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THE

ENGLISH PHYSICIAN

ENLARGED.

AMARA DULCIS.

CONSIDERING divers shires in this jiation give divers
names to one and the same herb, and tli^t the common name
which it bears in one county, is not known to another; I shall
take the pains to set down all the names that I kn6w of each
herb : Pardon me for setting that name first, which is most
common to myself. Besides amara dulcis, some call it mortal,
others bitter-sweet ; some woody night-shade, and others felon-
wort.

Description.'] It grows up writh woody stalks even to a man’s
height, and sometimes higher. The leaves fall off at the approach
of winter, and spring out of the same stalk at springtime; The
branch is compassed about with a whitish bark, and hath a pith
in the middle of it : The main branch brancheth itself into many
small ones with claspers, laying hold on what is next to them, as
vines do : it bears many leaves, they grow in no order at all, at
least in no regular order : The leaves are longish, though some-
what broad, and pointed at the ends : many of them have two
little leaves growing at the end of their foot-stalk; some have
but one, and some none. The leaves are of a pale green colour ;
the flowers are of a purple colour, or of a perfect blue like to
violets, and they stand many of them together in knots; the
berries are green at first, but when they are ripe they are very
red; if you taste them, you shall find them just as the crabs

2

The English Physician Enlarged.

which we in Sussex call bitter-sweets, viz. sweet at first, and
bitter afterwards.

Place.] They grow commonly almost throughout England,
especially in moist and shady places.

Time.] The leaves shoot out about the latter end of March
if the temperature of the air be ordinary ; it flowereth in July,
and the seeds are ripe soon after, usually in the next month.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the planet Mercury,
and a notable herb of his also* if it be rightly gathered under
his influence. It is excellent to remove witchcraft both in men
and beasts, as also all sudden diseases whatsoever. Being tied
round about the neck, is one of the most admirable remedies
for the vertigo or dizziness in the head that is; and that is the
reason (as Tragus saitli) the people in Germany commonly
hang it about their cattle’s necks, when they fear any such evil
hath betided them: Country people commonly use to take the
berries of it, and having bruised them, they apply them to fe-
lons, and thereby soon rid their fingers of such troublesome
guests.

We have now shewed you the external use of the herb ; we
shall speak a word or two of the internal, and so conclude.
Take notice, it is a mercurial herb, and therefore of very sub-
tle parts, as indeed all mercurial plants are ; therefore take a
pound of the wood and leaves together, bruise the wood (which
you may easily do, for it is not so hard as oak) then put it into a
pot, and put to it three pints of white wine, put on the pot-lid
and shut it close; and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve
hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to
open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of
breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of
the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy and black
jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed. You
may drink a quarter of a pint of the infusion every morning.
It purgeth the body very gently, and not churlishly, as some
hold. And when you find good by this, remember me.

Those who think what I have said concerning the use of these

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3

The English Physician Enlarged.

medicines too brief, let them read those books of mine, of the
last edition, viz. Reverius , Vesting us, Riolunus, Johnson, Sen -
nertus, and Physic for the Poor .

ALL-HEAL.

r

Xt is called all-heal, Hercules's .all-heal, and Hercules’s wound-
wort, because it is supposed that Hercules learned the herb and
its virtues from Chiron, when he learned physic of him. Some
call it paney, and others opopane wort.

Descript .] Its root is long, thick, and exceeding full of juice,
of a hot and biting taste, the leaves are great and large, and
winged almost like ash-tree leaves, but that they are something
hairy, each leaf consisting of five or six pair of such wings set
one against the other upon foot-stalks, broad below, but narrow
towards the end ; one of the leaves is a little deeper at the bot-
tom than the other, of a fair yellowish, fresh green colour : they
are of a bitterish taste, being chewed in the mouth. F rom among
these ariseth up a stalk, green in colour, round in form, great
and strong in magnitude, five or six feet high, with many joints,
and some leaves thereat; towards the top come forth umbels
of small yellow flowers, after which are passed away, you may
find whitish, yellow, short, flat seeds, bitter also in taste.

Place.] Having given you the description of the herb from
the bottom to the top, give me leave to tell you, that there are
other herbs called by this name ; but because they are strangers
in England, I give only the description of this, which is easily
to be had in the gardens of divers places.

Time.] Although Gerrard saith, That they flower from the
beginning of May to the end of December, experience teacheth
them that keep it in their gardens, that it flowers not till the
latter end of the summer, and sheds its seed presently after.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Mars,
hot, biting, choleric; and remedies what evils Mars afflicts
the body of man with, by sympathy, as viper’s flesh attracts poi-
son, and the loadstone iron. It kills the worms, helps the gout.

4

The English Physician Enlarged.

cramp, and convulsions, provokes urine, and helps all joint
aches. It helps all cold griefs of the head, the vertigo, falling
sickness, the lethargy, the wind cholic, obstructions of the liver
and spleen, and stone in the kidneys and bladder. It provokes
the terms, expels the dead birth: It is excellent good for the
griefs of the sinews, itch, stone, and tooth-ach, the biting of mad
dogs and venomous beasts, and purgeth choler very gently.

ALKANET.

the common name, it is called orchanet, and Spa-

nish bugloss, and by apothecaries, enchusa.

Descript. ] Of the many sorts of this herb there is but one
known to grow commonly in this nation; of which one take this
description ; it hath a great and thick root, of a reddish colour,
long, narrow, hairy leaves, green like the leaves of bugloss,
which lie very thick upon the ground ; the stalks’ rise up com-
passed round about, thick with leaves, which are lesser and nar-
rower than the former ; they are tender, and slender, the flowers
are hollow, small, and of a reddish colour.

Place .] It grows near Rochester in Kent, and in many
places in the west country, both in Devonshire and Cornwall.

Time.] They flower in July, and the beginning of August,
and the seed is ripe soon after, but the root is in its prime, as
carrots and parsnips are, before the herb runs up to stalk.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb under the dominion
of Venus, and indeed one of her darlings, though somewhat hard
to come by. It helps old ulcers, hot inflammations, burnings by
common fire, and St. Anthony's fire, by antipathy to Mars; for
these uses, your best way is to make it into an ointment ; also,
if you make a vinegar of it, as you make vinegar of roses, it
helps the morphew and leprosy; if you apply the herb to the
privities, it draws forth the dead child. It helps the yellow jaun-
dice, spleen and gravel in the kidneys. Dioscorides saith, it
helps such as are bitten by a venomous beast, whether it be taken

»

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The English Physician Enlarged .

5

inwardly, or applied to the wound ; nay, he saith further, if any
one that hath newly eaten it, doth but spit into the mouth of a
serpent, the serpent instantly dies. It stays the flux of the belly,
kills worms, helps the fits of the mother. Its decoction made in
wine, and drank, strengthens the back, and easeth the pains
thereof: It helps bruises and falls, and is as gallant a remedy
to drive out the small pox and meazles as any is ; an ointment
made of it, is excellent for green wounds, pricks or thrusts.

ADDER S TONGUE, OR SERPENT S TONGUE.

Descript. This herb hath but one leaf, which grows with
the stalk a finger's length above the ground, being flat and of a
fresh green colour; broad like water plantain, but less, without
any rib in it ; from the bottom of which leaf, on the inside, ris-
eth up, (ordinarily) one, sometimes two or three slender stalks,
the upper half whereof is somewhat bigger, and dented with
small dents of a yellowish green colour, like the tongue of an
adder serpent (only this is as useful as they are formidable.)
The roots continue all the year.

Place. J It grows in moist meadows, and such like places.

Time.] It is to be found in May or April, for it quickly per-
isheth with little heat.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb under the dominion
of the Moon and Cancer, and therefore if the weakness of the
retentive faculty be caused by an evil influence of Saturn in any
part of the body governed by the Moon, or under the domin-
ion of Cancer, this herb cures it by sympathy : It cures these
diseases after specified, in any part of the body under the in-
fluence of Saturn, by antipathy.

It is temperate in respect of heat, but dry in the second de-
gree. The juice of the leaves drank with the distilled water of
horse-tail, is a singular remedy for all manner of wounds in the
breasts, bowels, or other parts of the body, and is given with
good success unto those that are troubled with casting, vomiting,
or bleeding at the mouth or nose, or otherwise downwards. The

6

The English Physician Enlarged.

said juice given in the distilled water of oaken-buds, is very
good for women who have their usual courses, or the whites
flowing down too abundantly. It helps sore eyes. Of the leaves
infused or boiled in oil, omphacine, or unripe olives, set in the
sun for certain days, or the green leaves sufficiently boiled in the
said oil, is made an excellent green balsam, not only for green
and fresh wounds, but also for old and inveterate ulcers, espe-
cially if a little fine clear turpentine be dissolved therein. It al-
so stayeth and refresheth all inflammations that arise upon pains
by hurts and wounds.

What parts of the body are under each planet and sign, and
also what disease may be found in my astrological judgment of
diseases; and for the internal work of nature in the body of
man; as vital, animal, natural and procreative spirits of man;
the apprehension, judgment, memory ; the external senses, viz.
Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling; the virtuous at-
tractive, retentive, digestive, expulsive, &c. under the dominion
of what planets they are, may be found in my Ephemeris for the
year 1651. In both which you shall find the chaff of authors
blown away by the fame of Dr. Reason, and nothing but ration-
al truths left for the ingenious to feed upon.

Lastly, To avoid blotting paper with one thing many times,
and also to easejour purses in the price of the book, and withal
to make you studious in physic ; you have at the latter end of
the book, the way of preserving all herbs either in juice, con-
serve, oil, ointment or plaister, electuary, pills or troches,

AGRIMONY.

Descript.’] jChIS hath divers long leaves (some greater, some
smaller) set upon a stalk, all of them dented about the edges,
green above, and greyish underneath, and a little hairy withal.
Among which ariseth up usually but one strong, round, hairy
brown stalk, two or three feet high, with smaller leaves set here
and there upon it. At the top hereof grow many small yellow
flowers, one above another, in long spikes; after which come

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round heads of seed, hanging downwards, which will cleave to
and stick upon garments, or any thing that shall rub against
them. The knot is black, long and somewhat woody, abiding
many years, and shooting afresh every spring; which root,
tho' small hath a reasonable good scent.

Place.] It groweth upon banks, near the sides of hedges.

Time.] It flowereth in July and August, the seed being ripe
shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb under Jupiter, and
the sign Cancer ; and strengthens those parts under the planet
and sign, and removes diseases in them by sympathy, and those
under Saturn, Mars and Mercury, by antipathy, if they happen
in any part of the body governed by Jupiter, or under the signs
Cancer, Sagitary or Pisces, and therefore must needs be good
for the gout, either used outwardly in oil or ointment, or in-
wardly in an electuary, or syrup, or concerved juice; for which
see the latter end of this book.

It is of a cleansing and cutting faculty, without any manifest
heat, moderately drying and binding. It openeth and cleanseth
the liver, helpetli the jaundice, and is very beneficial to the bow-
els, healing all inward wounds, bruises, hurts, and other distem-
pers. The decoction of the herb made with wine, and drank, is
good against the biting and stinging of serpents, and helps them
that make foul, troubled or bloody water, and makes them piss
very clearly speedily. It also helpetli the cholic, cleanseth the
breast, and rids away the cough. A draught of the decoction
taken warm before the fit, first removes, and in time rids away
the tertian or quartan agues. The leaves and seeds taken in
wine, stays the bloody flux; outwardly applied, being stamped
with old swine's grease, it helpetli old sores, cancers, and inve-
terate ulcers, and draweth forth thorns and splinters of wood,
nails, or any other such things gotten into the flesh. It helpeth
to strengthen the members that be out of joint: and being
bruised and applied, or the juice dropped in it helpeth foul
and imposthumed ears.

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The distilled water of the herb is good for all the said pur-
poses, either inward or outward, but a great deal weaker.

It is a most admirable remedy for such whose liver is annoy-
ed either by heat or cold. The liver is the former of blood,
and blood the nourisher of the body, and agrimony a strength-
ener of the liver.

I cannot stand to give you a reason in every herb why it
cureth such diseases; but if you peruse my judgment in the
herb wormwood, you shall find them there, and it will be well
worth your while to consider it in every herb, you shall find
them true throughout the book.

WATER AGRIMONY.

I t is called in some countries, water hemp, bastard hemp,

and bastard agrimony, eupatorium, and hepatorium, because it
strengthens the liver.

Dcsci The root continues a long time, having many
Song slender strings. The stalk grows up about two feet high,
sometimes higher. They are of a dark purple colour. The
blanches are many, growing at distances the one from the
othei, the one from one side of the stalk, the other from the
opposite point. The leaves are winged, and much indented at
the edges. The flowers grow at the top of the branches, of a
brown yellow' colour, spotted with black spots, having a sub-
stance within the midst of them, like that of a daisy: If you
rub them between your fingers, they smell like rosin or cedar
w hen it is burnt. The seeds are long, and easily stick to any
woollen thing they touch.

Place They delight not in heat, and therefore they are not
so frequently found in the southern parts of England as in the
northern, where they grow frequently : You may look for them
in cold grounds, by ponds and ditches' sides, as also by running
waters ; sometimes you shall find them grow in the midst of
waters.

Time.] Ihey all flow er in July or August, and the seed is
’tv?* presently after.

9

l1 he English Physician Enlarged.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Jupiter, as well as
the other agrimony, only this belongs to the celestial sign Can-
cer. It heaieth and drieth, cutteth and cleanseth thick and tough
humours of the breast, and for this I hold it inferior to but few
herbs that grow. It helps the cachexia or evil disposition of the
body, the dropsy and yellow jaundice. It opens obstructions of
the liver, mollifies the hardness of the spleen, being applied out-
wardly. It breaks imposthumes taken inwardly : It is an excel-
lent remedy for the third day ague. It provokes urine and the
terms; it kills worms, and cleanseth the body of sharp humours,
which are the cause of itch and scabs ; the herb being burnt,
the smoke thereof drives away flies, wasps, &c. It strengthens
the lungs exceedingly. Country people give it to the cattle
when they are troubled with the cough, or broken winded.

ALEHOOF, OR GROUND-IVY.

Several counties give it several names, so that there is
scarce an herb growing of that bigness that has got so many : It
is called cats-foot, ground-ivy, gill-go-by-ground, and gill-creep-
by-ground, turnhoof, hay-maids, and alehoof.

Descript.] This well known herb lieth, spreadeth, and creep-
eth upon the ground, shooteth forth roots, at the corners of ten-
der jointed stalks, set with two round leaves at every joint some-
what hairy, crumpled, and unevenly dented about the edges
with round dents ; at the joints likewise, with the leaves towards
the ends of the branches, come forth hollow, long flowers, of a
blueish purple colour, with small white spots upon the lips
that hang down. The root is small with strings.

Place.] It is commonly found under hedges, and on the sides
of ditches, under houses, or in shadowed lanes, and other waste
grounds, in almost every part of this land.

Time.] They flower somewhat early, and abide a great while*;
the leaves continue green until winter, and sometimes abide,
except the winter be very sharp and cold.

10

2 Vie English Physician Enlarged .

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Venus, and there-
fore cures the diseases she causes by sympathy, and those of
Mars by antipathy ; you may usually find it all the year long
except the year be extremely frosty ; it is quick, sharp, and
bitter in taste, and is therefore found to be hot and dry ; a singu-
lar herb for all inward wounds, exulcerated lungs, or other parts,
either by itself, or boiled with other the like herbs ; and being
drank, in a short time it easeth all griping pains, windy, and
choleric humours in the stomach, spleen, or belly ; helps the yel-
low jaundice, by opening the stoppings of the gall and liver, and
melancholy, by opening the stoppings of the spleen; expelleth
venom or poison, and also the plague; it provokes urine and
women's courses ; the decoction of it in wine drank for some
time together, procureth ease unto them that are troubled with
the sciatica, or hip-gout : as also the gout in hands, knees, or
feet ; if you put to the decoction some honey and a little burnt
allum, it is excellent good to gargle any sore mouth or throat,
and to wash the sores and ulcers in the privy parts of man or
woman ; it speedily helpeth green wounds, being bruised and
bound thereto. The juice ofit boiled with a little honey and ver-
digrease, doth wonderfully cleanse fistulas, ulcers, and stayeth
the spreading or eating of cancers and ulcers; it helpeth the
itch, scabs, wheals, and other breakirfgs out in any part of the
body. The juice of celandine, field-daisies, and ground-ivy
clarified, and a little fine sugar dissolved therein, and dropped
into the eyes, is a sovereign remedy for all pains, redness, and
watering of them ; as also for the pin and web, skins and films
growing over the fright; it helpeth beasts as well as men. The
juice dropped into the ears, doth wonderfully help the noise and
singing of them, and helpeth the hearing which is decayed. It
is good to tun up with new drink, for it will clarify it in a night,
that will be the fitter to be drank the next morning ; or if anv
drink be thick with removing, or any other accident, it will do
the like in a few hours.

The English Physician Enlarged . 1 1

ALEXANDER.

It is called alisander, horse-parsley, and wild-parsley, and the
black pot-herb ; the seed of it is that which is usually sold in
apothecaries' shops for Macedonian parsley-seed.

Descript .] It is usually sown in all the gardens in Europe,
and so well kuown, that it needs no farther description.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July; the seed is ripe in
August.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Jupiter, and there-
fore friendly to nature, for it warmeth a cold stomach, and open-
eth a stoppage of the liver and spleen; it is good to move wo-
men’s courses, to expel the after-birth to break wind, to provoke
urine and helpeth strangury ; and these things the seeds will do
likewise. If either of them be boiled in wine, or being bruised
and taken in wine, is also effectual against the biting of serpents.
And you know what alexander pottage is good for, that you may
no longer eat it out of ignorance, but out of knowledge.

THE BLACK ALDER-TREE*

Descript.] JThIS tree seldom groweth to any great bigness,
but for the most part abideth like a hedge-bush, or a tree spread-
ing its branches, the woods of the body being white, and a dark
red core, or heart ; the outward bark is of a blackish colour, with
many whitish spots therein ; but the inner bark next the wood
is yellow, which being chewed, will turn the spittle near into a
saffron colour. The leaves are somewhat like those of an ordi-
nary alder-tree, or the female cornet, or dogberry-tree, called in
Sussex dog-wood, but blacker, and not so long. The flowers are
white, coming forth with the leaves at the joints, which turn ip-
to small round berries, first green, afterwards red, but blackish
when they are thorough ripe, divided, as it were, into two parts,
wherein is contained tw o small round and flat seeds. The root

12 The English Physician Enlarged .

runneth not deep into the ground, but spreads rather under the
upper crust of the earth.

Place .] This tree or shrub may be found plentifully in St.
John’s wood by Hornsey, and the woods upon Hamstead heath ;
as also a wood called the Old Park in Barcomb in Essex, near
the brooks’ sides.

Time.] It flowereth in May, and the berries are ripe in
September.

Government and Virtues.] It is a tree of Venus, and perhaps
under the celestial sign Cancer. The inner yellow bark hereof
purgeth dowovvards both clioler and phlegm, and the watery hu-
mours of such that have the dropsy, and strengthens the inward
parts again by binding. If the bark hereof be boiled with agri-
mony, wormwood, dodder, hops and some fennel, with smallage,
endive, and succory-roots, and a reasonable draught taken every
morning for some time together, it is very effectual against the
jaundice, dropsy, and the evil disposition of the body, especially
if some suitable purging medicines have been taken before, to
avoid the grosser excrements ; It purgeth and strengthened the
liver and spleen, cleansing them from such evil humours and
hardness as they are afflicted with. It is to be understood that
these things are performed by the dried bark; for the fresh
green bark taken inwardly provokes strong vomitings, pains in
the stomach, and gripings in the belly ; yet if the decoction may
stand and settle two or three days, until the yellow colour be
changed black, it will not work so strongly as before, but will
strengthen the stomach, and procure an appetite to meat. The
outward bark contrariwise doth bind the body, and is helpful
for all lasks and fluxes thereof, but this also must be dried first,
whereby it will work the better. The inner bark thereof boiled
in vinegar is an approved remedy to kill lice, to cure the itch,
gnd take away scabs, by drying them up in a short time. It is
singularly good to wash the teeth, to take away the pains, to
fasten those that are loose, to cleanse them, and keep them
sound. The leaves are good fodder for kine, to make them
give more milk.

The English Physician Enlarged . 13

If in the spring-time you use the herbs before mentioned, and
will take but a handful of each of them, and to them add an
handful of elder buds, and having bruised them all, boil them in
a gallon of ordinary beer, when it is new; and having boiled
them half an hour, add to this three gallons more, and let them
work together, and drink a draught of it every morning, half a
pint, or thereabouts, it is an excellent purge for the spring, to
consume the phlegmatic quality the winter hath left behind it,
and withal to keep your body in health, and consume those evil
humours which the heat of summer will readily stir up. Esteem
it as a jewel.

THE COMMON ALDER-TREE.

Descript.] Groweth to a reasonable height, and spreads
much if it like the place. It is so generally well known unto
country people, that I conceive it needless to tell that which is
no news.

Place and Time.] It delighteth to grow in moist woods and
watery places : flowering in April or May, and yielding ripe
seed in September.

Government and Use.] It is a tree under the dominion of Venus
and of some watery sign or other, I suppose Pisces ; and there-
fore the decoction, or distilled w ater of the leaves, is excellent
against burnings and inflammations, either w ith wounds or with-
out, to bathe the place grieved with, and especially for that in-
flammation in the breast, which the vulgar call an ague.

If you cannot get the leaves (as in winter it is impossible)
make use of the bark in the same manner.

The leaves and bark of the alder-tree are cooling, drying, and
binding. The fresh leaves laid upon swellings dissolve them,
and stay the inflammations. The leaves put under the bare feet
galled with travelling, are a great refreshing to them. The said
leaves gathered while the morning dew is on them, and brought
into a chamber troubled with the fleas, will gather them thereun-

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to, which being suddenly cast out, will rid the chamber of those
troublesome bedfellows.

ANGELICA.

T O write a description of that which is so well known to be
growing almost in every garden I suppose is altogether needless,
yet for its virtues it is of admirable use.

In time of Heathenism, when men had found out any excellent*
herb, they dedicated it to their gods; as the bay-tree to Apollo,
the oak to Jupiter, the vine to Bacchus, the poplar to Hercules.
These the papists following as the Patriarchs they dedicate to
their saints ; as our lady’s thistle to the Blessed Virgin, St. John’s
wort to St. John, and another wort to St. Peter, &c. Our phy-
sicians must imitate like apes (though they cannot come off half
so cleverly) for they blasphemously call pansies or hearts-ease,
an herb of the Trinity , because it is of three colours. And a
certain ointment, an ointment of the Apostles , because it consists
of twelve ingredients: Alas, I am sorry for their folly, and
grieved at their blasphemy. God send them wisdom the rest of
their age, for they have their share of ignorance already. Oh !
why must ours be blasphemous, because the heathens and papists
were idolatrous] Certainly they have read so much in old rusty
authors, that they have lost all their divinity ; for unless it w ere
amongst the ranters, I never read or heard of such blasphemy.
The heathens and papists were bad, and ours worse : the papists
giving idolatrous names to herbs for their virtues’ sake, not for
their fair looks, and therefore some called this an herb of the
Holy Ghost; others more moderate called it Angelica, because
of its angelical virtues, and that name it retains stilt, and all na-
tions follow it so near as their dialect will permit.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of the Sun in Leo ;
let it be gathered when he is there, the Moon applying to his
good aspect : let it be gathered either in his hour, or in the hour
of Jupiter, let Sol be angular: observe the like in gathering the
herbs of other planets, and you may happen to do w onders. In

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all epidemical diseases caused by Saturn, that is as good a preser-
vative as grows ; It resists poison, by defending and comforting
the heart, blood, and spirits ; it doth the like against the plague
and all epidemical diseases, if the root be taken in powder to the
weight of half a dram at a time, with some good treacle in carduus
water, and the party thereupon laid to sweat in his bed; if
treacle be not to be had, take it alone in carduus or angelica-
water. The stalks or roots candied and eaten fasting, are good
preservatives in time of infection ; and at other times to warm
and comfort a cold stomach. The root also steeped in vinegar,
and a little of that vinegar taken sometimes fasting, and the root
smelled unto, is good for the same purpose. A water distilled
from the root simply, as steeped in wine, and distilled in a glass,
is much more effectual than the water of the leaves ; and this
water, drank two or three spoonfuls at a time, easeth all pains
and torments coming of cold and wind, so that the body be not
bound ; and taken with some of the root in powder at the begin-
ning, helpeth the pleurisy, as also all other diseases of the lungs
and breasts, as coughs, phthysic, and shortness of breath; and
a syrup of the stalks do the like. It helps pains of the cholic,
the strangury and the stoppage of the urine ; procureth women's
courses, and expelleth the after birth, openeth the stoppings of
the liver and spleen, and briefly easeth and discusseth ail windi-
ness and inward swellings. The decoction drunk before the fit
of an ague, that they may sweat (if possible) before the fit
comes, will in two or three times taking, rid it quite away ; it
helps digestion, and is a remedy for a surfeit. The juice, or
the water being dropped into the eyes or ears, helps dimness of
sight and deafness; the juice put into the hollow teeth, easeth
their pains. The roots in powder, made up into a plaister with
a little pitch, and laid on the biting of mad dogs, or any other
venomous creature, doth wonderfully help. The juice or the
water dropped, or tents wet therein, and put into filthy dead
ulcers, or the powder of the root (in want of either) doth cleanse
and cause them to heal quickly, by covering the naked bones

16 The English Physician Enlarged.

with flesh ; the distilled water applied to places pained with the
gout, or sciatica, doth give a great deal of ease.

The wild angelica is not so effectual as the garden ; although
it may be safely used to all the purposes aforesaid.

AMARANTHUS.

JOESIDES its common name, by which it is best known to
the florists of our days, it is called flower gentle, flower velure.

floramour, and velvet flower.

j Descript.] It being a garden flower, and well known to
every one that keeps it, I might forbear the description ; yet,
notwithstanding, because some desire it, I shall give it. It run-
neth up with a stalk a cubit high, streaked, and somewhat
reddish towards the root, but very smooth, divided towards the
top with small branches, among which stand long broad leaves of
a reddish green colour, slippery ; the flowers are not properly
flowers, but tufts, very beautiful to behold, but of no smell, of
a reddish colour; if you bruise them, they yield juice of the
same colour ; being gathered, they keep their beauty a long time ;
the seed is of a shining black colour.

Time.] They continue in flower from August till the time the
frost nips them.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Saturn,
and is an excellent qualifier of the unruly actions and passions
of Venus, though Mars also should join with her. The flowers
dried and beaten into powder stop the terms in women, and so
do almost all other red things. And by the icon, or image of
every herb, the ancients at first found out their virtues. Modern
writers laugh at them for it ; but I wonder in my heart, how the
virtues of herbs came at first to be known, if not by their signa-
tures ; the moderns have them from the writings of the ancients ;
the ancients had not writings to have them from : But to pro-
ceed. The flow ers stop all fluxes of blood ; whether in man or
woman, bleeding either at the nose or wound. There is also a
sort of amaranthus that bears a vrhite flower, which stops the

The English Physician Enlarged . 17

whites in women, and the running of the reins in men, and is
a most gallant anti venereal, and a singular remedy for the
French pox.

ANEHOME.

C alled also wind flower, because they say the flowers
never open but when the wind bloweth; Pliny is my author,
if it be not so, blame him. The seed also (if it bears any at
ail) flies away with the wind.

Place and Time.] They are sown usually in the gardens of
the curious, and flower in the spring-time. As for description
I shall pass it, being well known to all those that sow them.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Mars,
being supposed to be a kind of crow-foot. The leaves provoke
the terms mightily, being boiled, and the decoction drunk. The
body being bathed with the decoction of them, cures the lepro-
sy. The leaves being stamped and the juice snuffed up in the
nose, purgeth the head mightily ; so doth the root, being chewed
in the mouth, for it procureth much spitting, and bringeth aw ay
many w atery and phlegmatic humours, and is therefore excellent
for the lethargy. And when all is done, let physicians prate
what they please* all the pills in the dispensatory purge not the
head like to hot things held in the mouth. Being made into an
ointment, and the eye-lids anointed with it, it helps inflamma-
tions of the eyes* Wdiereby it is palpable, that every stronger
draweth its weaker like. The same ointment is excellent good
to cleanse malignant and corroding ulcers.

GARDEN ARRAGH.

C'ALLED also orach, and arage.

1 Descript.] It is so commonly known to every house-wife,
it were labour lost to describe it.

Time.] It flowereth and seedeth from June to the end of
August.

C

The English Physician Enlarged.

—i— »iiii i m mi 1 1 1 n %/mmmaammsaa

Government and Virtues.] It is under the government of the
Moon; in quality cold and moist like unto her. Itsofteneth and
looseneth the body of man being eaten, and fortifieth the expul-
sive faculty in him. The herb, whether it be bruised and ap-
plied to the throat, or boiled, and in like manner applied, it
matters not much, it is excellent good for swellings in the throat ;
the best way I suppose, is to boil it, and having drunk the de-
coction inwardly, apply the herb outwardly : The decoction of
it besides, is an excellent remedy for the yellow jaundice.

ARRACH, WILD AND STINKING.

Called also vulvaria, from that part of the body, upon
which the operation is most; also dog’s arrach, goat’s arrach,
and stinking motherwort.

Descript.] This hath small and almost round leaves, yet a
little pointed and without dent or cut, of a dusky mealy colour,
growing on the slender stalks and branches that spread on the
ground, with small flowers in clusters set with the leaves, and
small seed succeeding like the rest perishing yearly, and rising
again with its own sowing. It smells like rotten fish, or some-
thing worse. _

Place.] It grows usually upon dunghills.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and their seed is ripe
quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] Stinking arrach is used as a reme-
dy to help women pained, and almost strangled with the mother
by smelling to it; but inwardly taken there is no better remedy
under the moon for that disease. I would be large in commen-
dation of this herb ; were I but eloquent. It is an herb under
the dominion of Venus, and under the sign Scorpio; it is com-
mon almost upon every dunghill. The w orks of God are given
freely to man, his medicines are common and cheap, and easy
to be found. (’Tis the medicines of the College of Physicians
that are so dear and scarce to find.) I commend it for an uni-
versal medicine for the w omb, and such a medicine as will easily,

The English Physician Enlarged . 19

safely, and speedily cure any disease thereof, as the fits of the
mother, dislocation, or falling out thereof; it cools the womb,
being overheated. And let me tell you this, and I will tell you
the truth, heat of the womb is one of the greatest causes of hard
labour in child-birth. Itmakes barren women fruitful. It cleans-
eth the womb if it be foul, and strengthens it exceedingly ; it
provokes the terms if they be stopped, and stops them if they
flow immoderately; you can desire no good to your womb, but
this herb will effect it; therefore if you love children, if you
love health, if you love ease, keep a syrup ahvays by you, made
of the juice of this herb, and sugar, (or honey if it be to cleanse
the womb) and let such as be rich keep it for their poor neigh-
bours; and bestow it as freely as I bestow my studies upon
them, or else let them look to answer it another day, when the
Lord shall come to make inquisition of blood.

ARCHANGEL.

To put a gloss upon their practice, the physicians call an
herb (w hich country people vulgarly know by the name of dead
nettle) archangel ; whether they savour more of superstition or
folly, I leave to the judicious reader. There is more curiosity
than courtesy to my countrymen used by others in the explana-
tion as well of the names, as description of this so well known
herb, which that I may not also be guilty of, take this short
description first of the red archangel.

Descript.] This has divers square stalks somewhat hairy, at
the joints whereof grow two sad green leaves dented about the
edges, opposite to one another to the lowermost upon long foot
stalks, but without any toward the tops, which are somewhat
round, yet pointed, and a little crumpled and hairy; round
about the upper joints, where the leaves grow thick, are sundry
gaping flowers of a pale reddish colour; after which come the
seeds three or four in a husk. The root is small and thready,
perishing every year; the whole plant hath a strong scent, but.
not stinking.

2Q Hie English Physician Enlarged.

White archangel hath divers square stalks, none standing
straight upward, but bending downward, whereon stand two
loaves at a joint, larger and more pointed than the other, dented
about the edges, and greener also, more like unto nettle leaves,
but not stinking, yet hairy. At the joints with the leaves stand
larger and more open gaping white flowers, husks round about
the stalks, but not with such a bush of leaves and flowers set in
the top, as is on the other, wherein stand small roundish black
seeds : the root is white, with many strings at it, not growing
downward, but lying under the npper crust of the earth, and
abideth many years increasing; this hath not so strong a scent
as the former.

Yellow archangel is like the white in the stalks and leaves;
but that the stalks are more straight and upright, and the joints
with the leaves are farther asunder, having longer leaves than the
former, and the flowers a little larger and more gaping, of a fair
yellowish colour in most, in some paler. The roots are like
the white, only they creep not so much under the ground.

Place. ] They grow almost every where (except it be in the
middle of the street) the yellow most usually in the wet grounds
of woods, and sometimes in the dryer, in divers counties of this
nation.

Time. ] They flower from the beginning of the spring all the
summer long.

Virtues and Use.] The archangels are somewhat hot and drier
than the stinging nettles, and used with better success for the
stopping and hardness of the spleen than they, by using the de-
coction of the herb in wine, and afterwards applying the herb
hot into the region of the spleen as a plaister, or the decoction
with spunges. Flowers of the white archangel are preserved or
conserved to be used to stay the whites, and the flowers of the
red to stay the reds in women. It makes the heart merry, drives
away melancholy, quickens the spirits, is good against quartan
agues, stauncheth bleeding at mouth and nose, if it be stamped
and applied to the nape of the neck ; the herb also bruised, and

The English Physician Enlarged . 21

with some salt and vinegar and hog-grease, laid, upon an hard
tumour or swelling, or that vulgarly called the king's evil, doth
help to dissolve or discuss them ; and being in like manner ap-
plied, doth much allay the pains, and give ease to the gout, sci-
atica, and other pains of the joints and sinews. It is also very
effectual to heal green wounds, and old ulcers ; also to stay their
fretting, gnawing and spreading. It draweth forth splinters, and
such like things gotten into the flesh, and is very good against
i>ruises and burnings. But the yellow archangel is most com-
mended for old, filthy, corrupt sores and ulcers, yea, although
they grow to be hollow, and to dissolve tumours. The chief
use of them is for women, it being an herb of Venus, and may
be found in my Guide, for women .

ARSSMART,

The hot arssmart is called also water-pepper, or cubage.
The mild arssmart is called dead arssmart, percicaria, or peach-
wort, because the leaves are so like the leaves of a peach-tree ;
it is also called plumbago.

Description of the Mild.] This hath broad leaves set at the
great red joint of the stalks ; with semi-circular blackish marks
on them, usually either blueish or whitish, with such like seed
following. The root is long, with many strings thereat, pe-
rishing yearly ; this hath no sharp taste (as another sort hath,
which is quick and biting) but rather sour like sorrel, or else a
little drying, or without taste.

Place.] It groweth in watery places, ditches and the like,
which for the most part are dry in summer.

Time.] It flowereth in June, and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] As the virtue of both these is
various, so is also their government; for that which is hot and
biting, is under the dominion of Mars, but Saturn chailengetli
the other, as appears by that leaden coloured spot he hath
placed upon the leaf.

It is of a cooling and drying quality, and very effectual for

22

The English Physician Enlarged.

putrified ulcers in man or beast, to kill worms and cleanse the
putrified places. The juice thereof dropped in, or otherwise
applied, consumeth all cold swellings, and dissolveth the con-
gealed blood of bruises by strokes, falls, &c. A piece of the
root, or some of the seeds bruised, and held to an aching tooth,
taketh away the pain. The leaves bruised and laid to the joint
that hath a felon thereon taketh it away. The juice destroyeth
worms in the ears, being dropped into them ; if the hot arssmart
be strewed in a chamber, it will soon kill ail the fleas ; and the
herb or juice of the cold arssmart, put to a horse or other cat-
tle's sores, will drive away the fly in the hottest time of summer;
a good handful of the hot biting arssmart put under a horse's
^saddle, will make him travel the better, although he were half
tired before. The mild arssmart is good against all impos-
thumes and inflammations at the beginning and to heal green
wounds.

All authors chop the virtues of both sorts of arssmart together,
as men chop herbs to the pot, when both of them are of clean
contrary qualities. The hot arssmart groweth not so high or
tall as the mild doth, but hath many leaves of the colour of
peach leaves, very seldom or never spotted : in other particulars
it is like the former, but may easily be known from it, if you
will but be pleased to break a leaf of it cross your tongue, for
the hot will make your tongue, to smart, so will not the cold.
If you see them both together, you may easily distinguish them,
because the mild hath far broader leaves ; and our College of
Physicians, out of the learned care of the public good, Anglice,
their own gain, mistake the one for the other in their New Mas-
ter-piece', whereby they discover, 1. Their ignorance, 2. Their
carelessness; and he that hath but half an eye, may see their
pride, without a pair of spectacles. I have done what I could
to distinguish them in the virtues, and when you find not the
contrary named, use the cold. The truth is, I have not yet
spoken with Dr. Reason, nor his brother Dr. Experience, con-
cerning either of them.

The English Physician Enlarged.

ASARABACCA.

Descript .J .A. SARA B ACC A hath many heads rising from the
roots, from whence eome many smooth leaves, every one upon
his own foot-stalk, which are rounder and bigger than violet
leaves, thicker also, and of a dark green shining colour on the
upper side, and of a pale yellow green underneath, little or no-
thing dented about the edges, from among which rise small,
round, hollow, brown green husks, upon short stalks, about an
inch long, divided at the brims into five divisions, very like the
cups or heads of the henbane seed, but that they are smaller ;
and these be all the flowers it carrieth, which are somewhat
sweet, being smelled unto, and wherein, when they are ripe, ist
contained small cornered rough seeds, very like the kernels or
stones of grapes or raisins. The roots are small and whitish,
spreading divers ways in the ground, increasing into divers
heads ; but not running or creeping under the ground, as some
other creeping herbs do. They are somewhat sweet in smell,
resembling nardus, but more when they are dry than green;
and of a sharp but not unpleasant taste.

Place,] It groweth frequently in gardens.

Time.] They keep their leaves green all winter; but shoot
forth new in the spring, and with them come forth those heads
or flowers which give ripe seed about midsummer, or somewhat
after.

Government and Virtues.] 'Tis a plant under the dominion of
Mars, and therefore inimical to nature. This herb being drank,
not only provoketh vomiting but purgeth downward, and by
urine also, purgeth both choler and phlegm : if you add to it
some spikenard, with the whey of goat’s milk, or honeyed water,
it is made more strong, but it purgeth phlegm more manifestly
than choler, and therefore doth much help pains in the hips, and
other parts ; being boiled in whey, they wonderfully help the
obstructions of the liver and spleen, and are therefore profitable
for the dropsy and jaundice; being steeped in wine and drank,

24 The English Physician Enlarged.

it helps those continual agues that come by the plenty- of stub-
born huinonrs; an oil made thereof by setting in the sun, with
some laudanum added to it, provoketh sweating, (the ridge of
the back being anointed therewith) and thereby driveth away
the shaking fits of the ague. It will not abide any long boiling,
for it loseth its chief strength thereby ; nor much beating, for
the finer powder doth provoke vomits and urine, and the coar-
ser purgeth downwards.

The common use hereof is, to take the juice of five or seven
leaves in a little drink to cause vomiting; the roots have also
the same virtue, though they do not operate so forcibly ; they
are very effectual against the biting of serpents, and therefore
are put as an ingredient both into mithridite and Venice treacle.
The leaves and roots being boiled in lee, and the head often
washed therewith while it is warm, comforteth the head and brain
that is ill affected by taking cold, and helpeth the memory.

I shall desire ignorant people to forbear the use of the leaves ;
the roots purge more gently, and may prove beneficial in such
as have cancers, or old putrified ulcers, or fistulas upon their
bodies, to take a dram of them in powder in a quarter of a pint
of white wine in the Morning. The truth is, I fancy purging and
vomiting medicines as little as any man breathing doth, for they
weaken nature, nor shall ever advise them to be used, unless
upon urgent necessity. If a physician be nature's servant, it is
his duty to strengthen his mistress as much as he can, and
weaken her as little as may be.

ASPARAGUS, SPARAGUS, OR SPERAGE.

Ue script.] Xt riseth up at first with divers white and green
scaly heads, very brittle and easy to break while they are young,
w hich afterw ard rise up in very long and slender green stalks, of
the bigness of an ordinary riding wand, at the bottom of most,
or bigger or lesser, as the roots are of growth : on which are set
divers branches of green leaves shorter and smaller than fennel

The English Physician Enlarged . 25

to the top ; at the joints whereof come forth small yellowish flow-
ers, which turn into round berries, green at first, and of an ex-
cellent red colour when they are ripe, shewing like bead or co-
ral, wherein are contained exceeding hard black seeds, the roots
are dispersed from a spongeous head into many long, thick, and
round strings, wherein is sucked much nourishment out of the
ground, and inereaseth plentifully thereby.

PRICKLY ASPARAGUS, OR SPERAGE.

Descript.] It groweth usually in gardens, and some of it
grows wild in Appleton meadows in Gloucestershire, where the
poor people do gather the buds of young shoots, and sell them
cheaper than our garden asparagus is sold at London.

Time. They do for the most part flower, and bear their
berries late in the year, or not at all, although they are housed
in w inter.

Government and Virtues .]; They are both under the do-
minion of Jupiter. The young buds or branches boiled in or-
dinary broth, make the belly soluble and open, and boiled in
white wine, provoke urine, being stopped, and is good against
the strangury or difficulty of making water, it expelleth the gra-
vel and stone out of the kidneys, and helpeth pains in the reins.
And boiled in white wane or vinegar, it is prevalent for them
that have their arteries loosened, or are troubled with the hip-
gout or sciatica. The decoction of the roots boiled in wine and
taken is good to clear the sight, and being held in the mouth ea-
seth the tooth-ach ; and being taken fasting several mornings to-
gether, stirreth up bodily lust in man or woman (whatever some
have written to the contrary.) The garden asparagus nourish-
eth more than the wild, yet hath it the same effects in all the
afore mentioned diseases : The decoction of the roots in white
wine, and the back and belly bathed therewith, or kneeling or
lying down in the same, or sitting therein as a bath hath been
found effectual against pains of the reins and bladder, pains of
the mother and cholic, and generally against all pains that hap-

D

26

The English Phy sician Enlarged .

pen to the lower parts of the body, and no less effectual against
stiff and benumbed sinews, or those that are shrunk b;y cramps
and convulsions, and helpeth the sciatica.

ASH TREE.

This is so well known, that time will be mispent in writing
a description of it ; and therefore I shall only insist upon the
virtues of it.

Government and Virtues .] It is governed by the Sun ; and the
young tender tops, with the leaves taken inwardly, and some of
them outwardly applied, are singularly good against the biting
of viper, adder, or any other venomous beast ; and the water dis-
tilled therefrom being taken a small quantity every morning fast-
ing, is a singular medicine for those that are subject to dropsy,
or to abate the greatness of those that are too gross or fat. The
decoction of the leaves in white wine helpeth to break the stone,
and expel it, and cureth the jaundice. The ashes of the bark of
the ash made into alee, and those heads bathed therewith, which
are leprous, scabby, or scald, they are thereby cured. The ker-
nels within the husks, commonly called ashen keys, prevail
against stitches and pains in the sides, proceeding of wind, and
voideth away the stone by provoking urine.

I can justly except against all of this, save only the first, viz .
That ash-tree tops and leaves are good against the bitings of ser-
pents and vipers. I suppose this had its rise from Gerard or
Pliny, both which hold, That there is such an antipathy between
an adder and an ash-tree, that if an adder be encompassed round
with ash-tree leaves, she will sooner run through the fire than
through the leaves : The contrary to which is the truth, as both
my eyes are witness. The rest are virtues something likely, only
if it be in winter when you cannot get the leaves, you may safely
use the bark instead of them. The keys you may easily keep
all the year, gathering them when they are ripe.

The English Physician Enlarged .

27

AVENS, called also COLEWORT, and HERB BONET.

Descript. /X HE ordinary avens hath many long, rough, dark,
green winged leaves, rising from the root, every one made of
many leaves set on each side of the middle rib, the largest three
thereof grow at the end, and are snipped, or dented round about
the edges ; the other being small pieces, sometimes two and some-
times four, standing on each side of the middle rib underneath
them. Among which do rise up divers rough or hairy stalks about
two feet high, branching forth with leaves at every joint not so
long as those below, but almost as much cut in on the edges,
some into three parts, some into more. On the tops of the
branches stand small, pale, yellow flowers, consisting of five
leaves, like the flowers of cinquefoil, hut larger, in the middle
whereof standeth a small green herb, which when the flower is
fallen groweth to be round, being made of many long greenish
purple seeds (like grains) which will stick upon your clothes.
The root consists of many brownish strings or fibres, smelling
somewhat like unto cloves, especially those which grow in the
higher, hotter, and drier grounds, and in free and clear air.

Place.] They grow wild in many places under hedges' sides,
and by the path ways in fields ; yet they rather delight to grow
in shadowy than sunny places.

Time.] They flower in May and June for the most part, and
their seed is ripe in July at the farthest.

Government and Virtues.] It is governed by Jupiter, and that
gives hopes of a wholesome healthful herb. It is good for the
diseases of the chest or breast, for pains, and stitches in the side,
and to expel crude and raw humours from the belly and sto-
mach, by its sweet savour and warming quality. It dissolves the
inward congealed blood happening by falls or bruises, and the
spitting of blood, if the roots, either green or dry, be boiled in
wine and drank; as also all manner of inward wounds or out-
ward, if washed or bathed therewith. The decoction also being
drank, comforts the heart, and strengthened! the stomach and a

28 The Eng lish Physician Enlarged.

cold brain, and therefore is good in the spring-time to open ob-
structions of the liver, and helpeth the wind cholic ; it also helps
those that have fluxes, or are bursten, or have a rupture; it
taketh away spots or marks in the face, being washed therewith.
The juice of the fresh root, or powder of the dried root, hath
the same effect with the decoction. The root in the spring-time
steeped in wine, doth give it a delicate savour and taste, and
being drank fasting every morning, comforteth the haart, and is
a good preservative against the plague, or any other poison. It
helpeth digestion, and warmeth a cold stomach, and openeth
obstructions of the liver and spleen.

It is very safe^ you need have no dose prescribed ; and is
very fit to be kept in every body's house.

BALM.

This herb is so well known to be an inhabitant almost in
every garden, that I shall not need to write any description there-
of, although the virtues thereof, which are many, may not be
omitted.

Government and Virtues.'] It is an herb of Jupiter, and under
Cancer, and strengthens nature much in all its actions. Let a
syrup made with the juice of it and sugar (as you shall be taught
at the latter end of this book) be kept in every gentlewoman’s
house to relieve the weak stomachs and sick bodies of their
poor sickly neighbours ; as also the herb kept dry in the house,
that so with other convenient simples, you may make it into an
electuary with honey, according as the disease is, as you shall be
taught at the latter end of my book. The Arabian physicians
have extolled the virtues thereof to the skies ; although the
Greeks thought it not worth mentioning. Seraphio saith, It
causeth the mind and heart to become merry, and reviveth the
heart, faintings and swoonings, especially of such who are over-
taken in sleep, and driveth away all troublesome cares and
thoughts out of the mind, arising from melancholy or black
clioler ; which Avicen slso confirmeth. It is very good to help

The English Physician Enlarged. 29

digestion, and open obstructions of the brain, and hath so much
purging quality in it (saith Avicen) as to expel those melancholy
vapours from the spirits and blood which are in the heart and ar-
teries, although it cannot do so in other parts of the body.
Dioscorides saith. That the leaves steeped in wine, and the wine
drank, and the leaves externally applied, is a remedy against the
stings of a scorpion, and the bitings of mad dogs ; and com-
mendeth the decoction thereof for women to bathe or sit in to
procure their courses ; it is good to wash aching teeth therewith,
and profitable for those that have the bloody-flux. The leaves
also, with a little nitre taken in drink, are good against the sur-
feit of mushrooms, helps the griping pains of the belly ; and be-
ing made into an electuary, it is good for them that cannot fetch
their breath : Used with salt, it takes away wens, kernels, or
hard swellings in the flesh or throat ; it cleanseth foul sores, and
easeth pains of the gout. It is good for the liver and spleen. A
tansy, or caudle made with eggs, and juice thereof while it is
young, putting to it some sugar and rosewater, is good for a
woman in child-bed, when the after-birth is not throughly void-
ed, and for their faintings upon or in their sore travail. The
herb bruised and boiled in a little wine and oil, and laid on a
boil, will ripen it, and break it.

BARBERRY.

JPhIS shrub is so well known by every boy and girl that
hath but attained to the age of seven years, that it needs no de-
scription.

Government and Virtues .] Mars owns the shrub, and pre-
sents it to the use of my countrymen to purge their bodies of
choler. The inner rind of the barberry-tree boiled in white wine,
and a quarter of a pint drank each morning, is an excellent re-
medy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from
such diseases as choler causeth, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ring-
worms, yellow jaundice, boils, &c. It is excellent for hot agues,
burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-

30 The English Physician Enlarged .

flux : for the berries are as good as the bark, and more pleasing ;
they get a man a good stomach to his victuals, by strengthening
the attractive faculty which is under Mars, as you may see more
at large at the latter end of my Ephemeris for the year 1651 :
The hair washed with the lee made of ashes of the tree and water,
will make it turn yellow, viz. of Mars’ own colour. The fruit
and rind of the shrub, the flowers of broom and of heath, oi
furze, cleanse the body of choler by sympathy, as the flowers,
leaves, and bark of the peach-tree do by antipathy ; because
these are under Mars, that under Venus.

BARLEY.

The continual usefulness hereof hath made all in general so
acquainted herewith, that it is altogether needless to describe it,
several kinds hereof plentifully growing, being yearly sown in
this land. The virtues thereof take as followeth.

Government and Virtues.'] It is a notable plant of Saturn :
if you view diligently its effects by sympathy and antipathy,
you may easily perceive a reason of them ; as also why barley
bread is so unwholesome for melancholy people. Barley in all
the parts and compositions thereof (except malt) is more cooling
than wheat, and a little cleansing: And all the preparations
thereof, as barley-water and other things made thereof do give
great nourishment to persons troubled with fevers, agues, and
heats in the stomach. A poultice made of barley meal or flour
boiled in vinegar and honey, and a few dry figs put into them,
dissolveth all hard imposthumes, and assuageth inflammations,
being thereto applied. And being boiled with melilot and ca-
momile flowers, and some lineseed, fenugreek, and rue in pow-
der, a^id applied warm, it easeth pains in side and stomach, and
windiness of the spleen. The meal of barley and fieawort boil-
ed in water, and made a poultice with honey and oil of lilies ap-
plied warm, cureth swellings under the ears, throat, neck, and
such like ; and a plaister made thereof with tar, wax, and oil
helpeth the king’s evil in the throat ; boiled with sharp vinegar

31

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into a poultice, and laid on hot, helpeth the leprosy ; being boil
ed in red wine with pomegranate rinds, and myrtles, stayeth the
task or other flux of the belly ; boiled with vinegar and quince,
it easeth the pains, of the gout ; bai ley, flour, white salt, honey,
and vinegar mingled together, taketh away the itch speedily and
certainly. The water distilled from the green barley in the end
of May, is very good for those that have deductions of humours
fallen into their eyes, and easeth the pain being dropped into
them ; or white bread steeped therein, and bound on the eyes,
doth the same.

GARDEN BAZIL, OR SWEET BAZIL.

Descript.] The greater or ordinary bazil riseth up usually
with one upright stalk diversely branching forth on all sides, with
two leaves at every joint, which are somewhat broad and round,
yet pointed, of a pale green colour, but fresh ; a little snipped
about the edges, and of a strong healthy scent. The flowers are
small and white, and standing at the tops of the branches, with
two small leaves at the joints, in some places green, in others
brown, after which come black seed. The root perisheth at the
approach of winter, and therefore must be new sown every
year.

Place.] It groweth in gardens.

Time.] It must be sowed late, and flowers in the heart of Sum-
mer, being a very tender plant.

Government and Virtues.] This is the herb which all authors
are together by the ears about, and rail at one another (like
lawyers.) Galen and Dioscorides hold it not fitting to be taken
inwardly ; and Chrysippus rails at it with downright Billingsgate
rhetoric ; Pliny, and the Arabian physicians, defend it.

For my own part, I presently found that speech true ;

Non nostrum inter nos tantas comp oner e lites.

And away to Dr . Reason went I, who told me it was an herb
of Mars, and under the scorpion, and perhaps therefore called
basilicon, and it is no marvel if it carry a kind of virulent

32

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quality with it. Being applied to the place bitten by veno-
mous beasts, or stung by a wasp or hornet, it speedily draws the
poison to it. Every like draws his like. Mizeldus affirms, that
being laid to rot in horse-dung, it will breed venomous beasts.
Hilorius, a French physician, affirms upon his own knowledge,
that an acquaintance of his, by common smelling to it, had a
scorpion bred in his brain. Something is the matter, this herb
and rue will not grow together, no, nor near one another, and
we know rue is as great an enemy to poison as any that grows.

To conclude. It expelleth both birth and after-birth ; and as
it helps the deficiency of Venus in one kind, so it spoils all her
actions in another. I dare write no more of it.

THE BAY TREE.

This is so well known that it needs no description ; I shall
therefore only write the virtues thereof, which are many.

Government and virtues .] I shall but only add a word or two
to what my friend hath written, viz. That it is a tree of the Sun,
and under the celestial sign Leo, and resisteth witchcraft very
potently, as also all the evils old Saturn can do the body of man,
and they are not a few ; for it is the speech of one, and I am
mistaken if it were not Mizeldus, that neither witch nor devil,
thunder or lightning, will hurt a man in the place where a bay-
tree is. Galen said. That the leaves or bark do dry and heal
very much, and the berries more than the leaves ; the bark of
the root is less sharp and hot, but more bitter, and hath some
astriction withal, whereby it is effectual to break the stone, and
good to open odstructions of the liver, spleen and other inward
parts, which bring the jaundice, dropsy, &c. The berries are
very effectual against all poison of venomous creatures, and
the sting of wasps and bees ; as also against the pestilence, or
other infectious diseases and therefore put into sundry treacles
for that purpose ; they likewise procure women’s courses ; and
seven of them given to a woman in sore travail of child-birth,
doth cause a speedy delivery, and expel the after-birth, and

The English Physician Enlarged . 33

iherefore not to be taken by such as have not gone out their
time, lest they procure abortion, or cause labour too soon. They
wonderfully help all cold and rheumatic distillations from the
brain, to the eyes, lungs or other parts ; and being made into an
electuary with honey, do help the consumption, old coughs,
shortness of breath, and thin rheums ; as also the meagrim.
They mightily expel the wind, and provoke urine ; help the mo-
ther, and kill the worms. The leaves also work the like effects.
A bath of the decoction of the leaves and berries, is singularly
good for women to sit in, that are troubled with the mother, or
the diseases thereof, or the stoppings of their courses, or for the
diseases of the bladder, pains in the bowels by wind and stopping
of urine. A decoction likewise of equal parts of bay-berries,
cummin seed, hyssop, origanum, and euphorbium, with some ho-
ney, and the head bathed therewith,, doth wonderfully help dis-
tillations and rheums, and settleth the palate of the mouth into
its place. The oil made of the berries is very comfortable in all
cold griefs of the joints, nerves, arteries, stomach, belly, or
womb, and helpeth palsies, convulsions, cramp, aches, trem-
blings, and numbness in any part, weariness also, and pains that
come by sore travelling. Ail griefs and pains proceeding from
wind, either in the head, stomach, back, belly, or womb, by
anointing the parts affected therewith : And pains in the ears are
also cured by dropping in some of the oil, or by receiving into
the ears the fume of the decoction of the berries through a fun-
nel. The oil takes away the marks of the skin and flesh by bruis-
es, falls, &c. and dissolveth the congealed blood in them. It
helpeth also the itch, scabs, and wheals in the skin.

BEANS.

Both the garden and field beans are so well known, that it
saveth me the labour of writing any description of them. Their
virtues follow.

Government and Virtues .] They are plants of Venus, and the
distilled water of the flower of garden beans is good to clean the

E

34

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face and skin from spots and wrinkles, and the meal or flour of
them, or the small beans doth the same. The water distilled
from the green husks, is held to be very effectual against the
stone, and to provoke urine. Bean flour is used in poultices to
assuage inflammations arising from wounds, and the swelling of
women's breasts caused by the curdling of their milk, and re-
pressed their milk ; flour of beans and fenugreek mixed with
honey, and applied to felons, boils, bruises, or blue marks by
blows, or the imposthumes in the kernels of the ears, helpeth
them all, and with rose leaves, frankincense and the white of an
egg, being applied to the eyes, helpeth them that are swollen or
do water, or have received any blow upon them, if used with
wine. If a bean be parted into two, the skin being taken away
and laid on the place where the leech hath been set that bleedeth
too much, stayeth the bleeding. Bean flour boiled to a poultice
with wine and vinegar, and some oil put thereto, easeth both
pains and swelling of the cods. The husks boiled in water to
the consumption of a third part thereof, stayeth a lask ; and the
ashes of the husks, made up with old hog’s grease, helpeth the
old pains, contusions, and wounds of the sinews, the sciatica and
gout. The field beans have all the aforementioned virtues as
the garden beans.

Beans eaten are extreme windy meat ; but if after the Dutch
fashion, when they are half boiled you husk them and then stew
them, (I cannot tell you how, for I never was cook in all my
life) they are wholesome food.

FRENCH BEANS.

Descript. This French or kidney bean ariseth at first but
with one stalk, which afterwards divides itself into many arms
or branches, but all so weak that if they be not sustained with
sticks or poles, they will be fruitless on the ground. At several
places of these branches grow footstalks, each with three broad
round and pointed green leaves at the end of them ; towards the
top come forth divers flowers made like unto pease blossoms, of

35

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the same colour for the most part that the fruit will be of ; that
is to say, white, yellow, red, blackish, or of a deeper purple,
but white is the most usual ; after which come long and slender
flat cods, some crooked, some straight, with a string running
down the back thereof, wherein is flattish round fruit made
like a kidney ; the root is long, spreadeth with many strings an-
nexed to it, and perisheth every year.

There is another sort of French beans commonly growing
with us in this land, which is called the scarlet flower bean.
This ariseth with sundry branches as the other, but runs high-
er to the length of hop-poles, about which they grow twining,
but turning contrary to the sun, having footstalks with three
leaves on each, as on the other ; the flowers also are like the
other, and of a most orient scarlet colour. The beans are larg-
er than the ordinary kind, of a dead purple colour, turning
black when ripe and dry ; the root perisheth in winter.

Government and Virtues.] These also belong to dame Ve-
nus, and being dried and beat to powder, are as great strength-
eners of the kidneys as any are ; neither is there a better reme-
dy than it ; a dram at a time taken in white w ine to prevent the
stone, or to cleanse the kidneys of gravel or stoppage. The or-
dinary French beans are of an easy digestion; they move the
belly, provoke urine, enlarge the breast that is straitened with
shortness of breath, engender sperm, and incite to venery. And
the scarlet-coloured beans, in regard to the glorious beauty of
their colour, being set near a quickset hedge, will bravely adorn
the same, by climbing up thereon, so that they may be discern-
ed a great way, not without admiration of the beholders at a
distance. But they will go near to kill the quicksets by cloath-
ing them in scarlet.

LADIES BED STRAW.

Besides the common name above written, it is called
cheese-rennet, because it performs the same oflice, as also gal-

36

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lion, pettimugget, and maid-hair ; and by some wild rosemary.

Descript.] This riseth up with diverse small, brown and
square upright stalks a yard high or more ; sometimes branch-
es forth into diverse parts, full of joints, and with divers very
fine small leaves at every one of them, little or nothing rough
at all ; at the tops of the branches grow many long tufts or
branches of yellow flowers very thick set together, from the
several joints which consist of four leaves a-piece, which smell
somewhat strong, but not unpleasant. The seed is small and
black like poppy seed, two for the most part joined together.
The root is reddish, with many small threads fastened unto it,
which take strong hold of the ground, and creepeth a little ;
and the branches leaning a little down to the ground, take root
at the joints thereof, whereby it is easily increased.

There is another sort of Ladies bed-straw, growing frequently
in England which beareth white flowers as the other doth
yellow ; but the branches of this are so weak, that unless it be
sustained by the hedges, or other things near which it groweth,
it will lie down to the ground ; the leaves a little bigger than
the former, and the flowers not so plentiful as these ; and the
root hereof is also thready and abiding.

Place.] They grow in meadows and pastures, both wet and
dry, and by the hedges.

Time.] They flower in May for the most part, and the seed
is ripe in July and August.

Government and Virtues.] They are both herbs of Venus,
and therefore strengthening the parts both internal and external,
which she rules. The decoction of the former of those being
drank, is good to fret and break the stone, provoke urine, stay-
eth inward bleeding, and healeth inward wounds. The herb or
flower bruised and put up into the nostrils, stay eth their bleeding
likewise : The flowers and herbs being made into an oil, by being
set into the sun, and changed after it hath stood ten or twelve
days ; or into an ointment being boiled in Axunga , or sallad oil,
with some wax melted therein, after it is strained ; either the oil
made thereof, or the ointment, do help burnings with fire, or

The English Physician Enlarged.

37

scaldings with water. The same also, or the decoction of the
herb and flower, is good to bathe the feet of travellers and lac-
quies whose long running causeth weariness and stiffness in their
sinews and joints. If the decoction be used warm, and the
joints afterwards anointed with ointment, it helpeth the dry
scab, and the itch in children ; and the herb with the white
flower is also very good for the sinews, arteries, and joints, to
comfort and strengthen them after travel, cold, and pains.

BEETS.

Of beets there are two sorts, which are best known gene-
rally, and whereof I shall principally treat at this time, viz. the
white and red beets, and their virtues.

Descript .] The common white beet hath many great leaves
next the ground, somewhat large and of a whitish green colour.
The stalk is great, strong, and ribbed, bearing great store of
leaves upon it, almost to the very top of it ; The flowers grow
in very long tufts, small at the end, and turning down their
heads, which are small, pale greenish, yellow buds, giving cor-
nered prickly seed. The root is great, long, and hard, and
when it hath given seed is of no use at all.

The common red beet differeth not from the white, but only
it is less, and the leaves and the roots are somewhat red ; the
leaves are differently red, some only with red stalks or veins ;
some of a fresh red, and others of a dark red. The root there-
of is red, spungy, and not used to be eaten.

Government and Virtues.] The government of these two sorts
of beets are far different ; the red beet being under Saturn, and
the white under Jupiter ; therefore take the virtues of them apart,
each by itself ; the white beet doth much loosen the belly, and
is of a cleansing digesting quality, and provoketh urine. The
juice of it openeth obstructions both of the liver and spleen, and
is good for the head-ach and swimmings therein, and turnings of
the brain ; and is effectual also against all venomous creatures ;
and applied unto the temples, stayeth inflammations in the eyes ;

38

The English Physician Enlarged.

it helpeth burnings, being used without oil, and with a little al-
lum put to it, is good for St. Anthony's fire. It is good for all
wheals, pushes, blisters, and blains, in the skin : the herb boil-
ed, and laid upon chilblains or kibes helpeth them. The de-
coction thereof in water and some vinegar, healeth the itch, if
bathed therewith, and cleanseth the head of dandruff, scurf,
and dry scabs, and doth much good for fretting and running
sores, ulcers, and cankers in the head, legs or other parts, and
is much commended against baldness and shedding the hair.

The red beet is good to stay the bloody flux, women's cour-
ses and the whites, and to help the yellow jaundice ; the juice
of the root put into the nostrils, purgeth the head, helpeth the
noise in the ears, and the tooth-ach; the juice snuffed up the
nose, helps a stinking breath, if the cause lies in the nose, as
many times it doth, if any bruise hath been there ; as also want
of smell coming that way.

WATER BETONY.

Called also brown-wort, and in Yorkshire, bishop's
leaves.

Descript.] First, of the water betony, which riseth up, with
square, hard, greenish stalks, sometimes brown, set with broad
dark green leaves, dented about the edges with notches some-
what resembling the leaves of the wood betony, but much larger
too, for the most part set at a joint. The flowers are many, set
at the tops of the stalks and branches, being round bellied and
open at the brims, and divided into two parts, the uppermost
being like a hood, and the low ermost like a hip hanging down,
of a dark red colour, which passing, there come in their places
small round heads with small points at the ends, wherein lie
small and brownish seeds ; the root is a thick bush of strings
and shreds growing from the head.

Place.] It groweth by the ditch side, brooks, and other wa-
ter-courses, generally through this land, and is seldom found
far from the water-side.

*

'C

' '

)

I

I

/

39

The English Physician Enlarged .

Time.] It flowereth about July, and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] Water betony is an herb of Jupiter
in Cancer, and is appropriated more to wounds and hurts in the
breast than wood-betony, which follows : it is an excellent re-
medy for sick hogs. It is of a cleansing quality ; the leaves
bruised and applied are effectual for ail old and filthy ulcers :
and especially if the juice of the leaves be boiled with a little
honey, and dipped therein, and the sores dressed therewith ; as
also for bruises or hurts, whether, inward or outward ; the dis-
tilled water of the leaves is used for the same purpose ; as also
to bathe the face and hands spotted or blemished, c*r discolour-
ed by sun-burning.

I confess I do not much fancy distilled waters, I mean such
waters as are distilled cold ; some virtues of the herb they may
haply have (it were a strange thing else ;) but this I am confident
of, that being distilled in a pewter still, as the vulgar and apish
fashion is, both chemical oil and salt is left behind, unless you
burn them, and then all is spoiled, water and all, which was
good for as little as can be by such a distillation in my transla-
tion of the London Dispensatory.

WOOD BETONY.

J Descript.] C OMMON or wood betony hath many leaves ri-
sing from the root, which are somewhat broad and round at the
end, roundly dented about the edges, standing upon a long foot-
stalk, from among which arise up small, square, slender, but up-
right hairy stalks with some leaves thereon to a piece at the
joints, smaller than the lower, whereon are set several spiked
heads of flowers like lavender, but thicker and shorter, for the
most part, and of a reddish or purple colour, spotted with white
spots both in the upper and lower part. The seeds being con-
tained within the husks that hold the flowers, are blackish, some-
what long and uneverj. The roots are many white thready
strings : the stalk perisheth, but the roots with some leaves
thereon, abide all the winter. The whole plant is something
small.

The English P hysician Enlarged.

Place.'] It groweth frequently in woods, and delighteth in
shady places.

Time.] AnditflowerethinJuly; after which the seed is quick-
ly ripe, yet in its prime in May.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is appropriated to the
planet Jupiter, and the sign Aries. Antonins Musa, physician
to the emperor Augustus Caesar, wrote a peculiar book of the
virtues of this herb ; and among other virtues saith of it, that it
preserveth the liver and bodies of men from the danger of epi-
demical diseases, and from witchcrafts also ; it helpeth those
that loath and cannot digest their meat, those that have weak
stomachs and sour belchings, or continual rising in their stomach,
using it familiarly either green or dry ; either the herb, or root,
or the flowers, in broth, drink, or meat, or made into conserve,
syrup, water, electuary, or powder, as every one may best frame
themselves unto, or as the time and season requireth ; taken
any of the aforesaid ways, it helpeth the jaundice, falling sick-
ness, the palsy, convulsions, or shrinking of the sinews, the gout
and those that are inclined to dropsy, those that have continual
pains in their heads, although it turn to phrensy. The powder
mixed with pure honey, is no less available for all sorts of coughs
or colds, wheesing, or shortness of breath, distillation of thin
rheum upon the lungs, which causeth consumptions. The de-
coction made with mead, and a little penny-royal, is good for
those that are troubled with putrid agues, whether quotidian
tertian, or quartan, and to draw down and evacuate the blood,
and humours, that by falling into the eyes, do hinder the sight ;
the decoction thereof made in wine and taken, killeth the worms
in the belly, openeth obstructions both of the spleen and liver ;
cureth stitches, and pains in the back and sides, the torments and
griping pains in the bowels, and the wind colic ; and mixed with
honey, purge ih the belly, helpeth to bring down women’s cour-
ses, and is of special use for those that are troubled with the fall-
ing down of the mother, and pains thereof, and causeth an easy
and speedy delivery of women in child-birth. It helpeth also to
break and expel the stone, either in the bladder or kidneys. The

The English Physician Enlarged* 41

decoction with wine gargled in the month easeth the tooth-ach.
It is commended against the stinging or biting of venomous ser-
pents, or mad dogs, being used inwardly and applied outwardly
to the place. A dram of the powder of betony taken with a little
honey in some vinegar, doth wonderfully refresh those that are
overwearied by travel. It stayeth the bleeding at the mouth or
nose, and helpeth those that piss or spit blood, and those that
are bursten or have a rupture, and is good for such as are bruis-
ed by any fall or otherwise. The green herb bruised, or the
juice applied to any inward hurt, or outward green wound in the
head nr body, will quickly heal and close it upr as also any
veins or sinews that are cut, and will draw forth any broken
bone or splinter, thorn or other things got into the flesh. It is no
less profitable for old sores or filthy ulcers, yea, though they be
fistulous and hollow. But some do advise to put a little salt to
this purpose ; being applied with a little hog's lard, it helpeth a
plague or sore, and other boils and pushes. The fumes of the
decoction, while it is warm, received by a funnel into the ears,
easeth the pain of them, destroyeth the worms and cureth the
running sore in them. The juice dropped into them doth the
same. The root of betony is displeasing both to the taste and
stomach, whereas the leaves and flowers, by their sweet and spicy
taste, are comfortable both to meat and medicine.

These are some of the many virtues Anthony Muse, an expert
physician, (for it was not the practice of Octavius Caesar to keep
fools about him) appropriates to betony ; it is a very precious
herb, that is certain, and most fitting to be kept in a man’s house,
both in syrup, conserve, oil, ointment, and plaister ; The flowers
are usually conserved.

THE BEECH TREE.

In treating of this tree, you must understand, that I mean the
green mast beech, which is by way of distinction from that other
small rough sort, called in Sussex the smaller beech, but in Es-
sex, horn-bean.

F

42 The English Physician Enlarged.

I suppose it needless to describe it, being already too well
known to my countrymen.

Place.] It groweth in woods amongst oaks and other trees,
and in parks, forests, and chases, to feed deer; and in other
places to fatten swine.

Time.] It bloometh in the end of April, or beginning of May,
for the most part, and the fruit is ripe in September.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Saturn, and there-
fore performs his qualities and proportion in these operations.
The leaves of the beech-tree are cooling and binding, and there-
fore good to be applied to hot swellings to discuss them ; the
nuts do much nourish such beasts as feed thereon. The water
that is found in the hollow places of decaying beeches will cure
both man and beast of any scurf, scab, or running tetters, if
they be washed therewith ; you may boil the leaves into a poul-
tice, or make an ointment of them when time of year serves.

BILBERRIES, called by some WHORTS, and
WHORTLE BERRIES.

Descript.] (3f these I shall only speak of two sorts which
are common in England, viz. The black and red berries. And
tirst of the black.

The small bush creepeth along upon the ground, scarce rising
halt a yard high, with divers small dark green leaves set in the
green branches, not always one against the other, and a little
dented about the edges ; At the foot of the leaves come forth
small, hollow, pale, blueish coloured flowers, the brims ending
in five points, with a reddish thread in the middle, which pass
into small round berries of the bigness and colour of juniper
berries, but of a purple, sweetish sharp taste ; the juice of them
giveth a purplish colour to the hands and lips that eat and handle
them, especially if they break them. The root groweth aslope
under ground, shooting forth in sundry places as it creepeth.
This loseth its leaves in winter.

The red bilberry, or whortle-bush, riseth up like the former.

The English Physician Enlarged .

43

having sundry hard leaves, like the box-tree leaves, green and
round pointed, standing on the several branches, at the top
whereof only, and not from the sides, as in the former, come
forth divers round, reddish, sappy berries, when they are ripe,
of a sharp taste. The root runneth in the ground, as in the
former, but the leaves of this abide all the winter.

Place .] The first groweth in forests, on the heaths, and such
liktf barren places : the red grows in the north parts of this land,
as Lancashire, Yorkshire, &c.

Time.] They flower in March and April, and the fruit of the
black is ripe in July and August.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of
Jupiter. It is a pity they are used no more in physic than they
are. The black bilberries are good in hot agues and to cool the
beat of the liver and stomach ; they do somewhat bind the belly,
and stay vomitings and loathings; the juice of the berries made
in a syrup, or the pulp made into a conserve with sugar, is good
for the purposes aforesaid, as also for an old cough, or an ulcer
in the lungs, or other diseases therein. The red worts are more
binding, and stop women's courses, spitting of blood, or any
other flux of blood or humours, being used as well outwardly as
inwardly.

BIFOIL, OR TWABL ADE.

Descript.] This small herb, from a root somewhat sweet
shooting downward many long strings, riseth up a round green
stalk, bare or naked, next the ground for am inch, two or three
to the middle thereof as it is in age or growth ; as also from the
middle upward to the flowers, having only two broad plantain-
like leaves (but whiter) set at the middle of the stalk one against
another, compasseth it round at the bottom of them.

Place.] It is an usual inhabitant in woods, copses, and in
many other places in this land.

There is another sort groweth in wet grounds and marshes,
which is somewhat different from the former. It is a smaller

44

The English Physician Enlarged.

plant, and greener, having sometimes three leaves : the spike of
the flowers is less than the former, and the roots of this do run
or creep in the ground.

They are much and often used by many to good purpose for
wounds, both green and old, to consolidate or knit ruptures ;
and well it may, being a plant of Saturn.

THE BIRCH TREE. e

Descript .] ^ f groweth a goodly tall straight tree, fraught

with many boughs, and slender branches bending downward :
the old being coloured with discoloured chapped bark, and the
younger being browner by much. The leaves at the hrst break-
ing out are crumpled, and afterwards like the beech leaves, but
smaller and greener, and dented about the edges. It beareth
small short cat-skins, somewhat like those of the hazel-nut-tree,
which abide on the branches a long time, until growing ripe,
they fall on the ground, and their seed with them.

Place.] It usually groweth in woods.

Government and Virtues.] It is a tree of Venus, the juice of
the leaves, while they are young, or the distilled water of them,
or the water that comes from the tree being bored with an auger,
and distilled afterwards ; any of these being drank for some days
together, is available to break the stone in the kidneys and
bladder, and is good also to wash sore mouthsu

BIRD S FOOT.

T HIS small herb groweth not above a span high, with many
branches spread upon the ground, set with many wings of small
leaves. The flowers grow upon the branches, many small ones
of a pale yellow colour being set a-head together, which after-
wards turneth into small jointed cods, well resembling the claws
of small birds, whence it took its name.

There is anothet sort of bird’s foot in all things like the for-
mer, but a larger ; the flower of a pale whitish red colour, and

The English Physician Enlarged.

45

the cods distinct by joints like the other, but a little more crook-
ed ; and the roots do carry many small white knots or kernels
amongst the strings.

Place .] These grow on heaths, and many open untilled places
of this land.

Time.] They flower and seed in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues.] They belong to Saturn, and are of
a drying, binding quality, and therefore very good to be used
in wound drinks ; as also to apply outwardly for the same pur-
pose. But the latter bird's-foot is found by experience to break
the stone in the back or kidneys, and drives them forth, if the
decoction thereof be taken ; and it wonderfully helpeth the rup-
ture, being taken inwardly, and outwardly applied to the
place.

All salts have best operations upon the stone, as ointments
and plaisters have upon wounds : and therefore you may make
a salt of this for the stone ; the way how to do so may be found
in my translation of the London Dispensatory ; and it may be
I may give you it again in plainer terms at the latter end of this
book.

BISHOFS-WEED. <f '

Besides the common name bishops- weed, it is usually
known by the Greek name Ammi and Ammois ; some call it
^Ethiopian cummin-seed, and others cummin-royal, as also herb-
william, and bull-wort.

Descript.] Common bishops-weed riseth up with a round
straight stalk, sometimes as high as a man, but usually three or
four feet high, beset with divers small, long and somewhat broad
leaves, cut in some places, and dented about the edges, growing
one against another, of a dark green colour, having sundry
branches on them, and at the top small umbels of white flow-
ers, which turn into small round seeds, little bigger than pars-
ley seeds, of a quick hot scent and taste ; the root is white

46 The English Physician Enlarged.

and stringy ; perishing yearly, and usually riseth again on its own
sowing.

Place .] It groweth wild in many places of England and
Wales, as between Greenhithe and Gravesend.

Government and Virtues.] It is hot and dry in the third de-
gree, of a bitter taste, and somewhat sharp withal ; it provokes
lust to pui pose; I suppose Venus owns it. It digesteth humours,
provoketh urine and women’s courses, dissolveth wind, and be-
ing taken in wine it easeth pain and griping in the bowels, and
is good against the biting of serpents ; it is used to good effect
in those medicines which are given to hinder the poisonous opera-
tion of cantharides upon the passage of the urine : being mixed
with honey and applied to black and blue marks, coming of
blows or bruises, it takes them away ; and being drank or out-
wardly applied, it abateth an high colour, and makes it pale ;
and the fumes thereof taken with rosin or raisins, cleanseth the
mother.

BISTORT, OR SNAKEWEED.

It is called snakeweed, English serpentary, dragon-wort, oste-
rick, and passion^

Descript.] This hath a thick short knobbed root, blackish
without, and somewhat reddish within, a little crooked or turned
together, of a hard astringent taste, with divers black threads
hanging there, from whence spring up every year divers leaves,
standing upon long footstalks, being somewhat broad and long
like a dock leaf, and a little pointed at the ends, but that it
is of a blueish green colour on the upper side, and of an ash-co-
lour grey, and a little purplish underneath, with divers veins
therein, from among which rise up divers small and slender stalks,
two feet high, and almost naked and without leaves, or with a
very few, and narrow, bearing a spikey bush of pale coloured
flowers, which being past, there abideth small seed, like unto
sorrel seed, but greater.

There are other sorts of bistort growing in this land, but
smaller, both in height, root, and stalks, and especially in the

The English Physician Enlarged. 47

leaves. The root blackish without, and somewhat whitish with-
in ; of an austere binding taste, as the former.

Place.'] They grow in shadowy moist woods, and at the foot
of hills, but are chiefly nourished up in gardens. The narrow-
leaved bistort groweth in the north, in Lancashire, Yorkshire,
and Cumberland.

Time.] They flower about the end of May, and the seed is
ripe about the beginning of July.

Government and Virtues.] It belongs to Saturn, and is in
operation cold and dry ; both the leaves and roots have a power-
ful faculty to resist all poison. The root in powder taken in
drink expelleth the venom of the plague, the small pox, measles,
purples, or any other infectious disease, driving it out by sweat-
ing. The root in powder, the decoction thereof in wine being
drank stayeth all manner of inward bleeding, or spitting of blood,
and any fluxes in the body of either man or woman, or vomiting.
It is also very availing against ruptures, or burstings, or all
bruises of falls, dissolving the congealed blood, and easing the
pains that happen thereupon; it also helpeth the jaundice.

The water distilled from both leaves and roots, is a singular
remedy to wash any place bitten or stung by any venomous crea-
ture ; as also for any of the purposes before spoken of, and is
very good to wash any running sores or ulcer. The decoction
of the root in wine being drank, hindereth abortion or miscar-
riage in child-bearing. The leaves also kill the worms in chil-
dren, and is a great help to them that cannot keep their water;
if the juice of plantain be added thereto, and outwardly applied
much helpeth the gonorrhea, or running of the reins. A dram
of the powder of the root taken in water thereof, wherein some
red hot iron or steel hath been quenched, is also an admirable
help thereto, so as the body be first prepared and pnrged from
the offensive humours. The leaves, seed, or roots are all very
good in decoctions, drinks, or lotions, for inward or outward
wounds, or other sores. And the powders strewed upon any cut
or wound in a vein, stayeth the immoderate bleeding thereof.
The decoction of the root in water, whereunto some pomegran-

The English Physician Enlarged .

ate peels and flowers are added, injected into the matrix, stayeth
the immoderate flnx of the courses. The root thereof with
pelitory of Spain, and burnt allum, of each a little quantity,
beaten small and made into paste, with some honey, and a little
piece thereof put into a hollow tooth, or held between the teeth,
if there be no hollowness in them, stayeth the deduction of
rheum upon them which causeth pains, and helps to cleanse the
head, and void much offensive water. The distilled water is
very effectual to wash sores or cankers in the nose, or any other
parts : if the powder of the root be applied thereunto afterwards.
It is good also to fasten the gums and to take away the heat
and inflammations that happen in the jaws, almonds or the throat,
or mouth, if the decoction of the leaves, roots, or seeds bruised,
or the juice of them be applied ; but the roots are most effectual
to the purposes aforesaid.

ONE BLADE.

Descript.] ThIS small plant never beareth any more than
one leaf, but only when it riseth up with its stalk, which there-
on beareth another, and seldom more, which are of a blueish
green colour, broad at the bottom, and pointed with many ribs
or veins like plantain ; at the top of the stalk grow many
small flowers star-fashion, smelling somewhat sweet; after
which cometh small reddish berries when they are ripe ; the
root small, of the bigness of a rush, lying and creeping un-
der the upper crust of the earth, shooting forth in divers
places.

Place.] It grows in moist, shadowy, grassy places of woods,
in many places of this realm.

Time.] It flowereth about May, and the berries be ripe in

June, and then qnickly perisheth, until the next year it springeth
from the same again.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of the Sun, and
therefore cordial : half a dram or a dram at most, of the roots
hereof in powder, taken in wine and vinegar, of each a like quanti-

The English Physician Enlarged. 49

ty, and the party presently laid to sweat, is held to' he a sov-
ereign remedy for those that are infected with tlie plague, and
have a sore upon them, by expelling the poison, and defending
the heart and spirits from danger. It is also accounted a sin-
gular good wound herb, and therefore used with other herbs in
making such balms as are necessary for curing of wounds, either
green or old, and especially if the nerves be hurt.

THE Bit AMBLE, OR BLACKBERRY BUSH.

It is so well known that it needeth no description. The vir-
tues thereof are as followeth :

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Venus in Aries.
You shall have some directions at the latter end of the book for
the gathering of all herbs and plants,, &c. If any ask the reason
why Venus is so prickly? Tell them it is because she is in the
house of Mars. The buds, leaves, and branches* while they
are green, are of a good use in the ulcers and putrid sores of the
mouth and throat, and of the quinsev, and likewise to heal
other fresh wounds and sores ; but the flowers and fruits unripe
are very binding, and so profitable for the blody flux, lasks,
and a fit remedy for spitting of blood. Either the decoction
of the powder or of the root taken, is good to break or drive
forth gravel and the stone in the reins and kidneys. The leaves
and brambles, as well green as dry, are excellent good lotions
for sores in the mouth or secret parts. The decoction of them,
and of the dried branches, do much bind the belly, and are
good for too much flowing of women’s courses ; the berries of
the flowers are a powerful remedy against the poison of the most
venomous serpents ; as well drank as outwardly applied, helpeth
the sores of the fundament and the piles ; the juice of the ber-
ries mixed with the juice ofnmlberries, do bind more effectually,
and help ail fretting and eating sores and ulcers whatsoever.
I he distilled water of the branches, leaves, and flowers, or of
the fruit is very pleasant in taste, and very effectual in fevers
and hot distempers of the body, head, eyes, and other parts,

G

50 The English Physician Enlarged .

and for the purposes aforesaid. The leaves boiled in lee, and
the head washed therewith, healeth the itch and the running
sores thereof, and maketh the hair black. The powder of the
leaves strewed on cankers and running ulcers, wonderfully help,
to heal them. Some use to condensate the juice of the leaves
and some the juice of the berries, to keep for their use all the
year, for the purposes aforesaid.

BLITES.

Discript.] Of these there are two sorts commonly known,
viz. white and red. The white hath leaves somewhat like unto
beets, but smaller, rounder, and of a whitish green colour, every
one standing upon a small long footstalk ; the stalk riseth up
two or three feet high, with such like leaves thereon ; the flow-
ers grow at the top in long round tufts or clusters, wherein are
contained small and round seed ; the root is very full of threads
or strings.

The red blite is in all things like the white, but that its leaves
and tufted heads are exceeding red at first, and after turn more
purplish.

There are other kinds of blites which grow different from the
two former sorts but little, but only the wild are smaller in eve-
ry part.

Place .] They grow in gardens, and wild in many places in
this land.

Time.] They seed in August and September.

Government and Virtues.] They are all of them cooling, dry-
ing and binding, serving to restrain the fluxes of blood in either
man or woman, especially the red ; which also stayeth the over-
flowing of woman’s reds, as the white blites stayeth the whites
in woman ; it is an excellent secret ; you cannot well fail in the
use; they are all under the dominion of Venus.

There is another sort of wild blites like the other wild kinds,
but have long and spikey heads of greenish seeds seeming by
the thick setting together to be all seed.

51

The English Physician Enlarged.

This sort fishes are delighted with, and it is a good and usual
bait ; for fishes will bite fast enough at them, if you have wit
enough to catch them when they bite.

BORAGE AND BUGLOSS.

These are so well known to the inhabitants of every garden,
that I hold it needless to describe them.

To these I may add a third sort, which is not so common,
nor yet so well known, and therefore I shall give you its name
and description.

It is called langve de barf ; but why then should they call
one herb by the name of bugloss, and another by the name langue
de beuf? It is some question to me, seeing one signifies ox-tongue
in Greek, and the other signifies the same in French.

Descript .] The leaves thereof are smaller than those of Bug-
loss, but much rougher ; the stalks arising up about a foot and
a half high, and is most commonly of a red colour ; the flowers
stand in scaly rough heads, being composed of many small yel-
low flowers, not much unlike to those of dandelions, and the seed
flieth away in down as that dotli ; you may easily know the flow-
ers by their taste, for they are very bitter.

Place.'] It groweth wild in many places of this land, and may
be plentifully found near London as between Rotherhithe and
Deptford, by the ditch side. Its virtues are held to be the same
with borage and bugloss, only this is somewhat hotter.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and the seed is ripe
shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] They are all three herbs of Jupiter,
and under Leo, all great cordials, and great strengthened of na-
ture. The leaves and roots are to very good purpose used in pu-
trid and pestilential fevers, to defend the heart, and help to resist
and expel the poison or the venom of other creatures ; the seed
is of the like effects ; and the seed and leaves are good to encrease
milk in womens breasts ; the leaves, flowers, and seed, all or
any ©f them, are good to expell pensiveness and melancholy ; it

52 The English Physician Enlarged.

helpeth to clarify the blood, and mitigate heat in fevers. The
juice made into a syrup prevaileth much to all the purposes
aforesaid, and is put with other cooling, opening and cleansing
herbs to open obstructions and help the yellow jaundice, and
mixed with fumitory, to cool, cleanse, and temper the blood
thereby ; it helpeth the itch, ring-worms and tetters, or other
spreading scabs or sores. The dowers candied or made into a
conserve, are helpful in the former cases, but are cheifly used as
a cordial, and are good for those that are weak in long sickness,
and to comfort the heart and spirits of those that are in a con-
sumption or troubled with often swoonings, or passions of the
heart. The distilled water is no less effectual to all the purposes
aforesaid, and helpeth the redness and inflamations of the eyes
being washed therewith ; the herb dried is never used, but the
green; yet the ashes thereof boiled in mead, or honeyed water, is
available against the inflammations and ulcers in the mouth or
throat to gargle it therewith ; the roots of bugloss are effectual,
being made into a licking electuary for the cough, and to con-
densate thick phleni, and the rheumatic distillations upon the
lungs.

BLUE-BOTTLE.

It is called Cyanus, I suppose from the colour of it : Hurt-
sickle, because it turns the edge of the sickles that reap the corn ;
Blue-blow, corn-flower, and blue-bottle.

Descript.] 1 shall only describe that which is commonest and
in my opinion most useful; its leaves spread upon the ground,
being of a whitish green colour, somewhat on the edges like
those of corn scabious, amongst which ariseth up a stalk divided
into divers branches, beset with long leaves of a greenish colour,
either but very little indented, or not at all ; the flowers are of a
blue colour, whence it took its name, consisting of an innumer-
able company of small flo wers set in a scaly head not much un-
like those of knap-weed ; the seed is smooth, is bright, and shin-
ing, wrapped up in a wooly mantle ; the root perisheth every
<year.

The English Physician Enlarged.

53

Place .] They grow in com fields, amongst all sorts of corn
(pease, beans, and tares excepted.) If you please to take them
up from thence and transplant them in your garden, especially
towards the full of the moon, they will grow more double than
they are, and many times change colour.

Time.] They flower from the beginning of May to the end of
harvest.

Government and Virtues.] As they are naturally cold, dry,
and binding, so they are under the dominion of Saturn. The
powder or dried leaves of the blue-bottle, or corn-flower, is
given with good success to those that are bruised by a fall, or
have broken a vein inwardly, and void much blood at the mouth ;
being taken in the water of plantain, horse tail, or the greater
comfrey, it is a remedy against the poison of the scorpion, and
resisteth all venoms and poison. The seed or leaves taken in
wine, is very good against the plague, and all infectious diseases,
and is very good in pestilential fevers. The juice put into fresh
or green wounds, doth quickly solder up the lips of them toge-
ther, and is very effectual to heal all ulcers and sores in the
mouth. The juice dropped into the ^yes takes away the heat
and inflammation of them. The distilled water of this herb,
hath the same properties, and may be used for the effects afore-
said.

BRANK URSINE.

\

Beside the common name brank-ursine, it is also called
bears-breech, and acanthus, though I think our English names
to be more proper ; For the Greek word acanthus , signifies any
thistle whatsoever.

Descript.] This thistle shooteth forth very many large, thick,
and green smooth leaves upon the ground, with a very thick and
juicy middle rib ; the leaves are parted with sundry deep gashes
on the edges ; the leaves remain a long time before any stalk
appears, afterwards a reasonable big stalk, three or four feet
high, and bravely decked with flowers from the middle of the

The English Physician Enlarged.

stalk upwards ; for on the lower part of the stalk, there is nei-
ther branches nor leaf. The flowers are hooded and gaping,
being white in colour, and standing in brownish husks, with a
long small undivided leaf under each leaf 4 they seldom seed in
our country. Its roots are many, great and thick, blackish with-
out and whitish within, full of a clammy sap ; a piece of them
if you see it in the garden, and defend it from the first winter
cold, will grow and flourish.

Place .] They are only nursed «up in the gardens in England,
where they will grow very well.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July.

Government and Virtues .] It is an excellent plant under the
dominion of the Moon: I could wish such as are studious
would labour to keep it in their gardens. The leaves being boil-
ed and used in glisters, is excellent good to mollify the belly, and
make the passage slippery. The decoction drank inwardly, is
excellent and good for the bloody flux. The leaves being bruis-
ed, or rather boiled, and applied like a poultice, are excellent
good to unite broken bones and strengthen joints that have been
put out. The decoction of either leaves or roots being drank
and the decoction of leaves applied to the plage, is excellent
good for the king’s evil that is broken and runneth ; for by the
influence of the Moon, it reviveth the ends of the veins which
are relaxed ; there is scarce a better remedy to be applied to such
places as are burnt with fire than this is, for it fetches out the
fire and heals it without a scar. This is an excellent remedy for
such as are busrten, being either taken inwardly, or applied to
the place. In like manner used, it helps the cramp and the
gout. It is excellent good in hectic fevers, and restores radical
moisture to such as are in consumptions.

BRIONY, OR WILD VINE.

Xt is called wild, and wood vine, tamus, or ladies’ seal. The
white is called white vine by some ; and the black, black vine.

Descript .] The common white briony groweth ramping upon

• . .

f

k.

The English Physician Enlarged. 55

the hedges, sending forth many long, rough, very tender branch-
es at the beginning, with many very rough, and broad leaves
thereon, cut (for the most part) into five partitions, in form like
a vine leaf, but smaller, rough, and of a whitish hoary green co-
lour, spreading very far and twining with his small claspers (that
come forth at the joints with the leaves) very far on whatsoever
standeth next to it. At the several joints also (especially to-
wards the top of the branches) cometh forth a long stalk bearing
many whitish flowers together on a long tuft, consisting of five
small leaves a-piece, laid open like a star, after which come the
berries separated one from another, more than a cluster of
grapes, green at the first, and very red when they are thorough
ripe of no good scent, but of a most loathsome taste, provoking
vomit. The root groweth to be exceeding great, with many long
twines or branches going from it, of a pale whitish colour on
the outside, and more white within, and of a sharp bitter, loath-
some taste.

t

Place.] It groweth on banks, or under edges through this
land ; the roots lie very deep.

Time.] It flowereth in July and August, some earlier and
some later than the other.

Government and Virtues.] They are furious Martial plants.
The root of briony purges the belly with great violence, troubling
the stomach and burning the liver, and therefore not rashly to
be taken ; but being corrected, is very profitable for the diseases
of the head, as falling sickness, giddiness and swimmings, by
drawing away much phlegm and rheumatic humours that oppress
the head, as also the joints and sinews, and is therefore good
for palsies, convulsions, cramps, and stiches in the sides, and
the dropsy, and in provoking urine; it cleanseth the reins
and kidneys from gravel and stone by opening the obstructions
of the spleen, and consumeth the hardness and swelling thereof.
The decoction of the root in wine, drank once a week at going
to bed, cleanseth the mother, and helpeth the rising thereof, ex-
pelleth the dead child, a dram of the root in powder taken in
white wine, bringeth down the courses. An electuary made of

56 The English Physician Enlarged.

the roots and honey, doth mightily cleanse the chest and rotten
phlegm, and wonderfully helpeth any old strong cough, to those
that are troubled with shortness of breath, and is very good for
them that are bruised inwardly, to help to expel the clotted or
congealed blood. The leaves, fruit and root to cleanse old and
filthy sores, are good against all fretting and running cankers,
gangrenes, and tetters, and therefore the berries are by some
country people called tetter-berries. The root cleanseth the
skin wonderfully from all black and blue spots, freckles, mor-
phew, leprosy, foul scars, or other deformity whatsoever; also
all running scabs and manginess are healed by the powder ol
the dried root, or the juice thereof, but especially by the fine
white hardened juice. The distilled water of the root work-
eth the same effects, but more weakly ; the root bruised and ap-
plied of itself to any place where the bones are broken, helpeth
to draw them forth, as also splinters and thorns in the flesh ;
and being applied with a little wine mixed therewith, it breaketh
boils and helpeth whitlows on the joints. For all these latter,
beginning at sores, cankers, &c, apply it outwardly, and take
my advice in my translation of the London Dispensatory, among
the preparations at the latter end, where you have a medicine
called Fee cut a Brionia, which take and use, mixing it with a
little hog’s grease, or other convenient ointment.

As for the former diseases where it must be taken inwardly,
it purgeth very violently, and needs an abler hand to correct it
than most country people have ; thereof it is a better way for
them in my opinion to let the simple alone, and take the com-
pound water of it mentioned in my Dispensatory, and that is fai
more safe, being wisely corrected.

BROOK LIME, OR WATER-PIMPERNAL.

rp

Descript. ] _J_ HIS sendeth forth from a creeping root that
shooteth forth strings at every joint, as it runneth, divers and
sundry green stalks, round and sappy, with some branches on

7

i

57

The English Physician Enlarged I

them somewhat broad, round, deep green, and thick leaves set
by couples thereon ; from the bottom whereof shoot forth long
fbot-stalks, with sundry small blue dowers on them,.thatconsist
of five small round pointed leaves a-piece.

There is another sort nothing differing from the former,, hut
that it is greater, and the flowers of a paler green colour.

Place .] They grow in small standing waters,, and usually
near water cresses*

Time.] An&flowereth in June and' July, giving seed the next
month after*

Grmernmentand ffirtues.] It is a hot and biting* Martial plant.
Brook-lime and water-cresses are generally used together in
diet-drink, with other things serving topurge the blood and' body
from all ill humours that would destroy health, and are helpful
to the scurvey. they do all provoke urine, and help to break
the stone, and pass it away ; they procure women’s courses, and
expel the dead child. Being fried with butter and vinegar, and
applied warm, it helpeth all manners of tumours* swellings, and
inflammations*

Such drinks ought to be made of sundry herbs, according to
the malady. I shall give a plain and easy rule at the latter end
of this book.

BUTCHERS’ BROOM.

It is called ruscus, and bruscus, kneeholm,, kneeholy, knee-
hulver, and pettigree.

Descript.] The first shoots that sprout from the root of butch-
ers’ broom, are thick, whitish and short, somewhat like those of
asparagus, but greater, they rising up to be a foot and a half high,
are spread into divers branches, green, and somewhat crossed
with the roundness, tough and flexible, whereon are set some-
what broad and almost round hard leaves, and prickly, pointed
at the end, of a dark green colour, two lor the most part set at
a place, very close and near together ; about the middle of the
leaf, on the back and lower side from the middle lib, breaketh

58

The English Physician Enlarged .

forth a small whitish green flower, consisting of four small round
pointed, leaves, standing upon little or no foot-stalk, and in the
place whereof cometh a small berry, green at first, and red
when it is ripe, wherein are two or three white, hard, round
seeds contained. The root is thick, white, and great at the head,
and from thence sendeth forth divers thick, white, long tough
strings.

Place .] It groweth in copses, and upon heaths and waste
grounds, and oftentimes under or near the holly bushes.

Time.] It shooteth forth its young buds in the spring, and the
berries are ripe about September, the branches of leaves abiding
green all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Mars, being of a
gallant cleansing and opening quality. The decoction of the root
made with wine openeth obstructions, provoketh urine, helps
to expel gravel and the stone, the strangury and women’s cours-
es, also the yellow jaundice and the head-ach : And with some
honey or sugar put thereunto, cleanseth the breast of phelgm,
and the chest of clammy humours gathered therein. The de-
coction of the root drank, and a poultice made of the berries
and leaves being applied, are effectual in knitting and consolida-
ting broken bones or parts out of joint. The common w ay of
using it, is to boil the root of it, and parsley and fennel and
smallage in white wine, and drink the decoction, adding the like
quantity of grass-root to them : The more of the root you boil
the stronger will the decoction be ; it works no ill effects, yet I
hope you have w it enough to give the strongest decoction to the
strongest bodies.

BROOM, AND BROOM-RAPE.

To spend time in writing a description hereof is altogether
needless, it being so generally used by all the good house-wives
almost through this land to sweep their houses with, and there-
fore very well known to all sorts of people.

The broom-rape springeth up on many places from the roots

59

The English Physician Enlarged.

of the broom (but more often in fields, as by hedge-sides and on
heaths.) The stalk whereof is of the bigness of a finger or
thumb, above two feet high, having a shew of leaves on them,
and many flowers at the top, of a reddish yellow colour, as also
the stalks and leaves are.

Place.'] They grow in many places of this land commonly*
and as commonly spoil all the land they grow in.

Time.] And flower in the summer months, and give their seed
before winter.

Government and Virtues.] Thej nice or decoction of the young
branches or seed, or the powder of the seed taken in drink, purg-
eth downwards, and draweth phlegmatic and watery humours
from the joints, w hereby it helpeth the dropsy, gout, sciatica,
and pains of the hips and joints ; it also provoketh strong vomits,
and helpeth the pains of the sides, and swelling of the spleen,
cleanseth also the reins or kidneys and bladder of the stone,
provoketh urine abundantly, and hindereth the growing again of
the stone in the body. The continual use of the powder of the
leaves and seed doth cure the black jaundice. The distilled
water of the flowers is profitable for all the same purposes : it
also helpeth surfeits, and altereth the fits of agues, if three or
four ounces thereof, with as much of the water of the lesser cen-
taury, and a little sugar put therein, be taken a little before the
fit cometh, and the party be laid down to sweat in his bed. The
oil or w ater that is drawn from the end of the green sticks heat-
ed in the fire, helpeth the tooth-ach. The juice of young
branches made into an ointment of old hog's grease, and anoint-
ed, or the young branches bruised and heated in oil or hog’s
grease, and laid to the sides pained by wind, as in stitches, or the
spleen, easeth them in once or twice using it. The same boiled
in oil is the safest and surest medicine to kill lice in the head or
body of any; and is an especial remedy for joint aches, and
swollen knees, that come by the falling down of humours.

60

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Th Broom Rap e .also is not without its Virtues.

The decoction thereof in wine, is thought to be as effectual
to void the stone in the kidneys and bladder, and to provoke
urine, as the broom itself. The juice thereof is a singular good
help to cure as well green wounds, -as old and filthy sores and
malignant ulcers. The insolate oil, wherein there hath been
three or four repetitions of infusion ofthe top stalks, with flow-
ers strained and declared, cleanseth the skin from all manner of
spots, marks, freckles that rise either by the heat of the sun, or
the malignity of humours. As for the broom and broom-rape.
Mars owns them, and is exceedingly prejudicial to tire liver ;
I suppose by reason of antipathy between Jupiter and Mars,
therefore if the liver be disaffected, minister none of it.

BUCK’S-HORN PLANTAIN.

Descript, j IT HIS being sown of seed, risetli up at first with
small, long, narrow, hairy dark green leaves like grass, without
any division or gash in them, but those that follow are gashed in
on both sides the leaves into three or four gashes, and pointed
at the ends, resembling the knags of a buck’s horn, (whereof it
took its name).and being well ground round about the root upon
the groiiud, in order one by another, thereby resembling the
form of a star, from among which rise up divers hairy stalks
about a hand’s breadth high, bearing every .one a long small,
spikey head, like to those of the common plantain, having such
like bloomings and seed after them. The root is single, long,
and small, with divers strings at it.

Place.] They grow in sandy grounds, as in Tothillfields by
Westminster, and divers other places of this land.

Time.] They flower and seed in May, June, and July, and
their green leaves do in a manner abide fresh all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Saturn,
and is of a gallant drying and binding quality. This boiled in

The English Physician Enlarged. 61

wine and drank, and some of the leaves put to the hurt place, is
an excellent remedy for the biting of the viper or adder, which I
take to be one and the same : The same being also drank, help-
eth those that are troubled with the stone in the reins or kidneys,
by cooling the heat of the parts afflicted, and strengthening
them ; also weak stomachs that cannot retain, but cast up their
meat. It stayeth all bleeding both at mouth and nose ; bloody
urine, or the bloody flux, and stoppeth the task af the belly and
bowels. The leaves hereof bruised and laid to their sides that
have an ague, suddenly easeth the fit : and the leaves and roots
being beaten with some bay-salt and applied to the wrists, work-
eth the same effects. The herb boiled in ale or wine, and given
for some mornings and evenings together, stayeth the distillation
of hot and sharp rheums falling into the eyes from the head, and
helpeth ail sorts of sore eyes.

t

BUCK'S HORN.

*

It is ealled hart’s-horn, herba-stella, and herba-stellaria, san-
guinaria, herb-eve, herb-ivy, wort-cresses, and swine-cresses.

Descript.] They have many small and weak straggling bran-
ches trailing here and there upon the ground ; the leaves are
many, small and jagged, not much unlike to those of buck's
horn plantain, but much smaller, and not so hairy. The flowers
grow among the leaves in small, rough, whitish clusters : The
seeds are smaller and brownish, of a bitter taste.

■Place.] They grow in dry, barren, sandy grounds.

Time.] They flower and seed when the rest of the plan-
tains do.

Government and Virtues.] This is also under the dominion
of Saturn ; the virtues are held to be the same as buck's horn
plantain, and therefore by all authors it is joined with it : The
leaves bruised and applied to the place, stop bleeding : the
herbs bruised and applied to warts, will make them consume
and waste away in a short time.

62

7 Vie English Physician Enlarged.

■

BUGLE,

Hesides the name bugle, it is called middle confound and
middle comfrey, brown bugle, and by some sicklewort, and
herb-carpenter ; though in Essex we call another herb by that
name.

Descript.] This hath larger leaves than those of the self heal,
but else of the same fashion, or rather longer, in some green on
the upper side, and in others more brownish, dented about the
edges, somewhat hairy, as the square stalk is also which riseth
up to be half a yard high sometimes, .with the leaves set by cou-
ples, from the middle almost whereof upwards stand the flowers,
together with many smaller and browner leaves than the rest,
on the stalk below, set at a distance, and the stalk bare between
them : among which flowers are also small ones of a blueish and
sometimes of an ash-colour, fashioned like the flowers of ground-
ivy, after which come small, round, blackish seeds. The root is
composed of many strings, and spreadeth upon the ground.

The white flowered bugle differeth not in form or greatness
from the former, saving that the leaves and stalks are always
green, and never brown, like the other, and the flowers thereof
are white.

Place.] They grow in woods, copses, and fields, generally
throughout England, but the white flowered bugle is not so
plentiful as the former.

Time.] They flower from May until July, and in the mean time
perfect their seed. The roots and leaves next thereunto upon
the ground abiding all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] This herb belongeth to dame Ve-
nus : If the virtues of it make you fall in love with it (as they will
if you be wise) keep a syrup of it to take inwardly, and an oint-
ment and plaister of it to use outwardly, always by you.

The decoction of the leaves and flowers made in wine, and
taken, dissolves the congealed blood in those that are bruised in-
wardly by a fall, or otherwise is very effectual for any inward
wounds, thrusts or stabs in the body or bowels ; and is an espe-

The English Physician Enlarged .

63

cial help in all wound drinks, and for those that are livergrown
(as they call it.) It is wonderful in curing all manner of ulcers
and sores, whether new and fresh, or old and inveterate ; yea
gangrenes and fistulas also, if the leaves bruised and applied, or
their juice be used to wash and bathe the place, and the same
made into a lotion, and some honey and allum, cureth all sores
in the mouth and gums, be they never so foul, or of long contin-
uance ; and worketh no less powerfully and effectually for such
ulcers and sores as happen in the secret parts of men and wo-
men. Being also taken inwardly, or outwardly applied, it helpeth
those that have broken any bone, or have any member out of
joint. An ointment made with the leaves of bugle, scabious and
saniele bruised and boiled in hog’s grease, until the herbs be dry,
and then strained forth into a pot for such occasions as shall re-
quire ; it is so singularly good for all sorts of hurts in the body,
that none that know its usefulness will be without it.

The truth is, I have known this herb cure some diseases of
Saturn, of which I thought good to quote one. Many times such
as give themselves much to drinking, are troubled with strange
fancies, strange sights in the night time, and some with voices,
as also with the disease ephialtes, or the mare. I take the reason
of this to be (according to Fernelius) a melancholy vapour made
thin by excessive drinking strong liquor, and so flies up and dis-
turbs the fancy, and breeds immaginations like itself, viz. fearful
and troublesome. These I have known cured by taking only two
spoonsful of the syrup of this herb, after supper two hours, when
you go to bed. But whether this does it by sympathy or antipa-
thy, is some doubt in astrology. I know there is a great antipa-
thy between Saturn and Venus in matter of procreation : yea,
such a one, that the barrenness of Saturn can be removed by
none but Venus ; nor the lust of Venus be repelled by none but
Saturn ; but I am not of opinion this is done this way, and my
reason is, because these vapours, though in quality melancholy,
yet by their flying upward, seem to be something aerial ; there-
fore I rather think it is done by sympathy ; Saturn being exalt-
ed in Libra, in the house of Venus.

64

The English Physician Enlarged.

BURNET.

Xt is Galled sanguisorbia, pimpinella, bipufoj solbegrella, &c.
The common garden burnet is so well known that it needed no
description. — There is another sort which is wild, the descrip-
tion whereof take as followeth.

Descript. ] The great wild burnet hath winged leaves rising
from the roots like the garden burnet, but not so many ; yet each
of these leaves are at the least twice as large as the other, and
nicked in the same manner about the edges, of a greyish colour
on the under side ; the stalks are greater, and rise higher, with
many such like leaves set thereon, and greater heads at the top,
of a brownish colour, and out of them come small dark purple
flowers, like the former, but greater. The root is black and
long like the other, but great also ; it hath almost neither scent
nor taste therein, like the garden kind.

Place.] The first grows frequently in gardens. The wild
kind groweth in divers counties of this island, especially in
Huntingdon, in Northamptonshire, in the meadows there : as al-
so near London, by Pancras church, and by a causeway-side in
the middle of a field by Paddington.

Time.] They flower about the end of June, and beginning
of July, and their seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] This is an herb the sun challeng-
ed dominion over, and is a most precious herb, little inferior
to betony ; the continual use of it preserves the body in health,
and the spirit in vigour ; for if the sun be the preserver of life
under God, his herbs are the best in the world to do it by. They
are accounted to be both of one property, but the lesser is more
effectual because quicker and more aromatical : It is a friend to
the heart, liver, and other principal parts of a man’s body. Two
or three of the stalks, with leaves put into a cup of wine, espe-
cially claret, are known to quicken the spirits, refresh and
clear the heart, and drive away melancholy : It is a special help
to defend the heart from noisome vapours, and from infection of

V

'

4

65

The English Phytivian Enlarged,

the pestilence, the juice thereof being taken in some drink, and
the party laid to sweat thereupon. They have also a dry ing and
an astringent quality whereby they are available in all manner
of fluxes of blood ©r humours, to staunch bleedings inward or
outward, lasks, scourings, the bloody-flux, women's too abun-

dant flux or courses, the whites, and the choleric belchings and
castings of the stomach, and is a singular wound herb for all
sorts of wounds, both of the head and body, either inward or
outward, for all old ulcers, running cankers, and most sores, to
be used either by the juice or decoction of the herb, or by the
powder of the herb or root, or the water of the distilled herb

or ointment by itself, or with other things to be kept. The seed
is also no less- efiectual both to stop fluxes, and dry up moist
sores, being taken in powder inwardly, in wine, or steeled water,
that is, wherein hot gads of steel have been quenched ; or the
powder, or the seed mixed with the ointment.

THE BUTTER BUR, OR PETASITIS

Descript.] This rise th up in February, with a thicK stalk
about a foot high, whereon are set a few small leaves, or rather
pieces, and at the tops a long spiked head ; flowers of a blushor
deep red colour, according to the soil where it groweth, and be^
fore the stalk with the flowers have abiden a month above ground,
it will be withered and gone, and blown away with the wind, and
the leaves will begin to spring, which being full grown, are very
large and broad, being somewhat thin and almost round, whose
thick red foot-stalks above a foot long, stand towards the middle
of the leaves. The lower part being divided into two round parts,
close almost one to another, and are of a pale green colour,
and hany underneath. The root is long, and spreadeth under
ground, being in some places no bigger than one’s finger, in
others much bigger, blackish on the outside, and whitish within,
of a bitter and unpleasant taste.

Place and Time.] They grow in low and wet grounds by

I

06 The English Physician Enlarged .

rivers and water sides. Their flowers (as is said) rising and de-
caying in February and March, before their leaves, which ap-
pear in April.

Government and Virtues *] It is under the dominion of the
Sun, and therefore is a great strengthener of the heart, and
cheerer of the vital spirits. The roots thereof are by long ex-
perience found to be very available against the plague and pesti-
lential fevers by provoking sweat ; if the powder thereof be
taken in wine, it also resisteth the force of any other poison.
The root hereof taken with zodory and angelica, or without
them, helps the rising of the mother. The decoction of the
root in wine, is singularly good for those that wheeze much, or
are short winded. It provoketh urine also, and women's
courses, and killeth the flat and broad worms in the belly. The
powder of the root doth wonderfully help to dry up the moisture
of the sores that are hard to be cured, and taketh away all spots
and blemishes of the skin. It were well if gentlewomen would
keep this root preserved, to help their poor neighbours. It is
Jit the rich should help the poor , for the poor cannot help them-
selves.

THE BURDOCK.

They are also called personata, and loppy-major, great bur-
dock and clod-bur ; it is so well known, even by the little boys,
who pull off the burs to throw and stick upon one another, that
I shall spare to write any description of it.

Place.] They grow plentifully by ditches and water-sides,
and by the highways almost every where through this land.

Government and Virtues.] Venus challengeth this herb for
her own, and by its leaf or seed you may draw the womb which
way you please, either upwards by applying it to the crown of
the head, in case it falls out ; or downwards in fits of the mo-
ther, by applying it to the soles of the feet ; or if you would stay
it in its place, apply it to the navel, and that is one good way to
stay the child in it. See more of it in my Guide for Women. The

The English Physician Enlarged . 67

burdock leaves are cooling, moderately drying, and discussing
withal, whereby it is good for old ulcers and sores. A dram of
the roots taken with pine kernels, helpeth them that spit foul,
mattery, and bloody phlegm. The leaves applied to the places
troubled with the shrinking of the sinews or arteries, give much
ease. The juice of the leaves, or rather the roots themselves,
given to drink with old wine, doth wonderfully help the biting
of any serpents : and the root beaten with a little salt, and laid
on the place, suddenly easeth the pain thereof, and helpeth those
that are bit by a mad dog. The juice of the leaves being drank
with honey, provoketh urine, and remedieth the pain of the blad-
der. The seed being drank in wine forty days together, doth
wonderfully help the sciatica. The leaves bruised with the
white of an egg, and applied to any place burnt with fire, taketh
out the fire, gives sudden ease, and heals it up afterwards. The
decoction of them fomented on any fretting sore or cankers
stayeth the corroding quality, which must be afterwards anoint-
ed with anointment: made of the same liquor, hog’s-grease, nitre
and vinegar bolied together. The roots may be preserved with
sugar, and taken fasting-, or at other times, for the same purposes,
and for consumptions, the stone and the lask. The seed is
much commended to break the stone, and cause it to be expell-
ed by urine, and is often used with other seeds and things to
that purpose.

CABBAGES AND COLEWORTS.

X SHALL spare labour in writing a description of these, since
almost every one that can but write at all, may describe them
from his own knowledge, they being generally so well known,
that descriptions are altogether needless.

Place.\ They are generally planted in gardens.

Time. ] Their flower time is towards the middle or end of
July, and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] The cabbages or coleworts boiled
gently in broth, and eaten, do open the body, but the second de-
coction doth bind the body. The juice thereof drank in wine,

68

The English Physician Enlargea.

helpeth those that are bitten by an adder, and the decoction of
the flowers bringeth down women’s courses : Being taken, with
» honey, it recovereth hoarseness or loss of the voice. The of-
ten eating of them well boiled, helpeth those that are entering
into a consumption. The pulp or the middle ribs of coleworts
boiled in almond milk, and made up into an electuary with honey,
being taken often, is very -profitable for those that are puffy and
short-winded. Being boiled twice, and an old cock boiled in the
broth and drank, it helpeth the pains, and the obstructions of the
liver and spleen, and the stone in the kidneys. The juice boiled
with honey, and dropped into the corner of the eyes, cleareth
the sight, by consuming any film or cloud beginning to dim it:;
it also consumeth the canker growing therein. They are much
commended, being eaten before meat to keepone from surfeiting,
as also from being drunk with too much wine, or qnickly make
a man sober again that is drunk before. For (as they say) there
is such an antipathy or enmity between the vine and the cole-
worts, that the one will die where the other groweth. The decoc-
tion of coleworts taketli away the pain and ache, and allayeth
the swellings of sores and gouty legs and knees, wherein many
gross and watery humours are fallen, the place being bathed
therewith warm. It helpeth also old and filthy sores, being bath-
ed therewith, and healeth all small scabs, pushes, and wheals,
that break out in the skin. The ashes of colewort stalks mixed
with old hogs grease, are very effectual to anoint the sides of
those that have had long pains therein, or any other place pained
with melancholy and windy humours. This was surely Chry sip-
pus’s God, and therefore lie wrote a volume of them and their
virtues, and that none of the least neither, for he would be no
small fool : He appropriates them to every part of the body, and
-to every disease in every part ; and honest old Cato (they say)
used no other physic. I know not what metal their bodies were
made of; this I am sure, cabbages are extremely windy, whether
you take them as meat or as medicine : yea, as windy meat as
can be eaten, unless you eat bag pipes or bellows, and they are
but seldom eaten in our days ; and colewort flowers are something

/

■

I

'

■

,■ *

j

l i

■ .

69

The English Physician Enlarged.

more tolerable, and the wholesomer food of the two. The Moon
challengeth the dominion of the herb.

THE SEA COLEWORTS.

Descript. This hath divers somewhat long and broad large
and thick wrinkled leaves, somewhat crumpled about the edges,
and growing each upon a thick footstalk, very brittle, of a grey-
ish green colour, from among which riseth up a strong thick stalk,
two feet high and better, with some leaves thereon to the top,
where it brancheth forth .much; and on every branch standeth
a large bush of pale whitish flowers, consisting of four leaves
a-piece: The root is somewhat great, shooteth forth many
branches under ground, keeping the leaves green all the winter.

Place .] They grow in many places upon the sea-coasts as
well on the Kentish as Essex shores ; as;at Lid in Kent, Col-
chester in Essex, and divers other places, and in other coun-
ties of this land.

Titne.] They flower and seed about the time that other kinds

do.

Government and Virtues .] The Moon claims the dominion of
these also. The broth, or first decoction of the sea-colewort,
doth by the sharp, nitrous, and bitter qualities therein, open the
belly, and purge the body ; it cleanseth and digests more power-
fully .than the other kind : The seed hereof bruised and drank
killeth the worms. The leaves or the juice of them applied to
sores or ulcers, cleanseth and healeth them, and dissolveth swel-
lings, and taketh away inflammations.

CALAMINT, OR MOUNTAIN-MINT.

Descript . ^JLYlIS is a small herb, seldom rising above a foot
high, with square hairy, and woody stalks, and two small hoary
leaves set at a joint, about the bigness of marjoram, or not much
bigger, a little dented about the edges, and of a very fierce or

TO The English Physician Enlarged .

quick scent, as the whole herb is. The flowers stand at several
spaces of the stalks, from the middle almost upwards, which are
small and gaping, like to those of mints, and of a pale blueish
colour : After which follow small, round blackish seeds. The
root is small and woody, with divers small strings spreading
within the ground, and dieth not, but abidetb many years.

Place .] It groweth on heaths, and uplands, and dry grounds
in many places of this land.

Tims.] They flower in July, and their seed is ripe quickly
after.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mercury, and a
strong one too, therefore excellent good in all afflictions of the
brain ; the decoction of the herb being drank, bringeth down
women’s courses, and provoketh urine. It is profitable for those
that are bursten, or troubled with convulsions or cramps, with
shortness of breath, or choleric torments and pains in their bell-ies
or stomach ; it also helpeth the yellow jaundice, and stayeth vo-
miting, being taken in wine. Taken with salt and honey, it kill-
eth all manner of worms in the body. It helpeth such as have
the leprosy, either taken inwardly, drinking whey after it, or the
green herb outwardly applied. It hindereth conception in wo-
men, but either burned or strewed in the chamber, it driveth
away venomous serpents. It takes away black and blue marks in
the face, and maketh black scars become well coloured, if the
green herb (not the dry) be boiled in wine, and laid to the place,
or the place washed therewith. Being applied to the buckle-bone,
by continuance of time, it spends the humours, which cause the
pain of the sciatica. The juice being dropped into the ears, killeth
the worms in them. The leaves boiled in wine, and drank, pro-
voke sweat, and open obstructions of the liver and spleen. It
helpeth them that have a tertian ague (the body being first purg-
ed) by taking away the cold fits. The decoction hereof, with some
sugar put thereto afterwards, is very profitable for those that are
troubled with the overflowing of the gall, and that have an old
cough, and that are scarce able to breathe by shortness of their

The English Physician Enlarged.

71

wind ; that have any cold distemper in their bowels, and are
troubled with the hardness of the spleen, for all which purpo-
ses, both the powder, called diacaluminthes, and the compound
syrup of calamint (which are to be had at the apothecaries) are
the most effectual. Let not women be too busy with it, for it
works very violent upon the feminine part.

CAMOMILE.

It is so well knowm every where, that it is but lost time
and labour to describe it. The virtues thereof are as follow-
eth :

A decoction made of Camomile, and drank, taketh away all
pains and stitches in the side. The flowers of Camomile beaten,
and made up into balls with oil, drive away all sorts of agues, if
the part grieved be anointed with that oil, taken from the flowers,
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, and afterwards
laid to sweat in his bed, and that he sweats well. This is Ne-
chessor, an Egyptian's medicine. It is profitable for all sorts of
agues that come either from phlegm, or melancholy, or from an
inflammation of the bowels, being applied when the humours
causing them shall be concocted ; and there is nothing more pro-
fitable to the sides and region of the liver and spleen than it. The
bathing with a decoction of camomile taketh away weariness,
easeth pains, to what part of the body soever they be applied.
It comforteth the sinews that are over-strained, molifieth all
swellings : It moderately comforteth all parts that have need of
warmth, digesteth and dissolveth whatsoever hath need thereof,
by a wonderful speedy property. It easeth all the pains of the
cholic and stone, and all pains and torments of the belly, and
gently provoketh urine. The flowers boiled in posset-drink pro-
voke sw eat, and help to expel all colds, aches and pains whatso-
ever, and is an excellent help to bring down women's courses.
Syrup made of the juice of camomile, with the flowers in w hite
wine, is a remedy against the jaundice and dropsy. The flowers
boiled in lee, are good to wash the head, and comfort both it

72 The English Physician Enlarged .

and the braim The oil made of the flowers of camomile, is much
used against all hard swellings, pains or aches, shrinking of the
sinews, or cramps, or pains in the joints, or any other part of
the body. Being used in glysters, it helps to dissolve the wind
and pains in the belly ; anointed also, it helpeth stitches and
pains in the sides.

Nechessor said, the Egyptians dedicated it to the Sun, because
it cured agues, and they were like enough to do it, for they
were the arrantest apes in their religion I ever read of. Bachinus,
Bena, and Lobel, commend the syrup made of the juice of it and
sugar, taken inwardly, to be excellent for the spleen. Also this
is certain, that it most wonderfully breaks the stone ; Some take
it in syrup or decoction, others inject the juice of it into the
bladder with a syringe. My opinion is, that the salt of it taken
half a dram in the morning in a little white or rhenish wine, is
better than either ; that it is excellent for the stone, appears in
this which I have seen tried, viz. that a stone that hath been
taken out of the body of a man being wrapped in camomile,
will in time dissolve, and in a little time too.

WATER CALTROPS.

They are called also tribulus aquaticus, tribulus lacusons,
tribulus mariiius, caltrop, saligos, water nuts, and water ches-
nuts.

Descript.] As for the greater sort of water caltrop it is not
found here, or very rarely. Two other sorts there are which I
shall here describe. The first hath a long creeping and jointed
root, sending forth tufts at each joint, from which joints rise
long, flat, slender knotted stalks, even to the top of the water,
divided towards the top into many branches, each carrying two
leaves on both sides, being about two inches long, and half an
inch broad, thin, and almost transparent, they look as though
they were torn: the flowers are long, thick and whitish, set
together almost like a bunch of grapes, which being gone, there
succeeds for the most part sharp-pointed grains altogether, con-
taining a small white kernel in them.

The English Physician Enlarged . 73

The second differs not much from this, save that it delights
in more dear water ; its stalks are not flat, but round : its leaves
are not so long, but more pointed ; as for the place, we need
not determine, for their name sheweth they grow in the water.

Government and Virtues .] They are under the dominion of the
Moon, and being made into a poultice, are excellent good for
hot inflammations, swellings, cankers, sore mouths and throats,
being washed with the decoction ; it cleanseth and strengthened
the neck, and throat, and helps those swellings, which, when
people have, they say the almonds of their ears are fallen down ;
it is excellent good for the rankness of the gums, a safe and pre-
sent remedy for the king’s evil ; they are excellent good for the
stone and gravel; especially the nuts being dried ; they also re-
sist poison, and bitings of venomous beasts.

CAMPION WILD.

Descnpt.'j The wild white campion hath many long and
somewhat broad dark green leaves, lying upon the ground, and
divers ribs therein, somewhat like plantain, but somewhat fiairy,
broader, but not so long: The hairy stalks rise up in the middle
of them three or four feet high, and sometimes more, with divers
great white joints at several places thereon, and two such like
leaves thereat up to the top, sending forth branches at several
joints also : All which bear on several footstalks, white flowers
at the tops of them, consisting of five broad pointed leaves, eve-
ry one cut in on the end unto the middle, making them seem to
be two a-piece, smelling somewhat sweet, and each of them
standing in a large green striped hairy husk, large and round
below next to the stalk. The seed is small and greyish in the
hard heads that come up afterwards. The root is white and
long, spreading divers fangs in the ground.

The red wild campion groweth in the same manner as the
white, but the leaves are not so plainly ribbed, somewhat shorter,

rounder, and more woolly in handling. The flowers are of the

K

74

The English Physician Enlarged .

same form and bigness : but in some of a pale, in others of a
bright red colour, cut in at the ends more finely, which makes
the leaves look more in number than the other. The seeds and
the roots are alike, the roots of both sorts abiding many years.

There are forty-five kinds of campion more, those of them
which are of a physical use, having the like virtues with those
above described, which I take to be the chiefest kinds.

' ./■ V, • •• -

Place .] They grow commonly through this land by fields
and hedge-sides and ditches.

Time.] They flower in summer, some earlier than others,
and some abiding longer than others.

Government and Virtues .] They belong unto Saturn, and it is
found by experience, that the decoction of the herb, either in
white or red wine, being drank, doth stay inward bleedings, and
applied outwardly, it doth the like ; and being drank, helpeth
to expel urine, being stopped, and gravel or stone in the reins or
kidneys. Two drams of the seed drank in wine, purgeth the body
of choleric humours, and helpeth those that are stung by scor-
pions, or other venomous beasts, and may be as effectual for the
plague. It is of very good use in old sores, ulcers, cankers, fis-
tulas, and the like, to cleanse and heal them, by consuming the
moist humours falling into them, and correcting the putrifaction
of humours offending them.

CARDUUS BENEDICTUS.

It is called carduus benedictus, or blessed thistle, or holy
thistle ; I suppose the name was put upon it by some that had
little holiness in themselves.

I shall spare labour in writing a description of this, as almost
every one that can write at all, may describe them from his own
knowledge.

Time.] They flower in August, and seed not long after.

Goveanment and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mars, and under
the sign of Aries. Now, in handling this herb, I shall give you
a rational pattern of all the rest; and if you please to view them

s

.

■

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:

mrrnrmHTH

1

75

The English Physician Enlarged.

throughout the book, you shall, to your content, find it true. It

|ielps swimming and giddiness of the head, or the disease called
vertigo, because Aries is in the house of Mars. It is an excel-
lent remedy against the yellow jaundice and other infirmities of
the gall, because Mars governs choler. It strengthens the at-
tractive faculty in man, and clarifies the blood, because the one
is ruled by Mars. The continually drinking the decoction of it,
helps red faces, tetters, and ringworms, because Mars causeth
them. It helps the plague, sores, boils, and itch, the bitings of
mad-dogs and venomous beasts, all which infirmities are under
Mars; thus you see what it doth by sympathy.

By antipathy to other planets it cures the French-pox. By an-
tipathy to Venus, who governs it, it strengthens the memory, and
cures deafness by antipathy to Saturn, who hath his fall in Aries,
which rules the head. It cures quartan agues, and other diseases
of melancholy, and adjusts choler, by sympathy to Saturn, Mars
being exalted in Capricorn. Also it provokes urine, the stop-
ping of which is usually caused by Mars or the Moon.

CARROTS.

(jT ARDEN carrots are so well known, that they need no de-
scription ; but because they are of less physical use than the wild
kind (as indeed almost in all herbs the wild are most effectual in
physic, as being more powerful in operation than the garden
kinds,) I shall therefore briefly describe the wild carrot.

Descript .] It groweth in a manner altogether like the tame,
but that the leaves and stalks are somewhat whiter and rougher.
The stalks bear large tufts of white flowers, with a deep purple
spot in the middle, which are contracted together when the seed
begins to ripen, that the middle part being hollow and low, and
the outward stalk rising high, maketh the whole umbel to shew
like a bird’s nest. The root small, long and hard, and unfit for
meat, being somewhat sharp and strong.

Place .] The wild kind groweth in divers parts of this land,
plentifully by the field sides and untilled places.

76

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Time.] They flower and seed in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues.] Wild carrots belong to Mercury,
and therefore break wind, and remove stitches in the sides, pro-
voke urine and women's courses, and helpeth to break and expel
the stone; the seed also of the same worketh the like effect, and
is good for the dropsy, and those whose bellies are swoln with
wind ; helpeth the cholic, the stone in the kidneys, and rising of
the mother; being taken in wine, or boiled in wine, and taken,
it helpeth conception. The leaves being applied with honey to
running sores or ulcers, do cleanse them.

I suppose the seeds of them perform this better than the roots ;
and though Galen commended garden carrots highly to break
wind, yet experience teacheth they breed it first, and we may
thank nature for expelling it, not they : the seeds of them expel
wind indeed, and so mend what the root marreth.

CARRAWAY,

Descript .j Xt beareth divers stalks of fine cut leaves, lying
upon the ground, somewhat like to the flowers of carrots, but
not bushing so thick, of a little quick taste in them, from among
which riseth up a square stalk, not so high as the carrot, at
whose joints are set the like leaves, but smaller and fitter, and at
the top small open tufts, or umbels of white flowers, which turn
into small blackish seed, smaller than the anniseed, and of a
quicker and better taste. The root is whitish, small and long,
somewhat like unto a parsnip, but with more wrinkled bark, and
much less, of a little hot and quick taste, and stronger than the
parsnip, and abideth after seed time.

Place.] It is usually sown with us in gardens.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and seed quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] This is also a Mercurial plant. Car-
raway seed hath a moderate sharp quality, whereby it breaketh
wind, and provoketh urine, which also the herb doth. The root
is better food than the parsnips ; it is pleasant and comfortable

The English Physician Enlarged .

77

to the stomach and lielpeth digestion. The seed is conducing
to all cold griefs of the head and stomach, bowels, or mother,
as also the wind in them, and helpeth to sharpen the eyesight.
The powder of the seed put into a poultice, taketh away black
and blue spots of blows and bruises. The herb itself, or with
some of the seed bruised and fried, laid hot in a bag or double
doth, to the lower parts of the belly, easeth the pains of the
wind cholic.

The roots of carraway eaten as men eat parsnips, strengthen
the stomach of ancient people exceedingly, and they need not
to make a whole meal of them neither, and are fit to be planted
in every garden.

Carraway confects, once only dipped in sugar, and a spoon-
ful of them eaten in the morning fasting, and as many after each
meal, is a most admirable remedy for those that are troubled
with wind.

CELANDINE.

Descript. 1 This hath divers tender, round, whitish green
stalks, with greater joints than ordinary in other herbs, as it
were knees, very brittle and easy to break, from whence grow
branches with large tender broad leaves, divided into many
parts, each of them cut in on the edges, set at the joint on both
sides of the branches, of a dark blueish green colour, on the up-
per side like columbines, and of a more pale blueish green under-
neath, full of yellow sap when any part is broken, is of a bitter
taste, and strong scent. The root is somewhat great at the head,
shooting forth divers long roots and small strings, reddish on the
outside, and yellow within, full of yellow sap therein.

Place.] They grow in many places by old walls, hedges, and
way-sides, in untilled places ; and being once planted in a gar-
den, especially some shady place, it will remain there.

Time.] They flower all the summer long, and the seed ripen-
eth in the mean time.

78

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Government and Virtues.'] This is an herb of the Sun, and un-
der the celestial Lion, and is one of the best cures for the eyes ;
for all that know any thing in astrology, know that the eyes are
subject to the luminaries : let it then be gathered when the Sun
is in Leo, and the Moon in Aries, applying to this time; let Leo
arise, then may you make it into an oil or ointment, which you
please, to anoint your sore eyes with : I can prove it doth both
by my own experience, and the experience of those to whom I
have taught it, that most desperate sore ones have been cured
by this only medicine ; and then I pray, is not this far better than
endangering the eyes by the art of the needle? For if this doth
not absolutely take away the film, it will so facilitate the work,
that it might be done without danger. The herb or root boiled
in white wine and drank, afewanniseeds being boiled therewith,
openeth obstructions of the liver and gall, helpeth the yellow
jaundice ; and often using it, helps the dropsy and the itch, and
those that have old sores in their legs, or other parts of the body.
The juice thereof taken fasting, is held to be of singularly good
use against the pestilence. The distilled water, with a little su-
gar, and a little good treacle mixed therewith (the party upon
the taking being laid down to sweat a little) hath the same effect.
The juice dropped in the eyes, cleanseth them from films and
cloudiness which darken the sight, but it is best to allay the
sharpness of the juice with a little breast milk. It is good in all
old filthy, corroding, creeping ulcers wheresoever, to stay their
malignity of fretting and running, and to cause them to heal
more speedily. The juice often applied to tetters, ring-worms,
or other such like spreading cankers, will quickly heal them, and
rubbed often upon warts, will take them away. The herb with
the roots bruised and bathed with oil of camomile, and applied
to the navel, taketh away, the griping pains in the belly and
bowels, and all the pains of the mother ; and applied to women's
breasts, stayeth the overmuch flowing of the courses. The juice
or decoction of the herb gargled between the teeth that ache,
easeth the pain, and the powder of the dried root laid upon any

The English Physician Enlarged. 7 b

W B— — — — I MB— I fill I II I III mail MBMMH MB——

aching, hollow or loose tooth, will cause it to fall out. The
juice mixed with some powder of brimstone is not only good

«r » *

against the itch, but taketh away all discolourings of the skin
whatsoever ; and if it chance that in a tender body it causeth any
itchings or inflammations, by bathing the place with a little vine
gar it is helped.

Another ill favoured trick have physicians got to use to the
eye, and that is worse than the needle ; which is, to take away
films by corroding or gnawing medicines. This I absolutely
protest against;

1. Because the tunicles of the eyes are very thin, and there-
fore soon eaten asunder.

2. The calus or film that they would eat away, is seldom ol
an equal thickness in every place, and then the tunicle may be
eaten asunder in one place, before the film be consumed in an-
other, and so be a readier way to extinguish the sight than to
restore it.

It is called chelidonium, from the Greek word chelison , which
signifies a swallow, because they say, that if you put out the
eyes of young swallows w hen they are in the nest, the old ones
will recover their eyes again with this herb. This I am confi-
dent, for I have tried it, that if we mar the very apple of their
eyes with the needle, she will recover them again ; but whether
with this herb or not, I know not.

► . , j . f , i. • .h . i . .• t • . ;

Also I have read (and it seems to be somewhat probable) that
the herb being gathered as I shewed before, and the elements
drawn apart from it by art of the alchymist, and after they are
drawn apart rectified, the earthy quality, still in rectifying them,
added to the terra demnata (as alchymists call it) or terra sa -
cratissima (as some philosophers call it) the elements so rectified
are sufficient for the cure of all diseases, the humours offending
being known, and the contrary elements given: It is an experi-
ment worth the trying, and can do no harm.

The English Physician Enlarged .

THE LESSER CELANDINE,
usually known by the names of Pilewort , and Fog wort.

X WONDER what ailed the ancients to give this the name of
celandine, which resembles it neither in nature nor form ; it ac-
quired the name of pilewort from its virtues, and it being no
great matter where I set it down, so I set it down at all, I hu-
moured Dr. Tradition so much, as to set him down here.

Descript .] This celandine or pilewort (which you please) doth
spread many round pale green leaves, set on weak and trailing
branches, which lie upon the ground, and are flat, smooth, and
somewhat shining, and in some places (though seldom) marked
with black spots, each standing on a long foot stalk, among which
rise small yellow flowers, consisting of nine or ten small narrow
leaves, upon slender foot stalks, very like unto crowsfoot, where-
unto the seed also is not unlike, being many small kernels like a
grain of corn, sometimes twice as long as others, of a whitish
colour, with some fibres at the end of them.

Place.] It groweth for the most part in moist corners of fields
and places that are near water sides, yet will abide in drier
grouud if they be but a little shady.

Time.] It flowereth betimes about March or April, is quite
gone by May; so it cannot be found till it spring again.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Mars,
and behold here another verification of the learning of the an-
cients, viz. that the virtue of an herb may be known by its sig-
nature, as plainly appears in this ; for if you dig up the root of
it, you shall perceive the perfect image of the disease which they
commonly call the piles. It is certain by good experience, that
the decoction of the leaves and roots doth wonderfully help piles
and haemorrhoides, also kernels by the ears and throat, called
the king’s evil, or any other hard wens or tumours.

Here is another secret for my countrymen and women, a cou-
ple of them together; pilewort made into an oil, ointment, or
piaister, readily cures both the piles, or haemorrhoides, and the

12

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.

81

The English Physician Enlarged .

Jl« iwiiiii ■■ iiffwi'iwnM*— a—n— bbmmb— —

evil : The very herb borne about one’s body next the skin, helps
in such diseases, though it never touch the place grieved ; let
poor people make much of it for those uses ; with this I cured
my own daughter of the king’s evil, broke the sore, drew out a
quarter of a pint of corruption, cured without any scar at all
in one week’s time.

THE ORDINARY SMALL CENTAURY,

Descript. 1 ^ThIS groweth up most usually but with one round
and somew hat crusted stalk, about a foot high or better, branch-
ing forth at the top into many sprigs, and some also from the
joints of the stalks below; the flowers thus stand at the tops as
it were in one umbel or tuft, are of a pale red, tending to carna-
tion colour, consisting of five, sometimes six small leaves, very
like those of St. John’s wort, opening themselves in the day time
and closing at night, after which come seeds in little short husks,
in form like unto wheat corn. The leaves are small and some-
what round; the root small and hard, perishing every year.
The whole plant is of an exceeding bitter taste.

There is another sort in all things like the former, save only
it beareth white flow ers.

Place.'] They grow ordinarily in fields, pastures and woods,
but that with the white flowers not so frequently as the other.

Time.] They flower in July or thereabouts, and seed within a
month after.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of the
Sun, as appears in that their flowers open and shut as the sun
either shew eth or hideth its face. This herb, boiled and drank,
purgeth choleric and gross humours, and helpeth the sciatica : it
openeth obstructions of the liver, gall, and spleen, helpeth the
jaundice, and easeth the pains in the sides and hardness of the
spleen, used outwardly, and is given with very good effect in
agues. It helpeth those that have the dropsy, or the green sick-
ness, being much used by the Italians in powder for that purpose.

82 The English Physician Enlarged.

It killeth the worms in the belly, as is found by experience. The
decoction thereof, viz. the tops of the stalks, with the leaves and
flowers, is good against the cholic, and to bring down women’s
courses, helpeth to avoid the dead birth, and easeth pains of the
mother, and is very effectual in all old pains of the joints, as the
gout, cramps, or convulsions. A dram of the powder thereof ta-
ken in wine, is a wonderful good help against the biting and poi-
son of an adder. The juice of the herb, with a little honey put to
it, is good to clear the eyes from dimness, mists and clouds that
offend or hinder sight. It is singularly good both for green and
fresh wounds, as also for old ulcers and sores, to close up the
one, and cleanse the other, and perfectly to cure them both, al-
though they are hollow or fistulous; the green herb especially
being bruised and laid thereto. The decoction thereof drop-
ped into the ears, cleanseth them from worms, cleanseth the foul
ulcers and spreading scabs of the head, and takcth away all
freckles, spots, and marks in the skin, being washed with it;
the herb is so safe you cannot fail in the using of it, only giving
it inwardly for inward diseases. ’Tis very wholesome, but not
very toothsome.

There is, besides these, another small centaury, which beareth
a yellow flower; in all other respects it is like the former, save
that the leaves are bigger, and of a darker green, and the stalk
passeth through the midst of them, as it doth the herb thorowan.
They are all of them, as I told you, under the government of the
Sun ; yet this, if you observe it, you shall find as excellent
truth ; in diseases of the blood, use the red centaury ; if of cho-
ler, use the yellow ; but if phlegm or water, you will find the
white best.

THE CHERRY-TREE.

I SUPPOSE there are few but know this tree, for its’ fruit’s
sake ; and therefore I shall spare writing a description thereof.

Place .] For the place of its growth, it is afforded room in
every orchard.

83

The English Physician Enlarged .

Government and Virtues .] It is a tree of Venus. Cherries as
they are of different tastes, so they are of different qualities.
The sweet pass through the stomach and the belly more speedi-
ly, but are of little nourishment ; the tart or sour are more pleas-
ing to an hot stomach, procure appetite to meat, and help to cut
tough phelgm, and gross humours; but when these are dried,
they are more binding to the belly than when they are fresh
being cooling in hot diseases, and welcome to the stomach, and
provoke urine. The gum of the cherry-tree, dissolved in wine,
is good for a cold, cough, and hoarseness of the throat; mend-
eth the colour in the face, sharpeneth the eye-sight, provoketh
appetite, and helpeth to break and expel the stone ; the black
cherries bruised with the stones, and dissolved, the water
thereof is much used to break the stone, and to expel gravel
and wind.

WINTER CHERRIES.

Descript.] The winter cherry hath a running or creeping
root in the ground, of the bigness many times of one’s little fin-
ger, shooting forth at several joints in several places, whereby it
quickly spreads over a great compass of ground. The stalk
riseth not above a yard high, whereon are set many broad and
long green leaves, somewhat like nightshade, but larger : at the
joints whereof come forth whitish flowers made of five leaves
a-piece, which afterwards turn into green berries inclosed with
thin skins, which change to be reddish when they grow ripe,
the berry likewise being reddish, and as large as a cherry;
w herein are contained many flat and yellowish seeds lying within
the pulp, which being gathered and strung up, are kept all the
year to be used upon occasion.

Place.] They grow not naturally in this land, but are cher-
ished in gardens for their virtues.

Time.] They flower not until the middle or latter end of July ;
and the fruit is ripe about August, or the beginning of Sep-
tember,

04

The English Physician Enlarged.

Government and Virtues .] This also is a plant of Venus.
They are of great use in physic : The leaves being cooling, may
be used in inflammations, but not opening as the berries and
fruit are : which by drawing down the urine, provoke it to be
voided plentifully when it is stopped or grown hot, sharp, and
painful in the passage ; it is good also to expel stone and gravel
out of the reins, kidneys and bladder ; helping to dissolve the
stone, and voiding it by grit or gravel sent forth in the urine ;
it also helpeth much to cleanse inward imposthumes or ulcers in
the reins or bladder, or in those that void a bloody or foul urine.
The distilled water of the fruit, or the leaves together with them,
or the berries, green or dry, distilled with a little milk and drank
morning and evening with a little sugar, is effectual to all
the purposes before specified, and especially against the heat
and sharpness of the urine. I shall only mention one way,
amongst many others, which might be used for ordering the ber-
ries, to be helpful for the urine and the stone; which is this:
Take three or four good handfuls of tbe berries, either green or
fresh, or dried, and having bruised them, put them into so many
gallons of beer or ale when it is new tunned up : This drink, ta-
ken daily, hath been found to do much good to many, both to
ease the pains, and expel urine and the stone, and to cause the
stone not to engender. The decoction of the berries in wine and
water is the most usual way : but the powder of them taken in
drink is more effectual.

CHERVIL.

It is called cerefolium, mirrhis, and mirrha, chervel, sweet
chervil, and sweet cicely.

Descript.] The garden chervil doth at first somewhat resem-
ble parsley, but after it is better grown, the leaves are much cut
in and jagged, resembling hemlock, being a little hairy and of a
whitish green colour, sometimes turning reddish in the summer,
with the stalks also: it riseth a little above half a foot high,
bearing white flowers in spiked tufts, which turn into long and

The English Physician Enlarged . 85

round seeds pointed at the ends and blackish when they are ripe :
of a sweet taste, but no smell, though the herb itself smelleth
reasonably welL The root is small and long, and perisheth every
year, and must be sown a-new in spring, for seed after July or
autumn fails.

