much of the gummy parts as corrects the griping quality which the resin is attended with. It may be taken by itself from a dram to half an ounce; or mixed in smaller quantity with cathartic infusions, or the like.

410. a, Tincture of kino. Take of gum kino, two ounces; proof-spirit, one pint. Digest for eight days, and strain.

410. b, Japanic tincture. L. E. Take of Japan earth, three ounces; cinnamon, two ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. After proper digestion, let the tincture be passed through a strainer.

This tincture is of good service in all kinds of fluxions, catarrhs, loofences, uterine fluors, and other like disorders, where mild astringent medicines are indicated. Two or three teaspooonfuls may be taken every now and then, in red wine, or any other proper vehicle.

411. Tincture of gum-lac. E. Take of gum-lac, powdered, an ounce; Myrrh, powdered, half an ounce; spirit of scurvygrafs, a pint and a half. Digest in a sand-heat for six days; after which strain off the tincture for use.

This tincture is principally employed for strengthening the gums, and in bleedings and scorbutic ulcerations of them: it may be fitted for use in these intentions, by mixing it with honey of roses, or the like. Some recommend it internally against scorbutic complaints, as a corroborant in gleet, female weaknesses, &c. Its warmth, pungency, and manifestly astringent bitterish taste, point out its virtues, in these cases, to be considerable; though common practice among us has not yet received it.

412. Tincture of the martial flowers. L. Take of martial flowers, four ounces; proof-spirit, one pint. Digest and strain.

413. a, Tincture of iron. E. Take of the scales of iron, prepared and reduced to powder, three ounces; muriatic acid, as much as is sufficient for dissolving the powder. Digest with a great heat; and when the iron is totally dissolved, add as much spirit of wine as will make the whole two pounds by measure. 413. b, Tincture of iron in spirit of salt. L.

Take of iron filings, half a pound; Glauber's spirit of salt, three pounds; rectified spirit of wine, three pints. Digest the iron filings in the spirit of salt, without heat, as long as the spirit acts upon the iron; after the fumes have subsided, evaporate the liquor to one pound, and add thereto the vinous spirit.

All these tinctures are greatly preferable to the calces or croci of iron, as being not only more speedy, but likewise more certain, in their operation: the latter, in some cases, pass off through the intestinal tube with little effect; whilst the tinctures scarce ever fail. From 10 to 20 drops of either of the tinctures, may be taken two or three times a day, in any proper vehicle; though it is seldom advisable to extend the dose so far as the last of these quantities, especially in regard to the tincture in the spirit of salt, which is exceeding strong of the iron.

414. Tincture of meconium. E.

Take of opium, two drams; simple Jamaica pepper-water, 20 ounces by weight; rectified spirit of wine, 10 ounces by weight. Having rubbed the opium well with the water, add the spirit, digest for eight days, and then filter through paper.

415. Tincture of melampodium, or black hellebore. L. E.

Take of black hellebore roots, four ounces; cochineal, two scruples; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest them together, and afterwards filter the tincture through paper.—The Edinburgh college orders only half a dram of cochineal, and desires the digestion to be continued for eight days.

This is perhaps the best preparation of hellebore when designed for an alterative, the menstruum here employed extracting the whole of its virtues. It has been found, from experience, particularly serviceable in uterine obstructions; in sanguine constitutions, where chalybeates are hurtful, it seldom fails of exciting the menstrual evacuations, and removing the ill consequences of their suppression. So great is the power of this medicine, that wherever, from an ill conformation of the parts, or other causes, the expected discharge does not succeed upon the use of it, the blood, as Dr Mead has observed, is so forcibly propelled, as to make its way through other passages. A tea-spoonful of the tincture may be taken twice in a day in warm water, or any other convenient vehicle.

416. Tincture of mulf. L.

Take of mulf, two drams; rectified spirit of wine, one pint. Digest for ten days, and strain.

417. Tincture of myrrh.

Take of myrrh, three ounces; proof-spirit, two pints. After due digestion, strain off the tincture. L.

Take of myrrh in powder, an ounce and a half; rectified spirit of wine, a pint. Digest for ten days; then strain off the tincture for use. E.

Tincture of myrrh is recommended internally for warming the habit, attenuating viscid juices, strengthening the solids, opening obstructions, particularly those of the uterine vessels, and resisting putrefaction. Boerhaave greatly esteems it in all languid cases proceeding from simple inactivity; in those female disorders which are occasioned by an aqueous, mucous, sluggish indisposition of the humours, and a relaxation of the vessels; in the fluor albus, and all diseases arising from a like cause. The dose is from 15 drops to 40 or more. The medicine may doubtless be given in these cases to advantage; tho' with us it is more commonly used externally, for cleansing foul ulcers, and promoting the exfoliation of carious bones.

418. Thebaic tincture, commonly called liquid laudanum. E.

Take of opium, two ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, 20 ounces. Digest for four days, and filter.

This is a very elegant liquid opiate; the menstruum dissolving nearly the whole substance of the opium, and effectually covering its ill flavour. The usual dose is from 15 to 25 or 30 drops.

419. a. Tincture of rhubarb. E.

Take of rhubarb, three ounces; lesser cardamom seeds, half an ounce; proof-spirit two pints. Digest for seven days, and strain.

b, Spirituous tincture of rhubarb. L.

Take of rhubarb, two ounces; lesser cardamom seeds, husked, half an ounce; saffron, two drams; proof-spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and strain off the tincture for use.

c, Bitter tincture of rhubarb. E.

Take of rhubarb, two ounces; gentian root, half an ounce; Virginian snake-root, one dram; French brandy, two pints. Digest for seven days, and then strain off the tincture.

d, Sweet tincture of rhubarb. E.

Is made by adding four ounces of sugar-candy to the simple tincture made as above directed, and strained.

All the foregoing tinctures of rhubarb are designed as stomachics and corroborants, as well as purgatives: spirituous liquors excellently extract those parts of the rhubarb in which the two first qualities reside, and the additional ingredients considerably promote their efficacy. In weakness of the stomach, indigestion, laxity of the intestines, diarrhoeas, colicky and other like complaints, these medicines are frequently of good service: the second is also, in many cases, an useful addition to the Peruvian bark, in the cure of intermittents, particularly in cachectic habits, where the viscera are obstructed. In these intentions, a spoonful or two may be taken for a dose, and occasionally repeated.

420. a. Saturnine tincture. L.

Take of sugar of lead, green vitriol, each two ounces; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Reduce the salts separately into a powder; then add the spirit, and digest them together without heat: afterwards filter the tincture through paper.

b, Antiphthisical tincture. E.

Take of sugar of lead, an ounce and a half; vitriol of iron, an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, a pint. Let a tincture be extracted without heat.

The reducing of the salts separately into powder, and performing the digestion without heat, are very necessary circumstances: for if the ingredients are attempted to be pulverized together, they will grow soft and almost liquid; and if heat is made use of, scarce any tincture will be obtained.

These tinctures are sometimes given from 20 to 30 drops, for restraining inmoderate secretions, particularly the colligative sweats attending hectic fevers and phthisical disorders, whence the name antiphthisical tincture. They are undoubtedly medicines of great efficacy in these cases, but too dangerous ones to be rashly ventured on. Some have supposed that they do not contain any of the sugar of lead; but experiments made for that purpose, have shown that they do; and therefore, the London college has very judiciously changed the title of their tincture into one expression, its being a preparation of lead.

421. a. Tincture of senna. L. Take of raisins, stoned, 16 ounces; senna, one pound; caraway seeds, one ounce and a half; lesser cardamoms, husked, half an ounce; proof spirit, one gallon. Digest without heat, and then strain the tincture.

b. Compound tincture of senna, commonly called elixir of health. E. Take of senna, two ounces; jalap-root, one ounce; coriander seeds, half an ounce; French brandy, three pints. Digest for seven days; then strain off the tincture, and add to it four ounces of powdered sugar-candy.

Both these tinctures are useful carminatives and cathartics, especially to those who have accustomed themselves to the use of spirituous liquors; they oftentimes relieve flatulent and colicky complaints, where the common cordials have little effect: the dose is from one to two ounces. Several preparations of this kind have been offered to the public, under the name of Daffy's elixir; the two above are equal to any, and superior to most of them.

422. Tincture of snakeroot. Take of Virginian snakeroot, three ounces; proof spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and strain off the tincture. L.

Take of Virginian snakeroot, two ounces; cochineal, one dram; proof spirit, two pints. Digest in a gentle heat for three days, and then strain the tincture. E.

The tincture of snakeroot was in the former pharmacopoeia directed with the tinctura salis tartari; which being now expunged, it was proposed to the college to employ rectified spirit; but as the heat of this spirit prevents the medicine from being taken in so large a dose as might otherwise be, a weaker spirit was made choice of. The tincture made in this menstruum, which extracts the whole virtues of the root, may be taken to the quantity of a spoonful or more, every five or six hours.

423. Stomachic tincture. L. Take of raisins, stoned, four ounces; cinnamon, half an ounce; caraway seeds, lesser cardamoms, husked, cochineal, each two drams; proof spirit, two pints. Digest without heat, and strain off the tinctures.

This is a moderately warm stomachic tincture, much more pleasant than the uva-ursi of the former pharmacopoeias. It may be taken, without any vehicle, to half an ounce or an ounce, though oftener used in mixture.

424. Styptic tincture. L. Take of green vitriol, calcined, one dram; French brandy (such as has acquired a yellowish tinge from the cask), two pints. Mix them together, that the spirit may grow black; then pass it through a strainer.

The title of this tincture expresses its medicinal intention. The celebrated styptic of Helvetius, (which is said to be the same with that of Eaton), differs from it no otherwise than in being more operose in composition. They are recommended both for internal use, and for restraining external hemorrhages: their virtues do not seem to depend so much on the iron as on the menstruum, the quantity of metal dissolved being extremely small. In keeping, the iron is apt to separate, and the liquor to lose its black colour.

425. Tincture of sulphur. Take of rectified spirit of wine, one pint. Hepar fulphuris (that is, a mixture of sulphur and fixed alkaline salt melted together) four ounces. Grind the hepar into powder whilst hot from the fire, add to it the spirit, and digest in a moderate heat for 24 hours; then pour off the tincture from the dregs.

The digestion may be commodiously performed in a glass receiver: put the spirit first into the vessel, and pour the hot powder upon it; then shake them together; and to prevent the exhalation of any part of the spirit during the digestion, insert a glass tube into the mouth of the receiver.

This tincture is of a rich gold colour, a hot aromatic taste, and a particular, not ungrateful smell. Its virtues are those of a warm, attenuating, aperient, and anti-acid medicine. The dose is from 10 to 60 drops. It is most commodiously taken in Canary or other rich wines.

426. Tincture of balsam of Tolu. E. Take of balsam of Tolu, an ounce and a half; rectified spirit of wine, a pint. Digest in a sand-pan, until the balsam is dissolved; and then strain the tincture.

This solution of balsam of Tolu possesses all the virtues of the balsam itself. It may be taken internally, in the several intentions for which this valuable balsam is proper, to the quantity of a tea-spoonful or two, in any convenient vehicle. Mixed with the plain syrup of sugar, it forms an elegant balsamic syrup.

427. Simple tincture of valerian. L. Take of wild valerian root, four ounces; proof spirit, two pints. After due digestion, strain off the tincture.

The valerian root ought to be reduced into fine powder, otherwise the spirit will not sufficiently extract its virtues. The tincture proves of a deep colour, and considerably strong of the valerian; though it has not been found to answer so well in the cure of epileptic epileptic disorders, as the root in substance, exhibited in the form of powder or bolus. The dose of the tincture is from half a spoonful to a spoonful or more, two or three times a-day.

428. Volatile tincture of valerian. L.

Take of wild valerian root, four ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, two pints. Digest without heat in a vessel closely stopped, and afterwards strain off the tincture.—The Edinburgh college orders two ounces of the root to a pint of vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, and the digestion to be continued for six days in a clofe stoppered vial.

The volatile spirit is here an excellent menstruum, and at the same time considerably promotes the virtues of the valerian, which in some cases wants an affixture of this kind. The dose may be a tea-spoonful or two.

429. Tincture of veratrum, or white hellebore. L. E.

Take of white hellebore root, eight ounces; proof spirit, two pints. Digest them together for ten days, and filter the tincture through paper.

This tincture is sometimes used for acutating cathartics, &c. and as an emetic in apoplectic and maniacal disorders. It may likewise be so managed, as to prove a powerful alternative and deobstruent, in cases where milder remedies have little effect. But a great deal of caution is requisite in its use: the dose, at first, ought to be only a few drops; if considerable, it proves violently emetic or cathartic.

430. Balsam of guaiacum. L.

Take of gum guaiacum, one pound; balsam of Peru, three drams; rectified spirit of wine, two pints and a half. Digest till the gum is dissolved, and then strain off the balsam.

431. Elixir of guaiacum. E.

Take of guaiacum, in powder, one pound; balsam of Peru, three drams; rectified spirit of wine, two pounds and a half. Digest for ten days, and strain.

Both these compositions are medicines of great efficacy, and capable of answering many useful purposes. They warm and strengthen the habit, and promote insensible perspiration. Twenty or thirty drops may be taken two or three times a-day, or oftener, in any proper vehicle, in rheumatic complaints, cutaneous defecations, &c. particularly where the patient is of a cold phlegmatic temperament, and the solids weak and relaxed. In hot bilious constitutions, and tenseness or rigidity of the vessels, like other stimulating medicines, they are evidently improper.

432. Volatile elixir of guaiacum. L.

Take of gum guaiacum, four ounces; balsam of Peru, two drams. Distilled oil of sassafras, half a dram; vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, a pound and a half. Macerate for six days in a clofe stoppered vial, and strain.

433. Balsamum commendatoris, Beaume de commandeur.

Take of dry Peruvian balsam, one ounce; storax in the tear, two ounces; benjamin, three ounces; socotrine aloes, myrrh, olibanum, angelica roots, St John's-wort flowers, each half an ounce; spirit of wine, two pounds eight ounces by weight. Let them stand together in the sun during the dog-days, in a glass vessel closely stoppered; and afterwards strain out the balsam through a linen cloth.

This balsam has been inferted, with little variation, in some foreign pharmacopoeias, and likewise kept a secret in private hands, under the titles of Balium Persicum, Balsam of Berne, Wadd's balsam, Friar's balsam, Jesuits' drops, &c. The form above is taken from the original receipt published by Pomet (Histoire des Droguers, edit. 2. tom. ii. p. 56.) It stands greatly recommended, externally, for cleansing and healing wounds and ulcers, for dissolving cold tumours, allaying gouty, rheumatic, and other old pains and aches; and likewise internally, for warming and strengthening the stomach and intestines, expelling flatulencies, and relieving colicky complaints. Outwardly, it is applied cold on the part with a feather; inwardly, a few drops are taken at a time, in wine or any other convenient vehicle.

434. Traumatic or vulnerary balsam.

Take of benzoin, three ounces; storax, strained, two ounces; balsam of Tolu, one ounce; socotrine aloes, half an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest, that the gums may as much as possible be dissolved; and then strain off the balsam for use. L.

This is an elegant reformation of the preceding composition, considerably more simple, yet not inferior in efficacy. The balsam of Tolu supplies, with advantage, the dry Peruvian balsam, a drug very rare to be met with in this country: the olibanum, myrrh, and angelica roots, here omitted, were certainly superfluous in a medicine containing so much more powerful materials; and the St John's-wort flowers are as deservedly thrown out, as having little else to recommend them than prejudice or superstition.

Take of benzoin, powdered, three ounces; balsam of Peru, two ounces; hepatic aloes, in powder, half an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest them in a sand-heat, for the space of three days; and then strain the balsam. E.

This is a further contraction of the beaume de commandeur, without any injury to it as a medicine, at least with regard to the purposes for which the title shews it designed. Socotrine aloes is here judiciously exchanged for the hepatic, which appears from experience to be the most serviceable in external applications.

436. Elixir of aloes. L.

Take of tincture of myrrh, two pints; socotrine aloes, saffron, each three ounces. Digest them together, and strain off the elixir.

437. Elixir proprietatis. E.

Take of tincture of myrrh, two pounds; socotrine aloes, three ounces; English saffron, two ounces. Digest for eight days, suffer the sediments to subside, and pour off the clear elixir.

This is the elixir proprietatis of Paracelsus, improved with regard to the manner of preparation. This medicine is greatly recommended, and not undeservedly, as a warm stimulant and aperient. It strengthens the stomach and other viscera, cleanses the first passages from tenacious phlegm, and promotes the natural secretions in general. Its continued use has frequently done good service in cachectic and icteric cases, uterine obstructions, and other like disorders; particularly in cold, pale, phlegmatic habits: where the patient is of a hot, bilious constitution, and florid complexion, this warm stimulating medicine is less proper, and sometimes prejudicial. The dose may be from 20 drops to a tea-spoonful or more, two or three times a-day, according to the purposes which it is intended to answer.

538. Elixir proprietatis vitriolicum. E. Take of myrrh in powder, socotrine aloes in powder, each an ounce and a half; English saffron, one ounce; dulcified spirit of vitriol, one pint. Digest them in a sand-pan for the space of six days; and having then suffered the feces to subside, pour off the clear elixir.

This elixir possesses the general virtues of the preceding; and is, in virtue of the menstruum, preferred to it in hot constitutions, and weaknesses of the stomach.

439. Paregoric elixir. Take of flowers of benzoin, opium, strained, each one dram; camphor, two scruples; essential oil of aniseeds, half a dram; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest and strain. L.

Take of flowers of benzoin, English saffron, of each three drams; opium, two drams; distilled oil of aniseed, half a dram; vinous spirit of sal. ammoniae, one pint. Digest four days in a close stopped vial, and strain. E.

This elixir is taken from Le Mort with the omission of three unnecessary ingredients, honey, liquorice, and alkaline salt. It was originally prescribed under the title of elixir asthmaticum, which it does not ill deserve. It contributes to allay the tickling, which provokes frequent coughing; and at the same time is supposed to open the breath, and give greater liberty of breathing: the opium procures (as it does by itself) a temporary relief from the symptoms; whilst the other ingredients tend to remove the cause, and prevent their return. It is given to children against the croup, &c. from five drops to 20; to adults, from 20 to 100.

440. Acid elixir of vitriol. L. Take of the aromatic tincture, one pint; strong spirit called oil of vitriol, four ounces. Mix them together; and after the feces have subsided, filter the elixir through paper.

441. In the new edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia the elixir vitrioli is thus prepared. Take of cinnamon, one ounce and a half; ginger, one ounce; pepper-mint leaves, dried, half an ounce; oil of vitriol, six ounces; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Drop the oil of vitriol by little and little into the spirit of wine; and digest them together in a sand-bath, with a very gentle heat, for three days; then add the other ingredients; continue the digestion, in the same gentle heat for three days longer; and afterwards filter the tincture in a glass funnel.

These compositions are valuable medicines in weaknesses and relaxations of the stomach, and decays of constitution, particularly in those which proceed from irregularities, which are accompanied with slow febrile symptoms, or which follow the suppression of intermittents. They have frequently taken place after bitters and aromatics, by themselves, had availed nothing: and, indeed, great part of their virtue depends on the vitriolic acid; which, barely diluted with water, has, in these cases, where the stomach could bear the acidity, produced happy effects.

Fuller relates (in his Medicina gymnastica) that he was recovered by Mynsicht's elixir (of which the above are improved preparations) from an extreme decay of constitution, and continual reachings to vomit. They may be given from 10 to 30 or 40 drops or more, according to the quantity of acid, twice or thrice a-day, at such times as the stomach is most empty.

442. Sweet elixir of vitriol. L. Take of the aromatic tincture, one pint; dulcified spirit of vitriol, eight ounces by weight. Mix them together.

This is designed for persons whose stomach is too weak to bear the foregoing acid elixir; to the taste, it is gratefully aromatic, without any perceptible acidity. The dulcified spirit of vitriol, here directed, occasions little or no precipitation upon adding to it the tincture.

443. The Edinburgh college directs this to be made of the same ingredients and in the same manner as the aromatic tincture, excepting that dulcified spirit of vitriol is used instead of spirit of wine.

444. Compound elixir of myrrh. L. Take of extract of savin, one ounce; tincture of castor, one pint; tincture of myrrh, half a pint. Digest them together; and then strain the elixir.

This preparation is a medicine of great importance in uterine obstructions, and in hypochondrical cases; though, possibly, means might be contrived of superadding more effectually the virtues of savin to a tincture of myrrh and castor. It may be given from five drops to twenty or thirty, or more, in pennyroyal water, or any other suitable vehicle.

445. Elixir sacrum. Take rhubarb, cut small, ten drams; socotrine aloes, in powder, six drams; lesser cardamom seeds, half an ounce; French brandy, two pints. Digest for two days; and then strain the elixir.

446 Camphorated spirit of wine. L. E. Take of camphor, two ounces; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Mix them together, that the camphor may be dissolved.

This solution of camphor is employed chiefly for external uses, against rheumatic pains, paralytic numbnesses, inflammations; for dissolving tumours, preventing gangrenes, or restraining their progress. It is too pungent to be exhibited internally, even when diluted. nor does the dilution succeed well; for on the admixture of aqueous liquors, the camphor gradually separates and runs together into little masses.

The most convenient method of uniting camphor with aqueous liquors, for internal use, seems to be by the mediation of almonds, or of mucilages; triturated with those, it readily mixtures with water into the form of an emulsion, at the same time that its pungency is considerably abated. It may also be commodiously exhibited in the form of an oily draught, expressed oils totally dissolving it.

§ 7. Oils by Infusion and Decoction.

447. Expressed oils extract the resinous and oily parts of vegetables, but do not act upon or unite with the gummy and mucilaginous; hence the oleum e mucilaginisibus, or oil of mucilages (no 450) of the shops, contains nothing of the mucilage which its ingredients abound with. These oils may be tinged, by vegetable matters, of almost all colours: the leaves of most plants communicate a green; yellow flowers, a dilute gold colour; fome red flowers, a light red; alkanet root, a beautiful and deep red.

448. In making the officinal oils from the leaves of plants, a good deal of care is necessary, to give them the fine green colour expected in them. If the boiling of the herb in the oil is not continued till all the aqueous moisture has exhaled (the mark of which is, the herb's being crisp), the oil will have a dingy yellowish hue: if continued longer, it turns black, and contracts an empyreumatic smell. The most convenient method of managing the process seems to be, to strain off the oil when sufficiently impregnated with the virtues of the plant, and afterwards to let it stand in a clean vessel over a gentle fire, until, by frequent trials on a white tile, it appears to have gained the deep green colour required.

449. Oil of St John's wort. L.

Take of the flowers of St John's wort, full blown, fresh gathered, and carefully freed from the cups, four ounces; oil olive, two pints. Pour the oil upon the flowers, and let them stand together till the oil is sufficiently coloured.

450. Oil of mucilages. L.

Take of marshmallow root, fresh, half a pound; linseed, fenugreek-seed, each three ounces; water, two pints; oil olive, four pints. Bruise the roots and seeds, and gently boil them in the water for half an hour; then add the oil, and continue the boiling till all the water is wasted; afterwards let the oil be carefully poured off for use.

451. Oil of elder. L.

Take of elder-flowers, one pound; oil olive, two pints. Boil the flowers in the oil, till they are almost crisp; then press out the oil, and let it by till the feces have subsided.

452. Green oil. L.

Take of bay leaves, rue leaves, marjoram leaves, fever-wormwood leaves, chamomile leaves, each, fresh gathered, three ounces; oil olive, two pints. Bruise the herbs, and gently boil them in the oil till they are almost crisp; then press out the oil, let it stand to settle, and afterwards pour it off from the sediment.

All the foregoing oils are designed for external applications only. They were supposed, besides the general emollient quality of the oil itself, to receive particular virtues from the ingredients. At present there are few who expect much more from these preparations than from common oil itself, which has the advantage of being less offensive. The mucilaginous ingredients, marshmallow root and linseed, in the oleum e mucilaginisibus, make no addition to the virtue of the oil; for mucilages, as already observed, are not soluble in oils. Experience has not discovered any such singular qualities in flowers of St John's wort, that four ounces of them should communicate any remarkable virtue to a quart of oil. Of the other herbs, the more valuable parts are dissipated by the boiling heat: and although the remaining matter, if it was taken internally, either by itself, or dissolved in watery or spirituous liquors, might not be destitute of activity, yet it can scarcely be supposed, when combined with a large quantity of oil, to have any material effect in external applications. The number of these oils has, therefore, been judiciously retrenched at the late reformation: the four above retained by the London college, are not one-tenth part of those which were formerly ordered to be kept in the shops. The most certain way of answering the purposes intended by these preparations appears to be, by mixing with the expressed oil a suitable quantity either of the native resins of vegetables, or of the essential oils and resinous extracts artificially prepared from them.

452. Camphorated oil. E.

Take of fresh-drawn oil of almonds, or linseed, two ounces; camphor, half an ounce. Dissolve the camphor in the oil.

This oil is designed, like the foregoing ones, for external purposes; particularly against burns, rheumatic pains, &c.

453. Odoriferous oil.

Let some fine carded cotton be dipped in oil of olive, or oil of ben nuts, that it may be thoroughly imbibed with the oil, without retaining so much as to drip spontaneously. Lay a bed of this cotton in the bottom of a tin or porcelain vessel, and lightly spread upon it a pretty thick layer of any odoriferous flowers fresh gathered, as jasmine flowers, violets, lilies of the valley, &c. Above these, spread more of the cotton, and then more flowers, alternately, till the vessel is full; then cover it close, and let it stand for twenty-four hours in a gentle warmth. Great part of the fragrance of the flowers will be communicated to the oil in the cotton, which is to be stratified in the same manner with two or three fresh quantities of the flowers, till it is sufficiently impregnated therewith; after which the oil is to be squeezed out from the cotton in a press.

This appears to be the most effectual method of transferring into expressed oils the odoriferous matter of those tender flowers which yield little or no essential oil: the perfumed oils and essences of those flowers brought... brought from Italy, are prepared in this manner. The odorous parts may be again separated from the oil, and transferred into water or spirit, by distillation with those liquors.

**Sect. IV. Conservation of recent Vegetables and their Infusions, &c. by Sugar and Honey.**

§ 1. Conserve.

454. Conserve are compositions of recent vegetable matters and sugar beaten together into an uniform mass.

This management was introduced for preserving certain simples, undried, in an agreeable form, with as little alteration as possible in their native virtues; and to some subjects it is very advantageously applied. Vegetables, whose virtues are lost or destroyed in drying, may in this form be kept uninjured for a length of time: for, by carefully securing the mouth of the containing vessel, the alteration, as well as dissipation, of their active principles, is generally prevented; and the sugar preserves them from the corruption which juicy vegetables would otherwise undergo.

There are, however, sundry vegetables whose virtues are impaired by this treatment. Mucilaginous substances, by long lying with sugar, become less glutinous, and astringents sensibly foster upon the palate. Many of the fragrant flowers are of so tender and delicate a texture, as almost entirely to lose their peculiar qualities on being beaten or bruised.

In general, it is obvious, that in this form, on account of the large admixture of sugar, only substances of considerable activity can be taken to advantage as medicines. And indeed, conserves are at present considered chiefly as auxiliaries to medicines of greater efficacy, or as intermediaries for joining them together. They are very convenient for reducing into boluses or pills the more ponderous powders, as mercurius dulcis, the calces of iron, and other mineral preparations; which with liquid or less consistent matters, as syrups, will not cohere.

The shops were formerly encumbered with many conserves altogether insignificant; the few now retained have in general either an agreeable flavour to recommend them, or are capable of answering some useful purposes as medicines. Their common dose is the bulk of a nutmeg, or as much as can be taken up at once or twice upon the point of a knife. There is in general no great danger of exceeding in this particular.

455. General method of preserving conserve.

Leaves are picked from the stalks, and flowers from their cups. They are beaten in a marble mortar, with a wooden pestle, into a smooth mass; after which thrice their weight of double-refined sugar is added by degrees, and the beating continued till they are uniformly mixed.

The sugar should be pulverized by itself, and passed through a sieve, before it is mixed with the vegetable mass; otherwise it cannot easily be reduced to sufficient fineness, so as to be duly incorporated. Some vegetables are scarce reducible to the requisite fineness by beating in a mortar; such is orange-peel. This is most conveniently rasped or grated off from the fruit, then well mixed with the sugar, and the compound set by in a close vessel for some weeks; after which it may be beaten smooth with considerably less labour than at first. This peel, and red rose-buds, are commonly ground in a wooden mill made for that purpose.

456. Conserve of the leaves of garden scurvy-grass. L.

This is the only form that scurvy-grass in substance can be kept in without the total loss of its virtues. The conserve retains the full taste and virtue of the herb for a very considerable length of time, as a year or two, provided the vessel be made perfectly close and set in a cool place. It may be given in scorbutic habits three or four times a-day, or oftener.

457. Conserve of the leaves of wood-forest. L.

This is a very elegant and grateful conserve; in taste it is lightly acidulous, with a peculiar flavour, which some resemble to that of green-tea. It is taken occasionally for quenching thirst, and cooling the mouth and fauces, in hot distempers. It may be usefully joined to the foregoing preparation, whose virtue it somewhat promotes, at the same time that it improves the taste.

458. Conserve of the leaves of spearmint. L.

The conserve of mint retains the taste and virtues of the herb. It is given in weakness of the stomach and retchings to vomit; and not unfrequently does service in some cases of this kind, where the warmer and more active preparations of mint would be less proper.

459. Conserve of the leaves of rue. L.

This conserve is given from a dram to half an ounce in crudities of the prime vis, for promoting digestion, and in hysterical disorders: it gently stimulates the follicles, attenuates viscid juices, and excites the natural secretions. Some have had a great opinion of it, taken in a morning, as a preservative against the effects of contagious air or exhalation.

460. Conserve of the tops of sea-wormwood. L.

The conserve of wormwood has been celebrated in drophys: Matthiolus relates, that several persons were cured by it of that distemper, without the assistance of any other medicine. Where the disorder indeed proceeds from a simple laxity or flaccidity of the follicles, the continued use of this medicine may be of some service, as it appears to be a not inelegant mild corroborant. It is directed to be given in the dose of half an ounce, about three hours before meals.

461. Conserve of the buds of red roses. L.

This is a very agreeable and useful conserve. A dram or two, dissolved in warm milk, are frequently given as a light restringent in weaknesses of the stomach, and likewise in coughs and phthisical complaints. In the German Ephemerides, examples are related of very dangerous phthises cured by the continued use of this medicine: in one of these cases, 20 pounds of the conserve were taken in the space of a month; and in another, upwards of 30. Riverius mentions several other instances of this kind.

462. Conserve of rosemary-flowers. L.

Rosemary-flowers in great measure lose their peculiar 463. Conserve of the yellow rind of Seville orange-peel. L.

This conserve is a very elegant one, containing all the virtues of the peel in a form sufficiently agreeable both with regard to the dose and the convenience of taking. It is a pleasant, warm stomachic, and in this intention is frequently made use of.

464. Conserve of floes. L.

Let the floes be put into water, and set over the fire till they grow soft, with care that they do not burst. Then take the floes out of the water, press out their pulp, and mix with it thrice its weight of double-refined sugar.

This preparation is a gentle astringent, and may be given as such in the dose of two or three drams. The degree of its astringency will vary according to the maturity of the floes and the length of time that the conserve has been kept.

§ 2. PRESERVES.

465. Preserves are made by steeping or boiling recent simples, first in water, and then in syrup or solution of sugar. The subject is afterwards either kept moist in the syrup; or taken out and dried, that the sugar may candy upon it: this last is the most usual method.

In this process some of the most valuable parts of the subject are extracted by the liquor, and consequently lost to the preparation; greater regard being here had to palatableness than medicinal efficacy. And indeed most of the preparations of this kind are considered rather as sweetmeats than as medicines, as the business of the confectioner rather than of the apothecary. It would be needless therefore to mention the doses of the several articles, or give particular remarks on the manner of preparing them.

466. Candied eryngo roots. L.

Boil them in water till the rind will easily peel off; when peeled, slit them through the middle, take out the pith, and wash them three or four times in cold water. For every pound of the roots so prepared, take two pounds of double-refined sugar, which is to be dissolved in a proper quantity of water, and set over the fire: as soon as the liquor begins to boil, put in the roots, and continue the boiling till they are soft.

467. After this manner are candied, Angelica stalks, &c.

468. Candied orange peel. L.

Steep the fresh peels of Seville oranges in water; which is to be frequently renewed, until they lose their bitterness. Then, having dissolved in water a suitable quantity of double-refined sugar, boil the peels in this liquor till they become soft and transparent.

469. After the same manner are candied, Lemon-peels.

470. Nutmegs and ginger are brought to us ready candied from the East Indies. E.

471. Candied steel.

Put any quantity of clean filings of iron into a brass kettle, suspended over a very gentle fire. Add to them, by little and little, twice their weight of white sugar, boiled to the consistence of candy, with which powdered starch has been previously mixed in the proportion of a dram to every pound; agitating the kettle continually, that the filings may be crusted over with the sugar, and taking great care to prevent their running into lumps.

This is a very agreeable preparation of steel; but has hitherto been made only by the confectioners. The college of Edinburgh received it in the former editions; but, as there described, it was almost impossible to hinder the matter from concreting into lumps. They have now discovered the intermedium which prevents that inconvenience, and which the confectioners have kept a secret, the addition of a little starch to the sugar. The preparation may be given to the quantity of half a dram, in those cases wherein chalybeate medicines are proper.

§ 3. GELLIERS.

472—477. Vegetable gelatins are composed of the juices of fruits and sugar, boiled to a thick consistence. Independently of the admixture of sugar, the boiling appears to occasion some alteration in the quality of the juices themselves. The recent juices of the summer fruits are prone to fermentation: after they have been boiled, they are less disposed to ferment, and at the same time they are much less liable to produce, in the human body, flatulencies, gripes, or fluxes; tho' they still retain, in no small degree, their original antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and aperient or restringent virtues.

§ 4. SYRUPS.

478. Syrups are saturated solutions of sugar made in water, or watery or vinous infusions, or in juices. They were formerly considered as medicines of much greater importance than they are thought to be at present. Syrups and distilled waters were for some ages made use of as the great alternatives; insomuch that the evacuation of any peccant humour was never attempted till, by a due course of these, it had first been regularly prepared for expulsion. Hence arose the exuberant collection of both which we meet with in pharmacopoeias; and like errors have prevailed in each. As multitudes of distilled waters have been compounded from materials unfit to give any virtue over the helm, so numbers of syrups have been prepared from ingredients which in this form cannot be taken in sufficient doses to exert their virtue; for two thirds of a syrup consist of sugar, and greatest part of the remaining third is an aqueous fluid.

479. Syrups are at present chiefly regarded as convenient vehicles for medicines of greater efficacy; and made use of for sweetening draughts and juleps, for reducing the lighter powders into boluses, pills, or electuaries, and other like purposes. Some likewise may not improperly be considered as medicines themselves; as those of saffron and buckthorn-berries.

480. General 480. General rules for preparing syrups.

I. All the rules laid down for making decoctions are likewise to be observed in the decoctions for syrups. Vegetables, both for decoctions and infusions, ought to be dry, unless they are expressly ordered otherwise.

II. Only the purest or double-refined sugar ought to be used.

In the syrups prepared by boiling, it has been customary to perform the clarification with whites of eggs after the sugar had been dissolved in the decoction of the vegetable. This method is apparently injurious to the preparation; since not the impurities only of the sugar are thus discharged, but a considerable part likewise of the medicinal matter, which the water had before taken up from the ingredients, is separated along with them. Nor indeed is the clarification and defumation of the sugar, by itself, very advisable; for its purification by this process is not so perfect as might be expected: after it has undergone this process, the refiners still separate from it a quantity of oily matter, which is disagreeable to weak stomachs. It appears therefore most eligible to employ fine sugar for all the syrups; even the purgative ones (which have been usually made with coarse sugar, as somewhat coinciding with their intention) not excepted; for as the purgative medicines are in general ungrateful to the stomach, it is certainly improper to employ an addition which increases their offensiveness.

III. Where the weight of the sugar is not expressed, 29 ounces thereof are to be taken to every pint of liquor. The sugar is to be reduced into powder, and dissolved in the liquor by the heat of a water-bath, unless ordered otherwise.

Although in the formulae of several of the syrups, a double weight of sugar to that of the liquor is directed, yet less will generally be sufficient. First, therefore, dissolve in the liquor an equal weight of sugar; then gradually add some more in powder till a little remains undissolved at the bottom, which is to be afterwards incorporated by setting the syrup in a water-bath.

The quantity of sugar should be so much as the liquor is capable of keeping dissolved in the cold; if there is more, a part of it will separate and concrete into crystals or candy; if less, the syrup will be subject to ferment, especially in warm weather, and change into a vinous or sour liquor. If, in crystallizing, only the superfluous sugar separates, it would be of no inconvenience; but when part of the sugar has candied, the remaining syrup is found to have an under proportion, and is subject to fermentation as if it had wanted sugar at first.

IV. Copper-vessels, unless they are well tinned, should not be employed in the making of acid syrups, or such as are composed of the juices of fruits. The confectioners, who are the most dextrous people at these kinds of preparations, to avoid the expense of frequently new-tinning their vessels, rarely make use of any other than copper ones untinned, in the preparation even of the most acid syrups, as of oranges and lemons. Nevertheless, by taking due care that their coppers be well scoured and perfectly clean, and that the syrup remain no longer in them than is absolutely necessary, they avoid giving it any ill taste or quality from the metal. This practice, however, is by no means to be recommended to the apothecary.

V. The syrup, when made, is to be set by till next day: if any saccharine crust appears upon the surface, take it off.

481. Syrup of garlic. L.

Take of garlic, sliced, one pound; boiling water, two pints. Macerate them in a clothe vessel for twelve hours; then strain off the liquor, and dissolve in it a proper quantity of sugar, so as to make a syrup.

This syrup is occasionally made use of for attenuating viscid phlegm, and promoting expectoration in humoral asthmas and oppressions of the breast: in these cases, it proves a medicine of considerable efficacy, though a very unpleasant one; it tastes and smells strongly of the garlic. The college have received it as an alternative to the oxymel of garlic, for the use of those with whom honey disagrees.

482. Syrup of marshmallows.

Take of marshmallow roots, fresh, one pound; double-refined sugar, four pounds; water, one gallon. Boil the water with the roots to one half; when grown thoroughly cold, pour off and press out the decoction, and set it by for a night to settle: next morning pour off the clear liquor, and, adding to it the sugar, boil the whole to the weight of six pounds.

Take of moderately dried marshmallow-roots, nine ounces; white sugar, four pounds; water, a gallon. Boil the water with the marshmallow-roots to the consumption of one half; then strain out the remaining decoction, and suffer it to rest for some time. Pour off the clear liquor from the sediment, and boil it with the sugar over a gentle fire, keeping the matter continually stirring till it becomes a syrup.

The syrup of marshmallows is used chiefly in nephritic cases, for sweetening emollient decoctions, and the like; of itself it can do little service, notwithstanding the high opinion which some have entertained of it; for what can be expected from two or three spoonfuls of the syrups, when the decoction, from which two or three pounds are made, may be taken at a draught or two? The college of Edinburgh has very properly united this and the pectoral syrup into one; for the syrup of marshmallows has always, till the late reformation, contained the principal ingredients of the pectoral syrup, and its own capital ingredient coincides in the same intention.

483. Syrup of orange-peel.

Take of the yellow rind of Seville orange-peel, fresh, eight ounces; boiling water, five pints. Macerate them for a night in a clothe vessel; next morning, strain out the liquor, and dissolve in it the proper quantity of sugar for making it into a syrup.

Take of the yellow rind of orange-peel, fresh, six ounces; boiling water, three pints. Infuse them for a night in a clothe vessel; then strain the liquor; let it stand to settle; and, having poured it off clear from the sediment, dissolve therein seven pounds and a quarter of white sugar, so as to make it into a syrup without boiling. E.

In making this syrup, it is particularly necessary that the sugar be previously powdered, and dissolved in the infusion with as gentle a heat as possible, to prevent the exhalation of the volatile parts of the peel. With these cautions, the syrup proves a very elegant and agreeable one, possessing great share of the fine flavour of the orange-peel.

484. a. Balsamic syrup.

Take of balsam of Tolu, eight ounces; water, three pints. Boil them for two or three hours in a circular vessel, or at least in a long-necked matrafs, having its mouth lightly covered. When grown cold, strain out the liquor, and mix therewith a proper quantity of sugar to make it into a syrup. L.

The coction may be conveniently performed in a retort, with a receiver adapted to it, the liquor which comes over being occasionally poured back; or the water may be entirely drawn off, and the sugar dissolved in the distilled liquor.

Take of the syrup of sugar, just made, and warm from the fire, two pounds; tincture of balsam of Tolu, one ounce. When the syrup has grown almost cold, stir into it the tincture by little at a time, agitating them well together till perfectly united. The mixture is then to be kept in the heat of a water-bath until the spirit has exhale. E.

The intention of the contrivers of the two foregoing processes seems to have been somewhat different. In the first, the more subtle and fragrant parts of the balsam are extracted from the grosser resinous matter, and alone retained in the syrup; the other syrup contains the whole substance of the balsam in larger quantity. They are both moderately impregnated with the agreeable flavour of the balsam.

In some pharmacopoeias, an elegant syrup of this kind is prepared from a tincture of balsam of Peru, with rose-water and a proper quantity of sugar.

484. b. Syrup of clove-julflowers.

Take of clove-julflowers, fresh gathered, and freed from the heels, three pounds; boiling water, five pints. Macerate them for a night in a glass or glazed earthen vessel; then strain off the liquor, and dissolve therein its due proportion of sugar to make it into a syrup. L.

One pound of the flowers is to be infused in three pints of water, and the syrup made as above without boiling. E.

This syrup is of an agreeable flavour, and a fine red colour; and for these it is chiefly valued. Some have substituted to it one easily parable at seasons when the flowers are not to be procured: An ounce of clove spice is infused for some days in 12 ounces of white-wine, the liquor strained, and, with the addition of 20 ounces of sugar, boiled to a proper consistence: a little cochineal renders the colour of this syrup exactly similar to that prepared from the clove-julflower; and its flavour is of the same kind, though not so pleasant. The abuse may be readily detected, by adding to a little of the syrup some alkaline salt or ley, which will change the genuine syrup to a green colour; but in the counterfeit, it will make no such alteration, only varying the shade of the red.

484. c. Syrup of colchicum. E.

Take of the root of colchicum, cut into thin slices, one ounce; vinegar, one pint; fine sugar, 26 ounces. Digest the root for two days in the vinegar, shaking the vessel now and then; then strain, pressing out the liquor slightly. Add the sugar to the strained liquor, and boil it gently to the consistence of a syrup.

485. Syrup of saffron. L.

Take of saffron wine, one pint; double-refined sugar, 15 ounces. Dissolve the sugar in the wine, so as to make a syrup thereof.

Saffron is very well fitted for making a syrup, as in this form a sufficient dose of it is contained in a reasonable compass. This syrup is at present more frequently prescribed than the wine from which it is made: it is a pleasant cordial, and gives a fine colour to juleps.

486. Syrup of quinces. L.

Take of quince-juice, depurated, three pints; cinnamon, one dram; cloves, ginger, each half a dram; red port wine, one pint; double-refined sugar, nine pounds. Digest the juice with the spices, in the heat of ashes, for six hours; then adding the wine, pass the liquor through a strainer; and afterwards dissolve in it the sugar, so as to make a syrup.

If the quinces are kept for some time in an airy place before the juice is pressed out, the syrup proves rather more elegant, and richer of the fruit than when they are taken fresh from the tree. In either case, the preparation is a very agreeable, mild, cordial restringent; and in some kinds of loosenesses and disorders of the stomach, may be either taken by itself in the quantity of a spoonful or two at a time, or employed for reconciling to the palate and stomach medicines of the more ungrateful kind.

487. Syrup of kermes.

This syrup, which is brought to us ready made, from the southern parts of France, is of an agreeable taste, and a fine red colour. It is accounted cordial and corroborant, and supposed to be particularly serviceable in weaknesses and other disorders of pregnant women.

488. Syrup of lemon-juice. L. E.

Take of juice of lemons, suffered to stand till the faces have subsided, and afterwards strained, two pints; double-refined sugar, 50 ounces. Dissolve the sugar in the juice, so as to make a syrup thereof. L.

After the same manner are prepared,

489. Syrup of mulberries. L. 490. Syrup of raspberries. L.

All these are very pleasant, cooling syrups; and in this intention are occasionally made use of in draughts and juleps, for quenching thirst, abating heat, &c. in bilious or inflammatory distempers. They are sometimes likewise employed in gargarisms for inflammations of the mouth and tonsils. 491, a. Syrup of meconium, or diacodium. L.

Take of white poppy heads, dried and cleared from the seeds, three pounds and a half; water, six gallons. Cut the heads, and boil them in the water, stirring them now and then, to prevent their burning, till only about one third part of the liquor remains, which will be almost entirely soaked up by the poppies. Then remove the vessel from the fire, strongly press out the decoction, and boil it down to about four pints; strain it whilst hot, first through a sieve, and afterwards through a fine woollen cloth; and let it by for a night, that the faeces may subside. Next morning pour the liquor off clear, and boil it with six pounds of double-refined sugar, until the weight of the whole is nine pounds, or a little more, that it may become a syrup of a proper consistence.

This syrup, impregnated with the opiate matter of the poppy-heads, is given to children in doses of two or three drams, to adults from half an ounce to an ounce and upwards, for obtunding and incrassating acrimonious humours, easing pain, procuring rest, and answering the other intentions of mild opiates. Particular care is requisite in its preparation, that it may be always made, as nearly as possible, of the same strength; and accordingly the college has been very minute in their description of the process.

491, b. Syrup of white poppies, or of meconium, commonly called diacodium. E.

Take of white poppy heads, just ripe, and moderately dried, two pounds; boiling-water, three gallons. Let these be steeped together for a night, and then boiled until half the liquor is wasted; strain, and strongly press out the remainder; and boil it, with the addition of four pounds of white sugar, to the consistence of a syrup.

This process is considerably different from the preceding. The poppy-heads are not boiled so long; and their quantity, in proportion to the produce of syrup, is much less. How far these differences may affect the strength of the preparations, we shall not take upon us to determine.

492. Syrup of wild poppies. L.

Take of wild poppy flowers, fresh, four pounds; boiling-water, four pints and a half. Pour the water on the poppies, set them over the fire, and frequently stir them, until the flowers are thoroughly moistened; as soon as they have sunk under the water, let the whole be set by to steep for a night; next day pour off, and press out the liquor, and let it by for a night longer to settle; afterwards add the proper quantity of double-refined sugar to make it into a syrup.

The design of setting the flowers over the fire, is, (as Dr Pemberton observes), that they may be a little scalded, so as to shrink enough to be all immersed in the water; without this artifice, they can scarce be all got in; but they are no longer to be continued over the fire than till this effect is produced, lest the liquor become too thick, and the syrup be rendered ropy.

This syrup has been recommended in disorders of the breast, coughs, spitting of blood, pleurisy, and other diseases, both as an emollient and as an opiate.

It is one of the lightest of the opiate medicines, and in this respect so weak, that some have doubted of its having any anodyne quality.

493. Pectoral syrup. L. [See 482.]

Take of English maidenhair, dried, five ounces; liquorice, four ounces; boiling-water, five pints. Macerate them for some hours; then strain out the liquor, and with a proper quantity of double-refined sugar make it into a syrup.

The title of this composition expresses its medicinal intention: it is supposed to soften acrimonious humours, allay tickling coughs, and promote the expectoration of tough phlegm.

494, a. Solutive syrup of roses. L.

Take the liquor that remains after the distillation of six pounds of damask roses; double-refined sugar, five pounds. Having pressed out the liquor from the roses, boil it down to three pints, and let it by for a night to settle; next morning pour it off clear from the sediment; and adding the sugar, boil the mixture to the weight of seven pounds and a half.

494, b. Syrup of pale roses. E.

Take of pale roses, fresh gathered, one pound; boiling-water, three pints; white sugar, three pounds. Macerate the roses in the water for a night; then strain the liquor; and adding to it the sugar, boil them into a syrup. This syrup may likewise be made from the liquor remaining after the distillation of rose-water, depurated from its faeces.

The liquor remaining after the distillation of roses (provided the still has been perfectly clean) is as proper for making this syrup as a fresh infusion; for the distillation only collects those volatile parts which are dissipated in the air, whilst the infusion is boiling to its consistence. This syrup is an agreeable and mild purgative for children, in the dose of half a spoonful, or a spoonful. It likewise proves gently laxative to adults, and in this intention may be of service in costive habits. Its principal use is in solutive glysters.

494, c. Syrup of dry roses. E.

Take of red roses, dried, seven ounces; white sugar, six pounds; boiling-water, four pints. Infuse the roses in the water for a night; then boil them a little, strain out the liquor, and, adding to it the sugar, boil them to the consistence of a syrup.

This syrup is supposed to be mildly astringent; but is principally valued on account of its red colour.

495. Syrup of squills.

Take of vinegar of squills, a pint and a half; cinnamon, ginger, each one ounce; double-refined sugar, three pounds and a half. Steep the spices in the vinegar for three days; then strain out the liquor, and add the sugar so as to make a syrup thereof. E.

Take of vinegar of squills, a pound and an half; white sugar, three pounds and an half. Make them into a syrup, without boiling. E.

The spices, in the first of these compositions, somewhat alleviate the offensiveness of the squills, though not so much as to prevent the medicine from being disagreeable. It is used chiefly, in doses of a spoonful or two, for attenuating viscid phlegm, and promoting expectoration, which it does very powerfully.

496. The simple syrup, or syrup of sugar. E. Take of white sugar, water, each equal quantities. Boil them into a syrup.

This preparation is a plain liquid sweet, void of flavour or colour. It is convenient for sundry purposes where these qualities are not wanted, or would be exceptionable.

497. a. Syrup of buckthorn. Take of the juice of ripe and fresh buckthorn-berries, one gallon; cinnamon, ginger, nutmegs, each one ounce; double-refined sugar, seven pounds. Set the juice by for some days to settle; then pass it through a strainer, and in some part thereof macerate the spices. Boil the rest of the juice, adding towards the end that part in which the spices were macerated, first passed through a strainer: this part of the process must be so managed, that the whole liquor may be reduced to four pints. Lastly, put in the sugar, and make the mixture into a syrup. L.

Take of the juice of ripe buckthorn-berries, depurated, six pounds; white sugar, three pounds and an half. Boil them to the consistence of a syrup. E.

This syrup, in doses of three or four spoonfuls, operates as a brisk cathartic. The principal inconveniences attending it are, its being very unpleasant, and occasioning a thirst and dryness of the mouth and fauces, and sometimes violent gripes: both these may be prevented by drinking liberally of water-gruel, or other warm liquids, during the operation. The ungratefulness of the buckthorn is endeavoured to be remedied by the addition of aromatics, which, however, are scarcely sufficient for that purpose.

497. b. Syrup of violets. Take of violets, fresh, and well coloured, two pounds; boiling-water, five pints. Macerate them for a whole day in a glass, or at least a glazed earthen vessel; then pour out the liquor, and pass it through a thin linen-cloth, carefully avoiding even the slightest pressure; afterwards, adding the due proportion of sugar, make it into a syrup. L.

Take of March violets, fresh, one pound; boiling-water, three pints. Steep them together for a night, in a glazed earthen vessel clothe covered: then strain out the liquor, and dissolve in it seven pounds and a quarter of white sugar, so as to make a syrup without boiling. E.

This syrup is of a very agreeable flavour; and, in the quantity of a spoonful or two, proves to children gently laxative. It is apt to lose, in keeping, the elegant blue colour, for which it is chiefly valued; and hence some have been induced to counterfeit it with materials whose colour is more permanent. This abuse may be readily discovered, by adding to a little of the suspected syrup any acid or alkaline liquor. If the syrup is genuine, the acid will change its blue colour to a red, and the alkali will change it to a green; but if counterfeit, these changes will not happen.

498. Syrup of ginger. Take of ginger, cut into thin slices, four ounces; boiling-water, three pints. Macerate them for some hours; then strain out the liquor, and make it into a syrup with a proper quantity of double-refined sugar. L.

Take of ginger, sliced and bruised, three ounces; white sugar, seven pounds and a quarter; boiling-water, three pints. Steep the ginger in the water, in a clothe vessel, for a night; then boil them a little, and having strained out the decoction set it by to settle. Pour off the clear liquor, add to it the sugar, and make them into a syrup. E.

This is an agreeable and moderately aromatic syrup, lightly impregnated with the flavour and virtues of the ginger.

499. Confection of kermes. L. Take of juice of kermes-grains, warmed and strained, three pounds; damask rose-water, six ounces by measure; oil of cinnamon, half a scruple; double-refined sugar, one pound. Dissolve the sugar in the rose-water, by the heat of a water-bath, into a syrup; then mix in the juice of kermes, and, after it has grown cold, the oil of cinnamon. L.

This is a very elegant and agreeable cordial; the dose, when taken by itself, is from a scruple to a dram or more. Particular care ought to be had in the choice of the essential oil, which for the most part is grievously adulterated; it would be convenient to grind the oil with a little of the sugar, before it is added to the other ingredients; for by this means, it will mix more perfectly, and not be apt to separate in keeping.

500. Rob of elder-berries. E. Take of the juice of ripe elder-berries, four pounds; fine sugar, half a pound. Boil them on a gentle fire to the consistence of thick honey.

§ 5. Honeys and Oxymels.

The more fixed parts of vegetables, dissolved in watery liquors, may be thence transferred into honey, by mixing the honey with the watery decoction or juice of the plant, and boiling them together till the aqueous part has exhaled, and the honey remains of its original consistence.

501. Honey of roses. Take of rose-buds, freed from the heels, and hastily dried, four ounces; boiling water, three pints; clarified honey, five pounds. Steep the roses in the water for some hours; then strain off the liquor, mix with it the honey, and boil the mixture to the consistence of honey.

This preparation is not unfrequently made use of, as a mild cooling detergent, particularly in gargarisms for ulcerations and inflammation of the mouth and tonsils. The design of hastily drying the roses, is that they may the better preserve their astringency.

502. Solutive honey. L. Take the liquor remaining after the distillation of six pounds of damask-robes; cummin seeds, bruised a little, one ounce; brown sugar, four pounds; honey, two pounds. Having pressed out the liquor, boil it to three pints; adding towards the end, the seeds tied up in a linen cloth. Then put in the sugar and honey, honey, and boil down the mixture to the consistence of thin honey.

This composition is very well contrived for the purpose expressed in its title. It is principally employed in laxative glysters; and hence brown sugar is here allowed; whilst, for all other uses, the double-refined is directed.

503. Oxymel of garlic. L. Take of garlic, cut in slices, an ounce and a half; caraway seeds, sweet fennel seeds, each two drams; clarified honey, ten ounces by weight; vinegar, half a pint. Boil the vinegar, for a little time, with the seeds bruised, in a glazed earthen vessel; then add the garlic, and cover the vessel close; when grown cold, press out the liquor, and dissolve in it the honey by the heat of a water-bath.

This oxymel is recommended for attenuating viscid juices, promoting expectoration, and the fluid secretions in general. It is doubtless a medicine of considerable efficacy, though very unpleasant, the flavour of the garlic prevailing, notwithstanding the addition of the aromatic seeds.

504. Pectoral oxymel. Take of elecampane roots, one ounce; Florence orris roots, half an ounce; gum ammoniacum, one ounce; vinegar, half a pint; clarified honey, one pound; water, three pints. Let the roots, cut and bruised, be boiled in the water till one-third is wasted: then strain off the liquor; let it stand to settle; and having poured it off clear from the feces, add to it the honey, and the ammoniacum, previously dissolved in the vinegar. Mix them together, by boiling them a little.

This composition is designed for those disorders of the breast that proceed from a load of viscid phlegm (which this medicine attenuates and promotes the expectoration of) and obstructions of the pulmonary vessels. Two or three spoonfuls may be taken every night and morning, and continued for some time.

505. Oxymel of squills. L. Take of clarified honey, three pounds; vinegar of squills, two pints. Boil them in a glazed earthen vessel, over a gentle fire, to the consistence of a syrup.

This is an useful aperient, detergent, and expectorant, and of great service in humoral asthmas, coughs, and other disorders, where thick phlegm abounds. It is given in doses of two or three drams, along with some aromatic water, as that of cinnamon, to prevent the great nausea which it would otherwise be apt to excite. In large doses, it proves emetic.

506. Simple oxymel. L. Take of clarified honey, two pounds; vinegar, one pint. Boil them to a due consistence.

This simple preparation is not inferior in efficacy to many more elaborate compositions. It is an agreeable, mild, cooling, saponaceous, detergent, and attenuating medicine. It is often used in cooling detergent gargarisms, and not unfrequently as an expectorant.

507. The boiling of oxymels in glazed earthen vessels, is not free from danger. Their glazing is procured by a vitrification of lead; and vinegar, by a boiling heat, may corrode so much of vitrified lead, as to receive from it noxious qualities.

Sect. V. Separation and collection of those parts of Vegetable and Animal substances which are volatile in the heat of boiling water.