The wild chervil groweth two or three feet high, with yellow
stalks and joints, set with broader and more hairy leaves, divid-
ed into sundry parts, nicked about the edges, and of a dark
green colour, which likewise grow reddish with the stalks ; at
the tops whereof stand small white tufts of flowers, afterwards
smaller and longer seed. The root is white, hard, and enduring
long. This hath little or no scent.

Place.] The first is sown in gardens for a sallad herb; the
second groweth wild in many of the meadows of this land, and
by the hedge sides, and on heaths.

Time.] They flower and seed early, and thereupon are sown
again in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues.] The garden chervil being eaten,
doth moderately warm the stomach, and is a certain remedy
(saith Tragus) to dissolve congealed or clotted blood in the bo-
dy, or that which is clotted by bruises, falls, &c. The juice or
distilled water thereof being drank, and the bruised leaves laid
to the place, being taken either in meat or drink, it is a good
help to provoke urine, or expel the stone in the kidneys, to
send down women's courses, and to help the pleurisy and prick-
ing of the sides.

The wild chervil bruised and applied, dissolveth swellings in
any part, or the marks of congealed blood by bruises or blows
in a little space.

SWEET CHERVIL, OR SWEET CICELY.

Pc script.] JPhIS groweth very like the great hemlock, hav-
ing large spread leaves cut into divers parts, but of a fresher
green colour than the hemlock, tasting as sweet as the anniseed.
The stalks rise up a yard high, or better, being cressed or hoi-

86

The English Physician Enlarged.

^ UP1 lit |^.| -^HMri^dflllBHBBHMl

low, having leaves at the joints, but lesser; and at the tops of
the branched stalks, umbels or tufts of white flowers ; after
which come large and long crested black shining seed, point-
ed at both ends, tasting quick, yet sweet and pleasant. The
root is great and white, growing deep in the ground, and
spreading sundry long branches therein, in taste and smell
stronger than the leaves or seeds, and continuing many
years.

Place .] This groweth in gardens.

Government and Virtues .] These are all three of them of
the nature of Jupiter, and under his dominion. This whole plant,
besides its pleasantness in sallads, hath its physical virtue. The
roots boiled and eaten with oil and vinegar, (or without oil) do
much please and warm old and cold stomachs oppressed with
wind or phlegm, or those that have the phthisic or consump-
tion of the lungs. The same drank with wine is a preservation
from the plague. It provoketh women's courses, and expelleth
the afterbirth, procureth an appetite to meat, and expelleth
wind. The juice is good to heal the ulcers of the head and
face ; the candied roots hereof are held as effectual as angelica,
to preserve from infection in the time of a plague, and to warm
and comfort a cold weak stomach. It is so harmless, you can-
not use it amiss.

CHESNUT TREE.

It were as needless to describe a tree so commonly known
as to tell a man he hath gotten a mouth : therefore take the go-
vernment and virtues of them thus :

The tree is abundantly under the dominion of Jupiter, and
therefore the fruit must needs breed good blood, and yield com-
mendable nourishment to the body ; yet, if eaten overmuch,
they make the blood thick, procure head-ach, and bind the bo-

j

dy ; the inner skin, that covereth the nut, is of so binding a quali-
ty, that a scruple of it being taken by a man, or ten grains by a
child, soon stops any flux whatsoever : The whole nut being

The English Physician Enlarged. 87

dried and beaten illt0 powder, and a dram taken at a time, isT
good remedy to stop the terms in women. If you dry chesnuts,
(only the kernels I mean) both the barks being taken awav’
beat them into powder, and make the powder into an electuary

With Honey, so have you an admirable remedy for the cough and
spitting of blood.

EARTH CHESNUTS.

rp

i HEV are called earth-nuts, earth chesnuts, ground nuts,
ciper-nuts, and in Sussex pig-nuts. A description of them were
needless, for every child knows them.

Government and Virtues.] They are something hot and dry in
quality, under the dominion of Venus, they provoke lust exceed-
ingly, and stir up to those sports she is mistress of; the seed is
excellent good to provoke urine; and so also is the root, but it
doth not perform it so forcibly as the seed doth. The root being
dried and beaten into powder, and the powder being made into
an electuary is a singular remedy for spitting and pissing o.
blood, as the former chesnut was for coughs.

CHICKWEED.

XT is so generally known to most people, that I shall not trou-
ble you with the description thereof, nor myself with setting
forth the several kinds, since but only two or three are consid-
erable for their usefulness.

Place. j They are usually found in moist and watery places,
by wood sides, and elsewhere.

Time.] They flower about June, and their seed is ripe in
July.

Government and Virtues.] It is a fine soft pleasing herb, un-
der the dominion of the Moon. It is found to be effectual as
purslain to all the purposes whereunto it serveth, except for meat
only. The herb bruised, or the juice applied (with cloths or

83

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sponges dipped therein) to the region of the liver, and as they
dry, to have it fresh applied, doth wonderfully temperate the
heat of the liver, and is effectual for all imposthumes and swell-
ings whatsoever, for all redness in the face, wheals, pushes, itch,
scabs; the juice either simply used or boiled with hog's grease
and applied, helpeth cramps, convulsions, and palsy. The juice,
or distilled water, is of much good use for all heats and redness
in the eyes, to drop some thereof into them; as also into the
ears, to ease pains in them ; and is of good effect to ease pains
from the heat and sharpness of the blood in the piles, and general-
ly all pains in the body, that arise from heat. It is used also
in hot and virulent ulcers and sores in the privy parts of men
or women, or on the legs, or elsewhere. The leaves boiled with
marsh-mallows, and made into a poultice with fenugreek and
linseed, applied to swellings or imposthumes, ripen and break
them, or assuage the swellings and ease the pains. It helpeth
the sinews when they are shrunk by cramps, or otherwise, and
to extend and make them pliable again by this medicine. Boil
a handful of chickweed, and a handful of red rose leaves dried,
in a quart of muscadine, until a fourth part be consumed : then
put to them a pint of oil of trotters or sheep’s feet, let them
boil a good while, still stirring them well ; which being strained,
anoint the grieved place therewith, warm against the fire, rub-
bing it well with one hand : and bind also some of the herb (if
you will) to the place, and with God’s blessing, it will help it in
three times dressing.

CHICK-PEASE, OR CICERS.

Descript .j The garden sorts, whether red, black, or white,
bring forth stalks a yard long, whereon do grow many small and
almost round leaves, dented about the edges, set on both sides
of a middle rib: At the joints come forth one or two flowers,
upon sharp foot-stalks, pease-fashion, either white or whitish,
or purplish red, lighter or deeper, according as the pease that
follow will be, that are contained in small, thick, and short pods.

89

The English Physician Enlarged .

wherein lie one or two pease, more usually pointed at the lower
end, and almost round at the head, yet a little cornered or sharp ;
the root is small, and perisheth yearly.

Place and Time.] They are sown in gardens or fields, as pease,
being sown later than pease, and gathered at the same time with
them, or presently after.

Government and Virtues.] They are both under the dominion
of \ enus. They are less windy than beans, but nourish more;
they provoke urine, and are thought to increase sperm; they
have a cleansing faculty, whereby they break the stone in the
kidneys. To drink the cream of them, being boiled in water,
is the best way. It moves the belly downwards, provokes
women s courses and urine, increases both milk and seed. One
ounce of eicers, two ounces of French barley, and a small hand-
ful of marsh-mallow roots, clean washed and cut, beum boiled
in the broth af a chicken, and four ounces taken in the morning,
and fasting two hours after, is a good medicine for pain in the
sides. The white cicers are used more for meat than medicine,
yet have the same effect, and are thought more powerful to in-
ciease milk and seed. The wrild cicers are so much more pow-
erful than the garden kinds, by how much they exceed them in
heat and dryness ; whereby they do more open obstructions,
bleak the stone, and iiave all the properties of cutting, opening,
digestin

o’ and dissolving; and this more speedily and certain-
ly than the former.

CINQUEFOIL, OR FIVE-LEAVED GRASS,
called in some Counties , Five-Jingered Grass.

Descript. It spreads and creeps far upon the ground, with
long slender strings like strawberries, which take root again, and
shoot forth many leaves, made of five parts, and sometimes of
seven, dented about the edges, and somewhat hard. The stalks
are slender, leaning downwards, and bear many amall yellow
flowers thereon, with some yellow threads in the middle, standing

90

The English Physician Enlarged.

about a smooth green head, which, when it is ripe, is a little
rough, and containeth small brownish seed. The root is of a
blackish brown colour, as big as one’s little linger, but growing
long, with some threads thereat; and by the small strings it
quickly spreadeth over the ground.

Place.'] It groweth by wood sides, hedge-sides, the pathway
in fields, and in the borders and corners of them almost through
all this land.

Time.] It flowereth in summer, some sooner, some later.

Government and Virtues.] This is an herb of Jupiter, and
therefore strengthens the part of the body it rules; let Jupiter
be angular and strong when it is gathered ; and if you give but a
scruple (which is but twenty grains) of it at a time, either in
white wine, or in white wdne vinegar, you shall very seldom miss
the cure of an ague, be it what ague soever, in three fits, as I
have often proved to the admiration both of myself and others;
let no man despise it because it is plain and easy, the ways of
God are all such. It is an especial herb used in all inflammations
and fevers, whether infectious or pestilential ; or among other
herbs to cool and temper the blood and humours in the body.
As also for all lotions, gargles, infections, and the like, for sore
mouths, ulcers, cancers, fistulas, and other corrupt, foul, and
running sores. The juice hereof drank, about four ounces at
a time, for certain days together, cureth the quinsey, and yellow
jaundice ; and taken for thirty days together, cureth the falling
sickness. The roots bolied in milk, and drank, is a most effec-
tual remedy for all fluxes in a man or a woman, whether the
white or red, as also the bloody flux. The roots boiled in vine-
gar, and the decoction thereof held in the mouth, easeth the pains
of the tooth-ach. The juice or decoction taken with a little ho-
ney, helpeth the hoarseness of the throat, and is very good for
the cough of the lungs. The distilled water of both roots
and leaves is also effectual to all the purposes aforesaid :
and if the hands be often washed therein, and suffered at every
time to dry in of itself without wiping, it will in a short time

The English Physician Enlarged . 91

help the palsy, or shaking in them. The root boiled in vinegar,
helpeth all knots, kernels, hard swellings, and lumps growing in
any part of the flesh, being thereto applied ; as also inflam-
mations, and St. Anthony's fire, all imposthumes, and painful
sores with heat and putrefaction, the shingles also, and all other
sorts of running and foul scabs, sores, and itch. The same also
boiled in wine, and applied to any joint full of pain, ache, or
the gout in the hands or feet, or the hip gout, called the sciatica,
and the decoction thereof drank the while doth cure them, and
easeth much pain in the bowels. The roots are likewise effectual
to help ruptures or bursting, being used with other things avail-
able to that purpose, taken either inwardly, or outwardly, or
both; as also bruises or hurts by blows, falls, or the like, and to
stay the bleeding of wounds in any parts inward or outward.

Some hold that one leaf cures a quotidian, three a tertian,
and four a quartan ague, and a hundred to one if it be not Dios-
corides : for he is full of whimsies. The truth is, I never stood
so much upon the number of the leaves, nor whether I give it
in powder or decoction: If Jupiter were strong, and the Moon
applying to him, or his good aspect at the gathering, I never
knew it miss the desired effects.

GIVES.

Cabled also rush leeks, chives, civet, and sweth.

Temperature and Virtues!] I confess I had not added these,
had it not been for a country gentleman, who by a letter, certi-
fied me, that amongst other herbs, I had left these out; they are
indeed a kind of leeks, hot and dry in the fourth degree as they
are, and so under the dominion of Mars: if they be eaten raw,
(I do not mean raw opposite to roasted or boiled, but raw, op-
posite to chemical preparation) they send up very hurtful va-
pours to the brain, causing troublesome sleep, and spoiling the
eye-sight, yet of them, prepared by the art of the alchymist,
may be made an excellent remedy for the stoppage of urine.

92

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CLARY, or more properly , CLEAR-EYE.

Descript.] Our ordinary garden clary hath four square
stalks, with broad, rough, wrinkled, whitish, or hoary green
leaves, somewhat evenly cut in on the edges, and of a strong
sweet scent, growing some near the ground, and some by couples
upon stalks. The flowers grow at certain distances, with two
small leaves at the joiuts under them, somewhat like the flowers
of sage, but smaller, and of a whitish blue colour. The seed is
brownish, and somewhat flat, or not so round as the wild.
The roots are blackish, and spread not far. and perish after the
seed time. It is usually sown, for it seldom rises of its own
sowing.

Place.] This groweth in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, some a little later than
others, and their seed is ripe in August, or thereabouts.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of the
Moon. The seed put into the eyes clears them from motes, and
sueh like things gotten within the lids to offend them, as also
clears them from white and red spots on them. The mucilage
of the seed made with water, and applied to tumours or swel-
lings, disperseth and taketli them away; as also draweth forth
splinters, thorns, and other tilings gotten into the flesh. The
leaves used with vinegar, either by itself, or with a little honey,
doth help boils, felons, and the hot inflammations that are gather-
ed by their pains, if applied before it be grown too great. The
powder of the dried root put into the nose, provoketh sneezing,
and thereby purgeth the head and brain of much rheum and
corruption. The seed or leaves taken in wine, provoketh to
venery. It is of much use both for men and women that have
weak backs, and helpeth to strengthen the reins ; used either by
itself, or with other herbs conducing to the same effect, and in
tansies often. The fresh leaves dipped in a batter of flour,
eggs, and a little milk, and fried in butter, and served to the table.

The English Physician Enlarged. 93

is not unpleasant to any, but exceeding profitable for those that
are troubled with weak backs, and the effects thereof. The
juice of the herb put into ale or beer, and drank, bringeth down
women’s courses, and expelleth the after-birth.

It is an usual course with many men, when they have gotten
the running of the reins, or women the whites, they run to the
bush of Clary ; maid, bring hither the frying-pan, fetch me some
butter quickly, then for eating fried clary, just as hogs eat
acorns; and this they think will cure their disease (forsooth)
whereas when they have devoured as much clary as will grow
upon an acre of ground, their backs are as much the better
as though they had pissed in their shoes; nay, perhaps much
worse.

We will grant that clary strengthens the back; but this we
deny, that the cause of the running of the reins in men, or the
whites in women, lies in the back, (though the back may some-
times be weakened by them) and therefore the medicine is as

proper, as for me wrhen my toe is sore to lay a plaister on my
nose.

WILD CLARY.

~W ILD clary is most blasphemously called Christ’s eye, be.
cause it cures diseases of the eyes. I could wish from my soul,
blasphemy, ignorance, and tyranny, were ceased anions physici-
ans, that they may be happy and I joyful.

Descript. ] It is like the other clary, but lesser, with many
stalks about a foot and a halt high. The stalks are square, and
somewhat hairy; the flowers of a blush colour: He that knows

the common clary cannot be ignorant of this.

Placed] It grows commonly in this nation, in barren places ;
>ou may find it plentifully, it you look in the fields near Grey’s
Inn, and the fields near Chelsea.

Time.] They flower from the beginning of June, till the latter
end of August.

Government and Virtues .] It is something hotter and drier

94

The English Physician Enlarged.

than the garden clary is, yet nevertheless under the dominion of
the Moon, as well as that ; the seeds of it being beaten to powder,
and drank with wine, is an admirable help to provoke lust. A
decoction of the leaves being drank, warms the stomach, and it
is a wonder if it should not, the stomach being under Cancer,
the house of the Moon. Also it helps digestion, and scatters con-
gealed blood in any part of the body. The distilled water hereof
cleanscth the eyes of redness, waterishness, and heat: It is a
gallant remedy for dimness of sight, to take one of the seeds of
it, and put it into the eyes, and there let it remain till it drops
out of itself, (the pain will be nothing to speak on), it will cleanse
the eyes of all filthy and putrified matter ; and in often repeat-
ing it, will take off a film which covereth the sight; a hand-
somer, safer, and easier remedy by a great deal, than to tear it
off with a needle.

CLEAVERS

It is aiso called apcrine, goose-share, goose-grass, and clea-
vers.

Descript .] The common cleavers have divers very rough,
square stalks, not so big as the top of a pint, but rising up to
be two or three yards high sometimes, if it meet with any tall
bushes or trees whereon it may climb, yet without any claspers,
or else much lower, and lying on the ground full of joints, and
at every one of them shooteth forth a branch, besides the leaves
thereat, which are usually six, set in a round compass like a star,
or a rowel of a spur: From between the leaves or the joints to-
wards the tops of the branches, come forth very small white
flowers, at every end, upon small thready foot-stalks, which af-
ter they have fallen, there do shew two small round and rough
seeds joined together like two testicles, which, when they are
ripe, grow hard and whitish, having a little hole on the side,
something like unto a navel. Both stalks, leaves, and seeds, are
so rough, that they will cleave to any thing that will touch them.
The root is small and thready, spreading much to the ground.

I

95

The English Physician Enlarged.

Place.] It groweth by the hedge and ditch side in many
places of this land, and is so troublesome an inhabitant in gar-
dens, that it rampeth upon, and is ready to choak whatever
grows near it.

Time.] It flowereth in June or July, and the seed is ripe and
falleth again in the end of July or August, from whence it
springeth up again, and not from the old roots.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of the
Moon. The juice of the herb and the seed together taken in
wine helpeth those bitten with an adder, by preserving the heart
from the venom. It is familiarly taken in broth, to keep them
lean and lank that are apt to grow fat. The distilled water
drank twice a-day, helpeth the yellow jaundice, and the decoc-
tion of the herb, in experience, is found to do the same, and
stayeth lasks and bloody fluxes. The juice of the leaves, or they
a little bruised, and applied to any bleeding wounds, stayeth
the bleeding. The juice also is very good to close up the lips
of green wounds, and the powder of the dried herb strewed
thereupon doth the same, and likewise helpeth old ulcers. Being
boiled in hogs giease, it helpeth all sorts of hard swellings or
kernels in the throat, being anointed therewith. The juice
dropped into the ears, taketh away the pain of them.

It is a good remedy in the spring, eaten (being first chopped
small, and boiled well) in water-gruel, to cleanse the blood, and
strengthen the liver, thereby to keep the body in health, and
fitting it for that change of season that is coming.

CLOWN'S WOUNDWORT.

Descript.] It groweth up sometimes to two or three feet hi<di.
but usually about two feet, with square, green rough stalks, but
slender, joined somewhat far asunder, and two very long, some-
what narrow, dark green leaves, bluntly dented about the edges
thereof, ending in a long point. The flowers stand towards the
tops, compassing the stalks at the joints with the leaves, and end

96

rFhe English Physician Enlarged .

likewise in a spiked top, having long and much gaping hoods of
a purplish red colour, with whitish spots in them, standing in
somew hat round husks, wherein afterwards stand blackish round
seeds. The root is composed of many long strings, with some
tuberous long jtnobs growing among them, of a pale yellowish
or w hitish colour, yet some times of the year these knobby roots
in many places are not seen in this plant: the plant smelleth
somewhat strong.

Place .] It groweth in sundry counties of this land, both north
and west, and frequently by path-sides in the fields near about
London, and within three or four miles distant about it, yet it
usually grows in or near ditches.

Time.] It flowereth in June or July, and the seed is ripe soon
aft'3*'

It is under the dominion of the

planet Saturn. It is singularly effectual in all fresh and green
wounds, and therefore beareth not this name for nought. "And
it is very available in staunching the blood, and to dry up the
fluxes of humours in old fretting ulcers, cankers, &c. that hinder
the healing of. them.

A syrup made of the juice of it is inferior to none for inward
wounds, ruptures of veins, bloody flux, vessels broken, spitting,
pissing, or vomiting blood : Ruptures are excellently and speedi-
ly, even to admiration, cured by taking now and then a little of
the syrup, and applying an ointment or plaister of this herb to
the place. Also, if any vein or muscle be sw elled, apply a plais-
ter of this herb to it, and if you add a little comfrey to it, it
will not do amiss. I assure thee the herb deserves commenda-
tions, though it has gotten such a clow nish name ; and whoso-
ever reads this, (if he try it as I have done) will commend it;
only take notice that it is of a dry earthy quality.

COCK/S HEAD, RED FETCHING, OR MEDICK FETCH.

Descript .] i HIS hath divers w eak but rough stalks, half a

yard long, leaning downwards, but set with w inged leaves, long-

The English Physician Enlarged . 97

er, and more pointed than those of lintels, and whitish under-
neath; from the tops of these stalks arise up other slender stalks,
naked without leaves unto the tops, where there grow many small
flowers in manner of a spike, of a pale reddish colour, with some
blueness among them ; after which rise up in their places, round,
rough, and somewhat flat heads. The root is tough, and some-
what woody, yet liveth and shooteth a-new every year.

Place .] It groweth under hedges, and sometimes in the open
fields, in divers places of this land.

Time.] They flower all the months of July and August, and the
seed ripeneth in the mean while.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Venus.
It hath power to rarefy and digest ; and therefore the green
leaves bruised and laid as a plaister, disperse knots, nodes, or
kernels in the flesh ; and if when dry it be taken in wine, it help-
eth the strangury : and being anointed with oil, it provoketh
sweat. It is a singular food for cattle, to cause them to give
store of milk : and why then may it not do the like, being boiled
in ordinary drink, for nurses]

COLUMBINES.

These are so well known, growing almost in every garden*
that I think I may save the expence of time in writing a de-
scription of them.

Time.] They flower in May, and abide not for the most part
when June is past, perfecting their seed in the mean time.

Government and Virtues.] It is also an herb of Venus. The
leaves of columbines are commonly used in lotions with good
success for sore mouths and throats. Tragus saith, that a dram
of the seed taken in wine, with a little saffron, openeth obstruc-
tions of the liver, and is good for the yellow jaundice, if the party
after the taking thereof be laid to sweat well in bed. The seed
also taken in wine, causeth a speedy delivery of women in child-
birth ; if one draught suffice not, let her drink the second, and
it is effectual : The Spaniards used to eat a piece of the root

N

98

The English Physician Enlarged.

thereof in a morning fasting, many days together, to help them
when troubled with the stone in the reins or kidneys.

COLTSFOOT.

Called also coughwort, foal's-foot, horse-hoof^ and bullV
foot.

Descript .] This shooteth up a tender stalk, with small yellow-
ish flowers somewhat earlier, which fall away quickly, and after
they are past, come up somewhat round leaves, sometimes dent-
ed about the edges, much lesser, thicker, and greener than those
of butter-bur, with a little down or frize over the green leaf on
the upper side, which may be rubbed away, and whitish or mealy
underneath. The root is small and white, spreading much
under ground, so that where it taketh it will hardly be driven
away again, if any little piece be abiding therein ; and from
thence spring fresh leaves.

Place .] It groweth as well in wet grounds as in drier
places.

Time.] It flowereth in the end of February, the leaves begin
to appear in March.

Government and Virtues .] The plant is under Venus, the fresh
leaves or juice, or a syrup thereof is good for a hot, dry cough,
or wheezing, and shortness of breath. The dry leaves are best
for those that have thin rheums and distillations upon their lungs,
causing a cough,, for which also the dried leaves taken as tobacco,
or the root is very good. The distilled water hereof simply, or
with elder flowers and night-shade, is a singularly good remedy
against all hot agues to drink two ounces at a time, and apply
cloths wet therein to the head and stomach, which also does much
good, being applied to any hot swellings and inflammations : It
lielpeth St. Anthony's fire, and burnings, and is singularly good
to take away wheals and small pushes that arise through heat;
as also the burning heat of the piles, or privy parts, cloths wet
therein being thereunto applied.

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The English Physician Enlarged .

99

COMFREY.

Descript.] TjHE common great comfrey hath divers very large
hairy green leaves lying on the ground, so hairy or prickly, that
if they touch any tender parts of the hands, face, or body, it
will cause it to itch ; the stalk that riseth from among them,
being two or three feet high, hollowed and cornered, is very
hairy also, having many such like leaves as grow below, but
lesser and lesser up to the top : At the joints of the stalks it is
divided into many branches, with some leaves thereon, and at
the end stand many flowers in order one above another, which
are somewhat long and hollow like the finger of a glove, of a
pale whitish colour, after which come small black seeds. The
roots are great and long, spreading great thick branches under
ground, black on the outside, and whitish within, short and easy
to break, and full of glutinous or clammy juice, of little or no
taste at all.

There is another sort in all things like this, only somewhat
less, and beareth flowers of a pale purple colour.

Place.] They grow by ditches and water-sides, and in divers
fields that are moist, for therein they chiefly delight to grow.
The first generally through all the land, and the other but in
some places. By the leave of my authors, I know the first grows
in dry places.

Time.] They flower in June or July, and give their seed in
August.

Government and Virtues .] This is an herb of Saturn, and I
suppose under the sign Capricorn, cold, dry, and earthy in qual-
ity. What was spoken of clown’s woundwort may be said of
this. The great comfrey helpeth those that spit blood, or make
a bloody urine. The root boiled in water or wine and the de-
coction drank, helps all inward hurts, bruises, wounds, and ul-
cers of the lungs, and causeth the phlegm that oppresseth them
to be easily spit forth: It helpeth the deduction of rheum from
the head upon the lungs, the fluxes of blood or humours by the

100 The English Physician Enlarged.

— — — — 1 ■ H I i — — — HBM— W

belly, women's immoderate courses, as well the reds as the
whites, and the running of the reins, happening by what cause
soever. A syrup made thereof is very effectual for ail those
inward griefs and hurts, and the distilled water for the same
purposes also, and for outward wounds and sores in the fleshy
or sinewy part of the body whatsoever, as also to take away the
fits of agues, and to allay the sharpness of humours. A decoc-
tion of the leaves hereof is available to all the purposes, though
not so effectual as the roots. The roots being outwardly applied,
help fresh wounds or cuts immediately, being bruised and laid
thereto: and is special good for ruptures and broken bones; yea,
it is said to be so powerful to consolidate and knit together, that
if they be boiled with dissevered pieces of flesh in a pot, it will
join them together again. It is good to be applied to women’s
breasts that grow sore by the abundance of milk coming into
them; also, to repress the overmuch bleeding of the haemor-
rhoids, to cool the inflammation of the parts thereabouts, and
to give ease of pains. The roots of comfrey taken fresh, beat-
en small, and spread upon leather, and laid upon any place
troubled with the gout, doth presently give ease of the pains ;
and applied in the same manner, giveth ease to pained joints,
and profiteth very much for running and moist ulcers, gangrenes,
mortifications, and the like, for which it hath by often experi-
ence been found helpful.

CORALWORT.

It is also called by some, toothwort, tooth violet, dog-teeth
violet, and dentaria.

Descript.] Of the many sorts of this herb two of them may
be found growing in this nation ; the first of which shooteth
forth one or two winged leaves, upon long brownish foot-stalks,
which are doubled down at their first coming out of the ground ;
when they are fully opened they consist of seven leaves, most
commonly of a sad green colour, dented about the edges, set on

The English Physician Enlarged. 101

both sides the middle rib one against another, as the leaves of
the ash-tree ; the stalk beareth no leaves on the lower half of it ;
the upper half beareth sometimes three or four, each consisting
of five leaves, sometimes of three ; on the top stand four or five
flowers upon short footstalks, with long husks ; the flowers are
very like the flowers of stockgilliflowers, of a pale purplish co-
lour, consisting of four leaves a piece, after which come small
pods, which contain the seed ; the root is very smooth, white
and shining; it doth not grow downwards, but creeping along
under the upper crust of the ground, and consisteth of divers
small round knobs set together ; towards the top of the stalks
there grow some single leaves, by each of which cometh a small
cloven bulb, which when it is ripe, if it be set in the ground it
will grow to be a root.

As for the other coral wort, which groweth in this nation, it is
more scarce than this, being a very small plant, much like crow-
foot, therefore some think it to be one of the sorts of crowfoot;
I know not where to direct you to it, therefore I shall forbear
the description.

Place.] The first groweth in Mayfield in Sussex, in a wood
called Highread, and in another wood there also, called Fox-
holesu

Time.] They flower from the latter end of April to the mid-
dle of May, and before the middle of July they are gone, and
not to be found.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of the
Moon. It cleanseth the bladder, and provoketh urine, expels
gravel, and the stone ; it easetli pains in the sides and bowels,
is excellent good for inward wounds, especially such as are made
in the breast or lungs, by taking a dram of the powder of the
root every morning in wine ; the same is excellent good for rup-
tures, as also to stop fluxes; an ointment made of it is excel-
lent good for wounds and ulcers, for it soon dries up the wa-
tery humours which hinder the cure.

102 The English Physician Enlarged.

COSTMARY, or ALCOST, or BALSAM HERB.

This is so frequently known to be an inhabitant in almost
every garden, that I suppose it needless to write a description
thereof.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of Jupi-
ter. The ordinary costmary, as well as maudlin, provoketh urine
abundantly, and moisteneth the hardness of the mother ; it gen-
tly purgeth choler and phlegm, extenuating that which is gross,
and cutting that which is tough and glutinous, cleanseth that
which is foul, and hindereth putrefaction and corruption ; it
dissolveth without attraction, openeth obstructions, and helpeth
their evil effects, and it is a wonderful help to all sorts of dry
agues. It is astringent to the stomach, and strengtheneth the
liver, and all the other inward parts ; and taken in whey work-
eth more effectually. Taken fasting in the morning, it is very
profitable for pains in the head that are continual, and to stay,
dry up, and consume all thin rheums or distilations from the
head into the stomach, and helpeth much to digest raw humours
that are gathered therein. It is very profitable for those that
are fallen into a continual evil disposition of the whole body,
called cachexia, but especially in the beginning of the disease.
It is an especial friend and help to evil, weak and cold livers.
The seed is familiarly given to children for the worms, and so is
the infusion of the flowers in white wine given them to the quan-
tity of two ounces at a time; it maketli an excellent salve to
cleanse and heal old ulcers, being boiled with oil of olive, and
adder's tongue with it, and after it is strained, put a little wax,
rosin, and turpentine, to bring it to a convenient body.

CUDWEED, or COTTONWEED.

Besides cudweed and cotton-weed, it is also called chaff-
weed, dwarf cotton, and petty cotton.

103

The English Physician Enlarged.

Descript.] The common cudweed riseth up with one stalk
sometimes, and sometimes with two or three, thick set on all
si es with small, long and narrow whitish or woody leaves, from
e middle of the stalk almost up to the top; with every leaf
standeth a small flower of a dun or brownish yellow colour or
not so yellow as others; in which herbs, after the flowers are
w en, come small seed wrapped up, with the down therein

thready Camed ! the roDt is sma11 and

There are other sorts hereof, which are somewhat lesser than
he former, not much different, save only that the stalks and
leaves are shorter, so the flowers are paler and more open.

ace.] hey grow in dry, barren, sandy and gravelly
gioimds, in most places of this land. ^

andT'3 fi°WCr ab°Ut July’ S°me ear,ier> later,

and their seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] Venus is lady of it. The plants
are all astringent, binding, or drying, and therefore profitable
for deductions of rheum from the head, and to stay fluxes of
blood wheresoever, the decoction being made into red wine and
rank, or the powder taken therein. It also helpeth the bloody-
fiux, and easeth the torments that come thereby, stayeth the
immoderate courses of women, and is also good for inward or
outward wounds, hurts, and bruises, and helpeth children both
of burstings and the worms, and being either drank or injected
or the disease called tenesmus, which is an often provokation to
Stool without doing any thing. The green leaves bruised, and
laid to any green wound, stayeth the bleeding and l.ealeth it
up quic ly. The juice of the herb taken in wine and milk, is
as Pliny saith, a sovereign remedy against the mumps and quin-

sey, an uither saith. That whosoever shall so take it shall
never be troubled with that disease again.

B

COWSLIPS, or PEAGLES.

OTH the wild and garden cowslips are so well known, that

104 'The English Physician Enlarged.

I will neither trouble myself nor the reader with a description-
of them*

Time.] They flower in April and May.

Government and Virtues .] Venus lays claim to this Kerb as
Her own, and it is under the sign Aries, and our city dames know
well enough the ointment or distilled water of it adds beauty,
or at least restores it when it is lost. The flowers are held to
be more effectual? than the leaves, and the roots of little use.
An ointment being made with them, taketh away spots and
wrinkles of the skin, sun-burning, and freckles, and adds beauty
exceedingly ; they remedy all infirmities of the head coming of
heat and wind, as vertigo, ephialties, false apparitions, phrensies,
falling-sickness, palsies, convulsions, cramps, pains in the
nerves, the roots ease pains in the back and bladder, pul open
the passages of urine. The leaves are good in wounds,
and the. flowers take away trembling. If the flowers be not
well dried, and kept in a warm place, they will soon putrefy
and look green ; Have a special eye over them. If you let
them see the sun once a month, it will do neither the sun nor
them harm.

Because they strengthen the brain and nerves, and remedy
palsies, the Greeks gave them the name paralysis : The flowers
preserved or conserved, and the quantity of a nutmeg eaten ev-
ery morning, is a sufficient dose for inward diseases ; but for
wounds spots, wrinkles, and sun-burnings, an ointment is made
of the leaves and hog's grease.

CRABS CLAWS.

Called also water seagreen, knight's pond water, water
house-leek, pond weed, and fresh-water soldier.

Descript.] It hath sundry long narrow leaves, with sharp
prickles on the edges of them, also very sharp pointed ; the
stalks which bear flowers, seldom grow so high as the leaves.

The English Physician Enlarged. 105

bearing a forked head, like a crab's claw, out of which comes a
white flower, consisting of three leaves, with divers yellowish
hairy threads in the middle; it taketh root in the mud in the
bottom of the water.

Place.] It groweth plentifully in the fens in Lincolnshire.

Time. ] It flowereth in June, and usually from thence till
August.

Government and Virtues.] 'Tis a plant under the dominion of
Venus, and therefore a great strengthener of the reins : it is ex-
cellent good in that inflammation which is commonly called St.
Anthony's fire; it assuageth all inflammations, and swellings in
wounds; and an ointment made of it, is excellent good to heal
them ; there is scarce a better remedy growing than this is, for
such as have bruised their kidneys, and upon that account pis-
sing blood ; a dram of the powder of the herb taken every morn-
ing, is a very good remedy to stop the terms.

BLACK CRESSES.

Descript.] It hath long leaves, deeply cut and jagged on both
sides, not much unlike wild mustard ; the stalk small, very lim-
ber, though very tough ; you may twist them round as you may
a willow before they break. The stones are very small and
yellow, after which come small pods, which contain the seed.

Place.] It is a common herb, grows usually by the wayside,
and sometimes upon mud walls about London, but it delights
to grow most among stones and rubbish.

Time.] It flowers in June and July, and the seed is ripe in
August and September.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of a hot and biting na-
ture, under the dominion of Mars. The seed of black cresses
strengthens the brain exceedingly, being, in performing that of-
fice, little inferior to mustard-seed, if at all; they are excellent
good to stop those rheums which may fall down from the head

upon the lungs; you may beat the seed into powder, if you

O

106 The English Physician Enlarged :

please, and make it up into an electuary with honey; so yoiu
have an excellent remedy by you, not only for the premises, but
also for the cough, yellow jaundice, and the sciatica. The
herb boiled into a poultice, is an excellent remedy for inflam-
mations, both in women's breasts, and men’s testicles.

SCIATICA CRESSES.

Descript .] ^ I lIESE are of two kinds r The first riseth up
with a round stalk about two feet high, spread into divers branch-
es, whose lower leaves are somewhat larger than the upper, yet
all of them cut or torn on the edges, somewhat like garden
cresses, but smaller, the flowers are small and white, growing at
the tops of branches, where afterwards grow husks with small
brownish seeds therein, very strong and sharp in taste, more
than the cresses of the garden ; the root is long, white, and
woody.

The other hath the lower leaves whole, somewhat long and-
broad, not torn at all, but only somewhat deeply dented about
the edges towards the ends ; but those that grow up higher are
lesser. The flowers and seeds are like the former, and so is
the root likewise, and both root and seeds as sharp as it.

Place.] They grow in the way-sides in untilled places, and
by the sides of old walls.

Time.] They flower in the end of June, and their seed is ripe
in July,

Government and Virtues.] It is a Saturnine plant. The leaves,
but especially the root, taken fresh in summer time, beaten or
made into a poultice or salve with old hog’s grease, and applied
to the places pained with the sciatica, to continue thereon four
hours if it be on a man, and two hours on a woman; the place
afterwards bathed with wine and oil mixed together, and then
wrapped with wool or skins, after they have sweat a little, will
assuredly cure not only the same disease in hips, huckle-bone, or
other of the joints, as gout in the hands or feet, but all other old

«r

t

i

, V

jl ue English Physician Enlarged. 107

griefs of the head, (as inveterate rheums) and other parts of the
body that are hard to be cured. And if of the former griefs any
parts remain, the same medicine after twenty days, is to be ap-
plied again. The same is also effectual in the diseases of the
spleen : and applied to the skin, taketh away the blemishes there-
of, whether they be scars, leprosy, scabs, or scurf, which although
it ulcerate the part, yet that is to be helped afterwards with a
salve made of oil and wax. Esteem this as another secret.

WATER CRESSES.

Descript .] Our ordinary water cresses spread forth with
many weak, hollow, sappy stalks, shooting out fibres at the
joints, and upwards long winged leaves made of sundry broad
sappy almost round leaves, of a brownish colour. The flowers
are many and white, standing on long foot-stalks, after which
come small yellow seeds, contained in small long pods like horns.
The whole plant abideth green in the winter, and tasteth some-
what hot and sharp.

Place.] They grow for the most part, in small standing wa^
ters, yet sometimes in small rivulets of running water.

Time.] They flower and seed in the beginning of summer.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb under the dominion of
the Moon. They are more powerful against the scurvy, and to
cleanse the blood and humours, than brookiime is, and serve in
all the other uses in which brookiime is available, as to break
the stone, and provoke urine and women’s courses. The decoc-
tion thereof cleanseth ulcers, by washing them therewith. The
leaves bruised, or the juice, is good to be applied to the face or
other parts troubled with freckles, pimples, spots, or the like, at
night, and washed away in the morning. The juice mixed with
vinegar, and the fore part of the head bathed therewith, is very
good for those that are dull and drowsy, or have the lethargy.

Water-cress pottage is a good remedy to cleanse the blood in
the spring, and help head-achs, and consume the gross humours

108 The English Physician Enlarged .

MMIJIWMMBMIMM I Ill Ill I ■ II W IMBtaMM— — — — — B— —

winter hath left behind ; those that would live in health, may
use it if they please; if they will not, I cannot help it. If any
fancy not pottage, they may eat the herb as a salad.

CROSSWORT.

Descript.'] CoMMON crosswort groweth up with square
hairy brown stalks a little above a foot high, having four small
broad, and pointed, hairy, yet smooth thin leaves, growing at
every joint, each against other one way, which has caused the
name. Towards the tops of the stalks at the joints, with the
leaves in three or four rows downwards ; stand small, pale yel-
low flowers, after which come small blackish round seeds, four
for the most part, set in every husk. The root is very small,
and full of fibres, or threads, taking good hold of the ground,
and spreading with the branches a great deal of ground, which
perish not in winter, although the leaves die every year, and
spring again anew.

Place.] It groweth in many moist grounds, as well in mea-
dows as untilled places, about London, in Hampstead church
yard, at Wye in Kent, and sundry other places.

Time.] It flowers from May all the summer long, in one place
or other, as they are more open to the sun: the seed ripeneth
soon after.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of Saturn.
This is a singular good wound herb, and is used inwardly, not
only to stay bleeding of wounds, but to consolidate them, as it
doth outwardly any green wound, which it quickly soldereth up,
and healeth. The decoction of the herb in wine, helpeth to ex-
pectorate the phlegm out of the chest, and is good for obstruc-
tions in the breast, stomach or bowels, and helpeth a decayed
appetite. It is also good to wash any w ounds or sore with, to
cleanse and heal it. The herb bruised, and then boiled, appli-
ed outwardly, for certain days together, renewing it often ; and
in the mean time the decoction of the herb in wine, taken in-

/

The English Physician Enlarged . 109

wardly every day, doth certainly cure the rupture in any, so as
it be not too inveterate; but very speedily, if it be fresh and
lately taken.

CROWFOOT.

Many are the names this furious biting herb hath obtain-
ed, almost enough to make up a Welchman'spedigree, if he fetch
no farther than John of Gaunt, or William the Conqueror ; for
it is called frog’s-foot, from the Greek name Barrakion : crow-
foot, gold knobs, gold cups, king's knob, bafhners, troilflowers,
polts, locket goulions, and butterflowers.

So abundant are the sorts of this herb, that to describe them
all, would tire the patience of Socrates himself, but because I
have not yet attained to the spirits of Socrates, I shall but de-
scribe the most usual.

Descript. ] The most common crowfoot hath many thin green
leaves, cut into divers parts, in taste biting and sharp, biting and
blistering the tongue; it bears many flowers, and those of a
bright, resplendent, yellow colour. I do not remember, that I
ever saw any thing yellower. Virgins, in ancient time, used to
make powder of them to furrow bride beds ; after which flow-
ers come small heads, some spiked and rugged like a pine-
apple.

Place.] They grow very common every where; unless you
turn your head into an hedge, you cannot but see them as you
walk.

Time.] They flower in May and June, even till September.

Government and Virtues.] This fiery and hot-spirited herb of
Mars is no ways fit to be given inwardly, but an ointment of the
leaves or flowers will draw a blister, and may be so fitly applied
to the nape of the neck to draw back rheum from the eyes. The
herb being bruised and mixed with a little mustard, draws a blis-
ter as well, and as perfectly as cantharides, and with far less
danger to the vessels of urine, which cantharides naturally de-
light to wrong; I knew the herb once applied to a pestilential

110 The English Physician Enlarged.

rising that was fallen down, and it saved life even beyond hope ;
it were good to keep an ointment and plaister of it, if it were
but for that.

CUCKOW-PINT OH ARUM.

It is called alron, janus, barba-aron, calfis-foot, ramp, starch-
wort, cuckow-pintle, priest’s-pintle, and wake-robin.

Descript .] This shooteth forth three, four, or five leaves at
the most, from one root, every one whereof is somewhat large
and long, broad at the bottom next the stalk, and forked, but
ending in a point, without a cut on the edge, of a full green co-
lour, each standing upon a thick round stalk, of a hand-breadth
long, or more, among which, after two or three months that they
begin to wither, riseth up a bare, round, whitish green stalk,
spotted and streaked with purple, somewhat higher than the
leaves: At the top whereof standeth a long hollow husk, close
at the bottom, but open from the middle upwards, ending in a
point ; in the middle whereof stand the small long pestle or clap-
per, smaller at the bottom than at the top, of a dark purple co-
lour, as the husk is on the inside, though green without; winch,
after it hath so abided for some time, the husk with the clapper
decayeth, and the foot or bottom thereof groweth to be a small
long bunch of berries, green at the first and of a yellowish red
colour when they are ripe, of the bigness of a hazel nut kernel,
which abideth thereon almost until winter; the root is round,
and somewhat long, for the most part lying along, the leaves
shooting forth at the largest end, which, when it beareth its ber-
ries, are somewhat wrinkled and loose, another growing under it,
which is solid and firm, with many small threads hanging there-
at. The whole plant is of a very sharp bitter taste, pricking the
tongue as nettles do the hands, and so abideth for a great while
without alteration. The root thereof was anciently used instead
of starch to starch linen with.

There is another sort of cuckow-pint, with lesser leaves than
the former, and sometimes harder, having blackish spots upon

The English Physician Enlarged. I I f

them, which for the most part abide longer green in summer than
the former, and both leaves and roots are more sharp and fierce
than it : In all things else it is like the former.

Pidce.] These two sorts grow frequently almost under every
hedge-side in many places of this land.

Time.] They shoot forth leaves in the spring, and continue but
until the middle of summer, or somewhat later; their husks ap-
pearing before they fall away, and their fruit shewing in April.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Ma-s.
Tragus reporteth, that a dram weight, or more, if need be, of
the spotted wake robin, either fresh and green, or dried, being
eaten or taken, is a present and sure remedy for poison, and the
plague. The juice of the herb taken to the quantity of a spoon-
ful hath the same effect. But if there be a little vinegar added
thereto, as well as to the root aforesaid, it somewhat allayeth
the sharp biting taste thereof upon the tongue. The green leaves
bruised, and laid upon any boil, plague, or sore, doth wonder-
fully help to draw forth the poison: A drain of the powder of
the dried root, taken with twice s© much sugar, in the form of a
licking electuary, or the green root, doth wonderfully help those
that are purfy and shortwinded, as also those that have a cough ;
it breaketh, digesteth, and riddeth away phlegm from the sto-
mach, chest, and lungs. The milk wherein the root hath been
boiled is effectual also for the same purpose. The said powder
taken in wine or other drink, or the juice of the berries, or the
powder of them, or the wine wherein they have been boiled, pro-
voketh urine, and bringeth down women’s courses, and purgeth
them effectually after child-bearing, to bring away the afterbirth.
Taken with sheep's milk, it healeth the inward ulcers of the bow-
els. The distilled water thereof is effectual to all the purposes
aforesaid. A spoonful taken at a time healeth the itch ; and an
ounce or more taken at a time for some days together doth help
the rupture: The leaves, either green or dry, or the juice of
them, doth cleanse all manner of rotten and filthy ulcers, in what
part of the body soever; and healeth the stinking sores in the

1 12 The English Physician Enlarged.

nose, called polypus. The water wherein the root hath been?
boiled, dropped into the eyes, cleanseth them from any film or
gkin, cloud or mists, which begin to hinder the sight, and help-
eth the watering and redness of them, or when, by some chance,
they become black and blue. The root mixed with bean flour,
and applied to the throat or jaws that are inflamed, helpeth
them. The juice of the berries boiled in oil of roses, or beaten
into powder mixed with the oil, and dropped into the ears, eas-
eth pains in them. The berries, or the roots beaten with hot ox-
dung, and applied, easeth the pains of the gout. The leaves and
roots boiled in wine with a little oil, and applied to the piles, or
the falling down of the fundament, easeth them, and so doth sit-
ting over the hot fumes thereof. The fresh roots bruised and
distilled with a little milk, yieldeth a most sovereign water to
cdeanse the skin from scurf, freckles, spots, or blemishes what
soever therein.

Authors have left large commendations of this herb you see,
but for my part, I have neither spoken with Dr. Reason nor
Dr. Experience about it.

CUCUMBERS.

Government and Virtues .] TChERE is no dispute to be made,
but that they are under the dominion of the Moon, though they
are so much cried out against for their coldness, and if they
were but one degree colder they would be poison. The best
of Galenists hold them to be cold and moist in the second de-
gree, and then not so hot as either lettuces or pui slain i They
are excellent good for a hot stomach, and hot livei ; the un-
measurable use of them fills the body full of raw humours, and
so indeed the unmeasurable use of any thing else doth hai m.
The face being washed with their juice, cleanseth the skin, and
is excellent good for hot rheums in the eyes ; the seed is excellent
good to provoke urine and cleanseth the passages thereof when
they are stopped ; there is not a better remedy for ulcers in the

The English Physician Enlarged. 113

bladder growing/ than cucumbers are. The usual course is,
to use the seeds in emulsions, as they make almond milk; but a
far better way (in my opinion) is this; When the season of the
year is, take the cucumbers and bruise them well, and distil the
water from them, and let such as are troubled with ulcers in the
bladder drink no other drink. The face being washed with
the same water, cureth the reddest face that is; it is also ex-
cellent good for sun-burning, freckles, and morphew.

DAISIES.

These are so well known almost to every child, that I suppose

it needless to write any description of them. Take therefore the
virtues of them as followeth.

Government and Virtues .] The herb is under the sign Cancer,
and under the dominion of Venus, and therefore excellent good
for wounds in the breast, and very fitting to be kept both in oils,
ointments, and plaisters, as also in syrup. The greater wild daisy
is a wound herb of good respect, often used in those drinks or
=alves that are for wounds, either inward or outward. The j uice
or distilled water of these, or the small daisy, doth much temper
the heat of choler, and refresh the liver, and other inward parts.
A decoction made of them, and drank, helpeth to cure the
wounds made in the hollowness of the breast. The same also
cureth all ulcers and pustules in the mouth or tongue, or in the
secret parts. The leaves bruised and applied to the cods, or to
any other parts that are swoln and hot, doth dissolve it, and
temper the heat. A deeoct-ion made thereof, of wallwort and
agrimony, and the places fomented or bathed therewith warm,
giveth great ease to them that are troubled with the palsy, scia-
tica, or the gout. The same also disperseth and dissolveth the
knots or kernels that grow in the flesh of any part of the body,
and bruises and hurts that come of falls and blows; they are
also used for ruptures, and other inward burnings, with very
good success. An ointment made thereof doth wonderfully help
all wounds that have inflammations about them, or by reason of

ra

114 The English Physician Enlarged ;

moist humonrs having access unto them, are kept long from heal-
ing, and such are those, for the most part, that happen to joints-
of the arms or legs. The juice of them dropped into the run
ning eyes of any, doth much help them.

DANDELION, vulgarly called PISS-A-BEDS;

Descript .] It is well known to have many long and deep gash-
ed leaves, lying on the ground round about the head of the roots :
the ends of each gash or jag, on both sides looking downwards
towards the roots; the middle rib being white, which being
broken yieldeth abundance of bitter milk, but the root much
more ; from among the leaves, which always abide green, arise
many slender, weak, naked foot-stalks, every one of them bearing
at the top one large yellow flower, consisting of many rows of
yellow leaves, broad at the points, and nicked in with deep spots
of yellow in the middle, which growing ripe, the green husk
wherein the flowers stood turns itself down to the stalk, and the
head of down becomes as round as a ball; with long reddish
seed underneath, bearing a part of the down on the head of every
one, which together is blown away with the wind, or may be at
once blown away with one’s mouth. The root growing down-
wards exceeding deep, which being broken off within the ground,
will yet shoot forth again, and will hardly be destroyed where
it hath once taken deep root in the ground.

Place.'] It groweth frequently in all meadows and pasture-
grounds.

Time.] It flowereth in one place or other almost all the year
long.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Jupiter.
It is of an opening and cleansing quality, and therefore very ef-
fectual for the obstructions of the liver, gall, and spleen, and the
diseases that arise from them, as the jaundice, and hypochondri-
ac; it openeth the passages of the urine both in young and old :
powerfully cleanseth impostlmmes and inward ulcers in the uri-

The English Physician Enlarged. 115

nary passages, and by its drying and temperate quality doth af-
terwards heal them ; for which purpose the decoction of the
roots or leaves in white wine, or the leaves Chopped as pot herbs,
witn a few alisanders, and boiled in their broth, are very effec-
tual. And whoever is drawing towards a consumption, or an
evil disposition of the whole body, called cachexia, by the use
hereof for some time together, shall find a wonderful help. It
helpeth also to procure rest and sleep to bodies distempered by
the heat of ague fits, or otherwise : The distilled water is effec-
tual to drink in pestilential fevers, and to wash the sores.

You see here what virtues this common herb hath, and that
is the reason the French and Dutch so often eat them in the
spring : and now, if you look a little farther, you may see plain-
ly, without a pair of spectacles, that foreign physicians are not
so selfish as ours are, but more communicative of the virtues of
plants to people.

DARNEL.

It is called jum and wray ; in Sussex they call it cropit, be-
ing a pestilent enemy among corn.

Descript .] This hath, all the winter long, sundry long, flat,
and rough leaves, which, when the stalk riseth, which is slender
and jointed, are narrower, but rough still ; on the top groweth
a long spike, composed of many heads set one above another,
containing two or three husks, with sharp but short beards or
awns at the end ; the seed is easily shaked out of the ear, the
husk itself being somewhat rough.

Place.] The country husbandmen do know this too well to
grow among their corn, or in the borders and pathways of the
other fields that are fallow.

Government and Virtues .] It is a malicious part of sullen Sa-
turn. As it is not without some vices, so hath it also many vir-
tues. The meal of darnel is very good to stay gangrenes, and
other such like fretting and eating cankers, and putrid sores : It
also cleanseth the skin of all leprosies, morphews, ringworms,

116 The English Physician Enlarged.

and the like, if it be used with salt and reddish roots. And be-
ing used with quick brimstone and vinegar, it dissolveth knots
and kernels, and breaketh those that are hard to be dissolved,

'V

being boiled in wine with pigeon’s dung and linseed : A decoc-
tion thereof made with water and honey, and the places bathed
therewith, is profitable for the sciatica. Darnel meal applied in
a poultice draweth forth splinters and broken bones in the flesh :
The red darnel, boiled in red wine and taken, stayeth the lask
and all other fluxes, and women’s bloody issues ; and restraineth
urine that passeth away too suddenly.

DILL.

Descript.] The common dill groweth up with seldom more
than one stalk, neither so high, nor so great usually as fennel,
being round and fewer joints thereon, whose leaves are sadder,
and somewhat long, and so like fennel that it deceiveth many,
but harder in handling, and somewhat thicker, and of a stronger
unpleasant scent : The tops of the stalks have four branches and
smaller umbels of yellow flowers, which turn into small seed,
somewhat flatter and thinner than fennel seed. The root is
SQpiewhat small and woody, perishing every year after it hath
borne seed; and is also unprofitable, being never put to any
use.

Place.] It is most usually sown in gardens and grounds for
the purpose, and is also found wild in many places.

Government and Virtues.] Mercury hath the dominion of this
plant, and therefore to be sure it strengthens the brain. The dill
being boiled and drank, is good to ease swellings and pains; it
also stayeth the belly and stomach from casting. The decoction
thereof helpeth women that are troubled with the pains and win-
diness of the mother, if they sit therein. It stayeth the hiccough,
being boiled in wine, and but smelled unto, being tied in a cloth.
The seed is of more use than the leaves, and more effectual to
digest raw and viscous humours, and is used in medicines that
serve to expel the pains and wind, proceeding therefrom. The

I

■ — — - — —

The English Physician Enlarged. 117

seed being roasted or fried, and used in oils or plaisters, dis-
solves the imposthumes in the fundament; and drieth up all
moist ulcers, especially in the fundament ; an oil made of dill is
effectual to warm or dissolve humours and imposthumes, to ease
pains, and to procure rest. The decoction of dill, be it herb or
seed (only if you boil the seed you must bruise it) in white wine,
being drank, it is a gallant expeller of wind, and provoker vq1
the terms.

DEVIL S BIT,

Descript .] This riseth up with a round, green, smooth stalk,
about two feet high, set with divers long and somewhat narrow,
smooth, dark green leaves, somewhat nipped about the edges,
for the most part, being else all whole, and not divided at all, or
but very seldom, even to the tops of the branches, which yet are
smaller than those below, with one rib only in the middle. At
the end of each branch standeth a round head of many flowers
set together in the same manner, or more neatly than scabious,
and of a more blueish purple colour, which being past there fol-
lowed seed that falleth away. The root is somewhat thick, but
short and blackish, with many strings, abiding after seed time
many years. This root was longer, until the devil (as the friars
say) bit away the rest of it for spite, envying its usefulness to
mankind; for sure he was not troubled with any disease for
which it is proper.

There are two other sorts hereof, in nothing unlike the for-
mer, save that the one beareth white, and the other blush-co-
loured flowers.

Place .] The first groweth as well in dry meadow's and fields
as moist, in many places of this land : But the other two are
more rare, and hard to be met with, yet they are both found
growing wild about Appledore, near Rye in Kent.

Time.] They flower not usually until August.

Government and Virtues.] The plant is venereal, pleasing, and

ill 8 The English Physician Enlarged.

harmless. The herb or the root (all that the devil hath left Of
it) being’boiled in wine, and drank, is very powerful against the
plague, and all pestilential diseases or fevers, poisons also, and
the bitings of venomous beasts : It helpeth also those that are
inwardly bruised by any casualty, or outwardly by falls or blows,
dissolving the clotted blood ; and the herb or root beaten and
outwardly applied, taketh away the black and blue marks that
remain in the skin. The decoction of the herb, with honey ol
roses put therein, is very effectual to help the inveterate tumours
and swellings of the almonds and throat, by often gargling the
mouth therewith. It helpeth also to procure women’s courses,
and easetli all pains of the mother, and to break and discuss wind
therein, and in the bowels. The powder of the root taken in
drink, driveth forth the worms in the body. The juice, or distill-
ed water of the herb, is effectual for green wounds or old sores,
and cleanseth the body inwardly, and the seed outwardly, from
sores, scurf, itch, pimples, freckles, morphew, or other deform-
ities thereof, especially if a little vitriol be dissolved therein.

DOCK.

IVIaNY kinds of these are so well known, that I shall not trou-
ble you with a description of them : My book grows big too
fast.

Government and Virtues .] All docks are under Jupiter, of
which the red dock, which is commonly called blood-wort, clean-
seth the blood, and strengthens the liver ; but the yellow dock-
root is best to be taken when either the blood or liver is affected
by choler. All of them have a kind of cooling (but not all alike)
drying quality, the sorrel being most cold, and the bloodworts
most drying. Of the burdock, I have spoken already by itself.
The seed of most of the other kinds whether the gardens or

fields, do stay lasks and fluxes of all sorts, the loathing of the
stomach through choler, and is helpful for those that spit blood.
The roots boiled in vinegar helpeth the itch, scabs, and breaking
out of the skin, if it be bathed therewith. The distilled water of

I

The English Physician Enlarged. 11#

the herb and roots have the same virtue, and cleanseth the skin
from freckles, morphew, and all other spots and discolouring
therein.

All docks being boiled with meat, make it boil the sooner ;
besides, blood-wort is exceedingly strengthening to the liver,
and procures good blood, being as wholesome a pot-herb as any
growing in a garden; yet such is the nicety of our times, for-
sooth, that women will not put it into a pot because it makes
the pottage black ; pride and ignorance (a couple of monsters
in the creation) preferring nicety before health.

DODDER OF THYME, EPITHYMUM, AND
OTHER DODDERS.

Descript.] This first from seed giveth roots in the ground,
which shooteth forth threads or strings, grosser or finer, as the
property of the plant wherein it groweth, and the climate doth
suffer, creeping and spreading on that plant whereon it fasteneth,
be it high or low. The strings have no leaves at all upon them,
but wind and interlace themselves, so thick upon a small plant,
that it taketh away all comfort of the sun from it; and is ready
to choak or strangle it. After these strings are risen up tr
that height, that they may draw nourishment from that plant,
they seem to be broken off from the ground either by the strength
of their rising, or withered by the heat of the sun. Upon these
strings are found clusters of small heads or husks, out of which
shoot forth whitish flowers, which afterwards give small pale
white coloured seed, somewhat flat, and twice as big as poppy-
seed. It generally participates of the nature of the plant which
it climbeth upon; but the dodder of thyme is accounted the
best, and is the only true epithymum.

Government and Virtues.] All dodders are under Saturn. Tell
not me of physicians crying epithymum, or that dodder which
grows upon thyme, (most of which comes from Hemetius in
Greece, or Hybla in Sicily, because those mountains abound

120 The English Physician Enlarged \

■ ju— mu — m n hi nanaMwai ■mi iwh. wwbt^ii witii— unnwn i mi wraa—— mmc— ■— if

with thyme) lie is a physician indeed, that hath wit enough to
choose his dodder according to the nature of the disease and hu-
mour peccant. We confess, thyme is the hottest herb it usually
grows upon ; and therefore that which grows upon thyme is
hotter than that which grows upon colder herbs; for it draws
nourishment from what it grows upon, as well as from the earth*
where its root is, and thus you see old Saturn is wise enough to
have two strings to his bow. This is accounted the most effectual
for melancholy diseases, and to purge black or burnt choler,
which is the cause of many diseases of the head and brain, as also
for the trembling of the heart, faintings and swoonings. It is help-
ful in all diseases and griefs of the spleen, and melancholy that
arise from the windiness of the hypochondria. It purgeth also the
reins or kidnies by urine ; it openeth obstructions of the gall,
whereby it profiteth them that have the jaundice*, as also the
leaves the spieen : purging the veins of the choleric and phleg-
matic humours, and helpeth children, in agues, a little worm
seed being put thereto.

The other dodders do, as I said before, participate of the na-
ture of those plants whereon they grow; as that which hath
been found growing on nettles in the west country, hath by ex-
perience been found very effectual to procure plenty of urine
where it hath been stopped or hindered. And so of the rest.

Sympathy and antipathy are two hinges npon which the whole
model of physic turns : and that physician which minds them not,
is like a door off from the hooks, more like to do a man mischief,
than to secure him. Then all the diseases Saturn causeth, this
helps by sy mpathy, and strengthens all the parts of the body he
jules : such as be caused by Sol, it helps by antipathy. What
these diseases are, see my judgment of diseases by astrology:
and if you be pleased to look for the herb wormwood, you shall
find a rational way for it

DOG’S GRASS, OR COUCH GRASS.

Uescript ] It is well known that this grass creepeth far about

The English Physician Enlarged . 121

under ground, with long white jointed roots, and small fibres
almost at every joint, very sweet in taste, as the rest of the herb
is, and interlacing one another, from whence shoot forth many
fair grassy leaves, small at the ends, and cutting or sharp on
the edges. The stalks are jointed like corn, with the like leaves
on them, and a large spiked head, with a long husk in them,
and hard rough seed in them. If you know it not by this de-
scription, watch the dogs when they are sick, and they will
quickly lead you to it.

Place .] It groweth commonly through this' land in divers
ploughed grounds, to the no small trouble of the husbandmen*
as also of the gardener, in gardens, to weed it out, if they can *
for it is a constant customer to the place it gets footing in.

Government and Virtues.] 'Tis under the dominion of Jupiter,
and is the most medicinal of all the quick grasses. Being bod-
ed and drank, it openeth obstructions of the liver and gall, and
the stopping of urine, and easeth the griping pains of the belly
and inflammations; wasteth the matter of the stone, in the blad-
der, and the ulcers thereof also. The roots bruised and applied,
do consolidate wounds. The seed doth more powerfully ex-
pel urine, and stayeth the lask and vomiting. The distilled
water alone, or with a little worm-seed, killeth the worms in
children.

The w ay of use is to bruise the roots, and having well boiled
them in white wine, drink the decoction: 'Tis opening but not
purging, very safe: 'Tis a remedy against ail diseases coming
of stopping, and such are half those that are incident to the
body of man ; and although a gardener be of another opinion,
yet a physician holds half an acre of them to be worth five acres
of carrots twice told over.

DOVE'S FOOT, or CRANE'S-BILL.

Descript .] X HIS hath divers small, round pale-green leaves,
cut in about the edges, much like mallows, standing upon long,

Q

122 The English Physician Enlarged .

reddish hairy stalks, lying in a round compass upon the ground ;
among which rise up two or three, or more, reddish jointed,
slender, weak, hairy stalks, with such like leaves thereon, but
smaller, and more cut in up to the tops, where grow many very
small bright red flowers of five leaves apiece; after which fol-
low small heads, with small short beaks pointed forth, as all
other sorts of those herbs do.

Place. ] It groweih in pasture grounds, and by the path-sides
in many places, and will also be in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth in June, July, and August, some earlier
and some later; and the seed is ripe quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is a very gentle, though Martial
plant. It is found by experience to be singular good for wind
cholic, as also to expel the stone and gravel in the kidneys. The
decoction thereof in wine, is an excellent good cure for those
that have inward wounds, hurts, or bruises, both to stay the
bleeding, to dissolve and expel the congealed blood, and to heal
the parts, as also to cleanse and heal outward sores, ulcers, and
fistulas; and for green wounds, many do only bruise the herb,
and apply it to the place, and it healeth them quickly. The
same decoction in wine fomented to any place pained with the
gout, or to joint-achs, or pains of the sinews, giveth much ease.
The powder or decoction of the herb taken for some time toge-
ther, is found by experience to be singular good for ruptures
and burstings in people, either young or old.

DUCK S MEAT.

1 HIS is so well known to swim on the tops of standing wa-
ters, as ponds, pools, and ditches, that it is needless further to
describe it.

Government and Virtues.] Cancer claims the herb, and the
Moon will be lady of it ; a word is enough to a wise man. It is
effectual to help inflammations, and St. Anthony’s fire, as also
the gout, either applied by itself, or in a poultice with barley
meal. The distilled water is highly esteemed by some, against all
inward inflammations and pestilent fevers: as also to help tire

The English Physician Enlarged. 123

niif

redness of the eyes, and swelling of the cods, and of the breasts
before they be grown too much. The fresh herb applied to the
forehead, easeth the pains of the head-achconiingof heat.

DOWN, or COTTON-THISTLE.

Descript.'] *jL HIS hath large leaves lying on the ground, some-
what cut in, and as it were crumbled on the edges, of a green
colour on the upper side, but covered with iong hairy wool, or
cotton down, set with most sharp and cruel pricks, from the
middle of whose heads of flowers, thrust forth many purplish
crimson threads, and sometimes (although very seldom) white
ones. The seed that followeth in the heads, lying in a great deal
of white down, is somewhat large, long, and round, like the seed
of lady’s thistle, but somewhat paler. The root is great and
thick, spreading much, yet it usually dieth after seed time.

Place.] It groweth in divers ditches, banks, and in corn-fields
and high ways, generally every way throughout the land.

Time.] It flowereth and beareth seed about the end of sum-
mer, when other thistles do flower and seed.

Government and Virtues.] Mars owns the plant, and manifests
to the world, that though it may hurt your finger, it will help
your body; for I fancy it much for the ensuing virtues. Pliny
and Dioscorides write, That the leaves and roots thereof taken
in drink, help those that have a crick in their neck; whereby
they cannot turn their neck but their whole body must turn also
(sure they do not mean those that have got a crick in their neck
by being under the hangman’s hand.) Galen saith, that the root
and leaves hereof are of a healing quality, and good for such
persons as have their bodies drawn together by some spasm or
convulsions, as it is with children that have the rickets, or ra-
ther, as the college of physicians will have it, the rachites, for
which name of the disease, they have (in a particular treatise late-
ly set forth by them) learnedly disputed and brought forth to
public view, that the world may see that they have taken much
pains to little purpose.

J24 The English Physician Enlarged.

DRAGONS.

rp

a HEY are so well known to all those who plant them in
their gardens, they need no description; if not, let them look
down to the lower end of the stalks, and see how like a snake
they look.

Government and Virtues.] The plant is under the domiraion of
Mars, and therefore it would be a wonder if it should want some
obnoxious quality or other; In all herbs of that quality, the saf-
est way is either to distil the herb in an alembick, in what vehi-
cle you please, or else to press out the juice and distil that in a
glass still in sand. It scoureth and cleanseth the internal parts
of the body mightily, and it cieareth the external parts also, be-
ing externally applied, from freckles, morphew and sun-burning ;
Your best way to use it externally, is to mix it with vinegar ; an
ointment of it is held to be good in wounds and ulcers; it con-
sumes cankers, and that flesh growing in the nostrils, which they
call polypus: Also the distilled water being dropped into the
eyes, taketh away spots there, or the pin and web, and mends
the dimness of sight ; it is excellent good against pestilence and
poison. Pliny and Dioscorides affirm, that no serpent will med-
dle with him that carries this herb about him.

THE ELDER TREE.

JhOLD it needless to write any description of this, since eve
ry boy that plays with a pop-gun will not mistake another tree
instead of elder: I shall therefore in this place only, describe
the dwarf elder, called also dead-wort and wall-wort.

THE DWARF ELDER.

Descript.] Tms is but an herb, every year dying with his
stalks to the ground, and rising fresh every spring, and is like
unto the elder both in form and quality, rising up with a square
rough hairy stalk, four feet high, or more sometimes. The wing-

The English Physician Enlarged . 125

ed leaves are somewhat narrower than the elder, but else like
them. The flowers are white with a dash of purple, standing in
umbels, very like the elder also, but more sweet in scent; after
which come small blackish berries, full of juice while they are
fresh, w herein is small hard kernels, or seed, the root doth creep
under the upper crust of the ground, springing in divers places,
being of the bigness of one's finger or thumb sometimes.

Place.] The elder tree groweth in hedges, being planted there
to strengthen the fences and partitions of ground, and to hold
the banks by ditclus and water courses.

The dwarf-elder groweth wild in many places of England,
where being once gotten into a ground, it is not easily gotten
forth again.

Time.] Most of the elder trees flower in June, and their fruit
is ripe for the most part in August. But the dwarf-elder, or
wall-wort, flowereth somewhat later, and his fruit is not ripe
until September.

Government and Virtues.] Both the elder and dwarf tree are
under the dominion of Venus. The first shoots of the common
elder boiled like asparagus, and the young leaves and stalks boil-
ed in fat broth, doth mightily carry forth phlegm and choler.
The middle or inward bark boiled in water, and given in drink,
worketh much more violently ; and the berries, either green or
dry, expel the same humour, and are often given with good suc-
cess to help the dropsy; the bark of the root boiled in wine, or
the juice thereof drank, worketh the same effects, but more pow-
erfully than either the leaves or fruit. The juice of the root taken,
doth mightily procure vomitings, and purgeth the watery hu-
mours of the dropsy. The decoction of the root taken, cureth
the biting of an adder, and biting of mad dogs. It mollifieth the
hardness of the mother, if women sit thereon, and openeth their
veins, and bringeth down their courses: The berries boiled in
wine performeth the same effect ; and the hair of the head wash-
ed therewith is made black. The juice of the green leaves ap-
plied to the hot inflammations of the eyes, assuageth them ; the
iuice of the leaves snuffed up into the nostrils, purgeth the tu-

126 The English Physician Enlarged .

nicies of the brain; the juice of the berries boiled with honey*
and dropped into the ears, helpeth the pains of them; the de-
coetion of the berries in wine being drank provoketh urine ; the
dtstilled water, of the flowers is of much use to clean the skin
from sumburning, freckles, morphew, or the like; and taketh
away the head-ach, coming of a cold cause, the head being bath-
ed therewith. The leaves or flowers distilled in the month of
May, and the legs often washed with the said distilled water, it
taketh away the ulcers and sores of them. The eyes washed
therewith, it taketh away the redness and bloodshot; and the
hands washed morning and evening therewith, helpeth the pal-
sy, and shaking of them.

The dwarf elder is more powerful than the common elder in
opening and purging choler, phlegm, and w ater ; in helping the
gout, piles, and women's diseases, coloureth the hair black, help-
eth the inflammations of the eyes, and pains in the ears, the bit-
ing of serpents, or mad dogs, burnings and scaldings, the w ind
cholic, cholic and stone, the difficulty of urine, the cure of old
sores and tistulous ulcers. Either leaves or bark of elder, strip-
ped upwards as you gather it causeth vomiting. Also Dr. But-
ler, in a manuscript of his, commends dw arf elder to the sky for
dropsies, viz. to drink it, being boiled in white wine: to drink
the decoction I mean, not the elder.

THE ELM TREE.

1 HIS tree is so well known, growing generally in all coun-
ties of this land, that it is needless to describe it.

Government and Virtues .] It is a cold and Saturnine plant.
The leaves thereof bruised and applied heal green w ounds, being
bound thereon with its own bark. The leaves of the bark used
w ith vinegar cureth scurf and leprosy very effectually : The de-
coction of the leaves, bark, or root, being bathed, heals broken
bones. The w ater that is found in the bladders on the leaves,
while it is fresh, is very effectual to cleanse the skin, and make
it fair: and if cloths be often wet therein, and applied to the
ruptures of children, it healeth them, if they be w ell bound up

The English Physician Enlarged . 127

with a truss. The said water put into a glass, and set into the
ground or else in dung for twenty-five days, the mouth thereof
being close stopped, and the bottom set upon a lay of ordinary
salt, that the foeces may settle and water become clear, is a sin-
gular and sovereign balm for green wounds, being used with soft
tents : The decoction of the bark of the root fomented, mollifi-
eth hard tumours, and the shrinking of the sinews. The roots
of the elm, boiled for a long time in water, and the fat arising on
the top thereof, being clean scummed off, and the place anointed
therewith that is grown bald, and the hair fallen away, will quick-
ly restore them again. The said bark ground with brine and
pickle, until it come to the form of a poultice, and laid on the
place pained with the gout, giveth great ease. The decoction of
the bark in water, is excellent to bathe such places as have been
burnt with fire.

ENDIVE.

Descript (y OMMON garden endive beareth a longer and lar-
ger leaf than succory, and abideth but one year, quickly running
up to a stalk and seed, and then perisheth ; it hath blue flowers,
and the seed of the ordinary endive is so like succory seed, that it
is hard to distinguish them.

Government and Virtues.] It is a fine cooling, cleansing, Jovial
plant. The decoction of the leaves, or the juice, or the distilled
water of endive, serveth well to cool the excessive heat of the liver
and stomach, and in the hot fits of agues, and all other inflamma-
tions in any part of the body ; it eooleth the heat and sharpness
of the urine, and excoriations in the urinary parts. The seeds
are of the same property, or rather more powerful, and besides
are available for fainting, swoonings, and passions of the heart.
Outwardly applied, they serve to temper the sharp humours of
fretting ulcers, hot tumours, swellings, and pestilential sores;
and wonderfully help not only the redness and inflammations of
the eyes, but the dimness of the sight also ; they are also used to
allay the pains of the gout. You cannot use it amiss : a syrup of

128 The English Physician Enlarged.

it is a fine cooling medicine for fevers. See theend of this book,
and the English Dispensatory.

ELECAMPANE.

Descript.] Xt shooteth forth many large leaves, long and
broad, lying near the ground, small at both ends, somewhat soft
in handling, of a whitish green on the upper side, and grey un-
derneath, each set upon a short foot-stalk, from among which
rise up divers great and strong hairy stalks, three or four feet
high, with some leaves thereupon, compassing them about at the
lower end, and are branched towards the tops, bearing divers
great and large flowers, like those of the corn marigold, both
the border of the leaves, and the middle thrum being yellow,
which turn into down, with long, small, brownish seeds among
it, and is carried away witn the wind. The root is great and
thick, branching forth divers ways, blackish on the outside, and
whitish within, of a very bitter taste, and strong but good scent,
especially when they are dried, no part else of the plant having
any smell.

Place.] It groweth in moist grounds and shadowy places
oftener than in the dry and open borders of fields and lanes,
and in other waste places, almost in every county of this
land.

Time.] It flowereth in the end of June and July, and the
seed is ripe in August. The roots are gathered for use, as well
in the spring before the leaves come forth, as in autumn or
winter.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant under the dominion
of Mercury. The fresh roots of elecampane preserved with
sugar, or made into a syrup or conserve, are very effectual to
warm a cold windy stomach, or the prickling therein, and stitches
in the sides caused by the spleen ; and to help the cough, short-
ness of breath, and wheezing in the lungs. The dried root
made into powder, and mixed with sugar, and taken, serveth to

The English Physician Enlarged. 12£>

Hi

the same purpose, and is also profitable for those who have their
urine stopped, or the stopping of women’s courses, the pains oi

the mother, and of the stone in the reins, kidneys or bladder;
it resisteth poison, and stayeth the spreading of the venom of
serpents, as also putrid and pestilential fevers, and the plague
itself. The roots and herbs beaten and put into new ale or beer,
and daily drank, cleareth, strengthened!, and quick eneth the
sight of the eyes wonderfully. The decoction of the roots in*
wine, or the juice taken therein, killeth and driveth forth all
manner of worms in the belly, stomach and maw ; and gargled
in the mouth, or the root chewed, fasteneth loose teeth, and
helps to Jkeep them from putrefaction; and being drank is good
for those that spit blood, helpeth to remove cramps or convul-
sions, gout, sciatica, pains to the joints, applied outwardly or
inwardly, and is also good for those that are bursten, or have
any inward bruise. The root boiled well in vinegar, beaten af
terwards, and made into an ointment with hog’s suet, or oil of
trotters, is an excellent remedy for scabs or itch in young or
old ; the places also bathed or washed with the decoction doth
the same; it also helpeth ail sorts of filthy old putrid sores or
cankers whatsoever* In the roots of this herb lieth the chief
effect for the remedies aforesaid. The distilled water of the
leaves and roots together, is very profitable to cleanse the skin
of the face, or other parts, from any morphew, spots, or blem-
ishes therein, and make it clear.

ERINGO, OR SEA-HOLLY.

first leaves of our ordinary sea-holly, are

Descript.']

nothing so hard and prickly as when they grow old, being al-
most round, and deeply dented about the edges, hard and sharp
pointed, and a little crumpled, of a bluish green colour, every
one upon a long footstalk; but those that grow up higher with
the stalk, do as it were compass it about. The stalk itself is
round and strong, yet somewhat crested, with joints and leaves

130 The English Physician Enlarged .

set thereat, but more divided, sharp and prickly ; and branches
rising from thence, which have likewise other small branches,
each of them having several blueish, round prickly heads, with
many small jagged prickly leaves under them, standing like a
star, and sometimes found greenish or whitish : The root grow-
eth wonderfully long even to eight or ten feet in length, set
with rings and circles toward the upper-part, cut smooth and
without joints down lower, brownish on the outside, and very
white within, with a pith in the middle ; of a pleasant taste,
but much more being artificially preserved, and candied with
sugar.

Place.] It is found about the sea coast in almost every coun-
try of this land which bordereth upon the sea.

Time.] It floweretli in the end of summer, and giveth ripe
seed within a month after.

Government and Virtues.] The plant is venereal, and breed-
eth seed exceedingly, and strengthens the spirits procreative;
it is hot and moist, and under the celestial Balance. The decoc-
tion of the root hereof in wine, is very effectual to open obstruc-
tions of the spleen and liver, and helpeth yellow jaundice, drop-
sy, pains of the loins, and wind cholic, provoketh urine, and
expelleth the stone, procureth women’s courses. The continu-
ed use of the decoction for fifteen days, taken fasting, and
next to bedward, doth help the strangury, the pissing by drops,
the stopping of urine, and stone, and all defects of the reins and
kidneys; and if the said drink be continued longer, it is said
that it eureth the stone ; it is found good against the F rench pox.
The roots bruised and applied outwardly, helpeth the kernels of
the throat, commonly called the king’s evil; or taken inwardly,
and applied to the place stung or bitten by any serpent, healeth
it speedily. If the roots be bruised, and boiled in old hog’s
grease, or salted lard, and applied to broken bones, thorns, &c,
remaining in the flesh, they do not only draw them forth, but
heal up the place again, gathering new flesh where it was con-
sumed, The juice of the leaves dropped into the ear, helpeth
imposthumes therein. The distilled water of the whole herb.

The English Physician Enlarged . 131

when the leaves and stalks are young, is profitably drank for all
the pnrposes aforesaid ; and helpeth the melancholy of the
heart, and is available in quartan and quotidian agues ; as also
for them that have their necks drawn a-wry, and cannot turn
them without turning their whole body.

EYEBRIGHT.

Descript .] C3 OMMON eyebright is a small low herb, rising
up usually but with one blackish green stalk a span high, or
not much more, spread from the bottom into sundry branches,
whereon are small and almost round, yet pointed, dark green
leaves, finely snipped about the edges, two always set together,
and very thick. At the joints with the leaves, from the mid-
dle upward, come forth small white flowers, steeped with pur-
ple and yellow spots, or stripes ; after which follow small round
heads, with very small seed therein. The root is long, small
and thready at the end.

Place,] It groweth in meadows and grassy places in this
land.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the sign of the Lion,
and Sol claims dominion over it. If the herb was but as much
used as it is neglected, it would half spoil the spectacle maker’s
trade; and a man would think, that reason should teach peo-
ple to prefer the preservation of their natural before artificial
spectacles; which that they may be instructed how to do,
take the virtues of eyebright as followeth.

The juice, or distilled water of eyebright, taken inwardly in
white wine or broth, or dropped into the eyes for divers days
together, helpeth all infirmities of the eyes, that cause dimness
of sight. Some make conserve of the flowers to the same ef-
fect. Being used any of the ways, it also helpeth a weak brain
or memory. This tunned up with strong beer that it may work
together, and drank, or the powder of the dried herb mixed with
sugar, a little mace, and fennel seed, and drank, or eaten in

132 The English Physician Enlarged .

W T? — — ■-

broth; or the said powder made into an electuary with sugar,
and taken, hath the same powerful effect to help and restore
the sight decayed through age; and Arnoldus de Villa Nova
saith, it hath restored to sight them that have been blind a long
time before.

TERN.

Descript. ~\ C3f this there are two kinds principally to be treat-
ed of, viz. the male and female. The female groweth higher
than the male, but the leaves thereof are lesser and more divid-
ed and dented, and of as strong a smell as the male ; the vir-
tue of them are both alike, and therefore I shall not trouble you
with any description or distinction of them.

Place.] They grow both in heaths, and in shady places, neai
the hedge-sides in all counties of this land.

Time,] They flower and give their seed at midsummer.

The female fern is that plant which is in Sussex called brakes
the seed of which some authors hold to be so rare. Such a
thing there is I know, and may be easily had upon midsummer
eve, and for ought I know, two or three days after it, if not
more.

Government and Virtues .] It is under tire dominion of Mer-
cury, both male and female. The roots of both these sorts
of fern being bruised and boiled in mead, or lioneyed water, and
drank, killeth both the broad and long worms in the body, and
abateth the swelling and hardness of the spleen. The green
leaves eaten, purge the belly of choleric and waterish humours
that trouble the stomach. They are dangerous for women with
child to meddle with, by reason they cause abortions. The roots
bruised and boiled in oil, or hog’s grease, make a very profitable
ointment to heal wounds or pricks gotten in the flesh. The
powder of them used in foul ulcers, drieth up their malignant
moisture, and causeth their speedier healing. Fern being burned
the smoke thereof driveth away serpents, gnats, and other noi-

The English Physician Enlarged. 133

some creatures, which in fenny countries do, in the night time,
trouble and molest people lying in their beds with their faces
uncovered ; it causeth barreness.

OSMOND ROYAL, OR WATER FERN.

Descript.] TL HIS shooteth forth in spring time (for in the
winter the leaves perish) divers rough, hard stalks, half round
and yellowish, or flat on the other side, two feet high having di-
vers branches of winged yellwoish green leaves on all sides, set
one against another, longer, narrower, and not nicked on the
edges as the former. From the top of some of these stalks
grow forth a long bush of small, and mor e yellow, green, scaly
aglets, set in the same manner on the stalks as the leaves are,
which are accounted the flowers and seeds. The root is rough
thick and scabby, with a white pith in the middle, which is called
the heart thereof.

Place.] It grovveth on moors, and bogs, and watery places
in many parts of this land.

Time.] It is green all the summer, and the root only abideth
in winter.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn owns the plant. This hath
all the virtues mentioned in the former ferns, and is much more
effectual than they, both for inward and outward griefs, and is
accounted singular good in wounds, bruises, or the like. The
decoction to be drank, or boiled into an ointment of oil, as a bal-
sam or balm, and so it is singular good against bruises, and bones
broken, or out of joint, and giveth much ease to the cholic and
splenetic diseases; as also for ruptures or burstings. The de-
coction of the root in w hite w'ine, provokes urine exceedingly,
and cleanseth the bladder and passages of urine.

FEVERFEW, OR FEATHERFEW.

Descript.] CZ^OMMON featherfew hath large, fresh, green

134 The English Physician Enlarged .

leaves, much torn or cut on the edges. The stalks are hard and
round, set with many such like leaves, but smaller, and at the
tops stand many single flowers, upou small footstalks, consisting
of many small white leaves standing round about a yellow
thrum in the middle. The root is somewhat hard and short,
with many strong fibres about it. The scent of the whole plant
is very strong and stiflng, and the taste is very bitter.

Place.] This grows wild in many places of the land, but is
for the most part nourished in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth in the months of June and July.

Government and Virtues.] Venus commands this herb, and
hath commended it to succour her sisters (women) and to be a
general strengthener of their wombs, and remedy such infirmities
as a careless midwife hath there caused ; if they will but be
pleased to make use of her herb boiled in white wine, and drink
the decoction; it cleanseth the womb, expels the after birth,
and doth a woman all the good she can desire of an herb. And
if any grumble because they cannot get the herb in winter, tell
them, if they please, they may make a syrup of it in summer ; it
is chiefly used for the diseases of the mother, whether it be the
strangling or rising of the mother, or hardness, or inflammations
of the same, applied outwardly thereunto. Or a decoction of
the flowers in wine, with a little nutmeg or mace put therein,
and drank often in a day, is an approved remedy to bring down
women’s courses speepily, and helpeth to expel the dead birth
and after birth. For a woman to sit over the hot fumes of the
decoction of the herb, made in water or wine, is effectual for the
same; aud in some cases, to apply the boiled herb warm to the
privy parts. The decoction thereof made, with some sugar or
honey put thereto, is used by many with good success to help
the cough and stuffing of the chest, by colds, as also to cleanse
the reins and bladder, and helps to expel the stone in them. The
powder of the herb taken in wine, with some oxymel, purgeth
both choler and phlegm, and is available for those that are short-
winded, and are troubled with melancholy and heaviness, or sad-
ness of spirits. It is very effectual for all pains in the head com-

Phe English Physician Enlarged. 135

ing of a cold cause, the herb being bruised and applied to the
crown of the head ; as also for the vertigo, that is, a running or
swimming of the head. The decoction thereof drank warm, and
the herb bruised w ith a few corns of bay-salt, and applied to the
wrists before the coming of the ague fits, doth take them away.
The distilled water taketh away freckles, and other spots and
deformities in the face. The herb bruised and heated on a tile,
with some wine to moisten it, or fried with a little wine and oil
in a frying-pan, and applied warm outwardly to the places,
helpeth the wand and cholic in the lower part of the belly.
It is an especial remedy against opium taken too liberally.

FENNEL.

Every garden affordeth this so plentifully, that it needs no
description.

Government and Virtues,, ,] One good old fashion is not yet
left off, viz, to boil fennel with fish, for it consumes that phleg-
matic humour, which fish most plentifully afford and annoy the
body with, though few that use it know wherefore they do it : I
suppose the reason of its benefit this way is because it is an herb
of Mercury, and under Virgo, and therefore bears antipathy
to Pisces. Fennel is good to break wind, to provoke urine,
and ease the pains of the stone, and helps to break it. The
leaves or seed, boiled in barley water and drank are good for
nurses, to increase their milk, and make it more wholesome for
the child. The leaves, or rather the seeds, boiled in water,
stayeth tbe hiccough, and taketh away the loathings which of-
tentimes happen to the stomachs of sick and feverish persons,
and allayeth the heat thereof. The seed boiled in wine and drank,
is good for those that are bitten with serpents, or have eaten poi -
sonous herbs, or mushrooms. The seed and the roots much
more help to open obstructions of the liver, spleen, and gall,
and thereby help the painful and windy swellings of the spleen,
and the yellow jaundice; and also the gout and cramps. The
seed is of good use in medicines to help shortness of breath and

136 rfhe English Physician Enlarged.

MiMHriiawnKaMMga.auB.’jaiiufc.'iiiiMimNiaiaiag— B»—

wheezing by stopping of the lungs. It helpeth also to bring
down the courses, and to cleanse the parts after delivery. The
roots are of most use in physic, drinks and broths, that are ta-
ken to cleanse the blood, to open obstructions of the liver, to
provoke urine, and amend the ill colour of the face after sickness,
and to cause a good habit through the body. Both leaves, seeds,
and roots thereof are much used in drink or broth, to make peo-
ple more lean that are too fat. The distilled water of the
whole herb, or the condensate juice dissolved, but especially the
natural juice, that in some counties issueth out hereof of its own
accord, dropped into the eyes, cleanseth them from mists and
films that hinder the sight. The sweet fennel is much weaker in
physical uses than the common fennel. The wild fennel is stron-
ger and hotter than the tame, and therefore most powerful
against the stone, but not so effectual to increase milk, because
of its dryness.

SOW-FENNEL, OR HOG'S FENNEL.

.Besides the common name in English, hog's fennel, and
the Latin name peucidanum, it is called hoar-strange, andhoar-
strong, sulphur-wort, and brimstone wort.

Descript.] The common sow fennel hath divers branched
stalks, of thick and somewhat long leaves, three for the most
part joined together at a place, among which ariseth a crested
straight stalk, less than fennel, with some joints thereon, and
leaves growing thereat, and towards the tops some branches issu-
ing from thence ; likewise on the tops of the stalks and branches
stand divers tufts of yellow flowers, whereafter grows somewhat
flat, thin, and yellowish seed, bigger than fennel seed. The
roots grow great and deep, with many other parts and fibres
about them of a strong scent like hot brimstone, and yield forth
a yellowish milk, or clammy juice, almost like a gum.

Place.] It groweth plentifully in the salt low marshes near
Feversham in Kent.

Time.] It fiowereth plentifully in July and August. '

The English Physician Enlarged. 13.7

Government and Virtues .] This is also an herb of Mercury,
The juice of sow fennel (saith Dioscorides and Galen,) used
with vinegar and rose water, or the juice with a little euphor-
bium put to the nose, helpeth those that are troubled with the
lethargy, frenzy, giddiness of the head, the falling sickness,
long and inveterate head-acb, the palsy, sciatica, and the cramp,
and generally all the diseases of the sinews, used with oil and
vinegar. The juice dissolved in wine, or put into an egg, is
good for a cough, or shortness of breath, and for those that are
troubled with wind in the body. It purgeth the belly gently
expelleth the hardness of the spleen, giveth ease to women that
have sore travail in child-birth, and easeth the pains of the reins
and bladder, and also the womb. A little of the juice dissolved
in wine, and dropped into the ears, easeth much of the pains in
them, and put into a hollow tooth, easeth the pains thereof.
The root is less effectual to all the aforesaid disorders; yet the
powder of the root cleanseth foul ulcers, being put into them,
and taketh out splinters of broken bones^ or other things in the
flesh, and healeth them up perfectly ; as also drieth up old
and inveterate running sores, and is of admirable virtue in all
green wounds.

FIG-WORT, OR THROAT-WORT.

Descript.] (yOMMON great fig-wort sendeth divers great
strong, hard, square brown stalks, three or four feet high,
whereon grow large, hard, and dark green leaves, two at a joint,
harder and larger than nettle leaves, but not stinking; at the
tops of the stalks stand many purple flowers set in husks, which
are sometimes gaping and open, somewhat like those of water
betony ; after which come hard round heads, with a small point
in the middle, wherein lie small brownish seed. The root is great,
white, and thick, with many branches at it, growing aslope un-
der the upper crust of the ground, which abideth many years,
but keepeth not its green leaves in winter.

S

138 The English Physician Enlarged.

Place .] It groweth frequently in moist and shadowy woods,
and in the lower parts of fields and meadows.

Time.] It flowereth about July, and the seed will be ripe
about a month after the flowers are fallen.

Government and Virtues .] Some Latin authors call it cervi-
caria, because it is appropriated to the neck; and we throat-
wort, because it is appropriated to the throat. Venus ow ns the
herb, and the Celestial Bull will not deny it; therefore a better
remedy cannot be for the king's evil, because the moon that
rules the disease, is exalted there. The decoction of the herb ta-
ken inwardly, and the bruised herb applied outwardly, dissolves
clotted and congealed blood within the body, coming by any
wounds, bruise, or fall; and is no less effectual for the king's
evil, or any other knobs, kernels, bunches, or wens growing in
the flesh wheresoever; and for the haemorrhoids, or piles. An
ointment made hereof may be used at all times when the fresh
herb is not to be had. The distilled water of the w hole plant,
roots and all, is used for the same purposes, and drieth up the
superfluous, virulent moisture of hollow and corroding ulcers ;
it taketh away all redness, spots, and freckles in the face, as
also the scurf, and any foul deformity therein, and the leprosy
likewise.

FILIFENDULA, OR DROP-WORT.

Descript. ] TLllIS sendeth forth many leaves, some bigger
some lesser, set on each side of a middle rib, and each of them
dented about the edges, somewhat resembling wild tansy, or ra-
ther agrimony, but harder in handling ; among which rise up one
or more stalks, two or three feet high, with the leaves growing
thereon, and sometimes also divided into other branches spread-
ing at the top into many w hite, sweet smelling flowers, consisting
of five leaves a-piece, with some threads in the middle of them
standing together in a pith or umbel, each upon a small foot-
stalk, which, after they have been blow n upon a good while, do

The English Physician Enlarged. 139

fail away, and in their places appear small, round, chaffy heads
like buttons, wherein are the chaffy seeds set and placed. The
root consists of many small, black, tuberous pieces fastened to-
gether by many small, long, blackish strings, which run from
one to another.

Placed It groweth in many places of this land, in the corners
of dry fields, and meadows, and the hedge sides.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and their seed is ripe
in August.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Venus.
It effectually opens the passages of the urine, helpeth the stran-
gury; the stone in the kidneys or bladder, the gravel, and all
other pains of the bladder and reins, by taking the roots in pow-
der, or the decoction of them in white wine, with a little honey.
The roots made into powder, and mixed with honey in the form
of an electuary doth much help them whose stomachs are swollen
dissolving and breaking the wind which was the cause thereof;
and is also very effectual for all the diseases of the lungs, as short-
ness of breath, wheezing, hoarseness of the throat, the cough,
and to expectorate tough phlegm, or any other parts thereabout.
It is called drop-wort, because it helps such as piss by drops.

THE FIG-TREE.

JP Gil to give a description of a tree so well known to every
body that keeps it in his garden, were needless. They prosper
very well in our English gardens, yet are fitter for medicine than
forany other profit which is gotten by the fruit of them.

Government and Virtues.] The tree is under the dominion of
Jupiter. The milk that issueth out from the leaves or branches
where they are broken off, being dropped upon warts, taketh
them away. The decoction of the leaves is excellent good to
wash sore heads with ; and there is scarcely a better remedy for
the leprosy than it is. It clears the face also of morphew, and the
body of white scurf, scabs, and running sores. If it be dropped
into old fretting ulcers, itcleanseth out the moisture, and bring-
eth up the flesh; because you cannot have the leaves green all

140 The English Physician Enlarged.

sinm

the year, you may make an ointment of them whilst you may.
A decoction of the leaevs being drank inwardly, or rather a syrup
made of them, dissolves congealed blood caused by bruises or
falls, and helps the bloody flux. The ashes of the wood made
into an ointment with hog’s grease, helps kibes and chilblains.
The juice being put into an hollow tooth, easeth pain; as also
pain and noise in the ears, being dropped into them; and deaf-
ness. An ointment made of the juice and hog’s grease, is as
excellent a remedy for the biting of mad dogs, or other ven-
omous beasts as most are. A syrup made of the leaves, or green
fruit, is excellent good , for coughs, hoarseness, or shortness of
breath,- and all diseases of the breast and lungs; it is also ex-
cellent good for the dropsy and falling sickness. They say that
the figtree, as well as the bay-tree is never hurt by lightning:
.as also if you tie a bull, be he ever so mad, to a fig-tree he will
quickly become tame and gentle. As for such figs as come from
beyond the sea, I have little to say, because I write not of ex-
otics; yet some authors say, the eating of them makes people

THE YELLOW WATER FLAG, OR FLOWER-DE-LUCE.

groweth like the flower-de-luce, but it

hath much longer and narrower sad green leaves jointed toge-
ther in that fashion ; the stalk also growing oftentimes as high.

bearing small yellow flowers shaped like the flower-de-luce.

with three falling leaves, and other three arched that cover their
bottoms; but instead of the three upright leaves, as the flower-
de-luce hath, this hath only three short pieces standing in ther *
places, after which succeed thick and long three square heads,
containing in each part somewhat big and flat seed, like those of
the flower-de-luce. Tire root is long and slender, of a pale
brownish colour on the outside, and of a horseflesh colour on
the inside, with many hard fibres thereat, and very harsh in
taste.

I 'he English Physician Enlarged . 141

Place.'] It usually grows in watery ditches, ponds, lakes, and
moor sides, which are always overflowed with water.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of the
Moon. The root of this water-flag is very astringent, cooling
and drying; and thereby helps all lasks and fluxes, whether of
blood or humours, as bleeding at the mouth, nose, or other
parts, bloody flux, and the immoderate flux of women’s courses.
The distilled water of the whole herb, flowers and roots, is a
sovereign good remedy for watering eyes, both to be dropped
into them, and to have cloths or sponges wetted therein, and
applied to the forehead : it also helpeth the spots and blemish-
es that happen in and about the eyes, or in any other parts :
The said water fomented on swellings and hot inflammations
of women’s breasts, upon cankers also, and those spreading
ulcers called Noli me tangere, will do much good: It helpeth
also foul ulcers in the privities of men or women; but an oint-
ment made of the flowers is better for those external applica-
tions.

FLAX-WEED, or TOAD-FLAX.

Descript .] O UR common flax-weed hath divers stalks full
fraught with long and narrow ash-coloured leaves, and from
the middle of them almost upward, stored with a number of
pale yellow flowers, of a strong unpleasant scent, with deeper
yellow mouths, and blackish flat seed in round heads. The
root is somewhat woody and white, especially the main down-
right one, with many fibres, abiding many years, shooting forth
roots every way round about, and new branches every year.

Place.] This groweth throughout this land, both by the way
sides, and in meadows, also by hedge-sides, and upon the sides
of banks, and borders of fields.

Time.] It flowereth in Summer, and the seed is ripe usually
before the end of August.

142 The English Physician Enlarged.

Government and Virtues.] Mars owns the herb : In Sussex
we call it gall-wort, and lay it in our chickens' water to cure
them of the gall; it relieves them when they are drooping.
This is frequently used to spend the abundance of those watery
humours by urine, which cause the dropsy. The decoction
of the herb, both leaves and flowers, in wine taken and drank,
doth somewhat move the belly downwards, openeth obstruc-
tions of the liver, and helpeth the yellow jaundice ; expelleth
poison, provoketh women’s courses, driveth forth the dead child,
and after.birth. The distilled water of the herb and flowers is
effectual for all the same purposes; being drank with a dram
of the powder of the seeds of bark or the roots of wall-wort,
and a little cinnamon, for certain days together, it is held a sin-
gular remedy for the dropsy. The juice of the herb, or the
distilled water, dropped into the eyes, is a certain remedy for
all heat, inflammations, and redness in them. The juice or
water put into foul ulcers, whether they be cancerous or fistu-
lous, with tents rolled therein, or parts washed and injected
therewith, cleanseth them thoroughly from the bottom, and heal-
eth them up safely. The same juice or water also cleanseth
the skin wonderfully of all sorts of deformity, as leprosy, mor-
phew, scurf, wheals, pimples, or spots, applied of itself, or used
with some powder of lupines.

FLEA-WORT.

Descript.] ORDINARY flea- wort risrth up with a stalk
two feet high or more, full of joints and branches on every
side up to the top, and at every joint two small, long, and nar-
row whitish green leaves somewhat hairy ; at the top of every
branch stand divers small, short scaly, or chaffy heads, out of
which come forth small whitish yellow threads, like to those of
the plantain herbs, which are the blooming of flowers. The seed
nciosed in these heads is small and shining while it is fresh,
very like unto fleas both for colour and bigness, but turning black
when it groweth old. The loot is not long, but white, hard and

The E7iglish Physician Enlarged. 143

woody, perishing every year, and rising again of its own seed
for divers years, if it be suffered to shed : The whole plant is
somewhat whitish and hairy, smelling somewhat like rosin.

There is another sort hereof, differing not from the former in
the manner of growing, but only that this stalk and branches
being somewhat greater, do a little more bow down to the
ground : The leaves are somewhat greater, the heads somewhat
lesser, the seed alike ; and the root and leaves abide all winter,
and perish not as the former.

Place.] The first groweth only in gardens, the second plenti-
fully in fields that are near the sea.

Time.] They flower in July, or thereabouts.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is cold, dry, and Saturn-
ine. I suppose it obtained the name of flea-wort, because the
seeds are so like fleas. The seed fried, and taken, stayeth the
flux or lask of the belly, and the corrosions that come by reason
of hot choleric, or sharp and malignant humours, or by too
much purging of any violent medicine, as scammony, or the like.
The mucilage of the seed made with rose-water, and a little su-
garcandy put thereto, is very good in all hot agues and burning
fevers, and other inflammations, to cool the thirst, and lenify the
dryness and roughness of the tongue and throat. It helpeth also
hoarseness of the voice, and diseases of the breast and lungs, caus-
ed by heat, or sharp salt humours, and the pleurisy also. The
mucilage of the seed made with plantain water, whereunto the
yolk of an egg or two, and a little populeon are put, is a most
safe and sure remedy to ease the sharpness, pricking, and pains
of the haemorrhoids or piles, if it be laid on a cloth, and bound
thereto. It helpeth all inflammations in any part of the body,
and the pains that come thereby, as the head-ach and megrims,
and all hot imposthumes, swellings, or breaking out of the skin,
as blains, wheals, pushes, purples, and the like ; as also the joints
of those that are out of joint, the pains of the gout and sciatica,
the burstings of young children, and the swellings of the navel,
applied with oil of roses and vinegar. It is also good to heal the
nipples and sore breasts of women, being often applied there tin-

144 The English Physician Enlarged.

to. The juice of the herb with a little honey put into the ears
helpetb the running of them, and the worms breeding in them :
The same also mixed with hog’s grease, and applied to corrupt
and filthy ulcers, cleanseth them and healeth them.

FLUXWEED.

Descript.] Xt risetli up with a round upright' hard stalk, four
or five feet high, spreading into sundry branches, whereon grow
many greyish green leaves, very finely cut and severed into a
number of short and almost round parts. The flowers are very
small and yellow, growing spike fashion, after which come small
long pods, with small yellowish seed in them. The root is long
jijnd woody, perishing every year.

There is another sort, differing in nothing, save only it hath
somewhat broader leaves ; they have a strong evil savour, being
smelled unto, and are of a drying taste.

Place.] They gVow wild in the fields by hedge sides, and
highways, and among rubbish and other places.

Time.] They flower and seed quickly after, namely in June
and July.

Government and Virtues.] This herb is Saturnine also. Both
the herb and seed of fluxweed is of excellent use to stay the flux
or lask of the belly, being drank in water wherein gads of steel
heated have been often quenched ; and is no less effectual for
the same purpose than plantain or comfrey, and to restrain any
other flux of blood in man or woman, as also to consolidate bones
broken or out of joint. The juice thereof drank in wine, or the
decoction of the herb drank, doth kill the worms in the stomach
or belly, or the worms that grow in putrid and filthy ulcers:
and made into a salve doth quickly heal all old sores how foul or
malignant soever they be. The distilled water of the herb work-
eth the same effects, although somewhat weaker, yet it is a fair
medicine, and more acceptable to be taken. It is called flnxweed
because it cures the flux, and for its uniting broken bones, &c.
Paracelsus extols it to the skies. It is fitting that syrup, oint
ment and plaisters of it were kept in your houses.

The English Physician Enlarged. 145

FLOWER-© E EU € E.

Jt is so weir known, being nourished up m most gardens,
that I shall not need to spend time in writing a description
thereof.

Time.] The flaggy kinds thereof have the most physical
uses ; the dwarf kinds thereof flower in Apriir the greater sorts
in May.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is Lunar. The iuice or
decoction of the green, root or flaggy kind of flower-de-luce,
with a little honey drank, doth purge and cleanse the stomach
of gross and tough phlegm, and choler therein; it helpeth the
jaundice and the dropsy r evacuating those humours both up-
wards and downwards; and because it somewhat hurts the sto-
mach, is not to be taken without honey and spikenard. The
same being drank doth ease the pains and torments of the belly
and sides, the shaking of agues, the diseases of the liver and
spleen, the worms of the belly ; the stone in the reins, convulsions
and cramps that come of old humours ; it also helps those whose
seed passe th from them unawares; It is a remedy against the
bitings and stingings of venomous creatures*, being boiled in
water and vinegar and drank: boiled in? water and drank, it
provoketh urine, helpeth the cholic, bringeth down women's
courses; and made up into a pessary with honey, and put up in-
to the bodv, draweth forth the dead child. It is much commend-
ed against the cough, to expectorate tough phlegm; It much eas-
eth pains in the head, and procureth sleep; being put into the
nostrils it procureth sneezing, and thereby purgeth the head of
phlegm; the juice of the root applied to the piles or haemorr-
hoids, giveth much ease. The decoction of the roots gargled
in the mouth, casetb the tooth-aeh, and helpeth the stinking
breath. Oil called oleum irinum, if it be rightly made of the great
broad flag flower-de-luce, (and not of the great bulbous blue
flower-de-luce, as is used by some apothecaries) and the
roots of the same of the flaggy kinds, is very effectual to warm

No. 7. t

1 46 The English Physician Enlarged.

and comfort all cold joints and sinews, as also the gout and scia-
tica, and mollifieth dissolveth and* consumed] tumours and swell-
ings in any part of the body, as also of the matrix; it helpeth
the cramp, or convulsions of the sinews ; the head and temples
anointed therewith, helpeth the catarrh or thin rheum distilled
from thence; and used upon the breast or stomach, helpeth to
extenuate the cold tough phlegm; it helpeth also the pains and
noise in the ears, and the stench of the nostrils. The root itself,
either green or in powder, helpeth to cleanse, heal, and incarnate
wounds, and to cover the naked bones with flesh again, that ul-
cers have made bare ; and is also very good to cleanse and heal
up fistulas and cankers that are hard to be cured.

FLUELLIN, OR LLUELLIN.

Descript. ] It shoofceth forth many long branches, partly
lying upon the ground, and partly standing upright, set with al-
most red leaves, yet a little pointed, and sometimes more long
than round, without order thereon, somewhat hairy, and of an
evil greenish white colour ; at the joints all along the stalks, and
with the leaves come forth small flowers, one at a place, upon a
very small short footstalk, gaping somewhat like snap-dragons,
or rather like toad flax, with the upper jaw of a yellow colour,
and the lower of a purplish, with a small heel or spur behind;
after which come forth small round heads, containing small black
seed. The root is small and thready, dying every year, and rais-
eth itself again of its own sowing.

There is another sort of iiuellin which hath longer branches
wholly trailing upon the ground, two or three feet long, and
somewhat more thin, set with leaves thereon, upon small foot-
stalks. The leaves are a little larger, and somew hat round, and
cornered sometimes in some places on the edges ; but the lower
part of them being the broadest, hath on each side a small point,
making it seem as if they were ears, sometimes hairy, but not
hoary, and of a better green colour than the former. The flow*
ers come forth like the former, but the colours therein are more

The English Physician Enlarged. 147

white than yellow, and the purple net so fair: The dower is
large, and so are the seed and seed-vessels. The root is like
the other, and perisheth every year.

Place.] They grow abundantly in divers corn-fields, and in
borders about them, and in other fertile grounds about South-
fleet in Kent ; at Buehrite, Hamerton, and Richmanworth
in Huntingdonshire, and in divers other places.

Time.] They arc in flower about June and July, and the
whole plant is dry and withered before August be over.

Government and Virtues.] It is a Lunar herb. The leaves
bruised and applied with barley meal to watering eyes that are
hot and inflamed by deductions from the head, do very much
help them, as also the fluxes of blood or humours, as the lask,
bloody flux, women’s courses, and stay eth all manner of bleed-
ing at the nose, mouth, or any other place, or that cometh by
any bruise or hurt, or bursting a vein; it wonderfully helpeth
all those inward parts that need consolidating or strengthening,
and is no less effectual both to heal and close green wounds, and
to cleanse and heal all foul or old ulcers, fretting or spreading
cankers, or the like. Bees are industrious, and go abroad to
gather honey from each plant or flower, but drones lie at home,
and eat up what the bees have taken pains for: Just so do the
college of physicians lie at home and domineer, and suck out
the sweetness of other men’s labours and studies, themselves
being as ignorant in the knowledge of herbs as a child of four
years old, as I can make appear to any rational man by their
last dispensatory. Now then to hide their ignorance, there is no
readier way in the world than to hide knowledge from their
countrymen, that so no body might be able so much as to smell
out their ignorance. When simples were in use, men’s bodies
were better in health by far than now they are, or shall be, if the
college can help it. The truth is, this herb is of a fine cooling,
drying quality, and an ointment or plaister of it might do a man
a courtesy that hath any hot virulent sores; It is admirable for
the ulcers of the French pox; if taken inwardly, may cure the
disease. It was first called female speedwell, but a shentleman

148 7 he English Physician Enlarged.

of Wales, whose nose was almost eaten off with the pox, and so
near the matter, that the doctors commanded it to be cut off,
being cured only by the use of this herb; and to honour the
herb, for saving hur nose whole, gave it one of hur country
names, Fluellin.

FOXGLOVES.

Descript.7] J;T'hafh many long and broad leaves lying upon
the ground dented upon the edges, a little soft or woolly and of a
hoary green colour, among which riseth up sometimes sundry
stalks, but one very often, bearing such leaves thereon from
the bottom to the middle, from whence to the top it is stored
with large and long hollow reddish purple flowers, a little more
long and eminent at the lower edge, with some white spots with-
in them, oneahoveanother, with small green leaves at every one,
but all of them .turning their heads one way, and hanging down-
wards, having some threads also in the middle, from whence
rise round heads, pointed sharp at the ends, wherein small brown
seed lieth. The roots arc so many small fibres, and some great-
er strings among them.; the flowers have no scent, b tilth e leaves
have .a bitter hot taste.

\

Place J It groweth on dry sandy ground for the most part,
and as well on the higher as the lower places under hedge-sides
in almost every county of this land.

Time.] It seldom flowereth before July, and the seed is ripe
in August.

Government and Virtues .] The plant is under the dominion
of Venus, being of a gentle cleansing nature, and withal very
friendly to nature. The herb is familiarly and frequently used
by the Italians to heal any fresh or green wound, the leaves be-
ing but bruised and bound thereon; and thejuice thereof is also
used in old sores, to cleanse, dry, and heal them. The decoction
hereof made up with some sugar or honey, is available to cleanse
and purge the body both upwards and downwards, sometimes
oi tough phlegm and clammy humours, aud to open obstructions

' 1 - -

<r

o

••

■ V '• ■

\

The English Ptiysician Enlarged. 149

of the liver and spleen. It hath been found by experience to be
available for the king's evil, the herb bruised and applied, or an
ointment made with the juice thereof, and so used^ and a de-
coction of two handfuls thereof, with four ounces of polipody
in ale, hath been found by late experience to cure divers of the
falling sickness, that have been troubled with it above twenty
vears. I am confident that an ointment of it is one of the best
remedies for a scabby head that is.

FUMITORY.

Descript .] Our common fumitory is a tender sappy herb,
sending from one square, a slender weak stalk, and leaning
downwards on all sides, many branches two or three feet long,
with finely cut and jagged leaves of whitish, or rather blueish
sea green colour; At the tops of the branches stand many small
flowers, as it were in a long spike one above another, made like
little birds, of a reddish purple colour, with whitish bellies,
after which come small round husks, containing small black
seeds. The root is yellow, small, and not very long, full of
juice while it is green, but quickly perishes with the ripe
seed. In the corn-fields in Cornwall, it beareth white flowers.

Place .] It groweth in corn-fields almost every where, as
well as in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth in May, for the most part, and the seed
ripeneth shortly after.

Government and Virtues .] Saturn ovyns the herb, and presents
it to the world as a cure for his own disease, and strengthener
of the parts of the body lie rules. If by my astrological judg-
ment of diseases, from the decumbiture, you find Saturn author
of the disease, or if by direction from a nativity you fear a Sa-
turnine disease approaching, you may by this herb prevent it
in the one, and cure it in the other, and therefore it is fit you
keep a syrup of it always by you. The juice or syrup made
thereof, or the decoction made in whey by itself, with some

150 The English Physician Enlarged .

other purging or opening herbs and roots to cause it to work the
better (itself being but weak) is very effectual for the liver and
spleen, opening the obstructions thereof, and clarifying the
blood from saltish, choleric, and adust humours, which cause le-
prosy scabs, tetters, and itches, and such like breakings-out of
the skin, and after the purgings doth strengthen all the inward
parts. It is also good against the yellow jaundice, and spendeth
it by urine, which it procureth in abundance. The powder of
the dried herb given for some time together, cureth melancho-
ly, but the seed is strongest in operation for all the former dis-
eases. The distilled water of the herb is also of good effect in
the former diseases, and conduceth much against the plague and
pestilence, being taken with good treacle* The distilled wa-
ter also, with a little water and honey of roses, helpeth all the
sores of the mouth or throat, being gargled often therewith.
The juice dropped into the eyes, cleareth the sight, and tak-
eth away redness and other defects in them, although it pro-
cureth some pain for the present, and cause tears. Dioscor-
ides saith it hindereth any fresh springing of hairs on the eye-
lids (after they are pulled away) if the eye-lids be anointed with
the juice hereof, with gum arabic dissolved therein. The juice
of the fumitory and docks mingled with vinegar, and the places
gently washed or wet therewith, cureth all sorts of scabs, pim-
ples, blotches, wheals, and pushes which arise on the face or
hands, or any other parts of the body.

THE FURZE BUSH.

It is so well known by this name, as it is in some counties
by the name of gorz or whins, that I shall not need to write
any description thereof, my intent being to teach my country-
men what they know not, rather than tell them again of that
which is generally known before.

Place. ] They are known to grow on dry barren heaths, and
other waste, gravelly or sandy grounds, in all counties of this
land.

The English Physician Enlarged . 151

Time,] They also flower in the summer months.

Government and Virtues .] Mars owns the herb. They are
hot and dry, and open obstructions of the liver and spleen. A
decoction made with the flowers thereof hath been found effec-
tual against the jaundice, as also to provoke urine, and cleanse
the kidneys from gravel or stone engendered in them. Mars
doth also this by sympathy.

GARLICK.

The offensiveness of the breath of him that hath eaten gar-
lick, will lead you by the nose to the knowledge thereof, and (in-
stead of a description) direct you to the place where it groweth
in gardens, which kinds are the best, and most physical.

Government and Virtues .] Mars owns this herb. This was an-
ciently accounted the poor man’s treacle, it being a remedy for
all diseases and hurts (except those which itself breed.) It pro-
voketh urine and women’s courses, helpeth the biting of mad
dogs and other venomous creatures; killeth worms in children,
cutteth and voideth tough phlegm, purgeth the head, helpeth
the lethargy, is a good preservative against, and a remedy for
any plague, sore, or foul ulcer ; taketh away spots and blemishes
in the skin, easeth pains in the ears, ripeneth and breaketh im-
posthumes, or other swellings. And for all those diseases the
onions aie as effectual. But the garlic hath some more peculiar
v ir( ues besides the former, viz. it hath especial quality to discuss
inconveniences coming by corrupt agues or mineral vapours, or
by drinking corrupt and stinking waters; as also by taking wolf-
bane, hen-bane, hemlock, or other poisonous and dangerous
heibs. It is also held good in hydropic diseases, the jaundice,
falling sickness, cramps, convulsions, the piles or haemorrhoids,
or other cold diseases. Many authors quote many diseases this
is good for; but conceal its vices. Its heat is very vehement,
and all vehement hot things send up but ill favoured vapours to
the brain. In choleric men it will add fuel to the fire; in men
oppressed by melancholy, it will attenuate the humour, and send

152 The English Physician Enlarged,

up strong fancies, and as many strange visions to the head ;
therefore let it he taken inwardly with great moderation; out-
wardly you may make more bold with it.

GENTAIN, FELWORT, OR BALDMONY.

It is confessed that genfain, which is most used among us, is
brought over beyond sea, yet we have two sorts of it growing
frequently in our nation,. which, besides the reasons so fre-
quently alledged why English herbs should be fittest for English
bodies, hath been proved by the experience of divers physi-
cians, to be not a whit inferior in virtue to that which cometh
from beyond sea, therefore be pleased to take the description
of them as followeth :

Descript .] The greater of the two hath many small, long
roots, thrust down deep into the ground, and abiding all the
winter. The stalks are sometimes more, sometimes fewer, of a
brownish green colour, which is sometimes two feet high, if the
ground be fruitful, having many long, narrow, dark green leaves,
set by couples up to the top; the flowers are long and hollow,
of a purple colour, ending in fine corners. The smaller sort,
which is to be found in our land, groweth up with sundry stalks,
not a foot high, parted into several small branches, whereon
grow divers small leaves together, very like those of the lesser
centaury, of a whitish green colour; on the tops of these stalks
grow divers perfect blue flowers, standing in long husks, but
not so big as the other; the root is very small, and full of
threads.

Place .] The first groweth in divers places of both the east
and west countries, and as well in wet as in dry grounds; as
near Longfield by Gravesend ; near Cobham in Kent ; near
Lillinstone in Kent ; also in a chalk pit hard by a paper-mill, not
far from Dartford in Kent. The second groweth also in divers
places in Kent, as about Southfleet and Longfield; upon Bar-
ton’s hills in Bedfordshire; also not far from St. Alban’s; up-

The English Physician Enlarged. 143

on a piece of waste chalky ground, as you go out of Dunstable
way towards Gorhambury.

Time.] They flower in August.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of
Mars, and one of the most principal herbs he is ruler of. They
resist putrefactions, poison, and a more sure remedy cannot be
found to prevent the pestilence than it is; it strengthens the
stomach exceedingly, helps digestion* comforts the heart, and
preserves it against faintings and swoonings: The powder of
the dry roots helps the biting of mad dogs and venomous beasts,
opens obstructions of the liver, and restoreth an appetite of their
meat to such as have lost it. The herb steeped in wine, and the
wine drank, refresheth such as be over-weary with travel, and
grow lame in their joints, either by cold or evil lodgings ; it helps
stitches, and griping pains in the sides; is an excellent remedy
for such as are bruised by falls; it provokes urine and the terms
exceedingly, therefore let it not be given to women with child:
The same is very profitable for such as are troubled with cramps
and convulsions, to drink the decoction : Also they say it breaks
the stone, and helps ruptures most certainly; it is excellent in
all cold diseases,. and such as are troubled with tough phlegm,
scabs, itch, or any fretting sores and ulcers; it is an admirable
remedy to kill the worms, by taking half a dram of the powder in
m morning in any convenient liquor ; the same is excellent good
to be taken inwardly for the king's evil. It helps agues of all
sorts, and the yellow jaundice, as also the hots in cattle; when
kine are bitten on the udder by any venomous beast ; do but
stroke the place with the decoction of any of these, and it will
instantly heal them;.

CLOVE GILIJFLOWEII&

IT is in vain to describe an herb so Well known.

Government and Virtues.] They are gallant, fine temperate
flowers, of the nature and under the dominion of Jupiter ; yea,

No. 7. u

154 The English Physician Enlarged.

so temperate, that no excess, either in heat, cold, dryness, noi
moisture, can be perceived in them ; they are great strengthen-
ers both of the brain and heart, and will therefore serve either
for cordials or cephalics as your occasion will serve. There is
both a syrup and a conserve made of them alone, commonly to
be had at every apothecary's. To take now and then a little of
either, strengthens nature much, in such as are in consumptions.
They are also excellent good in hot pestilent fevers, and expel
poison.

GERMANDER.

Descript .] Common germander shooteth forth sundry
stalks, with small and somewhat round leaves, dented about
the edges. The flowers stand at the tops, of a deep purple
colour. The root is composed of divers sprigs, which shoot
forth a great way round about, quickly overspreading a gar-
den.

Place.] It groweth usually with us in gardens.

Time.] And flowereth in June and July.

Government and Virtues.] It is a most prevalent herb of Mer-
cury, and strengthens the brain and apprehension exceeding-
ly ; (you may see what human virtues are under Mercury, in the
latter end of my Ephemeris for 1652,) strengthens them when
weak, and relieves them when drooping. This taken w ith honey
(saith Dioscorides,) is a remedy for coughs, hardness of the
spleen, and difficulty of urine, and helpeth those that are fallen
into a dropsy, especially at the beginning of the disease, a de-
coction being made thereof when it is green, and drank. It also
bringeth down women's courses, and expelleth the dead child.
It is most effectual against the poison of all serpents, being
drank in wine, and the bruised herb outwardly applied ; used
with honey, it cleanseth old and foul ulcers; and made into an
oil, and the eyes anointed therewith, taketh away the dimness
and moistuess. It is likewise good for the pains in the sides and

The English Physician Enlarged. 1 55

cramps. The decoction thereof taken for four days together,
driveth away and cureth both tertian and quartan agues. It is al-
so good against ail diseases of the brain, as continual head ach,
felling sickness, melancholy, drowsiness and dulness of the spi-
rits, convulsions and palsies. A dram of the seed taken in powder
purgeth by urine, and is good against the yello w jaundice. The
juice of the leaves dropped into the ears killeth the worms in
them. The tops thereof, when they are in flower, steeped twen-
ty-four hours in a draught of white wine, and drank, killeth the
worms in the belly.

STINKING GLADWIN.

Descript .] TL HIS is one of the kinds of flower-de-luce, hav-
ing divers leaves arising from the roots, very like a flower-de-
luce, but that they are sharp-edged on both sides, and thicker
in the middle, of a deeper green colour, narrower and sharper
pointed, and a strong ill scent, if they be bruised between the
fingers. In the middle riseth up a reasonable strong stalk, a
yard high at the least, bearing three or four flowers at the top,
made somewhat like the flowers of the flower-de-luce, with
three upright leaves, of a dead purplish ash-colour, with some
veins discoloured in them : the other three do not fall down,

V

nor are the three other small ones so arched, nor cover the low-
er leaves as the flower-de-luce doth, but stand loose or asunder
from them. After they are past, there come up three square
hard husks, opening wide into three parts when they are ripe,
wherein lie reddish seed, turning black when it hath abiden
long. The root is like that of the flower-de-luce, but reddish
on the outside, and whitish within, very sharp and hot in the
taste, of as evil scent as the leaves.

Place .] This groweth as well in upland grounds, as in moist
places, woods, and shadowy places by the sea side in many
places of this land, and is usually nursed up in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth not -until July, and the seed is ripe in

156 The English Physician Enlarged.

August or September, yet the husks after they are ripe, open-
ing themselves, will hold their seed with them for two or three
months, and not shed them.

Government and Virtues.] It is supposed to be under the do->
minion of Saturn. It is used by many country people to purge*
corrupt phlegm and choler, which they do by drinking the de-
coction of the roots ; and some to make it more gentle, do bu?
infuse the sliced roots in ale; and some take the leave?
which serve well for the weaker stomachs; The juice ‘hereof
put up, or stuffed up the nose, causeth sneezing, and draweth
from the head much corruption ; and the powder thereof doth
the same. The powder thereof drank in wine, helpeth those
that are troubled with cramps and convulsions, or with the gout
and sciatica, and giveth ease to those that have griping pains in
their body and belly, and helpeth those that have the strangury.
It is given with much profit to those that have had long duxes
by the sharp and evil quality of humours, which it stayeth, hav-
ing first cleansed .and purged them by the drying and binding
property therein. The root boiled in wine and drank, doth effec-
tually procure women’s courses, and used as a pessary, worketh
the same effect, but causeth abortion in women with child. Half
a dram of the seed beaten to powder, and taken in wine, doth
speedily cause one to piss, which otherwise cannot. The same
taken with vinegar, dissolved) the hardness and swellings of the
spleen. The root is very effectual in all wounds, especially of
the head ; as also to draw forth any splinters, thorns, or broken
bones, or any other thing slicking in the flesh, without causing
pains, being used with a little verdigrease and honey, and the
great centaury root. The same boiled in vinegar, and laid upon
any tumour or swelling, doth very effectually dissolve and con-
sume them; yea even the swellings of the throat called the king’s
evil; the juice of the leaves or roots healeth the itch, and all
running or spreading scabs, sores, blemishes, or scars in the
skin, wheresoever they be.

5 ■

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The English Physician Enlarged. 157

GOLDEN HOD.

Descript.] HTVlIS ariseth up with brownish small round
stalks, two feet high, and sometimes more, having thereon many
narrow and long dark green leaves, very seldom with any dents
about the edges, or any stalks of white spots therein, yet they
are sometimes so found divided at the tops into many small bran-
ches, with divers small yellow flowers on every one of them,
all which are turned one way, and being ripe, do turn iutodown,
and are carried away by the wind. The root consists of many
small fibres, which grow not deep in the ground, butabideth all
the winter therein, shooting forth new branches every year, the
old ones lying down to the ground.

Place.] It groweth in the open places of woods and
copses, both moist and dry grounds, in many places of this
land.

Time.] It flowereth about the month of July.

Government and Virtues.] Venus claims the herb, and there-
fore to be sure it respects beauty lost. Arnoldus de Villa Nova
commends it much against the stone in the reins and kidneys,
and to provoke urine in abundance, whereby also the gravel
and stone may be voided. The decoction of the herb, green or
dry, or the distilled water thereof, is very effectual for inward
bruises, as also to be outwardly applied, it stayeth bleeding in
any part of the body, and-of wounds ; also the fluxes of humours,
the bloody flux, and women’s courses; and is no less prevalent,
in all ruptures or burstings, being drank inwardly, and out-
wardly applied. It is a sovereign wound herb, inferior to pone,
both for inward and outward hurts; green wounds, old sores
and ulcers, are quickly cured therewith. It is also of especial
use in all lotions for sores or ulcers in the mouth, throat, or
privy parts of man or woman. The decoction also helpeth to
fasten the teeth that are loose in the gums.

Jo8 The English Physician Enlarged .

GOUT* WORT, OR HERB GERRARD.

Descript.] Xt is a low herb, seldom rising half a yard
high, having sundry leaves standing on brownish green stalks
by threes, snipped about, and of a strong unpleasant savour:
The umbels of the flowers are white, and the seed blackish,
the root runneth in the ground, quickly taking a great deal of
room.

Place.] It groweth by hedge and wall-sides, and often in
the borders and corners of fields, and in gardens also.

Time.] It flowereth and seedeth about the end of July.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn rules it. Neither is it to
be supposed gout-wort hath its name for nojthing but upon ex-
periment to heal the gout and sciatica; as also joint-achs, and
other cold griefs. The very bearing of it about one easeth
the pains of the gout, and defends him that bears it from the
disease.

GROMEL.

Of this I shall briefly describe the kinds, which are prin-
cipally used in physic, the virtues whereof are alike, though
somewhat different in their manner and form of growing.

Descript.] The greater gromel groweth up with slender hard
and hairy stalks, trailing and taking root in the ground, as it
lieth thereon, and parted into many other small branches with
hairy dark green leaves thereon. At the joints with the leaves
come forth very small blue flowers, and after them hard stony
roundish seed. The root is long and woody, abiding the winter,
and shooteth forth fresh stalks in the spring.

The smaller wild gromel sendeth forth divers upright hard
branched stalks, two or three feet high, full of joints, at every
one of which groweth small, long, hard, and rough leaves like
the f rmer, but lesser ; among which leaves come forth

The English Physician Enlarged. 159

small white flowers, and after them greyish round seed
like the former; the root is not very big, but with many
strings thereat.

The garden gromel hath divers upright, slender, woody,
hairy stalks, blown and cressed, very little branched, with leaves
like the foimer, and white flowers; after which in rough brown
husks, is contained a white, hard, round seed, shining like pearls,
and greater than either of the former; the root is like the first
described, with divers branches and sprigs thereat, which con-
tmueth (as the first doth) all the winter.

Place.] The two first grow wild in barren or untilled places,
and by the way sides in many places of this land. The last is a
nursling in the gardens of the curious.

Time.] They all flower from Midsummer until September,
sometimes, and in the mean time the seed ripeneth.

Government and Virtues.] The herb belongs to Dame Venus;
and therefore if Mars cause the cholic or stone, as usually he
doth if in Virgo, this is your cure. These are accounted to be
of as singular force as any herb or seed whatsoever, to break
the stone and to void it, and the gravel either in the reins or
bladder, as also to provoke urine, being stopped, and to help
the strangury. The seed is ot greater use, being bruised and
boiled in white wine or in broth, or the like, or the powder of
the seed taken therein. Two drams of the seed in powder tak-
en with women s breast milk, is very effectual to procure a very
speedy delivery to such women as have sore pains in their tra-
vail, and cannot be delivered : The herb itself, (when the seed
is to be had) either boiled, or the juice thereof drank, is effec-
tual to all the purposes aforesaid, but not so powerful or speedy
in operation.

GOOSEBERRY BUSH.

C/ALLED also feadberry, and in Sussex dewberry-bush, and
in some counties wineberrv.

Government and Virtues.] They are mder the dominion of

160 The English Physician Enlarged.

Venus The berries, while they are unripe, being sealded, or
baked, are good to stir up a fainting or decaying appetite, es-

pecially such whose stomachs are afflicted by choleric humours:

They are excellent good to stay longings of women with child.
You may keep them preserved with sugar all the year long.
The decoction of the leaves of the tree cools hot swellings
and inflammations ; as also St. Anthony’s fire. The ripe
gooseberries being eaten, are an excellent remedy to allay the
violent heat both of the stomach and liver. The young and
tender leaves break the stone, and expel gravel both from the
kidneys and bladder. All the evils they do to the body of man
is, they are supposed to breed crudities, and by crudities,
worms.

WINTER-GREEN.

seven, eight, or nine leaves

from a small brown creeping root, every one standing upon a
long foot-stalk, which are almost as broad as long, round point-
ed, of a sad green colour, and hard in handling, and like the
leaf of a pear-tree; from whence ariseth a slender weak stalk,
yet standing upright, bearing at the top many small white sweet-
smelling flowers, laid open like a star, consisting of five round
pointed leaves, with many yellowish threads standing in the
middle about a green head, and a long stalk with them, which in
time groweth to be the seed-vessel, which being ripe is found
five square, with a small point at it, wherein is contained seed
as small as dust.

Place.] It groweth seldom in fields, but frequently in
the woods northwards, viz. in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and
Scotland.

Time.] It flowereth about June and July.

Government and Virtues.] Winter green is under the domi-
nion of Saturn, and is a singular good wound herb, and an es-
pecial remedy for to heal green wounds speedily, the green

The English Physician Enlarged. 161

■L1 m— it1 n imMBgsMamEaaBnwMWWMBMinni i

leaves being bruised and applied, or the juice of them. A salve
made of the green herb stamped, or the juice boiled with hog's
lard, or with salad oil and wax, and some turpentine added unto
it, is a sovereign salve, and highly extolled by the Germans,
who use it to heal all manner of wounds and sores. The herb
boiled in wine and water, and given to drink to them that have
any inward ulcers in their kidneys, or neck of the bladder, doth
wonderfully help them* It stayeth all fluxes, as the lask, bloody
fluxes, women’s courses, and bleeding of wounds, and taketb
away any inflammations rising upon pains of the heart r it is no
less helpful for foul ulcers, hard to be cured ; as also for cankers
or fistulas. The distilled water of the herb doth effectually per-
form the same things.

, GROUNDSEL.

De script .] Our common groundsel hath a round green and
somewhat brownish stalk, spreading toward the top into branch-
es, set with long and somewhat narrow green leaves, cut in on
the edges, somewhat like the oak leaves, but lesser and round
at the end. At the tops of the branches stand many small green
heads, out of which grow many smalh yellow threads or thumbs,
which are the flowers, and continue many days blown in that
manner, before it pass away into down, and, with the seed, is
carried away in the wind. The root is small and thready, and
soon perisbeth, and as soon riseth again of its own sowing, so
that it may be seen many months in the year, both green and
in flower, and seed ; for it will spring and seed twice in a year
at least, if it be suffered in a garden*

Place .] This groweth almost every where, as well on tops of
walls, as at the foot, amongst rubbish and untilled grounds,
but especially in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth, as is said before, almost in every month
throughout the year.

Government and Virtues .] This herb is Venus’s mistress-
No. 7. X

162 The English Physician Enlarged.

piece, and is as gallant and universal a medicine for all diseases
corning of heat, in what part of the body soever they be, as the
sun shines upon ; it is very safe and friendly to the body of man ;
yet causeth vomiting if the stomach be afflicted; if not, purg-
ing ; and it doth it with more gentleness than can be expected ;
it is moist, and something cold withal, thereby causing expul-
sion, and repressing the heat caused by the motion of the inter-
nal parts in purges and vomits. Lay bv our learned receipts,
** take so much sena, so much scammony, so much colocynthis,

so much infusion of crocus metallorum,” &c. ; this herb alone

\

served in a syrup, in a distilled water or in an ointment, shall
do the deed for you in all hot diseases, and, shall do it, 1. Safe-
ly, 2. Speedily.

The decoction of the herb (saith Dioscorides) made with
wine, and drank, helpeth the pains of the stomach, proceeding
of choler, (which it may well do by a vomit) as daily experience
sheweth. The juice thereof taken in drink, or the decoction of
it in ale, gently performeth the same. It is good against the
jaundice ami failing sickness, being taken in wine; as also
against difficulty of making water. It provokes urine, expelleth
gravel in the reins or kidneys, a dram thereof given in oxymel,
after some walking or stirring of the body. It helpeth also the
sciatica, griping of the belly, the cholic, defects of the liver,
and provoketh women’s courses. The fresh herb boiled, and
made into a poultice, applied to the breasts of women that are
swollen with pain and heat, as also the privy parts of man or
woman, the seat or fundament, or the arteries, joints and sinews,
when they are inflamed and swollen, doth much ease them ; and
used with some salt, helpeth to dissolve knots or kernels in any
part of the body. The juice of the herb, or (as Dioscorides
saith) the leaves and flowers, with same fine fiankincence in
powder, used in wounds of the body, nerves or sinews, doth
singularly help to heal them. The distilled water of the herb
performeth well all the aforesaid cures, but especially for in-
flammations or watering of the eyes, by reason of the defluction
of rheum unto them.

The English Physician Enlarged . 163

HEARTSEASE.

T HIS is that herb, which such physicians as are licensed to
plaspheme by authority, without danger of having their tongues
burned through with an hot iron, call an herb of the Trinity.
It is also called by those that are more moderate, three faces in
a hood, live in idleness, cull me to you; and in Sussex we call
them pancies.

Place.\ Besides those which are brought up in gardens,
they grow commonly wild in the fields, especially in such as
are very barren : sometimes you may find it on the tops of the
high hills.

Time.] They flower all the spring and summer long.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is really Saturnine,
something cold, viscous, and slimy. A strong decoction of the
herbs and flowers (if you will, you may make it into syrup) is
an excellent cure for the French-pox, the herb being a gallant
anlivenerean; and that antivenereans are the best cure for that
disease, far better and safer than to torment them with the flux,
divers foreing physicians have confessed. The spirit of it is ex-
cellent good for the convulsions in children, as also for the fall-
ing sickness, and a gallant remedy for the inflammation of the
lungs and breasts, pleurisy, scabs, itch, &c. It is under the ce-
lestial ^ign cancer.

ARTICHOKES.

The Latins call them cinera, only our college calls them
antichocus.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of
\enus, and therefore it is no marvel if they provoke lust, as
indeed they do, being something windy meat ; and yet they stay
the involuntary course of natural seed in man, w hich is com-
monly called nocturnal pollutions. And here I care not greatly
if I quote a little of Galen’s nonsense in his treatise of the facul-

t ; ' K *y _ \ * ♦

164 The English Physician Enlarged .

ties of nourishment. He saith, they contain plenty of choleric
juice (which notwithstanding I can scarcely believe) of which
he saith is engendered melancholy j uice, and of that melancholy
juice thin choleric blood. But to proceed ; this is certain that
the decoction of the root boiled in wine, or the root bruised and
distilled in w ine in an alembic, and being drank, purgeth by.urioe
exceedingly.

HARTS-TONGUE.

*

This hath divers leaves arising from the root every one se-
verally, which fold themselves to their first springingand spread-
ing: when they are full grown, are about a foot long, smooth
and green above, but hard and with little sap in them, and
streaked on the back, thwart on both sides of the middle rib,

with small and somewhat long and brownish marks ; the bottoms

*

of the leaves, are a little bowed on each side of the middle rib^

>

somewhat narrow with the length, and somewhat small at the
end. The root is of many black threads, folded or interlaced
together.

Time.] It is green all the winter ; but new' leaves spring
every year.

Government and Virtues.] Jupiter claims dominion over this
herb, therefore it is a singular remedy for the liver, both to
strengthen it when w eak, and to ease it when afflicted, you shall
do well to keep it in a syrup all the year : for though authors say
it is green all the year, 1 scarce believe it. Hart’s tongue is
much commended against the hardness and stoppings of the
spleen and liver, and against the heat of the liver and stomach,
and against lasks, and the bloody dux* The distilled water
thereof is also very good against the passions of the heart, and
to stay hiccough, to help the falling of the palate, and to stay
the bleeding of the gums, being gargled in th*. mouth. DioS-
corides saith, it is good against the stinging or biting of ser-
pents. As for the use of it, my direction at the latter end will

'Sfr...Ut

' ' <■ »y> < y.'u

/

\

>■-

*

I

The English Physician Enlarged . 165

be sufficient, and enough for those that are studious in physic,

to whet their brains upon for one year or two.

>

HAZEL-NUT.

H AZEL nuts are so well known to every body, that they
need no description.

Government and Virtues. ] They are under the dominion of
Mercury. The parted kernels made into an electuary, or the
milk drawn from the kernels with mead or honeyed water, is
very good to help an old cough ; and being parched, and a little
pepper put to them and drank, divesteth the distillations of
rheum from the head. The dried husks and shells, to the weight
of two drams, taken in red wine, stayeth lasks and women's
courses, and so doth the red skin that covers the kernels, w hich
is more effectual to stay women’s courses.

And if this be true, as it is, then why should the vulgar so
familiarly affirm, that eating nuts causeth shortness of breath,
than which nothing is falser? For, how can that which strength-
ens the lungs, cause shortness of breath? I confess, the opinion
is far oider than I am ; I knew tradition w as a friend to error be-
fore, but never that he was the father of slander: Or are men’s
tongues so given to slandering one another, that they must
slander nuts too, to keep their tongues in use? If any thing
of the hazel nut be stopping, it is the husks and shells, and no-
body is so mad to eat them, unless physically ; and the red skin
which covers the kernel, you may easily pull off. And so thus
have I made an apology for nuts, which cannot speak for them-
selves.

HAWK-WEED.

Descript.] It hath many large leaves lying upon the ground,
much rent or torn on the sides into gashes like dandelion, but
with greater parts, more like the smooth sow thistle, from

166 The English Physician Enlarged.

among which riseth a hollow, rough stalk, two or three feet
high, branched from the middle upward, whereon are set at
every joint longer leaves, little or nothing rent or cut, bearing
on their top sundry pale, yellow flowers, consisting of many
small, narrow' leaves, broad pointed, and nicked in at the ends,
set in a double row or more, the outermost being larger than the
inner, which form most of the hawk- weeds (for there are many
kinds of them) which turn into down, and, with the small brown-
ish seed, is blown away with the wind. The root is long, and
somewhat greater, with many small fibres thereat. The whole
plant is full of bitter milk.

Place .] It groweth in divers places about the field sides, and
the path-ways in dry grounds.

Time.] It floweret h and flieth away in the summer months.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn ow ns it. Haw k-weed (saith
Dioscorides) is cooling, somewhat drying and binding, and
therefore good for the heat of the stomach, and gnaw ings t here-
in; for inflammations, and the hot fits of agues. The juice
thereof in w'ine, helpeth digestion, discusseth wind, hindereth
crudities abiding in the stomach, and helpeth the difficulty of
making w ater, and biting of venomous serpents, and stinging of
the scorpion, if the herb be also outw ardly applied to the place,
and is very good against all other poisons. A scruple of the
dried root given in wine and vinegar, is profitable for those that
have the dropsy. The decoction of the herb taken w ith honey,
digesteth the phlegm in the chest or lungs, and with hyssop
helpeth the cough. The decoction thereof, and of wild succory,
made with w'ine, and taken, helpeth the wind cholic and hard-
ness of the spleen ; it procureth rest and sleep, hindereth venery
and venerous dreams, cooling heats, purgeth the stomach, in-
creased! blood, and helpeth the diseases of the reins and blad-
der. Outwardly applied, it is singularly good for all the defects
and diseases of the eyes, used with some women’s milk ; and
is used with good success in fretting or creeping ulcers, espe-
cially in the beginning. The green leaves bruised , and with

i

The English Physician Enlarged \ 167

a little salt applied to any place burnt with fire, before blis-
ters do arise, helpeth them; as also inflammations, St. Antho-
ny’s fire, and all pushes and eruptions, hot and salt phlegm.
The same applied with meal and fair water in manner of a poul-
tice, to any place, affected with convulsions and the cramp, such
as are out of joint, doth give help and ease. The distilled wa-
ter cleanseth the skin, and taketh away freckles, spots, mor-
phew, or wrinkles in the face.

hawthorn.

It is not my intent to trouble you with a description of this
tree, which is so well known that it needetli none. It is ordina-
rily but a hedge bush, although being pruned and dressed, it
groweth to a tree of a reasonable height.

As for the hawthorn tree at Glastenbury, which is said to
flower yearly on Christmas-day, it rather shews the superstition
of those that observe it for the time of its flowering, than any
great wonder, since the like may be found in divers other places
of this land; as in Whey-street in Romney Marsh, and near
unto Nantwich in Cheshire, by a place called White Green,
where it flowereth about Christmas and May. If the weather be

frosty, it flowereth not until January, or until the hard weather
be over.

Government and Virtues.] It is a tree of Mars. The seeds
in the berries beaten to powder being drank in wine, are held
singular good against the stone, and are good for the dropsy.
The distilled water of the flowers stayeth the lask. The seed
cleared from the down, bruised and boiled in wine, and drank,
is good for inward tormenting pains. If clothes and spunges be
wet in the distilled water, and applied to any place wherein
thorns and splinters or the like, do abide in the flesh, it will
notably draw them forth.

And thus you see the thorn gives a medicine for his own
pricking, and so doth almost every thing else.

168 The English Physician Enlarged.

HEMLOCK.

J Descript.] The common great hemlock groweth up with
a green stalk, four or five feet high, or more, full of red spots
sometimes, and at the joints very large winged leaves set at
them, which are divided into many other winged leaves one set
against the other, dented about the edges, of a sad green
colour, branched towards the top, where it is full of umbels
of white flowers, and afterwards with whitish flat seed: The
root is long, white, and sometimes crooked, and hollow
within. The whole plant, and every part hath a strong, heady,
and ill-savoured scent, much offending the senses.

Place.] It groweth in all countries of this land,, by walls and
hedge-sides, in waste grounds and ’inti lied places,

Time.] It flovvereth and seedetn in July, or thereabouts.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn claims dominion over this
herb, yet I wonder why it may not be applied to the privities in
a priapism, or continual standing of the yard, it being very be-
neficial to that disease; I suppose, my author’s judgment was
first upon the opposite disposition of Saturn to Venus in those
faculties, and therefore he forbad the applying of it to those
parts, that it might not cause barrenness, or spoil the spirit pro-
creative; wdiich if it do, yet applied to the privities, it stops its
lustful thoughts. Hemlock is exceedingly cold, and very dan-
gerous, especially to be taken inwardly. It may safely be ap-
plied to inflammations, tumours, and swellings in any part of
the body, (save the privy parts) as also to St. Anthony’s fire,
wheals, pushes, and creeping ulcers that arise of hot sharp hu-
mours, by cooling and repelling the heat ; the leaves bruised
and laid to the brow or forehead are good for their eyes that
are red and swollen ; as also to take away a pin and web grow-
ing in the eye; this is a tried medicine; Take a small handful
of this herb, and half as much bay salt, beaten together, and
applied to the contrary wrist of the hand for 24 hours^ doth

The English Physician Enlarged.

1 69

remove it in thrice dressing. If the root thereof be roasted
uuder the embers, wrapped in double wet paper, until it be soft
and tender, and then applied to the gout in the hands or fingers,
it will quickly help this evil. If any through mistake eat the
herb hemlock instead of parsley, or the roots instead of par-
snip (both of which it is very like) whereby happeneth a kind
of frenzy, or perturbation of the senses, as if they were stupid
and drunk, the remedy is (as Pliny saith) to drink of the best
and strongest pure wine, before it strikes to the heart, or

P 9 au^ht of vinegar, wherewith

Tragus doth affirm, that he cured a woman that had eaten the
root.

HEMP.

rin

• HIS is so well known to every good house-wife in the coun-
ty* that I shall not need to write any description of it.

Time.] It is sown in the end of March or beginning of April,
and is ripe in August or September.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Saturn, and good
tor something else, you see, than to make halters only. The
seed of hemp consumeth wind, and by too much use thereof
dispei seth it so much, that it drieth up the natural seed for pro-
creation ; yet, being boiled in milk, and taken, helpeth such as
have a hot dry cough. The Dutch make an emulsion out of
the seed, and give it with good success to those that have the
jaundice, especially in the beginning of the disease, if there be
no ague accompanying it, for it openeth obstructions of the
gall, and causeth digestion of choler. The emulsion or decoc-
tion of the seed stayeth lasks and continual fluxes, easeth the
cholic, and allayeth the troublesome humours in the bowels,
and stayeth bleeding at the mouth, nose, or other places, some
of the leaves being fried with the blood of them that bleed, and
so given them to eat. It is held very good to kill the worms in
men or beasts ; and the juice dropped into the ears killeth worms
in them, and draweth forth earwigs, or other living creatures

No. 8. v

170 The English Physician Enlarged.

gotten into them. The decoction of the root ailaycth inflamma-
tions of the head, or any other parts : the herb itself, or the dis-
tilled \Vater thereof, doth the like. The decoction of the roots
easeth the pains of the gout, the hard humours or knots in the
joints, the pains and shrinkings of the sinews, and the pains of
the hips. The fresh juice mixed with a little oil and butter, is
good for any place that hath been burnt with fire, being thereto
applied.

HENBANE.

Descript.] OuR common henbane hath very large, thick,
soft woolly leaves, lying on the ground, much cut in, or torn on
the edges, of a dark, ill greyish green colour ; among which
arise up divers thick and short stalks, two or three feet high,-
spread into divers small branches, with lesser leaves on them,
and many hollow flowers, scarcely appearing above the husks,
and usually torn on one side, ending in five round points,
growing one above another, of a deadish yellow colour, some-
what paler towards the edges, with many purplish veins therein,
and of a dark, yellowish purple in the bottom of the flower,
with a small point of the same colour in the middle, each of
them standing in a hard close husk, which after, the flowers are
past, groweth very like the husk of asarabacca, and somewhat
sharp at the top points, wherein is contained much small seed,
very like poppy seed, but of a dusky, greyish colour. The
root is great, white, and thick, branching forth divers ways
under ground, so like a parsnip root, (but that it is not so
white) that it hath deceived others. The whole plant more
than the root, hath a very heavy, ill, soporiferous smell, some-
what offensive.

Place.] It commonly groweth by the way-sides, and under
hedge-sides and walls.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and springeth again yearly of
its own seed. I doubt my authors mistook July for June, if
not for May.

The English Physician Enlarged. 171

Government and Virtues .] I wonder how astrologers could
take on them to make this an herb of Jupiter; and yet Mezal-
dus, a man of penetrating brain, was of that opinion as well as
the rest; the herb is indeed under the dominion of Saturn, and
1 prove it by this argument : All the herbs which delight most to
grow in Saturnine places, are Saturnine herbs. But henbane
delights most to grow in Saturnine places, and whole cart loads
of it may be found near the places where they empty the com-
mon jacques, and scarce a ditch to be found without it growing
by it : Ergo, it is an herb of Saturn. The leaves of henbane do
cool all hot inflammations in the eyes, or any other part of the
body ; and are good to assuage all manner of swellings of the
cods, or women's breasts or elsewhere, if they be boiled in
wine, and either applied themselves, or the fomentation warm ;
it also assuageth the pain of the gout, the sciatica, and other
pains in the joints, which arise from a hot cause. And applied
with vinegar to the forehead and temples, helpeth the head ache
and want of sleep in hot fevers. The juice of the herb or seed,
or the oil drawn from the seed, does the like. The oil of the
seed is helpful for deafness, noise, and worms in the ears, being
dropped therein; the juice of the herb or root doth the same.
The decoction of the herb or seed, or both, killeth lice in
man or beast. The fume of the dried herb, stalks and seed,
burned, quickly healeth swellings, chilblains or kibes in the
hands or feet, by holding them in the fume thereof. The reme-
dy to help those that have taken henbane is to drink goat's milk,
honeyed water, or pine kernels, with sweet wine; or, in the ab-
sence of these, fennel seed, the seed of cresses, mustard, or
raddish ; as also onions or garlic taken in wine, do all help to
free them from danger, and restore them to their due temper
again.

Take notice, that this herb must never be taken inwardly ;
outwardly, an oil, ointment, or plaister of it, is most admirable
for the gout, to cool the venereal heat of the reins in the French
pox; to stop the tooth ache, being applied to the aching

172 The English Physician Enlarged.

KH

side; to allay all inflammations, and to help the diseases before
promised.

HEDGE HYSSOP.

Descript.] Divers sorts there are of this plant; the first
of which is an Italian by birth, and only nursed up here in the
gardens of the curious. Two or three sorts are found common-
ly growing wild here, the description of two of which I shall
give you. The first is a smooth, low plant, not a foot high,
very bitter in taste, with many square stalks, diversely branched
from the bottom to the top, with divers joints, and two small
leaves at each joint, broader at the bottom than they are at the
end, a little dented about the edges, of a sad green colour, and
full of veins. The flowers stand at the joints, being of a fair
purple colour, with some white spots in them, in fashion like
those of dead nettles. The seed is small and yellow, and the
roots spread much under ground.

The second seldom groweth half a foot high, sending up many
small branches, whereon grow many small leaves, set one
against the other, somewhat broad, but very short. The flow-
ers are like the flowers of the other fashion, but of a pale red-
dish colour. The seeds are small and yellowish. The root
spreadeth like the other, neither will it yield to its fellow one
ace of bitterness.

Place.] They grow in wet low grounds, and by the water-
sides; the last may be found among the bogs on Hamstead
heath.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and the seed is ripe
presently after.

Government and Virtues.] They #re herbs of Mars, and as
choleric and churlish as he is, being most violent purges, es-
pecially of choler and phlegm. It is not safe taking them in-
wardly, unless they be well rectified by the art of the alchymist,
and only the purity of them given; so used they may be very
helpful both for the dropsy, gout, and sciatica; outwardly used

173

The English Physician Enlarged.

m ointment they kill worms, the belly anointed with it, and are
excellent good to cleanse old and filthy ulcers.

BLACK HELLEBORE.

J T is called setter-wort, setter-grass, bear’s-foot, Christmas-
herb, and christmas-flower.

Descript .] It hath sundry, fair, green leaves rising from the
root, each of them standing about an handful high from the
eaith; each leat is divided into seven, eight, or nine parts,
dented from the middle of the leaf to the point on both sides'
abiding green all the winter, about Christmas time, if the wea-
ther be any thing temperate, the flowers appear upon foot-stalks,
also consisting of five large, round, white leaves a-piece, which
sometimes are purple towards the edges, with many pale yellow
thumbs m the middle; the seeds are divided into several cells,
like those of columbines, save only that they are greater; the
seeds aie in colour black, and in form long and round. The
loot consisteth of numberless blackish strings all united into one
head. There is another black hellebore, which grows up and
down in the woods very like this, but only that the leaves

are smaller and narrower, and perish in the winter, which this
doth not.

Place.] The first is maintained in gardens. The second
is commonly found in the woods in Northamptonshire.

Time.] The first fiowereth in December or January : the
second in February or March.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Saturn, and there-
fore no marvel if it hath some sullen condition with it, and
would be far safer being purified by the art of the alchymist than
given raw. If any have taken any harm by taking it, the com-
mon cure is to take goat's milk : if you cannot get goat's milk,
you must make shift with such as you can get. The roots are
very effectual against all melancholy diseases, especially, such
as are of long standing, as quartan agues and madness; it helps

174 The English Physician Enlarged .

the falling sickness, the leprosy, both the yellow and black jaun-
dice, the gout, sciatica, and convulsions ; and this was found out
by experience, that the root of that which groweth wild in our
country, works not so churlishly as those do which are brought
from beyond sea, as being maintained by a more temperate air.
The root used as a pessary, provokes the terms exceedingly ;
also being beaten into powder, and strewed upon foul ulcers, it
consumes the dead flesh, and instantly heals them; nay, it will
help gangrenes in the beginning. Twenty grains taken inwardly
is a sufficient dose for one time, and let that be corrected with
half so much cinnamon ; country people used to rowel their cat-
tle with it. If a beast be troubled with a cough, or have taken
any poison, they bore a hole through his ear, and put a piece
of the root iir it, this will help him in 24 hours. Many other
uses farriers put it to which I shall forbear.

HERB ROBERT.

Descript.] Jt riseth up with a reddish stalk, two feet high,
having divers leaves thereon upon very long and reddish foot-
stalks, divided at the ends into three or five divisions, each of
them cut in on the edges, some deeper than others, and all dent-
ed likewise about the edges, which sometimes turn reddish. At
the tops of the stalks come forth divers flowers made of five
leaves, much larger than the dove's foot, and of a more reddish
colour; after which come black heads, as in others. The root
is small and thready, and smelleth as the whole plant, very strong,
almost stinking.

Place.] This groweth frequently every where by the way-
sides, upon ditch banks and waste grounds wheresoever one
goeth.

Time.] It flowereth in June or July chiefly, and the seed is
ripe shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Venus.
Herb robert is commended not only against the stone, but to stay

175

*1 he English Physician Enlarged,

blood, where or howsoever flowing ; it speedily healeth all green
wounds, and ineffectual in old ulcers in the privy parts, or else-'
where. You may persuade yourself this is true, and also conceive
a good reason for it, if you do but consider it is an herb of Venus,
for all it hath a man’s name.

HERB TRUE-LOVE, OR ONE-BERRY.

Descript. ] ORDINARY herb true-love, hath a small creep-
ing root running under the uppermost crust of the ground, some-
what like couch grass root, but not so white, shooting forth stalks
with leaves, some whereof carry no berries, the others do ; every
stalk smooth without joints, and blackish green, rising about half
a foot high, if it bear berries, otherwise seldom so high, bearing
at the top four leaves set directly one against another, in manner
>f a cross or ribband tied (as it is called) in a true-love’s knot,
which are each of them apart somewhat like unto a nightshade
leaf, but somewhat broader, having sometimes three leaves,
sometimes five, sometimes six, and those sometimes greater than
in others; in the middle of the four leaves riseth up one small
slender stalk, about an inch high, bearing at the tops thereof
one flower spread open like a star, consisting of four small and
long narrow pointed leaves of a yellowish green colour, and four
others lying between them lesser than they ; in the middle where-
of stands a round dark purplish button or head, compassed about
with eight small yellow mealy threads with three colours, mak-
ing it the more conspicuous, and lovely to behold. This but-
ton or head in the middle, when the other leaves are withered,
becometh a blackish purple berry, full of juice, of the bigness
of a reasonable grape, having within it many white seeds. The
whole plant is without any manifest taste.

Place .] It groweth in woods and copses, and sometimes in the
corners or borders of fields, and waste grounds in very many pla-
ces of this land, and abundantly in the woods, copses, and other
places about Chislehurst and Maidstone in Kent.

1 '(> The English Physician Enlarged .

m

Time.] They spring up in the middle of April or May, and
are in flower soon after. The berries are ripe in the end of
May, and in some places in June.

• Government and Virtues .] Venus owns it; the leaves or ber-
ries hereof are effectual to expel poison of all sorts, especially
that of the aconites ; as also the plague, and other pestilential
disorders : Matthiolus saith, that some that have lain long in lin-
gering sickness, and others that by witchcraft (as it was thought)
were become half foolish, by taking a dram of the seeds or ber-
ries hereof in powder every day for 20 days together, were re-
stored to their former health. The roots in powder taken in wine,
easetli the pains of the cholic speedily. The leaves are very ef-
fectual, as well for green wounds, as to cleanse and heal up fil-
thy old sores and ulcers ; and are very powerful to discuss all
tumours and swellings in the cods, privy parts, the groin, or in
any part of the body, and speedily to allay all inflammations.
The juice of the leaves applied to felons, or those nails of the
hands or toes that have imposthumes or sores gathered together
at the roots of them, healeth them in a short space. This herb
is not to be described for the premises, but is fit to be nourished
in every good woman’s garden.

HYSSOP.

JjLYSSOP is so well known to be an inhabitant in every gar-
den, that it will save me labour in writing a description thereof.

The virtues are as follow:

Temperature and Virtues.] The herb is Jupiter’s, and the

sign Cancer. It strengthens all the parts of the body under

Cancer and Jupiter; which what they may be, is found amply
discussed in my astrological judgment of diseases. Dioscorides
saith that hyssop boiled with rue and honey, and drank, helpeth
those that are troubled with coughs, shortness of breath, wheez-
ing and rheumatic distillations upon the lungs ; taken also with
oxymel, it purgeth gross humours by stool; and with honey
killeth worms in the belly ; and with fresh and new figs bruised.

The English Physician Enlarged.

TTrrnTi' ■ x ....

helpet l. to loosen the belly, and more forcibly if the root of ffow-
er-de- uce, and cresses be added thereto. It amended, and che-
risheth the native colour of the body, spoiled by the yellow jaun-
d,ce; and betng taken with figs a„d nitre, helped! the dropsy
and spleen ; be.ng boiled with wine, it is good to wash inflamma-
dons, and taketh away the black and blue spots, and marks that
come y s ro es, bruises, or falls, being applied with warm wa-
er. It ,s an excellent medicine for the quinsy, or swelling i„ ,hp
throat, to wash and gargle it, being boiled in figs; it ^ tl]e

tooth-ache, being boded in vinegar and gargled therewith. The
hot vapours of the decoction taken by a funnel in at the ears
easern the inflammations and singing noise of them. Bein" bruis’
et , and salt, honey, and cummin seed put to it, helped, those that
are stung by serpents. The oil thereof (the head being anointed)

ed, bee, and taketh away itching of the head. It helped,
ose that have the falling sickness, which way soever it be ap
• helped, to expectorate tough phlegm, and is effect,,-
‘ ‘a “'I C°,d Snefs or disea^s of chest or lungs, being ,a.

:;T;:rv or i,ckmg medicine- The *««* ^

and a little sugar put thereto doth quickly heal anv cut or
green wound, being thereunto applied.

nr i

1 HESE

HOPS.

are so well known that they need no description • I
mean the manured kind, which every good husband or hou’se-
wire is acquainted with.

Descript. ] The wild hop groweth up as the other doth, ram-
ping upon trees or hedges, that stand next to them, with road,
ranches and leaves like the former but it giveth smaller heads
and ,n far less plenty than it, so that there is scarce a head or

two seen a year on divers of this wild kind, wherein consisted,
the chief difference.

Place.] They delight to grow in low moist grounds, and are

found in all parts of this land.

Time.] They spring not up until April, and flower not until

Z

178 The English Physician Enlarged.

the latter end of June ; the heads are not gathered until the mid-
dle or latter end of September.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of
Mars. This, in physical operations, is to open obstructions of
the liver and spleen, to cleanse the blood, to loosen the belly,
to cleanse the reins from gravel, and provoke urine. The de-
coction of the tops of hops, as well of the tame as the wild,
worketh the same effects. In cleansing the blood they help to
cure the French disease, and all manner of scabs, itch, and over
breakings-out of the body ; as also all tetters, ringworms, and
spreading sores, the morphew, and all discolouring of the
skin. The decoction of the flowers and tops do help to expel
poison that any one hath drank. Half a dram of the seed in
powder taken in drink, killeth worms in the body, bringeth
down women's courses, and expelleth urine. A syrup made
of the juice and sugar, cureth the yellow jaundice, easeth the
head-ache that comes of heat, and tempereth the heat of the
liver and stomach, and is profitably given in long and hot agues
that rise in choler and blood. Both the wild and the manured
are of one property, and alike effectual in all the aforesaid
diseases. By all these testimonies beer appears to be better
than ale.

Mars owns the plant, and then Dr. Reason will tell you how
it performs these actions.

HOREHOUND.

Descript.] COMMON horehound groweth up with square
hairy stalks, half a yard or two feet high, set at the joints with
two round crumpled rough leaves of a sullen hoary green co-
lour, of a reasonable good scent, but a very bitter taste. The
flowers are small, white, and gaping, set in a rough, hard prick-
ly husk round about the joints, with the leaves from the middle
of the stalk upward, wherein afterward is found small round
blackish seed. The root is blackish, hard and woody, with ma-
ny strings, and abideth many years.

■

¥/ '

-■

The English Physician Enlarged . 17,9

Ptaee.] It is found in many parts of this land, in dry
grounds, and waste green places.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mercury. A
decoction of the dried herb, with the seed, or the juice of the
green herb taken with honey, is a remedy for those that are
short-winded, have a cough, or are fallen in a consumption,
either through long sickness, or thin distillations or rheum upon
the lungs. It helpeth to expectorate tough phlegm from the
chest, being taken from the roots of Iris or Orris. It is given
to women to bring down their courses, to expel their after-
birth, and to them that have sore and long travails; as also to
those that have taken poison, or are stung or bitten by venomous
serpents. The leaves used with honey, purge foul ulcers, stay
running or creeping sores, and the growing of the flesh over
the nails. It also helpeth pains of the sides. The juice thereof
with wine and honey, helpeth to clear the eye-sight, and snuffed
lip into the nostrils, purgeth away the yellow jaundice, and with
a little oil of roses dropped into the ears, easeth the pains of
them. Galen saith, it openeth obstructions both of the liver
and spleen, and purgeth the breast and lungs of phlegm ; and
used outwardly it both cleanseth and digesteth. A decoction of

V

horehound (saith Matthiolus) is available for those that have
hard livers, and for such as have itches and running tetters.
The powder hereof taken, or the decoction, killeth worms.
The green leaves bruised, and boiled in old hog’s grease into
an ointment, healeth the biting of the dogs, abateth the swellings
and pains that come by any pricking of thorns, or such like
mean; and used with vinegar cleanseth and healeth tetters.
There is a syrup made of horehound to be had at the apothe-
caries, very good for old coughs, to rid the tough phlegm; as
also to void cold rheums from the lungs of old folks, and for
those that are asthmatic or short-winded.

HORSETAIL.

(3f that there are many kinds, but I shall not trouble you

180 The English Physician Enlarged.

nor myself with any large description of them, which to do,
were but, as the proverb is, To find a knot in a rush, all the
kinds thereof being nothing else but knotted rushes, some with
leaves and some without. Take the description of the most
eminent sort as followeth :

Descript .] The great horsetail, at the first springing, hath
heads somewhat like those of asparagus, and after grow to be
hard, rough, hollow stalks jointed at sundry places up to the
top, a foot high, so made as if the lower parts were put into
the upper, where grow on each side a bush of small long rush-
like hard leaves, each part resembling a horsetail, from whence
it is called so. At the tops of the stalks come forth small cat-
kins, like those of trees. The root creepeth under ground
having joints at sundry places.

Place ,] This (as most of the other sorts hereof) groweth in
wet grounds.

Time.~\ They spring up in April, and their blooming catkins
in July, seeding for the most part in August, and then perish
down to the ground, rising afresh in the spring.

Government and Virtues .] The herb belongs to Saturn, yet
is very harmless, and excellent good for the things following:
Horsetail, the smoother rather than the rough and the leaved
rather than the bare, is most physical. It is very powerful to
staunch bleeding either inward or outward, the juice of the de-
coction thereof being drank, or the juice, decoction, or dis-
tilled water applied outwardly. It also stayeth all sorts of lasts
and fluxes in man or woman, and the pissing of blood; and
healeth also not only the inward ulcers, and the excoriation of
the entrails, bladder, &c. but all other sorts of foul, moist,
and running ulcers, and soon soldereth together the tops of
green wounds. It cureth all ruptures in children. The de-
coction thereof in wine being drank, provoketh urine, and
helpeth the stone and strangury ; and the distilled water thereof
drank two or three times in a day, and a small quantity at a
time, also easeth the entrails or guts, and is effectual against a
oough that comes by distillation from the head. The juice or

The English Physician Enlarged, 181

distilled water being warmed, and hot inflammations, pustules
or red wheals and other breakings out in the skin, being bathed
therewith, doth help them, and doth no less ease the swelling
heat and inflammation of the fundament, or privy parts in men
and women.

HOUSELEEK, OR SENGREEN.

Both these are so well known to my countrymen that I
shall not need to write any description of them.

Placed It groweth commonly upon walls and house-sides,
and flowereth in July.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Jupiter, and it is
reported by Mezaldus, to preserve what it grows upon from
fire and lightning. Our ordinary houseleek is good for all in-
ward heats as well as outward, and in the eyes or other parts of
the body ; a posset made with the juice of houseleek, is singular
good in all hot agues, for it cooleth and tempereth the blood and
spirits, and quencheth the thirst ; and is also good to stay all hot
deductions or sharp and salt rheums in the eyes, the juice being
dropped into them, or into the ears, helpeth them. It helpeth
also other fluxes of humours in the bowels, and the immoderate
courses in women. It cooleth and restraineth all other hot in-
flammations, St. Anthony’s fire, scaldings and burnings, the
shingles, fretting ulcers, cankers, tetters, ringworms, and the
like; and much easeth the pains of the gout proceeding from a
hot cause. The j uice also taketh away warts and corns in the
hands or feet, being often bathed therewith, and the skin and
leaves being laid on them afterwards. It easeth also the head-
ache, and distempered heat of the brain in phrenzies, or through
want of sleep, being applied to the temples and forehead. The
leaves bruised and lain upon the crown or seam of the head,
stayeth bleeding at the nose very quickly. The distilled water
of the herb is profitable for all the purposes aforesaid. The
leaves being gently rubbed on any place stung with nettles or
bees, doth quickly take away the pain.

182 The English Physician Enlarged .

HOUND S TONGUE.

Descript .] TLllE great ordinary hound’s tongue hath many
long and somewhat narrow, soft, hairy, darkish green leaves,
lying on the ground, somewhat like unto buglos leaves, from
amongst which riseth up a rough hairy stalk about two feet
high, with some smaller leaves thereon, and branched at the
tops into divers parts, with a small leaf at the foot of every
branch, which is somewhat long, with many flowers set along
the same, which branch is crooked or turned inwards before it
flowereth, and openeth by degrees as the flower doth blow,
which consists of small purplish red leaves of a dead colour
rising out of the husks wherein they stand with some threads
in the middle. It hath sometimes a white flower. After the
flowers are past, there corneth rough flat seed, with a small
pointal in the middle, easily cleaving to any garment that it
toucheth, and not so easily pulled off again. The root is black,
thick, and long, hard to break, and full of clammy juice, smell-
ing somewhat strong, of an evil scent, as the leaves also do.

Place.] It groweth in most places of this land, in waste
grounds, and untilled places, by highway-sides, lanes, and
hedge-sides.

Ttme.~\ It flowereth about May or June, and the seed is
ripe shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant under the dominion
of Mercury. The root is very effectually used in pills, as well
as the decoction, or otherw ise, to stay all sharp and thin deduc-
tions of rheum from the head into the eyes, or nose, or upon the
stomach or lungs, as also for coughs and shortness of breath. The
leaves boiled in wine (saith Dioscorides, but others do rather ap-
point it to be made with water, and to add thereto oil and salt)
moilifieth or openeth the belly downwards. It also helpeth to
cure the biting of a mad dog, some of the leaves being also ap-
plied to the wound: The leaves bruised, or the juice of them
boiled in hog’s lard, and applied, helpeth the falling away of the

J/or/r 16 O

rfhe English Physician Enlarged. 183

liUif, which cometh of hot and sharp humours; as also for any
place that is scalded or burnt ; the leaves bruised and laid to any
green wound doth heal it up quickly ; the root baked under the
embers, wrapped in paste or wet paper, or in wet double cloth,
and thereof a suppository made, and put up into or applied to the
fundament, doth very effectually help the painful piles or
haemorrhoids. The distilled water of the herbs and roots is very
good to all the purposes aforesaid, to be used as well inwardly
to drink, as outwardly to wash any sore place, for it healeth all
manner of wounds and punctures, and those foul ulcers that
arise by the French pox. Mizaldus adds that the leaves laid
under the feet, will keep the dogs from barking at you. It is
called hound’s tongue, because it ties the tongues of hounds;
whether true or not, I never tried, yet I cured the biting of
a mad dog with this only medicine.

HOLLY, HOLM, OR HULVER BUSH,

For to describe a tree so well known is needless.

Government and Virtues.] The tree is Saturnine. The berries
expel wind, and therefore are held to be profitable in the cholic.
The bei 1 ies have a strong faculty with them ; for if you eat a do-
zen of them in the morning fasting when they are ripe and not
dried, they purge the body of gross and clammy phlegm ; but if
xou dry the berries, and, beat them into powder, they bind the
bod}'? stop fluxes, hloody-fluxes, and the terms in women.
The Lai k of the tree, and also the leaves, are excellent good,
being used in fomentations for broken bones, and such members
as aie out of joint. Pliny saith the branches of the tree defend
houses from lightning, and men from witchcraft.

ST. JOHN’S WORT.

Descript] C oMMON St. John’s wort shooteth forth brown-
ish, upright, hard, round stalks, two feet high, spreading many
branches from the sides up to the tops of them, with two small
leaves set one against another at every place, which are of a deep

184 The English Physician Enlarged.

green colour, somewhat like the leaves of the lesser centaury,
but narrow, and full of small holes in every leaf, which cannot
be so well perceived, as when they are held up to the light; at
the tops of the stalks and branches stand yellow flowers of five
leaves a-piece, with many yellow threads in the middle, which
being bruised, do yield a reddish juice like blood: after which
come small round heads, wherein is contained small blackish
seed, smelling like rosin. The root is hard and woody, with
divers strings and fibres at it, of a brownish colour, which
abideth in the ground many years, shooting anew every
spring.

Place.} This growcth in woods and copses, as well those
that are shady, as open to the sun.

Time.} They flower about midsummer and July, and their
seed is ripe in the latter end of July or August.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the celestial sign Leo,
and the dominion of the Sun. It may be, if you meet a Papist,
he will tell you, especially if he be a lawyer, that St. John made
it over to him by a letter of attorney. It is a singular wound
herb; boiled in wine and drank, it healeth imvard hurts or
bruises ; made into an ointment, it opens obstructions, dissolves
swellings, and closes up the lips of wounds. The decoction of
the herb and flowers, especially of the seed, being drank in
w ine, with the juice of knot-grass, helpeth all manner of vomit-
ing and spitting of blood, is good for those that are bitten or
stung by any venomous creature, and for those that cannot make
water. Two drams of the seed of St. John's wort made into
powder, and drank in a little broth, doth gently expel choler
or congealed blood in the stomach. The decoction of the leaves
and seeds drank somewhat warm before the fits of ajmes, whe-
tlier they be tertians or quartans, alters the fits, and, by often
using, doth take them quite away. The seed is much commend-
ed, being drank for forty days together, to help the sciatica,
the tailing sickness, and the palsy.

The English Physician Enlarged . 185

IVY.

It is so well known, to every child almost, to grow in woods
upon the trees, and upon the stone walls of churches, hou-
ses, &c. and sometimes to grow alone of itself, though but
seldom.

Time.] It flowereth not until July, and the berries are not
ripe till Christmas, when they have felt winter frosts.

i

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of
Saturn. A pugil of the flowers, which may be about a dram,
(saith Dioscorides) drank twice a day in red wine, helpeth the
lask, and bloody-flux. It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews,
being much taken inwardly, but very helpful unto them, being
outwardly applied. Pliny saith, the yellow berries are good
against the jaundice ; and taken before one be set to drink hard,
preserved! from drunkenness, and helpeth those that spit blood ;
and that the white berries being taken inwardly, or applied out-
wardly, killeth worms in the belly. The berries are a sin-
gular remedy to prevent the plague, as also to free them from it
that have got it, by drinking the berries thereof made into a
powder, for two or three days together. They being taken in
wine, do certainly help to break the stone, provoke urine, and
women’s courses. The fresh leaves of ivy, boiled in vinegar,
and applied warm to the sides of those that are troubled with the
spleen, ach, or stitch in the sides, do give much ease : The
same applied with some rose-water, and oil of roses, to the
temples and forehead, easeth the head-ach, though it be of long
continuance. The fresh leaves boiled in wine, and old filthy
ulcers hard to be cured washed therewith, do wonderfully help
to cleanse them. It also quickly healeth green wounds, and is
effectual to heal all burnings and sealdings, and all kinds of ex-
ulcerations coming thereby, or by salt phlegm or humours in
other parts of the body. The jiuce of the berries or leaves
snuffed up into the nose, purgeth the head and brain of thin
rheum that maketh deductions into the eyes and nose, and cureth
JNo. 8. a a

186 The English Physician Enlarged .

the ulcers and stench therein ; the same dropped into the ears,
helpeth the old and running sores of them ; those that are trou-
bled with the spleen, shall find much ease by continual drink-
ing out of a cup made of ivy, so as the drink may stand some
small time therein before it be drank. Cato saith, that wine
put into such a cup, will soak through it,. by reason of the an-
tipathy that is between them.

There seems to be a very great antipathy between wine and
ivy ; for if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, his
speediest cure is to drink a draught of the same wine where-
in a handful of ivy leaves, being first bruised, have been
boiled.

JUNIPER BUSH.

For to give a description of a bush so commonly known is
needless.

Place. ] They grow plentifully in divers woods in Kent,
Warney Common near Brentwood in Essex, upon Finchley
Common without Highgate; hard by the New-found Wells
near Dulwich, upon a Common between Mitcham and Croy-
don, in the Highgate, near Amershain in Buckinghamshire, and
many other places.

Time.] The berries are not ripe the first year, but continue
green two summers and one winter before they are ripe ; at
which time they are all of a black colour, and therefore you shall
always find upon the bush green berries ; the berries are ripe
about the fall of the leaf.

Government and Virtues .] This admirable Solar shrub is
scarce to be paralleled for its virtues. The berries are hot in
the third degree, and dry but in the first, being a most admirable
counter poison, and as great resister, of the pestilence, as any that
grows ; they are excellent good against the bitings of venomous
beasts; they provoke urine exceedingly, and therefore are very
available to dysuries and stranguries. It is so powerful a remedy
against the dropsy, that the very lee made of the ashes of the

The English Physician Enlarged 187

herb being drank, cures the disease. It provokes the terms,
helps the fits of the mother, strengthens the stomach exceeding-
ly, and expels the wind. Indeed there is scarce a better remedy
for wind in any part of the body, or the cholic, than the chy-
mical oil drawn from the berries ; such country people as know
not how to draw the chymical oil, may content themselves by
eating ten or a dozen of the ripe berries every morning fasting.
They are admirable good for a cough, shortness of breath, and
consumption, pains in the belly, ruptures, cramps, and convul-
sions. They give safe and speedy delivery to women with child,
they strengthen the brain exceedingly, help the memory, and
fortify the sight by strengthening the optic nerves; are excel-
lent good in all sorts of agues ; help the gout and sciatica, and
strengthen all the limbs of the body. The ashes of the wood is
a speedy remedy to such as have the scurvy, to rub their gums
with. The berries stay all flnxes, help the haemorrhoids or piles,
and kill worms in children. A lee made of the ashes of the
wood, and the body bathed with it, cures the itch, scabs and
leprosy. The berries break the stone, procure appetite when
it is lost, and are excellent good for all palsies, and falling-
sickness,

KIDNEYWORT, OR WALL PENNYROYAL, OR
WALL PENNYWORT.

Descript.'] Xt hath many thick, flat, and round leaves grow-
ing from the root, every one having a long foot-stalk fastened un-
derneath, about the middle of it, and a little unevenly weaved
sometimes about the edges, of a pale green colour, and some-
what yellow on the upper side like a saucer : from among which
rise one or more tender, smooth, hollow stalks half a foot high,
with two or three small leaves thereon, usually not round us those
below, but somewhat long, and divided at the edges; the tops
are somewhat divided into long branches, bearing a number
of flowers, set round about a long spike one above another,
which are hollow and like a little bell of a whitish green colour,
after which come small heads, containing very small brownish

188 The English Physician Enlarged.

seed, which falling on the ground, will plentifully spring up be-
fore winter, if it have moisture. The root is round and most
usually smooth, greyish without, and white within, having
small fibres at the head of the root, and bottom of the
stalk.

? Place.] It groweth very plentifully in many places of this land,
but especially in all the west parts thereof, upon stone and mud
walls, upon rocks also, and in stony places, upon the ground,
at the bottom of old trees, and sometimes on the bodies of them
that are decayed and rotten.

Time.] It usually Aowereth in the beginning of May, and the
seed i ipeneth quickly after, shedding itself ; so that about t lie end
of May, usually the leaves and stalks are withered, dry, and
gone until September, that the leaves spring up again, and so
abide all winter.

Government and Virtues .] Venus challengeth the herb under
Libra. The juice or the distilled water being drank, is very
effectual for all inflammations, and unnatural heats, to cool a
fainting hot stomach, a hot liver, or the bowels ; the herb,
juice, or distilled water whereof, outwardly applied, healeth
pimples, St, Anthony’s fire, and other outward heats. The
said juice or water helpeth to heal sore kidneys, torn or fretted
by the stone, or exulcerated within; it also provoketh urine, is
available for the dropsy, and helpeth to break the stone. Being
used as a bath, or made into an ointment, it cooleth the painful
piles or haemorrhoidal veins. It is no less effectual to give ease
in pains of the hot gout, the sciatica and the inflammations and
swellings in the cods; it helpeth the kernels or knots in the
neck or throat, called the king’s evil ; healeth kibes and chil-
blains if they be bathed with the juice, or anointed with oint-
ment made thereof, and some of the skin of the leaf upon them •
it is also used in green wounds to stay the blood, and to heal
them quickly.

KNAPWEED.

Descript .] The common sort hereof hath many long and

The English Phycieian Enlarged . 189

somewhat broad dark green leaves, rising from the root, dented
about the edges, and sometimes a little rent or torn on both sides
in two or three places, and somewhat hairy withal ; amongst
which ariseth a long round stalk four-or five feet high, divided
into many branches, at the tops whereof stand great scaly green
heads, and from the middle of them thrust forth a number of
dark purplish red thrums or threads, w hich after they are with-
ered and past, there are found divers black seeds, lying in a great
deal of down, somewhat like unto thistle seed, but smaller; the
root is w hite, hard and woody, and divers fibres annexed there-
unto, which perishet-h not, but abideth w ith leaves thereon all
the winter, shooting out fresh every spring.

Place.'] It groweth in most fields and meadows, and about
their borders and hedges, and in many w aste grounds also every
where.

Time.] It usually flowereth in June and July, and the seed
is ripe shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn challengeth the herb for
his own. The knapweed helpeth to stay fluxes, both of blood
at the mouth or nose, or other outward parts, and those veins
that are inwardly broken, or inward wounds, as also the fluxes
of the belly ; it stayeth distillations of thin and sharp humours
from the head upon the stomach and lungs ; it is good for those
that are bruised by any falls, blows, or otherwise, and is pro-
fitable for those that are bursten, and have ruptures, by drinking
the decoction of the herb and roots in wine, and applying the
same outwardly to the place. It is singularly good for all run-
ning sores, cancerous or fistulous, drying up the moisture and
healing them up gently, without sharpness; it doth the like to
running sores or scabs of the head or other parts. It is of spe-
cial use for the soreness of the throat, swelling of the uvula and
jaws, and excellent good to stay bleeding, and heal up all green
wounds.

■» . * • J J » ' ; i

KNOTGRASS.

It is generally known so well that it needeth no description.

1.90 The English Physician Enlarged .

Place .] It groweth in every county of this land, by the
highway sides, and by foot-paths in fields; as also by the sides
of old walls.

Time^\ It springeth up late in the spring, and abideth until
the winter, when all the branches perish.

Government and Virtues .] Saturn seems to me to own the
herb, and yet some hold the Sun ; out of doubt ’tis Saturn. The
juice of the common kind of knotgrass is most effectual to stay
bleeding of the mouth, being drank in steeled or red wine ; and
the bleeding at the nose, to be applied to the forehead or
temples, or to be squirted up into the nostrils. It is no less ef-
fectual to cool and temper the heat of the blood and stomach,
and to stay any flux of the blood and humours, as lask, bloody-
flux, women’s courses and running of the reins. It is singular
good to provoke urine, help the strangury, and allay the heat
that cometh thereby ; and is powerful by urine to expel the
gravel or stone in the kidneys and bladder, a dram of the powder
of the herb being taken in wine for many days together; Being
boiled in wine and drank, it is profitable to those that are stung
or bitten by venomous creatures and very effectual to stay all
deductions of rheumatic humours upon the stomach, and killeth
worms in the belly or stomach, quieteth inward pains that arise
from the heat, sharpness and corruption of blood and choler.
The distilled water hereof taken by itself or with the powder
of the herb or seed, is very effectual to all the purposes aforesaid,
and is accounted one of the most sovereign remedies to cool all
manner of inflammation, breaking out through heat, hot swel-
lings and imposthumes, gangrene and fistulous cankers, or foul
filthy ulcers, being applied or put into them ; but especially for
all sorts of ulcers and sores happening in the privy parts of men
or women. It helpeth all fresh and green wounds, and speedily
heaietli them. The juice dropped in the ears, cleanseth them
being foul, and having running matter in them.

It is very prevalent for the premises ; as also for broken joints
and ruptures.

The English Physician Enlarged. 191

lADYS MANTLE,

Descript.} Lrhath many leaves rising from the root standing
upon long hairy foot-stalks, being almost round, and a little cut
on he edges, into eight or ten parts, making it seem like a star,

'V‘ ‘ S° “any t0,ners or P°ints> and dented round about, of a

l\ ! fee,,,C0l°JUr’ somewhat in handling, and as it were
toWed or plmted at first, and then crumpled in divers places,

a little hairy, as the stalk is also, which riseth up among

them to he height of two or three feet; and being weak, is not

able to stand upright, but bendeth to the ground, divided at the

op into two or three small branches, with small yellowish green

heads, and flowers of a whitish colour breaking out of them;

" 11C ‘ be‘"g past> there cometh a small yellowish seed like a
poppy seed : The root is somewhat long and black, with ma-
ny strings and fibres thereat.

Place.] It groweth naturally in many pastures and wood

If Zand ’ WiltShhe’ and Kent’ — P’aces

Tmc.] It flowereth in May and June, and abideth after
seed-time green all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] Venus claims the herb as her
own. Lady’s mantle is very proper for those wounds that have
inflammations, and is very effectual to stay bleeding, vomitings,
fiuxes of all sorts, bruises by falls or otherwise, and helpeth
ruptures ; and such women or maids as have over great flavin-
reasts, causing them to grow less and hard, being both drank
and outwardly applied ; the distilled water drank for 20 days
together helpeth conception, and to retain the birth; if the
woman do sometimes also sit in a bath made of the decoction
o the herb. It is one of the most singular wound herbs, and
therefore highly prized and praised by the Germans, who
use it-in all wounds inward and outward, to drink a decoction
thereof, and wash the wounds therewith, or dip tents therein,
and put them into the wounds, which wonderfully drieth up all

192 lr/te English Physician Enlarged.

humidity of the sores, and abateth inflammations therein. It
quickly healeth all green wounds, not suffering any corruption
to remain behind, and cureth all old sores, though fistulous and
hollow.

LAVENDER.

Being an inhabitant almost in every garden, it is so well
known, that it needeth no description.

Time.] It flowereth about the end of June, and beginning
of July.

Government and Virtues.] Mercury owns the herb, and
it carries his effects very potently. Lavender is of a special
good use for all the griefs and pains of the head and brain that
proceed of a cold cause, as the apoplexy, falling sickness, the
dropsy, or sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and
often faiiitings. It strengthens the stomach, and freeth the liver
and spleen from obstructions, provoketh women’s courses, and
expelleth the dead child and after-birth. The flowers of laven-
der steeped in wine, helpeth them to make water that are stop-
ped, or are troubled with the wind or cholic, if the place be
bathed therewith. A decoction made with the flowers of laven-
der, horehound, fennel, asparagus root, and a little cinnamon,
is very profitably used to help the falling sickness, and the
giddiness or turning of the brain ; to gargle the mouth with the
decoction thereof, is good against the tooth-ach. Two spoon-
fuls of the distilled water of the flowers taken, helpeth them
that have lost their voice, as also the tremblings and passions
of the heart, and faintings and swooning, not only being drank,
but applied to the temples, or nostrils to be smelt unto; but
it is not safe to use it where the body is replete with blood
and humours, because of the hot and subtile spirits wherewith
it is possessed. The chymical oil drawn from lavender, usuall}
called oil of spike, is of so fierce and piercing a quality, that it
is cautiously to be used, some few drops being sufficient,
to be given with other things, either for inward or outward
griefs.

The English Physician Enlarged . 193

LAVENDER COTTON.

XT being a common garden herb, I shall forbear the descrip-
tion, only take notice, that it flovvereth in Jnne and July
Government and Virtues. ] It is under the dominion of Mer-
cuiy. It resisteth poison, putrefaction, and heals the bitings
of venomous beasts : A dram of the powder of the dried leaves
taken every morning fasting, stops the running of the reins in
men, and whites in women. The seed beaten into powder, and
taken as worm-seed, kills the worms, not only in children, but
also m people of riper years ; the like doth the herb itself, being
steeped m rnilk, and the milk drank; the body bathed with the
decoction of it, helps scabs and itch.

LADY S-SMOCK, OR CUCKOW-FLOWERS.

Descript .] The root is composed of many small white
threads, from whence spring up divers long stalks of winged
leaves, consisting of round, tender, dark green leaves, set one
against another upon a middle rib, the greatest being at the end,
amongst which arise up divers tender, weak, round, green stalks^
somewhat streaked, with longer and smaller leaves upon them,
on the tops of which stand flowers, almost like the stock giili-
flowers, but rounder, and not so long, of a blushing, white co-
lour; the seed is reddish, and groweth to small bunches, being
of a sharp biting taste, and so hath the herb.

Place.] They grow in moist places, and near to brook-
sides.

Time.] They flower in April and May, and the lower leaves
continue green all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of the
Moon, and very little inferior to water cresses in all their ope-
rations; they are excellent good for the scurvy; they provoke
urine, and break the stone, and excellently warm a cold and

weak stomach, restoring lost appetite, and help digestion.

No. 9. Bb

194

The English Physician Enlarged.

LETTUCE.

Tt is so well known, being generally used as a salad-herb,
that it is altogether needless to write any description thereof.

Government and Virtues .] The Moon owns them, and that
is the reason they cool and moisten what heat and dryness Mars
causeth, because Mars hath his fall in Cancer; and they cool
the heat because the Sun rules it, between whom and the
Moon is a reception in the generation of men, as you may see
in my guide for women. The juice of lettuce mixed or boiled
with oil of roses, applied to the forehead and temples procureth
sleep, and easetli the head-ach proceeding of an hot cause:
Being eaten boiled, it helpeth to loosen the belly. It help-
eth digestion, quencheth thirst, increaseth niiik in nurses,
easeth griping pains in the stomach or bowels, that come of
choler. It abateth bodily lust, represseth venereous dreams,
being outwardly applied to the cods with a little camphire. Ap-
plied in the same manner to the region of the heart, liver
or reins, or by bathing the said place with the juice of distilled
water, wherein some white sanders, or red roses are put ; also
it not only represseth the heat and inflammations therein, but
comforts and strengthens those parts, and also tempereth the
heat of urine. Galen adviseth old men to use it with spice;
and where spices are wanting, to add mints, rochet, and such
like hot herbs, or else citron, lemon, or orange seeds, to
abate the cold of one and heat of the other. The seed and dis-
tilled water of the lettuce work the same effects in all things ;
but the use of lettuce is chiefly forbidden to those that are
shortwinded, or have any imperfection in the lungs, or spit
blood.

WATER LILY.

Of these there are two principally noted kinds, viz. the white
and the yellow.

Descript.'] The white lily hath very large and thick, dark

The English Physician Enlarged. 195

green leaves tying on the water, sustained by long and thick
foot-stalks, that arise from a great, thick, round, and long tu-
berous black root, spungy or loose, with many knobs thereon,
like eyes, and whitish within ; from amidst which rise other the
like thick, green stalks, sustaining one large great flower there-
on, green on the outside, but as white as snow within, con-
sisting of diveis rows of long and somewhat thick and narrow
leaves, smallei and thinner tne more inward they be, encompass-
ing a head with many yellow threads or thrums in the middle ;
where, after they are past, stand round poppy-like heads, full
of broad, oily and bitter seed.

The yedow kind is little different from the former, save only
that it hath fewer lea ves on the flowers, greater and more shin-
ing seed, and a whitish root, both within and without. The
root of both is somewhat sweet in taste.

Place.] They are fouud growimg in great pools, and stand-
ing w ate is, anti sometimes in slow running rivers, and lesser
ditches of water, in sundry places of this land.

Time.] They flower more commonly about the end of May,
and their seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is under the dominion
of tne moon, and therefore cools and moistens like the former.
The leaves and flowers of the water lily are cold and moist,
but the roots and seeds are cold and dry ; the leaves do cool all
inflammations; both outward and inward heat of agues; and so
doth the flowers also, either by the syrup or conserve ; the syrup
helpeth much to procure rest, and to settle the brain of frantic
persons, by cooling the hot distemperature of the head. The
seed as well as the root is effectual to stav fluxes of blood or hu-
mours, either of wounds or of the belly: but the roots are
most used, and more effectual to cool, bind, and restrain all
fluxes in man or woman; also running of the reins, and passing
away of the seed w hen one is asleep ; but the frequent use here-
of extinguisheth venereous actions. The root is likewise very
good for those w hose urine is hot and sharp, to be boiled in wine
and water, and the decoction drank. The distilled water of the

196 The English Physician Enlarged .

wmsmmmmtmmMBmmmmiBBKMBmmmvm * mit'mmmmsmmammKammxssmaa^snfmasaiMixaaaimt

flowers is very effectual for all the diseases aforesaid, both in
wardly taken, and outwardly applied, and is much commended
to take away freckles, spots, sunburn, and morphew from the
face, or other parts of the body. The oil made of the flowers,
as oil of roses is made, is profitably used to cool hot tumours,
and to ease the pains, and help the sores.

LILY OF THE VALLEY,

C^ALLED also conval lily, male lily, and lily constancy.

j Descript.] The root is smSll, and creepeth far in the ground,
as grass roots do. The leaves are many, against which riseth
up a stalk half a foot high, with many white flowers, like little
bells with turned edges, of a strong, though pleasing smell; the
berries are red, not much unlike those of asparagus.

Place .] They grow plentifully upon Hamstead-heath, and
many other places of this nation.

Time.'] They flower in May, and the seed is ripe in Septem-
ber.

Temperature and Virtues . It is under the dominion of Mer-
cury, and therefore strengthens the brain, recruits a weak me-
mory, and makes it strong again : The distilled water dropped
into the eyes, helps inflammations there; as also that infirmity
which they call a pin and web. The spirit of the flowers distilled
in wine, restoreth lost speech, helps the palsy, is exceedingly
good in the apoplexy, and comforteth the heart and vital spirits.
Gerrard saith, that the flowers being close stopped up in a glass,
put into an ant-hill, and taken away again a month after, ye
shall find a liquor in the glass, which, being outwardly applied,
helps the gout.

WHITE LILIES.

~M|— “"ra

JLT were in vain to describe a plant so commonly known in
every one’s garden ; therefore I shall not tell you what they are,
but what they are good for.

Government and Virtues.] They are under the dominion of

The English Physician Enlarged .

107

the Moon, and by antipathy to Mars expel poison; they are ex-
cellently good in pestilential fevers, the roots being bruised and
boiled in wine, and the decoction drank ; for it expels the venom
to the exterior parts of the body : The juice of it being tempered
with barley meal, baked, and so eaten for ordinary bread, is an
excellent cure for the dropsy. An ointment made of the root
and hog’s grease, is excellent good for scald heads, unites the
sinews when they are cut, and eleanses ulcers. The root boiled
in any convenient decoction, gives speedy delivery to women in
travail, and expels the after-birth. The root roasted, and
mixed with a little hog’s grease, makes a gallant poultice to
lipen and break plague-sores. The ointment is excellent good
for swellings in the privites, and will cure burnings and scald-
ngs without a scar, and trimly deck a blank place with hair.

LIQUORICE.

Descript,] O UR English liquorice riseth up with divers
woody stalks, whereon are set at several distances many nar-
row, long, green leaves, set together on both sides of the
stalk, and an odd one at the end, very well resembling a young
ash tree sprung up from the seed. This by many years continu!
ance in a place without removing, and not else, will bring
loith flowers, many standing together spike fashion, one
above another upon the stalk, of the form of pease blossoms,
but of a very pale blue colour, which turn into long, somewhat
flat and smooth cods, wherein is contained a small, round hard
seed : The roots run down exceedingly deep into the ground,
with divers other small roots and fibres growing with them, and
shoot out suckers from the main roots all about, whereby it is

much increased, of a brownish colour on the outside, and yel-
iOw within.

Place.] It is planted in fields and gardens, in divers places
c f this land, and thereof good profit is made.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion o;

Mercury. Liquorice boiled in fair water, with some maiden

198 The English Physician Enlarged.

hair and figs, maketh a good drink for those that have a dry
cough or hoarseness, wheezing or shortness of breath, and for
all the griefs of the breasts and lungs, phthisic or consumptions
caused by the distillation of salt humours on them. It is also
good in all pains of the reins, the strangury, and heat of urine:
The fine powder of liquorice blown through a quill into the
eyes that have a pin and web (as they call it) or rheumatic dis-
tillations in them, doth cleanse and help them: The juice of li-
quorice is as effectual in all the diseases of the breast and lungs,
the reins and the bladder, as the decoction. The juice distilled
m rose-water, with some gum tragacanth, is a fine licking me-
dicine for hoarseness, wheezing, &c.

LIVERWORT.

Descript .] (_3 OMMON liverwort groweth close, and spread-
eth much upon the moist and sandy places with many small
green leaves, or rather (as it w ere) sticking flat to one another,
very unevenly cut in on the edges, and crumpled ; from among
which arise small slender stalks an inch or two high at most,
bearing small star-like flowers at the top; the roots are very
fine and small.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of
Jupiter, and under the sign Cancer. It is a singularly good
herb for all the diseases of the liver, both to cool and cleanse it,
and helpeth the inflammations in any part, and the yellow jaun-
dice likewise: Being bruised and boiled in small beer, and
drank, it cooleth the heat of the liver and kidneys, and helpeth
the running of the reins in men, and the whites in women; it
is a singular remedy to stay the spreading of tetters, ringworms,
and other fretting and running sores and scabs, and is an excel-
lent remedy for such whose livers are corrupted by surfeits,
which cause their bodies to break out, for it fortifieth the liver
exceedingly, and makes it impregnable.

% r *

LOOSESTRIFE, OR WILLOWHERB.

Descript .] (3 OMMON yellow loosestrife groweth to be four

The English Physician Enlarged . 199

or five feet high, or more, with great round stalks a little cres-
ted, diversely branched from the middle of them to the tops in-
to great and long branches, on all which at the joints there
grow long and narrow leaves, but broader below, and usually
two at a joint, yet sometimes three or four, somewhat like wil-
low leaves, smooth on the edges, and of a fair green colour
from the upper joints of the branches, and at the tops of them
also stand many yellow flowers of five leaves a-piece, with divers
yellow threads in the middle, which turn into small round heads,
containing small cornered seeds; the root creepeth under
ground, almost like couchgrass, but greater, and shooteth up
every spring brownish heads, which afterwards grow up into
stalks. It hath no scent or taste, but only astringent.

Place. ] It groweth in many places of this land in moist mea-
dows, and by water sides.

Time.] It flowereth from June to August.

Government and Virtues.] This herb is good for all man-
ner of bleeding at the mouth, nose, or wounds, and ail fluxes
of the belly, and the bloody-fiux, given either to drink or taken
by clyster; it stayeth also the abundance of women's courses;
it is a singularly good wound herb for green wounds, to stay
the bleeding, and quickly close together the lips of the wound
if the herb be bruised, and the juice only applied. It is often
used in gargles for sore mouths, as also for the secret parts.
The smoke hereof being burned, driveth away flies and gnats,
which in the night time molest people inhabiting near marshes,
and in the fenny countries.

LOOSESTRIFE, with spiked Heads of Flowers .

Descript.] ThIS groweth with many woody square stalks,
full of joints, about three feet high at least; at every one where-
of stand two long leaves, shorter, narrower, and a larger green
colour than the former, and some brownish. The stalks are
branched into many long stems of spiked flowers half a foot long,
growing in bundles one above ano ther, out of small husks, very

200 The English Pity sicicm Enlarged.

like the spiked heads of lavender, each of which flowers have
five round pointed leaves of a purple violet colour, or somewhat
inclining to redness; in white husks stand small round heads
after the flowers are fallen, wherein is contained small seed. The
root creepeth under ground like unto the yellow, but is greater
than it, and so are the heads of the leaves when they first appear
out of the ground, and more brown than the other.

Place.] It groweth usually by livers, and ditch-sides in wet
ground, as about the ditches at and near Lambeth, and in many
other places of this land.

Time.] It flowereth in the months of June and July.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of the Moon, and
under the sign Cancer ; neither do I know a better preserver of
the sight when it is well, nor a better eure for sore eyes than
eyebright, taken inwardly, and this used outwardly ; it is cold
in quality. This herb is not a whit inferior to the former, it
having not only all the virtues which the former hath, but some
peculiar virtues of its own, found out by experience ; as name-
ly, the distilled water is a present remedy for hurts and blows on
the eyes, and for blindness, so as the christaline humour be not
perished or hurt; and this hath been sufficiently proved true
by the experience of a man of judgment, who kept it long to
himself as a great secret. It cleareth the eyes of dust, or any
thing gotten into them, and preserveth the sight. It is also
very available against wounds and thrusts, being made into an
ointment in this manner : To every ounce of the water, add
two drams of May butter without salt, and of sugar and wax,
of each as much also ; let them boil gently together. Let tents
dipped into the liquor that remaineth after it is cold, be put into
the wounds, and the place covered with a linen cloth doubled
and anointed with the ointment; and this is also an approved
medicine. It likewise cleanseth and healeth all foul ulcers, and
sores whatsoever, and stayeth their inflammations by washing
them with the water, and laying on them a green leaf or two
in the summer, or dry leaves in the winter. This water gar-
gled warm in the mouth, and sometimes drank also, doth

The English Physician Enlarged. 20 1

cure the quinsy, or king’s evil, in the throat. The said water
applied warm, taketh away all spots, marks, and scabs in the
skin; and a little of it drank, quencheth thirst when it is ex-
traordinary. N

LOVAGE*

Descript .] I T hath many long and green stalks of large wing-
ed leaves, divided into many parts, like smallage, but much
larger and greater, every leaf being cut about the edges, broad-
est forward, and smallest at the stalk, of a sad green colour,
smooth and shining ; from among which rise up sundry strong,
hollow green stalks, five or six, some-times seven or eight feet
high, full of joints, but lesser leaves set on them than grow be-
low ; and with them towards the tops come forth large branches,
bearing at their tops large umbels of yellow flowers, and after
them flat brownish seed. The root groweth thick, great and
deep, spreading much, and enduring long, of a brownish co-
lour on the outside, and whitish within. The whole plant and
every part of it smelling strong and aromatically, and is of a
hot, sharp, biting taste.

Place .] It is usually planted in gardens, where, if it be suf-
fered, it groweth huge and great.

Time.] It flowereth in the end of July, and seedeth in Au-
gust.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of the Sun, under
the sign Taurus. If Saturn offend the throat (as he always
doth if he be the occasion of the malady, and in Taurus is
the Genesis) this is your cure. It openeth, cureth, and di-
gesteth humours, and mightily provoketh women’s courses and
urine. Half a dram at a time of the dried root in powder, taken
in wine, doth wonderfully warm a cold stomach, helpeth diges-
tion, and consumeth all raw and superfluous moisture therein ;
easeth all inward gripings and pains, dissolveth wind and re-
sisted! poison and infection. It is a known and much praised
remedy to drink the decoction of the herb for any sort of ague,

C c

202 The English Physician Enlarged .

and to help the pains and torments of the body and bowels coin-
ing of cold* The seed is effectual to all the purposes aforesaid
(except the last) and worketh more powerfully. The distilled
water of the herb helpeth the quinsy in the throat, if the mouth
and throat be gargled and washed therewith, and helpeth the
pleurisy, being drank three or four times. Being dropped into
the eyes, it taketh away the redness or dimness of them ; it like-
wise taketh away spots or freckles in the face. The leaves
bruised, and fried with a little hog's lard, and laid hot to any
blotch or boil, will quickly break it.

LUNGWORT.

Descript.] Ti HIS is a kind of moss that groweth on sundry
sorts of trees, especially oaks and beeches, with broad, grey-
ish, tough leaves diversely folded, crumpled, and gashed in on
the edges, and some spotted also with many small spots on the
upper side. It was never seen to bear any stalk or flower at
any time.

Government and Virtues.] Jupiter seems to own this herb.
It is of great use to physicians to help the diseases of the lungs,
and for coughs, wheezings, and shortness of breath, which it
cureth both in man and beast. It is very profitable to put into
lotions that are taken to stay the moist humours that flow to
ulcers, and hinder their healing, as also to wash all other ulcers
in the privy parts of a man or women. It is an excellent rem-
edy boiled in beer for broken-winded horses.

MADDER.

Descript.] Garden madder shooteth forth many very
long, weak, four-square, reddish stalks, trailing on the ground a
great way, very rough or hairy, and full of joints : At every one
of these joints come forth divers long and narrow leaves, stand-
ing like a star about the stalks, rough also and hairy, towards
the tops whereof come forth many small pale yellow flowers, af-
ter which come small round heads, green at first and reddish.

rFhe English Physician Enlarged . 203

afterwards, but black when they are ripe, wherein is contained
the seed. The root is not very great, but exceeding long, run-
ning down half a man’s length into the ground, red and very
clear, while it is fresh, spreading divers ways.

Place .] It is only manured in gardens, or large fields, for
the profit that is made thereof.

Time.] It flowereth towards the end of summer, and the
seed is ripe quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mars. It hath
an opening quality, and afterwards to bind and strengthen. It
is a sure remedy for the yellow jaundice, by opening the ob-
structions of the liver and gall, and cleansing those parts : it
openeth also the obstructions of the spleen, and diminisheth the
melancholy humour: It is available for the palsy and sciatica,
and effectual for bruises inward and outward, and is therefore
much used in vulnerary drinks. The root for all those aforesaid
purposes, is to be boiled in wine or water, as the cause re-
quireth, and some honey and sugar put thereunto afterwards.
The seed hereof taken in vinegar and honey, helpeth the swell-
ing and hardness of the spleen. The decoction of the leaves
and branches is a good fomentation for women to sit over that
have not their courses. The leaves and roots beaten and ap-
plied to any part that is discoloured with freckles, morphew, the
white scurf, or any such deformity of the skin, cleanseth tho-
roughly, and taketli them away.

MAIDENHAIR.

Descript.] OlJR common maiden-hair doth, from a number
of hard black fibres, send forth a great many blackish shining
brittle stalks, hardly a span long, in many not half so long, on
each side set very thick with small, round, dark green leaves,
and spitted on the back of them like a fern.

Place.] It groweth upon old stone walls in the west parts in
Kent, and divers other places of this land ; it delighteth likewise
to grow by springs, wells, and rocky moist and shady places,
and is always green

204 The English Physician Enlarged.

WALL RUE, OR WHITE MAIDEN HAIR.

Descript.] This hath very fine pale green stalks, almost as
fine as hairs, set confusedly with divers pale green leaves on
every short footstalk, somewhat near unto the colour of garden
rue, and not much differing in form, but more diversely cut in on
the edges, and thicker, smooth on the upper part, and spotted
finely underneath.

Place.] It groweth in many places of this land, at Dart-
ford, and the bridge at Ashford in Kent; at Beaconsfield in
Buckinghamshire ; at Wholly in Huntingdonshire, on Framing-
ham castle in Suffolk; on the church walls at Mayfield in Sus-
sex; in Somersetshire; and divers other places of this land;
and is green in winter as well as summer.

Government and Virtues.] Both this and the former are
under the dominion of Mercury, and so is that also which fol-
loweth after, and the virtues of both these are so near alike, that
though I have described them and their places of growing se-
verally, yet I shall, in w riting the virtues of them, join them
both together as followeth :

The decoction of the herb maiden hair being drank, helpeth
those that are troubled w ith the cough, shortness of breath, the
yellow jaundice, diseases of the spleen, stopping of urine, and
helpeth exceedingly to break the stone in the kidneys (in all
which diseases the wall rue is also very effectual) : It provoketh
women's courses, and stay's both bleedings and fluxes of the
stomach and belly, especially when the herb is dry; for being
green, it looseneth the belly, and voideth choler and phlegm
from the stomach and liver; it cleanseth the lungs, and by rec-
tifying the blood, causeth a good colour to the whole body.
The herb boiled in oil of camomile, dissolveth knots, allayeth
swellings, and drieth up moist ulcers. The lee made thereof is
singularly good to cleanse the head from scurf, and from dry
and running sores, stayeth the falling or shedding of the hair,
and causeth it to grow thick, fair, and well-coloured ; for which

Q05

O

*

Bkjc 2.0 C

The English Physician Enlarged. 20o

purpose some boil it in wine, putting some smallage seed thereto,
and afterwards some oil. The wall rue is as effectual as maiden-
hair, in all diseases of the head, or falling and recovering of the
hair again, and generally for all the aforementioned diseases :
And besides, the powder of it taken in drink for forty days to-
gether, helpeth the burstings in children.

GOLDEN MAIDEN HAIR.

To the former give me leave to add this, and I shall no
more but only describe it unto you, and for the virtues refer
you to the former, since whatsoever is said of them, may be
also said of this.

Descript. ] It hath many small, brownish, red hairs to make
up the form of leaves growing about the ground from the root;
and in the middle of them, in summer, rise small stalks of the
same colour, set with very fine yellowish green hairs on them,
and bearing a small gold, yellow head, lesser than the wheat
corn, standing in a great husk. The root is very small and
thready.

Time.] It groweth in bogs and moorish places, and also on
dry shady places, as Hampstead heath, and elsewhere.

MALLOWS AND MARSHMALLOWS.

(yOMMON mallow's are generally so well known that they
need no description.

Our common marshmallows have divers soft hairy white
stalks, rising to be three or four feet high, spreading forth many
branches, the leaves whereof are soft and hairy, somewhat
lessei than the other mallow leaves, but longer pointed, cut
(for the most part) into some fewr divisions, but deep. The
flowers are many, but smaller also than the other mallows, and
white, or tending to a blueish colour. After which come such
long, round cases and seeds, as in the other mallows. The
roots are many and long, shooting from one head, of the bigness
of a thumb or finger, very pliant, tough, and being like

206 The English Physician Enlarged.

liquorice, of a whitish yellow colour on the outside, and more
white within, full of a slimy juice, which being laid in w ater,
will thicken, as if it were a jelly.

Place,] The common mallows grow in every county of
this land. The common marshmallows in most of the salt
marshes, from Woolwich down to the Sea, both on the Kentish
and Essex shores, and in divers other places of this land.

Time.] They flower all the summer months, even until the
winter do pull them down.

Government and Virtues .] Venus owns them both. The
leaves of either of the sorts before specified, and the roots also
boiled in wine or water, or in broth with parsley or fennel roots,
do help to open the body, and are very convenient in hot agues,
or other distempers of the body, to apply the leaves so boiled
warm to the belly. It not only voideth hot, choleric, and other
offensive humours, but easeth the pains and torments of the
belly coming thereby : and are therefore used in all clysters
conducing to those purposes. The same used by nurses pro-
cureth them store of milk. The decoction of the seed of any
of the common mallows made in milk or w ine, doth marvellous-
ly help excoriations, the phthisic, pleurisy, and other diseases
of the chest and lungs, that proceed of hot causes, if it be con-
tinued taking for some time together. The leaves and roots
work with the same effects. They help much also in the exco-
riations of the guts and bowels, and hardness of the mother, and
in all hot and sharp diseasee thereof. The juice drank in wine,
or the decoction of them therein, do help women to a speedy
and easy delivery. Pliny saith, that whosoever shall take a spoon-
ful of any of the mallows, shall that day be free from all dis-
eases that may come unto him; and that it is special good for
the falling sickness. The syrup also and conserve made of the
flowers, are very effectual for the same diseases, and to open
the body, being costive. The leaves bruised, and laid to the
eyes with a little honey, taketh away the imposthumations of
them. The leaves bruised or rubbed upon any place stung with

The English Physician Enlarged. 207

bees, wasps, or the like, presently take away the pains, redness,
and swelling that rise thereupon. And Dioseorides saith, the
decoction of the roots and leaves helpeth all sorts of poison, so
as the poison may be presently voided by vomit A poultice
made of the leaves boiled and bruised, with some bean or barley
flour, and oil of roses added, is an especial remedy against all
hard tumours and inflammations, orimposthumes, or swellings of
the cods, and other parts, and easeth the pains of them ; as also
against the hardness of the liver or spleen, being applied to the
places. The juice of mallows boiled in old oil and applied,
taketh away ail roughness of the skin, as also the scurf, dandriff,
or dry scabs in the head, or other parts, if they be anointed
therewith, or washed with the decoction, and preserveth the
hair from falling off. It is also effectual against scaldings and
burnings, St. Anthony’s fire, and all other hot, red and painfhl
swellings in any part of the body. The flowers boiled in oil or
water (as every one is disposed) whereunto a little honey and
allum is put, is an excellent gargle to wash, cleanse or heal any
sore mouth or throat in a short time. If the feet be bathed or
'washed with the decoction of the leaves, roots and flowers, it
helpeth much the deduction of rheum from the head ; if the
head be washed therewith it stayeth the falling and shedding
of the hair. The green leaves (saith Pliny) beaten with nitre,
and applied, draw out thorns or prickles in the flesh.

The marshmallows are more effectual in all the diseases before
mentioned: The leaves are likewise used to loosen the belly
gently, and in decoctions for clysters to ease all pains of the body,
opening the strait passages, and making them slippery, whereby
the stone may descend the more easily, and without pain, out
of the reins, kidneys, and bladder, and to ease the torturingpains
thereof. But the roots are of more special use for those pur-
poses, as well for coughs, hoarseness, shortness of breath, and
wheezings, being boiled in wine, or honeyed water, and drank.
The roots and seeds hereof boiled in wine or water, are with
good success used by them that have excoriations in the guts, or

208 The English Physician Enlarged.

the bloody flux, by qualifying the violence of sharp, fretting hu-
mours, easing the pains, and healing the soreness. It is pro-
fitably taken by them that are troubled wtih ruptures, cramps,
or convulsions of the sinews ; and boiled in white wine, for the
imposthumes of the throat, commonly called the king's evil, and
of those kernels that rise behind the ears, and inflammations or
swellings in women's breasts. The dried roots boiled in milk
and drank, is special good for the chin-cough. Hippocrates
used to give the decoction of the roots, or the juice thereof, to
drink, to those that are wounded, and ready to faint through loss
of blood, and applied the same mixed with honey and rosin to
the wounds. As also, the roots boiled in wine to those that
have received any hurt by bruises, falls, or blows, or had any
bone or member out of joint, or any swelling pain, or ache
in the muscles, sinews, or arteries. The mucilage of the roots,
and of linseed and fenugreek put together, is much used in poul-
tices, ointments, and plaisters, to mollify and digest all hard
swellings, and the inflammation of them, and to ease pains in any
part of the body. The seed, either green or dry, mixed with
vinegar, cleanseth the skin of morphew, and all other discolour-
ings, being boiled therewith in the sun.

You may remember, that not long since, there was a raging

/

disease called the bloody-flux; the college of physicians not
knowing what to make of it, called it the plague of the guts,
for their wits were at Ne plus ultra about it : My son was taken
with the same disease, and the excoriation of his bowels was ex-
ceeding great; myself being in the country, was sent for up:
the only thing I gave him, was mallows bruised and boiled both
in milk and drink; in two days (the blessing of God being
upon it) cured him. And I here, to show my thankfulness
to God, in communicating it to his creatures, leave it to
posterity.

MAPLE TREE.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of Ju-
piter. The decoction either of the leaves or bark, must needs

'I he English Physician Enlarged . 209

•——I11111*1*' in i

strengthen the liver much, and so you shall find it to do, if
you use it. It is excellent good to open obstructions both of

the liver and spleen, and easeth pains of the sides thence pro-
ceeding.

WIND MARJORAM.

(yALLED also origane, origanum, eastward marjoram, wild
marjoram, and grove marjoram.

Descript. ] Mild or field marjoram hath a root which creep-
eth much under ground, which continueth a long time, sending
up sundry brownish, hard, square stalks, with small dark green
leaves, very like those of sweet marjoram, but harder, and
somewhat broader ; at the top of the stalks stand tufts of flowers,
of a deep purplish red colour. -The seed is small and something
blacker than that of sweet marjoram.

Place. ] It groweth plentifully in the borders of corn-fields,
and in some copses.

Time.] It flowereth towards the latter end of summer.
Govet nment and T irtues. J This is also under the dominion
of Mercmy. It stiengthens the stomach and head much, there
being scarce a better remedy growing for such as are troubled
with a sour humour in the stomach; it restores the appetite,
being lost; helps the cough, and consumption of the lungs; it
cieanseth the body of choler, expelleth poison, and remedieth
the infirmities of the spleen; helps the bitings of venomous
beasts, and helps such as have poisoned themselves by eating
hemlock, henbane, or opium. It provoketh urine and the terms
in women, helps the dropsy, and the scurvy, scabs, itch, and
yellow jaundice. The juice being dropped into the ears, helps
deafness, pain and noise in the ears. And thus much for

t«u.'. he ij». between which and adders, there is a deadly an-
tipathy.

OWEET

SWEET MARJORAM.

marjoram is so well known, being an inhabitant

D d

210 The English Physician Enlarged.

in every garden, that it is needless to write any descrip-
tion thereof, neither of the winter sweet marjoram, or pot
marjoram.

Place .] They grow commonly in gardens ; some sorts there
are that grow wild in the borders of the corn fields and pas-
tures, in sundry places of this land; but it is not my purpose
to insist upon them, the garden kinds being most used and
useful.

Time.] They flower in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Mercury, and
under Aries, and therefore is an excellent remedy for the brain
and other parts of the body and mind, under the dominion of
the same planet. Our common sweet marjoram is warming
and comfortable in cold diseases of the head, stomach, sinews,
and other parts, taken inwardly or outwardly applied. The de-
coction thereof being drank, helpeth all diseases of the chest,
which hinder the freeness of breathing, and is also profitable for
the obstructions of the liver and spleen. It helpeth the cold
griefs of the womb, and the windiness thereof, and the loss of
speech, by resolution of the tongue. The decoction thereof
made with some pelitory of Spain, and long pepper, or with a
little acorns or origanum, being drank, is good for those that
are beginning to fall into a dropsy; for those that cannot make
water; and against pains and torments in the belly; it pro-
voketh women’s courses, if it be put up as a pessary. Being
made into a powder, and mixed with honey, it taketh away the
black marks of blows and bruises, being thereunto applied ; it is
good for the inflammations and watering of the eyes, being
mixed with fine flour, and laid unto them. The juice dropped
into the ears, easeth the pains and singing noise in them. It is
profitably put into those ointments and salves that are warm,
and comfort the outward parts, as the joints and sinews; for
swellings also, and places out of joint. The powder thereof
snuffed up into the nose provoketh sneezing, and thereby
purgeth the brain; and chewed in the mouth, draweth forth

The English Physician Enlarged . 211

much phlegm. The oil made thereof, is very warm and com-
fortable to the joints that are stiff, and the sinews that are hard,
to molify and supple them. Marjoram is much used in all odor-
iferous waters, powders, &c. that are for ornament or delight.

MARIGOLDS.

These being so plentiful in every garden, are so well known,
that they need no description.

Time.] They flower all the summer long, and sometimes in
winter, if it be mild.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of the Sun, and
under Leo. They strengthen the heart exceedingly, and are
very expulsive, and little less effectual in the small-pox and
measles than saffron. The juice of marigold leaves mixed with
vinegar, and any hot swellings bathed with it, instantly giveth
ease and aswageth it. The flowers, either green or dried, are
much used in possets, broths, and drink, as a comforter of the
heart and spirits; and to expel any malignant or pestilential
quality which might annoy them. A plaister made with the dry
flowers in powder, hog’s grease, turpentine, and rosin, applied to
the breast, strengthens and succours the heart infinitely in fe-
vers, whether pestilential or not pestilential.

MASTERWORT.

Descript.] (3 OMMON masterwort hath divers stalks of w ing-
ed leaves, divided into sundry parts, three for the most part
standing together with small footstalks on both sides of the great-
er, and three likewise at the end of the stalk, somewhat broad,
and cut in on the edges into three or more divisions, all of them
dented about the brims, of a dark green colour, somewhat re-
sembling the leaves of angelica, but that these grow lower to the
ground, and on lesser stalks; among which rise up two or three
short stalks about two feet high, and slender, with such like
leaves at the joints which grow below, but with lesser and few
er divisions, bearing umbels of white flowers, and after them,

212 The English Physician Enlarged.

thin, flat blackish seeds, bigger than dill seeds. The root is some-
what greater and growing rather sideways than down deep in
the ground, shooting forth sundry heads, which taste sharp, bi-
ting on the tongue, and is the hottest and sharpest part of the
plant, and the seed next unto it being somewhat blackish on
the outside, and smelling well.

Place.] It is usually kept in gardens with us in England.

Time.] It flowereth and seedeth about the end of August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mars. The
root of masterwort is hotter than pepper, and very available in
cold griefs and diseases both of the stomach and body, dissolving
very powerfully upwards and downwards. It is also used in a
decoction with wine against all cold rheums, distillation upon
the lungs, or shortness of breath, to be taken morning and even-
ing. It also provoketh urine, and helpeth to break the stcne,
and expel the gravel from the kidneys; provoketh women’s
courses, and expelleth the dead birth. It is singularly good for
strangling of the mother, and other such like feminine diseases.
It is effectual also against the dropsy, cramps, and falling sick-
ness; for the decoction in wine being gargled in the mouth,
draweth down much water and phlegm from the brain, purg-
ing and easing it of what oppressed] it. It is of a rare quality
against all sorts of cold poison, to be taken as there is cause;
it provoketh sweat. But lest the taste hereof, or of the seed
(which worketh to the like effect, though not so powerfully)
should be too effensive, the best way is to take the water diss-
tilied both from the herb and root. The juice hereof dropped,
or tents dipped therein, and applied either to green wounds or
filthy rotten ulcers, and those that come by envenomed weapons,
doth soon cleanse and heal them. The same is also very good
to help the gout codling of a cold cause.

SWEET MAUDLIN.

Descript .] COMMON maudlin hath somewhat long and
narrow leaves, snipped about the edges. The stalks are two

The English Physician Enlarged . 213

feet high, bearing at the tops many yellow flowers set round to-
gether, and all of an equal height, in umbels or tufts like unto
tansy ; after which followeth small whitish seed, almost as big
as worm seed.

Place and Time,] It groweth in gardens, and flowereth in
June and July.

Government and Virtues.] The virtues hereof being the
same with costmary or alecost, I shall not make any repetition
thereof, lest my book grow too big, but rather refer you unto
costmary for satisfaction.

THE MEDLAR.

Descript. ] The tree grow eth near the bigness of the quince
tree, spreading branches reasonably large, with longer and nar-
rower leaves than either the apple or quince, and not dented
about the edges. At the end of the sprigs stand the flowers,
made of five white, great, broad pointed leaves, nicked in the
middle, with some white threads also ; after which cometh the
fruit, of a brow nish green colour, being ripe, bearing a crown
as it w'ere on the top, which were the five green leaves; and be-
ing rubbed off, or fallen away, the head of the fruit is seen to
be somewhat hollow. The fruit is very harsh before it is mel-
lowed, and hath usually five hard kernels within it— There is
another kind hereof nothing differing from the former, but that
it hath some thorns on it in several places, which the other hath
not; and usually the fruit is small and not so pleasant.

Time and Place.] They grow in this land, and flower in
May for the most part, and bear fruit in September and Oc-
tober.

Government and Virtues.] The fruit is old Saturn’s, and
sure a better medicine he hardly hath to strenghten the retentive
faculty ; therefore it stays women’s longings : The good old
man cannot endure w omen’s minds should run a gadding. Also
a plaister made of the fruit dried before they are rotten, and
other convenient things, and applied to the reins of the back.

214 The English Physician Enlarged .

i w >nn mmuu < mm ivii»i»sgBraBKa3*g»«»an8greiiiiiiWM^

stops miscarriage in women with child. They are very powerful
to stay any fluxes of blood, or humours in men or women; the
leaves also have this quality. The fruit eaten by women with
child, stayeth their longing after unusual meats, and is very
effectual for them that are apt to miscarry, and be delivered be-
fore their time, to help that malady, and make them joyful mo-
thers. The decoction of them is good to gargle and wash the
mouth, throat and teeth, when there is any deductions of blood
to stay it, or of humours, which causeth the pains and swel-
lings. It is a good bath for women to sit over, that have their
courses flowing too abundant; or for the piles when they bleed
too much. If a poultice or plaister be made with dried medlars,
beaten and mixed with the juice of red roses, whereunto a
few cloves and nutmegs may be added, and a little red coral
also, and applied to the stomach that is given to casting or
loathing of meat, it effectually helpeth. The dried leaves in
powder, strewed on fresh bleeding wounds, restraineth the
blood, and healeth up the wound quickly. The medlar- stones
made into powder, and drank in wine, wherein some parsley-
roots have lain infused all night, or a little boiled, do break
the stone in the kidneys, helping to expel it.

MELLILOT, OR KING S CLAVER.

Descript .] TL HIS hath many green stalks, two or three feet
high, rising from a tough, long, white root, which dieth not
every year, set round about at the joints with small and some-
what long, well smelling leaves, set three together unevenly dent-
ed about the edge. The flowers are yellow, and well smell-
ing also, made like other trefoil, but small, standing in long
spikes one above another, of an hand breadth long or better,
which afterwards turn into long crooked cods, wherein is con-
tained flat seed, somewhat brown.

Place.] It groweth plentifully in many places of this land,
as in the edge of Suffolk, and in Essex, as also in Huntingdon-
shire, and in other places, but most usually in corn-fields, and
in corners of meadow s.

The English Physician Enlarged. 215

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, and is ripe quickly
after.

Government and Virtues .] Mellilot, boiled in wine, and
applied, mollifieth all hard tumours and inflammations that
happen in the eyes, or other parts of the body, as the funda-
ment, or privy parts of men and women; and sometimes the
yolk of a roasted egg, or fine flour, or poppy seed, or endive,
is added unto it. It helpeth the spreading ulcers in the head, it
being washed with a lee made thereof. It helpeth the pains of
the stomach, being applied fresh ; or boiled with any of the
aforenamed things ; also, the pains of the ears, being dropped
into them ; and steeped in vinegar, or rosewater, it mitigateth
the head-ache. The flowers of mellilot and camomile are much
used to be put together in clysters to expel wind, and ease pains ;
and also in poultices for the same purposes, and to assuage swell-
ing tumours in the spleen or other parts, and helpeth inflam-
mations in any part of the body. The juice dropped into the
eyes, is a singular good medicine to take away the film or skin
that cloudeth or dimmeth the eye-sight. The head often
washed with the distilled water of the herb and flower, or a lee
made therewith, is effectual for those that suddenly lose their
senses : as also to strengthen the memory, to comfort the
head and brain, and to preserve them from pain, and the
apoplexy.

FRENCH AND DOG MERCURY.

Descript.] This risetli up with a square great stalk full of
joints, two feet high, or thereabouts, with two leaves at every
joint, and the branches likewise from both sides of the stalk,
set with fresh green leaves, somewhat broad and long, about
the bigness of the leaves of basil, finely dented about the ed-
ges ; towards the tops of the stalks and branches, come forth at
every joint in the male mercury two small, round geern heads,
standing together upon a short footstalk, which growing ripe,
are seeds, not having flowers. The female stalk is longer spike-

216 The English Physician Enlarged.

fashion, set round about with smal! green husks, which are the
flowers, made like small bunches of grapes, which give no seed,
but abide long upon the stalks without shedding. The root
is composed of many small fibres, which perisheth every year
at the first approach of winter, and riseth ‘again of its own sow-
ing; and if once it is suffered to sow itself, the ground will ne-
ver want afterwards, even both sorts of it.

DOG MERCURY,

Having described unto you that which is called French
mercury, I come now to shew you a description of this kind
also.

Descript.] This is likewise of two kinds, male and female,
having many stalks slender and lower than mercury, without
any branches at all upon them ; the root is set with two leaves
at every joint, somewhat greater than the female, but more
pointed and full of veins, and somewhat harder in handling ; of
a dark green colour, and less dented or snipped about the edges.
At the joints with the leaves come forth longer stalks than the
former, with two hairy round seeds upon them, twice as big as
those of the former mercury. The taste hereof is herby, and
the smell somewhat strong, and virulent. The female has much
harder leaves standing upon longer footstalks, and the stalks are
also longer: from the joints come forth spikes of flowers like
the French female mercury. The roots of them both are many,
and full of small fibres which run under ground, and mat them-
selves very much, not perishing as the former mercuries do, but
abiding the winter, and shoot forth new branches every year,
for the old lie down to the ground. '

Place.] The ma-le and female French mercury are found
wild in divers places of this land, as by a village called Brook-
land, in Romney Marsh in Kent.

The dog mercury in sundry places of Kent alsc, and else-
where; but the female more seldom than the male.

Time.] They flower in the summer mouths, and therein give
their seed.

1

'The English Physician Enlarged . 217

Government and Virtues .] Mercury, they say, owns the
herb, but I rather think it is Venus’s, and I am partly confident
of it too, for I never heard that Mercury ever minded women’s
business so much : I believe he minds his study more. The de-
coction of the leaves of mercury, or the juice thereof in broth,
or drank with a little sugar put to it, purgeth choleric and wa-
tensh humours. Hippocrates commended it wonderfully for
women s diseases, and applied to the secret parts, to ease the
pains of the mother; and used the decoction of it, both to pro-
cure women’s courses, and to expel the after-birth ; and gave the
decoction thereof with myrrh or pepper, or used to apply the
leaves outwardly against the strangury, and diseases of the reins
and bladder. He used it also for sore and watering eyes, and
for deafness and pains in the ears, by dropping the juice
thereof into them, and bathing them afterwards in white wine. v
The decoction thereof made with water and a cock chicken, is
a most safe medicine against the hot fits of agues. It also cleanse th
the breast and lungs of phlegm, but a little oflfendeth the stomach.
The juice or distilled water snuffed up into the nostrils, purgeth
the head and eyes of catarrhs and rheums. Some use to drink
two or three ounces of the distilled water, with a little sugar put
to it, in the morning, fasting, to open and purge the body of
gross, viscous, and melancholy humours. It ts wonderful, (if
it be not fabulous) what Dioscorides and Theophrastus do relate
of it, viz. That if women use these herbs either inwardly or
outwardly, for three days together after conception, and their *
courses be past, they shall bring forth male or female children,
according to that kind o|fierb they use. Matthiolus saith, that
both the seed of the maleiuid female mercury boiled with worm-
wood and drank, cureth tW yellow jaundice in a speedy manner.
The leaves or the juice rubbed upon warts, taketh them away.
The juice mingled with some vinegar, helpeth all running scabs,
tetters, ringworms, and the itch. Galen saith, that being ap-
plied in manner of a poultice to any swelling or inflammation,
it digesteth the swellings, and allayeth the inflammation, and is

therefore given in clysters to evacuale from the belly offensive

1^0. 10, F P J

218 The English Physician Enlarged .

humours. The dog mercury, although it be less used, yet may
serve in the same manner, to the same purpose, to purge water-
ish and melancholy humours.

MINT.

Of all tne kinds of mint, the spear mint, or heart mint, being
most usual, I shall only describe as follows :

Descript.] Spear mint hath divers round stalks, and long
but narrowish leaves set thereon, of a dark green colour. The
flowers stand in spiked heads at the tops of the branches, being
of a pale blue colour. The smell or scent thereof is somewhat
near unto basil ; it increaseth by the root under ground as all
the others do.

Place.] It is an usual inhabitant in gardens; and because
it seldom giveth any good seed, the defect is recompensed by
the plentiful increase of the root, which being once planted in
a garden, will hardly be rid out again.

Time.] It flowereth not until the beginning of Angust, for
the most part.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Venus. Dios-
corides saith it hath a heating, binding and drying quality, and
therefore the juice taken in vinegar, stayeth bleeding : It stirreth
up venery, or bodily lust ; two or three branches thereof taken
in the juice of four pomegranates, stayeth the hiccough, vomit-
ing, and allayeth the choler. It dissolveth imposthumes, being
laid to with barley-meal. It is good to repress the milk in wo-
men's breasts, and for such as have swollen, flagging, or great
breasts. Applied with salt, it helpeth the biting of a mad dog;
with mead and honeyed water, it easeth the pains of the ears, and
taketh away the roughness of the tongue, being rubbed there-
upon. It suffereth not milk to curdle in the stomach, if the
leaves thereof be steeped or boiled in it before you drink it:
Briefly, it is very profitable to the stomach. The often use
heroof is a very powerful medicine to stay women's courses and
the whites. Applied to the forehead and temples, it easeth the

The English Physician Enlarged, 219

pains in the head, and is good to wash the heads of young
children therewith, against all manner of breakings-out, sores or
scabs therein, and healeth the chops of the fundament. It is
also prohtable against the poison of venomous creatures. The
distilled water from mint is avadable to all the purposes afore-
said, yet more w'eakly. But if a spirit thereof be rightly and
chemically drawn, it is much more powerful than the herb itself.
Simeon Sethi saith, it helpeth a cold liver, strengthened the
belly, causeth digestion, stayed vomits and the hiccough ; it
is good against the gnawing of the heart, provoked appetite,
taketh away obstructions of the liver, and stirred up bodily
lust ; but therefore too much must not be taken, because it
maketli the blood thin and wheyish, and turned it into choler,
and therefore choleric persons must abstain from it. It is a
safe medicine for the biting of a mad dog, being bruised with
salt and laid thereon. The powder of it being dried and taken
after meat, helpeth digestion, and those that are splenetic. Ta-
ken with wine, it helpeth women in their sore travail in child-
bearing. It is good against the gravel and stone in the kidneys,
and the strangury. Being smelled unto, it is comfortable for
the head and memory. The decoction hereof gargled in the
mouth, cureth the gums and mouth that is sore, and mended
an ill-savoured breath ; as also the rue and coriander, canseth
the palate of the mouth to turn to its place, the decoction being
gargled and held in the mouth.

The virtues of the wind or horse mint, such as grow in
ditches (whose description I purposely omitted, in regard they
are well enough known) are espeeial to dissolve wind in the
stomach, to help the cholic, and those that are short winded,
and are an especial remedy for those that have venereal dreams
and pollutions in the night, being outw ardly applied to the tes-
ticles or cods. The juice dropped into the ears easeth the pains
of them, and destroyeth the worms that breed therein. They
are good against the venomous biting of serpents. The juice
laid on warm, helpeth the king’s evil, or kernels in the throat.
The decoction or distilled water helpeth a stinking breath, pro-

220 The English Physician Enlarged.

ceeding from corruption of the teeth, and snuffed up the nose
purgeth the head. Pliny saith, the eating of the leaves hath
been found by experience to cure the leprosy, applying some of
them to the face, and to help the scurf or dandriff of the head
used with vinegar. They are extremely bad for wounded
people ; and they say a wounded man that eats mint, his wound
will never be cured, and that is a long day.

MISSELTO.

Descript .] This riseth up from the branch or arm of the
tree whereon it groweth, with a woody stem, putting itself into
sundry branches, and they again divided into many other small-
er twigs, interlacing themselves one within another, very
much covered with a greyish green bark, having two leaves set
at every joint, and at the end likewise, which are somewhat
long and narrow, small at the bottom, but broader towards the
end. At the knots or joints of the boughs and branches
grow small yellow flowers, which run into small, round, white
transparent berries, three or four together, full of a glutinous
moisture, with a blackish seed in each of them, which was ne-
ver yet known to spring, being put into the ground, or any
where else to grow.

Place.] It groweth very rarely on oaks with us; but upon
sundry other, as well timber as fruit-trees plentifully in woody
groves, and the like, through all this land.

Time.] It flowereth in the spring-time, but the berries
are not ripe until October, and abideth on the branches all the
winter, unless the blackbirds, and other birds, do devour
them.

Government and Virtues.] This is under the dominion of
the Sun, I do not question ; and can also take for granted, that
that which grows upon oaks, participates something of the nature
of Jupiter, because an oak is one of his trees; as also that
which grows upon pear trees and apple trees, participates some-
thing of his nature, because he rules the tree it grows upon,
having no root of its own. But why that should have most

(

,

■-

.

.

The English Physician Enlarged . 221

virtues that grows upon oaks I know not, unless because it is
rarest and’hardest to come by ; and our college's opinion is in
this contrary to scripture, which saith, God’s tender mercies
are over all his works: and so it is, let the college of phy-
sicians walk as contrary to him as they please, and that is as
contrary as the east to the west. Clusius affirms that which
grows upon pear trees to be as prevalent, and gives order, that
it should not touch the ground after it is gathered ; and also saith,
that, being hung about t*lie neck, it remedies witchcraft. Both
the leaves and berries of misseko do heat and dry, and are of
subtile parts; the birdlime doth mollify hard knots, tumours,
and imposthumes : ripeneth and discusseth them, and draweth
forth thick as well as thin humours from the remote parts of the
body, digesting and separating them. And being mixed with
equal parts of rosin and wax, doth mollify the hardness of the
spleen, and helpeth old ulcers and sores. Being mixed with
sandaric and orpiment, it helpeth to draw off foul nails ; and if
quick-lime and wine lees be added thereto, it worketh the
stronger. The misselto itself of the oak (as the best) made
into powder, and given in drink to those that have the falling
sickness, doth assuredly heal them, as Matthiolus saith ; but it
is fit to use it for forty days together. Some have so highly es-
teemed it for the virtues thereof, that they have called it Lignum
Sanctce Crucis , wood of the holy cross, believing it helps the
falling sickness, apoplexy and palsy very speedily, not only to
be inwardly taken, but to be hung at their neck. Tragus saith,
that the fresh wood of any misselto bruised, and the juice drawn
forth and dropped in the ears that have imposthumes in them,
doth help and ease them within a few days

MONEYWORT, OR HERB TWOPENCE.

Descript.] The common moneywort sendeth forth from a
small thready root divers long, weak, and slender branches, ly-
ing and running upon the ground two or three feet long or
more, set with leaves two at a joint, one against another at

222 The English Physician Enlarged.

equal distances, which are almost round, but pointed at the
ends, smooth, and of a good green colour. At the joints with
the leaves, from the middle forward, come forth at every point
sometimes one yellow flower, and sometimes two, standing each
on a small footstalk, and made of five leaves, narrow pointed at
the end, with some yellow threads in the middle, which being
past, there stand in their places small round heads of seed.

Place.] It groweth plentifully in almost all places of this
land, commonly in moist grounds by hedge-sides, and in the
middle of grassy fields.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and their seed is ripe
quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] Venus owns it. Moneywort
is singularly good to stay all fluxes in man or woman, whether
they be lasks, bloody fluxes, the flowing of women's courses,
bleeding inwardly or outwardly, and the weakness of the sto-
mach that is given to casting. It is very good also for the ul-
cers or excoriations of the lungs, or other inward parts. It is
exceeding good for all wounds, either fresh or green, to heal
them speedily, and for all old ulcers that are of spreading na-
tures. For all which purposes the juice of the herb, or the
powder drank in water wherein hot steel hath been often quench-
ed ; or the decoction of the green herb in wine or water drank,
or used to the outward place, to wash or bathe them, or to
have tents dipped therein^and put into them, are effectual.

MOONWORT.

Descript.] It riseth up usually but with one dark, green,
thick and flat leaf, standing upon a short footstalk not above
two fingers breadth; but when it flowers it may be said to bear
a small slender stalk about four or five inches high, having but
one leaf in the middle thereof, which is much divided on both
sides into sometimes five or seven parts on a side, sometimes
more; each of which parts is small like the middle ¥lb, but
broad forwards, pointed and round, resembling therein a half-

The English Physician Enlarged. 223

moon, from whence it took the name; the uppermost parts or
divisions being bigger than the lowest. The stalks rise above
this leaf two or three inches, bearing many branches of small
long tongues, every one like the spikey head of the adder's
tongue, of a brownish colour, (which whether I shall call them
flowers, or the seed, I well know not) which after they have
continued a while, resolve into a mealy dust. The root is
small and fibrous. This hath sometimes divers such like leaves
as are before described, with so many branches or tops rising
from one stalk, each divided from the other.

Place."] It groweth on hills and heaths, yet where there is
much grass, for therein it delighteth to grow.

Time.] It is to be found only in April and May; for in June
when any hot weather cometh, for the most part it is withered
and gone.

Government and Virtues.] The Moon owns the herb,
Moonwort is cold and drying more than adder's tongue, and is
therefore held to be more available for all wounds, both inward
and outward. The leaves boiled in white wine, and drank, stay
the immoderate flux of women's courses and the whites. It al-
so stayeth bleeding, vomiting and other fluxes. It helpeth all
blows and bruises, and to consolidate all fractures and disloca-
tions. It is good for ruptures, but is chiefly used by most with
other herbs to make oils or balsams to heal fresh or green
wounds (as I said before) either inward or outward, for which
it is excellent good.

Moonwort is an herb which (they say) will open locks, and
unshoe such horses as tread upon it; This some laugh to scorn,
and those no small fools neither; but country people that I
know, call it unshoe the horse. Besides, I have heard com-
manders say, that on White Down in Devonshire, near Ti-
verton, there were found thirty horse shoes, pulled off from the
feet of the earl of Essex’s horses, being there drawn up in a
body, many of them being but newly shod, and no reason
known, which caused much admiration, and the herb described
usually grows upon heaths.

224 The English Physician Enlarged.

MOSSES.

I SHALL not trouble the reader with a description of these,
since my intent is to speak only of two kinds, as the most prin-
cipal, viz. ground moss and tree moss, both of which are very
well known.

Place .] The ground moss groweth in our moist woods, and
in the bottom of hills, in boggy grounds and in shadowy ditch-
es, and many othei such like places. The tree moss groweth
only on trees.

Government and Virtues .] All sorts of mosses are under
the dominion of Saturn. The ground moss is held to be singu-
larly good to break the stone, and to expel and drive it forth
by urine, being boiled in wine and drank. The herb, being
bruised and boiled in water, and applied, easeth all inflamma-
tions and pains coming from an hot cause ; and is therefore
used to ease the pains of the gout.

The tree mosses are cooling and binding, and partake of a
digesting and mollifying quality withal, as Galen saith. But
each moss doth partake of the nature of the tree from w hence it
is taken ; therefore that of the oak is more binding, and is of
good effect to stay fluxes in man or woman ; as also vomiting or
bleeding, the powder thereof being taken in wine. The decoc-
tion thereof in wine is very good for women to be bathed, or to
sit in, that are troubled with the overflowing of their courses.
The same being drank, stayeth the stomach that is troubled with
casting, or the hiceough ; and, as Avicena saith, it comforteth
the heart. The powder therefore taken in drink for some time to-
gether, is thought available for the dropsy. The oil that has
had fresh moss steeped therein for a time, and afterwards boiled
and applied to the temples and forehead, doth marvellously ease
the headache coming of a hot cause ; as also the distillations of
hot rheums or humours in the eyes, or other parts. The an-
cients much used it in their ointments and other medicines,
against the lassitude, and to strengthen and comfort the sinews ;

The English Physician Enlarged. 225

For which, if it was good then, I know no reason but it may be
found so still.

MOTHERWORT.

square, brownish, rough,

strong stalk, rising three or four feet high at least, spreading into
many branches, whereon grow leaves on each side, with long foot-
stalks, two at every joint, which are somewhat broad and long, as
if it were rough or crumpled, with many green veins therein of a
sad green colour, and deeply dented about the edges, and almost
divided. F rom the middle of the branches up to the tops of them
(which are long and small) grow the flowers round them at dis-
tances, in sharp-pointed, rough, hard husks, of a more red or pur-
ple colour than balm or horehound, but in the same manner or
form as the horehound, after which come small, round, blackish
seeds in great plenty. The root sendeth forth a number of long
strings and small flbres, taking strong hold in the ground, of a
dark yellowish or brownish colour, and abideth as the hoiehound
doth; the smell of this not much differeth from that.

Place.'] It groweth only in gardens with us in England.

Government and Virtues.] Venus owns the herb, and it is
under Leo. There is no better herb to take melancholy vapours
from the heart, to strengthen it, and make a merry, chearful,
blithe soul than this herb. It may be kept in a syrup or conserve ;
therefore the Latins called it cardiaca. Besides, it makes women
joyful mothers of children, and settles their wombs as they should
be, therefore we call it motherwort. It is held to be of much use
for the trembling of the heart, and faintings and swoonings ; from
whence it took the name cardiaca. The powder thereof, to the
quantity of a spoonful, drank in wine, is a wonderful help to
women in their sore travail, as also for the suffocating or risings
of the mother, and for these effects, it is likely it took the name
of motherwort with us. It also provoketh urine and women’s
courses, deanseth the chest of cold phlegm oppressing it, and

F f

Q

226 The English Physician Enlarged.

killeth worms in the belly. It is of good use to warm and dry
up the cold humours, to digest and disperse them that are set-
tled in the veins, joints, and sinews of the body, and to help
cramps and convulsions,.

MOUSE-EAR.

Descript .] JLVJL OUSE-EAR is a low herb, creeping upon the
ground by small strings, like the strawberry plant, whereby it
shooteth forth small roots, whereat grow upon the ground many
small and somewhat short leaves, set in a round form together,
and very hairy, which being broken do give a whitish milk : From
among these leaves spring up two or three small hoary stalks
about a span high, with a few smaller leaves thereon: at the
tops whereof standeth usually but one flower, consisting of
many pale yellow leaves, broad at the point, and a little dented
in, set in three or four rows (the greater uppermost) very like
a dandelion fiower, and a little reddish underneath about the
edges, especially if it grow in a dry ground; which, after they
have stood long in flower, do turn into down, which, with the
seed, is carried away with the wind.

Place.] It groweth on ditch banks, and sometimes in ditches,
if they be dry, and in sandy grounds.

Time.] It flowereth about June or July, and abideth green
all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] The Moon owns this herb also ;
and though authors cry out upon alchymists, for attempting to
fix quicksilver by this herb and moonwort, a Roman would not
have jndged a thing by the success ; if it be to be fixed at all,
it is by Lunar influence. The juice thereof taken in wine, or
the decoction thereof drank, doth help the jaundice, although
of long continuance, to drink thereof morning and evening, and
abstain from other drink two or three hours after. It is a special
remedy against the stone, and the tormentiug pains thereof; as
also other tortures and griping pains of the bowels. The de-
coction thereof with succory and centaury is held very effectual

1

\

«

The English Physician Enlarged. 227

to help the dropsy, and them that are inclining thereunto, and
the diseases of the spleen. It stayeth the fluxes of blood, either
at the mouth or nose, and inward bleeding also, for it is a sin-
gular wound herb for wounds both inward and outward : It
helpeth the bloody flux, and helpeth the abundance of women’s
courses. There is a syrup made of the juice hereof, and sugar,
by the apothecaries of Italy, and other places, which is of much
account with them, to be given to those that are troubled with
the cough or phthisic. The same also is singularly good for
ruptures or burstings. The green herb bruised and presently
bound to any cut or wound, doth quiekly solder the lips thereof.
And the juice, decoction, or powder of the dried herb is most
singular to stay the malignity of spreading and fretting cankers
and ulcers whatsoever, yea in the mouth and secret parts. The
distilled water of the plant is available in all the diseases afore-
said, and to wash outward wounds and sores, and apply tents
of cloths wet therein.

MUGWORT.

Descript.'] CoMMON mugwort hath divers leaves lying
upon the ground, very much divided, or cut deeply in about
the brims, somewhat like wormwood, but much larger, of a
dark green colour on the upper side, and very hoary white un-
derneath. The stalks rise to be four or five feet high, having on
it such like leaves as those below, but somewhat smaller, branch-
ing forth very much towards the top, whereon are set very
small, pale, yellowish flowers like buttons, which fall away, and
after them come small seeds inclosed in round heads. The root
is long and hard, with many small fibres growing from it,
whereby it taketh strong hold on the ground; but both stalks
and leaves do lie down every year, and the root shooteth
anew m the spring. The whole plant is of a reasonable scent,
and is more easily propagated by the slips than the seed.

Place.] It groweth plentifully in many places of this land,

by the water-sides; as also by small water courses, and in divers
other places.

228 The English Physician Enlarged.

'■ - "...

Time.] It flowereth and seedeth in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues .] This is an herb of Venus, therefore
maintaineth the parts of the body she rules, remedies the dis-
eases of the parts that are under her signs Taurus and Libra.
Mugwort is with good success put among other herbs that are
boiled for women to sit over the hot decoction to draw down
their courses, to help the delivery of their birth, and expel the
after-birth. As also for the obstructions and inflammations of
the mother. It breaketh the stone, and causeth one to make
water where it is stopped. The juice thereof made up with
myrrh, and put under as a pessary, worketh the same effects,
and so doth the root also. Being made up with hog’s grease
into an ointment, it taketh away wens and hard knots and ker-
nels that grow about the neck and throat, and easeth the pains
about the neck more effectually, if some field daisies be put
with it. The herb itself being fresh, or the juice thereof
taken, is a special remedy upon the over much taking of opi-
um. Three drams of the powder of the dried leaves taken in
wine, is a speedy and the best certain help for the sciatica. A
decoction thereof made with camomile and agrimony, and the
place bathed therewith while it is warm, taketh away the pains
of the sinews and the cramp*

THE MULBERRY-TREE.

I HIS is so well known where it groweth, that it needeth no
description.

Time.] It beareth fruit in the months of July and August.

Government and Virtues.] Mercury rules the tree, there-
fore are its effects variable as hi-s are. The mulberry is of dif-
ferent parts; the ripe berries, by reason of their sweetness and
slippery moisture, opening the body, and the unripe binding it,
especially when they are dried, and then they are good to stay
fluxes, lasks, and the abundance of women’s courses. The bark
of the root killeth the broad worms in the body. The juice or
die syrup made of the juice of the berries, helpeth all inflam-

The English Physician Enlarged. 229

mations or sores in the mouth or throat, and palate of the mouth
when it is fallen down. The juice of the leaves is a remedy
against the biting of serpents, and for those that have taken
aconite. The leaves beaten with vinegar, are good to lay on
any place that is burnt with fire. A d^oction made of the
bark and leaves is good to wash the mouth and teeth when they
ache. If the root be a little slit or cut, and a small hole made
in the ground next there unto, in the harvest time, it will give
out a certain juice, which being hardened the next day, is of
good use to help the tooth-ach, to dissolve knots, and purge
the belly. The leaves of mulberries are said to stay bleeding at
the mouth or nose, or the bleeding of the piles, or of a wound,
being bound unto the places. A branch of the tree taken when
the moon is at the full, and bound to the wrists of a woman's
arm, whose courses come down too much, doth stay them in a
short space.

MULLEIN.

Descript.] Common white mullein hath many fair, large,
woolly white leaves, lying next the ground, somewhat larger
than broad, pointed at the end, and as it were dented about
the edges. The stalk riseth up to be four or five feet high, co-
vered over with such like leaves, but lesser, so that no stalk can
be seen for the multitude of leaves thereon up to the flowers,
which come forth on all sides of the stalk, without any branches
for the most part, and are many set together in a long spike,
in some of a yellow colour, in others more pale, consisting of
five round pointed leaves, which afterwards have small round
heads, wherein is small brownish seed contained. The root is
long, white, and woody, perishing after it hath borne seed.

Place.] It groweth by way-sides and lanes, in many places of
this land.

Time.] It flowereth in July, or thereabouts.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of
Saturn. A small quantity of the root given in wine, is com-

230 The English Physician Enlarged .

mended by Dioscorides, against lasks and fluxes of the belly.
The decoction hereof drank, is profitable for those that are
bnrsten, and for cramps and convulsions, and for those that are
troubled with an old cough. The decoction thereof gargled,
easeth the pains of the tooth-ache. And the oil made by the
often infusion of the flowers is of very good effect for the piles.
The decoction of the root in red wine or in water, (if there be
an ague) wherein red hot steel hath been often quenehed, doth
stay the bloody flux. The same also openeth obstructions of
the bladder and veins when one cannot make water. A decoc-
tion of the leaves hereof, and of sage, marjoram, and camomile
flowers, and the places bathed therewith, that have sinews stiff
with cold or cramps, doth bring them much ease and comfort.
Three ounces of the distilled water of the flowers, drank morn-
ing and evening for some days together, is said to be a most ex-
cellent remedy for the gout. The juice of the leaves and flowers
being laid upon rough warts, as also the powder of the dried
roots rubbed on, doth easily take them away, but doth no good
to smooth warts. The powder of the dried flowers is an espe-
cial remedy for those that are troubled with the belly-ach, or
the pains of the cholic. The decoction of the root, and so like-
wise of the leaves, is of great effect to dissolve the tumours,
swellings, or inflammations of the throat. The seeds and leaves
boiled in wine, and applied, draw forth speedily thorns or splin-
ters gotten into the flesh, ease the pains, and heal them also. The
leaves bruised and wrapped in double papers, and covered with
hot ashes and embers to bake a while, and then taken forth and
laid warm on any blotch or boil happening in the groin or share,
doth dissolve and heal them. The seed bruised and boiled in
wine, and laid on any member that hath been out of j oint, and
newly set again, taketh away all swelling and pain thereof.

MUSTARD.

Descript .] Our common mustard hath large and broad
rough leaves, very much jagged with uneven and unorderly

The English Physician Enlarged . 231

gashes, somewhat like turnip leaves, but lesser and rougher.
The stalk riseth to be more than a foot high, and sometimes two
feet high, being round, rough, and branched at the top, bearing
such like leaves thereon as grow below, but lesser, and less di-
vided, and divers yellow flowers one above another at the tops,
after which come small rough pods, with small, lank, flat ends,
wherein is contained round yellowish seed, sharp, hot and biting
upon the tongue. The root is small, long and woody when it
beareth stalks, and perisheth every year.

Place .] This groweth with us in gardens only, and other
manured places.

Time.] It is an annual plant, flowering in July, and the seed
is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an excellent sauce for such
whose blood wants clarifying, and for weak stomachs, being an
herb of Mars, but naught for choleric people, though as good
for such as are aged, or troubled with cold diseases. Aries
claims something to do with it, therefore it strengthens the heart,
and resisteth poison. Let such whose stomachs are so weak they
cannot digest their meat, or appetite it, take of mustard-seed a
dram, cinnamon as much, and having beaten them to powder,
and half as much mastic in powder, and with gum arabic dis-
solved in rose water, make it up into trotches, of which they
may take one of about half a dram weight an hour or two be-
fore meals; let old men and women make much of this medi-
cine, and they will either give me thanks, or shew manifest in-
gratitude. Mustard seed hath the virtue of heat, discussing,
ratifying, and drawing out splinters of bones, and other things of
the flesh. It is of good effect to bring down women’s courses,
for the falling sickness or lethargy, drow sy forgetful evil, to use
it both inwardly and outwardly, to rub the nostrils, forehead
and temples, to warm and quicken the spirits ; for by the fierce
sharpness, it purgeth the brain by sneezing, and drawing down
rheum and other viscous humours, which by their distillations
upon the lungs and chest, procure coughing, and therefore,
with some honey added thereto, doth much good therein. The

232 Hie English Physician Enlarged,

decoction of the seed made in wine, and drank, provoketh urine,
resisteth the force of poison, the malignity of mushrooms, and
venom of scorpions, or other venomous creatures, if it be taken
in time ; and taken before the cold fits of agues, altereth, lessen-
eth, and cureth them. The seed taken either by itself, or with
other things, either in an electuary or drink, doth mightily stir
up bodily lust, and helpeth the spleen and pains in the sides, and
gnawings in the bowels ; and used as a gargle, draweth up the
palate of the mouth, being fallen down ; and also it dissolveth the
swellings about the throat, if it be outwardly applied. Being
chewed in the mouth, it oftentimes helpeth the tooth-ach. The
outward application hereof upon the pained place of the sciatica,
discusseth the humours, and easeth the pains, as also the gout,
and other joint-achs; and is much and often used to ease pains
in the sides or loins, the shoulders, or other parts of the body,
upon the plying thereof to raise blisters, and cureth the disease
by drawing it to the outward parts of the body. It is also used
to help the falling off of the hair. The seed bruised, mixed with
honey, and applied, or made up with wax, taketh aw ay the marks
and black and blue spots of bruises, or the like, the roughness
or scabbiness of the skin, as also the leprosy, and lousy evil. It
helpeth also the crick in the neck. The distilled water of the
herb, when it is in flower, is much used to drink inwardly to help
in any of the diseases aforesaid, or to wash the mouth when the
palate i3 down, and for the diseases of the throat to gargle, but
outwardly also for scabs, itch, or other the like infirmities, and
cleanseth the face from morphew, spots, freckles, and other
deformities.

THE HEDGE-MUSTARD.

Descript.] HP his groweth up usually but with one blackish
green stalk, tough, easy to bend, but not to break, branched
into divers parts, and sometimes with divers stalks, set full of
branches, whereon grow long, rough, or hard, rugged leaves,

The English Physician Enlarged . 233

very much tore or cut on the edges in many parts, some bigger,
and some lesser, and of a dirty green colour. The flowers are
small and yellow, that grow on the tops of the branches in long
spikes, flowering by degrees : so that continuing long in flower,
the stalk will have small round cods at the bottom growing up-
right and close to the stalk, while the top flowers yet shew them-
selves, in which are contained small yellow seed, sharp and
strong, as the herb is also. The root groweth down slender and
woody, yet abiding and springing again every year.

Place.\ This groweth frequently in this land, by the ways
and hedge-sides, and sometimes in the open fields*

Time.] It flowereth most usually about July.

Government and Virtues.] Mars owns this herb also. It
is singularly good in all the diseases of the chest and lungs,
hoarseness of voice ; and by the use of the decoction thereof for
a little space, those have been recovered who had utterly lost
their voice, and almost their spirits also. The juice thereof
made into a syrup, or licking medicine, with honey or sugar,

is no less effectual for the same purpose, and for all other coughs,

*

wheezing, and shortness of breath. The same is also profitable
for those that have the jaundice, pleurisy, pains in the back and
loins, and for torments in the belly, or cholic, being also used
in clysters. The seed is held to be a special remedy against
poison and venom. It is singularly good for the sciatica, and in
joint-achs, ulcers, and cankers in the mouth, throat, or behind
the ears, and no less for the hardness and swelling of the
testicles, or of women’s breasts.

NAILWORT, OR WITLOWGRASS.

Descript.] This very small and common herb hath no
root, save only a few strings ; neither doth it ever grow to be
above a hand’s breadth high, the leaves are very small, and some-
thing long, not much unlike those of duckweed, among which
rise up divers slender stalks, bearing many white flowers one
above another, which are exceeding small; after which come

G g

234 The English Physician Enlarged.

small flat pouches containing the seed, which is very small, but
of a sharp taste.

Place .] It grows commonly upon old stone and brick walls,
and sometimes in dry gravelly grounds, especially if there be
grass or moss near to shadow it.

Time.] They flower very early in the year, sometimes in
January, and in February; for before the end of April they are
not to be found.

Government and Virtues.] It is held to be exceeding good
for those iinposthumes in the joints, and under the nails, which
they call whitlows, felons, andicons and nailwheals. Such as
would be knowing physicians, let them read those books of mine
of the last edition, viz. Reverius, Riolanus, Johnson, Vestingus,
Sennertus.

NEP, OR CATMINT.

Descript.] (y OMMON garden nep shooteth forth hard four-
square stalks, with a hoarness on them, a yard high or more,
full of branches, bearing at every joint two broad leaves like
balm, but longer pointed, softer white and more hoary nicked
about the edges, and of a strong sweet scent. The flowers grow
in large tufts at the tops of the branches, and underneath them,
likewise on the stalks many together, of a whitish purple colour.
The roots are composed of many long strings or fibres, fasten-
ing themselves stronger in the ground, and abide with green
leaves thereon all the winter.

Place.] It is only nursed up in our gardens.

Time.] And it flowereth in July, or thereabouts.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Venus. Nep
is generally used for women to procure their courses, being
taken inwardly or outwardly, either alone, or with other con-
venient herbs in a decoction to bathe them, or sit over the hot
fumes thereof; and by the frequent use thereof, it taketh away
barrenness, and the wind, and pains of the mother. It is also
used in pains of the head coming of any cold cause, catarrhs

The English Physician Enlarged . 235

rheums, and for swimming and giddiness thereof, and is of
special use for the windiness of the stomach and belly. It is ef-
fectual for any cramp, or cold aches, to dissolve cold and wind
that afflicteth the place, and is used for colds, coughs, and
shortness of breath. The juice thereof drank in wine, is pro-
fitable for those that are bruised by an accident. The green
herb bruised and applied to the fundament, and lying there two
or three hours, easeth the pains of the piles ; the juice also being
made up into an ointment, is effectual for the same purpose.
The head washed with a decoction thereof, it taketh away
scabs, and may be effectual for other parts of the body also.

NETTLES.

Ne TTLES are so well known, that they need no descrip-
tion; they may be found by feeling, in the darkest night.

Government and Virtues .] This is also an herb Mars claims
dominion over. You know Mars is hot and dry, and you know
as well that winter is cold and moist ; then you may know as
well the reason why nettle tops eaten in the spring consumeth
the phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the cold-
ness and moistness of winter hath left behind. The roots or
leaves boiled, or the juice of either of them, or both, made into
an electuary with honey and sugar, is a safe and sure medicine
to open the pipes and passages of the lungs, which is the cause
of wheezing and shortness of breath, and helpeth to expectorate
tough phlegm, as also to raise the imposthumed pleurisy; and
spend it by spitting; the same helpeth the swelling of the al-
monds of the throat, the mouth and throat being gargled there-
with. The juice is also effectual to settle the palate of the
mouth in its place, and to heal and temper the inflammations
and soreness of the mouth and throat. The decoction of the
leaves in wine, being drank, is singularly good to provoke wo-
men’s courses, to settle the suffocation, strangling of the mo-
ther, and all other diseases thereof; as also applied outwardly
with a little myrrh. The same also, or the seed, provoketh

236 The English Physician Enlarged

urine, and expelleth the gravel and stone in the reins or bladder,
often proved to be effectual in many that have taken it. The
same killeth the worms in children, easeth pains in the sides,
and dissolveth the windiness in the spleen, as also in the body,
although others think it only powerful to provoke venery.
The juice of the leaves taken two or three days together, stayeth
bleeding at the mouth. The seed being drank, is a remedy
against the stinging of venomous creatures, the biting of mad
dogs, the poisonful qualities of hemlock, henbane, nightshade,
mandrake, or other such like herbs that stupify or dull the
senses; as also the lethargy, especially to use it outwardly, to
rub the forehead or temples in the lethargy, and the places stung
or bitten with beasts, with a little salt. The distilled water of
the herb is also effectual (though not so powerful) for the dis-
eases aforesaid ; as for outward wounds and sores to wash them,
and to cleanse the skin from morphew, leprosy, and other dis-
colourings thereof. The seed or leaves bruised, and put into the
nostrils, stayeth the bleeding of them, and taketh away the flesh
growing in them called polypus. The juice of the leaves, or
the decoction them, or of the root is singularly good to
wash either old, rotten, or stinking sores or fistulas, and gan-
grenes, and such as fretting, eating, or corroding scabs, man-
giness and itch, in any part of the body, as also green wounds,
by washing them therewith, or applying the green herb bruised
thereunto, yea, although the flesh were separated from the
bones, the same applied to our wearied members, refresh them,
or replace those that have been out of joint, being first set up
again, strengthen, drieth, and comforteth them, as also those
places troubled with aches and gouts, and the deduction of hu-
mours upon the joints or sinews ; it easeth the pains, and drieth
or dissolveth the deductions. An ointment made of the juice,
oil, and a little wax, is singularly good to rub cold and be-
numbed members. An handful of the leaves of green nettles,
and another of wallwort, or deanwort bruised and applied sim-
ply themselves to the gout, sciatica, or joint aches in any part,
^th been found to be an admirable helo thereunto.

The English Physician Enlarged. 237

NIGHTSHADE.

De script.] C/OMMON nightshade hath an upright, round,
green, hollow stalk, about a foot or half a yard high, bushing
forth in many branches whereon grow many green leaves, some-
what broad, and pointed at the ends, soft and full of juice,
somewhat like unto bazil, but longer and a little unevenly dented
about the edges : At the tops of the stalks and branches come
forth three or four more white flowers made of five small point-
ed leaves a-piece, standing on a stalk together, one above ano-
ther, with yellowish pointels in the middle, composed of four or
five yellow threads set together, which afterwards run into so
many pendulous green berries, of the bigness of small pease,
full of green juice, and small whitish round flat seed lying with-
in it. The root is white, and a little woody when it hath given
tlower fruit, with many small fibres at it : The whole plant is
of a waterish insipid taste, but the juice within the berries is
somewhat viscous, and of a cooling and binding quality.

Place.] It groweth wild with us under our walls, and in rub-
bish, the common paths, and sides of hedges and fields, as also
in our gardens here in England, without any planting.

Time.] It lieth down every year and riseth again of its own
sowing, but springeth not until the latter end of April at the
soonest.

Government and Virtues.] It is a cold Saturnine plant. The
common nightshade is wholly used to cool hot inflammations ei-
ther inwardly or outwardly, being no ways dangerous to any
that use it, as most of the rest of the nightshades are; yet it
must be used moderately. The distilled water only of the whole
herb is fittest and safest to be taken inwardly. The juice also
clarified and taken, being mingled with a little vinegar, is good
to wash the mouth and throat that is inflamed ; but outwardly
the juice of the herbs or berries, with oil of roses and a little
vinegar and ceruse laboured together in a leaden mortar, is very
good to anoint all hot inflammations in the eyes. It also doth

238 The English Physician Enlarged.

much good for the shingles, ringworms, and in all running,
fretting, and corroding ulcers applied thereunto. A pessary
dipped in the juice, and dropped into the matrix, stayeth the
immoderate flux of women's courses; a cloth wet therein, and
applied to the testicles or cods, upon any swelling therein, giv-
eth much ease, also to the gout that cometh of hot and sharp
humours. The juice dropped into the ears, easeth pains there-
of that arise of heat or inflammations. And Pliny saith, it is
good for hot swellings under the throat. Have a care you
mistake not the deadly nightshade for this ; if you know it not,
you may let them both alone, and take no harm, having other
medicines sufficient in the book.

THE OAK.

Xt is so well known (the timber thereof being the glory and
safety of this nation by sea) that it needeth no description.

Government and Virtues .] Jupiter owns the tree. The leaves
and bark of the oak, and the acorn cups, do bind and dry
very much. The inner bark of the tree, and the thin skin that
covereth the acorn, are most used to stay the spitting of blood,
and the bloody flux. The decoction of that bark, and the pow-
der of the cups, do stay vomitings, spitting of blood, bleeding
at the mouth, or other fluxes of blood in men or women; lasks
also, and the involuntary flux of natural seed. The acorn in
powder, taken in wine, provoketh urine, and resisteth the poi-
son of venomous creatures. The decoction of acorns and the
bark made in milk and taken, resisteth the force of poisonous
herbs and medicines, as also the virulency of cantharides, when
one by eating them hath his bladder exulcerated, and pisseth
blood. Hippocrates saith, he used the fumes of oak leaves to
women that were troubled with the strangling of the mother;
and Galen applied them being bruised to cure green wounds.
The distilled water of the oaken bud, before they break out in-
to leaves, is good to be used either inwardly or outwardly, to
assuage inflammations, and to stop all manner of fluxes in ma»

The English Physician Enlarged . 239

or woman. The same is singularly good in pestilential and hot
burning fevers : for it resisteth the force of the infection, and
allayeth the heat. It cooleth the heat of the liver, breaketh
the stone in the kidneys, and stayeth women’s courses. The
decoction of the leaves worketh the same effects. The water
that is found in the hollow places of old oaks, is very effectual
against any foul or spreading scabs. The distilled water (or
decoction, which is better) of the leaves, is one of the best re-
medies that I know of for the whites in women.

OATS.

Are so well known that they need no description.

Government and Virtues ,] Oats fried with bay salt, and ap-
plied to the sides, take away the pains of stitches and wind in
the sides of the belly. A poultice made of meal of oats, and
some oil of bays put thereunto, helpeth the itch and the lepro-
sy, as also the fistulas of the fundament, and dissolveth hard
imposthumes. The meal of oats boiled with vinegar, and ap-
plied, taketh away freckles and spots in the face, and other
parts of the body.

ONE-BLADE.

Descript .] This small plant never beareth more than one
leaf, but only when it riseth up with his stalk, which thereon
beareth another, and seldom more, which are of a blueish green
colour, pointed, with many ribs or veins therein, like plantain.
At the top of the stalk grow many small white flowers, star
fashion, smelling somewhat sweet; after which come small red
berries, when they are ripe. The root is small, of the bigness
of a rush, lying and creeping under the upper crust of the earth,
shooting forth in divers places.

Place .] It groweth in moist, shadowy, and grassy places of
woods, in many places of this land.

Time.] It flowereth about May, and the berries are ripe in
June, and then quickly perisheth, until the next year it spring-
eth from the same root again.

240 The English Physician Enlarged .

Government and Virtues .] It is a precious herb of the Sun.
Half a dram, or a dram at most, in powder of the roots hereof
taken in wine and vinegar, of each equal parts, and the party
laid presently to sweat thereupon, is said to be a sovereign re-
medy for those that are infected with the plague, and have a
sore upon them, by expelling the poison and infection, and de-
fending the heart and spirits from danger. It is a singularly
good wound herb, and is thereupon used with other the like
effects in many compound balsams for curing of wounds, be they
fresh and green, or old and malignant, and especially if the
sinews be burnt.

ORCHIS.

It hath gotten almost as many several names attributed to the
several sorts of it, as would almost fill a sheet of paper ; as
dogs tones, goat-stones, fool-stones, fox-stones, satirion, cul-
lians, together with many others too tedious to rehearse.

Descript.] To describe all the several sorts of it were an
endless piece of work ; therefore I shall only describe the roots,
because they are to be used with some discretion. They have
each of them a double root within, some of them are round, in
others like a hand ; these roots alter every year by course, when
the one riseth and waxeth full, the other waxetli lank, and pe-
risheth : Now, it is that which is full which is to be used in me-
dicines, the other being either of no use at all, or else, accord-
ing to the humour of some, it destroys and disannuls the virtues
of the other, quite undoing what that doth.

Time.] One or other of them may be found in flower from
the beginning of April to the latter end of August.

Temperature and Virtues.] They are hot and moist in ope-
ration, under the dominion of dame Venus, and provoke lust
exceedingly, which they say, the dried and withered roots do
restrain. They are held to kill worms in children; as also,
being bruised and applied to the place, to heal the king’s evil.

The English Physician Enlarged . 241

ONIONS.

They are so well known, that I need not spend time about
writing a description of them.

Government and Virtues .] Mars owns them, and they have
gotten this quality, to draw any corruption to them, for if you
peel one, and lay it upon the dunghill, you shall find it rot-
ten in half a day, by drawing putrefaction to it ; then being
bruised and applied to a plague sore, it is very probable it will
do the like. Onions are flatulent, or windy ; yet they do some-
what provoke appetite, increase thirst, ease the belly and bow-
els, provoke women's courses, help the biting of a mad dog,
and of other venomous creatures, to be used with honey and
rue, increase sperm, especially the seed of them. They also
kill worms in children, if they drink the water fasting wherein
they have been steeped all night. Being roasted under the em-
bers, and eaten with honey or sugar and oil, they much conduce
to help an inveterate cough, and expectorate the tough phlegm.
The juice being snuffed up in the nostrils, purgeth the head,
and neipeth the lethargy, (yet the often eating them, is said to
procure pains in the head.) It hath been held by divers country
people a great preservative against infection, to eat onions fast-
ing with bread and salt: As also to make a great onion hollow,
filling the place with good treacle, and after to roast it well un-
der the embers, which, after taking away the outermost skin
thereof, being beaten together, is a sovereign salve for either
plague or sores, or any other putrefied ulcer. The juice of
onions is good for either scalding or burning by fire, water, or
gunpowder, and used with vinegar, taketh away all blemishes,
spots, and marks in the skin : and dropped into the ears, easeth
the pains and noise of them. Applied also with figs beaten
together, helpeth to ripen and break imposthumes, and other
sores.

Leeks are as like them in quality, as the pome-water is like an
apple : They are a remedy against a surfeit of mushrooms, being

H h

242 The English Physician Enlarged .

baked under the embers and taken; and being boiled and ap-
plied very warm, help the piles. In other things they have the
same property as the onions, although not so effectual.

ORPINE.

Descript.] C/OMMON orpine riseth up with divers round
brittle stalks, thick set with fat and fleshy leaves, without any
order, and little or nothing dented about the edges, of a green
colour: The flowers are white, or whitish, growing in tufts,
after which come small chaffy husks, with seeds like dust in
them. The roots are divers thick, round, white tuberous clogs ;
and the plant groweth not so big in some places as in others
where it is found.

Place.] It is frequent in almost every county of this land,
and is cherished in gardens with us, where it groweth greater
than that which is wild, and groweth in shadowy sides of fields
and w oods.

Time.] It flowereth about July, and the seed is ripe in Au-
gust.

Government and Virtues .] The Moon owns the herb, and
he that knows but her exaltation, know's what I say is true.
Orpine is seldom used in inward medicines with us, although
Tragus saith from experience in Germany, that the distilled wa-
ter thereof is profitable for gnawings or excoriations in the sto-
mach or bowels, or for ulcers in the lungs, liver, or other inward
parts, as also in the matrix, and helpeth all those diseases, being
drank for certain days together. It stayeth the sharpness of
humours in the bloody-flux, and other fluxes in the body or in
w ounds. The root thereof also performeth the like effect. It
is used outwardly to cool any heat or inflammation upon any
hurt or wound, and easeth the pains of them; as also to heal
scaldings or burnings, the juice thereof being beaten with some
green salad oil, and anointed. The leaf bruised, and laid to
any green w'ound in the hands or legs, doth heal them quickly ;
and being bound to the throat, much helpeth the quinsy; it

) •; m

-

The English Physician Enlarged. 243

helpeth also ruptures and burstenness. If you please to make
the juice thereof into a syrup with honey or sugar, you may
safely take a spoonful or two at a time, (let my author say what
he will) for a quinsy, and you shall find the medicine more
pleasant, and the cure more speedy, than if you had taken a
dog’s turd, which is the vulgar cure.

PARSLEY.

This is so well known, that it needs no description.

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of Mer-
cury; is very comfortable to the stomach, helpeth to provoke
urine and women’s courses; to break wind both in the stomach
and bowels; and doth a little open the body, but the root
much more. It openeth obstructions both of liver and spleen,
and is therefore accounted one of the five opening roots. Ga-
len commended it against the falling sickness, and to provoke
urine mightily, especially if the roots be boiled, and eaten like
parsnips. The seed is effectual to provoke urine and women’s
courses, to expel wind, to break the stone, and easeth the pains
and torments thereof; it is also effectual against the venom of
any poisonous creature, and the danger that cometh to them that
have the lethargy ; and is as good against the cough. The dis-
tilled water of parsley is a familiar medicine with nurses to give
their children, when they are troubled with wind in the stomach
or belly, which they call the frets ; and is also much available to
them that are of great years. The leaves of parsley laid to the
eyes that are inflamed with heat, or swollen, doth much help
them, if it be used with bread or meal; and being fried with
butter, and applied to w omen’s breasts that are hard through the
curdling of their milk, itabateth the hardness quickly, and also it
taketh away black and blue marks coming of bruises or falls.
The juice thereof dropped into the ears, with a little wine, easeth
the pains. Tragus setteth down an excellent medicine to help
the jaundice and falling sickness, the dropsy, and stone in the
kidneys, in this manner: Take of the seed of parsley, fennel,

244 sThe English Physician Enlarged.

anise and carraways, of each an ounce; of the roots of parsley,
burnet, saxifrage, and carraways, of each an ounce and a half ;
let the seeds be bruised, and the roots washed and cut small;
let them lie all night in steep in , a bottle of white wine, and in
the morning be boiled in a close earthen vessel until a third
part or more be wasted; which being strained and cleared,
take four ounces thereof morning and evening first and last,
abstaining from drink after it for three hours. This opcneth
obstructions of the liver and spleen, and expelleth the dropsy
and jaundice by urine.

PARSLEY PIERT, OR PARSLEY BREAKSTONE

Descript .] jL HE root, although it be very small and thready,
yet it continues many years, from whence arise many leaves
lying along on the ground, each standing upon a long small
foot-stalk, the leaves as broad as a man's nail, very deeply
dented on the edges, somewhat like a parsley-leaf, but of a
very dusky green colour, the stalks are very weak and slender,
about three or four fingers in length, set so full of leaves that
they can hardly be seen, either having no foot-stalk at all, or
but very short ; the flowers are so small they can hardly be
seen, and the seed as small as may be.

Place.] It is a common herb throughout the nation, and
rejoiceth in barren, sandy, moist places. It may be found
plentifully about Hamstead Heath, Hyde Park, and in Tothill-
fields.

Time.] It may be found all the summer-time, even from the
beginning of April to the end of October.

Government and Virtues.] Its operation is very prevalent
to provoke urine, and to break the stone. It is a very good
salad herb. It were good the gentry would pickle it up as they
pickle up samphire for their use all the winter. I cannot teach
them how to do it; yet this I can tell them, it is a very whole-
^me herb. They may also keep the herb dry, or in a syrup, if
they please. You may take a dram of the powder of it in white

The English Physician Enlarged . 245

wine; it would bring away gravel from the kidneys insensibly,
and without pain. It also helps the strangury.

PARSNIP.

The garden kind thereof is so well known (the root being
commonly eaten) that I shall not trouble you with any descrip-
tion of it. But the wild kind being of more physical use, I shall
in this place describe it unto you.

Descript.] The wild parsnip differeth little from the garden,
but groweth not so fair and large, nor hath so many leaves, and
the root is shorter, more woody, and not so fit to be eaten, and
therefore more medicinal.

Place.] The name of the first sheweth the place of its growth.
The other groweth wild in divers places, as in the marshes by
Rochester, and elsewhere, and flowereth in July ; the seed being
ripe about the beginning of August, the second year after sow-
ing; for if they do flower the first year, the country people call
them madneps.

Government and Virtues.] The garden parsnips are under
Venus. The garden parsnip nourisheth much, and is good and
wholesome nourishment, but a little windy, whereby it is thought
to procure bodily lust; but it fatteneth the body much, if much
used. It is conducible to the stomach and reins, and provoketh
urine. But the wild parsnip hath a cutting, attenuating, cleans-
ing, and opening quality therein. It resisteth and helpeth the
bitings of serpents, easetli the pains and stitches in the sides,
and dissolveth wind both in the stomach and bowels, which is
the cholic, and provoketh urine. The root is often used, but
the seed much more ; the wild being better than the tame,
shews dame Nature to be the best physician.

COW PARSNIP.

Descript.] HIS groweth with three or four large, spread,

-m

winged, rough leaves, lying often on the ground, or else lais-
ed a little from it, with long, round, hairy footstalks under them,

r

246 The English Physician Enlarged .

parted usually into five divisions, the two couples standing each
against the other; and one at the end, and each leaf being al-
most round, yet somewhat deeply cut in on the edges in some
leaves, and not so deep in others, of a whitish green colour,
smelling somewhat strongly ; among which riseth up a round
crusted, hairy stalk, two or three feet high, with a few joints
and leaves thereon, and branched at the top, where stand large
umbels of white, and sometimes reddish flowers, and after them
flat, whitish, thin, winged seed, two always joined together.
The root is long and white, with two or three long strings grow-
ing down into the ground, smelling likewise strongly and un-
pleasant.

Place .] It groweth in moist meadows, and the borders and
corners of fields, and near ditches, through this land.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and seedeth in August.

Government and Virtues.] Mercury hath the dominion over
them. The seed thereof, as Galen saith, is of a sharp and cut-
ting quality, and therefore is a fit medicine for a cough and short-
ness of breath, the falling sickness and jaundice. The root is
available to all the purposes aforesaid, and is also of great use
to take away the hard skin that groweth on a fistula, if it be but
scraped upon it. The seed hereof being drank, cleanseth the
belly from tough phlegmatic matter therein, easeth them that
are liver-grown, women’s passions of the mother, as well being
drank as the smoke thereof received underneath, and likewise
raiseth such as are fallen into a deep sleep, or have the lethargy,
by burning it under their nose. The seed and root boiled in oil,
and the head rubbed therewith, helpeth not only those that are
fallen into a frenzy, but also the lethargy or drowsy evil, and
those that have been long troubled with the head-ache, if it be
likewise used with rue. It helpeth also the running scab and
the shingles. The juice of the flowers dropped into the ears
that run and are full of matter, cleanseth and healeth them.

THE PEACH TREE.

Descript.] PEACH tree groweth not so great as the

The English Physician Enlarged. 247

apricot tree, yet spreadeth branches reasonable well, from
whence spring smaller reddish twigs, whereon are set long and
narrow green lea ves dented about the edges. The blossoms are
greater than the plumb, and of a light purple colour; the fruit
round, and sometimes as big as a reasonable pippin, others
smaller, as also differing in colour and taste, as russet, red, or
yellow, waterish or firm, with a frize or cotton all over, with
a cleft therein like an apricot, and a rugged, furrowed, great
stone within it, and a bitter kernel within the stone. It soon-
er waxeth old, and decayeth than the apricot, by much.

Place.] They are nursed in gardens and orchards through
this land.

Time.] They flower in the spring, and fructify in autumn.

Government and Virtues. Lady Venus owns the tree, and
by it opposeth the ill effects of Mars, and indeed for children
and young people, nothing is better to purge choler and the
jaundice, than the leaves and flowers of this tree being made into
a syrup or conserve; let such as delight to please their lust re-
gard the fruit; but such as have lost their health, and their chil-
dren’s, let them regard what I say, they may safely give two
spoonfuls of the syrup at a time : it is as gentle as Venus herself.
The leaves of peaches bruised and laid on the belly, kill worms ;
and so they do also being boiled in ale and drank, and open the
belly likewise ; and being dried is a safer medicine to discuss hu-
mours. The powder of them strewed upon fresh bleeding
wounds stayeth their bleeding, and closeth them up. The flow-
ers steeped all night in a little wine standing warm, strained
forth in the morning, and drank fasting, doth gently open the
belly, and move it downward. A syrup made of them, as the
syrup of roses is made, worketh more forcibly than that of roses,
for it provoketh vomiting, and spendeth waterish and hydropic
humours by the continuance thereof. The flowers made into a
conserve, worketh the same effect. The liquor that droppeth
from the tree, being wounded, is given with the decoction of
coltsfoot, to those that are troubled with the cough or shortness

248 The English Physician Enlarged .

of breath, by adding thereunto some sweet wine, and putting
some saffron also therein. It is good for those that are hoarse, or
have lost their voice ; helpeth all defects of the lungs, and those
that vomit and spit blood. Two drams hereof given in the juice
of lemons, or of raddish, is good for them that are troubled with
the stone. The kernels of the stones do wonderfully ease the
pains and wringings of the belly, through wind or sharp hu-
mours, and help to make an excellent medicine for the stone
upon all occasions, in this manner : I take fifty kernels of peach-
stones, and one hundred of the kernels of cherry-stones , a
handful of elder flowers fresh or dried, and three pints of mus-
cadel, set them in a close pot into a bed of horse dung for ten
days, after which distil in a glass with a gentle fire, and keep
it for your use: You may drink upon occasion three or four
ounces at a time. The milk or cream of these kernels being
drawn forth with some vervain water, and applied to the forehead
and temples doth much help to procure rest and sleep to sick
persons wanting it. The oil drawn from the kernels, the
temples being therewith anointed, doth the like. The said oil
put into clysters, easeth the pains of the wind cholic: and
anointed on the lower part of the body, doth the like, and drop-
ped into the ears, easeth pains in them; the j since of the leaves
doth the like. Being also anointed on the forehead and tem-
ples, it helpeth the megrim, and all other pains in the head. If
the kernels be bruised and boiled in vinegar, until they become
thick, and applied to the head, it marvellously procures the
hair to grow again upon bald places or where it is too thin.

THE PEAR TREE.

Pear trees are so well known, that they need no descrip-
tion.

Government and Virtues.] The tree belongs to Venus, and
so doth the apple tree. For their physical use they are best
discerned by their taste. x\ll the sweet and luscious sorts, whe-
ther manured or wild, do help to move the belly downwards

The English Physician Enlarged. 249

more or less. Those that are hard and sour, do, on the con-
trary, bind the belly as much, and the leaves do so also : Those
that are moist do in some sort cool, but harsh or wild sorts much
more, and are very good in repelling medicines ; and if the wild
sort be boiled with mushrooms, it makes them less dangerous.
The said pears boiled with a little honey, help much the op-
pressed stomach, as all sorts of them do, some more, some
less : but the harsher sorts do more cool and bind, serving well
to be bound to green wounds, to cool and stay the blood, and
to heal up the wound without farther trouble, or inflammation,
as Galen saith he hath found by experience. The wild pears
do sooner close up the lips of green wounds than others.

Schola and Salerni advise to drink much wine after pears, or
else (say they) they are as bad as poison; nay, and they curse
the tree for it too ; but if a poor man find his stomach oppressed
by eating pears, it is but working hard, and it will do as well
as drinking wine.

PELLITORY OF SPAIN.

Vy OMMON pellitory of Spain, if it be planted in our gardens,
it will prosper very well; yet there is one so^t growing ordina-
rily here wild, which I esteem to be little inferior to the
other, if at all. I shall not deny you the description of them
both.

Descript.] Common pellitory is a very common plant, and
will not be kept in our gardens without diligent looking to.
The root goes downright into the ground bearing leaves, being
long and finely cut upon the stalk, lying on the ground, much
larger than the leaves of the camomile are. At the top it bears
one single large flower at a place, having a border of many
leaves white on the upper side, and reddish underneath, with
a yellow thrum in the middle, not standing so close as that of
camomile doth.

The other common pellitory which grow eth here, hath a root

of a sharp biting taste, scarce discernible by the taste from that

• •»

I 1

250 The English Physician Enlarged .

before described, from whence arise divers brittle stalks, a
yard high and more, with narrow long leaves finely dented about
the edges, standing one above another up to the tops. The
flowers are many and white, standing in tufts like those of yar-
row, with a small yellowish thrum in the middle. The seed is
very small.

Plaee.\ The last groweth in fields by the hedge sides and
paths, almost every where.

Time.] It flowereth at the latter end of June and in July.

Government and Virtnes. ] It is under the government of
Mercury, and I am persuaded it is one of the best purgers of the
brain that grows. An ounce of the juice taken in a draught of
muscadel, an hour before the lit of the ague comes, will as-
suredly drive away the ague at the second or third time taking
at the farthest. Either the herb or root dried and chewed in the
mouth, purgeth the brain of phlegmatic humours ; thereby not
only easing pains in the head and teeth, but also hindereth the
distilling of the brain upon the lungs and eyes, thereby prevent-
ing coughs, phthisics and consumption, the apoplexy and falling
sickness. It is an excellent approved remedy in the lethargy.
The powder of the herb or root being snuffed up the nostrils,
procureth sneezing, and easeth the head-ach ; being made into
an ointment with hog’s grease, it takes away black and blue
spots occasioned by blows or falls, and helps both the gout and
sciatica.

PELLITORY OF THE WALL.

Descript .] It riseth with brownish, red, tender, weak, clear,
and almost transparent stalks, about two feet high, upon which
grow at the joints two leaves somewhat broad and long, of a
dark green colour, which afterwards turn brownish, smooth on
the edges, but rough and hairy, as the stalks are also. At the
joints with the leaves from the middle of the stalk upwards,
where it spreadeth in branches, stand many small, pale, purplish
flowers in hairy rough heads, or husks, after which come small.

j The English Physician Enlarged. 251

black rough seed, which will stick to any cloth or garment tnat
shall touch it. The root is somewhat long, with small fibres
thereat, of a dark reddish colour, which abideth the winter,
although the stalks and leaves perish and spring every year.

Place.] It groweth wild generally through the land, about
the borders of fields, and by the sides of walls, and among
rubbish. It will endure well being brought up in gardens,
and planted on the shady side, where it will spring of its own
sowing.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, and the seed is ripe
soon after.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Mer-
cury. The dried herb pellitory made up into an electuary with
honey, or the juice of the herb, or the decoction thereof made
up with sugar or honey, is a singular remedy for an old or dry
cough, the shortness of breath, and wheezing in the throat.
Three ounces of the juice thereof taken at a time, doth won-
derfully help stopping of the urine, and to expel the stone or
gravel in the kidneys or bladder, and is therefore usually put
among other herbs used in clysters to mitigate pains in the back,
sides, or bowels, proceeding of wind, stopping of urine, the
gravel or stone as aforesaid. If the bruised herb, sprinkled with
muscadel, be warmed upon a tile, or in a dish upon a few quick
coals in a chafing-dish, and applied to the belly, it worketh the
same effect. The decoction of the herb being drank, easeth
pains of the mother, and bringeth down women's courses; It
also easeth those griefs that arise from obstructions of the liver,
spleen, and reins. The same decoction, with a little honey
added thereto, is good to gargle a sore throat. The juice held
a while in the mouth, easeth pains in the teeth. The distilled
water of the herb, drank with some sugar, worketh the same
effects, and cleanseth the skin from spots, freckles, purples,
wheals, sun burn, morphew, &c. The juice dropped into the
ears, easeth the noise in them, and taketh away pricking and
shooting pains therein : The same, or the distilled water, assuag-

252 Hie English Physician Enlarged.

eth hot and swelling imposthumes, burnings and scaldings by fire
or water ; as also all other hot tumours and inflammations, or
breakings-out of heat, being bathed often with wet cloths dipped
therein: The said juice made into a liniment with ceruse, and
oil of roses, and anointed therewith, cleanseth foul rotten ulcers,
and stayeth spreading or creeping ulcers, and running scabs or
sores in children’s heads ; and helpeth to stay the hair from fall-
ing off' the head. The said ointment, or the herb applied to
the fundament, openeth the piles, and easeth their pains; and
being mixed with goat’s tallow, helpeth the gout: The juice is
very effectual to cleanse fistulas, and to heal them up safely;
or the herb itself bruised and applied, with a little salt. It is
likewise also effectual to heal any green wound ; if it be bruised
and bound thereto for three days, you shall need no other medi-
cine to heal it further. A poultice made hereof with mallows
and boiled in wine and wheat bran and bean flower, and some
oil put thereto, and applied warm to any bruised sinews,
tendon, or muscle, doth, in a very short time, restore them
to their strength, taking away the pains of the bruises, and dis-
solved! the congealed blood coming of blows, or falls from high
places.

The j uice of pellitory of the wall clarified and boiled in a
syrup with honey, and a spoonful of it drank every morning
by such as are subject to the dropsy; if continuing that course,
though but once a week, if ever they have the dropsy, let them
come but to me, and I will cure them gratis.

PENNYROYAL.

Pennyroyal is so well known unto all, I mean the com-
mon kind, that it needeth no description.

There is a greater kind than the ordinary sort found wild with
us, which so abideth being brought into gardens, and diffeveth
not from it, but only in the largeness of the leaves and stalks, in
rising higher, and not creeping up in the ground so much. The
flowers whereof are purple, growing in ruudles about the stalks
like the other.