508. There are many vegetable, and some animal substances, whose virtues reside, wholly or in part, in a matter which is capable of totally exhaling in the heat of boiling water. In most of the processes hitherto described it is endeavoured, if possible, to preserve this volatile matter along with the more fixed parts; whether those fixed parts were themselves medicinal, or only subservient to the union of the volatile matter with the fluids employed. The aim, in the present section, is, to completely separate this volatile subtile principle, and collect it pure from the grosser fixed parts, either in a concentrated state, or diluted with water or spirit of wine. In its concentrated state, it appears commonly an oil; which, from its containing always the specific odour, and frequently the other medicinal powers of the subject, is called essential oil.

§ I. Essential Oils.

509. These are drawn by distillation in an alembic, with a large refrigeratory. A quantity of water is added to the subject, sufficient to prevent its burning; and in this water it is likewise macerated a little time before the distillation. The oil comes over along with the water; and either swims on its surface, or sinks to the bottom, according as it is lighter or heavier than that fluid. L.

510. Essential oils are obtained only from odoriferous substances; but not equally from all of this class, nor in quantity proportionable to their degree of odour; some, which if we were to reason from analogy should seem very well fitted for this process, yielding extremely little oil, and others none at all. Roses and camomile flowers, whose strong and lasting smell promises abundance, are found upon experiment to contain but a small quantity: the violet and jasmine flowers, which perfume the air with their odour, lose their smell upon the gentlest coction, and do not afford the least perceptible mark of oil upon being distilled, unless immense quantities are submitted to the operation at once: while savin, whose disagreeable scent extends to no great distance, gives out the most oil of almost any vegetable known.

Nor are the same plants equally fit for this operation, when produced in different soils or seasons, or at different times of their growth. Some yield more oil if gathered when the flowers begin to fall off than at any other time; lavender and rue, for instance. Others, as sage, afford the largest quantity when young, before they have sent forth any flowers: and others, as thyme, when the flowers have just appeared. All fragrant herbs yield a larger proportion of oil when produced in dry soils and warm summers, than in the opposite circumstances. On the other hand, some of the disagreeable strong-scented ones, as wormwood, wood, are said to contain most in rainy seasons and moist rich grounds.

511. With regard to the proportion of water, if whole plants, moderately dried, are used, or the shavings of woods; as much of either may be put into the vessel, as, lightly pressed, will occupy half its cavity; and as much water may be added, as will arise up to two thirds its height. The water and ingredients, all together, should never take up more than three-fourths of the still; there should be liquor enough to prevent any danger of an empyreuma, but not so much as to be too apt to boil over into the receiver.

The maceration should be continued so long, as that the water may fully penetrate the pores of the subject. To promote this effect, woods should be thinly shaved across the grain, roots cut transversely into thin slices, barks reduced into coarse powder, and seeds lightly bruised. Very compact and tenacious substances require the maceration to be continued a week or two, or longer; for those of a softer and looser texture, two or three days are sufficient; whilst some tender herbs and flowers not only stand not in need of any at all, but are even injured by it.

512. The choice of proper instruments is of great consequence to the performance of this process to advantage. There are some oils, which pass freely over the swan-neck of the head of the common still; others, less volatile, cannot easily be made to rise so high. For obtaining these last Dr Lewis recommends a large low head, having a rim or hollow canal round it; in this canal the oil is detained on its first ascent (and thence conveyed at once into the receiver), the advantages of which are sufficiently obvious.

With regard to the fire, the operator ought to be expeditious in raising it at first, and to keep it up, during the whole process, of such a degree, that the oil may freely distil; otherwise, the oil will be exposed to an unnecessary heat, a circumstance which ought as much as possible to be avoided. Fire communicates to all these oils a disagreeable impression, as is evident from their being much less grateful when newly distilled, than after they have stood for some time in a cool place; the longer the heat is continued, the more alteration it must produce in them.

The greater number of oils require for their distillation the heat of water strongly boiling; but there are many also which rise with a considerably less heat; such as those of lemon-peel, citron-peel, of the flowers of lavender and rosemary, and of almost all the more odoriferous kinds of flowers. We have already observed, that these flowers have their fragrance greatly injured, or even destroyed, by beating or bruising them: it is impaired also by the immersion in water in the present process, and the more so in proportion to the continuance of the immersion and the heat: hence these oils, distilled in the common manner, prove much less agreeable in smell than the subjects themselves. For the distillation of substances of this class, another method has been contrived: instead of being immersed in water they are exposed only to its vapour. A proper quantity of water being put into the bottom of the still, the odoriferous herbs or flowers are laid lightly in a basket, of such a size, that it may enter into the still, and rest against its sides, just above the water. The head being then fitted on, and the water made to boil, the steam, percolating through the subject, imbibes the oil, without impairing its fragrance, and carries it over into the receiver. Oils thus obtained possess the odour of the subject in an exquisite degree, and have nothing of the disagreeable scent perceptible in those distilled by boiling them in water in the common manner.

The water employed in the distillation of essential oils, always imbibes some portion of the oil; as is evident from the smell, taste, and colour, which it acquires. It cannot, however, retain above a certain quantity; and therefore, such as has been already used, and almost saturated itself, may be advantageously employed, instead of common water, in a second, third, or any future distillation of the same subject.

After the distillation of one oil, particular care should be had to duly cleanse the worm before it is employed in the distillation of a different plant. Some oils, those of wormwood and aniseeds for instance, adhere to it so tenaciously, as not to be melted out by heat, or washed off by water; the best way of cleansing the worm from these, is to run a little spirit of wine through it.

513. Essential oils, after they are distilled, should be suffered to stand for some days in vessels loosely covered with paper, till they have lost their disagreeable fiery odour and become limpid: then put them up in small bottles, which are to be kept quite full, closely stoppered, in a cool place; with these cautions, they will retain their virtues in perfection for many years.

When carefully kept, they in time gradually lose of their flavour, and become gross and thick. Some endeavour to recover them again after they have undergone this change, by grinding them with about thrice their weight of common salt, then adding a large proportion of water, and distilling them afresh: the purer part arises thin and limpid, possessing a great degree of the pristine smell and taste of the oils, though inferior in both respects to what the oil was at first. The oils, when thus altered, are nearly in the same state with the turpentine, and other thickened oily juices, which readily yield their purer oil in distillation with water alone.

514. Essential oils, medically considered, agree in the general qualities of pungency and heat; in particular virtues, they differ as much as the subjects from which they are obtained, the oil being the direct principle in which the virtues, or part of the virtues, of the several subjects reside. Thus the carminative virtue of the warm seeds, the diuretic of juniper-berry, the emmenagogue of savin, the nervine of rosemary, the stomachic of mint, the antiseptic of scurvy-grafts, the cordial of aromatics, &c. are concentrated in their oils.

There is another remarkable difference in essential oils, the foundation of which is less obvious; that of the degree of their pungency and heat; which are by no means in proportion, as might be expected, to those of the subjects they were drawn from. The oil of cinnamon, for instance, is excessively pungent and fiery; in its undiluted state, it is almost caustic: whereas cloves, a spice which in substance is far more pungent than the other, yields an oil which is far less so. This difference seems to depend partly upon the quantity of oil afforded, cinnamon yielding much less than cloves, and consequently having its active matter concentrated into a smaller volume; partly, upon a difference in the nature of the active parts themselves: for though essential oils contain always the specific odour and flavour of their subjects, whether grateful or ungrateful, they do not always contain the whole pungency; this resides frequently in a more fixed resinous matter, and does not rise with the oil. After the distillation of cloves, pepper, and some other spices, a part of their pungency is found to remain behind: a simple tincture of them in rectified spirit of wine is even more pungent than their pure essential oils.

415. The more grateful oils are frequently made use of for reconciling to the stomach medicines of themselves difficult. It has been customary to employ them as correctors for the resinous purgatives; an use which they do not seem to be well adapted to. All the service they can here be of, is to make the resin fit easier at first on the stomach; far from abating the irritating quality upon which the virulence of its operation depends, these pungent oils superadd a fresh stimulus.

Essential oils are never given alone, on account of their extreme heat and pungency; which in some is so great, that a single drop let fall upon the tongue, produces a gangrenous effect. They are readily imbibed by pure dry sugar, and in this form may be conveniently exhibited. Ground with eight or ten times their weight of the sugar, they become soluble in aqueous liquors, and thus may be diluted to any assigned degree. Mucilages also render them miscible with water into an uniform milky liquor. They dissolve likewise in spirit of wine; the more fragrant in an equal weight, and almost all of them in less than four times their own quantity: these solutions may be either taken on sugar, or mixed with syrups or the like; on mixing them with water, the liquor grows milky, and the oil separates.

The more pungent oils are employed externally against paralytic complaints, numbness, pains, and aches, cold tumours, and in other cases where particular parts require to be heated or stimulated. The toothache is sometimes relieved by a drop of these almost caustic oils, received on cotton, and cautiously introduced into the hollow tooth.

516. Essential oil of the leaves of wormwood. L.

This is one of the more ungrateful oils: it smells strongly of the wormwood; and contains its particular nauseous taste, but has little or nothing of its bitterness, this remaining entire in the decoction left after the distillation: its colour, when drawn from the fresh herb, is a dark green; from the dry, a brownish yellow. This oil is employed chiefly as a vermifuge; and for this purpose is both applied externally to the belly, and taken internally: it is most conveniently exhibited in the form of pills, which it may be reduced into by mixing it with crumb of bread.

517. Essential oil of dill-seeds. L. E.

This is a very warm oil; of a flavour not very agreeable, less so than that of the seeds. It is sometimes given as a carminative, in flatulencies, colicky pains, hiccups, and the like, from one to three or four drops.

518. Essential oil of aniseeds. L. E.

This oil possesses the taste and smell of the aniseeds in perfection. It is one of the mildest of the distilled oils: 15 or 20 drops may be taken at a time without danger, though common practice rarely goes so far as half this number. Its smell is extremely durable and diffusive: milk drawn from the breast after taking it, is found impregnated with its odour; and possibly this may be, in part, the foundation of the pectoral virtues usually ascribed to it: in flatulencies and colics, it is said by some to be less effectual than the seeds themselves.

It is remarkable of this oil, that it congeals, even when the air is not sensibly cold, into a butteryaceous consistence: and hence, in the distillation of it, the operator ought not to be over-folicitous in keeping the water in the refrigeratory too cool: it behoves him rather to let it grow somewhat hot, particularly towards the end of the process; otherwise the oil, congealing, may stop up the worm, as to endanger blowing off the head of the still, at least a considerable quantity of oil will remain in it.

519. Essential oil of caraway seeds. L. E.

This is a very hot and pungent oil; a single drop is a moderate dose, and five or six a very large one. It is not unfrequently made use of as a carminative; and supposed by some to be peculiarly serviceable for promoting urine, to which it communicates some degree of its smell.

520. Essential oil of clover. L. E.

This oil is so ponderous as to sink in water, and is not easily elevated in distillation: if the water which comes over be returned on the remaining cloves, and the distillation repeated, some more oil will generally be obtained, though much inferior in quality to the first. The oil of cloves is usually described as being "in taste excessively hot and fiery, and of a gold yellow colour;" (Boerh. pract. 27.) Such indeed is the composition which we receive under this name from Holland; but the genuine oil of cloves is one of the milder oils; it may be taken with great safety (duly diluted) to the quantity of 10 or 12 drops or more. Nor is its colour at all yellow, unless it has been long and carelessly kept, or distilled by too violent a fire: when in perfection, it is limpid and colourless; of a pleasant, moderately warm and pungent taste; and of a very agreeable smell, much resembling that of the spice itself.

521. Essential oil of chamomile flowers. L.

This is a very pungent oil, of a strong not ungrateful smell, resembling that of the flowers; its colour is yellow, with a cast of greenish or brown. It is sometimes given in the dose of a few drops, as a carminative, in hysterical disorders, and likewise as a vermifuge; it may be conveniently made into pills with crumb of bread.

422. Oil of cinnamon. L.

This valuable oil is extremely hot and pungent; of a most agreeable flavour, like that of the cinnamon itself. In cold languid cases, and debilities of the nervous system, it is one of the most immediate cordials and restoratives. The dose is one, two, or three drops; which must always be carefully diluted by the mediation of sugar, &c. so great is the pungency of this oil, that a single drop let fall upon the tongue, undiluted, produces, as Boerhaave observes, a gangrenous effect. In the distillation of this oil, a smart fire is required; and the low head, with a channel round it, above recommended for the distillation of the less volatile oils (no. 512.), is particularly necessary for this, which is one of the least volatile, and which is afforded by the spice in exceeding small quantity.

523. Essential oil of fennel-seeds.

The oil obtained from sweet-fennel seeds is much more elegant and agreeable than that of the common fennel. It is one of the mildest of these preparations; it is nearly of the same degree of warmth with that of aniseed; to which it is likewise similar in flavour, though far more grateful. It is given from two or three drops to ten or twelve, as a carminative, in cold indispositions of the stomach; and in some kinds of coughs, for promoting expectoration.

524. Essential oil of juniper-berries. L. E.

This oil is a very warm and pungent one; of a strong flavour, not unlike that of the berries. In the dose of a drop or two, it proves a serviceable carminative and stomachic; in one of six, eight, or more, a stimulating, detergent diuretic and emmenagogue: it seems to have somewhat of the nature of the turpentine, or their distilled oil; like which it communicates a violent smell to the urine.

The oil of these berries resides partly in vesicles spread through the substance of the fruit, and partly in little cells contained in the seeds; when the berry is dry, and the oil hardened into a retinous substance, it becomes visible, upon breaking the seeds, in form of little transparent drops. In order therefore to obtain this oil to advantage, we ought, previous to the distillation, to bruise the berry thoroughly, so as to break the seeds, and entirely lay open the oily receptacles.

525. Essential oil of lavender-flowers. L. E.

This oil, when in perfection, is very limpid, of a pleasant yellowish colour, extremely fragrant, possessing, in an eminent degree the peculiar smell generally admired in the flowers. It is a medicine of great use, both externally and internally, in paralytic and lethargic complaints, rheumatic pains, and debilities of the nervous system. The dose is from one drop to five or six.

526. Essential oil of bay-berries.

The oil of bay-berries is thin and limpid, moderately pungent, of a strong and tolerably grateful smell. It is given in flatulent colics, hysterical complaints, and for allaying the pains consequent upon delivery; the dose from two drops to five or six. It is likewise made an ingredient in carminative glysters; and in some hysteric cases, is applied externally.

527. Essence of lemons. L.

This is a pleasant oil, of a fine smell, very near as agreeable as that of the fresh peel: it is one of the lightest and most volatile oils we have, perfectly limpid, and almost colourless. It is taken in doses of two or three drops, as a cordial, in weakness of the stomach, &c. though more frequently used as a per-

fume.

528. Essential oil of mace.

The essential oil of mace is moderately pungent, very subtle and volatile, and of a strong aromatic smell like that of the spice itself: it is thin and limpid, of a pale yellowish colour, with a portion of thicker and darker-coloured oil at the bottom. This oil is celebrated in vomitings, hiccupps, colicky pains, &c. both given internally from one to four drops, and applied externally to the stomach and umbilical region. It is, however, but rarely made use of, and not often met with in the shops.

529. Essential oil of marjoram leaves. L.

This oil is very hot and penetrating; in flavour not near so agreeable as the marjoram itself: when in perfection, it is of a pale yellow colour; by long keeping, it turns reddish: if distilled with too great a heat, it arises of this colour at first. It is supposed to be peculiarly serviceable in relaxations, obstructions, and mucous discharges of the uterus; the dose is one or two drops.

530. a. Essential oil of the leaves of common mint. L. E.

This oil smells and tastes strongly of the mint, but is in both respects somewhat less agreeable than the herb itself. It is an useful stomachic medicine; and not unfrequently exhibited in want of appetite, weaknesses of the stomach, retchings to vomit, and other like disorders, when not accompanied with heat or inflammation: two or three drops, or more, are given for a dose.

530. b. Essential oil of the leaves of peppermint. L.

This possesses the smell, taste, and virtues of the peppermint in perfection; the colour is a pale greenish yellow. It is a medicine of great pungency and subtilty; and diffuses, almost as soon as taken, a glowing warmth through the whole system. In colics accompanied with great coldness, and in some hysterical complaints, it is of excellent service. A drop or two are in general a sufficient dose.

531. Essential oil of nutmegs. L. E.

The essential oil of nutmegs possesses the flavour and aromatic virtues of the spice in an eminent degree. It is similar in quality to the oil of mace, but somewhat less grateful.

532. Essential oil of the leaves of origanum. L. E.

This oil has a very pungent acrimonious taste, and a penetrating smell. It has been chiefly employed externally as an errhine, and for easing pains of the teeth.

533. Essential oil of Jamaica pepper. E.

This is a very elegant oil, and may be used as a succedaneum to those of some of the dearer spices. It is of a fine pale colour, in flavour more agreeable than the oil of cloves, and not far short of that of nutmegs. It links in water, like the oils of some of the eastern spices.

534. Essential oil of rosemary. L. E.

The oil of rosemary is drawn from the plant in flower. flower. When in perfection, it is very light and thin; pale, and almost colourless; of great fragrancy, tho' not quite so agreeable as the oregano itself. It is recommended, in the dose of a few drops, in nervous and hysterical complaints. Boerhaave holds it in great esteem against epilepsies, and suppressions of the uterine purgations, occasioned by weakness and inactivity.

535. Essential oil of rue-leaves. L.

The oil of rue has a very acid taste, and a penetrating smell, resembling that of the herb, but rather more unpleasant. It is sometimes made use of in hysterical disorders, and as an anthelmintic; as also in epilepsies proceeding from a relaxed state of the nerves.

Rue yields its oil very sparingly. The largest quantity is obtained from it when the flowers are ready to fall off, and the seeds begin to show themselves; suitable maceration, previous to the distillation, is here extremely necessary.

536. Essential oil of savin leaves. L. E.

This oil is a celebrated uterine and emmenagogue; in cold phlegmatic habits, it is undoubtedly a medicine of good service, though not capable of performing what it has been usually represented to do. The dose is, two or three drops or more.

537. Essential oil of saffron. L. E.

This is the most ponderous of all the known essential oils, but rises in distillation with sufficient ease: it appears limpid as water, has a moderately pungent taste, a very fragrant smell, exactly resembling that of the saffron. It stands greatly commended as a sudorific, and for purifying the blood and juices; it is likewise supposed to be of service in humoral asthmas and coughs. The dose is from one drop to eight or ten; though Geoffroy goes as far as 20.

The decoction remaining after the distillation of the oil, affords, by infusion, an useful extract, of a mild, bitterish, subastringent taste. Hoffman says, he has given it with great benefit, in doses of a scruple, as a corroborant in cachectic cases, in the decline of intermittent fevers, and for abating hypochondriacal spasms.

538. Oil of turpentine. L. E.

This is distilled in the same manner as the foregoing oils, and is strictly an essential one, though not usually ranked in this class: it is commonly, but improperly, called spirit of turpentine. It is employed in large quantities for some mechanic purposes, and hence the distillation of it is become a particular business.

This oil is a very hot, stimulating medicine. It is sometimes given as a sudorific and diuretic, in the dose of two or three drops: in larger doses, it is apt to greatly heat the body, occasion pain of the head, an effusion of the semen and liquor of the prostate glands. It has nevertheless been of late taken in considerable doses (along with honey or other convenient vehicles) against the scatica; and, as is said, with good success. Some have recommended it against venereal runnings: but here it has produced mischievous consequences, inflaming the parts and aggravating the disorder. Externally it is not unfrequently employed against rheumatic pains, aches, sprains, for discussing cold tumours, and restraining hemorrhages.

539. After the distillation of the turpentine, there remains in the still a brittle resinous substance, of a yellow colour, called yellow resin [L.]

The only use of this is in external applications, for giving consistence to plasters, and the like purposes.

540. Most of the foregoing oils are drawn by our chemists, and easily procurable in a tolerable degree of perfection; those of cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, and mace, excepted. These are usually imported from abroad; and are for the most part so much adulterated, that it is difficult to meet with such as are at all fit for use.

Nor are the adulterations of these kinds of preparations easily discoverable. The grossest abuses indeed may be readily detected: thus if the oil is mixed with spirit of wine, it will turn milky on the addition of water; if with expressed oils, rectified spirit will dissolve the essential, and leave the other behind; if with oil of turpentine, on dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by its smell. But the more subtle artifices have contrived other methods of sophistication, which elude all trials of this kind.

Some have looked upon the specific gravity of oils, as a certain criterion of their genuineness. This, however, is not to be absolutely depended on; for the genuine oils, obtained from the same subject, often times differ in gravity as much as those drawn from different ones. Cinnamon and cloves, whose oils usually sink in water, yield, if slowly and warily distilled, an oil of great fragrancy, which is nevertheless specifically lighter than the aqueous fluid employed in the distillation of it; while, on the other hand, the last runnings of some of the lighter oils prove sometimes so ponderous as to sink in water.

As all essential oils agree in the general properties of solubility in spirit of wine, indissolubility in water, miscibility with water by the intervention of certain intermedia, volatility in the heat of boiling water, &c., it is plain that they may be variously mixed with one another, or the dearer sophisticated with the cheaper, without any possibility of discovering the abuse by any trials of this kind. And indeed, it would not be of much advantage to the purchaser if he had infallible criteria of the genuineness of every individual oil. It is of as much importance, that they may be good, as that they may be genuine; for we have often seen genuine oils, from incautious distillation, and long and careless keeping, weaker both in smell and taste than the common sophisticated ones.

The smell and taste seem to be the only certain tests that the nature of the thing will admit of. If a bark should have in every respect the appearance of good cinnamon, and should be proved indisputably to be the genuine bark of the cinnamon tree; yet, if it wants the cinnamon flavour, or has it but in a low degree, we reject it: and the case is the same with the oil. It is only from use and habit, or comparison with specimens of known quality, that we can judge of the goodness, either of the drugs themselves, or of their oils. Most of the essential oils, indeed, are too hot and pungent to be tasted with safety; and the smell of the subject is so much concentrated in them, that a small variation in this respect is not easily distinguished. But we can readily dilute them to any assignable degree. A drop of the oil may be dissolved in spirit of wine; or received on a bit of sugar, and dissolved by that intermediate in water. The quantity of liquor which it thus impregnates with its flavour, or the degree of flavour which it communicates to a certain determinate quantity, will be the measure of the degree of goodness of the oil.

§ 2. SIMPLE DISTILLED Waters.

541. The effluvia which exhale in the air from many vegetables, particularly from those of the odorous kind, consist apparently of principles of great subtilty and activity, capable of strongly and suddenly affecting the brain and nervous system, especially in those whose nerves are of great sensibility; and likewise of operating, in a slower manner, upon the system of grosser vessels. Thus Boerhaave observes, that, in hysterical and dropsical persons, the fragrant odour of the Indian hyacinth excites strange pains, which the strong scent of rue relieves; that the effluvia of the walnut-tree occasion head-ach, and make the body costive; that those of poppies procure sleep; and that the smell of bean-blossoms, long continued, disorders the senses. Lemery relates, from his own knowledge, that several persons were purged, by staying long in a room where damask-roes were drying.

Some of the chemists have indulged themselves in the pleasing survey of these preëeding spirits, as they are called, of vegetables; their peculiar nature in the different species of plants; their exhalation into the atmosphere by the sun's heat, and dispersion by winds; their rendering the air of particular places medicinal, or otherwise, according to the nature of the plants that abound. They have contrived also different means for collecting these fugitive emanations, and concentrating and condensing them into a liquid form; employing either the native moisture of the subject, or an addition of water, as a vehicle or matrix for retaining them.

542. The process which has been judged most analogous to that of nature is the following: The subject, fresh gathered at the season of its greatest vigour, with the morning-dew upon it, is laid lightly and unbruised in a shallow vessel, to which is adapted a low head with a recipient; under the vessel a live coal is placed, and occasionally renewed, so as to keep up an uniform heat, no greater than that which obtains in the atmosphere in summer, viz. about 85 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. In this degree of heat, there arises, exceedingly slowly, an invisible vapour, which condenses in the head into dewy drops, and falls down into the receiver, and which has been supposed to be the very substance that the plant would have spontaneously emitted in the open air.

But on submitting to this process many kinds of odoriferous vegetables, liquors obtained by it have been always found to be very different from the natural effluvia of the respective subjects: they had very little smell, and no remarkable taste. It appeared,

that a heat, equal to that of the atmosphere, is incapable of raising in close vessels those parts of vegetables which they emit in the open air. It may therefore be presumed, that in this last case some other cause conveys to the effect: that it is not the sun's heat alone which raises and impregnates the air with the odorous principles of vegetables; but that the air itself, or the watery humidity with which it abounds, acting as a true dissolvent, extracts and imbibes them; so that the natural effluvia of the plant may be looked upon as an infusion of the plant made in air. The purgative virtue of the damask-rose, and the astringency of the walnut-tree, which, as above observed, are in some measure communicated to the air, may be totally extracted by infusion both in watery and spirituous menstrua, but never rise in distillation with any degree of heat: and the volatile odours of aromatic herbs, which are diffused through the atmosphere in the lowest warmth, cannot be made to distil without a heat much greater than is ever found to obtain in a shaded air.

The above process therefore, and the theory on which it is built, appear to be faulty in two points: (1.) In supposing, that all those principles which naturally exhale from vegetables, may be collected by distillation; whereas there are many which the air extracts in virtue of its dissolving power, and which are artificially separable also by dissolvents only: (2.) In employing a degree of heat insufficient for separating even those parts which are truly exhaleable by heat.

643. The foregoing method of distillation is commonly called distillation by the cold still; but those who have practised it, have generally employed a considerable heat. A shallow leaden vessel is filled with the fresh herbs, flowers, &c. which are heaped above it, so that, when the head is fitted on, this also may be filled a considerable way: a little fire is made under the vessel, sufficient to make the bottom much hotter than the hand can bear, care being taken only not to heat it so far as to endanger scorching any part of the subject. If the bottom of the vessel is not made so hot as to have this effect on the part contiguous to it, it is not to be feared that the heat communicated to the rest of the included matter will be great enough to do it any injury. By this management, the volatile parts of feverish odorous plants, as mint, are effectually forced over; and if the process has been skilfully managed, the distilled liquor proves richly impregnated with the native odour and flavour of the subject, without having received any kind of disagreeable impression from the heat made use of.

This process has been chiefly practised in private families; the flowery of the distillation, and the attendance and care necessary for preventing the scorching of some part of the plant so as to communicate an ungrateful burnt flavour to the liquor, rendering it inconceivable with the dispatch requisite in the larger way of business.

544. Another method has therefore been had recourse to; that by the common still, called, in distinction from the foregoing, the hot still. Here a quantity of water is added to the plant, to prevent its burning: and the liquor is kept nearly of a boiling heat, or made fully to boil, so that the vapour rises plentifully into the head, and passing thence into a spiral pipe or worm, placed in a vessel of cold water, is there condensed, and runs out into drops quickly succeeding one another, or in a continued stream. The additional water does not at all weaken the produce; for the most volatile parts of the subject rise first, and impregnate the liquor that first distils: as soon as the plant has given over its virtue sufficiently, which is known by examining from time to time the liquor that runs from the nose of the worm, the distillation is to be stopped.

This is the method of distillation commonly practised for the officinal waters. It is accompanied with one imperfection, affecting chiefly those waters whose principal value consists in the delicacy of their flavour; this being not a little injured by the boiling heat usually employed, and by the coagitation of the odorous particles of the subject with the water. Sometimes also a part of the plant sticks to the sides of the still, and is so far scorched as to give an ungrateful taint to the liquor.

545. There is another method of managing this operation, which we have already recommended for the distillation of the more volatile essential oils, and which is equally applicable to that of the waters. In this method, the advantages of the foregoing ones are united, and their inconveniences obviated. A quantity of water being poured into the still, and the herbs or flowers placed in a basket over it, there can be no possibility of burning; the water may be made to boil, but so as not to rise up into the basket, which would defeat the intention of this contrivance. The hot vapour of the water passing lightly through all the interstices of the subject matter, imbibes and carries out the volatile parts unaltered in their native flavour. By this means the distilled waters of all those substances, whose oils are of the more volatile kind, are obtained in the utmost perfection, and with sufficient dispatch; for which last intention the still may be filled quite up to the head.

546. In the distillation of essential oils, the water, as observed in the foregoing section, imbibes always a part of the oil. The distilled liquors here treated of, are no other than water thus impregnated with the essential oil of the subject; whatever smell, taste, or virtue, is here communicated to water, or obtained in the form of a watery liquor, being found in a concentrated state in the oil. The essential oil, or some part of it, more attenuated and subtilized than the rest, is the direct principle on which the title of spiritus rectus, or purifying spirit, has been bestowed.

All these vegetables therefore which contain an essential oil, will give over some virtue to water by distillation; but the degree of the impregnation of the water, or the quantity of water which a plant is capable of satiating with its virtue, are by no means in proportion to the quantity of its oil. The oil satiates only the water that comes over at the same time with it: if there be more oil than is sufficient for this satiation, the surplus separates, and concretes in its proper form, not miscible with the water that arises afterwards. Some odoriferous flowers, whose oil is in so little quantity, that scarcely any visible mark of it appears, unless 50 or 100 pounds or more are distilled at once, give nevertheless as strong an impregnation to water, as those plants which abound most with oil.

547. General rules for the distillation of the officinal simple waters.

I. Plants and their parts ought to be fresh gathered. Where they are directed fresh, such only must be employed; but some are allowed to be used dry, as being easily procurable in this state at all times of the year, though rather more elegant waters might be obtained from them whilst green [L.]

II. Having bruised the subject a little, pour thereon thrice its quantity of spring-water: this quantity is to be diminished or increased, according as the plants are more or less juicy than ordinary.

When fresh and juicy herbs are to be distilled, thrice their weight of water will be fully sufficient: but dry ones require a much larger quantity. In general, there should be so much water, that after all intended to be distilled has come over, there may be liquor enough left to prevent the matter from burning to the still.

III. The distillation may be performed in an alembic with a refrigeratory, the junctures being luted.

IV. The distillation is to be continued as long as the water which comes over is perceived to have any smell or taste of the plant.

Plants differ so much, according to the soil and season of which they are the produce, and likewise according to their own age, that it is impossible to fix the quantity of water to be drawn from a certain weight of them, to any invariable standard. The distillation may always be continued as long as the liquor runs well flavoured of the subject, and no longer.

If the herbs are of prime goodness, they must be taken in the weights prescribed. But when fresh ones are substituted to dry, or when the plants themselves are the produce of unfavourable seasons, and weaker than ordinary, the quantities are to be varied according the discretion of the artist [L.]

After the odorous water, alone intended for use, has come over, an acidulous liquor arises, which sometimes extracted so much from the copper-head of the still, as to prove emetic. To this are owing the anthelmintic virtues attributed to certain distilled waters.

V. If any drops of oil swim on the surface of the water, they are to be carefully taken off.

VI. That the waters may keep the better, about one-twentieth part their weight of proof-spirit may be added to each, after they are distilled. L.

548. A great number of distilled waters were formerly kept in the shops, and are still retained in foreign pharmacopoeias. The faculty of Paris directs, in the last edition of their codex medicamentarius, no less than 125 different waters, and 130 different ingredients in one single water. Near one half of these preparations have scarcely any virtue or flavour from the subject, and many of the others are insignificant.

The colleges of London and Edinburgh have rejected these oftentimes superfluities: and given an elegant and compendious set of waters, sufficient for answering such purposes as these kinds of preparations are applied to in practice. Distilled waters are employed chiefly as grateful diluents, as suitable vehicles for medicines of greater efficacy, or for rendering disgustful ones more acceptable to the palate and stomach: mach: few are depended on, in any intentions of consequence, by themselves.

549. Simple alexeterial water. L. Take of spearmint leaves, fresh, a pound and a half; sea-wormwood tops fresh, angelica-leaves fresh, each one pound; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent an empyreuma. Draw off by distillation three gallons.

This water is sufficiently elegant with regard to taste and smell; though few expect from it such virtues as the title seems to imply. It is used occasionally for vehicles of alexipharmac medicines, or in juleps to be drank after them, as coinciding with the intention; but in general this water is not supposed to be itself of any considerable efficacy.

550. Simple orange-peel water. L. Take of yellow peel of Seville oranges, dried, four ounces; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Distill off one gallon.

This water proves very weak of the orange-peel. It is designed for a diluter, in fevers, and other disorders where the stomach and palate are subject to receive quick disgust; in which cases (as the committee observe) cordial waters, especially if their use is to be long continued, ought to be but lightly impregnated with any flavour, however agreeable.

551. Black cherry water. Let any quantity of black cherries be bruised, so as the stones may be broken; and then distilled according to art, with only a small proportion of water.

This is a very grateful water, and has long maintained a place in the shops. It has frequently been employed by physicians as a vehicle, in preference to the other distilled waters; and, among nurses and others who have the care of young children, has been the first remedy against the convulsive disorders to which children are so often subject.

This water has nevertheless of late been brought into disrepute; being, in consequence of certain experiments, looked upon by some as poisonous, and by most as at least suspicious. Wherefore both the London and Edinburgh colleges have chosen to lay it aside; more especially as it has been too often counterfeited with a water distilled from bitter almonds, which are known to communicate a poisonous quality.

552. a. Simple cinnamon-water. L. Take of cinnamon, one pound; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off a gallon.

552. b. Cinnamon-water without wine. E. Take of cinnamon, half a pound; water, one gallon and a half. Steep them together for two days; and then distil off one gallon.

This is a very grateful and useful water, possessing in an eminent degree the fragrance and aromatic cordial virtues of the spice. Great care should be had, in the choice of the cinnamon, to avoid the too common imposition of casia being substituted in its room: this latter yields a water much less agreeable than that of cinnamon, and whose flavour is manifestly empyreumatic.

The virtues of all these waters depend upon their containing a portion of the oil of the subject. The oil of cinnamon is very ponderous, and arises more difficulty than that of any of the other vegetable matters from which simple waters are ordered to be drawn. This observation directs us, in the distillation of this water, to make use of a quick fire, and a low vessel. For the same reason, the water does not keep so well as might be wished; the ponderous oil parting from it in time, and falling to the bottom, when the liquor loses its milky hue, its fragrant smell and aromatic taste. Some recommend a small proportion of sugar to be added, in order to keep the oil united with the water.

553. Fennel water. L. Take of sweet-fennel seeds, one pound; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent an empyreuma. Distil off one gallon.

This water is a sufficiently grateful one. The leaves should be taken before the plant has run into flower; for after this time, they are much weaker and less agreeable. Some have observed, that the upper leaves and tops, before the flowers appear, yield a more elegant water, and a remarkably finer essential oil, than the lower ones; and that the oil obtained from the one swims on water, whilst that of the other sinks. No part of the herb, however, is equal in flavour to the seeds.

554. Balm-water. This is prepared by distilling the green leaves of balm, as in the foregoing process.

In a former edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia, this water was ordained to be cohabated, or redistilled from fresh quantities of the herb. This management seems to have been taken from Boerhaave, who has a very high opinion of the water thus prepared: he says, he has experienced in himself, extraordinary effects from it, taken on an empty stomach; that it has scarce its equal in hypochondriacal and hysterical cases, the chlorosis, and palpitation of the heart, as often as these diseases proceed from a disorder of the spirits rather than from any collection of morbid matter.

But whatever virtues are lodged in balm, they may be much more perfectly and advantageously extracted by cold infusion in aqueous or spirituous menstrua: in this process, the liquor suffers no injury from being returned on fresh parcels of the herb; a few repetitions will load it with the virtues of subject, and render it very rich. The impregnation here is almost unlimited; but in distilled waters it is far otherwise.

555. Mint-water. E. Take of spearmint leaves, fresh, any quantity; water, three times as much. Distil as long as the liquor which comes over has any taste or smell of the mint.

556. Simple spearmint-water. L. Take of spearmint-leaves, dried, a pound and a half; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

These waters smell and taste very strong of the mint; and prove in many cases useful stomachics. Boerhaave commends them (cohabated) as a present and incomparable remedy for strengthening a weak stomach, and curing vomiting proceeding from cold viscous phlegm; as also in hicteries.

557. Simple peppermint-water. L. E. Take of peppermint leaves, dry, a pound and a half; water, as much as will prevent an empureyma. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

This is a very elegant and useful water; it has a warm, pungent taste, exactly resembling that of the peppermint itself. A spoonful or two, taken at a time, warm the stomach, and give great relief in cold, statulent colics. Some have substituted a plain infusion of the dried leaves of the plant, which is not greatly different in virtue from the distilled water.

558. Water of Jamaica pepper. L. Take of Jamaica pepper, half a pound; water, as much will prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This distilled water is a very elegant one, and has of late come pretty much into use: the hospitals employ it as a succedaneum to the more costly spice-waters. It is, however, inferior in gratefulness to the spirituous water of the same spice hereafter directed, (591.).

559. a. Simple pennyroyal-water. L. Take of pennyroyal leaves, dry, a pound and a half; water, as much as will prevent burning. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

559. b. Water of pennyroyal. E. Take of pennyroyal leaves, fresh, a pound and a half; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off a gallon.

This water possesses, in a considerable degree, the smell, taste, and virtues of the pennyroyal. It is frequently taken in hysteric cases, and not without good effects.

560. Damask-rose water. Take of damask roses, fresh gathered, six pounds; water, as much as will keep them from burning. Distill off a gallon of the water. L. Take of roses, six pounds; water, a sufficient quantity. Distil off one gallon. E.

This water is principally valued on account of its fine flavour, which approaches to that generally admired in the rose itself. The purgative virtue of the roses remains entire in the liquor left in the still, which has therefore been generally employed for making the foliute honey and syrup, instead of a decoction or infusion of fresh roses prepared on purpose: and this piece of frugality the college have now admitted.

561. Rue-water. This is to be distilled from the fresh leaves of rue, and cohabated on fresh parcels of them, after the same manner as the balm-water, (554.)

Rue gives over in this process the whole of its smell, and great part of its pungency. The distilled water stands recommended in epileptic cases, the hysteric passion, for promoting perspiration and other natural fæcetions.

562. Savin-water. Savin leaves, fresh, any quantity; water, three times as much. Distil as long as the liquor runs well-flavoured of the plant.

This water is by some held in considerable esteem for the same purpose as the distilled oil of savin. Boerhaave relates, that he found it (when prepared by cohabitation) to give an almost incredible motion to the whole nervous system; and that, when properly used, it proves eminently serviceable for promoting the menes, and the hemorrhoidal flux.

§ 3. SPIRITUOUS DISTILLED Waters and Spirits.

563. The flavour and virtues of the distilled waters are owing, as observed in the preceding section, to their being impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the subject from which they are drawn. Spirit of wine, considered as a vehicle for these oils, has this advantage above water, that it is their proper menstruum, and keeps all the oil, that rises from it, perfectly dissolved into an uniform limpid liquor.

Nevertheless, many substances, which, on being distilled with water, impart to it their virtues in great perfection; if treated in the same manner with spirit of wine, scarce give over to it any smell or taste. This difference proceeds from hence; that spirit is not susceptible of so great a degree of heat as water. Liquids in general, when made to boil, have received as great a heat as they are capable of sustaining: now, if the extent of the heat between freezing and boiling water, as measured by thermometers, be taken for a standard, spirit of wine will be found to boil with less than four-fifths of that heat, or above one-fifth less than the heat of boiling water. It is obvious therefore, that substances may be volatile enough to rise with the heat of boiling water, but not with that of boiling spirit.

Thus if cinnamon, for instance, be committed to distillation with a mixture of spirit of wine and water, or with a pure proof-spirit, which is no other than a mixture of about equal parts of the two; the spirit will arise first, clear, colourless, and transparent, and almost without any taste of the spice; but as soon as the more ponderous watery fluid begins to arise, the oil comes freely over with it, so as to render the liquor highly odorous, rapid, and of a milky hue.

The proof-spirits usually met with in the shops are accompanied with a degree of ill flavour; which, tho' concealed by means of certain additions, plainly discovers itself in distillation. This gaufeous relish does not begin to arise till after the purer spirituous part has come over; which is the very time that the virtues of the ingredients begin also most plentifully to distil; and hence the liquor receives an ungrateful taint. To this cause principally is owing the general complaint, that the cordials of the apothecary are less agreeable than those of the same kind prepared by the distiller; the latter being extremely curious in rectifying or purifying the spirits (when designed for what he calls fine goods) from all ill flavour.

564. Rectified spirit of wine, In the former edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia, was thus ordered: Take any quantity of French brandy, and with a very gentle gentle heat distil it to one half.

This rectified spirit, being digested for two days with one-fourth its quantity of dry salt of tartar in powder, and then distilled in a glass cucurbit, with a very gentle heat, becomes alcohol.

Spirits distilled from malt liquors, or other fermented substances, after being rectified in the above method, require further purification; namely, repeated distillation from an equal quantity of spring water.

565. French brandy is rather too dear an article in this country, for distillation; nor is the spirit obtained from it any ways preferable to one procurable from cheaper liquors. The coarser inflammable spirits may be rendered perfectly pure and fit for the nicest purposes, by the following method.

If the spirit is exceedingly foul, mix it with about an equal quantity of water, and distil with a slow fire; discontinuing the operation as soon as the liquor begins to run milky, and discovers, by its nauseous taste, that the impure and phlegmatic part is arising. By this treatment, the spirit leaves a considerable portion of its foul oily matter behind it in the water, which now appears milky and turbid, and proves highly disagreeable in taste. If the spirit was not very foul at first, this ablution is not necessary; if extremely so, it will be needful to repeat it once, twice, or oftener.

566. As vinous spirits arise with a less degree of fire than watery liquors, we are hence directed to employ, in the distillation of them, a heat less than that in which water boils; and if due regard be had to this circumstance, very weak spirits may, by one or two wary distillations, be tolerably well freed from their aqueous phlegm; especially if the distilling vessels are of such a height, that the spirit, by the heat of a water-bath, may but just pass over them: in such case, the phlegmatic vapours, which arise for a little way along with the spirit, will condense and fall back again before they can come to the head. Very pompous instruments have been contrived for this purpose, and carried in a spiral or serpentine form to an extraordinary height. The spirit, ascending through these, was to leave all the watery parts it contained, in its passage, and come over perfectly pure and free from phlegm. But these instruments are built upon erroneous principles, their extravagant height defeating the end it was designed to answer: if the liquor is made to boil, a considerable quantity of mere phlegm will come over along with the spirit; and if the heat is not raised to this pitch, neither phlegm nor spirit will distil. The most convenient instrument is the common still, betwixt the body of which, and its head, an adopter or copper tube may be fixed.

567. The spirit being washed, as above directed, from its foul oil, and freed from the greatest part of the phlegm by gentle distillation in a water-bath, add to every gallon of it a pound or two of pure, dry, fixed alkaline salt. Upon digesting these together for a little time, the alkali, from its known property of attracting water and oils, will imbibe the remaining phlegm, and such part of the disagreeable unctuous matter as may still be left in the spirit, and sink with them to the bottom of the vessel. If the spirit be now again gently drawn over, it will arise entirely free from its phlegm and nauseous flavour; but some particles of the alkaline salt are apt to be carried up with it, and give what the workmen call an urinous relish:

This may be prevented, by adding, previous to the last distillation, a small proportion of calcined vitriol, alum, or sal cathartic anus; the acid of these salts will unite with and neutralize the alkali, and effectually prevent it from arising; while no more of the acid of the salts is extricated than what the alkali absorbs.

The spirit obtained by this means is extremely pure, limpid, perfectly flavourless, and fit for the finest purposes. It may be reduced to the strength commonly understood by proof, by mixing 20 ounces of it (by weight) with 17 ounces of water. The distilled cordials made with these spirits, prove much more elegant and agreeable, than when the common rectified or proof spirits of the shops are made use of.

If the rectified spirit be distilled fresh from dry alkaline salt with a quick fire, it brings over a considerable quantity of the salt; and in this state is supposed to be a more powerful menstruum for certain substances than the pure spirit. This alkalized spirit is called tartarized spirit of wine.

568. The general virtues of vinous spirits have been already mentioned; (see Materia Medica, the Table.) The spirits impregnated with the volatile oils of vegetables, to be treated of in this section, have joined to those the aromatic, cordial, or other virtues which reside in the oils.

Art I. Distilled Spirits.

569. Compound balm-water, commonly called Eau de carmes.

Take of balm in flower, fresh gathered and cleared from the stalks, two pounds; lemon peel, fresh, as soon as pared from the fruit, four ounces; coriander seeds, eight ounces; nutmegs, cloves, cinnamon, each, bruised, two ounces; angelica roots, dried and bruised, one ounce; spirit of wine, highly rectified, ten pints. Steep the several ingredients in the spirit four or five days; and then draw off, in the heat of a water-bath, 10 pints. Rectify the distilled liquor by a second distillation in a water-bath, drawing off only about eight pints and three quarters.

This process is taken from the Elements de pharmacie of M. Baumé, who observes, that all the aromatic spirits ought to be prepared in the same manner. When the common spirits of this kind are rubbed on the hands, &c., they leave, after the more volatile parts have exhaled, a disagreeable empyreumatic smell; and when diluted with water, and taken medicinally, they leave in like manner a nauseous flavour in the mouth. To remedy these imperfections, he made many experiments, which showed, that in order to obtain these liquors of the desirable qualities, the spirit must not only be perfectly pure at first, but that the liquor ought also to be rectified after it has been distilled from the subjects. In this rectification only the more volatile, subtle, aromatic parts of the ingredients arise; there remains behind a white liquor, acrid, bitter, loaded only with the groser oil, and deprived of all the specific flavour of the subjects. Indeed the very imperfection complained of naturally points out this second distillation for the remedy, as it shows the spirit: rit to contain a grateful and ungrateful matter; the firt of which exhales, while the other is left behind.

Aromatic spirituous waters have in general less smell, when newly distilled, than after they have been kept about six months. M. Baume suspects, that the preparations of this kind which have been most in vogue were such as had been thus improved by keeping; and found, that the good effects of age might be produced in a short time by means of cold. He plunges quart-bottles of the liquor into a mixture of pounded ice and sea-salt: the spirit, after having suffered for six or eight hours the cold hence resulting, proves as grateful as that which has been kept for several years. Simple waters also, after being frozen, prove far more agreeable than they were before; tho' they are always less so than those which have been drawn with spirit, and exposed to a like degree of cold. This melioration of distilled waters by frost was taken notice of by Geoffroy, Hist. Acad. 1713.

570. Spirit of rosemary. L. Take of rosemary-tops, fresh gathered, a pound and a half; proof spirit, one gallon. Distil in the heat of a water-bath, till five pints are come over.

571. Hungary-water. Take of rosemary flowers, just gathered, two pounds; rectified spirit of wine, one gallon. Put them together, and immediately distil in a water-bath. It is generally brought to us from abroad.

This spirit is very fragrant, insomuch as to be in common use as a perfume: that brought from abroad is superior in fragrance to such as is generally made among us. In order to prepare it in perfection, the vinous spirit should be extremely pure, the rosemary-tops gathered when the flowers are full blown upon them, and committed immediately to distillation, particular care being taken not to bruise or press them. The best method of managing the distillation is that formerly recommended for the distillation of the more volatile essential oils and simple waters, viz. first to place the spirit in the still, and then set in above the liquor, either an iron hoop, with a hair-cloth stretched over it, upon which the flowers are to be lightly spread, or rather a basket, supported on three pins, reaching down to the bottom. A gentle heat being applied, just sufficient to raise the spirit, its vapour, lightly percolating through the flowers, will imbibe their finer parts, without making that disagreeable alteration which liquors applied to such tender subjects in their grosser form generally do. Probably the superiority of the French Hungary water to that prepared among us, is owing to some skilful management of this kind, or that recommended for the foregoing preparation, and employing a perfectly pure spirit.

572. Simple spirit of lavender. L. Take of lavender-flowers, fresh gathered, a pound and a half; proof spirit, one gallon. Draw off, by the heat of a water-bath, five pints.

Take of fresh lavender-flowers, two pounds; rectified spirit of wine, one gallon. Distil off a gallon in a water-bath. E.

The same cautions are to be observed here as in the distillation of the foregoing spirit. Both of them, when made in perfection, are very grateful and fragrant: they are frequently rubbed on the temples, &c., under the notion of refreshing and comforting the nerves; and likewise taken internally, to the quantity of a tea-spoonful, as warm cordials.

573. Compound spirit of lavender. L. E. Take of simple spirit of lavender, three pints; spirit of rosemary, one pint; cinnamon, one ounce; cloves, nutmegs, each half an ounce; red saunders, three drams. Digest them together for seven days, and then strain out the spirit for use.

The red saunders is of no farther use in the composition than as a colouring ingredient. If a yellow spirit was liked, the yellow launders would be an excellent article, as it not only communicates a fine colour, but likewise a considerable share of medicinal virtue. A spirit distilled from the flowers of lavender and sage, in due proportion, and digested in the cold for a little time with some cinnamon, nutmegs, and yellow saunders, proves a very elegant and grateful one.

This medicine has long been held in great esteem, under the name of palpy-drops, in all kinds of languors, weakness of the nerves, and decays of age. It may be conveniently taken upon sugar, from 10 to 80 or 100 drops.

574. An odoriferous spirit, called sweet honey-water. Take of coriander seeds, honey, each one pound; cloves, an ounce and a half; nutmegs, benzoin, storax, each an ounce; vanelloes, in number four; yellow rind of three lemons; French brandy, one gallon. Digest these ingredients together for forty-eight hours; and then distil off the spirit in balneo mariae. To one gallon of this spirit add orange-flower water, rose-water, of each one pound and a half; ambergris, musk, of each five grains. First grind the musk and ambergris with some of the water, and afterwards put all together in a large matra; shake them well, and let them circulate for three days and nights in a gentle heat; then suffer them to cool, filter the liquor, and keep it close stopped up for use.

575. Another. Take of coriander seeds, one pound; lemon-peel fresh, nutmegs, each four ounces; ambergris, musk, each five grains; clean mclaffes spirit, two gallons. Bruise the nutmegs and coriander seeds, and put them, with the lemon-peel and the spirits, into a small still placed in balneo mariae: tie a thin cloth over the mouth, and sprinkle thereon the ambergris and musk reduced into fine powder; lute on the head; let the whole stand in digestion for twelve hours, and then distil as much as a boiling heat of the bath can force over. To this add, of role-water, one pint; orange-flower water, half a pint.

These compositions are designed rather as perfumes than as medicines; though for such as can bear their fragrance, they might be used to advantage in this last intention. The musk and ambergris do not communicate so much of their smell as might be expected; and serve chiefly to heighten the flavour of the other ingredients; which these perfumes excellently do, when when employed in very small proportion, to all the odoriferous simples, without imparting any thing perceptible of their own. Both the foregoing spirits are very agreeable; a few drops of either give a fine flavour to a large quantity of other liquor. Mr Wilton, from whom the first is taken, (Pract. Chem. p. 354.), tells us, that he often made it for king James II. and that it gives one of the most pleasant scents that can be smelt to. The other is formed on the same plan, by omitting such articles as appeared superfluous in the first.

576. Spirit of scurvy-grass. Take of fresh scurvy-grass, bruited, 10 pounds; rectified spirit of wine, five pints. Steep the herb in the spirit for 12 hours; then with the heat of a water-bath distil off five pints.

This spirit is very strong of the scurvy-grass; and may be given, in those cases where the use of this herb is proper, from 20 to 100 drops. The virtues of scurvy-grass reside in a very subtle volatile oil, which arises in distillation both with water and pure spirit; and, if the liquors are exposed to the air, soon exhales from both. The spirit, newly distilled, is extremely pungent; but if long kept, even in close vessels, becomes remarkably less so.

577. Golden or purging spirit of scurvy-grass. Take of spirit of scurvy-grass, one pound; gamboge, one ounce. Dissolve the gamboge in the spirit; and if any sediment falls to the bottom, carefully decant the tinged liquor from it. This spirit is otherwise made with scammony, or resin of jalep, instead of gamboge.

This has been in great esteem among the common people, and strongly recommended by the vendors, in all kinds of scorbutic disorders. It is nevertheless a very indifferent medicine, and little deserves the pompous title given it. It may be taken from 20 to 60 drops, either upon sugar or mixed with syrup.

Art. 2. Distilled spirituous Waters.

578. By distilled Spirits, are understood such as are drawn with a spirit that has been previously rectified, or which is reduced nearly to that strength in the operation: by spirituous Waters, those in which the spirit is only of the proof strength, or contains an admixture of about an equal measure of water. These last have been usually called compound waters, even when distilled from one ingredient only; as those, on the other hand, which are drawn by common water, tho' from a number of ingredients, are named simple; the title simple, here, relating not to simplicity in respect of composition, but to the vehicle being plain water. The Edinburgh pharmacopoeia denominates those waters simple which are drawn from a single ingredient, whether the vehicle be common water or spirituous water, and all those compounds which are distilled from more than one.

579. General rules for the distillation of spirituous Waters.

I. The plants and their parts ought to be moderately and newly dried, except such as are ordered fresh gathered.

II. After the ingredients have been steeped in the spirit for the time prescribed, add as much water as will be sufficient to prevent an empyreuma, or rather more.

III. The liquor which comes over first in the distillation, is by some kept by itself, under the title of spirit; and the other runnings, which prove milky, fined down by art. But it is better to mix all the runnings together without fining them, that the waters may possess the virtues of the plant entire; which is a circumstance to be more regarded than their fineness or lightness.

IV. In the distillation of these waters, the genuine brandy obtained from wine is directed. Where this is not to be had, take, instead of that proof spirit, half its quantity of a well-rectified spirit prepared from any other fermented liquors: in this steep the ingredients, and then add spring-water enough both to make up the quantity ordered to be drawn off, and to prevent burning.

580. By this method more elegant waters may be obtained than when any of the common proof-spirits, even that of wine itself, are made use of. All vinous spirits receive some flavour from the matter from which they are extracted; and this flavour, which adheres chiefly to the phlegm or watery part, they cannot be divested of without separating the phlegm, and reducing them to a rectified state.

581. Spirituous alexeterial water. L. Take of spearmint leaves, fresh, half a pound; angelica leaves, fresh, tea-wormwood tops, fresh, each four ounces; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This is a tolerably pleasant water; it is looked upon as an alexipharmac and stomachic, and in these intentions is not unfrequently made use of in juleps, &c.

582. Spirituous alexeterial water with vinegar. L. Take of spearmint leaves, angelica leaves, each half a pound; tea-wormwood tops, four ounces; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning; vinegar, one pint. Distil the fresh herbs with the spirit and water, drawing off one gallon; to which add the vinegar.

Angelica, after trial of sundry other materials, has been found the most effectually to remove the disagreeable flavour which the vinegar would otherwise communicate, and therefore this plant is ordered in a larger proportion here than in the other alexeterial waters. Perhaps it would be more eligible to add the vinegar occasionally; for when mixed with the liquor at first, it is apt to throw down, upon keeping, some of the more valuable parts which the water received from the herbs.

583. Compound aniseed water. L. Take of aniseeds, angelica seeds, each half a pound; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

This is a very elegant aniseed water, the angelica seeds greatly improving the flavour of the anise: it is apt to turn out milky, if drawn so low as here ordered.

584. Spi- 584. Spirituous orange-peel water. L.

Take of the outer rind of Seville-orange-peel, dried, half a pound; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent an empyreuma. Distill off one gallon.

This is considerably stronger of the orange-peel than the simple water. It is used as a cordial, stomachic, and carminative.

585. Cardamom-seed water. L.

Take of lesser cardamom seeds, freed from the husks, four ounces; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This water is a grateful cordial and carminative, the cardamom seeds giving over in this process the whole of their flavour. It is not perhaps very necessary to be at the trouble of separating the husks, for these communicate nothing disagreeable; the only difference is, that if employed unhusked, a proportionably larger quantity of them must be taken.

586. Caraway-water. L. E.

Take of caraway seeds, half a pound; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This is a cordial in common use; it contains the flavour of the caraway seeds in perfection.

587. Spirituous cinnamon-water. L.

Take of cinnamon, a pound; proof-spirit, a gallon; water, so much as will prevent burning. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

588. Cinnamon-water with wine. E.

Take of cinnamon, half a pound; proof-spirit, one gallon. Distil off one gallon.

This is a very agreeable and useful cordial-water, but not so strong of the cinnamon as might be expected; for very little of the virtues of the spice arise till after the pure spirituous part has distilled.

In the pharmacopoeia reformata, it is proposed to make this water, by mixing the simple cinnamon water (553, a.) with somewhat less than an equal quantity of rectified spirit; on shaking them together, the liquor loses its milky hue, soon becomes clear, and more elegant than the water distilled as above; it is equally strong of the cinnamon, and free from the nauseous taint which the common proof-spirits are impregnated with.

589. Compound juniper-water. L. E.

Take of juniper-berries, one pound; sweet-fennel seeds, caraway seeds, each an ounce and a half; proof-spirit, one gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This water, mixed with about an equal quantity of the rob of juniper-berries, proves an useful medicine in catarrhs, debility of the stomach and intestines, and difficulty of urine. The water by itself is a good cordial and carminative; the service which this and other spirituous waters do in these intentions, is too commonly known; though the ill consequences that follow their constant use, are too little regarded.

590. a. Spirituous peppermint water. L.

Take of peppermint-leaves, dry, a pound and a half; proof-spirit, a gallon; water, as much as is sufficient to prevent an empyreuma. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

This water is made use of in flatulent colics and other like disorders; in which it oftentimes gives immediate relief. It smells and tastes strongly of the peppermint.