V.

N.

i

/

r

\

*

' i

9

\

The English Physician Enlarged. 253

Place .] The first, which is common in gardens, groweth
also in many moist and watery places of this land.

The second is found wild in divers places by the highways
from London to Colchester, and thereabouts, more abundantly
than in any other counties, and is also planted in their gardens
in Essex.

Time.] They flower in the latter end of summer, about Au-
gust.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is under Venus. Di-
oscorides saith, that pennyroyal maketh Inn tough phlegm,
warmeth the coldness of any part whereto it is applied, and di-
gesteth raw or corrupt matter: Being boiled and drank, it pro-
voketh women’s courses, and expelleth the dead child and after-
birth, and stayeth the disposition to vomit, being taken in water
and vinegar mingled together. And being mingled with honey
and salt, it voideth phlegm out of the lungs, and purgeth me-
lancholy by stool. Drank with wine, it helpeth such as are
bitten and stung with venomous beasts, and applied to the nos-
trils with vinegar, reviveth those that are fainting and swooning.
Being dried and^ burnt, it strengtheneth the gums. It is helpful
to those that are troubled with the gout, being applied of itself
to the place until it was red, and applied in a plaister, it takes
away spots or marks in the face, applied with salt, it profiteth
those that are splenetic, or liver-grown. The decoction doth
help the itch, if washed therewith; being put into baths for
women to sit therein, it helpeth the swellings and hardness of
the mother. The green herb bruised and put into vinegar,
cleanseth foul ulcers, and taketh away the marks of bruises and
blows about the eyes, and all diseolourings of the face by fire,
yea, and the leprosy, being drank and outwardly applied :
Boiled in wine with honey and salt, it helpeth the tooth ache.
It helpeth the cold griefs of the joints, taking away the pains,
and warmeth the cold part, being fast bound to the place, alter
a bathing or sweating in a hot house. Pliny addetb, that pen-
nyroyal and mints together help faintings, being put into vine-

254 The English Physician Enlarged .

gar, and smelled unto, or put into the nostrils or mouth. It
easeth head-aches, pains of the breast and belly, and gnawing
of the stomach ; applied with honey, salt, and vinegar, it helpeth
cramps or convulsions of the sinews : Boiled in milk, and drank,
it is effectual for the cough, and for ulcers and sores in the
mouth; drank in wine it provoketh women’s courses, and ex-
pelleth the dead child, and after-birth. Matthiolus saith. The
decoction thereof being drank, helpeth the jaundice and dropsy,
all pains of the head and sinews that come of a cold cause, and
cleareth the eye-sight. It helpeth the lethargy, and applied
with barley-meal, helpeth burnings ; and put into the ears easeth
the pains of them.

MALE AND FEMALE PEONY.

Descript .] Male peony riseth up with brownish stalks,
whereon grow green and reddish leaves, upon a stalk without
any particular division in the leaf at all. The flowers stand at
the top of the stalks, consisting of five or six broad leaves, of
a fair purplish red colour, with many yellow threads in the
middle, standing about the head, which after riseth up to be the
seed vessels, divideth into two, three, or four crooked pods
like horns, which being full ripe, open and turn themselves
down backward, shewing within them divers round, black, shin-
ing seeds, having also many crimson grains, intermixed with
black, whereby it maketh a very pretty show. The roots are
great, thick, and long, spreading and running down deep in the
ground.

The ordinary female peony hath as many stalks, and more
leaves on them than the male; the leaves not so large, but
nicked on the edges, some with great and deep, others with
smaller cuts and divisions, of a dead green colour. The flowers
are of a strong heady scent, usually smaller, and of a more
purple colour than the male, with yellow thrums about the
head as the male hath. The seed vessels are like horns, as in
the male, but smaller; the seed is black, but less shining. The

The English Physician Enlarged . 255

roots consist of many short tuberous clogs, fastened at the end
of long strings, and all from the heads of the roots, which is
thick and short, and of the like scent with the male.

Place and Time,] They grow in gardens, and flower usu-
ally about May.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of the Sun, and
under the Lion. Physicians say, male peony roots are best;
but Dr. Reason told me male peony was best for men, and fe-
male peony for women, and he desires to be judged by his brother
Dr. Experience. The roots are held to be of more virtue than
the seeds; next the flowers, and last of all, the leaves. The
root of the male peony fresh gathered, having been found by
experience to cure the falling sickness; but the surest way is,
besides hanging it about the neck, by which children have been
cured, to take the root of the male peony washed clean, and
stamped somewhat small, and laid to infuse in sack for 24 hours
at the least, afterwards strain it, and take it first and last morn-
ing and evening, a good draught for sundry days together, be-
fore and after full moon, and this will also cure older persons ;
if the disease be not grown too old, and past cure, especially if
there be a due and orderly preparation of the body with posset-
drink made of betony, &c. The root is also effectual for women
that are not sufficiently cleansed after child-birth, and such as
are troubled with the mother; for which likewise the black
seed beaten to powder, and given in wine, is also available.
The black seed also taken before bed time, and in the morning,
is very effectual for such as in their sleep are troubled with the
disease called ephialtes, or incubus, but we do commonly call
it the night mare; a disease which melancholy persons are sub-
ject unto : It is also good against melancholy dreams. The dis-
tilled water, or syrup made of the flowers, worketh the same
effects that the root and seed do, although more weakly. The
female is often used for the purposes aforesaid, by reason the
male is so scarce a plant, that it is possessed by few, and those
great lovers of rarities of this kind.

256 The English Physician Enlarged .

PEPPERWORT, OR DITTANDER.

Descript .] ( )UR common pepperwort sendeth forth some-

what long and broad leaves, of a light blueish greenish colour,
finely dented about the edges and pointed at the ends, standing
upon round hard stalks, three or four feet high, spreading ma-
ny branches on all sides, and having many small white flowers
at the tops of them, after which follow small seeds in small
heads. The root is slender, running much under ground, and
shooting up again in many places, and both leaves and roots are
very hot and sharp of taste, like pepper, for which cause it took
the name.

Place.'] It groweth naturally in many places of this land, as
at Clare in Essex ; also near unto Exeter in Devonshire ; upon
Rochester Common in Kent; in Lancashire, and divers other
places; but usually kept in gardens.

Time.] It flowereth in the end of June, and in July.

Government and Virtues.] Here is another Martial herb for
you, make much of it. Pliny and Paulus rEgineta say, that
pepperwort is very successful for the sciatica, or any other gout
or pain in the joints, or any other inveterate grief: The leaves
hereof to be bruised, and mixed with old hog's grease, and ap-
plitd to the place, and to continue thereon four hours in men,
and two hours in women, the place being afterwards bathed
with wine and oil, mixed together, and then wrapt up with wool
or skins, after they have sweat a little. It also amendeth the
deformities or discolourings of the skin, and helpeth to take
away marks, scars, and scabs, or the foul marks of burning with
fire or iron. The juice hereof is by some used to be given in
ale to drink, to women with child, to procure them a speedy
delivery in travail.

PERIWINKLE.

nn

Descript.] JL HE common sort hereof hath many branches

The English Physician Enlarged. 257

running uponthe ground, shooting out small fibres at the joints
as it runneth, taking thereby hold in the ground, and rooteth in
divers places; at the joints of these branches stand two small
dark-green shining leaves, somewhat like bay-leaves, but smaller,
and with them come forth also flowers, one at a joint standing
upon a tender footstalk, being somewhat long and hollow, part-
ed at the brims sometimes into four, sometimes into five, leaves ;
the most ordinary sort are of a pale blue colour, some are pure
white, and some of a dark reddish purple colour. The root is
little bigger than a rush, bushing in the ground, and creeping
with its branches far about, whereby it quickly possesseth a great
compass, and is therefore most usually planted under hedges
where it may have room to grow.

Place.] Those with the pale blue and those with the white
flowers grow in woods and orchards by the hedge sides in divers
places of this land, but those with the purple flowers in gardens
only.

Time.] They flower in March and April.

Government and Virtues.] Venus owns this herb, and saith
that the leaves, eaten by man and wife together, cause love be-
tween them. The periwinkle is a great binder, staying bleeding
both at mouth and nose, if some of the leaves be chewed ; the
French use it to stay women’s courses. Dioscorides, Galen,
and dEgineta, commend it against the lask, and fluxes of the
belly, to be drunk in wine.

St. PETER’S WORT.

If superstition had not been the father of tradition, as well
as ignorance the mother of devotion, this herb, (as well as St.
John's Wort) had found some other name to be known by ; but
we may say of our forefathers, as St. Paul of the Athenians,
I perceive in many things you are too superstitious. Yet seeing
it is come to pass, That custom having got in possession, pleads
prescription for the name, I shall let it pass and come to the
description of the herb, which take as followeth.

No. 11. k k

258 The English Physician Enlarged .

Descript.] It riseth up with square upright stalks for the
most part, somewhat greater and higher than St. John’s Wort,
(and good reason too, St. Peter being the greater apostle, (ask
the pope else;) for though God would have the saints equal,
the pope is of another opinion) but brown in the same manner,
having two leaves at every joint, somewhat like, but larger
than St. John’s Wort; and a little rounder pointed, with few or
no holes to be seen therein, and having sometimes some smaller
leaves rising from the bosom of the greater, and sometimes a
little hairy also. At the tops of the stalks stand many star-like
flowers, with yellow threads in the middle, very like those of St,
John’s Wort, insomuch that this is hardly to be discerned from
it, but only by the largeness and height, the seed being alike in
both. The root abideth long, sending forth new shoots every
year.

Place.] It groweth in many groves and small low woods, in
divers places of this land, as in Kent, Huntingdonshire, Cam-
bridgeshire, and Northamptonshire : as also near water-courses
in other places.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, and the seed is ripe in
August.

Government and Virtues.] There is not a straw to choose
between this and St. John’s wort, only St. Peter must have it,
lest he should want pot herbs : It is of the same property with
St. John’s wort, but somewhat weak, and therefore more seldom
used. Two drachms of the seed taken at a time, in honeyed
water, purge choleric humours, as saith Dioseorides, Pliny, and
Galen, and thereby help those that are troubled with sciatica.
The leaves are used, as St. John’s wort, to heal those places of
the body that have been burnt with fire.

PIMPERNEL.

Descript.] Common pimpernel hath many weak square
stalks lying on the ground, beset all along with two small and

1

The English Physician Enlarged . 259

almost round leaves at every joint one against another, very like
chickweed ; but hath no footstalks, for the leaves as it were
compass the stalk: the flowers stand singly, consisting of five
round small pointed leaves of a fine pale red colour, with so
many threads in the middle, in whose place succeed smooth
round heads, wherein is contained small seed. The root is
small and fibrous, perishing every year.

Place,] It groweth every where almost, as well in the mea-
dows and corn-fields as by the way-sides, and in gardens, aris-
ing of itself.

Time.] It flowereth from May to August, and the seed ripen-
eth in the mean time and falleth.

Government and Virtues.] It is a solar herb. This is of a
cleansing and attractive quality, whereby it draweth forth thorns
or splinters, or other such like things gotten into the flesh ; and
put into the nostrils, purgeth the head ; and Galen saith also,
they have a drying faculty, whereby they are good to solder the
lips of wounds, and to cleanse foul ulcers. The distilled water
or juice is much esteemed by French dames to cleanse the skin
from any roughness, deformity, or discolouring thereof ; being
boiled in wine and given to drink, it is a good remedy against
the plague, and other pestilential fevers, if the party after taking
it be warm in his bed, and sweat for two hours after, and use
the same for twice at least. It helpeth also all stingings and
bitings of venomous beasts, or mad dogs, being used inwardly,
and applied outwardly. The same also openeth obstructions of
the liver, and is very available against the infirmities of the reins :
It provoketh urine, and helpeth to expel the stone and gravel
out of the kidneys and bladder, and helpeth much in all inward
pains and ulcers. The decoction, or distilled water, is no less
effectual to be applied to all wounds that are fresh and green,
or old, filthy, fretting, and running ulcers, which it effectually
cureth in a short space. A little honey mixed with the juice, and
d t opped into the eyes, eleanseth them from cloudy mists, or thick
films which grow over them, and hinder the sight. It helpeth
the tooth-ach, being dropped into the ear on the contrary side

26© The English Physician Enlarged.

of the pain. It is also effectual to ease the pains of the haemor-
rhoids or piles.

GROUND PINE, OR CHAMEPITYS.

Descript.] Our common ground pine groweth low, seldom
rising above an hand's breadth high, shooting forth divers small
branches, set with slender, small, long, narrow, greyish, or whit-
ish leaves, somewhat hairy, and divided into three parts, many
bushing together at a joint, some growing scatteringly upon the
stalks, smelling somewhat strong, like unto rosin: The flowers
are small, and of a pale yellow colour, growing from the joint
of4he stalk all along among the leaves ; after which come small
and round husks. The root is small and woody, perishing eve-
ry year.

Place.] It groweth more plentifully in Kent than any other
county of this land ; as, namely, in many places on this side
Dartford, along to Southfleet, Chatham, and Rochester, and
upon Chatham Down, hard by the Beacon, and half a mile from
Rochester, in a held nigh a house called Selesys.

Time.] It flowereth and giveth seed in the summer months.

Government and Virtues.] Mars owns the herb. The decoc-
tion of ground pine drank, doth wonderfully prevail against the
strangury, or any inward pains arising from the diseases of the
reins and urine, and is special good for all obstructions of the
liver and spleen, and gently openeth the body ; for which pur-
pose they were wont in former times to make pills with the pow-
der thereof, and the pulp of figs. It marvellously helpeth all
the diseases of the mother, inwardly or outwardly applied, pro-
curing women's courses, and expelling the dead child and after-
birth ; yea, it is so powerful upon those feminine parts, that it
is utterly forbidden for women with child, for it will cause abor-
tion or delivery before the time. The decoction of the herb in
wine taken inwardly, or applied outwardly, or both, for some

i

rFhe English Physician Enlarged. 261

time together, is also effectual in all pains and diseases of the
joints, as gouts, cramps, palsies, sciatica, and aches; for which
purpose the pills made with powder of ground pine, and of her-
modactyls with Venice turpentine, are very effectual. The pills
also, continued for some time, are special good for those that
have the dropsy, jaundice, and for griping pains of the joints,
belly, or inward parts. It helpeth also all diseases of the brain,
proceeding of cold and phlegmatic humours and distillations, as
also for the falling sickness. It is a special remedy for the poi-
son of the aconites, and other poisonful herbs, as also against
the stinging of any venomous creature. It is a good remedy for
a cold cough, especially in the beginning. For all the purposes
aforesaid, the herb being tunned up in new drink and drank, is
almost as effectual, but far more acceptable to weak and dainty
stomachs. The distilled water of the herb hath the same effects,
but more weakly. The conserve of the flowers doth the like,
which Matthiolus much commendeth against the palsy. The
green herb, or the decoction thereof, being applied, dissolveth
the hardness of women's breasts, and all other hard swellings in
any other part of the body. The green herb also applied, or
the juice thereof with some honey, not only cleanseth putrid,
stinking, foul, and malignant ulcers and sores of all sorts, but
healeth and soldcreth up the lips of green wounds in any part
also. Let women forbear, if they be with child, for it works
violently upon the feminine part.

t

PLANTAIN.

This groweth usually in meadows and fields, and by path
sides, and is so well known, that it needeth no description.

Time.] It is in its beauty about June, and the seed ripeneth
shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is true, Mizaldus and others,
yea, almost all astrology-physicians hold this to be an herb of
Mars, because it cures the disease of the head and privities.

262 The English Physician Enlarged.

which are under the houses of Mars, Aries, and Scorpio: The
truth is, it is under the command of Venus, and cures tile head
by antipathy to Mars, and the privities by sympathy to Venus;
neither is there hardly a Martial disease but it cures.

The juice of plantain clarified and drank for divers days toge-
ther, either of itself or in other drink, prevaileth wonderfully
against all torments or excoriations in the guts or bowels, help-
eth the distillations of rheum from the head, and stayeth all man-
ner of fluxes, even women’s courses, when they flow too
abundantly. It is good to stay spitting of blood and other
bleedings at the mouth, or the making of foul and bloody water,
by reason of any ulcer in the reins or bladder, and also stayeth
the too free bleeding of wounds. It is held an especial remedy
for those that are troubled with the phthisic, or consumption of
the lungs, or ulcers of the lungs, or coughs that come of heat.
The decoction or powder of the roots or seeds, is much more
biuding for all the purposes aforesaid than the leaves. Dioscori-
des saith, that three roots boiled in wine and taken, helpeth the
tertian ague, and for the quartan ague, (but letting the number
pass as fabulous) I conceive the decoction of divers roots may be
effectual. The herb (but especially the seed) is held to be profit-
able against the dropsy, the falling-sickness, the yellow jaun-
dice, and stoppings of the liver and reins. The roots of plantain,
and pellitory of Spain, beaten into powder, and put into the
hollow teeth, taketh away the pains of them. The clarified j uice,
or distilled water, dropped into the eyes, cooleth the inflamma-
tions in them, and taketh away the pin and web ; and dropped
into the ears, easeth the pains in them, and helpeth and removeth
the heat. The same also, with the juice of house-leek, is profit-
able against all inflammations and breakings-out of the skin, and
against burnings and scaldings by fire and water. The juice or
decoction made either of itself, or other things of the like nature,
is of much use and good effect for old and hollow ulcers that are
hard to be cured, and for cankers and sores in the mouth, or privy
narts of man or woman; and helpeth also the pains of the piles

The English Physician Enlarged . 268

in the fundament. The juice mixed with oil of roses, and the
temples and forehead anointed therewith, easeth the pains of the
head proceeding from heat, and helpeth lunatic and frantic per-
sons very much : as also the biting of serpents, or a mad dog.
The same also is profitably applied to ail hot gouts in the feet or
nands, especially in the beginning. It is also good to be applied
where any bone is out of joint, to hinder inflammations, swell-
ings, and pains that presently rise thereupon. The powder of the
dried leaves taken in drink, killeth worms in the belly ; and boil-
ed in wine, killeth worms that breed in old and foul ulcers. One
part of plantain water, and two parts of the brine of powdered
beef, boiled together and clarified, is a most sure remedy to heal
all spreading scabs or itch in the head and body, all manner of tet-
ters, ringworms, the shingles, and all other runnihgand fretting
sores. Briefly, the plantains are singularly good wound herbs to
heal fresh or old wounds or sores, either inward or outward.

PLUMBS

Are so well known, that they need no description.

Government and Virtues .] All plumbs are under Venus, and
are like women, some bettei*, some worse. As there is great diver-
sity of kinds, so there is in the operation of plumbs, for some that
are sweet moisten the stomach, and make the belly soluble ; those
that are sour quench thirst more, and bind the belly; the moist
and waterish do sooner corrupt in the stomach, but the firm do
nourish more, and offend less. The dried fruit sold by the grocers
under the name of damask prunes, do somewhat loosen the belly,
and being stewed, are often used, both in health and sickness, to
relish the mouth and stomach, to procure appetite, and a little to
open the body, allay choler, and cool the stomach. Plumb-tree
leaves boiled in wine, are good to wash and gargle the mouth
and throat to dry the flux of rheum coming to the palate, gums,
or almonds of the ears. The gum of the tree is good to break the
stone. The gum or leaves boiled in vinegar, and applied, kills

264 The English Physician Enlarged

2 IF11".""1 L1. .. 11 ■"■-■■■!»

tetters and ringworms. Matlhiolus saith, the oil pressed out of
the kernels of the stones, as oil of almonds is made, is good
against the inflamed piles, the tumours or swellings of ulcers,
hoarseness of the voice, roughness of the tongue and throat,
and likewise the pains in the ears; and that five ounces of the
said oil, taken with one ounce of muskadel, driveth forth the
stone, and helpeth the cholic.

POLYPODY OF THE OAK.

Be script.] This is a small herb, consisting of nothing but
roots and leaves, bearing neither stalk, flower, nor seed, as it is
thought. It hath three or four leaves rising from the root, every
one single by itself, of about a hand length, are winged, consist-
ing of many small narrow leaves, cut into the middle rib, stand-
ing on each side of the stalk, large below, and smaller up to the
top, not dented nor notched at the edges at all, as the male fern
hath, of a sad green colour, and smooth on the upper side, but
on the other side somewhat rough by reason of some yellowish
spots set thereon. The root is smaller than one's little finger,
lying aslope, or creeping along under the upper crust of the
earth, brownish on the outside, and greenish within, of a sweetish

harshness in taste, set with certain rough knags on each side

.

thereof, having also much mossiness or yellow hairiness upon
it, and some fibres underneath it, whereby it is nourished.

Place.] It groweth as well upon old rotten stumps, or trunks
of trees, as oak, beech, hazel, willow, or any other, as in the
woods under them, and upon old mud walls, as also in mossy,
stony, and gravelly places near unto wood. That which grow-
eth upon oak is accounted the best; but the quantity whereof
is scarce sufficient for the common use.

Time.] It being always green, may be gathered for use at
any time.

The English Physician Enlarged . 265

Government and Virtues .] And why, I pray, must poly-
podium of the oak only be used, gentle college of physicians'?
Can you give me but a glimpse of reason for it? It is only be-
cause it is dearest. Will you never leave off your covetousness
till your lives leave you? The truth is, that which grows upon
the earth is best (it is an herb of Saturn, and he seldom climbs
trees) to purge melancholy : if the humour be otherwise, choose
you polypodium accordingly. Meuse (who is called the physi-
cian's Evangelist for the certainty of his medicines, and the truth
of his opinion) saith, that it drieth up thin humours, digesteth
thick and tough, and purgeth burnt choler, and especially tough
and thick phlegm, and thin phlegm also, even from the joints,
and therefore good for those that are troubled with melancholy,
or quartan agues, especially if it be taken in whey or honeyed wa-
ter, or in barley-water, or the broth of a chicken with epithymum,
or with beets and mallows. It is good for the hardness of the
spleen, and for pricking or stitches in the sides, as also for the
colic : Some use to put to it some fennel seeds, or anise seeds
or ginger, to correct that loathing it bringeth to the stomach
which is more than needeth, it being a safe and gentle medicine
fit for all persons, which daily experience confirmeth ; and an
ounce of it may be given at a time in a decoction, if there be
not senna or some other strong purger put with it. A dram or
two of the powder of the dried roots taken fasting in a cup of
honeyed water, worketh gently, and for the purposes aforesaid.
The distilled water, both of roots and leaves, is much com-
mended for the quartan ague, to be taken for many days toge- v
ther, as also against melancholy, or fearful and troublesome
sleeps or dreams ; and with some sugar-candy dissolved therein
is good against the cough, shortness of breath, and wheezings,
and those distillations of thin rheum upon the lungs, which
cause phthisics, and oftentimes consumptions. The fresh
roots beaten small, or the powder of the dried roots mixed
with honey, and applied to the member that is out of joint,
doth much help it; and applied also to the nose, cureth the dis-

No. 12. JL 1

266 The English Physician Enlarged.

ease called polypus, which is a piece of flesh growing therein,
which in time stoppeth the passage of breath through that nos-
tril; and it helpeth those clefts or chops that come between the
fingers or toes.

THE POPLAR TREE.

are two sorts of poplars, which are most familiar

with us, viz. the black and white, both which I shall here des-
cribe unto you.

.Descript.] The white poplar groweth great, and reasonably
high, covered with thick, smooth, white bark, especially the
branches, having long leaves cut into several divisions almost
like a vine leaf, but not of so deep a green on the upper side,
and hoary white underneath, of a reasonable good scent, the
whole form representing the form of coltsfoot. The catkins
which it bringeth forth before the leaves, are long, and of a
faint reddish colour, which fall away, bearing seldom good seed
with them. The wood hereof is smooth, soft, and white, very
finely waved, whereby it is much esteemed.

The black poplar groweth higher and straighter than the
white, with a greyish bark, bearing broad green leaves, somewhat
like ivy leaves, not cut in on the edges like the white, but whole
and dented, ending in a point, and not white underneath, hang-
ing by slender long footstalks, which, with the air, are contin-
ually shaken like as the aspen leaves are. The catkins hereof
are greater than those of the white, composed of many round
green berries, as if they were set together in a long cluster,
containing much downy matter, which being ripe, is blown
away with the wind. The clammy buds hereof, before they
spread into leaves, are gathered to make unguentum populneura,
and are of a yellowish green colour, and somewhat small, sweet,
but strong. The wood is smooth, tough, and white, and easy
to be cloven: On both these trees groweth a sweet kind of
nmsk, which in former times was used to put into sweet oint-
ments.

The English Physician Enlarged . 267

Place.] They grow in moist woods, and by water-sides in
sundry places of this land; yet the white is not so frequent as
the other.

Time.] Their time is likewise expressed before : The catkins
coming forth before the leaves in the end of summer.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn hath dominion over both.
White poplar, saith Galen, is of a cleansing property : The
weight of one ounce in powder of the bark thereof being drank,
saith Dioscorides, is a remedy for those that are troubled with
the sciatica, or the strangury. The juice of the leaves dropped
warm into the ears, easeth the pains in them. The young
clammy buds or eyes, before they break out into leaves, bruised,
and a little honey put to them, is a good medicine for a dull sight.
The black poplar is held to be more cooling than the white, and
therefore the leaves bruised with vinegar and applied, help the
gout. The seed drank in vinegar, is held good against the fall-
ing-sickness. The water that droppeth from the hollow places
of this tree, taketh away warts, pushes, wheals, and other the
like breakmgs-out of the body. The young black poplar buds,
saith Mattkiolus, are much used by women to beautify their
hair, bruising them with fresh butter, straining them after they
have been kept for some time in the sun. The ointment called
populneum, which is made of this poplar, is singularly good
for all heat and inflammations in any part of the body, and tern-
pereth the heat of wounds. It is much used to dry up the milk
of women’s breasts, when they have weaned their children.

POPPY.

Of this I shall describe three kinds, viz. the white and
black of the garden, and the erratic wild poppy, or corn rose.

Descript.] The white poppy hath at flrst four or five whitish
green leaves lying upon the ground, which rise with the stalk,
compassing it at the bottom of them, and are very large, much
cut or torn on the edges, and dented also besides : The stalk,
which is usually four or five feet high, hath sometimes no

268 The English Physician Enlarged.

branches at the top, and usually but two or three at most, bear-
ing every one but one head wrapped up in a thin skin, which
boweth down before it is ready to blow, and then rising, and
being broken, the flower within it spreading itself open, and
consisting of four very large, white round leaves, with many
whitish round threads in the middle, set about a small, round,
green head, having a crown, or star like cover at the head
thereof, which growing ripe, becomes as large as a great apple,
wherein are contained a great number of small round seeds in
several partitions or divisions next unto the shell, the middle
thereof remaining hollow, and empty. The whole plant, both
leaves, stalks and heads, while they are fresh, young, and
green, yield a milk when they are broken, of an unpleasant
bitter taste, almost ready to provoke casting, and of a strong
heady smell, which being condensate, is called opium. The
root is white and woody, perishing as soon as it hath given
ripe seed.

The black poppy little differeth from the former, until it
beareth its flower, which is somewhat less, and of a black pur-
plish colour, but without any purple spots in the bottom of the
leaf. The head of the seed is much less than the former, and
openeth itself a little round about to the top, under the crown, so
that the seed, w hich is very black, will fall out, if one turn the
head thereof downward.

The wild poppy, or corn rose, hath long and narrow leaves,
very much cut in on the edges into many divisions, of a light
green colour, sometimes hairy withal. The stalk is blackish
and hairy also, but not so tall as the garden-kind, having some
such like leaves thereon as grow below, parted into three or four
branches sometimes, whereon grow small hairy heads bowing
down before the skin break, wherein the flower is inclosed,
which when it is full blown open, is of a fair yellowish red or
crimson colour, and in some much paler, without any spot in
the bottom of the leaves, having many black soft threads in the
middle, compassing a small green head, which when it is ripe.

rFhe English Physician Enlarged. 2G9

is not bigger than one's little finger's end, wherein is contained
much black seed, smaller by half than that of tlse garden. The
root perisheth every year, and springeth again of its own sow-
ing. Of this kind there is one lesser in all the parts thereof, and
differeth in nothing else.

Place.] The garden kinds do not naturally grow wild in any
place, but are all sown in gardens where they grow.

The wild poppy or corn rose, is plentiful enough, and many
times too much in the corn-fields of all counties through this
land, and also upon ditch banks, and by hedge-sides. The
smaller wild kind is also found in corn-fields, and also in some
other places, but not so plentifully as the former.

Time.] The garden kinds are usually sown in the spring,
which then flower about the end of May, and somewhat ear-
lier, if they spring of their own sowing.

The wild kind flower usually from May until July, and the
seed of them is ripe soon after the flowering.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is Lunar, and of the
juice of it is made opium; only for lucre of money they cheat
you, and tell you it is a kind of tear, or some such like thing,
that drops from poppies when they weep, and that is somewhere
beyond the seas, I know not where beyond the Moon. The
garden poppy heads, with seeds, made into a syrup, is frequently,
and to good effect, used to procure rest, and sleep, in the sick
and weak, and to stav catarrhs and deductions of thin rheums
from the head into the stomach and lungs, causing a continual
cough, the fore runner of a consumption ; it helpeth also
hoarseness of the throat, and when one hath lost his voice,
w hich the oil of the seed doth likewise. The black seed boiled
in wine, and drank is said also to stay the flux of the belly,
and women's courses. The empty shells, or poppy heads, are
usually boiled in water, and given to procure rest and sleep
So doth the leaves in the same manner; as also if the head and
temples be bathed with the decoction warm, or with the oil of
poppies, the green leaves or heads bruised, and applied with a

270 The English Physician Enlarged .

little vinegar, or made into a poultice with barley meal, or hog's
grease, cooleth and tempereth all inflammations, as also the
disease called St. Anthony's fire. It is generally used in treacle
and mithridate, and in all other medicines that are made to pro-
cure rest and sleep, and to ease pains in the head as well as in
other parts. It is also used to cool inflammations, agues, or
frenzies, or to stay deductions which cause a cough, or con-
sumption, and also other fluxes of the belly, or women's
courses; it is also put into hollow teeth, to ease the pain,
and hath been found, by experience, to ease the pains of the
gout.

The wild poppy, or corn rose (as Matthiolus saith) is good
to prevent the falling-sickness. The syrup made with the
flower, is with good effect given to those that have the pleurisy ;
and the dried flowers also, either boiled in water, or made into
powder and drank, either in the disttlled water of them, or some
other drink, worketh the like effect. The distilled water of the
flowers is held to be of much use against surfeits, being drank
evening and morning: It is also more cooling than any of the
other poppies, and therefore cannot but be as effectual in hot
agues, frenzies, and other inflammations either inward or out-
ward. Galen saith, the seed is dangerous to be used inwardly.

PURSLANE.

VJT ARDEN purslane (being used as a salad herb) is so well
known that it needeth no description; I shall therefore only
speak of its virtues as followeth.

Government and Virtues .] 'Tis an herb of the Moon. It
is good to cool any heat in the liver, blood, reins, and stomach,
and in hot agues nothing better: It stayeth hot and choleric
fluxes of the belly, women's courses, the whites, and gonor-
rhea, or running of the reins, the distillation from the head, and
pains therein proceeding from heat, want of sleep, or the frenzy.
The seed is more effectual than the herb, and is of singular good
use to cool the heat and sharpness of urine, and the outrageous

The English Physician Enlarged. 271

lust of the body, venerous dreams, and the like : Insomuch that
the over frequent use hereof extinguished the heat and virtue of
natural procreation. The seed bruised and boiled in wine, and
given to children, expelleth the worms. The juice of the herb
is held as effectual to all the purposes aforesaid ; as also to stay
vomitings, and taken with some sugar or honey, helped an
old and dry cough, shortness of breath, and the phthisic, and
stayed immoderate thirst. The distilled water of the herb is
used by many (as the more pleasing) with a little sugar to work
the same effects. The juice also is singular good in the inflam-
mations and ulcers in the secret parts of man or woman, as also
the bowels and haemorrhoids, when they are ulcerous, or exco-
riations in them : The herb bruised and applied to the forehead
and temples, allays exeessive heat therein, that hinders rest and
sleep: and applied to the eyes, taketh away the redness and in-
flammation in them, and those other parts where pushes, wheals,
pimples, St. Anthony's fire and the like, break forth; if a little
vinegar be put to it, and laid to the neck, with as much of galls
and linseed together, it taketh away the pains therein, and the
crick in the neck. The juice is used with oil of roses for the
same causes, or for blasting by lightning, and burnings by gun-
powder, or for women’s sore breasts, and to allay the heat in all
other sores or hurts; 'applied also to the navels of children that
stick forth, it helpeth them ; it is also good for sore mouths and
gums tiiat are swollen, and to fasten loose teeth. Cainararius
saith, that the distilled water used by some, took away the pain
of their teeth, when all other remedies failed, and the thickened
juice made into pills with the powder of gum tragacanth and
arabic, being taken, prevaileth much to help those that make
bloody water. Applied to the gout it easeth pains thereof, and
helpeth the hardness of the sinews, if it come not of the cramp
or a cold cause.

PRIMROSES.

i

HEY are so well known, that they need no description.

272 The English Physician Enlarged.

Of the leaves of primroses is made as fine a salve to heal
wounds as any that I know ; you shall be taught to make salves
of any herb at the latter end of the book : make this as you are
taught there, and do not (you that have any ingenuity in you)
see your poor neighbours go with wounded limbs when an
halfpenny cost will heal them.

PRIVET.

Descript.] Our common privet is carried up with many
slender branches to a reasonable height and breadth, to cover
arbours, bowers and banqueting houses, and brought, wrought,
and cut into so many forms, of men, horses, birds, &c. which
though at first supported, groweth afterwards strong of itself. It
beareth long and narrow green leaves by the couples and sweet
smelling white flowers in tufts at the end of the branches, which
turn into small black berries that have a purplish juice with
them, and some seeds that are flat on the one side with a hole
or dent therein.

Place.] It groweth in this land, in divers woods.

Time.] Our privet flowereth in June and July, the berries
are ripe in August and September.

Government and Virtues.] The Moon is lady of this. It
is little used in physic with us in these times, more than in lo-
tions, to wash sores and sore mouths, and to cool up inflamma-
tions, and dry up fluxes. Yet Matthiolus saith, it serveth to all
the uses for the which cypress, or the east privet, is appointed
by Dioscorides and Galen. He further saith, that the oil that is
made of the flowers of privet infused therein, and set in the sun,
is singular good for the inflammations of wounds and for the
head-ach, coming of an hot cause. There is a sweet water also
distilled from the flowers, that is good for all those diseases that
need cooling and drying, and therefore helpeth all fluxes of the
belly or stomach, bloody-fluxes, and women's courses, being
either drank or applied ; as all those that void blood at the
mouth, or any other place, and for distillations of rheum in
the eyes, especially if it be used with tutia.

r The English Physician Enlarged . 273

QUEEN OF THE MEADOWS, MEADOW SWEET,

OR MEAD SWEET.

Prescript.] The stalks of this are reddish, rising to De three
feet high, sometimes four or five feet, having at the joints there-
of large winged leaves, standing one above another at distan-
ces, consisting of many and somewhat broad leaves, set on each
side of a middle rib, being hard, rough, or rugged, crumpled
much like unto elm leaves, having also some smaller leaves
with them (as agrimony hath) somewhat deeply dented about
the edges, of a sad green colour on the upper side, and grey-
ish underneath, of a pretty sharp seent and taste, somewhat like
unto the burnet, and a leaf hereof put into a cup of claret wine,
giveth also a fine relish to it. At the tops of the stalks and
branches stand many tufts of small white flowers thrust thick
together, which smell much sweeter than the leaves ; and in
their places, being fallen* some crooked and cornered seed.
The root is somewhat woody, and blackish on the outside, and
brownish within, with divers great strings, and lesser fibres set
thereat, of a strong scent, but nothing so pleasant as the flow-
ers and leaves, and perisheth not, but abideth many years,
shooting forth anew every spring.

Place.] It groweth in moist meadows that lie much wet, or
near the courses of water.

Time.] It flowereth in some places or other all the three
summer months, that is, June, July, and August, and the seed
is ripe soon after.

Government and Virtues.] Venus claims dominion over the
herb. It is used to stay all manner of bleedings, fluxes, vomit-
ings, and women's courses, as also their whites ; It is said to
alter and take away the fits of the quartan agues, and to make
a merry heart, for which purpose some use the flowers, and
some the leaves. It helpeth speedily those that are troubled with
the cholic ; being boiled in wine, and with a little honey taken
warm, it openeth the belly, but boiled in red wine, and drank.

No. 12. m in

274 The English Physician Enlarged ,

it stayeth the flux of the belly. Outwardly applied, it helpeth
old ulcers that are cancerous, or hollow and fistulous, for which
it is by many much commended, as also for the sores in the
mouth or secret parts. The leaves, when they are full grown,
being laid on the skin, will in a short time, raise blisters there-*
on, as Tragus saith. The water thereof helpeth the heat and
inflammation in the eyes.

THE QUINCE TREE.

Descript.] TljHE ordinary quince tree groweth often to the
height and bigness of a reasonable apple tree, but more usu-
ally lower and crooked, with a rough bark, spreading arms
and branches far abroad. The leaves are somewhat like those
of the apple tree, but thicker, broader, and full of veins, and
whiter on the under side, not dented at all about the edges.
The flowers are large and white, sometimes dashed over with a
blush. The fruit that followeth is yellow, being near ripe, and
covered w ith a w hite freeze, or cotton, thick set on the younger,
and growing less as they grow to be thorough ripe, bunched
out oftentimes in some places, some being like an apple, and
some a pear, of a strong heady scent, and not durable to keep,
and is sour, harsh, and of an unpleasant taste to eat fresh ; but
being scalded, roasted, baked, or preserved, becometh more
pleasant.

Place and Time.] It best likes to grow near ponds and water
sides, and is frequent through this land ; and flowereth not un-
til the leaves be come forth. The fruit is ripe in September
or October.

Government and Virtues .] Old Saturn owns the tree. Quinces
when they are green, help all sorts of fluxes in men or women,
and choleric lasks, casting, and whatever needeth astriction,
more than any way prepared by fire ; yet the syrup of the juice,
or the conserve, are much conducible, much of the binding
quality being consumed by the fire ; if a little vinegar be added,
it stirreth up the languishing appetite, and the stomach given to

The English Physician Enlarged . 275

casting ; some spices being added, cemforteth and strengthened!
the decaying and tainting spirits, and helpeth the liver oppressed,
that it cannot perfect the digestion, or correcteth choler and
phlegm. It you would have them purging, put honey to them
instead of sugar; and if more laxative, for choler, rhubarb; for
phlegm, turbith, for watery humours, scammony; but if more
forcibly to bind, use the unripe quinces, with roses and acacia
hypocistis, and some torritied rhubarb. To take the crude juice
of quinces, is held a preservative against the force of deadly
poison ; for it hath been found most certainly true, that the very
smell of a quince hath taken aw ay all the strength of the poison
of w hite hellebore. If there be need of any outwardly binding
and cooling of hot fluxes, the oil of quinces, or other medicines
that may be made thereof, are very available to anoint the belly
or other parts therewith ; it likewise strengthened the stomach
and belly, and the sinews that are loosened by sharp humours
falling on them, and restrained immoderate sweatings. The
mucilage taken from the seeds of quinces, and boiled in a little
water, is very good to cool the heat and heal the sore breasts of
women. The same with a little sugar, is good to lenify the
harshness and hoarseness of the throat, and roughness of the
tongue. The cotton or dow n of quinces boiled and applied to
plague sores, healed them up: and laid as a plaister made up
with wax, it bringeth hair to them that are bald, and keepeth
it from failing, if it be ready to shed.

RADISH, OR HORSE-RADISH.

The garden-radish is so well known, that it needed no
description.

Descript.] The horse-radish hath its first leaves that rise
before winter about a foot and a half long, very much cut in
or torn on the edges into many parts, of a dark green colour,
with a great rib in the middle ; after these have been up a w hile,
others follow, which are greater, rougher, broader and longer,
whole and not divided at first, but only somewhat rougher dent-

276 The English Physician Enlarged.

■

ed about the edges ; the stalk when it beareth flowers (Which
is seldom) is great, rising up with some few lesser leaves there-
on, to three or four feet high, spreading at the top many smaH
branches of whitish flowers, made of four leaves a-piece; after
which come small pods, like those of shephertfs purse, but
seldom with any seed in them. The root is great, long, white
and rugged, shooting up divers heads of leaves, which mray be
parted for increase, but it doth not creep in the ground, nor run
above ground, and is of a strong, sharp and bitter taste, almost
like mustard.

Place. ] It is found wild in some places, but is chiefly planted
in gardens, and joyeth in moist and shadowy places.

TimeJ] It seldom flowereth, but when it doth, it is in July.

Government and Virtues .] They are both under Mars.
The juice of horse-radish given to drink, is held to be very ef-
fectual for the scurvy. It killeth the worms in children, being
drank, and also laid upon the belly. The root bruised and laid
to the place grieved with the sciatica, joint-ach, or the hard swel-
lings of the liver and spleen, d^th wonderfully help them all.
The distilled water of the herb and root is more familiar to be
taken with a little sugar for all the purposes aforesaid.

Garden radishes are in wantonness by the gentry eaten as a
salad, but they breed but scurvy humours in the stomach, and
corrupt the blood, and then send for a physician as fast as you
can ; that is one cause which makes the owners of such nice
palates so unhealthful ; yet for such as are troubled with the
gravel, stone, or stoppage of urine, they are good physic, if
the body be strong that takes them; you may make the juice
of the roots into a syrup if you please, for that use ; They purge
by urine exceedingly.

RAGWORT.

1 T is also called St. James’-wort, and stagger-wort, and stam-
mer-wort and segrum.

Pescriyt.] The greater common ragwort hath many large

The English Physician Enlarged . 277

and long, dark green leaves, lying on the ground, very much
rent and torn on the sides in many places; from among which
rise up sometimes but one, and sometimes two or three square
or crested blackish or brownish stalks, three or four feet high,
sometimes branched, bearing divers such like leaves upon them,
at several distances unto the top, where it branches forth into
many stalks bearing yellow flowers, consisting of divers leaves,
set as a pale or border, with a dark yellow thrum in the middle,
which do abide a great while, but at last are turned tnto down,
and with the small blackish grey seed, are carried away with the
wind. The root is made of many fibres, whereby it is firmly
fastened into the ground, and abideth many years.

There is another sort thereof different from the former only
in this, that it riseth not so high : the leaves are not so finely
jagged, nor of so dark a green colour, but rather somewhat
whitish, soft and woolly, and the flowers usually paler.

Place.] They grow both of them wild in pastures, and
untilled grounds in many places, and sometimes both in one
field.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and the seed is ripe
in August.

Government and Virtues.] Ragwort is under the command
of dame Venus, and cleanseth, digesteth, and discusseth. The
decoction of the herb is good to wash the mouth or throat that
hath ulcers or sores therein ; and for swellings, hardness, or im-
posthumations, for it thoroughly cleanseth and healeth them ;
as also the quinsy, and the king's evil. It helpeth to stay ca-
tarrhs, thin rheums, and deductions from the head into the
eyes, nose, or lungs. The juice is found, by experience, to
be singularly good to heal green wounds, and to cleanse and
heal all old and filthy ulcers in the privities, and in other parts of
the body, as also inward wounds and ulcers; stayeth the malig-
nity of fretting and running cankers, and hollow fistulas, not
suffering them to spread farther. It is also much commended to
help achs and pains either in the fleshy part, or in the nerves and
sinews, as also the sciatica, or pain of the hips or huckle-bone.

278 Hie English Physician Enlarged.

to bathe the places with the decoction of the herb, or to anoint
them with an ointment made of the herb, bruised and boiled
in old hog’s suet, with some mastic and olibanum in powder
added unto it after it is strained forth. In Sussex we call it
ragweed.

RATTLE GRASS.

Of this there are two kinds, which I shall speak of, viz. the
red and yellow.

Descript .] The common red rattle hath sundry reddish, hol-
low stalks, and sometimes green, rising from the root, lying for
the most part on the ground, some growing more upright, with
many small reddish or green leaves set on both sides of a middle
rib, finely dented about the edges : The flowers stand at the
tops of the stalks and branches, of a fine purplish red colour,
like small gaping hooks ; after which come blackish seed in
small husks, which lying loose therein, will rattle with shaking.
The roots consist of two or three small whitish strings, with
some fibres thereat.

The common yellow rattle hath seldom above one round great
stalk, rising from the foot, about half a yard, or two feet high,
and but few branches thereon, having two long and somewhat
broad leaves set at a joint, deeply cut in on the edges, resent-
bling the comb of a cock, broadest next to the stalk, and smaller
to the end. The flowers grow at the tops, of the stalks, with
some shorter leaves with them, hooded after the same manner
that the others are, but of a fair yellow colour, or in some
paler, and in some more white. The seed is contained in large
husks, and being ripe will rattle or make a noise with lying
loose in them. The root is small and slender, perishing every
year.

Place.] They grow in meadows and woods generally through
this land.

Time.] They are in flower from Midsummer until August
be past, sometimes.

4

I

t

<*

1

I

-f

'

/

*

*

’

The English Physician Enlarged. 279

m Fin1 iifiriwiniiw'H'uiimjBseaw

Government and Virtues.] They are both of them under
the dominion of the Moon. The red rattle is accounted pro-
fitable to heal up fistulas and hollow ulcers, and to stay the flux
of humours in them, as also the abundance of women’s courses,
or any other flux of blood, being boiled in red wine, and
drank.

The yellow rattle, or cock’s comb, is held to be good for
those that are troubled with a cough, or dimness of sight, if
the herb, being boiled with beans, and some honey put thereto,
be drank or dropped into the eyes. The whole seed being put
into the eyes, draweth forth any skin, dimness or film, from
the sight, without trouble or pain.

REST HARROW, OR CAMMOCK.

Descript .] C OMMON rest harrow riseth up with divers
rough woody twigs, half a yard or a yard high, set at the
joints without order, with little roundish leaves, sometimes
more than two or three at a place, of a dark green colour, with-
out thorns while they are young ; but afterwards armed in sun-
dry places, with short and sharp thorns. The flowers come
forth at the tops of the twigs and branches, whereof it is full,
fashioned like pease or broom blossoms, but lesser, flatter, and
somewhat closer, of a faint purplish colour ; after which come
small pods containing small, flat, round seed : The root is black-
ish on the outside, and whitish within, very rough, and hard
to break when it is fresh and green, and as hard as an horn
when it is dried, thrusting down deep into the ground, and
spreading likewise, every piece being apt to grow' again if it be
left in the ground.

Place.] It groweth in many places of this laud, as well in
arable as waste ground.

Time.] It flowereth about the beginning or middle of July,
and the seed is ripe in August.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of
Mars. It is singularly good to provoke urine when it is stopped.

280 The English Physician Enlarged .

and to break and drive forth the stone, which the powder of the
bark of the root taken in wine performeth effectually. Matthi-
olus saith, the same helpeth the disease called hernia carnosa , the
fleshy rupture, by taking the said powder for some months to-
gether constantly, and that it hath cured some, which seemed
incurable by any other means than by cutting or burning. The
decoction thereof made with some vinegar, gargled in the
mouth, easeth the tooth-ach, especially when it comes of rheum ;
and the said decoction is very powerful to open obstructions of
the liver and spleen, and other parts. A distilled water in
Balneo Marice , with four pounds of the root hereof first sliced
small, and afterwards steeped in a gallon of Canary wine, is sin-
gularly good for all the purposes aforesaid, and to cleanse the
passages of the urine. The powder of the said root made into
an electuary, or loEenges, with sugar, as also the bark of the
fresh roots boiled tender, and afterwards beaten to a conserve
with sugar, worketh the like effect. The powder of the roots
strewed upon the brims of ulcers, or mixed with any other
convenient thing, and applied, consumeth the hardness, and
causeth them to heai the better.

ROCKET.

In regard the garden rocket is rather used as a salad herb than
for any physical purposes, I shall omit it, and only speak of
the common wild rocket. The description whereof take as fol-
loweth :

Descript.~\ The common wild rocket hath longer and nar-
rower leaves, much more divided into slender cuts, and jags on
both sides the middle rib than the garden kinds have ; of a sad
green colour, from among which rise up divers stalks two or
three feet high, sometimes set with the like leaves, but smaller
and smaller upwards, branched from the middle into divers stiff
stalks, bearing sundry yellow flowers on them, made of four
leaves a piece, as the others are, which afterwards yield them
small reddish seed, in small long pods, of a more bitter and hot
biting taste than the garden kinds, as the leaves are also.

The English Physician Enlarged. 281

Place.] It is found wild in divers places of this land.

Time.] It flowers about June or July, and the seed is ripe
in August.

Government and Virtues.] The wild rockets are forbidden
to be used alone, in regard their sharpness fumeth into the head,
causing aches and pains therein, and are less hurtful to hot and
choleric persons, for fear of inflaming their blood, and there-
fore for such we may say a little doth but a little harm, for an-
gry Mars rules them, and he sometimes will be rusty when he
meets with fools. The wild rocket is more strong and effectual
to increase sperm and venomous qualities, whereunto all the seed
is more effectual than the garden kind. It serveth also to help
digestion, and provoketh urine exceedingly. The seed is used
to cure the biting of serpents, the scorpion, and the shrew
mouse, and other poisons, and expelleth worms, and other noi-
some creatures that breed in the belly. The herb boiled or
stewed, and some sugar put thereto, helpeth the cough in
children, being taken often. The seed also taken in drink,
taketh away the ill scent of the arm- pits, increaseth milk in
nurses, and wasteth the spleen. The seed mixed with honey,
and used on the face, cleanseth the skin from morphew, and
used with vinegar, taketh away freckles and redness in the face,
or other parts; and with the gall of an ox, it mendeth foul
scars, black and blue spots, and the marks of the small pox.

WINTER-ROCKET, OR CRESSES.

Descript.] vr' INTER-rocket, or winter-cresses, hath di-
vers somewhat large sad green leaves lying upon the ground, torn
or cut in divers parts, somewhat like unto rocket, or turnip-
leaves, with smaller pieces next the bottom, and broad at the
ends, which so abide all the winter (if it spring up in autumn,
when it is used to be eaten) from among which rise up divers
small round stalks, full of branches, bearing many small yellow
flowers of four leaves a piece, after which come small pods,
with reddish seed in them. The root is stringy, and perisheth
every year after the seed is ripe.

n n

V

282 The English Physician Enlarged.

Place. ] It groweth orf its own accord in gardens and fields,
by the way-sides, in divers places, and particularly in the next
pasture to the conduit-head behind Gray's Inn, that brings
water to Mr. Lamb's conduit in Iiolborn.

Time.] It flowereth in May, seedeth in June, and then
perisheth.

Government and Virtues.] This is profitable to provoke
urine, to help strangury, and expel gravel and the stone. It is
good for the scurvy, and found, by experience, to be a singularly
good wound herb to cleanse inward wounds; the juice or de-
coction being drank, or outwardly applied to wash foul ulcers
and sores, cleansing them by sharpness, and hindering or abat-
ing the dead flesh from growing therein, and healing them by
the drying quality.

ROSES.

I HOLD it altogether needless to trouble the reader with a
description of any of these, since both the garden roses, and the
roses of the briars are well enough known: take therefore the
virtue of them as followeth : and first I shall begin with the
garden kinds.

Government and Virtues.] What a pother have authors
made with roses! What a racket have they kept! I shall add,
red roses are under Jupiter, damask under Venus, white under
the Moon, and Provence under the king of France. The white
and red roses are cooling and drying, and yet the white is taken
to exceed the red in both the properties, but is seldom used in-
wardly in any medicine: The bitterness in the roses when they
are fresh, especially the juice, purgeth choler, and watery hu-
mours; but being dried, and that heat which caused the bitter-
ness being consumed, they have then a binding and astringent
quality : Those also that are not full blown, do both cool and
bind more than those that are full blow n, and the white rose
more than the red. The decoction of red roses made w ith wine
and used, is very good for the head-aclie, and pains in the eyes.

The English Physician Enlarged . 2 83

ears, throat and gums; as also for the fundament, the lower
parts of the belly and the matrix, being bathed and put into them.
The same decoction with the roses remaining in it, is profitably
applied to the region of the heart to ease the inflammation
therein ; as also St. Anthony's fire, and other diseases of the sto-
mach. Being dried and beaten to powder, and taken in steeled
wine or water, it helpeth to stay women’s courses. The yellow
threads in the middle of the roses (which are erroneously called
the rose seed) being powdered and drank in the distilled water
of quinces, stayeth the overflowing of women’s courses, and doth
wonderfully stay the deductions of rheum upon the gums and
teeth, preserving them from corruption, and fastening them
if they be loose, being washed and gargled therewith, and some
vinegar of squills added thereto. The heads with the seeds being
used in pow der, or in a decoction, stayeth the lask and spitting of
blood. Red roses do strengthen the heart, the stomach and the
liver, and the retentive faculty : They mitigate the pains that
arise from heat, assuage inflammations, procure rest and sleep,
stay both whites and reds in women ; the gonorrhea, or running
of the reins, and fluxes of the belly; the juice of them doth
purge and cleanse the body from choler and phlegm. The husks
of the roses, with the beards and nails of the roses, are binding
and cooling, and the distilled water of either of them is good for
the heat and redness in the eyes, and to stay and dry up the
rheums and watering of them. Of the red roses are usually
made many compositions, all serving to sundry good uses, viz.
Electuary of roses, conserve, both moist and dry, which is
more usually called sugar of roses, syrup of dry roses, and ho-
ney of roses ; the cordial powder called diarrhoden abbatis
and aromatica rosarum , The distilled water of roses, vinegar
ot roses, ointment, and oil of roses, and the rose leaves dried,
are of very great use and effect. To write at large of every one
of these would make ns v book sw'ell too bier, it heiim sufficient
for a volume of itself, to speak fully of them. But briefly, the
electuary is purging, whereof two or three drams taken by itself
in some convenient liquor, is a purge sufficient for a weak con-

284 The English Physician Enlarged.

stitution, but may be increased to six drams, according to the
strength of the patient. It purgeth choler without trouble, and
it is good in hot fevers, and pains of the head arising from hot
choleric humours, and heat in the eyes, the jaundice also, and
joint-aches proceeding of hot humours. The moist conserve is
of much use, both binding and cordial; for until it be about
two years old, it is more binding than cordial, and after that,
more cordial than binding. Some of the younger conserve
taken with mithridate mixed together, is good for those that are
troubled with distillations of rheum from the brain to the nose,
and defl uctions of rheum into the eyes ; as also for fl uxes and lasks
of the belly ; and being mixed with the powder of mastic, is
very good for the running of the reins, and for the looseness of
humours in the belly. The old conserve mixed with aromaticum
rosarum, is a very good cordial against faintings, swoonings,
weakness and tremblings of the heart, strengthens both it and a
weak stomach, helpeth digestion, stayeth casting, and is a very
good preservative in the time of infection. The dry conserve,
which is called the sugar of roses, is a very good cordial to
strengthen the heart and spirits; as also to stay deductions.
The syrup of dried red roses strengthens a stomach given to
casting, cooleth an over-heated liver, and the blood in agues,
comforteth the heart, and resisteth putrefaction and infection,
and helpeth to stay lasks and fluxes. Honey of roses is much
used in gargles and lotions to wash sores, either in the mouth,
throat, or other parts, both to cleanse and heal them, and to
stay the fluxes of humours falling upon them. It is also used in
clysters both to cool and cleanse. The cordial powders, called
diarrhoden abbatis and aromatic rosarum, do comfort and
strengthen the heart and stomach, procure an appetite, help di-
gestion, stay vomiting, and are very good for those that have
slippery bowels, to strengthen them, and to dry up their mois-
tures; red rose water is very well known, and of a familiar use
on all occasions, and better than damask rose-water, being cool-
ing and cordial, refreshing, quickening the weak and faint spi-
rits, used either in meats or broths, to wash the temples, to

The English Physician Enlarged. 285

smell at the nose, or to smell the sweet vapours thereof out of
a perfuming pot, or cast into a hot fire shovel. It is also of
much good use against the redness and inflammations of the eyes
to bathe them therewith, and the temples of the head ; as also
against pain and ache, for which purpose also vinegar of roses
is of much good use, and to procure rest and sleep, if some
thereof, and rose water together, be used to smell unto, or the
nose and temples moistened therewith, but more usually to mois-
ten a piece of a red rose-cake, cut for the purpose, and heated be-
tween a double folded cloth, with a little beaten nutmeg, and
poppy-seed strewed on the side that must lie next to the forehead
and temples, and bound thereto all night. The ointment of roses is
much used against heat and inflammations in the head, to anoint
the forehead and temples, and being mixt with unguenlum po-
pulneum , to procure rest ; it is also used for the heat of the liver,
the back and reins, and to cool the heat of pushes, wheals, and
other red pimples rising in the face or other parts. Oil of roses
is not only used by itself to cool any hot swellings or inflam-
mations, and to bind and stay fluxes of humours unto sores,
but is also put into ointments and plaisters that are cooling and
binding, and restraining the flux of humours. The dried leaves
of the red roses are used both inwardly and outwardly, both
cooling, binding, and cordial, for with them are made both
aromaiicum rosarum, diarrhoden abbcitis , and saccharum rosa-
rium, each of whose properties are before declared. Rose
leaves and mint, heated and applied outwardly to the stomach,
stay castings, and very much strengthen a weak stomach ; and
applied as a fomentation to the region of the liver and heart, do
much cool and temper them, and also serve instead of a rose
cake (as is said before) to quiet the over-hot spirits, and cause
rest and sleep. The syrup of damask roses is both simple and
compound, and made with agaric. The simple solutive syrup
is a familiar, safe, gentle and easy medicine, purging choler,
taken from one ounce to three or four, yet this is remarkable
herein that the distilled water of this syrup should notably bind

286 The English Physician Enlarged .

the belly. The syrup with agaric, is more strong and effectual,
for one ounce thereof by itself will open the body more than
the other, and worketh as much on phlegm as choler. The
compound syrup is more forcible in working on melancholic hu-
mours ; and available against the leprosy, itch, tetters, &c. and
the French disease: Also honey of roses solutive is made of the
same infusions that the syrup is made of, and therefore worketh
the same effect, both opening and purging, but is oftener given
to phlegmatic than choleric persons, and is more used in clysters
than in potions, as the syrup made with sugar is. The conserve
and preserved leaves of those roses are also operative in gently
opening the belly.

The simple water of the damask roses is chiefly used for
fumes to sweeten things, as the dried leaves thereof to make
sweet powders, and fill sweet bags; and little use they are put
to in physic, although they have some purging quality : the wild
roses also are few or none of them used in physic, but are ge-
nerally held to come near the nature of manured roses. The
fruit of the wild briar, which are called heps, being thoroughly
ripe, and made into a conserve with sugar, besides the pleasant-
ness of the taste, doth gently bind the belly, and stay deflux-
ions from the head upon the stomach, drying up the moisture
thereof and helping digestion. The pulp of the heps dried into
a hard consistence, like to the juice of liquorice, or so dried that
it may be made into a powder and taken in drink, stayeth speed-
ily the whites in women. The briar ball is often used, being made
into powder and drank, to break the stone, to provoke urine
when it is stopped, and to ease and help the cholic; some ap-
point it to be burnt, and then taken for the sa/.ie purpose. In
the middle of the balls are often found certain white worms,
which being dried and made into powder, and some of it drank,
is found by experience of many to kill and drive forth the
worms of the belly.

ROSA SOLIS, OR SUN DEW.

Descript .] It hath divers small, round, hollow leaves some-

Hie English Physician Enlarged . 287

what greenish, but full of certain red hairs, which make them
seem red, every one standing upon his own footstalk, reddish,
hairy likewise. The leaves are continually moist in the hottest
day, yea, the hotter the sun shines on them, the moister they
are, with a sliminess that will rope (as we say) the small hairs
always holding this moisture. Among these leaves rise up slen-
der stalks, reddish also, three or four fingers high, bearing di-
vers small white knobs one above another, which are flowers;
after which in the heads are contained small seeds. The root
is a few small hairs.

Place .] It groweth usually in bogs and wet places, and
sometimes in moist woods.

Time.] It flowereth in June, and then the leaves are fittest
to be gathered.

Government and Virtues.] The Sun rules it, and it is under
the sign Cancer. Rosa Solis is accounted good to help those
that have a salt rheum distilling on the lungs, which breedeth a
consumption, and therefore the distilled water thereof in wine is
held fit and profitable for such to drink, which water will be of a
good yellow colour. The same water is held to be good for all
other diseases of the lungs, as phthisics, wheezings, shortness
of breath, or the cough ; as also to heal the ulcers that happen
in the lungs ; and it comforteth the heart and fainting spirits.
The leaves outwardly applied to the skin, will raise blisters,
which has caused some to think it dangerous to be taken in-
wardly ; but there are other things which will also draw blisters,
yet nothing dangerous to be taken inwardly. There is an usual
drink made thereof with aqua vitae and spices frequently, and
without any offence or danger, but to good purpose used in
qualms and passions of the heart.

ROSEMARY.

OuR garden rosemary is so well known, that I need not
describe it.

Time.] It flowereth in April and May with us, sometimes
again iu August,

288 The English Physician Enlarged.

Government and Virtues .] The Sun claims privilege in it,
and it is under the celestial Ram. It is an herb of as great use
with us in these days as any whatsoever, not only for physical
but civil purposes. The physical use of it (being my present
task) is very much both for inward and outward diseases, for by
the warming and comforting heat thereof it helpeth all cold dis-
eases, both of the head, stomach, liver, and belly. The decoc-
tion thereof in wine, helpeth the cold distillations of rheums into
the eyes, and all other cold diseases of the head and brain, as the
giddiness or swimmings therein, drowsiness or dulness of the
mind and senses like a stupidness, the dumb palsy, or loss of
speecih, the lethargy, and falling-sickness, to be both drank, and
the temples bathed therewith. It helpeth the pains in the gums
and teeth, by rheum falling into them, not by putrefaction,
causing an evil smell from them, or a stinking breath. It help-
eth a weak memory, and quickeneth the senses. It is very
comfortable to the stomach in all the cold griefs thereof, helpeth
both retention of meat, and digestion, the decoction or powder
being taken in wine. It is a remedy for the windiness in the
stomach, bowels, and spleen, and expels it powerfully. It
helpeth those that are liver-grown, by opening the obstructions
thereof. It helpeth dim eyes, and procureth a clear sight, the
flowers thereof being taken all the while it is flowering, every
morning fasting, with bread and salt. Roth Dioscorides and
Galen say, That if a decoction be made thereof with water, and
they that have the yellow jaundice exercise their bodies present-
ly after the taking thereof, it will certainly cure them. The
flowers, and conserve made of them, are singularly good to com-
fort the heart, and to expel the contagion of the pestilence; to
burn the herb in houses and chambers, correcteth the air in
them. Both the flower and leaves are very profitable for wo-
men that are troubled with the whites, if they be daily taken.
The dried leaves shred small, and taken in a pipe, as tobacco is
taken, helpeth those that have any cough, phthisic, or consump-
tion, by warming and drying the thin distillations which cause

The English Physician Enlarged. 289

those diseases. The leaves are very much used in bathings; and
made into ointments or oil, are singularly good to help cold be-
numbed joints, sinews, or members. The chymical oil drawn
from the leaves and flowers, is a sovereign help for all the dis-
eases aforesaid, to touch the temples and nostrils with two or
three drops for all the diseases of the head and brain spoken of
before: as also to take one drop, two, or three, as the case re-
quired), for the inward griefs: Yet must it be done with discre-
tion, for it is very quick and piercing, and therefore but a very
little mwst be taken at a time. There is also another oil made
by insolation in this manner: Take what quantity you will of
the flowers, aim put them into a strong glass close stopped, tie
a fine linen cloth over the mouth, and turn the mouth down
into another strong glass, which being set in the sun, an oil will
distil down into the lower glass, to be preserved as precious for
divers uses, both inward and outward, as a sovereign balm to
heal the diseased before-mentioned, to clear dim sights, and take
away spots, marks, and scars in the skin.

RHUBARB, OR RAPHONTIC.

Do not start and say, this grows you know not how far off;
and then ask me, how it comes to pass that I bring it among
our English simples! For though the name may speak it foreign,
yet it grows with us in England, and that frequent enough in
our gardens ; and w hen you have thoroughly pursued its virtues,
you will conclude it nothing inferior to that which is brought
out of China, and by that time this hath been as much used as
that hath been, the name which the other hath gotten will be
eclipsed by the fame of this; take therefore a description at
large of it as followeth :

Descript .] At the first appearing out of the ground, when
the winter is past, it hath a great round brownish head, rising
from the middle or sides of the root, which openeth itself into
sundry leaves one after another, very much crumpled or folded
together at the first, and brownish ; but afterwards it spreadeth

No. 13.

o o

290 The English Physician Enlarged .

itself, and becometh smooth, very large and almost round, every
one standing on a brownish stalk of the thickness of a man's
thumb, when they are grown to their fulness, and most of them
two feet and more in length, especially when they grow in any
moist or good ground; and the stalk of the leaf, from the bot-
tom thereof to the leaf itself, being also two feet, the breadth
thereof from edge to edge, in the broadest place, being also two
feet, of a sad or dark green colour, of a fine tart or sourish
taste, much more pleasant than the garden or wood sorrel.
From among these riseth up some, but not every year, strong
thick stalks, not growing so high as the patience, or garden
dock, with such round leaves as grow below, but smaller at
every joint up to the top, and among the flowers, which are
white, spreading forth into many branches, consisting of five or
six small leaves a piece, hardly to be discerned from the white
threads in the middle, and seeming to be all threads, after
which come brownish three square seeds, like unto other docks,
but larger, whereby it may be plainly known to be a dock.
The root grows in time to be very great, with divers and sun-
dry great spreading branches from it, of a dark brownish or
reddish colour on the outside, with a pale yellow skin under it,
which covereth the inner substance or root, which rind and
skin being pared away, the root appears of so fresh and lively
a colour, with fresh coloured veins running through it, that the
choicest of that rhubarb that is brought us from beyond the seas
cannot excel it, which root, if it be dried carefully, and as it
ought (which must be in our country by the gentle heat of a fire,
in regard the sun is not hot enough here to do it, and every piece
kept from touching one another) will hold its colour almost as
well as when it is fresh, and hath been approved of, and com-
mended by those who have oftentimes used them.

Place.] It groweth in gardens, and flowereth about the be-
ginning or middle of June, and the seed is ripe in July.

Time.] The roots that are to be dried and kept all the year
following, aie not to be taken up before the stalk and leaves be
quite withered and gone, and that is not until the middle or end

The English Physician Enlarged. 291

of October, and if they be taken a little before the leaves do
spring or when they are sprung up, the roots will not have half
so good a colour in them.

1 have given the precedence unto this, because in virtues also
it hath the pre-eminence. I come now to describe unto you that
which is called patience, or monk’s rhubarb; and next unto that,
the great round leaved dock, or bastard rhubarb, for the one of
these may haply supply in the absence of the other, being not
much unlike in their virtues, only one more powerful and effi-
cacious than the other. And lastly, shall shew you the virtues
of all the three sorts.

GARDEN PATIENCE, OR MONK’S RHUBARB.

Descript.'] This is a dock, bearing the name of rhubarb
for some purging quality therein, and groweth up with large tall
stalks, set with somewhat broad and long fair green leaves, not
dented at all. The tops of the stalks being divided into many
small branches, bearing reddish or purplish flowers, and three
square seed, like unto other docks. The root is long, great
and yellow, like unto the wild docks, but a little redder: and
if it be a iittle dried, sheweth less store of discoloured veins
than the next doth when it is dry.

GREAT ROUND-LEAVED DOCK, OR BASTARD

RHUBARB.

Descript.] This hath divers large, round, thin, yellowish
green leaves rising from the root, a little waved about the edges,
every one standing upon a reasonable thick and long brown-
ish foot-stalk, from among which riseth up a pretty big stalk,
about two feet high, with some such like leaves growing there-
on, but smaller; at the top whereof stand in a long spike many
small brownish flowers, which turn into a hard three square shi-
ning brown seed, like the garden patience before described.
The root groweth greater than that, with many branches of
great fibres thereat, yellow on the outside, and somewhat pale;

292 The English Physician Enlarged.

yellow within, with some discoloured veins like to the rhubarb
which is first described, but much less than it, especially when
it is dry.

Place and Time .] These also grow in gardens, and flower
and seed at or near the same time that our true rhubarb doth,
viz. they flower in June, and the seed is ripe in July.

Temperature and Virtues .] Mars claims predominancy over
all these wholesome herbs: You cry out upon him for an unfor-
tunate, when God created him for your good (only he is angry
with fools.) What dishonour is this, not to Mars, but to God
himself? A dram of the dried root of monk's rhubarb, with a
scruple of ginger made into powder, and taken fasting in a
draught or mess of warm broth, purgeth choler and phlegm
downwards very gently and safely, without danger. The seed
on the contrary doth bind the belly, and helpeth to stay any sort
of lasks or bloody-flux. The distilled w ater thereof is very pro-
fitably used to heal scabs; also foul ulcerous sores, and to lay
the inflammation of them; the juice of the leaves or roots or
the decoction of them in vinegar, is used as a most effectual
remedy to heal scabs and running sores.

The bastard rhubarb hath all the properties of the monk's
rhubarb, but more effectual for both inward and outward dis-
eases. The decoction thereof without vinegar dropped into the
ears, taketh away the pains; gargled in the mouth, taketh
away the tooth-ach; and being drank, healeth the jaundice.
The seed thereof taken, easeth the gnawing and griping pains
of the stomach, and taketh away the loathing thereof unto
meat. The root thereof helpeth the ruggedness of the nails,
and being boiled in wine helpeth the swelling of the throat,
commonly called the king’s evil, as also the swellings of the
kernels of the ears. It helpeth them that are troubled with the
stone, provoketh urine, and helpeth the dimness of the sight.
The roots of this bastard rhubarb are used in opening and purg-
ing diet-drinks, with other things, to open the liver, and to
cleanse and cool the blood.

The English Physician Enlarged . 293

The properties of that which is called the English rhubarb, are
the same with the former, (but much more effectual, and hatii
all the properties of the true Italian rhubarbs except the force
in purging, wherein it is but of half the strength thereof, and
therefore a double quantity must be used ; it likewise hath not
that bitterness and astriction ; in other things it worketh almost
in an equal quantity) which are these: It purgeth the body of
choler and phlegm, being either taken of itself, made into pow-
der, and drank in a draught of white wine, or steeped therein
all the night, and taken fasting, or put among other purges, as
shall be thought convenient, cleansing the stomach, liver, and
blood, opening obstructions, and helping those griefs that come
thereof, as the jaundice, dropsy, swelling of the spleen, tertian
and daily agues, and pricking pains of the sides; and also it
stayeth spitting of blood. The powder taken with cassia dis-
solved, and washed Venice turpentine, cleanseth the reins, and
strengthens them afterwards, and is very effectual to stay the
running of the reins, or gonorrhea. It is also given for the
pains and swellings in the head, for those that are troubled with
melancholy, and helpeth the sciatica, gout, and the cramp. The
pow der of the rhubarb taken with a little mummia and madder
roots in some red wine, dissolveth clotted blood in the body,
happening by any fall or bruise, and helpeth burstings and bro-
ken parts, as well inward as outward. The oil likewise w herein it
hath been boiled, worketh the like effects, being anointed. It
is used to heal those ulcers that happen in the eyes or eyelids,
being steeped and strained ; as also to assuage the swellings and
inflammations; and applied w'ith honey, boiled in wine, it
taketh away all blue spots or marks that happen therein. Whey
or white wine are the best liquors to steep it in, and thereby it
worketh more effectually in opening obstructions, and purging
the stomach and liver. Many do use a little Indian spikenard
as the best corrector thereof.

MEADOW-RUE.

Dt script.] JVXeADOW-RUE riseth up with a yellow

294 The English Physician Enlarged .

stringy root, much spreading in the ground, shooting forth new
sprouts round about, with many herby green stalks, two feet
high, crested all the length of them, set with joints here and
there, and many large leaves on them, above as well as below,
being divided into smaller leaves, nicked or dented in the fore-
part of them, of a red green colour on the upper side, and pale
green underneath: Toward the top of the stalk there shoot-
eth forth divers short branches, on every one whereof stand
two, three or four small heads, or buttons, which breaking the
skin that encloseth them, shoot forth a tuft of pale greenish yel-
low threads, which falling away, there come in their places
small three cornered cods, wherein is contained small, long
and round seed. The whole plant hath a strong unpleasant
scent.

Place.] It groweth in many places of this land, in the bor-
ders of moist meadows, and ditch-sides.

Time.] It flowereth about July, or the beginning of August.

Government and Virtues.] Dioscorides saith, that this herb
bruised and applied, perfectly healeth old sores, and the distilled
water of the herb and flowers doth the like. It is used by some
among other pot-herbs to open the body, and make it soluble;
but the roots washed clean, and boiled in ale and drank, provoke
to stool more than the leaves, but yet very gently. The root
boiled in water, and the places of the body most troubled with
vermin and lice washed therewith while it is warm, destroyeth
them utterly. I n Italy it is used against the plague, and in
Saxony against the jaundice, as Camerarius saith.

GARDEN-RUE

Garden Rue is so well known by this name, and the name
herb of grace, that I shall not need to write any further de-
scription of it, but shall only shew you the virtue of it, as fol-
loweth.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of the Sun, and under
Leo. It provoketh urine and women’s courses, being taken

The English Physician Enlarged. 295

cither in meat or drink. The seed thereof taken in wine, is an
antidote against all dangerous medicines or deadly poisons. The
leaves taken either by themselves, or with figs or walnuts, is
called Mithridates’ counter-poison against the plague, and caus-
eth all venomous tilings to become harmless ; being often taken
in meat and drink, it abateth venery, and destroyeth the ability
to get children. A decoction made thereof with some dried dill
leaves and flowers, easeth all pains and torments, inwardly to
be drank and outwardly to be applied warm to the place grieved.
The same being drank, helpeth the pains both of the chest and
sides, as also coughs and hardness of breathing, the inflamma-
tions of the lungs, and the tormenting pains of the sciatica and
the joints, being anointed, or laid to the places ; as also the shak-
ing fits of agues, to take a draught before the fit comes ; being
boiled or infused in oil, it is good to help the wind cholic, the
hardness and windiness of the mother, and freeth women from
the strangling or suffocation thereof, if the share and the parts
thereabouts be anointed therewith : It killeth and driveth forth
the worms in the belly, if it be drank after it is boiled in wine
to the half, with a little honey ; it helpeth the gout or pains in
the joints, hands, feet or knees, applied thereunto; and with
figs it helpeth the dropsy, being bathed therewith; Being
bruised and put into the nostrils, it stayeth the bleeding thereof ;
it helpeth the swelling of the cods, if they be bathed with a de-
coction of rue and bay leaves. It taketh away wheals and pim-
ples, if, being bruised with a few myrtle leaves, it be made up
with wax and applied. It cureth the morphew, and taketh
away all sorts of warts, if boiled in wine with some pepper and
nitre, and the place rubbed therewith, and with almond and
honey, helpeth the dry scabs, or any tetter or ring-worm. The
juice thereof warmed in a pomegranate shell or rind, and drop-
ped into the ears, helpeth the pains of them. The juice of it
and fennel, with a little honey, and the gall of a cock put
thereunto, helpeth the dimness of the eye sight. An ointment
made of the juice thereof with oil of roses, ceruse, and a little
vinegar, and anointed, cureth St. Anthony’s fire, and all run-

296 The English Physician Enlarged.

ning sores in the head; and the stinking ulcers of the nose, or
other parts. The antidote used by Mithridates, every morning
fasting, to secure himself from any poison or infection, was
this: Take twenty leaves of rue, a little salt, a couple of wal-
nuts, and a couple of figs beaten together into a mass with
twenty juniper berries, which is the quantity appointed for every
day. Another electuary is made thus : Take of nitre, pepper,
and cummin seed, of each equal parts ; of the leaves of rue
clean picked, as much in weight as all the other three weighed ;
beat them well together, and put as much honey as will make it
up into an electuary (but you must first steep your cummin
seed in vinegar twenty-four hours, and then dry it, or rather
roast it in a hot fire-shovel, or in an oven) and is a remedy for
the pains or griefs in the chest or stomach, of the spleen, belly,
or sides, by wind or stitches; of the liver by obstructions; of
the reins and bladder by the stopping of urine ; and helpeth also
to extenuate fat corpulent bodies.

What an infamy is cast upon the ashes of Mithridates, or Me-
thridates (as the Augustines read his name) by unworthy peo-
ple. They that deserve no good report themselves, love to give
none to others, viz. That renowned king of Pontius fortified his
body by poison against poison. He cast out devils by Beelze-
bub, prince of the devils. What a sot is he that knows not
if he had accustomed his body to cold poisons, hot poisons would
have dispatched him ? on the contrary, if not, corrosions would
have done it. The whole world is, at this present time, be-
holden to him for his studies in physic, and he that useth the
quantity but of an hazel-nut of that receipt every morning, to
which his name is adjoined, shall, to admiration, preserve his
body in health, if he do but consider that rue is an herb of
the Sun, and under Leo, and gather it and the rest accord-
ingly.

RUPTURE-WORT.

Descript .] HIS spreadeth many thready branches round

The English Physician Enlarged . 297

about upon the ground, about a span long, divided into many
other smaller parts full of small joints set very thick together,
whereat come forth two very small leaves of a French yellow,
green coloured branches and all, where groweth forth also a
number of exceeding small yellowish flowers scarce to be dis-
cerned from the stalks and leaves, which turn into seeds as small
as the very dust. The root is very long and small, thrusting
down deep into the ground. This hath neither smell nor taste
at first, but afterwards hath a little astringent taste, without
any manifest heat; yet a little bitter and sharp withal.

Place.] It groweth in dry, sandy, and rocky places.

Time.] It is fresh and green all the summer.

Government and Virtues.] They say Saturn causeth rup-
tures ; if he do, he doth no more than he can cure ; if you
want wit, he will teach you, though to your cost. This herb
is Saturn's own, and is a noble antivenerean. Rupturewort hath
not its name in vain; for it is found by experience, to cure the
rupture, not only in children, but also in elder persons, if the
disease be not too inveterate, by taking a dram of the powder
of the dried herb every day in wine, or a decoction made and
drank for certain days together. The juice or distilled water of
the green herb, taken in the same manner, helpeth all other
fluxes either of man or woman; vomitings also, and the gonor-
rhea, or running of the reins, being taken any of the ways
aforesaid. It doth also most assuredly help those that have the
strangury, or are troubled with the stone or gravel in the reins
or bladder. The same also helpeth stitches in the sides, griping
pains of the stomach or belly, the obstructions of the liver, and
cureth the yellow jaundice; likewise it kills also the worms in
children. Being outwardly applied, it conglutinateth wounds
notably, and helpeth much to stay defluxions of rheum from
the head to the eyes, nose and teeth, being bruised green, and
bound thereto; or the forehead, temples, or the nape of the
neck behind, bathed with the decoction of the dried herb. It
also drieth up the moisture of fistulous ulcers, or any other
that are foul and spreading.

No. 13. p p

298 The English Physician Enlarged .

RUSHES.

.ALTHOUGH there are many kinds of rushes, yet I shall
only here insist upon those which are best known, and most
medicinal; as the bulrushes, and other of the soft and smooth
kinds, which grow so commonly in almost every part of this
land, and are so generally noted, that I suppose it needless to
trouble you with any description of them ; Briefly then take
the virtues of them as followeth :

Government and Virtues .] The seed of the soft rushes,
(saith Dioseorides and Galen* toasted, saith Pliny) being drank
in wine and water, stayeth the lask and women's courses, when
they come down too abundantly; but it causeth head-ach : It
provoketh sleep likewise, but must be given with caution. The
root boiled in water, to the consumption of one third, helpeth
the cough.

Thus you see that conveniences have their inconveniences,
and virtue is seldom unaccompanied with some vices. What I
have written concerning rushes, is to satisfy my countrymen's
question: Are our rushes good for nothing ? Yes, and as
good let them alone as taken, there are remedies enough without
them for any disease; and therefore as the proverb is, I care
not a rush for them; or rather they will do you as much good
as if one had given you a rush.

RYE.

This is so well known in all the counties of this land, and
especially to the country people, who feed much thereon, that
if I did describe it, they would presently say, I might as well
have spared my labour. Its virtues follow :

Government and Virtues.] Rye is more digesting than
wheat; the bread and the leaven thereof ripeneth and breaketh
imposthumes, boils, and other swellings: the meal of rye put
between a double cloth, and moistened with a little vinegar, and
heated in a pewter dish, set over a chafing-dish of coals, and

■

,

‘

'

*

-

• .

3

.

The English Physician Enlarged. 299

bound fast to the head while it is hot, doth much ease the con-
tinual pains of the head. Matthiolus saitn, that the ashes of
rye straw put into water, and steeped therein a day and a night,
and the chops of the hands or feet washed therewith, doth heal
them.

SAFFRON.

The herb needs no description, it being known generally
where it grows.

Place .] It grows frequently at Walden in Essex, and in
Cambridgeshire.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of the Sun, and
under the Lion, and therefore you need not demand a reason
why it strengthens the heart so exceedingly. Let not above ten
grains be given at one time, for the Sun, which is the fountain
of light, may dazzle the eyes, and make them blind; a cordial
being taken in an immoderate quantity, hurts the heart instead
of helping it. It quickeneih the brain, for the Sun is exalted in
Aries, as he hath his house in Leo : It helps consumptions of the
lungs, and difficulty of breathing : It is excellent in epidemical
diseases, as pestilence, small-pox, and measles. It is a notable
expulsive medicine, and a notable remedy for the yellow jaun-
dice. My opinion is (but I have no author for it) that hermo-
dactyls are nothing else but the roots of saffron dried ; and my
reason is, that the roots of all crocus, both white and yellow,
purge phlegm as hermodactyls do.; and if ycu please to dry the
roots of any crocus, neither your eyes nor your taste shall dis-
tinguish them from hermodactyls.

SAGE.

Our ordinary garden sage needs no description.

Time.] It flowereth in or about July.

Government and Virtues.] Jupiter claims this, and bids me
tell you, it is good for the liver, and to breed blood. A de-
coction of the leaves and branches of sage made and drank, saith

300 The English Physician Enlarged.

Dioscorides, provoketh urine, bringeth down women's courses,
helps to expel the dead child, and causeth the hair to become
black. It stayeth the bleeding of wounds, and cleanseth foul
ulcers or sores. The said decoction made in wine, taketh away
the itching of the cods, if they be bathed therewith. Agrippa
saitfa, that if women that cannot conceive by reason of the moist
slipperiness of their wombs, shall take a quantity of the juice of
sage, with a little salt, for four days before they company with
their husbands, it will help them not only to conceive, but also
to retain the birth without miscarrying. Orpheus saith, three
spoonfuls of the juice of sage taken fasting, with a little honey,
doth presently stay the spitting or casting of blood of them that
are in a consumption. These pills are much commended :
Take of spikenard, ginger, of each two drams; of the seed of
sage toasted at the fire, eight drams ; of long pepper 12 drams ;
all these being brought into powder, put thereto so much juice
of sage as may make them into , a mass of pills, taking a dram of
them every morning, fasting, and so likewise at night, drinking
a little pure water after them. Matthiolus saith, it is very pro-
fitable for all manner of pains in the head, coming of cold and
rheumatic humours: as also for all pains of the joints, whether
inwardly or outwardly, and therefore helpeth the falling sick-
ness, the lethargy, such as are dull and heavy of spirit, the palsy ;
and is of much use in all deductions of rheum from the head,
and for the diseases of the chest or breast. The leaves of sage
and nettles bruised together, and laid upon the imposthume that
risetli behind the ears, doth assuage it much. The juice of sago
taken in warm water, helpeth a hoarseness and a cough. The
leaves soddened in w ine, and laid upon the place affected with
the palsy, helpeth much, if the decoction be drank: Also, sage
taken with wormwood is good for the bloody dux. Pliny saith,
it procures women’s courses, and stayeth them coming down
too fast ; helpeth the stinging and biting of serpents, and kiileth
the worms that breed in the ear, and in sores. Sage is of an excel-
lent use to help the memory, warming and quickening the senses ;
and the conserve made of the dowers is used to the same pur-

The English Physician Enlarged . 301

I IWI I MWMIlUfcUJUmaBMBBMWWMWMWWMB

pose, and also for all the former recited diseases. The juice of
sage drank, with vinegar, hath been of good use in time of the
plague at all times. Gargles likewise are made of sage, rose-
mary, honey-suckles, and plantain, boiled in wine or water,
with some honey or allum put thereto, to wash sore mouths
and throats, cankers, or the secret parts of man or woman, as
need requireth. And with other hot and comfortable herbs, sage
is boiled to bathe the body and the legs in the summer dime,
especially to warm cold joints, or sinews, troubled with the
palsy and cramp, and to comfort and strengthen the parts. It is
much commended against the stitch, or pains in the side com-
ing of wind, if the place be fomented warm with the decoction
thereof in wine, and the herb also after boiling be laid warm
thereunto.

WOOD-SAGE.

Descript ,] "W"oOD-SAGE riseth up with square hoary
stalks, two feet high at the least, with two leaves set at every
joint, somewhat like other sage leaves, but smaller, softer,
whiter, and rounder, and a little dented about the edges, and
smelling somewhat stronger. At the tops of the stalks and bran-
ches stand the flowers, on slender-like spikes, turning them-
selves all one way when they blow, and are of a pale and whi-
tish colour, smaller than sage, but hooded and gaping like un-
to them. The seed is blackish and round ; four usually seem in
a husk together: the root is long and stringy, with divers fibres
thereat, and abideth many years.

Place.'] It groweth in woods, and by wood-sides; as also
in divers fields and bye-lanes in the land.

Time.] It flowereth in June, July and August.

Government and Virtues.] The herb is under Venus. The
decoction of the wood-sage provoketh urine and women's
courses: It also provoketh sweat, digesteth humours, and dis-
cusseth swellings and nodes in the flesh, and is therefore thought
to be good against the French pox. The decoction of the green

302 The English Physician Enlarged.

herb, made with wine, is a safe and sure remedy for those who
by falls, bruises, or blows, suspect some vein to be inwardly
broken, to disperse and void the congealed blood, and to consoli-
date the veins. The drink used inwardly, and the herb used
outwardly, is good for such as are inwardly or outwardly burst-
en, and is found to be a sure remedy for the palsy. The juice
of the herb, or the powder thereof dried, is good for moist ul-
cers and sores in the legs, and other parts, to dry them, and
cause them to heal more speedily. It is no less effectual also
in green wounds, to be used upon any occasion.

SOLOMON'S SEAL.

Descript .] TThE common Solomon's seal riseth up with a
round stalk, half a yard high, bowing or bending down to the
ground, set with single leaves one above another, somewhat
large, and like the leaves of the lily convally, or May-lily,
with an eye of blueish upon the green, with some ribs therein,
and more yellowish underneath. At the foot of every leaf, al-
most from the be ttom up to the top of the stalks, come forth
small, long, white and hollow pendulous flowers somewhat like
the flowers of May-lily, but ending in five long points, for the
most part two together, at the end of a long footstalk, and some-
times but one, and sometimes also two stalks, with flowers at
the foot of a leaf, which are without any scent at all, and stand
on one side of the stalk. After they are past, come in their
places small round berries, great at the first, and blackish
green, tending to blueness when they are ripe, wherein lie
small, white, hard, and stony seeds. The root is of the thick-
ness of one's finger or thumb, white and knotted in some pla-
ces, a flat round circle representing a seal, whereof it took the
name, lying along under the upper crust of the earth, and not
growing downward, but with many fibres underneath.

Place.] It is frequent in divers places of this land; as,
namely, in a wood two miles from Canterbury, by Fish-pool
Hill, as also in Bushy Close belonging to the parsonage of Al-

The English Physician Enlarged. 303

derbury, near Clarendon, two miles from Salisbury; in Cheffon
wood, on Chesson Hill, between Newington and Sittingbourn
in Kent, and divers other places in Essex, and other counties.

Time.] It flowereth about May: the root abideth and
shooteth anew every year.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn owns the plant, for he
loves his bones well. The root of Solomon’s seal is found, by
experience, to be available in wounds, hurts, and outward sores,
to heal and close up the lips of those that are green, and to dry
up and restrain the flux of humours to those that are old. It is
singularly good to stay vomiting and bleeding wheresoever, as
also all fluxes in man or woman, whether whites or reds in wo-
men, or the running of the reins in men; also, to knit any joint,
which, by weakness, useth to be often out of place, or will not
stay in long when it is set; also to knit and join broken bones
in any part of the body, the roots being bruised and applied to
the places; yea, it hath been found, by late experience, that
the decoction of the root in wine, or the bruised root put into
wine or other drink, and after a night’s infusion, strained forth
hard and drank, hath helped both man and beast, whose bones
have been broken by any occasion; which is the most assured
refuge of help to people of divers counties of the land that they
can have: It is no less effectual to help ruptures and burstings,
the decoction in wine, or the powder in broth or drink, being
inwardly taken, and outwardly applied to the place. The same
is also available for inward or outward bruises, falls or blows,
both to dispel the congealed blood, and to take away both the
pains, and the black and blue marks that abide after the hurt.
The same also, or the distilled water of the whole plant, used
to the face, or other parts of the skin, cleanseth it from mor-
phew, freckles, spots, or marks whatsoever, leaving the place
fresh, fair, and lovely ; for which purpose it is much used by
the Italian dames.

SAMPHIRE.

Descript.] Rock samphire groweth up with a tender green

304 The English Physician Enlarged .

stalk, about half a yard, or two feet high at the most, branch-
ing forth almost from the very bottom, and stored with sundry
thick, and almost round (somewhat long) leaves of a deep green
colour, sometimes two together, and sometimes more on a stalk,
and sappy, and of a pleasant, hot, and spicy taste. At the top
of the stalks and branches stand umbels of white flowers, and
after them come large seed bigger than fennel seed, yet some-
what like it. The root is great, white, and long, continuing
many years, and is of an hot and spicy taste likewise.

Place .] It groweth on the rocks that are often moistened
at the least, if not overflowed with the sea water.

Time.] And it flowereth and seedeth in the end of July am
August.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Jupiter, and
was in former times wont to be used more than now it is ; the
more is the pity. It is well known almost to every body, that
ill digestions and obstructions are the cause of most of the dis-
eases which the frail nature of man is subject to; both which
might be remedied by a more frequent use of this herb. If peo-
ple would have sauce to their meat, they may take some for pro-
fit as well as for pleasure. It is a safe herb, very pleasant both
to taste and stomach, helpeth digestion, and in some sort open-
ing obstructions of the liver and spleen; provoketh urine, and
helpeth thereby to wash away the gravel and stone engendered
in the kidneys or bladder.

SANICLE.

Descript .] Ordinary sanicle sendeth forth many great
round leaves, standing upon long brownish stalks, every one
somewhat deeply cut or divided into five or six parts, and some
of these also cut in somewhat like the leaf of crow’s-foot or
dove's foot, and finely dented about the edges, smooth, and of
a dark shining colour, and sometimes reddish about the brims ;
from among which arise up small, round green stalks, without
any joint or leaf thereon, saving at the top, where it branches

The English Physician Enlarged. 305

forth into flowers, having a leaf divided into three or four
parts at that joint with the flowers, which are small and white,
starting out of small round greenish yellow heads, many stand-
ing together in a tuft, in which afterwards are the seeds con-
tained, which are small round burs, somewhat like the leaves
of cleavers, and stick in the same manner upon any thing that
they touch. The root is composed of many blackish strings
or fibres, set together at a little long head, which abideth with
green leaves all the winter, and perisheth not.

Place .] It is found in many shadowy woods, and other pla-
ces of this land.

Time J It flowereth in June, and the seed is ripe shortly
after.

Government and Virtues.] This is one of Venus’ herbs,
to cure the wounds or mischiefs Mars inflicteth upon the body
of man. It heals green wounds speedily, or any ulcers, irnpos-
thumes, or bleedings, inward, also tumours in any part of the
body ; for the decoction or powder in drink taken, and the juice
used outwardly, dissipateth the humour; and there is not found
any herb that can give such present help either to man or beast,
when the disease falleth upon the lungs or throat, and to heal
up putrid malignant ulcers in the mouth, throat and privities,
by gargling or washing with the decoction of the leaves and roots
made in water, and a little honey put thereto. It helpeth to stay
women’s courses, and all other fluxes of blood, either by the
mouth, urine or stool, and lasks of the belly; the ulcerations of
the kidneys also, and the pains in the bowels, and gonorrheaj
or running of the reins, being boiled in wine or water, and drank
The same also is no less powerful to help any ruptures or burst-
ings, used both inwardly and outwardly: And briefly, it is as
eftectual i,n binding, restraining, consolidating, heating, drying
and healing, as comfrey, bugle, self-heal, or any other of the
vulnerary herbs whatsoever.

No. 13. q q

306 The English Physician Enlarged .

SARACENS CONFOUND, OR SARACENS
WOUNDWORT.

Descript.] This groweth high sometimes, with brownish
stalks, and other whiles with green, to a man’s height, having
narrow green leaves snipped about the edges, somewhat like
those of the peach-tree, or willow leaves, but not of such a
white green colour. The tops of the stalks are furnished with
many yellow star-like flowers, standing in green heads, which,
when they are fallen, and the seed ripe, which is somewhat
long, small, and of a brown colour, wrapped in down, is
therewith carried away with the wind. The root is composed
of fibres set together at a head, which perish not in winter, al-
though the stalks dry away, and no leaf appeareth in the winter.
The taste hereof is strong and unpleasant; and so is the smell
also.

Place.] It groweth in moist and wet grounds, by wood-
sides, and sometimes in the moist places of shady groves, as
also by the water-side.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and the seed is soon ripe, and
carried away with the wind.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn owns the herb, and it
is of a sober condition, like him. Among the Germans, this
wound herb is preferred before all others of the same quality.
Being boiled in wine, and drank, it helpeth the indisposition of
the liver, and freeth the gall from obstructions; whereby it is
good for the yellow jaundice, and for the dropsy in the begin-
ning of it ; for all inward ulcers, for the reins, mouth or throat,
and inward wounds and bruises, likewise for such sores as hap-
pen in the privy parts of men or women; being steeped in
wine, and then distilled, the water thereof drank, is singularly
good to ease all gnawings in the stomach, or other pains of the
body, as also the pains of the mother; and being boiled in wa-
ter, it helpeth continual agues; and the said water, or the sim-
ple water of the herb distilled, or the juice or decoction, are

The English Physician Enlarged . 307

very effectual to heal any green wound, or old sore or ulcer
whatever, cleansing them from corruption, and quickly healing
them up : Briefly, whatsoever hath been said of bugle or sani-
cle, may be found herein.

SAUCE-ALONE, OR JACK BY THE HEDGE-SIDE.

Descript. ] X HE lower leaves of this are rounder than those
that grow towards the top of the stalks, and are set singly on
a joint, being somewhat long and broad, pointed at the ends,
dented also about the edges, somewhat resembling nettle leaves
for the form, but of a fresher green colour, not rough or prick-
ing : The flowers are white growing at the top of the stalks one
above another, which being past, follow small round pods,
wherein are contained round seed somewhat blackish. The
root stringy and thready, perisheth every year after it hath
given seed, and raiseth itself again of its own sowing. The
plant or any part thereof, being bruised, smelleth of garlic, but
more pleasantly, and tasteth somewhat hot and sharp, almost
like unto rocket.

Place.] It groweth under walls, and by hedge-sides, and
path ways in fields in many places.

Time.] It fiowereth in June, July, and August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mercury. This
is eaten by many country people as sauce to their salt fish, and
lielpeth well to digest the crudities, and other corrupt humours
engendered thereby : It warmeth also the stomach, and causeth
digestion: The juice thereof boiled with honey is accounted to
be as good as hedge mustard for the cough, to cut and expecto-
rate the tough phlegm. The seed bruised and boiled in wine, is
a singularly good remedy for the wind colic, or the stone, being
drank warm : it is also given to women troubled with the mother,
both to drink, and the seed put into a cloth, and applied w hile it
is w arm, is of singularly good use. The leaves also, or the seed
boiled, is good to be used in clysters to ease the pains of the
stone. The green leaves are held to be good to heal the ulcers
in the legs.

308 The English Physician Enlarged.

WINTER AND SUMMER SAVORY.

Roth these are so well known (being entertained as con-
stant inhabitants in our gardens) that they need no descrip-
tion.

Government and Virtues .] Mercury claims the dominion
over this herb, neither is there a better remedy against the colic
and iliac passion, than this herb ; keep it dry by you all the year,
if you love yourself and your ease, and it is a hundred pounds to
a penny if you do not; keep it dry, make conserves and syrups
of it for your use, and withal, take notice that the summer kind
is the best. They are both of them hot and dry, especially the
summer kind, which is both sharp and quick in taste, expelling
wind in the stomach and bowels, and is a present help for the
rising of the mother procured by wind ; provoketh urine and
women’s courses, and is much commended for women with child
to take inwardly, and to smell often unto. It cureth tough
phlegm in the chest and lungs, and helpeth to expectorate it the
more easily ; quickens the dull spirits in the lethargy, the juice
thereof being snuffed up into the nostrils. The juice dropped
into the eyes, cleareth a dull sight, if it proceed of thin cold
humours distilled from the brain. The juice heated with oil of
roses, and dropped into the ears, easeth them of the noise and
singing in them, and of deafness also: Outwardly applied with
wheat flour, in manner of a poultice, it giveth ease to the scia-
tica and palsied members, heating and warming them, and taketh
away their pains. It also taketh away the pain that comes by
stinging of bees, wasps, &c.

SAVINE.

1 O describe a piant so well known is needless, it being
nursed up almost in every garden, and abiding green all the
winter.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Mars,
being hot and dry in the third degree, and being of exceeding

The English Physician Enlarged . 309

clean parts, is of a very digesting quality. If you dry the herb
into powder, and mix it with honey, it is an excellent remedy
to cleanse old filthy ulcers and fistulas, but it hinders them from
healing. The same is excellent good to break carbuncles and
plague-sores; also helpeth the king’s evil, being applied to the
place. Being spread over a piece of leather, and applied to the
navel, kills the worms in the belly, helps scabs and itch, run-
ning sores, cankers, tetters, and ringworms; and being ap-
plied to the place, may haply cure venereal sores. This I
thought good to speak of, as it may be safely used outwardly,
for inwardly it cannot be taken without manifest danger.

THE COMMON WHITE SAXIFRAGE.

Descript.] This hath a few small reddish kernels of roots
covered with some skins, lying among divers small blackish
fibres, which send forth divers round, faint or yellow green
leaves, and greyish underneath, lying above the ground, une-
venly dented about the edges, and somewhat hairy, every one
upon a little footstalk, from whence riseth up round, brownish,
hairy, green stalks, two or three feet high, with a few such
like round leaves as grow below, but smaller, and somewhat
branched at the top, whereon stand pretty large white flowers
of five Raves a-piece, with some yellow threads in the middle,
standing in a long, crested, brownish, green bush. After the
flowers are past, there, ariseth sometimes a round hard head,
forked at the top, wherein is contained small black seed, but
usually they fall away without any seed, and it is the kernels or
grains of the root which are usually called the white saxifrage-
seed, and so used.

Place.] It groweth in many places of our land, as well in
the lowermost, as in the upper dry corners of meadows, and
grassy sandy places. It used to grow near Lamb’s conduit, on
the backside of Gray’s Inn.

Time.] It flowereth in May, and then gathered, as well for
that which is called the seed, as to distil, for it quickly perish-
etli down to the ground when any hot weather comes.

310 The English Physician Enlarged.

,■ •wamnaermorau iimh nara—

Government and Virtues .] It is very effectual to cleanse
the reins and bladder, and to dissolve the stone engendered in
them, and to expel it and the gravel by urine ; to help the stran-
gury; for which purpose the decoction of the herb or roots in
white wine, is most usual, or the powder of the small kernelly
root, which is called the seed, taken in white wine, or in the
same decoction made with white wine, is most usual. The
distilled water of the whole herb, root and flowers, is most fami-
liar to be taken. It provoketh also women’s courses, and freeth
and cleanseth the stomach and lungs from thick and tough
phlegm that troubleth them. There are not many better med-
icines to break the stone than this.

BURNET SAXIFRAGE.

De script.] The greater sort of our English Burnet saxifrage
groweth up with divers long stalks of winged leaves set direct-
ly opposite one to another on both sides, each being somewhat
broad, and a little pointed and dented about the edges, of a sad
green colour. At the top of the stalks stand umbels of white
flowers, after which come small and blackish seed. The root
is long and whitish, abiding long. Our lesser burnet saxifrage
hath much finer leaves than the former, and very small, and set
one against another, deeply jagged about the edges, and of the
same colour as the former. The umbels of the flowers are
white, and the seed very small, and so is the root, being also
somewhat hot and quick in taste.

Place.] These grow in moist meadows of this land, and are
easy to be found being well sought for among the grass, wherein
many times they lay hid scarcely to be discerned.

Time.] They flower about July, and their seed is ripe in
August.

Government and Virtues.] They are both of them herbs
of the Moon. The saxifrages are hot as pepper; and Tragus
saith, by his experience, that they are wholesome. They have
the same properties the paisleys have, but in provoking urine.

/sf'r _ f

• V.

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The English Physician Enlarged. 3 1 1

and easing the pains thereof, and of the wind and cholic, are
much more effectual, the roots or seed being used either in
powder, or in decoctions, or any other way; and likewise
helpeth the windy pains of the mother, and to procure their
courses, and to break and void the stone in the kidneys, to
digest cold, viscous, and tough phlegm in the stomach, and is
an especial remedy against all kind of venom. Castoreum being
boiled in the distilled water thereof, is singular good to be given
to those that are troubled with cramps and convulsions. Some
do use to make the seeds into comfits (as they do carraway seeds)
which is effectual to all the purposes aforesaid. The j uice of the
herb dropped into the most grievous wounds of the head drieth
up their moisture, and healeth them quickly. Some women
use the distilled water to take away freckles or spots in the skin
or face ; and to drink the same sweetened with sugar for all the
purposes aforesaid.

SCABIOUS, THREE SORTS.

Descript .] (y OMM ON field scabious gro weth up with many
hairy, soft, whitish green leaves, some whereof are very little,
if at all jagged on the edges, others very much rent and torn on
the sides, and have threads in them, which upon breaking may
be plainly seen; from among which rise up divers hairy green
stalks, three or four feet high, with such like hairy green leaves
on them, but more deeply and finely divided, branched forth a
little : At the tops thereof, which are naked and bare of leaves
for a good space, stand round heads of flowers of a pale blueish
colour, set together in a head, the outermost whereof are lar-
ger than the inward, with many threads also in the middle,
somewhat flat at the top, as the head with the seed is likewise;
the root is great, white and thick, growing down deep into the
ground, and abideth many years.

There is another sort of field scabious different in nothing
from the former, but only it is smaller in all respects.

The corn scabious differeth little from the first, but that it

312 The English Physician Enlarged,

maammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmummmmBmmmeamsBamrtmmt imwmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmtmmmmrn

is greater in all respects, and the flowers more inclining to pur-
ple, and the root creepeth under the upper crust of the earth,
and runneth not deep into the ground as the first doth.

Place.] The first groweth more usually in meadows, es-
pecially about London every where.

The second in some of the dry fields about this city, but not
so plentifully as the former.

The third in standing corn, or fallow fields, and the borders
of such like fields.

Time.] They flower in June and July, and some abide flow-
ering until it be late in August, and the seed is ripe in the mean
time.

There are many other sorts of scabious, but I take those which
I have here described to be most familiar with us ; the virtues of
both these and the rest, being much alike, take them as fol-
loweth.

Government and Virtues.] Mercury owns the plant. Scabi-
ous is very effectual for all sorts of coughs, shortness of breath,
and all other diseases of the breast and lungs, ripening and digest-
ing cold phlegm, and other tough humours, voideth them forth
by coughing and spitting; It ripeneth also all sorts of inward ul-
cers and imposthumes ; pleurisy also, if the decoction of the herb
dry or green to be made in wine, and drank for some time toge-
ther. Four ounces of the clarified juice of scabious taken in the
morning fasting, with a dram of mithridate, or Venice treacle,
freeth the heart from any infection or pestilence, if after the tak-
ing of it the party sweat two hours in bed, and this medicine be
again and again repeated, if need require. The green herb bruis-
ed and applied to any carbuncle or plague sore, is found by cer-
tain experience to dissolve and break it in three hours space.
The same decoction also drank, helpeth the pains and stitches
in the side. The decoction of the roots taken for forty days to-
gether, or a dram of the powder of them taken at a time in
whey doth, (as Matthiolus saith) wonderfully help those that are
troubled with running or spreading scabs, tetters, ring-worms,
yea, although they proceed from the F rench pox, which, he saith.

The English Physician Enlarged. 313

he hath tried by experience. The juice or decoction drank,
lielpeth also scabs and breakings-out of the itch, and the like.
The juice also made up into an ointment and used, is effectual
for the same purpose. The same also healeth all inward wounds
by the drying, cleansing, and healing quality therein ; And a
syrup made of the juice and sugar, is very effectual to all the
purposes aforesaid, and so is the distilled water of the herb and
flowers made in due season, especially to be used when the
green herb is not in force to be taken. The decoction of the
herb and roots outwardly applied, doth wonderfully help all
sorts of hard or cold swellings in any part of the body, is effec-
tual for shrunk sinews or veins, and healeth green wounds, old
sores and ulcers. The juice of scabious, made up with the pow-
der of borax and samphire, eleanseth the skin of the face, or
other parts of the body, not only from freckles and pimples, but
also from morphew and leprosy ; the head washed with the de-
coction, eleanseth it from dandriff, scurf, sores, itch, and the
like, used warm. The herb bruised and applied, doth in a short
time loosen, and draw forth any splinter, broken bone, arrow
head, or other such like thing lying in the flesh.

SCURVY-GRASS.

Descript.] Our ordinary English scurvy-grass hath many
thick flat leaves more long than broad, and sometimes longer
and narrower; sometimes also smooth on the edges, and some-
times a little waved ; sometimes plain, smooth and pointed, of
a sad green, and sometimes a blueish colour, every one stand-
ing by itself upon a long foot-stalk, which is brownish or green-
ish also, from among which arise many slender stalks, bearing
few leaves thereon like the other, but longer and lesser for the
most part: At the tops whereof grow many whitish flowers,
with yellow threads in the middle, standing about a green head,
which becometh the seed vessel, which will be somewhat flat
when it is ripe, w herein is contained reddish seed, tasting some-
what hot. The root is made of many white strings, which stick

No. 14. r r

314 The English Physician Enlarged .

deeply into the mud, wherein it chiefly delights, yet it will well
abide in the more upland and drier ground, and tasteth a little
brackish and salt even there, but not so much as where it hath
the salt water to feed upon.

Place .] It groweth all along the Thames sides, both on the
Essex and Kentish shores, from Woolwich round about the sea-
coasts to Dover, Portsmouth, and even to Bristol, where it is
had in plenty ; the other with round leaves groweth in the
marshes in Holland, in Lincolnshire, and other places of Lin-
colnshire by the sea side.

Descript.] There is also another sort called Dutch scurvy-
grass, which is most known, and frequent in gardens, which
hath fresh green, and almost round leaves rising from the root,
not so thick as the former, yet in some rich ground, very large,
even twice as big as in others, not dented about the edges, or
hollow in the middle, standing on a long foot-stalk ; from among
these rise long, slender stalks, higher than the former, with
more white flowers at the tops of them, which turn into small
pods, and smaller brownish seed than the former. The root is
white, small and thready. The taste is nothing salt at all; it
hath a hot, aromatical, spicy taste.

Time.] It flowereth in April and May, and giveth ripe seed
quickly after.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Jupiter. The
English scurvy-grass is more used for the salt taste it beareth,
which doth somewhat open and cleanse ; but the Dutch scurvy-
grass is of better effect, and chiefly used (if it may be had) by
those that have the scurvy, and is of singularly good effect to
cleanse the blood, liver, and spleen, taking the juice in the
spring every morning fasting in a Gup of drink. The decoction
is good for the same purpose, and openeth obstructions, evacu-
ating cold, clammy, and phlegmatic humours both from the
liver and the spleen, and bringing the body to a more lively
colour. The juice also helpeth all foul ulcers and sores in the
mouth, gargled therewith ; and used outwardly, cleanseth the
skin from spots, marks, or scars that happen therein.

\

%

The English Physician Enlarged . 315

SELF-HEAL.

Called also Prunel, Carpenter’s Herb, Hook-heal , and

Sickle-wort .

Descript .] The common self-heal is a small, low, creeping
herb, having many small, roundish pointed leaves, like leaves
of wild mints, of a dark green colour, without dents on the ed-
ges ; from among which rise square hairy stalks, scarce a foot
high, which spread sometimes into branches with small leaves
set thereon, up to the tops, w here stand brown spike heads of
small brownish leaves like scales and flowers set together, al-
most like the head of cassidony, which flowers are gaping, and
of a blueish purple, or more pale blue, in some places sweet,
but not so in others. The root consists of many fibres down-
ward, and spreadeth strings also whereby it increaseth. The
small stalks, with the leaves creeping on the ground, shoot forth
fibres taking hold on the ground, whereby it is made a great
tuft in a short time.

Place .] It is found in woods and fields every where.

Time.] It flowereth in May, and sometimes in April.

Government and Virtues.] Here is another herb of Venus,
self-heal, whereby when you are hurt you may heal yourself:
It is a special herb for inward and outward wounds. Take it
inwardly in syrups for inward wounds: outwardly in unguents
and plaisters for outward. As self-heal is like bugle in form, so
also in the qualities and virtues, serving for all the purposes
whereto bugle is applied with good success, either inwardly or
outwardly, for inward wounds or ulcers whatsoever within the
body, for bruises or falls, and such like hurts. If to be ac-
companied with bugle, sanicle, and other the like wound
herbs, it will be more effectual to wash or inject into ulcers in
the parts outwardly. Where there is cause to repress the heat
and sharpness of humours flowing to any sore, ulcers, inflam-
mations, swellings, or the like, or to stay the fluxes of blood
in any wound or part, this is used with some good success;

3 1 6 The English Physician Enlarged .

WWIIWIIIWM1WUB j

also to cleanse the foulness of sores ; and cause them more
speedily to be healed. It is an especial remedy for all green
wounds, to solder the lips of them, and to keep the place from
any further inconveniences. The juice hereof used with oil
of roses to anoint the temples and forehead, is .very effectual to
remove the head-ach, and the same mixed with honey of roses,
cleanseth and healeth all ulcers in the mouth, and throat, and
those also in the secret parts. And the proverb of the Germans,
French and others, is verified in this, That he needeth neither
physician nor surgeon that hath self-heal and sanicle to help
himself,

THE SERVICE-TREE.

It is so well known in the place where it grows, that it need-
eth no description.

Time .] It flowereth before the end of May, and the fruit is
ripe in October.

Government and Virtues .] Services when they are mellow,
are fit to be taken to stay fluxes, scouring, and casting, yet less
than medlars. If they be dried before they be mellow, and kept
all the year, they may be used in decoctions for the same purpose,
either to drink, or to bathe the parts requiring it; and are pro-
fitably used in that manner to stay the bleeding of wounds, and
of the mouth or nose, to be applied to the forehead and nape
of the neck; and are under the dominion of Saturn.

SHEPHERD’S PURSE.

It is called wlioreman’s permacety, shepherd's scrip, shep-
herd’s pounce, toywort, pickpurse, and casewort.

jDescript.] The root is small, white, and perisheth every
year. The leaves are small and long, of a pale green colour,
and deeply cut in on both sides, among which spring up a stalk
which is small and round, containing small leaves upon it even
to the. top. The flowers are white and very small; after which
come the little cases which hold the seed, which are flat, almost
in the form of a heart.

The English Physician Enlarged. 317

Place.'] They are frequent in this nation, almost by every
path-side.

Time.] They flower all the summer long: nay some of them
are so fruitful, that they flower twice a-year.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of
Saturn, and of a cold, dry, and binding nature, like to him. It
helps all fluxes of blood, either caused by inward or outward
wounds; as also flux of the belly and bloody flux, spitting and
pissing of blood, stops the terms in women ; being bound to the
wrists of the hands, and the soles of the feet, it helps the yel-
low jaundice. The herb being made into a poultice, helps in-
flammations and St. Anthony's fire. The juice being dropped
into the ears, heals the pains, noise, and matterings thereof. A
good ointment may be made of it for all wounds, especially
wounds in the head.

SMALLAGE.

This is also very well known, and therefore I snail not
trouble the reader with any description thereof.

Place.] It groweth naturally in dry and marshy ground;
but if it be sown in gardens, it there prospereth very well.

Time.] It abideth green all the winter, and seedeth in
August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Mercury.
Smallage is hotter, drier, and much more medicinal than parsley,
for it much more openeth obstructions of the liver and spleen,
rarefieth thick phlegm, and cleanseth it and the blood withal.
It provoketh urine and women’s courses, and is singular good
against the yellow jaundice, tertian and quartan agues, if the
juice thereof be taken, but especially made into a syrup.
The juice also put to honey of roses, and barley-water, is very
good to gargle the mouth and throat of those that have sores and
ulcers in them, and will quickly heal them. The same lotion
also cleanseth and healeth all other foul ulcers and cankers else-
where, if they be washed therewith. The seed is especially

318 The English Physician Enlarged.

used to break and expel wind, to kill worms and help a stink-
ing breath. The root is effectual to all the purposes aforesaid,
and is held to be stronger in operation than the herb, but es-
pecially to open obstructions, and to rid away any ague, if the
juice thereof be taken in wine, or the decoction thereof in wine
be used.

SOPEWORT, OR BRUISEWORT.

nr

Descript .] JL HE root creepeth under ground far and near,
with many joints therein, of a brown colour on the outside and
yellowish within, shooting forth in divers places weak round
stalks, full of joints, set with two leaves a-piece at every one
of them on the contrary side, which are ribbed somew hat like
unto plantain, and fashioned like the common field white cam-
pion leaves, seldom having any branches from the sides of the
stalks, but set with flowers at the top, standing in long husks
like the w ild campions, made of five leaves a-piece, round at the
ends, and dented in the middle, of a rose colour, almost white,
sometimes deeper, sometimes paler; of a reasonable scent.

Place.] It groweth wild in many low and wet grounds of
this land, by brooks and the sides of running waters.

Ti me.] It flowereth usually in July, and so continueth all
August, and part of September, before they be quite spent.

Temperature and Virtues.] Venus owns it. The country
people in divers places do use to bruise the leaves of sopewort,
and lay it to their fingers, hands or legs, when they are cut, to
heal them up again. Some make great boast thereof, that it is
diuretical to provoke urine, and thereby to expel gravel and
the stone in the reins or kidneys, and do also account it singular
good to void hydropical waters; and they no less extol it to
perform an absolute cure in the French pox, more than either
sarsaparilla, guiacum, or china can do; which, how true ft is,
I leave others to judge.

s>

The English Physician Enlarged. 319

SORREL.

Our ordinary sorrel, which grows in gardens, and also
wild in the fields, is so well known, that it needeth no descrip-
tion.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Ve-
nus. Sorrel is prevalent in all hot diseases, to cool any inflam-
mation and heat of blood in agues, pestilential or choleric, or
sickness and fainting, arising from heat, and to refresh the over-
spent spirits with the violence of furious or fiery fits of agues;
to quench thirst, and procure an appetite in fainting or decaying
stomachs : For it resisteth the putrefaction of the blood, killeth
worms, and is a cordial to the heart, which the seed doth more
effectually, being more drying and binding, and thereby stayeth
the hot fluxes of women’s courses, or of humours in the bloody
flux, or flux of the stomach. The root also in a decoction, or
in powder, is effectual for all the said purposes. Both roots and
seeds, as well as the herb, are held powerful to resist the poi-
son of the scorpion. The decoction of the roots is taken to
help the jaundice, and to expel the gravel and the stone
in the reins or kidneys. The decoction of the flowers
made with wine and drank, helpeth the black jaundice, as
also the inward ulcers of the body and bowels. A syrup
made with the juice of sorrel and fumitory, is a sovereign
help to kill those sharp humours that cause the itch. The
juice thereof, with a little vinegar, serveth well to be used out-
wardly for the same cause, and is also profitable for tetters, ring-
worms, &c. It helpeth also to discuss the kernels in the throat;
and the juice gargled in the mouth, helpeth the sores therein.
The leaves wrapt in a colewort leaf and roasted in the embers,
and applied to a hard imposthume, botch, boil, or plague sore,
doth both ripen and break it. The distilled water of the herb
is of much good use for all the purposes aforesaid.

320 The English Physician Enlarged .

WOOD SORREL.

Descript.] TTlllS groweth upon the ground, having a num-
ber of leaves coming from the root made of three leaves, like a
trefoil, but broad at the ends, and cut in the middle, of a yel-
lowish green colour, every one standing on a long foot-stalk,
which at their first coming up are close folded together to the
stalk, but opening themselves afterwards, and are of a fine sour
relish, and yielding a juice which will turn red when it is clari-
fied, and maketh a most dainty clear syrup. Among these leaves
rise up divers slender, weak foot-stalks, with every one of them
a flower at the top, consisting of five small pointed leaves, star-
fashion, of a whitish colour, in most places, and in some dash-
ed over with a small show of blueish, on the backside only.
After the flowers are past, follow small round heads, with small
yellowish seed in them. The roots are nothing but small strings
fastened to the end of a small long piece ; all of them being of
a yellowish colour.

Place.] It groweth in many places of our land, in woods and
wood-sides, where they be moist and shadowed, and in other
places not too much open to the sun.

Time.] It flowereth in April and May.

Government and Virtues.] Venus owns it. Wood-sorrel
serveth to all the purposes that the other sorrels do, and is more
effectual in hindering putrefaction of blood, and ulcers in the
mouth and body, and to quench thirst, to strengthen a weak
stomach, to procure an appetite, to stay vomiting, and very
excellent in any contagious sickness or pestilential fevers. The
syrup made of the juice, is effectual in all the cases aforesaid,
and so is the distilled water of the herb. Spunges or linen
cloths wet in the juice, and applied outwardly to any hot swel-
lings or inflammations, doth much cool and help them. The
same juice taken and gargled in thejnouth, and after it is spit
forth, taken afresh, doth wonderfully help a foul stinking can-
ker or ulcers therein. It is singularly good to heal wounds,
or to stay the bleeding of thrusts or stabs in the bodv.

The English Physician Enlarged. 32 1

SOW THISTLE.

Sow thistles are generally so well known, that they need no
description.

Place.] They grow in gardens and manured grounds, some-
times by old walls, path-sides of fields and high-ways.

Government and Virtues .] This and the former are under
the influence of Venus. Sow thistles are cooling, and some-
what binding, and are very fit to cool a hot stomach, and ease
the pains thereof. The herb boiled in wine, is very helpful to
stay the dissolution of the stomach, and the milk that is taken
from the stalks when they are broken, given in drink, is bene-
ficial to those that are short-winded, and have a wheezing.
Pliny saith, That it hath caused the gravel and stone to be
voided by urine, and the eating thereof helpeth a stinking breath.
The decoction of the leaves and stalks causeth abundance of
milk in nurses, and their children to be well-coloured. The
j uice or distilled water is good for all hot inflammations, wheals,
eruptions or heat in the skin, and itching of the haemorrhoids.
The juice boiled or thoroughly heated in a little oil of bitter
almonds in the peel of a pomegranate, and dropped into the
ears, is a sure remedy for deafness, singings, &c. Three spoon-
fuls of the juice taken warmed in white wine, and some wine
put thereto, causeth women in travail to have so easy and spee-
dy delivery, that they may be able to walk presently after. It
is wonderfully good for women to wash their faces with, to
clear the skin, and give it a lustre.

SOUTHERN-WOOD.

Southern -wood is so well known to be an ordinary in-
habitant in our gardens, that I shall not need to trouble you
with any description thereof.

Time.] It flowereth for the most part in July and August.
G overnment and Virtues.] It is a gallant Mercurial plant,
worthy of more esteem than it hath. Dioscorides saith, that

No. 14. s s

322 The English Physician Enlarged ;

the seed bruised, heated in warm water and drank, helpeth
those that are bursten, or troubled with cramps or convulsions
of the sinews, the sciatica, or difficulty of making water, and
bringing down women’s courses. The same taken in wine is
an antidote, or counter poison against all deadly poison, and
driveth away serpents and other venomous creatures ; as also the
smell of the herb, being burnt, doth the same. The oil thereof
anointed on the back bone before the fits of agues come, taketh
them away. It taketh away inflammations in the eyes, if it be
put with some part of a roasted quince, and boiled with a few
crumbs of bread and applied. Boiled with barley-meal, it
taketh away pimples, pushes or wheals that arise in the face, or
other parts of the body. The seed as well as the dried herb, is
often given to kill the worms in children : The herb bruised and
laid to, helpeth to draw forth splinters and thorns out of the flesh.
The ashes thereof drieth up and healeth old ulcers, that are
without inflammation, although by the sharpness thereof it bit-
eth sore, and putteth them to sore pains; as also the sores in
the privy parts of man or woman. The ashes mingled with
old salad oil, helpeth those whose hair is fallen, and are bald,
causing the hair to grow again either on the head or beard.
Darentes saith, that the oil made of southern-wood, and put
among the ointments that are used against the French disease,
is very effectual, and likewise killeth lice in the head. The
distilled water of the herb is said to help them much that are
troubled with the stone, as also for the diseases of the spleen
and mother. The Germans commend it for a singular wound
herb, and therefore, call it stabwort. It is held by all writers,
ancient and modern, to be more offensive to the stomach than
wormwood.

SPIGNEL.

Descript.] The roots of common spignel do spread much
and deep in the ground, many strings or branches growing from
one head, which is hairy at the top, of a blackish brown colour

The English Physician Enlarged. 323

on the outside, and white within, smelling well, and of an aro-
matieal taste, from whence rise sundry long stalks of most fine
cut leaves like hair, smaller than dill, set thick on "both sides of
the stalks, and of a good scent. Among these leaves rise up round
stiff stalks, with a few joints and leaves on them, and at the
tops an umbel of fine pure white flowers; and at the edges
whereof sometimes will be seen a shew of the reddish blueish
colour, especially before they be full blown, and are succeeded
by small, somewhat round seeds, bigger than the ordinary fen-
nel, and of a brown colour, divided into two parts, and crusted
on the back, as most of the umbelliferous seeds are.

Place .] It groweth wild in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other
northern counties, and is also planted in gardens.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Yenus. Galen
saith, The roots of spignel are available to provoke urine, and
women’s courses; but if too much thereof be taken, it causeth
head-ach. The roots boiled in wine or water, and drank, help-
eth the strangury and stoppings of the urine, the wind, swell-
ings and pains in the stomach, pains of the mother, and all joint-
achs. If the powder of the root be mixed with honey, and the
same taken as a licking medicine, it breaketh tough phlegm, and
drieth up the rheum that falleth on the lungs. The roots are
accounted very effectual against the stinging or biting of any
venomous creature, and is one of the ingredients in Mithridate
and other antidotes of the same.

SPLEENWORT, OR CETERACH.

Descript .] The smooth spleenwort, from a black, thready
and bushy root, sendeth forth many long single leaves, cut in
on both sides into round dents almost to the middle, which is
not so hard as that of polypody, each division being not always
set opposite unto the other, but between each smooth, and of
a light green on the upper side, and a dark yellowish roughness
on the back, folding or rolling itself inward at the first spring-
ing up.

324 The English Physician Enlarged.

Place.] It groweth as w'dl upon stone walls, as moist and
shadowy places, about Bristol, and other the west parts plenti-
fully; as also on Framlingham Castle, on Beaconsfield church
in Berkshire, at Stroude in Kent, and elsewhere, and abideth
green all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] Saturn owns it. It is generally
used against infirmities of the spleen ; it helpeth the strangury,
and wasteth the stone in the bladder^ and is good against the yel-
low jaundice, and the hiccough ; but the juice of it in women
hindereth conception. Matthiolus saith, that if a dram of the
dust that is on the backside of the leaves be mixed with half a
dram of amber in powder, and taken with the juice of purslain
or plantain, it helps the running of the reins speedily, and that
the herb and root being boiled and taken, helpeth all melancholy
diseases, and those especially that arise from the French
disease. Camerarius saith, That the distilled water thereof
being drank, is very effectual against the stone in the reins and
bladder; and that the lee that is made of the ashes thereof being
drank for some time together, helpeth splenetic persons. It is
used in outward remedies for the same purpose.

STAR THISTLE.

Descript .] common star thistle hath divers narrow leaves

lying next the ground, cut on the edges somewhat deeply into
many parts, soft or a little woolly, all over green, among which
rise up divers weak stalks parted into many branches, all lying
down to the ground, that it seemeth a pretty bush, set with di-
vers the like divided leaves up to the tops, where severally do
stand small w hitish green heads, set with sharp white pricks (no
part of the plant else being prickly) which are somewhat yellow-
ish; out of the middle whereof riseth the flowers, composed of
many small reddish purple threads ; and in the heads, after the
flowers are past, come small whitish round seed, lying down as
others do. The root is small, long and woody, perishing eve-
ry year, and rising again of their own sowing.

A/ // .

j/'/j

/

•»! *

S>

. j-A

The English Physician Enlarged. 325

Place .] It groweth wild in the fields about London in many
places, as at Mile-End green, in Finsbury fields, beyond the
windmills, and many other places.

Time.] It flowereth early, and seedeth in July, and some-
times in August.

Government and Virtues.] This, as almost all thistles are,
is under Mars. The seed of this star thistle made into powder,
and drank in wine, provoketh urine, and helpeth to break the
stone, and driveth it forth. The root in powder, and given in
wine and drank, is good against the plague and pestilence; and
drank in the morning fasting for some time together, it is very
profitable for a fistula, in any part of the body. Babtista Sardas
doth much commend the distilled water hereof, being drank, to
help the French disease, to open the obstructions of the liver,
and cleanse the blood from corrupted humours, and is profitable
against the quotidian or tertian ague.

STRAWBERRIES.

These are so well known through this land, that they
need no description.

Time.] They flower in May ordinarily, and the fruit is ripe
shortly after.

Government and Virtues.] Venus owns the herb. Straw-
berries, when they are green, are cool and dry; but when they
are ripe they are cool and moist : the berries are excellent good
to cool the liver, the blood, and the spleen, or an hot choleric
stomach ; to refresh and comfort the fainting spirits, and quench
thirst: They are good also for other inflammations; yet it is not
amiss to refrain from them in a fever, lest by their putrifying in
the stomach they increase the fits. The leaves and roots boiled
in wine and water, and drank, do likewise cool the liver
and blood, and assuage all inflammations in the reins and blad-
der, provoke urine, and allay the heat and sharpness thereof.
The same also being drank stayeth the bloody flux and women's
courses, and help the swellings of the spleen. The water of
the berries carefully distilled, is a sovereign remedy and cordial

326 The English Physician Enlarged.

in the panting and beating of the heart, and is good for the yel-
low jaundice. The juice dropped into foul ulcers, or they
washed therewith, or the decoction of the herb and root, doth
wonderfully cleanse and help to cure them. Lotions and gargles
for sore mouths, or ulcers therein, or in the privy parts or else-
where, are made with the leaves and roots thereof; which is
also good to fasten loose teeth, and to heal spungy foul gums.
It helpeth also to stay catarrhs, or defluxions of rheum in the
mouth, throat, teeth, or eyes. The juiee or water is singular
good for hot and red inflamed eyes, if dropped into them, or they
bathed therewith. It is also of excellent property for all pushes,
wheals, and other breakings forth of hot and sharp humours in
the face and hands, and other parts of the body, to bathe them
therewith, and to take away any redness in the face, or spots, or
other deformities in the skin, and to make it clear and smooth.
Some use this medicine: Take so many strawberries as you
shall think fitting, and put them into a distillatory, or body of
glass fit for them, which being well closed, set it in a bed of
horse dung for your use. It is an excellent water for hot in-
flamed eyes, and to take away a film or skin that beginneth to
grow over them, and for such other defects in them as may be
helped by any outward medicine.

SUCCORY.

Descript .] TlHE garden succory hath longer and narrower
leaves than the endive, and more cut in or torn on the edges,
and the root abideth many years. It beareth also blue flowers
like endive, and the seed is hardly distinguished from the seed
of the smooth or ordinary endive.

The wild succory hath diver« long leaves lying on the ground,
very much cut in or torn on the edges, on both sides, even to
the middle rib, ending in a point : sometimes it hath a rib down
to the middle of the leaves, from among which riseth up a hard
round, woody stalk, spreading into many branches, set with
smaller and lesser divided leaves on them up to the tops, where
stand the flowers, which are like the garden kind, aud the seed

The English, Pni/sician Enlarged, 327

is also (on!)7 take notice that the flowers of the garden kind are
gone in on a sunny day, they being so cold, that they are not
able to endure the beams of the sun, and therefore more de-
light in the shade) the root is white, but more hard and woody
than the garden kind. The whole plant is exceeding bitter.

Place.] This groweth in many places of our land in waste
untilled and barren fields. The other only in gardens.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Jupiter. Gar-
den succory, as it is more dry and less cold than endive, so it
openeth more. An handful of the leaves, or roots boiled in wine
or water, and a draught thereof drank fasting, driveth forth cho-
leric and phlegmatic humours, openeth obstructions of the liver,
gall, and spleen ; helpeth the yellow jaundice, the heat of the
reins, and of the urine; the dropsy also; and those that have
an evil disposition in their bodies, by reason of long sickness,
evil diet, &c. which the Greeks call cachexia. A decoction
thereof made with wine, and drank, is very effectual against
long lingering agues; and a dram of the seed in powder, drank
in wine, before the fit of the ague, helpeth to drive it away.
The distilled water of the herb and flowers (if you can take
them in time) hath the like properties, and is especial good for
hot stomachs, and in agues, either pestilential or of long con-
tinuance;- for swooning and passions of the heart, for the heat
and head-ach in children, and for the blood and liver. The said
water, or the juice, or the bruised leaves applied outwardly,
allay swellings, inflammations, St. Anthony's fire, pushes,
wheals and pimples, especially used with a little vinegar; as
also to wash pestiferous sores. The said water is very effectual
for sore eyes that are inflamed with redness, and for nurses'
breasts that are pained by the abundance of milk.

The wild succory, as it is more bitter, so it is more strength-
ening to the stomach and liver.

STONE-CROP, PRICK-MADAM, OR SMALL

HOUSE-LEEK.

Descript.] It groweth with divers trailing branches upon

<$28 The English Physician Enlarged.

* 1 1 1 i .in i i.b ■-■■■■■ .. I,- ■"■■■■ < ' ■ ■ I* 1 ■■ mm

*■> ' -//' f

the ground, set with many thi@k,jjgt, roundish, whitish green
leaves, pointed at the ends.^^ThlKOwers stand many of them
together, somewhat loosely. The roots are small, and run
creeping under ground.

Place.\ It groweth upon the stone walls and mud walls,
upon the tiles of houses, and pent-houses, and amongst rubbish,
and in other gravelly places.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, and the leaves are
green all the winter.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of the
Moon, cold in quality, and something binding, and therefore
very good to stay defluxions, especially such as fall upon the
eyes. It stops bleeding, both inward and outward, helps cank-
ers, and all fretting sores and ulcers ; It abates the heat of cho-
ler, thereby preventing diseases arising from choleric humours.
It expels poison much, resisteth pestilential fevers, being ex-
ceeding good also for tertian agues : You may drink the de-
coction of it, if you please, for all the foregoing infirmities.
It is so harmless an herb, you can scarce use it amiss : Being
bruised and applied to the place, it helps the king's evil, and
any other knots or kernels in the flesh ; as also the piles.

ENGLISH TOBACCO.

Descript.] This riseth up with a round thick stalk, about
two feet high, whereon do grow thick, flat green leaves, nothing
so large as the other Indian kind, somewhat round pointed al-
so, and nothing dented about the edges. The stalk branches
forth, and beareth at the tops divers flowers set on great husks
like the other, but nothing so large; scarce standing above the
brims of the husks, round pointed also, and of a greenish yel-
low colour. The seed that followeth is not so bright, but larger,
contained in the like great heads. The roots are neither so
great nor woody; it perisheth every year with the hard frosts
in winter, but riseth generally of its own sowing.

Place.] This came from some part of Brazil, as it is
thought, and is more familiar in our country than any of the

The English Physician E) Purged. 329

«♦

other sorts ; early giving ripe seed, which the others seldom do.

Thne.] It flowereth from June, sometimes to the end of
August, or later, and the seed ripeneth in the mean time.

Government and Virtues .] It is a Martial plant. It is found
by good experience to be available to expectorate tough phlegm
from the stomach, chest and lungs. The juice thereof made
into a syrup, or the distilled water of the herb drank with some
sugar, or without,, if you will, or the smokfe taken by a pipe, as
is usual, but fasting, helpeth to expel worms in the stomach,
and belly, and to ease the pains in the head, or megrim, and the
griping pains in the bowels. It is profitable for those that are
troubled with the stone in the kidneys, both to ease the pains
by provoking urine, and also to expel gravel and the stone en-
gendered therein, and hath been found very effectual to expel
windiness, and other humours, which cause the strangling of
the mother. The seed hereof is very effectual to expel the tooth
ach, and the ashes of the burnt herb to cleanse the gums, and
make the teeth white. The herb bruised and applied to the
place grieved with the king’s evil, helpeth it in nine or ten days
effectually. Monardus saith, it is a counter poison against the
biting of any venomous creature, the herb also being outwardly
applied to the hurt place. Th.e distilled water is often given with
some sugar before the fit of an ague, to lessen it, and take it
away in three or four times using. If the distilled faeces of the
herb, having been bruised before the distillation, and not dis-
tilled dry, be set in warm dung for fourteen days, and after-
wards be hung up in a bag in a wine cellar, the liquor that
distilleth therefrom is singularly good to use for cramps, achs,
the gout and sciatica, and to heal itches, scabs, and running
ulcers, cankers, and all foul sores whatsoever. The juice is
also good for all the said griefs, and likewise to kill lice in chil-
dren’s heads. The green herb bruised and applied to any
green wounds, cureth any fresh wound or cut whatsoever; and
the juice put into old sores, both cleanseth and healeth them.
There is also made hereof a singular good salve to help impos-
thumes, hard tumours, and other swellings by blows and falls.

T t

330 The English Physician Enlarged.

THE TAMARISK TREE.

It is so well known in the places where it grows, that it
needeth no description.

Time.] It flowereth about the end of May, or in June, and
the seed is ripe and blown away in the beginning of Septem-
ber.

Government and Virtues.] A gallant Saturnine herb it is.
The root, leaves, young branches, or bark boiled in wine, and
drank, stays the bleeding of the haemorrhoidal veins, the spit-
ting of blood, the too abounding of women's courses, the jaun-
dice, the cholic, and the biting of all venomous serpents, ex-
cept the asp: and outwardly applied, is very powerful against
the hardness of the spleen, and the tooth-ach, pains in the ears,
and red and watering eyes. The decoction, with some honey
put thereto is good to stay gangrenes and fretting ulcers, and to
wash those that are subject to nits and lice. Alphinus and Ves-
lingus affirm, that the Egyptians do with good success use the
w ood of it to cure the French disease, as others do with lignum
vitae or guiacum ; and give it also to those who have the leprosy,
scabs, ulcers, or the like. Its ashes doth quickly heal blisters
raised by burnings or scaldings. It helps the leprosy, arising
from the hardness of the spleen, and therefore to drink out of
cups made of the wood is good for splenetic persons. It is
also helpful for melancholy, and the black jaundice thatariseth
thereof.

GARDEN TANSY.

Garden tansy is so well known that it needetn no de-
scription.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July.

Government and Virtues.] Dame Venus was minded to
pleasure women with child by this herb, for there grows not an
herb fitter for their use than this is ; it is just as tho' it w ere cut
out for the purpose. This herb bruised and applied to the navel.

The English Physician Enlarged. 331

stays miscarriages; I know no herb like it for that use: Boiled
in ordinary beer, and the decoction drank, doth the like ; and if
her womb be not as she would have it, this decoction will make
it so. Let those women that desire children love this herb, it is
their best companion, their husbands excepted. Also it con-
sumes the phlegmatic humours, the cold and moist constitution
of winter most usually affects the body of man with, and that
was the first reason of eating tansies in the spring. At last the
world being over-run with popery, a monster called Superstition
perks up his head, and, as a judgment of God, obscures the
bright beams of knowledge by his dismal looks; (physicians
seeing the pope and his imps selfish, they began to do so too)
and now forsooth tansies must be eaten only on Palm and Easter
Sundays, and their neighbour days: At last superstition being
too hot to hold, and the selfishness of physicians walking in the
clouds ; after the friars and monks had made the people ignorant,
the superstition of the time was found out, b.y the virtue of the
herb hidden, and now it is almost, if not altogether, left off.
Surely our physicians are beholden to none so much as they are
to monks and friars: for want of eating this herb in spring,
maketh people sickly in summer; and that makes work for the
physician. If it be against any man or woman’s conscience to
eat tansy? in the spring, I am as unwilling to burthen their con-
science, as I am that they should burthen mine; they may boil
it in wine and drink the decoction, it will work the same effect.
The decoction of the common tansy, or the juice drank in wine,
is a singular remedy for all the griefs that come by stopping of
the urine, and helpeth the strangury and those that have w eak
reins and kidneys. It is also very profitable to dissolve and expel
wind in the stomach, belly, or bowels, to procure women’s
courses, and expel windiness in the matrix, if it be bruised and
often smelled unto, as also applied to the lower parts of the bel-
ly. It is also very profitable for such women as are given to mis-
carry in child bearing, to cause them to go out their full time;
it is used also against the stone in the reins, especially in men.
The herb fried with eggs (as it is the custom in the spring-time)

332 The English Physician Enlarged .

which is called a tansy, helpeth to digest and carry downward
those bad humours that trouble the stomach. The seed is very
profitably given to children for the worms, and the juice in drink
is as effectual. Being boiled in oil, it is good for the sinews
shrunk by cramps, or pained with colds, if thereto applied.

WILD TANSY, OR SILVER WEED,

np

I HIS is also so well known, that it needeth no descrip-
tion.

Place.’] It groweth in every place.

Time.] It flowereth in June and July.

Government and Virtues.] Now Dame Venus hath fitted
women with two herbs of one name, the one to help concep-
tion, and the other to maintain beauty, and what more can be
expected of her? What now remains for you, but to love your
husbands, and not to be wanting to your poor neighbours'? Wild
tansy stayeth the lask, and all the fluxes of blood in men and
women, which some say it will do, if the green herb be worn
in the shoes, so it be next the skin ; and it is true enough, that
it will stop the terms, if worn so, and the whites too, for
aught I know. It stayeth also spitting or vomiting of blood.
The powder of the herb taken in some of the undistilled water,
helpeth the whites in women, but more especially if a little
coral and ivory in powder be put to it. It is also recommended
to help children that are bursten, and have a rupture, being
boiled in water and salt. Being boiled in water and drank, it
easeth the griping pains of the bowels, and is good for the scia-
tica and joint-achs. The same boiled in vinegar, with honey
and alum, and gargled in the mouth, easeth the pains of the
tooth-ach, fasteneth loose teeth, helpeth the gums that are sore,
and setteth the palate of the mouth in its place, when it is fallen
down. It cleanseth and healeth ulcers in the mouth, or secret
parts, and is very good for inward wounds, and to close the
lips of green wounds, and to heal old, moist, and corrupt run-
ning sores in the legs or elsewhere. Being bruised and applied

The English Physician Enlarged . 333

to the soles of the feet and hand wrists, it wonderfully cooleth
the hot fits of agues, be they never so violent. The distilled
water cleanseth the skin of all discolourings therein, as morphew,
sun-burnings, &c. as also pimples, freckles, and the like; and
dropped into the eyes, or cloths wet therein and applied,
taketh away the heat and inflammations in them.

THISTLES.

Of these are many kinds growing here in England, which
are so well known, that they need no description: Their
difference is easily known by the places where they grow,
viz.

Place.] Some grow in fields, some in meadows, and some
among the corn; others on heaths, greens, and waste grounds
in many places.

Time.] They flower in July and August, and their seed
is ripe quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] Surely Mars rules it, it is such
a prickly business. All these thistles are good to provoke urine,
and to mend the stinking smell thereof; as also the rank smell
of the arm-pits, or the whole body, being boiled in wine and
drank ; and are said also to help a stinking breath, and to
strengthen the stomach. Pliny saith, that the juice bathed on
the place that wanteth hair, it being fallen off, will cause it to
grow again speedily.

THE MELANCHOLY THISTLE.

Descript.] It riseth up with tender single hoary green stalks,
bearing thereon four or five green leaves, dented about the ed-
ges ; the points thereof are little or nothing prickly, and at the
top usually but one head, yet sometimes from the bosom of the
uppermost leaves there shooteth forth another small head, sca-
ly and prickly, with many reddish thrums or threads in the mid-
dle, which being gathered fresh, will keep the colour a long
time, and fadetli not from the stalk a long time, while it per-

334 The English Physician Enlarged .

fects the seed, which is of a mean bigness, lying in the down.
The root hath many strings fastened to the head, or upper part,
which is blackish, and perisheth not.

There is another sort little differing from the former, but that
the leaves are more green above, and more hoary underneath,
and the stalk being about two feet high beareth but one scaly
head, with threads and seeds as the former.

Place.] They grow in many moist meadows of this land, as
well in the southern, as in the northern parts.

Time.] They flower about July or August, and their seed
ripeneth quickly after.

Government and Virtues.] It is under Capricorn, and there-
fore under both Saturn and Mars, one rids melancholy by sym-
pathy, the other by antipathy. Their virtues are but few, but
those not to be despised ; for the decoction of the thistle in wine
being drank, expels superfluous melaucholy out of the body,
and makes a man as merry as a cricket; superfluous melancholy
causeth care, fear, sadness, despair, envy, and many evils more
besides; but religion teaches to wait upon God’s providence,
and cast our care upon him who careth for us. What a fine
thing were it if men and women could live so ! And yet seven
years care and fear makes a man never the wiser, nor a farthing
richer. Dioscorides saith, the root borne about one doth the
like, and removes all diseases of melancholy. Modern writers
laugh at him; Let them laugh that win , my opinion is, that it
is the best remedy against all melancholy diseases that grows;
they that please may use it.

OUR LADY’S THISTLE.

Descript.] OuR lady’s thistle hath divers very targe and
brood leaves lying on the ground cut in, and as it w ere crumpled,
but somew'hat hairy on the edges, of a white green shining co-
lour, wherein are many lines and streaks of a milk white co-
lour, running all over, and set with many sharp and stiff prick-
les all about, among which l iseth up one or more strong, round

The English Physician Enlarged. 335

and prickly stalks, set full of the leaves up to the top, where
at the end of every branch, comes forth a great prickly thistle
like a head, strongly armed with prickles, and with bright pur-
ple thrums rising out of the middle; after they are past the
seed groweth in the said heads, lying in soft white down, which
is somewhat flattisli in the ground, and many strings and fibres
fastened thereunto. All the whole plant is bitter in taste.

Place.] It is frequent on the banks of almost every ditch.

Time.] It flowereth and seedeth in June, July, and Au-
gust.