590. b. Spirituous mint-water. L.

Take of spearmint leaves, dry, a pound and a half; proof-spirit, a gallon; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This water, if the spirit be good, turns out a very elegant one, and preferable, in weaknesses of the stomach, retching to vomit, and the like, to many more elaborate preparations. Where the disorder is not accompanied with heat or inflammation, half an ounce of this water may be given diluted with some agreeable aqueous liquor.

591. Spirituous Jamaica-pepper water.

Take of Jamaica pepper, half a pound; proof-spirit, three gallons; water, a sufficient quantity to prevent an empyreuma. Draw off by distillation three gallons.

This water is far more agreeable than a simple water drawn from the same spice; and has long had a place among the cordials both of the distiller and apothecary; though it has not yet been received into any public pharmacopoeia.

592. Nutmeg water. L.

Take of nutmegs, two ounces; proof-spirits, a gallon; water, as much as will prevent burning. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

This water (with the addition only of some hawthorn flowers, an article of very little significance) was formerly celebrated in nephritic disorders, under the name of aqua nephritica. At present, it is regarded only as an agreeable spirituous liquor, lightly impregnated with the nutmeg flavour.

593. Spirituous pennyroyal water. L.

Take of pennyroyal leaves, dry, a pound and a half; proof-spirit, a gallon; water, as much as will prevent burning. Distil off one gallon.

This water has a good share of the flavour of the pennyroyal, and is pretty much in use as a carminative and antihysteric.

594. Compound horseradish water.

Take of garden scurvy-grass leaves, fresh, four pounds; horseradish root fresh, orange-peel fresh, each two pounds; nutmegs, nine ounces; proof-spirit, two gallons; water, a sufficient quantity to prevent burning. Draw off by distillation two gallons. L.

Take of horseradish root, three pounds; rectified spirit of wine, four pints. Distil off four pints in a water-bath, and to the distilled liquor add eight pints of simple Jamaica-pepper water. E.

Both these waters are very elegant ones, and as well adapted adapted for the purposes of an antiscorbutic, as anything that can well be contrived in this form.

Mustard-feed, though not hitherto employed in these kinds of compositions, should seem to be an excellent ingredient; it gives over the whole of its pungency, and is likewise less perishable than most of the other substances of this class; this seed wants no addition, unless some aromatic material to furnish an agreeable flavour.

Sect. VI. Concentration of the medicinal parts of Juices and Infusions by Evaporation.

595. When vegetable juices, or watery or spirituous decoctions or infusions, are exposed to a continued heat, the fluid, gradually evaporating, carries off with it such volatile matters as it was impregnated with, and leaves the more fixed united together into one mass. As the object of the preceding section was the collection of the volatile principle which exhales along with the fluid, that of the present is the re-union and concentration of the fixed matter. The mass which remains from the evaporation of the expressed juice of a plant, is called an inspissated juice; from watery decoctions or infusions, an extract; from spirituous tinctures, a resin, or essential extract. The term extract is frequently used also as a general appellation of all the three kinds. Insipidated juices and watery decoctions, particularly the former, when evaporated no further than to the consistence of oil or honey, are called rob or japa; and spirituous tinctures, reduced to a like consistence, are called balsam.

§ I. Insipidated Juices.

596. What relates to the expression of juices, has already been delivered in Sect. ii. with the most effectual means of preserving them in their liquid state, and a general account of what substances do or do not give out their virtues with their juices. In the insipidation of juices, there is further to be considered the volatility or fixity of their medicinal parts: if a plant loses its virtue, or part of its virtue, in being dried, it is obvious that the juice must lose as much in being insipidated to dryness, how gentle soever the heat be with which the insipidation is performed. It is likewise to be observed, that the medicinal parts of some juices are kept in a state of perfect solution by the watery fluid, so as to be completely retained by it after the liquor has been made fine by settling, straining, or other means; while the medicinal parts of others, not dissoluble by watery menstrua, are only diffused through the liquor in the same manner as the feculences are, and separate along with these on standing.

597. Rob of elder-berries.

Let the depurated juice of elder-berries be insipidated with a gentle heat. L.

This preparation, made with or without sugar, keeps well, and proves a medicine of considerable importance as an aperient, generally promoting the natural excretions by stool, urine, or sweat. The dose is from a dram or two to an ounce or more. A spoonful, diluted with water, is usefully taken in common colds at bed-time.

Vol. VIII.

598. Insipidated juice of floes, or German acacia.

Let any quantity of the juice of unripe floes be insipidated over a gentle fire.

This juice is insipidated nearly to dryness, care being taken to prevent its burning, as directed in the following §, for making extracts with water. It is a moderately strong astringent, similar to the Egyptian acacia, for which it has been commonly substituted in the shops. It is given in fluxes and other disorders where styptic medicines are indicated, from a scruple to a dram.

599. Extract of plantane.

Let any quantity of the juice of plantane-leaves be depurated; either by suffering it to settle, and then decanting off the clear liquor; or by straining; or by clarification by whites of eggs. Afterwards evaporate the juice in a sand-pan, to the consistence of honey. After the same manner, extracts may be made from all acid, cooling, styptic, juicy plants.

This is a method of treating plants very little practised; but which promises, if duly prosecuted, to afford medicines of considerable power. There are many common and neglected herbs, as plantane, chickweed, chervil, &c. whose juices in their dilute state, as well as the herbs in substance, seem to be altogether insignificant, but which, when the juice is well depurated from the feculent matter, and concentrated by the evaporation of the fluid, yield extracts which discover to the taste no small activity. These extracts, like those prepared from the juices of most of the summer-fruits, if insipidated to dryness, grow moist again in the air.

600. Extract of hemlock.

See n° 249.

This is the preparation of hemlock lately published at Vienna by Dr Storck; who recommends it as a high resolvent in many obstinate disorders, where the common remedies avail nothing. He observes, that small doses should always be begun with, as two grains, made into a pill, twice a-day; and that, by gradually increasing the dose, it may be given to two, three, or even four drams a-day, and continued in such quantities for several weeks: that it may be used with safety, in infancy, old age, and pregnancy: that it neither accelerates nor disturbs the circulation; neither heats nor cools; nor affects the animal-functions: that it increases the secretions, and renders the mouth moist; seldom purges; very rarely vomits; sometimes augments perspiration; often produces a copious discharge of viscid urine; but in many patients does not increase any of the sensible evacuations: that it removes obstructions and their consequences; relieves rheumatic pains, though of long continuance; difficulties scirrhouss tumours, both internal and external; and cures dropsies and consumptions proceeding from scirrhosities; that it often dissolves cataracts, or stops their progress, and has sometimes removed the gutta serena: that inveterate cutaneous eruptions, scald-heads, malignant ulcers, cancers, the malignant fluor albus and gonorrhoea of long standing, obstinate remains of the venereal disease, and caries of the bones, generally yield to it: that for the most part it is necessary cessary to continue this medicine for a very considerable time, before the cure is effected, or much benefit perceived from it: that in some cases it failed of giving any relief; and that he met with some persons who could not bear its effects; and that consequently there must be some latent difference in the habit, the diagnostic signs of which are at present unknown: that though it is by no means infallible, any more than other medicines in their respective intentions, yet the great number of deplorable cases that have been happily cured by it is sufficient to recommend it to further trials. The efficacy of this medicine is confirmed by many eminent practitioners abroad; though the trials hitherto made of it in this country have not been attended with much success. Somewhat, perhaps, may depend upon the time of the plant's being gathered, and the manner of the preparation of the extract. Dr Storck himself takes notice of some mistakes committed in this respect: some have left the herb in a heap for several days, whence part of it withered, part rotted, and the juice became thick and mucilaginous; others have taken a very large quantity of the juice, and boiled it down in copper vessels with a great heat, by which means a strong fetor was diffused to a considerable distance, and the most efficacious parts dissipated: others, with officious care, have clarified the juice, and thus obtained a black tenacious extract, retaining but a small degree of the specific smell of the plant: the extract duly prepared, according to the prescription above referred to, is of a greenish brown colour, and a very disagreeable smell, like that of mice. But though there is reason to believe, that much of the extract used here had been ill prepared, we can by no means admit that its general inefficacy was owing to this cause; for though there are few instances of its discovering any valuable medicinal powers, there are several of its having activity enough, even in small doses, to produce alarming symptoms.

601. Elaterium.

Slit ripe wild cucumbers, and having very lightly pressed out the juice, pass it through a fine hair-sieve into a glazed earthen vessel. After standing for some hours, the thicker part will fall to the bottom; from which the thinner is to be poured off; and what liquid matter is still left is to be separated by filtration. The remaining thick part is to be covered with a linen cloth, and exposed to the sun, or other gentle heat, till grown thoroughly dry. L.

Preparations of this kind have been commonly called faculae. The filtration above directed, for draining off such part of the watery fluid as cannot be separated by decantation, is not the common filtration through paper, for this does not succeed here: the groser parts of the juice, falling to the bottom, form a viscid cake upon the paper, which the liquid cannot pass through. The separation is to be attempted in another manner, so as to drain the fluid from the top: this is effected by placing one end of some moistened strips of woollen cloth, flaxen of cotton, or the like, in the juice, and laying the other end over the edge of the vessel, so as to hang down lower than the surface of the liquor: by this management the separation succeeds in perfection.

Elaterium is a strong irritating cathartic, and often-times operates also as an emetic. It is never to be ventured on but in indolent phlegmatic habits, as in dropsies, in which it is by some particularly recommended. Two or three grains are in general a sufficient dose.

§ 2. EXTRACTS WITH WATER.

602. These extracts are prepared, by boiling the subject in water, and evaporating the strained decoction to a thick consistence.

This process affords us some of the more active parts of plants, free from the useless indissoluble earthy matter, which makes the largest share of their bulk. There is a great difference in vegetable substances, with regard to their fitness for this operation; some yielding to it all their virtues, and others scarce any. Those parts in which the sweet, glutinous, emollient, cooling, bitter, astringent, virtues reside, are for the most part totally extracted by the boiling water, and remain almost entire upon evaporating it: whilst those which contain the peculiar odour, flavour, and aromatic quality, are either not extracted at all, or exhale along with the menstruum. Thus gentian root, which is almost simply bitter, yields an extract possessing, in a small volume, the whole taste and virtues of the root: wormwood, which has a degree of warmth and strong flavour joined to the bitter, loses the two first in the evaporation, and gives an extract not greatly different from the foregoing; the aromatic quality of cinnamon, is dissipated by this treatment, its astringency remaining: whilst an extract made from the flowers of lavender and rosemary, discovers nothing either of the taste, smell, or virtues of the flowers.

General rules for making extracts with water.

I. It is indifferent, in regard to the medicine, whether the subject is used fresh or dry; since nothing that can be preserved in this process, will be lost by drying. In regard to the facility of extraction, there is a very considerable difference; vegetables in general giving out their virtues more readily, when moderately dried, than when fresh.

II. Very compact dry substances should be reduced into exceeding small parts, previous to the infusion of the menstruum.

III. The quantity of water ought to be no greater than is necessary for extracting the virtues of the subject. A difference herein will sometimes occasion a variation in the quality of the product: the larger the quantity of liquor, the longer fire will be requisite for evaporating it, and consequently the more of the volatile parts of the subject will be dissipated. A long-continued heat likewise makes a considerable alteration in the matter which is not volatile: sweet substances, by long boiling with water, become nauseous; and the drastic purgatives lose their virulence, tho' without any remarkable separation of their parts.

IV. The decoctions are to be depurated by colature; and afterwards suffered to stand for a day or two, when a considerable quantity of sediment is usually found at the bottom. If the liquor, poured off clear, be boiled down a little, and afterwards suffered to cool again, it will deposit a fresh sediment, from which it may be decanted before you proceed to finish the the evaporation. The decoctions of very resinous substances do not require this treatment, and are rather injured by it; the resin subsiding along with the inactive dregs.

V. The evaporation is most conveniently performed in broad shallow vessels: the larger the surface of the liquor, the sooner will the aqueous parts exhale: this effect may likewise be promoted by agitation.

VI. When the matter begins to grow thick, great care is necessary to prevent its burning. This accident, almost unavoidable if the quantity is large, and the fire applied as usual under the evaporating pan, may be effectually secured against, by carrying on the infusion after the common manner, no farther than to the consistence of a syrup, when the matter is to be poured into shallow tin or earthen pans, and placed in an oven, with its door open, moderately heated; which acting uniformly on every part of the liquid, will soon reduce it to any degree of consistence required. This may likewise be done, and more securely, in balneum mariae, by setting the evaporating vessel in boiling water; but the evaporation is here exceeding slow and tedious.

VII. Extracts are to be sprinkled with a little spirit of wine, to prevent their growing mouldy. L. They should be kept in bladders moistened with sweet oil. E.

603. Extract of wormwood.

Boil dried wormwood leaves in water, supplying fresh water occasionally till the herb has given out all its virtues to the liquor. Strain the decoction through a woollen cloth, and evaporate it, in a sand-heat, to the consistence of honey.

This extract is almost simply bitter; the peculiar flavour of the wormwood being dissipated in the evaporation. The chemists usually prepare the extract of wormwood from the decoction which remains in the still after the distillation of the essential oil; and, provided the still has been perfectly clean, and the liquor not stood too long in it after the distillation, this piece of frugality is not to be disapproved of; since, whether we catch the exhaling vapour, or suffer it to be dissipated in the air, the remaining extract will be the same.

604. Extract of lesser centaury.

This is directed to be prepared in the same manner as the preceding. It is the oldest extract we have any account of: its preparation is very accurately and circumstantially set down in a book usually ascribed to Galen, De virtute centauriae. The author of that treatise recommends the extract as a medicine of excellent service in many cases; and looks upon centaury as a specific against the bite of a mad dog and other venomous animals. It is doubtless an useful bitter, possessing the general virtues of the substances of that class; but cannot well be supposed to have any others.

605. Extract of chamomile.

This extract is prepared from the flowers of chamomile, in the same manner as those of the leaves of the two preceding plants. Nor is it greatly different from those extracts in quality; the specific flavour of the chamomile exhaling in the evaporation. The chemists commonly prepare it, like that of wormwood, from the decoction remaining after the distillation of the essential oil.

606. Extract of elecampane. L.

Boil the roots of elecampane in water, press out and strain the decoction, and set it by to settle. Then pour off the clear liquor, and boil it down to a pilular consistence; taking care, towards the end, to prevent its burning to the vessel.

This extract retains a considerable share of the virtues of the root: its taste is somewhat warm, and not ungratefully bitterish. It is given, from a scruple to a dram, in a lax state of the fibres of the stomach, and in some disorders of the breast.

607. Extract of gentian. L. E.

This extract is prepared from the roots of gentian, in the same manner as the foregoing extracts. It is of a reddish brown colour, and an intensely bitter taste, being one of the strongest of the vegetable bitters.

608. Extract of liquorice. L.

Lightly boil fresh liquorice roots in water, press the decoction through a strainer; and after the excesses have subsided, evaporate it until it no longer sticks to the fingers; taking care, towards the end of the operation, to prevent an empyreuma.

It is convenient, before boiling the root, to cut it transversely into small pieces, that it may more readily give out its virtues by light evaporation: if the boiling is long continued, the rich sweet taste, for which this preparation is valued, will be greatly injured. For the same reason, the quantity of water ought to be no larger than is absolutely necessary to extract the virtues of the root: a quart, or at most three pints, will be fully sufficient for a pound of liquorice. It would be of considerable advantage to the preparation, and probably (when made in quantity) less expensive to the preparer, to use, instead of the decoction, juice of liquorice, pressed out between iron rollers, after the manner practised abroad for obtaining the juice of the sugar-cane.

Large quantities of extract of liquorice have been usually brought to us from Spain and other foreign countries; but it is very rarely met with in the shops in perfection; the makers of this commodity, both at home and abroad, being either very slovenly in its preparation, or designingly mixing it with sand and other impurities. When made with due care, it is exceeding sweet, not at all bitterish or nauseous, more agreeable in taste than the root itself, of a pleasant smell, a reddish brown colour, and, when drawn out into strings, of a bright golden colour; totally soluble in water, without depositing any excess.

This preparation would be very convenient for many purposes in the shops, if kept in a somewhat softer consistence than that of an extract. The only inconvenience attending this soft form is, its being apt in a short time to grow mouldy; but this may be effectually prevented, by the addition of a small portion of spirit of wine. 609. Extract of black hellebore. L.E.

This extract is prepared from the roots of black hellebore, in the same manner as that of elecampane roots above described. It purges with considerably less violence than the hellebore in substance; and appears to be one of the best preparations of that root, when intended to act only as a cathartic. The dose is from 8 or 10 grains to 15 or more.

610. Extract of logwood. L.

Take of logwood, reduced to powder, one pound. Boil it in a gallon of water till half the liquor is consumed, repeating the coction with fresh water four times, or oftener: the several decoctions are to be mixed together, passed through a strainer, and evaporated to a due consistence.

This extract has an agreeable sweet taste, with some degree of astringency; and hence becomes serviceable in diarrhoeas, for blunting the acrimony of the juices, and moderately constringing the intestines and orifices of the smaller vessels: It may be given from a scruple to half a dram, and repeated five or six times a-day to advantage. During the use of this medicine, the stools are frequently tinged red by it; which has occasioned some to be alarmed, as if the colour proceeded from blood: the prescriber therefore ought to caution the patient against any surprise of this kind.

611. Extract of Peruvian bark, soft and hard. L.

Boil a pound of powdered bark in five or six quarts of water for an hour or two, and pour off the liquor; which whilst hot will be red and transparent, but on growing cold becomes yellow and turbid. The remaining bark is to be boiled again in the same quantity of water as before; and this process repeated till the liquor remains transparent when cold. All the decoctions, strained and mixed together, are to be evaporated over a very gentle fire to a due consistence, care being taken to prevent the matter from burning.

This extract is directed to be kept in the shops, both in a soft and a hard form; the first of a proper consistence for making into pills; the other fit for being reduced into powder.

612. Extract of guaiacum wood, soft and hard. L.

Boil a pound of shavings of guaiacum in a gallon of water till half the liquor is wasted, repeating the operation four times, or oftener, with the same quantities of fresh water. The several decoctions, passed through a strainer, are to be mixed and infusitated together; when the aqueous parts are almost entirely exhaled, a little rectified spirit of wine is to be added, that the whole may be reduced into an uniform and tenacious mass. This extract is to be prepared as the foregoing, in a soft and hard form.

Here the resinous parts of the wood, which were boiled out with the water, are apt to separate towards the end of the infusion: Hence an addition of spirit becomes necessary to keep them united with the rest of the matter. The extract agrees in virtue with the wood. See Guaiacum.

613. Extract of rue. L.

This is prepared from the leaves of rue, in the same manner as that of elecampane roots already described. It retains a considerable share of the warmth and pungency of the rue; for though the principal virtues of rue reside in an essential oil, yet the oil of this plant, as formerly observed under the head of those preparations, is not of a very volatile kind.

614. Extract of savin. L.

This extract is prepared from the leaves of savin in the same manner as the preceding. It does not retain so much as that extract does of the virtues of its subject, the oil of savin being more volatile than that of rue.

615. Gum and resin of aloes. L.

Boil four ounces of socotrine aloes in two pints of water till as much as possible of the aloes is dissolved. The solution suffered to rest for a night, will deposit the resin to the bottom of the vessel: after which, the remaining liquor, strained, if needful, is to be evaporated, that the gum may be left.

The gum of aloes is somewhat less purgative, and considerably less disagreeable, than the crude juice.

616. The pills or extract of Rudius.

Take of black-hellebore roots, colocynth, socotrine aloes, each two ounces; scammony, one ounce; vitriolated tartar, two drams; distilled oil of cloves, one dram. Bruise the colocynth and hellebore, pour on them two quarts of water, and boil to the consumption of half the liquor: pass the decoction through a strainer, and evaporate it to the consistence of honey, adding the aloes and scammony reduced into fine powder: when the mass is taken from the fire, mix into it the vitriolated tartar and distilled oil.

This preparation is a medicine of great importance as a cathartic.

617. Rob of juniper-berries.

Let juniper-berries, thoroughly bruised, be boiled in a sufficient quantity of water, the liquor strained, and infusitated to the consistence of honey.

This preparation may be made also from the decoction that remains after the distillation of the essential oil of the berries. It has a sweet balsamic taste, accompanied with a greater or less bitterness, according as the seeds of the berry were more or less thoroughly bruised. This elegant preparation, though not received in our pharmacopoeias, seems not unworthy of a place in the shops. Hoffman has a great opinion of it in debilities of the stomach and intestines, and in the difficulties of urine familiar to persons of an advanced age.

618. Besides the above extracts, there are ordered, in the present edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia, one from the heads of puppies; another from the seeds of hemlock scarce come to maturity; and a third from the leaves of pulsatilla nigricans. They are to be made in the same manner with the extract of gentian, n° 607. § 3. EXTRACTS WITH RECTIFIED SPIRITS.

619. Rectified spirit of wine dissolves the essential oils and resins of vegetables, and does not readily carry off the oil in its exhalation, the heat sufficient to exhale pure spirit being much less than that in which water considerably evaporates, or most essential oils distil. Hence a resinous or spirituous extract of wormwood, contrary to that made with water, contains the warmth and flavour as well as bitterness of the herb; one made from cinnamon possesses its aromatic virtue, as well as its astringency; and one from lavender and rosemary flowers retains great part of their flavour and virtues; the volatile parts, which are carried off by water in its evaporation, being left behind by spirit.

The spirit employed for this purpose should be perfectly free from any ill flavour, which would be communicated in part to the preparation; and from any admixture of phlegm or water, which would not only vary its dissolving power, but, likewise evaporating towards the end of the infusion, would promote the distillation of the volatile parts of the subject. Hence also the subject itself ought always to be dry; those substances which lose their virtue by drying, lose it equally on being submitted to this treatment with the purest spirit.

The infusion should be performed from the beginning in the gentle heat of a water-bath. It is not needful to suffer the spirit to evaporate in the air: greatest part of it may be recovered by collecting the vapour in the common distilling vessels. If the distilled spirit is found to have brought over any flavour from the subject, it may be advantageously reserved for the same purposes again.

620. It is observable, that though rectified spirit is the proper menstruum of the pure volatile oils and of the groarser resinous matter of vegetables, and water of the mucilaginous and saline; yet these principles are, in almost all plants, so intimately combined together, that whichever of these liquors is applied at first, it will take up a portion of what is directly soluble only in the other. Hence sundry vegetables, extremely resinous, and whose virtues consist chiefly in their resin, afford nevertheless very useful extracts with water, though not equal to those which may be obtained by a prudent application of spirit. Hence, also, the extracts made from most vegetables by pure spirit are not mere resins; a part of the gummy matter, if the subject contained any such, being taken up along with the resin, an admixture of great advantage to it in a medicinal view. The spirituous extracts of several vegetable substances, as mint-leaves, rhubarb, saffron, dissolve in water as well as in spirit.

621. Pure resins are prepared by mixing with spirituous tinctures of very resinous vegetables a quantity of water. The resin, incapable of remaining dissolved in the watery liquor, separates and falls to the bottom; leaving in the menstruum such other principles of the plant as the spirit might have extracted at first along with it.

622. Resin of jalap.

Take any quantity of jalap-root very well bruised; pour upon it so much rectified spirit of wine as will cover it to the height of four fingers, and digest them together in a sand-heat, that the spirit may extract the virtue of the root. Filter the tincture through paper, put it into a retort, and distil off one half of the spirit. Add to the remainder a proper quantity of water, and the resin will precipitate to the bottom: divide it into little cakes, and dry it with a very gentle heat.

This preparation is a pure resin; such gummy parts as the spirit might have taken up remaining suspended in the liquor. Its indissolubility in any aqueous fluid, and its tenacious quality, by which it adheres to the coats of the intestines, and occasions great irritation and gripes, forbid its being ever given by itself. It is fitted for use, by thoroughly triturating it with teutaceous powders, by grinding it with almonds or powdered gum, and making the compound into an emulsion with water; or by dissolving it in spirit of wine, and mixing the solution with a proper quantity of syrup or of mucilage. Six or eight grains, managed in either of these ways, prove powerfully cathartic, and generally without griping or greatly disordering the body.

623. Resin of Peruvian bark.

This resin is made in the same manner as the foregoing, and proves an elegant preparation of the bark, much stronger in taste than the watery extract, (611.) It is nearly equivalent to about ten times its quantity of the bark in substance. There does not, however, appear to be any advantage in separating the pure resin by the addition of water, either in this or in the other articles. In regard to the bark particularly, it is more advisable to endeavour to unite into one compound all that can be extracted from it by watery and spirituous menstrua: and accordingly the Edinburgh College has received a preparation of this kind, n° 627.

624. Extract of saffron.

Digest saffron in fresh quantities of pure spirit of wine, as long as the spirit extracts any colour from it. Mix the several tinctures together, and distil off the spirit in a tall glass vessel by the heat of a water-bath, till the residuum appears of the consistence of oil or balsam. Pharm. Brum.

This is an elegant and high cordial. Boerhaave says it possesses such exhilarating virtues, that if used a little too freely, it occasions an almost perpetual and indecent laughing. He observes, that it tingles the urine of a red colour, and that it mingles with water, spirit, and oils, but is most conveniently taken in a glass of Canary or other rich wine. A few drops are sufficient for a dose.

§ 4. EXTRACTS WITH SPIRIT AND WATER.

625. There are sundry vegetables, particularly those of a resinous nature, which are treated, to better advantage, with a mixture of water and spirit, than with either of them singly. The virtues of resinous woods, barks, and roots, may indeed be in great part extracted by long boiling in fresh portions of water; but at the same time they suffer a considerable injury from the continued heat necessary for the extraction, and for the subsequent evaporation of so large a quantity of the fluid. Rectified spirit of wine is not liable to this inconvenience; but the extracts obtained by it, from the substances here intended, being almost purely, purely resinous, are less adapted to general use than those in which the resin is divided by an admixture of the gummy matter, of which water is the direct menstruum.

There are two ways of obtaining these compound or gummy resinous extracts: one, by using proof-spirit, that is, a mixture of about equal parts of spirit and water, for the menstruum; the other, by digesting the subject first in pure spirit, and then in water, and afterwards uniting into one mass the parts which the two menstrua have separately extracted. In some cases, where a sufficiency of gummy matter is wanting in the subject, it may be artificially supplied, by infusing the spirituous tincture to the consistence of a balsam, then thoroughly mixing with it a thick solution of any simple gum, as mucilage of gum arabic, and exhausting the compound with a gentle heat. By this method are obtained elegant gummy resins, extemporaneously miscible with water into milky liquors.

626. Extract of jalap.

Upon powdered jalap pour some rectified spirit of wine, and with a gentle heat extract a tincture; boil the remaining jalap in fresh parcels of water. Strain the first tincture, and draw off the spirit, till what remains begins to grow thick; boil the strained decoction also to a like thickness; then mix both the infused matters together, and with a gentle fire reduce the whole to a pilular consistence. L.

Take of jalap root, one pound; rectified spirit of wine, four pints; water, two pints. Digest them together for eight days, and strain. Distil off the strained liquor in a retort to one half. Evaporate the remainder in a water-bath, keeping the matter constantly stirring towards the end, so as to make it into a smooth extract. E.

This extract is an useful purgative, preferable to the crude root, as being of more uniform strength, and as the dose, by the rejection of the woody parts, is rendered smaller; the mean dose is twelve grains. If the spirituous tincture was infused by itself, it would afford a resinous mass, which, unless thoroughly divided by proper admixtures, occasions violent griping, and yet does not prove sufficiently cathartic; the watery decoctions yield an extract, which operates exceeding weakly: both joined together, as in this preparation, compose an effectual and safe purge. This method of making extracts might be advantageously applied to sundry other resinous substances, as the dry woods, roots, barks, &c. A small quantity of spirit takes up the resin, and much less water than would otherwise be necessary extracts all the other soluble parts.

627. Extract of Peruvian bark. E.

The college of Edinburgh has directed the extract of bark to be made with water and spirit in the same manner as the preceding. In the bark we may distinguish two kinds of tastes, an astringent and a bitter one; the former of which seems to reside in the resinous matter, and the latter chiefly in the gummy. The watery extract (n° 611) is moderately strong in point of bitterness, but of the astringency it has only a small degree. The pure resin, on the other hand, (n° 623,) is strong in astringency, and weak in the bitterness. Both qualities are united in the present extract; which appears to be the best preparation of this kind that can be obtained from this valuable drug.

728. Extract of logwood. E.

This extract is directed in the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia to be prepared as the foregoing; and the same treatment is judiciously ordered for all the resinous drugs in general.

629. Cathartic extract.

Take of focotorine aloes, an ounce and a half; colocynth, six drams; scammony, lesser cardamom seeds husked, each half an ounce; proof-spirit, one pint. Having cut the colocynth small, and bruised the seeds, pour on them the vinous spirit, and digest with a gentle heat for four days. Press out the tincture, and dissolve therein the aloes and scammony, first separately reduced to powder; then draw off the spirit, and infuse the remaining mass to a pilular consistence.

This composition answers very effectually the intention expressed in its title, so as to be relied on in cases where the patient's life depends on its taking place; the dose is fifteen grains to half a dram.

530. Cordial confection. L.

Take of rosemary tops fresh, juniper-berries, each one pound; lesser cardamom seeds husked, saffron, each half a pound. Extract a tincture from these ingredients with about a gallon and a half of proof-spirit; let the tincture be strained off, and reduced by a gentle heat to the weight of about two pounds and a half; then add the following ingredients very finely pulverized, and make the whole into an electuary: Compound powder of crabs-claws, fifteen ounces; cinnamon, nutmegs, each two ounces; cloves, one ounce; double-refined sugar, two pounds.

This confection is composed of the more unexceptionable ingredients of a composition formerly held in great esteem, and which was called, from its author, Confection Raleighana.

The confection is a sufficiently grateful and moderately warm cordial; and frequently given in that intention, from eight or ten grains to a scruple or upwards, in boluses and draughts. The extract retains a considerable share of the flavour and virtue of the ingredients, though not near so much as if a rectified spirit had been employed. The operator should be particularly careful to extract as much from the ingredients as the spirit will take up; otherwise the infusible matter turns out too thin, and of so little tenacity, that the powders are apt to separate and subside from it in keeping. The crabs-claw powder does not appear to be very necessary; and is inserted rather in compliance with the original, than from its contributing anything to the intention of the medicine.

Sect. VII. Empyreumatic Oils.

631. Vegetable and animal substances, and mineral bitumens, on being urged with a red heat, have their original properties destroyed, and are resolved or changed changed into products of a different nature from what pre-existed in the subject. By burning them in the open air, a part is changed into ashes, a part into foot, and a part is dissolved by the air. Exposed to the fire in clothe vessels (as in those called retorts, having receivers adapted to them for containing the volatile parts), they are resolved into fetid oils, and different kinds of saline substances which rise into the receiver; and a black coal which remains behind, and which, though no farther alterable in clothe vessels, on admitting air burns into white ashes. The oils, called from their fetid burnt smell empyreumatic, are the objects of the present section. Some of these however being obtained in the same process with certain saline bodies of more importance than themselves, are referred to the head of saline preparations.

632. Oil of box. L. Distil pieces of boxwood in a retort, with a sand-heat gradually increased: the oil will come over along with an acid spirit, which is to be separated by a funnel.

633. Oil of guaiacum. Put any quantity of gum of guaiacum into an earthen long-neck, or a glass retort, and distil either in a sand-bath or an open fire, increasing the heat by degrees. At first an acid liquor will come over; afterwards a light red oil; and at length, in the utmost degree of fire, a thick black oil which sinks through the other liquors to the bottom of the receiver. Oils may be obtained after the same manner from every kind of wood.

The oils obtained by this treatment from different woods and plants are nearly of the same qualities: they have all a very disagreeable acrid taste, and a burnt stinking smell, without any thing of the peculiar flavour, taste, or virtues, of the subject which afforded them. The present practice rarely employs these oils any otherwise than for external purposes, as the cleansing of foul bones, for the tooth-ach, against some kinds of cutaneous eruptions, old pains and aches, and the like; and for these not very often.

634. Compound oil of balsam of Copaiva. L. Take two pounds of balsam of Copaiva, and four ounces of gum guaiacum. Distil them in a retort, continuing the operation till a pint of oil is come over.

The mixture, undistilled, proves a medicine of considerable efficacy in rheumatic cases, &c. In distillation the guaiacum gives over little. The balsam distilled in a retort, with or without the gum, yields first a light coloured oil, smelling considerably of the subject; this is immediately followed by a darker coloured oil, and afterwards by a blue one, both which have little other smell than the empyreumatic one that distinguishes the oils of this class: their taste is very pungent and acrimonious. This balsam distilled with water yields as much essential oil as above of empyreumatic.

635. The anodyne, commonly called Guido's balsam. Take of tacamahaca in powder, Venice turpentine, each equal parts. Put them into a retort, whereof they may fill two-thirds, and distil with a fire gradually increased. Separate, according to art, the red oil, or balsam, from the liquor that swims above it.

This oil is supposed to be anodyne and discutient.

636. Dippel's animal-oil. Take any quantity of the empyreumatic oil distilled from animal-substances, as that of hartshorn (the preparation of which is described along with that of the volatile salt and spirit in the following section). Put it into a glass retort; and having fitted on a receiver, distil in a sand-pan; the oil will arise paler coloured and less fetid; and a black coaly matter will remain behind. Repeat the distillation in fresh retorts, till the oil ceases to leave any traces, and till it loses its ill smell, and acquires an agreeable one.

a. The quantity of oil employed in this process should be considerable: for it leaves so much black matter behind in the several distillations, that it is reduced, at last, to a small portion of its original quantity. The distillation must be repeated at least 12 times, and frequently the requisite subtilization will scarcely be obtained with less than 20 distillations. It is said, that the effect may be expedited, by mixing the oil with quicklime into a soft paste; the lime keeping down more of the gross matter, than would remain without such an addition.

b. Animal-oils thus rectified, are thin and limpid, of a subtle, penetrating, not disagreeable smell and taste. They are strongly recommended as anodynes and antispasmodics, in doses of from 15 to 30 drops. Hoffman reports, that they procure a calm and sweet sleep, which continues often for 20 hours, without being followed by any languor or debility, but rather leaving the patient more alert and cheerful than before: that they procure likewise a gentle sweat, without increasing the heat of the blood: that given to 20 drops or more, on an empty stomach, six hours before the accession of an intermittent fever, they frequently remove the disorder: and that they are likewise a very generous remedy in inveterate and chronic epilepsies, and in convulsive motions, especially if given before the usual time of the attack, and preceded by proper evacuations.

c. The empyreumatic oils of vegetables, rectified in the same manner by repeated distillations, suffer a like change with the animal; losing their dark colour and offensive smell, and becoming limpid, penetrating, and agreeable: in this state they are supposed, like the animal oils, to be anodyne, antispasmodic, and diaphoretic or sudorific. It is observable, that all the empyreumatic oils dissolve in spirit of wine; and that the oftener they are rectified or re-distilled, they dissolve the more readily; a circumstance in which they differ remarkably from essential oils, which, by repeated distillations, become more and more difficult of solution.

d. How far these preparations really possess the virtues that have been ascribed to them, has not yet been sufficiently determined by experience; the tediousness and trouble of the rectification having prevented their coming into general use, or being often made. They are liable also to a more material inconvenience in regard to their medicinal use, precariousness in their quality: for how perfectly forever they be rectified, they they generally lose, in keeping, the qualities they had received from that process, and return more and more towards their original fetidness.

**Sect. VIII. Salts and Saline Preparations.**

§ 1. Fixed Alkaline Salts.

637. The ashes of most vegetables, steeped or boiled in water, give out to it a saline substance, separable in a solid form by evaporating the water. This kind of salt never pre-exists in the vegetable, but is always generated during the burning. It is called fixed alkaline salt.

638. Salt of tartar.

Let any kind of tartar be wrapped up in strong brown paper, first made wet, or included in a proper vessel, and exposed to the fire, that its oil may be burnt out: then boil it in water, filter the solution, and evaporate it, till there remains a dry salt, which is to be kept in a vessel closely stoppered. L.

Take of tartar any quantity, and having wrapped it up in brown paper, or put it into a crucible, let it be surrounded with a gentle fire, till reduced to a coal. Having reduced this to powder, calcine it again in an open crucible, with a fire not sufficient to melt it till the salt becomes white, or at least ash-coloured. Dissolve it in water, and strain through a linen cloth; after which it is to be evaporated in a clean iron vessel, till all the moisture is exhaled. Continue to keep it over the fire, till the bottom of the vessel is almost red. Then put it up in glass bottles well stoppered. E.

This salt has a pungent fiery taste; and occasions in the mouth a kind of vinous flavour, probably from the resolution which it produces in the saliva. It readily dissolves in water, and deliquesces in the air; but is not acted upon by pure vinous spirits. Instead of being dissolved by vinous spirits, if a saturated solution of it in water be dropped into the pure spirit, it will not mix therewith, but fall distinct to the bottom: if water be mixed with the spirit, the addition of fixed alkaline salt will imbibe the water, and form with it, as in the other case, a distinct fluid at the bottom; this property affords a commodious method of dephlegmating vinous spirits, or separating their watery part, as we have already seen.

639. Salt of tartar, or solutions of it in water, raise an effervescence on the admixture of acid liquors, and destroy their acidity, the alkali and acid uniting together into a compound of new qualities called neutral: earthy substances, and most metallic bodies, previously dissolved in the acid, are precipitated from it by the alkali. The alkaline salt changes the colours of the blue flowers of plants, or their infusions, to a green: it has the same effect on the bright red flowers, and on the colourless infusions of white ones; but in many of the dark red, as those of the wild poppy, and of the yellow ones, it produces no such change.

640. Solutions of this salt liquefy all the animal juices, except milk; corrode the fleshy parts into a kind of mucous matter; concrete with animal fats, and vegetable oils, into soap; and dissolve sulphur into a red liquor; especially if assisted by a boiling heat, and mingled with quicklime, which greatly promotes their activity. On pure earths and stones, these liquors have no sensible action; but if the earth or stones be mixed with four or five times the weight of the dry salt, and urged with a strong fire, they melt along with it, and become afterwards perfectly soluble both in water and by the moisture of the air: with a smaller proportion of the salt, as an equal weight, they run into an indissoluble glaify matter.

641. The medical virtues of this salt are, to attenuate the juices, resolve obstructions, and promote the natural secretions. A dilute solution of it, drank warm in bed, generally excites sweat: if that evacuation is not favoured, its sensible operation is by urine. It is an excellent remedy in colitive habits, especially if a few grains of aloes be occasionally interposed; with this advantage above other purgatives and laxatives, that when the complaint is once removed, it is not apt to return. Where acidities abound in the first palpitations, this salt absorbs the acid, and unites with it into a mild aperient neutral salt. As one of its principal operations is to render the animal fluids more thin, it is obvious, that where they are already conglutinated, as in scurries, and in all putrid disorders in general, this medicine is improper. The common dose of the salt is from two or three grains to a scruple; in some circumstances it has been extended to a dram, in which case it must always be largely diluted with watery liquors.

642. Salt of wormwood.

Let ashes of wormwood (which the shops are usually supplied with from the country) be put into an iron pot, or any other convenient vessel; and kept red-hot over the fire for some hours, often stirring them, that what oily matter remains may be burnt out; then boil the ashes in water, filter the leach through paper, and evaporate it till a dry salt remains; which is to be kept in a vessel close stoppered. L. After the same manner a fixed alkaline still may be prepared from all those vegetables which yield this kind of salt, L. as bean-stalks, broom, &c. E.

These salts are obtained to greater advantage from dry plants than from green ones; they must not, however, be too dry, or too old; for in such cases, they afford but a small quantity of salt. The fire should be so managed, as that the subject may burn freely, yet not burst into violent flame; this last circumstance would greatly lessen the yield of the salt; and a very close smothering heat would have this effect in a greater degree: hence the ashes of charcoal scarce yield any salt, whilst the wood it was made from, if burnt at first in the open air, affords a large quantity.

Tachenius, Boerhaave, and others, have entertained a very high opinion of these oily salts, and endeavour as much as possible to retain the oil in them. They are nevertheless liable to a great inconvenience, uncertainty in point of strength, without promising any advantage to counterbalance it; if the common alkalies are required to be made milder and less acrimonious (which is the only point aimed at in the making of these medicated salts as they are called), they may be occasionally rendered so by suitable additions. Pure alkalies, united with a certain quantity of expressed oil, compose (as we shall see hereafter) a perfect 643. Fixed nitre.

Take of powdered nitre, four ounces; charcoal in powder, five drams. Mix them thoroughly together, by rubbing them in a mortar, and inject the mixture, by a little at a time, into a red-hot crucible. A deflagration, or a bright flame with a hissing noise, happens on each injection; the whole quantity being thus deflagrated, continue the fire strong for half an hour.

Nitre is composed of the common vegetable fixed alkaline salt, and a peculiar acid. In this process, the acid is destroyed, or changed to another nature; and the remaining salt proves merely alkaline, not different in quality from the salt of tartar, except that a very minute portion of the nitre generally remains unchanged; the salt is purified by solution in water, filtration, and evaporation.

644. The alkaline salt of sea-salt.

Take of cubical nitre (prepared as hereafter described in § 6.) four ounces; charcoal, five drams. Mix and deflagrate as in the preceding process.

a, Cubical nitre is composed of the nitrous acid united with the alkaline basis of sea-salt: the acid being here separated in the deflagration, that alkali remains nearly pure. It possesses the general properties of the foregoing preparation; changing blue flowers, green; dissolving oils, salts, and sulphur; bringing earths and stones into fusion, and forming with them, according to its quantity, either a vitreous, or a soluble compound; effervescing with acids, precipitating earths, and metals dissolved in them, and uniting with the acid into a neutral salt. It differs from the foregoing alkalies, in being much milder in taste; not so readily dissolving in water; not at all deliquiating in the air; easily assuming, like neutral salts, a crystalline form; and yielding, with each of the common acids, compounds very sensibly different, both in their form and qualities, from those which result from the coalition of the vegetable alkalies with the respective acids. The crystals of this salt itself are prismatic, greatly resembling those of the salt called sal mirabile; (see § 6.) Exposed to a warm air, they fall into a porous, friable mass, and lose above two-thirds of their weight.

b, How far this salt differs in medical virtue from the other alkalies, is not well known. It apparently possesses the same general virtues; and, as it is far milder, may be given in more considerable doses.

c, A salt of the same nature with this, but less pure, as containing an admixture of the common vegetable alkali, is prepared at Alicante, and some other places, from the ashes of certain marine plants, called kali; which plants are supposed to have given rise to the name alkali. The salt of the kali plants is called soda, or bariglia: it has been long used medicinally in France, and begins now to be introduced into practice in this country; but the above pure alkali extracted from sea-salt is doubtless preferable to it.

645. Ley of tartar, or oil of tartar per deliquium.

Put any quantity of salt of tartar in a flat glass dish, and expose it to the air, for some days, in a moist place: it will run into a liquor, which is either to be filtered through paper, or separated from the feces by decantation. The higher the salt has been calcined, the more readily will it relent in the air.

The solutions of fixed alkaline salts, effected by exposing them to a moist air, are generally looked upon as being purer than those made by applying water directly: for though the salt be repeatedly dissolved in water, filtered, and dried; yet, on being liquefied by the humidity of the air, it will still deposit a portion of earthy matter: but it must be observed, that the exsiccated salt leaves always an earthy matter on being dissolved in water, as well as on being deliquiated in the air. The deliquiated lixivium is said to contain nearly one part of alkaline salt to three of an aqueous fluid. It is indifferent, in regard to the lixivium itself, whether the white ashes of tartar, or the salt extracted from them, be used: but as the ashes leave a much greater quantity of earth, the separation of the ley proves more troublesome.

646. Purified potash. E.

Take of the lixivial salt, commonly called pearl-ashes, any quantity; and let it be made red-hot in a crucible, that the oily matter, if any is contained in it, may be burnt out. Then powder and mix it with an equal quantity of water; let the liquor settle, and pour it off from the feces. Evaporate to dryness in an iron vessel. The salt is known to be perfectly purified, when it totally dissolves in an equal weight of water into a liquor without smell or taste.

647. Soap ley.

Take of Russia potash, quicklime, of each equal weights. Gradually sprinkle on them as much water as will slack the lime; then pour on more water, stirring the whole together, that the salt may be dissolved: let the ley settle, pour it off into another vessel, and, if there is occasion, filter it. A wine pint of this ley, measured with the greatest exactness, ought to weigh just 16 ounces Troy. If it proves heavier, for every dram that it exceeds this weight, add to each pint of the liquor an ounce and a half of water by measure: if lighter, boil it till the like quantity is wasted, or pour it upon fresh lime and ashes. L.

Take of quicklime, eight ounces; purified potash, six ounces. Put the lime into a glazed earthen or iron vessel, with 28 ounces of warm water. Add the potash as soon as the lime is slaked; and having mixed them well together, let the vessel be covered till it cools. When the mixture has become cold, pour the whole into a glass funnel, having the pipe stopped with a clean linen rag. Cover the upper part of the funnel, and insert its pipe into another glass vessel, that the ley may drop from it. When it has ceased to drop, pour some ounces of water cautiously into the funnel, that it may lie above the thick matter. The ley will again begin to drop: and this operation is to be repeated till 32 ounces by measure, or 36 by weight, weight, have passed through; which will take up the space of two or three days. Then mix the upper and under parts of the ley together by shaking the vessel, and keep it in a glass bottle well stoppered.

Quicklime greatly increases the strength of alkaline salts; and hence this ley is much more acrimonious, and acts more powerfully as a menstruum on oils, fats, &c. than a solution of the potash alone; the lime should be used fresh from the kiln; by long keeping, even in close vessels, it loses its strength; such should be made choice of as is thoroughly burnt or calcined, which may be known by its comparative lightness.

All the instruments employed in this process should be either of wood, earthen ware, or glass; the common metallic ones would be corroded by the ley, so as either to discolour, or communicate disagreeable qualities to it. If it should be needful to filter or strain the liquor, care must be taken that the filter or strainer be of vegetable matter; woollen, silk, and that sort of filtering paper which is made of animal substances, are quickly corroded and dissolved by it.

The liquor is most conveniently weighed in a narrow-necked glass bottle, of such a size, that the measure of a wine-pint may arise some height into its neck; the place where it reaches to, being marked with a diamond. A pint of the common leys of our soft-soap makers weighs more than 16 ounces; it has been found that their soap-ley will be reduced to the standard here proposed, by mixing it with something less than an equal measure of water.

648. The septic stone, or potential caustic. E. Take any quantity of soap-ley; evaporate it over a gentle fire in a very clean iron vessel, till the ebullition ceases, and the matter flows smooth like oil, which will happen before it is red-hot. Then pour it out on a clean iron plate, and cut it into slips before it grows cold; then keep it in a glass well stoppered.

This preparation is a strong and a sudden caustic. It has an inconvenience of being apt to liquefy too much upon the part to which it is applied, so that it is not easily confined within the limits in which it is intended to operate; and indeed the suddenness of its action depends on this disposition to liquefy.

649, a. The stronger common caustic. L. Boil any quantity of the soap-leys above described, to one-fourth part; then, whilst it continues boiling, some lime, that has been kept for several months in a glass vessel stoppered with a cork, is to be sprinkled in by little and little, till it has absorbed all the liquor, so as to form a kind of paste; which keep for use in a vessel very closely stoppered.

Here the addition of lime in substance renders the preparation less apt to liquefy than the foregoing, and consequently more easily confinable within the intended limits, but proportionally slower in its operation. The design of keeping the lime is, that its acrimony may be somewhat abated.

649, b. The milder common caustic. L. Take of fresh quicklime, soft soap, of each equal parts.

Mix them well together at the time of using.

This caustic, notwithstanding the lime is used fresh, proves much milder than the former; the acrimony of the salt being here covered by the oil and tallow by which it is reduced into soap. The mild caustic of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia is only soap-ley made into a paste with quicklime.

§ 2. Volatile Alkaline Salts.

650. As fixed alkalies are produced in the burning of vegetables, and remain behind in the ashes; volatile ones are produced by a like degree of heat from animal substances, and rise in distillation along with the other volatile principles; the admission of air, necessary for the production of the former, is not needful for the latter. These salts are obtainable also from some vegetable matters; and from vegetable and animal root. Though a strong fire is requisite for their production, yet when once completely formed, they are dissipated by the gentlest warmth; in distillation, they rise sooner than the most highly rectified spirit of wine. They are produced in urine, by putrefaction, without fire; and without fire also they exhale from it.

651. Spirit, salt, and oil of hartshorn. L. Distil pieces of hartshorn by a fire gradually raised almost to the highest; a spirit, salt, and oil, will ascend.

If the oil be separated, and the spirit and salt distilled again together with a very gentle heat, they will both arise more pure. If this be carefully repeated several times, the salt will become exceedingly white, the spirit limpid as water, and of a grateful odour.

The salt, separated from the spirit, and sublimed first from an equal weight of pure chalk, and afterwards from a little rectified spirit of wine, becomes the sooner pure.

Calcined hartshorn is generally made by burning the horns left after this distillation.

After the same manner, a spirit, salt, and oil, may be obtained from every kind of animal substance.

652. In the former edition of the Edinburgh dispensatory the following directions were given. Put pieces of hartshorn into a large iron pot furnished with an earthen head; and having fitted on a capacious receiver, and luted the junctures, distil in an open fire gradually increased. At first a phlegm arises, then a spirit, and afterwards a volatile salt, accompanied with an oil; the oil that comes over first is of a yellowish colour, but on protracting the distillation, there succeeds a reddish one verging to black. In the bottom of the iron pot there remains a black coal, which being burnt to whiteness in the open air, is called calcined hartshorn.

Having poured out of the recipient all the different matters which have come over into it, they may be separated from one another in the following manner; the oil separates from the phlegm and spirit in filtration; the latter two will pass through, and the oil remain on the filter.

The phlegm may be separated from the spirit by distilla- distillation in a tall vessel, with a gentle heat; the spirit will come over into the recipient, and the phlegm remain at the bottom of the distilling vessel.

The spirit may be divided into a volatile salt and phlegm, by distilling it in a very tall and narrow cucurbit; the salt will arise, and adhere to the head in a dry form; the phlegm remaining behind.

The salt may be freed from the oil, by subliming it from twice its quantity of potash; for the oil is kept down by the potash, whilst the salt arises.

The spirit also is rendered purer, by adding, to every pint, two ounces of potash, and distilling in a glass retort.

The remaining potash may be again purified for use, by calcining it in an open fire, so as to burn out the oil it had absorbed from the salt or spirit.

A spirit, salt, and oil, may be obtained in the same manner from all the solid parts of animals.

653. The wholesale dealers have very large pots for the distillation of hartshorn, with earthen heads almost like those of the common stills; for receivers, they use a couple of oil-jars, the mouths of which are luted together; the pipe that comes from the head enters the lowermost jar, through a hole made on purpose in its bottom. When a large quantity of the subject is to be distilled, it is customary to continue the operation for several days successively; only unluting the head occasionally to put in fresh materials.

When only a small quantity of spirit or salt is wanted, a common iron pot, such as is usually fixed in sand furnaces, may be employed, an iron head being fitted to it. The receiver ought to be large, and a glass, or rather tin adopter, inserted betwixt it and the pipe of the head.

The distilling vessel being charged with pieces of the horn, a moderate fire is applied, which is slowly increased, and raised at length almost to the utmost degree. At first a phlegmatic liquor arises; the quantity of which will be less or greater according as the horns were more or less dry: this is succeeded by the salt and oil; the salt at first dissolves as it comes over in the phlegm, and thus forms what is called spirit: when the phlegm is saturated, the remainder of the salt concreted in a solid form to the sides of the recipient. If it is required to have the whole of the salt solid and undissolved, the phlegm should be removed as soon as the salt begins to arise, which may be known by the appearance of white fumes: and that this may be done the more commodiously, the receiver should be left unluted till this first part of the process is finished. The white vapours which now arise sometimes come with such vehemence as to throw off or burst the receiver: to prevent this accident, it is convenient to have a small hole in the luting, which may be occasionally flopped with a wooden peg, or opened as the operator shall find proper. After the salt has all arisen, a thick dark-coloured oil comes over: the process is now to be discontinued, and the vessels, when grown cold, unluted.

All the liquid matters being poured out of the receiver, the salt which remains adhering to its sides is to be washed out with a little water, and added to the retort. It is convenient to let the whole stand for a few hours, that the oil may the better disengage itself from the liquor, so as to be first separated by a funnel, and afterwards more perfectly by filtration thro' wetted paper. The salt and spirits are then to be further purified as above directed.

654. The spirit of hartshorn met with in the shops is extremely precarious in point of strength; the quantity of salt contained in it (on which its efficacy depends) varying according as the distillation in rectifying it is continued for a longer or shorter time. If after the volatile salt has arisen, so much of the phlegm or watery part be driven over after it as is just sufficient to dissolve it, the spirit will be fully saturated, and as strong as it can be made: if the process is not at this instant stopped, the phlegm continuing to arise must render the spirit continually weaker and weaker. The distillation therefore ought to be discontinued at this period, or rather whilst some of the salt still remains undissolved: the spirit will thus prove always equal, and the buyer be furnished with a certain criterion of its strength. Very few have taken any notice of the above-mentioned inconvenience of these kinds of spirits; and the remedy is first hinted at in the pharmacopoeia reformata. The purity of the spirits is easily judged from its clearness and grateful odour.

655. Volatile alkaline salts, and their solutions called spirits, agree in many respects with fixed alkalies and their solutions or leys; as in changing the colour of blue flowers to a green; effervescing with and neutralizing acids; liquefying the animal juices, and corroding the fleshly parts, so as, when applied to the skin, and prevented from exhaling by a proper covering, to act as caustics; dissolving oils and sulphur, though less readily than the fixed alkalies, on account probably of their not being able to bear any considerable heat, by which their activity might be promoted. Their principal difference from the other alkalies seems to consist in their volatility: they exhale or emit pungent vapours in the coldest state of the atmosphere; and by their stimulating smell, they prove serviceable in languors and faintings. Taken internally, they discover a greater colliquating as well as stimulating power; the blood drawn from a vein, after their use has been continued for some time, being found to be remarkably more fluid than before: they are likewise more disposed to operate by perspiration, and to act on the nervous system. They are particularly useful in lethargic cases; in hysterical and hypochondriacal disorders, and in the languors, headaches, inflammations of the stomach, flatulent colics, and other symptoms which attend them: they are generally found more serviceable to aged persons, and in phlegmatic habits, than in the opposite circumstances. In some fevers, particularly those of the low kind, accompanied with a cough, hoarseness, redundancy of phlegm, and siziness of the blood, they are of great utility; liquefying the viscid juices, raising the vis viva, and exciting a salutary diaphoresis; but in putrid fevers, scurries, and wherever the mass of blood is thin and acrimonious, they do harm. As they are more powerful than the fixed in liquefying viscid blood and tenacious humours, so they prove more hurtful where the fluids are already in a colliquated state. In vernal intermittents, particularly those of the slow kind, and where the blood is dense or viscid, they are often the most efficacious remedy. Mr Bisset observes, in his Essay... on the medical constitution of Great Britain, that tho' many cases occur which will yield to no other medicine than the bark, yet he has met with a pretty many that were only suppressed from time to time by the bark, but were completely cured by alkaline spirits; that these spirits will often carry off vernal intermittents without any previous evacuation; but that they are generally more effectual if a purge is premised: and in plethoric or inflammatory cases, or where the fever perforates a remittent, venæfaction.

These salts are most commodiously taken in a liquid form, largely diluted; or in that of a bolus, which should be made up only as it is wanted. The dose is from a grain or two to ten or twelve. Ten drops of a well made spirit, or saturated solution, are reckoned to contain about a grain of the salt. In intermittents, fifteen or twenty drops of the spirit are given in a tea-cup full of cold spring-water, and repeated five or six times in each intermission.

656. The volatile salts and spirits prepared from different animal substances, have been supposed capable of producing different effects upon the human body, and to receive specific virtues from the subject. The salt of vipers has been esteemed particularly serviceable in the disorders occasioned by the bite of that animal; and a salt drawn from the human skull, in diseases of the head. But modern practice acknowledges no such different effects from these preparations, and chemical experiments have shewn their identity. There is indeed, when not sufficiently purified, a very perceptible difference in the smell, taste, degree of pungency, and volatility of these salts; and in this state their medicinal virtues vary considerably enough to deserve notice; but this difference they have in common, according as they are more or less loaded with oil, not as they are produced from this or that animal substance. As first distilled, they may be looked upon as a kind of volatile soap, in which the oil is the prevailing principle; in this state they have much less of the proper alkaline acrimony and pungency than when they have undergone repeated dilutions, and such other operations as disengage the oil from the salt; for by these means they lose their saponaceous quality, and, acquiring greater degrees of acrimony, become medicines of a different class. These preparations, therefore, do not differ near so much from one another as they do from themselves in different states of purity. To which may be added, that when we consider them as loaded with oil, the virtues of a distilled animal-oil itself are likewise to be brought into the account.