Government and Virtues.] Our lady's thistle is under Jupi-
ter, and thought to be as effectual as cardous benidictus for
agues, and to prevent and cure the infection of the plague: as
also to open the obstructions of the liver and spleen, and thereby
is good against the jaundice. It provoketh urine, breaketh and
expelleth the stone, and is good for the dropsy. It is effectual
also for the pains in the sides, and many other inward pains and
gripings. The seed and distilled water are held powerful to all
the purposes aforesaid, and besides, it is often applied out-
wardly with cloths or spunges to the region of the heart, against
swoonings and the passions of it. It cleanseth the blood
exceedingly: and in spring, if you please to boil the tender
plant (but cut off the prickles, unless you have a mind to choak
yourself) it will change your blood as the season changeth, and
that is the way to be safe.

THE WOOLLEN, OR COTTON THISTLE.

Descript.] This hath many large leaves lying upon the
ground, somewhat cut in and as it were crumpled on the edges,
of a green colour on the upper side, but covered over with a
long hairy wool or cotton down, set with most sharp and cruel
pricks; from the middle of whose heads of flowers come forth
many purplish crimson threads, and sometimes white, although
but seldom. The seed that follows in those white downy heads,
is somewhat large and round, resembling the seed of lady's this-

336 The English Physician Enlarged .

tie, but paler; the root is great and thick, spreading much, yet
usually dieth after seed time.

Place.'] It groweth on divers ditch-banks, and in the corn-
fields, and high-ways, generally throughout the land, and is
often growing in gardens.

Government and Virtues.] It is a plant of Mars. Diosco-
rides and Pliny write, That the leaves and roots hereof taken in
drink, help those that have a crick in their neck, that they can-
not turn it, unless they turn their whole body. Galen saith,
that the roots and leaves hereof are good for such persons as
have their bodies drawn together by some spasm or convulsion,
or other infirmities ; as the rickets (or as the college of physi-
cians would have it, rachites, about which name they have
quarrelled sufficiently) in children, being a disease that hinder-
eth their growth, by binding their nerves, ligaments, and whole
structure of their body.

THE FULLER S THISTLE, OR TEASLE.

It is so well known, that it needs no description, being used
with the cloth workers.

The wild teasle is in all things like the former, but that the
prickles are small, soft, and upright, not hooked or stiff, and
the flowers of this are of a fine blueish, or pale carnation colour,
but that of the manured kind, whitish.

Place.] The first groweth, being sown in gardens or fields
for the use of clothworkers ; The other near ditches and rills
of water in many places of this land.

Time.] They flower in July, and are ripe in the end of
August.

Government and Virtues.] It is an herb of Venus. Dios-
corides saith, that the root bruised and boiled in wine, till it be
thick, and kept in a brazen vessel, and after spread as a salve,
and applied to the fundament, doth heal the cleft thereof, cank-
ers and fistulas therein, also taketh away warts and wens. The
juice of the leaves dropped into the ears, kiileth worms in them

*

-

rFke English Physician Enlarged.

The distilled water of the leaves dropped into the eyes, taketh
away redness and mists in them that hinder the sight; and is
often used by women to preserve their4 beauty, and to take away
redness and inflammations, and all other heats or discolourings.

TREACLE MUSTARD*

DeticPfpt.] It riseth with a hard round stalk, about a foot
high, parted into some branches, having divers soft green leaves
long and narrow, set thereon* waved, but not cut into the ed-
ges, broadest towards the ends, somewhat round pointed; the
flowers are white that grow at the tops of the branches, spike
fashion, one above another ; after which come round pouches,
parted in the middle with a furrow, having one blaekisH brown
seed on either side, somewhat sharp in taste, and smelling of
garlic, especially in the fields where it is natural, but not so
much in gardens; The roots are small and thready, perishing
every year.

Give me leave here to add mithridate mustard, altho’ it may
seem more properly by the name to belong to M, in the
alphabet.

MITHRIDATE MtSTARDi

Descript.] This groweth higher than the former, spread-
ing more and higher branches, whose leaves art smaller and nar-
rower, sometimes unevenly dented about the edges. The flow-
ers are small and white, growing on long branches, with much
smaller and rounder vessels after them, and parted in the same
manner, having smaller brown seeds than the former, and much
sharper in taste. The root perisheth after seed time, but abr-
deth the first winter after springing.

Place.] They grow in sundry places in this land, as half a
mile from Hatfield, by the river side, under a hedge as you go
to Hatfield, and in the street of Peckham on Surry side.

Time.] They flower and seed from May to August.

Government and Virtues.] Both of them are herbs of Mars.
The mustards are said to purge the body both upwards and

No. 15. u u

338 The English Physician Enlarged.

downwards, and procureth women's courses so abundantly, that
it suffocateth the birth. It breaketh inward iniposthumes, being
taken inwardly ; and used in clysters, helpeth the sciatica. The
seed applied, doth the same. It is an especial ingredient unto
mithridate and treacle, being of itself an antidote resisting poi-
son, venom, and putrefaction. It is also available in many cases
for which the common mustard is used, but somewhat weaker.

THE BLACK THORN, OR SLOE-BUSH.

It is so well known, that it needeth no description.

Placed] It groweth in every county, in the hedges &nd
borders of fields.

Time.] It flowereth in April, and sometimes in March, but
the fruit ripeneth after all other plums whatsoever, and is not
fit to be eaten until the autumn frosts mellow them.

Government and Virtues.] All the parts of the sloe-bush
are binding, cooling, and dry, and all effectual to stay bleeding
at the nose and mouth, or any other place ; the lask of the belly
or stomach, or the bloody flux, the too much abounding of
women’s courses, and helpeth to ease the pains of the sides,
bowels, and guts, that come by over-much scouring, to drink
the decoction of the bark of the roots, or more usually the de-
coction of the berries, either fresh or dried. The conserve also
is of very much use, and more familiarly taken for the purpose
aforesaid. But the distilled water of the flowers first steeped in
sack for a night, and drawn therefrom by the heat of balneuin
anglico, a bath, is a most certain remedy, tried and approved,
to ease all manner of gnawings in the stomach, the sides and
bowels, or any griping pains in any of them, to drink a small
quantity when the extremity of pain is upon them. The leaves
also are good to make lotions to gargle and w?*sh the mouth and
throat, wherein are swellings, sores, or kernels; and to stay
the deductions of rheum to the eyes, or other parts : as also to
cool the heat and inflammations of them, and ease hot pains of
the head, to bathe the forehead and temple* therewith. The

The English Physician Enlarged. 339

simple distilled water of the flowers is very effectual for the said
purposes, and the condensate juice of the sloes. The distilled
water of the green berries is used also for the said effects.

THOROUGH WAX, OR THOROUGH LEAF.

Descript.] OMMON thorough-wax sendeth forth a straight
round stalk, two feet high, or better, whose lower leaves being
if a blueish colour, are smaller and narrower than those up
higher, and stand close thereto, not compassing it; but that as
they grow higher, they do more encompass the stalks, until it
wholly pass through them, branching toward the top into ma-
ny parts, where the leaves grow smaller again, every one stand-
ing singly, and never two at a joint. The flowers are small
and yellow, standing in tufts at the heads of the branches,
where afterwards grow the seed, being blackish, many, thick
thrust together. The root is small, long and woody, perishing
every year, after seed-time, and rising again plentifully of its
own sowing.

Place.] It is found growing in many corn-fields and pasture-
grounds in this land.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and the seed is ripe in August.

Temperature and Virtues.] Both this and the former are
under the influence of Saturn. Thorough-wax is of singular
good use for all sorts of bruises and wounds either inward or
outward; and old ulcers and sores likewise, if the decoction of
the herb with water and wine be drank, and the place washed
therewith, or the juice of the green herb bruised, or boiled,
either by itself, or with other herbs, in oil or hog's grease, to
be made into an ointment to serve all the year. The decoction
of the herb, or powder of the dried herb, taken inwardly, and
the same, or the leaves bruised and applied outwardly, is singu-
lar good for all ruptures and burstings, especially in children be-
fore they be too old. Being applied with a little flour and wax
to children’s navels that stick forth, it helpeth them.

340 The English Physician Enlarged .

THYME.

It is in vain to describe an herb so commonly known.

Government and Virtues .] It is a noble strengthener of the

lungs, as notable a one as grows ; neither is there scarce a bet-
ter remedy growing, for that disease in children which they com-
monly call the Chin-cough, than it is. It purgeth the body of
phlegm, and is an excellent remedy for shortness of breath. It
kills worms in the belly, and being a notable herb of Venus,
provokes the terms, gives safe and speedy delivery to women in
travail, and brings away the after-birth. It is so harmless you
need not fear the use of it. An ointment made of it takes away
hot swellings and warts, helps the sciatica and dulness of sight,
and takes away pains and hardness of the spleen ; 'Tis excellent
for those that are troubled with the gout; as also to anoint the
cods that are swelled. It easeth pains in the loins and hips. The
herb taken any Ayay inwardly, comforts the stomach much, and
expels wind.

WILD THYME, OR MOTHER OF THYME.

thyme also is so well known, that it needeth no

description.

Place .] It may be found commonly on commons, and other
barren places throughout the nation.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the dominion of Ve

nus, and under the sign Aries, and therefore chiefly appropriat-
ed to the head. It provoketh urine and the terms, and easeth
the griping pain of the belly, cramps, ruptures, and inflamma-
tion of the liver. If you make a vinegar of the herb, as vine-
gar of roses is made (you may find out the way in my transla-
tion of the London Dispensatory) and anoint the head with it,
it presently stops the pains thereof. It is excellent good to be
given either in phrenzy or lethargy, although they are two, con-
trary diseases : It helps spitting and pissing of blood, coughing,

The English Physician Enlarged. 341

and vomiting ; it comforts and strengthens the head, stomach,
reins, and womb, expels wind, and breaks the stone.

TORMENTIL OR SEPTFOIL.

Descript.] This hath reddish, slender, weak branches ris-
ing from the root, lying on the ground, rather leaning than
standing upright, with many short leaves that stand closer to
the stalks than cinquefoil (to which this is very like) with the
foot-stalk compassing the branches in several places ; but those
that grow to the ground are set upon long foot-stalks, each
whereof are like the leaves of cinquefoil, but somew hat longer
and less dented about the edges, many of them divided but in-
to five leaves, but most of them into seven, whence it is also
called septfoil : yet some may have six, and some eight, accord-
ing to the fertility of the soil. At the tops of the branches
stand divers small yellow flowers, consisting of five leaves, like
those of cinquefoil, but smaller. The root is smaller than bis-
tort, somewhat thick, but blacker without, and not so red
within, yet sometimes a little crooked, having blackish fibres
thereat.

Place.] It groweth as well in woods and shadowy places, as
in the open champain country, about the borders of fields in
many places of this land, and almost in every broom field in
Essex.

Time. J It flow'ereth all the summer long.

Government and Virtues.] This is a gallant herb of the Sun.
Tormentil is most excellent to stay all kinds of fluxes of blood
or humours in man or woman, whether at nose, mouth, or
belly . The j uice of the herb and root, or the decoction thereof,
taken with some Venice treacle, and the person laid to sweat,
expels any venom or poison, or the plague, fever, or other
contagious diseases, as pox, measles, &c. for it is an ingredient in
all antidotes or counter poisons. Andreas Valesius is of opinion,
that the decoction of this root is no less effectual to cure the
French pox than guiaciun of China; and it is not unlikely, be-

342 The English Physician Enlarged .

cause it so mightily resisteth putrefaction. The root taken in-
wardly is most effectual to help any flux of the belly, stomach,
spleen, or blood ; and the juice wonderfully opens obstructions
of the liver and lungs, and thereby helpeth the yellow jaundice.
The powder or decoction drank, or to sit thereon as a bath, is
an assured remedy against abortion in women, if it proceed from
the over flexibility or weakness of the inward retentive faculty;
as also a plaister made therewith, and vinegar applied to the reins
of the back, doth much help not only this, but also those that
cannot hold their water, the powder being taken in the juice of
plantain, and is also commended against the worms in children.
It is very powerful in ruptures and burstings, as also for bruises
or falls, to be used as well outwardly as inwardly. The root
hereof made up with pellitory of Spain and alum, and put into
a hollow tooth, not only assuageth the pain, but stayeth the flux
of humours which causeth it. Tormentil is no less effectual
and powerful a remedy against outward wounds, sores and hurts,
than for inward, and is therefore a special ingredient to be used
in wound drinks, lotions and injections, for foul corrupt rotten
sores and ulcers of the mouth, secrets, or other parts of the
body. The juice or powder of the root put in ointments,
plaisters, and such things that are to be applied to wounds
or sores, is very effectual, as the juice of the leaves and
the root bruised and applied to the throat or jaws, healeth
the king’s evil, and easeth the pains of the sciatica; the same
used with a little vinegar, is a special remedy against the run-
ning sores of the head or other parts; scabs also, and the
itch or any such eruptions in the skin, proceeding of salt and
sharp humours. The same is also effectual for the piles or
haemorrhoids, if they be washed or bathed therewith, or with
the distilled water of the herb and roots. It is found also help-
ful to dry up any sharp rheum that distilleth from the head into
the eyes, causing redness, pain, waterings, itching, or the like,
if a little prepared tutia, or white amber, be used with the dis-
tilled water thereof. Many women use this water as a secret,
to help themselves and others, when they are troubled with too

The English Physician Enlarged . 343

much flowing of the whites or reds, both to drink it, or inject
it with a syringe. And here is enough, only remember the Sun
challenged! this herb.

fURNSOLE, OR HELIOTROPIUM.

stalk, about a foot high, or more, dividing itself almost from
the bottom, into divers small branches, of a hoary colour; at
each joint of the stalk and branches grow small broad leaves,
somewhat white and hoary. At the tops of the stalks and
branches stand small white flowers, consisting of four, and
sometimes five small leaves, set in order one above another, up-
on a small crooked spike, which turneth inwards like a bowed
finger, opening by degrees as the flowers blow open; after
which in their place come forth cornered seed, four for the most
part standing together; the root is small and thready, perish-
ing every year, and the seed shedding every year, riseth it again
the next spring.

Place .] It groweth in gardens, and flowereth and seedeth
with us, notwithstanding it is not natural to this land, but to
Italy, Spain, and France, where it grows plentifully.

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of the Sun, and a
good one too. Dioscorides saith, that a good handful of this,
which is called the great turnsole, boiled in water, and drank,
purgeth both choler and phlegm; and boiled with cummin,
lielpetb the stone in the reins, kidneys, or bladder, provoketh
urine and women's courses, and causeth an easy and speedy de-
livery in child-birth. The leaves bruised and applied to places
pained with the gout, or that have been out of joint, and newly
set, and full of pain, do give much ease: the seed and juice of
the leaves also being rubbed with a little salt upon warts or wens,
and other kernels in the face, eye-lids, or any otlur part of the
body, will, by often using, take them away.

t

344 The English Physician Enlarged .

MEADOW TREFOIL, OR HONEYSUCKLES.

Xt is so well known, especially by the name of Honeysuckles,
white and red, that I need not describe them.

Place .] They grow almost every where in this land.

Government and Virtues .] Mercury hath dominion over the
common sorts. Dodbneds saith, the leaves and flowers are
good to ease the griping pains of the gout, the herb being boiled
and used in a clyster. If the herb be made into a poultice, and
applied to inflammations, it will ease them. The juice dropped
in the eyes, is a familiar medicine, with many country people,
to take away the pin and web (as they call it) in the eyes ; it also
allayeth the heat and blood-shooting of them. Country people
do also in many places drink the juice thereof against the biting
of an adder ; and having boiled the herb in water, they first
wash the place with the decoction, and then lay some of the herb
also to the hurt place. The herb also boiled in swine’s grease,
and so made into an ointment, is good to apply to the biting of
any venomous creatures. The herb also bruised and heated be-
tween tiles, and applied hot to the share, eauseth them to make
water who had it stopt before. It is held likewise to be good
for wounds, and to take away seed. The decoction of the herb
and flowers, w ith the seed and root, taken for som6 time, helpeth
women that are troubled with the whites. The seed and flowers
boiled in water, and after made into a poultice with some oil,
and applied, helpeth hard swellings and imposthumes.

HEART TREFOIL.

Besides the ordinary sort of trefoil, here are two more
remarkable, and one of which may be probably called heart
trefoil, not only because the leaf is triangular, like the heart of
a man, but also because each leaf contains the perfect icon of
a heart, and that in its proper colour; viz. a flesh colour.

Place.] It groweth between Longford and Bow, and be-
yond Southwark, by the highway and parts adjacent.

The English Physician Enlarged. 345

Government and Virtues .] It is under the dominion of the
Sun, and if it were used* it would be found as great a strength-
ener of the heart, and cherisher of the vital spirits as grows,
relieving the body against fainting and swoonings, fortifying it
against poison and pestilence, and defending the heart against
the noisome vapours of the spleen*

BEARi: TREE OIL.

I.T differs not from the common sort, save only in this one
particular, it hath a white spot in the leaf like a pearl. It is
particularly under the dominion of the Moon, and its icon shew
eth that it is of a singular virtue against the pearl, or pin and
web in the eyes*

TUTSAN, OR PARK LEAVES.

Descript.] It hath brownish shining round stalks, crested
the length thereof, rising two by two, and sometimes three feet
high, branching forth even from the bottom, having divers joints,
and at each of them two fair large leaves standing, of a dark
biueish green colour on the upper side, and of a yellowish green
underneath, turning reddish toward autumn. At the top of the
stalks stand large yellow flowers, and heads with seed, which
being greenish at the first* and afterwards reddish, turn to be
of a blackish purple colour when they are ripe, with smal
brownish seed within them, and they yield a reddish juice or li-
quor, somewhat resinous, and of a harsh and styptic taste, as
the leaves also and the flowers be, although much less,, but do
not yield such a clear claret wine colour, as some say it doth,
the root is browmish, somewhat great, hard, and woody, spread-
ing well in the ground.

Place.] It groweth in many woods, groves, and w'oody
grounds, as parks and forests, and by hedge-sides in many
places of this land, as in Hampstead wood, by Ratly in Essex,
in the wilds of Kent, and in many other places needless to recite.

Time.] It fiowereth later than St. John's or St. Peter* &
wort.

No. 15.

Z X.

346 The English Physician Enlarged .

Government and Virtues .] It is an herb of Saturn, and a
most noble antivenerean. Tutsan purgeth choleric humours, as
St. Peter's wort is said to do, for therein it worketh the same
effects, both to help the sciatica and gout, and to heal burning
by fire ; it stayeth all the bleedings of wounds, if either the
green herb be bruised, or the powder of the dry be applied
thereto. It hath been accounted, and certainly it is, a sovereign
herb to heal either wound or sore, either outwardly or inwardly,
and therefore always used in drinks, lotions, balms, oils, oint-
ments, or any other sorts of green wounds, old ulcers, or sores,
in all which the continued experience of former ages hath con-
firmed the use thereof to be admirable good, though it be not so
much in use now, as when physicians and surgeons were so wise
as to use herbs more than now they do.

GARDEN VALERIAN.

Descript.] This hath a thick short greyish root, lying for
the most part above ground, shooting forth on all other sides
such like small pieces of foots, which have all of them many
long green strings and fibres under them in the ground, where-
by it draweth nourishment. From the head of these roots spring
up many green leaves, which at first are somewhat broad and
long, without any divisions at all in them, or denting on the ed-
ges; but those that rise up after are more and more divided on
each side, some to the middle rib, being winged, as made of
many leaves together on a stalk, and those Upon a stalk, in like
manner more divided, but smaller towards the top than below;
the stalk riseth to be a yard high or more, sometimes branched
at the top, with many small whitish flowers, sometimes dashed
over at the edges with a pale purplish colour, of a little scent,
which passing away, there followeth small brownish white seed,
that is easily carried away with the wind. The root smelleth
more strong than either leaf or flower, and is of more use in
medicines.

Place.] It is generally kept with us in gardens.

The English Physician Enlarged. 347

Time.] It flowereth in June and July, and continueth
flowering until the frost pull it down.

Government and Virtues.] This is under the influence of
Mercury. Dioscorides saith, that the garden valerian hath a
warming faculty, and that being dried and given to drink it pro*
voketh urine, and helpeth the strangury. The decoction thereof
taken, doth the like also, and taketh away pains of the sides,
provoketh women’s courses, and is used in antidotes. Pliny
saith, that the powder of the root given in drink, or the decoc-
tion thereof taken, helpeth all stoppings and stranglings in any
part of the body, whether they proceed of pains in the chest or
sides, and taketh them awav. The root of valerian boiled with
liquorice, raisins, and aniseed, is singular good for those that
are short-winded, and for those that are troubled with a cough,
and helpeth to open the passages, and to expectorate phlegm
easily. It is given to those that are bitten or stung by any veno-
mous creature, being boiled in wine. It is of a special virtue
against the plague, the decoction thereof being drank, and the
root being used to smell to. It helpeth to expel the wind in the
belly. The green herb with the root taken fresh, being bruised
and applied to the head, taketh away the pains and prickings
there, stayeth rheum and thin distillation, and being boiled in
white wine, and a drop thereof put into the eyes, taketh away
the dimness of the sight, or any pin or web therein; it is of ex-
cellent property to heal any inward sores or wounds, as also for
outward hurts or wounds, and drawing away splinters or thorns
out of the flesh.

VERVAIN.

t Descript.] The common vervain hath somewhat long broad
leaves next the ground, deeply gashed about the edges, and some
only deeply dented, or cut all alike, of a blackish green colour
on the upper side, somewhat grey underneath. The stalk is
square, branched into several parts, rising about two feet high,

- especially if you reckon the long spike of flowers at the tops of

348 The English Physician Enlarged.

>

them, which are set on all sides one above another, and some-
times two or three together, being small and gaping, of a blue
colour and white intermixed, after which come small round

seed, in small and somewhat long heads ; the root is small and

*

long, but of no use.

Place.] It groweth generally throughout this land in divers
places of the hedges and way-sides, and other waste grounds.

Time.] It flowereth in July, and the seed is ripe soon
after. x

Government and Virtues.] This is an herb of Venus, and
excellent for the womb to strengthen and remedy all the cold
griefs of it, as plantain doth the hot. Vervain is hot and dry,
opening obstructions, cleansing and healing ; it helpeth the
yellow jaundice, the dropsy and the gout; it killeth and expelleth
worms in the belly, and causeth a good colour in the face and
body, strengtheneth as well as correcteth the diseases of the
stomach, liver, and spleen; helps the cough, whcezings, and
shortness of breath, and all the defects of the reins and bladder,
expelling the gravel and stone. It is held to be good against the
biting of serpents, and other venomous beasts, against the
plague, and both tertian and quartan agues. It consolidateth
and healeth also ail wounds, both inward and outward, stayeth
bleedings, and used with some honey, healeth all old ulcers and
fistulas in the legs or other parts of the body; as also those ulcers
that happen in the mouth; or used with hog’s grease, it helpeth
the swellings and pains of the secret parts in man or woman,
also for the piles or haemorrhoids ; applied with some oil of roses
and vinegar unto the forehead and temples, it easeth the invete-
rate pains and ach of theiiead, and is good for those that are
frantic. Xhef eaves bruised, or the juice of them mixed with
some vinegar, doth wonderfully cleanse- -the skin, and taketh
away morphew, freckles, fistulas, and other such like inflamma-
tion and deformities of the skin in any part of the body. The
distilled water of the herb when it is in full strength, dropped
into "the eyes, cleanseth them from films, clouds, or mists, that
darken the sight, and wonderfully strengthens the optic nerves ;

The English Physician Enlarged . 349

the said water is very powerful in all the diseases aforesaid, ei-

ther inward or outward, whether they be old corroding sores,
or green wounds.

THE VINE.

JL HE leaves of the English vine (I do not mean to send you
to the Canaries for a medicine) being boiled, make a good lo-
tion for sore mouths ; being boiled with barley meal in to a poul-
tice, it cools inflammations of wounds; the dropping of the
vine, when it is cut in the spring, which country people call
tears, being boiled in a syrup, with sugar, and taken inwardly,
is excellent to stay women’s longings, after every thing they
see, which is a disease many women with child are subject to.
The decoction of vine leaves in white wine doth the like; also
the tears of the vine, drank two or three spoonfuls at a time,
breaks the stone in the bladder. This is a very good remedy,
and it is discreetly done, to kill a vine to cure a man, but the
salt of the leaves are held to be better. The ashes of the burnt
branches will make teeth that are as black as a coal, to be as
white as snow, if you but every morning rub them with it. It
is a most gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetical with the
body of man, and that is the reason spirit of wine is the greatest
-cordial among all vegetables.

VIOLETS.

JDOTH the tame and the wild are so well known, that they
need no description.

Time.] They flower until the end of July, but are best in

March, and the beginning of April.

Government and Virtues.] They are a fine, pleasing plant
of Venus, of a mild nature, no way harmful. All the violets
are cold and moist, while they are fresh and green, and are used
to cool any heat, or distemperature of the body, either inwardly
or outwardly, as inflammations of the eyes, in the matrix or
fundament, in imposthumes also, and hot swelling, to drink the

350 The English Physician Enlarged.

decoction of the leaves and dowers made with water and wine,
or to apply them poultice-wise to the grieved places : It likewise
easeth pains in the head, caused through want of sleep ; or any
other pains arising of heat, being applied in the same manner,
or with oil of roses. A dram weight of the dried leaves or
flowers of violets, but the leaves more strongly, doth purge the
body of choleric humours, and assuageth the heat, being taken
in a draught of wine, or any other drink; the powder of the
purple leaves of the flowers only picked and dried and drank in
water, is said to help the quinsy, and the falling-sickness in chil-
dren, especially in the beginning of the disease. The flowers
of the white violets ripen and dissolve swellings. The herb or
flowers, while they are fresh, or the flowers when they are dry,
are effectual in the pleurisy, and all diseases of the lungs, to
lenefy the sharpness of hot rheums, and the hoarseness of the
throat, the heat also and sharpness of urine, and all pains
of the back or reins, and bladder. It is good also for the liver
and the jaundice, and all hot agues, to cool the heat, and
quench the thirst ; but the syrup of violets is of most use, and
of better effect, being taken in some convenient liquor; and if
a little of the jnice or syrup of lemons be put to it, or a few
drops of the oil of vitriol, it is made thereby the more powerful
to cool the heat, and quench the thirst, and giveth to the drink
a claret wine colour, and a fine tart relish, pleasing the taste.
Violets taken, or made up with honey, do more cleanse and
cool, and with sugar contrary-wise. The dried flowers of
violets are accounted amongst the cordial drinks, powders, and
other medicines especially where cooling cordials are necessary.
The green leaves are used with other herbs to make plaisters
and poultices for inflammations and swellings, and to ease all
pains whatsoever, arising of heat, and for the piles also, being
fried with yolks of eggs, and applied thereto.

VIPER’S BUGLOSS.

Descript. ] fTHIS hath many long rough leaves lying on the

-

The English Physician Enlarged. 351

ground, from among which arise up divers hard round stalks,
very rough, as if they were thick set with prickles or hairs,
whereon are set such like rough, hairy, or prickly sad green
leaves somewhat narrow; the middle rib for the most part be-
ing white. The flowers stand at the top of the stalk, branched
forth into many long spiked leaves of flowers, bowing or turn-
ing like the turnsole, all opening for the most part on the one
side, which are long and hollow, turning up the brims a little,

i

of a purplish violet colour in them that are fully blown, but
more reddish while they are in the bud, as also upon their de-
cay and withering : but in some places of a paler purple co-
lour, with a long pointel in the middle, feathered or parted at
the top. After the flowers are fallen, the seeds growing to be
ripe, are blackish, cornered and pointed somewhat like the
head of a viper. The root is somewhat great and blackish, and
woolly, when it groweth toward seed-time, and perisheth in
the winter.

There is another sort, little differing from the former only in
this, that it beareth white flowers.

Place .] The first groweth wild almost every where. That
with white flowers about the castle-W'alls at Lewis in Sussex.

Time.] They flower in summer, and their seed is ripe quick-
ly after.

Government and Virtues .] It is a most gallant herb of the
Sun ; it is a pity it is no more in use than it is. It is an especial
remedy against the biting of the viper, and all other venomous
beasts or serpents; as also against poison, or poisonful herbs.
Dioscorides and others say, that whosoever shall take of the
herb or root before they be bitten, shall not be hurt by the
poison of any serpent. The root or seed is thought to be most
effectual to comfort the heart, and expel sadness, or causeless
melancholy ; it tempers the blood, and allayeth hot fits of
agues. The seed drank in w ine, procureth abundance of milk
in w omen's breasts. The same also being taken, easetli pain in
the loins, back, and kidneys. The distilled water of the herb
when it is in flower, or its chief strength, is excellent to be ap *

352 The English Physician Enlarged.

plied either inwardly or outwardly, for all the griefs aforesaid.
There is a syrup made hereof very effectual for the comforting
the heart, and expelling sadness and melancholy.

WALL FLOWERS, OR WINTER GILLIFLOWERS.

T HE garden kind are so well known that they need no de-
scription.

Descript.] The common single wall flowers which grow
wild abroad, have sundry small, long, narrow, dark green
leaves, set without order upon small round, whitish woody
stalks, which bear at the tops divers single yellow flowers one
above another, every one bearing four leaves a-piece, and of a
very sweet scent : after which come long pods, containing a
reddish seed. The roots are white, hard and thready.

Place.] It groweth upon church walls, and old walls of
many houses, and other stone walls in divers places; the other
sort in gardens only.

Time.] All the single kinds do flower many times in the end
of autumn ; and if the winter be mild, all the winter long, but
especially in the months of February, March, and April, and
until the heat of the spring do spend them. But the double
kinds continue not flowering in that manner all the year long,
although they flower very early sometimes, and in some places
very late.

Government and Virtues.] The Moon rules them. Galen,
in his seventh book of simple medicines, saith, that the yellow
wall-flowers work more powerfully than any of the other kinds,
and are therefore of more use in physic. It cleanseth the blood,
and freeth the liver and reins from obstructions, provoketh
women's courses, expelleth the fecundine, and the dead child ;
helpeth the hardness and pains of the mother, and of the spleen
also : stayeth inflammations and swellings, comforteth and
strengthened any weak part, or out of joint ; helpeth to
cleanse the eyes from mistiness or films upon them, and to
cleanse the filthy ulcers in the mouth, or any other part, and is

The English Physician Enlarged. 353

a singular remedy for the gout* and all achs and pains in the
joints and sinews, a conserve made of the flowers, is used for a
remedy both for the apoplexy and palsy.

THE WALNUT TREE.

It is so well known, that it needeth no description.

Time.] It blossometh early before the leaves come forth,
and the fruit is ripe in September.

Government and Virtues .] This is also a plant of the Sun.
Let the fruit of it be gathered accordingly, which you shall find
to be of most virtues whilst they are green, before they have
shells. The bark of the tree doth bind and dry very much, and
the leaves are much of the same temperature : but the leaves
when they are older, are heating and drying in the second de-
gree, and harder of digestion than when they are fresh, which,
by reason of their sweetness, are more pleasing, and better di-
gested in the stomach ; and taken with sweet wine, they move
the belly downwards, but being old, they grieve the stomach ;
and in hot bodies cause the choler to abound, and the head-ach,
and are an enemy to those that have the cough ; but are less
hurtful to those that have a colder stomach, and are said to kill
the broad w orms in the belly or stomach. If they be taken w ith
onions, salt, and honey, they help the biting of a mad dog, or
the venom or infectious poison of any beast, &c. Caias Pom-
peius found in the treasury of Mithridates, king of Pontus, w hen
he was overthrow n, a scroll of his own hand writing, contain-
ing a medicine against any poison or infection; which is this:
take two dry walnuts,, and as many good figs, and twenty leaves
of rue, bruised and beaten together with two or three corns of
salt and twenty juniper berries, which taken every morning
fasting, preserveth from danger of poison and infection that
day it is taken. The juice of the other green husks boiled with
honey is an excellent gargle for sore mouths, or the heat and
inflammations in the throat and stomach. The kernels, when
they grow old, are more oily, and therefore not fit to be eaten,

No. 15. y y

354 The English Physician Enlarged.

but are then used to heal the wounds of the sinews, gangrenes
and carbuncles. The side kernels being burned, are then very
astringent and will stay lasks and women's courses, being taken
in red wine; and stay the falling of the hair, and make it fair,
being anointed with oil and wine. The green husks will do the
like, being used in the same manner. The kernels beaten with
rue and wine, being applied, helpeth the quinsy ; and bruised
with some honey, and applied to the ears, easeth the pains and
inflammations of them. A piece of the green husks put
into a hollow tooth, easeth the pain. The catkins hereof,
taken before they fall off, dried and given a dram thereof
in powder with white wine, wonderfully helpeth those that
are troubled with the rising of the mother. The oil that
is pressed out of the kernels, is very profitable taken inwardly
like oil of almonds, to help the cholic, and to expel wind
very effectually ; an ounce or two thereof may be taken at
any time. The young green nuts taken before they be half
ripe, and preserved with sugar, are of good use for those that
have weak stomachs, or defluxions thereon. The distilled
water of the green husks, before they be half ripe, is of excel-
lent use to cool the heat of agues, being drank an ounce or two
at a time ; as also to resist the infection of the plague, if some
of the same be also applied to the sores thereof. The same also
cooleth the heat of green wounds and old ulcers, and healeth
them, being bathed therewith. The distilled water of the green
husks being ripe, when they are shelled from the nuts, and
drank with a little vinegar, is good for the plague, so as before
the taking thereof a vein be opened. The said water is very
good against the quinsy, being gargled and bathed therewith,
and wonderfully helpeth deafness, the noise, and other pains in
the ears. The distilled water of the young green leaves in the
end of May, performeth a singular cure on foul running ulcers
and sores, to be bathed with wet cloths or sponges applied to
them every morning.

The English Physician Enlarged. 355

WOLD, WELD, OR DYER'S WEED.

TThE common kind groweth bushing with many leases, long
narrow and flat upon the ground ; of a dark blueish green co-
lour, somewhat like unto woad, but nothing so large, a little
crumpled, and as it were round-pointed, which do so abide the
first year; and the next spring, from among them rise up divers
round stalks, two or three feet high, beset with many such like
leaves thereon, but smaller, and shooting forth small branches,
which with the stalks carry many small yellow flowers, in a

s '

long spiked head at the top of them, where afterwards come the
seed, which is small and black, inclosed in heads that are divided
at the tops into four parts. The root is long, white and thick,
abiding the winter. The whole herb changeth to be yellow af-
ter it hath been in flower a while.

Place .] It groweth every where by the way sides, in moist
grounds, as well as dry, in corners of fields and bye-lanes, and
sometimes all over the field. In Sussex and Kent they call it
green weed.

Time.] It flowereth about June.

Government and Virtues.] Matthiolus saith, that the root
hereof curetli tough phlegm, digesteth raw phlegm, thinneth
gross humours, dissolveth hard tumours, and openeth obstruc-
tions. Some do highly commend it against the bitings of veno-
mous creatures, to be taken inwardly and applied outwardly to
the hurt place ; as also for the plague dr pestilence. The peo-
ple in some counties of this land, do use to bruise the herb, and
lay it to cuts or wounds in the hands or legs, to heal them.

WHEAT.

All the several kinds thereof are so well known unto al-
most all people, that it is altogether needless to write a des-
cription thereof.

Government and Virtues.] It is under Venus. Dioscorides
saith, that to eat the corn of green wheat is hurtful to the sto-

858 The English Physician Enlarged .

mach, and breedeth worms. Pliny saith, that the corns of
wheat, roasted upon an iron pan, and eaten, are a present re-
medy for those that are chilled with cold. The oil pressed from
wheat, between two thick plates of iron, or copper heated,
healeth all tetters and ringworms, being used warm ; and hereby
Galen saith, he hath known many to be cured. Matthiolus
commendeth the same to be put into hollow ulcers to heal them
up, and it is good for chaps in the hands and feet, and to make
rugged skin smooth. The green corns of wheat being chewed,
and applied to the place bitten by a mad dog, heal it; slices of
wheat bread soaked in red rose water, and applied to the eyes
that are hot, red and inflamed, or blood-shotten, helpeth them.
Hot bread applied for an hour at times, for three days together,
perfectly healeth the kernels in the throat;, commonly called the
king's evil. Theikxur of wheat mixed with the juice of henbane,
stayeth the flux of humours in the joints, being laid thereon.
The said meal being boiled in vinegar, helpeth the shrinking of
the sinews, saith Pliny ; and mixed with vinegar, and boiled
together, healeth all freckles, spots or pimples on the face.
Wheat flour, mixed with the yolk of an egg, honey, and tur-
pentine, doth draw, cleanse and heal any boil, plague, sore, or
foul ulcer. The bran of wheat meal steeped in sharp vinegar,
and then bound in a linen cloth, and rubbed on those places that
have the scurf, morphew, scabs or leprosy, will take them away,
the body being first well purged and prepared. The decoction
of the bran of wheat or barley, is of good use to bathe those
places that are bursten by a rupture ; and the said bran boiled in
good vinegar, and applied to swollen breasts, helpeth them, and
stayeth all inflammations. It helpeth also the biting of vipers
(w hich I take to be no other than pur English adder) and all
other venomous creatures. The leaves of wheat meal, applied
with some salt, take away hardness of the skin, warts, and
hard knots in the flesh. Starch moistened with rose-water, and
laid to the cods, taketh away their itching. Wafers put in
water, and drank, stayeth the lasks and bloody flux, and are
profitably used both inwardly and outw ardly for the ruptures in

The English Physician Enlarged . 357

children. Boiled in water unto a thick jelly, and taken, it
stayeth spitting of blood ; and boiled with mint and butter, it
heipeth the hoarseness of the throat.

THE WILLOW TREE.

These are so well known, that they need no description ;
I shall therefore only shew you the virtues thereof.

Government and Virtues.] The Moon owns it. Both the
leaves, bark, and the seed, are used to stanch bleeding of wounds
at the mouth and nose, spitting of blood, and other fluxes of
blood in man or woman, and to stay vomiting, and provoca-
tion thereunto, if the decoction of them in wine be drank. It
heipeth also to stay thin, hot, sharp, salt distillations from the
head upon the lungs, causing a consumption. The leaves
bruised with some pepper, and drank in wine, helps much the
vviud cholic. The leaves bruised and boiled in wine, and drank,
stayeth the heat of lust in man or woman, and quite extinguish-
ed! it, if it be long used : the seed is also of the same effect.
Water that is gathered from the willow, when it flowereth, the
bark being slit, and a vessel fitting to receive it, is very good for
redness and dimness of sight, or films that grow over the eyes,
and stay the rheums that fall into them; to provoke urine, being
stopped, if it be drank ; to clear the face and skin from spots and
discolourings. Galen saith, the flowers have an admirable faculty
in drying up humours, being a medicine without any sharpness
or corrosion: you may boil them in white wine, and drink as
much as you will, so you drink not yourself drunk. The bark
works the same effect, if used in the same manner, and the tree
hath always a bark upon it, though not always flowers ; the
burnt ashes of the bark being mixed with vinegar, taketh away
warts, corns, and superfluous flesh, being applied to the place.
Tiie decoction of the leaves or bark in wine, takes away scurf
and dandrif by washing the place with it. It is a fine cool tree,
the boughs of which are very convenient to be placed in the
chamber of one sick of a fever.

358 The English Physician Enlarged.

WO AD.

Descript. ] Xt hath divers large leaves, long, and somewhat
broad withal, like those of the greater plantain, but larger,
thicker, of a greenish colour, somewhat blue withal. From
among which leaves riseth up a lusty stalk, three or four feet
high, with divers leaves set thereon ; the higher the stalk riseth,
the smaller are the leaves ; at the top it spreadeth divers branch-
es, at the end of which appear very pretty little yellow dowers,
and after they pass away like other flowers of the field, come
husks, long and somewhat flat withal; in form they resemble a
tongue, in colour they are black, and they hang bobbing down-
wards. The seed contained within these husks (if it be a little
chewed) gives an azure colour. The root is white and long.

Place.] It is sowed in fields for the benefit of it, where
those that sow it, cut it three times a year.

Time.] It flowers in June, but it is long after before the
seed is ripe.

Government and Virtues .] It k a cold and dry plant of
Saturn. Some people affirm the plant to be destructive to bees,
and fluxes them, which, if it be, I cannot help it. I should
rather think, unless bees be contrary to other creatures, it pos-
sessed them with the contrary disease, the herb being exceeding
dry and binding. However, if any bees be diseased thereby,
the cure is, to set urine by them, but set it in a vessel that they
cannot drown themselves, which may be remedied, if you put
pieces of cork in it. The herb is so drying and binding, that it
is not fit to be given inwardly. An ointment made thereof
stancheth bleeding. A plaster made thereof, and applied to
the region of the spleen which lies on the left side, takes away
the hardness and pains thereof. The ointment is excellent good
in such ulcers as abound with moisture, and takes away the
corroding and fretting humours : It cools inflammations, quench-
eta St. Anthony’s fire, and stayeth defluxion of the blood to
any part of the body

i

The English Physician Enlarged. 359

WOODBINE, OR HONEY SUCKLES.

Xt is a plant so common, that every one that hath eyes
knows it, and he that hath none, cannot read a description if
I should write it.

Time.] They flower in June, and the fruit is ripe in
August.

Government and Virtues .] Doctor Tradition, that grand
introducer of errors, that hater of truth, lover of folly, and
that mortal foe to Dr. Reason, hath taught the common people
to use the leaves or flowers of this plant in mouth-water, and
by long continuance of time, hath so grounded it in the brains
of the vulgar, that you cannot beat it out with a beetle; All
mouth-waters ought to be cooling and drying, but honey-suckles
are cleansing, consuming and digesting, and therefore no way
fit for inflammations; thus Dr. Reason. Again if you please,
we will leave Dr. Reason a while, and come to Dr. Experience,
a learned gentleman, and his brother; take a leaf and chew it in
your mouth, and you will quickly find it likelier to cause a sore
mouth and throat than cure it. Well then, if it be not good
for this, what is it good for? It is good for something, for God
and nature made nothing in vain. It is an herb of Mercury, and
appropriated to the lungs : the Celestial Crab claims dominion
over it, neither is it a foe to the Lion; if the lungs be afflicted
by Jupiter, this is your cure : It is fitting a conserve made of the
flowers of it were kept in every gentlewoman's house; I know
no better cure for an asthma than this; besides, it takes away
the evil of the spleen, provokes urine, procures speedy delivery
of women in travail, helps cramps, convulsions, and palsies,
and whatsoever griefs come of cold or stopping; if you please
to make use of it as an ointment, it will clear your skin of mor-
phew, freckles, and sun-burnings, or whatever else discolours
it, and then the maids will love it. Authors say, the flowers
are of more effect than the leaves and that is true; but they say
the seeds are least effectual of all. But Dr. Reason told me.

360 The English Physician Enlarged .

that there was a vital spirit in every seed to beget its like; and
Dr. Experience told me, that there was a greater heat in the
seed than there was in any other part of the plant; and withal,
that heat was the mother of action, and then judge if old Dr.
Tradition (who may well be honoured for his age, but not for
his goodness) hath not so poisoned the world with errors be-

fore I was born, that it was never well in its wits since, and
there is great fear it will die mad.

WORMWOOD.

Three wormwoods are familiar with ns; one I shall not
describe, another I shall describe, and the third be critical at ;
and I care not greatly if I begin with the last first.

Sea Wormwood hath gotten as many names as virtues, (and
perhaps one more) seriphian, santonicon, belchion, narbinense,
hantonicon, misneule, and a matter of twenty more which I
shall not blot paper withal. A papist got the toy by the end, and
he called it holy wormwood; and in truth, I am of opinion,
theii giving so much holiness to herbs, is the reason there re-
mains so little in themselves. The seed of this wormwood is
that which usually women give their children for the worms.
Of all w ormwoods that grow here, this is the weakest, but doc-
tors commend it, and apothecaries sell it : the one must keep his
credit ; and the other get money, and that is the key of the
work. The herb is good for something, because God made
nothing in vain: Will you give me leave to w;eigh things in the
balance of Reason ? then thus ; the seeds of the common worm-
wood are far more prevalent than the seed of this, to expel
w orms in children, or people of ripe age ; of both, some are
weak, some are strong. The seriphian wormwood is the
weakest, and haply may prove to be fittest for the weak bodies,
(for it is weak enough of all conscience.) Let such as are strong
take the common wormwood, for the others will do but little
good. Again near the sea many people live, and seriphian grow s
near them, and therefore is more fitting for their bodies, because

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The English Physician Enlarged. 361

nourished by the same air ; and this I had from Dr. Reason. In
whose body Dr. Reason dwells not, dwells Dr. Madness, and
he brings in his brethren, Dr. Ignorance, Dr. Folly, and Dr.
Sickness, and these together make way for death, and the latter
end of that man is worse than the beginning. Pride was the
cause of Adam’s fall; Pride begat a daughter, I do not know
the father of it, unless the devil, but she christened it, and called
it Appetite, and sent her daughter to taste these wormwoods, who
finding this the least bitter, made the squeamish wench extol it to
the skies, though the virtues of it never reached to the middle re-
gion of the air. Its due praise is this; it is weakest, therefore
fittest for weak bodies, and fitter for those bodies that dwell near
it, than those that dwell far from it; my reason is, the sea (those
that live far from it, know when they come near it) casteth not
such a smell as the land doth. The tender mercies of God being
over all his works, hath by his eternal providence, planted seri-
phian by the sea side, as a fit medicine for the bodies of those that
live near it. Lastly, it is known to all that know any thing in the
course of nature, that the liver delights in sweet things ; if so, it
abhors bitter ; then if your liver be weak, it is none of the wisest
courses to plague it with an enemy. If the liver be weak, a con-
sumption follows ; would you know the reason? It is this, a man’s
flesh is repaired by blood, by a third concoction, which trans-
mutes the blood into fiesh, it is well I said (concoction) say I*
if I had said (boiling) every cook would have understood me.
The liver makes blood, and if it be weakened that it makes not
enough, the flesh wasteth : and why must flesh always be re-
newed? Because the eternal God, when he made the creation,
made one part of it in continual dependency upon another ; and
why did he so? Because himself only is permanent; to teach
us, that we should not fix our affections upon what is transi-
tory, but what endures for ever. The result of this is, if the
liver be weak, and cannot make blood enough, I would have
said, sanguify, if I had written only to scholars, the. seriphian,
which is the weakest of wormwoods, is better than the best.

No. 16. z z

362 The English Physician Enlarged .

I have been critical enough, if not too much.

Place.'] It grows familiarly in England, by the sea-side.

Descript.] It starts up out of the earth, with many round,
woody, hairy stalks from one root. Its height is four feet, or three
at least. The leaves in longitude are long, in latitude narrow,
in colour white, in form hoary, in similitude like southern-wood,
only broader and longer ; in taste rather salt than bitter, be-
cause it grows so near the salt-water; at the joints, with the
leaves tow ard the tops it bears little yellow dowers ; the root lies
deep, and is woody.

Common Wormwood I shall not describe, for every boy that
can eat an egg know's it.

Roman Wormwood: and w hy Roman, seeing it grows familiar-
ly in England? It may be so called, because it is so good for a
stinking breath which the Romans cannot be very free from,
maintaining so many bawdy-houses by authority of his Holiness,

Descript.] The stalks are slender, and shorter than the com-
mon wornrwood by one foot at least; the leaves are more finely
cut and divided than they are, but something smaller ; both leaves
and stalks are hoary, the dowsers of a pale yellow colour; it is al-
together like the common wornnvood, save only in bigness, for it
is smaller ; in taste, for it is not so bitter ; in smell, for it is spicy.

Place.] It gixweth upon the tops of the mountains (it seems
Ris aspiring) there Ris natural, but usually nursed up in gardens
for the use of the apothecaries in London.

Time.] All wornrwoods usually dower in August, a little
sooner or later.

Government and Virtues.] Will you give me leave to be
critical a little? I must take leave; wormwood is an herb of
Mars, and if Pontanus say otherwise, he is beside the bridge; I
prove it thus : What delights in martial places, is a martial
herb; but wormwood delights in martial places, (for about
forges and iron works you may gather a cart-load of it) ergo,
it is a martial herb. It is hot and dry in the first degree, viz. just
as hot as your blood, and no hotter. It remedies the evils choler

The English Physician Enlarged . 363

can inflict on the body of man by sympathy. It helps the evils
Venus and the wanton Boy produce, by antipathy; and it doth
something else besides. It cleanseth the body of choler (who
dares say Mars doth no good ?) It provokes urine, helps surfeits,
or swellings in the belly; it causeth appetite to meat, because
Mars rules the attractive faculty in man : The sun never shone
upon a better herb for the yellow jaundice than this ; why should
men cry out so much upon Mars for an unfortunate, (or Saturn
either'?) did God make creatures to do the creation a mischief?
This herb testifies, that Mars is willing to cure all diseases he
causes ; the truth is, Mars loves no cowards, nor Saturn fools, nor
I neither. Take of the flowers of wormwood, rosemary, and
black thorn, of each a like quantity, half that quantity of saffron ;
boil this in Rhenish wine, but put it not in saffron till it is almost
boiled ; this is the way to keep a man's body in health, appointed
by Camerarius, in his book intitled, Hortus Medicus, and it is
a good one too. Besides all this, wormwood provokes the terms.
I would willingly teach astrologers, and make them physicians
(if I knew how) for they are most fitting for the calling ; if you
will not believe me, ask Dr. Hippocrates, and Dr. Galen, a
couple of gentlemen that our college of physicians keep to vapour
with, not to follow. In this our herb, I shall give the pattern of
a ruler, the sons of art rough cast, yet as near the truth as the
men of Benjamin could throw a stone: Whereby, my brethren
the astrologers may know by a penny how a shilling is coined :
Is for the college of physicians, they are too stately to learn,
and too proud to continue. They say a mouse is under the
dominion of the Moon, and that is the reason they feed in the
aight ; the house of the Moon is Cancer : rats are of the same
nature with mice, but they are a little bigger ; Mars receives
his fall in Cancer, ergo , wormwood being an herb of Mars, is a
present remedy for the biting of rats and mice. Mushrooms (I
cannot give them the title of Herba, Frutex or Arbor) are under
the dominion of Saturn, (and take one time with another,) they do
as much harm as good; if any have poisoned himself by eating

364 The English Physician Enlarged .

them, wormwood, an herb of Mars, cure's him, because Mars is
exalted in Capricorn, the house of Saturn, and this it doth by sym-
pathy, as it did the other by antipathy. Wheals, pushes, black and
blue spots, coming either by bruises or beatings, wormwood, an
herb of Mars, helps, because Mars (as bad as you love him,
and as you hate him) will not break your head, but he will
give you a plaister. If he do but teach you to know yourselves,
his courtesy is greater than his discourtesy. The greatest anti-
pathy between the planets, is between Mars and Venus ; one is
hot, the other cold; one diurnal, the other nocturnal; one dry,
the other moist; their houses are opposite, one masculine, the
other feminine ; one public, the other private ; one is valiant,
the other effeminate ; one loves the light, the other hates it; one
loves the fields, the other sheets; then the throat is under Ve-
nus, the quinsey lies in the throat, and is an inflammation there ;
Venus rules the throat, it being under Taurus her sign. Mars
eradicates all diseases in the throat by his herbs (of which
wormwood is one ; and sends them to Egypt on an errand ne-
ver to return more; this is done by antipathy. The eyes are
under the Luminaries; the right eye of a man, and the left eye of
a woman, the Sun claims dominion over; the left eye of a man,
and the right eye of a woman are privileges of the Moon;
wormwood, an herb of Mars, cures both; what belongs to the
Sun by sympathy, because he is exalted in his house; but what
belongs to the Moon by antipathy, because he hath his fall in
her's. Suppose a man be bitten or stung by a Martial crea-
ture, imagine a wasp, a hornet, a scorpion, wormwood, an
herb of Mars, giveth you a present cure : then Mars, choierie
as he is, hath learned that patience, to pass by your evil speech-
es of him, and tells you by my pen, that he gives you no af-
fliction, but he gives you a cure ; you need not run to Apollo,
nor iEsculapius ; and if he was so choleric as you make him to be,
he would have drawn his sword for anger, to see the ill conditions
of those people that can spy his vices, and not his virtues. The
eternal God, when he made Mars, made him for public good, and

The English Physician Enlarged. 305

the sons of men shall know it in the latter end of the World. Et
cesium Mars solus habet. You say Mars is a destroyer; mix a
little wormwood, an herb of Mars, with your ink, neither rats nor
mice touch the paper written with it, and then Mars is a preser-
ver. Astrologers think Mars causeth scabs and itch, and the vir-
gins are angry with him, because wanton Venus told them he
deforms their skins ; but, quoth Mars, my only desire is, they
should know themselves ; my herb wormwood will restore them
to the beauty they formerly had, and in that I will not come an
inch behind my opposite, Venus ; for which doth the greatest evil,
he that takes away an innate beauty, and when he has done, knows
how to restore it again : or she that teaches acompany of wanton
lasses to paint their faces ] If Mars be in a Virgin, in the nativity,
they say he causeth the cholic (it is well God hath set somebody to
pull down the pride of man.) He in the Virgin troubles none with
the cholic, but them that know not themselves (for who knows
himself may easily know all the world.) Wormwood, an herb of
Mars, is a present cure for it : and whether it be most like a Chris-
tian to love him for his good, or hate him for his evil, judge ye ;
I had almost forgotten, that charity thinks no evil. I was once in
the tower and viewed the wardrobe, and there was a great many
fine clothes : (I can give them no other title, for I was never
either linen or woollen draper) yet as brave as they looked, my
opinion was, that the moths might consume them ; moths are un-
der the dominion of Mars ; this herb wormwood being laid among
clothes, will make a moth scorn to meddle with the clothes, as
much as a lion scorns to meddle with a mouse, or an eagle with a
fly. You say Mars is angry and it is true enough he is angry with
many countrymen, for being such fools to be led by the noses by
the college of physicians, as they lead bears to Paris garden. Mel-
ancholy men cannot endure to be wronged in point of good fame,
and that doth solely trouble old Saturn, because they call him the
greatest infortunate ; in the body of man he rules the spleen,
(and that makes covetous men so splenetic) the poor old man
lies crying out of his left side. Father Saturn is angry, Mars

366 The English Physician Enlarged.

comes to him; Come, brother, I confess thou art evil spoken of,
and so am I ; thou knowest I have my exaltation in thy house, I
give him an herb of mine, wormwood, to cure the poor man : Sa-
turn consented, but spoke little, and so Mars cured him by sym-
pathy. When Mars was free from war, (for he loves to be fight-
ing, and is the best friend a soldier hath) I say, when Mars was
free from war, he called a council of war in his own brain, to
know how he should do poor sinful man good, desiring to forget
his abuses in being called an infortunate. He musters up his own
forces, and places them in battalia. Oh ! quoth he, why do I hurt
a poor silly man or woman? His angel answers him, it is be-
cause they have offended their God, (look back to Adam :) Well,
says Mars, though they speak evil of me, I will do good to them ;
death’s cold, my herb shall heat them ; they are full of ill humours
(else they would never have spoken ill of me :) my herb shall
cleanse them, and dry them; they are poor weak creatures, my
herb shall strengthen them ; they are dull witted, my herb shall
fortify their apprehensions; mid yet among astrologers all this
does not deserve a good word : Oh the patience of Mars !

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas ,

Inque domus superum scandere cura facit.

Oh happy he that can the knowledge gain.

To know th’ eternal God made nought in vain.

To this I add,

I know the reason causeth such a dearth
Of knowledge; ’tis because men love the earth.

The other day Mars told me he met with Venus, and he asked
her, what was the reason that she accused him for abusing wo-
men ? He never gave them the pox. In the dispute they fell out,
and in anger parted, and Mars told me that his brother Saturn
told him, that an antivenerean medicine was the best against the
pox. Once a month he meets with the Moon. Mars is quick enough
of speech, and the Moon not much behindhand, (neither are most

The English Physician Enlarged. 367

women.) The Moon looks much after children, and children are
much troubled with the worms; she desired a medicine of him,
he bid her take his own herb, wormwood. He had no sooner
parted with the Moon, but he met with Venus, and she was as
drunk as a bitch; Alas! poor Venus, quoth he; What! thou a
fortune, and be drunk ? I’ll give thee an antipathetical cure ! take
my herb wormwood, and thou shalt never get a surfeit by drink-
ing. A poor silly countryman hath got an ague, and cannot go
about his business: he wishes he had it not, and so do I; but
I will tell him a remedy, whereby he shall prevent it : Take the
herb of Mars, wormwood, and if infortunes will do good, what
will fortunes do? Some think the lungs are under Jupiter; and
if the lungs, then the breath ; and though sometimes a man gets
a stinking breath, and yet Jupiter is a fortune, forsooth; up
comes Mars to him ; Come, brother Jupiter, thou knowest I sent
thee a couple of trines to thy house last night, the one from
Aries, and the other from Scorpio ; give me thy leave by sym-
pathy to cure this poor man with drinking a draught of worm-
wood beer every morning. The Moon was weak the other day,
and she gave a man two terrible mischiefs, a dull brain and a
weak sight; Mars laid by his sword, and comes to her; Sister
Moon, said he, this man hath angered thee, but I beseech thee
take notice he is but a fool; prithee be patient, I will with my
herb wormwood cure him of both infirmities by antipathy, for
thou knowest thou and I cannot agree ; w ith that the Moon be-
gan to quarrel; Mars (not delighting much in women’s tongues)
went away, and did it whether she would or no.

He that reads this, and understands what he reads, hath a
jewel of more worth than a diamond ; he that understands it not,
is as little fit to give physic. There lies a key in these words
w hich will unlock, (if it be turned by a wise hand) the cabi-
net of physic: I have delivered it as plain as I durst: it is not
only upon wormwood as I wrote, but upon all plants, trees, and
herbs ; he that understands it not, is unfit (in my opinion) to give

368 The English Physician Enlarged .

physic. This shall live when I am dead. And thus I leave it to
the world, not caring a farthing whether they like or dislike it.
The grave equals all men, and therefore shall equal me with all
princes; until which time the eternal Providence is over me:
Then the ill tongue of a prating fellow, or one that hath more
tongue than wit, or more pride than honesty, shall never treu*-
ble me. Wisdom is justified by her children. And so much
for wormwood.

YARROW, CALLED NOSE-BLEED, MILFOIL, AND

THOUSAND-LEAF.

Descript .] Xt hath many long leaves spread upon the
ground, finely cut, and divided into many small parts : Its flow-
ers are white, but not all of a whiteness, and stayed in knots,
upon divers green stalks which rise from among the leaves.

Place.] It is frequent in all pastures.

Time.] It flowereth late, even in the latter end of August.

Government and Virtues.] It is under the influence of Venus,
an ointment of them cures wounds, and is most fit for such as have
inflammations, it being an herb of Dame Venus ; it stops the
terms in women, being boiled in white wine, and the decoction
drank; as also the bloody flux; the ointment of it is not only
good for green wounds, but also for ulcers and fistulas, especi-
ally such as abound with moisture. It stays the shedding of hair,
the head being bathed with the decoction of it; inwardly taken
it helps the retentive faculty of the stomach ; it helps the running
of the reins in men, and the whites in women, and helps such
as cannot hold their water ; and the leaves chewed in the mouth
easeth the tooth-ach ; and these virtues being put together, shew
the herb to be drying and binding. Achilles is supposed to be the
first that left the virtues of this herb to posterity, having learned
them of his master Chiron, the Centaur; and certainly a very
profitable herb it is in cramps, and therefore called Militaris,

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APPENDIX,

COMMON AMMOMUM.

Descript .] The lower leaves of this Ammomum, are long,
and pinnated, or having small holes growing opposite to one
another, on a common foot stalk, being about an inch long, and
not above half the breadth, broader at the base, and ending
sharper pointed, cut in on the edges, having a single leaf at
the end of the foot-stalk. They are of a bright green colour.
The stalk arises to the height of two or three feet, finely chan-
neled and divided into several branches, on which grow the
like leaves, but much less and finer; on the tops grow small
umbels of white fine-leav'd flowers, producing little striated
seed, about the bigness of parsley seed, of a pleasant, hot, spi-
cy smell and taste, something like a nutmeg.

Place .] It grows in ditches, banks, and moist places, flow-
ering in summer, its seed, which is the only part used, being
ripe in August.

Virtues .] The seed is hot and dry, attenuating and good to
open obstructions, to cleanse the reins of gravel, and sometimes
given as carminatives and diuretics, like the other warm seeds,
and usually substituted in the shops for those of the following.

THE TRUE AMMOMUM,

Has been formerly sold by the druggists undkr the name
of Cardamomum majus, or the greater Cardamoms.

Descript .] It grows in bunches of roundish, triangular cap-
sulae, containing several black corner'd rough seed, like the
lesser Cardamoms, of a hot aromatic taste. It can hardly be
gathered, what the true ammonium of the ancients was, their
descriptions thereof being so short and confused; but it is the
opinion of the most learned and discerning authors, that the
above-mentioned fruit answers best to the description of the
ancients, and comes nearest to its virtues.

3 A

370

APPENDIX.

f irtues .] It is warming and comforting, strengthens the sto-
mach, helps digestion, expels wind; and is good against the
cholic and cold disorders of the stomach and bowels, as also
against the biting of venomous creatures.

EPIMEDIUM; OR, BARRENWORT,

Is a shrub-like plant, shooting forth sundry, hard, round
stalks, half a yard or two feet high, each stalk divided for
the most part into three branches, and each of them bearing
three leaves a-piece, winch are severally, somewhat broad and
round, yet pointed at the ends, hard or dry in feeling, and a lit-
tle sharply dented about the edges, of a light green colour on
the upper side, and whiter underneath : from the middle of
some of the stalks or leaves, shooteth forth with them from the
first rising up of them, a small long footstalk of flowers, not
much higher than the stalks of leaves, divided into branches,
containing on each of them three flowers, separated into four
parts, as if the flower consisted of but four leaves, whereas
each part hath but two leaves, one lying close upon another,
the inner being yellow and smaller than the lower, which are
red, so that the red edge appeareth round about the yellow,
making it seem a yellow flower of four leaves, with red edges;
it hath also a few yellow threads in the middle, set with green,
the under side of the flowers, being of a yellowish red colour,
striped with white lines, which being past, small long pods ap-
pear, with flattish red seed in them, the roots are small and
fibrous, hard and reddish, spreading much under ground, and
dehghteth best in shadowy, rather than sunny places ; the
scent of the plant is rather strong than pleasant.

Virtues.] We have not any late experience hereof to shew
but as Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen, have set down of it,
that it is moderately cold and moist, without any special pro-
perty more, than to keep women’s breasts from growing too
Kreat, being made into a cataplasm, with oil, and applied ; and

, the reP°rt we,)t> that the root would make women barren
1 at took it inwardly, as also the leaves made in powder, and
take n in wine for some time.

J^ac/e<3/0

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WHITE BEHEN.

This herb has a long, thick, whitish, woody root, not

much branched; from which spring several smooth weak
stalks, about two feet high, with pretty large joints; at each
of which grow two leaves opposite to one another without foot-
stalks, two or three feet long, and about an inch broad, sharp-
pointed at the end, of a glaucous or blueish green colour,
smooth and without any indentures about the edges. T e
flowers grow on the tops of long foot-stalks, several together
of five small white leaves a-piece, standing in a loose swelle
round husk or bladder, of a greenish white colour, with seve-
ral fine darker veins ; this encloses the roundish calyx, in

which are contained small brown seed.

Place.] It is frequen tly to be met with in meadows and com-

fields, and flowers in July and August

Virtues .] The roots are only used ; and as to their qualities,,

they are accounted cordial, cephalic, alexipharmic, and a pro-
vocative to venery. It is but seldom used.

BUCK-BEAN, OR MARSH TREFOIL.

IVIaRSH Trefoil has smooth round stalks three or four
inches long, on which grow three longish round leaves, some-
what resembling the leaves of beans ; among these arise stalks
about two feet high, bare of leaves, and bearing on the top a
spike of whitish purple flowers, of one leaf divided into five
segments, whose inside is covered with a curled downiness,
having five whitish chives in the middle, all set in five cornere
calyces. The seed is small and brown, growing in roundish
seed-vessels ; the root is long and jointed, with many whitish
fibres at each joint.

Place.] It grows in marshy, boggy grounds, and flowers m

May and June. The leaves are used.

Virtues.] This is reckoned a great antiscorbutic, and very

serviceable for the gout, rheumatism, and dropsy, and is much

272

appendix.

j • _ # ~~~~ Ttiw^BiiaflasCpgawyyi

use in let-dnnks for those distempers. It is likewise a good
achic, made use of against intermitting fevers. It is |,kc

:::t r “ *• >• » ^ l

P ion, in the itch, and other cutaneous diseases. It is good

f” *• -f ""

teeth It is given ,n powder, from a scruple to a dram and
decocted. ^ ^ * handfu' °r two »*«•

BUR REED.

Rescript ] A COMMON water plant, with leaves like flags
and rough heads of seeds : it is two or three feet high. The
stalks are round, green, thick, and upright. The leaves are
ery long and narrow, sharp at the edges with a sharp ridge on

Zt td':: they are a Pa^c greensand look
ish- the ,1 U ' . le flowcrs are inconsiderable and yellow-

of the stalk-"' a 7' °f CirCU,ar tUftsab°Ut t,,e uPPer parts
, the stalk , lower down stand the rough fruits called burs

from whence the plant obtained its name: they are of the big!

ness of a large nutmeg, green and rough. The root is composed
Of a quantity of white fibres, omposea

Virtues.] The unripe fruit is used. They are astringent and
good against fluxes of the belly, and bleedings of all kinds •’ the
bes wa, Of giving them is infused in a rou^i red wine, «!*

2— T’ey ^ them S°me •"* England ex

thev si w th 7 ^ iS aPPUed t0 fresh hurts- and

iucy say with great success.

CORN MARIGOLD.

JD escript.] A VERY beautiful wild plant growing in corn

golds’ ft t , f 77 leaVeS’ aDd f‘dl °f fl0wers like —
f ds It ,s two feet high ; the stalks are numerous, round stiff

tolerably upright, and branched ; the leaves stand irregu.al

and are long, very broad, and of a bluish green; they are small'

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APPENDIX.

373

est towards the base, and larger at the end, and they are deep-
ly cut in at the sides. The flowers areas broad as half a crown,
and of a very beautiful yellow; they have a cluster of threads
in the middle. The root is fibrous.

The flowers, fresh gathered and just opened, contain the
greatest virtue. They are good against all obstructions, and
work by urine. An infusion of them, given in the quantity of
half a pint warm, three times a day, has been known to cure a
jaundice, without any other medicine; the dried herb has the
same virtue, but in a less degree.

COW-WHEAT.

Descript.] A COMMON wild plant in our woods and thick-
ets, with narrow leaves, and bright yellow flowers. It is eight
or ten inches high. The stalks are square and slender; very
brittle, weak, and seldom quite upright. The leaves are ob-
long and narrow ; sometimes of a dusky green colour, but of-
ten er purplish or blackish ; they are broadest at the base, and
small all the way to the point ; and they are commonly, but
not always indented a little about the edges. The flowers stand,
or rather hang, all on one side of the stalk, in a kind of loose
spike ; they are small and yellow, and grow two together. The
seeds which follow these are large, and have something of the
aspect of wheat, from whence the plant has its odd name.

Virtues.] These seeds are the part used ; they are to be dri-
ed and given in powder, but in small doses. They have virtues,
which few seem to imagine ; they are a high cordial and provo-
cative to venery ; but if given in too large a dose, they occa-
sion the head-ach and a strange giddiness. I knew an instance
of a woman who had boiled the fresh tops of the plant in a
large quantity in water, as a remedy for the jaundice, (I know
not by what information,) and having drank this in large draughts
was as a person drunk and out of her senses; she complained of
numbness in her limbs, and seemed in danger of her life, but
nature recovered her after a few hours without other assistance.

374

APPENDIX.

long cyperus.

Des ciipt.'] A WILD plant in our marshes, fens, and other
damp places. It is a foot and a half high. The leaves are, a
oot long or more, narrow, grassy, and of a bright green co-
green th S',arP, 31 the e"dS- The Sta'k " and

ft the . 7 are “t '8 °" !t’ CXCept tW° or three

snik Tfl r°m Wf"Ch *here "SeS 3 "Umber of sraa11 tufts or
spikes of flowers. These are brown, light, chaffy, and in all

respects like those of the other water grasses.

dr[dTof ?e r°0t ^ Uaed' 11 iS l0'ig and brown- “d when
ed .sofa pleasant smell, and aromatic warm taste. It should

he taken up m spring. It is good against pajns ja ^
and it promotes urine.

SWEET FLAG.

Descript.] A COMMON wild plant that grows undistin-
guished among the flags and rushes, by our ditch sides. The
old physicians meant another thing by calamus aromaticus : they
gave this name to the dried stalks of a plant, but at present it is

f S<!, h38 , ! °a“e °f ^ r°0t °f this‘ Th€ sweet fla§ S»ows three
ee ig , ut consists only of leaves without a stalk. They are

ong, narrow, and of a pale green colour. Among these there

e commonly three or four in all respects like the rest, but that

they have a cluster of flowers breaking out at one side, within

fi ve or sis inches of the top. This is long, brown, and thick,

and resembles a catkin of a filbert tree, only it is longer and

bicker. The root IS long, flattisb, and creeping: it is of a

strong and rather unpleasant smell when fresh, but it becomes

very fragrant, and aromatic in drying. Our own has its value

because we can have it fresh, but the dried root is better had of

the druggists; they have it from warmer countries, where it is
more fragrant.

Virtues.] The juice of the fresh root of acorus is excellent
to promote the menses, it works by urine moderately, and gives

APPENDIX.

375

no offence to the stomach. The dried rcot is cordial and su-
dorific, it warms the stomach, and is good against indigestions
and fevers.

FOOL s STONES.

Descript.] A BEAUTIFUL wild plant in our meadows and
pastures in June. The leaves are long and spotted, and the
flowers are purple. It grows ten inches high. The leaves are
six inches long, and three quarters of an inch broad, of a very
deep green, with large and irregular blotches of black in differ-
ent parts. The stalk is round, thick, upright, single, and
fleshy ; it has two or three smaller leaves of the same figure,
and at the top stand the flowers, in a spike of an inch and a
half long; they are not very large, and of a shape different
from the generality of flowers; their colour is a deep and glos-
sy purple ; but sometimes they ajre white. The whole plant is
juicy. The root consists of two round bulbs or two round
lumps, like a pair of testicles, and is white and full of a slimy
juice.

Virtues.] The root is the only part used. It is supposed to
be a strengthener of the parts of generation, and a promoter of
veneral desires; but with what truth one cannoF say. Exter-
nally applied in cataplasms, it is excellent in hard swellings.
There are a great many other kinds of orchis in our meadows,
but only this is used. The root, called salep by our druggists,
is brought from Turkey, and is the root of a plant of this kind.
It is strengthening and restorative, good in consumptions and
all decays

FROG BIT.

Descript.] A LITTLE plant, not uncommon on waters,
with round leaves and small white flowers. It has been by the
common writers called a kind of water lily, because its leaves
are round, and it floats upon the water, but it is as distinct as
any tiling can be, when we regard the flower. Duck-weed has
round leaves, and floats upon the water, and it might be called

376

appendix.

water lily for that reason, if that were sufficient. The leaves
are of a roundish figure, and a dusky dark green colour; they
are of the breadth of a crown piece, and they rise many toge-
ther in tufts, from the same part of the stalk.. This stalk runs
along at a little distance under the surface of the water and
from it descend the roots, but they do not reach down into the
mud, but play loose like the fibres of duckweed in the water.
Tne flowers stand singly upon slender foot-stalks ; they are white,

and composed of three leaves a-piece, which give them a singu-
lar appearance.

P irtuesJ] The fresh leaves are used in outward applications,
and are very cooling.

GOLD OF PLEASURE.

Descript.] A VERY pretty plant common in many parts of
England, and known at sight by the vast quantity of seed ves-
sels. It is two feet high: the stalk is round, thick, firm, up-
right, and toward the top has a great many branches, all stand-
ing upright. The leaves stand irregularly, and are not nume-
rous, they are long, not very broad, and of a pale green; they
are indented about the edges, and surround the stalk at the base •
the flowers are little and white; the seed vessels are short and
roundish, and they stand in vast quantities, forming a kind of

spikes all the way up the tops of the branches, with few flowers
at the summit.

Virtues.] The fresh tops of the plant are to be used before
it is run to seed. An infusion of them sweetened with honey,
is excellent for sore throats, and ulcerations of the mouth ’
The seeds yield a great quantity of oil on pressing, and they
are so plentiful, that it might seem worth while to cultivate the
plant for them ; the oil is pleasant and well tasted.

GLASSWORT.

Descript.] A COMMON wild plant, on the sea coasts of
many parts of Europe, but not a native of our country. It is

,

/

/

APPENDIX.

377

called cochieated kali, from the form of its seed-vessels, which
are twisted in the manner of a snail’s shell. It grows to a foot
and a half in height. The stalk is round, thick, fleshy, and
brittle. The leaves are few, and they stand irregularly; they
are oblong, and blunted at the ends, and of a bluish green colour.
The flowers are small, inconsiderable, and yellow.

Virtues .] The juice of the fresh plant is said to be an excel-
lent diuretic ; but we have no opportunities of knowing its vir-
tues here. Some say the seed vessels have the same virtue, and
give them in infusion, but we have better remedies of the same
kind, of our own growth. The whole plant is burnt for its fixed
salt, which is used in making glass.

GOATS BEARD.

Descript.] A. COMMON wild plant, distinguished in our
meadows by its narrow and green leaves, and the long leaves of
the cup, about its yellow flowers. It grows to a foot and a half
in height. The leaves are very narrow ; they are broadest at the
base, and smaller all the way to the point. The stalk is round,
thick, firm, very upright, and towards the top divided into two
or three branches. The flowers stand at the extremities of the
stalks; they are of a beautiful pale yellow, very large and sur-
rounded by a cup, composed of long and narrow green leaves,
which, for the greatest part of the day, are closed over it, so
that it seems only in bud. The seeds are winged with a fine
white down, in the manner of those of dandelion, and when ripe,
they stand upon the tops of the branches, in a round head, in
the same manner. The root is long, and white ; and the whole
plant is full of a milky juice, which, after it has been a little time
exposed to the air, becomes yellow, and thick like cream.

Virtues.] The root is used. It is so pleasant in taste, that it
may be eaten in the manner of carrots, and other roots at table,
but it exceeds them all in its qualities. It is an excellent restora-
tive, and will do great service to people after long illnesses :
the best way of giving it for this purpose, is to boil it fiist in
water, and then cutting it to pieces, boil it again in milk, which

3 B

378

appendix.

is to be rendered palatable in the usual way; it becomes thus
a most excellent medicine, in the form of food.

GROUND-PINE.

Descript .] A VERY singular little wild plant, of a mossy ap-
pearance, and resinous smell: it grows four inches high; the
stalks are hairy, and seldom stand upright; the leaves are very
close set, and the young shoots which grow from their bosoms
perfectly obscure the stalk ; it seems a thick round tuft. These
leaves are short,, narrow, and divided into three parts at their
ends, and they stand two at every joint of the stalk: they are
rough and hairy like the stalk. The flowers are little and yel-
low, and they stand at the joints.

Virtues .] The whole plant is used, and it has great virtu e ;
if is to be used dry in powder or infusion. It works strongly by
urine, and promotes the menses. It opens also all obstructions
of the liver and spleen, and is good dmiaimdice, thej'henmafism-,
and most of the drKonic -disorders.

HARE'S FOOT.

Descript, j GThIS plant seldom rises very high, but spreads out
into many slender branches, having small narrow hairy trefoil
leaves set at every joint ; on the tops of the branches grow short
round heads composed of small papilionaceous pale purple flow-
ers, each set in a soft woody calyx, making the heads appear
soft and downy. The seed is small, lying at the bottom of the
calyx ; the root is little, and perishes yearly. It is found fre-
quently among corn, and in fallow fields ; and flowers in June
and July. The whole plant is used, though not very often.

Virtues .] Hare's-foot is drying and binding ; accounted good
for a diarrhea and dysentery, and to stop the too great flux of
the catamenia and the fluor albus. It helps the ulceration of
the bladder, and heat and pain in making water.

APPENDIX.

379

GOOD HENRY, or ENGLISH MERCURY.

Descript .] This Mercury has a thick, yellowish, peicunial
root, with several fibres; the leaves grow upon long foot-stalks
of a triangular shape, like spinnage, of a yellow green colour,
feeling greasy or unctuous in handling. The stalks grow to be
about a foot high, with several of the like leaves growing on
them; and on their tops spikes of small herbaceous flowers, in-
closing little round black shining seed. It grows in waste pla-
ces, among rubbish; and flowers sometime in the spring.

Virtues .] This herb is of a detersive cleansing quality. The

young shoots, before they come to seed, boiled as spinnage or
asparagus, are pleasant to the palate, cooling, soluble, and good
for the scurvy, and provoke urine ; outwardly it is much used in
clysters, and a cataplasm of the leaves helps pains of the gout.

HONEYWORT.

Descript .] A JUICY plant frequently wild in many parts of
Europe, but with us kept in gardens. It has its name from the
sweet taste of the flowers. Almost all flowers have a drop of ho-
ney j uice in their bottom : this is indeed the real substance of ho-
ney, for the beesonly pick it out and get it together; the hollow
flowers in general have moreof it, or it is better preserved in them
than others, but scarce any in so great a degree as this plant nam-
ed from it. It is two feet high, when kept erect, but if left to itself,
is very apt to lean upon the ground. The stalk is round, thick, jui-
cy, and tender; the leaves are large, oblong, broad, they sur-
round and inclose the stalk at their base; they are of a bluish
green colour, spotted or clouded irregularly with white, and
they are full of a sort of prickles. The flowers grow at the top
of the stalks, several together, among the clusters of leaves ; they
i are hollow, oblong, and very wide open at the mouth ; their co-
lour is yellow, variegated with purple in the middle, and they
have a very pretty appearance.

380

appendix.

Virtues.] The fresh gathered tops of the plant are to be used ;
an infusion of them is cooling, and works by urine. It is good
against scorbutic complaints, and in the jaundice.

THE JACINTH, OR HYACINTH.

Descript.] The common spring plant out children gather
with their cowslips and May flowers, and call blue bells. The root
is white and roundish ; the leaves are narrow and long, like grass,
but of a deep green colour, and smooth surface: the stalks are
round, upright, and smooth ; they have no leaves on them. The
flowers are large, and of a beautiful blue; they are hollow, ob-
long, and turn up at the rim. The root is the part used!

Virtues.] It abounds in a slimy juice, but it is to be dried,
and this must be done carefully ; the decoction of it operates
well by urine ; and the powder is balsamic, and somewhat styp-
tic. It is not enough known. There is hardly a more -power-
ful remedy for the whites.

FLEABANE.

Descript.] A PRETTY wild plant, frequent about damp
places, with whitish leaves and large yellow flowers in autumn.
It is two feet high. The stalk is round and erect, very firm
and strong, and is often of a reddish colour. The leaves are
numerous, and stand irregularly; they are above an inch long,
moderately broad, of a rough surface, and whitish green. The
flowers stand at the top of the branches ; they are broader than
a shilling, yellow, and composed of many narrow petals. The
whole plant has a disagreeable smell.

Virtues.] It is disputed whether this kind of fleabane, or
another which is smaller, and has globous flowers, have 'the
greater virtue ; but most give it for this. The juice of the
whole plant cures the itch, applied externally ; and the very
smell of the herb is said to destroy fleas.

APPENDIX.

381

BLACK HOREHOUND.

Descript. ] A COMMON wild plant of a disagreeable smell,
thence also called by some stinking horehound. The stalks
are square, the leaves grow two at every joint, and are broad,
short, and of a blackish green colour, but in shape not unlike
those of the white kind. The flowers stand in clusters round
the stalk at the joints, as in the other, but they are red. The
whole plant has a dismal aspect. The root is fibrous.

Virtues .] The plant is to be used fresh and dried, and it
has more virtue than most imagine. It is to be given in the
form of tea : it promotes the menses, and is superior to most
things as a remedy in hysteric cases, faintings,. convulsions, and
low-spiritedness, and all the train of those disorders.

MILKWORT.

Descript. ] j\. COMMON little plant upon our heaths, and in

dry pastures, with numerous leaves and blue or white flowers, (for
this is a variety and caused by accident) disposed in loose spikes.
The root is long, and divided into several parts, the stalks are ve-
ry numerous, and very much branched, they are slender and
weak, and they spread themselves upon the ground, forming a lit-
tle green tuft. There is great variety in the appearance of the
plant, beside what has been already named in the colour of the
flower ; nor is that indeed the only variation there : so that it has
been divided into two or three kinds by some writers, but as all
these will rise from the same seed, and only are owing to the soil
and exposure, the plant is without doubt the same in every ap-
pearance, and its virtues are the same in which ever state it is ta-
ken. Wfien it grows in barren places, the stalks are not more than
three or four inches in length, and the leaves are very numerous,
short, and of an oval figure. The flowers are in this case small
and blue, sometimes whitish, striated with blue, and sometimes

382

appendix.

intkely white. When the plant grows ima somewhat more favour-
ablesoil, the leaves are oblong and narrow, pointed at the ends,
and of a beautiful green, the stalks are five or six inches long, and
the flowers in this case are commonly blue, and this is the most
ordinary state of the plant. When it grows in very favourable
places, as upon the damp side of a hill, where there are springs,
and among the tall grass, then its leaves are longer, its stalks more
robust and more upright, and its flowers are red. These are the
several appearances of this little plant, and it is all one in which
of them it is taken. The root is often of a considerable thick-
ness, and single, but it is more usually divided and smaller; it
is whitish, and of a disagreeable acrid taste.

Virtues.] This plant had passed unregarded as to any medi-
cinal use, till Dr. Tennent brought into England the senekka
root, famous in America against the effects of the bite of the rat-
tle-snake, and found here to be of service in pleurisies : but
when it was found, that this was the root of a kind of milkwort,
not very different from our own, we tried the roots of our own
kind, and found them effectual in the same cases : as to the poi-
sonous bites of a serpent, they are so uncommon here, that we
need not regard that part of the qualities, but we find it good in
the other disorder, and in all diseases in which the blood is thick
and sizy. The fresh root is best, but it has not its full virtue except
m spring, when the stalks are just shooting out of the ground,
for this reason it is most proper to take it up at that time, and
dry it for the service of the year. When fresh, it is best given in
infusion : but when dried, it is kept in powder.

WATER MINT.

Descript.] A. COMMON wild plant of the mint kind, not so
much regarded as it deserves. It is frequent by ditch sides. It is
a foot and half high. The stalks are square, upright, firm, and
Strong, and generally of a brown colour; the leaves are broad
and short; they stand two at a joint, and are of a brownish or

APPENDIX.

333

deep green colour, somewhat hairy, and serrated about the ed-
ges. The flowers are larger than those of common mint, and are
of a pale red colour; they stand in round thick clusters at the
tops of the stalks, and round the upper joints. The whole plant
has a strong smell, not disagreeable, but of a mixed kind be-
tween that of mint, and penny royal : and the taste is strong
and acrid, but it is not to be called disagreeable.

Virtues.] A distilled water of this plant is excellent against
colics, pains in the stomach and bowels, and it will bring down
the menses. A single dose of it often cures the colic. The
use of peppermint has excluded this kind from the present prac-
tice, but all three ought to be used. Where a simple weak-
ness of the stomach is the complaint, the common mint should
be used ; when colicy pains alone, the peppermint ; and where
suppressions of the menses are in the case, this wild water mint :
they may all bti given in the way of tea, but a simple water
distilled from them, and made sufficiently strong, is by muck
the most efficacious.

MILK THISTLE.

Descript.] A. VERY beautiful plant, common by road-sides,
but wanting only to have been a native of Greece, or the In-
dies, to be esteemed one of the most elegant vegetables in the
world. The leaves rising from the root are two feet long, and
more than a foot broad, of a beautiful deep green, variegated
all over with irregular lines of a milk white, dentated deeply
at the edges, and prickly. They spread themselves into a round
of more than a yard diameter, and when they grow out of the
way of dust, make a most charming appearance. A single
stalk rises in the midst of these. It is five feet high, round,
thick, very firm, upright, and divided at the top into a fewr
branches. The leaves on it are like those from the root, and
variegated with white in the same manner. At the tops stand
the flowers, which are of the nature of those of other thistles,
but twice as big, and vastly more beautiful. The flowery part

384

APPENDIX.

IS of a deep and fine purple ; the head itself is composed of
beautiful scales arranged with great regularity, and each ter-
minating m a single and very strong prickle ; the root is Ion-
and thick; the seeds are winged with down.

Virtues.] The root and seeds are used. An infusion of the

fresh root removes obstructions, and works by urine: it is good

against the jaundice. The seeds beaten up into an emulsion

With barley-water are good in pleurisies. The young leaves

with the prickles cut off, are excellent boiled in the way of

cabbage ; they are very wholesome, and exceed all other greens
m taste.

OXEYE.

Descript.] j\_ VERY beautiful wild plant, common in the
North of England, but not in other parts of the kingdom It
grows a foot and a half high. The stalk is round, firm, and branch-
ed; the leaves are numerous; they are divided each into a mul-
titude of fine segments, so that at a distance they somewhat re-
semble the leaves of yarrow, but they are whitish. The flowers
are large and yellow; they somewhat resemble a marigold in
form, and they stand at the tops of the branches.

Virtues.] The fresh herb is used ; they boil it in ale and
give it as a remedy for the jaundice : it works by urine.

INDIAN SPIKENARD.

Descript.] /Yn East Indian plant, of the grass kind, with
triangular stalks, and yellowish flowers. It resembles not a
little that common yellow tufted grass, which is frequent in our
meadows in spring. It is six or eight inches high. The leaves
are long, narrow, and of a pale green ; they are very numerous,
aii stand in a thick tuft almost growing together at the bases.
The stalks rise among these; they are naked, triangular, and
of a pale, green colour; the flowers stand in tufts, of the big-
ness of an horsebean, on the tops of the stalks; they are black-

r

\

/

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J?<re,3Siy

APPENDIX.

385

ish, but ornamented with yellow threads, which give the whole
a yellowish appearance. This is the plant, some samples of
which have been of late brought over as the Indian spikenard,
and there is reason and authority for supposing they are so.
The tops of the roots have that sort of tuft of hairy matter,
which we call Indian spikenard, grow'ing to them ; and it is of
the nature of the hairy top of the spignel root, owing to the
fibres of decayed leaves. P*reynius also calls the plant which
affords the Indian spikenard, a kind of cyperus grass.

Virtues.] The tuft of fibres at the tops of the root of this
plant, is what wre call Indian spikenard ; they are brown, flat-
fish, matted together, and of a pleasant smell : they are good
in disorders of the nerves, and hysteric cases ; but so many bet-
ter medicines are at hand, that it is rarely used.

SNEEZEWGRT, WITH SERRATED LEAVES.

Descript.] JF ROM a woody, creeping fibrous root, of a hot bit-
ing taste, this plant sends out upright stalks, a foot or more high,
stiff, and not much branched, having long narrow leaves, finely
serrated about the edges, growing on them without any order;
the flowers grow umbel-fashion on the tops of the stalks, consist-
ing of a border of white petela, set about a fistuiar thrum ; they
are larger than the flowers of the yarrow.

Place.] It grows in moist meadows, and watery places, and
flowers in July.

Virtues.] It is of a hot biting taste ; and therefore it is sometimes
put into sallads to correct the coldness of other herbs. The roots
held in the mouth helps the tooth ach, by evacuating the rheum,
like pellitory of Spain ; the powder of the herb snuffed up the nose
causes sneezing, and cleanses the head of tough slimy humours.

SPEEDWELL.

Dc script.] j\_ COMMON little plant in our d ry pastures, and
on heaths. The stalks are six or eight inches long ; the leaves are
short, and of an oval figure. The stalks are not upright: they

3 c

38 6

APPENDIX.

trail along the ground, only rising at their upper parts. The leaves
are of a pale green colour, a little hairy and dentated at the edges :
the flowers are small and blue ; they grow in slender spikes, aris-
ing from the bosoms of the leaves ; the root is small and fibrous.

Virtues.] The whole herb is used, and if is best fresh. An
infusion of it drank in quantities, works by urine, and opens all
obstructions : it promotes the menses. There was an opinion late-
ly that this plant would cure the gout. The dried leaves picked
from the stalks, were sold in our markets, and people made a tea of
them. The opinion was so prevalent, that the plant was in a man-
ner destroyed for many miles about London, but like all other
things, that want truth for their foundation, it came to nothing.

WHITLOW-GRASS.

Descript .] .A. COMMON little plant, early in spring, on our
walls and houses, and of a very singular aspect; it is red, and
has pretty white flowers. It is not more than four inches jpgh ;
the stalks are round, upright, and a little hairy ; and they are
covered with an unctuous clamminess, which makes them stick
to the fingers in handling. The leaves are little, and also red ;
they are each divided into three parts at the extremity, in the
way of fingers : they stand irregularly on the stalks, and they
are thick, fleshy, and clammy in handling. The flowers stand
at the tops of the branches; they are little, but of a very bright
white, and look very conspicuous. The whole plant dies away
as soon as it has ripened the seed, and is not to be seen again
till the next spring.

Virtues.] The fresh gathered plant is to be used entire:
a strong infusion of it is a very great sweetener of the blood.
It is excellent against the scurvy in whatever form ; and there
are accounts of its curing the king’s evil, that seem very well
attested. A syrup may be made of its juice, or of a very strong
infusion of it ; or a conserve of the leaves : for the dried plant
has very little virtue, and it is to be had fresh only a very small
part of the year.

I

i

I

7/W///

j

■

APPENDIX. 387

WATER ARROW HEAD.

De script.] A VERY pretty plant, common in our ditches,
with leaves like the bearded heads of arrows, and with pretty
white flowers. It is two feet and a half high, but generally the
greatest part of the stalk is buried in water, very little appear-
ing above, except the spike of flowers. The leaves stand each
upon a pedicle, which is round, thick, and very long; they are
of a beautiful green, and are broad, and bearded at the base,
and sharp at the point; the flowers are white, tolerably large,
and very bright ; and the stalk, on which they are supported,
is also round and thick.

Virtues.] The common people in many places have a custom
of applying these leaves bruised to inflammations; they cool
and give ease, but it is not always right.

WATER PLANTAIN.

Descript.] A VERY common tall plant in ditches, and hav-
ing not the least resemblance of any kind of plantain, except in*
the leaves; from which, however, it has received its name.
The root is composed of a great quantity of fibres. From this,
there rise in spring a number of leaves, oblong, broad, smooth,
and of a beautiful green colour, and having in shape, though
not at all in colour or consistence, some slight resemblance ol
plantain: they are perfectly smooth, of a glossy surface, and
brittle. These stand for many months without the stalk ; and
doubtless in this state it got the name. The stalk is two feet
or more in height; round, firm, and upright; and at the top it
sends out a vast number of branches, which send out others
smaller; and even these last are again divided. On the tops
of the last divisions stand the flowers with their buds, and the
seed-vessels; so that the whole has the appearance of a cone.
The flowers are little and white, and consist of three leaves each :
they stand but a little time, and only a few are seen together.

Virtues.] The seed is the part used : the plant is to be suffer-
ed to stand, till this is thoroughly ripe, and then cut up gently,

388

APPENDIX.

and laid to dry two or three days upon a table: a smart stroke
or two, will dislodge a great quantity of the seeds ; they are
very good against the overflowing of the menses, and all other
bleedings ; and are given in powder, in electuaries, small doses
being to be taken at a time, and often repeated.

WOODRUFFE.

Descript.] Al COMMON little wild plant, in our woods and
thickets : it is ten inches high. The stalk is square, slender,
weak, and not able to support itself perfectly upright. The
leaves stand several at each joint, encompassing the stalk in the
manner of a star; they are oblong, broad, and of a deep green.
In their form and manner of growth they much resemble those
of common cleavers, but they are larger, though the plant is so
much less, and they are not rough as in that plant, but nearly
smooth. The flowers stand at the tops of the stalks in little
clusters; they are small and white; the seeds stand two toge-
ther in a globular form. The roots are little and fibrous.

Virtues .] The fresh herb is used, and is best given in a strong
decoction ; it opens obstructions of the liver and spleen, and is
a cordial, and stomachic. It is good in the jaundice.

SEA WORMWOOD.

Descript .] Al PLANT common in our salt-marshes, and
about ditches, where salt water comes. It has somewhat the as-
pect of wormwood, but the leaves are much narrower in the
divisions, and the whole plant is smaller. The stalks are woody,
firm, upright, very much branched, and a foot and a half high.
The leaves are whitish and small. The flowers stand in loose
spikes at the tops of the stalks ; they are little and brown ; and
they very much resemble those of the common wormwood, ex-
cept for the size. The whole plant has a bitter taste but not
disagreeable, and it has a pleasant aromatic smell.

Virtues.] The tops fresh gathered, and the whole plant dry, are
tised. They call it Roman wormwood at the markets and in the

Directions for making Syrups , fyc. 389

shops ; and it is used for the other; it has the same general vir-
tues. All the three kinds indeed possess them in common ; but
the common wormwood is the most disagreeable to the taste, and
sits worst upon the stomach : this is better than that, but it is
much more disagreeable than the true Roman wormwood. It
is very strengthening to the stomach; it assists digestion, and
prevents wind. It is commonly an ingredient in the bitter in-
fusions, and tinctures of the shops, but it does very well alone ;
boiling water poured upon it, and suffered to stand till it is cold,
then strained off, is an excellent medicine to cause an appetite.
Put into white wine, it also gives a pleasant bitter flavour, with
the same virtues.

DIRECTIONS.

HaVING in divers places of this treatise promised you the
way of making syrups, conserves, oils, ointments, &c. of herbs,
roots, flowers, &c. whereby you may have them ready for your
use at such times when they cannot be had otherwise ; I come
now to perform what I promised, and you shall find me rather
better than worse than my word.

That this may be done methodically, I shall divide my direc-
tions into two grand sections, and each section into several
chapters, and then you shall see it look with such a counte-
nance as this is.

SECT. I.

Of gathering, drying , and keeping Simples , and their

Juices .

Chap. 3. Of Seeds.

Chap. 4. Of Roots.

Chap. 5. Of Barks.

Chap. 6. Of Juices.

Chap. i. o/ leaves of
Herbs, fyc.

Chap. 2. Of Flowers.

090 Directions for making Syrups, SfC.

SECT. II.

Of making and keeping Compounds.

Chap. i. Of distilled

Waters.

Chap. 2. Of Syrups.
Chap. 3. Of Juleps.
Chap. 4. Of Decoctions.
Chap. 5. Of Oils.

Chap. 6. Of Electuaries.
Chap. 7. Of Conserves.
Chap. 8. Of Preserves.

Chap. 9. Of Lohochs .

Chap. 10. Of Ointments .
Chap. 11. Of Plaisters.
Chap. 12. Of Poultices.
Chap. 13. Of Troches .

Chap. 14. Of Pills.

Chap. 15. The way of fitting
Medicines to Compound
Diseases.

Of all these in order.

CHAP. 1.

4>

Of leaves of Herbs , or Trees .

1. Of leaves, choose only such as are green, and full of
juice ; pick them carefully, and cast away such as are any way de-
clining, for they will putrify the rest. So shall one handful be
worth ten of those you buy in Cheapside.

2. Note what places they most delightto grow in, and gather
them there ; for betony that grows in the shade, is far better than
that which grows in the Sun, because it delights in the shade ; so
also such herbs as delight to grow near the water, shall be ga-
thered near it, though haply you may find some of them upon
dry ground: The treatise will inform you where every herb
delights to grow.

3. The leaves of such herbs as run up to seed, are not so
good when they are in flower as before (some few excepted, the
leaves of which are seldom or never used) in such cases, if
through ignorance-they were not known, or through negligence
forgotten, you had better take the top and the flowers, than
the leaf.

4. Dry them well in the Sun, and not in the shade, as the say-
ing of the physician is ; for if the Sun draw away the virtues of
the herb, it must needs do the like by hay, by the same rule, whi«h

Directions for malting Syrups , fyc. 391

the experience of every country farmer will explode for a notable
piece of nonsense.

5. Such as are artists in astrology (and indeed none else are
fit to make physicians) such I advise; let the planet that go-
verns the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they
can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the
herbs of Mars, let Mars be in the mid-heaven, for in those
houses they delight; let the Moon apply to them by good as-
pect, and let her not be in the houses of her enemies ; if you
cannot well stay till she apply to them, let her apply to a planet
of the same triplicity; if you cannot wait that time neither,
let her be with a fixed star of their nature.

6. Having well dried them, put them up in brown paper,
sewing the paper up like a sack, and press them not too hard
together, and keep them in a dry place near the fire.

7. As for the duration of dried herbs, a just time cannot be
given, let authors prate their pleasure ; for,

1st, Such as grow upon dry grounds will keep better than
such as grow on moist.

2dly. Such herbs as are full of juice, will not keep so long as
such as are drier.

3dly. Such herbs as are well dried, will keep longer than such
as are slack dried. Yet you may know when they are corrupted,
by their loss of colour, or smell, or both ; and, if they be cor-
rupted, reason will tell you that they must needs corrupt the
bodies of those people that take them.

8. Gather all leaves in the hour of that planet that governs
them.

CHAP. II. Of Flowers .

' I JIE flower, which is the beauty of the plant, and of none
of the least use in physic, groweth yearly, and is to be gather-
ed when it is in its prime.

2. As for the time of gathering them, let the planetary hour,
and the plant they come off, be observed, as we shewed you in
the foregoing chapter : as for the time of the day, let it be when

392 Directions for making Syrups , fyc.

the sun shines upon them, that so they may be dry ; for, if you
gather either flowers or herbs when they are wet or dewy, they
will not keep.

3. Dry them well in the sun, and keep them in papers near
the fire, as I shewed you in the foregoing chapter.

4. So long as they retain the colour and smell, they are good ;
either of them being gone, so is their virtue also.

CHAP. III. Of Seeds .

i. The seed is that part of the plant which is endowed with
a vital faculty to bring forth its like, and it contains potentially
the whole plant in it.

2. As for place, let them be gathered from the place where
they delight to grow.

3. Let them be full ripe when they are gathered ; and forget
not the celestial harmony before mentioned, for I have found,
by experience, that their virtues are twice as great at such times
as at others: “ There is an appointed time for every thing un-
der the sun."

i

4. When you have gathered them, dry them a little, and but
a little, in the sun before you lay them up.

5. You need not be so careful of keeping them so near the
fire, as the other before mentioned, because they are fuller of
spirit, and therefore not so subject to corrupt.

6. As for the time of their duration, it is palpable they will
keep a good many years; yet they are best the first year, and
this I make appear by a good argument. They will grow soon-
est the first year they be set, therefore then they are in their
prime; and it is an easy matter to renew them yearly.

CHAP. IV. Of Roots.

Of roots, choose such as are neither rotten nor worm-eaten,
but proper in their taste, colour, and smell; such as exceed
neither in softness nor hardness.

2. Give me leave to be a little critical against the vulgar re-

Directions for making Syrups , fyc. 393

ceived opinion, which is, that the sap falls down into the roots
in the autumn, and rises again in the spring, as men go to bed at
night, and rise in the morning; and this idle talk of untruth is
so grounded in the heads, not only of the vulgar, but also of the
learned, that a man cannot drive it out by reason. I pray let
such sapmongers answer me this argument : If the sap falls into
the roots in the fall of the leaf, and lies there all the wdnter, then
must the root grow only in the winter. But the root grows
not at all in the winter, as experience teacheth, but only in the
summer : Therefore, if you set an apple-kernel in the spring,
you shall find the root to grow to a pretty bigness in that sum-
mer, and be not a whit bigger next spring. What doth the sap
do in the root all that while! Pick straws! It is as rotten as
a rotten post.

The truth is, when the Sun declines from the tropic of Can-
cer, the sap begins to congeal both in root and branch ; when
he touches the tropic of Capricorn, and ascends to us-ward, it
begins to wax thin again, and by degrees* as it is congealed.
But to proceed,

3. The drier time you gather the roots in, the better they
are ; for they have the less excrementitious moisture in them.

4. Such roots as are soft, your best way is to dry in the Sun.
or else hang them in the chimney corner upon a string; as for
such as are hard, you may dry them any where.

5. Such roots as are great, will keep longer than such as are
small; yet most of them will keep a year.

6. Such roots as are soft, it is your best way to keep them
always near the fire, and to take this general rule for it: If in
winter-time you find any of your roots, herbs or flowers begin
to be moist, as many times you shall (for it is your best way to
look to them once a month) dry them by a very gentle fire; or,
if you can, with conveniency, keep them near the fire, you may
save yourself the labour.

7. It is in vain to dry roots that may commonly be had, as pars-
ley, fennel, plantain, &c. but gather them only for present need.

3 D

394 Directions for making Syrups , SfC.

CHAP. V. Of Barks.

Harks; which physicians use in medicine, are of these sorts :
Of fruits, of roots, of boughs.

2. The barks of fruits are to be taken when the fruit is full
ripe, as oranges, lemons, &c. but because I have nothing to do
with exotics here, I pass them without any more words.

3. The barks of trees are best gathered in the spring, if of
oaks, or such great trees ; because then they come easier off,
and so you may dry them if you please ; but indeed the best
way is to gather all barks only for present use.

4. As for the bark of roots, it is thus to be gotten. Take
the roots of such herbs as have a pith in them, as parsley, fennel,
&c. slit them in the middle, and when you have taken out the
pith (which you may easily do) that which remains is called
(though improperly) the bark, and indeed is only to be used.

CHAP. VI. Of Juices.

1. J UICES are to be pressed out of herbs when they are
young and tender, out of some stalks and tender tops of .herbs
and plants, and also out of some flowers.

2. Having gathered the herb, if you would preserve the juice
of it, when it is very dry, (for otherwise the juice will not be
worth a button) bruise it very well in a stone mortar, with a
wooden pestle, then having put it into a canvas bag, (the herb
I mean not the mortar, for that will give but little juice,) press
it hard in a press, then take the juice and clarify it.

3. The manner of clarifying it is this : Put it into a pipkin
or skillet, or some such thing, and set it over the fire; and
when the scum ariseth, take it off; let it stand over the fire till
no more scum arise; when you have your juice clarified, cast
away the scum as a thing of no use.

4. When you have thus clarified it, you have two ways to
preserve it all the year.

(1.) When it is cold, put it into a glass, and put so much oil
on it as will cover it to the thickness of two fingers ; the oil will

Directions for making Syrups , fyc. 395

swim at the top, and so keep the air from coming to putrefy it:
When you intend to use it, pour it into a porringer, and if any
oil come out with it, you may easily skim it off with a spoon,

and put the juice you use not into the glass again ; it will quickly

*

sink under the oil. This is the first way.

(2.) The second way is a little more difficult, and the juice
of fruits is usually preserved this way. When you have clarified
it, boil it over the fire, till (being cold) it be of the thickness of

I

honey : This is most commonly used for diseases of the mouth,
and is called roba and saba. And thus much for the first sec-
tion, the second follows.

SECT. II.

' The way of making and keeping all necessary Compounds .

CHAP. I. Of distilled Waters .
Hitherto we have s^pol^en of medicines whicii coii^i^v n.

their own nature, which authors vulgarly call simples, though
something improperly; for in truth nothing is simple but pure
elements: all things else are compounded of them. We come
now to treat of the artificial medicines, in the form of which
(because we must begin somewhere) we shall place distilled
waters; in which consider,

1. Waters are distilled of herbs, flowers, fruits, and roots.

2. We treat not of strong waters, but of cold, as being to act
Galen’s part, and not Paracelsus’s.

3. The herbs ought to be distilled when they are in the great-
est vigour, and so ought the flowers also.

4. The vulgar w ay of distillations which people use, because
they know no better, is in a pewter still; and although distilled
waters are the weakest of artificial medicines, and good for little
but mixtures of other medicines, yet they are weaker by many
degrees, than they would be were they distilled in sand. If I
thought it not impossible, to teach you the way of distilling in
sand, I would attempt it.

396 Directions for making Syrups , SfC.

5. When you have distilled your water put it into, a glass,
covered over with a paper pricked full of holes, so that the ex-
crementitious and fiery vapours may exhale, which cause that
settling in distilled waters called the mother, which corrupt
them, then cover it close, and keep it for your use.

6. Stopping distilled waters with a cork, makes them musty,
and so does paper, if it but touch the water: it is best to stop
them with a bladder, being first put in water, and bound over
the top of the glass.

Such cold waters as are distilled in a pewter still (if well kept)
will endure a year; such as are distilled in sand, as they are
twice as strong, so they endure twice as long.

CHAP. II. Of Syrups.

t. A SYRUP is a medicine of a liquid form, composed of
infusion, decoction, and juice. And, 1. For the more grateful
taste. 2. For the better keeping of it: with a certain quantity
of honey and sugar, hereafter mentioned, boiled to the thick-
ness of new honey,

2. You see at the first view, that this aphorism divides itself
into three branches, which deserve severally to be treated of, viz.

1. Syrups made of infusion.

2. Syrups made by decoction.

3. Syrups made by juice.

Of each of these (for your instruction-sake, kind countrymen
and women) I speak a word or two apart.

1st, Syrups made by infusion, are usually made of flowers,
and of such flowers as soon lose their colour and strength by
boiling, as roses, violets, peach flowers, &c. My translation
of the London Dispensatory will instruct you in the rest. They
are thus made : Having picked your flowers clean, to every
pound of them add three pounds or three pints, which you will,
(for it is all one) of spring water, made boiling hot; first put
your flowers into a pewter pot, with a cover, and pour the
water on them ; then shutting the pot, let it stand by the fire.

Directions for making Syrups , CfC. 397

to keep hot twelve hours, and strain it out: (in such syrups as
purge) as damask roses, peach flowers, &c. the usual, and in-
deed the best way, is to repeat this infusion, adding fresh flowers
to the same liquor divers times, that so it may be the stronger ;
having strained it out, put the infusion into a pewter bason, or
an earthen one well glazed, and to every pint of it add two
pounds of sugar, which being only melted over the fire, without
boiling, and scummed, will produce you the syrup you desire,

2dly, Syrups made by decoction are usually made of com-
pounds, yet may any simple herb be thus converted into syrup:
Take the herb, root, or flowers you would make into a syrup,
and bruise it a little ; then boil it in a convenient quantity of
spring water ; the more water you boil it in, the weaker it will
be; a handful of the herb or root is a convenient quantity for a
pint of water ; boil it till half the water be consumed, then let
it stand till it be almost cold, and strain it through a woollen
cloth, letting it run out at leisure, without pressing: To every
pint of this decoction add one pound of sugar, and boil it over
the fire till it come to a syrup, which you may know, if you
now and then cool a little of it with a spoon : Skim it all the
while it boils, and when it is sufficiently boiled, whilst it is hot,
strain it again through a woollen cloth, but press it not. Thus
you have the syrup perfected.

3dly, Syrups made of juice, are usually made of such herbs
as are full of juice, and indeed they are better made into a syrup
this way than any other; the operation is thus: Having beaten
the herb in a stone mortar, with a wooden pestle, press out the
juice, and clarify it, as you are taught before in the juices ; then
let the juice boil away till about a quarter of it be consumed:
To a pint of this add a pound of sugar, and boil it to a syrup,
always skimming it, and when it is boiled enough, strain it
through a woollen cloth, as we taught you before, and keep it
for your use.

3. If you make a syrup of roots, that are any thing hard, as
parsley, fennel, and grass roots, &c. when you have bruised
.them, lay them in steep some time in that water which you

398 Directions for making Syrups , SfC.

intend to boil them in hot, so will the virtue the better come out.

4. Keep your syrups either in glasses or stone pots, and stop
them not with cork nor bladder, unless you would have the
glass break, and the syrup lost, only bind paper about the
mouth.

5. All syrups, if well made, continue a year with some advan-
tage; yet such as are made by infusion, keep shortest.

CHAP. III. Of Juleps .

1. J ULEPS were first invented, as I suppose, in Arabia;
and my reason is, because the word julep is an Arabic word.

2. It signifies only a pleasant potion, as is vulgarly used by
such as are sick, and want help, or such as are in health, and
want no money to quench thirst.

3. Now-a-day it is commonly used,

1. To prepare the body for purgation.

2. To open obstructions and the pore.,.

3. To digest tough humours.

4. To qualify hot distempers, &c.

4. Simple juleps (for 1 have nothing to say to compounds
here) are thus made : Take a pint of such distilled water as con-
duces to the cure of your distemper, which this treatise will
plentifully furnish you with, to which add two ounces of syrup,
conducing to the same effect ; (I shall give you rules for it in the
next chapter) mix them together, and drink a draught of it at
your pleasure. If you love tart things, add ten drops of oil of
vitriol to your pint, and shake it together, and it will have a fine
grateful taste.

5. All juleps are made for present use; and therefore it is in
vain to speak of their duration.

CHAP. IV. Of Decoction

i. All the difference between decoctions, and syrups made
by decoction, is this; syrups are made to keep, decoctions on-
ly for present use; for you can hardly keep a decoction a week

Directions for making Syrups, SfC. 399

at any time ; if the weather be hot, not half so long.

2. Decoctions are made of leaves, roots, flowers, seeds,
fruits or barks, conducing to the cure of the disease you
make them for; and are made in the same manner as we shew-
ed you in syrups.

3. Decoctions made with wine last longer than such as are
made with water; and if you take your decoction to cleanse the
passages of the urine, or open obstructions, your best way is to
make it with white wine instead of water, because this is pene-
trating.

4. Decoctions are of most use in such diseases as lie in the
passages of the body, as the stomach, bowels, kidneys, passages
of urine and bladder, because decoctions pass quicker to those
places than any other form of medicines.

5. If you will sweeten your decoction with sugar, or any
syrup fit for the occasion you take it for, which is better, you
may, and no harm.

6. If in a decoction, you boil both roots, herbs, flowers, and
seed together, let the roots boil a good while first, because they
retain their virtue longest; then the next in order by the same
rule, viz. 1. Barks. 2. Herbs. 3. The seeds. 4. The
flowers. 5. The spices, if you put any in, because their virtues
come soonest out.

7. Such things as by boiling, cause sliminess to a decoction,
as figs, quince-seed, linseed, &c. your best way is, after you
have bruised them, to tie them up in a linen rag, as you tie up
calf's brains, and so boil them.

8. Keep all decoctions in a glass close stopped, and in the cool-
er place you keep them, the longer they will last ere they be sour.

Lastly, The usual dose to be given at one time, is usually
two, three, four, or five ounces, according to the age and
strength of the patient, the season of the year, the strength of
the medicine, and the quality of the disease.

CHAP. V. Of Oils.

i. Oil olive, which is commonly known by the name of

400 Directions for making Syrups , fyc.

salad oil, I suppose, because it is usually eaten with salads by
them that love it, if it be pressed out of ripe olives, according
to Galen, it is temperate, and exceeds in no one quality.

2. Of oils, some are simple, and some are compound.

3. Simple oils are such as are made of fruits or seeds by ex-
pression, as oil of sweet and bitter almonds, linseed and rape-
seed oil, &c. of which see in my Dispensatory.

4. Compound oils, are made of oil of olives, and other sim-
ples, imagine herbs, flowers, roots, &c.

5. The way of making them is this: Having bruised the
herbs or flowers you would make your oil of, put them into an
earthen pot, and to two or three handfuls of them pour a pint
of oil, cover the pot with a paper, set it in the sun about a fort-
night or so, according as the sun is in hotness : then having
warmed it very well by the fire, press out the herb, &c. very
hard in a press, and add as many more herbs to the same oil ;
bruise the herbs (I mean not the oil) in like manner, set them
in the sun as before; the oftener you repeat this, the stronger
your oil will be: At last, when you conceive it strong enough,
boil both herbs and oil together, till the juice be consumed,
which you may know by its leaving its bubbling, and the herbs
will be crisp ; then strain it while it is hot, and keep it in a stone
or glass vessel for your use.

6. As for chymical oils, I have nothing to say here.

7. The general use of these oils is for pains in the limbs,
roughness of the skin, the itch, &c. as also for ointments and
plaisters.

8. If you have occasion to use it for wounds or ulcers, in
two ounces of oil, dissolve half an ounce of turpentine, the
heat of the fire will quickly do it ; for oil itself is offensive to
wounds, and the turpentine qualifies it.

CHAP. VI. Of Electuaries.

Physicians make more a quoii than needs by half, about
electuaries. I shall prescribe but one general way of making

Directions for making Syrups, fyc. 401

them up ; as for ingredients, you may vary them as you please,
and as you find occasion, by the last chapter.

1. That you may make the electuaries when you need them,
it is requisite that you keep always herbs, roots, flowers, seeds,
&c. ready dried in your house, that so you may be in readiness
to beat them into powder when you need them.

2. It is better to keep them whole than beaten : for being
beaten, they are more subject to lose their strength ; because
the air soon penetrates them.

3. If they be not dry enough to beat into powder when you
need them, dry them by a gentle fire till they are so.

4. Having beaten them, sift them through a fine tiffany scarce,
that no great pieces may be found in your electuary.

5. To one ounce of your powder add three ounces of clarified
honey ; this quantity I hold to be sufficient. If you would make
more or less electuary, vary your proportion accordingly.

6. Mix them well together in a mortar, and take this for a
truth, you cannot mix them too much.

7. The way to clarify honey, is to set it over the fire in a
convenient vessel till the scum rise, and when the scum is taken
off, it is clarified.

8. The usual dose of cordial electuaries, is from half a dram
to tw o drams : of purging electuaries, from half an ounce to
an ounce.

9. The manner of keeping them is in a pot.

10. The time of taking them, is either in a morning fasting,
and fasting an hour after them ; or at night going to bed, three
or four hours after supper.

CHAP. VII. Of Conserves .

The way of making conserves is twofold, one of herbs and
flowers, and the other of fruits.

2. Conserves of herbs and flowers, are thus made : If you
make your conserve of herbs, as of scurvy-grass, wormwood,
rue, and the like, take only the leaves and tender tops (for you

3 £

4012 Directions for Making Syrups , tfc.

may beat your heart out, before you can beat the stalks small)
and having beaten them, weigh them, and to every pound of
them add three pounds of sugar : you cannot beat them too much.

3. Conserves of fruits, as of barberries, sloes, and the like,
are thus made : First, scald the fruit, then rub the pulp through a
thick hair sieve made for the purpose, called a pulping sieve ;
you may do it for a need with the back of a spoon; then take
this pulp thus drawn, and add to it its weight of sugar, and no
more ; put it into a pewter vessel, and over a charcoal fire ; stir
it up and down till the sugar be melted, and your conserve
is made.

4. Thus you have the way of making conserves; the way
of keeping them is in earthen pots.

5. The dose is usually the quantity of a nutmeg at a time
morning and evening, or (unless they are purging) when you
please.

6. Of conserves, some keep many years, as conserves of roses :
others but a year, as conserves of borage, bugloss, cowslips,
and the like.

7. Have a care of the working of some conserves presently
after they are made; look to them once a day, and stir them
about : conserves of borage, bugloss, and wormwood, have got
an excellent faculty at that sport.

8. You may know when your conserves are almost spoiled
by this: you shall find a hard crust at top, with little holes in
it, as though worms had been eating there.

CHAP. VIII. Of Preserves.

Of preserves are sundry sorts, and the operation of all being
somewhat different, we shall handle them all apart. These are
preserved with sugar:

1. Flowers. 3. Roots.

2. Fruits. 4. Barks.

1. Flowers are very seldom preserved : I never saw any that
I remember, save only cowslip flowers, and that was a great
fashion in Sussex when I was a boy. It is thus done: Take a

Directions for making Syrups , fyc, 403

flat glass, we call them jar glasses ; strew on a laying of fine
sugar, on that a laying of flowers, and on that another laying
of sugar, on that another laying of flowers, so do till your glass
be full; then tie it over with a paper, and in a little time, you
shall have very excellent and pleasant preserves.

There is another way of preserving flowers ; namely, with
vinegar and salt, as they pickle capers and broom-buds ; but as
I have little skill in it myself, I cannot teach you.

2. Fruits, as quinces, and the like, are preserved two ways :

(1.) Boil them well in water, and then pulp them through a

sieve, as we shewed you before ; then with the like quantity of
sugar, boil the water they were boiled in into a syrup, viz. a
pound of sugar to a pint of liquor; to every pound of this sy-
rup, add four ounces of the pulp; then boil it with a very gen-
tle fire to their right consistence, which you may easily know
if you drop a drop of it upon a trencher ; if it be enough, it
will not stick to your fingers when it is cold.

(2.) Another way to preserve fruits is this: First, pare off
the rind ; then cut them in halves, and take out the core ; then
boil them in water till they are soft; if you know when beef is
boiled enough, you may easily know when they are : Then boil
the water with its like weight of sugar into a syrup; put the
syrup into a pot, and put the boiled fruit as whole as you left
it when you cut into it, and let it remain until you have occa-
sion to use it.

3. Roots are thus preserved : First, scrape them very clean,
and cleanse them from the pith, if they have any, for some roots
have not, as eringo and the like : boil them in water till they
be soft, as we shewed you before in the fruits ; then boil the
water you boiled the root in into a syrup, as we shewed you
before, then keep the root whole in the syrup till you use them.

4. As for barks, we have but few' come to our hands to be
done, and of those, the few that I can remember are oranges,
lemons, citrons, and the outer bark of walnuts, which grow
witbout-side the shell, for the shells themselves w'ould make

404 Directions for making Syrups , fyc.

but scurvy preserves ; these be they I can remember, if there
be any more put them into the number.

The way of preserving these, is not ail one in authors, for
some are bitter, some are hot ; such as are bitter, say authors,
must be soaked in warm water, oftentimes changing till their
bitter taste be fled : but I like not this way, and my reason is
this ; because I doubt when their bitterness is gone, so is their
virtue also ; I shall then prescribe one common way, namely,
the same with the former, viz. First boil them whole till they
be soft, then make a syrup with sugar and the liquor you boil
them in, and keep the barks in the syrup.

5. They are kept in glasses, or glazed pots.

The preserved flowers will keep a year, if you can for-
bear eating of them; the roots and barks much longer.

7. This art was plainly and first invented for delicacy, yet
came afterwards to be of excellent use in physic : For,

(1.) Hereby medicines are made pleasant for sick and
squeamish stomachs, which else would loath them.

(2.) Hereby they are preserved from decaying a long time*

CHAP. IX. Of Lohocks.
np

1. I HAT which the Arabians call lohocks, and the Greeks
eclegma, the Latins call linctus, and in plain English, signifies
nothing else but a thing to be licked up.

2. They are in body thicker than a syrup, and not so thick
as an electuary.

3. The manner of taking them is, often to take a little with
a liquorice stick, and let it go down at leisure.

4. They are easily thus made : Make a decoction of pectoral
herbs, and the treatise will furnish you with enough ; and when
you have strained it, with twice its weight of honey or sugar,
boil it to a lohock; if you are molested with much phlegm,
honey is better than sugar, and if you add a little vinegar to it,
you will do well : if not, I hold sugar to be better than honey.

It is kept in pots, and may be kept a year and longer.

Directions for making Syrups, SfC. 405

6. It is excellent for roughness of the wind-pipe; inflamma-
tions and ulcers of the lungs, difficulty of breathing, asthmas ,
^coughs, and distillations of humours.

CHAP. X. Of Ointments.,

1. \ ARIOUS are the ways of making ointments, which

authors have left to posterity, which I shall omit, and quote
one which is easiest to be made, and therefore most beneficial
to people that are ignorant in physic, for whose sake I write
this. It is thus done:

Bruise those herbs, flowers, or roots, you will nrnke an oint-
ment of, and to two handfuls of your bruised herbs add a pound
of hog’s grease dried, or cleansed from the skins, beat them
very w ell together in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, then
put it into a stone pot, (the herb and grease I mean, not the
mortar) cover it with a paper, and set it either in the sun, or
some other warm place, three, four, or five days, that it may
melt; then take it out and boil it a little; then while it is hot,
strain it out, pressing it out very hard in a press ; to this grease
add as many more herbs bruised as before ; let them stand in like
manner as long, then boil them as you did the former : If you
think your ointment is not strong enough, you may do it the
third and fourth time ; yet this I will tell you, the fuller of juice
the herbs are, the sooner will your ointment be strong: the last
time you boil it, boil it so long till your herbs be crisp, and the
juice consumed, then strain it, pressing it hard in a press,
and to every pound of ointment add two ounces of turpentine,
and as much wax, because grease is offensive to wounds, as
well as oil.

2. Ointments are vulgarly krnnvn to be kept in pots, and
will last above a year, some above two years.

CHAP. XI. Of Planters.

1. 1 HE Greeks made their plaisters of divers simples, and
put metals into the most of them, if not all; for having reduc-

406 Directions for making Syrups , fyc.

ed their metals into powder, they mixed them with that fatty
substance whereof the rest of the plaister consisted, whilst it
was yet hot, continually stirring it up and down, lest it should
sink to the bottom; so they continually stirred it till it was
stiff ; then they made it up in rolls, which, when they needed
for use, they could melt it by the fire again.

2. The Arabians made up theirs with oil and fat, which need-
ed not so long boiling.

3. The Greeks emplaisters consisted of these ingredients:
metals, stones, divers sorts of earth, feces, juices, liquors, seeds,
roots, herbs, excrements of creatures, wax, rosin, gums.

CHAP. XII. Of Poultices .

1. OULTICES are those kind of things which the Latins
call cataplasmata, and our learned fellows, that if they can read
English, that's all, call them cataplasms, because it is a crabbed
word few understand ; it is indeed a very fine kind of medicine
to ripen sores.

2. They are made of herbs and roots, fitted for the disease,
and members afflicted, being chopped small, and boiled in water
almost to a jelly; then by adding a little barley-meal, or meal
of lupins and a little oil, or rough sweet suet, which I hold
to be better spread upon a cloth, and apply to the grieved
place.

3. Their use is to ease pain, to break sores, to cool inflam-
mations, to dissolve hardness, to ease the spleen, to concoct
humours, and dissipate swellings.

4. I beseech you take this caution along with you : Use no
poultices (if you can help it) that are of an healing nature,
before you have first cleansed the body, because they are sub-
ject to draw the humours to them from every part of the body.

CHAP. XIII. Of Troches.

i. The Latins call them placentula , or little cakes, and the
Greeks prochikois , kukliscoi , and artiscoi ; they are usually

Direction s for making Syrups , fyc. 407

little round flat cakes, or you may make them square if you will.

2. Their first invention was, that powders being so kept,
might resist the intermission of air, and so endure pure the
longer.

3. Besides they are easier carried in the pockets of such as
travel; as many a man (for example) is forced to travel whose
stomach is too cold, or at least not so hot as it should be, which
is most proper, for the stomach is never cold till a man be dead ;
in such case, it is better to carry troches of wormwood, or ga-
langal, in a paper, in his pocket, than to lay a gallipot along
with him.

4. They are made thus : At night when you go to bed, take
two drams of fine gum tragacanth; put it into a gallipot, and
put half a quarter of a pint of any distilled water fitting for the
purpose you would make your troches for to cover it, and the
next morning you shall find it in such a jelly as the physicians
call mucilage : with this you may (with a little pains taken) make
a powder into a paste, and that paste into cakes called troches.

5. Having made them, dry them in the shade, and keep them
in a pot for your use.

CHAP. XIV. Of Pills.

nn

1. JL HEY are called pilulce , because they resemble little
balls; the Greeks call them catapolia.

2. It is the opinion of modern physicians, that this way of
making medicines, was invented only to deceive the palate, that
so by swallowing them down whole, the bitterness of the me-
dicine might not be perceived, or at least it might not be un-
sufferable : and indeed most of their pills, though not all, are
very bitter.

3. I am of a clean contrary opinion to this. I rather think
they were done up in this hard form, that so they might be the
longer in digesting ; and my opinion is grounded on reason too,
not upon fancy, or hearsay. The first invention of pills was to
purge the head ; now, as I told you before, such infirmities as

40S Directions for making Syrups , fyc.

lie near the passages were best removed by decoctions, because
they pass to the grieved part soonest; so here, if the infirmity
lies in the head, or any other remote part, the best way is to
use pills, because they are longer tn digestion, and therefore
the better able to call the offending humour to them.

4. If I should tell you here a long tale of medicines working
by sympathy and antipathy, you would not understand a word
of it: They that are set to make physicians may find it in the
treatise. All modern physicians know not what belongs to a
sympathetical cure, no more than a cuck ow what belongs to flats
and sharps in music, but follow the vulgar road, and call it a
hidden quality, because it is hidden from the eyes of dunces,
and indeed none but astrologers can give a reason for it : and
physic without reason, is like a pudding without fat.

5. The way to make pills is very easy, for with the help of a
pestle and mortar, and a little diligence, you may make any
powder into pills, either with syrup, or the jelly I told you
before.

CHAP. XV. The way of mixing Medicines , according to

the Cause of the Disease , and Part of the Body afflicted.

This being indeed the key of the work, I shall be somewhat
the more diligent in it. I shall deliver myself thus ;

1. To the vulgar.

2. To such as study astrology or such as study physic astro-
logically.

1st, To the vulgar. Kind souls, I am sorry it hath been your
hard mishap to have been so long trained in such Egyptian dark-
ness, even darkness which to your sorrow may be felt : The
vulgar road of physic is not my practice, and I am therefore the
more unfit to give you advice. I have now published a little
book, (Galen’s Art of Physic) which will fully instruct you,
not only in the knowledge of your own bodies, but also in fit
medicines to remedy each part of it when afflicted ; in the mean
season take these few rules to stay your stomachs.

Directions for makiny Syrups, fyc.

409

1. With the disease, regard the cause, and the part of the body
afflicted : for example, suppose a woman be subject to miscarry,
through wind, thus do :

(1.) Look abortion in the table of diseases, and you shall be
directed by that, how many herbs prevent miscarriage.

(2.) Look wind in the same table, and you shall see how many
of these herbs expel wind.

These are the herbs medicinal for your grief.

2. In all diseases strengthen the part of the body afflicted,

3. In mixed diseases there lies some difficulty, for sometimes
two parts of the body are afflicted with contrary humours, as
sometimes the liver is afflicted with choler and water, as when
a man hath both the dropsy and the jellow jaundice ; and this is
usually mortal,

In the former, suppose the brain be too cool and moist, and the
liver be too hot and dry ; thus do ;

1. Keep your head outwardly warm.

2. Accustom yourself to the smell of hot herbs.

3. Take a pill that heats the head at night going to bed.

4. In the morning take a decoction that cools the liver, for that
quickly passeth the stomach, and is at the liver immediately.

You must not think, courteous people, that I can spend time
to give you examples of all diseases : These are enough to let
you see so much light as you without art are able to receive : If I
should set you to look at the sun, I should dazzle your eyes, and
make you blind.

2ndly, To such as study astrology, ( who are the only men 1
know that are fit to study physic, physic without astrology being
like a lamp without oil ) ; you are the men I exceedingly respect,
and such documents as my brain can give you at present ( being
absent from my study) I shall give you.

1. Fortify the body with herbs of the nature of the lord of the
ascendant, it is no matter whether he be a fortune or infortune in
this case.

2. Let your medicine be something antipathetical to the lord of
the sixth.

No. 18. 3 f

410

Directions for making Syrups, <$fc.

3. Let your medicine be something of the nature of the sign
ascending.

4. If the lord of the tenth be strong, make use of his medi-
cines.

5. If this cannot well be, make use of the medicines of the light
of time.

6. Be sure always to fortify the grieved part of the body by
sympathetic remedies.

7. Regard the heart, keep that upon the wheels, because the
Sun is the foundation of life, and therefore those universal remedies,
Aurum Potalile,. and the philosophers stone, cure all diseases by
fortifying the heart.

CULPEPPER’S

ENGLISH PHYSICIAN,

CONTAINING

THE MEDICAL PART .

A Physical and Astronomical Description of Man ,

(j3r OD, tke omnipotent and wise Creator, having made all things
out of nothing, and from a crude and undigested mass, according
to his will, and by his word, brought all things into a decent frame
and majestic structure ; out of a confused chaos made the heavens
and the earth ; out of that which was dark and void he created
light, he separated the waters from the earth, and gave bounds to
the unruly waves; and endued the dry and barren earth with pro-
lific virtue, richly adorning it with grass, herbs, and fruit-trees ; he
made the sun, moon, and stars, to divide the light from the dark-
ness, to enlighten and rule both day and night, to be for signs, and
to distinguish seasons, days, and years : by his word he created
every living thing that moveth.

Having thus far proceeded in his so excellent and admirable
workmanship of creation, he made man a summary of the world’s
fabric, a small draught of the divine nature : he was made after
all other creatures, not only as the most perfect, but as the super-
intendant and master, of all things : created Quod dominetur in

■2

Culpepper's English Physician

pise is mar is, et in volacres cceli, ei in peeudes, et in universam
terram, atque in omnia reptilia reptantia super terrain : “To
rule over the fish in the sea, and over the fowls ot the air, and
over cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing.”
Gen. i. 28.

In man he ended his work ; on man he stamped his seal and
sign of his power, on him he has imprinted his own image and
superscription, his arms and his portraiture. Dixit Deus, facia-
mus hominem ad imaginem nostrum , secundum similitu dinem
nostrum : “ God said, let us make man in our image, after our
likeness.” Gen. i. 26. In the creation of man, God seemed to
deliberate and take counsel with himself, how to epitomize and
gather together all his works in so small a compass, to contract
his book oi creation into so small a volume. Hence he is called
the microcosm , or little world, the recapitulation of all things.,
the ligament of angels and beasts, heavenly and earthly, spiritual
and corporeal, the perfection of the whole work, the honour and
miracle of nature. He created him naked, being a pure, neat,
and delicate creature, made up of thin, subtile, well tempered
and seasoned, humours, innocent, and far more beautiful than the
rest.

He was created upright, but little touching the earth, quite op-
posite to the vegetable plant, whose root is therein fixed ; far differ-
ent also from the beast, who is a mean between a plant and himself,
and goeth downward, his two extremes tending to the bounds of
the horizon : this upright gait belonging only unto the human spe-
cies, as the holiest and most divine creature, his head tending to the
heavens, on which he looks, and contemplates with grateful ado-
ration the omnipotence of his Creator.

His body being thus formed of pure subtile earth, as a house
and habitation for the soul, God breathed into him the breath of
life , and he became a living soul. Gen. ii. 7. So in the ordi-
nary generation and formation, which is made of the seed in the
womb, nature observeth the self-same order ; the body is first
formed, as well by the elementary force, which is in the seed
and the heat of the matrix, as by the celestial influence of the

And Family Dispensatory .

3

sun ; according to the adage, Sol et homo generant hominetn :
•** The sun and man do engender man ; ” which is done according
to the opinion of the most eminent naturalists and physicians, in
such order, that the first seven days the seed of the man and the
ova of the woman mingle, and they curdle like cream, which is
the beginning of conception ; the second seven days, the seed is
changed into a formless bloody substance, and concocted into a
thick and undigested mass of fiesh, the proper matter of the child;
the next seven days, from this mass is produced and fashioned a
gross body, with the three most noble parts, viz. the liver, heart,
and brain ; the fourth seven days, or near thirty, the whole
body is perfected, jointed, and organized, and is fit to entertain
the soul, which invests itself into the body ( according to the best
authority) about the seven-and- thirtieth or fortieth day: at the
third month, or thereabout, the infant has motion and sense; and
at the ninth month is brought forth. These times cannot be so
exactly prefixed, but that by the strength or debility of the seed
or matrix they may be either hastened or prolonged. But I shall
not enter minutely upon this subject now, but give a more particu-
lar description of it hereafter.

The body of man consists of a number of bones and cartilages,
which are the basis and upholding pillars of the whole fabric ; the
joints are compacted with many ligaments, and are covered with
innumerable membranes : the members are supplied with about
thirty pair of sensitive nerves, as with little cords ; and all filled
with as many arteries, like water-pipes, conveying vital spirits to
all parts ; the empty places are filled up with above four hundred
muscles of different sorts, all covered with a skin.

Man, for whom all things were made, is nourished by the
balsamic spirits of vegetables, and therefore doth consist of all
these faculties, that spring up as a token of health or sickness.
The celestial planets have also great influence over him ; the
moistening power of the Moon is represented by the marrow
which flows from the brain ; in the genital part is Venus seat-
ed ; eloquence and comeliness are the effects of nimble-witted
Mercury ; the Sun hath a near affinity to the heart ; benevo-

4

Culpepper s English Physician

lent Jupiter hath his seat in the liver, the fountain of nutritive
blood ; the fiery fury of Mars is lodged in the gall ; the spun-
gy and hollow milt, the seat and receptacle of melancholic hu-
mours, is a perfect representation of the cold planet Saturn.
Indeed, the spirits of the body do manifest and hold forth the
quintessence of all things. The four humours in man answer to
the four elements : as the bile, which is hot and dry, represent-
eth the fire ; hot and moist blood, the air ; phlegm, cold and
moist, water; cold and dry melancholy, the earth. Man is an
admirable creature, the universe and epitome of the world, and
the horizon of corporeal and incorporeal things. I shall conclude
this part with the saying of Zoroaster : “ O man : the workman-
ship of most powerful nature, the most artificial master-piece of
God’s hands ! ”

A DESCRIPTION OF THE HEAD.

THE head of man possesses the highest place in the body,
and represents the uppermost and angelical region : it is the
fort of man’s mind, the seat of reason, the habitation of wis-
dom, the place of memory, judgement, and cogitation : it
containeth the brain, cold and spungious by nature, inclosed
with two skins, the one, more hard and thick, joining itself to
the dura mater ; the other, more thin and easy, wherein lieth
the brain inclosed, called pia mater ; it is soft and tender to the
brain, and nourisheth it, as a loving mother doth her young and
tender babe ; from the pia mater issue the sinews and marrow
that descendeth and falleth down through the vertebra? of the
back to the reins. In the brain is the seat and throne of the
rational soul, in which are a very great number of veins and ar-
teries running through all the substance thereof, administering to
the brain both spirit and life, vital and nutrimental nourish-
ment, which comes from the heart and liver by very minute or
small veins and arteries ; and concocted and reconcocted, ela-

And Family Dispensatory .

5

borated, and made very subtile, passing through those woven and
interlaced, turning and winding, in which labyrinth the vital spi-
rit, often passing and repassing, is perfected and refined, and be-
comes animal.

The pi a mater divides the substance of the brain into three cer-
tain cells and divisions, the foremost part of which contains the
most, the middle part less, and the hindmost part the least. In the
foremost part of the brain imagination is seated ; in the middle,
judgement ; in the hindmost part, memory , I magination is hot
and dry in quality, quick and active, from whence it cometh that
frantic men, and such as are sick of hot maladies, are excellent
in that which belongs to imagination ; many, upon such a distem-
per, have been excellent in poetry and divination ; it never sleep-
eth, but is always working, whether the man be sleeping or wak-
ing ; and, by the vapours that arise from the heart, from variety
of cogitations, which, wanting the regulation of judgement, when
man sleepeth, becomes a dream.

Hence it appears that subtilty, promptitude, and that which
they commonly call wit, belongeth to a hot imagination : it is ac-
tive, stirring, undertaketh all, and sets all the rest to work ; it ga-
thers the kinds of figures of things, both present, by the use of the
five senses, and absent, by the common sense.

Judgement is seated in the midst of the brain, 1 here to bear
rule over the other faculties ; it is the seat of the rational soul,
and the judge of men’s actions : if you would know the mean
whereby it knoweth and judgeth of things, some authors have
been of opinion, that the spirit knoweth by the help of the senses,
and that the understanding without the sense is but as white
paper. Nil est in intellectu, quod non feurit prius in sensu :
“ There is nothing in the understanding which was not first in the
sense.” But this opinion is false, because the seeds of science
and virtue are insinuated into our spirits, else is the state of the
reasonable soul worse than the vegetative or sensitive which of
themselves are able to exercise their functions. It were absurd
to think that so noble and divine a faculty should beg assistance
of so vile and corruptible a one as the senses, which apprehend

6

Culpepper's English Physician

only the simple accidents, not the nature, or essence, of things r
and were it so, it must follow, that they who have their sen-
ses most perfect should be most witty, whereas we see many
times the contrary. Yet let no one think lhatthe spirit hath no
service from the senses ; for, in the beginning, or discovery and
invention of things, the senses do much service to the spirit, hut
the spirit dependeth not upon the senses. Some are of opinion,
that it is hot and moist in quality ; others say, that a dry tem-
perature is proper to the understanding, whereby it came to
pass that aged persons excel those in understanding that are
young, because, as years increase, moisture doth decrease in the
brain ; hence it folio weth, that melancholic persons, that are
afflicted with want, and fast much, are wise and ingenious, for
heaviness and fasting are great driers : Splendor jdccus, animus
sapientissimus, vexatio dat intelleetum ; “ Heat and drought
refine the wit, affliction giveth understanding ; ” and that is the
reason that great persons, who feed high, and take little or no
care, that have nothing to vex them, are for the most part not very
wise.

Beasts that are of a dry temperature, as ants, bees, elephants,
&c. are cunning and ingenious; on the contrary, they that are
of a moist constitution are stupid and without spirit. Memo-
ry is seated in the hinder cell of the brain, as the grand account-
ant or register ; some say its temperature is cold and dry, and that
is thought to be the reason why melancholic people have good
memories ; others are of opinion that it is moist, because chil-
dren have better memories than old men ; men are more apt for
memory in the morning, by reason ef the moisture gained by
sleep in the night ; but, let it be as it may, it is most certain
that those who have a good memory are not in general very
wise.

It is true that many have been excellent in this faculty. Se-
neca repeated two thousand names as they were first spoken ; he
also, hearing two hundred verses, rehearsed them, and began
at the last. Cyrus and Scipio knew every soldiers name in
their armies. Mithridates learned the languages of two-and-

And Family Dispensatory .

7

twenty nations. Esdras the priest had the whole Jewish doc-
trine by heart, J ulius Caesar would dictate to four at the same
time ; and that which is more strange, Pliny would dictate to
one, hear another, and read at the same instant. As these were
so excellent and acute in memory, others were as dull : Atticus
could never learn the letters of the alphabet by heart ; others
could not count above four. It is said, that Theodore Beza, two
years before he died, as he languished, his mind grew so feeble
that he forgot things present, yet held those things which were
printed in his mind before time, when his understanding and me-
mory were good. What shall we say of Messalla Comivus, who
forgot his own name ? or Franciscus Barbarus, of Athens, a very
learned man in the Greek tongue, who having received a blow on
the head with a stone, forgot his learning which he had spent
the greatest part of his life time upon, yet remembered all things
else. These things are brought to pass either by the strength or
debility of men’s genitures, and from directions, and accidents
thence proceeding ; Wit and understanding, and all the faculties
of the soul, depend on a certain temperament ; and hence it comes
to pass that those who are acute and wise in some things are stu-
pid and dull in others.

OF THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE HEAD.

m

A HE sensitive faculty has its residence in th e pia mater ; it is
that which gives virtue to all the particular senses, and keeps a
harmony amongst them : they are five in number, viz. seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling; although these are all
united in one in the brain, yet operatively they are distinguished
in their several seats and places of residence.

The sight resides in the eyes, and particularly in the chrys-
taline humour ; they are two in number, and collateral, planted
in the highest stage, as centinels ; they are the luminaries of the
microcosm ; Galen says, the brain and head were made for the
eyes, that they might be in the highest, as a beholder in a tower ;
they are next in nature unto the soul ; for in the eye is seen and

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Culpepper's English Physician

known the disturbances and griefs, gladness and joys,, of the
soul, as love, wrath, and other passions. They are compounded
and made of seven tunicles, or coats, and three humours : they
proceed out of the substance, they take a pannicle to defend it
from annoyance. They meet, and are united into one sinew,
about half an inch in length before they enter the skull and after
divide into two, each going into one eye ; they are called nervi
optici, the optic nerves, and through these are brought visible
spirits to the eye.

These are the most noble outward parts of the body, in beau-
ty, utility, mobility, and activity. They are to the visage that
which the visage is to the body; they are the face of the face,
and, because they are tender, delicate, and precious, they are
fenced on all sides with skins, lids, brows, and hair. The ob-
ject of the eye or sight is colour, (according to the common opi-
nion,) which is an adherent quality in bodies, whereof there are
six simples, as white, yellow, red, purple, green, and blue; the
compounds are infinite; to speak more fully, the true object is
light,, which is never without colour, and without which the co-
lours are invisible.

The sense of seeing excelleth all the rest in many things ;: it
apprehendeth farther off, and extendeth itself even to the stars.
It is certainly reported, that Strabo had such acute eyes, that
from Lilybaeum he could discern ships going forth of the Cartha-
ginian haven, and could number them ; the distance was one
hundred and thirty-five miles. It hath more variety of objects,
for to all things, and generally in all, there is a light and colour,
the objects of the eyes, as I hinted before. It is most exquisite,
in the least and finest thing that presents itself. It is more prompt
and sudden, for it apprehendeth even in a moment, and without
motion, when the other senses require motion and time. It enjoy-
etb a liberty incomparable to others : the eye seeth, or seeth not,
and therefore hath lids to open or shut : it is active ; all the rest
purely passive. But that which is most noble in this sense is, that
the privation of the object thereof, which is darkness, brings fear,
and that naturally, because then a man findeth himself robbed of

And Family Dispensatory .

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so excellent a guide ; the sight in the light is instead of company,
wherein man much delighteth.

Hearing is the next sense to be considered, whose residence
is in the ears ; it is in quality cold and dry, under the dominion
of Saturn. They are placed on the outside of the head, in the
self-same height as the eyes are, as the scouts of the body,
porters of the spirit, the receivers and judges of the sounds,
which always ascend. They have their entrance oblique and
-crooked, that so the sound may not enter all at once, whereby
the sense of hearing might be hindered, and not so well able
to judge ; and again, that the sounds, being fugitive, might
there lurk, and abide under his shadow, till the instruments of
hearing have gotten possession thereof. The sinews, that are
the organs of hearing, spring each from the brain, and, when
they come to the hole of the ear, they are wreathed together ;
the end is like a worm, or little teat, into which is received the
sound, and from thence carried to the common wits, to distin-
guish. The object of the ear, or hearing, is a sound or noise
proceeding from the encounter of two bodies; a pleasant and
melodious sound sweeteneth and appeaseth the spirit, consequent-
ly the body too, and drives maladies from them both ; the sharp
and penetrant doth trouble and wound the spirit This sense
diath many singularities ; for the service of the body, the sight
is most necessary, but for the spirit, hearing hath the superiority..;
it is spiritual, the agent of understanding ; many that have been
blind have been great and wise philosophers, but never any
that were deaf. In brief, science, truth, and virtue, have no
entrance into the soul but by the ear, Christianity teaches, that
faith cometh by hearing, which the sight doth rather hurt than
help. Faith is the belief of those things which are not seen,
which belief is acquired by hearing. For all these reasons, and
many more that might be inserted, the wisest have so much com-
mended hearing, the pure guardian from all corruption, the health
of the inward man.