These oils, as first distilled, are highly fetid and offensive, of an extremely heating quality, and of such activity, that, according to Hoffman's account, half a drop, dissolved in a dram of spirit of wine, is sufficient to raise a copious sweat. By repeated rectifications, they lose their offensiveness, and at the same time become mild in their medicinal operation: the rectified oil may be given to the quantity of twenty or thirty drops, and are said to be anodyne and antipathodetic, to procure a calm sleep and gentle sweat, without heating or agitating the body. It is obvious, therefore, that the salts and spirits must differ, not only according to the quantity of oil they contain, but according to the quality of the oil itself in its different states.

The volatile salts and spirits, as first distilled, are of a brown colour, and a very offensive smell; by repeated rectification, as directed in the processes above set down, they lose great part of the oil on which these qualities depend, the salt becomes white, the spirit limpid as water, and of a grateful odour; and this is the mark of sufficient rectification.

It has been objected to the repeated rectification of these preparations, that by separating the oil, it renders them similar to the pure salt and spirit of sal ammoniac, which are procurable at an earlier rate. But this is by no means the case. The intention is not to purify them wholly from the oil, but to separate the grosser part, and to sublimate the rest, so as to bring it towards the same state as when the oil is rectified by itself. Dr Lewis has repeated the rectification of spirit of hartshorn twenty times successively, and found it still to participate of oil, but of an oil very different from what it was in the first distillation.

The rectified oils, in long keeping, become again fetid. The salts and spirits also, however carefully rectified, suffer, in length of time, the same change; resuming their original brown colour and ill smell; a proof that the rectification is far from having divested them of oil.

657. Spirit, salt, and oil of foot. L.

Distil foot after the same manner as directed above for hartshorn: but here more labour is required to render the spirit and salt pure.

The volatile salt and spirit of foot are, when sufficiently purified, not different in quality from those of animal substances; though some have preferred them in nervous complaints, particularly in epileptic cases.

658. The volatile salt and spirit of sal ammoniac.

Take a pound and a half of any fixed alkaline salt, a pound of sal ammoniac, and four pints of water. Distill off, with a gentle heat, two pints of spirit. The volatile salt is made from a pound of sal ammoniac mixed with two pounds of pure chalk, and set to sublime in a retort with a strong fire. L.

Take sal ammoniac, and purified potashes, each one pound; water, a pint and an half; distil to dryness. E.

The volatile salt and spirit of sal ammoniac are the purest of all the medicines of this kind. They are somewhat more acrimonious than those produced directly from animal-substances, which always contain a portion of the oil of the subject, and receive from thence some degree of a saponaceous quality. These salts may be reduced to the same degree of purity, by combining them with acids into ammoniacal salts; and afterwards recovering the volatile alkali from these compounds by the processes above directed.

659. The matter which remains in the retort, after the distillation of the spirit, and sublimation of the salt of sal ammoniac, is found to consist of marine acid united with the fixed alkali or chalk employed. When fixed alkaline salt has been used as the intermediate, the residuum, or caput mortuum, as it is called, yields, on solution and crystallization, a salt exactly similar to the coagulated spirit of sea salt hereafter described. And hence we may judge of the ex- traordinary virtues formerly attributed to this salt, under the names of sal antihystericum, antihypochon- driacum, febrifugium, digelitum sylvi, &c.

660. The caput mortuum of the volatile salt, where chalk is employed as an intermediate, exposed to a moist air, runs into a pungent liquor, which proves nearly the same with a solution of chalk made directly in the marine acid: it is called by some oleum creta, "oil of chalk." If calcined shells, or other animal-limes, be mingled with sal ammoniac, a mass will be obtained, which likewise runs in the air, and forms a liquor of the same kind. This liquor seems to be the secret of some pretenders to a dissolvent of the calculus.

661. Volatile caustic spirit.

Take of sal ammoniac, one pound; quicklime, a pound and a half; water, four pints. Quench the lime in the water; and having put this mixture into a retort, add to it the powdered salt. Immediately adapt a recipient, and with a very gentle heat draw off two pints.—The Edinburgh college order a pound of quicklime, with only eight ounces of sal ammoniac, and as much water. The lime is slaked with the water; then ground with the salt, and distilled.

This spirit is commonly called, from the intermediate, spirit of sal ammoniac with quicklime. The effect of the quicklime on the sal ammoniac, is very different from that of the chalk and fixed alkali in the foregoing process. Immediately on mixture, a very penetrating vapour exhales; and in distillation, the whole of the volatile salt arises in a liquid form; no part of it appearing in a concrete state, how gently soever the liquor be redistilled. This spirit is far more pungent than the other both in smell and taste; and, like fixed alkalies rendered caustic by the same intermediate, it raises no effervescence on the admixture of acids.

This spirit is held too acrimonious for internal use, and has therefore been chiefly employed for smelling to in faintings, &c. though, when properly diluted, it may be given inwardly with safety. It is an excellent menstruum for some vegetable substances, as Peruvian bark, which the other spirit extracts little from.

§ 3. Combination of Alkalies with Oils and inflammable Spirits.

662. Almond soap. L.

Take any quantity of fresh-drawn oil of almonds, and thrice its quantity by measure of the foregoing soap lyes. Digest them together in such a heat, that they may but just boil or simmer, and in a few hours they will unite: after which, the liquor in boiling, will soon become ropy, and in good measure transparent; a little of it suffered to cool, will appear like jelly. When this happens, throw in by little and little some common salt, till the boiling liquor loses its ropiness; and continue the cotion, till, on receiving some drops on a tile, the soap is found to coagulate, and the water freely separates from it. The fire being then removed, the soap will gradually arise to the surface of the liquor; take it off before it grow cold, and put it into a wooden mould or frame, which has a cloth for its bottom; afterwards take out the soap, and set it by till sufficiently dried. After the same manner, a soap may likewise be made with oil-olive; but the purest oil must be used, that the soap may be as little ungrateful as possible either to the palate or stomach.

This process is so fully described, as to render any further directions unnecessary. The general virtues of soap have been already mentioned in the Table of Materia Medica; that prepared after this manner is not different in quality from the hard sort there mentioned.

663. Purified soap.

Slice one pound of dry, hard, Genoa, Alicante, or any other oil-soap, into a clean pewter vessel, and pour upon it two gallons of rectified spirit of wine. Place the vessel in a water-bath, and apply such a degree of heat as may make the spirit boil, when it will soon dissolve the soap. Let the vessel stand close covered in a warm place, till the liquor has grown perfectly clear; if any oily matter swims upon the surface, carefully scum it off. Then decant the limpid liquor from the scum, and distil off from it all the spirit that will arise in the heat of a water-bath. Expose the remainder to a dry air for a few days, and it will become a white, opake, and somewhat friable mass.

Soap thus purified has little or no smell; and proves, upon examination, not in any degree acrimonious, but quite mild and soft, and consequently well fitted for medicinal purposes.

664, a. Saponaceous lotion. L.

Take of rose-water, three quarters of a pint; oil-olive, one quarter of a pint; ley of tartar, half an ounce by measure. Grind the ley of tartar and the oil together, until they unite; then gradually add the rose water.

This is designed for external use, as a detergent wash; and, like other soapy liquors, answers this purpose very effectually. Where it is required to be more detergative, it may be occasionally rendered so by the addition of a small quantity of a solution of any fixed alkaline salt.

664, b. Saponaceous liniment. L.

Take of spirit of rosemary, one pint; hard Spanish soap, three ounces; camphor, one ounce. Digest the soap in the spirit of rosemary, until it is dissolved; then add the camphor.

This composition also is employed chiefly for external purposes, against rheumatic pains, sprains, bruises, and other like complaints. Soap acts to much better advantage, when thus applied in a liquid form, than in the solid one of a plaster.

665. Anodyne balsam, commonly called Bates's balsam. E.

Take of white soap, five ounces; crude opium, an ounce; camphor, two ounces; essential oil of rosemary, half an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest the spirit with the soap and opium, in a gentle sand-heat, for three days; then strain the liquor, and add to it the camphor and essential oil. This composition is greatly commended for allaying pains, and it is said to have been sometimes used with benefit even in the gout; a cloth dipped in it being laid on the part. It is sometimes likewise directed to be taken inwardly in the same disorder, as also in nervous colics, jaundice, &c. from twenty to fifty drops or more; though surely, in gouty cases, the use of opiate medicines requires great caution. One grain of opium is contained in about ninety drops of the balsam.

666. Saponaceous balsam, commonly called opodeldoc. This is exactly the same with the foregoing; omitting only the opium. E.

667. Dulcified spirit of sal ammoniac. L. Take half a pound of any fixed alkaline salt, four ounces of sal ammoniac, and three pints of proof-spirit of wine. Distil off, with a gentle heat, a pint and a half.

This spirit has lately come much into esteem, both as a medicine and a menstruum. It is a solution of volatile salt in rectified spirit of wine; for though proof-spirit is made use of, its phlegmatic parts does not arise in the distillation, and serves only to facilitate the action of the pure spirit upon the ammoniacal salt. Rectified spirit of wine does not dissolve volatile alkaline salts by simple mixture; on the contrary, it precipitates them, as has been already observed, when they are previously dissolved in water; but by the present process, a considerable proportion of the volatile alkali is combined with the spirit. It might perhaps, for some purposes, be more advisable, to use in this intention the volatile spirit made with quicklime; for this may be mixed at once with the rectified spirit of wine, in any proportions, without the least danger of any separation of the volatile alkali: And accordingly the Edinburgh college have now ordered this spirit to be made by mixing four ounces caustic spirit of sal ammoniac with eight of spirit of wine.

668. The volatile fetid spirit. L. Take of any fixed alkaline salt, a pound and a half; sal ammoniac, one pound; afafetida, four ounces; proof-spirit of wine, six pints. Draw off with a gentle heat, five pints.

669. Fetid volatile spirit. E. Take of vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, eight ounces; afafetida, half an ounce. Digest 12 hours in a clofe vessel; then distil eight ounces in a water-bath.

This spirit is designed as an antihysteric, and is undoubtedly a very elegant one.

670. Volatile aromatic spirit. L. Take of essential oil of nutmegs, essence of lemons, each two drams; essential oil of cloves, half a dram; dulcified spirit of sal ammoniac, one quart. Distil them with a very gentle fire.

671. Volatile oily spirit, commonly called saline aromatic spirit. E. Take of vinous spirit of sal ammoniac, eight ounces; essential oil of rosemary, one dram and a half; essence of lemon-peel, a dram. Mix the whole together. Draw off by distillation, in the heat of a water-bath, near one gallon.

Volatile salts thus united with aromatics, are not only more agreeable in flavour, but likewise more acceptable to the stomach, and less acrimonious, than in their pure state. Both the foregoing compositions turn out excellent ones, provided the oils are good, and the distillation skilfully performed. The dose is from five or six drops to sixty or more.

§ 4. Acid Spirits.

672. Weak spirit and the strong spirit (or oil) of vitriol, and colcothar. L. Let calcined vitriol be distilled in earthen vessels, with reverberatory fire, for three days without intermission. What remains in the vessels is called colcothar of vitriol. Put the distilled liquor into a glass retort, and place it in a sand furnace: the weak spirit will come over, the strong (improperly called oil of vitriol) remaining behind.

This process was never practicable to advantage without a very large apparatus, and is now entirely superseded by the much cheaper method of preparing the acid from sulphur.

The acid spirit, as it arises in the first distillation, appears of a dark or blackish colour, and contains a considerable portion of phlegm. In the second distillation, the phlegmatic parts arise first, together with the lighter acid, which are kept apart under the name of weak spirit: at the same time, the remaining strong spirit, or oil as it is called, loses its black colour, and becomes clear; and this is the usual mark for discontinuing the distillation.

673. The spirit of vitriol is the most ponderous of all the liquids we are acquainted with; and the most powerful of the acids. If any other acid be united with a fixed alkaline salt or earth; upon the addition of the vitriolic, such acid will be dislodged, and arise on applying a moderate heat, leaving the vitriolic in possession of the alkali; though without this addition it would not yield to the most vehement fire. In medicine it is employed chiefly as subfervent to other preparations: it is likewise not unfrequently mixed with juleps and the like, in such quantity as will be sufficient to give the liquor an agreeable tartness in the intentions of a cooling antiseptic, refrigerant, and stomachic.

674. Sulphurated water, commonly called gas sulphuris. L. Take a quart of water, and half a pound of sulphur. Let part of the sulphur be set on fire in an iron ladle, and suspended over the water in a clofe vessel; as soon as the fumes subside, some more of the sulphur is to be fired in the same manner; and this repeated till the whole quantity is burnt.

This preparation is said to give relief in fits of the convulsive asthma. It is taken to the quantity of a spoonful or half an ounce, two or three times a day, in any suitable vehicle.

675. Glauber's spirit of nitre. Take three pounds of nitre, and one pound of the strong spirit or oil of vitriol. Mix them cautiously and gradually together under a chimney; and then distil at first with a gentle, and afterwards with a stronger heat. L. Put two pounds of nitre into a glass retort; and add by degrees one pound of oil of vitriol diluted with an equal quantity of warm water. Distil in a sand-heat, gradually increased, till the matter remains dry.

This spirit is rectified by a second distillation with the heat of a water-bath, in a glass cucurbit, with its head and receiver; the phlegm arises, leaving the spirit behind. E.

The acid of nitre is next in strength to the vitriolic, and dissolves all but that from alkaline salts or earths. It differs from all the other acids in deflagrating with inflammable matters: if a solution of any inflammable substance, as hartshorn, &c., in this acid be set to evaporate; as soon as the matter approaches to dryness, a violent detonation ensues. The chief use of this acid is as a menstruum for certain minerals, and as the basis of some particular preparations, of which hereafter. It has been given likewise diluted, with any convenient vehicle, as a diuretic, from 10 to 50 drops.

676. Glauber's spirit of sea-salt.

Two pounds of sea-salt, and the same quantity of strong spirit or oil of vitriol. Dilute the acid spirit with a pint of water, and pour this mixture, by little and little, on the salt under a chimney; then distil, at first with a gentle, and afterwards with a stronger fire. L.

The spirit of sea-salt is the weakest of the mineral acids, but stronger than any of the vegetable; it requires a greater fire to distil it than that of nitre, yet is more readily dissipated by the action of the air. It is used chiefly as a menstruum for the making of other preparations; sometimes likewise it is given, properly diluted, as an antiphlogistic, aperient, and diuretic, from 10 to 60 or 70 drops.

677. Aqua fortis. L.

Take of nitre, green vitriol uncalcined, each three pounds; the same vitriol calcined, one pound and a half. Mix them well together, and distil with a very strong fire, as long as any red vapour arises. L.

Here the direction of thoroughly mixing the ingredients ought to be well attended to, for if this is neglected, or but slightly performed, the due quantity of acid will not be obtained. The produce of these processes is a spirit of nitre containing so much more phlegm, or watery moisture, than Glauber's spirit, as the vitriol employed in its preparation does more than an equivalent quantity of oil of vitriol.

The great demand which there is in sundry businesses for aquafortis has occasioned the preparation of it to become a trade by itself. Hence larger and less expensive instruments than those mentioned above, have been contrived. The common distilling vessel is a large iron pot, with an earthen, or stone-ware still-head, to which is adapted a large glass globe, or else a jar made of the same kind of clay as the head. The workmen are not at the trouble either of drying the vitriol, or pounding the nitre, but throw them both promiscuously into the pot, where the fire soon liquefies and mixes them together. The aquafortis prepared after this manner is extremely impure, and utterly unfit for many purposes, such in particular are the solutions of mercury and of silver; the violence of the fire employed in the operation, never fails to elevate some of the metallic parts of the vitriol; the nitre is used rough or unrefined, which containing a portion of sea-salt, sends over some of the marine along with the nitrous acid; nor are the ingredients free from bits of wood, or other vegetable matters, which burning in the process foul the spirit with an empyreumatic oil, giving it, at the same time, an high colour. If therefore common aquafortis be employed in any medicinal preparation, it ought to be previously purified: the most effectual method of doing which is the following.

678. Purified aquafortis.

Drop into the aquafortis a drop or two of solution of silver. If it becomes milky or cloudy, drop in a little more of the solution, till a fresh addition occasions no further change; allowing proper intervals for the white matter to settle, that the effect of a new addition may be the better perceived. Then pour the liquor into a glass retort, and distil in a sand-heat to dryness.

The milkiness produced by the solution of silver is a certain mark of marine or vitriolic acid in the aquafortis; the silver absorbing those acids, and forming with them a concrete which the liquor is incapable of holding dissolved. If the aquafortis is not made at all cloudy by this solution, we may be certain of its having been previously free from the least admixture of those heterogeneous acids; and when it ceases to become milky from a fresh addition, we may be equally certain, that how muchsoever it might have contained of them at first, they are now perfectly separated.

The solution of silver is to be made in aquafortis already purified. Where this cannot be had, the little quantity generally sufficient for the present purpose, may be made in the common impure sort of aquafortis, which will be purified during the distillation itself. Put a thin bit of silver into a little of the aquafortis, and set the vial in a sand-heat; if the aquafortis is pure, numerous minute bubbles will issue from the silver on all sides, and the metal will gradually dissolve without altering the transparency of the liquor; but if the aquafortis contains marine or vitriolic acid, it will quickly become milky, those acids uniting with the silver, as in the above process, as fast as the nitrous acid dissolves it. As the white matter precipitates upon, and adheres to, the surface of the silver, so as to impede the further action of the menstruum; the liquor must be filtered, and treated in the same manner with a bit of fresh silver: if any milkiness still ensues, the operation must be repeated with another piece of the metal, till all the foreign acids are separated, and the silver is found to dissolve clear. Good aquafortis takes up about half its own weight of silver.

Instead of all these operose preparations, however, the Edinburgh college now order only a weak nitrous acid, composed of equal parts of strong spirit of nitre and water.

679. Distilled vinegar, or spirit of vinegar.

Let vinegar be distilled with a gentle heat as long as the drops fall free from an empyreuma. If some part of the spirit which comes over first be thrown away, the rest will be the stronger. L.

Distil a gallon of vinegar in glass vessels, throwing away the first two pounds of produce. The next four pounds are to be kept as spirit of vinegar; and the remainder, as being empyreumatic, kept for other purposes. E.

680. This process may be performed either in a com- mon still with its head, or in a retort. The better kinds of wine-vinegar should be made use of; those prepared from malt-liquors, however fine and clear they may seem to be, contain a large quantity of a viscous substance, as appears from the sliminess and ropiness to which they are very much subject; this not only hinders the acid parts from arising freely, but likewise is apt to make the vinegar boil over into the recipient, and at the same time dispose it to receive a disagreeable impression from the fire. And indeed, with the best kind of vinegar, if the distillation be carried on to any great length, it is extremely difficult to avoid an empyreuma. The best method of preventing this inconvenience is, if a retort be made use of, to place the sand but a little way up its sides; and, when somewhat more than half the liquor is come over, to pour on the remainder a quantity of fresh vinegar equal to that of the liquor drawn off: this may be repeated three or four times; the vinegar supplied at each time being previously made hot: the addition of cold liquor would not only prolong the operation, but also endanger breaking the retort. If the common still is employed, it should likewise be occasionally supplied with fresh vinegar, in proportion as the spirit runs off; and this continued, until the process can be conveniently carried no farther: the distilled spirit must be rectified by a second distillation in a retort; or glass alembic; for though the head and receiver be of glass or stone-ware, the acid will contract a metallic taint from the pewter worm.

The residuum of this process is commonly thrown away as useless, though, if skilfully managed, it might be made to turn to good account; the most acid parts of the vinegar still remaining in it. Mixed with about three times its weight of fine dry sand, and committed to distillation in a retort, with a well-regulated fire, it yields an exceeding strong acid spirit, together with an empyreumatic oil, which taints the spirit with a disagreeable odour. This acid is nevertheless, without any rectification, better for some purposes (as a little of it will go a great way) than the pure spirit; particularly for making the sal diureticus of the London dispensatory; for there the oily matter, on which its ill flavour depends, is burnt out by the calcination.

§ 5. Combination of Acid with Vinous Spirit.

682. All the mineral acids, on being mixed with spirit of wine, raise a great ebullition and heat. If the acid is in a small quantity, it unites intimately with the vinous spirit, so as to arise with it in distillation. The taste and all the characters of acidity are destroyed; and the mixture acquires a grateful flavour, which neither of the ingredients had before.

683. Vitriolic ether. E.

Take of rectified spirit of wine, 32 ounces by weight; oil of vitriol, one pound. Put the spirit into a glass retort capable of bearing a sudden heat, and pour in the acid in a continued stream. Mix the two together by agitating them gently, but frequently; distil immediately in a sand-bath previously made hot, into a receiver cooled with water or snow. The fire in the mean time must be regulated in such a manner that the liquor must begin to boil as soon as possible, and continue to do so till 16 ounces by weight have come over. To the distilled liquor add two drams of the sharpest common caustic; then distil again out of a very high retort, and with a very gentle heat, into a very cold receiver, till 10 ounces by weight have come over.

684. Dulcified spirit of vitriol.

Mix two parts by weight of rectified spirit of wine with one part of vitriolic ether. E.

Take of the strong spirit or oil of vitriol, one pound; of rectified spirit of wine, one pint. Cautiously mix them together by little and little at a time, and distil the mixture, with a very gentle heat, till a black froth begins to arise; then immediately remove the whole from the fire, lest this froth should pass over into the recipient, and frustrate the operation. L.

When the method of making this spirit recommended by the London pharmacopoeia is adopted, a good deal of caution is requisite in mixing the two liquors. Some direct the spirit of wine to be put first into the retort, and the oil of vitriol to be poured upon it all at once; a method of procedure by no means advisable, as a violent heat and ebullition always ensue, which not only dissipate a part of the mixture, but hazard also the breaking of the vessel, to the great danger of the operator. Others put the oil of vitriol into the retort first; then by means of a funnel, with a long pipe that may reach down just to the surface of the acid, pour in the spirit of wine: if this is done with sufficient caution, the vinous spirit spreads itself on the surface of the oil of vitriol, and the two liquors appear distinct: on standing for a week or two, the vinous spirit is gradually imbibed without any commotion, and the vessel may then be safely shaken, to complete the mixture; but if the spirit is poured in too hastily at first, or if the vessel is moved before the two liquors have in some degree incorporated, the same effect ensues as in the foregoing case. The most secure way is, to add the oil of vitriol to the spirit of wine by a little quantity at a time, waiting till the first addition is incorporated before another quantity is put in: by this management, the heat that ensues is inconsiderable, and the mixture is effected without any inconvenience.

The distillation should be performed with an equable and very gentle heat, and not continued so long as till a black froth begins to appear; for before this time a liquor will arise of a very different nature from the spirit here intended. The several products are most commodiously kept apart by using a tubulated receiver, so placed, that its pipe may convey the matter which shall come over into a vial set underneath; the juncture of the retort and recipient is to be luted with a paste made of linseed meal, and further secured by a piece of wet bladder: the lower juncture may be closed only with some soft wax, that the vial may be occasionally removed with ease.

The true dulcified spirit arises in thin subtile vapours, which which condense upon the sides of the recipient in straight striae. It is colourless as water, very volatile, inflammable, of an extremely fragrant smell, in taste somewhat aromatic.

After the fire has been kept up for some time, white fumes arise, which either form irregular striae, or are collected into large round drops like oil: on the first appearance of these, the vial (or the receiver, if a common one is made use of) must be taken away. If another be substituted, and the distillation continued, an acid liquor comes over of an exceeding pungent smell, like the fumes of burning brimstone. At length a black froth begins hastily to arise, and prevents our carrying the process further.

On the surface of the sulphureous spirit is found swimming a small quantity of oil, of a light yellow colour, a strong, penetrating, and very agreeable smell. This oil seems to be nearly of the same nature with the essential oils of vegetables. It readily and totally dissolves in rectified spirit of wine, and communicates to a large quantity of that menstruum the taste and smell of the aromatic or dulcified spirit.

The matter remaining after the distillation is of a dark blackish colour, and still highly acid. Treated with fresh spirit of wine, in the same manner as before, it yields the same productions; till at length, all the acid that remains unvolatileized being satiated with the inflammable oily matter of the spirit, the compound proves a bituminous, sulphureous mass: which, exposed to the fire in open vessels, readily burns, leaving a considerable quantity of fixed ashes; in close ones, explodes with violence; and with fixed alkaline salts, forms a compound nearly similar to one composed of alkalies and sulphur.

Dulcified spirit of vitriol has been for some time greatly esteemed both as a menstruum and a medicine. It dissolves some resinous and bituminous substances more readily than spirit of wine alone, and extracts elegant tinctures from sundry vegetables; especially if rectified, from a little fixed alkaline salt, to separate any redundant acidity. As a medicine, it promotes perspiration and the urinary secretion, expels flatulencies, and in many cases abates spasmodic strictures, eases pains, and procures sleep: the dose is from 10 to 80 or 90 drops in any convenient vehicle. It is not essentially different from the celebrated anodyne liquor of Hoffman; to which it is, by the author himself, not unfrequently directed as a succedaneum.

The ether or ethereal spirit is the lightest, most volatile, and inflammable, of all known liquids. It is lighter than the most highly rectified spirit of wine, in the proportion of about seven to eight: a drop let fall on the hand evaporates almost in an instant, scarcely rendering the part moist. It does not mix, or only in a small quantity, with water, spirit of wine, alkaline lixivia, volatile alkaline spirits, or acids; but is a powerful solvent for oils, balsams, resins, and other analogous substances. Its medical effects are not as yet much known, though it is not to be doubted that a fluid of so much subtlety must have considerable ones. It has often been found to give ease in violent headaches, by being applied externally to the part; and to relieve the toothache, by being laid on the afflicted jaw. It has been given also internally, with benefit, in whooping coughs and hysterical cases, from two or three drops to five and twenty, in a glass of wine or water, which should be swallowed as quick as possible, as the ether so speedily exhales.

685. Dulcified spirit of nitre.

Take a quart of rectified spirit of wine, and half a pound of Glauber's spirit of nitre. Mix them, by pouring the nitrous spirit into the other; and distil with a gentle heat, as long as the liquor which comes over does not raise any effervescence with lixivial salts.

Put three parts of rectified spirit of wine into a large bolt-head, and gradually add thereto one part of spirit of nitre. Digest them together for seven days, and then distil in a water-bath as long as any spirit comes over.

Here the operator must take care not to invert the order of mixing the two liquors, by pouring the vinous spirit into the acid; for if he should, a violent effervescence and heat would ensue, and the matter be dispersed in highly noxious red fumes. The most convenient and safe method of performing the mixture seems to be, to put the inflammable spirit into a large glass body with a narrow mouth, placed under a chimney, and to pour upon it the acid by means of a glass funnel, in very small quantities at a time; shaking the vessel as soon as the effervescence ensuing upon each addition ceases, before a fresh quantity is put in: by this means the glass will heat equally, and be prevented from breaking. During the action of the two spirits upon one another, the vessel should be lightly covered; if close stopped, it will burst; and if left entirely open, some of the more valuable parts will exhale.

The liquors, mixed together, should be suffered to rest for at least twelve hours, that the fumes may entirely subside, and the union be in some measure completed. The distillation should be performed with a very slow and well regulated fire; otherwise the vapour will expand with so much force as to burst the vessels. Wilson seems to have experienced the justness of this observation; and hence directs the juncture of the retort and receiver not to be luted, or but slightly; if a tubulated recipient, with its upright long pipe, be made use of, and the distillation performed with the heat of a water-bath, the vessels may be luted without any danger. This method has likewise another advantage, as it ascertains the time when the operation is finished. Examining the distilled spirit every now and then with alkaline salts, as directed above, is sufficiently troublesome; whilst in a water-bath we may safely draw over all that will arise, for this heat will elevate no more of the acid than what is dulcified by the vinous spirit.

Dulcified spirit of nitre has been long held, and not undeservedly, in great esteem. It quenches thirst, promotes the natural secretions, eases flatulencies, and moderately strengthens the stomach: it may be given from twenty drops to a dram in any convenient vehicle. Mixed with a small quantity of spirit of hartshorn, the spiritus volatilis aromaticus, or any other alkaline spirit, it proves a mild yet efficacious diaphoretic, and often notably diuretic; especially in some febrile cases, where such a salutary evacuation is want- A small proportion of this spirit added to malt-spirits, gives them a flavour approaching to that of French brandy.

§ 6. Neutral Salts.

686. When any acid and any alkaline salts are mixed together, in such proportion that neither of them may prevail, they form by their coalition a new compound, called neutral. In all the combinations of this kind, (except some of those with vegetable acids), the alkali and acid are so strongly retained by one another, that they are not to be disunited by any degree of fire. How volatile forever the acid was by itself, if combined with a fixed alkali, it proves almost as fixed as the pure alkali; if the alkali is of the volatile kind, the compound proves also volatile, subliming in its whole substance, without any separation of its parts. There are, however, means of procuring this disunion by the intervention of other bodies, as we have already seen in the separation of the volatile alkali of sal ammoniac, and of the acids of nitre and sea-salt; but in all cases of this kind, only one of the ingredients of the neutral salt can possibly be obtained by itself, the separation of this happening solely in virtue of the superadded body uniting with the other.

There is another kind of compound salts, formed by the coalition of acids with earthy and metallic bodies. These salts differ from the true neutral ones in several obvious properties; some of them change blue vegetable juices to a green like alkalies, and others to a red like acids, while neutral salts make no change in the colour: mixed with boiling milk, they coagulate it, while neutral salts rather prevent its coagulation: from most of them the acid is disunited by fire, without the intervention of any additional matter, of which we have seen an instance in the distillation of the acid of vitriol: but the most distinguishing and universal character of these salts is, that solutions of them, on the addition of any fixed alkali, grow turbid, and deposit their earth or metal. It were to be wished, that custom had appropriated some particular name to the salts of this class, to prevent their being confounded, which several of them have often been, with the perfect neutral salts.

The following table exhibits, at one view, the several compound salts resulting from the union of each of the pure acids with each of the common alkalies and soluble earths; the acids being placed on the top, the alkalies and earths on the left hand, and the compound salts in the respective intersections; and is thus to be understood. In the upright columns, under each of the acids, are seen the several compound salts resulting from the union of that acid with the respective alkalies and earths on the left side. In the transverse columns, opposite to each particular alkali and earth, are seen the compound salts resulting from the union of that alkali or earth with the respective acids on the top; and conversely of each of the compound salts expressed in the table, the component parts are found on the top of the upright column, and on the left side of the transverse column, in whose intersection that particular salt is placed.

| Alkali of Sea Salt | Volatile Alkali | Calcareous Earth | Magnesia | |-------------------|----------------|-----------------|----------| | Vitriolic Acid | Nitrous Acid | Marine Acid | Acetous Acid | | Common Fixed Alkali | Regenerated Sal Ammoniac | Spiritus Minderenii | A fibrafrin-gent salt | | Alkali of Glauber's Salt | Cubical Nitre | Volatile Nitre | Calcereous Nitre | | Alkali of Philoophic Sal Ammoniac | Volatile Nitre | Sal Ammoniac | Calcereous Nitre | | Alkali of Selenites | Volatile Nitre | Sal Ammoniac | Calcereous Nitre | | Alkali of Calcareous Earth | Volatile Nitre | Sal Ammoniac | Calcereous Nitre | | Alkali of Alum | Fuming Salts, not distinguished by any particular name | Fuming Salts, not distinguished by any particular name | Fuming Salts, not distinguished by any particular name |

687. Crystallization of Salts.

This is a general operation on neutral and most of the other compound salts. It depends upon these principles: that water, of a certain degree of heat, dissolves, of any particular salt, only a certain determinate quantity: that, on increasing the heat, it dissolves more and more (except only in one instance, common salt) till it comes to boil; at which time, both its heat and dissolving power are at their height: that, in returning to its first temperature, it throws off again all that the additional heat had enabled it to dissolve: that, independently of any increase or diminution of heat, a gradual evaporation of the fluid itself will occasion a proportional separation of the salt; and that the particles of the salt, in this separation from the water, unless too hastily forced together by sudden cooling or strong evaporation, or disturbed by external causes, generally concrete into transparent and regularly figured masses, called crystals. The several salts allume, in crystallization, figures peculiar to each: thus the crystals of nitre are hexagonal prisms; those of sea-salt, cubes; those of alum, octahedral masses; while sal ammoniac shoots into thin fibrous plates like feathers.

The use of preparing salts in a crystalline form, is not merely in regard to their elegance, but as a mark of, and the means of securing, their purity and perfection. From substances not dissoluble in water, they are purified by the previous solution and filtration; by crystallization, one salt is purified from an admixture of such other saline bodies as dissolve either more easily or more difficultly than itself. For if two or more salts be dissolved together in a certain quantity of hot water, the salt which requires the greatest heat for its solution in that quantity of water, will first begin to separate. separate in cooling; and if the water is kept evaporating in an uniform heat, the salt which requires most water in that heat will be the first in crystallizing. In all cases of this kind, if the process is duly managed, the first shootings are generally well figured and pure; the succeeding ones, sooner or later, according to the quantity of the other salts in the liquor, retain an admixture of those salts, which they betray by their smallness and by their figure.

In order to the crystallization of saline solutions, it is customary to boil down the liquor till so much of the fluid has exhaled, as that the salt begins to concreted from it even while hot, forming a pellicle upon the surface exposed to the air; when this mark appears, the whole is removed into a cold place. This method seldom affords perfect crystals; for when water is thus saturated with the salt in a boiling heat, and then suddenly cooled, the particles of the salt run hastily and irregularly together, and form only a confused semitransparent mass. It is by slow concretion that most salts assume their crystalline form in perfection. The evaporation should be gentle, and continued no longer than till some drops of the liquor, in a heat below boiling, being let fall upon a cold glass plate, discover crystalline filaments: the liquor is then immediately to be removed from the fire into a less warm, but not a cold place; and the vessel covered with a cloth, to prevent the access of cold air, and the formation of a pellicle, which, falling down through the fluid, would disturb the regularity of the crystallization. This is the most effectual method for most salts; though there are some whose crystallization is to be effected, not by an abatement of the heat, but by a continued equable evaporation of the fluid; such in particular is sea-salt.

Salts retain in crystallization a portion of the aqueous fluid, without betraying any marks of it to the eye: on this their crystalline form appears in great measure to depend. The quantity of phlegm or water varies in different salts: dry crystals of nitre were found, on several careful trials, to contain about one twentieth of their weight; those of alum, one sixth; sea-salt, one fourth; borax, green vitriol, and the purging-salts, no less than one half. The same salt appears always to retain nearly the same quantity.

Some salts dissolve in spirit of wine: and here also, as in water, the solution is limited, though the salt is not easily recovered in a crystalline form. Such in particular are combinations of the nitrous acid with volatile alkalies, and with calcareous earths; of the marine acid with all the soluble earths; of the acetic acid with fixed and volatile alkalies. Scarce any of the compound salts, whose acid is the vitriolic, are affected by vinous spirits.

Salts differ greatly in their disposition to assume and retain a crystalline form. Many, even of the compound kind, imbibe humidity like fixed alkalies, so as to crystallize with difficulty; and when crystallized, or effloresced by heat, to deliquate again in the air. Such are the combinations of the nitrous and marine acid with all the soluble earths, and of the acetic both with earths and alkalies. The vitriolic acid, on the other hand, forms, with all the substances it dissolves, permanent crystals; as do likewise the other mineral acids with all alkalies.

The crystallization of those salts, which are not dissoluble in spirit of wine, is generally promoted by a small addition of that spirit; which, absorbing the water, or weakening its dissolving power on the salt, disposes the salt to part from it more freely. The operator must be careful, however, not to add too much of the spirit, especially where the salt is composed of an earthy or metallic body united with the acid; lest it absorb the acid as well as the water, and, instead of a gradual and regular crystallization, hastily precipitate the earth or metal in a powdery form.

Mr Rouelle, of the French Academy of Sciences, has examined with great attention the phenomena of the crystallization of salts, and published the result of his observations in different volumes of the Memoirs of that academy. Among other curious particulars, he has given a general distribution of salts, in regard to their crystallization, which will be of practical utility to the artist.

He divides evaporation into three degrees: infensible evaporation, or that effected by the natural warmth of the atmosphere, from freezing, up to the heat of the summer's sun; mean evaporation, commencing with the sun's heat, and extending to that in which the exhaling steam is visible to the eye, and the liquor too hot to be endured by the hand; and strong evaporation, reaching from this period to boiling. He divides salts into five classes; the distinctions of which are taken from the degree of evaporation in which they crystallize most perfectly, from the figure of their crystals, their disposition to remain single or unite into clusters, and their receiving an increase from a continuance of the crystallization.

I. The first class consists of salts which crystallize into small plates or very thin scales. The crystals are single. They are, of all salts, those which crystallize most frequently on the surface of their solutions, which retain least water in their crystals, and require most to dissolve in. They crystallize most perfectly by infensible evaporation.

II. Salts whose crystals are cubes, cubes with the angles truncated, or pyramids of four or six sides. They form single, and change their figure by new accretions. By infensible evaporation they crystallize at the bottom, by mean evaporation at the surface, and by both kinds they prove perfect and regular: by strong evaporation the liquor contracts a pellicle, and in cooling yields few crystals, and those ill figured.

III. Salts whose crystals are tetrahedral, pyramidal, parallelopipeds, rhomboidal, and rhomboidal parallelopipeds; with the angles variously truncated according to different circumstances. They form single (except that some few unite by the bases), and change their figure by new accretions. They crystallize at the bottom, most perfectly by infensible evaporation: by mean and strong evaporation the liquor contracts a pellicle, and in cooling the crystals adhere to the pellicle, and prove confused and ill formed. They retain a large quantity of water. IV. Salts whose crystals are flattened parallelopipeds, with the extremities terminating in two surfaces inclined to one another, so as to form a point and acute angles with the large sides. They clutter together, uniting by the bases into tufts. The crystals are large and most regular by insensible evaporation: by mean and hasty evaporation, a pellicle is formed, and in cooling the crystals prove very small. They retain a large quantity of water in crystallization, and require little to dissolve in.

V. Salts whose crystals are very long, in form of needles, prisms, or columns of different surfaces. They shoot at the bottom, and clutter together into tufts of regular figures. By insensible evaporation they scarce ever crystallize well. By mean and strong evaporation they give a pellicle; and in slow cooling, if the evaporation was not carried too far, they yield perfectly well formed crystals, which at first swim, but soon fall to the bottom. If the evaporation was too long continued, the crystals prove confused and ill formed.

VI. Salts whose crystals are in very small needles, or of other indeterminate figures. None of them crystallize by insensible evaporation, and few of them by the mean degree. They require to be reduced by strong evaporation to a thick consistence: they then contract a pellicle, and crystallize with confusion. If the crystals are wanted regular, spirit of wine must be used, or some other medium if the salt is soluble in spirit. They readily dissolve in water, and liquefy in the air.

688. Purified nitre. L. Boil nitre in water till it is dissolved; filter the solution through paper; and then, after due evaporation, set it by in a cold place, that the nitre may shoot into crystals.

Common nitre contains usually a considerable proportion of sea-falt; which in this process is separated, the sea-falt remaining dissolved after greatest part of the nitre has crystallized. The crystals which shoot after the first evaporation, are large, regular, and pure; but when the remaining liquor is further evaporated, and this repeated a second or third time, the crystals prove at length small, imperfect, and tipped with little cubical glebes of sea-falt.

When rough nitre, in the state wherein it is first extracted from the earths impregnated with it, is treated in this manner, there remains at last a liquor, called mother-ley, which will no longer afford any crystals. This appears to participate of the nitrous and marine acids, and to contain an earthy matter dissolved by those acids. On adding alkaline lixivium, the earth is precipitated; and, when thoroughly washed with water, proves insipid. If the liquor may be evaporated to dryness, a bitterish saline matter is left; which being strongly calcined in a crucible, parts with the acids, and becomes, as in the other case, insipid.

This earth has been celebrated as an excellent purgative, in the dose of a dram or two; and, in smaller doses, as an alterant in hypochondriacal and other disorders. This medicine was for some time kept a great secret, under the names of magnesia alba, nitrous panacea, count Palmer's powder, il polvere albo Romano, padre de Sentinelli, &c. till Lancini made it public in his notes on the Metallotheca Vaticana. It has been supposed that this earth is no other than a portion of the lime commonly added in the elixir of nitre at the European nitre-works: but though the specimens of magnesia examined by Neumann, and some of that which has lately been brought hither from abroad, gave plain marks of a calcareous nature; yet the true magnesia must be an earth of a different kind, calcareous earths being rather astringent than purgative. The earthy basis of the sal catharticus amarus, is found to have the properties ascribed to the true magnesia of nitre, and appears to be the very same species of earth: from that fact therefore this medicine is now prepared, as will be seen hereafter.

689. Purified sal ammoniac. L. This salt is purified by solution in water, filtration, and crystallization, after the manner above directed for nitre.

The impurities of sal ammoniac are commonly such as will not dissolve in water; and hence the purification is effected by the solution and filtration. The very last crystals seldom betray an admixture of any other salt.

690. Purified white vitriol, commonly called gilla of vitriol. E. Take eight ounces of white vitriol, half an ounce of filings of zinc; water, one pound. Digest with a gentle heat for some hours; then filter the liquor, and set it to crystallize.

691. Salt of vitriol. L. Take of white vitriol, one pound; strong spirit (called oil) of vitriol, one ounce by weight; water, as much as is sufficient. Boil them together till the vitriol is dissolved; then filter the liquor; and after due evaporation, set it by in a cold place to crystallize.

Here the intention is not to separate the ochery matter of the vitriol, but to prevent its separating and colouring the crystals. This is effectually answered by the addition of the acid, by which it is kept dissolved.

692. Burnt alum. L. E. Let alum be calcined in an iron or earthen vessel, so long as it bubbles and swells up.

The bubbling or blistering proceeds from the phlegm retained in the crystals: after that is expelled, the salt cannot be made liquid by any degree of fire. Alum is composed of vitriolic acid and an earth; and it is remarkable, that combinations of that acid with all earths, with most metals, and even with vegetable fixed alkalies, are unsuitable.

The alum, thus deprived of its phlegm, proves considerably stronger, and more acid, inasmuch as to be sometimes employed for confuming fungous flesh: it is said to have an inconvenience of leaving a hardness upon the part.

693. Calcined vitriol. Let green vitriol be calcined in an earthen vessel, with an an open fire, till it becomes thoroughly dry; then breaking the vessel, take out the vitriol, and set it by for use, well closed from the air. The vitriol is sufficiently calcined, if it has acquired a red colour at the sides and bottom of the vessel.

This process succeeds tolerably well for small quantities, but does not answer so perfectly for larger. As the action of the fire is exerted first on the external parts of the mass, these will be calcined first, and, where the quantity is large, exhibit the mark of sufficient calcination, whilst the internal part remains almost unchanged; and even if the process is still farther continued, the effect required will not be produced; for the outside growing first hard, prevents the evaporation of the aqueous parts from within.

Expose any quantity of powdered green vitriol, in an unglazed earthen vessel, to the action of a moderate fire, till it becomes white.

This method is sufficiently troublesome: for unless the heat be very gentle, and the matter spread very thin over the bottom of a broad shallow vessel, it is almost impossible to avoid melting it, which makes it adhere to the sides of the pan, and renders the previous pulverisation an useless labour.

The method usually practised by the chemists is, to place a deep earthen pan, with some vitriol in it, upon a gentle fire; the vitriol soon liquefies, boils up, and by degrees incrustates to the sides of the vessel; some more vitriol is then thrown in and suffered to incrustate in the same manner; and this procedure repeated till the pan is nearly full of the concreted matter, which proves of a whitish colour, except on the outside next the pan (which must be broken to take it out), where it appears yellowish or reddish, according to the continuance and degree of fire. If the vitriol be desired still farther dephlegmated, this may be commodiously effected, by reducing the mass into a coarse powder (which will now no longer melt); and then calcining it over a strong fire, in a shallow iron pan, till it has gained the degree of dryness required, which may be known from its colour.

694. Vitriolated tartar.

Dissolve eight ounces of green vitriol in four pints of boiling water: and whilst the liquor continues boiling, throw into it salt of tartar, or any other alkaline salt, till no farther effervescence arises upon a fresh addition; which generally happens when four ounces, or a little more, of the salt have been used. Filter the liquor through paper, and after due evaporation set it by to crystallize.

Here the acid of the vitriol forfakes the iron, which it was before in possession of, to unite with the alkaline salt; particular care ought to be had that the quantity of alkali be sufficient to fully saturate the acid, otherwise it will not deposit all the metal. It is convenient, even after the saturation seems, from the effervescence ceasing, to be completed, to throw in a little more of the alkali: for by this means the preparation is secured from containing any metallic matter; whilst the superfluous quantity of alkali can do no prejudice, as it remains uncry stallized.

It is remarkable, that although the vitriolic acid and fixed alkaline salt do each readily unite with water, and strongly attract moisture even from the air; yet the neutral salt resulting from the combination of these two, vitriolated tartar, is one of the salts most difficult of solution, very little of it being taken up by cold water. Hence some have directed the liquor in this process to be filtered whilst very hot, suspecting, that if it was suffered to cool, great part of the salt would be thrown off and left upon the paper. The college, however, have avoided this inconvenience, by ordering a quantity of water which is found to be sufficient for keeping the salt dissolved in the cold or at least in a moderate warmth.

Take oil of vitriol diluted with equal its quantity of warm water; put it into a large glass vessel, and gradually drop into it a solution of purified potash in twice its quantity of water, till the effervescence ceases. Then filter the liquor, evaporate it till a pellicle appears upon the surface, and set it by in a cold place to crystallize.

This is an elegant, and one of the least troublesome ways of preparing this salt. The Edinburgh college, in former editions, ordered the acid liquor to be dropped into the alkaline; by the converse procedure, now received, it is obviously more easy to secure against a redundancy of acidity: for the greater certainty in this point, it may be expedient, as in the foregoing process, to drop in a little more of the alkaline ley than the cessation of the effervescence seems to require.

But though the manner of preparation, here directed, appears to be the most commodious, there is one imperfection in the process, a deficiency in the quantity of water. There is not near water enough to keep vitriolated tartar dissolved; and of consequence, as fast as the alkaline salt is neutralized by the acid, great part falls to the bottom in a powdery form. In the Leyden pharmacopoeia, this inconvenience is judiciously provided against: The oil of vitriol is diluted with four times its quantity of water; and the alkaline ley being gradually dropped into it till the point of saturation is obtained, four times the quantity of water is added, and the mixture boiled, that such part of the salt as had precipitated may be dissolved: the liquor is then filtered while hot, and let by to crystallize. In order to obtain perfect and well-formed crystals, the liquor should not be set in the cold, but continued in a moderate heat, such as the hand can scarcely bear, that the water may slowly evaporate.

Vitriolated tartar, in small doses, as a scruple or half a dram, is an useful aperient; in larger ones, as four or five drams, a mild cathartic, which does not pass off so hastily as the sal catharticus amarus, or Glauber's salt, and seems to extend its action further. The wholesale dealers in medicines have commonly substituted to it an article otherwise almost useless in their shops, the residuum of Glauber's spirit of nitre. The purchaser ought, therefore, to insist upon the salt being in a crystalline form. The crystals, when perfect, are oblong, with six flat sides, and terminated at each end by a six-sided pyramid: some appear composed of two pyramids joined together by the bases, and many are irregular.

695. Vitriolated nitre.

Dissolve in warm water the mass which remains after the distillation of Glauber's spirit of nitre: filter the the solution through paper, and crystallize the salt.

This salt is not different from the vitriolated tartar, being composed of the vitriolic acid, and the alkaline basis of nitre; which alkali is no other than the common vegetable fixed alkaline salt, as salt of tartar or potash: it is, in effect, from the ashes of vegetables, that the nitre prepared in Europe receives its alkaline basis. If any unchanged nitre remains in the mass, it is left dissolved in the water while the vitriolated alkali crystallizes.

696. Sal polychrestum, or salt of many virtues.

Take of nitre in powder, flowers of sulphur, of each equal parts. Mingle them well together, and inject the mixture, by little and little at a time, into a red-hot crucible: after the deflagration ceases, keep the crucible in the fire for an hour. The salt may be purified by dissolving it in warm water, filtering the solution, and exhaling it to dryness; or by crystallization.

This is another method of uniting the vitriolic acid with the common vegetable fixed alkali. Both the nitre and the sulphur are decomposed in the operation: the acid of the nitre, and the inflammable principle of the sulphur, detonate together, and are dissipated; while the acid of the sulphur remains combined with the alkaline basis of the nitre. The shops accordingly have substituted to the sal polychrest the foregoing preparation.

697. Sal prunelle. E.

Take of pure nitre, reduced to powder, two pounds; flowers of sulphur, one ounce. Melt the nitre in a crucible, and sprinkle into it the sulphur by little at a time. When the deflagration is over, pour out the melted salt upon a clean, dry, and warm brafs plate, so as to form it into cakes.

Those who prepare sal prunell in large quantities, make use of a clean iron pot instead of a crucible; and, when the nitre is melted, and the sulphur deflagrated, take out the salt with an iron ladle, and pour it into brafs moulds kept for this purpose. The previous pounding of the nitre, directed above, may be as well omitted, as occasioning a needless trouble.

This preparation was formerly in great esteem, and is sometimes still ordered in prescription.

698. The cathartic salt of Glauber, commonly called sal mirabile. L. E.

Dissolve in warm water the mass which remains after the distillation of spirit of sea-salt: filter the solution, and crystallize the salt.

The title of this salt expresses its medical virtues. Taken from half an ounce to an ounce or more, it proves a mild and useful purgative; and in smaller doses, largely diluted, a serviceable aperient and diuretic. The shops frequently substitute to it the sal catharticus amarus, which is nearly of the same quality, but somewhat more unpleasant, and, as is said, less mild in operation. They are very easily distinguishable from one another, by the effect of alkaline salts upon solutions of them. The solution of Glauber's salt suffers no visible change from this addition, its own basis being a true fixed alkali: but the solution of the sal catharticus amarus grows instantly white and turbid; its basis, which is an earth, being extricated copiously by the alkaline salt: as in the following process.

699, a. Magnesia alba, or White magnesia. E.

Dissolve sal catharticus amarus in a sufficient quantity of water. Filter the solution; and add to it a filtered ley of potash, so long as a fresh addition continues to occasion any milkiness. A white powder will precipitate; which, being separated from the liquor is to be boiled for some time in water, and afterwards dried.

This powder appears to be the same species of earth with that obtained from the mother ley of nitre (see n° 688.) which was for several years a celebrated secret in the hands of some particular persons abroad. Hoffman, who describes the preparation of the nitrous magnesia, gives it the character of an useful antacid, a safe and inoffensive laxative in doses of a dram or two, and diaphoretic and diuretic when given in smaller doses of fifteen or twenty grains. Since this time it has had a considerable place in the practice of foreign physicians, and now begins to come into esteem among us, particularly in heartburns, and for preventing or removing the many disorders which children are so frequently thrown into from a redundancy of acid humours in the first pangs: it is preferred, on account of its laxative quality, to the common absorbents, which (unless gentle purgatives are given occasionally to carry them off) are apt to lodge in the body, and occasion a costiveness very detrimental to infants.

Though the preparation of this medicine is now commonly known, its nature and properties are very little understood: whilst some suppose it to possess uncommon virtues, others affirm, that, when duly elaborated, it is in no respect different from calcined hartshorn, or any other simple animal or vegetable earth. The following observations of its real properties will be sufficient to determine this point.

Magnesia alba, when prepared in perfection, is a white and very subtle earth, perfectly void of smell or taste, of the class of those which dissolve in acids. It dissolves freely, even in the vitriolic acid; which, in the common way of making solutions, takes up only an inconsiderable portion of other earths. Combined with this acid, it forms a bitter salt, very easily soluble in water; while the common absorbents form with the same acid almost insipid concretes, very difficult of solution. Solutions of magnesia in all acids are bitter and purgative; while those of the other earths are more or less austere and astringent. A large dose of the magnesia, if the stomach contains no acid to dissolve it, does not purge or produce any sensible effect: a moderate one, if an acid is lodged there, or if acid liquors are taken after it, procures several stools; whereas the common absorbents, in the same circumstances, instead of loosening, bind the belly. It is obvious, therefore, that magnesia is specifically different from the other earths, and that it is applicable to useful purposes in medicine.

699, b. Burnt magnesia. E.

Let any quantity of magnesia be put into a crucible, and and heated hot, in which flate keep it for two hours; then take it out, and preserve it in a glass bottle well stopped.

700. Cubical nitre. Diffuse chalk or lime in purified aquafortis; and add the solution by degrees to a solution of Glauber's salt in water, so long as a fresh addition produces any milkiness: a white powder will precipitate; after which the liquor is to be filtered, and, after due evaporation, let to crystallize.

In this process, both the solutions are decomposed, and two new compounds produced. The vitriolic acid of the Glauber's salt unites with the chalk; and forms with it an indissoluble selenitic concrete, which of course precipitates; while the alkali of the Glauber's salt, and the nitrous acid, unite into a neutral salt, which is separated from the liquor by crystallization; the crystals are rhomboidal, of a cooling taste, greatly resembling that of common nitre. How far this salt differs from common nitre in its medical virtue, is not known. The process is here inserted, partly as being a very instructive one in regard to the transpositions which happen on the mixture of different saline bodies, and partly as affording the most convenient means of obtaining the pure alkaline basis of sea-salt. In the distillation of spirit of salt, that basis was disunited from its own acid, and combined with the vitriolic: it is here transferred from the vitriolic to the nitrous; and in n° 644, we have given a method of dissipating or destroying the nitrous acid, and leaving the alkali, that was combined with it, pure.

701. Spirit of sea-salt coagulated. L. Drop, into Glauber's spirit of sea-salt, a ley of fixed alkaline salt, till all effervescence ceases; then evaporate the mixture to dryness.

This preparation is inserted, under the same title, in the Würtemberg pharmacopoeia. It has been commonly called regenerated sea-salt, though with little propriety, as it differs from that salt in its basis; the common vegetable alkali being here substituted to the mineral alkali of sea-salt. How far it differs from sea-salt in its medicinal qualities, hath not yet been determined: it is manifestly sharper in taste, and somewhat more difficult both of solution in water and of fusion in the fire.

702. Regenerated tartar. E. Put any quantity of dry salt of tartar, powdered, into a large glass vessel; and pour thereon, by little and little, as much distilled vinegar as is necessary to saturate it. Filter the liquor; and exhale it, over a very gentle fire, to dryness, taking great care that the matter contract not an empyreuma. On the salt which remains, pour as much more spirit of vinegar as will saturate it; then depurate the liquor again, and carefully expel it into a dry salt.

If the common alkalis are made use of for this process, they should be previously purified, by solution and crystallization, from the neutral salt which they generally contain. The distilled vinegar may be perfectly free from any empyreumatic taint: it is not necessary to dephlegmate it, or throw away the first runnings in the distillation, since these contain a portion of the acid (the part here wanted) as well as the phlegm.

It is difficult to hit the point of saturation betwixt the acetic acid and the alkaline salt. After about fourteen parts of strong distilled vinegar have been gradually poured upon one of the fixed salt, the addition of a little more of the acid will not occasion any further effervescence in the cold; but if the mixture be now strongly stirred and well heated, the effervescence will appear afresh; upon which some more vinegar is to be added, till it again ceases. The saturation is not as yet complete; for upon exhaling the aqueous parts, the remaining salt still effervesces with fresh vinegar. When so much of the acid has now been added, that no marks of fermentation any longer appear, a little more of the vinegar may be poured in before you proceed to the last evaporation; by this means, the saturation of the alkali will be secured, whilst, if the acid prevails, the superfluous quantity of it will exhale.

The salt thus prepared, is of a dark-brown colour, a peculiar, not ungrateful odour, a penetrating, faponaceous, saline taste, in nowise alkaline or acid. Its brown colour and faponaceous quality proceed from the oily parts of the vinegar; the depuration of the salt from this oil, is not in the foregoing process inflicted on. In the London pharmacopoeia, the salt is ordered to be purified to perfect whiteness, under the title of

703. Diuretic salt. L. Take a pound of any fixed alkaline salt; and boil it, with a very gentle heat, in four or five times its weight of distilled vinegar. When the fermentation ceases, add more distilled vinegar; and proceed with fresh additions thereof, until, the vinegar being almost evaporated, fresh vinegar will no longer raise any fermentation; which generally happens by the time that twenty pounds of distilled vinegar have been used. Then slowly exhale to dryness.—Melt the remaining impure salt for a little time, but not too long, over a gentle fire; then dissolve it in water, and filter the solution through paper. If the melting has been duly performed, the filtered liquor will be limpid and colourless as water; but if otherwise, of a brown colour.—Evaporate the limpid solution, with an exceeding gentle heat, in a shallow glass vessel; occasionally stirring the salt as it dries, that its moisture may be the sooner exhaled. Afterwards keep it for use in a vessel very closely stoppered; for it will liquefy by the air.

This salt ought to be of perfect whiteness; and should totally dissolve both in water and in spirit of wine, without leaving any traces. If the salt, though ever so white, deposits any traces in spirit of wine; the whole of it must be dissolved in that spirit, the solution filtered, and evaporated again.

The purification of this salt is not a little troublesome. The operator must be particularly careful in melting it, not to use too great a heat, or to keep it liquefied too long; a little should be occasionally taken out, and put into water; and as soon as it begins to part freely with its black colour, the whole is to be removed from the fire. In the last drying, drying, the heat must not be so great as to melt it; otherwise it will not prove totally soluble. If the solution in spirit of wine be exsiccated, and the remaining salt liquefied with a very soft fire, it gains the leafy appearance which has procured it the name of *terra foliata*.

These salts are medicines of great efficacy, and may be so doled and managed as to prove either mildly cathartic, or powerfully diuretic: few of the saline obstructions come up to them in virtue. The dose is from half a scruple to a dram or two. A bare mixture of alkaline salt and vinegar without exsiccation, is not perhaps much inferior as a medicine to the more elaborate salt.

704. Spirit of Mindererus. E. Take any quantity of the volatile alkaline salt of sal ammoniac, and gradually pour upon it distilled vinegar, till the effervescence ceases; occasionally stirring the mixture, to promote the action of the vinegar on the salt.

This is an excellent aperient saline liquor. Taken warm in bed, it proves commonly a powerful diaphoretic or sudorific; and as it operates without heat, it has place in febrile and inflammatory disorders, where medicines of the warm kind, if they fail of procuring sweat, aggravate the distemper. Its action may likewise be determined to the kidneys, by walking about in a cool air. The common dose is half an ounce, either by itself, or along with other medicines adapted to the intention. Its strength is not a little precarious, depending in great measure on that of the vinegar; an inconvenience which cannot easily be obviated, for the saline matter is not reducible to the form of a concrete salt.

§ 7. Anomalous Salts.

705. Crystals of tartar. Let powdered white tartar be boiled in twenty times its quantity of water, till perfectly dissolved; and the solution, whilst it continues hot, passed through filtering paper, or a woollen cloth, and received in a wooden vessel; then expose it for a night or longer to the cold air, that crystals may form themselves, and shoot to the sides of the vessel; the water being now poured off, the crystals are to be collected and dried for use.

The filtration of the solution of tartar through paper succeeds very slowly; and unless managed with a good deal of address, not at all: for as soon as the boiling liquor begins to grow sensibly less hot, it deposits much of the tartar all over the surface of the paper, which hinders the remainder from passing through. Zwelffer, in his imitations on this process in the Augustan pharmacopoeia, directs the solution to be clarified with whites of eggs, and strained only through a linen cloth. He likewise judiciously orders the vessel to be close covered, and the crystallization performed in a warm place: for if the solution be suffered to cool very fast, it is in vain to expect any appearance of crystals; the tartar will inevitably be precipitated to the bottom of the vessel in the form of sand. And indeed, the business of refining and crystallizing tartar is so very troublesome, and requires so large an apparatus, that scarce any of the apothecaries, or even of the trading chemists, are at the trouble of it; but either import it ready refined from Holland, or purchase it from some people here who make it their sole business.

706. Cream of tartar. Take any quantity of solution of tartar, made as in the foregoing process, and passed through a filter. Boil it over the fire, till a thick cuticle appears on the surface, which is to be taken off with a wooden skimmer bored full of holes; continue the boiling till a fresh cuticle arises, which is to be taken off as the foregoing, and the operation repeated till the whole quantity of liquor is thus consumed. Afterwards dry all the cuticles together in the sun.

The preparation of this in no respect differs from crystals of tartar reduced to powder. Indeed the purchaser ought always to prefer the crystals; for the powder is often sophistication with saline substances of another kind.

707. Soluble tartar. L. E. Dissolve a pound of any fixed alkaline salt in a gallon of boiling water; and gradually throw in crystals of tartar, as long as a fresh addition thereof raises any effervescence; which generally ceases before three pounds of the crystals have been used. Then filter the liquor; and, after due evaporation, set it by to crystalize, or evaporate it to dryness, and keep the remaining saline mass for use.

Common white tartar is perhaps preferable for this operation to the crystals usually met with. Its impurities can here be no objection; since it will be sufficiently depurated by the subsequent filtration.

Soluble tartar, in doses of a scruple, half a dram, or a dram, is a mild cooling aperient; two or three drams commonly loosen the belly; and an ounce proves pretty strongly purgative. Malouin says it is equal in purgative virtue to the cathartic salt of Glauber. It is a useful addition to the purgatives of the resinous kind, as it promotes their operation, and at the same time tends to correct their griping quality. But it must never be given in conjunction with any acid: for all acids decompose it; absorbing its alkaline salt, and precipitating the tartar.

708. Rochelle salt. Ph. Par. Let the salt extracted from the ashes of the kelp or kali of Alicant be calcined till it melts; then dissolve in water, the solution filtered, and after due evaporation set by, that the salt may float into pure white crystals. Dissolve crystals of tartar in boiling water, and saturate the solution with the crystals of kali: the proportions necessary for this purpose will be, about fifteen ounces of the latter to twenty of the former. Duly exhale the liquor in the heat of a water-bath; and after filtration, set it in the cold to crystalize.

This is a species of soluble tartar, made with the salt of kali or soda, with the mineral alkali or basis of sea-salt: It crystallizes far more easily than the preceding preparation, and does not, like it, grow moist in the air. It is also considerably less purgative, but is equally decomposed by acids. It appears to be a very elegant salt, and begins now to come into esteem in this country, as it has long been in France.

709. Essential salt of sorrel.

Let the juice of sorrel, after settling and decantation from the feces, be evaporated, till only one-third remains; then strained through a flannel-bag, and exhaled again till a pellicle appears upon the surface. Put the liquor into a glass vessel; and, a little oil olive being poured upon the top, let it by in a cellar till plenty of crystals are formed: these are to be gently washed with water, and afterwards dried.

After the same manner, essential salts are obtained from all acid, austere, astringent, and bitterish plants that contain but a small quantity of oil.

Herbs of a dry nature are to be moistened, in the bruising, with a little water, that the juice may be the more easily pressed out.

The waters of these plants, which are in vain endeavoured to be drawn over by distillation, may be obtained by dissolving a suitable quantity of their essential salts in common water.

713. The process for obtaining these salts is very tedious, insomuch as scarce to be completed in less than seven or eight months; and the quantity of salt which the juices afford, is extremely small; hence they are hardly ever made or expected in the shops.

714. The virtues of the essential salts have not been sufficiently determined from experience.

710. Flowers of benzoin.

Put some powdered benzoin into an earthen pot placed in sand; and with a gentle heat sublime the flowers into a conical paper-cap fitted to the pot.

—Or the sublimation may be performed in a retort; the flowers will arise with a soft heat into the neck.

—If the flowers have any yellow tinge, mix them with tobacco-pipe clay, and sublime again.

The sublimation is to be performed in a glazed earthen pot, and repeated in the same instruments with fresh parcels of benzoin, till the paper-cap becomes foul with oil.

Benzoin, exposed in a retort to a gentle fire, melts and sends up into the neck white shining crystalline flowers, which are followed by an oily substance. On raising the heat a little, (a recipient being applied to the neck of the retort), a thin yellowish oil comes over, intermingled with an acid liquor, and afterwards a thick butyrateous substance: this last, liquefied in boiling water, gives out to it a considerable quantity of saline matter, (separable by filtration and proper exhalation), which appears in all respects similar to the flowers.

It appears, therefore, that the whole quantity of flowers which benzoin is capable of yielding, cannot be obtained by the above processes, since a considerable portion arises after the time of their being discontinued: the greatest part of the flowers arises with a less degree of heat than what is necessary to elevate the oil; but that if the operation is hastily conducted, or if the fire is not exceeding gentle, the oil will arise along with the flowers, and render them foul. Hence in the way of trade, it is extremely difficult to prepare them of the requisite whiteness and purity: the heat which becomes necessary when large quantities of the

benzoin are employed, being so great as to force over some of the oil along with them.

In order therefore to obtain these flowers in perfection, only a small quantity of benzoin should be put into the vessel at a time: and that this may not be any impediment to the requisite dispatch, a number of shallow, flat-bottomed, earthen dishes may be employed, each fitted with another vessel inverted over it. With these you may fill a land-furnace, having fresh dishes charged in readiness to replace those in the furnace as soon as the process shall appear finished in them: the residuum of the benzoin should be scraped out of each of these vessels before a fresh parcel is put in.

These flowers, when made in perfection, have an agreeable taste and fragrant smell. They totally dissolve in spirit of wine, and likewise by the assistance of the heat in water; but separate again from the latter upon the liquor's growing cold, shooting into fine spicula, which unite together into irregular masses. By the mediation of sugar, they remain suspended in cold water, and thus form an elegant balsamic syrup. Some have held them in great esteem, as pectoral and sudorific, in the dose of half a scruple or more: but the present practice rarely makes use of them, on account of the offensive oil which, as usually prepared, they are tainted with, and from which a fresh sublimation from tobacco-pipe clay does not free them so effectually as might be wished. The observations above related point out a method of depurating them more perfectly, viz. by solution, filtration, and crystallization.

711. Salt of borax, called sedative salt.

Put eight ounces of powdered borax into a wide-necked retort; pour thereon three ounces of water, and then add three ounces of oil of vitriol. Place the retort in a proper furnace, adapt to it a receiver, and increase the fire till the vessel becomes red-hot. The sedative salt will arise into the neck in form of thin shining plates, which are to be swept out with a feather; and a little liquor will pass into the receiver. When the matter in the retort is grown cool, pour back upon it the distilled liquor, and sublime again. Repeat this process so long as the borax continues to yield any considerable quantity of saline flowers. Or,

Dissolve the borax in a sufficient quantity of warm water, and add thereto the oil of vitriol. Evaporate this mixture till thin plates begin to appear upon the surface; then suffer the fire to decay, and let the vessel stand unmoved till plenty of crystals are formed, which are to be well rinsed with cold water, and then dried for use.

In the preparation of this salt by sublimation, the fire must be expeditiously raised when the matter begins to grow dry; for it is only at this period that the salt sublimes. The sublimed salt itself, in a perfectly dry state, proves fixed in the fire; if moistened with water, and then exposed to a smart heat, part of it continues to rise till the moisture is wholly exhaled; after which, nothing more can be forced up by heat till the salt is again moistened. Hence the use of returning the distilled liquor, and repeating the sublimations. Lemery says, he found flowers continue to rise till the thirty-sixth sublimation; and that the quantity obtained by all these sublimations amounted to half an ounce and thirty-five grains from two ounces of borax.

The process of crystallization is less troublesome than that by sublimation; but the salt proves generally less white, and is apt likewise to retain a part of the Glauber's salt, especially if the evaporation is too long protracted.

The fedative salt appears to the taste a neutral salt; but, examined with alkalies, has the properties of an acid, effervescing, uniting, and crystallizing with them, and destroying their alkaline quality. It dissolves both in water and in spirit of wine, though not very readily in either. As to its virtue, it is supposed to be a mild anodyne (whence its name) to calm the heat of the blood in burning fevers, to prevent or remove delirious symptoms, and allay spasmodic affections, whether hypochondriacal or hysterical, at least for a time. The dose is from two to eighteen grains in any proper liquor.

712. Spirit, salt, and oil, of amber. E.

Mix powdered white amber with thrice its weight of clean sand, and put them into a glass retort, of which the mixture may fill one half; then adapt a large receiver, and distil in a sand-furnace, with a fire gradually increased. At first a spirit will come over with some yellow oil; then more yellow oil along with a little salt; and upon raising the heat, more of the salt, with a reddish coloured oil.

When the distillation is finished, empty the liquor out of the receiver; and having collected together the salt which adheres to the sides, dry it by gentle pressure between the folds of some spongy paper.

The oil may be separated from the spirit by filtration, and afterwards rectified by four distillations, using very clean retorts, and leaving an eighth part of the oil each time, which is to be thrown away as useless. The salt is to be purified by solution in water and crystallization.

In the distillation of amber, the fire must for some time be continued gentle, scarce exceeding the degree at which water boils, till the aqueous phlegm and thin oil have arisen; after which it is to be slowly increased. If the fire was urged hastily, the amber would swell up, and rise in its whole substance into the receiver, without undergoing the required decomposition or separation of its parts. When sand or other like intermedia are mixed with it, it is less subject to this rarefaction, and the fire may be raised somewhat more expeditiously; though this little advantage is perhaps more than counterbalanced by the room which the sand takes up in the retort.

Our chemists generally leave the receiver unheated, that it may be occasionally removed as the salt rises and concretes in the neck of the retort; from whence it is every now and then scraped out, to prevent the oil from carrying it down into the receiver. When a gross thick oil begins to arise, and no more salt appears, the distillation is stopped, though it might perhaps be continued longer to advantage.

713. The spirit of amber, so called, is no more than a solution of a small portion of the salt in phlegm or water; and therefore is very properly employed for dissolving the salt in order to its crystallization.

721. Pure salt of amber has a penetrating, subastringent acid taste. It dissolves both in water and in rectified spirit, though not readily in either, and scarcely at all in the latter without the assistance of heat: of cold water in summer, it requires for its solution about twenty times its own weight; of boiling water, only about twice its weight. Exposed in a glass vessel, to a heat a little greater than that of boiling water, it first melts, then rises in a white fume, and concretions again in the upper part of the glass into fine white flakes, leaving, unless it was perfectly pure, a little coaly matter behind. It effervesces with alkalies both fixed and volatile, and forms with them neutral compounds, greatly resembling those composed of the same alkalies and vegetable acids. Mixed with acid liquors, it makes no sensible commotion. Ground with fixed alkaline salts, it does not exhale any urinous odour. By these characters, it is conceived this salt may be readily distinguished from all the other matters that have been mixed with or vended for it. With regard to its virtue, it is accounted aperient, diuretic, and, on account of its retaining some portion of the oil, antihysteretic. Boerhaave gives it the character of diureticorum et antihystericorum princeps. Its great price, however, has prevented its coming much into use; and perhaps its real virtues are not equal to the opinion generally entertained of them.

714. The rectified oil has a strong bituminous smell, and a pungent acid taste. Given in a dose of ten or twelve drops, it heats, stimulates, and promotes the fluid secretions: it is chiefly celebrated in hysterical disorders, and in deficiencies of the uterine purgations. Sometimes it is used externally in liniments for weak or paralytic limbs, and rheumatic pains. This oil differs from all those of the vegetable kingdom, and agrees with the mineral petrolea, in not being soluble, either in its rectified or unrectified state, by spirit of wine, fixed alkaline lixivia, or volatile alkaline spirits; the oil, after long digestion or agitation, separating as freely as common oil does from water.

Sect. IX. Preparations of sulphur.

715. Flowers of Sulphur. L.

Sublime sulphur in proper vessels; and reduce the flowers that concreted into powder, either in a wooden mill, or in a marble-mortar with a wooden pestle.

This process is rarely attempted by the apothecaries, a large apparatus being necessary for performing it to advantage. Those who prepare the flowers of brimstone in quantity, use for the subliming vessel a large iron pot, capable of holding two or three hundred weight; this communicates with an arched chamber, lined with glazed tiles, which serves for the recipient.

This preparation of sulphur makes no change in its qualities; only separating its impurities, and at the same time reducing it into a finer powder than it can easily be brought to by other means. At the bottom of the subliming vessel there remains a ponderous grey-coloured mass, composed of sand, earth, flinty and sometimes metallic matters, with a small portion of sulphur that has escaped the subliming heat. This is usually broken in pieces, and vended in the shops un- 716. Washed flowers of sulphur. L.

Pour upon the flowers as much water as will arise to the height of four fingers above them, and boil them for some time; then pouring off this water, let some cold water be added, and thoroughly wash the flowers; after which they are to be dried for use.

As the flowers of sulphur are generally sublimed into very capacious rooms, which contain a large quantity of air, or in vessels not perfectly close; some of those that arise at first are apt to take fire, and thus are changed into a volatile acid vapour, which mingling with the flowers that sublime afterwards, communicates to them a notable degree of acidity. In such case the ablution here directed is for the general use of the medicine absolutely necessary; for the flowers, thus tainted with acid, sometimes occasion gripes, and may in other respects be productive of effects different from those of pure sulphur.

717. Thick balsam of sulphur. E.

Take eight ounces of olive-oil, and one ounce of flowers of sulphur. Boil them together over a gentle fire, keeping them continually stirring, till they come to the consistence of a balsam.

Linseed oil more readily dissolves sulphur than olive, and a preparation made with it is reckoned somewhat less disagreeable. The vessel they are boiled in ought to be capable of holding at least three times the quantity of the ingredients. As soon as the oil begins to act upon the sulphur, which happens nearly at the point of ebullition, the mixture rarifies very much, so as, if not prudently removed from the fire, to run over into the furnace; and as the matter is very susceptible of flame, dangerous consequences may ensue, especially if the quantity is large. The operator ought therefore to be upon his guard in the management of this process.

718. Balsam of sulphur with Barbadoes tar. L.

This is made after the same manner as the foregoing, by using Barbadoes tar instead of the oil.

719. Balsam of sulphur with oil of turpentine.

Take two ounces of washed flowers of sulphur, and six ounces of oil of turpentine. Digest them together in a sand-heat, till the oil is saturated with the sulphur.

720. Balsam of sulphur with oil of aniseed.

Take two ounces of washed flowers of sulphur; six ounces of oil of turpentine; and four ounces of essential oil of aniseed. Digest them together as in the preceding process.

These preparations are more conveniently and safely made in a tall glass body, with the mouth at least an inch in diameter, than in the circulatory or close vessels in which they have commonly been directed to be prepared: for when the sulphur and oil begin to act vehemently upon each other, they not only rarify into a large volume, but likewise throw out impetuously great quantities of an elastic vapour, which, if the vessels are closed, or the orifices not sufficient to allow it a free exit, infallibly burst them: Hoffman relates a very remarkable history of the effects of an accident of this kind. In the vessel above recommended, the process may be completed, without danger, in four or five hours, by duly managing the fire; which should be very gentle for some time, and afterwards increased so as to make the oil just bubble or boil, in which state it should be kept till all the sulphur appears to be taken up.

Essential oils, employed as menstrua for sulphur, undergo a great alteration from the degree of heat necessary for enabling them to dissolve the sulphur; and hence the balsams have not near so much of their flavour as might be expected. It should therefore seem more eligible to add a proper quantity of the essential oil to the simple balsam: these readily incorporate by a gentle warmth, if the vessel be now and then shaken. Sixteen parts of essential oil, and six of the thick balsam, compose a balsam more elegant than those made in the foregoing manner, and which retains so much of the flavour of the oil as is in some measure sufficient to cover the taste of the sulphur and render it supportable.

Balsams of sulphur have been strongly recommended in coughs, consumptions, and other disorders of the breast and lungs. But the reputation which they have had in these cases does not appear to have been built upon any fair trial or experience of their virtues. They are manifestly hot, acrimonious, and irritating; and therefore should be used with the utmost caution. They have frequently been found to injure the appetite, offend the stomach and viscera, parch the body, and occasion thirst and febrile heats. The dose is from 5 to 20 drops. Externally, they are employed for cleansing and healing foul running ulcers: Boerhaave conjectures, that their use in these cases gave occasion to the virtues ascribed to them when taken internally.

721. Precipitated sulphur. L.

Boil flowers of sulphur in water, with thrice their weight of quicklime, till the sulphur is dissolved. Filter the solution, and drop into it some of the weak spirit of vitriol: this will throw down a precipitate, which is to be washed in fresh portions of water, till it becomes insipid.

722. Lac sulphuris.

Boil the hepar sulphuris, reduced to powder, in four times its quantity of water for three hours; adding more water if there is occasion. Then filter the solution whilst hot; and drop it into spirit of vitriol, till the effervescence ceases; a powder will be precipitated to the bottom, which is to be washed with hot water, and afterwards dried for use.

The method of preparing this lac, as it is called, with hepar sulphuris, is the most expeditious, and least troublesome, provided the hepar be well made; and, on the other hand, quicklime gives the preparation a more salable whiteness. Some have been accustomed to add to the quicklime a portion of alkaline salt, with a view to promote its dissolving power.

The medicine is nearly the same in both cases. It would be exactly the same, if the precipitation was performed with any other acid than the vitriolic: for this acid forms with the dissolved lime a scelotic concrete, which precipitates along with the sulphur, and is not afterwards separable by any ablution; whilst the neutral salt, which that acid forms with the fixed alkali of the hepar, may be totally dissolved and washed off by repeated ablation with hot water, and the combinations of all the other acids, both with the lime and alkali, are separated by cold water. It is probably to the admixture of the white felenitic matter, resulting from the vitriolic acid and lime, that the finer colour of the preparation made with lime is owing.

Pure lac sulphuris is not different in quality from pure sulphur itself; to which it is preferred in unguents, &c. only on account of its colour. The whiteness does not proceed from the sulphur having lost any of its parts in the operation, or from any new matter superadded: for if common sulphur be ground with alkaline salts, and set to sublime, it arises of a like white colour, the whole quantity of the alkali remaining unchanged; and if the lac be melted with a gentle fire, it returns into yellow sulphur again.

It may be observed, that the name lac sulphuris, or "milk of sulphur," applied among us to the precipitate, is by the French writers confined to the white liquor before the precipitate has fallen from it.

723. Volatile tincture of sulphur.

Take of flowers of sulphur, six ounces; sal ammoniac, one pound; quicklime, a pound and a half. Sprinkle some water on the lime; and, when flaked and fallen into powder, grind it first with the sulphur, and afterwards with the sal ammoniac, in small quantities at a time: then distil the mixture in a retort, with a fire gradually increased. The distilled liquor is to be kept, in a bottle close stopped, for use.

This liquor has a strong offensive smell: the vapour spreads to a considerable distance, changes silver or copper utensils to a brown or blackish colour, and produces disagreeable alterations in many medical preparations: to this circumstance, therefore, due regard ought to be had in the performance of that process, and in the keeping of this tincture. If a piece of paper, written upon with a saturated solution of lead in vegetable acids, and gently dried, be placed in the middle of a quire of paper, or of a pretty thick book, and brought near the unstoppered orifice of the bottle containing this tincture, the vapour will quickly reach it, and change the colourless writing to a legible black.

Hoffman has a great opinion of the virtues of this preparation. He says, a mixture of one part of the tincture with three of spirit of wine, in a dose of 30 or 40 drops, proves a most powerful diaphoretic; and that a liquor composed of this and camphor, takes off the pain of the gout, by bathing the feet with it. This tincture may be a powerful medicine, but it is certainly a very unpleasant one.

Sect. X. Metallic Preparations.

§ 1. Preparations of Gold.

724. Gold is the most ponderous and perfect of the metals: it abides fixed and unaltered in the strongest fire; and is not acted upon by alkaline, or any simple acid menstruum. It dissolves in aqua regia alone, into a yellowish transparent fluid: this solution stains the skin, &c. purple; the ethereal spirit of wine, and some essential oils, take up the gold from it; alkalies precipitate the metal in form of a yellowish mud, which effloresces, and exposed to a small heat, violently explodes.

As to the medicinal virtues of this metal, experience has sufficiently shown, that it is not possessed of any valuable ones. In its metallic form, however finely comminuted, it proves inactive; when saturated with acid, corrosive; and in the intermediate states, either insignificant or unsafe.

725. Potable gold.

Dissolve with a moderate heat, half a dram of fine gold, in two ounces of aqua regia; and add to the solution one ounce of the essential oil of rosemary. Shake them together, and then suffer them to rest: the acid loses its gold yellow colour; and the oil, which arises to the surface, becomes richly impregnated therewith. Separate the oil by decantation, and add to it four or five ounces of rectified spirit of wine: digest this mixture for a month, and it will acquire a purplish colour.

There have been many preparations of this kind contrived by the designing pretenders to alchemy, and imposed upon the credulous and unwary, as cordials and diaphoretics of ineffimable value. The above seems to be one of the best and safest of them; though it would be equally serviceable as a medicine, if made without the ingredient which it receives its name from. The gold is indeed taken up from the acid, and kept for a time dissolved by the oil; but on standing, it totally separates, in form of fine yellow films, like leaf-gold. The effect is the same, whether the oil or the vinous spirit be mixed with the solution of the gold in aqua regia: the only difference is, that the gold is thrown off from the oil to the sides of the glass; whilst the spirit revives it into such subtle films, as to float upon the surface of the liquor. No means have yet been found of permanently combining gold with either oils or vinous spirits.

§ 2. Preparations of Silver.

726. Silver is the most permanent in the fire of all the metals after gold. It dissolves in the pure nitrous acid, into a colourless transparent liquor, intensely bitter and corrosive. This solution effloresces, furnishes the shops with an useful caustic; which has likewise been taken internally, in small doses, and mixed with other substances, as an hydragogue: it stains the skin black.

727. a. The lunar caustic. L.

Let pure silver be dissolved in about twice its weight of aquafortis, upon warm sand; then gently increase the heat, until a dry mass is left. Melt this in a crucible, that it may be poured into proper moulds, carefully avoiding overmuch heat, lest the matter should grow too thick.

727. b. The lunar caustic, or infernal stone. E.

Take four ounces of well-cupelled silver, flattened into plates, and cut in pieces. Dissolve it, by the heat of a sand-bath, in a mixture of eight ounces of weak spirit of nitre, and four ounces of water. Evaporate the solution to dryness, and put the remaining calx into a large crucible. Let the fire at first be gentle, and augment it by degrees, until the mass flows like oil, and ceases to fume: then pour it in... to iron pipes made for this purpose, previously heated and greased; lastly, let it be dried and kept for use in a glass vessel closely stoppered.

The crucible ought to be large enough to hold five or six times the quantity of the dry matter; for it bubbles and swells up greatly, so as otherwise to be apt to run over; during this time, also, little drops are now and then spurted up, whose causticity is increased by their heat, and which the operator ought therefore to be on his guard against. The fire must be kept moderate till this ebullition ceases, and till the matter becomes congealed in the heat that made it boil before; then quickly increase the fire till the matter flows thin at the bottom, like oil; on which it is to be immediately poured into the mould, without waiting till the fumes cease to appear; for when this happens, the preparation proves not only too thick to run freely into the mould, but likewise less corrosive than it is expected to be.

In want of a proper iron mould, one may be formed of tempered tobacco-pipe-clay, not too moist, by making in a lump of it, with a smooth stick first greased, as many holes as there is occasion for; pour the liquid matter into these cavities, and, when congealed, take it out by breaking the mould. Each piece is to be wiped clean from the grease; and wrapped up in dry soft paper, not only to keep the air from acting upon them, but likewise to prevent their corroding or discolouring the fingers in handling.

This preparation is a strong caustic, and frequently employed as such for consuming warts and other fleshy excrescences, keeping down fungous flesh in wounds or ulcers, and other like uses. It is rarely applied where a deep eschar is required, as in the laying open of impotheumations and tumours; for the quantity necessary for these purposes, liquefying by the moisture of the skin, spreads beyond the limits in which it is intended to operate.

728. The lunar pills.

Dissolve pure silver in aquafortis; and after due evaporation, let the liquor to crystallize. Let the crystals be again dissolved in common water, and mingled with a solution of equal their weight of nitre. Evaporate this mixture to dryness, and continue the evaporation with a gentle heat, keeping the matter constantly stirring till no more fumes arise.

Here it is necessary to continue the fire till the fumes entirely cease, as more of the acid is required to be dilutated than in the preceding process. The preparation is, nevertheless, in taste very sharp, intensely bitter, and nauseous; applied to ulcers, it acts as a caustic, but much milder than the foregoing. Boerhaave, Boyle, and others, greatly commend it in hydropic cases. The former affirms us, that two grains of it made into a pill, with a crumb of bread and a little sugar, and taken on an empty stomach, (some warm water, sweetened with honey, being drank immediately after), purge gently without griping, and bring away a large quantity of water, almost without the patient's perceiving it: that it kills worms, and cures many inveterate ulcerous disorders. He nevertheless cautions against using it too freely, or in too large a dose; and observes, that it always proves corrosive and weakening, especially to the stomach.

§ 3. Preparations of Iron.

729. Iron calcines by fire the most easily, and melts the most difficulty of all the metals. Sulphur promotes its fusion, and changes it into a substance not greatly dissimilar to a combination of the metal with acid. All acids dissolve this metal; even the air corrodes it into a rust or calx.

Iron, in its metallic form, or lightly calcined, or combined with vegetable or with mineral acids, acts in the human body in the same manner (but with different degrees of power) by constringing the fibres. In all these states, it promotes or restrains secretions, where the deficiency or excess proceed from a laxity and debility of the vessels; and, in general, raises the pulse, and quickens the circulation. The calces seem to be the least active preparations; the crude metal duly comminuted, is more easily soluble in the animal fluids, and, if acetic juices are lodged in the primæ vœs, soon manifests its operation by nitorous eruptions, and the black colour of the alvine faeces; if previously combined with saline bodies, it scarce ever fails of taking effect.

735. As the calces of iron are scarcely dissoluble in acids, it has been concluded that they are not soluble in the human body, and that therefore they are to be looked upon no otherwise than as a mere inactive earth. But admitting the absolute indissolubility of iron while it continues a calx, it must be observed, that the calces of this metal are remarkably easy of revival into their metallic state. Mr Beaume relates, that calx of iron, digested for an hour or two in oil-olive, resumes its perfect metallic nature, so as to be attracted by the magnet, and totally soluble in acids; from whence he infers, that a like revival of the metal happens in the human body. It is matter of common observation, that calces of iron tinge the excrements black, a sure mark of their taking effect: though their effect appears to be neither so speedy nor so great as that of iron in some other forms.

730. Rust of steel prepared. L.

Expose filings of steel to the air, frequently moistening them with vinegar or water, until they change into rust; then grind them in a mortar; and, pouring on water, wash over the more subtile powder. The remainder is to be exposed afresh to the air, and moistened as at first; then triturated and washed again; and the powders that have been washed over, dried and kept for use.

The rust of iron is preferable as a medicine to the calces, or croci, made by a strong fire. Hoffman relates, that he has frequently given it with remarkable success in obstinate chlorotic cases, accompanied with excessive headaches and other violent symptoms; and that he usually joined it with pimpinella, arum root, and salt of tartar, with a little cinnamon and sugar. The dose is from four or five grains to 20 or 30; some have gone as far as a dram; but all the preparations of this metal answer best in small doses, which should rather be often repeated than enlarged.

731. Scales of iron prepared. E.

The scales beat off from pieces of iron when hammered on the anvil are to be cleaned by a magnet; those which the magnet attracts being kept for use. Put filings of steel into an unglazed earthen vessel, with so much water as will stand above them about four inches; the whole is to be well stirred every day, and more water supplied as that in the vessel exhales, so that the filings may remain always covered: continue this procedure for several months, till they lose their metallic aspect, and are reduced to a fine powder of an inky blackness.

This preparation is described by Lemery in the memoirs of the French academy. But the tediousness of the process has prevented its coming into use; especially as it does not promise any advantage above the common chalybeate preparations, to counterbalance that inconvenience.

733. Steel prepared with sulphur. L.

Heat the steel with a very fierce fire to a strong white heat, and in this state apply it to a roll of sulphur held over a vessel of water: the steel will melt, and fall down in drops, which are to be picked out from the sulphur that runs down with them, and ground into an impalpable powder.

The shops have been generally supplied with a preparation of steel with sulphur made at an easier rate in the following manner.

734. Sulphurated iron.

Mix filings of iron with twice their weight of powdered sulphur, and as much water as is sufficient to make them into a paste; which on standing at rest for six hours, will swell up. The matter is then to be pulverized, put by degrees into a hot crucible to deflague, and kept continually stirring with an iron spatula till it falls into a deep black powder.

If the quantity of this mixture is considerable, and strongly pressed down, it will not only swell on standing for some hours, but will heave up very weighty obstacles, and burst out into flame.

735. Opening crocus of iron.

This is made by keeping the foregoing preparation longer over the fire, till it assumes a red colour.

736. Astringent crocus of iron.

This is made from the opening crocus of iron, by reverberating it for a long time in the most extreme degree of heat.

These preparations differ from one another in virtue; though the difference is not of such a kind as the titles they have been usually distinguished by import. All the preparations of steel act by an astringent quality; that above, denominated astringent, seems to have the least effect. They may be given in form of bolus, electuary, or pill, from five grains to a scruple.

In some foreign pharmacopoeias, the croci of iron are prepared from pure green vitriol. This strongly calcined (or the colcothar remaining after the distillation of oil of vitriol), is the astringent crocus; when less calcined, it is called aperient. These preparations differ little, if at all, from those above distinguished by the same appellations: and accordingly the Edinburgh college has now allowed the substitution of colcothar of vitriol to both the croci.

737. Soluble or tartarized steel. E.

Mix equal parts of iron filings and crystals of tartar, with as much water as is sufficient to reduce them into a mass: this mass is to be dried in a sand-heat; then powdered, moistened, and dried again; and this process repeated, till such time as the matter will easily grind into an impalpable powder.

This is a very elegant and useful preparation of steel. It may be given either in a liquid form, or in that of a bolus, &c. in doses of four five grains, or half a scruple. Dr Willis is said to have been the inventor of this preparation, and by his name it has been usually distinguished in the shops.

738. Martial flowers. L.

Take of colcothar of green vitriol washed, or filings of iron, one pound; sal ammoniac, two pounds. Mix and sublimate in a retort. Grind the flowers with the matter which remains in the bottom of the retort, and repeat the sublimation until the flowers arise of a beautiful yellowish colour. To the residuum you may add half a pound of fresh sal ammoniac, and sublimate as before; repeating this as long as the flowers arise well coloured.

This preparation is supposed to be highly aperient and attenuating; though no otherwise so than the rest of the chalybeates, or at most only by virtue of the saline matter joined to the iron. It has been found of good service in hysterical and hypochondriacal cases, and in distempers proceeding from a laxity and weakness of the solids, as the rickets. It may be conveniently taken in the form of a bolus, from two or three grains to ten: it is nauseous in a liquid form (unless in spirituous tincture), and occasions pills to swell and crumble except such as are made of the gums.

739. Salt of steel. L.

Take of strong spirit or oil of vitriol, eight ounces; iron filings, four ounces; water, two pints. Mix them together; and after the ebullition ceases, let the mixture stand for some time upon a warm sand; then pour off and filter the liquor; and after proper exhalation set it by to crystallize.

The salt of steel is one of the most efficacious preparations of this metal; and not unfrequently made use of in cachectic and chlorotic cases, for exciting the uterine purgations, strengthening the tone of the viscera, and destroying worms. It may be conveniently taken in a liquid form, largely diluted with aqueous fluids. Boerhaave directs it to be dissolved in a hundred times its quantity of water, and the solution to be taken in the dose of 12 ounces, on an empty stomach, walking gently after it; thus managed, he says, it opens the body, purges, proves diuretic, kills and expels worms, tinges the excrements black, or forms them into a matter like clay, strengthens the fibres, and thus cures many different distempers. The quantity of vitriol in the above dose of the solution is 57 grains and a half: but in common practice, such large doses of this strong chalybeate are never ventured on. Four or five grains, and in many cases half a grain, are sufficient for the intentions in which chalybeate medicines are given. Very dilute solutions, as that of a grain of the salt in a pint of water, may be used as succedanea to the natural chalybeate waters, and will in many cases produce similar effects. § 4. Preparations of Copper.

740. Copper is less easy of solution than iron; and in its metallic state, does not appear to be acted on by the animal fluids, or to have any considerable effect in the body. Dissolved, it proves externally an escharotic; internally, a violent purgative and emetic. Acids of every kind dissolve it, and likewise volatile alkalies. With the vegetable and marine acids, it forms a green solution; with the vitriolic acid and volatile alkalies, a blue.

741. Volatile tincture of copper.

Take of copper filings, one dram; spirit of sal ammoniac, 13 drams. Let them stand together in a close vessel, frequently shaking it, until the liquor is tinged of a beautiful violet colour.

This tincture, or solution, of copper has been given internally, in the dose of a few drops, as a diuretic. Boerhaave directs at first three drops to be taken in a morning fasting, with a glass of mead; and this dose to be daily doubled till it comes to 24 drops; which last quantity is to be continued for some days: he says, that by this means he cured an hydropic person labouring under a confirmed afecies, and that the medicine procured surprising discharges of urine; that nevertheless, on trying it in another case of the same kind, it did not answer.

742. Ammoniacal copper. E.

Take of blue vitriol, two ounces; dissolve it in six ounces of boiling water, gradually drop in as much spirit of sal ammoniac as will first precipitate, and then entirely dissolve the metal. Evaporate the liquor with a very gentle heat, and keep the blue saline mass in bottles well stoppered.

§ 5. Preparations of Lead.

743. Lead readily melts in the fire, and calcines into a dusky powder; which, if the flame is reverberated on it, becomes at first yellow, then red, and at length melts into a vitreous mass. This metal dissolves easily in the nitrous acid, difficulty in the vitriolic, and in small quantity in the vegetable acids; it is also soluble in expressed oils, especially when calcined.

Lead and its calces, whilst undissolved, have no considerable effects as medicines. Dissolved in oils, they are supposed to be (when externally applied) anti-inflammatory and defecative. Combined with vegetable acids, they are notably so; and taken internally, prove a powerful but dangerous styptic.

744. Minium, or red lead.

Let any quantity of lead be melted in an unglazed earthen vessel, and kept stirring with an iron spatula, till it falls into a powder, at first blackish, afterwards yellow, and at length of a deep red colour, in which last state it is called minium; taking care not to raise the fire too high as to run the calx into a vitreous mass.

These calces are employed in external applications, for abating inflammations, cleansing and healing ulcers, and the like. Their effects, however, are not very considerable; nor are they perhaps of much farther real use, than as they give confidence to the plaster, unguent, &c.

745. Ceruse, or white lead. E.

Put some vinegar into the bottom of an earthen vessel, and suspend over the vinegar very thin plates of lead, in such a manner that the vapour which arises from the acid may circulate about the plates. Set the containing vessel in the heat of horse-dung, for three weeks: if at the end of this time the plates are not totally calcined, scrape off the white powder, and expose them again to the steam of vinegar, till all the lead is thus corroded into powder.

In this operation the lead is so far opened by the acid, as to discover, when taken internally, the malignant quality of the metal; and to prove externally, when sprinkled on running sores, or ulcers, moderately cooling, drying, and astrigent.

746. Sugar of lead.

Boil ceruse with distilled vinegar in a leaden vessel, until the vinegar becomes sufficiently sweet; then filter the vinegar through paper, and after due evaporation set it to crystallize. L.

Put any quantity of ceruse into a cucurbit, and pour thereon distilled vinegar to the height of four inches. Digest them together for some days in a sand-heat, till the vinegar has acquired a sweetish taste; when it is to be suffered to settle, and then poured off. Add fresh vinegar to the remainder, and repeat this process till the menstruum no longer extracts any sweet taste. Let all the impregnated liquors rest for some time; and after they have been poured from the faeces, evaporate them in a glass vessel, to the consistence of thin honey; so that upon being set in a cool place, the sugar may shoot into crystals, which are afterwards to be dried in the shade. Exhale the remaining liquor to a pellicle, set it again in the cold, and more crystals will shoot; repeat this operation till no crystals can any longer be obtained. E.

The sugar of lead is much more efficacious than the foregoing preparations, in the several intentions which they are applied to. Some have ventured upon it internally, in doses of a few grains, as a styptic, in haemorrhages, profuse colliquative sweats, seminal fluxes, the fluor albus, &c. nor has it failed their expectations. It very powerfully restrains the discharge; but almost as certainly as it does this, it occasions symptoms of another kind, often more dangerous than those removed by it, and sometimes fatal. Violent pains in the bowels or through the whole body, and obstinate constipations, sometimes immediately follow, especially if the dose has been considerable; cramps, tremors, and weakness of the nerves, generally, sooner or later ensue.

§ 6. Preparations of Tin.

747. Tin easily melts in the fire, and calcines into a dusky powder, which by a farther continuance of the heat becomes white. A mass of tin heated till it is just ready to melt proves extremely brittle, so as to fall in pieces from a blow, and by dextrous agitation into powder. Its proper menstruum is aqua regia; though the other mineral acids also may be made to dissolve it, and the vegetable ones, in small quantity. It crystalizes lizes with the vegetable and vitriolic acids; but with the others, deliquiates.

The virtues of this metal are little known. It has been recommended as an antihysteric, antihaemetic, &c. At present it is chiefly used as an anthelmintic.

748. Powdered tin. L.

Melt the tin, and pour it into a wooden box rubbed in the inside with chalk: then immediately let the box be nimbly shaken, and a part of the tin will fall into powder. The remainder is to be melted a second time, and treated in the same manner, till the whole of the metal is thus reduced into powder.

This preparation has been used for some time as a remedy against worms, particularly the flat kinds, which too often elude the force of other medicines. The general dose is from a scruple to a dram; some confine it to a few grains. But Dr Allston assures us, in the Edinburgh Essays, that its success chiefly depends upon its being given in much larger quantities: he gives an ounce of the powder on an empty stomach, mixed with four ounces of melsaffes; next day, half an ounce; and the day following, half an ounce more; after which, a cathartic is administered: he says the worms are usually voided during the operation of the purge, but that pains of the stomach occasioned by them are removed almost immediately upon taking the first dose of the tin.

§ 7. Preparations of Mercury.

749. Mercury, or quicksilver, is a ponderous metallic fluid, totally volatile in a strong fire, and calcinable by a weaker one (though very difficultly) into a red powdery substance. It dissolves in the nitrous acid, is corroded by the vitriolic, but not acted on by the marine in its liquid state: it nevertheless may be combined with this last, if skilfully applied in the form of fume. Quicksilver unites, by trituration, with earthy, umbruous, resinous, and other like substances, so as to lose its fluidity: triturated with sulphur, it forms a black mass, which by sublimation changes to a beautiful red one.

The general virtues of the mercurial preparations are, to fuse the juices, however viscid, in the minutest and remotest vessels; by this means they prove eminently serviceable in invertebrate chronic disorders, proceeding from a thickness and sluggishness of the humours, and obstinate obstructions of the glands. Crude mercury has no effect this way. Resolved into fume, or divided into minute particles, and prevented from re-uniting by the interposition of other substances, it operates very powerfully; unless the dividing body be sulphur, which restrains its action. Combined with a small quantity of the mineral acids, it acts effectually, though in general mildly; with a larger, it proves violently corrosive.

750. Purification of quicksilver. L.

Distil quicksilver in a retort; and afterwards wash it with water and common salt, or with vinegar.

If a glass retort is made use of for this operation, it ought to have a low body, and a long neck; and the neck should be considerably inclined downwards, so as to allow the elevated mercury a quick descent: the receiver should be filled almost to the neck of the retort with water; the use of this is not to condense, but to cool, the distilling quicksilver, lest falling hot upon the bottom it should crack the glass. The distillation may be more conveniently performed in an iron retort, or an iron pot fitted with a head.

The fire should be raised no higher than is sufficient to elevate the mercury; for certain mineral substances, which are said to be sometimes mixed with it, prove in part volatile in a degree of heat not much greater than that in which mercury distils. Mr Boyle relates, that he has known quicksilver carry up with it a portion even of lead, so as to have its weight very sensibly increased thereby; and this happened tho' only a moderate fire was used.

751. Sugared mercury.

Take pure quicksilver, brown sugar-candy, of each half an ounce. Essential oil of juniper-berry, 16 drops. Grind them together in a glass mortar, until the mercury ceases to appear.

The essential oil, here added, is said to be a very useful ingredient; not only promoting the extinction of the quicksilver (which, however, is still not a little difficult and tedious), but likewise improving the medicine. The intention is only to divide the mercury by the interposition of other bodies; for when thus managed, it has very powerful effects; tho' whilst undivided, it seems to be altogether inactive. Sugar alone, apparently answers this intention; but on the commixture of aqueous fluids, the sugar dissolves by itself, leaving the mercury to run together again in its original form: the addition of the oil is said in great measure to prevent this inconvenience. The dose of this medicine, as an alternative, is from two or three grains to a scruple.

752. Ethiops mineral.

Take purified quicksilver, flowers of sulphur, unwashed, of each equal weights. Grind them together in a glass or stone mortar, until they are united. L. Take of purified quicksilver, flowers of sulphur, each equal weights. Grind them together in a glass mortar, with a glass pestle, till the mercurial globules totally disappear. E.

An ethiops is made also with a double quantity of mercury.

The union of the mercury and sulphur might be greatly facilitated by the assistance of a little warmth. Some are accustomed to make this preparation in a very expeditious manner, by melting the sulphur in an iron ladle, then adding the quicksilver, and stirring them together till the mixture is completed. The small degree of heat here sufficient, cannot reasonably be supposed to do any injury to substances which have already undergone much greater fires, not only in the extraction from their ores, but likewise in the purifications of them directed in the pharmacopoeia. In the following process, they are exposed in conjunction to a strong fire, without suspicion of the compound receiving any ill quality from it. Thus much is certain, that the ingredients are more perfectly united by heat, than by the degree of triture usually bestowed upon them. From the ethiops prepared by triture, part of the mercury is apt to be spued out on making it into an electuary or pills: from that made by fire, no separation is observed to happen.

Ethiops Ethiops mineral is one of the most inactive of the mercurial preparations. Some practitioners have boldly asserted its possessing extraordinary virtues; and most people imagine it a medicine of some efficacy. But what benefit is to be expected from it in the common doses of eight or ten grains, or a scruple, may be judged from hence, that it has been taken in doses of several drams, and continued for a considerable time, without producing any remarkable effect. Sulphur eminently abates the power of all the more active minerals, and seems to be at the same time restrained by them from operating in the body itself. Boerhaave, who is in general sufficiently liberal in the commendation of medicines, disapproves the ethiops in very strong terms. "It cannot enter the absorbent vessels, the lacteals, or lymphatics; but passes directly through the intestinal tube, where it may happen to destroy worms, if it operates luckily. They are deceived who expect any other effects from it; at least I myself could never find them. I am afraid, it is unwarily given, in such large quantities, to children and persons of tender constitutions; as being a foreign mass, unconquerable by the body, the more to be suspected, as it continues long, sluggish, and inactive. It does not raise a salivation, because it cannot come into the blood. Who knows the effects of a substance, which, so long as it remains compounded, seems no more active than any infipid ponderous earth!" The ethiops with a double proportion of mercury, received into the former edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia, has a greater chance for operating as a mercurial; and probably the quantity of mercury might be still further increased to advantage.

753. Artificial cinnabar. E.

Take of purified quicksilver, three pounds and a half; flowers of sulphur, washed, one pound. Melt the sulphur in a large iron vessel, over a gentle fire; and add to it by degrees the quicksilver previously heated, stirring them constantly together with an iron spatula that they may be perfectly mixed. Immediately fit upon the vessel a wooden cover, to prevent the mixture from taking fire: before the matter is grown cold, grind it into powder, and sublime according to art.

It has been customary to order a larger quantity of sulphur than here directed; but this smaller proportion answers better; for the less sulphur, the finer coloured is cinnabar.

The principal use of cinnabar is as a pigment. It was formerly held in great esteem as a medicine, in cutaneous sores, gouty and rheumatic pains, epileptic cases, &c., but of late it has lost much of its reputation. It appears to be nearly similar to the ethiops, already spoken of. Cartheuer relates, that having given cinnabar in large quantities to a dog, it produced no sensible effect; but was partly voided along with the faeces unaltered, and partly found entire in the stomach and intestines, upon opening the animal. The celebrated Frederick Hoffman, after bestowing high encomiums on this preparation, as having in many instances within his own knowledge perfectly cured epilepsies and vertigoes from contusions of the head (where it is probable, however, that the cure did not so much depend upon the cinnabar, as on the spontaneous recovery of the parts from the external injury) observes, that the large repeated doses, necessary for having any effect, can be borne only where the first passages are strong; and that if the fibres of the stomach and intestines are lax and flaccid, the cinnabar, accumulated and concreting with the mucous matter of the parts, occasions great oppression: Which seems to be an acknowledgment that the cinnabar is not subdued by the powers of digestion, and has no proper medicinal activity. There are indeed some instances of the daily use of cinnabar having brought on a salivation; perhaps from the cinnabar, made use of in those cases, having contained a less proportion of sulphur than the sorts commonly met with. The regulus of antimony, and even white arsenic, when combined with a certain quantity of common sulphur, seem to have their deleterious power destroyed: on separating more and more of the sulphur, they exert more and more of their proper virulence. It does not seem unreasonable to presume, that mercury may have its activity varied in like manner; that when perfectly saturated with sulphur, it may be inert; and that when the quantity of sulphur is more and more lessened, the compound may have greater and greater degrees of the proper efficacy of mercurials.

Cinnabar is sometimes used in fumigations against venereal ulcers in the nose, mouth, and throat. Half a dram of it burnt, the fume being imbibed with the breath, has occasioned a violent salivation. This effect is by no means owing to the medicine as cinnabar: when set on fire, it is no longer a mixture of mercury and sulphur; but mercury resolved into fume, and blended in part with the volatile vitriolic acid; in either of which circumstances, this mineral, as already observed, has very powerful effects.

754. Calcined mercury. L.

Put purified quicksilver into a broad-bottomed glass vessel, having a small hole open to the air, and keep it in a constant heat, in a sand-furnace, for several months, until it is calcined into a red powder.

This tedious process might, in all probability, be greatly expedited, by employing, instead of a vessel with a small aperture, a very wide-mouthed, flat-bottomed glass body, of such a height that the mercury may not escape: by this means, the air, which is essentially necessary to the calcination of all metallic substances, will be more freely admitted. A vessel might be so contrived, as to occasion a continual flux of air over the surface of the mercury.

This preparation is by some highly esteemed in venereal cases, and supposed to be the most efficacious and certain of all the mercurials. It may be advantageously given in conjunction with opiates; a bolus or pill, containing from half a grain to two grains of this calx, and a quarter or half a grain or more of opium, with the addition of some warm aromatic ingredient, may be taken every night. Thus managed, it acts mildly, though powerfully, as an alterative and diaphoretic; given by itself in larger doses, as four or five grains, it proves a rough emetic and cathartic.

755. Solution of mercury.

Take equal quantities of pure quicksilver, and good aqua- Aquafortis dissolves mercury more easily, and in larger quantity, than any other acid: 16 ounces, if the menstruum is very strong and pure, will take up 11 or 12. As the liquor grows cold, a considerable part concretes, at the bottom of the vessel, into a crystalline form. If the whole is wanted to remain suspended, a proper quantity of water should be added after the solution is completed.

This process is given only as preparatory to some of the following ones. The solution is highly caustic, so as scarce to be safely touched. It stains the skin purple or black.

756. Calx of mercury. Take any quantity of the solution of mercury, and evaporate it over a gentle fire, till a white dry mass remains.

This calx, or rather salt, of mercury, is violently corrosive. It is rarely made use of any otherwise than for making the following preparation and the corrosive sublimate.

757. Red calx of mercury, commonly called red precipitate. E. Take any quantity of the calx of mercury, and reverberate it in a crucible with successive degrees of heat. Its white colour will change first into a brown, and afterwards a yellow; at length, upon increasing the fire, it passes into a deep red.

758. The red mercurial corrosive. L. Take of purified quicksilver, compound aquafortis (A), of each equal weights. Mix, and let them in a broad-bottomed vessel, in a sand-heat, till all the humidity is exhaled, and the mass has acquired a red colour.

The marine acid in the compound menstruum ordered in this last process, disposes the mercurial calx to assume the bright sparkling look admired in it; which, though perhaps no advantage to it as a medicine, ought nevertheless to be insisted on by the buyer as a mark of its goodness and strength. As soon as the matter has gained this appearance, it should be immediately removed from the fire, otherwise it will soon lose it again. The preparation of this red precipitate, as it is called, in perfection, is supposed by some to be a secret not known to our chemists; inasmuch that we are under a necessity of importing it from abroad. This reflection seems to be founded on misinformation: we sometimes indeed receive considerable quantities from Holland; but this depends upon the ingredients being commonly cheaper there than with us, and not upon any secret in the manner of the preparation.

This precipitate is, as its title imports, an escharotic; and in this intention is frequently employed by the surgeons, with basilicum, and other dressings, for consuming fungous flesh in ulcers, and the like purposes. It is subject to great uncertainty in point of strength; more or less of the acid exhaling, according to the degree and continuance of the fire. The best criterion of its strength, as already observed, is its brilliant appearance; which is also the mark of its genuineness: if mixed with minium, which it is sometimes said to be, the duller hue will discover the abuse. This mixture may be more certainly detected by means of fire: the mercurial part will totally evaporate, leaving the minium behind.

Some have ventured to give this medicine internally, in venereal, scrophulous, and other obstinate chronic disorders, in doses of two or three grains and more. But certainly, the milder mercurials, properly managed, are capable of answering all that can be expected from this; without occasioning violent anxieties, tortures of the bowels, and other ill consequences, which the best management can scarcely prevent this corrosive preparation from sometimes doing.

759. The white mercurial corrosive, or corrosive mercury sublimate. Take of purified quicksilver, forty ounces; sea-salt, thirty-three ounces; nitre, twenty-eight ounces; calcined green vitriol, sixty-six ounces. Grind the quicksilver, in a wooden or stone mortar, with an ounce or more of corrosive mercury sublimate already made, until the quicksilver is divided into small grains: this mixture is to be ground with the nitre, and afterwards with the sea-salt; then add the calcined vitriol, continuing the trituration only for a little time longer, lest the quicksilver should run together again. Lastly, proceed to sublimation, in a glass matras; to which you may adapt a head, in order to save a little spirit that will come over. L. Take of quicksilver, and weak spirit of nitre, of each four ounces; calcined sea-salt and calcined vitriol, of each five ounces; dissolve the quicksilver in the acid, and let the mixture be evaporated almost to dryness; then add the vitriol and sea-salt, and sublime the mixture in a proper vessel. E.

The sublimate made by this method is the same with the foregoing; but as the quantity of fixed matter is small, it difficulty assumes the form of a cake. It requires indeed some skill in the operator, to give it this appearance when either process is followed. When large quantities are made, this form may be easily obtained, by placing the matras no deeper in the sand than the surface of the matter contained in it; and removing a little of the sand from the sides of the glass, as soon as the flowers begin to appear in the neck; when the heat should likewise be somewhat lowered, and not at all raised during the whole process. The sublimation is known to be completed by the edges of the crystalline cake, which will form upon the surface of the caput mortuum, appearing smooth and even, and a little removed from it.

Sublimate is a most violent corrosive, presently corrupting and destroying all the parts of the body it touches. A solution of it in water, in the proportion of about a dram to a quart, is made use of for keeping down proud flesh, and cleansing foul ulcers; and a more dilute solution, as a cosmetic and for destroying cutaneous insects. But a great deal of caution is requisite even in these external uses of it.

Some have nevertheless ventured to give it internally, in the dose of one-tenth or one-eighth of a grain. Boerhaave relates, that if a grain of it be dissolved... Sublimate dissolved in vinous spirits has of late been given internally in larger doses; from a quarter of a grain to half a grain. This method of using it was brought into vogue by baron Van Swieten at Vienna, particularly for venereal maladies; and several trials of it have been made in this kingdom also with success. Eight grains of the sublimate are dissolved in sixteen ounces of rectified spirit of wine or proof-spirit; the rectified spirit dissolves it more perfectly, and seems to make the medicine milder in its operation than the proof-spirit of the original prescription of Van Swieten.

Of this solution, from one to two spoonfuls, that is, from half an ounce to an ounce, are given twice a day, and continued till all the symptoms are removed; observing to use a low diet, with plentiful dilution, otherwise the sublimate is apt to purge and gripe severely. It generally purges more or less at the beginning, but afterwards seems to operate chiefly by urine and perspiration.

Sublimate consists of mercury united with a large quantity of marine acid. There are two general methods of destroying its corrosive quality, and rendering it mild; combining with it so much fresh mercury as the acid is capable of taking up, and separating a part of the acid by means of alkaline salts, and the like. On the first principle, dulcified mercury sublimate is formed; on the latter, nobile precipitate.

760. Dulcified mercury sublimate.

Take of corrosive mercury sublimate, one pound; purified quicksilver, nine ounces. Having powdered the sublimate, add to it the quicksilver, and digest them together in a matrix, with a gentle heat of sand, until they unite; then, increasing the heat, let the mixture be sublimed. The sublimed matter, freed from the acrimonious part at top and such mercurial globules as happen to appear distinct in it, is to be reduced into powder, and sublimed again; and this sublimation repeated six times. L.

Take of corrosive mercury sublimate, reduced to powder in a glass mortar, four ounces and a half; pure quicksilver, three ounces. Mix them well together, by long trituration in a glass or marble mortar, until the quicksilver ceases to appear; taking care to avoid the finer powder that flies off. Put the powder into an oblong phial, of such a size, that only one-third of it may be filled; and set the glass in a sand-furnace, so as that the sand may reach up to one half of its height. By degrees of fire successively applied, almost all the mercury will sublime, and adhere to the upper part of the vessel. The glass being then broken, and the red powder which is found in its bottom, with the whitish one that sticks about the neck, being thrown away, let the white mercury be sublimed again three or four times. E.

The trituration of corrosive sublimate with quicksilver is a very noxious operation: for it is almost impossible, by any care, to prevent the lighter particles of the former from arising, so as to affect the operator's eyes and mouth. It is nevertheless of the utmost consequence, that the ingredients be perfectly united before the sublimation is begun; and this may be most commodiously effected by the digestion ordered by the first of the above processes. It is indeed still necessary to pulverize the sublimate, before the mercury is added to it: but this may be safely performed, with a little caution; especially if, during the pulverization, the matter be now and then sprinkled with a little spirit of wine; this addition does not at all impede the union of the ingredients, or prejudice the sublimation: it will be convenient not to close the top of the subliming vessel with a cap of paper at first (as is usually practiced) but to defer this till the mixture begins to sublime, that the spirit may escape.