Smelling is seated in the nose, governed by Mars, and is
hot and dry in quality, and therefore martial creatures, or such

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Culpepper's English Physician

as are hot and dry of constitution, excel in this faculty, as dogs,
&c. From the brain cometh two sinews to the holes of the
brain-pan, where beginneth the concavity of the nose, and these
two are the proper organs or instruments of smelling ; they have
heads like paps, into which is received the virtue of smelling, and
presenting it to the common sense. Over these two organs is
placed collatorium , or the nostrils, which concavity or ditch was
made for two causes : First, that the air, that bringeth the spirit
of smelling, might rest therein, till it was received by its pro-
per organs. Secondly, that the excrement of the brain might be
hidden under it till it be fit to be ejected. From this conca-
vity go two holes into the mouth, of which we may take notice
of three conveniences : first, that when a man’s mouth is closed,
either by eating or sleeping, air might come through them to the
lungs, or he would be forced to keep his mouth open always.
Secondly, they are helpful to a man’s speech ; for, when one or
both of those passages are stopped, a man speaketh in the nose,
as we commonly say. Thirdly, they are useful in the cleansing
the concavities of the nose either by snuffing or drawing it
through the mouth. The object of smell is an odour, or scent,
which is a fume rising from an odoriferous object, ascending
through the nose to the ventricles of the brain ; the strong and
violent hurteth the brain ; the temperate and good doth rejoice,
delight, and comfort. This sense is oftentimes very useful in dis-
covering meats and drinks of an evil odour, which otherwise would
much prejudice the stomach, and work evil effects in the body of
the man.

The taste is hot and moist, and under the influence of Ju-
piter : this sense hath its residence in the palate of the mouth
and tongue. Its office is to choose what food is congruous to
the stomach, and what not. The skin of the palate of the mouth
is the same with the inward part of the stomach, and the same
with the way of the meat to the stomach ; and hence it cometh
to pass, that when a man is touched upon the palate of the mouth,
it tickleth the stomach ; and so much the nearer to the throat,

■ o ranch more the stomach abhorreth. The object of tasting is

And Family Dispensatory .

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a savour or smack, whereof there are six simple kinds, as sweet,
sour, sharp, tart, salt, and bitter ; the compounds are many.
And, being led to the mouth, it is not amiss if I speak a few
words of the composition thereof. In the mouth are five parts
to be considered, the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the uvula,
and the palate of the mouth, of which I have already spoken.
The lips are made of a musculous flesh ; their office is first, as
the door to the house, to keep the mouth close till the meat be
chewed ; secondly, they help to pronounce the speech. The
teeth, the hardest members, are fastened into the mandible :
their office is, first, to grind the meat before it goeth into the
stomach, that so it may the better digest ; secondly, that it might
be a help to the speech, for they that want any of their teeth
are defective therein. The number is uncertain, some have more,
some have less ; they who have their full number have thirty-
two. The tongue is a carnous member, compound, and made
of many nerves, ligaments, veins, and arteries, ordained prin-
cipally for three purposes ; first, that when a man eateth, the
tongue might turn the meat in the mouth till it be chewed ; se-
condly, by the tongue and the palate of the mouth near the
root of the tongue, is received the taste of sweet or sour, and
thence presented to common senses to pass judgement thereof :
thirdly, and principally, the tongue is ordained for the pronun-
ciation of speech, of which faculty I must crave leave to insist
on, and that as briefly as may be. Speech is an excellent pre-
sent, and very necessary, given only unto man, inimi index Sf
speculum ; it is the interpreter and image of the soul ; the heart’s
messenger : the gate through which doth pass all that lieth with-
in the dark and hidden corners of man : by this the spirit be-
comes visible. Of all the external and visible parts of the body,
that which cometh nearest to the heart is the root thereof, and
that which cometh nearest the thoughts is speech: “ Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” It is a powerful
master, and imperious commander ; it stirreth up, animateth, ex-
asperateth, appeaseth, maketh sad, merry : it imprinteth what-
ever passion it handleth ; feedeth the soul of the hearer ; it ma-

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Culpepper's English Physician

keth him blush, wax pale, laugh, cry, tremble, mad with choler,
leap for joy, what not ? It is the agent of all our concerns ; by it
we traffic, peace is handled, affairs are managed ; it is the band
of human society: hearing and speech answer and are accommo-
dated the one to the other ; by these two the souls are poured the
one into the other ; so that, if these two gates be shut ( as it is in
those that are deaf and dumb), the spirit remaineth solitary and.
miserable. Hearing is the gate to enter, by it the spirit receiv-
eth all things from without. Speech is the gate to go out, through
it the spirit sendeth forth that which was within. From the com-
munication of these two, as from the stroke of two flints, there
cometh forth the fire of truth, and so by the polishing and rubbing
of these two, knowledge cometh to perfection ; but hearing is the
first and principal, for there can nothing come forth which did not
first enter ; and therefore he that is deaf altogether by nature is
also dumb.

I might enlarge a great deal more in the description of the
head, but, my purpose being to declare nothing but what may
be pertinent in the manifestation of the human faculties and
virtues, I shall conclude this discourse with a word or two of the
sense of peeling, which is of no porticular quality, but of all
hot, cold, dry, and moist ; it is deputed to no particular organ,
but is spread abroad over the whole body ; it is the index of all
tangible things, its object then must be beat or cold, drought or
moisture, things pleasant and polite, sharp and smarting, motion,
rest, tickling. It is known that man and other creatures may
live without some particular sense ; it is the opinion of most, that
a man cannot live without this sense of feeling, being only ne-
cessary unto life ; yet Augustine proveth the contrary, in the
fourteenth book, De Civitate Dei, by example of a presbyter,
that lay as though he were dead, and did not feel those that pulled
him, nor would he stir though they burned him with fire ; yet
confessed that he could then hear men speak ( if they spoke
aloud ) as though they were far from him, by which it appears,
that this he did, not by resisting, but for want of the sense of feel-
ing, which afterwards was restored to him again. I shall pass by

And Family Dispensatory .

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what the English history relates of one Elizabeth Barton, a maid
of Canterbury, who oftentimes was deprived of her senses by rea-
son of a disease she had.

I shall also wave disputes concerning the number of the senses,
some supposing there are no more in nature than are apparent in
us. There may very well be more, yet it is greatly to be doubt-
ed that there are ; it is impossible for us to know them, to affirm
them, or to deny them, because a man shall never know the want
of that sense which he never had : one sense cannot discover an-
other ; and, if a man want one by nature, yet he knows not
which way to affirm it. A man that is born blind, and hath
not heard what sight is, cannot conceive that he seeth not, nor
desire to see. So man, being not able to imagine more than the
five that he hath, cannot know how to judge whether there be
more in nature. Who knoweth whether the difficulties that
we find in many of the works of nature, and the effects of many
creatures which we cannot understand, do proceed from the want
of some sense that we have not ? There are hidden properties
which we see in many things, and a man may say that
there are sensible faculties in nature, proper to judge and ap-
prehend them, yet must conclude we have them not ; who
knowelh whether it be some particular sense that discovereth the
hour of midnight to the cock, and moves him to crow, or how
beasts are taught to chuse certain herbs for their cure, and many
such like wonders ?

OF THE STOMACH.

HP

JL HE Stomach is a member compound and spermatic, sinewy
and sensible, wherein is made the first perfect digestion of chyle :
it is a necessary member to the body, for if it fails in its opera-
tions, the whole fabric is corrupted. It is in the little world the
same as the terrestrial globe is in the great world ; in it is expres-
sed the sublunary part of the world ; in it are contained the parts
that serve for nutrition, concoction, and procreation. And this

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Culpepper s English Physician

leads me to discourse of the administering virtues in man, which
are here seated, and to wind up all with a touch of the office
of the microcosmical stars with as much brevity as may be.
The stomach is framed of two panicles, the outer is carnous, the
inner nervous, from which is stretched to the mouth the esopha-
gus, or the way of the meat, by which the stomach draweth to
itself meat and drink as with hands. By the virtue of the sub-
tile will, which is. in this muscus longitudinaJis, is made the at-
tractive virtue, which is hot and dry, by a quality active, or prin-
cipal, which appears by the sun, the fountain of all heat, which
is of an attractive quality, which is evident by his attracting and
exhaling the humidity from this inferior globe into the airy re-
gion, as into the neck or higher part of an alembic ; and, being
dissolved into water, ( by reason of their weight,) fall down again
upon the earth, which is the vessel receiving : so, through con-
tinued distillations, by sublimation of the water, by cohabation,
by drawing off the liquor, ( being often poured on,) and fortified
by the influence of the celestial and central sun, the body be-
comes endued with a concoctive, nutritive, and procreative, virtue.
So in the stomach, by the active quality of the microcosmical sun,
his benevolent rays, and friendly heat, meat and drink are desired,
and attracted into the stomach, for the nourishment of the whole
body.

In the stomach is a transverse muscle, to withhold or make
retention ; by this retentive virtue, those things that are
brought into the stomach are kept and withholden until nature
hath wrought her end, and every faculty hath executed its of-
fice. It is in quality cold and dry : cold, because the nature
of cold is to compress or hold together, as you may see in ice ;
dry, because it is the nature of dryness to keep and hold what
is compressed. It is under the influence of Saturn, and that is
the reason why, for the most part, men that are cold and dry
of temperature, or, as astronomers say. Saturnine people, are
covetous and tenacious ; and that is the reason that old men
are naturally covetous, because Saturn ruleth old age, and, by
the decay of nature, the temperature becomes cold and dry.

And Family Dispensatory.

15

It hath the spleen, the representative of Saturn, lying toward the
left side, and furnisheth the stomach with humours necessary to-
fortify the retentive virtue.

The digestive faculty, which is the chief and most principal
( the others like handmaids attending it> ) is hot and moist, na-
ture’s cook and principal workman, the arehaeus and central fire
which in this philosophical vessel, viz. the stomach, digesteth the
victuals into a chaos, or confused mass, that so a natural separation
may be made. It is under the influence of Jupiter, who furnish-
eth it with friendly heat and moisture, by the liver, (the micro-
eosmical Jupiter,) chafing and beating the right side of the sto-
mach.

The stomach hath also a latitudinal muscle, or will, which1
makes the expulsive faculty ; it is naturally cold and moist ; cold,
to compress the superfluity ; moist, to make the matter slippery
and fit for ejection, also to work a suitable disposition in the bo-
dy. It is a necessary operation, by it, after the separation of the
pure from the impure, the elements from the caput mortuum , or
rather faeces*, is removed and carried away,- all that is needless or
prejudicial to nature. It is under the dominion of the Moon,
(with whom you may join Venus, being of the same nature,)
whose epitome or microcosmical substitute, viz. the brain, sendeth
a branch of nerves to the stomach, and thereby furnisheth it with
humours, cold and moist, fit for expulsion.

OF THE HEART.

^FhE HEART hath two ventricles or concavities, and the left

— : « ' - • - . -i.’t - ? ■ ... * . •’ '• •* . Ui i • • . ?

is higher than the right ; the cause of its hollowness is to keep the
blood for his nourishing, and the air to abate and temper the great
heat which is included and shut up in the concavities.

As he is sol coporis, and centre of the rest of the members and
ruler of the family, he communicates to them life and motion ; yet
by his heat he attracts what is needful for himself from the other
members, as a subsidy or tax imposed upon his subjects. And

No. 18. 3 h

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Culpepper's English Physician

therefore to the right ventricle of the heart cometh a vein from the
great vein, which receiveth all the substance of the blood from the
liver ; this vein passeth to the right ventricle of the heart, and bring-
eth a great portion of the thickest and purest blood to nourish the
heart. The residue that is left of this is made more subtile through
the virtue and heat of the heart, and then sent into a concavity or
pit, in the midst of the heart, between the two ventricles ; therein
it is made hot and pure, and from thence it passeth to the left ven-
tricle, and there is engendered in a spirit that is clearer, brighter,
and subtiler, than any corporeal or bodily thing which is engen-
dered of the four elements, for it is a mean between the body and
the soul ; wherefore, of the philosophers, it is likened more to hea-
venly than earthly things.

From the left ventricle of the heart spring two arteries, the one
having but one coat, and therefore is called arteria venalis, which
carries blood from the heart to the lungs, which blood is vaporous
and fit for its nourishment; and carrieth back air from the lungs to
refresh the heart.

The other artery hath two coats : it is called, vena arterialis \
or the great artery, of which springeth all the other arteries, that
spread to every , member of the body, which carry the spirits,
which are the treasures of the soul’s virtue ; thus it passeth till it
come to the brain, and be made an animal spirit ; at the liver it
is made nutrimental, and at the testicles generative. Thus by
the heart is made a spirit of every kind, and ( like the sun in the
heavens ) by his royal presence he doth confer life and liberty on
his suppliants.

The motion of the heart is wonderful ; it continues to the ut-
most period of life, day and night, without a single moment’s in-
terruption or intermission ; and is performed more than an hundred
thousand times every day. Here is, indeed, something like what
the mechanists want, under the name of a perpetual motion ; and
the stupendous wisdom of the Creator is in nothing expressed more
gloriously.

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OF THE LUNGS, LIVER, &c.

TP

JL HE LUNGS are made of a substanee very soft and spongi-
ous ; supple to draw and inforce from, like a pair of bellows,; they
are an instrument of respiration, whereby the heart is refreshed,
drawing unto it the blood, the spirits, and the air, and disburden-
ing itself of those fumes and excrements which oppress it. They
are naturally cold and dry, accidentally cold and moist ; natural-
ly cold and dry, waving about the heart,, abating its heat by a
refreshing blast ; they are accidentally moist, by reason of catarrhs
and rheums, which they receive from the brain.

There are three principal parts in the lungs : One is a vein
coming from the liver, which bringeth with it the crude and undi-
gested part of the chyle to feed the lungs. Another is arteria ve-
nal is, coming from the heart, bringing the spirit of life to nourish
the lungs. The third is trachia arteria , that bringeth air to the
lungs, and it passeth through all the left part of them to do its
office.

The lungs are divided into five portions or pellicles, three on
the right side and two on the left side ; that in case any impedi-
ment or hurt should happen in any one part, the other should be
ready to supply the office.

I shall give no farther description of the lungs, but describe the
liver, which is a principal member in the little world, representing
the planet Jupiter, quasi juvans pater, hot and moist, inclining
towards the right side, under the short ribs. The form of the
liver is. gibbous, or bunchy, on the back side ; on the other side
hollow, like the inside of a hand, that it might be pliable to the
stomach ( as a man’s hand is to an apple, or any thing that is
ronnd ) to further its digestion ; for its heat is to the stomach as
the heat of a fire is to the pot which hangeth over it. It is the
storehouse of the blood, the fountain of the veins, the seat of the
natural nourishing faculty, or vegetative soul, engendered of the
blood of that chyle which it draweth from the meseraic veins, and
received by the vena porta, which entereth into the cavities there-
of, and afterwards is sent and distributed through the whole bo-

18

Culpepper's English Physician

dy, by the help of vena cava, which arise from the hunch or
branches thereof, which are in great numbers as the rivers from
the ocean.

The natural and nutrimental faculty hath its residence in the
liver, and is dispersed through the whole body with the veins, from
which are bred four particular humours, viz. blood, choler, phlegm,
and melancholy.

Blood is made of meat perfectly concocted, in quality hot and
moist, Jupiter s darling, the most perfect and necessary humour
(the other three being superfluities, yet necessary too). The blood
thus concocted is drawn out by the vena cava , whose branches,
ramifying upwards and downwards, carry and convey it to all the
other members of the body for their nourishment, where, by a
third digestion, it is transmuted into flesh.

Choler or bile, is made of meat more than perfectly concocted
it is the spume or froth of blood ; it clarifieth all the humours,
iheats the body, and nourisheth the apprehension. It is in quality
hot and dry ; it fortifieth the attractive quality, as blood doth the
digestive ; it moveth man to activity and valour : it is under the
jplanet Mars, whose residence is in the gall, which is an official
member, a purse or panicular vesicle placed in the hollowness of
dhe liver, whose office is to receive the choleric superfluities, which
are engendered in the liver as aforesaid. This purse, or bag, hath
-three holes or necks. By the first it draweth to itself the choler
from the liver;, that so the blood be not hurt by the bile, or choler.
By the second it sendeth choler to the bottom of the stomach, to
fortify the attractive faculty. And, lastly, it sendeth choler regu-
larly to every gut, from one gut to another, to cleanse them from
superfluities and dross.

Phlegm is made of meat not perfectly digested : it fortifieth the
virtue expulsive, and maketh the body fit for ejection ; it is kind
to, and fortifieth the brain by its consimilitude with it ; it is anti-
pathetical to the apprehension, and doth much injure it, therefore
phlegmatic persons have but weak apprehensions : it is cold and
moist in quality, its receptacle is in the lungs, it is governed by
<the Moon and Venus; therefore it qualifies the bile, cools and

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moistens the heart, thereby sustaining it and the whole body from
the fiery effects which continual motion would produce.

Melancholy is the sediment of blood : it is cold and dry in qua-
lity ; it maketh men sober, solid, and staid, fit for study, or any
serious employments ; it curbs the unbridled passions incident to
the sanguine complexion ; it stayeth wandering and idle thoughts,
and reduces them home to the centre ; it is like a grave counsellor
to the whole body. It is governed by the planet Saturn, it strength-
eth the retentive faculty, and its receptacle is in the spleen ; which
in the body is placed on the left side transversely linked to the
stomach.

OF THE REINS AND KIDNEYS.

Til E Reins and Kidneys are placed within the region of the
nutrites backwards, and they are ordained to cleanse the blood
from the watery superfluities ; they have two passages : by the one
is drawn the water from the vena kelis, by two veins, which are
called vence emulgenies, the emulgent veins ; and by the other is
sent the same water to the bladder, and this is called poros uri-
thedes.

The kidneys are made of a hard substance, and full of hard
<eoncavities, and therefore the sores of them are hard to cure ; they
are harder in substance than any other fleshy member, and that
for two causes ; the first is, that they be not much hurt by the
sharpness of the urine ; the other is, that the urine that passeth
from them might be the better cleansed. The heart sendeth an ar-
tery to convey to them blood, heat, spirit, and life. And from the
liver there cometh a vein, which bringeth nutrimental blood. Their
fatness is as of other members, made of thin blood congealed by
cold, there is the greater quantity in this place, because it should
temper the heat of the kidneys, which they have from the biting
sharpness of the urine.

The next thing is the bladder, which is compounded of two
nervous panicles ; in complexion it is cold and dry; its neck is
carnous, and hath two muscles to withhold and to let it go ; in
man it is long, and is contained with the yard passing through the

20

Culpepper's English Physician

\ ’peritonaeum ; but in women it is shorter, and is contained with
the vulva. The place of the bladder is between the share-bone
and longaon. In women it is between the aforesaid bone and the
matrix. In the bladder are implanted the uterus, which bring the
urine or water from the kidneys thither, and enter into the boles
and panicles thereof, which is done by a natural motion between
tunicle and tunicle, till the urine findeth the hole of the nether tu-

(r

nicle, where it entereth privily into the concavity. And the more
the bladder is filled with urine, the straiter are the panicles com-
pressed together ; the holes are not set one against the other, so
that, if the bladder be ever so full, none can go back again.

This is the microcosmical ocean, into which all the rivers of the
body discharge themselves. There must needs be more than a
watery substance in it, for many times in diseases it is plentifully
made, though the patient drinketh little or nothing ; and it is ob-
served that creatures that drink nothing will make water. Physi-
cians oftentimes for.etel many things by its colour, thinness, and
thickness. Salt you know is hid in meats, and that plants have
very much salt in them you may find by distilling them ; and it
is very well known, that by the chemical art many kinds of salt
may be fetched out of urine. The artificial crysocolla is made of
urine. Nitre is made of earth moistened with urine and dung of
living creatures.

OF THE GENERATIVE PARTS.

TClIE instruments of generation are of two sorts, male and fe-
male ; their use is the procreation of mankind, the operation is by
action and passion, the agent is the seed, the patient the blood.
Although this cometh to be spoken of in the last place, yet it might
have deservedly been put in thei’first ; for nature regards not only
the conversation of itself, but to beget its like and conceive its spe-
cies. Venus hath the principal government of the members of
generation, in which members there are many parts deserving our
attention.

First; of the genitals of men : — The first thing to be considered
is, that which anatomists call vasa preparantia, or preparing ves-

And Family Dispensatory.

sels, which bring blood and vital spirit to the testicles ; they are
four in number, and before they come to the testicles they make
a curious implication, intertexture, or twisting, the one with the
other, the arteries into the veins, and the veins into the arteries,
which physicians call corpus varicosum ; some call it pompini-
formis : the interweaving reacheth down even into the substance
of them : their use is to mix the blood and vital spirit together,
that so they may have a fit matter to work on.

The testicles are of a white, soft, and spongy substance, full of
small veins and arteries ; or else, when humours flow to* them,,
they could not swell to such a bigness : their form is oval ; of
their bigness few are ignorant. Each testicle hath a muscle,
which the learned call cremaster , which serveth to pull them up
in the act of generation, as its name in the Greek signifieth, that
so the vessels, being slackened, may better void the seed.

The seed being thoroughly concocted by the testicles, there are
two other small pipes called vasa deferentia ; they are also called
spermatic pores : their office is to carry the seed to the seminary
vessels, which are to keep it till need requireth its expulsion. From
the stones they arise very near to the preparing vessels into the ca-
vity of the belly ; then going back again, they turn to the back
side of the bladder, between it and the right gut, where they are
joined to the seminal vessels, which are soft and spongy, somewhat
like kernels, through which passeth the urethra} or common pas-
sage in the yard both for seed and urine.

Histories make mention, and experience evinceth, that some are
born without testicles, some with one. Philip, Landgrave of Hes-
sia, had three ; he was so full of seed, and prone to venerous ac-
tions, that his wife could not suffer him so often as necessity urged
him to it, he otherwise being chaste and honest ; he, relating his
mind to the priests, with the consent of his wife took a concubine.

It is unnecessary for me here to describe the yard, and all the
parts thereof, as their form, office, texture, sympathy, &c. will
hereafter be more particularly treated of in the anatomical analy-
sis : in this place therefore I only mean to give a brief touch of
the most considerable parts.

22

Culpepper's English Physician

1 now come to the generative parts of women ; and first of
the clitoris , which is a sinewy and hard body much like the
yard of a man, and suffers erection and falling, causeth lust in
women, and giveth delight in copulation : Avicenna calleth it the
wand, or albathara; and Albueasis calleth it tentigo ; and Fal-
lopius saith, that this hath sometimes grown so big, that women
would copulate with others like men : This observe, that the
passage of the urine is not through the neck of the womb ; near
the passage of the urine are four caruncles or fleshy knobs ; they
are called myrtiformeSy because they resemble myrtle berries ;-
the uppermost of them is largest and forked, to receive the neck
of the passage of the urine ; the others lie below this on the sides,
and are to keep back the air or any hurtful thing from the womb.
In virgins these knobs are joined together by a thin skin, inter-
larded with small veins, with a hole in the middle about the big-
ness of one's little finger, through which passeth the menstruous
blood : this skin is a note of virginity, for the first act of copula-
tion breaketh it. I believe that this was that note of virginity
which God gave to the Hebrews. These knobs joined together
do much resemble a rose not quite blown, therefore called a flow-
er, whence comes the word to deflower a virgin. If I should take
upon me to declare the opinions of authors, it would prove (almost)
an endless task ; this I shall add, that I conceive it not a certain
note of virginity, because it may be broken without the act of co-
pulation ; as, namely, by applying pessaries to provoke the men-
strues, or by a defluxion of sharp humours, &c. but it is probable
that the Jewish virgins were more careful of it, their reputation
depending thereon.

The womb in figure is almost perfectly round, in virgins about
the bigness of a walnut, yet when a woman is conceived with child,
it dilates itself to such a capacity, that it is ab(e to contain the child ;
the mouth of it is no bigger than to receive the glans of the yard,
yet at the delivery, makes room for the child to come out, be it ever
so big : this made Galen admire, and it may be a great admiration
to all, if we consider the wonderful works of God in the creation of
man : he who knows himself may know there is an all-powerful

And Family Dispensatory . 2S

ms1/- ■^ipr.s^.reagg^^igra-s^^ -i^a.,- ijgka.i^ag2S3aBWiai<isdi«gBBQrai^^

God! and therefore it was- engraven with letters of gold over the
porch of tbe temple of Apollo, the god ( according to the Panims)
of knowledge and wisdom, this sentence— Know thyself — as a
salutation unto all ; signifying, that he that would have access
unto that divinity, and entrance into that temple, must first know
himself.

The womb before conception is small, because the seed, being
but little in quantity might be close embraced and cherished. Wo-
men have testicles or stones as men have, but they differ from men’s
in these particulars : they are within the belly in women, in men
without ; they are not so smooth in women as in men ; they are
less than the stones of men ; they are not staid by muscles, but by
ligaments ; men’s are oval, but women’s are flatfish ; they have
but one skin, men’s have four, because they are without the body,
and exposed to the cold ; they are more soft and cold than men’s
are. But they are ordained both in men and women for the same
use, viz. to concoct seed ; and, though Aristotle denied seed in wo-
men, yet Hippocrates, one of the ancients of physic, was of this
judgment ; and reason and experience confirm it.

The vasa preparcmtia, preparing vessels, and vasa deferentia ,
carrying vessels, are of the same nature and office as they are in
men ; they differ only in this, that they are somewhat shorter, hav-
ing a shorter way to go, the testicles being within the belly in wo-
men : but, lest the shortness of the passage should hinder their
operation, God and nature have so provided, that they are more
twisted and interwoven than they are in men, that they may the
better mingle the blood and vital spirit.

Thus have I given you a short description of man, the master-
piece of God’s workmanship ; and in whom is comprised a small
draught of all things in the universe. In man, as in a perspective
glass, may our mother-earth with her innumerable offspring be
discovered ; in him may the unruly and restless waves of the ocean
be delineated : nor doth he only epitomize the elemental world,
but also the celestial ; in him are discovered the prudent, majesti-
cal, sumptuous, magnificent, honourable, affable, and humane, solar

19« 3 1

Culpepper s English Physician

24-

quality: the unsteadfast, timorous, soon-daunted., oft-changing,
and shifting, temper, among men, answers to the various motions
of the low and oft-changing Luna. Others in profundity of ima-
gination, reservedness of words, austerity of actions, &c. are a fit
portrait of the melancholy planet Saturn. There are yet a few in
the world who are faithful lovers of fair dealing, beneficent to all
men, doing glorious, honourable, and religious actions ; just, wise,
prudent, virtuous, &c. of the temper of benevolent Jupiter. There
are (in our apprehensions) too many of the martial temper, who
are valiant lovers of wars, frays, and commotions, subject to no
reason, bold, confident, willingly obeying no body, &c. Nor is
V enus excluded those people’s affections who love mirth in words
and actions, musical, delighting in venery, drinking, and merry
meetings, who trouble not themselves with state-affairs, nor are in-
quisitive after armies or navies. Nor is Mercury without his party
among us, who are subtile and politic, excellent disputants and lo-
gicians, sharp-witted, and able to learn any thing, men of unwea-
ried fancies, and fit for any employment, yet unconstant. The
planetary influence in the good or ill disposition of the air is lively
represented in man. A healthy sanguine constitution, or a delicate
composure of heat and moisture, answers to a serene and temperate
air, with seasonable moistening dews and showers, which are the
sweet influence of the Sun, Jupiter, and Venus. The feverish, hot
and parching, distempers of the body answer to the hot and scorch-
ing.weather occasioned by the fiery beams of Mars. Nor is the
cold, chilly, melancholy, weeping and lamenting, disposition of
many people, less represented by the melancholy, dark, cold, and
wet weather, proceeding from Saturn’s influx. The intellectual
world hath also in man its portraiture ; witness the soaring con-
templations of the soul of man, which cannot ( like the body ) be
confined to any place, but in a moment surrounds this terrestrial-
globe; nor there content, but as soon mounts itself to the heavens,
and searcheth their secret corners ; nor there satisfied till he comes
to the highest, for by his contemplations (having its original from
the uncreated light) he reflects hither, viz. to the divine Majesty
of heaven !

And Family Dispensatory .

ANATOMICAL ANALYSIS

OF THE

HUMAN FRAME

— — -

Of the -SKIN.

T HE Skin is a membranous covering of the body, similar,
spermatic, having blood mixed with it, reddish, white, loose, and
the instrument of feeling. It hath cutaneous veins and arteries,
as also nerves : from the last of which it receives its quickness
of sense. From the capillary veins and arteries it receives blood
for nourishment and vital spirit for quickening. Its temperature
is cold and dry, or rather exquisitely temperate, yet so that it may
be the judge of feeling. The skin on the top of the head is thick-
est, that on the side thin, that on the face and palms of the hands
thinner, that on the lips thinnest of all ; that on the tops of the
fingers is mean, so that the sense of touching may be more per-
fect : its texture is slight and very full of small holes or pores, for
the insensible transpiration of fumes, vapours, and sweat. It takes
its colour from the predominant humour, unless it be such from
the birth, as in ^Ethiopia. It has a double substance ; the one is
external, called cuticula, or the scarf-skin, because it is placed
upon the skin, as a cover or defence, every -where perforated with
pores, without blood and without feeling : its connexion is to the
true skin, from whence it has its figure and colour ; but in black-
moors, the cuticula being pulled off, the skin itself is white. It has
no action, only use, which is to shut the pores of the skin that the.
ichorus substance may not issue from the veins and arteries; to
defend the skin from immoderate heat or cold ; and to make it
smooth, beautiful, polished, and even. It is generated of a viscous,
and oleaginous vapour of the blood. The other is the true skin of
which we have first spoken, which is six times thicker than the

:2(> Culpepper s English Physician.

scarf-skin ; its pores will appear in winter time, if it bo made bare,
and exposed to ihe cold : for where they are, the cuticula will ap-
pear like a goose-skin. The skin receives two cutaneous veins,
through the head and nock, from the jugulars : two through the
arms, breast, and back, from the axiilaries : two through the lower
belly, loins, and legs, from the groins, which are conspicuous in
women after hard labour, and in such as have the varices in many
branches. It has few arteries, and drose very small, in the temples
and forehead, fingers, scrotum, and yard.

Of the FLESH.

A. HE Flesh is a similar, soft, thick, substance, well compact-
ed, made of blood alone, if it be red ; but of blood and seed, if it
be white. It is four-fold, viz. musculous, viscerous, membranous,
and glandulous; of which the two first are very red, but the two
latter white. Musculous flesh is soft and red, and that which is
properly termed flesh. Viscerous flesh is that of the bowels, which
is the proper substance of the lungs, heart, liver, spleen, and kid-
neys , it is red, hard, fitted to prop up the vessels, and to assist them
in their particular and various operations. Membranous flesh is
the fleshy substance of every membranous part, as in I he gullet,
stomach, guts, womb, bladder. Glandulous flesh is the flesh of
kernels ; it is white, thick, and spongy, formed of seed, ( and
therefore cannot properly he called flesh), of which some anato-
mists make many diversities ; but the true searcher may find the
glandules differ not so much in substance as in their use and hu-
mour; which are, first, to support the divisions of the vessels ;
secondly, to drink up superfluous humours, because they are of a
hollow spongy substance, and are therefore vulgarly termed emunc-
iories, or cleansers of the noble parts, those in the neck being ac-
counted cleansers of the head, those in the arm-pits of the heart,
and those in the groin of the liver: thirdly, to moisten the parts for
their more easy motion, or to prohibit dryness, such are those which
are situated by the tongue, larynx, eye corners, &c.

And Family Dispensatory . 27

Op the MEMBRANES.

MEMBRANE is a similar, spermatic, part ; broad, soft,
dilatable, white, containing and investing the parts, and carrying
sense to them. If, being a hollow body, it receives something as
the stomach, bladder gall, eye, it is called tunica, a coat ; but if
it embraces and covers a solid body, it is called membrana , a co-
vering : and those which cover the brain are called menings. It
is endued with sense from itself. Membranes are the only true
organs of feeling, serving the animal spirits to this purpose. Their
use is, to invest the parts of the body, to defend it from injuries
by reason of their hardness and compactness, to give them the
sense of feeling, to strengthen them, to join parts to parts, and to
keep them united ; to separate also the parts, and to close the
mouths of the vessels. Some membranes are thin, some thick : the
thin membranes also differ ; for the periostion of the ribs is thin-
ner than the pleura ; the perio&tion of the head is thinner than
the pericranium the pia mater is thinner than the dura mater .
The proper membrane of the muscles is thin, and is knit unto the
muscles by most thin filaments ; its use is to clothe the muscles,
to separate them one from another, and to impart to them sense
and feeling. The thick membrane is called by some a membra-
neous muscle, by others a nervous or fatty coat; it is called fleshy
because in some places, as about the loins, neck, ears, forehead,
&c. it retains a fleshy substance; but in the abdomen of a man
ripe in years, it has no fleshy appearance at all. Its temperature
is hot and moist, having its origin from the blood : it is situated
under the fat, and stretched out over the whole body universally
and is the fourth covering of the body, ( but in beasts it is next
to the skin :) it has no figure but that of the body which it covers :
its colour is various in divers places : in the neck, forehead, and
privities, it is redder than elsewhere : in some places it is joined
to the fat inseparably, in other places it may be separated; and
it communicates with the principal parts by the extremities of
the veins, arteries, and nerves. It is very sensible, so that the

28

Culpepper's English Physician

rigour and trembling of the body depend thereupon : its use is
to give foundation to the collecting and generating the fat, and
to keep the fat in its due place, as also to divide one muscle from
another, and all of them from the other flesh ; to clothe the bo-
dy, cherish the internal heat, and to defend it from external in-
juries: it sticks close to the fat, to the muscles, and to the liga-
ments of the bones, and is firmly joined to the back in fashion
of a membrane, from whence it is said to arise ; it is so closely
joined to the musculus latus, that in the neck and forehead
it can scarcely be separated from it, whereby it is thought to con-
stitute the same : to the skin it sticks by very many veins, some
few arteries, branches of nerves, and an innumerable quantity of
membranous fibres.

Of a FIBRE.

Al Fibre is a similar spermatic part, dispersed through the
skin, flesh, and membranes, to make them the more firm, and
being naturally distended to contract again in the same manner.
By reason of the various situations thereof, it is said to be either
right, oblique, transverse, or round, whereby it may not only
help the membrane, but strengthen it, as also the skin and flesh
of muscles ; and, when dilated, reduce them to their natural
state. Each sort of fibre is said to perform a several action : as
the right to attract or draw to ; the oblique to expel or thrust
forth : the transverse to retain or hold ; and the round to con-
strain or bind. But these actions of the fibres are not made so
much by their own singular virtue as by the virtue of the mem-
ber which they serve, or belong unto, from which they have their
sense and nourishment ; for of themselves they are senseless.

Of a LIGAMENT.

-Au LIGAMENT, or band, is a similar, spermatic, dry, part,
adhering firmly to the bones, tying the parts of the body mutually
together. Its substance is solid, ] white, bloodless, softer than a

And Family Dispensatory.

SO

gristle, and harder than nerves and membranes ; being of a mid-
dle substance between them. It is without cavity, sense, or mo-
tion : their substance is in some places softer and more membra-
nous than others, as in all ligaments which go about the joints.
Their use is like a cord to connect or bind the parts of the body
one to another, chiefly the bones, and to keep them so together,
that they may not be luxated or disjointed. As to situation, some
are within or among the bones, as the gristly ligaments, which are
thick and round : some are externally wound about the bones,
which are thin and membranous. As to figure, some are broad,
which are called membranous: others round and nervous: but
they are called membranous and nervous only in respect to their
external form or resemblance, not to their internal essence ; for
they are all void of sense, which they would not be were they
composed of the true substance of a nerve or membrane. All the
ligaments are solid, none hollow, except the slender ligaments of
the womb.

Of a CARTILAGE or GRISTLE.

A GRISTLE is a similar, spermatic part, drier and harder
than a ligament, but moister and softer than a bone, rendering
the articulation the more pliable, and defending several parts
from external injuries. Some are softer, especially about the
joints ; others harder, and not much differing from the nature of
a bone ; and some are in process of time turned into bones, espe-
cially in aged people. It is without marrow, cavities, or sense,
being endowed neither with nerves nor membranes. Its matter
is the same with that of the bones,, being a moist earthy part
of the seed, partly clammy and gluey, and partly fat, but more
viscous than fat :. its use is to facilitate motion, that the bones
rubbing one against another should not wear and fret; to de-
fend some parts from external injuries, itself being scarcely sub-
ject to any : to shape parts prominent or hollow, as in the ears,
larynx, &c. to fill up hollowness in the joints, as in the knees ;
to serve for a cover, as in the epiglottis ; to sustain or under-

30

Culpepper's English Physician

JA1 I ■f»JMMUfPjOWUwr'

prop somewhat, as the gristles of the eye-lids to bear the hairs ;
and to make a connection or joining of the bones. Their situa-
tion, magnitude, and figure, are various, according to the bones
they are joined with; their substance is sometimes harder, as those
which in time become bony : sometimes softer, resembling a liga-
pient, and are therefore called g istly ligaments ; yet, though hard,
they are flexible and tough, because encompassed with viscous
slimy matter. As to their connection, some constitute parts in
themselves, as that of the nose ; others grow to the bones which
knit them together, without any other medium, as in the share or
breast bones ; or by common ligaments coming between, as in that
joining called loose articulation.

Of a TENDON.

A TENDON is a similar, spermatic, solid, part, cold and
dry, having a peculiar substance, continued from the beginning
to the end of a muscle, and the chiefest part thereof upon which
the action of the muscle depends, and no where to be found out
of a muscle. It has a nervous-like substance, yet extremely
differing from a nerve ; white, thick, hard, smooth, and extend-
ed according to the length of the muscle, being ten times bigger
than a nerve. Its figure is either solid and round, as in the
m c&c ulus biceps ; or plain and membranous, as in the muscles
of the abdomen ; being also either short or long, and of a uni-
form substance in all its parts ; so that, if it is nervous at the
beginning, so it is at the end ; but sometimes it is nervous at
the end, when the head of it is fleshy ; and, if its beginning
is like small strings, they are united to form the tendon after-
wards. The hard and stiff tendons have much fat about them,
to soften them, that they may be the more pleasantly moved ;
and therefore those fibres dispersed among the flesh are nothing
else but the tendon divided, and the tendon nothing else but
fibres united; and therefore a tendon is either solid, compact,
and united, or else disgregated, severed, and divided into fibres.

And Family Dispensatory .

n

H»g 11T1

2fe9ftisEat^*a£i

United, is where the whole tendinous part appears white, and hard,
either in the beginning, end, or middle, or in all those parts. Se-*
vered or divided, when produced into innumerable small fibres,
scarcely discernible to the sight ; being compassed about with
flesh.

Op the FAT.

F

AT is a similar, soft, oily, white, insensible part : made to
preserve the natural heat, to help chylification, to facilitate mo-
tion, to moisten other parts, and to nourish the body in famine.
Its substance, is two-fold, viz. grease and suet, which, although
it is somewhat solid, yet is soft and oily, as may be perceived by
handling : grease or axungia , is easily melted, but not so easily
congealed ; scevum or suet is not so easily melted, but more easily
hardened. Its origin is from the thinner parts of the blood, sweat-
ing through the veins like dew, and congealing about the flesh :
this is the essential matter of fat ; its efficient cause is a moist and
temperate heat, (which is also the quality thereof;) the cause of
its congealing is the coldness of the membranes from whence it
has its white colour : but this coldness is not simple, but respec-
tive to other parts. Melted lead or wax will congeal in hot places
if the heat be less then that heat which will melt them : hence
Galen determines fat to proceed from coldness ; so that the fat,
thin, and light, part of the blood, in colder constitutions is reserv-
ed ; whilst in hotter bodies it turneth to nutriment, so that hot
and dry bodies are hardly ever fat. Its situation is immediately
under the skin, universally over the whole body, the forehead,
eyelids, and privities, excepted : whence it is, that the fatty mem-
brane is as large as the skin, and sticks firmly to it, neither can it
be divided from it without scraping ; and so also it sticks to the
fleshy membrane. It cannot communicate with the principal
parts, because it is not truly nourished ; nor yet lives, unless by
opposition, as stones do, nor is it indeed sensible ; therefore it wants
both veins, arteries, and nerves, yet all three of them pass through
it to the skin. The fat of the belly has three veins : the external
mammillary, descending from above ; the vena epigastrica , arising

19. 3 k

3?

Culpeppers English Physician

from beneath, or out of the crural vein, through the groin ; and
that coming out of the loins, having many veins accompanied
with arteries : through these, and the vessels of the skin, cupping-
glasses, and scarifications, draw humours out of the inward parts.
It has a great number of kernels, which receive excrements out of
the body into themselves ; and they are more numerous in sickly
persons, and such as abound with excrementitious moisture. Its
uses are to cherish the natural heat ; to help the concoction of
the stomach ; to moisten hot and dry parts, such as the heart ;
to facilitate motion in the principal parts, as in the gristles and
jointings of the greater bones, and about certain ligaments, as
also in the socket of the eye, lest by its continual motion it
should become dry and withered ; 1o serve as a pillow or bul-
wark against blows, bruises, and contusions, and therefore the
palms of the hands, buttocks, and soles of the feet, have plenty
of fat ; to nourish the body in time of long fasting ; to fill up
the empty places in the muscles, and to underprop the vessels,
that they may pass safely ; and lastly, to fill up all the vacuities
of the other parts, vessels, and skin, that the body may be render-
ed smooth, white, soft, fair and beautiful.

Hitherto we , have treated of parts absolutely similar ; those
which are so only in appearance or to sense are in number five,
viz. veins, arteries, nerves, muscles, and bones : of all which we
shall now treat in order.

Of VEINS.

A VEIN is a similar, spermatic, membranous, round, long,
hollow, part, every where joined by anastomoses to the arteries ;
allotted to receive and contain the blood from them, to be far-
ther concocted, and to be carried to the heart a .d liver, and to
distribute it over the whole body. The original of their dispen-
sation, or place from whence they rise, is the liver, where blood
is made ; and that the first sanguification is made there, and not
in the heart, is apparent, because there are no passages to con-
vey the chylus to the heart, nor any receptacles for the excre-

And Family Dispensatory. $3

ments of the first concoction placed by the heart; all which
requisites are found in the liver. Moreover blood is carried from
the liver to the heart, but not from the heart to the liver : for
it cannot go out of the heart into the liver, because of the’
valves, though immediately, when it runs back out of the arte-
ries, it may be carried thither. Also the vena cava and pojrta
enter not into the heart, but the liver ; and, in a child in the
womb, the navel-vein with blood (which nourishes the child)
goes not into the heart, but into the liver , nor is sanguification
ever hurt but when the liver is hurt. The veins have only
one tunicle, with many valves within, especially in the external
joints ; they are nourished with blood, not with that contained
within themselves, but with that from the little arteries ; for
their connection is such with the arteries, that every vein is for
the most part attended with an artery, over which it lies, and
which it touches. Galen saith, a vein is seldom found without
arteries : but no artery is ever found without a vein. Their
form is that of a conduit-pipe : their magnitude according to

their place : in the liver, and their original, they are great, be*

\

cause they are hot, soft, and in perpetual motion, and because
all the blood in the body passes this way, out of the right into
the left ventrical of the heart : in the heart they are great, by
reason of its heat, and because it is to furnish the whole body
with arterial blood, received in, and sent out, by continual pul-
sations. The emulgent veins are great, because of the plenty of
blood, and serosities, brought back from the kidneys to the
.ena eava : but, where the substance of the part is lasting, and
the heat small, the veins are less, as in the brain, bones, &c. and
in all parts towards their ends they are very small, and called
tapillary veins, being divided minutely, sprinkled into, and for
the most part confounded with, the flesh ; by this way the arte-
rial blood is mediately passed through the porous flesh to the
veins ; and, by the same way also, blood made of chyle in the
liver is infused into the little branches of the vena cava. Th#
veins and arteries conspire together, and the veins receive out of the

34 Culpepper's English Physician.

■■■»» ^JLUwwwwwCTiwwgnwwaiiBiii' iiiiiji»j,waMJwgaw— — Bawpyft

arteries spirit and blood ; and this is apparent, because, if the veins
be quite emptied, the arteries are empty also : moreover, by a vein
opened in the arm or hand, all the blood in the body may be
drawn out ; also it is necessary in respect of the circular motion of
the blood; and in many places it may be demonstrated to the
eye-sight, where the conjunctions of the veins with the arteries
are visible. The veins are endowed with feeling both from the
nerves that are near them, and from their own membrane, which
is one only, where they are inserted into some bowel ; otherwise
they are besides invested with a common membrane, or some ex-
ternal thick one, borrowed from the neighbouring parts, when
either they are suspended and carried a long way without the
bowels and muscles, or when they rest upon hard bodies. This
happens in the abdomen to the veins and arteries from the perito-
neum ; and in the chest from the pleura. Their use is to receive
the blood not sufficiently elaborated from the arteries, and to re-
turn it to the liver and heart, there to be more perfectly concocted.
For neither is the venal blood, nor do the veins carry any thing,
useful for nutrition : but they bring back all the blood to the
heart, only by circulation, either mediately by the liver, as the
meseraic veins or immediately, as the cava ; and that either from
the whole body, from the smallest branches to the greatest, by the
upper and lower branch, or, from the liver, whether it be there
generated, or is derived from the meseraics and arteries. Hence
it appears, that the veins carry and re-carry the blood to the liver,
and to this end the valves of the veins do conspire, which are so
contrived, that they stand all wide open towards the heart, and
afford an easy passage from the smallest veins to the greatest, and
fiom thence to the heart, but, from the heart and great veins
being shut, they suffer nothing to go back. The liver sends only
to the heart, the heart only to the lungs and all the arteries.
Seeing therefore the blood is thus sent into all parts, and cannot
now be instantly repaired by diet, nor return back to the heart
by the mitre-fashioned valves of the aorta ; nor abide still in the
arteries, which are continually moving forward the same ; nor

05

And Family Dispensatory .

lastly, that there can be so much spent by the parts to be nourish-
ed: it necessarily follows, that what remains over and above is
brought hack again to the heart, and enters the veins by circula-
tion. The substance of the veins is membranous, that they may
the more easily stretch and shrink in again : they have only one
tunicle which is proper to them, which is thin and rare : it is so
thin, that through it the blood may be received after the parts are
nourished, and so be re-carried to the heart, to be there again per-
fected. The valves of the veins are little foldings, or gates : they
are made of most thin little membranes in the inner cavities of the
veins, and certain particles as it were of the coats of the veins :
they are situated in the cavities of the veins chiefly of the limbs,
viz. of the arms and legs, after the glandules of the arm-holes and
groins, beginning presently after the rises of the branches, but not
in the rises themselves ; nor is there any of them in the external
small veins, because they need them not ; nor in the jugulars (ex-
cept two in the inner orifice, looking from above downwards), be-
cause the blood doth hardly descend upwards ; nor in the vena
cava , because the valves in the divarications do sufficiently hinder
the regress of the blood : they are also found in the emulgents,
and the branches of the mesentery, looking towards the vena cava
and porta , as also in the milky veins. They all of them look the
same way, one after another, towards the heart : and are placed
at convenient distances, as two, three, four, or five fingers between
each, according to the length of the vessel. As to their magnitude,
they are greater where the plenty and recourse of the blood is
most vehement, being in form like the nail on a man’s finger, or
the horned moon, as the sigma-shaped valves of the heart ; and
in their substance exceeding thin, but very compact, lest they
should break by a strong intercourse of the blood. The uses of
the valves are, 1, To strengthen the veins, whereas the arteries
are otherwise made strong by the double coats. 2. To stop the
too violent motion of the blood, lest it should move violently
out of the great veins into the little ones, and tear them. 3. To
hinder the blood from regurgitating, or going backwards. Hence

m

Culpepper s English Physician

the cause of a varix is apparent, because thick heavy blood long
retained against the valves makes a dilatation ; for without the
valves the veins would swell uniformly and all of an equal big-
ness, and not in the manner of varices.

The chief veins of the whole body are of three kinds : first,
the i ena cava ; secondly, vena porta ; thirdly, vense lacteee ;
from which several other eminent veins arise, having particular
denominations. The vena cava or magna is so called because
of its largeness, being the greatest in the whole body, and the
original of all other veins which do not proceed from the vena
porta. It takes its beginning from the liver, where, having spread
many veins through the upper parts thereof, they are about the top
collected into one trunk, which is presently divided into two parts,
viz. the upper or ascending trunk, and the lower or descending
trunk.

The ascending trunk of the vena cava, which is the greater,
perforates the diaphragma or midriff, and is spread through the
breast, neck, head, and arms. It is carried undivided as far
as th e jugulum, and has four branches; viz. 1. Phrenic a vena
diaphr agmatica ; the midriff veins, on each side one, which send
their branches to the pericardium and diaphragma. 2. The ve-
na coronaria, which is sometimes double, encompassing the basis
of the heart, at whose rise a little valve is placed to hinder the
blood returning to the trunk ; and with a continued passage it
is joined to the artery, that it may therefrom receive the blood,
which is to return to the cava. 3. Azygos sine pari, the solitary
vein, sends chief intercostal branches to the eight lower ribs ari-
sing about the fifth vertebra of the breast, from the hinder part
of the vena cava ; then about the fleshy appendices of the dia-
phragma, it enters the cavity of the abdomen, where on the left
side it is inserted in the emulgent vein ; on the right side into the
the trunk of the cava. 4. Subclavii, or branches of the cava by
the channel-bones, are divided into only two branches, one on
each side ; each of which is divided into two others, called the
Subclavii, and axillaris . From the subclavii, come forth two se-

And Family Dispensatory .

87

WMMjglMlWJIW ■!__ ■■■■." ' Mj . . ■■ J

veral branches, a superior and inferior. From the superior pro-
ceeds, first, the muscula superior , spread out into the skin and
muscles of the hinder part of the neck : secondly, the jugular veins,
by the sides of the neck ; and they are either external or internal.
The external jugular creeps up to the neck, chin, head and face :
under the root of the ear it is divided into internal and external
branches : the internal goes to the muscles of the mouth, fauces,
hyoides, &c. from this branch spring the veins which are opened
under the tongue. The external is propped with kernels, and is
divided into two parts : the one is carried to the fore-parts of the
face, cheek, and nose ; and in the middle of the forehead, being
joined with a branch of the other side, it makes the vein of the
forehead ; the other is carried through the sides, the temples, and
the occiput. The internal jugular is called apoplecta, and ascends
to the side of trachea to which it sends branches : and, going to
the basis of the skull in its hinder part, it is divided into two bran-
ches : the greater of which is carried backward through the hole of
the os occipitus, and enters into the cavity of the dura mater, or
thick meninx of the brain ; the last enters in at the hole or sinus
of the third and fourth pair, and is carried also to the dura mater ,
From the inferior branch, proceed five veins, the mammaria , inter -
costalis superior, mediastina cervicalis, and muscula inferior ,
The vena axillaris, or arm-vein, when it comes to the arm-pit,
is divided into two veins, viz. the vena cephalica, or upper branch ;
and the vena basilica, or lower branch, to which is added the me-
diana. The cephalica, or head-vein, is carried in the surface of
the cody between the fleshy membranes and coat of the muscles.
The basilica, or liver- vein, is placed near a nerve of the third and
fourth pair ; and therefore surgeons in opening of it ought to be
careful, lest they wound it, from whence follow great pain, fever,
oonvulsion, and death. From the basilica, or lower branch, arise
two veins: first, thoracica superior, which goes into the muscles of
the chest, and into women’s breasts : 2d!y, thoracica inferior,
which sometimes grows out of the superior, creeping all over tin*
aide of the chest ; its branches are joined by anastomosis with th$

SB Culpepper s English Physician

branches of the ozygos, which proceed out of the chest. The
basilica is divided ( under the tendon of the pectoral muscle) into
three branches : the first goes with the nerve of the arm, the second
is divided into an external, which sends veins to* the thumb, fore
and middle fingers ; and an internal, running along the middle
bone of the cubit, sending branches along the fingers to the inter-
nal muscle of the hand ; the third, called suhcutaneus, at the inner
swelling of the arm, is the inner branch of the cephalica, which
constitutes in part the mediana.

The descending trunk of the vena cava, which is smaller and
narrower, proceeds undivided as far as the fourth vertebra of the
loins ; and sends forth the four following branches. 1 . Venae adi-
posa ?, which furnish the coats of the kidneys, and their fat, the
sinister being commonly higher than the dexter. 2. The emul-
gens, or emulgent veins, descending to the kidneys by a short and
crooked passage, bringing back the blood, being purified, from
•the kidneys to the vena cava. 3. The spermatic ee, or spermatic
veins, the right arising, a little below the rise of the emulgent;
and the left arising from the emulgent, seldom from the cava,
sometimes from both. 4. Lumbares, or loin-veins sometimes two,
three, or four, which are carried between the four vertebra of the
loins. 5 After these branches the trunk goes towards the os
sacrum, and at the fourth vertebrae of the loins it goes under the
aorta, and is divided into two branches, called rami ilii or iliaci,
because they go over the os ilii and os pubis, to the thigh : these
iliac branches as soon as they have left the cavity of the belly, are
called vence crurales, or the leg veins.

From the rami ilii arise two veins : first, muscula superior ,
which sends veins to the peritoneum, and muscles of the loins and
belly; secondly, vena sacra, which is sometimes single, sometimes
double, for the marrow of the os sacrum . F rom thence the ramus
iliacus is forked out on each side into the external greater and in-
ternal smaller. From the internal smaller proceed two veins : first,
muscula media without, which sends veins to the muscles on the
outside of the hip and skin of the buttocks ; secondly, hypogastrica ,

And Family Dispensatory . 39

which is sometimes double, sending veins to many parts of the hy-
pogastric um, as to the bladder and its neck, to the penis or yard,
to the muscles of the intestinum rectum, whence are the hemor-
rhoides extern as, and to the lower side and neck of the womb,,
whence are those veins by which the courses flow in maidens and
women with child; but when the courses are naturally voided,
they flow from the arteries, as appears from their excellent colour
and the common oflice of the arteries. From the external greater
proceed three veins : 1. Epigastrica, which sends branches to the
peritoneum and muscles of the abdomen ; the principal parts as-
cend under the right muscles to the mammariae, with which they
are often joined about the navel. 2. Pudenda , which sends
to the privities in men and women, and goes across to the middle
of the os pubis. 3. Muscula inferior, which, passing over the
hip, serves the muscle and skin of the part ; from hence down-
wards the iliac branches, as soon as they have left the belly, are
called cnirals.

The crural veins are interwoven with little glandules in the
bending of the thigh, and from them proceed six branches. 1. The
ischias or ischiatica minor, which is opposite to the sapheena, and
serves the skin and muscles of the hip. 2. Ischias or ischiatica
major sends brandies to the hip, and a part of the muscles of the
ealf, and then divides itself into ten branches/ bestowing a couple
upon each toe. 3. Poplitea, the ham-vein, made of a double crural
branch, mixed together : it runs strait under the skin behind,
through the midst of the bending of the ham to the heel, and some-
times to the skin of the external ancle. 4. Suralis, a great vein,
and is divided into the external and smaller, and internal and great-
er; and each of them again into exterior and interior : all which
send veins to the muscles of the calves of the legs. Those on the
back of the foot, being mixed with the poplitea, make the same
various texture of veins, which are seen under the skin. 5. Sepsena,
(so termed from its apparency) or venamaleoli, the ancle*- vein, is
long and large, carried on through the inside of the thigh, between
the skin and membrane carnosa, to the knee ; and from thence, by

19. 3 b

4©

Culpepper’s English Physician

the inner part of the leg, it runs to the inner ancle, and to the up-
per part of the foot and toes. 6. The musculd , a vein arising from
the trunk or branch hidden among the muscles : it is double, and
remarkable, giving veins to the muscles of the thigh. As to the veins
of both arms and legs, it is to be noted ; first, that their various
branches send divers twigs outward to the skin, called cutaneous
veins : secondly, that even the grand branches are variously distri-
buted in every person, being seldom in one man as they are in an-
other : and that the right arms or legs rarely agree with the left.
In opening the veins of the foot, you may indifferently make choice
of any, seeing they are all derived from one and the same trunk.

The vena porta, or gate-vein, is the next great vein to thecava;
its prime original is the vena umbilicalis, or navel-vein, the first of
all the veins arising from seed, and that by which the child is nou-
rished in the womb ; afterwards it rises out of the hollow part of
the liver, where with many roots it is inserted. The trunk, before
it is divided into lower branches, sends two small veins to the gall-
bladder, tailed vena? cystica? ; and another vein to the stomach,
called gastrica dextra, which is divided about the lower orifice of
the stomach. Afterwards the trunk is divided into two eminent
lower branches, viz, the splenetic, and the mesenteric. Ramus
spteneticus goes into the spleen. Before it is divided, it sends from
itself two upper branches to the stomach ; first gastrica sinistra , or
major , (the largest of all the stomach veins) which afterwards con-
stitute the coronaria ; then it sends lower branches, one to the
omentum or caul, and one to the pancreas. Afterwards the trunk
of the ramus splenicus , is divided into the upper and lower bran-
ches : the former produces the vas breve and other little branches
carried into the spleen : the latter produce, 1. G astro epiploic a si-
fiistra , which runs out upon the bottom of the stomach, and gives
many branches both to the stomach itself and to the omentum. 2.
Vena epiplois, which runs out upon the same parts ; and a multi-
tude of other small branches, which are sent up and down all over
the spleen. The mesenteric branches of the vena porta, called ra-
mus dexter , whose principal part goes into the mesentery, sends

And Family Dispensatory * 41

forth two veins ; one to the middle of the duodenum , from whence
certain capillary twigs go through the pancreas and omentum up-
wards; and another to the right side ol the stomach and omentum.
Afterwards the trunk of th e ramus mesenteric us is divided into two
parts, the right and the left. The right-hand branch is two-fold :
1. Gastroepiploica dex tra, which runs to the bottom of the sto-
mach, and joins with the gastroepiploica sinistra , sending branch-
es through the omentum and stomach. 2. The right mesenteric
branch itself, which is divided into fourteen nameless little branches,
and those again into innumerable other little veins, which are cal-
led meseraic veins, and are dispersed into th ejejanum, ileon , caecum,
and part of the colon. The left hand mesenteric branch, first sends
out the vena hsemorrhoidaiis interna, which diffuses itself through
the mesentery, and sends forth branches to the spleen, womb, and
intestinum rectum, which is the internal haemorrhoidal vein : hence
appears a communion between the womb and the haemorrhoidal of
the anus, and that possibly the courses or terms may be conveyed
also this way. Afterwards the left mesenteric branch spreads itself
abroad into the left and centrical part of the mesentery, whence
come vena csecalis, which goes to the blind gut; and ramus meso-
volicus, which from the left side of the stomach goes to the colon.
Vena cava first receives the cruder blood from the arteries, and re-
mits it to the heart : the vena porta takes the blood not sufficiently
elaborated from the arteries, and carries it to the liver, for the more
perfect concoction and separation of the choler.

The kcemorrhoidal veins are situate in the fundament or intes-
tinum rectum, and are of two kinds, either internal or external.
The internal proceed from the vena porta ; the external from the
vena cava, with which the haemorrhoidal arteries are associated,
and through which the humours to be evacuated are carried off.
In their evacuation, the internal have a ffux, not very plentiful, at-
tended with a great deal of pain ; the external emit a ffux so large
as may sometimes cause death, or some grievous disease, but with-
out any pain at all. The internal descend alone, not associated
with arteries; however, the arteries are either hidden, or they de-

42 Culpepper s English Physician

pend on arteries not far off: the external descend with arteries to
tlie muscles of the anus ; and therefore the external haemorrhoids
may more properly he called vasa hamorrhoidalia, whereby the
.arteries are included with the veins.

The vena; lac t eve, or milky veins, are peculiar passages, much
differing from the meseraics : they are called lactea; from milk,
which they resemble in whiteness, softness, and fatness. Their
situation is in the abdomen, where they are for the most part ac-
companied with fat, to cherish the natural heat for the attraction
and concoction of the chylus. The great lactean vein, lying be-
tween the arteria aorta and the vertebrae of the loins, covered with
fat, runs upward, and, above the heart, ascends by the gullet to the
left subclavian vein, where it ends in one, two, or three branches :
here a most thin valve occurs at the very end of the vein, looking
inwardly, that the chyle might not run back again, or run farther
into the arm : out of this subelavial they descend by the ascend-
ing trunk of the vena cava into the right ventricle of the heart,
that there, by the help of the heat and the natural faculty, they
may be changed into blood. Their substance is the same with
that of a vein itself, which it resembles in all things, the milky
j nice only excepted : having but a single membrane, though in the
mesentery they receive from it another external coat. They grow
dontinually one to another, of an unequal magnitude ; being for
the most part small, lest the thick and unprofitabte parts of the
chyle should go into them, or lest they should make a distribution
thereof too suddenly : they are also infinite in number, dispersed
through the liver, mesentery, pancreas, and bowTels. They are
colder and moister than the ordinary veins ; very thin, exceeding
subtil, (where they enter into the body of the liver,) tender, smooth
outwardly, rare, but rough by reason of the fibres within them.
Their action and use are, 1 . To carry or convey the chyle to the
liver. 2. To digest and better concoct the chyle, to make it more
fit to receive the form of blood in the liver : for the chyle is not
changed at all till it comes into the liver, where it grows red by
little and little. 3. To shew a ready way for the distribution of

'

.

M .

t

43

And Family Dispensatory.

'.zrwtfn a*; hniaujCaftoara <e? afcOt^aTreaasgyJ

tke chyle : that the blood is made in the liver, not in the veins ;
and that the sucking of the veins is no cause of hunger, because
none are carried to the stomach. To shew the causes of some dis-
eases, before obscure : as, of the chylus flux ; or hypochondriac
melancholy ; of an atrophia, or pining away of the body for want
of nourishment, by reason of the glandules of the mesentery being
filled with schirrous swellings ; of intermitting agues quartered in
the ?nesaraeu?n, &c.

The best method of tracing the general course of the veins, is to
begin with the main trunks or primary veins, and end with their
ramifications and capillary extremities, according to their several
divisions and subdivisions. In this manner they are traced in the
annexed Plate, where %. 1 represents the veins as attached to the
body; fig. 2 the veins abstracted from the body ; and fig. 3 the pul-
monary vein : of each of which the following is an explanation.

1. Vena cava, (fig. I and 2)

2. Cava descendens

3. Cava ascendens

4. Vena azygos

5. 5. Subclavian veins

6. 6. Jugular veins external

7. 7. Jugular veins internal
S. The intercostals

9. 9. The mammary

10. 10. Auxiliary veins

11. 11. Cephalic veins

12. 12. Basilic veins

13. 13. Venamediana

14. 14. Diaphragmatic, hepatic,
and renal or emulgent veins

15. 15. Spermatic and iliac veins

16. 16. Hypogastric, epigastric,
and crural veins.

Fig. 3. represents the pulmonary vein in the time of expiration ;
a, being its trunk, cut close to the base of the heart; b, b, its divi-
sions to the right and left lobe of the lungs ; c, the canalis arterio-
sus ; d, d, the extremities of the arteries freed from the vessicles of
the lungs, and their inosculations with the pulmonary vein.

Of the ARTERIES.

An ARTERY, is a similar, spermatic, membranous, long,
round, hollow, part, a common pipe-Jike organ, consisting of a
double coat proceeding from the heart, joined every where to the

44 Culpepper's English Physician.

veins, by the assistance of many osculations, containing and car-
rying the nutritious blood and vital spirits to all parts of the body.
It is called arteria , from its containing and preserving air or spi-
rit, and therefore the ancients, as, Hippocrates, Plato, and Aris-
totle, call the wind-pipe arteria magna : but Galen makes a dis-
tinction, and calls the wind-pipe aspera arteria , the rough artery,
and those of which we here speak arteriae teves, the smooth arte-
ries, which Aristotle calls sometimes venam aortam , and sometimes
simply aorta. Their matter is a cold clammy part of the seed :
the original of their dispensation is the heart, and they proceed out
of the left ventricle thereof, and not the middle (as Aristotle would
have it ) ; and therefore the aorta, or arteria magna , proceeds
particularly from the left ventricle ; but the pulmoniac arteria
•(falsely called by the ancients vena arteriosa ) from the right ven-
tricle. Their use is, first, to carry the vital blood and spirits,
made in the heart, to all parts of the body ; secondly, to breed
animal spirits in the noble ventricle of the marrow, ( to wit )
the brain : thirdly, for the nourishment of the body and all its
parts, which are only nourished by the arterial blood, and not
by the venal : fourthly, to carry the excrements of the body
and blood, either to the outward parts of the body, or to the
kidneys, or mesentery or womb, or haemorrhoidal veins, &c.
The arteries flow only by pulsation : whereby, first, the heat of
the parts is cooled and tempered : secondly, the nourishing arte-
rial blood is cast continually into the smallest and most remote
arteries : which is proved by the continual pulsation of the heart,
which drives the blood into the greater arteries : thirdly, the stag-
nation of the venal blood is thereby prevented : for the pulsation
keeps it always in motion, by forcibly casting the more than ne-
cessary arterial blood for nourishment into the veins, which con-
vey it to the heart for supply, lest it should be destitute of its san>
guine humour by its continual expulsion. The cause of the pul-
sation, or pulse, is, according to Bartholine, from both the blood
filling, and the faculty of the arteries directing. But I judge the
eau^e to be from spirit, wind, air, or breath : for, if you blow

And Family Dispensatory .

45

with a reed or pipe being put into water, it will make an apparent
pulsation, or bubbling, much more if the water was contained in
long narrow vessels with valves, that it might not return back ; but,
if you suck with the pipe, then it runs smoothly, without pulsation
or leaping : therefore the blood in the arteries flows with pulsation,
from the expulsive faculty of the heart, caused by its spirits ; but
it flows in the veins smoothly, or without pulsation because it is
sucked or drawn back again by the attractive faculty, caused by
want of spirits, or blood, or by their being wasted by the heart’s
perpetual expulsation. The situation of the arteries is deep, always
under the veins both in the external and internal parts, the abdo-
men, a liittle below the kidneys, only excepted ; for, after that
the vena cava and aorta descending from the diaphragma have
passed the region of the kidneys, the cava hides itself under the*
aorta, through all that region, till they pass out of the abdomen *
and then the artery again hides itself under the cava. The mag-
nitude of the aorta is very great, but the descendant part is greater
than the ascendant, because the number of the internal parts is
greater than of the external. The number of arteries is less than
of veins, because the passage of the blood is quick through the
arteries, but slow through the veins ; but there are more arteries
than we can well discern, because the capillary arteries are very
much like the veins. Their substance is membranous, so that
they can be both distended and contracted more than the veins ;
and it consists of two peculiar tunicles ; the exterior is thin, soft,
and rare, like the tunicle of a vein ; the interior is compact, hard,
and very thick, five times thicker than the tunicle of the veins ;
that thereby the arteries may he strong to endure their perpetual
motion, and to keep in their thin and spirituous blood, which would
soon vanish and fly away.

The arteria magnet , or aorta, the great and chiefest artery,
comes from the left ventricle of the heart, with a wide orifice :
it has a double tunicle, the innermost of which is five times
thicker, lest, by continual pulsation about the hard and solid
parts, it might incur an incurable rupture. From the ventricle

46

Culpepper's English Physician,

of the heart, before it perforates the pericardium, it sends forth
to the heart itself the coronary artery, which compasses the
basis of the heart, sometimes single, sometimes double. After-
wards coming through the pericardium or heart -bag, it is divided
into two trunks, the smaller ascending and the greater descend-
ing. \ •

The smaller or ascending trunk of the aorta, or arteria magna ,
resting upon the wind-pipe, provides for all the parts about the
heart, and is divided into two subclavial branches, the latter rising
lower, and going more obliquely to the arm ; the others, before
they go out of the thorax, ( for afterwards they are called axil -
lares ) produce the intercostales superiores, proper to three or
four upper ribs ; from their upper part arise four arteries : 1 . mam-
maries, which go to the paps; 2. cervicales, which go to the
muscles of the neck ; 3. arteria musculse, which are approxi-
mate to the jugular veins ; 4. the carotides, or sleep -arteries, which
are two, unequal, and ascend upwards to the head by the sides
of the wind-pipe, being knit to the internal jugulars : when they
come to the fauces , before they enter the scull, they give branches
to the larynx and tongue, and then they divide themselves into
the carotis externa and carotis interna . The carotis externa ,
being the smaller, furnishes the cheeks and muscles of the face :
at the root of the ears it is divided into two branches : the first is
sent to the hinder part of the ear, whence arise two other branch-
es, which go to the lower jaw, and the root of all the lower teeth ;
the second goes to the temples, the forehead, and muscles of
the face. The carotis interna at the saddle of the os sphoe-
moides, under the dura mater, makes the reta mirabile , then
passes through the dura mater, and sends forth two branches :
the first, which is the smaller, goes with the optic nerve to the
eyes : the second which is the greater, ascends to the side of the
glandula pituitaria, and is distributed through the pi a mater and
the substance of the brain.

When the subclavial branches have left the breast or thorax,
they are called axillares, and carry nourishment to the outward

And Family Dispensatory .

47

part of the breast, and to the whole arm. From, the axillares
arise the thoracica superior, or upper breast artery ; thoracica
inferior, or lower breast-artery ; the scapularis, or shoulder-blade
artery. From the upper part of the axillares arises the humern-
ria ; the remainder goes from the axillary on each side to the
arm; where it is carried along through the arm, descending be-
tween the muscle, with a vein and nerve of the arm. Under the
bending of the elbow, it is divided into two branches, the upper
and the lower, which accompany the branches of the vena cava,
and are called by the same names. The upper goes right for-
wards through the middle to the wrist, where the pulse is com-
monly felt : from thence, proceeding under the ring-shaped liga-
ment, it bestows branches upon the thumb, fore-finger, and middle
finger. The lower branch runs through the ulna to the wrist, and
sends twigs to the ring or little finger, and so proceeds to the wrist
beneath, where the pulse may also be felt, especially in such as
are lean, and have a strong pulse ; but the beating of the pulse, is
much better felt in the upper branch, that being less covered or hid
by the tendon.

The descending trunk of the aorta sends out branches from it-
self unto the thorax, abdomen and thighs. From the thorax it
sends forth two arteries : 1. the intercostales inferior es, which
runs to the intervals of the eight lower ribs, and the neighbouring
muscles ; 2. the phrenic a, which sends to the diaphragma or mid-
riff, and pericardium or heart bag. The rest of the trunk pierces
through the clift of the septum, and sends ramifications through the
abdomen ; some of which go along with branches of the vena por-
ta ; others the branches of the vena cava.

Afterwards the arteria magna, or aorta, hastens the beginning
of the os sacrum, where, it goes above the vena cava, and no lon-
ger under, lest, by reason of its continual motion, it should be
hurt against some bone; and here it is called the iliac artery. It
is divided like the vena cava into two iliac trunks, and each trunk
into an inner and less branch, and into an outward and greater,
which go to the thigh. These trunks send out on each side six

No. 20 3 m

48

Culpepper's English Physician

branches: 1. The sacra, immediately after the bipartition; 2.
muscula inferior ; 3. hypo gastric a ; 4. umbilicalis ; which last
three come from the inner trunk ; 5. epigastrica ; 6. pudenda :

which two last come from the exterior trunk.

The rest of the artery (out of the abdomen), being carried to the
thigh, changes its name, and there makes the crural arteries; from
whence on each side spring branches above and under the ham.
Above the ham, from the outward part of the trunk : 1. muscula
cruralis externa, to the foremost muscles of the thighs, from the
inner ; 2 muscula cruralis interna , which go to the inner muscles
of the thigh ; and this is mixed at the knee with a little twig of the
hypo gastric a. Under the ham arise, \ . popliteus, which goes to
the hinder muscle of the thigh : 2. suralis, which is divided into,
1st, tibicus exterior ; 2d, posterior alt us ; 3d, posterior humilis,
for the muscles of the leg : 3. the last of them is sent to the foot
and toes, all along accompanied with the veins, from which they
borrow their names. To enter into a more minute detail of their
subdivisions would be useless; the arteries being all delineated on
the annexed plate with references to their several names, as follows:

1. Aoita, cut from its origin, at the left ventricle of the heart.
2. 2. Trunks of the coronal arteries. 3. The three semilunar
valves. 4. 4. Subclavian arteries. 5. 5 . Carotid arteries. 6. 6.
Vertebral arteries. 7. 7. Arteries of the tongue, &c. 8. 8. Tem-
poral arteries. 11. 11. Occipital arteries. 13. 13. Contortions
of the carotides. 15. 15. Ophthalmic arteries. 16. 16. Arteries
of the cerebellum. 18. 18. Ramifications of the arteries within the
scull. 19. 19. Arteries of the larynx. 21. 21. Mammery arteries.
23, 24, 25, 26. Arteries of the arm. 27. Arteries of the hand
and fingers. 28. 28. Descending trunk of the aorta. 29. Bron-
chial artery. 31. 31. Intercostal arteries. 32. Trunk of the cce-
liac artery. 33. 33. 33. Hepatic arteries. 34. Arteria cystica.
35, 36, 37, 38, 39. Arteries of the stomach, pylorus, and epiplois.
40. 40, Phrenic arteries. 41. Trunk of the splenic artery. 43.
44, 45, 46, 47. Mesenteric arteries. 49. 49. Emulgent arteries.
51. 51. Spermatic arteries. 52. Arteria sacra. 53. 53. Iliac

.

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And Family Dispensatory.

49

arteries. 54. 54. 58. 58. Iliaci externi. 55. 55. 59. 59. Iliaci
interni. 56. 56, Umbilical arteries. 57. 57. Epigastric arteries.
60. 62. Arteries of the penis and pudendum. 61. 61. Arteries of
the bladder. 69. 69. 70. 70. Crural arteries. 72. Arteries of the
leg. 73. Arteries of the foot.

Of the NERVES.

A NERVE or sinew is a similar, spermatic, membranous, long,
and white, hollow part : a common organ, serving to carry the
animal spirits into all parts of the body for sense and motion. Its
efficient cause is the vis nervifica, the nerve-making power or fa-
culty : its matter is a cold and clammy part of the seed. The origi-
nal dispensation is from the medulla oblongata , partly as it is within
the skull, and partly as it is in the back-bone. Their end and
use is to carry the animal faculty with the animal spirits from the
brain, for the sense and motion of the whole body. And therefore
the nerves inserted into the parts give either sense alone, or both
sense and motion, there being neither without help of a nerve : for,
a nerve being cut, the sense and motion of the part is lost. But
this sense or motion is according to the parts where they are disse-
minated, because the nerves of themselves are neither sensitive nor
motive ; if they are inserted into muscles, (the organs of motion )
they are termed nervi motoriiy motive nerves : if into the instru-
ment of sense, nervi sentientia , the sensitive. Their situation is,
for security, deeper than that of an artery : their magnitude is va-
rious, according to the nature of the organ, and dignity of the action.
Those of the eyes are large, because of the action ; those of the
limbs very large and thick, because of their distance and magni-
tude ; those of the sensory parts are in a middle proportion ; those
of the nearest parts, as in the muscles of the face, are the smallest
of all. The number of the nerves are taken from their conjugations
or pairs, and are so called from their coupling or being double ;
for they sprout out on both sides, except the last or lowest, pro-
ceeding from the spinal marrow. The form or figure of the nerve

50 Culpepper s English Physician

is long, round, and smooth, like conduit pipes : solid to appearance,
having no such hollowness as the veins and arteries have; but they
have cavities or pores, for the carrying off the animal spirits, though
not perceptible to the eyes. The substance of all the nerves is
composed of many nervous fibres, which grow mutually together
by little membranes ; and this substance is thought to be three-
fold : 1. the internal white and marrowish, from the marrow of
the brain, but more compact and thickened; 2. an inner coat, from
the pia mater ; 3. an outward coat, from the dura mater ; but
these things sense cannot discover. The substance of the nerves
is also either harder or softer : the harder are such as either go a
great way, or through some hard body, or by a crooked way, or
are ordained for motion, which requires strength ; and all parts
which have voluntary motion have hard nerves; for that which
is hard is fitted to act, that which is soft to suffer : the softer
nerves are such as are the shortest, and which belong to the or-
gans of the senses, as the seeing, tasting, hearing, and smelling,
which last are the softest of all ; and these require soft nerves,
as being the objects of suffering. As their use is to carry the ani-
mal spirits and faculties into all parts for sense and motion; so,
if they be obstructed in their original, or beginning, or totally,
ihey both perish, and an apoplexy is caused : if the obstruction
be but in part, then one part is deprived of sense and motion : if
they are cut asunder, the motion of the part into which they
are inserted is lost : moreover, the nerves diffuse animal light
into the parts, by which they are directed in their operations.
Hence it appears how necessary it is for a physician to know the
nerves, their original, differences, and distribution, that he may
understand to what part of the spina dorsi topic medicaments
are to be applied, when sense or motion is hurt in the face, neck,
arms, hands, muscles of the belly, womb, bladder, anus, yard,
thighs, legs, or feet. Moreover, the cause of the gout seems
chiefly to be the extravasating of the nervous juice ; for the ner-
vous juice, being over-heated or rarified by too much heat, can-
not be contained in its proper place ; but seeking more room

And Family Dispensatory .

51

flies out of the solid capacity of the nerve ( its proper domicil )
into the hollow of the nerve, the channel of the animal spirits,
thereby interfering with them, causing an extension of the nerve,
opposition, and consequently pain. In the annexed plates all
the nerves are delineated, agreeable to the following description and
arrangement.

The nerves of the brain are nine pair. ]. The olfactory pair,
(fig. 2.) u. a. which passing through the os cribrosum, are spread
over the membrane of the nostrils. 2. The optic pair, b b, which
by their expansion form the retina of the eye. 3. The motary
pair of the eyes, c c, each of which is divided, near the orbit,
into six parts, or branches ; of which, in human subjects, the
first branch goes to the elevator palpebrae ; the second, to the
elevator of the eye; the third, to the depressor; the fourth, to
the adducent; the fifth, to the inferior oblique muscle ; and the
sixth into the tunics of the eye ; but in other animals, they are
divided much otherwise. 4. The pathetic pair, d d, which are
very small, and run to the trochlear muscle of the eye. 5. The
gustatory pair, which are very large, and divided within the cra-
nium into three branches,^/”, immediately under the dura mater;
of these the first branch, called the ophthalmic, runs to various
parts of and about the eye, the eye-lids, the muscles of the fore-
head and nose, and the integuments of the face. The second
branch may be called the superior maxillary one, as being finally
distributed through all parts of the upper jaw, the lips, nose,
palate, uvula, gums, teeth : a branch of it also runs to the ear,
and, joining with a branch of the seventh pair, forms the chorda
tympani. The third branch may be called the maxillaris infe-
rior, as being distributed over the several parts of the lower jaw,
the tongue, and other parts of the mouth ; whence the whole
pair of nerves has obtained the name of par gustatorium ; though
a great part of them serves to very different purposes, and is
carried to parts that have nothing to do with tasting. 6. The
abducent pair, g g, except a branch for the formation of the in-
tercostal nerve, is wholly carried to the abducent muscle of the

52

Culpepper's English Physician

eye: whence its name. The intercostal nerve (fig. 1. and 2.),
i i i, l /, m, &c. is formed either of ramifications of the two pre-
ceding nerves, or only of those of the sixth pair. It makes its way
out of the cranium by the passage of the internal carotid, and de-
scends near the eighth pair through the neck; and thence through
the breast and abdomen, even to the pelvis ; and, in its way,
makes various plexuses and ganglia, and sends branches to almost
all the parts contained in the breast and abdomen. 7. The rudi-
tory pair, h h, arise with two trunks ; the one of which is called
the portio dura , or hard portion ; the other the portio mollis ,
or soft portion. The last enters the foramen of the os petrosum,
and thence through various little apertures gets into the labyrinth
of the ear, where it is expanded over all its parts, and constitutes
the primary organ of hearing. The harder portion, passing the
aqueduct of Fallopius, sends back one branch into the cavity of
the cranium ; it also sends off another branch, which helps to
form the chorda tympani ; and others to the muscles of the
tympanum. The rest of this pair goes to the external ear ; the
pericranium, the muscles of the os hyoides, the lips, the eye-lids,
and the parotids. 8. The par vagum, k k k, with the accessorius
of Willis, pass out near the lateral sinuses of the dura mater ;
and, descending through the neck and thorax to the abdomen,
send out branches by the way to the larynx, the pharynx, the
heart, the lungs, and especially to the stomach. It also sends
off from the upper part of the thorax large branches, which are
variously implicated in the neck, thorax, and abdomen, with the
linguals, the cervicals, and the intercostals. 9. The lingual pair
go immediately to the tongue, and are called by some the motory
nerves of the tongue ; but, by others, with more justice, the gusta-
tory nerves.

We are to observe, says Heister, that the pair of nerves, which
the generality of writers have called the tenth pair of the head,
are, for many unanswerable reasons, to be properly called the
first pair of nerves of the neck. Of the nerves which arise from
the spinal marrow there are properly thirty-two pair. Those

53

And Family Dispensatory .

of the neck are no less than eight pair ; and from them are innu-
merable branches distributed through the muscles of the head, the
neck, the scapula, and the humerus, marked A, B, C, D, &c.
to O O, the eighth and last pair : from the third, fourth, and
fifth pair, are formed the nerves of the diaphragm ; and the
sixth, seventh, and eighth pair, together with P P, the first pair
of the back, from the six robust nerves of the arm and hands.
To this division is the accessory spinal nerve of Willis to be re-
ferred, which arises about the origin of the third or fourth
pair.

The nerves of the back are twelve pair, marked PP, QQ, R,
S, &c. to Z, and a , (2 , &c. which, besides the branch they give
to the brachial nerves, run entirely in the same furrow along the
course of the ribs, and are dispersed over the pleura, the intercos-
tal, pectoral and abdominal, muscles, the breast and other parts of
the thorax.

The nerves of the loins are five pair, marked r, (p, zs, T, ©,
with their branches \J/, &c. These are in general dispersed
over the loins, the peritonaeum, and the integuments and muscles
of the abdomen : and, besides this their first pair often gives, on
each side, a branch of the diaphragm. The second pair, after
inosculating with the branches of the first, third, and fourth pair,
forms the crural nerves, 6 6, 7 7, 8 8, &c. which are distributed
over the anterior part of the thigh : and, in the same manner, a
branch is formed of the conjunctions of the second, third, and
fourth, pair, which passeth through the great foramen of the os
pubis to the scrotum, the testicles and the adjoining parts. The
fourth and fifth pair of the nerves of the loins, joining with the
first, second, third, and fourth, pair of the os sacrum, compose the
nerve called ischiatic, which is the largest in the body, being mar-
ked 3 3, in fig. 2. it descends along the hinder part of the thigh,
and its branches are distributed over the whole leg, the foot, and
toes; being marked 15, 17, 18, &c.

The nerves of the sacrum form five or six pair, though not al-
ways determinately and regularly so : they pass through the

54

Culpepper s English Physician

foramina of this bone, and the superior ones of them, as already
observed, compose the ischiatic nerve; and what remains is dis-
persed, in a multitude of ramifications, over the parts contained in
the pelvis, the intestinum rectum, the bladder, the parts of genera-
tion, and the parts adjacent. They are marked, in the figure,

A, S, IT, 2, &c.

We shall only add, that 1 1, fig. 2, represent the brachial
nerves ; 2 2, &c. the communications of the vertebral nerves with
the intercostals ; 1 1, remarkable communications between the

phrenic nerves and the intercostals ; /, u, u , &c. the accessory
nerve of the eighth pair; x, x, the phrenic nerves ; and z , z , the
nerves which go to the testes, uterus, &c.

Of the MUSCLES.

A MUSCLE, is a similar, spermatic, sanguinous, membran-
ous, fleshy, fibrous, part, and the instrument of voluntary or free
motion. It is composed of fibres, for the intention of the mo-
tion ; of flesh, for the substance ; of tendons, which perform the
action ; of arteries, by which it is nourished ; of veins, which
carry back the superfluous nourishment ; of nerves, which give
sense, and convey the motive faculty to the brain ; of membranes,
which encompass and keep the muscles together ; of fat, which
moistens them and keeps them from being dried by too much
motion. The fibres and flesh are only extended according to
the straight position of the fibres; the tendon is in the beginning
and end ; the arteries and veins run through the substance of
the muscle ; the nerve, as soon as it is entered into the substance,
is dispersed into a great number of twigs, which end in it, and
become inconspicuous ; the membrane is proper to the muscle
only, and springs either from the tendons, or is framed by nature
in the first conformation of the parts ; the fat lies in void spaces
to prevent a vacuum or emptiness. The action of a muscle is
voluntary or free motion. This action or motion is three-fold :
first, when the muscle is contracted towards its head within itself.

And Family Dispensatory,

55

thereby relaxing the opposite muscle : secondly, when the motion
is tonic, so that being contracted it remains so ; these two
motions are primary, per se, and not accidental ; thirdly, when
(after contraction) it is relaxed, or restored to its former position,
which motion is accidental and proceeds from another : and
therefore muscles are always placed one against another as an-
tagonists. The manner of this action or motion varies according
to the variety of parts ; for, in the throat, it is swallowing; in
the arm, bending and stretching forth ; in the anus, expulsion
and retention, &c. This motion is voluntary or free ; for we
can hasten or slacken, make or stop, this motion, as we please ;
but there are some singular muscles, as of the inside of the ear,
the midriff, the muscles of the chest, and of the eye-lids, whose
motion is partly voluntary, partly natural, because they often
perform their actions when we have no thought or will thereto.
Those muscles which only perfom continual or strong motions,
which are all such as are appointed for moving the bones, have
tendons ; but those which move other parts, as the tongue, lips,
forehead, face, bladder, anus, &c. seldom have any ; for the
muscles move themselves only, as those of the anus and bladder;
or they move with themselves and the skin also, as in the lips,
forehead, and face; or they move a bone, and such, by reason
of the strong motion, require tendons. The diversity of this
motion comes from the diversity of the situation : so a straight
muscle has a straight motion : a transverse, a transverse motion ;
an oblique, an oblique motion ; and that which compasses a part
has an orbicular motion, as the sphincters. The efficient cause
of these actions, or motions, is the soul of the creature, inclined
thereto by the appetite or will : now the soul uses three instru-
ments to perform the action : first, the brain, to receive the
charge; secondly, the nerve, to carry it to the muscle; thirdly,
the muscle, to perform the action itself. The differences of
muscles are various : first, from their substance ; some are fleshy,
as several of the tongue and larynx; some membranous, as the
constrictores of the nose ; some partly fleshy, partly nervous.

No. 20 3 n

56 Culpepper's English Physician

m

as the temporal muscles : secondly, from their quantity : the
greatest of all is the first of those which extend over the breast;
for it ascends from the end of the os sacrum, to the first verte-
bra of the tborax : the least of all is the internal muscle of the
ear : thirdly, from their situation, fourthly, from their figure, or
form or number, as the muscle deltoides ; the muscle bicipites,
having two heads ; also some have two tails ; fifthly, from their
beginnings ; some proceed from bones, some from cartilages, as
those of the larynx ; some from tendons, as the lumbricales ;
sixthly, from the action ; some move by sympathy, as the f rater -
ni, or congeneres ; or by antipathy, as the antagonistae ; some
move themselves only, as the sphincters ; some move other parts ;
some have only one motion, as most of the muscles ; some have
more than one, as the masseter and trapezius ; some are Jlejtores
some ecctensores, some rotatores, some supinator es. As to its
being a similar part, it is only said to be so according to sense
or appearance; and that is such, it appears, forasmuch as it
forms not of itself alone the most simple organical part, as a
finger or toe, &c. but they take into their composition, with a
muscle, several other similar parts, as bones, cartilages, mem-
branes, skin, &c. Moreover, a truly dissimilar or organical part
is only found in itself, not in other parts : but a muscle, as it is
hut a part of ail dissimilar parts, so it goes universally or every
where to the constitution of all organical parts, which even the
most simple organical parts do not.

The muscles of the head are either proper, from which comes
the primary motion upon the first vertebra, to which it is imme-
diately and closely joined, being bent forward and backward, or
turned round; and they are in number eighteen single, or nine
pair : or common, which are those, which together with the head
move the neck, and these are the muscles of the neck, of which
in their proper place. The first pair is called splenius or spleni-
cus, or triangularis ; it proceeds from the first vertebra of the
breast, is spread out on each side upon the vertebra, reaching to
the third vertebra of the neck, from whence it is carried to the

f

57

And Family Dispensatory.

■iiiiiiiiiWMWtiiiriiiiinwmMwWMWiwMBawMaMWMMwwHaMtigMBi'w niiwi ihiiiim

Middle of the occiput : its use is to draw the head directly back-
wards^’ but, if only one of the muscles act, the motion is circular
to one side. The second pair is called complex us or trigeminus ;
it is a large muscle assisting the other. It has divers beginnings
at the seventh vertebra of the neck, and at the first, third, and
fourth, of the breast, and is after a different manner terminated in
the occiput. The third pair is called sub-sectmdo , and inserted
into the hindermost root of the processus mammillaris : its use is
lightly to bring the head backwards ; or backwards to one side,
if but one muscle acts. The fourth pair, called recti majores , are
small, fleshy, and lean, and spring from the edge of the second
spondil or vertebra of the neck, ending in the middle of the occi-
put. The fifth pair, called recti minores, lie concealed under the
former, proceeding from the back part of the first spondil, or ver-
tebra of the neck, and is inserted into the occiput its use is the
same with the third and fourth pair. The sixth pair is called ob-
liqui majores ; it lies beneath and springs from the process of the
first vertebra, and ends in the occiput, by the outside of the recti .
The seventh pair, is called obliqui minores ; it arises from the se-
cond vertebra of the neck, is inserted into the transverse process
of the first vertebra, and terminates in the occiput : the use of these
two oblique pair is to bring the head about to the sides. The
eighth pair, called mastoides , is placed in the forepart ; they
arise for the most part double, long, and round, in the fore part
of the neck, from the upper part of the sternum or breast bone,
and midst of the clavicula, and is obliquely inserted into the
mamillary process, which it embraces ; its use is to turn the
head. The ninth pair, called fallopiani , lies under the throat in
the forepart of the neck, and near the first pair of the neck ; it
arises nervous from the ligaments of the vertebra of the neck, and
is inserted into the basis of the head, which it turns in like man-
ner as the former.

The muscles of the forehead have their original from the upper
parts of the forehead and skull, near the coronal suture, and being
spread out upon the bone thereof, they end at the eye-brows.

58

Culpepper $ English Physician

that they might lift them up, being served in the midst of the
forehead, right above the nose : but knit at (he sides to the tem-
poral muscles.

The muscles of the occiput, or hind part of the head, are rather
membranes, which draw backwards the skin of the head, in such
persons as have the skin moveable.

The two eye-lids are moved by four museles : the first is the
frontalis , which is straight, belonging to the Tipper eye-lid, to
lift up the brow. The second is the musculns ciliaris 'primus ,
which compasses about each of the eye-lids. The third is the
musculus ciliaris secundus, which is drawn out under the eye-
lids, and arising from the circumference of the orbita} or socket
of the eye; the use of these ciliares is to shut the eye-lids. The
fourth is orbicularis major ; it is of a fingers breadth, encom-
passes the surface of the orbita, or socket, and being placed
under each eye-lid, and reaching as far as the eye-brow, it close-
ly shuts the eye-lids, by lifting up the lower, and drawing down
the eye-brow.

The eye hath six muscles, of which four are straight, and two
oblique or circular ; they are all seated within the cavity of the
skull, and accompany (he optic nerve. The first muscle is called
attolens or superbus ; it is the upper and thicker, and is the lift-
er up of the eye, being the proud or scornful muscle. The se-
cond is called deprimens ( the depressor) and musculus humilis ;
it is placed opposite to the other, and draws the eyes downwards
towards the cheeks. The third is called adducens, the drawer
to ; also lectorius, the reading muscle, because it moves the eye
inwards towards the nose. The fourth is called abducens , the
drawer from, because it draws the eye to the outward corner ; it
is also termed the indi gnatorious , as being the muscle of in-
dignation. All these four muscles have the same original, pro-
giess, and end; the beginning of them all is acute, near the
hole where the optic nerve enters into the socket of the eye, from
the membrane whereof they arise ; their belly is fleshy and
round, and their end a very small tendon : by all these four act-

59

And Family Dispensatory.

ing together, the eye is kept from stirring. The fifth muscle,
called obliquus major , or superiour, arises from a common begin-
ning with the first four, is carried right out to the inner corner
of the eye, where it passes out and ascends in a right angle to the
upper side of the cornea : this muscle is the smallest of all, and
has the longest tendon, by which it wheels the eye about unto
the inner corner. The sixth muscle, called obliquus infernos
minor et inferior , is a short, lean, round and oblique, muscle,
seated between the eyes and tendons of the second and third
muscle : it springs from the lower and almost outward part of the
orbit of the eye, and ascending by the outward corner to the up-
per part of the eye, is inserted into the cornea by the region of
the iris. It whirls about the eye obliquely downwards lo its ex-
ternal or outward corner.

The muscles of the external part of the ear are four pair : of
the internal part, two pair ; but in most people the ears are im-
moveable, because of the smallness of the muscles and little need
of their motion. Of the four first muscles, three are common
with other parts ; the fourth is proper to itself. The first muscle
is called deprimens , common to the ear and each lip, and is
a part of the first muscle which moves the cheeks and skin of
the face, and is called quadratus, the square muscle, very thin
and broad, and is implanted into the root of the ear, and pulls
it down. The second is called antrorsum ducens, or the drawer
forwards ; it is a part of the frontal muscle, which is carried
above the temporal muscle, and is inserted into the upper part of
the ear. The third muscle is called retrorsum ducens , or abdu-
cens ad posterior a, the drawer back, and arises from a part of
the occipital muscle, above the processus inammillaris, with a
narrow beginning, from whence, growing broader, it is carried
downwards transversely, and inserted into the hinder part of the
earth. The fourth muscle is called trip aril us, or attolens, the
lifter up ; it arises from the processus inammillaris , and being
broad it grows narrow by little and little, till at last it ends in a
tendon, and is inserted into the root of the ear. This is the only

60

Culpepper's English Physician

proper muscle to the ear, and is rather three-fold, because it has
three insertions, though all spring from one place. The fifth
muscle which belongs to the internal part of the ear is called ex -
ternus ; it is very small, springing from the skin and membrane
which cover the passage of the ear ; then, becoming fleshy, it
passeth by a short tendon to the outward part of the tympanum,
and is inserted about the centre of it. The sixth muscle which
belongs to the internal part of the ear, is called internus, it is
small, and placed within the os petrosum , with a double tendon,
one part of which is fixed to the higher process of the malleolus
or hammer, the other to its neck. It arises from the basis of the
wedge-like bone, then becomes somewhat fleshy, afterwards nar-
rower, and ends in a double tendon. Its use is to draw the head
of the hammer obliquely inward.

The nose has eight muscles, or four pair, especially in large-
nosed people, but they are small because the motion of the nose
is little. The first pair are called openers or wideners ; they are
fleshy, arise from the cheek bone near the muscle of the lips and
sides of the nose ; they are inserted partly into a part of the upper
lip, partly into the lower wing, and end in the top of the nose.
The second pair are called erectores or aperientes , openers : they
are mostly triangular, and with a sharp and fleshy beginning
spring from the suture of the forehead by the foramen lachrymale ,
under the tear- glandule, and, cleaving to the bone, are outwardly
inserted and carried to the pinna ?, wings, or sides of the nose. The
third pair are called constringentes , or pulling together : they are
little, arise fleshy about the roots of the pinnae , are carried along
transversely, and inserted in the comers of the wings : their use is
a little to shut the nostrils. The fourth pair are called deprimen -
tes : these are exceeding firm and membranous, lie hid under the
coat of the nostrils in the inner part : they arise from the extremi-
ty of the os nasi, and are implanted into the pinnae or wings ; their
use is to depress the nose, or pull it downwards.

The muscles common to both cheeks and lips are, 1. Zigoma-
ticus, or quadrat us detr aliens : ibis a thin muscle like a mem-

And Family Dispensatory .

61

brane, interlaced with fleshy fibres. It arises from the vertebrae
of the neck, in the outward side, and ascending up by the ob-
lique fibres to the face is implanted in the chin, and terminated
in the meeting of the two lips : this pair draws the lips backwards.
2. Buccinator , the trumpeter, or cheek-driver or mover : this
pair lieth under the former in the upper part of it ; and makes
all that part of the cheek which is blown up when a trumpet is
sounded. It arises from the top of the gums near the farthest
grinders, and ends in each lip. The muscles proper to the lips,
are either proper to each, or common to both. The upper lip has
two pair of muscles proper to it ; the lower has but one. The
first pair is attolens sursum trahens, which draws the lip up-
wards : it springs from the corner between the eyes and the nose,
and is inserted into the substance of the upper lip. The second
pair, called deorsum inovens, arises from the upper jaw-bone, just
in the cavity of the cheeks, under the socket of the eye, thin, but
broad and fleshy. The third pair, called dehorsum trahens , pro-
per to the lower lip only, arises from the middle of the chin, with
a broad beginning, and ascends directly to the middle of the lower
lip, which it moves upwards. The muscles common or belong-
ing to both lips are also three pair : First, oblique sursum trahens
that which obliquely draws upwards. The second pair common
is oblique deorsum trahens , or deprimens, moving the lips oblique-
ly downwards. The third common to both lips, is circular, en-
compassing and constituting the whole mouth, making the proper
substance of the lips : by help whereof, the mouth is pursed or
drawn together.

The muscles of the lower jaw are in number twelve, viz. six pair,
being six on either side. 1. Temporalis, crotaphites, the temporal
muscle so called from its situation, because it possesses the cavities
of the temples : it is the greatest of all the jaw muscles, being very
firm and strong, it runs along under the os zigoma , and is by a
very strong and nervous tendon inserted into the sharp process of
the jaw-bone. Its use is forcibly to pull up the lower jaw, and to
shut the mouth. 2. Massetur, the chewing-muscle, or first chewer:

62

Culpepper's English Physician

it is placed in the cheeks, and arises from a double head. It is in-
serted into the inferior jaw bone, by a very broad and strong con-
nection. 3. Alare externum , the outward wing muscle. It arises
from the os sphcenoides, and the external -processus alaris, with a
beginning partly nervous and partly fleshy, and is inserted into the
neck of the lower jaw-bone, and in the inner seat of the head. Its
use is to move forward and thrust out. 4. Massetur internus, the
other chewer, is thick and short, and is implanted into the inner and
hinder part of the jaw, with a broad and strong tendon. Its use is
to assist the temporal muscle. 5. Muse ulus latus, the double-bellied
muscle, or broad muscle. It is nervous in the middle, and fleshy
at the ends, and is inserted into the chin, under the bending of the
jaw, fastened to a ligament, lest it should go too far back. Its use
is to draw the jaw downwards to open the mouth. 6. Musculus
latus , the broad or broadest muscle. It arises from the upper part
of the sternum, the clavicula, and shoulder-point, and covering the
whole neck and face, it cleaves firmly to the inferior jaw, and is
fixed in the middle of the chin. The four last muscles draw the
jaw upwards, and are exceeding strong ; the last two only draw it
downwards, because it would be apt to depress itself.

The muscles of the os hyoides or tongue-bone, which is the foun-
dation of the tongue, are in number four pair. 1. Sterno-hyoides :
it arises from the inner but upper part of the sternum, and resting
upon the wind-pipe lies concealed in the fore-part under the skin.
2. Genio-hyoides , which arises from the inner part of the chin,
fleshy, broad, short, and is inserted into the middle or hollow of the
os hyoides. Third, Stylocerato hyoides : it arises from the root of
the processus styloides, being lean, round, and seated under the
chin. 4. Ceraca hyoides : it arises at the first, small, lean, and
long, from the upper side of the scapula, becomes fleshy about the
neck, and passing under the levator of the shoulder-blade, is in-
serted into the point of the hyoides. This pair is long, and has
two bellies, being extenuated in the middle like a tendon.

The muscles moving the tongue are in number five pair: 1. Stylo-
glossum, arising from the outside of the appendix styloides , and

And Family Dispensatory.

63

ending with transverse fibres, in both sides of the tongue; it moves
the tongue inwards; and by reason of the interwoven fibres, they
lift the tongue upwards, if they act both together ; or upwards on-
ly on one side, if only one acts. 2. Myloglossum , arising from the
sides of the lower jaw, at the roots of the grinding teeth, and end-
ing under the basis of the tongue in the ligament : when both act,
they move the tongue to the palate and upper teeth ; but when one
acts the tongue is moved obliquely upwards. 3. Genioglossitm,
arising inwardly from the middle of the chin, and terminating al-
most in the middle of the tongue inwardly. Its use is to thrust the
tongue out of the mouth, and also to draw it in again, so that it
seems to perform contrary actions. 4. Hypsiloglossum, arising
fleshy out of the upper and middle region of the os hyoides, runs
along according to the length of the tongue ; and is terminated
into the middle of it : this pair draws the tongue inward. 5. Ce-
ratoglossum , which arises from the upper horns of the hyoides,
and is obliquely inserted into the sides of the tongue, near the root
thereof, it moves the tongue downward toward the inward parts,
when both act; but to the right or left side, if only one be con-
tracted.

The muscles of the larynx, or windpipe, are either common or
proper : the common are two pair, sternothyroides and hyothy-
roides. 1. Sternothyroides arises from the inner side of the ster-
num, runs along by the larynx, and is inserted beneath into the
sides of the scutiformis, or shield-fastened gristle. This straightens
the chink of the larynx, by drawing down the scutiformis. Hyo-
thyroides, arises from the lower side of the os hyoides, being broad
and fleshy, and touches the scutiformis, and is inserted into its ba-
sis ; it widens the chink by lifting up the scutiformis. These com-
mon muscles are implanted into the larynx, but do not arise there-
from. The proper muscles are five pair : 1. Thyrocrycoides, arises
from the lowest part of the scutiformis, and ends at the annularis,
and is inserted into the lateral parts of the thyroides. 2. Crycothy-
rouies , rises from the hinder side of the annularis, fleshy; and is
inserted into the lower part of the glottalis , with a nervous end.

No. 20. 3 o

64 Culpepper s English Physician

opening the larynx, by drawing asunder the two gristles called
arytenoides. 3. Crycoarythenoides lateral , springs above from
the side of rbe annularis, and is implanted at the sides of the glot-
talis into the joint, and opens the larynx with the same oblique
motion of the gristles. 4. Thyroarytenoides , or glotloides ; this
helps the former, and, springing from the inner and forepart of the
thyroides, is terminated into the lateral part or sides of the glotta-
lis, or arytenoides, which shuts the larynx by a straight passage ;
if this pair is inflamed in a quinsy, it is mortal, because it exactly
shuts the chink. 5. Arytetioides, is a round muscle, compassing
the ewer-like cartilage : it arises from the hinder line of the gut-
talis, and, being carried along with transverse fibres, is inserted
into the sides thereof.

The uvula has two pair of muscles, two on either side, viz. an
external and inteinal pair. 1, Ptery-staphyhnus extern us rises
from the upper jaw and under the last grinding tooth, ends in a
small tendon, which passes through a chink on the upper side of
the pterygoides. 2 Ptery-staphylinus internes proceeds from the
lower part of the internal wing of the pterygoides, and ascending

according to the longitude of the wing is inserted in like manner
into the uvula *

Th £ pharynx or throat which is the beginning of the cesopha-
gus or gullet, has seven muscles belonging to it, viz. three pair,
and one without a fellow. 1. Spheeropharingceus, which springs
from the sharp point of th esphamoides, and, passing downwards,
is inserted into the lateral parts of the pharynx, or throat, to pull
up the mouth of the stomach, that it may receive the meat. 2.
Chephalepharyngceus, which springs from the part where the head
is joined to the neck, and running down, is spread about the pa-
rynx or oesophagus, seeming to make the membrane of it. 3.
Stylopharingtfus, which springs from the styloides process, and
is inserted into the sides of the pharynx, both to dilate and am-
plify it. 4. (Esophag us, the muscle without a fellpw, being only
a spincture-Jike muscle, encompassing the gullet. It springs from
one side of the thyroides, and circularly encompassing the hinder

And Family Dispensatory .

65

part of the pharynx is tied to both the sides of the thyroides, to
contract the mouth of the stomach as the spincter doth the anus.

The muscles of the neck are four pair. The two first pair, to
wit, muse ulus longus and muse ulus scalenus, bend the neck ; the
two latter pair, viz. muse ulus transversals and musculus spinatus
extend it. 1. Longus, lies under the oesophagus ox gullet, springs
from the fifth vertebra of the breast, with a beginning fleshy and
sharp, ascends laterally, annexed to all the bodies of the vertebrae,
terminating in the extuberant prooess of the vertebrae, with an
acute tendon, and sometimes is inserted into the occiput near its
great hole. 2. Scalenus, it arises fleshy, at the side of the neck,
from the first rib and is inserted inwardly, by oblique fibres, into
all the transverse processes of the vertebrae of the neck; through
this pair the veins and arteries enter into the arm. 3. Transver-
salis, arising from the transverse eminences or processes of the six
uppermost vertebrae of the breast, and is inserted into all the ex-
ternal transverse eminences of the neck. 4. Spinatus, arising
from the roots of the seven uppermost vertebrae of the breast, five
of the neck, and is inserted into the spine or point of the second
vertebra of the neck.

The muscles of the breast or thorax are in number sixteen, viz.
eight on either side, of which the first five widen or lift up the
breast; the last three contract it; to these add, as a ninth, one
peculiar muscle, called diaphragma or midriff. 1. Subclavius,
it arises from the inner part of the clavicula, is of the fleshy
substance, and is drawn upwards and outwards, and inserted in-
to the upper part of the first rib. 2. Serratus major, the greater
saw-like muscle ; it reaches from the inner basis of the scapula
unto six and sometimes seven of the ribs. Serratus posticus su-
perior, which grows out of the sharp points or spines of the
three lower vertebrae of the neck, and the first of the back, and
inserted into the three upper ribs, and sometimes into the fourth.
4. Musculi intercostales externi , these are eleven pair in num-
ber, but perform the office of one muscle only ; are interwo-
ven, totally fleshy, and arise from the lower parts of the upper

66

Culpepper s English Physician

ribs, and descending- obliquely towards the back parts, are in-
serted into the upper parts of the lower ribs, terminating on the
cartilages. 5. Triangularis , it is small and thin in lean per-
sons, springs out of the inner and lower part of the sternum,
and is inserted into the cartilages of the lower ribs, as far as the
third or fourth of the bastard ribs. 6. Sacrolumbus , which
springs from the os sacrum , and the spinous processes of the
loins, and is inserted into the upper ribs near their roots, be-
stowing upon each rib a double tendon, one external, the other
internal. 7. Serratus posticus inferior , it is opposite to the su-
perior ; and both 'of them, by a broad and membranous tendon,
so grow together, that they serve instead of a band to keep the
hinder muscle of the back-bone together : it grows out of the
spines or processes of the three lowest vertebrae of the back,
and first of the loins, is terminated into three or four of the lower
ribs. 8. Musculi intercostales intend, these are the same in num-
ber and place with the externi, and lie directly under them; they
are carried obliquely from the nether rib to the uppermost and
have fibres contrary to those of the external, crosswise inter-
sected. 9. Diaphragma or midriff, called also precordia, because
it is stretched out before the heart ; and phrenes , because,
being affected, the mind and senses are disturbed, by reason of
the consent it has with the brain : so that, when the midriff is in-
flamed, a phrenzy is caused. It is one in number, an instrument
of free motion, and an admirable kind of muscle, both in regard
of its composition and continual action or motion, serving also
as a wall of partition to sever the vital and natural parts one
from another. The head of it is in the nervous centre, but the
tail in the circumference of the lower short ribs, from whence it
arises, and through which it is obliquely drawn about as far as
to the vertebra of the loins. It has a double membrane for
strength -sake : the upper is from the pleura, to which the peri-
cardium is firmly fastened, and sometimes also the lobes of the
lungs; the lower is from the peritonaeum.

The muscles of the back and loins are four pair; the first pair
is quadra turn, adhering to the transverse processes of the vertebra

And Family Dispensatory .

67

of the loins, arising inwardly from the os ilium and os sacrum,

broad and flesh v. Its use is to bend the vertebra of the loins. 2.

•*

Longissimum, arises with an acute and strong tendon from the
extremity of the os sacrum, the vertebra of the loins, and os ilii,
having the same beginning with the sacrolumbus; to the vertebra
of the back it gives tendons like clasps, terminating sometimes in
the first vertebra of the breast, and sometimes at the mamillary
processes. 3. Sacrum arises from the os sacrum behind, being
fleshy, and terminates in the twelfth vertebra of the breast. 4.
Semispinatum, which arises where the former ends, and embra-
cing all the spines of the vertebra of the breast, and giving them
tendons, it terminates in the spine of the first vertebra of the breast.
The uses of these three last are to extend the breast, loins, and
their vertebrae : if all the eight muscles act, they hold the back
straight, and as it were uphold a man.

The muscles of the abdomen or belly cover the lower belly, and
have their names partly from their situation and rise, and partly
from their figure. They are in number ten, or five pair, whose
principal uses are to impel the internal parts, and to move the os
sacrum and ilium ; or to make a proper retention and compression
of the parts in the belly : to provoke voiding the excrements, or
help the expulsive faculty of the womb and bladder. Their tem-
perament is hot and moist, to cherish natural heat and concoction ;
they are moderately thick, to defend the parts, and, when very
fleshy, they add much to the comeliness of the body. The first pair
is obliquus descendens, so called by reason of its fibres, which de-
scend obliquely ; it rises in the breast from the lower part of the
sixth, seventh, and eighth ribs, and terminates in the white line by
a broad tendon. 2. Obliquus ascendens is situated next the former,
in a triangular figure, rising fleshy from the rib of the os ilii, but
membranous from the sharp processes of the vertebrae of the loins,
and from the sharp points of the os sacrum ; it ascends obliquely ;
and terminates in a double tendon embracing the musculus rectus
like a sheath ; but the duplicity appears only above the navel, for
below it is united inseparably. 3. Musculus rectus ; its original is

68

Culpepper s English Physician

fleshy, from the sternum, on each side the sword- like cartilage,
and from the cartilages of the four bastard ribs ; it has three ner-
vous insertions which strengthen it ; and veins which run along
the longitude of it, viz. the mammarice descendentes from the
breasts, and the epigastric# ascendentes from the womb in wo-
men, but from the vena cava in men ; which meet about the mid-
dle of this muscle, extending as far as the region of the navel, and
are there terminated. These two veins are joined by anastomosis ,
from whence the consent of the womb with the breasts is caused ;
which, being handled, excites women to venery. 4. Musculi pi-
ramidales , the pyramidal muscles, lie upon the extremities of the
musculi recti, and rise with a fleshy beginning from the external
share bone, where all the nerves enter; and growing narrower by
degrees, they terminate with a sharp point in the tendon of the
transverse muscle. Their office is to compress the bladder, and
therefore they send their tendons, between the musculi recti, into
that part of the peritonaeum which includes the bladder. 5. Mus-
cull transversi, the cross muscles, arising from a certain ligament
which springs out of the os sacrum; and terminating by a broad
membranous tendon in the linea alba, stick extremely fast to the
peritonaeum every where except about the pubis. Their proper
use is to compress the colon.

The muscles of the os ilium and sacrum are moved forward in
coition by the musculi recti and obliqui descendentes of the belly,
the breast resting and the thigh remaining unmoved. They are
moved backwards by the musculus sacer and semispinatus, which
arise from the vertebrae of the back, &c.

The muscles of the penis or yard are two pair ; the first pair is
called erector , or director ; the latter, accelerator. 1. Erector , or
penem erigens, is a short and thick pair, arising nervous under the
beginning of the yard, from the innermost bunching out of the is-
chium, and, being knit unto the ligament of the yard, growing
fleshy, it reaches side-ways as far as the middle of the body there-
of : their uses are to erect and keep up the yard in coition. 2.
Musculi acceleratores, ox par urcthrum dilatans, are longer than

And Family Dispensatory .

69

the former, but thinner or leaner ; they arise both from the sphinc-
ter of the anus and internal tuberosity of the ischium or huckle-
bone, are spread out under the urethra, carried beneath, and in-
serted into the sides thereof, about its middle: their use is to di-
late or widen the urethra both for the passage of the urine and for
the seed in coition. These are the muscles where an apertion is
commonly made in cutting for the stone.

The muscles of the clitoris, proper to female subjects, are like
those in a man’s yard, the same in number, and to the same intent.
The two uppermost, being round, rise from the internal knob of
the ischium, and being placed by the lateral ligaments, cause the
erection of it. The two lower are broad and smooth, and proceed
from the sphincter of the anus.

The muscles of the testicles are either proper or common. The
proper muscles are only the pair called cremaster, arising from a
strong ligament in the os pubis, where the transverse muscles of
the belly end, of which they seem to be parts ; they pass through
the production of the peritonaeum, which they compass nearly
about, and pass with the spermatic vessels to the stones; they are
shorter in women than in men, and are placed above the produc-
tion of the peritonaeum : their use is to sustain or hold up the
stones. The common muscle is the membrane of the scrotum
called dartos, being a continuation of the fleshy membrane ; and
this musculous membrane suspends both testicles.

The bladder has but one muscle, called sphincter, which encom-
passes the neck of the bladder, in an orbicular form, as also do the
fibres. It is fleshy, drawn back over Wig prostata? or auxiliary tes-
ticles ; it ejaculates the seed in coition. In women it reaches to
the hole by which the urine passes, and it seems to form it.

The muscles of the anus, or fundament, are either the sphincter
or the levatores ; the sphincter muscle, called ani constrictor , the
shutter or contractor, is fleshy, (and without the straight gut two
inches broad ;) arises from the lower vertebra of the os sacrum ;
and is encompassed with the transverse fibres all along the anus :
it is fastened on the fore part to the passage of the bladder by fi-

70

Culpepper s English Physician

brous couplings ; to the yard, to whose muscles it gives beginning;
and to the neck of the womb : on the hinder part it is inserted into
the coccyx or crupper-bone, and at the sides it is fastened into the
os coxse. The musculi levatores are four, or two pair ; one pair
of which are broad, and one narrow. Musculi levatores lati, arise
from the os sacrum and os ilium, and are inserted into the larger
sphincter. Musculi levatores tenues, the narrow muscles : of which
the foremost arises from the transverse ligament ; the hindermost
from the coccyx, whereunto they are terminated.

The muscles of the shoulder-blade, ox scapula, are four, accord-
ing to the number of ils motions, viz. forward and backward, up-
ward and downward : 1. Serratus minor, the smaller saw-like mus-
cle, arising from the four upper ribs, and ascending obliquely up-
wards, with an end partly fleshy, partly tendinous, and is inserted
into the scapula ; its use is to draw forwards into the breast. 2.
Trapezius caculares, arises fleshy from the hinder part of the head
towards the ear, from whence it descends to the eighth vertebra of
the breast, and from thence growing small by degrees, it is insert-
ed into the back-bone, top of the shoulder, and clavicula; it moves
the scapula variously, according to its oblique fibres. 3. Rhom-
boides, or diamond-like muscle, situate under th e cucularis, thin
and broad, arises from the three lower vertebrae of the neck and the
three upper vertebra of the breast, and in the same breadth is in-
serted into the external basis of the scapula ; it draws back a little
obliquely upwards. 4. Levator musculus patientise., arises from
the transverse apophysis of the second, third and fourth, vertebrae
of the neck, and is inserted into the higher and lower corners of
the scapula ; its use is to lift the shoulder up.

The arm is variously moved, therefore has it many muscles, to
wit, nine in number. 1. Pect oralis is great and fleshy, arising
from the whole breast-bone, and gristle thereof, the sternum, and
above half the clavicula, and is by a sharp tendon inserted into (he
shoulder-bone, between the deltoides and the biceps. 2. Deltoides,
from likeness to the letter A, springs from the middle of the clavicu-
la, and the acromium, and is inserted into the middle of the arm

71

And Family Dispensatory .

or shoulder bone. 3. Latissimus, springs from the vertebrae of
the loins, and of nine vertebrae of the back, and is inserted into
a part of the arm, between the pectoral and round muscle, with
a strong, short, and broad, tendon: this with its fellow of the
other arm covers almost the whole back : it is called ani scalptor ,
because it draws the arm backwards and downwards. 4. Rotun-
das major is fleshy, thicker and rounder than the rest, oblique-
ly seated behind under the axilla, and arises from the lower rib
of the scapula, which, ascending a little with its tendon, short,
broad, and strong, is inserted (with the pectoral muscle) into
the middle of the arm. 5. Rotundas minor , is short, round,
quite fleshy, and arises with a sharp beginning out of the lower
corner of the scapula, terminating with an acute end in that liga-
ment, with which the head of the shoulder is involved. G. In-
fraspinatus, arises in the middle between the smaller round
muscle and the spina, covers the whole external bunching part
of the scapula ; then becoming more narrow, it is inserted into
the neck of the arm, or shoulder. 7. Supra-spinatus is fleshy,
and arises out of the spine of the upper rib of the scapula, then
being conveyed under the acromium, it is inserted with a broad
and strong tendon into the neck of the arm, at the ligament of
the joint. 8. Subscapularis , or wimersus, is very fleshy, and
passes between the scapula and ribs, possessing the hollow and
inward part of the shoulder-blade, then is carried out, and in-
serted, with a broad tendon, internally into the second ligament
of the humerus. 9. Coracoides, is inserted into the inner part
of the shoulder, about the middle of the arm, by the tendon of
the deltoides. Its beginning is nervous and short : and its belly
has an hole in it (whence its name) to give a passage to the
nerves running to the muscles of the cubit.

The cubit or elbow has two bones, the ulna and radius: the
ulna serves for flexion and extension; but the radius for prona-
tion and supination. The ulna is bended by two muscles, the
biceps and brachieus internus, and extended by four, vi z. longus,
brevis, cubitalis, and brachieus externus. 1. Biceps, arises from

No. 21. 3 p

72

Culpepper s English Physician ,

the scapula, round and tendinous, which is inserted into the inner
part of the radius. 2. Brachieus interims is placed beneath the
biceps, smaller than the former, and arising from the middle of
the os brachii, and is inserted before into the common beginning
of the radius and ulna. 3< Longus , or extendens primus, arises
from the lower rib of the shoulder-blade, near the neck, with a
double beginning, and is terminated in the elbow. 4. Brevis
extendens secundus , springs from the hinder neck of the arm,
mixed with the foregoing muscle, clothes the humeri, and ter-
minates on the outside of the elbow. 5. Anconeus extendens ter -
tins is situate in the bending of the cubit, on the hinder sider
it arises out of the lower and hinder part of the arm, between
the ulna and radius, and is inserted by a nervous tendon into the
side of the cubit. Brachieus externus, being spread out upon
the outside of the brachium: it is a fleshy lump, made of the
two former, and is placed under them, being inserted into the
same place.

The radius has four muscles, two of which are j oronatores, or
pullers down ; and two supinatores, or pullers up. 1. Pronator
superior arises from the inner apophysis of the arm, by a strong
and fleshy beginning, and ends with a membranous tendon, ob-
liquely running into the middle of the radius. 2. Pronator in-
ferior, from the lower part of the cubit ulna, unto the lower part
of the radius, and is there inserted. 3„ Supinator longior, from
the top o t the brachium, above the external knob, and, bein<*
drawn out upon the radius, is inserted on the inside of the lower
epiphysis thereof. 4. Supinator brevior, springs from the out-
ward apophysis of the arm, fleshy within,, membranous without,
and is inserted nearly into the middle of the radius.

To the wrist belong four muscles, of which the first two bend
it and the latter two extend it. 1. Cubiteus intemus, the first
bender, arises from the internal apophysis of the arm, and bein<*
stretched over the elbow, is inserted with a thick tendon into
the fourth bone of the wrist. 2. Radieus intemus, the second
bender, is drawn along the radius, arises from the beginning

73

And Family Dispensatory.

with the former, and terminates in the first hone of the metacar-
pium, under the fore-finger. 3. Radieus externus, arises with a
broad beginning, from the external apophysis of the arm, and
terminates in a double tendon at the first and second bones of
the os metacarpi. 4. Cubiteus externus arises from the same be-
ginning, through the length of the cubit; when it comes to the
wrist, it becomes a strong round tendon, and is inserted into
the upper part of the fourth bone of the metacordus, under the
little finger.

In the palm or hollow of the hand are two muscles, called
palmares, of which the one is long, the other short. 1. Palmaris
longus, arises from the inward apophysis of the arm, with a
round and tendinous beginning, is spread into the hollow of the
hand, cleaving exceeding fast to the skin, where, under the skin,
in the hollow of the palm, is a broad tendon, giving exquisite
sense to that part; it is terminated into the first intervals be-
tween the joints of the fingers. 2. Palmaris brevis, is a certain
four-square fleshy substance, springing from the membrana car-
nosa, from whence it is carried under the former muscle, to the
middle of the palm of the hand, and is inserted into the outside
of that tendon, which bears the little finger from the rest.

The thumb is bent by two muscles, extended by two, and
drawn side-ways by six. Flexor primus, arising from the up-
per part of the radius, is inserted into one of the joints. 2. Flex-
or secundus, arising from the wrist-bone, is inserted into the
middie of the thumb, and lies wholly under the former. 3. Ex-
tensor primus, arising out of the upper and outward side of the
cubit, runs along the radius, is carried beyond the wrist, and is
inserted into the first and second joint of the thumb, by a dou-
ble and sometimes a triple tendon. 4. Extensor alter , arises
from the same part of the cubit, but lower near the w rist, and is
inserted into the third joint of the thumb. Adducens primus, is
joined unto and seated beneath the thenar, arising out of the
three lower bones of the metacarpium, and is inserted into the
second joint of the thumb; this draws the thumb to the fore-

74

Culpepper s English Physician ,

finger. 6. Adducens secundus, the second drawer of the thumb
to the forefinger; it arises out of the metacarpium, and is insert-
ed as the other. 7. Adducens tertius , drawing also the thumb to
the fore finger, arises out of the external side of the metacar-
pium, which sustains the thumb, and is inserted into the first
joint. 8. Adducens primus, or thenar, the first drawer away,
arises from the inside of the wrist, and is inserted into the
second joint of the thumb, to draw it from the fingers. 9. 10.
Adducens secundus and tertius, arise and are inserted as the
former, to draw the thumb also from the fore-finger.

The .fingers are bent, extended, and moved laterally, for the
performance of which are seventeen muscles ; they are as fol-
lows : Sublimis or perj or atus, it arises from the inner apophysis
of the arm, it is divided into four tendons inclosed in a ligament,
as it were in a ring, which are inserted into the second jointing
of the fingers, a cleft being first made, through which the ten-
dons of tlie following muscles pass. Profundus or perforans,
is spread out under the former, and is inserted through the clifts
of the former tendons into the third jointings of the fingers; it
arises from the upper parts of the ulna or radius under the joint,
and is divided into four tendons. IJypothenar digitaminimi,
proprius auricularis, the muscle proper to the little finger; it
arises in the hollow of the hand, from the third and fourth
wrist-bones of the second rank, and is inserted externally into
the side of the first joint of the said finger. Extensor magnus ,
arises from the exterior apophysis of the arm, about the wrist,
and the ring-fashioned ligament; is divided into four tendons,
which end in the lowermost joints of the fingers. Indicator' in-
dicts extensor ; it arises from the middle and external part of the
cubit or ulna, and is terminated with a double tendon into the
second interjointure of the fore finger. Auricularis, the exten-
sor of the little finger ; it arises from the upper part of the radius,
and, being carried along with the ulna and radius, is externally
inserted into the little finger with a double tendon. Lumbricales ,
adducens primus, secundus, tertius , quarlus , the four worm like

75

And Family Dispensatory.

muscles ; they arise from the tendons of the musculus profundus
by the wrist; and, being drawn out along the sides of the fin-
gers, are obliquely carried and inserted into the third joint of
every finger. Abductores interossei externi and interni, the
drawers from the thumb; they arise from the upper parts of the
bones of the metacarpiurn near the wrist, and in the first inter-
nodum or space between the joints, with a very small tendon,
w hich, joining with the vermiculares, run along the sides of the
fingers, over the three bones, till they come to the roots of the
nails; in the former and upper part whereof, the tendons, being
first united, are terminated. Abductor indicis ; it arises from
the first interjointing of the thumb, and is inserted into the
bones of the fore- finger, by which it is drawn from the rest of the
finders towards the thumb.

The thighs are capable of being bent, extended, drawn to or
wheeled inward, or turned about outwards; for the performance
of which, they have the following sixteen muscles. 1. Psoas
primus lumbarus , the first loin muscle ; it arises from the verte-
bras of the loins, and is inserted into the fore part of the small
trochanter, with a round and strong tendon. 2. Psoas minor ,
it is sometimes spread over, sometimes under, the former; its
beginning is fleshy, sometimes one, two, or three fingers broad
in its middle; its original, with a small and flat tendon, being
carried over or under the psoas, comes to the iliac, and w ith a
very broad and strong tendon is inserted into the upper brim of
the os ilii. 3. Iliacus musculus , rises out of the internal cavity of
the os ilium, is joined by its tendon with the lumbal muscle, and
is terminated between the great and little trochanter. 4. Mus-
culus pectineus, the comb muscle, springs out of the upper part
of the os pubis, and is inserted with a short tendon into the inner
side of the thigh. 5. Triceps primus, arises from the upper joint-
ing of the os pubis, and passing by the inner head of the thigh-
bone, is inserted into the middle of the thigh. G. Triceps secun-
dus, arises from the lowest jointing of the os pubis, and, passing
by the inner head of the thigh, runs along to the end of the thigh.

76

* Culpepper's English Physician,

7. Triceps ter tius, arises from the middle of the os pubis, and is
inserted just below the neck of the thigh-bone. These three
muscles many reckon but one, and call it triceus, from its three-
fold beginning: but, so accounted, it is the greatest of all the
muscles of the body, and often ends in one musculous tendon,
inserted into the hinder part of the bone. 8. Gluteus major *
arises from the coccyx or crupper (the spine of the ilii and os
sacrum), and is inserted into the os femeris, under the great tro-
chanter. 9. Gluteus medius, the middlemost both in situation
and magnitude, arises from the inner side of the spine of the os
ilii, and is inserted into the great trochanter with a broad and
strong tendon. 10. Gluteus minimus internus , springs from the
back of the os ilii, near the acetabulum, with a broad and strong
tendon, and is inserted into the great trochanter : these last
three make up the fleshy substance of the buttocks. 11. Quad -
rigeminus primus, it arises from the lower part of the os sacrum,
and is placed upon the articulation of the thigh, in the hinder
part thereof. 12. Quadrigeminus secundus, arises from the tube-
rosity of the huckle-bone, and covers the articulation of the
thigh, as aforesaid. 13. Quadrigeminus tertius, is contiguous to
the former, and arises from the same part ; these three are last in-
serted into the cavity of the great trochanter. 14. Quadrigemin -
orum quartus , is broader and more fleshy than the other three,
being distant from the third of the quadrigemini two fingers’
breadth; it springs from the inner side of the apophysis of the
ischium, or huckle-bone, and is inserted into the external part of
the great trochanter. 15. Obturatur externus takes up the wide
hole between the os pubis and os ischii, and arises from the out-
ward circle of the os pubis, is circumducted through the neck of
the thigh, and carried into the cavity of the great trochanter,
under the fourth quadrigeminal muscle. 16. Obturatur internus
rises from the inward circle of the os pubis, and by a tripartite
tendon is inserted into the cavity of the great trochanter.

To the legs belong eleven muscles, viz. 1. Biceps, having two
heads ; the first springs from the joining of the os pubis, the

And Family Dispensatory . 77

second from the outward part of the thigh; both of them are
inserted with one tendon into the hinder or inward part of the
leg. 2. Semimembranosus, arises from the swelling in the ischium,
and is inserted into the inner side of the leg backwards. 3.
Seminervosus , has the same original and insertion with the for-
mer, only in the hinder part is carried a little forwards obliquely,
before it terminates at the inside of the leg. 4. Gracilis and
gracilis posticus, rises from that line where the hip-bone and
share-bones join together, and, descending along the inside of
the thigh, is inserted into the inner part of the leg. 5. Rectus
gracilis springs with an acute tendon out of the outward and
lower spine of the os ilium, is carried along the thigh, and ter-
minates in the fore part of the leg. 6. Vastus externus borders
upon the rectus gracilis, and arises out of the great trochanter,
and is inserted into the leg, a little below the patella on the out-
side. 7. Vastus internus , borders as the former on the rectus
gracilis, and arises out of the root of the small trochanter, and
falls into the inner side of the leg, a little below the patella. 8.
Crureus, arises out of the thigh-bone between the two trochan-
ters, and, cleaving to the thigh, produces its tendon over the
epigonatis, unto the fore-part of the leg; the four last muscles
are inserted all into one tendon, which terminate in the begin-
ning of the leg. 9. Muscat us longus, it is nearly the longest of
all the muscles; arises from the former spine of the os ilii, and
descends obliquely into the inner and fore-part of the leg. 10.
Poplitceus ; it arises from the lower and exterior tubercle of the
thigh, and is inserted four-square into the inner and upper part
of the leg, obliquely. 11, Membranosus fascia lata, rises from
the. spine of the os ilii, runs obliquely into the outward part of
the leg, and, with a broad and long tendon, invests almost ail
the muscles of the thigh.

The foot, or instep, has eight muscles. 1. Tibiceus anticus ,
it is fastened to the leg, and arises near the fibula, and, cleaving
to the tibia all along, it degenerates into a tendon, which beneath
the ring-like ligament of the foot is divided into two tendons.

78

Culpepper's English Physician,

2. Peroneus anticusr joined to the peroneus posticus, and has its
rise witii two heads, one from the middle and external part of the
perone or smaller focile;, the other from the upper epiphysis of
the fibula; these, being: carried through the chink of the ancle,
terminate in a double tendon, the smaller of which is carried into
the bone of the little toe ; the greater running obliquely under the
sole of the foot. 3. Gemellus externus ; this has two heads ; they
both arise from under the ham, the one from the inner, the other
from the outward parts of the end of the thigh-bone, and pass
down the back part of the leg, then become tendinous, and, being
united, make one strong, broad, and nervous, tendon, which is
inserted into the heel. 4. Gemellus interims; this with the other
constitutes the ancle, and lies under the former, of a livid colour ;
it arises under the ham, by a strong nervous substance; having
passed the middle of the tibia, it becomes narrow er and tendin-
ous: it is inserted into the heel. These make the belly or calf
of the leg. 5. Soleus , it is a broad and thick muscle arising
from the upper and hindermore appendix of the fibula, and is
inserted by a tendon into the heel. 6. Tibiceus posticus ad~
ducens pedem , it arises from the upper part of the tibia, or
greater and smaller focile, and from the ligament which ties
them together, runs along the tibia, and through the cleft of
the ancle-bone, where it produces two tendons. 7. Peroneus
posticus , it arises from the upper but hinder part of the small
focile, by a nervous and strong beginning, and, cleaving to the

outside of the perone, it runs down round and fleshy : it is inserted

\

under the sole of the foot, into the bone set before the great toe.
8. Plantaris covers the whole sole of the foot; and springing
from the outer part of the thigh-bone under the ham, by a round
and fleshylbeginning, passing within the leg, between the gemelli,
it goes thence to the sole, and is inserted into the five toes.

The great toe has five muscles. 1. Primus or Jlexor pollicis,
arises from the upper part of the fibula, and is inserted into the
third joint of the great toe. 2. Secundus, or extensor pollicis ,
arises from the middle of the fibula, or from the outside of the

7#

And Family Dispensatory .

tibia, where it is separate from the fibula, creeps along the surface
of the foot, and ends in two tendons, the one of which is inserted
into the upper side, the other into the lower side, of the great toe.
3. Tcrtius pollicis, adductor primus, that which draws the toe
inward, and springs from the ligament which ties the heel-bone
and the taulis, is fastened inwardly to the bone set before the
great toe, and by a round tendon is inserted into the first joint
of the same. 4. Quartus pollicis , adductor secundus, it arises
from the ligament of the first interjuncture of the little toe, then,
becoming fleshy, runs over the first joint of the toes, and w ith a
short and broad tendon is inserted a little inwfards into the first
joint of the great toe. 5. Quintus pollicis, abductor ejusdcm, it
arises fleshy, from the inner part of the heel, and is inserted
extrinsically into the first bone of the great toe.

The muscles of the four little toes are eighteen, having tendons
comprehended with a circular and transverse ligament, w'hich
encompasses them beneath the ancles, just as in the wrist. Mus-
culus major, arising from the upper apophysis of the tibia under
the ham, by a long and fleshy beginning, passes under the inner
ancle, and by the hollowness of the heel goes to the sole of the
foot, where it is divided into four tendons, inserted into the third
and last joint of the four toes. Flexor minor, lies in the midst
of the sole of the foot, arising from the inner part of the heel-
bone, and is divided into four round tendons, which are carried
and inserted into the second articulation of the four toes. Ex-
tensor longus, arises with a nervous and short beginning from
the upper appendix of the tibia, and cleaving to the ligament
w hich unites the focils, runs down to the foot, passing first under
the transverse ligament; then, being divided into four tendons,
they are inserted into the second and third joints of the four
toes. Extensor brevis, lies under the former, arises from the
transverse ligament, fleshy and broad, and is by four tendons
inserted into the first joints of the four toes. Lumbricales qua -
tuor, they arise from the tendons of the perforans, small and
round, and are inserted by so many small tendons into the sides

No. 21. 3 Q

80

Culpepper's English Physician ,

of the first joints of the four toes. Interossei decern, they arise
from the bones of the pedium, and are placed between the bones
of the foot, filling the void spaces of the metapedium, being ten
in number, five external and five internal. They arise by the
sides of the bones of the instep, the former to the first inter-
jointings ; the ninth of the interossei is the abductor of the great
toe, the tenth and last is the special abductor of the little toe.

As to the number of muscles in the human body, authors are
strangely disagreed about it: however they are certainly more
than five hundred ; the principal whereof are represented in the
two annexed plates; those conspicuous in the for e-part of the
human body being expressed in Plate I. where 1. 1. are the fron-
tal muscles; 2. 2. the obiculares palbebrarum; 3. the attollens
auriculam; 4. the temporalis; 5. the masseter; 6. represents
the muscle called constrictor, or depressor pinnae narium; 7.
the dilatator alae nasi; 8. the zigomaticus; 9. the place of the
elevator labiorum communis, called by Lancisi, gracilis ; 10. the
elevator labii superioris proprius; 11. 11. the constrictor, or
sphincter labiorum, or orbicularis labiorum; by some called
osculatorius; 12. the buccinator; 13. 13. the musculi mastoi-
dci; 14. 14. the sternohyoidei; 15. 15. those paits of the mus-
cles which arise from the clavicle; 16. 16. the caracohyoidei;
17. the scaleni; 18. represents part of the cucullaris on the
right side; 18. on the left side, is the levator, or elevator sca-
pulae, otherwise called musculus patientiae ; 19. 19. the place
where the fibres of the pectoralis unite in some measure with
those of the deltoides; 20. 20. the deltoides; 21. the place in
the carpus where the palmaris longus passes through a ring in
the annular ligament; 22. a remarkable union of the tendons of
the extensors of the three last fingers; 23. 23. the productions
of the peritonaeum, which perforating the muscles of the abdo-
men at the rings, descend to the scrotum; 24. 24. the place
where the three tendons of the sartorius, gracilis, and seminer-
vosus, are inserted into the interior part of the tibia, just under
the knee ; 25. 25. the tendons of the extensors of the toes, which

And Family Dispensatory.

81

are secured by a ligament at the ancle, as appears on both sides ;
but on the right side, internally, another ligament is represented,
which fixes the tendons of the extensor longus digitorum, the ti-
biaeus, posticus, and the flexor pollicis; 26. 26. the musculus
pectoralis; 27. the triceps extensor cubiti on the right side;
28. and 30. the biceps on the left side, according to Lancisi's
explication; 29. part of the triceps extensor on the left side;
30. the biceps on the right side; 31. the branchiaeus internus;
.32. the anconaeus; 33. the prenator rotund us; 34. 34. the supi-
nator longus; 35. 35. the radius externus, according to Lancisi ;
36. the extensor carpi ulnaris; 37. 37. the cubitagus internus,
according to Lancisi; 38. the radius internus, according to
Lancisi; 39. the palmaris with its tendinous expansion; 40. 40.
the tendons of the muscles of the thumb; 41. the tendon of the
adductor pollicis ; 42. the extensor magnus digitorum ; 43. liga-
mentum carpi ; 44. 44. the tendons of the iliaci interni ; 45. the
pectinaeus; 46. one of the heads of the triceps; 47. 47. the
rectus femoris on each side ; 48. 48. the vastus externus on each
side; 49.49. the vastus internus on each side; 50. the gracilis;
51. the seminervosus ; 52. the sartorius on each side ; 53. apart
of the origin of the vastus externus ; 54. 54. the membranosus;
55. the tibialis anticus; 56. the gemelli ; 57. 57. the solaei ; 58.
the tendon Achilles; 59. according to Lancisi, is the extensor
digitorum longus ; 60. the tendons of the extensors of the toes;
61. the tendons of the extensor longus, tibiaeus posticus, and
flexor pollicis: A. A. portions of the latissimus dorsi on each
side; B. B. the indentations of the serratus major anticus; C.
C. the sternum.

The second plate represents the muscles of the back part of
the human body ; where 1. 1. express the two muscles upon the
occiput, called by Eustathius, quadrati ; 2. the musculus cucul-
laris; 3. the splenius; 4. the musculus mastoideus; 5. the
musculus patientiae, or levator scapulae proprius; 6. the rhom-
boides; 7. the articulation of the clavicle with the scapula on
the right side; 8. the deltoides; 9. the teres minor; 10. the

82 Culpepper s English Physician,

teres major; 11. 11. the latissimus dorsi on each side; 12. the
glutaeus major; 13. the glutaeus medius; 14. the musculus pi-
riformis; 15. the quadratus femoris; 16. the biceps femoris;
17. the semimembranosus; 18. the membranosus, according to
Lancisi; 19. 19. the vasi externi; 20. the gastrocnemii ; 21.
the soleus; 22. the plantaris.

OF THE BONES

OR

HUMAN SKELETON.

A BONE is a similar, spermatic part, cold and dry, endow-
ed with hardness, strength, and solidity, that it might give force
to the body, sustain it, and help its motion. Its substance is
naturally hard and solid, covered with a membrane, called peri-
ostion, white, with some redness ; hollow in the middle, (except
the ribs, &c.) smooth: covered in its extremities with a carti-
lage, and moistened with a fat humour, called medulla, or mar-
row. Some bones are perfectly generated in the womb, as those
in the ear, being the smallest in the whole body ; they are nour-
ished by arterial blood, as may appear in the bones of young
animals, whose marrow is yet bloody, as also by blood contain-
ed in the marrow : but the proximate and immediate nutriment
of hollow bones, is the marrow ; but of bones not hollowed, thick
blood sent in through the pores. The proper matter therefore
of a bone is seed, w hich consists of humours and spirits. The
efficient cause is the vis ussifica, or an innate faculty acting by
the assistance of heat.

The bones are joined together, either by symphysis , for firm-
ness and union; or by arthrosis , articulation or jointing. Natur-
al union or growing together, is when the connection or joining
of bones is without motion: and this is with, or without, -a me-
dium. Symphysis without a medium is three-fold, viz. by sutura,
harmonia , and goniphosis. Sutura , a suture, is the joining of

f

And Family Dispensatory. 83

bones by indenture, as if the teeth of two saws were thrust one
into another, as in the bones of the cranium or skull. Harmonia ,
is the joining of bones by a single line, whether strait, oblique,
or circular, as in the bones of the nose and upper jaw, and so
all epiphyses in a manner are joined. Gomphosis, or nailing,
when one bone is fastened into another, as a nail in a post, so
the teeth are fastened in the jaw-bones.

The whole structure of the bones of the head is called cranium ,
the skull, because it is as it were an helmet; it is also called
calva and calvaria : its substance is bony, to secure the brain;
but, in new-born children, it is softer than ordinary.

The bones of the head are either proper or common; the
proper are in number six: 1. os fronds ; 2, 3. ossa sincipitis ;
4. occipitis ; 5, 6. ossa temp or um. The common bones are only
two in number: os sphcenoides, and os ethmoides. Os frontis,
the forehead-bone, called also coronale, is bounded before by
the coronal and first coniinon suture, and in the sides by the
temporal bones; it is but one in those of ripe age, but in chil-
dren it is double, being divided by a suture passing from the
coronal to the nose ; it also has a two-fold table, an internal and
an external: on each side of this bone, above the eye brows,
there are large cavities, commonly two in number, between the
two tables, clothed sometimes with a green membrane, and con-
taining a soft, clammy, and marrowish, substance; from whence
two holes pass into the wide spaces of the nostrils ; and another,
which ends into the skull above the septum of the os ethmoides ,
to distinguish the organs of smelling.

Ossa sincipitis , the bones of the fore-part of the head : these
cover the moistest part of the brain, are in shape four-square
and unequal, and of a more rare or spongy substance than the
other bones, whence the wounds of the sinciput are deadly : they
are joined before with the bones of the forehead, with the coro-
nal suture; to the os occipitis, by the lambdoide suture ; and to
the ossa temporum , by the suturce squamosa ; without they are
smooth, but within unequal, by reason of the prints which the
jugular veins of the dura mater leave behind them.

84

Culpepper s English Physician,

Os occipitis , the bone of the hinder part of the head, consti-
tutes almost all the hinder part of the skull; and is in children
three or four bones, but in grown persons but one. Its form is
thatofa spherical triangle, and is joined to the crown-bones by
the suture lambdoides. It is the thickest and most compact of all
the bones of the head, chiefly at the basis of the skull ; (because
there the noble ventricle is seated, and from thence the nerves
arise as from a fountain ;) but at the edges it is the thinnest of all.
It is smooth without, but within it has many sinuosities to receive
mennings safely. It has five holes, through the greatest whereof
the spinalis medulla passes to the back-bone. The smaller serve
for the going forth of the nerves, and entrance of veins and arte-
ries. It has nine cavities, seven within and two without; and
two broad processes at the basis, covered with a gristle, which
is more eminent, and inserted into the cavities of the first vertebra
for the motion of the head ; as also another small process be-
hind joined to the first vertebra.

Ossa temporum, the bones of the temple. Their form is uneven,
almost circular, because of their various substance, wh ich is like
rocks and craggy cliffs, for which cause they are also called ossa
petrosa , the stony or rocky bones. In their upper part they are
attenuated like a scale, so as to be transparent, and are joined to
the bones of the sinciput like scales ; before they are joined to the
first bone of the upper jaw, by its first process ; and to the os occi-
pitis, by the bastard suture; they have six holes without, two
within ; the first external hole is large, viz. the auditory passage;
the other five are small, for vessels to pass through. They have
two cavities, an outer, covered with a gristle, which receives the
lower jawbone ; and an inner, which is rather long, and common
to {he os occipitis. The auricular is is internal, with a long protu-
berancy, wherein there is a three-fold cavity, viz. the drum, the
labyrinth, and the cochlea. The tympanum or drum, called also
pelvis, which contains the internal or inbred air, and the four
bones, called malleolus , incus, stapes, and orbiculare; as also a
ligament, two fenestrce, or windows, (which are little holes in
the cavity,) and a water passage; from this cavity goes a chan-

And Family Dispensatory .

85

nel into the palate of the mouth. The labyrinthus, called also
fodina, is a cavity full of crooked and manifold turnings ; the en-
trance hereinto is the oval fenestra, and joins itself to the follow-
ing cavity ; it has four holes besides the oval, and a fifth, which
is terminated in the cochlea or third cavity. The cochlea has
three or four windings, (with a wreathed or snail-like figure,)
the windings mutually receiving one another: those that are
thick of hearing have only one or two of those windings; this
cavity is clothed with an exceeding thin and soft membrane, and
adorned with multitudes of little veins, which turn themselves
about the wreathings of the cochlea , and by many branches
creep into the secret turnings of the labyrinth.

Os sphenoides, or the wedge-fashioned bone, because it is
seated as a w edge in the middle of the bones of the skull ; at the
sides it goes along w ith the os petrosum, from w hence it is separ-
ated by a rough chink; above it touches the first, fourth, and
sixth bones of the upper jaw ; below it touches the bones of the
palate of the mouth, and is placed under the brain, as a founda-
tion, so that it touches almost all the bones of the head and upper
jaw; ; in children it is made of four bones, but in grown persons
it is but one. It is solid, and the thickest of all the bones of the
head, where it makes the basis of the skull. In the external table
are two remarkable apophyses , near the sides of the holes of the
nose, formed like the w ings of a bat. In the internal table are
four little processes, in shape of a Turkish saddle, called sella
Turcica , full of little holes, w hose uses are to elaborate the in-
breathed air, to make spirits, and to pass out pituitous excre-
ments through the funnel, out of the ventricles of the brain. It
has sundry perforations, by which the optic and motory nerves
of the eye, and other nerves for the motion of other parts, as also
veins and arteries for nourishment, pass.

Os ethmoides, the sponge or sieve-fashioned bone, havingin it
many holes, (by which smells pass to the brain,) especially in the
inner side of it, where it joins the head, and this part is properly
called cribrosa: from this within the skull arises a sharp apophy-
sis, resembling a cock’s-comb, by which the ethmoides is divided

86

Culpepper s English Physician ,

into two parts ; from this process is opposed another, without the
nostrils, and distinguishing them, called the divider of the nos-
trils, as 'dlsoseptum nasi. The chief use of the ethmoides is to alter
the air drawn in with smells, that the species of odours may,
with the air, be carried to the organs of smelling, which end in
these holes ; and therefore in a coryza, this bone being obstruct-
ed, the smelling is lost: also hereby the brain is purged, for
phlegm is not only evacuated by the glandula pituitaria into
the palate, but also by the os cribrosum into the nostrils.

The bones in the upper jaw are in number eleven, five on either
side, and one without a fellow: first pair, ossa zygomatica, the
yoke bones, is in a manner triangular, and constitutes the great-
est part of the os zygomatis or jugale, and a great part of the
orbita and outward angles of the eye, on the lower side. Second
pair, os lacrymale, is a round, little, and thin bone, in the inner
corner of the eye: by this a branch of the fifth pair of nerves
of the brain pass to the inner membrane of the nose. Third
pair, os maxillare, the cheek-bone, the greatest and thickest of
them all ; it contains all the upper teeth, and makes up the holes
of the nose, and most of these bones which belong to the upper
part of the face: it has large cavities on both sides very re-
markable, both that it might be less ponderous, and that it
might contain marrow to nourish the bones and upper teeth.
Fourth pair, os nasi, the bone that constitutes the external and
prominent bony part of the nose; it is thin, hard, solid, and
quadrangular: these two bones are joined with a suture ; within
they are rough, that the gristles of the nose may be the better
fastened. Fifth pair, ospalati, seated at the end of the palate,
where the holes of the nostrils go into the fauces or throat;
they are thin, solid, and broad, and constitute the hinder part
of the cavity of the palate and nostrils. Sixth, vomer , the bone
without a fellow, like a plough; it is in the inmost and middle-
most under the sphcenoides, and above the palate: it holds up
the bridge of the nose like a partition wall, to which it is joined
by the suture harmonia. Six bones constitute the orbit of the

And Family Dispensatory.

87

eye: 1. the frontale, which makes the upper vaulted part; 2.
zygomaticum , that on the outside, where the smaller coiner is,
and a portion of the os sphcenoides; 3. another on the outside^
concurring with the former part of the os sphoenoides; 4. max -
Ware, and 5. lachrymale , which constitute the inner part; 6.
the scaly table of the os ethmoides, which makes up the lower
side, all united partly by common, partly by proper, sutures.

In children, till about seven years of age, the lower jaw consists
of two bones, which are joined together by syncondroosis ; but
in grown persons it is but one. The arched part of this bone is
the chin; at each end of the shanks are two processes, whereof
one is sharp, called corone, going forward, into which the tendon
of the temporal muscle is implanted ; the other articular is, be-
cause it serves for articulation with the temple bones, which ar-
ticulation is covered with a common membranous ligament. Its
substance is exceeding hard and strong, that it may hold out in
biting and chewing ; within it, there is a long cavity, where mar-
row is contained to nourish the teeth, and by which a branch
of our fifth pair of nerves of the brain runs unto the roots of the
teeth with a little vein and artery : this cavity goes quite through
the jaw-bone like a pipe, so that a copper wire, put in at one
end, will come out at the other. It is moveable, and contains
sockets for the teeth ; and in old age, when the teeth fall out,
the sockets draw together, and become sharp.

The teeth are bones properly so called, white, smooth, hard,
and solid, being indeed harder than other bones, that they might
bite and chew hard things, not much inferior in hardness to
stoues. They are naked, without any periostion, yet endowed
with a kind of sense, as may be perceived by cold drink, or when
set on edge; which sense is lodged in the inner, softer, and
more nervous, part. They receive into their cavities nerves,
which other bones do not, and by which they are tied to the
mandible with a sinneurosis. The teetli continually grow, all a
man’s life, because they are daily worn by biting and grinding.
The cavities of the teeth are clothed with a little membrane of

No. 21. 3 R

88

Culpepper s English Physician ,

exquisite sense, whence it is that pains of the teeth are so ex-
ceeding vehement: they have five little nerves from our first
pair, which are spread abroad within, and by small twigs mixed
with the mucilaginous substance in the middle of the teeth ; as
also little arteries to give natural heat and nourishment, and
little veins to earry back the blood after nutrition.

The tongue-bones are seated under the lower jaw, and in the
uppermost part of the larynx. They are commonly accounted
but one bone, though made up of three. The use of these bones
is to keep the throat open both for the passage of the food, and
for receiving in of the air in speaking or breathing.

The bones of the ears are the least of all, being the bones
subservient to hearing; and are four on each side. They are
all placed in the first cavity ; their substance is hard and dense ;
but hollow within, that they might be lighter, and contain mar-
row for their nourishment; they are as big in new-born babes
as in men, but not so hard. The principal of these bones are
called malleus , the hammer; incus, the anvil; stapes , the stir-
rup; and os orbiculare , which is round and small, joined by a
small ligament to the stirrup side, where it is joined to the anvil.
The uses of these bones are to serve the sense of hearing, and
to make a passage for the excrements of the ears: for the stir-
rup, shutting the oval, is moved by the anvil, and the anvil being
smitten by the hammer, and the hammer by the membrane of
the drum, through the impulse of the external air, the membrane
of the drum is in the mean while driven inwards, whereby the
inbred air is affected, which, passing through the cochlea, causes
the branches of the auditory nerve to receive the species of
sounds, and to communicate the same to the brain.

The bones of the neck, and the w hole vertebrae of the back,
from the cranium or the skull to the os.coccygis or crupper-bone,
are termed spina, the thorn, because the hinder part of it is sharp-
pointed like a thoru branch. The parts of the spine are called
vertcbrce, whiil bones, because by their means the body is turn-
ed several ways. All these vertebrae are hollowed to contain

And Family Dispensatory .

89

the spinal marrow; they are many, for the conveniency of mo-
tion. The figure is sometimes inclining inwards, as the vertebrae
of the neck, to sustain the gullet ; and aspera arteria ; and the
vertebrae of the loins, to uphold the trunks of the aorta, and
cava descending: sometimes outwards, as the vertebrae of the
back, and a little of the os sacrum, that there may be a larger
space for the heart, lungs, bladder, anus, womb, &c. The figure
of each vertebrae, above and below, is plain and broad, that luxa-
tion may not easily be made : round within, convex, and bunch-
ing out; but in the neck broader, and more even.

The vertebrae of the back are in number twelve, to which as
many libs answer. These vertebrae are round on the fore-part,
but behind somewhat hollow. They are thicker than those of
the neck, less solid, and full of little holes for the passage of the
nourishing vessels.

The vertebrae of the loins are five in number; and belong to
the abdomen or low'er belly : they are thicker and greater than
those of the breast, because they uphold them, and the lower-
most are biggest. Their figure is long and semicircular; their
substance spongy, and full of holes to give passage to the veins;
their connection is looser than that of the back, that we might
the more easily stoop to the ground.

The os sacrum is broad and immoveable, bein£ the basis err
foundation of the back, upholding the whole frame of the ver-
tebrae. In infants it is commonly composed of six bones united
by a cartilage, but in men of ripe years it seems but one bone,
at the first view, yet, being boiled a long time in oil, it is divided
for the most part into six several vertebrae; for each of them
has a body, and processes, and has a large hole to receive the
spinalis medulla. But in this they differ from the other verte-
brae, because in those the lower part is the bigger, but in these
the smaller; wherefore, the uppermost is the biggest, and the
low est the least. Its figure is almost triangular : in its forepart
hollow, smooth, and even; in its hinder-part, bunching and
rough, with little holes to send out nerves.

90

Culpepper s English Physician ,

The os coccygis, the crupper or rump-bone, is under the for-
mer, consisting of three bones and two gristles, and is called os
coccygis, the cuckoo’s bill, from the likeness thereof. It is join-
ed by a cartilage ; for the first bone of it has a small hollowness
which receives the last vertebrae of the os sacrum. Of these
three bones, the lower is still the smaller; and in men, they are
bent inwards to stay the great gut, and the sphincter muscle,
which are tied io it: but in women they bend outward to give
way to the womb in the time of travail. These bones are of a
spongy and soft substance, and have neither process nor any
hollowness. Their union with the os sacrum is loose, to give
way for the exclusion of large excrements; for otherwise a lux-
ation might happen, causing exceeding great pains; as in hard
labour it now sometimes happens.

The os innominatum, the hoop-bone, or flank-bone, consists
of three bones, viz. os ilium, os ischion , and os pubis, all which
are joined together by gristles till about the seventh year : after-
wards, especially in those of ripe years, the cartilages being dried,
they seem to be but one bone. These three bones, together
with the os sacrum, make that cavity which is called pelvis, the
bason or bowl, which is bigger in a woman than in a man, that
the womb of a w oman with child may the better rest upon it. In
hard labour, the share bone, or os pubis, and the os sacrum,
will part, the cartilages and ligaments (being bedewed with su-
perfluous humidity) giving w'ay. 1. Os ilium, the huckle-bone, so
called because it contains the gut ilium, is the first part, the high-
est, the broadest, and the greatest, in figure semi-circular, arch-
ed without and hollow within: the semicircle is called spina,
the arched part dorsum, and the hollow part costa. 2. Os pubis ,
the share-bone, is seated in the fore part; and is parted in the
middle by a cartilage not very hard : it is joined to the bone of
the other side by syncondrosis, which in women is twice as thick
and as wide as in men, that these bones in child-bearing may not
be luxated or disjointed, but only loosened and made wide for
.the coming forth of the child. 3. Os ischion, the hip-bone, is

And Family Dispensatory .

9i

the lower and more outward part, wherein is a large and deep
cavity, called acetabulum , the saucer, or pixis, the box, which
receives the large head of the thigh-bone: the cartilaginous
process of this cavity is called supercilium, the brow. The
coxendix is placed between the huckle and share-bones, and is
knit to the os sacrum by a double ligament; the one is insert-
ed into the sharp process of the hip; the other behind, into
its appendix, that the intestinum rectum and its muscles may
be sustained. *

The costce , or ribs, in figure resemble a bow, or segment of
a circle; their original from the vertebrae, is narrower and
rounder, growing broader as they come to the breast; in their
upper sides they are blunt and thick ; in their under part sharp
and thin: the uppermost ribs are more crooked and shorter;
the middlemost are longer and broader; the lower are cut
again shorter. Their substance is partly cartilaginous, and part-
ly bony, the bony part being towards the vertebrae ; where they
are furnished with two little apophyses or knobs: the first of
which is articulated with the hollow of the vertebrae : the second
is joined to the transverse process of the vertebrae ; but the five
low er ribs by a simple knob. The number of the ribs are twelve
on each side: seldom thirteen, more rarely eleven: and when
they are so found, you may account their numbers either super-

s

numerary or deficient. They are two fold, viz. either legiti-
mate and true, or illegitimate and false. The true or legiti-
mate are the seven upper ribs, because they touch the breast-
bone by their length, and make as it were a circle: they also
make a perfect articulation with the breast-bone. The illegiti-
mate or bastard ribs are the five lower ribs, which are shorter,
smaller, and softer, not reaching to the breast bone: they are
semi-circular and arched without, hollow within : they terminate
into longer gristles than the true ribs, w hich, being turned back
upwards, stick one to another, the last excepted, which is the
least, and sticks to none. The eleventh rib, and sometimes
the twelfth, are tied to the septum transversum ; and sometimes

92

Culpepper s English Physician ,

the last grows to the oblique descendent muscles of the belly,
without the midriff; or has the circumscription of its proper
muscle. The use of the ribs is to defend the breast, and the
heart, lungs, and other bowels, therein contained; as also to
help the motion of the breast and parts adjacent, in sustaining
the muscles and fleshy parts thereof.

The sternum , or breast-bone, is placed upon the fore part
of the chest, and rests upon the ribs: its substance is partly
bony, but spongy and red; partly gristly; its figure is convex,
broad, and long. It is composed of three bones, as may be
seen in young people; but in old men it commonly appears but
one: they are distinguished by transverse lines, and are knit
together by synchondrosis, for gristles are interposed like liga-
ments. Under this is the pit of the stomach, where the upper
and left orifice is, called scrobiculus cordis. The use of the
sternum is, first, to defend the heart (like a shield) from out-
ward dangers: secondly, to uphold the mediastinum: thirdly,
to collect and fasten the ribs.

The collar bones, being in number two, are called claviculce ,
keys, because they shut up the breast or thorax ; and as it were
lock the scapula, or shoulder-blades, to the sternum. They
are situated cross-wise, under the lower part of the neck, on
the top of the thorax on each side : externally, they are convex,
on the inside a little concave: their substance is thick, but fis-
tulous and spongy, and therefore easily broken; their superfi-
cies are rough and uneven. Their use is to assist in the vari-
ous motions of the arms ; as also to uphold the shoulder-blades,
that they should not fall upon the breast, together with the
shoulder-bone: moreover the bone of the arm rests upon this
bone, as upon a prop, that it may be the more easily moved
upwards and backwards. Hence brutes have no collar-bone,
the ape, squirrel, hedge-hog, and mouse, excepted.

The shoulder-blade is a broad and thin bone, resting upon
the upper ribs behind, like a shield. Its substance is hard and
solid; its figure almost triangular, the outside somewhat arch-

93

And Family Dispensatory.

ed, but the inside hollow; it has also a spine or sharp point,
looking both above and beneath the cavities, called interscapu-
lia. In the inside of this bone, about the middle, there is a
hole, by which a vein doth pass for its nourishment. It has
five epiphyses, three at the inside, and two at the basis: it has
also ligaments, w hich join its head to the humerus and the acro-
mion, or shoulder to the clavicula; and common, thin, and
membranous, ligaments, which compass the joint of the shoul-
der-blade and arm. Its uses are, 1. to strengthen the ribs; 2.
for the articulation of the humerus and clavicula ; 3. for the in-
sertion of the muscles ; 4. to cover the heart, and defend the
back from being hurt.

Os brachii , or bone of the arm, called also the shoulder-
bone, is but one, great, strong, long, roundish, and uneven.
Its substance is hard and solid ; it is hollow' all along within,
containing marrow, but at the two ends more broad, and a lit-
tle spongy. In its upper part it has an appendix, epiphysis ,
or great head, growing to it; which is round, covered with a
gristle, and articulated with the scapula or diarthrosis. In the
top of it is also a long chink, through which the nervous head
of the musculus biceps doth pass. The longer part is articu-
lated to the ulna and radius, where there are two apophyses ;
an external which is less, and crusted with a gristle ; and an
internal, having two cavities, representing a pulley, with which
the cubit is joined by ginglymus, so that it may be bent to a
most acute angle, but not extended beyond a right line.

The bones of the cubit, or elbow, are two: the smaller
above, called radius, and a larger below, called ulna. They
are shorter than the shoulder, have epiphyses on either side,
and, resting mutually one upon another, are joined by a mem-
branous ligament: above, the ulna receives the radius ; but be-
low, the radius receives it. Their substance is firm and solid :
they are long, and contain a m- rrowy substance ; but their sur-
face is somewhat rough, by reason of the lines appointed for
the muscles.

Culpepper s English Physician ,

Carpus , the wrist, hath eight distinct bones, all of them une-
qual, and differing in shape and magnitude. At first they are
gristles, afterwards spongy bones, covered with very strong gris-
gaments, which fasten them together as if they were but one
bone : these ligaments, arising from the lower processes of the ul-
na and radius , serve for articulation: but there are angular or
ring-shaped ligaments, which are transverse, and compass the
wrist, to comprehend, strengthen, and safely carry, the tendons,
which pass through the carpus ; these are many, though they seem
to be but one ligament, the internal comprehend the tendons of
the muscles which bend the fingers; the external, the tendons
of the muscles which extend them.

The metacarpus , or palm of the hand, has four bones, of a
hard and solid substance, and hollow, containing marrow ; they
are round, and bigger than those of the fingers ; that which
answers to the fore-finger is biggest, and so still the lowermost
are smaller. Between each bone a distance is left for the musculi
interostcti of the fingers : and in the palm there is a transverse li-
gament, which ties the bones of the fingers to the metacarpium.
Above and beneath they have epiphyses : by the upper, they are
joined to the carpus , or wrist; by the lower, they enter into the
hollowness of the fingers.

The bones of the fingers are in number fifteen, each of them
having three bones, and answering the bones of the metacarpus,
the thumb excepted. The thumb has no connection with the
bones of the metacarpium, because it is articulate with the wrist,
with a manifest motion ; whereas the bones of the palm are joined
to the wrist without manifest motion ; as also because the upper
joint of the thumb is shorter than the bones of the metacarpium ,
and not answerable to them. Each finger has ligaments on their
insides, according to their length, like channels, whereby they
are fastened one to another.

The thigh has but one bone, which is the greatest and longest
in the whole body. In its superior extremity, the head is round,
to which a slender part is added, called the neck from the rack ;

And Family Dispensatory . 95-

are two apophyses produced, to which the muscles, called rota -
tores , are fastened, and therefore they are called trochanters <
The lower part of the thigh has two low prominences or heads*
called condyli, a cavity being left between of a thumb’s breadth,
through which the vessels pass, with a nerve of the fourth pair,
which cavity also admits the middle and eminent apophyris of
the tibia or leg : in like manner the condyli are received by the
cavities of the leg, by a loose articulation, called ginglymus : the
inner of these heads is more thick, the outer more broad and flat.
The upper part of this articulation is called the knee, the hinder-
most the ham.

The patella , or knee-pan, is somewhat round, about two inches
broad ; plain, without having many holes, but within bunched,
and there covered with a cartilage : its substance in young chil-
dren is cartilaginous, but in grown persons bony ; its figure is al-
most like a buckler or shield ; its situation is upon the jointing of
the thigh and leg, where the knee is compassed with a membra-
nous ligament, th a patella excepted. It grows to, and is fastened
by, certain thick tendons of some muscles of the thigh ; as the
second, third, and fourth, muscles which extend the tibia, and
pass by the knee to it, and are inserted into the* fore-knob of it ;
its use is taken from its situation, being set before the thigh bone
and tibia , to strengthen the articulation, lest the thigh bone, in go-
ing down any hill should slip out forwards ; as also to defend the
tendons of the muscles.

The shank, or leg, is composed of two bones ; the one, being
the inner and the greater, is called tibia ; the other Jibula. Tibia,
the shank-bone, has in its upper part a process in the middle,
which is received by the cavity of the thigh-bone. It is joined to
the thigh-bone by ginglymus : the Jibula only cleaves to the tibia,
and touches not the thigh-bone. In the lower part there is an
apophysis void of flesh, sticking out with a bunch near the foot,
which is called malleolus interims, the inner ancle-bone; as the
process of the fibula is called malleolus externus, the outward
ancle-bone. Fibula, the button, (because it seems to button toge»

No. 22. 3 s

Culpepper s English Physician

ther the muscles ot the shank) which is also called sura, the calf.,
is a firm bone, being drawn along before the tibia without, as the
ladius before the cubit. The upper end with its round head sub-
sists between fhe knee : but with its hollowness, it receives the

lateral knob, which is under the epiphysis in the upper end of the

tibia. In the middle there is a distance between the tibia and

fibula , in which space is a thin broad ligament, joining these

bones in longitude, and where also the muscles of the feet are
placed.

1 he bones of the tarsus, or instep, are seven. Astragalos, the
game bone, to which are joined the great and small focile. Pter-
na, the spur of the foot, or heel-bone, into which the greatest and
strongest chord or tendon in the whole body is inserted. Os m-
viculare, from its likeness to a boat; it is long, bunched without,
and hollow within, and covered with a cartilage. Os tesserae, or
die-shaped bone, because it hath six sides ; it is greater than the

rest, and placed before the heel, joined to the fourth and fifth bone
of the metatarsus : in the hinder with the heel-bone : the other

sides are joined to no bones. Cuneiformia, calcoidea, the wedge-
like bones, or bones of the foot, and are articulated with the sca-
phoides, or os naviculare : being joined, they represent a vault ;

lor above they are convex, beneath hollow, to receive the tendons
and muscles.

.The metatarsus, or sole of the foot, has five bones, which are
solid without, hollow within, longer than the bones of the back of
the hand, and knit to the bones of the tarsus. That which stays
the great toe is the thickest, that which stays the next toe is the
longest, the next is shorter, and the rest each shorter in order.
The lower end of that which stays the great toe, is received by
the cuneiform© majus : the second by the cuneiforme minus : the
third, by the third wedge-like bone : the other two, by the two
tops of the os cubiforme.

The bones of the toes are in number fourteen : the great toe
has only two, the rest three apiece. They are solid without,
hallow within ; and have three joints and two processes, answer-

And Family Dispensatory •

$7

W in all things to the bones of the hand. The lowermost joints

have two knobs, received by the ends of the middlemost joints*
but the uppermost receiveth : the uppermost joints have also a
deep hollowness, because they receive the ends of the bones of the
foot.

1 . There are certain little bones called sesaminia or sesamoi -
dea being almost like seeds, both in form and magnitude, being for
the most part in number fifty eight. The}" are round and a little
flat, and less in the feet than in the hands, excepting those in the
great toe. 2. They are most commonly twelve in each hand, or
twenty-four in both hands, and so many in each foot. They grow
to the tendons of the muscles which move the fingers and toes,
under which they lie, wrapped up in the ligaments, and come away
in cleansing the bones, unless great care be used. The uses of
these sesamoidean bones are to defend the tendons ; to strengthen
the joints, and preserve them from luxation.

The annexed Plate demonstrates the Skeleton, or Bones, of the
Human Body, which consists of 239, exclusive of the sesamoideans
os hyoides , and bones of the ears ; which, being added would
make the total number 308.

1. Os frontis, or frontal bone; 2. sutura coronalis, or coronal
suture ; 3. vertex sinister; 4. satura -squamosa ; 5, processus ossis
sphenoides ; 6 os temporis, or temporal bone ; 7 processus mastoi-
deus ; 8 os mali ; 9 ossa nasi, or bones of the nose ; 10 11 the su-
perior and inferior maxillary bones : a vertebrae of the neck ; b
vertebrae of the back ; e vertebrae of the loins ; 12 os sacrum ; 13
the sternum, or breast-bone; + the costae ; 14 the clavicula, or
clavicles; 15 the scapula ; 16 the humerus, or arm-bones ; 17 the
ulna ; 1 8 the radius ; 19 the carpus, or wrist ; d the metacarpus ;
e the pollex; i ossa digitorum manus ; 20 the os ilium ; o the os
ischium; 22 the os pubis; 23 tuber ischii; 24 foramen magnum ;
25 os femoris ; r eollum ossis femoris ; s caput ossis femoris ; 26
the trochanter major ; 27 the trochanter minor ; t the patella; 28
the tibia; 29 the fibula; u the talus; 30 the calcaneus ; 31 the
metatarsus ; z ossa digitorum pedes.

Culpepper's English Physician

OF THE ABDOMEN,

OR

belly in general.

T'fcAAA.V'V'V'V'V.'V'V.'V

HE abdomen is all that part, distinguished within (by the
nndnth) from the chest to the os jpubis. It is bounded by the
cartilago mucronata, vertebrae of the loins, os sacrum, hip-bones,
os pubis, and the bastard ribs on either side. It is divided into three
legions or parts : First, the uppermost, called epigastrium, each
side of which is called hgpochondrium, lying under the gristles of
the short ribs : it is bounded between the cartilago mucromta .
Secondly, the middle part, called regio umbilicalis, which extends
from three inches above the navel to three inches below it : the
lower part, called hijpogastrium ; the lateral parts are called in-
guiiia, the groins : in the right sides of which, are parts of the
colon and cecum, which are tied together; in the left, a great part
of the colon and intestinum rectum ; the forepart of it is called
aquahculus, and the lowest part, which is covered with hair, is
called pubis, the share ; the hair begins to appear here in girls
about the twelfth year, but in boys about the fourteenth year, of
age. Under this region in women are contained the bladder, ma-
trix, and intestinum rectum.

i \\q per lion mum is so called from stretching and spreading about,
being drawn over all the parts between the midriff and thighs. Its
original is from the first formation, at the third vertebra of the loins,
wheie it is thicker, so that it cannot, in that place, be separated
without breaking. The muscles of the belly being taken away,
the peritonaeum comes to view; it is tied above to the midriff; be-
low to the shaie and flank bones; in the forepart firmly to the
transverse muscles, but chiefly to their tendons about the linea alba ;
behind to the fleshy heads of these muscles. It is spermatical, cold
.and dry by nature, and of a substance not simple and uniform, but

And Family Dispensatory.

99

double and unequal in thickness. It is a membrane double in all
places, but it is most apparent about the vertebra of the loins,
where, between the duplications, lie the vena cava, the aorta, and
the kidneys. Its use is to send connections to all the parts ; to
bestow coats upon all the bowels of the abdomen : to give a cover-
ing to the diaphragm, liver, and spleen ; to produce the ligament
which upholds the liver; to make a communion with all the prin-
cipal parts by veins, arteries, and nerves; to produce the omentum;
and, by its reduplication, the mesentery.

The omentum , or caul, so called, because it floats or swims up-
on the guts : it lies under the peritonaeum, and is situated at the
liver, spleen, and bottom of the stomach : in some it ceases at the
navel, in others it falls below the navel, and sometimes it reaches
to the os pubis, where it is inserted. It is a thin membrane, en-
dowed with much fat, double, and disjoined. In men, when it
descends into the scrotum, it causes the rupture epiplocle, which
happens most commonly on the left side, because it is extended
rather to the left than to the right side. Its substance is mem-
branous, that it might admit dilatation and extension ; it is com-
pact, to hinder the dissipation of the internal heat, and to expel the
external cold : it is tied to the stomach, being a middle part be-
tween the colon and the spleen. Its uses are to cherish and strength-
en the internal heat of the stomach and intestines ; to give nourish-
ment to the parts in time of famine ; to contain the humours flowi ng
from the intestines, which the glandulous cannot receive wholly at
one time; to prop up the branches of the veins and arteries of the
stomach, duodenum, colon, and spleen ; and to generate the fat.

The stomach, called ventriculus , from its cavity, is situated in
the epigastrium a place encompassed with no bones, that it might
stretch the more easily, immediately under the midriff, which it
toucheth, so that if it be too full, it causeth a difficulty of breath-
ing, by hindering the motion of it. In the forepart and on the
right side, it is covered with the hollow of the liver ; in the left by
the spleen ; so that the stomach is as it were between two fires,
bending a little towards the left hypochondrium, and towards the

300

Culpepper's English Physician

back part it leans on the aorta, the cava, and the pancreas, which
helps its heat. It is less in women than in men, to give way to
the distention of the matrix, and it is composed of three tunicles ;
the outward most is common to the peritonaeum, and is the thick-
est ; the middlemost is proper to itself, and fleshy ; the innermost
is from the dura meninx , and wrinkled, as also hairy like a piece
of silk ; this is continued with the tunicle of the oesophagus, mouth,
and lips, that nothing may he received inr which is ungrateful to
the stomach: hence it is, that, when choler is in the stomach, the
tongue is bitter and yellow, It is spongy, and has passages like
short fibres, from this inner surface to the outward, that the thinner
chylus may be the better detained. The inmost coat serves chiefly
for sense ; the middlemost for the office of motion : and the third,
that it might be as a covering for the whole. The stomach has
two orifices, and both of them in the upper region thereof ; the
left is called os stomachi ; the right the pylorus, or porter : the
os stomachi, or left orifice, has orbicular fibres, that, the meat and
drink being once received within the capacity of the stomach, it
may, by a natural instinct, exactly shut up the mouth of the sto-
mach, lest the fumes and heat should break out, which might not
only go into the brain and breed diseases there, but also hinder
concoction. The right orifice is of equal height with the other;
lest the meat and drink should slip through before they are di-
gested. It is not wide like the former, because it is to transmit
the elaborated ehyle, which is done by the strength of the sto-
mach, in contracting itself. Wherefore the pylorus, ^besides its
transverse fibres, has a thick and compact circle, representing the
sphincter muscle, that it might the more easily shut and open.
The stomach has arteries from the ramus cceliacus, which accom-
pany every vein, that blood may be supplied from the heart for
nourishment of the part : it has likewise many nerves ; viz. two
in its orifice from the stomach branches, which being produced,
after they have run back in the thorax, and furnished the lungs and
pericardium, are covered with strong membranes. These so cross
one another, that they are carried obliquely, and without doubt

And Family Dispensatory .

101

with greater safety. The right branch compasses the fore and
left part of the mouth of the stomach ; the left branch, the hinder
and right part of the same : from these branches of nerves are sent
downwards, to the very bottom ; a branch goes from the left
nerve, along the upper part of the stomachy to the pylorus, which
it infolds with certain branches, and goes* to the hollow of the
liver : other two nerves also go to the bottom of the stomach, from
the branches which run along by the roots of the ribs. Hence it
is, that when the brain is hurt, the stomach is sick, and falls a
vomiting, as in a vertigo hemicrania, &c. also, when the stomach
is affected, the head and brain are ill, or afflicted with pain ; and-
by reason that the orifice of the stomach is so compassed with
nerves, as if it were altogether made of nerves, it becomes of a
most exquisite sense ; and hence it is that vomiting so often suc-
ceeds in many diseases, where there is a consent of parts with the
stomach. The stomach is the seat of hunger, and does the first of
all parts feel the want of food j ( afterwards the other parts by
faintness and universal debility ;) for the blood being spent upon
the nourishment of the body, the fibres of the internal membrane
of the stomach are contracted, and so this pain, which is called
hunger and thirst, is caused.

The intestines, or guts, begin at the pylorus and end in the
anus or fundament. They are called intestina , or inwards be-
cause they are in the inmost seat of the body. They are of a
round figure, that they might the better contain the nourishment ;
of a membranous substance, the better to have constriction and
dilatation ; and indeed their substance is almost the same with
the stomach, having three coats, one common and external, being
bred immediately from the mesenierium, but mediately from the
1 ’peritonaeum . The second, which is the middlemost, is proper,
being membranous, strong, and furnished with fleshy fibres.
The third, which is the innermost, is also proper, nervous, and
lined with a crusty substance, framed of the excrements of the
third concoction of the guts, glazed as it were with a mucus or
phlegmatic substance, bred in the first concoction, by which

102

Culpepper's English Physician

— i , ■ * — - —

■ — » — ■ — — — *

excoriation is not only hindered, when sharp humours pass through
the guts, but also by its assistance the expulsion of the faices is fur-
thered. This internal membrane has such a crusty substance, that
the mouths of the meseraic veins might not be stopped ; and that
neither they nor the coat itself might be made callous by the con-
tinual thoroughfare of the chyle. The fibres of the internal mem-
brane of the small guts are oblique, but of the external coat trans-
verse ; because these are appointed for the retention and expulsion
of the chyle ; but, in the thick guts, the inner coat has transverse
fibres, the outward has obfique and straight, because they are ap-
pointed for the expulsion of the excrements : the inner membrane
also of the small guts is full of wrinkles to stay the chylus from pas-
sing too soon. As to the length of the intestines, they are in gene-
ral six times as long as the whole body : it is wonderful that the
guts (of so great a length) should be comprehended in so small a
compass, so as that they are not above a span distant from the cen-
tre. They have a motion, which is peristaltic, or the worm -like
motion, by which they move themselves all over by a contraction
from the upper parts downwards ; moreover they have many turn-
ings and windings, or bendings, which serve to keep the nutriment,
till the concoction is perfectly finished, and chyle distributed.

The mesentery is so called, because it is the middle of the
guts. It is one in number, but divided into two parts, the mesa-
reum mesocolo?i. By the mescireum, the small guts are knit
together ; by the mesocolon, the thick guts are tied together.
The substance of the mesentery is a double membrane, one above
another. Its situation is in the middle of the abdomen, sticking
to the transverse processes of the vertebra by ligaments, whence
it is original : for it arises from the first and third vertebra of
the loins, where membranous fibres are produced from the peri-
tonaeum, which turn into strong membranes. The vessels of the
mesentery are veins, arteries, and nerves, which pass to and from
the guts, between the membranes. The veins are called mese-
raicce, and they are two -fold, viz. sanguines and lactere, both
which are almost innumerable. The vence sanguincce or mesevaicee

And Family Dispensatory

103

receive the blood from the arteries, after nourishing of the parts,
and so convey it back again to the liver. The venae lactae, as-
cending from the guts, and carrying the chyle, do centre in the
glandules, or receptacles of the chyle. These glandules of the
mesentery, are to prop up and support sundry distributions of
the branches to the vena porta and arteria magna ; and hence
it is, that about the centre of the mesentery are the greatest ker-
nels, because there is the distribution of the greater and more
collected vessels ; if those become schirrous, an atrophy, or exte-
nuation of the whole body, viz. a wasting, leanness, and pining,
follows, because the passing of the chyle is hindered, whereby
the nourishment of the body is lost. Their substance in men
is glandulous and solid, like other glands of the mesentery, wa-
tered as it were with the venae lactae , yet capable of chyle in
their least corners. Their connection is in the hinder part ver-
tebrae lumbares : in the fore-part they are joined to the mesen-
tery by small milky branches, which carry the chyle to these
fountains or receptacles. The use of these milky glandules is to
receive and contain the chyle coming from the venae lactae or the
mesentery : as also to digest and prepare it by the help of the
neighbouring hot vessels, viz the artery and vein, and then,
being prepared, to thrust it out into the thoraices, and other
parts, as the liver, which is easily proved by ligature ; for, if
these lactae, whether in the thorax or going to the liver, be bound,
they always swell on that side next to the glandules or mesen-
tery, and grow empty on the other sides ; they also squeeze out
the serum, being separated from the chyle in that light prepara-
tion, and expel it either into the reins adjacent to them ; or in-
to the emulgent arteries, to which they send branches ; or into
the capsulae atrihilariae, appointed for melancholy ; or, lastly,
into the doubling of the peritoneum, in which they abide, which
is sometimes the cause of the dropsy ascites : and herein we
have reason why a dropsy is many times ended by diuretics and
dissolved by urine ; and how those, who are extreme drinkers
do so immediately evacuate what they have drunk; for that the

No. 22. ' a T

104

Culpepper's English Physician

ordinary way through the liver, heart, arteries, emulgent veins,
ureters, and bladder, is vastly longer, and more tedious : hence
also the cause is seen, why, in a real diabetes, the drink is
so voided through the bladder in a very short space, as it is
received, without change of consistency, colour, taste or smell ;
hence too appears the reason of an atrophia of the parts,
especially those of the thorax, which draw the chyle out of
the milky receptacles ; for that they are sometimes pressed to-
gether, whereby the distribution of the chyle is obstructed ;
sometimes also they are inflamed, tumified, and afflicted with
a scirrhus. Hence it is that lithontriptic or nephritic medica-
ments do presently ease such as have a pain in their reins :
as likewise cantharides, and such as incite to lust, do imme-
diately, without stopping the passage, come to the arteries emul-
gent and spermatic ; because that, in the accustomed journey,
(much the longer way), the virtue of the medicaments would
easily be enervated. And here the reason is obvious why diure-
tic and nephritic medicaments make such an impression of
smell and colour in urine, as is manifest in cassia, turpentine, ju-
niper, asparagus, and other like things. Many of the lactse
of the mesentery, coming through the greater glandules, and the
sides of the portae, are grafted into the liver. Their entrance is
about the third lobe, to which many of the lactse from the mesen-
tery and appendices of the stomach do come. From the upper
part of the milky glandules, immediately under the diaphragma ,
there arise as many milky branches as there are glandules, which,
through the middle of the spina, pierce the diaphragma, and,
by mutual insertion, two of them are joined about the first verte-
bra of the loins ; another branch, coming out of the second glan-
dule, about the twelfth vertebra of the back, enters a little
above the other insertion % but the third, rising from the third
glandule, is to be seen near the eleventh vertebra, from whence
it arises as a solitary branch, through the middle of the back,
by the side of the aorta , and the vein azygos, between both,
pnder the oesophagus, to which it is firmly knit by its membranes.

And Family Dispensatory .

105

These milky t/ioracics departing from the spinal, (about the third
or fifth vertebra of the back, ) through the midst of which
they crept all this way, turn a little to the left, and creeping
up under the oesophagus an.d aorta , and under the subclavial
artery and the glandules of the thymus , they go forward to the
left clavicula and left axillary vein ; they enter the vein just
where the outward jugular pours itself forth into the axillary
aforementioned. From hence we learn, that these t/ioracics
carry the chyle out of the milky glandules or receptacles of the
mesentery to the subclayials; but the lac t re meseraicae carry
the chyle from the intestines either to the receptacle or to the
liver : also that the chyle goes not to the head nor to the joints,
but is carried to the heart with blood that runs down in circu-
lation, where it is changed into the sanguineous humour : and
hence the lactce of the thorax receive their restorative force
from nutriment, cordials, and medicaments, out of the stomach
or oesophagus , by the glandular lactce , and carry them straight-
way to the heart : whence t is, that drinking vinegar, wine,
cordials, and other like things, so immediately cause the strength
to be restored ; and presently at meat a man is strengthened)
and his hunger stayed ; this virtue is conveyed by the milky
branch which is near the oesophagus , and the short passage of
the rest of the lactse to the heart : also vulnerary potions and pec-
toral drinks come a shorter and surer way to the heart and lungs,
to which, by the long way about through the bowels and veins,
they could not come so safe and secure ; and by the same reason
poisons as swiftly overcome the heart, infect the vital spirit, and
destroy their harmony.

The liver is an organic part, and an instrument of the blood,
(both for generating and perfecting it), seated in the abdomen,
just under the diaphragma , or midriff, in the right hypochon-
drium, about a finger’s breadth distance therefrom ; is covered
by the ribs for safety, but covers, or lightly rests upon, a great
part of the stomach. It is divided as it were into two parts by
the umbilical vein, which after the birth serves it for a ligament.

106 Culpepper s English Phgsician

It is said to be the original or beginning of the veins, because
therein the roots of the two greatest veins appear dispersed, viz,
of the cava and porter, as roots implanted in the earth ; also
here are to be seen inserted, trunks and branches of the vena
lactce , arising from the pancreas mesenterii. It is a great,
thick, and hard body ; of a red colour, consisting of a sub-
stance proper to itself, fitted and ordained for that end. It
differs from the livers of beasts, in that it has seldom any lobes,
yet the hollow part of it has a fissure or chink, where the um-
bilical vein is implanted. Its magnitude is exceeding great, be-
yond all the other viscera ; and bigger in man than in any other
living, creature, the proportion of body being considered ; and
this seems to he necessary, considering the noble uses and
functions to which it is ordained. The action of the liver is
sanguification ; for the chyle, being conveyed to the liver by
the vena lactae, is there sanguified, or made chymus ; for the
substance of the liver doth not only sustain the veins, but is also
the efficient of sanguification, and of perfecting the blood by
its circular motion : and, together with the blood, it generates na-
tural Spirits.

The gall bladder and choler-chuated are situated on the right
side of the liver, in the under or hollow part thereof. The
branches of both these, together with the branches of the vena
portae, are comprehended in a common bladder, called capsu -
la. These branches of the vesica fellis, and ductus choledochus,
or biliarius, being detained in the liver, are dispersed through
its whole parenchyma, every where included in the aforenamed
capsula, which is red, about the thickness of an artery, and
takes its original from the peritonaeum. The gall-bladder is a
vessel long and round, much like a pear, hollow, furnished
with a double membrane. Its magnitude is small, compared
to the spleen or kidneys, being about two inches in length, and
in some persons nearly three inches. The use of the gall is, 1.
to cause a new and more perfect fermentation of the chyle : 2.
to prick the guts by its- sharpness to stir up their peristaltic

‘

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And Family Dispensatory ,

107

motion, that they may drive down tiie chyle, and expel the ex-
crements : 3, to mix with the chyle in such proportion, that, be-
ing converted into blood, the blood might thereby be kept from
congelation.

To illustrate this subject more amply, we have subjoined a
representation of the liver of a new born child, where A A A A,
represents the circumference of the liver : B B B B, the lower
part of the liver, in which there are several irregularities ; C,
the gall-bladder ; D, the umbilical vein, running with a single
trunk from the navel to the liver ; E EE, the sinuses of the
vena port®, into which alone the umbilical vein inserts itself,
with a single trunk ; F, the trunk of the vena port® cut off;
G G G G, the principal branches of the sinus of the vena
port® distributed through the liver, which become conspicu-
ous when a small part of the superficies of the liver is abraded
off ; H, the trunk of the vena cava ; I I, the canalis venosus,
or ductus venosus, arising from the sinus of the vena port®,
over-against the ingress of the umbilical vein, and inserting
itself into the vena cava : this, in the uterus, carries a great part,
and probably the greater part, of the blood, carried through
the umbilical vein to the liver of the foetus, by a large passage
to the vena cava and the heart ; but this, after the birth of the
foetus, gradually grows narrower and closes ; K, the entrance
of the umbilical vein into the sinus of the vena port®. To this
description of the external part of the liver, it may not be im-
proper to add that of its blood-vessels, together with their nu-
merous ramifications, freed from the parenchymatous substance.
Fig. 1, represents the under side of these vessels ; A, being that
part of the liver which lies next to the back ; B, its right side;
C, its anterior edge; D, its leftside; E, the vena cava, where
it passes through the diaphragm ; E 1, E 2, E 3, its three
principal branches, distributed almost through the whole liver;
F, the vena port® turned upwards, that other vessels may be
more easily seen ; FI, F 2, F 3, F 4, four branches of the
vena port® distributed to several quarters of (he flat part of I he

308 Culpepper s English Physician

■U2 i A-IM- i H ——il —pi BBaMWMMBMWMMjMWMBMMMM— — M— —

liver, bat the fifth branch is not observed on this side ; G, the
gall-bladder: H H, the vena umbilicalis become a ligament;
I, the ductus communis choledochus : K, the canalis venosus,
now performing the office of a ligament; L, the trunk of the
vena cava descendens ; a, a small portion of the membrane
investing the liver ; b, that part of the diaphragm which sur-
rounds the vena cava; c, the biliary duct ; d, the cystic duct;
e, the place where these vessels meet ; fy the hepatic artery ;
o o, the hepatic nerves ; p p p p, the common capsula laid
open ; q q, the lymphaeducts ; m m m . &c. the smaller branch-
es of the vena portae ; n n n, the small branches of the vena
cava.

The spleen, or milt, is situated in the left side under the
short ribs, over against the liver, and under the midriff, be-
tween the ribs and the stomach, near to the back part. Its co-
lour in new born infants is red, because they have been fed
with elaborate blood ; but in those of ripe age it is of a dark-
ish red colour, and sometimes almost black. It is connected by
thin membranes arising from the peritonaeum, to the peritonaeum
itself, caul, and to the left kidney, and sometimes also to the
septum or diaphragma. The action and office of the spleen is
not to be either the receptacle or the place of the generation of
melancholy, ( as several learned men have thought) nor to make
blood ( as many others have imagined), but to highly perfect the
blood already made, that it may serve as a fermentum , both to
the daily generated chyle and all the rest of the blood in the
body : the excrementitious blood which cannot be separated
from the spleen, if it be thin and watery, is purged out, first
by the arteries, not only to the guts, but also the kidneys, by
the emulgent veins ; hence, in diseases of the spleen, the urine
is many times black, in which case we commonly administer
diuretics. Secondly, by the stomach ; whence, in the scurvy
and a quartan ague, the sick spits exceedingly ; but, if this ex-
crementitious blood be thick and earthy, it is voided directly
by the anus by proper arteries from the guts, by which means

And Family Dispensatory.

109

the ordure is black, as also by the internal haemorrhoidal veins,
as the great Hippocrates has often shewn.

The reins, or kidneys, are situated under the liver and spleen,
by the loins, between the two coats of the peritonaeum, at the
sides of the cava and aorta, under which very great nerves lie
hid, and rest upon the muscles of the thigh : whence it is that,
a stone being in the kidneys, a numbness is felt in the thigh and
leg of that side. The left kidney is for the most part highest :
the right is lowest to give way to the liver, reaching by its end
the third vertebra of the loins. They consist of a substance so-
lid, fleshy, thick, hard, and compact, almost as the heart, but
not so fibrous. They are connected by an external membrane
from the peritonaeum to the loins and diaphragm ; by the emul-
gent vessels to the cava and aorta: and by the ureters to the
bladder. The right kidney is tied to the coecum, sometimes also
to the liver : the left to the spleen and colon ; hence pains of
the reins are exasperated by plenty of wind and excrements.
The colour of the flesh of the kidneys is red ; and through their
hollowed sides are carried the emulgent veins and arteries, pro-
ceeding from the trunks of the cava and aorta : they have also
emulgent arteries, which are large, and derived from the trunk
of the aorta, which carry blood for nourishment, and that there-
from the serum (which is plentiful in the arterial blood) may be
separated ; they have also one very small nerve on each side
which springs from the ramus stomachicus, proceeding from the
par vagum, and is inserted into the proper membrane of the
kidney ; whence arises the sympathy between the stomach and
reins; and that they who are diseased in the kidneys, by the
stone or some other distemper, are for the most part sick at
stomach, and troubled with vomiting. The use of the kidneys
is to attract the sanguineous serosity by the emulgent arteries,
that so the mass of blood may be cleansed : which blood, going
through these vessels, is always carried through the branches
of the emulgents, disseminated abroad through the whole paren-
chyma of the kidneys, and runs at length into very small pas-

no

Culpepper s English Physician

sages, so that at last the wheyish humour is thrust quite out into
the flesh of the kidneys, the good blood remaining partly to
nourish them, and partly to return by the little emulgent veins,
which are open into the cava, and so to the heart. The serous
part is strained through the papillary caruncles, which have holes
into the branches of the ureters, and after grow together into
one cavity or expansion of the ureter, into which the serum is
emptied : through the ureters it passes into the bladder, where it
becomes urine.

The deputy kidneys, or black choler cases, are so seated
that they rest upon the upper part of the kidneys, on the
outside, where they look towards the vena cava, being covered
with fat membranes. In figure and substance they for the
most part resemble the kidneys, save that their flesh is a little
looser : so that they seem like little kidneys resting upon the
great ones. They have an apparent internal cavity furnished
with a dreggy and black humour: and are strongly concocted,
where they rest, to the external membrane of the reins, and
to the septum transversum, to which they commonly stick in dis-
section.

The ureters are white vessels, like veins, but thicker, whiter,
and more nervous ; consisting of a single .membranous sub-
stance, inclosed in a duplication of the peritonaeum. They are
as long as between the kidneys and bladder, and commonly as
thick or wide as goose quills: but, in dissection of persons
troubled with the stone, they have been so wide as to admit
of two fingers. Their original is in the kidneys, within whose
cavities they are divided into nine or ten little pipes or chan-
nels, which are fitted to the little fleshy teats or carunculcs
papillares, that they may distil the serum into the pelvis, or ba-
son, or large cavities of the ureTers within the kidneys. The
ureters descending within the duplicature of the peritonaeum,
upon the muscles of the loins, to the bladder, are inserted ob-
liquely into its neck ; then, ascending upwards between its
membranes, they perforate the innermost coat together, and

And Family Dispensatory* 13 1

through the same hole they both enter the bladder : in the im-
plantation of the ureters, two little membranes or valves are pla-
ced, like the valves in bellows, shutting up the passages of the
ureters, so that the urine cannot go back. They receive small
veins and arteries from the neighbouring parts, and nerves from the
par vagwn and marrow of the loins. Their use is to convey the
urine from the kidneys into the bladder.

The bladder, or receptacle of urine, is seated between the du-
plicature of the peritonaeum, in the cavity of the hypogastrium?
which is called pelvis, or the bason ; which in a man lies be-
tween the os pubis and intestinum rectum ; in a woman, between
the os pubis and the neck of the womb. Its figure is oval or glo-
bical, that it might hold the more ; from the bottom it is by little
,and little straightened into a narrow neck. Its magnitude is va-
rious ; and, according to the greatness of the lungs, such is the
greatness of the bladder ; and such animals as have no lungs have
no bladder : man, according to bis magnitude, has of all living
creatures the greatest bladder. Its substance is partly membra-
nous, for strength sake, as also that it might extend and wrinkle
.together. It has two membranes and, one muscle, which most
anatomists make to he a third membrane and not a muscle. The
bottom is fastened to the peritonaeum, and to the navel by a middle
ligament called urachus, and the two navel arteries dried up. The
neck of the bladder is tied in men to the intestinum rectum ; but
in women to the vagina uteri, or the neck of the womb, and to
the neighbouring hip-bones. The bladder has three holes ; two
a little before the neck, where the ureters are inserted, and. a third
in the neck, through which the urine is voided. The neck Is
fleshy and fibrous, furnished with a sphincter muscle to purse it
up, that the urine may not pass out against our will ; in men
this neck is long, narrow, and wreathed, because, being placed
under the bodies which constitute the yard, it runs upwards
under the share-bones, from the fundament to the origin of the
yard. In. women it .is short and broad, stretched forth down-

No. 22. 3 u

112

Culpepper's English Physician

wards, and implanted above into the neck of the womb. The
bladder has arteries from the hypogastrica in men, and from those
which go from the neck of the womb in women \ by these it is
nourished ; it has veins also from the vena hypogastrica implanted
into the sides of its neck, variously disseminated through the blad-
der, which are mutually conjoined one with another and with the
arteries by open holes, that nutritive blood may return ; and it
has nerves from the par vagum, and from the medulla of the os
sacrum.

The spermatic vessels in men, called vasa preparcmtia, are two
fold, viz, the two spermatic veins, and the two spermatic arteries.
The right-side vein springs from the trunk of the vena cava, a
little below the rise of the emulgent, otherwise it must go over the
aorta, and then there would be danger of breaking; or, at least,
by reason of the pulsation of the artery, the venal blood might be
hindered. Both the seminal arteries arise from the trunk of the
aorta, about two inches distant from the emul gents : these vessels,
being a little distant one from another, are tied together by a thin
membrane from the peritonaeum. These spermatic preparers are
greater in men than in women, and the arteries are greater
than the veins, because very much heat, vital spirit, and arte-
rial blood, are requisite to make seed. These vessels are car-
ried obliquely above the ureters to the groins ; but in their pro-
gress they are joined by infinite anastomoses or inosculations ; so
that the arteries are so coupled wilhin the coats of the veins, as if
they were but one vessel, and they are knit together by a mem-
brane arising from the peritonaeum, and afterwards carried to the
beginning of the testicles, like a tendril of a vine, being so inter-
woven that a curious eye cannot distinguish a vein from an artery.
This intertexture of veins and arteries, being the twistings of the
vasa preparantia, makes a long, thick, glandulous, but hard cord,
called corpus varicosum, which is without any remarkable cavi-
ty. These vessels do not pass through the peritonaeum, as in
dogs, but are carried between its double coat, with a small

And Family Dispensatory .

113

nerve from the par vagum and the muscle cremaster, and, pas-
sing to the bottom of the testicle, end at the. ms deferens. These
arteries carry blood and spirits (in whose admirable windings they
are more elaborated) to the testicles, from whom they have a vir-
tue seminal : with this blood the stones are nourished, and part of
it becomes seed : the veins are closely interwoven with the arte-
ries about the testicle, and joined to them by mutual anastomose;
that they may carry back the blood which remains under the left
emulgent, or to the vena cava on the right side, from whence the
spermatic vein commonly springs. If one or both the spermatic
arteries be injured, or wanting, as they are sometimes, such per-
sons doubtless, cannot get children, but must necessarily be bar-
ren.

The testicles in men, are glandulous bodies, flaggy, spongy,
soft, and white, without any cavity, full of small veins and arte-
ries, such as are not in any other part of the body. Their figure
is oval, but it sometimes varies, according to the turgency of any
of the neighbouring vessels. The right testicle is hotter, and bet-
ter concocts the seed, than the left : because the former receives
the arterial blood immediately from the aorta, the latter from the
emulgent. They are seated externally without the abdomen, un-
der the belly, at the root of the yard, in the scrotum or covering :
being commonly in men answerable to the bigness of a small hen’s
egg. The membranes being taken away, the substance of the tes-
ticle comes in sight, upon which, athwart, is placed a small body,
called corpus vermiforme, to the one end whereof cleaves the vas
spermaticum deferens , the carrying spermatic vessel, which enters
into the substance of the testicle, and empties the seminal matter
thereinto : from the other end arises the vas ejaculatoHum , which
in the beginning is full of turnings and windings, and cleaves
firmly to the testicle, by its end, being loose, and separate in its
middle. They have vessels of all sorts, veins and arteries from
the seminal vessels, and a large nerve from the par vagum : some-
times also they have two nerves from the twenty-first pair of the

114

Culpepper's English Physician

spinal marrow, which being conjoined with the spermatic vessels,
are carried with them through the production of the peritonaeum,
and disseminated into the tunicles. They have on each side one
proper muscle, called cremaster or suspensor ; and a common
mihscle, from the membrane of the scrotum, called dartos. The
testicles have also several tunicles, coats, or coverings ; of which
two are common ; three proper to themselves only. The first coat
(which is to defend the part) is constituted of the skin and scarf-
skin, and is called scrotum, or bursa scroti , because it is like a
purse or bag : it is soft, wrinkled, and void of fat : having in its
lower part a line according to the length thereof; which divides
into a right and left part, and is called sutura, or a seam. The
second common coat consists of a fleshy membrane, springing from
the membrana carnosa, which is here thinner than in other places,
and full of veins and arteries, and is called dartos : this by many
is comprehended under the term scrotum. The first proper coat
is called vaginalis , the scabbard coat; and elicoides , from its
thinness, which is yet strong and full of veins, arising from the
processes of the peritonaeum, and cleaving to the dartos by many
membranous fibres, whence its exterior part is rough, its interior
smooth. The second proper coat is called erythroides , because
of its redness : it has some fleshy fibres from the cremaster, from
which it is propagated, and is spread over the vaginalis. The
"third and innermost, called albiginea, arising from the coats of
the spermatic vessels, immediately encompasses the substance of
the stones, and as it were binds the same, being white, thick,
and strong. The use of the testicles is to elaborate the seed, and
'to make it by their heat and inbred faculty : for the efficient
cause of the seed is the proper parenchyma of the testicles, both
dn regard of their hot arid moist temper, and of their specific pro-
perty ; for, the blood being prepared, they convert it into seed;
what remains over and above serves for nourishment of the part,
and the remainder is conveyed back, by the spermatic veins, to
the heart.

And Family Dispensatory.

115

The vasa defer entia are the vessels carrying away the seed ;
and these begin at the testicles, and end at the root of the yard,
whither they carry and ejaculate the seminal humour ; being in
number two, on each side one. Now these vasa defer entia, called
also meatus seminales , are divided into three parts; the beginning,
middle, and end ; under which are comprehended, the parastatw ,
the vasa ejaculatoria , the vesiculee seminales , and the prostatas.
The par as tat re, or assistants, are the beginnings of the vasa defe-
rentia. Their substance is of the middle nature, between that of
the testicles and that of the vasa ejaculatoria , being within glan-
dulous and spongy, but without membranous. They have their
origin in the stones, making many anastomoses there, with the rtfs#
preparantia, by means of innumerable small pipes, or white fibres.
The use of the parastatse is to perfect and finish the seed, by a vir-
tue which they receive from the testicles ; and, while the seed is
lodged in them, frequent lust is not provoked. The vasa ejacula-
toria are the middle of the vasa deferentia, properly so called ; these
convey the seed from the parastatse or corpora variosca to the ve~
sicuise seminales. Their substance is white and nervous : their
figure long and round, with an obscure cavity or hollowness : their
situation is partly in the testieles, partly in the cavity of the abdo-
men, above the os pubis or share-bone ; for they run i|p wards, and
are knit to the vasa preparantia by a thin membrane, and so
are carried along to the flanks and share-bone, which for that
purpose have a slight cavity. After being turned back down-
wards, they pass above the ureters, and under the hinder part
of the bladder ; above the intestinum rectum, at the neck of
the bladder, they are on each side widened, and there consti-
tute the seminal bladders. Vesiculee seminales , the seminal
bladders, are the end or termination of the vasa deferentia : after
the constitution of these bladders, these carrying vessels are
linked into one small passage, and are inserted into the pros-
tatae. These bladders are many in number like little cells, and
seem to make on each side one remarkable great and winding

116

Culpepper ' 's English Physician

one, for that they go one into another, much resembling a bunch
of grapes. Their substance is nervous, and they are seated be-
tween the ligaments of the bladder and the rectum, by the sides of
the vasa ejaculatoria a little before the said vessels grow thick and
unite. Their use is to contain the seed being perfected, and to
reserve the same till the time of coition, that so there may be a
sufficiency for generation. Th eprosiatse, standers before, stoppers,
or conductors, are two certain caruncles (in which the vasa defe-
rentia terminate) manifestly differing from the vesiculae seminales
in use, form, situation, and magnitude. Their situation is at the
root of the yard, above the sphincter of the bladder, on each side
at the neck thereof. Their substance is spongy, yet harder and
whiter than other kernels, and they are also covered with a thick-
er membrane, being of exquisite sense, that they might cause plea-
sure in coition. They are flat before and behind, but round on
the sides ; their magnitude is usually as big as a walnut, and they
are open by certain pores into the urethra or urinal passage, which
is evidently apparent in such as have died of a gonorrhea, where
they have been dilated, and in whom the seat of that disease did
lodge. Their use is to contain a viscous and slippery humour,
to moisten the urethra, for the more easy and speedy passage
of the seed ; and they also serve to stay the involuntary effu-
sion of the seed, and to hinder its regurgitation being once
emitted. They terminate in a small caruncle upon the urethra,
which as a valve serves to hinder the coming of urine into them :
under and by this caruncle, on each side, there are inconspicu-
ous holes, or pores, through which the seed passes into the
urethra, just as quicksilver passes through leather, which it
does by virtue of its being replete with a vast quantity of sub-
tle and penetrating spirits. In these pores of the prostatae, and
in the seminal bladders, the seat of a virulent gonorrhea lies ;
and therefore, if they be broken, hurt, or dilated, either by
a catheter putting into the bladder, or by any other means,
there follows immediately an incurable gonorrhea. The distance

And Family Dispensatory .

117

between the root of the scrotum and the podex is called peri-
naeum : this, as well as the pubes and scrotum, is furnished with
hair, because glandules are placed here which abound with plen-
ty of humidity, a part of which they send to the skin for the gene-
rating thereof.

The perns, or yard, is an organical part, long, and roundish,
but broader on the upper side than where the urethra is, being
the male instrument of generation, and appointed for the evacua-
tion of the seed and urine. It is seated under the os pubis, ex-
actly in the middle, because it is only one in number. Its mag-
nitude is extremely various in different subjects, being for the
most part larger than ordinary in little men ; also in such as have
large noses, for the proportion of the yard very much answers that
of the nose : in such as have thick, fuli, large beards ; and in
Ethiopians, or blackamoors. It consists of a scarf-skin, fleshy
membrane, and a proper substance of its own ; but is void of
fat even in the fattest men, lest thereby its most exquisite sense
should be dulled. Its proper substance is four-fold : first, the
urethra ; secondly, the glans ; thirdly and fourthly, the two ner-
vous bodies, one on each side. The urethra, or passage of the
urine and seed, is a pipe of a nervous substance, of the same big-
ness from the neck of the bladder (to which it is joined) to the
end of the yard, or beginning of the glans, for in the middle of
the glans it has a greater hollowness. Its substance also is thick,
loose, and soft, like that of the two lateral ligaments or nervous
bodies. This urethra has also two membranes, and a substance
proper to itself. The one membrane is internal, thin, and of ex-
quisite sense, with which also the glans is covered ; this springs
from the thin membrane which clothes the nerves of the yard :
the other is external, more thick and fleshy, and furnished with
nerves : the middle part, which is its proper substance, is loose,
spongy, and black, that may be distended or contracted with
the other parts. In the beginning of its channel are these pores
through which the seed is ejaculated, as also a little membrane

118

Culpepper's English Physician

■ irwnw m i ■ i , u.i .... ii _ i ■ ■Fliii'ilii in I ;

or caruncle like a valve stretched before it, to keep the vessel and
urine from returning into the spermatic vessels : if it he broken
or corroded by sharp humours, or the unskilful use of a catheter,
there follows an incurable gonorrhea. Its use is to be the common
passage of the urine and seed. Balanus, glans, the head or nut
of the yard, is an hollowed kernel, wider in the middle than at
the external orifice : of a globular form, even, and compassed
with a circle or crown. Its substance is flesh more solid than the
rest of the yard, of a most exquisite sense, and covered with an
exceeding thin membrane, soft and red. It is covered with the
duplication of the external skin of the yard called presidium, ( a
putanda from cutting off, ) the foreskin : this is that which the
Jews cut off in circumcising. The skin is tied at the root of the
glans, by a certain ligament, called frsmum, the bridle, arising
from a combination of the tendons of the yard and a nerve, termi-
nating in the extreme hollowness of the nut. The two nervous
bodies, or hollow ligaments, one on each side, constitute the re-
maining and greatest part of the yard ; the whole substance where-
of being like a thick spongy artery, stuffed with flesh. Their
external substance is long, thick, compact, hard, and nervous ;
their internal substance is spongy, thin, hollow, of a net-like tex-
ture, framed of innumerable twigs of veins and arteries, of a
dark red colour, inclining to black, and filled with a great
abundance of black blood, very full of spirits, which, waxing
hot causes a distention and erection of the yard. These two
bodies (where they are thick and round) spring from the lower
parts of the share-bone, or hip-bones, to which they are strong-
ly tied with two ligaments. In their beginnings they keep some
distance, being separate one from another, almost like a Y,
that the urethra may pass between them ; but, when they cease
to remain perfectly separate, viz. when they come to the join-
ing at the share-bone, they lose near a third part of their ner-
vous substance ; yet they still remain distinct by the coming be-
tween of a single membranous partition, called septum lucidum .

119

And Family Dispensatory .

This membrane is white, thin, transparent, and full of nervous
fibres : it arises from the upper part of the commissure of the os
pubis, and upholds the said two lateral ligaments, and the ure-
thra, as a stay, the like of which is also found in woman. The
yard has all sorts of vessels, as veins, 1, external, running up
and down in the skin, from the pudenda; 2. internal ones,
from the venae liypogastricae, which are spread through its whole
body. It has arteries, two internal remarkable ones, arising
from the hypogastriea, which are inserted into the beginning of
the growing together of the two nervous bodies, which are scat-
tered up and down according to the length of the part ; but in
the middle, where the septum lucidum is thinnest, they send
branches through the spaces of the fibres, the right artery, in-
to the left nervous body, and the left into the right, carrying
spirits and blood to fill up, erect, and nourish, the yard, It
has two nerves from the marrow of the os sacrum , which disse-
minate themselves through all parts of the yard, both internal
and external ; ascending through the middle of the forked divi-
sion, they spread themselves into the muscles, the whole body
of the yard, and the glans, that there might be an exqusbe sense
and delectation. It has also four muscles, two erectors, and two
accelerators or ejaculators, under which muscles lie hid the two
nervous bodies.

The spermatic vessels in woman are the same with those in
men, and agree in their number, nature, original and offices;
but they differ from those in men in the following things ; first,
they differ in their longitude; in woman they are shorter, by
reason of the shortness of the passage, but they have more
wreathings, windings, and turnings, where they make the cor-
pus varicosum about the testicle, that the seed may have a suf-
ficient stay for its due preparation; secondly, in their insertion;
in woman they pass not whole to the testicles, as in a man, but
are divided in the midway : whence the greater part goes to
the testicles to form the corpus varicosum ; the smaller part to
the womb, into whose aides it is disseminated, especially to the

No. 23. 3 x

120 Culpepper $ English Physician

upper pari or tire bottom, to nourish the womb, and the child
therein: and that by those vessels some part of the menstrual
blood may be purged forth in such as are not with child. This
smaller part is tripartite, being divided below the testicle into
three branches, of which one runs out into the womb, as afore-
said . the second is distributed to the vas deforens , or trumpet
of I he womb, and to the round ligament; the third creeps along,
the sides of the womb, insinuating itself among the venae hypo-
gastric®, with which and the arteries they are joined by anas-
tomoses: thirdly, the spermatic veins receive the hypogastric
arteries as they pass by the sides of the uterus, that the blood
might be the better elaborated ; and they are intermixed with
many wonderful anastomoses for the preparation of the seed.

OF THE THORAX.

rwf

X HE thorax, chest, or breast, is that which is called the
middle ventricle, being circumscribed above by the clavicular
beneath by the diaphragma; on the fore side by the sternum;
on the hinder part by the back bones and on each side by the
cost® or ribs. Its situation is between the upper ventricle or
head, and the abdomen, being the seat of the vital spirits, and
consisting of the parts appointed for cherishing the natural heat.
Its figure is almost oval, somewhat flat before and behind,
whereas in beasts it is somewhat sharp, so that of mankind only
lies on the back. Its substance is partly bony, partly fleshy ;
bony, because ir contains not any parts much to be distended ;

fleshy, because it contaias parts which ought to be moved, as
the heart and lungs.

The breast, or dugs, are common to both sexes; in men
they are framed of the cutis, the membrana carnosa, fat and
the nipple, and are called mammilla. The dugs in woman have
besides many remarkable vessels, glandules, and pipes, to make
and contain milk. The nipple or teat, called papilla, is spon-
gy, like the gians of a man’s yard, and perforated through the

And Family Dispensatory. 12i

middle with many small holes for tne milk to pass through. It
is rougher than the other parts, that the infant may the more
firmly hold it, and of exquisite sense, that the nurse should
find pleasure when she gives suck : round about it there is a
circle, called areola ; in virgins it is pale and knotty ; in nurses,
brown ; and in old women, black. The veins are twofold, viz.
external and internal : the external arise from the axillary, and
are placed under the skin which moves the dugs, and are called
thoracicce superiores, the upper breast-veins: these, in women
with child and such as give suck, are often seen very blue.
The internal arise or descend from the trunk of the axillary
vein, or ramus subclavius; and are called maminarios venee ,
or dug-veins : these are met by other ascendant veins from
the womb, and therefore, the child being born, the blood
is carried no longer to the womb, but to the breast; and
hence it is that the women which give suck seldom have their
courses. How milk is generated and made, the opinions of men
are various : some think it to be made of the venal blood, but
they are absolutely deceived : some think it to be made only of
arterial blood, and these err also from the truth: others say, it
is made of blood and chyle : but our opinion is that it proceeds
from, and is generated of, the chylous juice, and a serous part
of the arterial blood : for that the serosity of the arterial blood
(and not the substance of the blood itself) does help to generate
and constitute the milk, we are induced to believe, not only
from the foregoing reason, but because no anastomoses of the
arteries with the lacteal pipes of the dugs could ever yet be
found out : and truly this opinion Bartholine seems to favour,
where he saith, that all the blood which is poured out of the
arteries into the breasts, is not turned into milk, but only the
more serous or wheyish part thereof ; the rest (that which serves
for nourishment excepted) running back again, by the veins,
into the heart.

The pleura , or inner covering of the ribs, is a membrane
white, thin, hard, and resembling the peritonaeum, but thicker

122 Culpepper s English Physician .

and stronger. It arises from the tunieles which cover the inter-
costal nerves proceeding from the back-hone, by means of
which it is continued with the coats of the brain : and therefore
it is thicker in the back, to whose vertebra? it cleaves as it were
inseparably. It is every where double, that the vessels may be
carried within the foldings thereof; the inner part, looking to-
wards the lungs and inwards, is thickest, smoothest, and as it
were bedewed with a waterisb humour, that it should not hurt
the lungs by any roughness; the outer part is thinner and rough-
er, that it might cleave the more firmly to the ribs \ between
these the matter of the pleurisy is many times collected, and
not only between the pleura and muscles, As to its figure, it
is arched without, hollow within; above it is narrower, below
broader, principally towards the sides. From it arise some ner-
vous fibres, by which the lungs are tied to it; if these be too
straight, the motion of the lungs is hindered, which causes an
incurable difficulty of breathing. Its uses are to cover the whole
cavity of the thorax, and render it smooth, that the lungs might
not be hurt; and to wrap in all the vital parts, and to defend
them from all external injuries. The mediastinum is a mem-
brane standing in the middle of the breast, dividing the’ right
side from the left. It arises from the pleura, being a double
membrane. Its substance is membranous, yet softer than the
pleura : its exterior part is rougher, because of the fibres by
which it is knit to the pleura; but its inner side, towards the
lungs, is smooth; and about the vessels it is common full of
fat like the caul. The uses of the mediastinum are, first, to
divide the thorax into two parts, that, the breast and lungs be-
ing hurt or wounded on the one side, the other might be safe : se-
condly, to hold up the pericardium firmly, wherein the hearl is
contained, that it should not rest upon the back bone, when we
lie upon our back ; or, that it should not fall upon the breastbone,
when we bend ourselves towards the ground; nor touch the
ribs when we lie upon our sides : thirdly, to give a safe pas-
sage to the vessels which run through it, as also to sustain the

T/jc /Itn/tfin Ifairf

*

•*5.

t,,

The Human Hecvrl

9

And Family Dispensatory ,

midriff, lest it should, by the weight of the bowels, be drawn
too much downwards.

The pericardium, or cystis of the heart, is a membrane en-
compassing the whole heart, whose pyramidal figure it hath-
It is so far distant from the heart as is sufficient to give any way
for the motion of the same, and to contain the waterish hu-
mour. It has two membranes, one exterior from the mediasti-
num, tied before and behind to the pleura, and is fibrous ; and
one interior, from the external tunicles of the vessels of the
heart; for within *he pericardium, the vessels want their com-
mon tunicle, it having been spent upon the pericardium. The
original therefore of the pericardium is at the basis from the
tunicles which compass the vessels of the heart* which proceed
from the pleura It is connected circularly to the mediastinum,
and the neighbouring parts, with many fibres; but especially
to the nervous circle of the diaphragma, to which it cleaves so
exceeding fast that it cannot be separated from it without
rending: whereby the motion of the heart is directed. Within
this pericardium (besides the heart) is contained a serous or
watery humour, transparently clear, and in some like water
wherein flesh has been washed : in taste it is neither sharp,
salt, nor acid In proceeds out of the vessels of the heart, be-
ing a watery part of the blood, as lympha, and other juices,
which go to their proper receptacles. The use of the juice is
to cool and moisten the heart, and to make it slippery, thereby to
facilitate its motion : also, that the heart, by swimming therein,
may be less ponderous, and not strike against ^any part. Those
who have this humour consumed have their hearts dry ; if it be in
too great a quantity, it causes a palpitation of the heart, and
suffocation, and death follows therefrom ; if it be quite consumed,
a consumption of the body happens.

The heart is a muscular body, included in the pericardium,
and situated nearly in the middle of the breast between the
lobes of the lungs, being the primary organ of the circulation
of the blood, and consequently of life, Its figure is nearly co~

124 Culpepper's English Physician.

iW— w— MBWMM—m —>wsw— ttja ■ 1 inmnw— «— mmjMgagwiffrfii-'f j-j. •■in

nic, the larger end being called its base, and the smaller end
its apex. Its lower part is plain, and the upper part convex.
Its situation is nearly transverse or horizontal ; so that iis base
is in the left side of the thorax: and consequently it is there
that the pulsation is felt. The plain surface of the heart lies on
the diaphragm; the convex one is turned upwards. The heart
is connected, 1st. by the intervention of the pericardium with
the mediastinum, and with a large part of the middle of the di-
aphragm : this is contrived by nature, to prevent its being dis-
placed, inverted, or turned too rudely about, in consequence of
the various motions of the body. 2. Its base is connected to
its common vessels: but its apex is free, and is received in a
kind of cavity in the left iobe of the lungs. The length of the
human heart is about six fingers breadth; its breadth at the
base is about five fingers ; and its circumference about thirteen.
It is both externally and internally surrounded with a smooth
membrance. There is a quantity of fat about it, which covers
its base and its apex, and serves, for lubricating it, and for fa-
cilitating its motion. Its blood-vessels are of two kinds, com-
mon and proper; its common or peculiar vessels being the co-
ronary arteries and veins. The common vessels of the heart
are two veins, called the vena cava, and the vena pulmonalis ;
and two arteries, the pulmonary one and aorta. The nerves
of the heart are small, and arise from the par vagum and inter-
costals: the auricies are two. There are also two cavities in
the heart, called its ventricles : of these the right is thinner and
weaker in its circumference, but usually much more capacious,
than the left : it receives the blood from the Vena cava and the
right auricle, and delivers it into the pulmonary artery, to be
carried to the lungs. The left Ventricle is much stronger and
thicker in its sides ; but it is narrower and smaller than the
right; it receives the blood from the pulmonary vein, and the
left auricle, and extrudes it very forcibly into the aorta. The
right ventricle is in the anterior part of the thorax : so that

And Family Dispensatory.

125

they might be called the anterior and posterior ventricles, much
more properly than the right and left. There are in the sides
of both the ventricles of the heart, and of both its auricles, se-
veral column ce car nece, or lacertuli, with furrows between
them, seeming so many small and distinct muscles ; and, from
the concourse of the tendinous fibres of these in the heart, there
are formed peculiar membranes situated at the orifices of the
auricles of the heart : and there are also other columns of this
kind, which run transversely from one side of the ventricles to
the other : these serve partly to assist the contraction of the
heart in its systol, and partly to prevent its too great dilata-
tion in its diastole. The valvulce, of the heart are of three
kinds, 1. The trie asfi dales ; these are three in number, and
are situated at the ingress of the vena cava in the right ventri-
cle* 2. The mitrales ; these are two, and are situated in the
left ventricle at the ingress of the pulmonary vein : these serve
to hinder the ingress of the blood from the heart into the veins
again, while they are constricted. 3. The semilunar ones;
these are three, and are situated at the organ of the aorta and
pulmonary artery, and serve to prevent the reflux of the blood
from them into the heart: these, for the sake of strength, are
furnished with a number of fleshy fibres and spheroidal corpus-
cles. The orifices of the veins of Thebesius and Verbeyen, in
the hollows of the heart, and for carrying back the blood from
the substance of the heart to its cavities, The fibres of the
heart are of a muscular substance, and of a most amazing; fa-
brie. They are of two kinds, 1. straight ones in the left ven-
tricle; and, 2. spiral ones, common to both ventricles, and of
two orders. The exterior ones run to the left, from the base
of the heart : the interior ones run to the right, and intersect
the others; and, when they act, they closely constringe the
cavities of the heart, and drive out the blood from them. Ac-
cording to the fabric, the heart may be resolved into two mus-
cles, each of which constitutes one of its ventricles. The use
of the heart is for the circulation of the blood: it receives the

(26 Culpepper's English Physician

blood from the veins, running from all parts of the body ; and
propels it again by its own motion, to all those parts, through
the arteries. On this depends life itself, the preservation of the
frame and the motions and actions of all its parts. But, that
the reader may have as distinct an idea as possible of this pri-
mary organ of life, we shall lay before him several views of it
in the plate annexed; where No. J. represents the human heart
seen in its convex part, and in its natural situation ; B marks
the branches of the coronary vein ; C, the coronary artery ; D,
the right auricle ; E, branches of veins going from the right
auricle ; G, the trunk of the aorta ; H, the trunk or the pulmo-
nary artery; I, the ascending trunk of the vena cava, K, L?
&c. branches of the aorta, rising upwards; M, one of the
branches of the pulmonary artery ; N, N, &c. branches of the
pulmonary vein No. 2. represents the heart opened, to shew
the structure and form of its ventricles; where A expresses the
mascular septum, or partition, which divides the ventricles ; By
the right ventricle opening into the right auricle, and into the
trunk of the pulmonary artery; C. the left ventricle, opening
into the left auricle, and into the great trunk of the aorta. No.
3, and No. 4, represent the heart in different positions ; where
A marks the ascending trunk of the vena cava ; B, the trunk
of the aorta; C, branches of the pulmonary vein ; D, the descend-
ing trunk of the vena cava ; and E, part of the right auricle, cut
away, to shew the different arrangement of the internal fibres and?
venous ducts.

The lungs, or lights, are the instruments of breathing, and
are the largest viscus of the thorax : they are situated in the
two sides of it, with the heart, as it were, between them : and
are connected, by means of the mediastinum, with the sternum
and vertebrae ; with the heart, by means of the pulmonary ves-
sels, and immediatley with the aspera arteria. The colour of
the lungs, in infants, is a fine florid red; in adults, it is dark-
er; and in old people, livid, or variegated with black and
white. When inflated, they have some resemblance to the

And Family Dispensatory ,

127

hoof of an ox ; and are convex on the upper side, and concave
underneath. They are divided into two large lobes, the right
and left ; the left, which is the smaller, is divided again into
two ; and the right, which is larger into three small ones.
The membrane with which the lungs are surrounded is continu-
ous with the pleura. The substance of the lungs is spongious,
or vesiculous, and they seem, indeed, entirely composed of a
number of small vesicles of a fleshy texture, and of a variety of
vessels. The vessels of the lungs are the bronchia, the bronchial
artery and vein, the nerves, and the lymphatics. The uses of
the lungs are, 1. To perform the office of respiration, by which
the blood is attenuated in the plexus of the arteries called the
rete vasculosum. 2. To be assistant to the voice in speaking,
and to the sense of smelling. They are also emunctories of the
blood, and are of many other important services. The principal
diseases to which the lungs are subject, are the asthma, consump-
tion, peripnuemony, &c.

: : f ( J

OF THE GENERATION AND CIRCULATION OF

THE BLOOD.

THE origin of the blood is in the chyle, which, passing the
lacteals, is delivered into the subclavian ; where, mixing with
the blood, they proceed together to the right ventricle of the
heart ; and there, being yet more intimately mixed, they circu-
late together through the whole body : till, after several circu-
lations, and secretions at the several strainers of the body, they
are assimilated so as to make one uniform compound mass,
which appears to be nothing else but chyle altered by the arti-
fice of nature, and exalted into blood ; there being no appearance
of any thing extraneous mixed with the liquor circulating in the
blood-vessels, but chyle ; excepting what had been before separa-
ted from it for some particular purposes, which being once served,
it is returned to it again : unless, perhaps, it may receive some
portion of air in the lungs.

No. 23. 3 v

128 Culpepper’ s English Physician

m *"*' " "" • ' ■ 1 ■ ■ ■' — - ■■■---■ " ... — I- ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ w * ■ ■ « ■

The blood, while in its vessels, appears to the naked eye
uniform and homogeneous ; but, when let out and cold, it se-
parates spontaneously into two different parts, the one red and
fibrous, which coheres into a mass, and is called the cruor ;
the other thin and transparent, which retains fluidity when
cold, and, being supposed specifically heavier than the other,
sustains and bears it up, and is called the serum. If the red
part of the blood bears too great a proportion to the serum,
which is the case of athletic persons, and others who do not
take a sufficient quantity of drink with their meat, the fault
may be corrected by lessening the meat, or by increasing their
drink. In the beginning of fevers, the proportion of the red
part of the blood to the serum is greater, and at the end of
them less, than it is in health. The change of this proportion
is owing to persons under this disorder living wholly on drink
and liquid nourishment; and bodies loaded with serous mois-
ture, being an argument of too small a proportion of the red
part of the blood to the serum, have been freed from their
load by abstaining wholly from drink. There are other causes
besides the bare quantities of meat and drink, which vary the
proportion of the red part of the blood to the serum ; for this
proportion is greater in country-people than in citizens, in per-
sons, who use exercise than in persons who are inactive, and in
persons who live upon flesh meats and fermented liquors than
in persons who live upon vegetables and water. In short, this
proportion is increased by things which dry the body and
strengthen the fibres, and lessened by things of a contrary na-
ture. Too great a proportion of the red part of the blood to
the serum renders bodies subject to inflammatory fevers on ta-
king cold. The blood is found to consist chiefly of phlegm, as
the basis or vehicle ; for from the best experiments it appears,
that in seven ounces of human blood there are five ounces two
drachms of phlegm, three drachms of a subtile spirituous oil, a
small quantity of a thicker oil, two drachms of salt, and about
two of earth. From these constituent parts of the blood, vail

And Family Dispensatory,

l'>9

*ousljy combined and distributed by the circulatory motion im-
pressed by the heart, and by the oscillatory expansive motion
of the interspersed air, and the re-action of the contractile ves-
sels, flow all the properties and operations of the blood. From
this mixture of elements, and their lax composition, it becomes
susceptible of various alterations and impressions; the princi-
pal whereof are coagulation, which usually attends it out of the
body, sometimes in it, and scarcely ever without an artificial
procurement, but always mortal ; and dissolution, which is just
opposite to the former, and consists in such a communition of
the fibrous parts of the blood as indisposes it for the separation of
the cruor from the serum. This is frequently the consequence
of malignant and pestilential fevers, &c. and is likewise occasion-
ed by some kinds of poisons.

The circulation of the vital blood is performed through the
arteries : and its course is from the heart towards the extremes
of the body: and this from every part of the body, internal
and external ; still out of a wider part into a narrower, out of
the trunk into the brandies. And it is on this principal alone,
that all the blood may be derived into an artery, and evacua-
ted at it. For it is evident that all the arteries of the body are
eontinually bringing the blood from the left part of the heart,
through the trunks of the arteries, into the branches; and On
the contrary that all the veins, excepting the porta, are perpe-
tually bringing back the blood from the extreme parts into the
heart. The blood being arrived here, its motion or circulation,
is continued as follows. The auricles of the heart, being large
hollow muscles, are furnished with a double series of strong
fibres proceeding with a contrary direction to two opposite ten-
dons, the one adhering to the right ventricle, the other to the
sinos venosus : as also with innumerable veins and arteries ; by
the contractile force of these auricles, the blood is vigorously
expressed, and driven into the right ventricle; which, upon
this contraction, is rendered flaccid, empty, and disposed to
admit it. If now the right ventricle, thus full of blood, by

K>0 Culpepper s English Physician

the contraction of its fibres presses the blood towards the
aperture again, venous blood, at the same time pouring in,
will drive it back again into the cavity and mix it more inti-
mately; till rising up against the parietes, it raises the val-
vulas tiicuspides, which are so connected to the fleshly co-
lumns extended on the opposite side, as that when laid quite
down they cannot close the parietes of the right ventricle :
these it thrusts towards the right auricle, till being there
joined they stop the passage very closely, and prevent any
return. By the same means the same blood rises up into the
three semilunar valves, placed in the extremity of the ;ther
mouth, and lying open to the pulmonary artery : these it
shuts close against the sides of the artery : and leaves a pas-
sage into the artery alone. The venous blood, therefore,
that is, the blood of the whole body, continually moves out
of the i sinus, or trunk of the vena cava, through the right
auricle and right ventricle, into the pulmonary artery, in a
continued and forcible stream. The blood carried by this
aiteiy into .the lungs, and distributed by its branches through
the whole substance thereof, is first admitted into the extremi-
ties of the pulmonary vein, called arteria venosa; whence, pas-
sing into four large vessels, which unite together, it is brought
to the left sinus venosus, or trunk of the pulmonary vein ; by
fhe force of whose musculous structure it is driven into the left
ventricle, which on this occasion is relaxed, and by that means
prepared to receive it. Hence, as before, it is driven into the
left ventiicle, which is relaxed by the same means ; and the
valvule <mit rales, opening, admit it into the left ventricle, and
hinder its reflux into the pulmonary vein. From hence it is
forced into the aorta ; at whose orifice there are three semilu-
nar valves, which also prevent a reflux by closing the same.
And thus is circulation effected : and all the blood sent into the
lungs, and received in the arteria venosa, sinus venosus, left
auricle and ventricle, being here continually propelled into the
aorta, whose ramifications are spread throughout all the rest of

And Family Dispensatory.

181

I iTim lill hi mmm

the body, with a violent motion. T iius is all the blood, in its
return from every part of the body, internal and external, and
from every part of the heart and its auricles, impelled into the
right ventricle : out of that into the lungs; thence into the left
ventricle, and thence through the whole extent of the body ; and
thence again brought back to the heart.

In a foetus, the apparatus for the circulation is somewhat dif-
ferent from that above described, The septum, which separates
the two auricles of the heart, is pierced through with an aper-
ture, called the foramen ovale ; and the trunk of the pulmonary
artery, a little after it has left the heart, sends out a tube in the
descending aorta, called the communicating canal. The blood
in the lungs of the foetus has none of the advantages of air or re-
spiration; which yet being necessary, nature, it is supposed,
takes care that it receives a portion of air, mixed together with
its mother’s blood, and transmitted to it by the umbilical vessels,
to be diffused through the body. This is confirmed hence ;
that, by eonstringing the navel-string very tight the child dies
like a man strangled ; which appears to be owing to nothing
but the want of air. And to this, that, as soon as the mother
ceases to respire, the foetus expires.

As to the velocity of the circulating blood, and the time
wherein the circulation is completed, several computations have
been made. By Dr. KeiiFs account, the blood is driven out of
the heart into the aorta , with a velocity which would carry
it fifty-two feet in a minute ; but this velocity is continually
abated in the progress of the blood through the numerous sec-
tions, or branches, of the arteries; so that, before it arrives at
the extremities of the body, its motion is infinitely diminish-
ed. The space of time wherein the whole mass of blood may
ordinarily circulate, is variously determined. Some of the la-
test writers state it thus : supposing the heart to make two
hundred pulses in an hour, and that at every pulse there is ex-
pelled an ounce of blood ; as the whole mass is not ordinarily
computed to exceed twenty-four pounds, it must be circu-

132

Culpepper's English Physician

tated seven or eight times over in the space of an hour. The im-
ydus, occasioning the circulation, is great enough in some
^animals to raise the blood six, seven, or eight, feet high from the
orifice it spins out at; which, however, is far exceeded by that of
the sap of a vine in bleeding- time, which will sometimes rise up-
wards of forty feet high. The heat and motion of the blood are
always greater, from a greater activity in the soul, in the day
than in the. night : and they are likewise ever greater from the food
taken in the day-time : for the pulse is always quicker after eat-
ing than before it ; after a full meal than after a spare one ; and
after a meal of drier and stronger food, than after a meal of
food that is moister and weaker.

OF THE PULSES.

M. HE pulse is that reciprocal motion of the heart and arte-
ries, whereby the warm blood, thrown out of the left ventricle
of the heart is so impelled into the arteries, and so distributed
throughout the whole body, as to be perceived by the finger.
It is certain, that life, health, and the due order of the whole
body, depend upon the proper and equable circulation of the
blood and humours through the solid parts; so that, the bet-
ter regulated and the more equable the circulation is, the more
perfectly nature preserves herself, and cures the diseases inci-
dent to her; and, on the contrary, the more this circulation
recedes from a due and equable state, the weaker nature is
found to be, and the more subject to misfortunes and diseases.
Now every one must own, that the circulation of the blood
cannot be better investigated than by feeling the pulse, not in
a superficial manner, but for a sufficient time, for the pulse
not only discovers the imperfection and strength of the whole
body, but also the nature of the blood and the state of the va-
rious secretions. And, as a pendulum of a clock, by its equa-
ble and regular vibrations, manifests the worth of the clock, so

And Family ] Dispensatory.

im

the pulse discovers the habit of the patient, and the vigour or
deprivation of all the functions.

A moderate, constant, and equal pulse, is the rule and.
measure by which we are to judge of the rest. A moderate
pulse, is that which is large, but neither quick nor slow, hard
nor unequal : this is the pulse with which all others ought to
be compared, and which denotes the best state of health, the
absence of all preternatural and foreign things, and a due and
temperate degree of heat : for, when such a pulse is present,
the fluids are duly spirituous, the fibres possessed of their natu-
ral e tone, the blood temperate and fluid, and consequently the
transpiration free, the nutrition good, the animal functions vi-
gorous, the secretions duly carried on, and the patient in a
state of good health. But when the pulse is quicker, and
consequently more frequent than usual, it indicates, a preter-
natural irritation of the heart, as the ancients express it, unless
it proceeds from external causes. But, if such a pulse conti-
nues long, it infallibly denotes a disorder accompanied with an
increase, and even a fever. It is generally produced by an in-
testine motion of the blood, and a change induced on the crasis
of the spirits, by an admixture of heterogeneous and often
caustic particles. When the pulse is vehement, and at the same
time quick, it indicates a feverish intemperature, an admixture
of something heterogeneous with the blood, lymph, and spirits :
but at the same time a larger quantity of health and spirits. If
a vehement and quick pulse is also large, the circulation of the
blood is brisk, the heat and thirst great and the whole habit
red and turgid . Where the pulse is small, and little blood is
conveyed from the heart to the arteries, and from the veins to
the heart, the circulation of the blood is faint and languid.
Hence the transpiration and secretions are but small, and the
strength little : but, if a small pulse is at the same time weak,
frequent, and thick, it denotes a great languor of the strength,
a preternatural intestine motion, and a weak circulation of the

134

Culpepper s English Physician

blood. ; and, if this species of pulse continues long, it indicates
malignity and great danger.

A slow pulse generally denotes a viscidity, thickness, and
weak circulation, of the blood, together with a languor of the
secretions ; but, if it is at the same time weak, it is dangerous,
and raises a suspicion of a total loss of strength. But a pulse
which is slow and large denotes sufficient remains of strength,
tension, and thickness, of the fibres of the heart and arteries ;
and a viscid and tenacious blood. All unequal pulses are very
bad, since they denote that there is neither a due influx of the
spirits, nor a proper and equal mixture of the blood ; bu*
particularly such pulses alwas prognosticate unlucky events,
when they are weak. Intermittent pulses are also of a bad kind,
or generally accounted the presages of death. But it is not uni-
versally so; for an intermittent pulse frequently happens with-
out danger, where, for instance, the symptons are of a bad
kind, and the patients strength still entire. Hence this spe-
cies of a pulse frequently 'happens in hypochondriac and me-
lancholic patients, where the intestine motion of the blood is
diminished by its thickness. But when the pulse is weak and
quick at the same time, it generally prognosticates death. An
hard pulse generally indicates pains, spasms, and convulsions,
because the fibres of the heart and arteries are spasmodically con-
stricted. The irregular, caprizating, and discontinued, pulses,
denote a very bad state of the body, both with respect to the fluid
and solid parts.

It is carefully to be observed, that one kind of pulse is not
found in all persons ; for the pulse depends on the tone of the
muscular fibres, on the influx of the spirits, and the nature
and temperament of the blood ; and, as all these are suprising-
ly various in human bodies, with respect to age, sex, the sea-
son of the year, the climate, the method of life, the sleep, and
the passions of the mind, so also the pulses differ from each
other according as these circumstances differ. Thus men gene-*
rally have a large and vehement pulse, and women one of a

And Family Dispensatory . 135

il 'll' nil HWMMM— — — — — — B— B— — — — — M—WW I II

more slow and weak kind ; for the former have stronger fibres
and a hotter blood than the latter. For this reason also, the
circulation of the blood is brisker in men than in women ; and:
the former do not generate such loads of redundant blood and
humours as women, who are generally weaker, and more sub-
ject to diseases. Choleric persons, and those of sanguineo-
choleric constitutions, have a larger, quicker, and more vehe=
ment, pulse, than phlegmatic and melancholic persons; for
which reason the fluids move more quickly, the excretions are
made more expeditiously, and the blood is more fluid, in the
former than in the latter; for the blood of the former is impreg-
nated with a larger quantity of oleous and sulphureous parts,
which are the source and matrix of heat and spirituous quanti-
ty. Thus also, those of a slender habit, who have strong
fibres, and large vessels, have a larger and stronger pulse than
those who are fat, have lax fibres, and narrow vessels, Hence
they are also sounder, more robust, and more capable of en-
during fatigue. This is also the reason why those who are na-
turally thick and fat are more readily seized with sickness, and
destroyed by it, than those of slender habits. In infants and
children, the pulse is frequent and soft ; whereas, in old per-
sons, it is slow and large, whilst in young persons, and those
full grown, it is large and vehement ; for generally infants and
children generate a large quantity of humours (which are ne-
cessary to their growth), and collect a great deal of sordes,
which is the reason why infants and children are more general-
ly seized with sickness, and more readily die of it, than youths
and adults. Old persons have thick blood, but rigid fibres :
for which reason their pulse is hard, and makes a forcible im-
pression on the touch; but in infants and children the pulse is
soft, on account of the tenderness and laxity of the fibres, The
pulse is also changed by the season of the year, the exercise of ,
the body, the aliments, and the affections of the mind. In the
middle of the spring, the pulse is large and vehement ; at this
season also the strength is greater; for which reason persons

No. 23. 3 7.

186

Culpepper s English Physician

are at that time most rarely sick, and recover most easily : in
the middle of the summer the pulse is quicker and weaker, be-
cause by the intense heat the strength is impaired, while the in-
testine motion of the fluids is greater than it usually is. In
autumn the pulse is slower, softer, and weaker, than at the mid-
dle of the summer, those which are cold, to the winter, and such
as are temperate to the spring.

Exercise increases the pulse, and consequently the circulation
of the blood, whilst an idle and inactive state renders the
pulse slow, weak, and languid, and diminishes the circulation
of the fluids. Spirituous aliments render the pulse, large, ve-
hement, and frequent. The pulse of such as are asleep is slow,
small, and languid ; but, as soon as they awake, it forthwith be-
comes large, quicker, and stronger ; the pulse of those who are
angry is large, vehement, and quick ; that of such as are frigh-
tened, frequent, small, and inactive; and of those who are sorrow-
ful, small, languid, and slow ; hence the common and ordinary
affections of the body change the pulse, so that, without duly
adverting to these affections, the pulse cannot be certainly un-
derstood, nor can it be determined how far it recedes from a
natural state in consequence of diseases.

The natural pulse is therefore to be felt and to be observed
net immediately after exercise, bathing, immoderate eating,
drinking wine, or other causes which exagitate the heart and
spirits; for we are to determine nothing about the pulse till
the force of external causes has ceased, and all perturbations
of the body are allayed ; for the pulse is the most certain sign
and criterion for judging of the motion of the heart and blood;
but, if the pulse alone is observed, without paying a due regard
to other circumstances, it may lay a foundation for forming a
false judgment ; since the pulse may be disturbed by a thousand
abstract causes.

All authors, both ancient and modern, agree, that a frequent
pulse, in every species of fever, whether continual or intermit-
tent, whether benign or malignant, whether in its beginning

And Family Dispensatory . 137

ammmmm — — — .■ .1— ■■ i. n ■ i ' — — — — mmm

r> r at its height, proves such a fever to be present; hence the
quick or frequent pulse is considered as the true essential sign
of fevers ; but this frequently is either greater or less, and as-
sociates itself with the great or vehement, or with the small and
weak, according to the diversity of fevers, and the times of
the disease. A frequent pulse when weak and small, is scarce-
ly ever good; since it denotes a languid and slow circulation of
the blood; but a frequent, large, and vehement, pulse, such
as is generally observed in the height of continual fevers, de-
notes a brisk circulation of the blood, and an increased heat of
the body. In investigating the cause of a frequent pulse, which
is generally preternatural, and accompanies several disorders^
we shall follow the accurate Bellini, who accounts for the mo-
tion of the heart from the influx of the blood through the coro-
nary arteries, and of the nervous fluid through the nerves, into
the fibres of the heart; whence he concludes, that the muscles
of the heart are most frequently moved when the nervous fluid
is most frequently conveyed into them, which happens when if
is forced into them by a sufficient quantity of blood flowing
forcibly into the brain. Now by a frequent contraction of the
heart a frequent pulse is produced, which indicates that a pro-
per quantity of blood is conveyed to the brain, and that the
brain is forcibly pressed, which will happen, either when the
blood stagnates therein, in consequence of an obstruction of
its veins, or when the blood contained in these veins cannot
flow in other parts, or in the lungs ; or when the blood is
thrown into a state of effervescence, by which it assumes a ten-
dency to move in every direction with a greater impetus, and
by that means presses the brain more powerfully : the muscles of
the heart also move more frequently when irritated by any stimulus.
If, therefore, the blood is too acid or hot, so as to stimulate the
sinuses of the heart, the heart will be more frequently contracted,
and the frequency of the pulse will indicate a stimulating quality
in the blood.

Since from the pulse we thus form a judgement not only of

18$ Culpepper s English Physician

the circulation and temperature of the blood, but also of the
motion of the spirits, and the strength of the patient, so the
knowledge of the pulse, and a due attention to it, become of
singular service, not only in investigating the nature of disor-
ders, and forming a right judgement concerning them, but also
in prescribing medicines for their cure. But they must be care-
fully, not superficially, consulted. The physicians of China
are far more careful in this respect than those of Europe ; for,
the Chinese often spend a whole hour in feeling the pulse,
whilst the English physicians have hardly patience to feel above
two pulsations; a practice highly culpable, since, after ten
strokes of the artery, an inequality or intermission often occurs
which happens when the unequally-mixed blood passes through
the heart. The pulse is also to be felt in both wrists, in the
neck, and in the temples; since it is certain from experience,
that the pulse in the wrists frequently varies, and may be more
commodiously felt in one than another. We ought also to ad-
vert to the pulses of other parts; thus, sometimes hypochon-
driac patients perceive a large pulse under the ribs on the left
side, which happens when a quick and viscid blood, exagitated
fey heat, or any other cause, endeavours to procure a quick
passage through the pancreas and spleen, but, stopping in their
narrow vessels, produces a pulsation, and a kind of prickling
pain.

In continual and malignant fevers a large internal pulsation
in the veins of the head generally denotes a subsequent deliri-
um ; since it is a sign that the blood there congested circulates
slowly, till at last, becoming stagnant, it produces a violent
inflammation of the meninges. If a large pulse arises from an
excessive ebullition of the blood, so that in fevers the veins of
the temples beat, and the face is turgid, without a softness of
the praecordia, there is reason to suspect that the disease will
fee long, and that it will not terminate without a large haemor-
rhage from the nose, an hiccough, convulsions, or sciatic pains.
The reason of this is, that, the redundant blood seeks for an

139

And Family Dispensatory,

outlet either by the nose or the hemorrhoidal vems; and, the
sooner this happens, the sooner the patient is free from his dis-
order.

When a pulsation is observed in any part of the body, where
at other times it is not felt, we may certainly conclude, that
the part is inflamed and disposed to a suppuration, especially
when it is accompanied with tumour and pain. An hard pulse
is almost an infallible sign in the membranous parts; for this
hardness of the pulse, or excessive tension and vibration of the
artery, indicates something of a spasmodic nature, arising from
the consent of the parts, and produced by the inflammtion and
pain. The pulse of persons labouring under disorders of the
breast, or a palpitation of the heart, is frequent, unequal, and
languid ; but such a pulse, unless when vehement, is accompa-
nied with no preternatural heat, and happens because the blood
does not pass through the sinuses of the heart and lobes of the
lungs In weakness, and a disposition of syncopes, fhe pulse
is generally small, rare and languid ; but, if the pulse is abso-
lutely imperceptible, the body covered with a cold sweat, and
the functions of the mind are not totally destroyed, I have ob-
served, that the patient infallibly dies in six hours; and such
a situation I have seen produced by corrosive poison. It is to
be observed, that about the critical times in fevers, when nature
endeavours to throw off the supefluous and peccant matter by
stool or sweat, the pulse, though languid, is yet more regular and
less frequent, which is a certain sign of recovery. But, if the
pulse is soft and undulating, it is a sign that a salutary and critical
sweat is just coming on.

It is also to be observed, that the pulse is changed by medi-
cines. Thus, after drastic purgatives, which procure too many
stools, the pulse is generally preternaturally quick. After ve-
nesection, especially in plethoric habits, the pulse becomes
quicker, a sign that the circulation of the blood, in consequence
of its having a larger space, is happily increased, since by this
means a suppression of. the menses or hemorrhoids is generally

140 Culpepper s English Physician

■ ■, ... WK B— B— — H—B—

removed. It is certain, not only from the authority of Sydenham
but also from experience, that, after the use of chalybeats, the
pulse is quicker, the face redder, and the heat greater, Strong
sudoiifi.es, composed of volatile oleous substances, greatly in-
crease the pulsation of the heart and arteries; on the contrary,
anodynes, opiates, preparations of nitre, precipitating powders,
acids, and such tilings as diminish the intestine motion of the
blood and fix its sulphur, render the pulse calm and moderate in
pains, inflammations, and febrile intemperature. Some very
useful and important rules for the exhibition of medicines are drawn
from the state of the pulse : thus purging and vomiting are contra-
indicated by a too quick and vehement pulse; for, when the blood
is in a violent motion and ebullition, the secretions are generally
¥ery languid. If the strength is defective, which may be known
by the languid state of the pulse, emetics and purgatives diminish
the strength still more : so that the physician ought to consult the
pulse before he exhibits them. For when the pulse is strong, and
the motion of the blood regular, these artificial evacuations are
most beneficial, and succeed best. The came caution is necessary
m the exhibition of sudorifics and all analeptics, which convey
heat and motion to the blood ; for, if the pulse is strong, and fre-
quent, such spirituous substances do more injury than good; thej-
rarify the blood too much, and accelerate its intestine motion; by
which means a delirium and other inflammations are frequently
brought on. Great circumspection and attention to the pulse are
also requisite in tne exhibition of narcotics or opiates; for, as these
are possessed of a power of stopping the motion of the blood and
spirits, and consequently of impairing strength, so they ought
never to be exhibited when the pulse is weak, languid, and small,
but are to be avoided like poison.

And Family Dispensatory. 1.41

OF DISEASES IN GENERAL, THEIR PREVEN-
TION, AND CURE.

DlSEASE, introduced the art of Medicine, which, in a pri-
mitive sense, communicates ths means of preserving health when
present, and of restoring it when lost. If we look back into the
origin of the medical art, we shall find its first foundation to be

owing to accidental events, and natural instinct. In the early

■

ages, the sick were placed in cross ways, and other public pla-
ces, to receive the advice of such passengers as knew a remedy
suitable to their complaints; and, the better to preserve the
memory of every remarkable cure, both the disease and the re-
medy were engraved on pillars, that patients in the like cases
might resort to them for instruction and relief. Hence an insight
into the virtue of herbs and plants, of metals and minerals, was
originally acquired.

As to the part which reason had acted in the improvement of
medicine, it seems to have consited in observing : 1. That dis-
eases attended with particular circumstances, called symptoms,
were sometimes cured without the assistance of art, by spon-
taneous evacuations, as haemorrhages, diarrhoeas, vomitings,
or sweats ; whence bleeding, purges, and vomits, took their
rise. 2. That the patients were often relived by the breaking
out of various tumours; whence arose the applications of topi-
cal remedies. And indeed, it is the best method of improving
physic, to observe carefully what means nature, unassisted by
art, employs to free the constitution from distempers; since
many important hints may be thence taken, for the relief of
other patients under the like circumstances. He, who would
advance the healing art, ought to collect a select treasure of
practical observations, vest satisfied with a few but well chosen
medicines, be thoroughly acquainted with their virtues and
efficacy in different constitutions and diseases, despise the cum-
bersome load of recipes with which practical writers of an infe-

142 Culpepper's English Physician

rior rank abound, reject the so much extolled medicinces of the

chemists, and attempt the relief of patients by a proper diet
and exercise, and such medicines as observation and sound phi-
losophy recommend , for to the improvement of anatomy and
natural philosophy is much of the success of physic to be attri-
buted. The knowledge of medicines, or suitable remedies, is
also highly necessary in those, who, in order to moderate the
impetus in acute disorders, make evacuations, blunt acrimony,
dilute too thick fluids, condense those that are too thin, brace
up too lax parts, and relax such as are too much constricted »
they also drive the humours to parts where they will be least
prejudicial, upon occasion mitigate pain, and in languors use
stimulating medicines. Wine, vinegar, barley, nitre, honey,
rhubarb, opium, and other simples, are found both safe and
powerful medicines. Sydenham tell us, that all manner of
diseases may be cured by bleeding, purging, with a subsequent
opiate, and proper regimen. In chronical diseases mineral wa-
ters, salts, diaphoretics, soap, mercury, steel, with a few vege-
tables, and proper exercise will generally effect the cure. In
a word, what is there in the most elaborate preparation, that is
woith half the pains taken about it? Mercury, opium, the Pe-
ruvian bark, and other simples, with fire and water, are acknow-
ledged as the surest remedies by the ablest master of the art ;
and these are found to be more efficacious in that crude state,
in which bountiful nature has imparted them to us, than after
the most operose and artificial preparations, We can despair of

nothing, while we follow simplicity; but the event of intricate
labour is fallacious.

Diseases, in this and other couutries, often flow from local
circumstances; whence they admit of great mitigation, and
sometimes of being entirely prevented, particularly if proper
and timely means be taken for that purpose. Diseased parents,
unwholesome food, confined air, and uncommonly wet, cold,
damp, or hot seasons, are the forerunners of various disor-
ders, and, as these are generally foreseen and known, it

143

And Family Dispensatory.

should be the duty of every individual to guard against them.

Men are also exposed to particular diseases from the occupa-
tions which they follow. Chemists, founders, glass-makers,,
and several other artists, are hurt by the unwholesome air
which they are obliged to breathe. This air is not only loaded
with the noxious exhalations arising from metals and minerals,
but is so charged with phlogiston as to be rendered unfit for
expanding the lungs sufficiently, and answering the other im-
portant purposes of respiration. Hence proceed asthmas,
coughs, and consumptions of the lungs, so incident to persons
who follow these employments. Such artists ought never to
continue too long at work; and when they give over they
should suffer themselves to cool gradually. They ought never
to drink large quantities of cold, weak, or watery liquors,,
while the body is hot, nor to indulge in any thing that is cold
on the stomach.

Miners, and all who work under ground, are likewise hurt
by unwholesome air. The air, by its stagnation in deep mines,
not only loses its proper spring and other qualities necessary
for respiration, but is often loaded with such noxious exhala-
tions as to become a most deadly poison. Miners are not only
hurt by unw holesome air, but likewise by the particles of me-
tal which adhere to their skin, clothes, &c. These are absorb-
ed, or taken up into the body, and occasion palsies, vertigoes,
and other nervous affections, which often prove fatal. Fallo-
pius observes, that those who work in mines of mercury seldom
live above three or four years. Lead, and several other me-
tals, are likewise very pernicious to the health.

AH who work in mines or metals ought to wash carefully,
and to change their clothes as soon as they give over working.
Nothing would tend more to preserve the health of such peo-
ple than a strict and almost religious regard to cleanliness.
Plumbers, painters, gilders, smelters, makers of white lead,
and many others who work in metals, are liable to the same
diseases as miners, and ought to observe the same directions

No. 24 4 a

144

Culpeppers English Physician,

for avoiding them. Tallow-chandlers, boilers of oil, and all
who work in putrid animal substances, are likewise liable to
suffer from the unwholesome smells or effluvia of these bodies.
They ought to pay the same regard to cleanliness as miners:
and when they are troubled with nausea, sickness, or indiges-
tion, they should take a gentle purge.

Those who follow laborious employments are in general the
most healthy of mankind ; yet the nature of their occupations,
and the places where they are carried on, expose them to some
particular diseases. Husbandmen, for example, are exposed
to all the vicissitudes of the weather, which, in this country,
are often very great and sudden, and occasion colds, coughs,
quinsies, rheumatisms, fevers, and other acute disorders. They
are likewise forced to work hard, and often carry burdens
above their strength, which, by overstraining the vessels, occa-
sions asthmas, ruptures, &c.

Such as bear heavy burdens, as porters, labourers, &c. are
obliged to draw the air with much greater force, and also to
keep their lungs distended with more violence, than is necessa-
ry for common respiration: by this means the tender vessels of
the lungs are overstretched, and often burst, insomuch that a
spitting of blood or fever ensues. Hippocrates mentions an in-
stance to this purpose, of a man, who, upon a wager, carried
an ass; but was soon after seized with a fever, a vomiting of
blood, and a rupture. Carrying heavy burdens is generally
the effect of mere laziness, which prompts people to do at once
what should be done at twice. Sometimes it proceeds from va-
nity or emulation. Hence it is, that the strongest men are most
commonly hurt by heavy burdens, hard labour, or feats of ac-
tivity. It is rare to find one who boasts of his strength with-
out a rupture, a spitting of blood, or some disease, which he
reaps as the fruit of his folly. When the muscles are violent-
ly strained, frequent rest is necessary, in order that they may
recover their tone ; without this, the strength and constitution

145

And Family Dispensatory .

IB— ——I IIWIIIIMMMM— IHIII1II I — ■ I MW ■ II IM.mB»2MMgtaggMHB3a

will soon be worn out, and a premature old age brought on.

Labourers in the hot season are apt to lie down and sleep in
the sun. This practice is so dangerous, that they often wake
in a burning fever. Those ardent fevers, which prove so fatal
about the end of summer and beginning of autumn, are fre-
quently occasioned by this means. Fevers of a very bad kind
are often occasioned among labourers by poor living. When
the body is not sufficiently nourished, the humours become vi-
tiated, and the solids weak ; from whence the most fatal con-
sequences ensue. Poor living is likewise productive of many
of those cutaneous diseases so frequent among the lower class
of people. It is remarkable that cattle, when pinched in their
food, are generally affected with diseases of the skin, which
seldom fail to disappear when they are put upon a good pas-
ture. This shews how much a good state of the humours de-
pends upon a sufficient quantity of proper nourishment. Po-
verty not only occasions, but aggravates, many of the diseases
of the laborious, and makes them miserable indeed. Here the
godlike virtue of charity ought always to exert itself. To re-
lieve the industrious poor in distress, is surely the most exalt-
ed act of religion and humanity. They alone who are wit-
nesses of those scenes of calamity, can form a notion of what
nombers perish in diseases, for want of proper assistance, and
even for want of the necessaries of life.

Soldiers suffer many hardships from the inclemency of sea-
sons, long marches, bad provisions, hunger, watching, un-
wholesome climates, bad water, &e. These occasion fevers,
fluxes, rheumatisms, and other fatal diseases, which generally
do greater execution than the sword, especially when campaigns
are continued too late in the year. A few weeks of cold rainy
weather will often prove more fatal than an engagement. Sai-
lors may also be numbered amongst the laborious. They un-
dergo great hardships from change of climate, the violence of
the weather, hard labour, &c. One great source of the dis-

V

140 Culpepper s English Physician ,

eases of seafaring people is excess. When they get on shore,
after having been long at sea, without regard to the climate,
or their own constitutions, they plunge headlong into all man-
ner of riot, and even persist till a fever puts an end to their
lives. Thus intemperance, and not the climate, is often the
cause why so many of our brave sailors die on foreign coasts.
Such people ought not to live too low; but they would find
moderation the best defence against fevers, and many other ma-
ladies. We have reason to believe, if due attention were paid
to the diet, air, clothing, and above all things to the cleanli-
ness, of sea-faring people, they would be the most healthy set
of men in the world; but, when these are neglected, the very
reverse will happen.

Nothing can be more contrary to the health and nature of
man than a sedentary life, yet this class comprehends the far
greater part of the species. Almost the whole female world,
and in manufacturing countries the major part of the males,
may be reckoned sedentary. But, though sedentary employ-
ments are necessary, yet there seems to be no reason why any
person should be confined for life to these alone. It is con-
stant confinement that ruins the health. A man will not be
hurt by sitting five or six hours a-day ; but, if he be obliged to
sit ten or twelve, in confined air, he will soon become injured
in his health. Unwholesome air is the cause of many disorders.
Few are aware of the danger arising from it. People generally
pay some attention to what they eat and drink, but seldom re-
gard what goes into the lungs, though the latter often proves
more suddenly fatal than the former. A sedentary life seldom
fails to occasion an universal relaxation of the solids. This is
the great source from whence most of the diseases of sedentary
people flow. The scropbula, consumption, hysterics, and
nervous diseases, now so common, were very little known in
this country before sedentary artificers became so numerous:
and they are very little known still among such of our people
as follow active employments without doors, though in great

And Family Dispensatory , 147

towns at least two-thirds of the inhabitants are afflicted with
them. Instead of multiplying rules for preserving the health of
the sedentary, we shall recommend to them the following plan,
viz. That every person who follows a sedentary employment
should cultivate a piece of ground with his own hand. This he
might dig, plant, sow, and weed, at leisure hours, so as to
make it an exercise and amusement, while it produced many of
the necessaries of life. After working an hour in a garden, a
man will return with more keenness to his employment within
doors, than if he had been all the while idle. Labouring the
ground is every way conducive to health. It not only gives ex-
ercise to every part of the body, but the very smell of the earth
and fresh herbs revives and cheers the spirits, whilst the perpet-
ual prospect of something coming to maturity delights and en-
tertains the mind. We are so formed as to be always pleased
with somewhat in prospect, however distant or however trivial.
Hence the happiness that men feel in planting, sowing, build-
ing, &c. These seem to have been the chief employments of
the more early ages: and, when kings and conquerors cultivat-
ed the ground, there is reason to believe, that they knew as
well wherein true happiness consisted as we do. In a word,
exercise without doors, in one shape or another, is absolutely

necessary to health. Those who neglect it, though they may

* / ■

drag out life, can hardly be said to enjoy it. Weak and effem-
inate, they languish for a few years, and soon drop into an un-
timely grave.

Every disease may be considered as an assemblage of symp-
toms, and must be distinguished by those that are most obvious
and permanent; for, by a due attention to them, the investiga-
tion of diseases in general will be found a much less difficult
matter than people are ready to imagine. A proper attention to
the patient’s age, sex, temper of mind, constitution, and mannejr
of life, will likewise greatly assist, both in the investigation and
treatment of diseases. In childhood the fibres are lax and soft,
the nerves extremely irritable, and the fluids thin; whereas in

148

Culpepper’s English Physician ,

old age the fibres are rigid, the nerves become almost insensi- 1
ble, and many of the vessels imperviable. These and other pe-
culiarities render the diseases of the young and aged very dif-
ferent, and of course they must require a different method of
treatment. Females are liable to many diseases which do not
afflict the other sex: besides, the nervous system being more
irritable in them tban in men, their diseases require to be treat-
ed with greater caution. They are less able to bear large eva-
cuations ; and all stimulating medicines ought to be administer-
ed to them with a sparing hand. The temper of mind ought to
be carefully attended to in all diseases. Fear, anxiety, and a
fretful temper, both occasion and aggravate diseases. In vain
do we apply medicines to the body to remove maladies which
proceed from the mind. When that is affected, the best medi-
cine is to sooth the passions, to divert the mind from anxious
thought, and to keep the patient as easy and cheerful as possi-
ble. Few things are of greater importance, in the cure of dis-
eases, than cleanliness. When a patient is suffered to lie in
dirty clothes, whatever perspires from his body is again resorb-
ed, or taken up into it, which serves to nourish the disease,
and increase the danger. Many diseases may be cured by clean-
liness alone; most of them may be mitigated by it, and in all
of them it is highly necessary both for the patient and those

who attend him.

*

OF FEVERS. ?

JF EVERS are not only the most frequent of all diseases,
but they are likewise the most complex: in the most simple
species of fever there is always a combination of several differ-
ent symptoms. The distinguishing symptoms of fever are, in-
creased heat, frequency of pulse, loss of appetite, general
debility, pain in the head, and a difficulty in performing some
of the vital and animal functions. The other symptoms usually
attendant on fevers are, nausea, thirst, anxiety, delirium, wea-

And Family Dispensatory,

149

riness, wasting of the flesh, want of sleep, or the sleep disturb-
ed and not refreshing. As a fever is only an effort of Nature
to free herself from an offending cause, it is the business of
those who have the care of the sick, to observe with diligence
which way Nature points, and to endeavour to assist her oper-
ations. Our bodies are so framed, as to have a contant ten-
dency to expel or throw off whatever is injurious to health.
This is generally done by urine, sweat, stool, expectoration,
vomit, or some other evacuation. There is reason to believe,
if the efforts of nature, at the beginning of a fever, were duly
attended to and promoted, it would seldom continue long;
but, when her attempts are either neglected or counteracted,
it is no wonder if the disease proves fatal. There are daily in-
stances of persons, who, after catching cold, have all the symp-
toms of a beginning fever; but, by keeping warm, drinking
diluting liquors, bathing the feet in warm water, &c. the
symptoms in a few hours disappear, and the danger is prevent-
ed. When fevers of a putrid kind threaten, the best method
of obviating their effects is by repeated vomits. Almost every
person in a fever complains of great thirst, and calls out for
drink, especially of a cooling nature. This at once points out
the use of water and other cooling liquors. What is so likely
to abate the heat, attenuate the humours, remove spasms and
obstructions, promote perspiration, increase the quantity of
urine, and, in short, produce every salutary effect in an ardent
or inflammatory fever, as drinking plentifully of water, thin
gruel, or any other weak liquor of which water is the basis?
The necessity of diluted liquors is pointed out by the dry
tongue, the parched skin, and the burning heat, as well as by
the unquenchable thirst, of the patient. Many cooling liquors
which are extremely grateful to patients in a fever, may be pre-
pared from fruits, as decoctions of tamarinds, apple- tea, orange -
whey, and the like. Mucilaginous liquors might also be pre-
pared from marshmallow-roots, linseed, lime-tree buds, and
other mild vegetables particularly pointed out in the Herbal.

150

Culpepper's English Physician ,

These liquors, especially when acidulated, are highly agreea-
ble to the patient, and should never be denied him. In fevers,
the mind as well as the body should be kept easy. Company
is seldom agreeable to one that is sick. Indeed every thing
that disturbs the imagination increases the disease; for which
reason every person in a fever ought to be kept perfectly quiet,
and neither allowed to see or hear any thing that may in the
least affect or discompose his mind. What food the patient
takes should be in small quantity, light, and of easy digestion.
It ought to be chiefly of the vegetable kind, as panada, roasted
apples, gruels, and such like. The fresh air should likewise
be taken as much as possible; it not only removes his anxiety,
but cools the blood, revives the spirits, and proves every way
beneficial. Among common people, the very name of a fever
generally suggests the necessity of bleeding. This notion seems
"to have taken its rise from most fevers in this country having
been formerly of an inflammatory nature; but true inflamma-
tory fevers are now seldom to be met with. Sedentary occupa-
tions, and a different manner of living, have so changed the
state of diseases in Britain, that there is now hardly one fever
in ten where the lancet is necessary. In most low, nervous,
and putrid, fevers, which are now so common, bleeding is real-
ly hurtful, as it weakens the patient, sinks his spirits, &c. We
would recommend this general rule, never to bleed at the be-
ginning of a fever, unless there be evident signs of inflamma-
tion. Bleeding is an excellent medicine when necessary, but
should never be wantonly performed. It is likewise a common
notion, that sweating is always necessary in the beginning of a
fever. When the fever proceeds from an obstructed perspira-
tion, this notion is not ill-founded. If the patient only lies in
bed, bathes his feet and legs in warm water, and drinks freely
of water-gruel, or any other weak diluting liquor, he will sel-
dom fail to perspire freely. The warmth of the bed, and the
diluting drink, will relax the universal spasm, which generally
affects the skin at the beginning of a fever; it will open the

And Family Dispensatory .

151

pores, and promote the perspiration, by means of which the
fever may often be carried oft*. But, instead of this, the com-
mon practice is to heap clothes upon the patient, and to give
him things of a hot nature, as spirits, spiceries, &c. which
fire his blood, increase the spasms, and render the disease more
dangerous. In all fevers a proper attention should be paid to
a patient’s longings. These are the calls of Nature, and often
point out what may be of real use. Patients are not indeed to
be indulged in every thing that the sickly appetite may crave;
but it is generally right to let them have a little of what they
eagerly desire, though it may not seem altogether proper* What
the patient longs for, his stomach will generally digest; and
such things have sometimes a very happy effect.

OF INTERMITTENT FEVERS, OR AGUES.

The several kinds of intermittent fevers, or agues, take
their names from the period in which the fit returns, as quoti-
dian, tertian, quartan, &c. They are generally occasioned by
effluvia from putrid stagnated water. This is evident from their
abounding in rainy seasons, and being most frequent in coun-
tries where the soil is marshy, as in Holland, the Fens of Cam-
bridgshire and Huntingdonshire, the Hundreds of Essex, &c.
This disease may also be occasioned by eating too much stone-
fruit, by a poor watery diet, damp houses, evening dews, ly-
ing upon the damp ground, watching, fatigue, depressing pas-
sions, and the like. When the inhabitants of a high country
retire to a low one, they are apt to prove fatal. In a word,
whatever relaxes the solids, diminishes the perspiration, or ob-
structs the circulation in the capillary or small vessels, disposes
the body to agues.

CURE. — As the chief intentions of cure in an ague are to
brace the solids, and promote perspiration, the patient ought
to take as much exercise between the fits as he can bear. If
he be able to go abroad, riding on horseback, or in a carriage,

No. 24. 4b-'*

152 Culpepper s English Physician ,

—W—n— BWWOW— — C— ■—— Kn

will be of great service. But, if he cannot bear that kind of
exercise, he ought to take such as his strength will permit.
Nothing tends more to prolong an intermitting fever, than in-
dulging a lazy indolent disposition. In this disease, the sto-
mach is generally loaded with cold viscid phlegm, and frequent-
ly great quantities of bile are discharged by vomit; which
plainly points out the necessity of such evacuations. Vomits
are therefore to be administered before the patient takes any
other medicine. But, if the patient be afraid to take a vomit,
he ought to cleanse the bowels by a dose or two of Glauber's
salt, jalap, or rhubarb : after this, two ounces of the best Pe-
ruvian bark, finely powdered, may be divided into twenty-
four doses. These may either be -made into bolusses, as they
are used, with a little syrup of lemon, or mixed in a glass of
red wine, a cup of camomile-tea, water-gruel, or any other
drink that is more agreeable to the patient. In an ag.ue which
returns every day, one of the above doses may be taken every *
two hours during the interval of the fits. In a tertian, or third-
day ague, it will be sufficient to take a dose every third hour
during the interval ; and in a quartan, every fourth. If the pa-
tient cannot take so large a dose of the bark, he may divide
each of the pow ders into two parts, and take one every hour,
&c. For a young person, a smaller quantity of this medicine
will be sufficient, and the dose must be. adapted to the age, con-
stitution, and violence of the symptoms. The above quantity
of bark will frequently cure an ague; the patient, however,
ought not to leave off taking the medicine as soon as the parox-
ysms are stopped, but should continue to use it till there is rea-
son to believe the disease is entirely overcome. Most of the
failures in the cure of this disease are owing to patients not
continuing to use the medicine long enough. They are gener-
ally directed to take it till the fits are stopped, then to leave
it off, and begin again at some distance of time; by which
means the disease gathers strength, and often returns with as
much violence as before. A relapse may always be prevented

And Family Dispensatory . 153

and the cure greatly facilitated, by using the following infusion
for some considerable time as a drink: Take an ounce of gen-
tian-root ; of calamus aromaticus, and orange-peel, each half an
ounce, with three or four handfuls of camomile flowers, and a
handful of coriander seed, all bruised toget her in a mortar ; put
half a handful of these ingredients into a tea-pot, and pour
thereon a pint of boiling water. A large tea-cup full of this in-
fusion should be drunk three or four times a day ; by which
means a smaller quantity of bark than is generally used will be
sufficient to cure an ague. There is no doubt but many of our
own plants or barks, which are very bitter and astringent,
would succeed in the cure of intermittent fevers, especially when
assisted by aromatics ; and it is only by the use of sundry of
those herbs recommended in the Herbal as antidotes against
agues, that many old women in country places so effectually
cure the ague, after it has baffled every exertion of the doctor.
In obstinate agues, when the patient is old, tire habit phlegma-
tic, the season rainy, the situation damp, or the like, it will
be necessary to add to the above two ounces of the bark, half
an ounce of Virginian snake-root, and a quarter of an ounce of
ginger, or some other warm aromatic ; or, if the symptoms be
of an inflammatory nature, half an ounce of salt of wormwood
or salt of tartar may be added to the above quantity of bark.
As autumnal and winter agues generally prove much more ob-
stinate than those which attack the patient in spring or summer,
it will be necessary to continue the use of the foregoing medi-
cines longer in the former than in the latter. If agues are not
properly cured, they often degenerate into obstinate chronical
diseases, as the dropsy, jaundice, &c. For this reason all pos-
sible care should be taken to have them radically cured, before
the humours be vitiated, and the constitution spoiled. To pre-
vent agues, people should endeavour to avoid their causes.
The following preventive medicine may however be of use to
such as are obliged to live in low marshy countries, or who are
liable to frequent attacks of this disease : — Take an ounce of

151

Culpepper s English Physician,

the best Peruvian bark ; Virginian snake-root, and orange-peel,
of each half an ounce : bruise them all together, and infuse
for five or six days in a bottle of brandy, Holland gin, or wine ;
afterwards pour off the clear liquor, and take a wine-glass of it
twice or thrice a-day. Those who can bring themselves to chew
the bark will find that method succeed very well. Gentian-
root, or calamus-aromaticus, may also be chewed by turns for
the same purpose. All bitter herbs are antidotes to agues,
especially that are warm and astringent.

OF AN ACUTE CONTINUAL FEVER.

This fever is denominated acute, ardent, or inflammatory.
It most commonly attacks the young, or persons about the
prime or vigour of life, especially such as live high, abound
with blood, and whose fibres are strong and elastic. It seizes
people at all seasons of the year ; but is most frequent in the
spring and beginning of summer. It may be occasioned by
any thing that overheats the body, or produces plethora ; as
violent exercise, sleeping in the sun, drinking strong liquors,
eating spiceries, a full diet, with little exercise, &c. It may
likewise be occasioned by whatever obstructs the perspiration;
as lying on the damp ground, drinking cold liquor when the
body is hot, night-watching, or the like.

CURE. — As this disease is always attended with danger,
the best medical assistance ought to be procured as soon as
possible; and such medicines should be used as are calculated
to dilute the blood, correct the acrimony of the humours, allay
the excessive heat, remove the spasmodic stricture of the ves-
sels, and promote the secretions. For this purpose let the pa-
tient drink plentifully of diluting liquors; as water-gruel, or
oatmeal-tea, clear whey, barley-water, balm-tea, or apple-tea;
which may be sharpened with juice of orange, jelly of cur-
rants, raspberries, and such like. If the patient be costive, an
ounce of tamarinds, with two ounces of stoned raisins of the

And Family Dispensatory .

155

sun, and a couple of figs may be boiled in three English pints
of water to a quart. This makes a very pleasant drink, and
may be used at discretion. The patient’s diet must be very
spare and light ; and it will afford him great relief, especially
in a hot season, to have fresh air frequently let into his cham-
ber. This, however, must be done in such a manner as not to
endanger his catching cold. It is too common in fevers to
load the patient with bed-clothes, under the pretence of making
him sweat, or defending him from the cold. This custom has
many ill effects. It increases the heat of the body, fatigues the
patient, and retards instead of promoting the perspiration. In
this and all other fevers, attended with a hard, full, quick
pulse, bleeding is of the greatest importance. This operation
ought always to be performed as soon as the symptoms of an
inflammatory fever appear. The quantity of blood to be taken
away must be in proportion to the strength of the patient and
the violence of the disease. If after the first bleeding the fe-
ver should rise, and the pulse become more frequent and hard,
there will be a necessity for repeating it a second, and perhaps
a third, or even a fourth time, which may be done at the dis-
tance of twelve, eighteen, or twenty four hours from each
other, as the symptoms require. If the pulse continues soft,

and the patient is tolerably easy after the first bleeding, it ought

-

not to be repeated. If the heat and fever be very great, forty or
fifty drops of the dulcified or sweet spirit of nitre may be made
into a draught, with an ounce of rose-water, two ounces of
common water, and half an ounce of simple syrup, or a bit of
loaf-sugar. This draught may be given to the patient every
three or four hours, while the fever is violent; afterwards,
once in five or six hours will be sufficient. If about the tenth,
eleventh, or twelfth day, the pulse becomes more soft, the
.ongue moister, and the urine begins to let fall a reddish settle*
ment, there is reason to expect a favourable issue to the dis-
ease. But if, instead of these symptoms, the patient’s spirits
grow languid, the pulse sinks, and his breathing becomes diffi-

156

Culpepper s English Physician ,

cult, with a stupor, trembling of the nerves, startling of the
tendon?, &c. there is reason to fear that the consequences will
be fatal. In this case blisters must be applied to the head, an*
cles, inside of the legs or thighs, as there may be occasion ;
poultices of wheat-bread, mustard, and vinegar, may likewise
be applied to the soles of the feet, and the patient must be sup*
ported with cordials, as strong white- wine whey, negus, sago-
gruel with wine in it, and such like. Should the patient recover,
he ought to take some gentle laxative. An ounce of tamarinds
and a drachm of senna may be boiled for a few minutes in a
pint of water, and an ounce of manna dissolved in the decoc-
tion; afterwards it may be strained, and a tea-cup full drunk
every hour till it operates. This dose may be repeated twice
or thrice, five or six days intervening betwixt each, and the
patient should be kept easy till his strength and spirits are
sufficiently recruited.

OF THE PLEURISY.

The pleurisy is an inflammation of that membrane called
the pleura , which lines the inside of the breast. It may be
occasioned by whatever obstructs the perspiration: as cold
northerly winds; drinking cold liquors when the body is hot;
sleeping without doors on the damp ground ; wet tiothes,
plunging the body into cold water, or exposing it to the cold
air, when covered with sweat, &c. It may likewise be occa-
sioned by drinking strong liquors: by the stoppage of useful
evacuations; as old ulcers, issues, sweating of the feet or
hands, &c. the sudden striking-in of any eruption, as the itch,
the measles, or the small-pox. A pleurisy may likewise be oc-
casioned by violent exercise, as running, wrestling, leaping, or
by supporting great weights, blows on the breast, &c. The
pulse in this disease is commonly quick and hard, the urine
high coloured; and if blood be let it is covered with a tough
crust, or buffy coat. The patient’s spittle is at first thin, after-

And Family Dispensatory .

157

wards it becomes grosser, and is often streaked with blood.

CURE.— Nature generally endeavours to carry off this dis-
ease by a critical discharge of blood from some part of the bo«-
dy, by expectoration, sweat, loose stools, thick urine, or the
like. We ought therefore to second her intentions by lessen-
ing the force of the circulation, relaxing the vessels, diluting
the humours, and promoting expectoration. Copious bleed-
" ing in the beginning of a pleurisy, has a much better effect
than repeated small bleedings. A man may lose twelve or
fourteen ounces of blood as soon as it is certainlv known that
he is seized with a pleurisy. For a younger person, or one of
a delicate constitution, the quantity must be less. If, after
the first bleeding, the stitch, with the other violent symptoms,
should continue, it will be necessary, at the distance of twelve
or eighteen hours, to let eight or nine ounces more. If the
symptoms do not then abate, and the blood shows a strong
buffy coat, a third, or even a fourth bleeding may be requi-
site. But this operation is seldom necessary after the third or
fourth day of the fever, and ought not then to be performed,
unless in the most urgent circumstances. The blood may be
attenuated without bleeding; and the pain of the side abated
by fomenting, blistering, &c. Fomentations may be made by
boiling a handful of the flowers of elder, camomile, and com-
mon mallows, or any other soft vegetables, recommended for
this complaint in the Herbal. The herbs may either be put in-
to a flannel bag, and applied warm to the side, or flannels may
be dipped in the decoction, afterwards wrung out, and applied to
the part affected, with as much warmth as the patient can easily
bear. Fomentations not only ease the pain, but relax the ves-
sels, and prevent the stagnation of the blood and other hu-
mours. Leaves of various plants might likewise be applied
to the patient's side with advantage. I have often seen great
benefit from young cabbage-leaves applied warm to the side in
a pleurisy. These not only relax the parts, but likewise draw

158

Culpepper's English Physician,

off a little moisture, and may prevent the necessity of blistering
plasters; which, however, when other things fail, must be ap-
plied. What is called the crisis, or height of the fever, is
sometimes attended with very alarming symptoms, as difficulty
of breathing, an irregular pulse, convulsive motions, &c.
These are apt to frighten the attendants, and induce them to
do improper things, as bleeding the patient, giving him strong
stimulating medicines, or the like. But they are only the
struggles of Nature to overcome the disease, in which she
ought to be assisted by plenty of diluting drink, which is then
peculiarly necessary. If the patient's strength however be
much exhausted by the disease, it will be necessary at this time
to support him with small draughts of white-wine whey, negus,
or the like. When the pain and fever are gone, it will be pro-
per, after the patient has recovered sufficient strength, to give
him some gentle purges. He ought likewise to use a light diet
of easy digestion, and his drink should be of a cleansing nature.

The paraphrenitisy or inflammation of the diaphragm, is so
nearly connected with the pleurisy, and resembles it so much
in the manner of treatment, that it is scarcely necessary to
consider it as a separate disease. It is attended with a very
acute fever, and an extreme pain of the part affected, which is
generally augmented by coughing, sneezing, drawing in the
breath, taking food, going to stool, making water, &c. Hence
the patient breathes quick, and draws in his bowels to prevent
the motion of the diaphragm; is restless, anxious, has a dry
cough, a hiccup, and often a delirium. Every method should
be taken to prevent a suppuration, as it is impossible to save
the patient's life when this happens. The regimen and medi,
cine are in all respects the same as in a pleurisy. We shall
only add, that in this disease emollient clysters are peculiarly
useful, as they relax the bowels, and by that means make a
derivation from the part affected.

And Family Dispensatory.

159

OF INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

This disease is generally fatal to those who have a flat
breast, or narrow chest, and to such as are afflicted with an
asthma, especially in the decline of life. Sometimes the inflam-
mation reaches to one lobe of the lungs only, at other times
the whole organ is affected ; in which case the disease can hard-
ly fail to prove fatal. An inflammation of the lungs is some-
times a primary disease, and sometimes it is in consequence of
other diseases, as a quinsey, a pleurisy, &c. Most of the symp-
toms of a pleurisy likewise attend an inflammation of the lungs ;
only in the latter the pulse is more soft, and the pain less
acute; but the difficulty of breathing and oppression of the
breast, are generally greater.

CURE. — Bleeding and purging are generally proper at the
beginning of this disease; but, if the patient’s spittle is pretty
thick, as well as concocted, neither of them are necessary. It
will be sufficient to assist the expectoration by some of the
sharp medicines recommended for that purpose in the pleurisy;
blisters ought to be applied pretty early. If the patient does
not spit, he must be bled according as his strength will permit,
and have a gentle purge administered. Afterwards his body
may be kept open by clysters, and the expectoration promoted
by taking every four hours two table-spoonfuls of the solution
of gum ammoniac, with oxymel of squills, &c. When an in-
flammation of the breast does not yield to bleeding, blistering,
and other evacuations, it commonly ends in a suppuration,
which is more or less dangerous according to the part where it
is situated. When this happens in the pleura, it sometimes
breaks outwardly, and the matter is discharged from the wound.
If the suppuration happens within the substance or body of the
lungs, the matter may be discharged by expectoration; but, if
the matter floats in the cavity of the breast, between the pleu-
ra and the lungs, it can only be discharged by an incision made

No. 24. 4 C

160

Culpepper's English Physician,

betwixt the ribs. If the patient’s strength does not return af-
ter the inflammation is to all appearance removed ; if his pulse
continues quick though soft, his breathing difficult and oppres-
sed; if he has cold shiverings at times, his cheeks flushed, his
lips dry; and if he complains of thirst, and want of appetite;
there is reason to fear a suppuration, and that a consumption
of the lungs will ensue ; the proper treatment of which we
shall next consider.

OF CONSUMPTIONS.

Consumptions prevail more in England than in any

other part of the world ; owing perhaps to the great use of ani-
mal food and malt-liquors, the general application to sedenta-
ry employments, and the great quantity of pit-coal which is
burnt; to which we may add the perpetual changes in the at-
mosphere, or variableness of the weather. As this disease so
frequently proves fatal, we shall point out its causes, in order
that people may as much as possible endeavour to guard against
it: these are, confined or unwholesome air; violent passions,
exertion, or affections of the mind; grief, disappointment,
anxiety, or close application to study: — great evacuations; as
sweatings, diarrhoeas, diabetes, excessive venery, the fluor al-
bus, an over-discharge of the menstrual flux, giving suck too
long :— also the sudden stoppage of customary evacuations ; as
the bleeding piles, sweating of the feet, bleeding at the nose,
the menses, issues, ulcers, or eruptions of any kind. Consump-
tions are likewise caught by sleeping with the diseased; for
which reason this should be carefully avoided ; but more con-
sumptive patients date the beginning of their disorders from
wet feet, damp beds, night air, wet clothes, or catching cold
after the body has been heated, than from ail other causes put
together. This disease however is sometimes owing to an he-
reditary taint, or a scrophulous habit; in which case it is ge-
nerally incurable — yet, let none despair.

And Family Dispensatory. 161

CURE. — On the first appearance of a consumption, if the
patient lives in any place where the air is confined, he ought
immediately to quit it, and to make choice of a situation in the
country, where the air is pure and free. Here he must notre-
main inactive, but take every day as much exercise as he can
bear. It is a pity those who attend the sick seldom recommend
riding in this disease, till the patient is either unable to bear
it, or the malady has become incurable: patients are likewise
apt to trifle with themselves. They cannot see how one of the
common actions of life should prove a remedy in an obstinate
disease, and therefore they reject it, while they greedily hunt
after relief from medicine, merely because they do not under-
stand it. Next to proper air and exercise, a due attention
should be paid to diet, which ought to be calculated to lessen
the acrimony of the humours, and to nourish and support the
patient. For this purpose he should keep chiefly to the use
of vegetables and milk. Milk alone is of more value in this
disease than the whole materia medica. Asses milk is common-
ly reckoned preferable to any other; but it cannot always be
obtained ; besides, it is generally taken in very small quanti-
ty ; whereas, to produce any effects, it ought to make a consi-
derable part of the patient's food. Some extraordinary cures
in consumptive cases have been performed by women’s milk;
and, could it be obtained in sufficient quantity, we would re-
commend it in preference to any other. It is better if the pa-
tient can suck it from the breast, than to drink it afterwards,
A man who was reduced to such a degree of weakness in a
consumption, as not to be able to turn in bed, sucked his wife's
breasts, not with a view to reap any advantage from the milk,
but to make her easy. Finding himself however greatly bene-
fited by it, he continued to suck her till he became perfectly
well, and is at present a strong and healthy man. Some pre-
fer butter-milk to any other, and it is indeed a very valuable
medicine, if the stomach be able to bear it. It does not agree
with every person at first: and is therefore often laid aside

162

Culpepper s English Physician ,

without a sufficient trial. It should at first be taken sparingly,
and the quantity gradually increased, until it conies to be al-
most the sole food. I never knew it succeed unless where the
patient almost lived upon it. Wholesome air, proper exercise,
and a diet consistent therewith, is the only course that can be
depended on in a beginning consumption. If the patient has
strength and sufficient resolution to persist in such a course,
he will seldom be disappointed of a cure. In the first stage of
a consumption, the cough may sometimes be appeased by
bleeding; and the expectoration may be promoted by the fol-
lowing medicines. Take fresh squills, gum-ammoniac, and
powdered cardamum-seeds, of each a quarter of an ounce;
beat them together in a mortar, and, if the mass proves too
hard for pills, a little of any kind of syrup may be added to it.
This may be formed into pills of a moderate size, and four or
five of them taken twice or thrice a-day, according as the pa-
tient's stomach will bear them. A mixture made of equal parts
of lemon-juice, fine honey, and syrup of poppies, may likewise
be used. Four ounces of each of these may be simmered to-
gether in a saucepan, over a gentle fire, and a table-spoonful
of it taken at any time when the cough is troublesome. It is
common in this stage of the disease to load the patient's sto-
mach with oily and balsamic medicines. These, instead of re-
moving the cause of the disease, tend rather to increase it, by
heating the blood, while they pall the appetite, relax the so-
lids, and prove every way hurtful to the patient. Whatever is
used for removing the cough, besides riding and other proper
regimen, ought to be medicines of a sharp and cleansing na-
ture; as oxymel, syrup of lemons, &c. For the patient’s drink
we would recommend infusions of the bitter plants mentioned
in the Herbal, such as ground-ivy, the smaller centaury, camo-
mile-flowers, water-trefoil, &c. These infusions may be drunk
at pleasure. They strengthen the stomach, promote digestion,
rectify the blood, and at the same time answer all the purpo-
ses of dilutition, and quench thirst much better than things

And Family Dispensatory .

163

that are luscious or sweet. But, if the patient spits blood, he
ought to use, for his ordinary drink, infusions or decoctions
of the vulnerary roots, plants, &c. There are many other mu*
cilaginous plants and seeds of a healing and agglutinating 11a-
tnre, recommended in the Herbal, from which decoctions or
infusions may be prepared with the same intention ; as the or-
ches, the quince-seed, coltsfoot, linseed, sarsaparilla, &e.
The conserve of roses is here peculiarly proper. It may either
be put into the decoction above described, or eaten by itself.
No benefit is to be expected from trifling doses of this medi-
cine. It seldom proves of any service, unless three or four
ounces at least are used daily for a considerable time. In this
way I have seen it produce very happy effects, and would re-
commend it wherever there is a discharge of blood from the
lungs. When the spitting up of gross matter, oppression of
the breast, and the hectic symptoms, show that an imposthuine
is formed in the lungs, the Peruvian bark is the only drug
which has any chance to counteract the general tendency which
the humours then have to putrefaction. An ounce of it in
powder may be divided into eighteen or twenty doses, of which
one may be taken every three hours through the day, in a little
syrup, or a cup of horehound tea. We would not recom-
mend the bark while there are any symptoms of an inflamma-
tion of the breast; but, when it is certainly known that matter
is collected there, it is one of the best medicines which can be
used. Few patients indeed have resolution enough to give the
bark a fair trial at this period of the disease, otherwise we have
reason to believe that great benefit might be reaped from it.

A NERVOUS CONSUMPTION is a wasting or decay of
the whole body, without any considerable degree of fever,
cough, or difficulty of breathing. It is attended with indiges-
tion, weakness, and want of appetite, &c. Tuose w ho are of
a fretful temper, who indulge in spirituous liquors, or who
breathe an unwholesome air, are most liable to tins disease,'

164

Culpepper s English Physician ,

ea^aaEWBBMWiMiii iw n

We would recommend, for the cure of a nervous consumption,
a light and nourishing diet, plenty of exercise in a free open
air, and the use of such bitters as brace and strengthen the
stomach; as the Peruvian bark, gentian root, camomile, hore-
ho-und, &c. These may be infused in water or wine, and a
glass of it drunk frequently. Agreeable amusements, cheerful
company, and riding about, are preferable to all medicines in
this disease. For which reason, when the patient can afford
it, we would recommend a long journey of pleasure, as the
most likely means to restore his health. What is called a symp-
tomatic consumption cannot be cured without first removing
the disease by which it is occasioned. Thus, when a consump-
tion proceeds from the scrophula or kingVevil, from the scur-
vy, the asthma, the venereal disease, &c., a due attention must
be paid to the malady from whence it arises, and the regimen
and medicine directed accordingly. When excessive evacua-
tions of any kind occasion a consumption, they must not only
be restrained, but the patient's strength must be restored by
gentle exercise, nourishing diet, and generous cordials. Young
and delicate mothers often fall into consumptions by giving
suck too long. As soon as they perceive their strength and ap-
petite begin to fail, they ought immediately to wean the child,
or provide another nurse, otherwise they cannot expect a cure.