The rationale of this process deserves particular attention; and the more so, as a mistaken theory herein has been productive of several errors with regard to the operation of mercurials in general. It is supposed, that the dulcification, as it is called, of the mercurius corrosivus, is owing to the spicula or sharp points, on which its corrosiveness depends, being broken and worn off by the frequent sublimations. If this opinion was just, the corrosive would become mild, without any addition, barely by repeating the sublimation; but this is contrary to all experience. The abatement of the corrosive quality of the sublimate is entirely owing to the combination of so much fresh mercury with it as is capable of being united; and by whatever means this combination is effected, the preparation will be sufficiently dulcified. Triture and digestion promote the union of the two, whilst sublimation tends rather to disunite them. The prudent operator, therefore, will not be solicitous about separating such mercurial globules as appear distinct after the first sublimation; he will endeavour rather to combine them with the rest, by repeating the trituration and digestion.

The college of Würtemberg require their mercurius dulcis to be only twice sublimed, and the Augustan but once; and Neumann proposes making it directly by a single sublimation, from the ingredients which the corrosive sublimate is prepared from, by only taking the quicksilver in a larger proportion. If the medicine, made after either of these methods, should prove in any degree acrid, water, boiled on it for some time, will dissolve and separate that part in which its acrimony consists. The marks of the preparation being sufficiently dulcified, are, its being perfectly insipid to the taste, and indissoluble by long boiling in water. Whether the water, in which it has been boiled, has taken up any part of it, may be known by dropping into the liquor a ley of any fixed alkaline salt, or any volatile alkaline spirit: if the decoction has any mercurial impregnation, it will grow turbid on this addition; if otherwise, it will continue limpid. But here care must be taken not to be deceived by an extraneous saline matter in the water itself: most of the common spring waters turn milky on the addition of alkalis; and therefore, for experiments of this kind, distilled water, or rain water, ought to be used. Mercurius dulcis, seven times sublimed, has been commonly called calomelas, and aquila alba; names which are now dropped both by the London and Edinburgh colleges. Calomelas is indeed a very improper appellation, the word implying a black colour: by grinding mercurius dulcis with volatile spirits, it becomes blackish; and this perhaps is the true calomel.

Mercurius dulcis appears to be one of the best and safest preparations of this mineral for general use, whether intended to act as a diaphoretic, diaphoretic, or alterant. Many of the more elaborate processes are no other than attempts to produce from mercury such a medicine as this really is. The dose, for raising a salivation, is ten or fifteen grains, taken in the form of a bolus or pills, every night or oftener, till the ptyalism begins. As an alterant and diaphoretic, it is given in doses of five or six grains; a purgative being occasionally interposed, to prevent its affecting the mouth. It answers, however, much better when given in smaller quantities, as one, two, or three grains every morning and evening, in conjunction with such substances as determine its action to the skin, as the extract or resin of guaiacum; the patient at the same time keeping warm, and drinking liberally of warm dilute liquors. By this method of managing it, obstinate cutaneous and venereal distempers have been successfully cured, without any remarkable increase of the sensible evacuations.

761. White precipitate of mercury. Diffuse sublimate corrosive mercury in a sufficient quantity of hot water, and gradually drop into the solution some spirit of sal ammoniac, as long as any precipitation ensues. Wash the precipitated powder upon a filter, with several fresh quantities of warm water. E.

This preparation is used chiefly in ointments, in which intention its fine white colour is no small recommendation to it.

Take sublimate corrosive mercury, sal ammoniac, of each equal weights. Diffuse them both together in water; filter the solution, and precipitate it with a solution of any fixed alkaline salt. Wash the precipitated powder till it is perfectly sweet, (that is, insipid or void of acrimony.) L.

Here the sal ammoniac, besides its use in the capital intention, that of furnishing a volatile alkali to make a white precipitation, promotes the solution of the sublimate; which of itself is difficulty and scarce at all totally soluble by repeated boiling in water; for however skilfully it is prepared, some part of it will have an under proportion of acid, and consequently approach to the state of mercurius dulcis. A good deal of care is requisite in the precipitation; for, if too large a quantity of the fixed alkaline solution be imprudently added, the precipitate will lose the elegant white colour for which it is valued.

A precipitate of a different nature from the preceding has been commonly distinguished by the same name mercurius precipitatus albus. But it is a preparation very rarely made use of among us; notwithstanding the character given of it by Boerhaave, of being "perhaps the best remedy hitherto afforded by mercury." Mercury dulcis produces the good effects which this is supposed to do with a greater degree of certainty, and without disordering the constitution, occasioning vomiting, &c. which this precipitate, in a dose of two or three grains, frequently does.

762. The yellow mercurial emetic. L. Upon purified quicksilver, contained in a glass vessel, pour double its weight of the strong spirit or oil of vitriol. Heat the liquor by degrees, so as at length to make it boil, till a white mass remains, which is to be thoroughly dried with a strong fire. This mass on the diffusion of warm water grows yellowish, and falls into powder, which is to be diligently ground with the water in a glass mortar: then suffer it to settle, pour off the water, and wash the powder in several parcels of fresh water, until it is sufficiently dulcified.

763. Yellow precipitate of mercury, or turbith mineral. E. Take four ounces of pure quicksilver, and eight ounces of oil of vitriol. Cautiously mix them together; and distil, in a retort placed in a sand-furnace, to dryness; the white calx which is left at the bottom being ground to powder, and thrown into warm water, immediately grows of a yellow colour: wash this in fresh waters renewed several times, until it has lost all its acrimony; then dry it for use.

Boerhaave directs this preparation to be made in an open glass slowly heated, and then placed immediately upon burning coals; care being taken to avoid the fumes, which are extremely noxious. This method will succeed very well with a little address, when the ingredients are in small quantity: but where the mixture is large, it is better to use a retort, placed in a sand-furnace, with a recipient, containing a small quantity of water, luted to it. Great care should be taken, when the oil of vitriol begins to bubble, to steadily keep up the heat, without at all increasing it, till the ebullition ceases, when the fire should be augmented to the utmost degree, that as much as possible of the redundant acid may be expelled.

If the matter be but barely exsiccated, it proves a caustic salt, which in the ablution with water will almost dissolve, leaving only a little quantity of turbith: the more of the acid has been dissipated, the less of the remaining mercury will dissolve, and consequently the yield of turbith will be the greater; fire expelling only the acid, (viz. such parts of the acid as are not completely saturated with mercury), while water takes up always along with the acid, a proportionate quantity of the mercury itself. Even when the matter has been strongly calcined, a part will still be soluble: this evidently appears upon pouring into the washings a little solution of fixed alkaline salt, which will throw down a considerable quantity of yellow precipitate, greatly resembling the turbith, except that it is less violent in operation.

From this experiment it appears, that the best method of edulcorating this powder is, by impregnating the water intended to be used in its ablution, with a determined proportion of fixed alkaline salt; for by this means the washed turbith will not only turn out greater in quantity, but, what is of more consequence, always always have an equal degree of strength; a circumstance which deserves particularly to be considered, especially in making such preparations as, from an error in the process, may prove too violently corrosive to be used with any degree of safety.

Turbit mineral is a strong emetic, and in this instance operates the most powerfully of all the mercurials that can be safely given internally. Its action however is not confined to the prime vic; it will sometimes excite a pyralism, if a purgative is not taken soon after it. This medicine is used chiefly in virulent gonorrheas, and other venereal cases where there is a great flux of humours to the parts; it is said likewise to have been employed with good success in robust constitutions, against leprous disorders, and obstinate glandular obstructions: the dose is from two grains to six or eight. It may be given in doses of a grain or two as an alternative and diaphoretic, after the same manner as the red precipitate.

This medicine has been of late recommended as the most effectual preservative against the hydrophobia. There are several examples of its preventing madness in dogs that had been bitten; and some, of its performing a cure after the madness was begun: from six or seven grains to a scruple may be given every day, or every other day, for a little time, and repeated at the two or three succeeding fulls and changes of the moon. Some few trials have likewise been made on human subjects bitten by mad dogs; and in these also the turbit, used either as an emetic or alternative, seemed in some cases to have good effects. See Medicine, No. 425.

§ 8. Preparations of Antimony.

764. Antimony is composed of a metal united with sulphur or common brimstone.

If powdered antimony be exposed to a gentle fire, the sulphur exhales; the metallic part remaining in form of a white calx, reducible by proper fluxes into a whitish brittle metal, called regulus. This is readily distinguished from the other bodies of that class, by its not being soluble in aquafortis; its proper menstruum is aqua regis.

If aqua regis be poured upon crude antimony, the metallic part will be dissolved, and the sulphur thrown out, partly to the sides of the vessel, and partly to the surface of the liquor, in form of a greyish yellow substance. This, separated and purified by sublimation, appears on all trials the same with pure common brimstone.

The metal, freed from the sulphur naturally blended with it, and afterwards fused with common brimstone, resumes the appearance and qualities of crude antimony.

765. The antimonial metal is a medicine of the greatest power of any known substance: a quantity too minute to be sensible on the tenderest balance, is capable of producing virulent effects, if taken dissolved or in a soluble state. If given in such a form as to be immediately miscible with the animal fluids, it proves violently emetic; if so managed as to be more slowly acted on, cathartic; and in either case, if the dose is extremely small, diaphoretic. Thus, though vegetable acids extract so little from this metal, that the remainder seems to have lost nothing of its weight, the tinctures prove in no large doses strongly emetic, and in smaller ones powerfully diaphoretic. The regulus has been cast into the form of pills, which acted as virulent cathartics, though without suffering any sensible diminution of weight in their passage through the body; and this repeatedly, for a great number of times.

This metal, divested of the inflammable principle which it has in common with other metallic bodies, that is, reduced to a calx, becomes indissoluble and inactive. The calx nevertheless, urged with a strong fire, melts into a glass, as easy of solution (partially), and as virulent in operation, as the regulus itself: the glass thoroughly mingled with such substances as prevent its solubility, as wax, resins, and the like, is again rendered mild.

766. Vegetable acids, as already observed, dissolve but an extremely minute portion of this metal; the solution nevertheless proves powerfully emetic and cathartic. The nitrous and vitriolic acids only corrode it into a powder, to which they adhere so slightly as to be separable in good measure by water, and totally by fire, leaving the regulus in form of a calx similar to that prepared by fire alone. The marine acid has a very different effect: this reduces the regulus into a violent corrosive, and tho' it difficulty unites, yet very closely adheres to it, insomuch as not to be separable by any ablution, nor by fire, the regulus arising along with it. The nitrous or vitriolic acids expel the marine, and thus reduce the corrosive into a calx similar to the foregoing.

767. Sulphur remarkably abates the power of this metal: and hence crude antimony (in which the regulus appears to be combined with from one-fourth to one half its weight of sulphur) proves altogether mild. If a part of the sulphur be taken away by such operations as do not destroy or calcine the metal, the remaining mass becomes proportionably more active.

The sulphur of antimony may be expelled by deflagration with nitre: the larger the quantity of nitre, to a certain point, the more of the sulphur will be dissipated, and the preparation will be the more active. If the quantity of nitre is more than sufficient to consume the sulphur, the rest of it deflagrating with the inflammable principle of the regulus itself, renders it again mild.

The sulphur of antimony is likewise absorbed, in fusion, by certain metals, and by alkaline salts. These last, when united with sulphur, prove a menstruum for all the metals, (zinc excepted), and hence, if the fusion is long continued, the regulus is taken up and rendered soluble in water.

768. Crocus of antimony, commonly called Crocus metallorum, and by foreign writers Hepar antimonii or liver of antimony.

Take antimony, nitre, of each equal weights. Reduce them separately into powder; then mix, and inject them into a crucible heated to a white heat, that the mixture (after deflagration) may melt. Then pour it out, separate the scoriae, and reserve the matter underneath them for use: it proves different in colour, according to the continuance of the heat: the longer it has been kept in fusion, the yellower it will be. L.

The mixture of antimony and nitre, made as above, is to be injected into a red-hot crucible; when the detonation is over, separate the reddish metallic matter from the whitish crust, and edulcorate it by repeated washings with hot water.

Here the antimonial sulphur is almost totally consumed, and the metallic part left divested of its corrosive. These preparations, given from two to six grains, act as violent emetics, greatly disordering the constitution. Their principal use is in maniacal cases, as the basis of some other preparations; and among the farriers, who frequently give to horses an ounce or two a day, divided into different doses, as an alterative: in these and other quadrupeds, this medicine acts chiefly as a diaphoretic.

769. Washed crocus of antimony. L. Reduce the crocus into a very subtile powder, and boil it in the water: then, throwing away this water, wash the powder several times in fresh warm water, until it becomes perfectly insipid.

This process is designed chiefly to fit the crocus for the preparation of emetic tartar, of which hereafter, and of the antimonial emetic wine. If the crocus was employed for those purposes without washing, the alkaline salt, which it is in some degree impregnated with from the desiccation of the nitre, would in part satiate the acids of the tartar and of the wine, and thus, impeding their action on the metallic part of the antimony, render the medicines very precarious in strength: that uncertainties of this kind may be the more effectually guarded against, the glaas, or rather the pure regulus, of antimony, is by some preferred to the crocus, both for the emetic tartar and wine.

770. Medicinal regulus of antimony. E. Take of antimony, five ounces; sea-salt, four ounces; salt of tartar, one ounce. Grind them into powder; and throw the mixture, by little at a time, into a red-hot crucible; occasionally breaking, with an iron rod, the crust that forms on the surface. When the fusion is completed, pour out the matter into a heated cone, gently shaking it now and then, or striking it on the sides, that the regulus may settle to the bottom: when grown cold, beat off the scoriae, and grind the regulus into a powder, which is to be kept in a close-stopped vial.

This preparation is greatly celebrated by Hoffman, and other German physicians, in sundry obstinate chronic disorders, and esteemed one of the best antimonials that can be given with safety as alteratives: it operates chiefly as a diaphoretic, and sometimes, though rarely, emetic. The dose is from three or four grains to 20.

This regulus, reduced into a subtile powder, is the genuine febrifuge powder of Craanius (Pharm. Borasio Brandenburg, edit. 1734. p. 107.), and has been greatly commended in all kinds of fevers both of the intermittent and continual kind (Pharm. Argent. 1725. p. 252.) It is said that a dose or two have frequently removed these disorders, by occasioning either a salutary diaphoresis, or acting mildly by stool or vomit.

771. Simple regulus of antimony. The most advantageous process for obtaining this regulus appears to be the following:

Let powdered antimony be calcined or roasted over a gentle fire, as directed hereafter for making the glaas. Mix the calx with about equal its weight of some reducing flux, such as the black flux. Melt the mixture in a crucible, with a quick fire, and when in thin fusion pour it into a cone heated over a smoky flame: the pure regulus will fall to the bottom, the scoriae floating on the top.

772. Precipitated sulphur of antimony. L. Take of antimony, 16 ounces; tartar, a pound; nitre, half a pound. Let these be reduced separately into powder; then mixed, thrown by degrees into a red-hot crucible, and melted with a strong fire. Pour out the matter into a conical mould; the metallic part, commonly called regulus of antimony, will sink to the bottom, the scoriae swimming about it. Dissolve these scoriae in water, filter the solution through paper, and precipitate the sulphur by dropping in some spirit of sea-salt: lastly, wash the sulphur from the salts, and dry it for use.

773. Golden sulphur of antimony. E. Boil in an iron pot, four pints of soap-ashes diluted with three pints of water, and throw in by degrees two pounds of powdered antimony; keeping them continually stirring, with an iron spatula, for three hours, over a gentle fire; and occasionally supplying more water. The liquor, loaded with the sulphur of antimony, being then strained through a double linen cloth, drop into it gradually, whilst it continues hot, so much spirit of nitre, diluted with an equal quantity of water, as shall be sufficient to precipitate the sulphur, which is afterwards to be carefully washed with hot water.

The foregoing preparations prove emetic when taken on an empty stomach, in a dose of four, five, or six grains: but in the present practice, they are scarce ever prescribed in this intention; being chiefly used as alternative deobstruents, particularly in cutaneous disorders. Their emetic quality is easily blunted, by making them up into pills with resin or extracts, and giving them on a full stomach: with these cautions, they have been increased to the rate of 16 grains a day, and continued for a considerable time, without occasioning any disturbance upwards or downwards. As their strength is precarious, they should be taken at first in very small doses, and increased by degrees according to their effect.

A composition of the golden sulphur with mercurius dulcis, has been a powerful, yet safe, alternative in cutaneous disorders; and has completed a cure after salivation had failed; in venereal cases likewise, this medicine has produced excellent effects. A mixture of equal parts of the sulphur and calomel (well triturated together, and made into pills with extracts, &c.) may be taken from four to eight or ten grains, morning and night; the patient keeping moderately warm, and drinking after each dose a draught of a decoction of the woods or other like liquors. This medicine generally promotes perspiration, scarce occasioning any tendency to vomit or purge, or affecting the mouth. See the Edinburgh essays, vol. ii. and the Alta natur. curios. vol. v.

773—789. Kermes mineral. See KERMES (Mineral), in the order of the alphabet. 790. Panacea of antimony.

Take of antimony, fix ounces; nitre, two ounces; common salt, an ounce and a half; charcoal, an ounce. Reduce them into a fine powder, and put the mixture into a red-hot crucible, by half a spoonful at a time, continuing the fire a quarter of an hour after the last injection: then—either pour the matter into a cone, or let it cool in the crucible, which when cold must be broken to get it out. In the bottom will be found a quantity of regulus; above this a compact liver-coloured substance; and on the top, a more spongy mass: this last is to be reduced into powder, edulcorated with water, and dried, when it appears of a fine golden colour.

This preparation is supposed to have been the basis of Lockyer's pills, which were formerly a celebrated purge. Ten grains of the powder mixed with an ounce of white sugar-candy, and made up into a mass with mucilage of gum tragacanth, may be divided into an hundred small pills; of which one, two, or three, taken at a time, are said to work gently by stool and vomit.

791. Glass of antimony. E.

Take of antimony reduced to powder, one pound. Calcine it over a gentle fire, in an unglazed earthen vessel, keeping it continually stirring with an iron spatula, until the fumes cease, even when the matter is red-hot. Melt the calx in a crucible, with an intense fire, and pour out the liquid matter into a heated brass dish.

The calcination of antimony, to fit it for making a transparent glass, succeeds very slowly, unless the operator be very wary and circumspect in the management of it. The most convenient vessel is a broad shallow dish, or a smooth flat tile, placed under a chimney. The antimony should be of the purer sort, such as is usually found at the apex of the cones: this, grossly powdered, is to be evenly spread over the bottom of the pan, so as not to lie above a quarter of an inch thick on any part. The fire should be at first no greater than is just sufficient to raise a fume from the antimony, which is to be now and then stirred: when the fumes begin to decay, increase the heat, taking care not to raise it so high as to melt the antimony, or run the powder into lumps: after some time the vessel may be made red-hot, and kept in this state until the matter will not, upon being stirred, any longer fume. If this part of the process be duly conducted, the antimony will appear in an uniform powder, without any lumps, and of a grey colour.

With this powder, fill two-thirds of a crucible, which is to be covered with a tile, and placed in a wind-furnace. Gradually increase the fire, till the calx is in perfect fusion, when it is to be now and then examined by dipping a clean iron wire into it: if the matter, which adheres to the end of the wire, appears smooth and equally transparent, the vitrification is completed, and the glass may be poured out upon a hot smooth stone or copper plate, and suffered to cool by slow degrees to prevent its cracking and flying in pieces. It is of a transparent yellowish-red colour.

The calcined antimony is said by Boerhaave to be violently emetic. Experience has shown that the glass is so, inasmuch as to be unsafe for internal use. It is employed chiefly in the present practice, as being subservient to some other preparations, particularly the emetic tartar and antimonial wine; and in combination with wax, and some other substances, by which its power is obtained.

792. Cerated glass of antimony. E.

Take of yellow wax, a dram; glass of antimony, reduced into powder, an ounce. Melt the wax in an iron vessel, and throw into it the powdered glass: keep the mixture over a gentle fire for half an hour, continually stirring it; then pour it out upon a paper, and when cold grind it into powder.

The glass melts in the wax, with a very soft heat: after it has been about 20 minutes on the fire, it begins to change its colour, and in 10 more comes near to that of Scotch snuff, which is a mark of its being sufficiently prepared: the quantity set down above, loses about one dram of its weight in the process.

This medicine has for some time been greatly esteemed in dysenteries: several instances of its good effects in these cases may be seen in the fifth volume of the Edinburgh essays, from which the above remarks on the preparation are taken. The dose is from two or three grains to twenty, according to the age and strength of the patient. In its operation, it makes some persons sick and vomit; it purges almost everyone; though it has sometimes effected a cure without occasioning any evacuation or sickness.

793. The antimonial caustic. L. E.

Take of crude antimony, one pound; corrosive mercury sublimate, two pounds. Reduce them separately into powder; then mix, and distil them in a wide-necked retort, with a gentle sand-heat. The matter which arises into the neck of the retort is to be exposed to the air, that it may run into a liquor.

This is intended for consuming fungous flesh and the callous lips of ulcers.

794. Cinnabar of antimony.

Is composed of the sulphur of the antimony, and the mercury of the sublimate, which are perfectly the same with the common brimstone and quicksilver, of which the artificial cinnabar is made. The antimonial cinnabar therefore, whose ingredients are laboriously extracted from other substances, is not different from the common cinnabar made with the same materials procured at a much cheaper rate.

795. Emetic tartar.

Take of washed crocus of antimony, crystals of tartar, each half a pound; water, three pints. Boil them together for half an hour; then filter the liquor, and after due evaporation set it by to crystallise. L.

Take of powdered cream of tartar, four ounces; levi-gated glass of antimony, six ounces. Mix, and throw them by little and little into a gallon of water boiling in a glass vessel set in a sand-heat. Let the whole boil gently for six hours; constantly supplying the water consumed by evaporation; then let the liquor be strained when cold, and evaporated to to a proper pitch that crystals may be formed. Tar- tar emetic may be made after the same manner from crocus metallorum, provided this has been properly prepared, which is known by its being of a yellow colour when powdered. E.

The title of this medicine expresses its principal operation. It is one of the best of the antimonial emetics, acting more powerfully than the quantity of crocus contained in it would do by itself, though it does not so much ruffle the constitution.

The dose of emetic tartar, when designed to pro- duce the full effect of an emetic, is from four to six or eight grains. It may likewise be advantageously given in smaller doses, half a grain, for instance, as a diaphoretic and alternative in cutaneous disorders; and added in the quantity of a grain as a stimulus to ipecacuanha, &c.

§ 9. Preparations of Bismuth.

796. This metal resembles in appearance the regu- lus of antimony, but differs greatly from it in its pharmaceutical properties and medical qualities. It melts in a very small heat long before ignition; and to- tally dissolves, with great effervescence, in aquafor- tis, which only corrodes the antimonial metal. As a medicine, it seems, when pure, to have little or no ef- fect; though some preparations of it were formerly accounted diaphoretic. At present only one prepa- ration comes under the notice of the apothecary or chemist, and that designed for external use.

797. Magistery of bismuth.

Dissolve bismuth in a proper quantity of aquafortis, without heat, adding the bismuth by little and little at a time. Pour the solution into fifteen times its quantity of fair water: it will grow milky, and on standing for some time, deposit a bright white pre- cipitate: the addition of spirit of wine will expe- dite the precipitation. Wash the powder in fresh parcels of water, and dry it in a shady place be- twixt two papers.

This preparation is of some esteem as a cosmetic, which is the only use it is now applied to.

§ 10. Preparations of Zinc.

798. This metal melts in a red heat; and, if the air is admitted, flames, and sublimes into light, white, downy flowers: if the air is excluded, it arises by a strong fire in its metallic form. Sulphur, which unites with or scorifies all the other metals except gold, does not act on zinc. Acids of every kind dissolve it.

Zinc, its flowers or calces, and solutions, taken in- ternally, prove strong and quick emetics; in small doses, they are said to be diaphoretic. Externally, they are cooling, astringent, and desiccative.

799. Purification of zinc.

Melt zinc with a heat no greater than is just sufficient to keep it fluid. Stir it strongly with an iron rod; and throw in alternately pieces of sulphur and of tallow, the first in largest quantity. If any consist- ent matter or scoria forms on the top, take it off, and continue the process until the sulphur is found to burn freely and totally away on the surface of the fluid zinc.

Zinc usually contains a portion of lead, which this process effectually separates. Sulphur united with lead forms a mal, which does not melt in any degree of fire that zinc is capable of sustaining.

800. Flowers of zinc.

Let a large and very deep crucible, or other deep earthen vessel, be placed in a furnace, in an inclined situation, only half upright. Put a small quantity of zinc into the bottom of the vessel, and apply a moderate fire, no greater than is necessary to make the zinc flame; white flowers will arise, and adhere about the sides of the vessel like wool. When the zinc ceases to flame, stir it with an iron rod, and continue this operation till the whole is sublimed.

These flowers should seem preferable for medicinal purposes, to tatty, and the more impure sublimes of zinc which are obtained in the brass-works; and like- wise to calamine, the natural ore of this metal, which contains a large quantity of earth, and frequently a portion of heterogeneous metallic matter.

801. Salt or vitriol of zinc.

Dissolve purified zinc by a gentle heat of sand in a mixture of one part of oil of vitriol and four of wa- ter. Filter the solution; and after due evaporation, set it to crystallize.

This salt is an elegant white vitriol. It differs from the common white vitriol and the sal vitrioli of the shops, only in being purer, and perfectly free from any admixture of copper, or such other foreign metallic bodies as the others generally contain.

§ 11. Compound Metallic Preparations.

802. The medicinal bone.

Take of litharge, bole armenic, or French bole, alum, each half a pound; colcothar of green vitriol, three ounces; vinegar, a quarter of a pint. Mix and dry them till they grow hard.

This preparation is employed externally as an astring- ent for faltening loose teeth, preserving the gums, healing and drying up ulcers and wounds, and repre- senting defluxions of thin acrid humours upon the eyes. It is sometimes used in injections for checking a go- norrhoea, after the virulence is expelled.

803. An astringent preparation taken from Maetz, which has been sold under the name of Colbatch's lyptic powder.

Take any quantity of iron-flings, and as much spirit of salt as will rise above them three or four inches. Digest them together with a gentle heat till the spirit ceases to act on the metal; then pour off the liquor, evaporate it to one half, and add thereto an equal weight of sugar of lead. Continue the eva- poration with a small heat, until the matter remains dry, and assumes a red colour. If the process is stopped as soon as it becomes dry, it has exactly the appearance of Colbatch's powder. It must be kept close from the air, otherwise it deliquesces.

This is said to be the lyptic with which so much noise was made some time ago, by the author of the Novum lumen chirurgiae, and for the sake of which a patent was procured: only in that was used oil of vi- triol, instead of the spirit of salt in this; a difference not very material. The preparation stands recommended in all kinds of hemorrhages and immoderate fluxes, both internally and externally: the dose is from four grains to twelve. It is undoubtedly an efficacious styptic, but for internal use a dangerous one.

804. Antimonial ethiops.

Let equal quantities of antimony and sea-salt be melted together in a crucible for an hour: when grown cold, a regulus (improperly so called) will be found in the bottom; which is to be separated from the scoriae that lie above it, and ground with an equal weight of purified quicksilver until they are united.

This medicine is said to be of remarkable efficacy in venereal cases of long standing, in cancerous tumours, scrofulous and syphilitic disorders, obstinate glandular obstructions, and sundry other chronic distempers which elude the force of the common medicines. A few grains may be given at first, and the dose gradually increased, according to its operation, to a scruple or more. It acts chiefly by promoting perpiration: in some constitutions it proves purgative; and in others, if the dose is considerable, emetic.

C H A P. II.

Medicinal Compositions.

Sect. I. Powders.

805. This form receives such materials only as are capable of being sufficiently dried to become pulverizable, without the loss of their virtue. There are many substances, however, of this kind, which cannot be conveniently taken in powder: bitter, acid, fetid drugs, are too disagreeable: emollient and mucilaginous herbs and roots are too bulky; pure gums cohere, and become tenacious in the mouth; fixed alkaline salts liquefy upon exposing the composition to the air; and volatile alkalies exhale.

The dose of powders, in extemporaneous prescription, is generally about half a dram; it rarely exceeds a whole dram, and is not often less than a scruple. Substances which produce powerful effects in smaller doses are not trusted to this form, unless their bulk is increased by additions of less efficacy: those which require to be given in larger ones, are better fitted for other forms.

The usual vehicle for taking the lighter powders in, is any agreeable thin liquid. The ponderous powders, particularly those prepared from metallic substances, require a more confident vehicle, as syrups; for from thin ones they soon subside. Resinous substances likewise are most commodiously taken in thick liquors: in thin ones, they are apt to run into lumps, which are not easily again dissoluble.

806. General rules for making powders.

I. Particular care ought to be taken that nothing curious, decayed, or impure, be mixed in the composition of powders: the stalks and corrupted parts of plants are to be separated.

II. The dry aromatics ought to be sprinkled, during their pulverization, with a few drops of any proper water.

III. The moister aromatics may be dried with a very gentle heat before they are committed to the mortar.

IV. Gums, and such other substances as are difficultly pulverizable, should be pounded along with the drier ones, that they may pass the sieve together.

V. No part should be separated for use until the whole quantity put into the mortar has passed the sieve, and the several fittings been mixed together; for those parts of one and the same subject, which powder first, may prove different, at least in degree of efficacy, from the rest.

VI. Powders of aromatics are to be prepared only in small quantities at a time, and kept in glass vessels very closely stoppered.

If powders are long kept, and not carefully secured from the air, their virtue is in great measure destroyed, although the parts in which it consists should not in other circumstances prove volatile. Thus, though the virtues of ipacacoanha are so fixed as to remain entire even in extracts made with proper menstrua, yet if the powdered root be exposed for a length of time to the air, it loses its emetic quality.

807. Pulvis Antilyffus, or Powder against the bite of a mad dog. L. E.

Take of ash-coloured ground-liverwort, two ounces; black pepper, one ounce. Beat them together into a powder.

The virtue which this medicine has been celebrated for, is expressed in its title: the dose is a dram and a half, to be taken in the morning fasting in half a pint of cows milk warm, for four mornings together.

808. Compound powder of arum. L.

Take of arum-root, fresh dried, two ounces; yellow water-flag roots, burnet saxifrage-roots, each one ounce; craba-eyes prepared, cinnamon, each half an ounce; salt of wormwood, two drams. Beat them into a powder, which is to be kept in a cloise vessel.

The compound powder of arum was originally intended as a stomachic; and in weaknesses and relaxations of the stomach, accompanied with a surcharge of viscid humours, it is doubtless a very useful medicine. It frequently also has good effects in rheumatic cases. The dose may be from a scruple to a dram, two or three times a-day, in any convenient liquor. It should be used as fresh as possible, for its virtue suffers greatly in keeping.

809. Compound powder of bole without opium.

Take of bole armenic, or French bole, half a pound; cinnamon, four ounces; tormentil root, gum arabic, each three ounces; long pepper, half an ounce. Reduce these ingredients into powder.

810. Compound powder of bole with opium. L.

Take of opium strained, three drams. Dry it a little, so as to render it easily pulverizable; and add it to the foregoing species, that they may all beat into a powder together.

This powder with opium is an elegant reform of the species species of Fracastorius's confection, commonly called diafordinum; consisting only of such of the ingredients of that composition as are most conducive to the intention for which it is at present prescribed. Forty-five grains of the powder contain one of opium.

The powder is directed to be kept in the shops without opium, for cases where the assistance of that drug is not wanted. It is a warm glutinous astrigent; and is given in fluxes, or other disorders where medicines of this class are proper, in doses of a scruple or half a dram.

811. Compound powder of cerusse. L. Take of cerusse, five ounces; sarcocolla, an ounce and a half; gum tragacanth, half an ounce. Beat them together into a powder.

This composition is the trochisci albi of Razi, brought back to its original simplicity with regard to the ingredients, and without the needless trouble of making it into troches. It is employed for external purposes, as in collyria, lotions, and injections, for repelling acrimonious humours, and in inflammations.

812. Compound powder of crabs-claws. L. Take of the tips of crabs-claws prepared, one pound; pearls prepared, red coral prepared, each three ounces. Mix them together.

813. Compound teflaceous powder. Take of oyster-shells prepared, one pound; white chalk, half a pound. Mix them together.

This cheap absorbent powder is at least equally valuable as a medicine with the more costly and compounded crabs-claw and bezoardic powders of the shops. These kinds of preparations are given from half a scruple to half a dram, for absorbing or destroying acidities in the first passages; which seems to be the only good effect that can be reasonably expected from these simple antacid earths. If they meet with no acid to dissolve them, they promise to be injurious rather than beneficial.

It may here be proper to take notice of a quality hitherto little expected from these kind of substances, that of strongly promoting putrefaction. Flesh mixed with a small proportion of chalk, and exposed to a heat equal to that of the human body, not only corrupts sooner than without this addition, but likewise in a far greater degree, resolving in a few days into a perfect mucus. This quality of the absorbent powders (for the discovery of which, with many other curious experiments on the same subject, the public are obliged to Dr Pringle) seems to forbid their use in all those kinds of fevers where the animal-juices are already too much disposed to a putrefactive state. Indeed, in fevers of any kind, though frequently employed, they are at best unserviceable; and perhaps their ill effects would be oftener seen, if it was not for the quantity of acids usually given in acute diseases.

814. Bezoardic powder. L. Take of compound powder of crabs-claws, one pound; Oriental bezoar prepared, one ounce. Mix them together.

Bezoar has hitherto been an ingredient in the foregoing composition, which was then called Gascoign's powder; though, notwithstanding the addition which this article made to the price, it added nothing to the virtue of the medicine. The college of London have therefore very prudently directed an absorbent powder without this costly article; and composed another, distinguished by its name, for the use of those who expect any particular virtues from it.

815a. Compound powder of contrayerva. Take of compound powder of crabs-claws, a pound and a half; contrayerva root, five ounces. Make them into a powder. L. Take of contrayerva root, fix drams; Virginian snakeroot, two drams; English saffron, one dram; compound powder of crabs-claws, two ounces. Make them into a powder. E.

These medicines have a much better claim to the title of an alexipharmic and sudorific than the two foregoing compositions. The contrayerva, snakeroot, and saffron, by themselves are such, and prove very serviceable in low fevers, where the vis vitae is weak, and a diaphoresis to be promoted. It is possible that the crabs-claw powders are of no farther service than as they divide those powerful ingredients, and render them supportable to the stomach.

815b. Powder of chalk. E. Take of white chalk prepared, four ounces; nutmegs and cloves, of each half a dram. Mix them together into a powder, which supplies the place of the troches against the heartburn.

816. Epileptic powder. Take wild valerian root, peony root, of each equal parts. Make them into a powder.

This powder may be looked on as a medicine of some importance for the purposes expressed in its title, far superior to those of similar intention in other pharmacopoeias. The dose is from ten grains to half a dram for children, and from half a dram to two drams for adults.

817. Compound powder of myrrh. L. Take of rue leaves dried, dittany of Crete, myrrh, each an ounce and a half; aiafetida, sagapenum, Russia castor, opopanax, each one ounce. Beat them together into a powder.

This is a reformation of the troches of myrrh, a composition contrived by Razi against uterine obstructions. It may be taken in any convenient vehicle, or made into lozenges, from a scruple to a dram or more two or three times a day.

818. Powder to promote delivery. Take of borax, half an ounce; castor, saffron, each a dram and a half; oil of cinnamon, eight drops; oil of amber, six drops. Beat the species together into a powder, to which add the oils, and mix the whole well together.

This medicine has long been held in esteem for the purpose expressed in its title; nevertheless, its real efficacy, and what share thereof is owing to each of the ingredients, has not been sufficiently determined: the borax, though by some thought to be of little importance, does not perhaps contribute least to its virtue. The dose is from a scruple to a dram, or so much as can be conveniently taken up at once on the point of a knife. It should be kept in a very close vessel, otherwise it will soon lose a considerable deal of its more valuable parts.

819. Compound powder of scammony. L. Take of scammony, four ounces; calcined hartshorn prepared, three ounces. Grind them diligently together into a powder. L. Take of scammony, crystals of tartar, of each two ounces; mix and rub them together into a very fine powder. E.

Here the scammony is divided by the earthy calx and salt, and thus rendered somewhat more soluble, and less adhesive; hence its purgative quality is promoted, at the same time that it becomes less gripping. The dose of the compound is from fifteen grains to half a dram.

820. Compound powder of senna. L. Take of crystals of tartar, senna, each two ounces; scammony, half an ounce; cloves, cinnamon, ginger, each two drams. Powder the scammony by itself, and all the other ingredients together; then mix them.

This powder is given as a cathartic, in the dose of two scruples or a dram. The spices are added, not only to divide, but to warm the medicine, and make it fit easier on the stomach. The scammony is used as a stimulus to the senna; the quantity of the latter necessary for a dose, when not assisted by some more powerful material, being too bulky to be conveniently taken in this form.

821. Stermatory powder. L. Take of asarum, marjoram, marum-lyriaicum leaves dried, lavender flowers dried, each equal weights. Rub them together into a powder.

822. Cephalic powder. E. Take of the leaves of asarum, three parts; of marjoram, one part. Beat them together into a powder.

The titles of these powders sufficiently express their intention. They are both agreeable and efficacious erthines, and superior to most of those usually sold under the name of herb-snuff.

823. Styptic powder. E. Take of alum, an ounce and a half; gum kino, three drams. Make them into a powder.

This powder is a very powerful astringent.

824. Compound powder of amber. L. Take of amber prepared, gum arabic, each ten drams; juice of hypocrites, balauftines, Japan earth, each five drams; olibanum, half an ounce; strained opium, one dram. Beat them together into a powder.

This medicine may be looked upon as an useful, and tolerably elegant astringent; though possibly the ingredient which it receives its name from, contributes little to its virtue. Two scruples of the composition contain one grain of opium.

825. Compound powder of gum tragacanth. L. Take of gum tragacanth, gum arabic, marshmallow root, each an ounce and a half; starch, liquorice, each half an ounce; double-refined sugar, three ounces. Grind them into a powder.

This powder is a mild emollient; and hence becomes serviceable in hectic cases, tickling coughs, strangury, some kinds of alvine fluxes, and other disorders proceeding from a thin acrimonious state of the humours, or an abrasion of the mucus of the intestines: it softens and gives a greater degree of consistence to the former, and defends the latter from being irritated or excoriated by them. The dose is from half a dram to two or three drams, which may be frequently repeated.

826. Hiera picra. L. Take of gum extracted from focotrine aloes, one pound; canella alba, three ounces. Beat them separately into powder, and then mix them together. L. Take focotrine aloes, four ounces; Virginian snakeroot, ginger, each half an ounce. Mix, and beat them into a powder. E.

These compositions were originally directed to be made into an electuary: with us, they have been rarely used in that form, and not often in this of a powder, on account of their great nauseousness. They are chiefly employed as the basis of a tincture called tinctoria sacra. See no 376.

827, a. Aromatic species. L. Take of cinnamon, two ounces; lesser cardamom seed hulled, ginger, long pepper, each one ounce. Beat them together into a powder.

827, b. Aromatic powder. E. Take of nutmegs, lesser cardamom seeds, ginger, each two ounces. Beat them together into a powder, to be kept in glass vessels well stopped.

Both these compositions are agreeable, hot, spicy medicines; and as such may be usefully taken in cold phlegmatic habits and decayed constitutions, for warming the stomach, promoting digestion, and strengthening the tone of the viscera. The dose is from ten grains to a scruple and upwards. The first is considerably the warmest.

828. Species of scordium without opium. L. Take of bole armenic, or French bole, four ounces; scordium, two ounces; cinnamon, an ounce and a half; storax strained, tormentil root, bistort root, gentian, dittany of Crete, galbanum strained, gum arabic, red roses, each one ounce; long pepper, ginger, each half an ounce. Reduce them into powder.

829. Species of scordium with opium. L. Take of strained opium, three drams. Dry it a little, that it may easily pulverize; and add it to the foregoing species in the beating, that they may be all reduced into a powder together.

This is the species of Fracastorius's confection, or diafscordium, which has been hitherto kept in the shops in the form of an electuary only, but is now judiciously diciously directed in that of a powder also, both with and without the opium: when made into an electuary, the medicine, in keeping, loses of its astringency, in which consists great part of its virtue. As this composition has in common practice been looked upon as a medicine of great consequence, and its effects determined by long experience; the college have made no farther alteration in its ingredients, than substituting red roses themselves to the sugar of roses, omitting forrel seeds, which are certainly insignificant, and supplying the Lennian earth, which with us is scarce ever met with genuine, by a proper increase of the bole.

830. Saline cathartic powder. Take of vitriolated tartar, crystals of tartar, each one dram; sal prunel, or purified nitre, one scruple. Make them into a powder.

This is an useful cathartic in inflammatory disorders and a viscid impure state of the juices. The quantity above directed is intended for one dose, which should be accompanied with plentiful dilution.

831. Carminative powder. Take of aniseed, sweet-fennel seed, each two scruples; ginger, one scruple; nutmegs, half a scruple; fine sugar, half a dram. Reduce them into a powder, for four doses.

This powder is employed for expelling flatulencies arising from indigestion, particularly those to which hypochondriacal and hysterical persons are subject. It is likewise usefully given in the gripes of young children, either mixed with their food or otherwise.

832. Diuretic powder. Take of sal prunel, ten grains; salt of amber, four grains; oil of turpentine, three drops; fine sugar, one scruple. Drop the oil upon the sugar, then add the salts, and grind the whole together.

This powder is a very efficacious diuretic, and may be given to advantage in cases where the affluence of such forcing medicines is required. The salts somewhat abate the heating quality of the oil, and at the same time cool and relax the paffages.

833. Strengthening powder. Take of extract of Peruvian bark, 12 grains; salt of steel, two grains; oil of cinnamon, one drop; fine sugar, half a dram. Having mixed the oil with the sugar, add the other ingredients, and grind the whole well together for two doses.

This medicine has a much better title to the appellation of a strengthening, than those usually met with under that name in dispensaries. In lax habits, debilities of the nervous system, the weaknesses peculiar to either sex, it has generally good effects.

834. Powder against the king's evil. Take of burnt sponge, one scruple; nitre, coralline; fine sugar, each half a scruple. Reduce them into powder.

This powder is recommended in serophulous disorders and obstructions of the glands: it is supposed to open and deterge the minute vessels, and carry off the offending matter by urine. Dr Mead informs us, in his Manita Medica, that he very frequently experienced its good effects; he used to give the quantity above prescribed, twice a day, with three or four glasses of the less compound lime-water along with each dose; if the patient was much emaciated, the lime-water was mixed with about an equal quantity of milk.

835. Vermifuge powder. 1. Take of tanly flowers, worm-feed, each three drams; salt of steel, one dram. Make them into a powder. 2. Take of tin reduced into fine powder, two drams; ethiops mineral, half a dram; fine sugar, one scruple. Mix them well together. 3. Take of choice rhubarb, three drams; scammony, calomel, each one dram. Mix, and make them into a powder.

All these compositions are well calculated for the purpose expressed in the title. The first is given in hospitals, in doses of half a dram twice a day; which quantity contains about four grains and a half of the salt of steel. The second is divided into three or four doses, one of which is taken every morning, and a cathartic on the day following. The third, which is a brisk purgative, is used in the quantity of half a dram, after the others have been premised; or it is taken once or twice a week without their assistance.

836. Compound powder of jalap. Take of jalap root, one ounce; crystals of tartar, two ounces. Mix, and rub them together into a very fine powder.

837. Dover's sweating powder. Take of vitriolated tartar, four ounces and an half; opium, powdered ipecacuanha root, of each half an ounce. Mix, and rub them well together into a fine powder.

Sect. II. Troches and Lozenges.

836. Troches and lozenges are composed of powders made up with glutinous substances into little cakes, and afterwards dried. This form is principally made use of for the more commodious exhibition of certain medicines, by fitting them to dissolve slowly in the mouth, so as to pass by degrees into the stomach; and hence these preparations have generally a considerable proportion of sugar or other materials grateful to the palate. Some powders have likewise been reduced into troches, with a view to their preservation; though possibly for no very good reasons: for the moistening, and afterwards drying them in the air, must in this light be of greater injury than any advantage accruing from this form can counterbalance.

General rules for making troches. I. The three first rules laid down for making powders, are also to be observed in the powders for troches. II. If the mass proves so glutinous as to stick to the fingers in making up, the hands may be anointed with any convenient sweet or aromatic oil; or else sprinkled with powder of starch, or with that of liquorice. III. In order to thoroughly dry the troches, put them on an inverted sieve, in a shady, airy place, and frequently turn them. IV. Troches are to kept in glass vessels, or in earthen ones well glazed.

838. White 838. a. White pectoral troches.

Take of double-refined sugar, a pound and a half; starch, an ounce and a half; liquorice, six drams; Florence orris root, half an ounce. Reduce these ingredients into powder, which is to be made up into troches with a proper quantity of mucilage of gum tragacanth. L.

Take of white sugar, one pound; gum arabic, two ounces; starch, one ounce; Florentine orris root, one ounce. Make them into troches with rose-water. E.

These compositions are very agreeable pectorals, and may be used at pleasure. They are calculated for softening acrimonious humours, and allaying the tickling in the throat which provokes coughing.

838. b. Black pectoral troches.

Take of extract of liquorice, gum arabic, each four ounces; white sugar, eight ounces. Boil the extract and gum in a sufficient quantity of water till they are dissolved; then having strained the liquor, add to it the sugar, and evaporate the mixture over a gentle fire, till it is of a proper consistence for being formed into troches. E.

This composition is designed for the same purposes as the white pectoral troches above described.

838. c. Pectoral troches with opium. E.

Take of opium, balsam of Peru, of each one dram; fine sugar, two drams; of the mass for black pectoral troches, seven ounces. Rub the opium very well with the balsam and sugar; then gradually add the mass of troches well softened with warm water. When all is very accurately mixed, form it into troches, each weighing 15 grains.

839. Red-lead troches.

Take of red-lead, half an ounce; corrosive mercury sublimate, one ounce; crumb of the finest bread, four ounces. Make them up with rose-water into oblong troches.

Red-lead troches are employed only for external purposes as escharotics: they are powerfully such, and require a good deal of caution in their use.

840. Troches of nitre.

Take of nitre purified, four ounces; double-refined sugar, one pound. Make them into troches with mucilage of gum tragacanth. L.

Take of nitre, three ounces; fine sugar, nine ounces. Powder them together, and make them into troches with mucilage of gum tragacanth. E.

This is a very agreeable form for the exhibition of nitre; though, when the salt is thus taken without any liquid (if the quantity is considerable) it is apt to occasion uneasiness about the stomach, which can only be prevented by large dilution with aqueous liquors.

841. Troches of squills. L.

Take of baked squills, half a pound; wheat flour, four ounces. Beat them together, and form the mass into troches, which are to be dried with a gentle heat.

This preparation is used only as an ingredient in the theriaca.

842. Troches of sulphur.

Take of flowers of sulphur, washed, two ounces; double-refined sugar, four ounces. Beat them together; and, adding some mucilage of quince seeds, form them into troches. L.

Take of flowers of sulphur, two ounces; flowers of benzoin, one scruple; white sugar, four ounces; factitious cinnamon, half a dram. Mucilage of gum tragacanth, as much as is sufficient. Mix, and make them into troches, according to art.

These compositions are to be considered only as agreeable forms for the exhibition of sulphur, no alteration or addition being here made to its virtue; unless that by the flowers of the benzoin in the second prescription, the medicine is supposed to be rendered more efficacious as a pectoral.

843. Troches of Japan earth. L.

Take of Japan earth, gum arabic, each two ounces; sugar of roses, 16 ounces. Beat them together; and dropping in some water, make them into troches.

A preparation of this kind, with the addition of ambergris and musk, which are here more prudently omitted, has long been in some esteem as a mild restringent, &c. under the title of catechu. These troches are sufficiently palatable, and of considerable service in some kinds of coughs, thin acrid fluxions, diarrhoeas, &c.

844. Cardialgic lozenges. L.

Take of chalk prepared, four ounces; crabs-claws prepared, two ounces; bole armenic, or French bole, half an ounce; nutmegs, one scruple; double-refined sugar, three ounces. Reduce these ingredients into powder, and make them into troches with water.

This composition is calculated against that uneasy sensation at the stomach, improperly called the heartburn; in which it oftentimes gives immediate relief, by absorbing and neutralizing the acid juices that occasion this disorder. The absorbent powders here made use of are of the most powerful kind, though there does not seem to be any occasion for using more than one of them.

It is, however, to be observed, that absorbent compositions, though very effectual for the intention, are accompanied with an inconvenience, which is frequently complained of in their use; their binding the belly. The following is free from this inconvenience.

845. Laxative antacid lozenges.

Take of magnesia alba, six ounces; double-refined sugar, three ounces; nutmegs, one scruple. Mix them well together, and form them into troches with mucilage of gum tragacanth.

846. Sugar of roses. L.

Take of red-rose buds, freed from the heels, and hastily dried, one ounce; double-refined sugar, one pound. Reduce them separately into powder; then mix, and moisten them with water, that they may be formed into troches, which are to be dried by a gentle heat.

This preparation is chiefly valued for its agreeableness to the eye and palate. Some likewise esteem it medi- medicinally, as a light restringent; and look upon it, not undeservedly, as an excellent addition to milk in phthisical and hectic cases.

847. Anthelmintic sugar cakes.

1. Take of powdered tin, half a dram; fine sugar, half an ounce; rose-water, a sufficient quantity to make them into a mass for tablets.

2. Take of scammony, mercurius dulcis, each four grains; fine sugar, half an ounce; rose-water, a sufficient quantity to make them into tablets.

These compositions are calculated for children, who are not easily prevailed upon to take anthelmintic medicines in less agreeable forms. If the first is made use of, it must be repeated three or four mornings successively, after which a purge is to be taken; the second, if it requires a repetition, is to be given only every other morning. The proportions of the ingredients are to be varied, according to the age and strength of the patient.

848. Nerve troches.

Take of compound spirit of lavender, 60 drops; oil of cinnamon, oil of rosemary, each four drops; Florence orice root, two drams; fine sugar, one ounce; mucilage of gum tragacanth, as much as will reduce them into a mass, which is to be formed into troches of about half a scruple each.

One or two of these troches taken occasionally, and suffered to dissolve in the mouth, prove serviceable to those who are subject to paralytic and other nervous disorders. Warm aromatic medicines, given in this form and manner, are supposed, from their slow diffusion in the mouth, to affect the nervous system more immediately than if received at once into the stomach.

849. Purging tablets.

Take of crystals of tartar, half an ounce; scammony, three drams; oil of cinnamon, four drops; double-refined sugar, eight ounces. Make them up with rose-water into troches, weighing each about a dram.

This is a sufficiently elegant form for purgative troches. Each of the tablets contains two grains and a half of scammony.

850. Rhubarb troches.

Take of creme of tartar, rhubarb, each two drams; fresh lemon-peel, half a dram; fine sugar, four ounces. Make them into troches with rose-water.

Two drams of these troches contain about seven grains of rhubarb, and as much creme of tartar.

851. Kunckel's antimonial tablets.

Take of the best Hungarian antimony, levigated into an impalpable powder, three drams and a half; sweet almonds peeled, fresh pine-nuts, each half an ounce; cinnamon, one dram; lesser cardamom seeds hulled, half a dram; double-refined sugar, four ounces. Dissolve the sugar in equal quantities of cinnamon-water and rose-water; then mix therewith the other ingredients, and form the whole into tablets weighing one dram each.

These tablets were brought into esteem by Kunckel, at a time when the internal use of crude antimony was almost universally reckoned poisonous. He had recourse to them as a desperate medicine, in violent pains and contractions of the arms, after all the common methods of cure had been used without any relief; and being happily, in a short time, perfectly freed from his complaints, he made trial of them in several other cases with remarkable success. He seems to have begun with doses of four or five grains, (that is, one of the tablets above prescribed); which were repeated thrice a day, and gradually increased to a dram or more of the antimony every day.

852. Sialagogue troches.

Take of pellitory of Spain, half an ounce; mastich, two drams; oil of cloves and marjoram, each one dram; yellow wax, a sufficient quantity. Make them into troches or pellets.

One of these troches is to be occasionally held in the mouth, and chewed, to promote a discharge of saliva; which they effect by warming and stimulating the salivary glands.

853. Stomachic troches.

Take of hard extract of Peruvian bark, one dram; oil of cinnamon, oil of mint, each ten drops; fine sugar, four ounces. Make them into troches, with mucilage of gum tragacanth.

These troches are of service for warming and strengthening the stomach, expelling flatulencies, and promoting digestion; for these purposes they are as effectual as anything that can well be contrived in this form.

Sect. III. Pills.

854. To this form are peculiarly adapted those drugs which operate in a small dose; and whose nauseous and offensive taste or smell require them to be concealed from the palate.

Pills dissolve the most difficultly in the stomach, and produce the most gradual and lasting effects, of all the internal forms. This is, in some cases, of great advantage; in others, it is a quality not at all desirable; and sometimes it may even be of dangerous consequence, particularly with regard to emetics, which if they pass the stomach undissolved, and afterwards exert themselves in the intestines, operate there as violent cathartics.

Hence emetics are, among us, scarce ever given in pills. And hence to the resinous and difficultly soluble substances, saponaceous ones ought to be added, in order to promote their solution.

Gummy resins and infusorial juices, are sometimes soft enough to be made into pills, without addition: where any moisture is requisite, spirit of wine is more proper than syrups or conserves, as it unites more readily with them, and does not sensibly increase their bulk. Light, dry powders, require syrup or mucilages; and the more ponderous, as the mercurial and other metallic preparations, thick honey, conserve, or extracts.

Light powders require about half their weight of syrup; of honey, about three-fourths their weight; to reduce them into a due consistence for forming pills. Half a dram of the mass will make five or six pills of a moderate size.

General rules for making pills.

I. The three first rules, formerly laid down for making king powders, are here also to be carefully observed.

II. Gums and inspissated juices are to be first softened with the liquid prescribed; then add the powders, and continue beating them all together till they are perfectly mixed.

III. The masses for pills are best kept in bladders, which should be moistened now and then with some kind of liquid that the mass was made up with, or with some proper aromatic oil.

855. Ethiopic pills. E. Take of quicksilver, six drams; honey, half an ounce; golden sulphur of antimony, gum guaiacum in powder, each half an ounce. Having rubbed the quicksilver with the honey in a glass mortar, till the globules cease to appear, add the sulphur of antimony; then with mucilage of gum arabic make them into a mass of a proper consistence for pills.

These pills resemble Dr Plummer's, described in the Edin. Essays, (see no 773. supra;) to which they are preferable in one respect, that they are less apt to run off by stool. They are an useful alternative both in cutaneous and venereal disorders. One-fourth part of the quantity above prescribed may be made into 60 pills; of which from one to four may be taken every night and morning, the patient keeping moderately warm during the whole time that this course is continued.

856. Aromatic pills. L. Take of socotrine aloes, an ounce and a half; gum guaiacum, one ounce; aromatic species, balsam of Peru, each half an ounce. Reduce the aloes and gum guaiacum separately into powder; then mix them with the rest, and make the whole into a mass with a sufficient quantity of syrup of orange-peel.

These pills, taken in small doses, as half a scruple or little more, and occasionally repeated, warm the stomach, and by degrees the whole habit, and promote perspiration and all the natural secretions. If the dose is considerable, they operate gently by stool; and if continued for some time in smaller doses, they prove at length purgative, or introduce a salutary looseness.

857. Alletic pills. Take of socotrine aloes in powder, extract of gentian, of each two ounces; sal polychrest in powder, half an ounce. Mix, and make them into a mass of pills with simple syrup.

858. Jalap pills. E. Take of extract of jalap, two ounces; aromatic species, half an ounce; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity. Beat them into a mass.

This composition was first received into the former edition of the pharmacopoeia. One of the same kind, with powdered jalap in substance instead of the extract, is used in some of the London hospitals, as a cheap and effectual purge.

859. Pills of scammony with aloes. Take of socotrine aloes, one dram; aromatic species, half a dram; scammony, one scruple; soft extract of liquorice, as much as is sufficient to reduce them into a mass of a due consistence for being formed into pills.

This warm purgative is recommended for removing the crudities, &c., after a surfeit or debauch, and for preventing arthritic and other complaints incident to those who live high. The quantity above prescribed may be made into 30 pills, of which five or six are to be taken for a dose.

860. The more simple colocynth pills. L. Take of pith of colocynth, scammony, each two ounces; oil of cloves, two drams. Pulverize the colocynthida and scammony by themselves, then mix in the oil, and make the whole into a mass with syrup of buckthorn.

The operator should be careful, in pulverising the colocynth, to avoid the finer particles that fly off from it; which, though they do not considerably affect the mouth or fauces, have sometimes been observed to occasion violent purging. The drug should first be well dried, cut with sheers into small pieces, and freed from the seeds; then rub it in an oiled mortar, adding a few drops of sweet oil occasionally during the trituration: afterwards mix this powder with the powdered scammony, add the essential oil prescribed, and make the mixture into a mass, as above directed. The composition is apt to grow stiff and dry in keeping, and therefore ought to be made pretty soft at first; the pills should be formed as they are wanted; for when long kept, they become too hard, as to have sometimes passed through the intestines undissolved.

These pills (formerly called pilulae de duobus, or pills of two ingredients) are very strong cathartics, and ought not to be ventured upon in cases where less violent medicines will take effect. They have been often made use of in large doses, along with large doses also of mercurials, in venereal complaints, both in recent gonorrhoeas, and in the swellings and inflammations which sometimes follow from the suppression of the discharge; but in both these cases they are apparently improper, as they generally injure the constitution, and as the latter complaint is for the most part aggravated by them. The dose is from 15 grains to half a dram; some have imprudently gone as far as two scruples.

861. The pills called cochiæ. E. Take of colocynthida, one ounce; scammony, socotrine aloes, each two ounces; vitriolated tartar, two drams; oil of cloves, two drams; mucilage of gum arabic, a sufficient quantity. Powder the aloes, scammony, and salt, together; then add the colocynth in very fine powder, and the oil; lastly, with the mucilage make the whole into a mass of pills.

This composition, like the foregoing, is strongly cathartic; not less effectual, though somewhat less irritating.

862. Colocynth pills with aloes. L. Take of socotrine aloes, scammony, each two ounces; pith of colocynth, one ounce; oil of cloves, two drams. Let the dry species be separately reduced to powder; then mix in the oil, and make the whole into a mass with syrup of buckthorn. By the diminution of coloquintida in this prescription, the ingredients are reduced to the proportions wherein they are set down in the original of Galen; and what is of greater consequence, the medicine becomes less ungrateful to the stomach, and less virulent in its operation.

863. Deobftruent pills. L. Take of the aromatic pills, three ounces; rhubarb, extract of gentian, salt of steel, each one ounce; salt of wormwood, half an ounce. Beat them together into a mass, with solute syrup of roses.

It is difficult to bring this mass into the due consistence, the two salts acting upon one another so as to make it swell and crumble. Notwithstanding the alkaline salt employed, the pill does not prove at all alkaline; for the acid of the salt of steel forlakes its metal, and unites with the alkali into a vitriolated tartar: whence some have proposed using, instead of the two salts here directed, an ounce of vitriolated tartar already made, and half an ounce of any of the calces of iron: this, they observe, prevents the inconvenience abovementioned, without making any apparent alteration in the quality of the medicine.

864. Chalybeate ephratic pills. Take of the mass of common pills, called Rufus's pills described hereafter, one ounce and a half; gum ammoniacum, resin of guaiacum, each half an ounce; salt of steel, five drams; syrup of orange-peel, as much as is sufficient to reduce the whole into a mass.

Both these and the foregoing pills are very well calculated for answering the intention expressed in the title. A dram of the mass may be made into 12 pills, and two or three of these taken every night, or oftener, in chlorotic, or other cases, where warm, apertient, or deobftruent medicines are proper.

865. Purging deobftruent pills. Take of socotrine aloes, extract of black hellebore, scammony, each one ounce; gum ammoniacum, resin of guaiacum, each half an ounce; vitriolated tartar, two drams; essential oil of juniper-berries, one dram. Beat them into a mass, with a sufficient quantity of syrup of buckthorn.

This composition may be given from eight or ten grains to a scruple or half a dram, according as it is intended to keep the belly open or to purge. Half a dram of the mass contains about six grains of each of the capital purgative ingredients; aloes, scammony, and extract of hellebore.

866. Fetid pills. Take of asafoetida, Russia caflor, each one dram and a half; camphor half a dram; oil of hartshorn, 24 drops. Beat the camphor with the asafoetida, then add the caflor and oil of hartshorn, and make the whole into a mass.

867. Gum pills. Take of galbanum, opopanax, myrrh, sagespernum, each one ounce; asafoetida, half an ounce. Make them into a mass with syrup of saffron. L. Take of asafoetida, galbanum, myrrh, of each two ounces; rectified oil of amber, one dram. Mix and make them into a mass with common syrup. E.

All these pills are designed for antihysterics and emmenagogues, and very well calculated for answering those intentions: half a scruple, a scruple, or more, may be taken every night or oftener.

The following compositions are calculated for the same intentions as the foregoing deobftruent, fetid, and gum pills.

1. Take of asafoetida, wood-foot, myrrh, each two ounces; oil of amber, one dram and a half; syrup of lugarc, a sufficient quantity. Mix, and make them into a mass, according to art.

2. Take of asafoetida, one dram; martial flowers, half a dram; oil of amber, eight drops; balsam of Peru, a sufficient quantity to reduce them into a mass.

3. Take of asafoetida, gum ammoniacum, myrrh, aloes, rust of steel prepared, extract of gentian, each one scruple; syrup of ginger, as much as will make the other ingredients into a mass.

4. Take of galbanum, one dram; salt of steel, half a dram; asafoetida, aromatic species, each one scruple; tincture of myrrh, as much as will make them into a mass.

A dram of either of the masses is to be made into 12 pills, one or two of which may be taken for a dose twice or thrice a-day.

868. Mercurial pills. Take of purified quicksilver, honey, each one ounce; crumb of bread, two ounces. Grind them together in a glass-mortar till the mercurial globules cease to appear; then add a sufficient quantity of common syrup, and make the whole into a mass according to art. E. Take of quicksilver, five drams; Strasbourg turpentine, two drams; cathartic extract, four scruples; rhubarb powdered, one dram. Grind the quicksilver with the turpentine until they are perfectly incorporated; then let the other ingredients be beat up with this mixture into a mass. If the turpentine happens to be too thick, soften it with a little oil-olive. L.

869. Laxative mercurial pills. Take of pure quicksilver, one ounce; resin of guaiacum, extract of hellebore, powdered rhubarb, each half an ounce; common syrup, a sufficient quantity. Grind the quicksilver with the resin of guaiacum until they are perfectly incorporated; then add the other ingredients, and beat the whole into a mass according to art.

The three foregoing compositions are useful mercurial pills; the first as an alternative, the other two as purgative mercurials. They are all, however, liable to an inconvenience, uncertainty in regard to their strength: for the mercury is but loosely united with the other ingredients, and very apt to separate and run together in its original form; in which state it never exerts its proper virtue: though it appears perfectly extinguished by the matters it is ground with at first, part of it is apt to be spewed out on beating up the mixture with the other ingredients into a mass.

870. Gamboge pills. Take of socotrine aloes, extract of black hellebore, gamboge, gamboge, mercurius dulcis, each two drams; essential oil of juniper-berries, half a dram; syrup of buckthorn, a sufficient quantity. Beat them into a mass.

This is a strong mercurial purgative, in which the mercurial preparation is not liable to the uncertainty which the crude quicksilver is accompanied with in the foregoing compositions. The dose is from 10 or 15 grains to half a dram.

871. a. Thebaic, commonly called the pacific pills. E. Take of opium, half an ounce; extract of liquorice, two ounces; Castile soap, an ounce and a half; Jamaica pepper, one ounce. Soften the opium and extract separately with water; then mix them together, and add the soap and pepper in powder; after which beat all well together into a mass.

871. b. Saponaceous pills. L. Take of almond-soap, four ounces; strained opium, half an ounce; essence of lemons, one dram. Soften the opium with a little wine; and then beat it with the rest, until they are perfectly mixed.

These are introduced in the room of those formerly so much celebrated under the name of Starkey's or Matthew's pills. The soap promotes the solution of the opium in the stomach, and thus occasions it to act the more quickly. The essence of lemons, in the last of these prescriptions, gives an agreeable flavour, makes the medicine fit easier on the stomach, and prevents a nausea, which it would otherwise be apt to occasion. Ten grains of the pill contain nearly one grain of opium.

871. c. Storax pills. L. Take of strained storax, two ounces; saffron, one ounce; strained opium, five drams. Beat them together till perfectly united.

These are contrived for dissolving more slowly in the stomach than the saponaceous pills, and consequently producing more gradual and lasting effects.

871. d. Olibanum pills. E. Take of olibanum, two ounces; myrrh, one ounce; opium, five drams; balsam of Peru, two drams; common syrup, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a mass; which supplies the place of the storax pills.

872. Pectoral pills. Take of gum ammoniacum, half an ounce; balsam of Tolu, two drams; flowers of benzoin, English saffron, each one dram; common syrup, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a mass according to art.

This composition is very well contrived for promoting expectoration; and may be usefully given in common colds, and in difficulty of breathing proceeding from viscid phlegm: the dose is from six or eight grains to a scruple or more.

873. Rufus's pills. L. Take of socotrine aloes, two ounces; myrrh, saffron, each one ounce. Make them into a mass with syrup of saffron. L. Take of socotrine aloes, two ounces; myrrh, one ounce; saffron, half an ounce. Beat them into a mass with a proper quantity of syrup of orange-peel. E. The pills, given to the quantity of half a dram or two scruples, prove considerably cathartic; but they answer much better purposes in smaller doses as laxatives or alternatives.

874. Squill pills. Take of Spanish soap, one ounce; gum ammoniacum, milipedes prepared, fresh squills, each half an ounce; balsam of Copaiba, as much as is sufficient. Reduce them into a mass according to art.

* This is an elegant and commodious form for the exhibition of squills, whether for promoting expectoration, or in the other intentions to which that medicine is applied.

875. Pills against the dysentery. Take of yellow wax, half an ounce; spermaceti, Japan earth, each one dram; oil of cinnamon, twelve drops. Make them into a mass.

This medicine has often been of great benefit for the purpose expressed in its title; at the same time strengthening the intestines, and covering them with a soft mucous, which defends them from being irritated by the acrimony of the humours. Each half dram of the mass may be formed into five or six pills for one or two doses.

876. Spermaceti pills. Take of spermaceti, one dram; white sugar-candy in powder, two drams; balsamic syrup, as much as is sufficient. Grind the spermaceti with the sugar till they are perfectly mixed; then adding the syrup, rub them with a warm pellike into an uniform mass.

Where spermaceti cannot be commodiously exhibited in any other form, three or four moderate-sized pills, made from this mass, may be taken two or three times a-day, in erosions of the viscera by acrimonious humours, tickling coughs, and other like disorders.

877. Plummer's pills. E. Take of sweet mercury, golden sulphur of antimony, of each six drams; extract of liquorice, half an ounce; rub the mercury with the sulphur till they are thoroughly incorporated; then add the extract, and with mucilage of gum arabic make the whole into a mass.

Sect. IV. Boluses.

878. Boluses differ little in consistence from electuaries, being only somewhat stiffer, so as to retain their figure without spreading or falling flat.

This form is very convenient for the exhibition of the more powerful medicines, which require their doses to be exactly adjusted, as the stronger alexipharmacs, cathartics, and opiates. As boluses are chiefly intended for immediate use, volatile salts, and other materials, which, if the mass was to be kept, would exhale or swell it, are frequently admitted into them.

The quantity of a bolus very seldom exceeds a dram: if the ingredients are of the lighter kind, even this will be too bulky to be commodiously swallowed down.

The lighter powders are made up with syrup; a scruple or 26 grains of the powder, with as much fy- rup as will bring it to a due consistence, makes a bolus sufficiently large.

The more ponderous powders, as the mercurial ones, are commonly made up with conserve, syrups scarce holding them together. For the terebraceous powders also an addition of conserve is used; though, if made up with this alone, they would be too bulky.

Both the light and ponderous powders may be conveniently made up with mucilage, which increases the bulk less than the other additions, and occasions them to pass down more freely.

The official pharmacopoeias have no formula of this kind: most of the following compositions are taken from our hospitals.

879. Alexipharmac bolus.

1. Take of compound powder of contrayerva, half a scruple; syrup of wild poppies, a sufficient quantity to make it into a bolus.

2. Take of contrayerva root, half a scruple; syrup of saffron, as much as is sufficient. Make them into a bolus.

3. Take of Virginian snakeroot, half a scruple; confection of kermes, as much as is sufficient. Mix and make them into a bolus.

4. Take of Virginian snakeroot, contrayerva root, each eight grains; saffron, three grains; syrup of meconium, a sufficient quantity to reduce them into a bolus.

5. Take of camphor, two grains; saffron, five grains; cordial confection, one scruple. Mix and make them into a bolus.

6. Take of camphor, two grains; nitre, contrayerva root, each ten grains; syrup of clove-juliyflowers, as much as will make them into a bolus.

7. Take of musk, ten grains; salt of hartshorn, or of sal ammoniac, five grains; Thebaic extract, half a grain; syrup of saffron, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a bolus.

These boluses are designed for low depressed fevers, in which medicines of this kind are generally prescribed, for keeping up the vis vitae, raising the pulse, and promoting a diaphoresis. The compositions differ in strength, nearly according to the order in which they stand. The last is of great power, and designed chiefly for cases accompanied with convulsive symptoms, which are often abated by it.

880. Castror bolus.

Take of castor, one scruple; salt of hartshorn, five grains; or oil of hartshorn, five drops; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a bolus.

This medicine is given in hysterical and hypochondriacal disorders, and likewise as an alexipharmac in fevers. Its virtues, which are great and unquestionable, seem to depend more on the fetid animal-oil, or volatile salt, than on the drug from whence it takes its name.

881. Diaphoretic bolus.

Take of compound powder of contrayerva, crude sal ammoniac, each one scruple; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity to form them into a bolus.

This bolus is given in fevers, and other cases where a diaphoresis is to be promoted. Sal ammoniac is for this purpose one of the most efficacious of the neutral salts. It requires, however, when thus given in a solid form, to be afflited by warm diluents, frequently repeated; which not only promote its action, but likewise prevent its fitting uneasy on the stomach.

882. Diuretic bolus.

Take of fresh squills, six grains; compound powder of arum, ten grains; ginger, five grains; syrup of orange-peel, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a bolus.

This composition is recommended by Dr Mead, to be taken every morning in hydropic cases, for promoting urine. He observes, that in these disorders, diuretic medicines vary greatly in their effects, those which answer sufficiently in one person failing in another; and that the squill and its preparations are of all others those which most generally succeed.

883. Bolus against the dysentery.

Take of the cordial confection, French balsam, each one scruple; thebaic extract, one grain. Make them into a bolus.

This composition is excellently well calculated for the purpose expressed in its title. Dr Mead assures us, that he has never found any one medicine more effectual, either for restraining the flux, or healing the ulcerated membranes. Previous to the use of this or other like medicines, the first passages must be cleansed by mild emetics and cathartics, as ipecacoanha and rhubarb.

884. Emmenagogue bolus.

Take of socotrine aloes, eight grains; saffron, four grains; Guinea pepper, two grains; oil of savin, two drops; conserve of rue, as much as is sufficient to reduce them into a due consistence.

Take of black hellebore root, eight grains; fresh squills, four grains; essential oil of pepper-mint, two drops; conserve of orange-peel, as much as is sufficient to make them into a bolus.

These are medicines of great power for promoting or exciting the menstrual flux. The first is calculated for lax phlegmatic habits; the other for persons of a sanguine temperament, where chalybeate medicines cannot be borne.

885. Febrifuge bolus.

Take of Peruvian bark, one scruple; cascarilla, half a scruple; mucilage of quince seeds, a sufficient quantity to make them into a bolus.

This elegant composition is excellently well adapted to the cure of intermittent fevers, and may be given in cases where the Peruvian bark by itself would be less proper. Where aromatics, chalybeates, bitters, &c. are also requisite, they are either to be premised, or occasionally interposed.

886. Hysteric bolus.

Take of musk, afafetida, each six grains; castor, half a scruple; syrup of saffron, as much as is sufficient to make them into a bolus.

This medicine is a very well contrived one for the purpose expressed in its title. It is of great service both in hysterical and hypochondriacal disorders; and often gives relief in the depressions, faintings, flatulent... lent colics, headaches, and other symptoms attending them. It may be taken twice a-day along with any suitable liquor.

887. Iliac bolus. Take of cathartic extract, one scruple; thebaic extract, one grain. Make them into a bolus.

This bolus is prescribed by Dr Mead for easing the pain and procuring stools in the iliac-passion and dry belly-ach; where the irritating cathartics, exhibited by themselves, are thrown up by vomit. The use of this medicine is to be preceded by plentiful bleeding, and accompanied with purgative glysters of the more acrid kind; and its operation promoted by infusion of senna mixed with a little of the elixir of health, or tincture of senna.

888. Mercurial bolus. Take of calomel, from five to fifteen grains; conserve of roses, half a dram. Mix, and make them into a bolus.

This bolus is given every night, or oftener, for raising a salivation in venereal and other disorders, which require that Herculean operation. It is likewise taken at night as an alternative, to be carried off next morning by a cathartic: mercurials exhibited in this manner, have generally better effects than when joined with purgatives directly.

889. Pectoral bolus. Take of spermaceti, fifteen grains; gum ammoniacum, ten grains; salt of hartshorn, five grains; simple syrup, as much as is sufficient. Mix, and make them into a bolus.

In colds of long standing, old coughs, asthmas, and beginning consumptions, this bolus generally gives relief; especially if bleeding is promised, and repeated, if necessary, at proper intervals.

890. Bolus of rhubarb with mercury. Take of choice rhubarb, twenty-five grains; calomel, five grains; simple syrup, as much as will form them into a bolus.

This is a very mild mercurial purgative. It is given to destroy worms, and in cachectic, chlorotic, and other like disorders.

891. Rheumatic bolus. Take of extract of guaiacum, half a dram; salt of hartshorn, seven grains; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity. Make them into a bolus.

In chronic rheumatism, whether the remains of a rheumatic fever, or a continuation of pains that proceeded at first from neglected colds, this bolus has been given with good effects once a-week, or oftener, the patient keeping warm, and drinking warm liquors to promote its operation as a cathartic and diaphoretic. Its use ought to be accompanied by vexation, which is to be repeated every eight or ten days as long as the blood is fizzy.

892. Sudorific bolus. Take of camphor, five grains; thebaic extract, one grain; syrup of orange-peel, a sufficient quantity to reduce them into a bolus.

This medicine is one of the most effectual sudorifics, generally exciting a copious sweat.

Sect. V. Electuaries.

893. Electuaries are composed chiefly of powders mixed up with syrups, &c. into such a consistence that the powders may not separate in keeping, that a dose may be easily taken up on the point of a knife, and not prove too stiff to swallow.

Electuaries receive chiefly the milder alterative medicines, and such as are not ungrateful to the palate. The more powerful drugs, as cathartics, emetics, opiates, and the like, (except in officinal electuaries to be dispensed by weight), are seldom trusted in this form, on account of the uncertainty of the dose; disgustful ones, acrids, bitters, fecids, cannot be conveniently taken in it; nor is the form of an electuary well fitted for the more ponderous substances, as mercurials, these being apt to subside in keeping, unless the composition is made too stiff.

The lighter powders require thrice their weight of honey, or syrup boiled to the thickness of honey, to make them into the consistence of an electuary; of syrups of the common consistence, twice the weight of the powders is sufficient.

Where the common syrups are employed, it is necessary to add likewise a little conserve, to prevent the compound from drying too soon. Electuaries of Peruvian bark, for instance, made up with syrup alone, will often in a day or two grow too dry for taking.

Some powders, especially those of the less grateful kind, are more conveniently made up with mucilages than with syrups, honey, or conserve. The three latter stick about the mouth and sauces, and thus occasion the taste of the medicine to remain for a considerable time; whilst mucilages pass freely, without leaving any taste in the mouth. A little soft extract of liquorice, joined to the mucilage, renders the composition sufficiently grateful, without the inconveniences of the more adhesive sweets.

The quantity of an electuary directed at a time, in extemporaneous prescription, is rarely less than an ounce, or more than three ounces.

General rules for making electuaries.

I. The rules already laid down for decoctions and powders in general, are likewise to be observed in making decoctions and powders for electuaries.

II. Gums, infusitated juices, and such other substances as are not pulverable, should be dissolved in the liquor preferred: then add the powders by little and little, and keep the whole briskly stirring, so as to make an equable and uniform mixture.

III. Astringent electuaries, and such as have pulps of fruits in their composition, should be prepared only in small quantities at a time: for astringent medicines lose greatly of their virtues on being kept in this form, and the pulps of fruits are apt to become sour.

IV. The superfluous moisture of the pulps should be exhaled over a gentle fire before the other ingredients are added to them.

V. Electuaries, if they grow dry in keeping, are to be reduced to the due consistence, with the addition of a little Canary wine, and not with syrup or honey; nery: by this means the dose will be the least uncertain; a circumstance deserving particular regard, in those especially which are made up with syrup, and contain a large quantity of opium, as the confection called paulina and philonium, no 902. & 904.

894. Electuary of cassia. L. Take of solute syrup of roses, pulp of cassia, fresh extracted, each half a pound; manna, two ounces; pulp of tamarinds, one ounce. Grind the manna in a mortar, and with a gentle heat dissolve it in the syrup: then add the pulps, and continue the heat until the whole is reduced to a due consistence.

895. Diacassia. E. Take of pulp of cassia, six ounces; pulp of tamarinds, Calabrian manna, of each an ounce and a half; syrup of pale roses, six ounces. Dissolve the manna, beat in a mortar, in the syrup with a gentle heat; then mix in the pulps, so as to make the whole into an uniform electuary, according to art.

These compositions are very convenient officinials to serve as a basis for purgative electuaries, and other like purposes; as the pulping a small quantity of the fruits, for extemporaneous prescription, is sufficiently troublesome. The tamarinds give them an agreeable taste, and do not subject them, as might be expected, to turn sour: after standing for four months, the composition was found no sooner than when first made up. They are likewise usually taken by themselves, in the quantity of two or three drams occasionally, for gently loosening the belly in colitive habits.

896. Lenitive electuary. Take of figs, one pound; senna, eight ounces; pulp of tamarinds, pulp of cassia, pulp of French prunes, each half a pound; coriander seeds, four ounces; liquorice, three ounces; double-refined sugar, two pounds and a half. Pulverise the senna along with the coriander-seeds, and sift out ten ounces of the powder; the remainder is to be boiled with the figs and liquorice, in four pints of water to one half; then strain and press out the liquor, and evaporate it to the weight of a pound and a half, or somewhat less: in this dissolve the sugar, so as to make it into a syrup; and add this syrup, by little and little, to the pulps: lastly, mix in the powder before separated by the sieve. L. This electuary may be occasionally taken to the quantity of a nutmeg or more, for loosening the belly in colitive habits. It is frequently employed in glysters, though for that use the following is rather more convenient.

Take of senna, eight ounces; coriander-seeds, four ounces; pulp of prunes, two pounds. Powder the leaves and seeds; then add the pulps, and mix the whole well together, so as to make them into an electuary. E.

897. Pectoral electuary. Take of rob of elder-berries, two ounces; spermaceti dissolved in a sufficient quantity of yolk of eggs, half an ounce; flowers of benzoin, one dram; balsamic syrup, as much as is sufficient to make the other ingredients into an electuary.

This is a very useful medicine in tickling coughs and common colds, calculated both to obtund acrimony and promote expectoration. It may be used two or three times a day, in doses of about the quantity of a small nutmeg. Taken to the bulk of a large nutmeg, at bed-time, it generally not only relieves the breast, but tends to procure a salutary diaphoresis or sweat in the night.

898. Electuary of scammony. L. Take of scammony, an ounce and a half; cloves, ginger, each fix drams; essential oil of caraway-seeds, half a dram; honey, half a pound. Let the spices be ground together, and mixed with the honey; then add the powdered scammony, and afterwards the oil.

This electuary is a warm brisk purgative. It is a reform of the electuarium caryocostatum of our preceding dispensatories; a composition which was greatly complained of, as being inconvenient to take on account of the largeness of its dose. A dram and a half of this, which contains fifteen grains of scammony, is equivalent to half an ounce of the other.

899. Japonic confection. E. Take of Japan earth, four ounces; gum kino, three ounces; nutmeg, and cinnamon, each one ounce; opium dissolved in a sufficient quantity of white-wine, half a dram; syrup of dry roses, boiled to the thickness of honey, thrice the weight of the powders. Mix and make them into an electuary, which supplies the place of diacordium.—It is a moderately warm astringent and opiate.

900. Locatelli's balm. Take of oil-olive, one pint; Strasbourg turpentine, yellow wax, each half a pound; red saunders, six drams. Melt the wax over a gentle fire, with some part of the oil; then add the rest of the oil, and the turpentine; afterwards mix in the saunders, and keep them stirring together, until the mixture is grown cold. L. Take of yellow wax, one pound; oil of olive, a pint and a half; Chio or Strasbourg turpentine, a pound and a half; balsam of Peru, two ounces; dragons blood, in powder, one ounce. Melt the wax in the oil over a gentle fire, then add the turpentine; and having taken them from the fire, mix in the balsam of Peru and dragons blood, keeping them continually stirring till grown cold.

Dragons blood gives a more elegant colour to this composition than red saunders; though on another account it is somewhat less proper, having been found, when dissolved in oil, to communicate some degree of heat and pungency, qualities quite foreign to the intention of the medicine. This balm is used in internal bruises and hemorrhages, erosions of the intestines, dysenteries, and in some kinds of coughs and asthmas; the dose is from two scruples to two drams: it may be commodiously taken with about double its weight of conserve of roses, as directed hereafter. Some have likewise applied it externally, for deterring and incarnating recent wounds and ulcers.

901. Cordial confection. E. Take of conserve of rosemary flowers, three ounces; candied candied nutmegs, one ounce and a half; candied ginger, six drams; cinnamon in fine powder, half an ounce; syrup of orange-peel, as much as is sufficient. Mix them into an electuary, according to art.

Particular care ought to be had in the choice of the essential oil; for on its goodness, that of the medicine in great measure depends.

902. The confection called paulina. L.

Take of costus, or (in its stead) zedoary; cinnamon, long pepper, black pepper; storax, galbanum, opium, strained; each two ounces: Ruffia caffor, two ounces; simple syrup, boiled to the consistence of honey, thrice the weight of the other ingredients. Warm the syrup, and carefully mix with it the opium first dissolved in wine; gradually add this mixture, whilst it continues warm, to the storax and galbanum previously melted together; and afterwards sprinkle in the other species reduced into powder.

This is a warm opiate medicine, and as such is sometimes made use of in practice: thirty-two grains contain one grain of opium.

903, a. Mithridate, or the confection of Damocrates. L.

Take of cinnamon, fourteen drams; myrrh, eleven drams; agaric, Indian nard, ginger, saffron, seeds of Mithridate-mustard, frankincense, Chio turpentine, each ten drams; camels hay, costus or (in its stead) zedoary, Indian leaf or (in its stead) mace, stachas, long pepper, hartwort seeds, hypocitis, storax strained, opopanax, galbanum strained, opobalsam or (in its stead) expressed oil of nutmegs, Ruffia caffor, each one ounce; mountain poley, icordium, opobalsam or (in its stead) cubebes, white pepper, Candy carrot seed, bdellium strained, each seven drams; Celtic nard, gentian root, dittany of Crete, red roses, Macedonian parsley seed, lesser-cardamom seeds husked, sweet-fennel seed, gum arabic, opium strained, each five drams; calamus aromaticus, wild valerian root, aniseed, sagapenum strained, each three drams; meum athamanicum, St John's wort, acacia or (in its stead) terra Japonica, bellies of skinks, each two drams and a half; clarified honey, thrice the weight of all the other ingredients. Warm the honey, and mix with it the opium dissolved with wine; melt the storax, galbanum, turpentine, and opobalsam (or expressed oil of nutmegs) together in another vessel, continually stirring them about to prevent their burning; with these so melted, mix the hot honey, at first by spoonfuls, and afterwards in larger quantities at a time; when the whole is grown almost cold, add by degrees the other species reduced into powder.

903, b. Theriaca Andromachi, or Venice treacle. L.

Take of troches of squills, half a pound:—long pepper, opium strained, vipers dried, each three ounces:—cinnamon, opobalsam, or (in its stead) expressed oil of nutmegs, each two ounces:—agaric, Florence orris root, icordium, red roses, navew seeds, extract of liquorice, each an ounce and a half:—Indian nard, saffron, amomum, myrrh, costus or (in its stead) zedoary, camels hay, each one ounce:—cinquefoil root, rhubarb, ginger, Indian leaf or (in its stead) mace, dittany of Crete, horehound leaves, calamint leaves, stachas, black pepper, Macedonian parsley seed, olibanum, Chio turpentine, wild valerian root, each six drams:—gentian root; celtic nard; spignel; leaves of polycy mountain, St John's wort, groundpine; germannder tops, with the seed; carpopbaliam, or (in its stead) cubebes; anifeed; sweet-fennel seed; lesser-cardamom seeds, husked; seeds of bishops-weed, hartwort-treacle, mustard; hypocitis; acacia, or (in its stead) Japan earth; gum arabic; storax strained; sagapenum strained; terra Lemnia, or (in its stead) bole armenic or French bole; green vitriol calcined; each half an ounce:—small or (in its stead) the long birthwort root; lesser centaury tops; Candy carrot seed; opopanax; galbanum strained; Ruffia caffor; Jews pitch, or (in its stead) white amber prepared; calamus aromaticus; each two drams:—clarified honey, thrice the weight of all the other ingredients. Let these ingredients be mixed together, after the same manner as directed in making the mithridate.

These celebrated electuaries are almost the only remains, which the late reformation has left in the shops, of the wild exuberance of composition, which the superstition of former ages brought into vogue. The theriaca is a reformation of mithridate, made by Andromachus, physician to Nero: the mithridate itself is said to have been found in the cabinet of Mithridates king of Pontus. The first publishers of this pompous arcanae were very extravagant in their commendations of its virtues; the principal of which was made to consist in its being a most powerful preservative against all kinds of venom; whoever took a proper quantity in a morning, was insured from being poisoned during that whole day: this was confirmed by the example of its supposed inventor; who, as Celsus informs us, was, by its constant use, so fortified against the commonly-reputed poisons, that none of them would have any effect upon him when he wanted their assistance. But the notions of poisons which prevailed in those ruder ages, were manifestly erroneous. Before experience had furnished mankind with a competent knowledge of the powers of simples they were under perpetual alarms from an apprehension of poisons, and buried themselves in contriving compositions which should counteract their effects, accumulating together all those substances which they imagined to be possessed of any degree of alexipharmic power. Hence proceed the voluminous antidotes which we meet with in the writings of the ancient physicians: yet it does not appear that they were acquainted with any real poison, except the cicuta, aconitum, and bites of venomous beasts; and to these they knew of no antidote whatever. Even admitting the reality of the poisons, and the efficacy of the several antidotes separately, the compositions could no more answer the purposes expected from them, than the accumulating of all the medicinal simples into one form could make a remedy against all diseases.

Yet notwithstanding the absurdity in the original intention of these medicines, and their enormity in point of composition, as they contain several powerful materials, whose virtues, though greatly prejudiced, yet are not destroyed, by their multiplicity and contrariety; the compounds have been found, from repeated experience, to produce very considerable effects, as warm opiate diaphoretics.

The college of Edinburgh, paying very little deference to antiquity or common prejudice, ventured at length to discard these venerable reliques; and substituted in their room an elegant and simple form, equivalent to them both in efficacy, under the title of

903. c. Edinburgh theriaca.

Take of Virginian snake-root, ten ounces; contrayerva root, six ounces; resin of guaiacum, four ounces; lesser cardamom seeds, two ounces; myrrh, English saffron, opium, each one ounce; rob of elderberries, thrice the weight of the powders; Canary wine, as much as is sufficient to dissolve the opium. Make them according to art into an electuary.

This composition consists of very powerful ingredients, and is doubtless capable of answering everything that can be reasonably expected from the more voluminous theriaca of Andromachus. The London college also had formerly their theriaca, composed of the less exceptionable ingredients of Andromachus's. But as these medicines have for a long time been chiefly employed for external purposes, by way of cataplasm, the London theriaca is now omitted; and its place supplied by a cataplasm composed of a few well-chosen articles, under the name of cataplasmum cymino, or "cataplasm of cummin." For internal use, none of the theriacas are at present so much regarded as they have been heretofore; practitioners having introduced in their room contemporaneous boluses of Virginian snakeroot, camphor, contrayerva, and the like; which answer all their intentions, with this advantage, that they may be given either with or without opium, an ingredient which renders the others prejudicial in cases where they might otherwise be proper. The present edition of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia has also rejected the theriaca Edinensis, and in its room adopted the following composition under the title of

903. d. Thebaic electuary.

Take of aromatic species, six ounces; Virginian snakeroot in powder, three ounces; opium dissolved in white-wine, three drams; clarified honey, thrice the weight of the powders. Mix all together into an electuary.

904. London philonium.

Take of white pepper, ginger, caraway seeds, each two ounces; strained opium, six drams; syrup of meconium, boiled to the consistence of honey, thrice the weight of the other ingredients. Heat the syrup, and carefully mix it with the opium, previously dissolved in wine; then add the other ingredients, reduced into powder. L.

This is a reformation of the philonium described by Galen, which was received in our preceding pharmacopoeias with the addition of some superfluous ingredients, and distinguished, but not very properly, by the epithet Romanum. The additional articles, and some unnecessary ones that were in the original, are here omitted, and the quantities of the others varied, so as to preserve the same proportion of opium to the whole, as in the last L. pharmacopoeia. Thirty-six grains of the composition contain one grain of opium.

905. The mithridate, theriaca, diafordinum, confection Paulina, and philonium, are the only compositions now remaining, of what have been called the officinal capitals. They are all medicines of great power; and as, on the one hand, they are applicable, by the judicious physician, to excellent purposes; so, on the other, their imprudent use has often been productive of mischievous consequences. It has been customary among nurses and others, to give diafordinum to children, to ease their complaints, and to procure sleep: intentions which it effectually answers; but at the same time never fails to bring on a colic habit, the foundation of many diseases: this medicine has likewise been too unwarily given for restraining fluxes; whose suppression was afterwards followed by more dangerous symptoms. The celebrated alexipharmacs, mithridate and theriaca, have oftentimes aggravated the disorders they were intended to remedy, have converted a common cold into a high fever, and have raised slight febrile complaints into a malignant fever. However strongly, therefore, these kinds of medicines are recommended for easing pain, warming, promoting sweat, expelling malignity, &c. the utmost caution is requisite in the use of them; the cases which demand their assistance are much less frequent than is generally supposed.

906. Acid electuary.

Take of conserve of wood-forrel, one ounce; pulp of tamarinds, half an ounce; weak spirit of vitriol, as much as is sufficient to give a grateful acidity: syrup of lemon-juice, as much as will reduce the whole into the consistence of a soft electuary.

This grateful acid composition is an useful refrigerant and antiseptic in different kinds of inflammatory and putrid disorders.

907. Alexeterial electuary.

Take of confection of kermes, one dram; candied ginger, five drams; contrayerva root, Virginian snakeroot, each one dram; syrup of orange-peel, as much as is sufficient to make the other ingredients into the consistence of an electuary.

This is a moderately warm electuary, contrived by Boerhaave for raising and recruiting the strength in low fevers, where the pulse is sunk, and the patient languid and dejected. It may be taken to the quantity of a small nutmeg every four or five hours, with any proper julep.

908. Anti-epileptic electuary.

Take of Peruvian bark, one ounce; wild valerian root, two drams; syrup of orange-peel, a sufficient quantity to reduce the others into an electuary.

This medicine has been frequently prescribed by Dr Mead, in epileptic cases, with success: he directs one dram to be taken every morning and evening, for three months together; after which, to confirm the cure and prevent a relapse, the same dose is to be repeated for three or four days before every new and full moon for a considerable time.

909. Anti- 909. Anti-dysenteric electuary.

Take of yellow wax, three drams; spermaceti, two drams; conserve of red roses, an ounce and a half; oil of almonds, half an ounce; balsamic syrup, a sufficient quantity. Let the wax and spermaceti be melted in the oil, over a gentle fire, and then mixed with the conserve and syrup.

Where sharp irritating humours have eroded the intestines, and laid open the mouths of the blood-vessels, this soft healing electuary is often of great use. It is said that fluxes of long standing, contracted in the Indies, which had yielded nothing to medicines of the refringent kind, have been removed by this, which supplies the natural mucus of the bowels that the flux has carried off, heals the excoriations, and obtunds the acrimonious humours.

910. Aromatic electuary.

Take of the aromatic species, one dram and a half; conserve of lavender, two ounces; syrup of orange-peel, a sufficient quantity. Make them into an electuary.

This warm cordial medicine is of use in nervous complaints and decays of constitution. The bulk of a small nutmeg may be taken two or three times a day with a glass of wine or any other proper liquor after it.

911. Balsamic electuary.

Take of conserve of roses, two ounces; Locatelli's ballam, one ounce; dissolve the ballam in the yolk of an egg, and then mix therewith the conserve.

This electuary is used in some coughs, and disorders of the breast; as also in the vomica, or suppuration in the stomach, which sometimes happens after dysenteries; and where there is an effusion or rupture of the blood-vessels, as in haemoptoës. In these cases, the bulk of a nutmeg may be taken for a dose twice or thrice a day.

912. Chalybeate electuary.

1. Take of salt of steel, one dram; candied nutmegs, candied ginger, each half an ounce; oil of cinnamon, five drops; conserve of orange-peel, one ounce; balsamic syrup, as much as is sufficient to make them into an electuary.

2. Take of rust of steel, or steel prepared with sulphur, fix drams; candied ginger, one ounce; conserve of orange-peel, three ounces; syrup of orange-peel, as much as will reduce them into a proper consistence.

These elegant chalybeate medicines are given not only in cachectic and chlorotic cases, and menstrual obstructions, but likewise in low hysterical and melancholic disorders; for warming and invigorating the habit in great debilities and decays of constitution. In either of these intentions, the bulk of a small nutmeg is to be taken twice a day, and its effects promoted by moderate exercise.

913. Electuary of black hellebore.

Take of black hellebore root, extract of savin, compound powder of myrrh, each half an ounce; canella alba, two drams; syrup of orange-peel, as much as is sufficient. Mix, and make them into an electuary.

This is a medicine of great power for promoting the natural evacuations from the uterus. It may be taken to the quantity of half a dram twice a day.

914. Nephritic electuary.

Take of lenitive electuary, an ounce and a half; Venice turpentine, one ounce; egg-shells prepared (or prepared oyster shells) half an ounce; choice rhubarb, one dram; syrup of marshmallows, as much as is sufficient. Dissolve the turpentine in the yolk of an egg; and then mix the whole together, according to art, so as to make thereof an electuary.

This composition is contrived for cleansing the urinary passage in nephritic disorders. A dram of the electuary may be taken once or twice a day, along with an infusion of marshmallow roots, sweetened with a spoonful of honey.

915. Paralytic electuary.

Take of mustard seed, conserve of rosemary tops, each one ounce; compound spirit of lavender, two drams. Beat the mustard seed with a little water, that the pulp may be pressed thro' a hair sieve; then mix with it the conserve and the spirit.

This is a very efficacious medicine for paralytic disorders, tremors and numbness of the limbs, the decays accompanying old age, and in all cases where the solids require to be stimulated, or sluggish stagnant juices to be put in motion. It ought to be taken every morning and evening, or oftener, to the bulk of a large nutmeg, with a glass of rich wine, or any proper julep, after it.

916. Electuary of Peruvian bark.

1. Take of Peruvian bark, three ounces; cascarilla, half an ounce; syrup of orange peel, a sufficient quantity.

2. Take of Peruvian bark, three ounces; Virginian snakeroot, one ounce; syrup of orange peel, a sufficient quantity.

3. Take of Peruvian bark, three ounces; crude sal ammoniac, three drams; syrup of lemon-juice, a sufficient quantity.

4. Take of Peruvian bark, three ounces; colcotar of vitriol, fix drams; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.

5. Take of Peruvian bark, three ounces; alum, one ounce; syrup of lemon-juice, as much as is sufficient.

6. Take of extract of Peruvian bark, one ounce; extract of logwood, extract of liquorice, each half an ounce; mucilage of quince-seeds, as much as is sufficient to reduce the other ingredients into the consistence of an electuary.

All these compositions are very elegant, and efficacious in the intentions for which they are designed. The first is calculated for common intermittent fevers, in the cure of which the virtues of the bark are greatly assisted by the cascarilla. The second and third are given in those intermittents which happen in cachectic habits, and persons subject to obstructions of the viscera, where the bark by itself, on account of its great agency, gency, would be prejudicial. The fourth is a good strengthener in laxities of the solids and decays of con- stitution; and the fifth, a powerful styptic in fluxes and haemorrhages, particularly in the diabetes and fluor al- bus. The bulk of a nutmeg of each may be taken at a time, and repeated according to the exigency of the case. The sixth is a very agreeable form for the exhibi- tion of Peruvian bark to those who are more than or- dinarily offended with its taste; the substances here join- ed effectually covering its taste, at the same time that they coincide with it in virtue. The composition is a very elegant and pleasant one, and well deserves a place in the shops: it may either be given in the form of a bolus or electuary, in the dose of a dram or more; or dissolved in any suitable liquor into a draught.

917. An acid purgative electuary. Take of pulp of tamarinds, two ounces; crystals of tartar, two drams. Make them into an electuary.

This is an useful cooling laxative in hot bilious dis- positions, or inflammatory diseases. The bulk of a nut- meg may be taken every hour, or oftener, till it begins to operate, or the same quantity may be taken once a day occasionally in dry colicive habits.

918. Saponaceous electuary. Take of hard Spanish soap, two ounces; pareira brava, one ounce; rhubarb, gum of aloes, each three drams; syrup of orange-peel, a sufficient quantity. Mix and make them into an electuary.

This electuary is calculated for jaundices arising from an obstruction of the biliary ducts, or a viscidity of the bile itself: such are those which most commonly occur, in which the stools are of a whitish or ash-colour, and voided with difficulty. The dose is from half a dram to a dram, twice a day.

919. Binding electuary. Take of the Japonic confection, two ounces; extract of logwood, one ounce; syrup of dry roses, as much as will reduce them into a proper consistence for an electuary.

This electuary is calculated for the relief of dysen- teries, and other intestinal fluxes, after the acrid hu- mours have been duly evacuated by mild cathartics, &c. The quantity of a nutmeg may be taken every four or five hours.

920. Electuary of sulphur. Take of flowers of sulphur, half an ounce; lenitive electuary, two ounces; syrup of marshmallows, a sufficient quantity to make them into an electuary.

This electuary is designed against the piles, and ge- nerally distinguished in the hospitals by the title of electuarium hemorrhoidale; where the disorder is accom- panied with febrile or inflammatory symptoms, some nitre is occasionally added, in the proportion of two drams to the quantity here directed. It may be given from a dram to half an ounce at a time.

Sect. VI. Lohochs.

921. A lohoch, eclegma, linctus, or lambative, is a soft compound designed to be licked or slowly swal- lowed down, of a middle consistence between a syrup and electuary, at least never so thin as the former, nor so thick as the latter.

These preparations are generally composed of ex- pressed oils, mixed with syrups and other like sub- stances. Two ounces of a syrup, a dram of sugar, and an ounce of expressed oil, form a linctus of a due con- sistence; which may be made thicker at pleasure by adding more oil, or thinner by an increase of the sy- rup.

The form is an inelegant one, and in the present prac- tice is little regarded.

Sect. VII. Emulsions.

922. The foregoing section respected compositions in which oils were united with watery liquors, by the mediation of sugar and syrups, into thick unctuous compounds. The present section contains mixtures of oily, resinous, and other like bodies, with water, in a liquid form, of a white colour resembling milk, and hence called emulsions.

Emulsions have been generally prepared by grind- ing the oily seeds of plants, or kernels of fruits, along with common water or any agreeable simple distilled water. In this process, the oil of the subject is, by the mediation of the other matter, united with the aque- ous fluid; and hence they possess some share of the emollient virtue of the pure oil; with this advantage, that they are agreeable to the palate, and not apt to turn rancid or acrimonious by the heat of the body, which the pure oils in some inflammatory cases may do.

Emulsions, besides their use as medicines themselves, are excellent vehicles for certain substances which can- not otherwise be so conveniently taken in a liquid form. Thus camphor triturated with almonds, readily unites water into an emulsion, and in this form is conveyed into the remotest parts of the body, with sufficient ef- ficacy to answer intentions of moment, at the same time that its heat and pungency are softened by the unctuo- sity of the almonds.

Pure oils, balsams, resins, and other similar sub- stances, are likewise rendered miscible with water, into emulsions or milky liquors, by the intervention of mu- cilages. The white or yolk of an egg unites these bo- dies also with water, but less elegantly.

Several of the gummy resins, as ammoniacum, gal- banum, myrrh, and others, are reducible to emulsions by trituration with water alone; their resinous part be- ing rendered dissoluble by the mediation of the gum- my.

923. Common emulsions.

Take of sweet almonds blanched, one ounce; gum ar- abic, half an ounce; double-refined sugar, six drams; barley water, two pints. Dissolve the gum in the barley water warmed; as soon as the water is grown thoroughly cold, pour it by little at a time upon the almonds and sugar, first beat together, continuing to grind the whole, that the liquor may grow milky; after which it is to be passed through a strainer. L. Take of sweet almonds, one ounce; bitter almonds, one dram; common water, two pints. Beat the al- monds, after having blanched them, in a marble mor- tar, and gradually pour on them the common water. Then strain off the liquor. E.

924. Arabic emulsion is made after the same manner, by adding, while the almonds are beating, two ounces and a half of mucilage of gum arabic.

Great care should be taken that the almonds are not become rancid by keeping; which will not only render the emulsion extremely unpleasant, a circumstance of great consequence in a medicine that requires to be taken in large quantities, but likewise give it injurious qualities little expected from preparations of this class. These liquors are principally made use of for diluting and obtunding acrimonious humours; particularly in heat of urine and stranguries, arising either from a natural sharpness of the juices, or the operation of cantharides or other irritating medicines: in these cases, they are to be drank frequently, in the quantity of half a pint or more at a time.

925. A purging emulsion.

Take of sweet almonds blanched, two drams; fine sugar, one dram; gum arabic, half a dram; cinnamon, 10 grains; simple cinnamon-water, one ounce. Dissolve the gum in the cinnamon water; and having ground the cinnamon with almonds and sugar, pour on the liquor by little at a time, continuing to grind them together, so as to make them into an emulsion.

This emulsion is an agreeable and effectual purgative. Some have employed an infusion of liquorice; which appears to be a very proper addition in these kinds of preparations, as it coincides with the almonds in correcting the irritating power of the purgative material.

926. Emulsion with arum root.

Take of fresh arum root, gum arabic, each two drams; spermaceti, two scruples; common water, five ounces; nutmeg-water, syrup of orange-peel, each half an ounce. Dissolve the gum arabic with a part of the water, into a mucilage, which is to be beaten with the spermaceti into a smooth paste. To this add the arum root, previously beaten by itself into a pulp; and rub them well together, that they may be thoroughly mixed. Then gradually pour in the waters and the syrup.

Fresh arum root may be taken in this form without the least inconvenience from the pungency with which the root itself so violently affects the mouth. A spoonful of the emulsion has been given every six hours, or oftener, in cases of the rheumatic kind, and generally with great benefit. The more immediate effect experienced from it is that of warming the stomach, and promoting sweat, which in some instances it does profusely.

Sect. VIII. Juleps, Mixtures, and Draughts.

927. By julep is commonly understood, an agreeable liquor, designed as a vehicle for medicines of greater efficacy, or to be drank after them, or to be taken occasionally as an auxiliary. In this light their basis is generally common water, or a simple distilled water, with one-fourth or one third its quantity of a distilled spirituous water: this mixture is sweetened with sugar or any proper syrup, or acidulated with vegetable or mineral acids, or impregnated with other medicines suitable to the intention; care being taken that these additions be such as will not render the compound unsightly or unpalatable. The quantity usually directed at a time, in common prescription, is six or eight ounces, to be taken by spoonfuls.

928. A mixture, more strictly so called, receives more efficacious materials, whether soluble in water, as extracts or salts; or indissoluble, as powders; more regard being here had to the medicinal intention, than to the sightliness or palateableness of the compound. There is indeed no precise distinction between the two; the same composition being often called by one a julep, and by another a mixture; though in general, few would give the name of julep to a very disagreeable liquor, or that of mixture to a very pleasant one.

929. A draught differs from a julep or mixture only in being prescribed in less quantity, the whole being intended for one dose.

930. Chalk julep.

Take of the whitest chalk prepared, one ounce; double-refined sugar, six drams; gum arabic, two drams; water, two pints. Mix them together.

This julep is designed for heartburns and other like disorders arising from acid juices in the first passages.

931. Musk julep. L.

Take of damask-rose water, six ounces by measure; musk, 12 grains; double-refined sugar, one dram. Grind the sugar and musk together, and gradually add to them the rose-water.

This is an improvement upon the hysterical julep with musk of Bates, formerly in use.

932. Cordial julep.

Take of alexeterial water, four ounces; aromatic water, two ounces; volatile oily spirit, tincture of saffron, each two drams; white sugar, half an ounce. Mix, and make them into a julep.

This mixture is an useful cordial in all depressions of the spirits, in the sinkings of low fevers, and the languors to which hysterical and hypochondriacal persons are subject. An ounce, or two spoonfuls, may be taken for a dose, two or three times a day.

933. Diaphoretic julep.

Take of alexeterial water, four ounces; spirit of Mindererus, two ounces; salt of hartshorn, ten grains; white sugar, six drams. Mix them for a julep.

This excellent composition is a very powerful sudorific, and answers its intention more effectually, and with greater certainty, than many others calculated for the same purpose. Where a copious sweat is to be excited, as in rheumatic diseases, two spoonfuls are to be taken warm in bed every hour, or two hours, till the sweat breaks out; if warm diluting liquors are not afterwards sufficient to keep it up, the same medicine is to be occasionally repeated.

934. Diuretic julep.

Take of spirit of Mindererus, four ounces; compound horseradish water, two ounces; syrup of marshmallows, three ounces. Mix them together.

The spirit of Mindererus is an excellent aperient saline liquor, capable of promoting evacuation either by the cutaneous pores, or the urinary passages, according to the manner of exhibiting it. When taken warm in bed, it proves a powerful sudorific, especially if assist- Compounded by volatile salts, small doses of opiates, or other substances which tend to determine its action to the skin. If the patient walks about in a cool air, it operates gently, but for the most part effectually, by urine. The additions here joined to it correspond with this intention, and promote its operation. As this medicine excites the urinary discharge, without heating or irritating the parts, it takes place not only in dropsies, but likewise in inflammatory disorders, wherever this salutary secretion is to be promoted. It is given in the quantity of two spoonfuls thrice a-day.

935. Fetid julep. Take of asafoetida, one dram and a half; rue water, six ounces; compound valerian water, two ounces; oil of hartshorn, twenty drops; white sugar, ten drams. Rub the asafoetida in the rue water till it dissolves; and having dropped the oil upon the sugar, mix the whole together.

This composition is not a little fetid and unsightly; it is nevertheless a medicine of great efficacy in hypochondriacal and hysterical disorders, asthmas, and other nervous complaints: the dose is one spoonful, to be taken thrice a-day. It is sometimes prepared without the oil of hartshorn.

936. Binding julep. Take of alexeterial water, four ounces; aromatic water, two ounces; Japonic confection, two drams; Japan earth, in powder, one dram; liquid laudanum, forty drops; white sugar, half an ounce. Mix them well together.

This julep is calculated against dysenteries and diarrhoeas; in which, after proper evacuations, it generally eases the gripes, and restrains the flux. It is to be given three or four times a-day, in the quantity of a spoonful at a time.

937. Antidyserteric mixture. 1. Take of simple cinnamon-water, seven ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, one ounce; electuary of scordium with opium, half an ounce. Mix them together. 2. Take of extract of logwood, three drams; tincture of Japan earth, two drams; spirituous cinnamon-water, one ounce; common water, seven ounces. Dissolve the extract in the cinnamon-water, and then add the common water and the tincture.

In recent dysenteries, after the necessary evacuations, a spoonful or two of either of these mixtures may be given after every motion, or once in four or five hours: if the first, which is a mild opiate, fails of procuring rest, it is a sign that some of the corrupted humours still remain in the bowels, and that it is more proper to go on with the evacuation than to suppress the flux. These medicines will sometimes likewise take place in the last stage of the disease, when thro' neglect or mismanagement it has continued till the strength is much impaired, the intestines greatly relaxed, and their villous coat abraded; provided there are neither ichorous or involuntary stools, aphthae, petechiae, hiccup, or great anxiety at the breast. Rhubarb, and these astringents, are to be so interposed, that at the same time that the putrid humours are dislodged, the strength may be supported, and the intestines braced.

938. Cordial mixture. Take of simple cinnamon-water, four ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, two ounces; extract of saffron, one scruple; confection of kermes, six drams. Mix them together.

In great languors and depressions, a spoonful of this rich cordial mixture may be taken every half hour.

939. Mixture against the phthisis. 1. Take of balsam of copaiba, one dram; common water, four ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, one ounce. Syrup of orange-peel, half an ounce. Let the balsam be dissolved in a proper quantity of yolk of egg, and then mixed with the other ingredients. 2. Take of thebaic extract, one grain; conserve of roses, half a dram. Mix them together for a bolus. 3. Take of oxymel of squills, a dram and a half; thebaic tincture, fifteen drops; spirituous cinnamon-water, two drams; common water, two ounces. Mix them together.

In the advanced state of a consumption, we may distinguish two sorts of coughs, one occasioned by the ulcers, and the other by a thin rheum falling upon the fauces and trachea; which parts, being then deprived of their mucus, become extremely sensible to irritation. It is this last kind, perhaps, which is most painful and teasing to the patient. The first sort requires balsamics, if the ulcer is open, and the matter can be expectorated. For this purpose, the first of the above mixtures is a very elegant and effectual formula; two spoonfuls are to be taken at a time twice a-day: if the balsam purges, two drams of the paregoric elixir, added to the quantity of the mixture here prescribed, will prevent that effect. The other kind of cough can only be palliated by incrassants; and for that purpose, the second of the above compositions is one of the most successful medicines: the conserve is altogether safe, and otherwise well adapted to the nature of the disease, but of weak virtues: the opiate extract is the most efficacious ingredient, but is to be given with great caution, as opiates in general are apt to heat, to bind the body, and to obstruct expectoration. As these bad qualities are in good measure corrected by squills, as soon as the patient begins to complain of restless nights from coughing, the third mixture may be given at bed-time.

940. Valerian mixture. Take of simple peppermint-water, twelve ounces; wild valerian-root, in powder, one ounce; compound spirit of lavender, half an ounce; syrup of orange-peel, one ounce. Mix them together.

Wild valerian root, one of the principal medicines in epilepsies and vertigoes, seems to answer better when thus exhibited in sublance, than if given in form of tincture or infusion. The liquors here joined to it excellently coincide with, and by their warmth and pungency greatly improve, its virtues. Two spoonfuls of the mixture may be taken twice or thrice a-day.

941. Cathartic draught. Take of jalap, in powder, one scruple; ipecacoanha, three three grains; compound juniper-water, one ounce; infusion of lintfeed, an ounce and a half; simple syrup, one dram. Mix them together.

This is a strong cathartic; yet for the most part easy and safe in operation. It is calculated chiefly for hydropic cases; in which it procures copious evacuations, without weakening or fatiguing the patient so much as many other medicines of this kind.

942. Saline cathartic draught.

Take of Glauberts cathartic salt, manna, each six drams; boiling water, three ounces; tincture of cardamoms, one dram. Dissolve the salt and manna in the water; and having strained off the liquor, add to it the tincture of cardamoms.

This is a very elegant and agreeable saline purgative. Tincture of cardamoms is one of the best additions to liquors of this kind, or to the purging mineral waters, for rendering them acceptable to the stomach.

943. Diaphoretic draught.

Take of spirit of Mindererus, spirit of meconium, each half an ounce; salt of hartshorn, five grains. Mix them together.

This draught is a very powerful saline diaphoretic. It is given with safety, and often with great benefit, in the beginning of inflammatory fevers, after bleeding; where theriaca, and other warm substances usually employed, if they fail in bringing out a sweat, increase the fever.

944. Diuretic draught.

1. Take of oxymel of squills, one dram and a half; simple cinnamon-water, one ounce; compound spirit of lavender, syrup of orange-peel, each one dram. Mix them together.

2. Take of vinegar of squills, one dram, or one dram and a half; salt of wormwood, half a dram; lemon-juice, six drams; simple cinnamon-water, an ounce and a half; spirituous peppermint-water, half an ounce; syrup of orange-peel, one dram. Let the salt of wormwood and lemon-juice be first mixed together, and then add to them the other ingredients.

These elegant and efficacious compositions are commended by Dr Mead for promoting urine in hydropic cases. He directs them to be taken every night, or oftener, according to the urgency of the symptoms. The squill, one of the most powerful diuretics, is, by the additions here joined to it, rendered not only more grateful to the palate and stomach, but likewise enabled more effectually to answer the purposes intended by it.

945. An anodyne diuretic draught.

Take of ley of tartar, half a dram; thebaic tincture, forty drops; peppermint-water, one ounce; simple cinnamon-water, half an ounce; spirituous cinnamon-water, two drams; syrup of marshmallows, one dram. Mix them together.

Though practitioners have rarely ventured to exhibit opium in dropsheds; yet in those which are accompanied with great pain, this anodyne drug, by easing the pain, and removing the irritation of the passages, which painful sensations always occasion, proves a medicine of great service, and notably promotes the urinary discharge. Dr Mead has given a remarkable instance of the good effects of the mixture above preferrbed, in a person labouring under an ascites and typhoid at the same time, where the pain was intolerable, the thirst intense, and the urine in very small quantity; the stronger purgatives increased the distemper; soap, alkaline salts, nitre, and other diuretics, were tried in vain; this draught (when the patient seemed to be beyond any affluence from medicine) procured unexpected relief, not only a gentle sleep, and truce from the pain, but likewise a copious discharge of urine; by repeating the medicine for a little time, every eight hours, and afterwards using corroborants, the cure was perfectly completed.

Sect. IX. Lotions, Gargarisms, Injections, &c.

946. Bate's alum water. L.

Take of alum, white vitriol, each half an ounce; water, two pints. Boil the salts in the water till they are dissolved; let the solution settle, and afterwards filter it through paper.

This liquor is used for cleansing and healing ulcers and wounds, and for removing cutaneous eruptions, the part being bathed with it hot three or four times a day. It is sometimes likewise employed as a collyrium; and as an injection in the gonorrhea and fluor albus, when not accompanied with virulence.

947. Alum water. E.

Take of corrosive mercury sublimate, alum, each two drams; water, two pints. Let the sublimate and alum be ground into powder, and boiled with water in a glass vessel to the consumption of half the water; then suffer the liquor to settle, and pour it off clear from the sediment.

This composition is designed chiefly for cutaneous pustules and ulcerations.

948. Sapphire-coloured water.

Take of lime-water, one pint; sal ammoniac, one dram. Let them stand together in a copper vessel, or along with some plates of copper, until the liquor has acquired a sapphire colour. L.

Take of lime-water newly made, half a pint; sal ammoniac, two scruples; powdered verdigris, four grains. Mix and strain after 24 hours. E.

This water is at present pretty much in use, as a detergent of foul and obstinate ulcers, and for taking away specks or films in the eyes.

949. Blue vitriolic water. L.

Take of blue vitriol, three ounces; alum, strong spirit (or oil) of vitriol, each two ounces; water, a pint and a half. Boil the salts in the water, until they are dissolved; then add the acid spirit, and filter the mixture through paper.

950. Styptic water. E.

Take of blue vitriol, alum, each three ounces; water, two pints. Boil them until the salts are dissolved, then filter the liquor, and add an ounce of oil of vitriol. These compositions are formed upon the styptic recommended by Sydenham, for stopping bleeding at the nose, and other external hemorrhages: for this purpose, cloths or doffils are to be dipped in the liquor, and applied to the part.

951. Vitriolic water. E. Take of white vitriol, two drams; water, two pints. Boil till the vitriol is dissolved, and then filter the liquor.

Where the eyes are watery or inflamed, this solution of white vitriol is a very useful application: the lighter inflammations will frequently yield to this medicine, without any other assistance; in the more violent ones, venesection and cathartics are to be prefixed to its use.

952. Astringent gargarism. Take of oak-bark, one ounce; alum, one dram; honey of roses, one ounce; water, a pint and a half. Boil the water with the oak-bark, till such time as the liquor, when strained, will amount only to one pint; to which add the alum and the honey.

953. Common gargarism. Take of tincture of roses, one pint; honey of roses, two ounces. Mix them together. Or, Take of water, six ounces; nitre, one dram; honey of roses, one ounce. Mix them together. Where acids are requisite, forty drops of the weak spirit of vitriol are added to this composition.

954. Detergent gargarism. Take of emollient decoction, one pint; tincture of myrrh, one ounce; honey, an ounce and a half. Mix them together.

955. Emollient gargarism. Take of marshmallow root, two ounces; figs, four in number; water, three pints. Boil them till one pint is wasted, and then strain the liquor.

These liquors are used for washing the mouth and fauces; the first, where the parts are extremely relaxed; the second and third, where ulcerations require to be deterged, or the excretion of the thick viscid saliva promoted; and the fourth, where the mouth is dry, parched and rigid, to moisten and soften it. In some cases, volatile spirits may be advantageously joined to these kinds of preparations. Dr Pringle informs us, that in the inflammatooy quinsy, or strangulation of the fauces, he has observed little benefit arising from the common gargles: that such as were of an acid nature seemed to do more harm than good, by contracting the emunctories of the saliva and mucous, and thickening those humours: that a decoction of figs in milk and water seemed to have a contrary effect, especially if some spirit of sal ammoniac was added, by which the saliva was made thinner, and the glands brought to secrete more freely; a circumstance always conducive to the cure.

956. Starch glyster. Take of gelly of starch, four ounces; linseed oil, half an ounce. Liquefy the gelly over a gentle fire, and then mix in the oil. Forty drops of liquid laudanum, are sometimes added.

957. Anodyne or opiate glyster. Take of infusion of linseed, six ounces; liquid laudanum, forty drops. Or, Mutton-broth, five ounces; thebaic extract, three grains.

958. Glyster against the colic. Take of common decoction, half a pint; tinctura sacra, one ounce; common salt, one dram; linseed oil, two ounces. Mix them together.

959. Astringent glyster. Take of lime-water, ten ounces; Japonic confection, half an ounce. Mix them together for a glyster, of which one half is to be injected at a time.

960. Astringent balsamic glyster. This is made by adding to the foregoing half an ounce of Locatelli's balsam, dissolved in the yolk of an egg.

961. Common glyster. Take of common decoction, twelve ounces; lenitive electuary, one ounce; common salt, half an ounce; oil-olive, two ounces. Mix them together.

962. Domestic glyster. Take of cows milk, half a pint; brown-fugar, oil-olive, each one ounce. Mix them together.

963. Emollient glyster. Take of palm-oil, an ounce and a half; cows milk, half a pound. Let the oil be beat up with the yolk of one egg, and then add the milk.

964. Fetid glyster. Take of asafetida, two drams; rue, savin, each half an ounce; oil-olive, one ounce; oil of Amber, half a dram; water, one pint and a half. Boil the water with the rue and savin, till half a pint is wasted; then strain off the remaining decoction, and mix with it the asafetida and the oils. Half the quantity of the composition here directed, is to be injected at a time.

965. Purging glyster. Take of common decoction, half a pint; white soap, one ounce; syrup of buckthorn, an ounce and a half. Mix them together.

966. Turpentine glyster. Take of common decoction ten ounces; Venice turpentine (dissolved in the yolk of an egg), half an ounce; linseed oil, one ounce. Mix them together.

The uses of these compositions are sufficiently obvious from their titles. The starch, anodyne, emollient, and astringent glysters, are used in dysenteries, and other alvine fluxes, to strengthen the tone of the intestines, defend them from being corroded by the acrimonious humours, to heal their exulcerations, and ease the pains which accompany these disorders. The turpentine glyster is injected in nephritic cases; the fetid in hysterical ones. The others are calculated for unloading the intestines of their contents, where the exhibition of purgatives in other forms is improper or unsafe.

Glysters have been looked upon by some as mere topical applications, whose operation was confined 967. Balsamic injection.

Take of balsam of Copaiba, half an ounce; lime-water, six ounces; honey of rose, two ounces. Let the balsam be well beaten up with the yolk of one egg; and then gradually add the lime-water and honey.

968. Mercurial injection.

Take of quicksilver, balsam of Copaiba, each half an ounce; rose-water, half a pint. Rub the quicksilver with the balsam, till they are perfectly incorporated; then mix with them the yolk of an egg, and afterwards add the rose-water.

This and the foregoing preparation are designed to be injected into the urethra in virulent gonorrhoeas, for cleansing and deterring the parts.

Sect. X. Plasters.

969. Plasters are composed chiefly of oily and unctuous substances, united with powders, into such a consistence, that the compound may remain firm in the cold, without sticking to the fingers; that it may be soft and pliable in a small heat; and that by the warmth of the human body it be so tenacious, as readily to adhere both to the part on which it is applied, and to the substance on which it is spread.

There is however a difference in the consistence of plasters, according to the purposes they are to be applied to: thus, such as are intended for the breast and stomach, should be very soft and yielding; whilst those designed for the limbs are made firmer and more adhesive. An ounce of expressed oil, an ounce of yellow wax, and half an ounce of any proper powder, will make a plaster of the first consistence; for a hard one, an ounce more of wax, and half an ounce more of powder, may be added. Plasters may likewise be made of resins, gummy-resins, &c. without wax, especially in extemporaneous prescription: for officinals, these compositions are less proper, as they soon grow too soft in keeping, and fall flat in a warm air.

Calces of lead, boiled with oils, unite with them into a plaster of an excellent consistence, and which makes a proper basis for several other plasters.

In the boiling of these compositions, a quantity of water must be added, to prevent the plaster from burning and growing black. Such water, as it may be necessary to add during the boiling, must be previously made hot: for cold liquor would not only prolong the process, but likewise occasion the matter to explode, and be thrown about with violence, to the great danger of the operator: this accident will equally happen upon the addition of hot water, if the plaster is extremely hot.

970. Anodyne plaster. E.

Take of white resin, eight ounces; tacamahaca in powder, galbanum, each four ounces; cummin seeds, three ounces; black soap, four ounces. Melt the resin and the gums together; then add the powdered seeds and the soap, and make the whole into a plaster.

This plaster generally gives ease in slight rheumatic pains, which it is supposed to effect by preventing the afflux of humours to the part, and putting in motion and repelling such as already stagnate there.

971. Antihysteric plaster. E.

Take of strained galbanum, one pound; strained asafoetida, yellow wax, of each half a pound; yellow resin, three ounces. Melt them together into a plaster.

This plaster is applied to the umbilical region, or over the whole abdomen, in hysteric cases, and sometimes with good effect.

972. Drawing plaster. L.

Take of yellow resin, yellow wax, each three pounds; tried mutton-fat, one pound. Melt them together; and whilst the mass remains fluid, pass it through a strainer.

This is a very well contrived plaster for the purpose expressed in its title. It is calculated to supply the place of melilot plaster; whose great irritation, when employed for the dressing of blisters, has been continually complained of. This was owing to the large quantity of resin contained in it, which is here for that reason retrenched. It should seem, that, when designed only for dressing blisters, the resin ought to be entirely omitted, unless where a continuance of the pain and irritation excited by the vesicatory is required. Indeed plasters of any kind are not very proper for this purpose: their consistence makes them fit uneasy, and their adhesiveness renders the taking them off painful. Cerates, which are softer and less adhesive, appear much more eligible: the white cerate (no 1019.) will serve for general use, and for some particular purposes the yellow cerate (no 1030.) may be applied.

973. Wax plaster. E.

Take of yellow wax, two pounds; white resin, half a pound; hog's lard, one pound. Melt them together into a plaster.

This plaster is similar to the foregoing, but the further reduction of the resin renders it for some purposes more eligible.

974. Cephalic plaster.

Take of Burgundy pitch, two pounds; soft labdanum, one pound; yellow resin, yellow wax, each four ounces; the expressed oil, called oil of mace, one ounce. Melt the pitch, resin, and wax, together; then add, first the labdanum, and afterwards the oil of mace. L.

Take of tacamahaca in powder, yellow wax, Venice turpentine, each four ounces; oil of lavender, two drams; oil of amber, one dram. Melt the tacamahaca haca with the wax; and then add the turpentine, that a plaster may be formed: when this compound is taken from the fire, and grown almost cold, mix in the oils. E.

These plasters are applied, in weaknesses or pains of the head, to the temples, forehead, &c. and sometimes likewise to the feet. Schulze relates, that an inveterate rheumatism in the temples, which at times extended to the teeth, and occasioned intolerable pain, was completely cured in two days by a plaster of this kind (with the addition of a little opium) applied to the part, after many other remedies had been tried in vain: he adds, that a large quantity of liquid matter exuded, under the plaster, in drops, which were so acrid as to corrode the cuticle.

975. Common plaster, usually called diachylon. Take of oil-olive, one gallon; litharge, ground into a most subtle powder, five pounds. Boil them over a gentle fire, with about two pints of water; keeping them continually stirring, till the oil and litharge unite, and acquire the consistence of a plaster. If all the water should be consumed before this happens, add some more water, previously made hot. L. E.

This plaster is the common application in excoriations of the skin, slight flesh wounds, and the like. They keep the part soft, and somewhat warm, and defend it from the air, which is all that can be expected in these cases from any plaster. Some of our industrious medicine-makers have thought these purposes might be answered by a cheaper composition, and accordingly have added a large quantity of common whitening and hogs lard; this, however, is by no means allowable, not only as it does not stick so well, but likewise as the lard is apt to grow rancid and acrimonious. The counterfeit is distinguishable by the eye.

976. Common sticking plaster. Take of common plaster, three pounds; yellow resin, half a pound. Melt the common plaster over a very gentle fire; then add the resin, first reduced into powder, that it may melt the sooner; and mix them all together.

This plaster may otherwise be made, by taking, instead of the common plaster, its ingredients oil and litharge, and adding the resin a little before they have come to the due consistence; then continue the boiling, till the plaster is finished. It turns out the most elegant when made by this last method.

977. Sticking plaster. E. Take of common plaster, two pounds; yellow resin, five ounces. Melt them together, so as to make a plaster.

These plasters are used chiefly as adhesives, for keeping on other dressings, &c.

978. Common plaster, with gums. L. Take of common plaster, three pounds; galbanum strained, eight ounces; common turpentine, frankincense, each three ounces. Melt the galbanum with the turpentine over a gentle fire, and sprinkle in the frankincense reduced to powder; then gradually mix with these the common plaster, previously liquefied by a very gentle heat. Or, instead of the common plaster already made, you may take the oil and litharge boiled together: as soon as these unite, before they have acquired the consistence of a plaster, the other ingredients are to be added.

979. Gum plaster. E. Take of gum ammoniacum strained, galbanum strained, each three ounces; common plaster, two pounds. Mix them together into a plaster.

Both these plasters are used as digestives and suppuratives; particularly in abscesses, after a part of the matter has been matured and discharged, for suppurating or dissolving the remaining hard part.

980. Cummin plaster. L. Take of Burgundy pitch, three pounds; yellow wax, cummin seeds, caraway seeds, bay-berries, each three ounces. Melt the pitch with the wax; then sprinkle in the other ingredients first reduced into a powder, and mix the whole well together.

This plaster stands recommended as a moderately warm detergent; and is directed by some to be applied to the hypogastric region, for strengthening the viscera, and expelling flatulencies.

981. Defensive plaster. E. Take of common plaster, two pounds; yellow wax, yellow resin, of each three ounces; colcothar of vitriol, six ounces. Boil the oil with the litharge, till they have acquired nearly the consistence of a plaster: in this liquefy the wax, and then add the other ingredients, so as to form the whole into a plaster, according to art.

This plaster is laid round the lips of wounds and ulcers, over the other dressings, for defending them from inflammation, and a fluxion of humours; which, however, as Mr Sharp very justly observes, plasters, on account of their consistence, tend rather to bring on than to prevent.

982. Melilot plaster. The London college has substituted to the plaster of this name, the drawing plaster, (n° 972.) the Edinburgh the wax plaster, (n° 973.)

983. Mercurial plaster. E. Take of common plaster, a pound and a half; quicksilver eight ounces; Venice turpentine, two ounces and a half. Grind the quicksilver in a mortar, with the turpentine, until they are perfectly incorporated; and then, having melted the common plaster, and taken it from the fire, add to it this mixture.

This plaster is looked on as a powerful resolvent and detergent, acting with much greater certainty in these intentions than any composition of vegetable substances alone; the mercury exerting itself in a considerable degree, and being sometimes introduced into the habit in such quantity as to affect the mouth. Pains in the joints and limbs from a venereal cause, nodes, tops, and beginning indurations of the glands, are said sometimes to yield to them.

984. Strengthening plaster. L. Take of common plaster, two pounds; frankincense, half a pound; dragons blood, three ounces. Melt the common plaster, and add to it the other ingredients reduced into powder. The dragons blood should be reduced to a very fine powder; otherwise the mixture will not be of an uniform colour.

This is a reformation of the laborious and injudicious composition described in preceding pharmacopoeias, under the title of Emplastrum ad hernianum; and though far the most elegant and simple, is as effectual for that purpose as any of the medicines of this kind. If constantly worn, with a proper bandage, it will, in children, frequently do service; though perhaps not so much from any strengthening quality of the ingredients, as from its being a soft, close, and adhesive covering.

985. Saponaceous plaster. E. Take of gum plaster, one pound; Calile soap, sliced, nine ounces; common plaster, two pounds. Melt the plaster, and then put in the soap, letting the whole boil for a short time, that it may become a plaster.

986. Stomach plaster. Take of soft labdanum, three ounces; frankincense, one ounce; cinnamon, the expressed oil, called oil of mace, each half an ounce; essential oil of mint, one dram. Having melted the frankincense, add to it, first the labdanum softened by heat, and then the oil of mace; afterwards mix these with the cinnamon and oil of mint; and beat them together in a warm mortar, into a mass, which is to be kept in a close vessel. L. This is a very elegant stomach plaster. It is contrived so as to be easily made occasionally (for these kinds of compositions, on account of their volatile ingredients, are not fit for keeping;) and to be but moderately adhesive, so as not to offend the skin; and that it may without difficulty be frequently taken off and renewed, which these sorts of applications, in order to their producing any considerable effect, require to be.

Take of yellow wax, eight ounces; tacamahaca in powder, four ounces; cloves, powdered, two ounces; palm-oil, six ounces; expressed oil of mace, an ounce and a half; essential oil of mint, two drams. Melt the wax and tacamahaca with the palm-oil; then removing the mixture from the fire, add the other ingredients, and make them into a plaster, according to art. E.

These plasters are applied to the pit of the stomach, in weaknesses of that viscus, in vomitings, in the disorder improperly called the heartburn, &c. and sometimes with good success. The pit of the stomach, however, as Hoffman has observed, is not always the most proper place for applications of this kind to be made to; if applied to the five lower ribs of the left side, towards the back, the stomach will in general receive more benefit from them; for it appears from anatomical inspection, that greatest part of it is situated there.

987. Blistering plaster. L. Take of drawing plaster, two pounds; cantharides, one pound; vinegar, half a pint. Melt the drawing plaster; and, a little before it grows stiff, mix in the cantharides, reduced into a most subtle powder; then add the vinegar, and work them well together.

Take of yellow wax, two pounds; yellow rosin, hog's-lard, of each one pound; oil olive, half a pint; cantharides, a pound and a half. Reduce the cantharides first to a very fine powder, then rub them with the oil; and having melted the other ingredients with a gentle heat, add the cantharides to them when pretty cold. E.

988. An anodyne and discutient plaster. Take of cummin plaster, two ounces; camphor, three drams; Thebaic extract, one dram and a half. Grind the camphor, with some drops of oil olive, into a very subtile powder; and then mix it with the other ingredients, according to art, into a plaster.

989. Warm plaster. Take of gum plaster, one ounce; blistering plaster, two drams. Melt them together over a gentle fire.

990. Suppurating plaster. Take of gum plaster, an ounce and a half; Burgundy pitch, half an ounce. Melt them together.

The uses of the three foregoing compositions, which are taken from our hospitals, are sufficiently obvious from their titles. The warm plaster is a very stimulating application, of great use in fixed pains, as in rheumatism, sciatica, beginning chilblains, &c.

Sect. XI. Ointments, Liniments, and Cerates.

991. Ointments and liniments differ from plasters little otherwise than in consistence. Any of the official plasters, diluted with so much oil as will reduce it to the thickness of stiff honey, forms an ointment: by farther increasing the oil, it becomes a liniment. Cerates differ from plasters and ointments only in consistence; being a softer kind of plaster, or harder kind of ointment.

992. Ointment of verdigris. E. Take of white wax, yellow resin, of each two ounces; of oil olive, a pint; verdigris, half an ounce. Having melted the wax and resin with the oil, add the verdigris first ground with a little of the oil, keeping the whole constantly stirring till cold.

993. Mel Aegyptiacum. L. Take of verdigris, reduced into a very subtile powder, five ounces; honey, 14 ounces by weight; vinegar, seven ounces by measure. Boil these ingredients together, over a gentle fire, till they have acquired a due consistence and a reddish colour. On keeping this mixture for some time, the thicker part falls to the bottom; the thinner, which floats on the top, is called mel Aegyptiacum.

These preparations are designed only for external use, for cleansing and deterring ulcers, and keeping down fungous flesh; they are serviceable also in venereal ulcerations of the mouth and tonsils. If for particular purposes, the latter should be wanted more acid, it may be occasionally rendered so by shaking the vessel, so as to mix up the thick matter at the bottom (which contains greatest part of the verdigris) with the upper thin one.—In the former the verdigris is sometimes doubled.

994. White 994. White ointment. L. E.

Take of oil olive, one pint; white wax, four ounces; spermaceti, three ounces. Liquefy them by a gentle fire, and keep them constantly and briskly stirring, till grown thoroughly cold.

995. Ointment of white lead, commonly called white ointment. E.

Take of oil olive, three pints; cerusie, one pound; white wax, nine ounces. Melt the wax in the oil; then gradually add the cerusie, and stir them well together, that they may be thoroughly mixed into an ointment.

This is an useful, cooling, and emollient ointment, of good service in excoriations, and other like frettings of the skin.

996. Camphorated white ointment. L.

This is made by adding to the white ointment a dram and a half of camphor, previously ground with some drops of oil of almonds,

This ointment is supposed to be more efficacious than the foregoing, and serviceable against cutaneous heats, itching, and serpiginous eruptions. It should be kept in close vessels, otherwise the camphor will soon exhale; smelling strong of this ingredient is the best mark of its goodness.

997. Ointment of marshmallows. L.

Take oil of mucilages, three pints; yellow wax, one pound; yellow resin, half a pound; common turpentine, two ounces. Melt the resin and wax with the oil; then, having taken them from the fire, add the turpentine; and while the mixture remains hot, strain it.

998. Yellow basilicum ointment.

Take of oil olive, one pint; yellow wax, yellow resin, Burgundy pitch, each one pound; common turpentine, three ounces. Melt the wax, resin, and pitch, along with the oil, over a gentle fire; then take them from the fire, add the turpentine, and whilst the mixture remains hot strain it. L.

Take of yellow wax, yellow resin, each two ounces; hog's-lard and oil olive, of each one pound. Melt them together with a gentle fire, and having removed them from it, stir them well till they grow cold. E.

These are commonly employed, in dressings, for digesting, cleansing, and incarnating wounds and ulcers. They differ very little, if at all, in their effects, from the liniment of Arcæus, (no 1015.)

999. Black basilicum ointment, or ointment of four ingredients. L.

Take of oil olive, one pint; yellow wax, yellow resin, dry pitch, each nine ounces. Melt them all together; and whilst the mixture is hot, strain it off.

This ointment was formerly of considerable esteem for healing and incarnating wounds, &c. but is said to have an inconvenience of being apt to render them foul, and produce fungous flesh: at present it is rarely made use of; the yellow basilicum, and the liniment of Arcæus, being in general preferred.

1000. Green basilicum ointment. L.

Take of yellow basilicum, eight ounces; oil olive, three ounces by measure; verdigris prepared, one ounce. Mix, and make them into an ointment.

This ointment is an efficacious detergent.

1001. Yellow ointment. E.

Take of quicksilver, one ounce; spirit of nitre, two ounces; hogs-lard, tried, one pound. Dissolve the quicksilver in the spirit of nitre by digestion in a sand-heat; and whilst the solution is very hot, mix with it the lard, previously melted by itself, and just beginning to grow stiff. Stir them briskly together, in a marble mortar, so as to form the whole into an ointment.

1002. The stronger blue ointment. L.

Take of hogs lard, tried, two pounds; quicksilver, one pound; simple balsam of sulphur, half an ounce. Grind the quicksilver with the balsam of sulphur till they are perfectly incorporated; then gradually add the lard heated, and mix them carefully together.

1003. The milder blue ointment. L.

Take of hogs-lard, tried, four pounds; quicksilver, one pound; common turpentine, one ounce. Grind the quicksilver with the turpentine, in a mortar, till it ceases to appear; then gradually add the lard warmed, and carefully mix them together.

This last unguent turns out of a much better blue colour than the foregoing, which is of a very dingy hue. Mercurial unguents have in many cases the same effect with the preparations of this mineral taken internally; and are at present frequently employed, not only against cutaneous disorders, as alterants, but likewise in venereal and other obstinate cases, for raising a salivation. The ptyalism excited by unction is said to be attended with the fewest inconveniences, and to perform the most complete cure. In some constitutions, mercurials taken inwardly, run off by the intestines, without affecting the mouth; and in others, they affect the salivary glands so quickly, as to occasion a copious ptyalism, without extending their action to the remoter parts, and consequently without removing the cause of the disease.

1004. Ointment of gum elemi. L.

Take of mutton-fuet, fresh and tried, two pounds; gum elemi, one pound; common turpentine, ten ounces. Melt the gum with the fuet; and having taken them from the fire, immediately mix the turpentine; then whilst the mass remains fluid, strain it off.

1005. The ointment, commonly called liniment of Arcæus. E.

Take of hogs-lard, one pound; goats fuet, or mutton fuet, two pounds; Venice turpentine, gum elemi, each a pound and a half. Melt and strain them, so as to make an ointment according to art.

This unguent has long been in use for digesting, cleansing, and incarnating; and for these purposes is preferred by some to all the other compositions of this kind.

1006. Emollient ointment. E.

Take of palm oil, four pints; fresh-drawn linseed oil, three three pints; yellow wax, one pound. Melt the wax in the oils, over a gentle fire, and strain the ointment, which supplies the place of the ointment of marshmallows.

1007. Mercurial ointment. E.

Take of hogs lard, three ounces; mutton-fuet, one ounce; quicksilver, one ounce. Rub them diligently together in a mortar, till the mercurial globules disappear. This ointment is made also with twice, and with thrice, the quantity of mercury.

This is the most simple of the mercurial ointments, though possibly as efficacious as any. It requires indeed a great deal more labour to extinguish the mercury in the lard alone, than when turpentine or other like substances are joined: but, in recompense, the composition with lard is free from an inconvenience which the others are accompanied with, viz. being apt by frequent rubbing to fret tender skins.

1008. Ointment of mercury precipitate. L.

Take of simple ointment, an ounce and a half; precipitated sulphur, two drams; white mercury precipitate, two scruples. Mix them well together, and moisten them with ley of tartar, that they may be made into an ointment.

This is a very elegant mercurial ointment, and frequently made use of against cutaneous disorders.

1009. Ointment of tar. L. E.

Take of mutton-fuet tried, tar, each equal weights. Melt them together, and strain the mixture whilst hot.

This composition, with the addition of half its weight of resin, has long been used in the shops as a cheap substitute to the black basilicum.

1010. Saturnine ointment.

Take of oil olive, half a pint; white wax, an ounce and a half; sugar of lead, two drams. Let the sugar of lead, reduced into a very subtile powder, be ground with some part of the oil, and the wax melted with the rest of the oil. Mix both together, and keep them stirring till the ointment is grown cold. L.

Take of sugar of lead, half an ounce; white wax, three ounces; oil olive, one pint. Liquify the oil and wax together, and gradually add the sugar of lead, previously ground, with some of the oil; continually stirring them, till, growing cold, they unite into an ointment. E.

Both these ointments are useful coolers and desiccatives.

1011. The simple ointment. L.

Take of hogs-lard, tried, two pounds; rose-water, three ounces by measure. Beat the lard with the rose-water, till they are well mixed; then melt them over a very gentle fire, and set them by for some time, that the water may subside: pour the lard off from the water, and keep incessantly stirring and beating it about till it grows cold, so as to reduce it into a light incoherent mass: lastly, add so much essence of lemons as will be sufficient to give a grateful odour.

Vol. VIII.

1012. The rose ointment, commonly called pomatum. E.

On any quantity of hogs-lard, cut into small pieces, and placed in a glazed earthen vessel, pour as much water as will rise above it some inches; and digest them together for ten days, renewing the water every day. Then liquefy the lard with a very gentle heat, and pour it into a proper quantity of rose-water: work them well together; and afterwards pouring off the water, add to the lard some drops of oil of rhodium.

These ointments are in common use for softening and smoothing the skin, and healing chaps.

1013. Ointment of tutty. L.

Let any quantity of prepared tutty be mixed with as much purified vipers fat as is sufficient to reduce it into the consistence of a loft ointment.

This ointment is designed for an ophthalmic. What particular virtues it receives from the vipers fat, we shall not presume to determine.

In the present edition of the Edinburgh dispensatory, it is ordered to be made of four ounces of hog's lard, a dram of white wax, and an ounce of prepared tutty.

1014. Ointment for blisters.

Take of hog's-lard tried, blistering plaster, each equal weights. Melt them together over a very gentle fire, and keep them constantly stirring till grown cold. L.

Take of oil olive, one pint; yellow wax, four ounces; yellow resin, two ounces; cantharides, an ounce and a half. Melt the wax and resin over a gentle fire with part of the oil; then having taken them off the fire, add the cantharides first finely powdered, and then ground with part of the oil, continually stirring the mixture till it has grown cold. E.

1015. The milder epispastic ointment. E.

Take of cantharides, one ounce; white resin, yellow wax, each one ounce; hog's-lard, Venice turpentine, each two ounces; boiling water, four ounces. Infuse the cantharides in the water, in a close vessel, for a night; then strongly press out, and strain the liquor, and boil it with the lard till the watery moisture is consumed; then add the resin, wax, and turpentine, and make the whole into an ointment.

These ointments are added in the dressings for blisters, intended to be made perpetual, as they are called, or to be kept running for a considerable time, which in many chronic, and some acute cases, they are required to be.

The last, containing the soluble parts of the cantharides uniformly blended with the other ingredients, is more commodious, and occasions less pain, though not less effectual in its intention than the other with the fly in substance.

1016. White liniment. L.

Take of oil olive, three ounces by measure; spermaceti, six drams; white wax, two drams. Melt them together over a gentle fire, and keep them constantly and briskly stirring till grown cold.

This differs only in consistence from the white ointment, 994. 1017. Green balsam. E.

Take of linseed oil, oil of turpentine, each one pound; verdigris, in powder, three drams. Boil and stir them well together till the verdigris is dissolved.

A balsam, similar to this, is said to have been greatly valued by our surgeons as a detergent.

1018. Volatile liniment.

Take of oil of hartshorn, spirit of hartshorn, each equal parts. Mix them together.

Dr Pringle observes, that in the inflammatory quinsy, or strangulation of the fauces, a piece of flannel, moistened with this mixture, and applied to the throat, to be renewed every four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies. By means of this warm stimulating application, the neck, and sometimes the whole body, is put into a sweat; which, after bleeding, either carries off or lessens the inflammation.

1019. White cerate. L.

Take of oil olive, a quarter of a pint; white wax, four ounces; spermacti, half an ounce. Liquefy them all together, and keep them stirring till the cerate is grown quite cold.

This differs from the white ointment and liniment only in being of a thicker consistence.

1020. Yellow cerate. L.

Take of yellow basilicum ointment, half a pound; yellow wax, one ounce. Melt them together.

This is no otherwise different from the yellow basilicum, than being of a stiffer consistence, which renders it for some purposes more commodious.

1021. Epulotic cerate. L.

Take of oil olive, one pint; yellow wax, calamine prepared, each half a pound. Liquefy the wax with the oil; and as soon as the mixture begins to grow stiff, sprinkle in the calamine; keeping them constantly stirring together, till the cerate is grown quite cold.

1022. Ointment of calamine. E.

Take of yellow wax, one pound; oil olive, two pints; calamine prepared, nine ounces. Melt the wax with the oil, and gradually sprinkle in the calamine, mixing and stirring them well together till grown cold.

These compositions are formed upon the cerate which Turner strongly recommends in cutaneous ulcerations and excoriations, and which has been usually distinguished by his name. They appear from experience to be excellent epulotics, and as such are frequently made use of in practice.

1023. Palfey ointment.

Take of hog's-lard, oil of bays, each four ounces; strong spirit of vitriol, one ounce. Mix, and make them into an unguent.

This irritating composition is applied to numbed or paralytic limbs: it soon reddens and inflames the skin, and when this effect is produced, must be taken off; after which, the part is to be anointed with any emollient unguent.

1024. Liniment for the piles.

Take of emollient ointment, two ounces; liquid laudanum, half an ounce. Mix these ingredients with the yolk of an egg, and work them well together.

1025. Wax liniment. E.

Take of oil olive, three ounces; spermacti, three drams; white wax, two drams. Melt all together over a gentle fire; and keep the whole continually stirring till it cools.

Sect. XII. Epithems.

1026. Blistering epithem. L.

Take of cantharides reduced into a most subtile powder, wheat flour, each equal weights. Make them into a paste with vinegar.

This composition is of a softer consistence than the blistering plasters, and for this reason is in some cases preferred. Practitioners differ with regard to the degree of consistence and adhesiveness most proper for applications of this kind, and sometimes vary them occasionally.

1027. Cataplasm of cummin. L.

Take of cummin seeds, half a pound; bay-berries, scordium-leaves dried, Virginian snakeroot, each three ounces; cloves, one ounce; honey, thrice the weight of the powdered species. Make them into a cataplasm.

This is a reformation of the theriaca Londinensis, which for some time past has been scarce otherwise made use of than as a warm cataplasm; only such of its ingredients are retained as contribute most to this intention.

1028. Discutient cataplasm.

Take of bryony root, three ounces; elder flowers, one ounce; gum ammoniac, half an ounce; sal ammoniac, crude, two drams; camphorated spirit of wine, one ounce. Boil the roots and flowers in a sufficient quantity of water, till they become tender; and having then bruised them, add to them the gum ammoniacum dissolved in a sufficient quantity vinegar, and likewise the sal ammoniac and spirit; mix the whole together, so as to make them into a cataplasm.

This composition is as good a discutient as anything that can well be contrived in the form of a cataplasm.

1029. Ripening cataplasm. L.

Take of figs, four ounces; yellow basilicum ointment, one ounce; galbanum, strained, half an ounce. Beat the figs thoroughly in a mortar, occasionally dropping in some spirit of wine or strong ale; then carefully mix with them the ointment, first liquefied along with the galbanum.

This composition is a good suppurant or ripener; though its effects probably depend more on its keeping the part soft, moist, and warm, than on any particular qualities of the ingredients.

1030. Afinapism. E.

Take of mustard-seed, in powder, crumb of bread, each equal parts; strong vinegar, as much as is sufficient. Mix Mix and make them into a cataplasm; to which is sometimes added a little bruised garlic.

1031. Compound sinapisin. Take of mustard-seed in powder, crumb of bread, each two ounces; garlic, bruised, half an ounce; black soap, one ounce; strong vinegar, a sufficient quantity. Mix and make them into a cataplasm, according to art.

Both these compositions are employed only as stimulants: they often inflame the part, and raise blisters, but not so perfectly as cantharides. They are frequently applied to the soles of the feet in the low state of acute diseases, for raising the pulse and relieving the head.

1031. Alum curd. Take any quantity of the white of eggs. Agitate it with a sufficiently large lump of alum, in a tin dish, until it is coagulated.

This preparation is taken from Riverius. It is an useful astringent epithem for sore, moist eyes; and excellently cools and represses thin defluxions. Slighter inflammations of the eyes, occasioned by dust, exposure to the sun, or other like causes, are generally removed by fomenting them with warm milk and water, and washing them with the vitriolic water, no 944. Where the complaint is more violent, this preparation, after the inflammation has yielded a little to bleeding, is one of the best external remedies. It is to be spread on lint, and applied at bed-time.

1032. Emollient cataplasm. Take of crumb of bread, eight ounces; white soap, one ounce; cows milk, fresh, a sufficient quantity. Boil them a little together.

1033. Stomachic cataplasm. Take of the aromatic cataplasm, one ounce; expressed oil of mace, two drams; anodyne balsam, as much as is sufficient to reduce them into a proper consistence.

1034. Camphorated cataplasm. Take of aromatic cataplasm, one ounce; camphor, one dram. Mix them together.

1035. Icthiatic cataplasm. Take of mustard-seed, half a pound; white pepper, ginger, each one dram; simple oxymel, as much as will reduce them into a cataplasm.

The use of these compositions, which are taken from the hospitals, may be easily understood from their titles. The last is a very stimulating application, and frequently vesicates the skin.

INDEX

ACACIA, no 598. Acid spirits, p. 6078. Acids, no 102. Combined with vinous spirits, 682. Alcali of sea-salt, 644. Alcaline, aloetic wine, 362—364. Alcaline salts, fixed, p. 6072. Combined with oils and inflammable spirits, 6077. Ale, p. 6037. Ale, antiscorbutic, no 382. Bitter, 383. Diuretic, 384. Opening, 385. Dr Butler's, 386. Cephalic, 387. Almond soap, 662. Aloes, gum and resin of, 615. Alum-whey, 537. Alum burnt, 602. Alum-water, 947. Alum curd, 1031. Amber, prepared, 267. Spirit, salt, and oil of, 712. Angelica stalks candied, 467. Animals, p. 6013, 6014. Antimonial or emetic wine, no 366. Antimonial caustic, 793. Antimony prepared, 255. Preparations of antimony, p. 6101. Precipitated sulphur of, no 772. Golden sulphur of, 773. Panacea of, 790. Medicinal regulus of, 790. Simple regulus, 771. Glass of, 791. Cerated glass of, 792. Butter of, 793. Cinnabar of, 794. Apparatus, 117, &c. Aquafortis, 677. Purified ditto, 678. Aromatic species, 827, a. Aromatic powder, 827, b. Balm-water, compound, 560. Balsam of guaiacum, 430. Of Guido, 635. Anodyne of Bates, 665. Saponaceous, 666. Green, 1017. Wade's 433. Balsamum commendatoris, 433. Barley-water, 337. Bates's alum-water, 946. Beaume de commandeur, 433. Benzoïn, flowers of, 710. Bezoar stone prepared, 259. Bisophth, magnesia of, 797. Bitumen, 84, 85. Bloodstone prepared, 261. Bolus, 878. Alexipharmac bolus, 879. Castor, 880. Diaphoretic, 881. Diuretic, 882. Against the dysentery, 883. Emmenagogue, 884. Febrifuge, 885. Hytteric, 886. Ilic, 887. Mercurial, 888. Pectoral, 889. Bolus of rhubarb with mercury, 890. Rheumatic, 891. Sudorific, 892. Borax, salt of, 711. C. Calamine prepared, 260. Calcination, 245. Camphor, 42. Cataplasm of cummin, 1027. Difcutient, 1028. Ripening, 1029. Emollient, 1032. Stomachic, 1033. Camphorated, 1034. Icthiatic, 1035. Caustic, common, the stronger, 649, a. The milder, 649, b. Cerat, 991. White, 1019. Yellow, 1020. Epulotic, 1021. Ceruse, or white lead, 745. Chalk prepared, 258. Cinnabar, artificial, 753. Colbatch's styptic powder, 803. Communition, 230. Compositions, p. 6105, et seqq. Confection, cordial, 530, 901. Of kermes, 499. Japonic, 899. Of Damocrates, 903. Of Paulina, 902. Conserves, 454. General method of preserving them, 455. Of scurvy-grafts, 456. Of wood-forrel, 457. Of spearmint, 458. Of rue, 459. Of sea-wormwood, 460. Of red roses, 461. Of rosemary flowers, 462. Of Seville orange-peel, 463. Of floes, 464. Copper, volatile tincture of, 741. Ammoniacal, 742. Coral prepared, 257. Crab-claws prepared, 256. Crab's-eyes prepared, 254. Cretaceous potion, 319. Crocus metallorum, 768. Of antimony washed, 969. Crystallization, 193—197, 687. D. Decoctions, 331. White decoction, 333. Of the woods, 334. Of marshmallow root, 335. Peetoral, 336. Of se-neka, 350. Common for glysters, 352. Common, 353. Depuration, 185. Distillation, 208. Draught, 929. Cathartic, 941. Saline cathartic, 942. Dia-phoretic, 943. Diuretic, 944. Anodyne diuretic, 945. E. Earths, 86. Earthy substances, and such as are insoluble in water, how prepared, 252. Eau de Carmes, 569. Edinburgh theriaca, 903, c. Egg-shells prepared, 266. Elaterium, 601. Elephantiasis, 893. Electuary of caffia, 894. Dicaffia, 895. Lenitive, 896. Pectoral, 897. Of scammony, 898. Thebaic, 903, d. Acid, 906. Alexiterial, 907. Anti-epileptic, 908. Antidyseptic, 909. Aromatic, 910. Balsamic, 911. Chalybeate, 912. Of black hel-lebore, 913. Nephritic, 914. Paralytic, 915. Of Peruvian bark, 916. Acid purgative, 917. Saponaceous, 918. Binding, 919. Of sulphur, 920.

Elixir of health, 421, b. Of guaiacum, 431. Volatile ditto, 432. Of aloes, 436. Proprietas, 437. Proprietatis vitriolicum, 438. Paragoric, 439. Acid of vitriol, 440. Sweet elixir of ditto, 442. Compound elixir of myrrh, 444. Elixir sacrum, 445.

Emulsions, 922. Common emulsion, 923. Arabic, 924. Purgings, 925. With arum root, 926.

Em venures, 738.

Epithems, blistering, 1027.

Eryngo-root candied, 466.

Ether, vitriolic, 683.

Ethiops, martial, 732. Mineral, 752. Antimonial, 804.

Evaporation, 204.

Expression, 221.

Exsiccation, 226.

Extracts, thebaic, 286. Of wolfsbane, 296. Of hemlock, 297, 600. Of plantane, 599. Of wormwood, 603. Of lesser centaury, 604. Of chamomile, 605. Of elecampane, 606. Of gentian, 607. Of liquorice, 608. Of black hel-lebore, 609. Of logwood, 610, 628. Of Peruvian bark, soft and hard, 611, 627. Of guaiacum wood, soft and hard, 612. Of rue, 613. Of fava, 614. Of Rudins, 616. Of jalap, 626. Cathartic, 629.

Extraction, 180. Of pulps, 282

Extracts with water, 602.

With rectified spirit, 619.

With spirit and water, 625.

F.

Fomentation, common, 351.

Furnaces, 117.

Fusion, 240.

G.

Gargarism, astringent, 952. Common, 953. Detergent, 954. Emollient, 955.

Gellies, 473—477.

Gilla of vitriol, 690.

Glauber's salt, 698. Spirit of nitre, 675. Of sea-salt, 676.

Glyster of starch, 956. Anodyne opiate, 957. Against the colic, 958. Astringent, 959. Astringent balsamic, 960. Common, 961. Domestic, 962. Emollient, 963. Fetid, 964. Purgings, 965. Turpentine, 966.

Gold, potable, 724, 725.

Gum, 45.

Gum-resin, 49.

H.

Hartshorn, calcined, 281. Spirit, salt, and oil of, 631.

Hepar antimonii, 768.

Hieracia, 826.

Hog's-lard tried, 276.

Honey, clarified, 278. Of roses, 501. Solutive, 502.

Honeys and oxymels, p. 6051.

Hungary water, 571.

I

Infusions in different menstrua, p. 6029. Infusions and decoctions in water, ib. In cold water, 6030. In boiling water, 6031.

Infusion of carduus, n° 313. Of Peruvian bark, 316. Simple bitter infusion, 320. Purgings bitter ditto, 320. Bitter infusion with senna, 322. Common infusion of senna, 323. Infusion of senna with lemon, 324. With tamarinds, 325. Of rhubarb, 326. Of flammula jovis, 327.

Injections, balsamic, 967. Mercurial, 968.

Iron filings purified, 288. Prepared, 288. Rust of iron prepared, 730. Scales of iron prepared, 731. Iron fulphurated, 734. Opening crocus of iron, 735. Astringent ditto, 736.

Juice of floes infipilated, 598. Juices, 289. Scorbutic, 295.

Juices and infusions concentrated by evaporation, p. 6065. Infipilated, n° 596.

Juleps, 927. Of chalk, 930. Of mulle, 931. Cordial, 932. Diaphoretic, 933. Diuretic, 934. Fetid, 935. Binding, 936.

Juleps, mixtures and draughts, p. 6121.

K

Kermes, confection of, 499.

Mineral, 773. Syrup of, 487.

Kunckel's antimonial tablets, 851.

L

Lac sulphuris, 722.

Lapis lazuli prepared, 262.

Lead, preparations of, p. 6095.

Sugar of, n° 746.

Ley of Tartar, 645.

Lime-water, 318.

Liniments, 991. Liniment of Arcæus, 1005. White, 1016. Volatile, 1018. For the piles, 1024. Wax liniment, 1025

Saponaceous liniment, 664, b.

Liver of antimony, 768.

Locatelli's balsam, 900.

Lobochis, 921.

Lotions, saponaceous, 664, a.

Lotions, gargarisms, injections, &c. 946, &c.

Lozenges, cardialgic, 844.

Laxative antacid, 845.

Lunar caustic, 727. Pills, 728

M

Magnesia alba, 699, a.

— burnt, 699, b.

Martial flowers, 738.

Mel Ægyptiacum, 993.

Measures, 156.

Mercury, 749. Sugared, 751. Calcined, 754. Solution of, 755. Calx of, 756. Red calx of, 757. Red precipitate of, 757. Red corrosive of, 758. White ditto, 759. White precipitate of, 761. Sublimate corrosive, 759. Dulcified, 760. Yellow emetic, 762. Yellow precipitate of, 763.

Metallic preparations, p. 6092

Metals, n° 96.

Mill-pedest, &c., prepared, 288.

Mindercrus's spirit, 704.

Minerals, p. 6014.

Minium, or red-lead, 744.

Mitbrideate, or confection of Damocrates, 903, a.

Mixtures, 928. Antidyseptic, 937. Cordial, 938. Against the phthisis, 939. Valerian mixture, 940.

Mucilage of gum arabic, 329.

Of gum tragacanth, 330.

Of quince seeds, 338.

Mustard-whey, 356.

Mutton fuet tried, 276

N

Nitre, fixed, 643. Glauber's spirit of, 675. Dulcified spirit of, 685. Purified, 688. Cubical, 700.

Oil of almonds, 301. Of Lin-

feed, 302. Of mustard-seed, 303. Of ricinus, 304.

Of oranges, lemons, and citrons, 307. Of St John's-wort, 449. Of mucilages, 450. Of elder, 451. Green, 452. Camphorated, ibid. Odoriferous, 453. Of wormwood, 516. Of dill-seeds, 517. Of anifeeds, 518.

Of caraway-seeds, 519. Of cloves, 520. Of chamomile flowers, 521. Of cinnamon, 522. Of fennel-seeds, 523. Of juniper-berrys, 524. Of lavender flowers, 525. Of bay-berrys, 526.

Of lemons, 527. Of mace, 528. Of marjoram leaves, 529. Of common mint, 530, a. Of peppermints, 530, b. Of nutmegs, 531.

Of origanum, 532. Of Jamaica pepper, 533. Of rofemary, 534. Of rue-leaves, 535. Of lavin-leaves, 536. Of laffasfras, 537. Of Turpentine, 538. Of box, 632. Of guaiacum, 633.

Compound oil of balsam of copaiba, 634. Dippeil's animal oil, 636. Of tartar per deliquium, 645. Of hartsnorn, 651. Of foot, 657. Of vitriol, 672. Of amber, 712.

Oils, grofs, 30. Essential fluid, 36. 509—538. Essential concrete, 41. Expresssed, 298. By infusion, &c. 447. Emmureatic, 632. Oils and bitumens, 83.

Ointments, 991. Ointment of verdigris, 992. White, 994.

Of white lead, 995. Camphorated, 996. Of marsh-mallows, 997. Yellow basilicum, 998. Black basilicum, 999. Green basilicum, 1000. Yellow, 1001.

Stronger blue, 1002. Milder blue, 1003. Emollient, 1006. Of gumelemi, 1004.

Mercurial, 1007. Of mercury precipitate, 1008. Of tar, 1009. Saturnine, 1010.

Simple, 1011. Rose ointment, called pomatum, 1012.

Of tutty, 1013. For blisters, 1014. Milder epipatric, 1015. Of calamine, 1022.

For the palsy, 1023.

Operations of pharmacy, p. 6019.

Opium Index.

Opium strained, 286. Opopoea, 666. Orange-peel candied, 468. Oxymel of garlic, 503. Pectoral, 504. Of squills, 505. Simple, 506. Oyster-shells prepared, 265.

P Pearls prepared, 261. Philonium, London, 904. Pills, 854. Pills of Rudius, 616. Ethiopic, 855. Aromatic, 856. Aloetic, 857. Of jalap, 858. Of scammony with aloes, 859. The more simple colocynth pills, 860. Cochiza, the pills so called, 861. Of colocynth with aloes, 862. Deoblituent, 863. Chalybeate ephractic, 864. Purging deoblituent, 865. Fetid, 866. Gum pills, 867. Mercureial pills, 868. Laxative ditto, 869. Of gamboge, 870. Thebaic, commonly called pacific pills, 871, a. Saopnaceous, 871, b. Storax, 871, c. Olibanum, 871, d. Pectoral, 872. Rufus's, 873. Squill pills, 874. Against the dysentery, 875. Spermaceti pills, 876. Plummer's pills, 877.

Plasters, 969. Anodyne plaster, 970. Anthytheric, 971. Drawing, 972. Wax, 973. Cephalic, 974. Common, 975. Stickings, 976, 977. Common with gums, 978, 979. Cummin, 980. Defensive, 981. Melilot, 982. Mercurial, 983. Strengthening, 984. Saponaceous, 985. Stomach, 986. Blistering, 987. Anodyne and discontinue, 988. Warm, 989. Suppurant, 990.

Potash purified, 646.

Powders, 805. Powder of arum, compound, 808. Of bile without opium, 809. Of bile with opium, 810. Compound powder of cerulis, 811. Of crabs-claws, 812. Compound testaceous powder, 813. Bezoardic powder, 814. Compound powder of contrayerva, 815, a. Powder of chalk, 815, b. Epileptic powder, 816. Powder to promote delivery, 818. Compound powder of myrrh, 817. Compound powder of scammony, 819. Of senna, 820. Sternumatory powder, 821. Compound powder of amber, 824. Of gum tragacanth, 825. Aromatic powder, 827, b. Species of foerdom without opium, 828. With opium, 829. Saline cathartic powder, 830. Carminative, 831. Diuretic, 832. Strengthening, 833. Against the king's evil, 834. Vermifuge, 835. Compound powder of jalap, 836. Dover's sweating powder, 837.

Pulvis antilyffus, 807.

Precipitation, 109.

Preparations, p. 6025, &c.

Preserves, n° 465.

Q Quicksilver purified, 750.

R Regulus of antimony medicinal, 770. Simple 771.

Resin, 43. Yellow, 539. Of jalap, 622. Of Peruvian bark, 623. Of saffron, 624.

Rob of elder-berries, 500, 597. Of juniper-berries, 617.

S Sal ammoniac purified, 689. Spirit and salt of, 658, 667. Sal polychrctum, n° 696. Prunellæ, 697. Mirabile, 698.

Saline juices of vegetables, 50. Salt of tartar, 628. Of wormwood, 642. Of hartshorn, 651. Of foot, 657. Volatile of sal ammoniac, 658. Of vitriol, 661. Diuretic, 703. Rochelle, 708. Essential of sorrel, 709. Sedative, 711. Of amber, 712. Of tefl, 739.

Salts, and saline preparations, p. 6072.

Saponaceous lotion and liniment, 664.

Scorbatic juices, 295. Whey, 358.

Sea-salt, Glauber's spirit of, 676. Spirit of coagulated, 701.

Sebaceous matter, 34.

Septic stone, or potential cautery, 648.

Silver, preparations of, 726.

Soap purified, 663. Almond, 662.

Soap-ley, 647.

Solution, 160, &c.

Soot, spirit, salt, and oil of, 957.

Spirit of wine camphorated, 446. Rectified, 564. Of rosemary, 570. Of lavender, simple, 572. Ditto compound, 573. An odoriferous spirit, called sweet honey water, 574. Another, 576. Of scurvy-gras, golden, or purging, 576, 577. Of sea-salt, coagulated, 701. Of amber, 712. Of hartshorn 651. Of foot, 657. Of sal ammoniac, 658. Cautive volatile, 661. Of sal ammoniac with quicklime, 661. Of sal ammoniac dulcified, 667. Volatile fetid, 668, 669. Volatile aromatic, 670. Volatile oily, commonly called saline aromatic spirit, 671. Of vitriol, weak, 672. Of vinegar, 679. Of vitriol dulcified, 684.

Sponge burnt, 280.

Squills dried, 279.

Steel candied, 471. Prepared with sulphur, 733. Tartarized or soluble, 737. Salt of, 739.

Stone, medicinal, 802.

Storax, strained, 285.

Styptic powder of Colbatch, 803.

Sublimation, 218.

Sugar of roses, 846.

Sugar-cakes, anthelmintic, 847.

Sulphur, flowers of, 715. Waltham flowers, 716. Thick balsam of, 717. Balsam of, with Barbadoes tar, 718. With oil of turpentine, 719. With oil of aniseed, 720. Precipitated, 721. Volatile tincture of, 723.

Synapism, simple, 1030. Compound, 1031.

Syrups, 478. Syrup of garlic, 481. Of marshmallows, 482. Of orange-peel, 483. Ballastic, 484, a. Of clove july-flowers, 484, b. Of colchicum, 484, c. Of saffron, 485. Of quinces, 486. Of kermes, 487. Of lemon-juice, 488. Of mulberries, 489. Of raspberries, 490. Of meconium, or diacodium, 491 a. Of wild poppies, 492 b. Pectoral, 493. Solutive of roses, 494, a, b. Of dry roses, 494, c. Of squills, 495. Of sugar, 496. Of buckthorn, 497, a. Of violets, 497, b. Of ginger, 498.

T Tablets, purging, 849. Kunkel's antimonial tablets, 851.

Tar-water, 317.

Tartar regenerated, 702. Crystals of, 705. Cream of, 706. Soluble, 707. Emetic, 705.

Theriaca Andromachi, 903, b.

Tin, 747. Powdered, 748.

Tinctures, 388. Tincture of mint, 315. Of roses, 328. Of ipecacuanha, 371. Cephalic, 374. Of rhubarb, vinous, 375. Thebaic, 377, 418. Bitter, 392, 393. Of wormwood, 394. Aromatic, 395. Balsamic, 396. Of cantharides, 397. Of cardamoms, 398. Of caltrop, 399, 400. Of cinnamon, 401, a. Of guaiacum volatile, 401, b. Simple tincture of bark, 402. Volatile ditto, 403. Compound ditto, 404. Of saftron, 405. Tincture, or essence, of white dittany, 406. Fetid, 407. Of foot, 408. Of jalap, 409. Of kino, 410, a. Japonic, 410, b. Of gum-lac, 411. Of the martial flowers, 412. Of iron, 413. Of meconium, 414. Of melampodium, or black hellebore, 415. Of musk, 416. Of myrrh, 417. Of rhubarb, 419. Saturnine, 420, a. Antiphthisical, 420, b. Of senna, 421, a. Compound ditto, commonly called elixir of health, 421, b. Of frankincense, 422. Stomachic, 423, Styptic, 424. Of sulphur, 425. Of ballam of Tolu, 426. Of valerian, 427, 428. Of white hellebore, 429. Sacred, 376.

Traumatic, or vulnerary balsam, 434.

Troches, 836. White pectoral troches, 838, a. Black pectoral 838, b. Pectoral with opium, 838, c. Of red lead, 839. Of nitre, 840. Of squills, 841. Of sulphur, 842. Of Japan earth, 843. Nerve troches, 848. Of rhubarb, 850. Sialogogue troches, 852. Stomachic, 853.

Tutty, prepared, 268.

Vegetables, changes produced in their juices by fermentation, p. 6008. Productions from them by fire, 6009. Substances naturally contained in them, and separable without altering their native qualities, 6010. Observations Vitriolated tartar, 694. Nitre, 695.

Vitriolic water, 949.—951.

Wade’s balsam, 433.

Waters, simple distilled, 541.

Spiritous distilled, 563.

Water, simple alexiterial, 549.

Orange-peel, 550. Black-cherry, 551. Simple cinnamon, 552, a. Without wine, 552, b. Fennel-water, 553. Baum-water, 554.

Mint-water, 555. Simple spearmint-water, 556. Simple peppermint-water, 557. Jamaica pepper water, 558. Simple pennyroyal water, 559, a. Damask-rose water, 560. Rue-water, 561. Savin-water, 562. Hungary water, 571. Spirituous alexiterial water, 581. With vinegar, 582. Compound antifeed-water, 583. Spirituous orange-peel water, 584. Cardamom-feed water, 585. Caraway-water, 586. Spirituous cinnamon-water, 587. Cinnamon-water with wine, 588. Compound juniper water, 589. Spirituous peppermint water, 590. Jamaica pepper water, 591. Nutmeg-water, 592. Spirituous pennyroyal-water, 593. Compound horfe-radish water, 594.

Pharos, PHAROS, (Homer, Strabo, &c.) a small oblong island, adjoining to the continent of Egypt, over-against Alexandria. On this island stood a cognominal light-tower, of four sides, each side a stadium in length; and the tower so high, as to be seen 100 miles off. Some affirm, each of its four corners refted on a large crab of glass or of hard transparent stone of Ethiopia or Memphis. Others imagine, the crabs were only added externally to the base by way of ornament, or as emblematical of its situation and use. The architect was Sostratus the Cnidian, as appears by an inscription on the tower, under Ptolemy Philadelphus, who laid out 800 talents upon it. On account of the port of Alexandria, the entrance to which was difficult and dangerous, the Pharos was called the key of the Egyptian sea, or even of Egypt itself, (Lucan); and Pharos, from being a proper name, is become an appellative, to denote all light-houses.