OF THE SLOW OR NERVOUS FEVER.

JNl ERVOUS FEVERS may be occasioned by whatever de-
presses the spirits, or impoverishes the blood; as grief, fear,
anxiety, want of sleep, intense thought, living on poor watery
diet, unripe fruits, cucumbers, melons, mushrooms, &c. They
may likewise be occasioned by damp, confined, or unwhole-
some, air. Hence they are very common in rainy seasons, and
prove most fatal to those who live in dirty, low, houses, crowd-
ed streets, hospitals, jails, or such like places. Persons whose

And Family Dispensatory.

165

constitutions have been broken by excessive venery, frequent
salivations, too free an use of purgative medicines, or any
other excessive evacuations, are very liable to this disease.

CURE. — The patient must not be kept too low. His strength
and spirits ought to be supported by nourishing diet and cor-
dials. For this purpose his gruel, panada, or whatever food he
takes, must be mixed with wine according as the symptoms
may require. Pretty strong white-wine whey, or small negus,
sharpened with the juice of orange or lemon, will be proper
for his ordinary drink. Where a nausea, load, and sickness
at stomach, prevail at the beginning of a fever, it will be ne-
cessary to give the patient a gentle vomit. Fifteen or twenty
grains of ipecacuanha in fine powder will generally answer this
purpose very well. This may be repeated any time before the
third or fourth day, if the above symptoms continue. Vomits
not only clean the stomach, but, by the general shock which
they give, promote the perspiration, and have many other ex-
cellent effects in slow fevers, where there are no signs of inflam-
mation, and nature wants rousing. Such as dare not venture
upon a vomit, may clean the bowels by a small dose of Turkey
rhubarb, or infusion of senna and manna. In all fevers, the
great point is to regulate the symptoms, so as to prevent them
from going to either extreme. Thus, in fevers of the inflamma-
tory kind, where the force of the circulation is too great, or
the blood dense, and the fibres too rigid, bleeding and other
evacuations are necessary. But in nervous fevers, where na-
ture flags, where the blood is vapid and poor, and the solids
relaxed, the lancet must be spared, and wine, with other cor-
dials, plentifully administered. Though bleeding is generally
improper in this disease, yet blistering is highly necessary.
Blisters may be applied at all times of the fever with great ad-
vantage. If the patient is delirious, he ought to be blistered
on the neck or head; and it will be the safest course, while
the insensibility continues, as soon as the discharge occasioned

166

Culpepper's English Physician ,

by one blister abates, to apply another to some other part of
the body, and by that means keep up a continual succession of
them till he be out of danger. A miliary eruption sometimes
breaks out about the ninth or tenth day. As eruptions are of-
ten critical, great care should be taken not to retard Nature’s
operation in this particular. The eruption ought neither to be
checked by bleeding or other evacuations, nor pushed out by
a hot regimen ; but the patient should be supported by gentle
cordials, as wine-whey, small negus, sago-gruel, with a little
wine in it, and such like. He ought not to be kept too warm ;
yet a kindly breathing sweat should by no means be checked.
In desperate cases, where the hiccup and starting of the ten-
dons have already come on, we have sometimes seen extraordi-

:5

nary effects from large doses of musk frequently repeated. Musk
is doubtless an antispasmodic, and may be given to the quanti-
ty of a scruple three or four times a-day, or oftener if necessa-
ry. Sometimes it may be proper to add to the musk a few
grains of camphire, and salt of hartshorn, as these tend to pro-
mote perspiration and the discharge of urine. Thus fifteen
grains of musk, with three grains of camphire, and six grains
of salt of hartshorn, may be made into a bolus with a little sy-
rup, and given as above. If the fever should intermit, which
it frequently does toward the decline, or if the patient's strength
should be wasted with colliquative sweats, &c., it will be neces-
sary to give him the Peruvian bark. Half a dram, or a whole
dram, if the stomach will bear it, of the bark in fine powder,
may be given four or five times a-day, in a glass of red port or
claret. Should the bark in substance not sit easy on the sto-
mach, an ounce of it in powder may be infused in a bottle of
Lisbon or Rhenish wine, for two or three days; afterwards it
may be strained, and a glass of it taken frequently.

OF THE MALIGNANT, PUTRID, OR SPOTTED,

FEVER.

This fever is occasioned by foul air, from a number of peo-

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pie being confined in a narrow place, not properly ventilated ;
from putrid animal and vegetable effluvia, &c. Hence it pre-
vails in camps, jails, hospitals, and infirmaries, especially
where such places are too much crowded, and cleanliness is
neglected. Putrid, malignant, or spotted fevers* are highly
infectious; and are therefore often communicated by contagion.
For which reason all persons ought to keep at a distance from
those affected with such diseases, unless their attendance is ab-
solutely necessary. Putrid fevers may be distingnished from
the inflammatory by the smallness of the pulse, the great dejec-
tion of mind, the dissolved state of the blood, the petechiee,
or purple spots, and the putrid smell of the excrements. They
may likewise be distinguished from the low or nervous fever by
the heat and thirst being greater* the urine of a higher colour,
and the loss of strength, dejection of mind, and all other symp-
toms, more violent.

CURE. — -The duration of putriff fevers is extremely uncer-
tain; sometimes they terminate betwixt the seventh and four-
teenth day, and at other times they are prolonged for five or
six weeks. Their duration depends greatly upon the constitu-
tion of the patient, and the manner of treating the disease; in
which we ought to endeavour, as much as possible, to counter
act the putrid tendency of the humours; to support the pa-
tient's strength and spirits; and to assist nature in expelling the
cause of the disease, by gently promoting perspiration and the
other evacuations. Besides the frequent admission of fresh air,
which is extremely necessary, we would recommend the use of
vinegar, verjuice, juice of lemon, Seville orange, or any kind
of vegetable acid that can be most readily obtained. These
ought frequently to be sprinkled upon the floor, the bed, and
every part of the room. The fresh skins of lemons or oranges
ought likewise to be laid in different parts of the room, and
they should be frequently held to the patient's nose. The use
of acids in this manner would not only prove very refreshing to
the patient, but would likewise tend to prevent the infection

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from spreading among those who attend him. Strong-scented
herbs, as rue, tansy, rosemary, wormwood, &c. may likewise
be laid in different parts of the house, and smelled to by those
who go near the patient. If a vomit be given at the beginning
of this fever, it will hardly ever fail to have a good effect; but,
if the fever has gone on for some days, and the symptoms are
violent, vomits are not so safe. The body however is always
to be kept gently open by clysters, or mild laxative medicines.
Bleeding is seldom necessary in putrid fevers. If there be signs
of an inflammation, it may sometimes be permitted at the first
onset; but the repetition of it generally proves hurtful. Blis-
ters are never to be used unless in the greatest extremities. If
the petechiae or spots should suddenly disappear, the patient's
pulse sink remarkably, and a delirium, with other bad symp-
toms, come on, blistering may be permitted. In this case the
blisters are to be applied to the head, and inside of the legs or
thighs. But, as they are sometimes apt to occasion a gangrene,
we would rather recommend warm cataplasms or poultices of
mustard and vinegar to be applied to the feet, having recourse
to blisters only in the utmost extremities. It is common in the
beginning of this fever to give the emetic tartar in small doses,
repeated every second or third hour, till it shall either vomit,
purge, or throw the patient into a sweat. This practice is very
proper, provided it be not pushed so far as to weaken the pa-
tient. In the most dangerous species of this disease, when it is
attended with purple, livid, or black, spots, the Peruvian bark
should be administered ; it must not only be given in large doses,
but be duly persisted in. The best method of administering
it is certainly in substance; but, for those who cannot take
it in substance, it may be infused in wine. For preventing pu-
trid fevers, we would recommend a strict regard to cleanliness,
a dry situation, sufficient exercise in the open air, wholesome
food, and a moderate use of generous liquors. Infection ought
above all things to be avoided. No constitution is proof against
it; and, when a putrid fever seizes any person in a family, the

And Family Dispensatory.

169

greatest attention is necessary to prevent the disease from
spreading. Any one who is apprehensive of having caught the
infection, ought immediately to take a vomit, and to work it
off by drinking plentifully of carnomile-tea. This may be re-
peated in a day or two, if the apprehensions still continue, or
any unfavourable symptoms appear.

OF THE MILIARY FEVER.

So called, from the small pustules or bladders which appear
on the skin, resembling, in shape and size, the seeds of millet.
The pustules are either red or white, and sometimes both are
mixed together. It chiefly attacks the idle and the phlegma-
tic, or persons of a relaxed habit. The young and the aged
are more liable to it than those in the vigour and prime of life.
It is likewise more incident to women than men, especially the
delicate and the indolent, who, neglecting exercise, keep con-
tinually within doors, and live upon weak watery diet. Such
females are extremely liable to be seized with this disease
in childbed, and often lose their lives by it. When this is a
primary disease, it makes its attack, like most other eruptive
fevers, with a slight shivering, which is succeeded by heat,
loss of strength, a low quick pulse, difficulty of breathing,
with great anxiety, and oppression of the breast, and in child-
bed women the milk generally goes away, and the other dis-
charges stop.

CURE. — Sometimes the miliary fever approaches towards a
putrid nature, in which case the patient’s strength must be
supported with generous cordials, joined with acids; and, if
the degree of putrescence be great, the Peruvian bark must be
administered. If the head be much affected, the body must
be kept open by emollient clysters. If the food and drink be
properly regulated, there will be little occasion for medicine.
Where nature flags, and the eruption comes and goes, it may
be necessary to keep up a stimulus, by a continual succession

170

Culpepper's English Physician,

of small blistering plasters ; but we would not recommend above
one at a time. If however the pulse should sink remarkably,
the pustules fall in, and the head be affected, it will be neces-
sary to apply several blisters to the most sensible parts, as the
inside, of the legs and thighs, &c. Bleeding is seldom neces-
sary in this disease, and sometimes it does much hurt, as it weak-
ens the patient, and depresses his spirits. If the disease prove
tedious, or the recovery slow, we would recommend the Peru-
vian bark, which may either be taken in substance, or infused
in wine or water as the patient inclines. To avoid this disease,
a pure dry air, sufficient exercise, and wholesome food, are
necessary. Pregnant women should guard against costiveness,
and take daily as much exercise as they can bear, avoiding all
green fruits, and other unwholesome things; and, when in
child-bed, they ought strictly to observe a cool regimen.

OF THE REMITTING FEVER.

This fever takes its name from a remission of the symp-
toms, which happens sometimes sooner, and sometimes later,
but generally before the eighth day. The remission is com-
monly preceded by a gentle sweat, after which the patient seems
greatly relieved, but in a few hours the fever returns. These
remissions return at very irregular periods, and are sometimes
of longer, sometimes of shorter, duration; the nearer however
that the fever approaches to a regular intermittent, the dan-
ger is the less. They are most frequent in close calm weather,
especially after rainy seasons, great inundations, or the like.
No age, sex, or constitution, is exempted from the attack of
this fever; but it chiefly seizes persons of a relaxed habit, who
live in low dirty habitations, breathe an impure stagnated air,
take little exercise, and use unwholesome diet. The first
symptoms of this fever are pains and giddiness in the head,
with alternate fits of heat and cold. The pulse is sometimes
a little hard, but seldom full, and the blood, when let, rarely

And Family Dispensatory.

171

shows any signs of inflammation. In order to cure this fever,
endeavours should be used to bring it to a regular intermission.
This intention may be promoted by bleeding, if there be any
signs of inflammation ; but, when that is not the case, bleed-
ing ought by no means to be attempted, as it will weaken the
patient, and prolong the disease. A vomit however will sel-
dom be improper, and is generally of great service. Twenty
or thirty grains of ipecacuanha will answer this purpose very
well ; but, where it can be obtained, we would rather recom-
mend a grain or two of emetic tartar, with five or six grains of
ipecacuanha, to be made into a draught, and given for a vo-
mit. This may be repeated once or twice at proper intervals,
if the sickness or nausea continues. The body ought to be
kept open either by clysters or gentle laxatives, as weak infu*
sions of seuna and manna, small doses of the lenitive electuary,
cream of tartar, tamarinds, stewed prunes, or the like; but all
strong drastic purgatives are to be avoided. By this course
the fever in a few days may generally be brought to a pretty
regular or distinct intermission, in which case, the Peruvian
bark may be administered, and it will seldom fail to perfect
the cure.

OF THE SMALL-POX.

The small pox is commonly caught by infection. Since
the disease was first brought from Arabia into Europe, the in-
fection has never been wholly extinguished : nor have any pro-
per methods been taken for that purpose; so that now it has
become in a manner constitutional. Children who have over-
heated themselves by running, wrestling, &c. or adults after
a debauch, are most apt to be seized with the small-pox. The
disease is so generally known, that a minute description of it is
unnecessary. Children commonly look dull, seem listless and
drowsy, for a few days before the more violent symptoms of
the small pox appear. They are likewise more inclined to drink

172

Culpepper s English Physician,

than usual, have little appetite for solid food, complain of
weariness, and, upon taking exercise, are apt to sweat. These
are succeeded by slight fits of cold and heat in turns, which, as
the time of the eruption approaches, become more violent, and
are accompanied with pains of the head and loins, vomiting, &c.
The pulse quick, with a great heat of the skin, and restless-
ness. When the patient drops asleep, he awakes in a kind of
horror, with a sudden start, which is a very common symptom
of the approaching eruption ; as are also convulsion-fits in very
young children. The most favourable symptoms are a slow
eruption and an abatement of the fever as soon as the pustules
appear. In a mild distinct kind of small-pox, the pustules sel-
dom appear before the fourth day from the time of sickening,
and they generally keep coming out gradually for several days
after. Pustules which are distinct, with a florid red basis, and
which fill with thick purulent matter, first of a whitish, and af-
terwards of a yellowish, colour, are the best. It is a most un-
favourable symptom when petechiae, or purple, brown, or black
spots, are interspersed among the pustules. These are signs
of a putrid dissolution of the blood, and show the danger to be
very great. Bloody stools or urine, with a swelled belly, are
bad symptoms; as is also a continual strangury. Pale urine
and a violent throbbing of the arteries of the neck are signs of
an approaching delirium, or of convulsion-fits. When the face
does not swell, or falls before the pock comes to maturity, it is
very unfavourable. If the face begins to fall about the eleventh
or twelfth day, and at the same time the hands and feet begin
to swell, the patient generally does well; but, when these do
not succeed to each other, there is reason to apprehend danger.

CURE. — All that is necessary during the eruptive fever, is
to keep the patient cool and easy, allowing him to drink freely
of some weak diluting liquor, as balm-tea, barley-water, clear
whey, gruels, &c. Much mischief is done at this period by
confining the patient to his bed, and plying him with warm cor-

173

And Family Dispensatory .

IMWMMMBSammMTiTiiBriira n wa wtmmMmammmmmmmmaat

dials or sudorific medicines. Every thing that heats and inflames
the blood increases the fever, and pushes out the pustules pre-
maturely. This has numberless ill effects. It not only increases
the number of pustules, but tends likewise to make them run
into one another; and, when they have been pushed out with
too great violence, they generally fall in before they come to
maturity. The food ought to be very light, and of a cooling
nature, as panada, or bread boiled with equal quantities of
milk and water, good apples roasted or boiled with milk, and
sweetened with a little sugar, or such like. The most danger-
ous period of this disease is what we call the secondary fever.
This generally comes on when the pock begins to blacken or
turn on the face, and most of those who die of the small-pox
are carried off by this fever. Nature generally attempts, at
the turn of the small-pox, to relieve the patient by loose stools.
Her endeavours by this way are by no means to be counteract-
ed, but promoted ; and the patient at the same time support-
ed by food and drink of a nourishing and cordial nature. If,
at the approach of the secondary fever, the pulse be very quick,
hard, and strong, the heat intense, and the breathing labori-
ous, with other symptoms of an inflammation of the breast,
the patient must immediately be bled. The quantity of blood
to be let must be regulated by the patient's strength, age, and
the urgency of the symptoms. But, in the secondary fever, if
the patient be faintish, the pustules become suddenly pale, and
if there be great coldness of the extremities, blisters must be
applied, and the patient must be supported with generous cor-
dials. Wine and even spirits have sometimes been given in such
cases with amazing success. It is generally necessary, after
the small pox is gone off, to purge the patient. If however
the body has been open through the whole course of the dis-
ease, or if buttermilk and other things of an opening nature
have been drunk freely after the height of the small pox, purg-
ing becomes less neeessary; but it ought never to be wholly
neglected. For very young children, an infusion of senna and

174

Culpepper s English Physician^

prunes, with a little rhubarb, may be sweetened with coarse
sugar, and given in small quantities till it operates. Those who
are farther advanced must take medicines of a sharper nature.
For example, a child of five or six years of age may take eight
or ten grains of fine rhubarb in powder over night, and the same
quantity of jalap in powder next morning. This may be work-
ed off with fresh broth or water-gruel, and may be repeated
three or four times, five or six days intervening betwixt each
dose. For children farther advanced, and adults, the dose
must be increased in proportion to the age and constitution.
When a cough, a difficulty of breathing, or other symptoms of
a consumption, succeed to the small pox, the patient must be
sent to a place where the air is good, and put upon a course
of asses’ milk, with such other treatment as hath already been
directed in consumptions.

OF INOCULATION.

This salutary invention, which is the only effectual means
of stopping the ravages of the small-pox, has been known in
Europe above half a century; yet, like most other useful dis-
coveries, it made at first but slow progress. No discovery can
be of general utility, while the practice of it is kept in the hands
of a few. The fears, the jealousies, the prejudices, and the
opposite interests, of the faculty, are, and ever will be, the
most effectual obstacles to the progress of any salutary discov-
ery. Hence it is that the practice of inoculation never became,
in any measure, general, even in England, till taken up by
men not bred to physic. These not only rendered the practice
more extensive, but likewise more safe, and, by acting under
less restraint than the regular practitioners, taught them that
the patient’s greatest danger arose, not from the want of medi-
cal care, but from the excess of it. The present method of ino-
culating in Britain is to make two or three slanting incisions in
the arm, so superficial as not to pierce quite through the skin.

175

And Family Dispensatory.

with a lancet wet with fresh matter taken from a ripe pustule;
afterwards the wounds are closed up, and left without any^dress-
ing. Some make use of a lancet covered with the dry matter; but
this is less certain, and ought never to be used unless where fresh
matter cannot be obtained ; when this is the case, the matter
ought to be moistened by holding the lancet for some time in the
steam of warm water. We do not find that inoculation is at all con-
sidered as a medical operation in foreign countries. In Turkey,
whence we learned it, it is performed by the women, and in the
East Indies by the brachmins or priests. In this country it has
been practised by numbers of the common people with astonish-
ing success; and as the small-pox; is now become an epidemical
disease in most parts of the known world, there seems no other
choice left, but to render the malady as mild as possible. It is a
matter of small consequence, whether a disease be entirely extir-
pated or rendered so mild as neither to destroy life nor hurt the
constitution ; and that this may be done by inoculation, does not
now admit of a doubt. The numbers who die under inoculation
hardly deserve to be named. In the natural way one in four or five
generally dies i but by inoculation not one of a thousand. Nay,
some can boast of having inoculated ten thousand without the
loss of a single patient. The most proper age for inoculating chil-
dren is at two or three months old, before the teething begins.
Those who have constitutional diseases may nevertheless be ino-
culated ; it will often mend the habit of body ; but ought to be per-
formed at a time when they are most healthy. Accidental diseases
should always be removed before inoculation. It is generally
thought necessary to regulate the diet for some time before the
disease be communicated. In children, however, great alteration
in diet is seldom necessary, their food being commonly of the
most simple and wholesome kind, as milk, water-gruel, weak
bioths, bread, light pudding, mild roots, and white meats. We
would recommend no other medical preparation than two or
three mild purges, which ought to be suited to the age and
strength of the patient. The success of inoculators does not de-

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Culpepper's English Physician ,

pend on the preparation of their patients, but on their mamage-
ment of them while under the disease. Their constant care
should be to keep them cool, and their bodies gently open, by
which means the fever is kept low, and the eruption greatly less-
ened. The danger is seldom great when the pustules are few;
and their number is generally in proportion to the fever which
precedes and attends the eruption. Hence the chief secret of
inoculation consists in regulating the eruptive fever, which gen-
erally may be kept sufficiently low by the methods mentioned
above. The regimen during the disease is in all respects the same
as under the natural small pox. The patient must be kept cool,
his diet should be light, and his drink weak and diluting, &c.
Should any bad symptoms appear, which is seldom the case,
they must be treated in the same way as directed in the natural
small-pox. Purging is not less necessary after the small-pox by
inoculation than in the natural way, and ought by no means to
be neglected.

Vaccine Inoculation is the term for a practice lately
introduced of inoculating persons with the matter drawn from
pustules which rise upon the teats of cows: this is said (by its
supporters) to prevent patients from ever taking the natural
small pox. It has so far succeeded, as to procure its inventor.
Dr. Jenner, grants from the parliament of 30,5001. sterling for
the communication of his discovery.

OF THE MEASLES.

TjHIS disease, like the small pox, proceeds from infection, and
is more or less dangerous according to the constitution of the pa-
tient, the season of the year, the climate, &c. It is usually pre-
ceded by a short cough, a heaviness of the head and eyes, drowsi-
ness, and a running at the nose. There is an inflammation and
heat in the eyes, with a defluxion of sharp tears, vomiting, and
great acuteness of sensation, so that the patient cannot bear the
light without pain. About the fourth day, small spots, resembling
flea-bites, appear, first upon the face, then upon the breast, and
afterwards on the extremities : these may be distinguished from

And Family Dispensatory.

177

the small-pox by their scarcely rising above the skin. The fever,
cough, and difficulty of breathing, instead of being removed by
the eruption, as in the small-pox, are rather increased; but the
vomiting generally ceases. About the sixth or seventh day from
the time of sickening, the measles begin to turn pale on the face,
and afterwards upon the body; so that by the ninth day they en-
tirely disappear. Such as die of the measles generally expire
about the ninth day from the invasion, and are commonly carried
offby inflammation of the lungs. The most favourable symptoms
are, a moderate looseness, a moist skin, and a plentiful discharge
of urine. When the eruption suddenly falls in, and the patient is
seized with a delirium, he is in the greatest danger. If the mea-
sles turn too soon of a pale colour, it is an unfavourable symptom,
as are also great weakness, vomitings, restlessness, and difficulty
of swallowing. Purple or black spots appearing among the mea-
sles, are very unfavourable. When a continual cough, with
hoarseness, succeeds the disease, there is reason to suspect an
approaching consumption of the lungs.

CURE. — Our business in this disease is to assist nature by pro-
per cordials, in throwing out the morbific matter, if her efforts be
too languid : but, when they are too violent, they must be restrain-
ed by evacuations, and cool diluting liquors, &c. We ought like-
wise to endeavour to appease the most urgent symptoms, as the
cough, restlessness, and difficulty of breathing. A cool regimen is
necessary here, as well as in the small pox. The food too must be
light, and the drink diluting. The most suitable liquors are decoc-
tions of liquorice, with marsh-mallow roots and sarsaparilla, infu-
sions of linseed, marygolds, elder flowers, balm-tea, clarified
whey, barley-water, and such like. Bleeding is commonly neces-
sary, particularly when the fever runs high, with difficulty of
breathing, and great oppression of the breast ; but, if the disease
be of a mild kind, bleeding may be omitted. If at the turn of the
disease the fever assumes new vigour, and there appears great
danger of suffocation, bleeding must be used according to the
patient’s strength, and blisters must be applied, with a view to
prevent the load from being thrown on the lungs, where, if an

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Culpepper s English Physician ,

inflammation should fix itself, the patient’s life will be in immi-
nent danger. In case the measles should suddenly disappear, the
patient must be supported with wine and cordials. Blisters must
be applied to the legs and arms, and the body rubbed all over
with warm flannels. Should a cough, with difficulty of breathing,
and other symptoms of a consumption, remain after the measles,
small quantities of blood may be frequently let at proper inter-
vals, as the patient’s strength and constitution wiil permit. He
ought likewise to drink asses’ milk, to remove into a free air,
and to ride daily on horseback.

OF THE SCARLET FEVER.

The scarlet fever is so called from the colour of the patient’s
skin, which appears as if it were tinged with red wine. It begins,
like other fevers, with coldness and shivering, without any violent
sickness. Afterwards the skin is covered with red spots, which
are broader, more florid, and less uniform than the measles.
They continue two or three days, and then disappear; after
which the cuticle, or scarf-skin, falls off.

CURE. — There is seldom any occasion for medicine in this dis-
ease, unless it is attended with putrid or malignant symptoms, in
■which case it is alw ays dangerous ; the patient is then not only af-
fected w ith coldness and shivering, but with languor, sickness,
and great oppression; to these succeed excessive heat, nausea,
and vomiting, with a soreness of the throat ; the pulse is extremely
quick, but small and depressed ; the breathing frequent and labo-
rious ; the skin hot, but not quite dry ; the tongue moist, and cov-
ered with a whitish mucus: the tonsils inflamed and ulcerated.
When the eruption appears, it brings no relief: on the contrary,
the symptoms generally grow worse, and fresh ones come on, as
purging, delirium, Arc. Should this disease be mistaken for a sim-
ple inflammation, and treated with repeated bleedings, purgings,
and cooling medicines, as is sometimes the case, it generally
proves fatal. The only medicines that can be depended on are
.cordials and antiseptics, as the Peruvian bark, wine, snake-root,

179

And Family Dispensatory

and the like. The treatment must be in general similar to that
of the putrid fever, or of the malignant ulcerous sore throat.

Of the BILIOUS FEVER.

A CONTINUAL remitting or intermitting fever, accompanied
with a copious evacuation of bile, either by vomit or stool, is
denominated bilious . It generally makes its appearance about
the end of summer, and ceases towards the approach of winter.
It is most fatal in warm countries, especially where the soil is
marshy, and when great rains are succeeded by sultry heats.
Those who work without doors, and are exposed to the night
air, are most liable to this kind of fever.

CURE. — If there are symptoms of inflammation, it will be ne-
cessary to bleed, and to put the patient upon cool diluting regi-
men, recommended in the inflammatory fever. Saline draughts
may likewise be frequently administered, and the patient’s body
kept open by clysters or mild purgatives. But, if the fever
should remit or intermit, bleeding will seldom be necessary.
In this case a vomit may be administered, and, if the body be
bound, a gentle purge; after which the Peruvian bark will gen-
erally complete the cure.

Of the ERYSIPELAS, or St. ANTHONY’S FIRE.

The erysipelas may be occasioned by violent passions or affec-
tions of the mind ; as fear, anger, &c. When the body has been
heated to a certain degree, and is immediately exposed to the cold
air, so that the perspiration is suddenly checked, an erysipelas
will often ensue. It may also be occasioned by drinking to excess,
by continuing too long in a warm bath, or by any thing that over-
heats the blood. If any of the natural evacuations be obstructed,
or in too small quantity, it may cause an erysipelas. The same
effect will follow from the stoppage of artificial evacuations ; as
issues, setons, or the like. The disorder comes on with shivering,
thirst, loss of strength, pain in the head and back, heat, restless-
ness, and a quick pulse: to which may be added vomiting, and

180 Culpepper s English Physician ,

sometimes a delirium. On the second, third, or fourth day, the
part swells, becomes red, and small pustules appear: at which
time the fever generally abates. When the erysipelas is large,
deep, and affects a very sensible part of the body, the danger is
great. If the red colour change into a livid or black, it will end
in a mortification. Sometimes the inflammation cannot be dis-
cussed, but comes to a suppuration ; in which case fistulas, a gan-
grene, or mortification often ensue. Such as die of this disease
are commonly carried off by the fever, which is attended with dif-
ficulty of breathing, and sometimes with a delirium and great
drowsiness. They generally die about the seventh or eighth day.

CURE. — In this complaint much mischiefis often done by me-
dicines, especially by external applications : whereas the princi-
pal object should be to promote perspiration, which has a great
tendency to carry off the disease. It is common to bleed in the ery-
sipelas ; but this likewise requires caution. If however the fever
be high, the pulse hard and strong, and the patient vigorous, it
will be proper to bleed; but the quantity must be regulated by
these circumstances, and the operation repeated as the symptoms
may require. If the patient has been accustomed to strong liquors,
and the disease attacks his head, bleeding is absolutely necessary.
Bathing the feet and legs frequently in lukewarm water, when the
disease attacks the face or brain, has an excellent effect. It tends
to make a derivation from the head, and seldom fails to relieve
the patient. When bathing proves ineffectual, poultices, or sharp
sinapisms, may be applied to the soles of the feet for the same
purpose. In cases where bleeding is requisite, it is likewise neces-
sary to keep the body open. This may be effected by emollient
clysters, or small doses of nitre and rhubarb. Some indeed re-
commend very large doses of nitre in the erysipelas; but nitre
seldom sits easy on the stomach when taken in large doses. It
is however one of the best medicines when the fever and inflam-
mation run high. Half a dram of it, with four or five grains of
rhubarb, may be taken in the patient’s ordinary drink four times
a-day. When the erysipelas seizes the head, so as to occasion a

And Family Dispensatory .

181

delirium or stupor, blisters must be applied to the neck, or be-
hind the ears, and sharp cataplasms laid to the soles of the feet.
In what is commonly called the scorbutic erysipelas , which con-
tinues for a considerable time, it will only be necessary to give
gentle laxatives, and such things as purify the blood, and promote
the perspiration; and after the inflammation has been checked
by opening medicines, the decoction of woods and bitter herbs
may be drunk, as recommended for this disease in the Herbal.

Of the INFLAMMATION of the BRAIN.

The symptoms which usually precede a true inflammation of
the brain, are pain of the head, redness of the eyes, a violent flush-
ing of the face, disturbed sleep, or a total want of it, great dryness
of the skin, costiveness, a retention of urine, a small dropping of
blood from the nose, singing of the ears, and extreme sensibility
of the nervous system. When the brain itsetf is inflamed, the pulse
is always soft and low ; but when the inflammation only affects the
integuments of the brain, viz. the dura and pia mater , it is hard.

CURE. — As this disease often proves fatal in a few days, it
requires the most speedy applications. When it is prolonged, or
improperly treated, it sometimes ends in madness, or a kind of
stupidity which continues for life. Two things are chiefly to be
attended to in the cure, viz. to lessen the quantity of blood in the
brain, and to retard the circulation towards the head. Nothing
more certainly relieves the patient than a free discharge of blood
from the nose. When this comes of its own accord, it is by no
means to be stopped, but rather promoted by applying cloths dip-
ped in warm water to the part. When bleeding at the nose does
not happen spontaneously, it may be provoked by putting a
straw, or any other sharp body, up the nostril. Bleeding in the
temporal arteries greatly relieves the head ; but, as this operation
cannot always be performed, we would recommend in its stead
bleeding in the jugular veins. When the patient’s pulse and spirits
are so low, that he cannot bear bleeding with the lancet, leeches

182

Culpepper s English Physician,

in u iiflwi1 KrBuuxs&KM&vmiajmssimsaaBSB^^wanwaMNj^

may be applied to the temples. These not only draw off the blood
more gradually, but, by being applied nearer to the part affected,
generally give more immediate relief. If the inflammation of the
brain be occasioned by the stoppage of evacuations either natural
or artificial, as the menses, issues, setons, or such like, all means
must be used to restore them as soon as possible, or to substitute
others in their stead. The patient's body must be kept open
by stimulating clysters or smart purges; and small quantities
of nitre ought frequently to be mixed with his drink. Two or
three drams, or more, if the case be dangerous, may be used in
the space of twenty-four hours. If the disease proves obstinate,
and does not yield to the medicines, it will be necessary to ap-
ply a blistering-plaster to the whole head.

Of the INFLAMMATION of the EYES.

This disorder is attended with acute pain, heat, redness, and
swelling. — The patient is not able to bear the light, and some-
times he feels a pricking pain, as if his eyes were pierced with
a thorn. The pulse is generally quick and hard, with some de-
gree of fever. When the disease' is violent, the neighbouring
parts swell, and there is a throbbing or pulsation in the temporal
arteries, &c. A slight inflammation of the eyes, especially from
an external cause, is easily cured : but, when the disease is vio-
lent, and continues long, it often leaves specks upon the eyes,
or dimness of sight, and sometimes total blindness.

CURE. — The patient must abstain from every thing of a heat-
ing nature. His food should consist chiefly of mild vegetables,
weak broths, and gruels. His drink may be barley-water, balm-
tea, common whey, and such like. Bleeding, in a violent in-
flammation of the eyes, is always necessary. This should be
performed as near the part affected as possible. An adult may
lose ten or twelve ounces of blood from the jugular vein, and
the operation may be repeated according to the urgency of the
symptoms. If it should not be convenient to bleed in the neck.

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i

the same quantity may be let from the arm, or any other part
of the body. Leeches are often applied to the temples, or un-
der the eyes, with good effect. The wounds must be suffered
to bleed for some hours; andj if the bleeding stbp soon, it may
be promoted by the application of cloths dipt in warm water.
In obstinate cases* it will be necessary to repeat this operation
several times. Opening and diluting medicines are by no means
to be neglected ; but, if the inflammation does not yield to these
evacuations, blisters must be applied to the temples, behind the
ears, or upon the neck, and kept open for some time, fhave
seldom known these, if long enough kept open, fail to remove
the most obstinate inflammation of the eyes; but, for this pur-
pose, if is often necessary to continue the discharge for several
weeks* Those who are liable to frequent returns of this disease,
ought constantly to have an issue in one or both arms, ora seton
cut betwixt the shoulders. Bleeding or purging in the spring
and autumn will be very beneficial to such persons.

OF THE QUINSY, OR INFLAMMATORY SORE

THROAT.

TThIS disease is frequently attended with great danger. When
the inflammation comes on, the parts appear red and swelled;
the patient complains of pain in swallowing; his pulse is quick
and hard, with other symptoms of a fever. If blood be let, it
is generally covered with a tough coat of a whitish colour, and
the patient spits a tough phlegm. As the swelling and inflamma-
tion increase, the breathing and swallowing become more diffi-
cult; the pain affects the ears; the eyes appear red; and the
face swells. When the breathing is laborious, with straitness
of the breast, and anxiety, the danger is great. Though the
pain in swallowing be very great, yet, while the patient breathes
easy, there is not so much danger. An external swelling is no
unfavourable symptom; but if it suddenly falls, and the disease

No. 25. 4 F

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affects the breast, the danger is very great. When a quinsy is
the consequence of some other disease, which has already weak-
ened the patient, his situation is dangerous. A frothing at the
mouth, and a swelled tongue, a pale ghastly countenance, and
coldness of the extremities, are fatal symptoms.

CURE. — It is peculiarly necessary that the neck be kept
warm ; for which purpose several folds of soft flannel may be
wrapt round it. The jelly of black currants is a medicine very
much in esteem for complaints of the throat; and indeed it is of
some use. It should be almost constantly kept in the mouth,
and swallowed down leisurely. It may likewise be mixed in
the patient’s drink, or taken any other way. When it cannot be
obtained, the jelly of red currants, or of mulberries, may be
used in its stead. Gargles are also very beneficial : they may be
made of sage-tea, with a little vinegar and honey; and may be
used three or four times a-day; and, if the patient be troubled
with tough viscid phlegm, the gargle may be rendered more
sharp and cleansing by adding to it a teaspoon-full of spirit of
sal ammoniac. There is no disease wherein the benefit of ba-
thing the feet and legs in lukewarm water is more apparent:
that practice ought therefore never to be neglected. If the in-
flammation be violent, it will be proper as soon as the symp-
toms appear, to bleed in the arm, or rather in the jugular vein,
and to repeat the operation if circumstances require. The body
should likewise be kept gently open. This may be done by giv-
ing the patient for his ordinary drink a decoction of figs and
tamarinds, or small doses of rhubarb and nitre. Good effects
are often produced from a bit of sal prunel, or purified nitre,
held in the mouth, and swallowed down as it melts. This pro-
motes the discharge of saliva, by which means it answers the end
of a gargle, while at the same time it abates the fever, by pro-
moting the discharge of urine, &c. Blistering upon the neck or
behind the ears, in violent inflammations of the throat, is very
beneficial; and in bad cases it will be very necessary to lay a
blistering plaster quite across the throat, so as to reach from

185

And Family Dispensatory .

ear to ear. After the plasters are taken off, the parts ought to
be kept running by the application of issue-ointment, till the
inflammation is gone; otherwise, upon their drying up, the
patient will be in danger of a relapse. When a difficulty of
swallowing is not attended with an acute pain or inflammation,
it only requires that the part be kept warm, and the throat fre-
quently gargled with something that may gently stimulate the
glands, as a decoction of figs with vinegar and honey ; to which
may be added a little mustard, or a small quantity of spirits.
But this gargle is never to be used where there are signs of in-
flammation. Those who are subject to inflammations of the
throat, in order to avoid that disease, and many others, ought
to live temperately. Such as do not choose to observe this rule
must have frequent recourse to purging and other evacuations,
to discharge the superfluous humaurs. They ought likewise to
beware of catching cold, and' should abstain from aliment and
medicines of an astringent or stimulating nature.

OF THE MALIGNANT OR ULCEROUS SORE

THROAT.

This is evidently a contagious distemper, and is generally
communicated by infection. Whole families, and even entire
villages, often receive the infection from one person. What-
ever tends to produce putrid or malignant fevers may likewise
occasion the putrid ulcerous sore throat, as unwholesome air,
damaged provisions, neglect of cleanliness, &c. It begins with
alternate fits of shivering and heat. The pulse is quick, but
low and unequal, and generally continues so through the whole
course of the disease. The tongue is white, and generally moist,
which distinguishes this from an inflammatory disease. Upon
looking into the throat, it appears swelled and of a florid red
colour. Pale or ash-coloured spots, however, are here and
there interspersed, and sometimes one broad patch or spot, of
an irregular figure, and pale white colour, surrounded with flo-

186

Culpepper s English Physician ,

rid red, only appears. These whitish spots or sloughs cover so
many ulcers. The putrid ulcerous sore threat may be distin-
guished from the inflammatory by the vomiting and looseness
with which it is generally ushered in; the foul ulcers in the
throat covered with a white or livid coat; and by the excessive
weakness of the patient; with other symptoms of a putrid fever.

CURE. — The treatment in this kind of sore throat is entire-
ly different from that which is proper in the inflammatory. All
evacuations, as bleeding, purging, &c. which weaken the pa-
tient, must be avoided. Cooling medicines, as nitre and cream
of tartar, are likewise hurtful. Strengthening cordials alone
can be used with safety,; and these ought never to be neglect-
ed. If, at the beginning, there is a great nausea, or inclina-
tion to vomit, the patient must drink an infusion of green tea,
camomile-flowers, or carduus benedictus, in order to cleanse the
stomach. If these are not sufficient, he may take a few grains
of the powder of ipecacuanha, or any other gentle vomit. If
the disease is mild, the throat may be gargled with an infusion
of sage or rose leaves, to a gill of which may be added a spoon-
ful or two of honey, and as much vinegar as will make it agree-
ably acid; but, when the symptoms are urgent, it will be of
great benefit if the patient frequently receives into his mouth,
through an inverted funnel, the steams of warm vinegar, myrrh*
and honey. But, when the putrid symptoms run high, and the
disease is attended with danger, the only medicine that can be
depended upon is the Peruvian bark. It may be taken in sub-
stance, if the patient’s stomach will bear it. If not, an ounce
of bark grossly powdered, with two drams of Virginian snake-
root, may be boiled in a pint and a half of water to half a pint ;
to w hich a tea-spoonful of the elixir of vitriol may be added,
and an ordinary tea-cupful of it taken every three or four
hours. Blisters are very beneficial in this disease, especially
when the patient's pulse and spirits are low. They may be ap-
plied to the throat, behind the ears, or upon the back part of
the neck. If the discharge of blood from the nose happens.

And Family Dispensatory. 187

the steams of warm vinegar may be received up the nostrils fre-
quently,; and the drink must be sharpened with spirits of vitriol,
or tincture of roses. In case of a strangury, the belly must
be fomented with warm water, and emollient clysters given
three or four times a-day. After the violence of the disease is
over, the body should still be kept open with mild purgatives;
as manna, senna, rhubarb, or the like.

OF COLDS AND COUGHS.

(yOLDS are the effect of an obstructed perspiration ; and al-
most every cold is a kind of fever, which only differs in degree
from some of those that have already been treated of. No age,
sex, or constitution, is exempted from this disease ; neither is
it in the power of any medicine or regimen to prevent it. The
inhabitants of every climate are liable to catch cold, nor can
even the greatest circumspection defend them at all times from
its attack. Indeed, if the human body could be kept constant-
ly in an uniform degree of warmth, such a thing as catching
cold would be impossible: but, as that cannot be effected by
any means, the perspiration must be liable to many changes.
When oppression of the breast, a stuffing of the nose, unusual
weariness, pain of the head, &e. give ground to believe that
the perspiration is obstructed, or, in other words, that the per-
son has caught cold, he ought immediately to lessen his diet, at
least the usual quantity of his solid food, and to abstain from
all strong liquors. Would people sacrifice a little time to ease
and warmth, and practise a moderate degree of abstinence,
when the first symptoms of a cold appear, we have reason to
believe that most of the bad effects which flow from an obstruct-
ed perspiration might be prevented. But, after the disease has
gathered strength by delay, all attempts to remove it often
prove vain. A pleurisy, a peripneurnony, or a fatal consump-
tion of the lungs, are often the effects of common colds, not-
withstanding people affect to treat them with so much ‘indiffer-
ence and neglect, merely because they are only colds. Hence

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Culpepper s English Physician ,

it is, that colds destroy such numbers of mankind. Like an
enemy despised, they gather strength from delay, till, at length,
they become invincible. It is certain, however, that colds may
be too much indulged. When a person, for every slight cold,
shuts himself up in a warm room, swallows medicine, and drinks
great quantities of warm liquor, it may occasion such a general
relaxation of the solids as will not be easily removed. Bathing
the feet in warm water, lying in bed, and drinking warm wa-
ter-gruel, or other weak liquors, will sooner take off spasm,
and restore the perspiration, than all the hot sudorific medicines
in the world. This is all that is necessary for removing a com-
mon cold; and, if this course be taken at the beginning, it will
seldom fail. When the symptoms do not yield to abstinence,
warmth, and diluting liquors, there is reason to fear the ap-
proach of some other disease, as an inflammation of the breast,
an ardent fever, or the like; and the patient should then be
treated accordingly. The chief secret of preventing colds lies
in avoiding, as far as possible, all extremes either of heat or
cold, and in taking care, when the body is heated, to let it cool
gradually.

OF A COMMON COUGH.

j\. COUGH is generally the effect of a cold, which has ei-
ther been improperly treated or entirely neglected. When it
proves obstinate, there is always reason to fear the consequence,
as this shows a weak state of the lungs, and is often the fore-
runner of a consumption. If the cough be violent, and the pa-
tient young and strong, with a hard quick pulse, bleeding will
be proper; but, in weak and relaxed habits, bleeding rather
prolongs the disease. When the patient spits freely, bleeding
is unnecessary, and sometimes hurtful, as it tends to lessen that
discharge. When a cough is occasioned by acrid humours tick-
ling the throat and fauces, the patient should keep some soft
pectoral lozenges almost constantly in his mouth; as the Pon-

189

And Family Dispensatory .

tefract liquorice-cakes, barley-sugar, the common balsamic loz-
enges, Spanish-juice, &c. These blunt the acrimony of the
humours, and, by taking off their stimulating quality, help to
appease the cough. In obstinate coughs, proceeding from a
flux of humours upon the lungs, it will often be necessary, be-
sides expectorating medicines, to have recourse to issues, se-
tons, or some other drain. In this case I have often observed
the most happy effects from a Burgundy-pitch plaster applied
between the shoulders. About the bulk of a nutmeg of Bur-
gundy-pitch may be spread thin upon a piece of soft leather,
about the size of the hand, and laid between the shoulder-blades.
It may be taken off and wiped every three or four days, and
ought to be renewed once a fortnight or three weeks. This is
indeed a cheap and simple medicine, and consequently apt to
be despised; but we will venture to affirm, that the whole ma-
teria inedica does not afford an application more efficacious in
almost every kind of cough. It has not, indeed, always an im-
mediate effect; but, if kept on for some time, it will succeed
where most other medicines fail. But coughs proceed from ma-
ny other causes besides defluxions upon the lungs. In these ca-
ses the cure is not to be attempted by pectoral medicines. Thus,
in a cough proceeding from a foulness and debility of the sto-
mach, syrups, oil, mucilages, and all kinds of balsamic medi-
cines, do hurt. The stomach-cough may be known from one
that is owing to a fffidt in the lungs by this, that in the latter
the patient coughs whenever he inspires, or draws in his breath
fuliy : but in the former that does not happen.

CURE. — The cure of this cough depends chiefly upon cleans-
ing and strengthening the stomach; for which purpose gentle
vomits and bitter purgatives are most proper. Thus, after a
vomit or two, the sacred tincture, as it is called, may be taken
for a considerable time in the dose of one or two table spoon-
fuls twice a-day, or as often as it is found necessary, to keep
the body gently open. People may make this tincture them-
selves, by infusing an ounce of hiera picra in an English pint

190

Culpepper s English Physician ,

of white-wine, letting it stand a few days, and then straining it.
In coughs which proceed from a debility of the stomach, the
Peruvian bark is likewise of considerable service. It may either
be chewed, taken in powder, or made into a tincture along with
other stomachic bitters. A nervous cough can only be removed
by change of air and proper exercise. Immersing the feet and
hands in warm water will often appease the violence of a ner-
vous cough. When a cough is only the symptom of some other
malady, it is in vain to attempt to remove it without first cur-
ing the disease from which it proceeds. Thus, when a cough is
occasioned by teething , keeping the body open, scarifying the
gums, or whatever facilitates the cutting of the teeth, likewise
appeases the cough. In like manner, when worms occasion a
cough, such medicines as remove these vermin will generally cure
the cough; as bitter purgatives, oily clysters, and such like.
Women, during the last months of pregnancy, are often greatly
afflicted with a cough, which is generally relieved by bleeding
and keeping the body open. They ought to avoid all flatulent
food, and to wear a loose easy dress.

OF THE WHOOPING OR CHIN COUGH.

This cough seldom affects adults, but proves often fatal to
children. Whatever hurts the digestion, obstructs the perspira-
tion, or relaxes the solids, disposes to this disease : consequent-
ly its cure must depend upon cleansing and strengthening the
stomach, bracing the solids, and, at the same time, promoting
perspiration and the different secretions.

CURE. — One of the most effectual remedies in the chin-
cough is change of air. This often removes the malady, even
when the change seems to be from a purer to a less wholesome
air. This may in some measure depend on the patient's being
removed from the place where the infection prevails. Most of
the diseases of children are infectious ; nor is it at all uncommon
to find the chin-cough prevailing in one town or village, when

191

And Family Dispensatory .

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another, at a very small distance, is quite free from it. But,
whatever be the cause, we are sure of the fact. No time
ought therefore to be lost in removing the patient to some
distance, from the place where he caught the disease, and,
if possible, into a more pure and warm air. When the dis-
ease proves violent, and the patient is in danger of being suf-
focated by the cough, he ought to be bled, especially if there
be a fever with a hard full pulse. But as the chief intention
of bleeding is to prevent an inflammation of the lungs, and to
render it more safe to give vomits, it will seldom be necessary
to» repeat the operation; yet, if there be symptoms of an in-
flammation of the lungs, a second, or even a third, bleeding
may be requisite. Vomits not only cleanse the stomach, which
in this disease is generally loaded with viscid phlegm, but they
likewise promote the perspiration and other secretions; and
ought therefore to be repeated according to the obstinacy of
the disease. They should not be strong ; gentle vomits fre-
quently repeated are less dangerous, and more beneficial, than
strong ones. Many people believe that oily, pectoral, and
balsamic, medicines, possess wonderful virtues for the cure of
the chin-cough, and accordingly exhibit them plentifully to pa-
tients of every age and constitution, without considering that
every thing of this nature must load the stomach, hurt the di-
gestion, and of course aggravate the disorder. The millepedes ,
or woodliee, are greatly recommended for the cure of a chin-
cough. Those, who choose to make use of these insects, may
infuse two ounces of them bruised in an English pint of small
white-wine for one night. Afterwards the liquor may be strain-
ed through a cloth, and a table spoonful of it given to the pa-
tient three or four times a-day. Opiates are sometimes neces-
sary to allay the violence of the cough. For this purpose a
little of the syrup of poppies, or five, six, or seven, drops of
laudanum, according to the age of the patient, may be taken in
a cup of hyssop or penny-royal tea, and repeated occasionally*

No. 26. 4 (t

192

Culpepper's English Physician ,

The garlic ointment is a well-known remedy in North Britain
for the chin-cough. It is made by beating in a mortar garlic
with an equal quantity of hog's lard. With this the soles of
the feet may be rubbed twice or thrice a-dav; but the best me-
thod is to spread it upon a rag, and apply it in the form of a
plaster. It should be renewed every night and morning at least,
as the garlic soon loses its virtue. This is an exceeding good
medicine both in the chin-cough and in most other coughs of an
obstinate nature. It ought not, however, to be used when the
patient is very hot or feverish, lest it should increase those
symptoms.

INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH.

An inflammation of the stomach may proceed from any of
the causes which produce an inflammatory fever ; as cold liquor
drunk while the body is warm, obstructed perspiration, or the
sudden striking in of any eruption. It is attended with a fixed
pain and burning heat in the stomach ; great restlessness and
anxiety; a small, quick, and hard, pulse; vomiting, or, at
least, a nausea and sickness; excessive thirst; coldness of the
extremities ; difficulty of breathing ; cold clammy sweats ; and
sometimes convulsions and fainting fits. The stomach is swell-
ed, and often feels hard to the touch. One of the most Certain
signs of this disease is the sense of pain, which the patient feels
upon taking any kind of food or drink, especially if it be either
too hot or too cold.

CURE. — All the acrimonious, heating, and irritating, food
and drink are carefully to be avoided. The weakness of the
patient may deceive the by-standers, and induce them to give
him wines, spirits, or other cordials; but these never fail to
increase the disease, and often occasion sudden death. The
inclination to vomit may likewise impose on the attendants, and
make them think a vomit necessary ; but that too is almost cer-
tain death. Bleeding is absolutely necessary, and is almost the

193

And Family Dispensatory .

only thing that can be depended on. When the disease proves
obstinate, it will often be proper to repeat this operation seve-
ral times, nor must the low state of the pulse deter us from do-
ing so. The pulse indeed generally rises upon bleeding, and,
as long as that is the case, the operation is safe. Frequent fo-
mentations with lukewarm water, or a decoction of emollient
vegetables, as recommended in the Herbal, are likewise bene-
ficial. Flannel cloths dipped in these must be applied to the
region of the stomach, and removed as they grow cool. In
this, and all other inflammations of the bowels, an epispastic,
or blistering-plaster, applied over the part affected, is one of
the best remedies known. The only internal medicines which
can with safety be recommended are mild clysters. These may
be made of warm water, or thin water-gruel; and, if the pa-
tient be costive, a little sweet oil, honey, or manna, may be add-
ed. Clysters answer the purpose of an internal fomentation,
while they keep the body open, and at the same time nourish
the patient, who is often in this disease unable to retain any
food upon his stomach. For these reasons they must not be
neglected, as the patient's life may depend on them.

INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES

I_ HIS is one of the most painful and dangerous diseases
that mankind is liable to. It generally proceeds from the same
causes as the inflammation of the stomach; to which may be
added costiveness, worms, eating unripe fruits, or great quan-
tities of nuts, drinking hard windy malt liquors, as stale bot-
tled beer or ale, sour wine, cider, &c. The inflammation of
the intestines is denominated iliac passion, enteritis , &c. accor-
ding to the name of the parts affected. The treatment how-
ever is nearly the same, whatever part of the intestinal canal be
the seat of the disease. The symptoms are nearly the same as
in the foregoing disease ; only the pain, if possible, is more
acute, and is situated lower. The vomiting is likewise more

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Culpeppers English Physician .

violent, and sometimes even the excrements, together with the
clysters and suppositories, are discharged by the mouth. While
the pain shifts, and the vomiting only returns at certain inter-
vals, and while the clysters pass downwards, there is ground
to hope; but, when the clysters and faeces are vomited, and
the patient is exceeding weak, with a low fluttering pulse, a
pale countenance, and a disagreeable or stinking breath, there
is great reason to fear that the consequences will prove fatal.
Clammy sweats, black foetid stools, with a small intermitting
pulse, and a total cessation of pain, are signs of a mortification
already begun, and of approaching death.

CURE. — Bleeding, in this as well as in the inflammation of
the stomach, is of the greatest importance. It should be per-
formed as soon as the symptoms appear, and must be repeated
according to the strength of the patient and the violence of
the disease. A blister is likewise to be applied immediately
over the part where the most violent pain is. This not only re-
lieves the pain of the bowels, but even clysters and purgative
medicines, which before had no effect, will operate when the
blisters begin to rise. The patient's feet and legs should fre-
quently be bathed in warm water, and cloths dipped in it appli-
ed to his belly. Bladders filled with warm water may likewise
be applied to the region of the navel, and warm bricks, or
bottles filled with warm water, to the soles of the feet. If the
disease does not yield to clysters and fomentations, recourse
must be had to pretty strong purgatives; but, as these, by ir-
ritating the bowels, often increase their contraction, and by
that means frustrate their own intention, it will be necessary to
join them with opiates, which, by allaying the pain, and relax-
ing the spasmodic contractions of the guts, greatly assist the
operation of purgatives in this case. What answers the purpose
of opening the body very well, is a solution of the bitter pur-
ging salts. Two ounces of these may be dissolved in an Eng-
lish pint of warm water, or thin gruel, and a teacup-full of it
.taken every half-hour till it operates. At the same time fifteen.

And Family Dispensatory .

195

twenty, or twenty-five, drops of laudanum may be given in a
glass of peppermint or simple cinnamon-water, to appease the
irritation, and prevent the vomiting, &c. But it often happens
that no liquid whatever will stay on the stomach. In this case
the patient must take purging pills. I have generally found the
following answer very well: Take jalap in powder, and vitrio-
lated tartar, of each half a dram; opium one grain; Castile
soap as much as will make the mass fit for pills. These must
be taken at one dose, and, if they do not operate in a few
hours, the dose may be repeated. If a stool cannot be pro-
cured by any of the above means, it will be necessary to im-
merse the patient in warm water up to the breast. This often
succeeds when other means have been tried in vain. The pa-
tient must continue in the water as long as he can easily bear
it without fainting; and, if one immersion has not the desired
effect, it may be repeated as soon as the patient's strength and
spirits are recruited. It is more safe for him to go frequent-
ly into the bath than to continue too long at a time ; and it is
often necessary to repeat it several times before it has the de-
sired effect. In desperate cases it is common to give quicksil-
ver. This may be given to the quantity of several ounces or
even a pound, but should not exceed that. When there is rea-
son to suspect a mortification of the guts, this medicine ought
not to be tried: in that case it cannot cure the patient, and
will only hasten his death. But, when the obstruction is oc-
casioned by any cause that can be removed by force, quicksil-
ver is not only a proper medicine, but the best that can be ad-
ministered, as it is the fittest body we know for making its way
through the intestinal canal.

OF THE CHOLIC.

HE cholic has a great resemblance to the two preceding
diseases, both in its symptoms and method of cure. It is gene-
rally attended with costiveness and acute pain of the bowels;

196 Culpepper s English Physician.

and requires diluting diet, evacuations, fomentations, &c. Cho-
lies are variously denominated, according to their canses, as
the flatulent , the bilious , the hysteric , the nervous , &c.

CURE. — When the disease proceeds from windy liquor,
green fruit, sour herbs, or the like, the best medicine on the
first appearance of the symptoms is a dram of brandy, gin, or
any good spirtts. The patient should likewise sit with his feet
upon a warm hearth-stone, or apply warm bricks to them ; and
warm cloths may be applied to his stomach and bowels. This
is the only cholic wherein ardent spirits, spiceries, or any thing
of a hot nature, may be ventured upon. Nor indeed are they
to be used here unless at the very beginning, before any symp-
toms of inflammation appear. The bilious cholic is attended
with very acute pains about the region of the navel. The pa-
tient complains of great thirst, and is generally costive. He
vomits a hot, bitter, yellow-coloured, bile, which, being dischar-
ged, seems to afford some relief, but is quickly followed by
the same violent pain as before. As the distemper advances,
the propensity to vomit sometimes increases so as to become
almost continual, and the proper motion of the intestines is so
far perverted, that there are all the symptoms of an impending
iliac passion. If the patient be young and strong, and the
pulse full and frequent, it will be proper to bleed, after which
clysters may be administered. Clear whey or gruel, sharpened
with the juice of lemon, or cream of tartar, must be drunk
freely: it will be necessary likewise to foment the belly with
cloths dipped in warm water ; and, if this should not succeed,
the patient must be immersed up to the breast in warm water.
In the bilious cholic the vomiting is often very difficult to res-
train. When this happens, the patient may drink a decoction
of toasted bread, or an infusion of garden-mint in boiling wa-
ter. Such as are liable to frequent returns of the bilious cho-
lic should use flesh sparingly, and live chiefly upon a light ve-
getable diet. They should likewise take frequently a dose of
cream of tartar w ith tamarinds, or any other cool acid purge.

197

And Family Dispensatory .

The hysteric cholic bears a great resemblance to the bilious. It
is attended with acute pains about the region of the stomach,
vomiting, &rc. But what the patient vomits in this case is com-
monly of a greenish colour. There is great sinking of the spi-
rits, with dejection of mind and difficulty of breathing, which
are the characteristic symptoms of this disorder. Sometimes it
is accompanied with the jaundice ; but this generally goes off
of its own accord in a few days. In this cholic all evacuations,
as bleeding, purging, vomiting, &c., do hurt. Every thing
that weakens the patient, or sinks the spirits, is to be avoided.
If however the vomiting should prove violent, lukewarm wa-
ter, or small posset, may be drunk to cleanse the stomach.
Afterwards the patient may take fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five,
drops of liquid laudanum in a glass of cinnamon-water. This
may be repeated every ten or twelve hours till the symptoms
abate. The nervous cholic prevails among miners, smelters of
lead, plumbers, the manufacturers of white lead, &c. It is
very common in the cider-counties of England, and is supposed
to be occasioned by the leaden vessels used in preparing that
liquor. No disease of the bowels is attended with more excru-
ciating pain than this. Nor is it soon at an end. I have known
it to continue eight or ten days with very little intermission, the
body all the while continuing bound in spite of medicine ; yet
at length yield, and the patient recover. It generally however
leaves the patient weak, and often ends in a palsy. The ge-
neral treatment of this disease is the same with that of the iliac
passion, or inflammation of the bowels.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

This disease may proceed from any of those causes which
produce an inflammatory fever. It may likewise be occasion-
ed by w ounds or bruises of the kidneys small stones or gravel
lodging within them ; by hard riding or walking, especially in
hot weather ; or whatever drives the blood too forcibly into the
kidneys, may occasion this malady.

198

Culpepper s English Physician ,

CURE. — Every thing of a heating or stimulating nature is to
be avoided. Emollient and thin liquors must be plentifully
drunk ; as clear whey, or balm tea sweetened with honey, de-
coctions of marsh-mallow roots, with barley and liquorice, &c.
Bleeding is generally necessary, especially at the beginning.
Ten or twelve ounces may be let from the arm or foot; and,
if the pain and inflammation continue, the operation may be
repeated in twenty-four hours, especially if the patient be of a
full habit. Leeches may likewise be applied to the hemorrhoi-
dal veins, as a discharge from these will greatly relieve the pa-
tient. Cloths dipped in warm water, or bladders filled* with it,
must be applied as near as possible to the part affected, and
renewed as they grow cool. If the bladder be filled with a
decoction of mallows and camomile-flowers, to which a little
saffron is added, and mixed with about a third part of new
milk, it will be still more beneficial. Emollient clysters ought
frequently to be administered ; and, if these do not open the
body, a little salt and honey or manna may be added to them.
The same course is to be followed where gravel or a stone is
lodged in the kidney ; but, when the gravel or stone is separated
from the kidney, and lodges in tire ureter, it will be proper,
besides the fomentations* to rub the small of the back with
sweet oil, and to give gentle diuretics; as juniper-water sweet-
ened with the syrup of marsh-mallows; a tea-spoonful of the
sweet spirits of nitre, with a few drops of laudanum, may now
and then be put up in a cup of the patient's drink. He ought
likewise to take exercise on horseback, or in a carriage, if he
be able to bear it.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.

The inflammation of the bladder proceeds, in a great mea-
sure, from the same causes as that of the kidnevs. It is known
by an acute pain towards the bottom of the belly, and difficul-

1.09

And Family Dispensatory .

ty of passing urine, with some degree of fever, a constant incli-
nation to go to stool, and a perpetual desire to make water.
This disease must be treated on the same principles as the one
immediately preceding. The patient should abstain from eve-
ry thing that is of a hot, acrid, and stimulating, quality, and
should live entirely upon small broths, gruels, or mild vegeta-
bles. But a stoppage of urine may proceed from other causes
besides an inflammation of the bladder; as a swelling of the
hsemorrhoidal veins ; hard faces lodged in the rectum ; a stone
in the bladder; excrescences in the urinary passages, a palsy
of the bladder, hysteric affections, &c. In all which cases,
mild and gentle applications are the safest; strong diuretic me-
dicines, or things of an irritating nature, generally increase the
danger. I have known some persons kill themselves by intro-
ducing probes into the urinary passages, to remove, as they
thought, somewhat that obstructed the discharge of urine ; and
others bring on a violent inflammation of the bladder, by using
strong diuretics, as oil of turpentine, &c., for that purpose.

INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER.

This disease is known by a painful tension of the right
side under the false ribs, attended with some degree of fever, a
sense of weight, or fulness of the part, difficulty of breathing,
loathing of food, great thirst, with a pale or yellowish colour
of the skin and eyes. This disease, if properly treated, is sel-
dom mortal. If it ends in a suppuration, and the matter can-
not be discharged outwardly, the danger is then great. When
the scirrhus of the liver ensues, the patient, if he observes, a
proper regimen, may nevertheless live a number of years; but,
if he indulge in animal food and strong liquors, or take medi-
cines of an acrid or irritating nature, the schirrhus will be con-
verted into a cancer, which must infallibly prove fatal.

CURE.— The same regimen is to be observed in this as in

No. 26. 4 H

200 Culpepper s English Physician.

other inflammatory disorders. All hot things are to be care-
fully avoided; and cool diluting liquors, as whey, barley-wa-
ter, &c., drunk freely. The food must be light and thin, and
the body, as well as the mind, kept easy and quiet. Bleeding
is proper at the beginning, and it will often be necessary, even
though the pulse should not feel hard, to repeat it. All vio-
lent purgatives are to be avoided ; the body however must be
kept gently open. A decoction of tamarinds, with a little ho-
ney or manna, will answer this purpose very well. The side
affected must be fomented in the manner directed in the fore-
going diseases. Mild laxative clysters should be frequently ad-
ministered; and, if the pain should notwithstanding continue
violent, a blistering-plaster may be applied over the part affect-
ed. Medicines which promote the secretion of urine have a
very good effect here. For this purpose, half a dram of purifi-
ed nitre, or a tea-spoonful of the sweet spirits of nitre, may be
taken in a cup of the patient's drink three or four times a-day.
All inflammations of the viscera must in general be treated up-
on the same principles as those already mentioned. The chief
rule with respect to all of them, is to let blood, to avoid every
thing that is strong, or of a heating nature, to apply warm fo-
mentations to the part affected, and to cause the patient to
drink a sufficient quantity of warm diluting liquors.

OF THE CHOLERA MORBUS.

The cholera morbus is a violent purging and vomiting, at-
tended with gripes, sickness, and a constant desire to go to
stool. It comes on suddenly, and is most common in autumn.
There is hardly any disease that kills more quickly than this,
when proper means are not used in due time for removing it.
It is generally preceded by the heart burn, sour belchings, and
flatulencies, with pain of the stomach and intestines. To these
succeed excessive vomiting, and purging of green, yellow or

And Family Dispensatory .

201

blackish, coloured bile, with a distension of the stomach, and
violent griping pains. There is likewise a great thirst, with a
very quick unequal pulse, and often a fixed acute pain about
the region of the navel. As the disease advances, the pulse
often sinks so low as to become quite imperceptible, the extre-
mities grow cold, or cramped, and are often covered with a
clammy sweat ; the urine is obstructed, and there is a palpita-
tion of the heart. Violent hiccup, fainting, and convulsions,
are the signs of approaching death.

CURE. — At the beginning of this disease, the efforts of na-
ture to expel the offending cause should be assisted, by promot-
ing the purging and vomiting. For this purpose the patient
must drink freely of diluting liquors; as whey, butter-milk,
warm-water, thin wathr-gruel, small posset, or, what is perhaps
preferable to any of them, very weak chicken broth. This
should not only be drunk plentifully to promote the vomiting,
but a clyster of it given every hour in order to promote the purg-
ing. Warm negus, or strong wine whey, will likewise be neces-
sary to support the patient’s spirits, and promote perspiration.
His legs should be bathed in warm water, and afterwards rub-
bed with flannel cloths, or wrapped in warm blankets, and warm
bricks applied to the soles of his feet. Flannels wrung out of
warm spiritous fomentations should likewise be applied to the
region of the stomach. When the violence of the disease is
over, to prevent a relapse, it will be necessary, for some time,
to continue the use of small doses of laudanum. Ten or twelve
drops may be taken in a glass of wine, at least twice a-day,
for eight or ten days. The patient’s food ought to be nourish-
ing, but taken in small quantities, and he should use moderate
exercise. As the stomach and intestines are generally much
weakened, an infusion of the bark, or bitter herbs, in small
wine, sharpened with the elixir of vitriol, may be drunk for
some time.

OF A DIARRHOEA, OR LOOSENESS.

AjL0OS£N£SS,

in many cases, is not to be considered as

202

Culpepper's English Physician ,

a disease, but rather as a salutary evacuation. It ought there-
fore never to be stopped unless when it continues too long, or
evidently weakens the patient.

CURE. — A looseness, occasioned by the obstruction of any
customary evacuation, generally requires bleeding. If that
does not succeed, other evacuations may be substituted in the
room of those which are obstructed. At the same time every
method is to be taken to restore the usual discharges, as not
only the cure of the disease, but the patient's life, may depend
on this. A diarrhoea, or looseness, which proceeds from vio-
lent passions or affections of the mind, must be treated with
the greatest caution. Vomits in this case are highly improper.
Nor are purges safe, unless they be very mild, and given in
small quantities. Opiates, and other anti-spasmodic medicines,
are most proper. Ten or twelve drops of liquid laudanum may
be taken in a cup of valerian or penny-royal tea, every eight or
ten hours, till the symptoms abate. Ease, cheerfulness, and
tranquillity of mind, are here of the greatest importance. When
a looseness proceeds from acrid or poisonous substances taken
into the stomach, the patient must drink large quantities of di-
luting liquors, with oil or fat broths, to promote vomiting and
purging. Afterwards, if there be reason to suspect that the
bowels are inflamed, bleeding will be necessary. Small doses
of laudanum may likewise be taken to remove their irritation.
From whatever cause a looseness proceeds, when it is found ne-
cessary to check it, the diet ought to consist of rice boiled with
milk, and flavoured with cinnamon.; rice-jelly; sago, with red
port; and the lighter sorts of flesh-meat roasted. The drink
may be thin water-gruel, rice-water, or weak broth made from
lean veal, or with a sheep’s head, as being more gelatinous
than mutton, beef, or chicken broth.

OF VOMITING.

Vomiting

may proceed from various causes ; as, excess

203

And Family Dispensatory .

■■——wii i!^igjgppggggiMgiggBraiBggMBgiigiiiBaiiia«gBi

in eating and drinking, foulness of the stomach, the acrimony
of the aliments, or a translation of the morbific matter of ul-
cers, of the gout, the erysipelas, or other diseases, to the sto-
mach and bowels.

CURE. — When vomiting proceeds from a foul stomach or
indigestion, it is not to be considered as a disease, but as the
cure of a disease. It ought therefore to be promoted by drink-
ing lukewarm water or thin gruel. If this does not put a stop
to the vomiting, a dose of ipecacuanha may be taken, and work-
ed off with weak camomile-tea. If vomiting proceeds from
weakness of the stomach, bitters will be of service. Peruvian
bark infused in wine or brandy, with as much rhubarb as will
keep the body gently open, is an excellent medicine in this
case. The elixir of vitriol is also a good medicine; it may be
taken in the dose of fifteen or twenty drops, twice or thrice
a-day, in a glass of wine or water. Habitual vomitings are
sometimes alleviated by making oysters a principal part of the
diet. A vomiting, which proceeds from acidities in the sto-
mach, is relieved by alkaline purges. The best medicine of
this kind is the magnesia alba, a tea-spoonful of which may be
taken in a dish of tea or a little milk, three or four times a-
day, or oftener if necessary, to keep the body open. I have
always found the saline draughts, taken in the act of efferve-
scence, of singular use in stopping a vomiting, from whatever
cause it proceeded. These may be prepared by dissolving a
dram of the salt of tartar in an ounce and a half of fresh le-
mon juice, and adding to it an ounce of peppermint- water, the
same quantity of simple cinnamon water, and a little white su-
gar. This draught must be swallowed before the effervescence
is quite over, and may be repeated every two hours, or often-
er, if the vomiting be violent.

OF THE DIABETES.

Jn a diabetes, the urine generally exceeds in quantity all the

204

Culpepper's English Physician ,

liquid food which the patient takes. It is thin and pale, of a
sweetish taste, and an agreeable smell. The patient has a con-
tinual thirst, with some degree of fever ; his mouth is dry, and
he spits frequently a frothy spittle. The strength fails, the
appetite decays, and the flesh wastes away till the patient is re-
duced to skin and bone. There is a heat of the bowels;
and frequently the loins, testicles, and feet, are swelled.

CURE. — This disease may generally be cured at the begin-
ning: but, after it has continued long, the cure becomes very
difficult. Every thing that stimulates the urinary passages, or
tends to relax the habit, must be avoided. For this reason the
patient should live chiefly on solid food. His thirst may be
quenched with acids; as sorrel, juice of lemon, or vinegar.
The mucilaginous vegetables, as rice, sago, and salop, with
milk, are the most proper food. Of animal substances, shell-
fish are to be preferred ; as oysters, crabs, &c. The drink
may be Bristol water, (a constant course of which has done
wonders in this disorder, and is reckoned a specific;) when
that cannot be obtained, lime water, in which a due proportion
of oak bark has been macerated, may be used. The patient
ought daily to take exercise, but it should be so gentle as not
to fatigue him. He should lie upon a hard bed or mattress.
Nothing hurts the kidneys more than lying too soft. Gentle
purges, if the patient be not too much weakened by the disease,
have a good eftect. They may consist of rhubarb, with carda-
num seed, or any other spiceries, infused in wine, and may
be taken in such quantity as to keep the body gently open.
The patient must next have recourse to astringents aud corro-
borants. Half a dram of powder, made of equal parts of alum
and the inspissated juice commonly called Terra Japonica, may
be taken four times a-day, or oftener, if the stomach will bear
it; otherwise, Peruvian bark steeped in red wine. Opiates are
of service in this disease, even though the patient rests well.
They take off spasm and irritation, and at the same time lessen
the force of the circulation. Ten o twelve drops of liquid lau-

And Family Dispsnsatory.

205

danum may be taken in a cup of the patient's drink three or
four times a-day.

OF A SUPPRESSION OF URINE.

A SUPPRESSION of urine may proceed from various cau-
ses ; as an inflammation of the kidneys or bladder, small stones
or gravel lodging in the urinary passages, hard faeces lying in
the rectum, pregnancy, a spasm or contraction of the neck of
the bladder, clotted blood in the bladder itself, a swelling of
the haemorrhoidal veins, &c.

CURE. — We would chiefly recommend, in all obstructions
of urine, fomentations and evacuants. Bleeding, as far as the
patient's strength will permit, is necessary, especially where
there are symptoms of topical inflammation. Bleeding in this
case not only abates the fever, by lessening the force of the
circulation, but, by relaxing the solids, it takes off the spasm
or stricture upon the vessels which occasioned the obstruction.
After bleeding, fomentations must be used. These may either
consist of warm water alone, or of decoctions of mild vegeta-
bles; as mallows, camomile-flowers, and such other herbs as
are recommended in the Herbal. Cloths dipped in these may
either be applied to the part affected, or a large bladder filled
with the decoction may be kept continually upon it. Persons
subject to a suppression of urine ought to live very temperate.
Their diet should be light, and their liquor diluting. They
should avoid all acids and austere wines ; should take sufficient
exercise, lie hard, and avoid study and sedentary occupa-
tions.

OF THE GRAVEL AND STONE.

The stone and gravel may be occasioned by high living;
the use of strong astringent wines ; a sedentary life ; lying too
hot, soft, or too much on the back ; the constant use of water

206

Culpepper s English Physician ,

impregnated with earthy or stony particles; aliments of an as-
tringent or windy nature, &c. It may likewise proceed from
an hereditary disposition. Persons in the decline of life, and
those who have been much afflicted with the gout or rheuma-
tism, are most liable to it.

CURE. — Persons afflicted with the gravel or stone should
avoid aliments of a windy or heating nature, as salt meats, sour
fruits, &c. The diet ought chiefly to consist of such things as
tend to promote the secretion of urine, and to keep the body
open. Artichokes, asparagus, spinage, lettuce, parsley, suc-
cory, purslane, turnips, potatoes, carrots, and radishes, may
be safely eaten. Onions, leeks, and celery, are, in this case,
reckoned medicinal. The most proper drinks are whey, but-
ter-milk, milk and water, barley-water; decoctions or infu-
sions of the roots of marsh-mallows, parsley, liquorice, or of
other mild mucilaginous vegetables, as linseed, lime-tree buds
or leaves, &e. If the patient has been accustomed to generous
liquors, he may drink small gin-punch without acid. In what
is called a fit of the gravel, which is commonly occasioned by
a stone sticking in the ureter or some part of the urinary passa-
ges, the patient must be bled; warm fomentations should like-
wise be applied to the part affected, emollient clysters adminis-
tered, and diluting mucilaginous liquors drunk, &c. The
treatment in this case must be the same as pointed out for an
inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, &c. Patients who
are subject to frequent fits of gravel in the kidneys, but have
no stone in the bladder, are advised to drink every morning,
two or three hours before breakfast, an English pint of oyster
or cockle shell lime-water; for, though this quantity might be
too small to have any sensible effect in dissolving a stone in the
bladder, yet it may very probably prevent its growth. When
a stone is formed in the bladder, Alicant soap, and oyster or
cockle shell lime-water, may be taken m the following manner:
The patient must swallow every day, in any form that is least
disagreeable, an ounce of the internal part of Alicant soap.

207

And Family Dispensatory .

and drink three or four English pints of oyster or cockle shell
lime-water. The soap is to be divided into three doses ; the
largest to be taken fasting in the morning early ; the second at
noon; and the third at seven in the evening; drinking with
each dose a large draught of the lime-water; the remainder of
which he may take any time betwixt dinner and supper, instead
of other liquors. The caustic alkali, or soap-lees, is the medi-
cine chiefly in vogue at present for the stone. It may be pre-
pared by mixing two parts of quick-lime with one of pot-ashes,
and suffering them to stand till the lixivium be formed, which
must be carefully filtrated before it be used. If the solution
does not happen readily, a small quantity of water may be ad-
ded to the mixture. The patient must begin with small doses
of the lees, as thirty or forty drops, and increase by degrees,
as far as the stomach will bear it.

OF INVOLUNTARY DISCHARGES OF BLOOD,

INVOLUNTARY discharges of blood are so far from be-
ing always dangerous, that they prove often salutary. When
such discharges are critical, which is frequently the case in fe-
vers, they ought not to be stopped. Nor indeed is it proper
at any time to stop them, unless they be so great as to endan-
ger the patient’s life. Most people, afraid of the smallest dis-
charge of blood from any part of the body, fly immediately to
the use of styptic and astringent medicines, by which means an
inflammation of the brain, or some other fatal disease, is occa-
sioned, which, had the discharge been allowed to go on, might
have been prevented. Periodical discharges of blood, from
whatever part of the body they proceed, must not be stopped.
They are always the efforts of nature to relieve herself; and
fatal diseases have often been the consequences of obstructing
them. It may indeed sometimes be necessary to check the
violence of such discharges ; but even this requires the greatest
caution. In the early period of life bleeding at the nose is

No 26. 4 I

208

Culpepper s English Physician,

very common. Those who are farther advanced in years are
more liable to hoemoptoe, or discharge of blood from the lungs.
After the middle period of life, hsemorrhoidal fluxes are most
common ; and, in the decline of life, discharges of blood from
the urinary passages. Bleeding at the nose, to persons who
abound with blood, is very salutary. It often cures a vertigo,
the head-ach, a phrenzy, and even an epilepsy. In fevers,
where there is a great determination of blood towards the
head, it is of the utmost service. It is likewise beneficial in in-
flammations of the liver and spleen, and often in the gout and
rheumatism. In all diseases where bleeding is necessary, a
spontaneous discharge of blood from the nose is of much more
service than the same quantity let with the lancet. Whenever
bleeding at the nose relieves any bad symptom, and does not
proceed so far as to endanger the patient’s life, it ought not to
be stopped. But, w hen it returns frequently, or continues till
the pulse becomes low, the extremities begin to grow cold, the
lips pale, or the patient complains of being sick and faint, it
must immediately be stopped.

CURE. — Let the patient be set nearly upright, with his
head reclining a little, and his legs immersed in water about
the warmth of new milk. His hands ought likewise to be put
in lukewarm water, and his garters may be tied a little tighter
than usual. Ligatures may be applied to the arms, about the
place where they are usually made for bleeding, and with near-
ly the same degree of tightness. These must be gradually
slackened as the blood begins to stop, and removed entirely as
soon as it gives over. Sometimes dry lint put up the nostrils
will stop the bleeding. When this does not succeed, dossils
of lint dipped in strong spirits of wine may be put up the nos-
trils ; or, if that cannot be had, they may be dipped in brandy.
If the genitals be immersed for some time in cold water, it will
generally stop a bleeding at the nose. I have seldom known
this fail.

And Family Dispensatory. 209

OF THE BLEEDING AND BUND PILES.

A DISCHARGE of blood from the haemorrhoidal vessels

is called the bleeding piles. When the vessels only swell, and

discharge no blood, but are exceeding painful, the disease is

called the blind piles. This discharge, however, is not always

to be treated as a disease. It is even more salutary than bleed-

•/

ing at the nose, and often prevents or carries off diseases. It
is peculiarly beneficial in the gout, rheumatism, asthma, and
hypochondriacal complaints, and often proves critical in cho-
lics and inflammatory fevers.

CURE. — In the management of the patient, regard must be
had to his habit of body, his age, strength, and manner of liv-
ing. A discharge, which might be excessive and prove hurt-
ful to one, may be very moderate, and even salutary, to ano-
ther. That only is to be esteemed dangerous which continues
too long, and in such quantity as to waste the patient's
strength, hurt the digestion, nutrition, and other functions ne-
cessary to life. The Peruvian bark is proper in this case, both
as a strengthener and astringent. Half a dram of it may be ta-
ken in a glass of red wine, sharpened with a few drops of the
elixir of vitriol, three or four times a-day. The bleeding piles
are sometimes periodical, and return regularly once a-month,
or once in three weeks. In this case they are always to be
considered as a salutary discharge, and by no means to be
stopped. In the blind piles, bleeding is generally of use. The
diet must be light and thin, and the drink cool and diluting. It
is likewise necessary that the body be kept gently open. When
the pik i are exceeding painful and swelled, but discharge no-
thing, the patient must sit over the steam of warm water. He
may likewise apply a linen cloth dipped in warm spirits of w ine
to the part, or poultices made of bread and milk, or of leeks
fried with butter. If these do not produce a discharge, and
the piles appear large, leeches must be applied as near them as

210 Culpeppers English Physician ,

possible, or, if they will fix upon the piles themselves, so much
the better. When leeches will not fix, the piles may be open-
ed with a lancet. The operation is very eas}^ and is attend-
ed with no danger. When the pain is very great, a liniment
made of two ounces of emollient ointment, and half an ounce
of liquid laudanum, beat up with the yolk of an egg, may be
applied.

SPITTING OF BLOOD.

IVERSONS of a slender make and a lax fibre, who have
long necks and strait breasts, are most liable to this disease.
It is most common in the spring, and generally attacks people
before they arrive at the prime or middle period of life. It is
a common observation, that those who have been subject to
bleeding at the nose when young are afterwards most liable to
this complaint. It is often occasioned by excessive drinking,
running, wrestling, singing, or speaking aloud. Such as have
weak lungs ought to avoid all violent exertions of that organ,
as they value life. They should likewise guard against violent
passions, excessive drinking, and every thing that occasions a
rapid circulation of the blood. It is often the effect of a long
and violent cough ; in which case it is generally the forerunner
of a consumption. Spitting of blood is not always to be consul-
ered as a primary disease. It is often only a symptom, and
in some diseases not an unfavourable one. This is the case in
pleurisies, peripneuinonies, and sundry other fevers. In a
dropsy, scurvy, or consumption, it is a bad symptom, and
shows that the lungs are ulcerated.

CURE. — This, like the other involuntary discharges of
blood, ought not to be suddenly stopped by astringent medi-
cines. It may however proceed so far as to weaken the patient,
and even endanger his life, in which case proper means must
be used for restraining it. The body should be kept gently
open by laxative diet, as roasted apples, stewed prunes, and

21*

And Family Dispensatory.

such like. If these should not have the desired effect, a tea-
spoonful of the lenitive electuary may be taken twice or thrice
a-day, as is found necessary. If the bleeding proves violent,
ligatures may be applied to the extremities, as directed for a
bleeding at the nose. If the patient be hot or feverish, bleed-
ing and small doses of nitre will be of use; a scruple or half a
dram of nitre may be taken in a cup of his ordinary drink
twice or thrice a-day. If stronger astringents be necessary,
fifteen or twenty drops of the acid elixir of vitriol may be given
in a glass of water three or four times a-day.

VOMITING OF BLOOD.

JTVlIS disease often proceeds from an obstruction of the
menses in women, and sometimes from the stopping of the he-
morrhoidal flux in men. It may be occasioned by any thing
that greatly stimulates or wounds the stomach, as strong vomits
or purges, acrid poisons, sharp or hard substances taken into
the stomach, &c. It is often the effect of obstructions in the
liver, the spleen, or some of the other viscera. It may like-
wise proceed from external violence, as blows or bruises, or
from any of the causes which produce inflammation. In hyste-
ric women, vomiting of blood is very common, but by no
means a dangerous symptom.

CURE. — A great part of the danger in this disease arises
from the extravasated blood lodged in the bowels, and becom-
ing putrid, by which means a dysentery or putrid fever may be
occasioned. The best way of preventing this, is to keep tbe
body gently open, by frequently exhibiting emollient clysters.
After the discharge is over, as the patient is generally troubled
with gripes, occasioned hv the acrimony of the blood lodged
in the intestines, gentle purges will be necessary.

OF BLOODY URINE.

r |\ ,,

1 HIS discharge is more or less dangerous, according to the

212

Culpepper’s English Physician ,

different circumstances which attend it. When pure blood is
voided suddenly, without interruption and without pain, it pro-
ceeds from the kidneys; but if the blood be in small quantity,
of a dark colour, and emitted with heat and pain about the
bottom of the belly, it proceeds from the bladder. Bloody
urine is always attended with some degree of danger; but it is
peculiarly so when mixed with purulent matter, as this shows
an ulcer somewhere in the urinary passages.

CURE. — When there is reason to suspect an ulcer in the
kidneys or bladder, the patient’s diet must be cool, and his
drink of a soft, healing, balsamic, quality, as decoctions of
marsh-mallow root with liquorice, solutions of gum-arabic, &c.
Three ounces of marsh mallow roots, and half an ounce of li-
quorice, may be boiled in two English quarts of water to one;
two ounces of gum-arabic, and half an ounce of purified nitre,
may be dissolved in the strained liquor, and a tea-cupful of it
taken four or five times a-day. The early use of astringents in
this disease has often bad consequences. When the flux is
stopped too soon, the grumous blood, by being confined in
the vessels, may produce inflammations, abcess, and ulcers.
If however the case be urgent, or the patient seems to suffer
from the loss of blood, gentle astringents may be necessary.
In this case the patient may take three or four ounces of lime-
water, with half an ounce of the tincture of Peruvian bark,

three times a-day.

%/

OF THE m CENTER/ Y, OR BLOODY FLUX.

rgi

L HIS disease is known by the flux of the belly, attended
with violent pain of the bowels, a constant inclination to go to
stool, and generally more or less blood in the stools. It be-
gins, like other fevers, with chillness, loss of strength, a quick
pulse, great thirst, and an inclination to vomit. The stools
are at first greasy or frothy, afterwards they are streaked with
blood, and, at last, have frequently the appearance of

213

And Family Dispensatory .

pure blood, mixed with small filaments, resembling bits of
skin.

CURE. — Nothing is of more importance in this disease than
cleanliness. It contributes greatly to the recovery of the pa-
tient, and no less to the safety of such as attend him. Every
thing about the patient should be frequently changed. The
excrements should never be suffered to continue in his
chamber, but should be removed immediately, and buried un-
der ground. A constant stream of fresh air should be admitted
into the chamber; and it ought frequently to be sprinkled with
vinegar, juice of lemon, or some other strong acid. At the
beginning of this disease it is always necessary to cleanse the
first passages; for this purpose a vomit of ipecacuanha must
be given, and worked off with camomile tea. Strong vo-
mits are seldom necessary here ; a scruple, or at most half a
dram, of ipecacuanha, is generally sufficient for an adult, and
sometimes a very few grains will suffice. The day after the
vomit, half a dram, or two scruples, of rhubarb, must be ta-
ken ; or, what will answer the purpose rather better, an ounce
or an ounce and a half of Epsom salts; this dose may be re-
peated every other day for two or three times. Afterwards
small doses of ipecacuanha may be taken for some time ; two
or three grains of the powder may be mixed in a table-spoon-
ful of the syrup of poppies, and taken three times aday. These
evacuations will often be sufficient to effect a cure. Should it
happen otwerwise, the following astringent medicines may be
used : A clyster of starch or fat mutton broth, with thirty or
forty drops of liquid laudanum in it, may be administered twice
a-day ; at the same time an ounce of gum-arabic, and half an
ounce of gum-tragacanth, may be dissolved in an English pint
of barley-water, over a slow fire, and a table- spoonful of it ta-
ken every hour. When dysenteries prevail, we would recom-
mend a strict attention to cleanliness, a spare use of animal
food, and the free use of sound ripe fruits and other vegeta-
bles. We would also advise such as are liable to them to take

214 Culpepper s English Physician ,

either a vomit or a purge every spring or autumn, as a preven-
tive.

OF THE JAUNDICE.

The immediate cause of the jaundice is an obstruction of
the biie. The patient at first complains of excessive weariness,
and has great aversion to every kind of motion. His skin is
dry, and he generally feels a kind of itching or pricking pain
over the whole body. If the patient be young, and the disease
complicated with no other malady, it is seldom dangerous; but
in old people, where it continues long, returns frequently, or
is complicated with the dropsy or hypochondriac symptoms, it
generally proves fatal. The black jaundice is more dangerous
than the yellow.

CURE. — The patient should take as much exercise as he
can bear, either on horseback, or in a carriage; walking, run-
ning, and even jumping, are likewise proper, provided he can
bear them without pain, and there be no symptoms of inflam-
mation. Patients have been often cured of this disease by a
long journey, after medicines had proved ineffectual. If the
patient be young, of a full sanguine habit, and complains of
pain in the right side about the region of the liver, bleeding
will be necessary. After this a vomit must be administered,
and, if the disease proves obstinate, it may be repeated once
or twice. No medicines are more beneficial in the jaundice
than vomits, especially w here it is not attended with inflamma-
tion; half a dram of ipecacuanha in powder wdl be a sufficient
dose for an adult; it may be worked off with weak camomile-
tea, or lukewarm water. Fomenting the parts about the region
of the stomach and liver, and rubbing them with a warm hand
or flesh-brush, are likewise beneficial; but it is still more so
for the patient to sit in a bath of warm w ater up to the breast.
He ought to do this frequently, and should continue in it as
long as his strength will permit. Numberless British herbs are

And Family Dispensatory.

215

»»««■

certain cures for this disease, as may be seen in the Herbal. I
have known considerable benefit, in a very obstinate jaundice,
from a decoction of hempseed : four ounces of the seed may be
boiled in two English quarts of ale, and sweetened with coarse
sugar ; the dose half a pint every morning, and may be continu-
ed for eight or nine days. A very obstinate jaundice has been
cured by swallowing raw eggs. Persons subject to the jaun-
dice ought to take as much exercise as possible, and to avoid
all heating and astringent aliments. If it attacks maidens after
the age of puberty, marriage is a certain cure.

OF THE DROPSY.

The dropsy is often owing to an hereditary disposition, and
often to a jaundice badly cured ; it may likewise proceed from
drinking ardent spirits, or other strong liquors. It is true al-
most to a proverb, that great drinkers die of a dropsy. The
want of exercise is also a very common cause of the dropsy;
hence it is justly reckoned among the diseases of the sedentary.
It often proceeds from excessive evacuations, as frequent and co-
pious bleedings, strong purges often repeated, frequent saliva-
tions, &c. The sudden stoppage of customary or necessary,
evacuations, as the menses, the haemorrhoids, fluxes of the belly,
and, in short, whatever obstructs the perspiration, or prevents
the blood from being duly prepared, occasions a dropsy. It gen-
erally begins with a swelling of the feet and ancles towards night,
which, for some time, disappears in the morning. In the even-
ing the parts, if pressed w ith the finger, will pit. The swelling
gradually ascends, and occupies the trunk of the body, the arms,
and the head. Afterwards the breathing becomes difficult, the
urine is in small quantity, and the thirst great ; the body is bound,
and the perspiration is greatly obstructed. To these succeed tor-
por, heaviness, a slow w asting fever, and a troublesome cough.
This last is generally a fatal symptom, as it show's that the lungs
are aflected. When the disease comes suddenly on, and the pa-

No. 27. 4 k

216 Culpepper's English Physician ,

tient is young and strong, there is reason to hope for a cure, es-
pecially if medicine be given early. But, if the patient be old,
has led an irregular or a sedentary life, or if there be reason to
suspect that the liver, lungs, or any of the viscera, are unsound,
there is great ground to fear that the consequences will prove fa-
tal.

CURE. — The patient must abstain, as much as possible, from
all drink, especially weak and watery liquors, and must quench
his thirst with mustard whey, or acids, as juice of lemons, oran-
ges, sorrel, or such like. His aliment ought to be dry, of a sti-
mulating and diuretic quality, as toasted bread, the flesh of birds,
or other wild animals, roasted : pungent and aromatic vegetables,
as garlic, mustard, onions, cresses, horse-radish, rocambole, sha-
lot, &c. He may also eat sea-biscuit dipt in wine or a little brandy.
This is not only nourishing, but tends to quench thirst. Some
have been actually cured of a dropsy by a total abstinence from
all liquids, and living entirely upon such things as are mentioned
above. If the patient must have drink, the Spa water, or Rhenish
wine, with diuretic medicines infused in it, are the best. Exercise
is of the greatest importance in a dropsy. If the patient be able
to walk, dig, or the like, he ought to continue these exercises
as long as he can. If he is not able to walk or labour, he must
ride on horseback, or in a carriage, and the more violent the mo-
tion so much the better, provided he can bear it. If the disease
has come on suddenly, it may generally be removed by strong vo-
mits, brisk purges, and such medicines as promote a discharge by
sweat and urine. For an adult, half a dram of ipecacuanha in
powder, and half an ounce of oxymel of squills, will be a proper
vomit. This may be repeated as often as is found necessary, three
or four days intervening between the doses. The patient must
not drink much after taking the vomit, otherwise he destroys its
effect. A cup or t wo of camomile-tea will be sufficient to work it
off. Betwixt each vomit, on one of the intermediate days, the pa-
tient may take the following purge : Jalap in powder half a d ram,
cream of tartar two drachms, calomel six grains. These may be

And Family Dispensatory .

217

made into a bolus with a little syrup of pale roses, and taken ear-
ly in the morning. The less the patient drinks after it the better.
If he be much griped, he may take now and then a cup of chick-
en-broth. The patient may likewise take every night at bed-time
the following bolus; To four or five grains of camphor add one
grain of opium, and as much syrup of orange-peel as is sufficient
to make them into a bolus. This will generally promote a gentle
sweat, which should be encouraged by drinking now and then a
small cup of white-wine whey, with a tea-spoonful of the spirits of
hartshorn in it. A tea-cupful of the following diuretic infusion
may likewise be taken every four or five hours through the day :
Take juniper berries, mustard-seed, and horse-radish, of each
half an ounce, ashes of broom half a pound; infuse them in a
quart of Rhenish wine or strong ale for a few days, and after-
wards strain off the liquor. Such as cannot take this infusion,
mav use the decoction of seneka-root, which is both diuretic and
sudorific. I have known an obstinate anasarca cured by an in-
fusion of the ashes of broom in wine. The above course will of-
ten cure an incidental dropsy, if the constitution be good ; but,
w hen the disease proceeds from a bad habit, or an unsound state
of the viscera, strong purges and vomits are not to be ventured
upon. In this case, the safer course is to palliate the symptoms
by the use of such medicines as promote the secretions, and to
support the patient’s strength by warm and nourishing cordials.
The secretion of urine may be greatly promoted by nitre.
Brookes says, he knew a young woman who was cured of a dropsy
by taking a dram of nitre every morning in a draught of ale, after
she had been given over as incurable ; and a large spoonful of un-
bruised mustard-seed taken every night and morning, and drink-
ing half a pint of the decoction of the tops of green broom after if,
has performed cures when other powerful medicines have proved
ineffectual. When the disease does not evidently and speedily
give w ay to purgative and diuretic medicines, the water ought to
be let off by tapping. This is a very simple and safe operation,
and would often succeed if it were performed in due time ; but.

218

Culpepper s English Physician,

if it be delayed till the humours are vitiated, or the bowels spoiled
by long soaking in water, it can hardly be expected thatany per-
manent relief will be procured. After the evacuation of the wa-
ter, the patient is to be put on a course of strengthening medi-
cines; as the Peruvian bark, the elixir of vitriol, warm aroma-
tics, with a due proportion of rhubarb infused in wine, and such
like.

OF THE GOUT.

There is no disease which shows the imperfection of medi-
cine, or sets the advantages of temperance and exercise in a stron-
ger light, than the gout. Excess and idleness are the true sources
from whence it originally sprang, and all who would avoid it must
be active and temperate. As there are no medicines yet known
that will cure the gout, we shall confine our observations chiefly
to regimen, both in and out of the fit. In the fit, if the patient
be young and strong, his diet ought to be thin and cooling, and
his drink of a diluting nature ; but where the constitution is weak,
and the patient has been accustomed to live high, this is not a pro-
per time to retrench. In this case he must be kept nearly to his
usual diet, and should take frequently a cup of strong negus, ora
glass of generous wine.. Wine-whey is a very proper drink in
this case, as it promotes the perspiration without greatly heating
the patient. It will answer this purpose better if a tea-spoonful
of sal volatile oleosnm, or spirits of hartshorn, be put into a cup
of it twice a-day . It will likewise be proper to give at bed-time
a tea-spoonful of the volatile tincture of guaiacum in a large
draught of warm wine-whey. This will greatly promote perspi-
ration through the night. As the most safe and efficacious method
of discharging the gouty matter is by perspiration, this ought to
be kept up by all means, especially in the affected part. For this
purpose the leg and foot should be wrapped in soft flannel, fur,
or wool. The last is most readily obtained, and seems to answer
the purpose better than any thing else. The people of Lancashire

And Family Dispensatory .

219

look upon wool as a kind of specific in the gout. They wrap a
great quantity of it about the leg and foot affected, and cover it
with a skin of soft dressed leather. The wool which they use is
generally greased, and carded or combed. They chuse the soft*
est which can be had, and seldom or never remove it till the fit be
entirely gone off. All external applications that repel the matter
are to be avoided as death. They do not cure the disease, but re*
move it from a safer to a more dangerous part off the body, where
it often proves fatal. Many things will shorten a fit of the gout,
and some will drive it off altogether ; but nothing has yet been
found which will do this with safety to the patient. In pain we
eagerly grasp at any thing that promises immediate ease, and
even hazard life itself for a temporary relief. This is the true rea-
son why so many infallible remedies have been proposed for the
gout, and why such numbers have lost their lives by the use of
them. It would be as imprudent to stop the small-pox from rising,
and to drive it into the blood, as to attempt to repel the gouty
matter after it has been thrown upon the extremities. The latter
is as much an effort of nature to free herself from an offending
cause as the former, and ought equally to be promoted. When the
pain however is very great, and the patient is restless, thirty or
forty drops of laudanum, more or less, according to the violence
of the symptoms, may be taken at bed-time. This will ease the
pain, procure rest, promote perspiration, and forward the crisis
of the disease. Though it may be dangerous to stop a fit of the
gout by medicine, yet if the constitution can be so changed by
diet and exercise, as to lessen or totally to prevent its return, there
certainly can be no danger in following such a course. It is well
known that the whole habit may be so altered by a proper regi-
men, as nearly to eradicate this disease ; and those only who have
sufficient resolution to persist in such a course, have reason to ex-
pect a cure. The course which we would recommend for prevent-
ing the gout, is as follows ; in the first place, universal temper-
ance ; in the next place, sufficient exercise. By this we do not
mean sauntering about in an indolent manner ; but labour, sweat

220 Culpepper s English Physician ,

and toil. These only can render the humours wholesome, and
keep them so. Going early to bed, and rising betimes, are also of
great importance. When the gout attacks the head or lungs,
every method must be taken to fix it in the feet. They must be fre-
quently bathed in warm water, and acrid cataplasms applied to
the soles. Blisters ought likewise to be applied to the ancles or
calves of the legs. Bleeding in the feet or ancles is also neces-
sary, and warm stomachic purges. The patient ought to keep
in bed for the most part, if there be any signs of inflammation,
and should be very careful not to catch cold. If it attacks the
stomach with a sense of cold, the most warm cordials are nec-
essary ; as strong wine boiled up with cinnamon or other spices,
cinnamon-water, peppermint-water, and even brandy or rum.
The patient should keep his bed, and endeavour to promote a
sweat by drinking warm liquors ; and, if he should be troubled
with nausea, or inclination to vomit, he may drink camomile
tea, or any thing that will make him vomit freely. Those who
never had the gout, but who, from their constitution or manner
of living, have reason to expect it, ought likewise to be very
circumspect with regard to its first approach. If the disease,
by wrong conduct or improper medicines, be diverted from its
proper course, the miserable patient has a chance to be ever
after tormented with head-achs, coughs, pains of the stomach
and intestines ; and to fall, at last, a victim to its attack upon
some of the more noble parts.

OF THE RHEUMATISM.

The causes of a rheumatism are frequently the same as
those of an inflammatory fever ; viz. an obstructed
perspiration, the immoderate use of strong liquors, and the
like. Sudden changes of the weather, and all quick tran-
sitions from heat to cold, are very apt to occasion the
rheumatism. The acute rheumatism commonly begins with
weariness, shivering, a quick pulse, restlessness, thirst, and

221

And Family Dispensatory .

other symptoms of fever. Afterwards the patient complains of
flying Pai°s, which are increased by the least motion. These
at length fix in the joints, which are often affected with swell-
ing and inflammation. If blood be let in this disease, it has
generally the same appearance as in the pleurisy. In this kind
of rheumatism the treatment of the patient is nearly the same as
in an acute or inflammatory fever. If he be young and strong,
bleeding is necessary, which may be repeated according to the
exigencies of the case. The body ought likewise to be kept
open by emollient clysters, or cool opening liquors ; as decoc-
tions of tamarinds, cream of tartar, whey, senna-tea, and the
like. Warm bathing, after proper evacuations, has often an
exceeding good effect. The patient may be either put into a bath
of warm water, or have cloths wrung out of it applied to the
part affected. Great care must be taken that he do not catch
cold after bathing. The chronic rheumatism is seldom attend-
ed with any considerable degree of fever, and is generally con-
fined to some particular part of the body, as the shoulders, the
back, or the loins. There is seldom any inflammation or swell-
ing in this case. Persons in the decline of life are most sub-
ject to the chronic rheumatism. In such patients it often proves
extremely obstinate, and sometimes incurable. Though this
disease may not seem to yield to medicines for some time, yet
they ought to be persisted in. Persons who are subject to fre-
quent returns of the rheumatism, will often find their account
in using medicines, whether they be immediately affected with
the disease or not. The chronic rheumatism is similar to the
gout in this respect, that the most proper time for using medi-
cines to extirpate it, is when the patient is most free from the
disorder. There are several of our plants pointed out in the
Herbal which may be used with great advantage in the rheuma-
tism. One of the best is the white mustard ; a table-spoonful
of the seed of this plant may be taken twice or thrice a-day, in
a glass of water or small wine. The water-trefoil is likewise of
great use in this complaint; it may be infused in wine or ale,

222 Culpepper s English Physician ,

or drunk in form of tea. The ground-ivy, camomile, and se-
veral other bitters, are also beneficial, and may be used in the
same manner. No benefit is however to be expected from
these, unless they be taken for a considerable time. Excellent
medicines are often despised in this disease, because they do
not perform an immediate cure ; whereas nothing would be
more certain than their effect, were they duly persisted in.
Want of perseverance in the use of medicines is one reason w hy
chronic diseases are so seldom cured. Cold bathing, especially
in salt water, often cures the rheumatism. We would also re-
commend riding on horseback, and wearing flannel next the
skin. Issues are likewise very proper, especially in chronic
cases. If the pain affects the shoulders, an issue may be made
in the arm ; but, if it affects the loins, it should be put in the
leg or thigh.

OF THE SCURVY.

The scurvy is occasioned by cold moist air; by the long
use of salted or smoke-dried provisions, or any kind of food
that is hard of digestion, and affords little nourishment. It may
also proceed from the suppression of customary evacuations, as
the menses, the haemorrhoidal flux, &c. It is sometimes ow-
ing to an hereditary taint, in which case a very small cause
will excite the latent disorder. Grief, fear, and other depress-
ing passions, have a great tendency both to excite and aggra-
vate this disease. The same observation holds with regard to
neglect of cleanliness, bad clothing, the want of proper exer-
cise, confined air, unwholesome food, or any disease which
greatly weakens the body or vitiates the humours.

CURE. — There is no way of curing this disease so effectual-
ly, as by pursuing a plan directly opposite to that which brings
it on. It proceeds from a vitiated state of the humours, occa-
sioned by errors in diet, air, or exercise; and this cannot be
removed but by a proper attention to these important articles.

And Family Dispensatory. 223

When the scurvy has been brought on by a long use of salted
provisions, the proper medicine is a diet consisting chiefly of
fresh vegetables; as oranges, apples, lemons, limes, tamarinds,
water-cresses, scurvy-grass, brook-lime, &c. The use of these,
with milk, pot-herbs, new bread, and fresh beer or cider, will
seldom fail to remove a scurvy of this kind, if taken before it
be too far advanced ; but to have this effect, they must be per-
sisted in for a considerable time. I have often seen very ex-
traordinary effects in the land-scurvy from a milk diet. This
preparation of nature is a mixture of animal and vegetable pro-
perties, which of all others is the most fit for restoring a decay-
ed constitution, and removing that particular acrimony of the
humours, which seems to constitute the very essence of the
scurvy, and many other diseases. But people despise this
wholesome and nourishing food, because it is cheap, and de-
vour with greediness flesh and fermented liquors, while milk is
only deemed fit for their hogs. The most proper drink in the
scurvy is whey or butter-milk. When these cannot be had,
sound cider, perry, or spruce beer, may be used. Wort has
likewise been found to be a proper drink in the scurvy, and
may be used at sea, as malt will keep during the longest voy-
age. A decoction of the tops of the spruce fir is likewise pro-
per; it may be drunk in the quantity of an English pint twice
a day. Tar-water may be used for the same purpose, or de-
coctions of any of the mild mucilaginous vegetables ; sarsapa-
rilla, marsh-mallow-roots, &c. Infusions of the bitter plants,
as ground-ivy, the smaller centaury, marsh-trefoil, &c. are
likewise beneficial. The peasants, in some parts of Britain,
express the juice of the last mentioned plant, and drink it with
good effect in those foul scorbutic eruptions with which they
are often troubled in the spring season.

1 < ' £ '• <■ * ' • ' */ * - T * , ■. , • J f t I ' y * • \ v ? f « i £

v * *" . ■ . . .1 - *■*' — •**■'’ * * * ‘ A *

OF THE SCROPHULA, OR KING’S EVIL.

This disease proceeds often from an hereditary taint, from
No. 27. 4 l

224

Culpepper's English Physician ,

a scroplmlous nurse, &c. Children who have the misfortune
to be born of sickly parents, whose constitutions have been
greatly injured by chronic diseases, are apt to be affected with
the serophula. It may likewise proceed from such diseases as
weaken the habit or vitiate the humours, as the small-pox,
measles, &c. At first small knots appear under the chin or
behind the ears, which gradually increase in number and size,
till they form one large hard tumour. This often continues for
a long time without breaking, and, when it does break, it on-
ly discharges a thin watery humour. Other parts of the body
are likewise liable to its attack, as the armpits, groins, feet,
hand, eyes, breast, &c. The white swellings of the joints
seem likewise to be of this kind. They are with difficulty
brought to a suppuration, and, when opened, they only dis-
charge a thin ichor. There is not a more general symptom
of the serophula than a swelling of the upper lip and nose.

CURE.- — In this complaint medicine is but of little use. It
has been found, that keeping the body gently open, for some
time, with sea-water, has a good effect. Bathing in salt wa-
ter, and drinking it in such quantities as to keep the body gen-
tly open, will cure a serophula, when medicines have been tri-
ed in vain. When salt water cannot be obtained, the patient
may be bathed in fresh water, and his body kept open by small
quantities of salt and water, or some other mild purgative.
Next to cold bathing, and drinking the salt water, we would
recommend the Peruvian bark. The cold bath may be used in
summer, and the bark in winter. To an adult half a dram of
the bark in powder may be given, in a glass of red wine, four
or five times a day. Hemlock may sometimes be used with ad-
vantage in the serophula. Some lay it down as a general rule,
that the sea water is most proper before there are any suppura-
tion or symptoms of tabes ; the Peruvian bark, when there are
running sores, and a degree of hectic fever; and the hemlock
in old inveterate cases, approaching to the schirrhous or can-
cerous state. Either the extract or the fresh juice of this plant

And Family Dispensatory. 225

may be used. The dose must be small at first, and increased
gradually as far as the stomach is able to bear it

OF THE ITCH.

The itch is seldom a dangerous disease, unless when it Is
rendered so by neglect or improper treatment. If it be suffer-
ed to continue too long, it may vitiate the whole mass of hu-
mours; and if it be suddenly thrown in, without proper evacu-
ations, it may occasion fevers, inflammations of the viscera, or
other internal disorders.

CURE. — The best medicine yet known for the itch is sul-
phur, which ought to be used both externally and internally.
The parts most affected may be rubbed with an ointment made
of the flour of sulphur, two ounces; crude sal ammoniac, fine-
ly powdered, two drams; hogVlard, or butter, four ounces.
If a scruple or half a dram of the essence of lemon be added,
it will entirely take away the disagreeable smell. About the
bulk of a nutmeg of this may be rubbed upon the extremities,
at bed-time, twice or thrice a week. It is seldom necessary to
rub the whole body ; but, when it is, it ought not to be done
all at once, but by turns, as it is dangerous to stop too many
pores at the same time. Before the patient begins to use
the ointment, he ought, if he be of a full habit, to bleed or
take a purge or two. It will likewise be proper, during the
use of it, to take every night and morning as much of the flour
of brimstone and cream of tartar, in a little treacje or new
milk, as will keep the body gently open. I never knew brim-
stone, when used as directed above, fail to cure the itch; and
I have reason to believe, that, if duly persisted in, it never
will fail : but, if it be only used once or twice, and cleanliness
be neglected, it is no wonder if the disorder returns. The quan-
tity of ointment mentioned above will generally be sufficient for
the cure of one person; but, if any symptoms of the disease
should appear again, the medicine may be repeated. It is both

226 Culpepper s English Physician ,

more safe and efficacious when persisted in for a considerable
4ime, than when a large quantity is applied at once. As most
people dislike the smell of sulphur, they may use in its place
the powder of white hellebore root made up into an ointment,
in the same manner, which will seldom fail to cure the itch.
People ought to be extremely cautious lest they take other
eruptions for the itch,; as the stoppage of these may be attend-
ed with fatal consequences. Many of the eruptive disorders
to which children are liable have a near resemblance to this
disease; and I have often known infants killed by being rub-
bed with greasy ointments, that made these eruptions strike
suddenly in, which nature had thrown out to preserve the pa-
tient's life, or prevent some other malady.

OF THE ASTHMA.

The asthma is a disease of the lungs, which seldom admits
of a cure. Persons in the decline of life are most liable to it.
It is distinguished into the moist and dry, or humoral and ner-
vous. The former is attended with expectoration or spitting;
but in the latter the patient seldom spits, unless sometimes a
little tough phlegm by the mere force of coughing. An asthma
is known by a quick laborious breathing, which is generally
performed with a kind of wheezing noise. Sometimes the diffi-
culty of breathing is so great, that the patient is obliged to
keep in an erect posture, otherwise he is in danger of being
suffocated. A fit or paroxysm of the asthma generally happens
after a person has been exposed to cold easterly winds, or has
been abroad in thick foggy weather, or has got wet, or continu-
ed long in a damp place under ground, &c.

CURE. — All windy food, and whatever is apt to swell in
the stomach, is to be avoided. Strong liquors of all kinds,
especially malt liquor, are hurtful. The patient should eat a
very light supper, or rather none at all, and should never suf-
fer himself to be long costive. His clothing should be warm.

And Family Dispensatory.

227

especially in the winter-season. As all disorders of the breast
are much relieved by keeping the feet warm, and promoting
the perspiration, a flannel shirt or waistcoat, and thick shoes,
will be of singular service. But nothing is of so great impor-
tance in the asthma, as pure and moderately warm air. Many
asthmatic persons, who cannot live in Britain, enjoy very good
health in the south of France, Portugal, Spain, or Italy. Ex-
ercise is likewise of very great importance in the asthma, as it
promotes the digestion, preparation of the blood, &c. The
blood of asthmatic persons is seldom duly prepared, owing to
the proper action of the lungs being impeded. For this reason
such people ought daily to take as much exercise, either on
foot, on horseback, or in a carriage, as they can bear. Al-
most all that can be done by medicine in this disease, is to re-
lieve the patient when seized with a violent fit. Bleeding, un-
less extreme weakness or old age should forbid it, is highly pro-
per. If there be a violent spasm about the breast or stomach,
warm fomentations, or bladders filled with warm milk and w a-
ter, may be applied to the part affected, and warm cataplasms
to the soles of the feet. The patient must drink freely of dilut-
ing liquors, and may take a tea-spoonful of the tincture of cas-
tor and of saffron mixed together, in a cup of valerian tea,
twice or thrice a day. Sometimes a vomit has a very good ef-
fect, and snatches the patient, as it were, from the jaws of
death. This, however, wall be more safe after other evacua-
tions have been premised. A very strong infusion of roasted
coffee is said to give ease in an asthmatic paroxysm. In the
moist asthma, such things as promote expectoration or spitting
ought to be used ; as the syrup of squills, gum-ammoniac, and
such like. A common spoonful of the syrup of oxymel of
squills, mixed with an equal quantity of cinnamon-water, may
be taken three or four times through the day; and four or five
pills, made of equal parts of assafoetida and gum-ammoniac,
at bed-time. Large doses of aether have been found very effi-
cacious in removing a fit of the asthma. For the convulsive or

228 Culpepper s English Physician ,

nervous asthma, antispasmodics and bracers are the most pro-
per medicines. The patient may take a tea-spoonful of the
paregoric elixir twice a day. The Peruvian bark is sometimes
found to be of use in this case. It may be taken in substance,
or infused in wine. In short, every thing that braces the nerves,
or takes off spasm, may be of use in a nervous asthma. It is
often relieved by the use of asses' milk ; I have likewise known
cow's milk drunk warm in the morning have a good effect in
this case. In every species of asthma, setons and issues are of
great service; they may either be put in the back or side, and
should never be allowed to dry up. We shall here, once for
all, observe, that not only in the asthma, but in most chronic
diseases, issues are etxremely proper. They are both a safe
and an efficacious remedy ; and, though they do not al-
ways cure the disease, yet they will often prolong the patient's
life.

OF THE APOPLEXY,

m

JL HE immediate cause of an apoplexy is a compression of
the brain, occasioned by an excess of blood, or a collection of
watery humours. The former is called a sanguine , and the
latter a serous , apoplexy. It may be occasioned by any thing
that increases the circulation towards the brain, or prevents
the return of the blood from the head; intense study, violent
passions, suppression of urine, excess of venery, the sudden
striking-in of any eruption, wounds or bruises on the head,
long exposure to excessive cold, poisonous exhalations, &c.

CURE. — The usual forerunners of an apoplexy are giddi-
ness, pain and swimming of the head, loss of memory, drowsi-
ness, noise in the ears, the night-mare, a spontaneous flux of
tears, and laborious respiration. When persons have reason
to fear the approach of a fit, they should endeavour to prevent
it by bleeding, a slender diet, and opening medicines. In the
apoplexy, if the patient does not die suddenly, the countenance

229

And Family Dispensatory .

mmmmmmsmmmmmmBBmBBmmBommamammmmmmmmmmti

appears florid, the face is swelled or puffed up, and the blood-
vessels, especially about the neck and temples, are turgid ; the
pulse beats strong, the eyes are prominent and fixed, and the
breathing is difficult, and performed with a snorting noise.
The excrements and urine are often voided spontaneously, and
the patient is sometimes seized with vomiting. In this stage,
every method must be taken to lessen the force of the circula-
tion towards the head. The garters should be tied pretty tight,
by which means the motion of the blood from the lower extre-
mities will be retarded. The patient should be bled freely in
the neck or arm, and, if there be occasion, the operation may
be repeated in two or three hours. A laxative clyster, with
plenty of sweet oil, or fresh butter, and a spoonful or two of
common salt in it, may be administered every two hours ; and
blistering plasters applied betwixt the shoulders and to the
calves of the legs. As soon as the symptoms are a little abated,
and the patient is able to swallow, he ought to drink freely of
some diluting opening liquors, as a decoction of tamarinds and
liquorice, cream-tartar whey, or common whey with cream
of tartar dissolved in it. Or he may take any cooling purge,
as Glauber's salts, manna dissolved in an infusion of senna, or
the like. All spirits and other strong liquors are to be avoid-
ed. Even volatile salts held to the nose do mischief. Vomits,
for the same reason, ought not to be given, nor any thing that
may increase the motion of the blood toward the head. When
apoplectic symptoms proceed from opium, or other narcotic
substances taken into the stomach, vomits are necessary. The
patient is generally relieved as soon as he has discharged the
poison in this way.

OF THE HEART BURN.

What is commonly called the heart-burn is not a disease
of that organ, but an uneasy sensation of heat or acrimony
about the pit of the stomach, which is sometimes attended

230

Culpepper s English Physician ,

with anxiety, nausea, and vomiting. When the heart-burn
proceeds from debility of the stomach or indigestion, the pa-
tient ought to take a dose or two of rhubarb; afterwards he
may use infusions of the Peruvian bark, or any other of the
stomachic bitters, in wine or brandy. Exercise in the open air
will likewise be of use, and every thing that promotes diges-
tion. When bilious humours occasion the heart-burn, a tea-
spoonful of the sweet spirit of nitre in a glass of water, or a
cup of tea, will generally give ease. If it proceeds from the
use of greasy aliments, a dram of brandy or rum may be taken.
If acidity or sourness of the stomach occasions the heart-burn,
absorbents are the proper medicines. In this case, an ounce
of powdered chalk, half an ounce of fine sugar, and a quarter
of an ounce of gum-arabic, may be mixed in an English
quart of water, and a tea-cupful of it taken as is necessary.
But the safest and best absorbent is magnesia alba. This
not only acts as an absorbent, but likewise as a purgative;
whereas chalk, and other absorbents of that kind, are apt
to lie in the intestines, and oecasion obstructions. If wind
be the cause of this complaint, the most proper medicines
are those called carminatives ; as aniseeds, juniper-berries, gin-
ger, canella alba, cardamom- seed s* &c. These may either be
chewed, or infused in wine, brandy, or other spirits. I have fre-
quently known the heart burn cured, particularly in pregnant
women, by chewing green tea.

OF NERVOUS DISEASES.

^^TeRVOUS diseases not only affect the body, but the mind
likewise suffers, and is often thereby rendered extremely weak
and peevish. The low spirits, timorousness, melancholy, and
fickleness of temper, which generally attend nervous disorders,
induce many to believe, that they are entirely diseases of the
mind ; but this change of temper is rather a consequence, than
the cause, of the disease. Every thing that tends to relax or

231

And Family Dispensatory,

weaken the body disposes it to nervous diseases, as indolence,
excessive venery, drinking too much tea, or other weak watery
liquors, frequent bleeding, purging, vomiting, &c.

CURE. — Persons afflicted with nervous diseases ought never
to fast long. Their food should be solid and nourishing, but
of easy digestion. Fat meats, and high sauces, are hurtful.
All excess should be carefully avoided. They ought never to
eat more at a time than they can easily digest ; but, if they feel
themselves weak and faint between meals, they ought to eat a bit
of bread and drink a glass of wine. Heavy suppers are to be
avoided. Though wine in excess enfeebles the body and impairs
the faculties of the mind, yet, taken in moderation, it strength-
ens the stomach, and promotes digestion. Exercise in nervous
disorders is superior to all medicines. Even change of place,
and the sight of new objects, by diverting the mind, have a
great tendency to remove these complaints. For this reason a
long journey, or a voyage, is of much more advantage than rid-
ing short journeys near home. Though nervous diseases are
seldom radically cured, yet their symptoms may sometimes be
alleviated, and the patient’s life rendered at least more comfort-
able, by proper medicines. When digestion is bad, or the
stomach relaxed and weak, the following infusion of Peruvian
bark and other bitters may be used with advantage : Take of
Peruvian bark an ounce, gentian-root, orange-peel, and cori-
ander-seed, of each half an ounce ; let these ingredients be all
bruised in a mortar, and infused in a bottle of brandy or whis-
key for the space of five or six days. A table-spoonful of the
strained liquor may be taken in half a glass of water, an hour
before breakfast, dinner, and supper. Few thing's tend more
to strengthen the nervous system than cold bathing. This prac-
tice, if duly persisted in, will produce very extraordinary ef-
fects ; but, when the liver or other viscera are obstructed or
otherwise unsound, the cold bath is improper. It is therefore
to be used with very great caution. The most proper seasons
for it are summer and autumn. It will be sufficient, especially

4 M

232

Culpeppers English Physician.

for persons of a spare habit, to go into the cold bath three or
four times a-week. If the patient be weakened by it, or feels
chilly for a long time after coming out, it is improper. Opiates
are generally extolled in these maladies ; but, as they only pal-
liate the symptoms, and generally afterwards increase the dis-
ease, we would advise people to be extremely sparing in the
* use of them, lest habit render them at last absolutely ne-
cessary. Whoever wishes for a thorough cure of this disease,
should pay the strictest attention to diet, air, exercise, and
amusement.

OF THE PALSY.

i HE palsy is a loss or diminution of sense or motion, or of
both, in one or more parts of the body. Of all the affections
called nervous, this is the most suddenly fatal. The immediate
cause of the palsy is any thing that prevents the regular exer-
tion of the nervous power upon any particular muscle or part
of the body. The occasional and predisposing causes are vari-
ous, as drunkenness, wounds of the brain or spinal marrow,
pressure upon the brain or nerves, very cold or damp air, the
suppression of customary evacuations, sudden fear, want of ex-
ercise, or whatever greatly relaxes the system.

CURE. — In young persons of a full hahit, the palsy must be
treated in the same manner as the apoplexy. The patient must
be bled, blistered, and have his body opened by sharp clys-
ters or purgative medicines. But, in old age, or when the
disease proceeds from relaxation or debility, which is generally
the case, a quite contrary course must be pursued. The diet
must be warm and invigorating seasoned with spicy and aroma-
tic vegetables, as mustard, horse-radish, &c. The drink may
be generous wine, mustard-whey, or brandy and water. Fric-
tion with the flesh-brush, or warm hand, is extremely proper,
especially on the parts affected. Blisters may likewise be ap-
plied to the affected parts with advantage. One of the best ex-

233

And Family Dispensatory.

ternal applications is electricity. The shocks should be receiv-
ed on the part affected ; and they ought daily to be repeated
for several weeks. Vomits are very beneficial in this kind or
palsy, and ought frequently to be administered. The wild
valerian-root is a very proper medicine in this case. It may
either be taken in an infusion with sa2;e-leaves, or half a dram
of it in powder may be given in a glass of wine three times
a-day. If the patient cannot use the valerian, he may take of
sal volatile oleosum , compound spirit of lavender, and tincture of
castor, each half an ounce ; mix these together, and take forty
or fifty drops in a glass of wine three or four times a-day. A table
spoonful of mustard-seed taken frequently, is a very good
medicine. The patient ought likewise to chew cinnamon-bark,
ginger, or other warm spiceries. Excercise is of the utmost
importance in the palsy ; but the patient must beware of cold,
damp, and moist air. He ought to wear flannel next his
skin ; and, if possible, should remove into a warmer cli-
mate.

OF THE EPILEPSY, OR FALLING SICKNESS.

The epilepsy is a sudden deprivation of all the senses,
wherein the patient falls suddenly down, and is affected with
violent convulsive motions. It is sometimes hereditary. It
may likewise proceed from frights of the mother when with
child; from blows, bruises, or wounds, on the head; a col-
lection of water, blood, or serous humours, in the brain ; a po-
lypus, tumours or concretions within the skull ; excessive
drinking, intense study, excess of venery, worms, teething,
suppression of customary evacuations, too great emptiness or
repletion ; violent passions or affections of the mind, as fear,
joy, &c. : hysteric affections, contagion received into the body,
as the infection of the small-pox, measles, &c. In an epilep-
tic fit, the patient generally makes an unusual noise ; his thumbs
are drawn in towards the palms of his hands, his eyes are dis-

234 Culpepper s English Physician.

torted, lie starts and foams at the mouth, his extremities are
bent or twisted various ways, he often discharges his seed,
urine, and fmces, involuntarily, and is quite destitute of all
sense and reason. After the fit is over, his senses gradually
return, and he complains of a kind of stupor, weariness, and
pain of his head ; but has no remembrance of what happened
to him during the fit.

CURE. — If the patient be of a sanguine temperament, and
there be reason to fear an obstruction of the brain, bleeding
and other evacuations will be necessary. When the disease is
occasioned by the stoppage of customary evacuations, these, if
possible, must be restored ; if this cannot be done, others may
be substituted in their place. Issues or setons, in this case,
have often a very good effect. When there is reason to be-
lieve that the disease proceeds from worms, proper medicines
must be used to kill, or carry off, these vermin. When the
disease is from teething, the body should be kept open by emol-
lient clysters, the feet frequently bathed in warm water, and,
if the fits prove obstinate, a blister may be put betwixt the
shoulders. The same method is to be followed, when epilep-
tic fits precede the eruption of the small-pox, or measles, &c.
The flowers of zinc have of late been highly extolled for the
cure of the epilepsy. Though this medicine will not be found
to answer the expectations which have been raised concerning
it, yet in obstinate epileptic cases it deserves a trial. The
dose is from one to three or four grains, which may be taken
either in pills or a bolus, as the patient inclines. The best
method is to begin with a single grain four or five times a-day,
and gradually to increase the dose as far as the patient can bear
it. Musk has sometimes been found to succeed in the epilepsy.
Ten or twelve grains of it, with the same quantity of factitious
cinnabar, may be made up into a bolus, and taken every night
and morning. Sometimes the epilepsy has been cured by elec-
tricity. Convulsion-fits proceed from the same causes, and
must be treated in the same manner as the epilepsy.

235

And Family Dispensatory .

OF THE HICCUP.

HP

J HE hiccup is a spasmodic or convulsive affection of the
stomach and midriff, arising from any cause that irritates their
nervous fibres.

CURE. — When the hiccup proves very obstinate, recourse
must be had to the most powerful aromatic and antispasmodic
medicines. The principal of these is musk ; fifteen or twenty
grains of which may be made into a bolus, and repeated occa-
sionally. Opiates are likewise of service; but they must be
used with caution. A bit of sugar dipped in compound spirits
of lavender, or the volatile aromatic tincture, may be taken
frequently. External applications are sometimes also beneficial ;
as the stomach plaster, or a cataplasm of the Venice treacle,
applied to the region of the stomach.

CRAMP OF THE STOMACH.

T HIS disease often seizes people suddenly, is very danger-
ous, and requires immediate assistance. It is most incident to
persons in the decline of life, especially the nervous, gouty,
hysteric, and hypochondriac.

CURE. — Let the stomach be fomented with cloths dipped in
warm water ; or bladders filled with warm milk and water con-
stantly applied to it. These often produce the most happy ef-
fects. In very violent and lasting pains of the stomach, some
blood ought to be let, unless the weakness of the patient for-
bids it. When the pain or cramp proceeds from a suppression
of the menses, bleeding is of use. If it be owing to the gout,
recourse must be had to spirits, or some of the warm cordial
waters. Blisters ought likewise, in this case, to be applied to
the ancles. Violent cramps and pains of the stomach are often
removed by covering it with a large plaster of Venice trea-
cle.

236 Culpepper s English Physician ,

OF THE NIGHT MARE.

In this disease, the patient, in time of sleep, imagines he
feels an uncommon oppression or weight about the breast or
stomach, which he can by no means shake off. He groans,
and sometimes cries out, though oftener he attempts to speak,
but in vain. Sometimes he imagines himself engaged with an
enemy, and in danger of being killed, attempts to run away,
but finds he cannot. Sometimes he fancies himself in a house
that is on fire, or that he is in danger of being drowned in a ri-
ver. He often thinks he is falling over a precipice, and the
dread of being dashed to pieces suddenly awakes him. This
disorder has been supposed to proceed from too much blood ;
from a stagnation of blood in the brain, lungs, &e. But it is
rather a nervous affection, and arises chiefly from indigestion.
Hence we find that persons of weak nerves, who lead a seden-
tary life, and live full, are most commonly afflicted with the
night-mare. Nothing tends more to produce it than heavy
suppers, especially when eaten late, or the patient goes to bed
soon after.

CURE. — As persons afflicted with the night-mare generally

moan or make some noise in the fit, they should be waked or

spoken to by such as hear them, as the uneasiness generally goes

off as soon as the patient is awake, or any one limb is moved ;

but there is oftentimes an universal lassitude of the whole body

left behind, which remains for some space of time. Some say a

dram of brandy taken at bed-time will prevent this disease.

That, however, is a bad custom, and, in time, loses its effect.

We would rather have the patient depend upon the use of food

of easy digestion, cheerfulness, exercise through the day, and a
£

light supper taken early, than to accustom himself to drams. A
glass of peppermint water will often promote digestion as much
as a glass of brandy, and is much safer. After a person of
weak digestion, however, has eaten flatulent food, a dram may

And Family Dispensatory.

237

be necessary, in this case we would recommend it as the most
proper medicine.

OF FLATULENCIES OR WIND.

All nervous patients, without exception, are afflicted with
wind or flatulencies in the stomach and bowels, which arise
chiefly from the want of tone or vigour in these organs. Crude
flatulent aliment, as green peas, beans, coleworts, cabbages, and
such like, may increase this complaint ; but strong and healthy
people are seldom troubled with wind, unless they either over-
load their stomachs, or drink liquors that are in a fermenting
state, and consequently full of elastic air. While therefore
the matter of flatulence proceeds from our aliment, the cause
which makes air separate from them in such quantity as to oc-
casion complaints is almost always a fault of the bowels them-
selves, which are too weak either to prevent the production of
elastic air, or to expel it after it is produced.

CURE. — To relieve this complaint, such medicines ought to
be used as have a tendency to expel wind, and, by strengthen-
ing the alimentary canal, to prevent its being produced there.
The list of medicines for expelling wind is very numerous ; they
often however disappoint the expectations of both the physician
and his patient. The most celebrated among the class of car-
minatives are juniper-berries; the roots of ginger and zedoary ;
the seeds of anise, carraway, and coriander ; gum-assa-faetida
and opium ; the warm waters, tinctures, and spirits, aromatic
water, tincture of woodfoot, volatile aromatic spirit, aether,
&c. For strengthening the stomach and bowels, and conse-
quently for lessening the production of flatulence, the Peruvian
bark, bitters, chalybeates, and exercise, are the best remedies.

OF HYSTERIC COMPLAINTS.

These belong to the numerous tribe of nervous diseases,
which may be justly reckoned the reproach of medicine. Wo-

238 Culpepper s English Physician.

men of a delicate habit, whose stomach and intestines are re-
laxed, and whose nervous system is extremely sensible, are
most subject to hysteric complaints. In such persons an hys-
teric fit, as it is called, may be brought on by an irritation of
the nerves of the stomach or intestines, by wind, acrid humours,
or the like. A sudden suppression of the menses often gives
rise to hysteric fits. They may likewise be excited by violent
passions.

CURE. — The radical cure of this disorder will be best at-
tempted at a time when the patient is most free from the fits.
It will be greatly promoted by a proper attention to regimen.
A milk and vegetable diet, duly persisted in, will often per-
form a cure. If, however, the patient has been accustomed to
a more generous diet, it will not be safe to leave it off all at
once, but by degrees. The most proper drink is water with a
small quantity of spirits. A cool dry air is the best. Cold
bathing, and every thing that braces the nerves, and invigor-
ates the system, is beneficial: but lying too long in bed, or
whatever relaxes the body, is hurtful. It is of the greatest
importance to have the mind kept constantly easy and cheer-
ful, and, if possible, to have it always engaged in some agree-
able and interesting pursuit. The proper medicines are those
which strengthen the alimentary canal and the whole nervous
system, as the preparations of iron, the Peruvian bark, and
other bitters. Twenty drops of the elixir of vitriol, in a cup
of the infusion of the bark, may be taken twice or thrice a-day.
The chalybeate waters generally prove beneficial in this disor-
der. Hysteric women are often afflicted with cramps in various
parts of the body, which are most apt to seize them in bed,
or when asleep. The most efficacious medicines in this case
are opium, blistering-plasters, and warm bathing* or foment-
ations. When the cramp or spasm is very violent, opium is
the remedy most to be depended on. Cramps are often pre-
vented or cured by compression. Thus cramps in the legs are

And Family Dispensatory.

239

prevented, and sometimes removed, by tight bandages; and,
when convulsions arise from a flatulent distension of the intes-
tines, or from spasms beginning in them, they may be often
lessened or cured by making a pretty strong compression upon
the abdomen by means of a broad belt. A roll of brimstone
held in the hand is frequently used as a remedy for cramps :
though this seems to owe its effects chiefly to imagination, yet,
as it sometimes succeeds, it merits a trial. When spasms or
convulsive motions arise from sharp humours in the stomach
and intestines, no lasting relief can be procured till these are
either corrected or expelled. The Peruvian bark has some-
times cured periodic convulsions after other medicines have

failed.

OF HYPOCHONDRIAC COMPLAINTS.

. generally attack the indolent, the luxurious, the un-

fortunate, and the studious ; and are daily increased by luxury
and sedentary employments. Men of a melancholy tempera-
ment, whose minds are capable of great attention, and whose
passions are not easily moved, are in the advanced periods of
life, most jiable to this disease. It is usually brought on by
long and serious attention to abstruse subjects, grief, the sup-
pression of customary evacuations, excess of venery, the re-
pulsion of cutaneous eruptions, long-continued evacuations,
obstructions in some of the viscera, as the liver, spleen, &c.

CURE. — Cheerfulness and serenity of mind are by all means
to be cultivated. Exercise of every kind is useful. The cold
bath is likewise beneficial ; and, where it does not agree with
the patient, friction with the flesh-brush or a coarse cloth may
be tried. If the patient has it in his power, he ought to travel
either by sea or land. A voyage, or a long journey, especially
towards a warmer climate, will be of more service than any
medicine. The general intentions of cure, in this disease, are
to strengthen the alimentary canal, and to promote the secre-

240 Culpepper s English Physician ,

tions. These intentions will be best answered by the different
preparations of iron and the Peruvian bark, which, after prop-
er evacuations, may be taken in the same manner as directed
in the preceding disease.

OF A SCIRRHUS AND CANCER.

SCIRRHUS is a hard indolent tumour seated in some of
the glands, as the breast, the arm-pits, &c. If the tumour be-
come large, unequal, of a livid, blackish, or leaden colour, and
is attended with violent pain, it gets the name of an occult
cancer. When the skin is broken, and a sanies or ichorous
matter of an abominable foetid smell is discharged from the
sore, it is called an open or ulcerated cancer. Persons after
the age of forty-five, particularly women, and those who lead
an indolent sedentary life, are most subject to this disease.’
A cancer is often owing to suppressed evacuations ; hence it
proves so frequently fatal to women of a gross habit, particu-
larly old maids and widows, about the time when the menstrual
flux ceases. It may also be occasioned by the long-continued
use of food that is too hard of digestion, or of an acrid nature ;
by barrenness, celibacy, indolence, cold, blows, friction, pres-
sure, or the like. Women often suffer from the last of these
by means of their stays, which squeeze and compress their
breasts so as to occasion great mischief. This disorder seems
often very trifling at the beginning. A hard tumour about the
size of a hazle-nut, or perhaps smaller, is generally the first
symptom. This will often continue for a long time without
seeming to increase, or giving the patient great uneasiness :
but, if the constitution be hurt, or the tumour irritated by
pressure, or improper treatment of any kind, it begins to ex-
tend itself towards the neighbouring parts, by pushing out a
kind of roots or limbs. It then gets the name of cancer , from
a fancied resemblance between these limbs and the claws of a
era *'ihe colour of the skin begins to change, which is first

And Family Dispensatory ,

241

red, afterwards purple, then bluish, livid, and at last black.
The patient complains of heat, with a burning, gnawing, shoot-
ing pain. The tumour is very hard, rough, and unequal, with
a protuberance, or rising, in the middle ; its size increases
daily, and the neighbouring veins become thick, knotty, and
of a blackish colour. The skin at length gives way, and a thin
sharp ichor begins to flow, which corrodes the neighbouring
parts till it forms a large unsightly ulcer. More occult can-
cers arise, and communicate with the neighbouring glands.
The pain and stench become intolerable ; the appetite fails ;
the strength is exhausted by a continual hectic fever ; at last*
a violent haemorrhage, or discharge of blood, from some part
of the body, with faintings, or convulsion-fits, generally put an
end to the miserable patient's life.

CURE. — This is one of those diseases for which no certain
remedy is yet known. Its progress however may sometimes
be retarded, and some of its most disagreeable symptoms miti-
gated, by proper application. One misfortune attending the
disease is, that the unhappy patient often conceals it too long.
Were proper means used in due time, a cancer might often be
cured ; but, after the disorder has arrived at a certain height,
it generally sets all medicine at defiance. When a scirrhous
_ tumour is first discovered, the patient ought to observe a prop-
er regimen, and to take twice or thrice a-week a dose of com-
mon purging mercurial pills. Some blood may also be let, the
part affected may be gently rubbed twice a-day with a little of
the mercurial ointment, and kept warm with fur or flannel.
The food must be light, and an English pint of the decoction
of sarsaparilla may be drunk daily. Should the tumour not
yield to this treatment, but, on the contrary, become larger and
harder, it will be proper to extirpate it either by the knife or
caustic. Indeed, whenever this can be done with safety, the
sooner it is done the better. It can answer no purpose to ex-
tirpate a cancer after the constitution is ruined, or the whole

A '

242

Culpepper's English Physician.

mass of humours corrupted, by it. This however is the com-
mon way, which makes the operation so seldom succeed. Few
people will submit to the extirpation till death stares them in
the face; whereas, if it were done early, the patient's life would
not be endangered by the operation, and it would generally
prove a radical cure. The medicine most in repute for this
disease is hemlock. Dr. Stork, physician at Vienna, has of late
recommended the extract of this plant as very efficacious in
cancers of every kind. The doctor says, he has given some
hundred-weights of it without ever hurting any body, and often
with manifest advantage. He advises the patient however to
begin with very small doses, as two or three grains, and to in-
crease the dose gradually till some good effect be perceived,
and there to rest without further increase. From two or three
grains at first, the doctor says he has increased the dose to two,
three, and four, drams a-day, and finds that such doses may
be continued for several weeks without any bad consequences.
The doctor does not pretend to fix the time in which a cancer
may be resolved by the use of hemlock, but says he has given
it for above two years in large doses without any apparent
benefit ; nevertheless the patient has been cured by persisting
in the use of it for half a year longer. This is at least encour-
agement to give it a fair trial. The powder of hemlock is by
some preferred to the extract. They are both made of the
fresh leaves, and may be used nearly in the same manner.
Dr. Nicholson, of Berwick, says, he gradually increased the
dose of the powder from a few grains to half a dram, and gave
near four drams of it in the day with remarkably good effect.
The hemlock may also be used externally either as a poultice
or fomentation. The sore may likewise be kept clean by in-
jecting daily a strong decoction of the tops and leaves into it.
Few things contribute more to the healing of foul sordid ulcers
of any kind than keeping them thoroughly clean. This ought
never to be neglected. The best application for this purpose

243

And Family Dispensatory .

seems to be the carrot-poultice. The root of the common car-
rot may be grated, and moistened with as much water as w ill
bring it to the consistence of a poultice or cataplasm. This
must be applied to the sore, and renewed twice a-day. It gen-
erally cleans the sore, eases the pain, and takes away the dis-
agreeable smell, which are objects of no small importance in
such a dreadful disorder. Wort, or an infusion of malt, has
been recommended, not only as a proper drink, but as a power-
ful medicine, in this disease. It must be frequently made fresh,
and the patient may take it at pleasure. Two, three, or even
four, English pints of it may be drunk every day for a consid-
erable time. No benefit can be expected from any medicine,
in this disease, unless it be persisted in for a long time. It is
of too obstinate a nature to be soon removed ; and, when it ad-
mits of a cure at all, it must be brought about by inducing an
almost total change of the habit, which must always be a work
of time. Setons or issues in the neighbourhood of the cancer
have sometimes good effects. When all other medicines fail,
recourse must be had to opium, as a kind of solace. This will
not indeed cure this disease, but it will ease the patient's agony,
and render life more tolerable while it continues. To avoid
this dreadful disorder, people ought to use wholesome food, to
take sufficient exercise in the open air, and carefully to guard
against all blows, bruises, and every kind of pressure upon the
breasts or other glandular parts.

OF POISONS.

person ought, in some measure, to be acquainted

with the nature and cure of poisons. They are generally taken
unawares, and their effects are often so sudden and violent, as
not to admit of delay, or allow time to procure the assistance
of physicians. Happily indeed no great degree of medical
knowledge is here necessary ; the remedies for most poisons
being generally at hand, or easily obtained, and nothing but

244

Culpepper's English Physician,

wmHmMmmBmmmbmumKmmmxsm&uauzst&imvmswissmam i— — —

common prudence needful in the application of them. The
cure of all poisons taken in the stomach, without exception*
depends chiefly on discharging them as soon as possible. For
this purpose the patient should drink large quantities of new
milk and sallad-oil till he vomits ; or he may drink warm water
mixed with oil. Fat broths are likewise proper, provided they
can be got ready in time. Where no oil is to be had, fresh
butter may be melted, and mixed with the milk or water. These
things are to be drunk as long as the inclination to vomit con-
tinues. Some have drunk eight or ten quarts before the vom-
iting ceased ; and it is never safe to leave off drinking while
one particle of the poison remains in the stomach. These oily
or fat substances not only provoke vomiting, but likewise blunt
the acrimony of mineral poison, and prevent its wounding the
bowels, but, if they should not make the person vomit, half a
dram or two scruples of the powder of ipecacuanha must be
given, or a few spoonfuls of the oxymel or vinegar of squills
may be mixed with the water which he drinks. Vomiting may
likewise be excited by tickling the inside of the throat with a
feather. Should those methods however fail, half a dram of
white vitriol, or five or six grains of emetic tartar, must be ad-
ministered. If tormenting pains are felt in the lower belly,
and there is reason to fear that the poison has got down to the
intestines, clysters of milk and oil must be very frequency thrown
up ; and the patient must drink emollient decoctions of barley,
oatmeal, marsh-mallows, and such like. He must likewise take
an infusion of senna and manna, a solution of Glauber's salts,
or some other purgative. After the poison has been evacuat-
ed, the patient ought, for some time, to live upon such things
as are of a healing and cooling quality ; to abstain from flesh,
and ail strong liquors, and to live upon milk, broth, gruel,
light puddings, and other spoon-meats of easy digestion. His
drink should be barley-water, linseed-tea, or infusions of any
of the mild mucilaginous vegetables. Though vegetable poi-

And Family Dispensatory.

245

sons, when allowed to remain in the stomach, often prove fa-
tal ; yet the danger is generally over as soon as they are dis-
charged. Not being of such a caustic or corrosive nature,
they are less apt to wound or inflame the bowels than mine
ral substances ; no time, however, ought to be lost in having
them discharged. For the bites of poisonous animals, a great
variety of certain and immediate cures are pointed out in the
Herbal. For the bite of a viper, however, the wound should
be well sucked, and afterwards rubbed with warm salad-oil.
A poultice of bread and milk, softened with salad-oil, should
likewise be applied to the wound : and the patient ought to
drink freely of vinegar-whey, or water.gruel with vinegar in it,
to make him sweat. Vinegar is one of the best drinks which
can be used in any kind of poison, and ought to be taken very
liberally. If the patient be sick, lie may take a vomit. This
course will be sufficient to cure the bite of any of the po son-
ous animals of this country. It is the happiness of this island
to have very few poisonous animals, and those which we have
are by no means of the most violent kind. We cannot however
make the same observation with regard to poisonous vegeta-
bles : these abound every where, and prove often fatal to the
ignorant and unwary. This indeed is chiefly owing to care-
lessness. Children ought early to be cautioned against eating
any kind of fruit, roots, or berries, which they do not know ;
and all poisonous plants to which they can have access, ought,
as far as possible, to be destroyed. This would not 1 e so dif-
ficult a task as some people imagine, were this Herbal kept in
all families, and their children made to read lessons from it, as
an easy occasional task. This, I think, will appear an indis-
pensible duty in parents, when we reflect, that seldom a year
passes but we have accounts of several persons poisoned by
eating hemlock- roots instead of parsnips, or some kind of fungus
which they had gathered for mushrooms. These examples
ought to put people upon their guard with respect to the for-

246

Culpeppers English Physician.

mer, and put the latter entirely out of use. We might here
mention many other plants and animals of a poisonous nature
which are found in foreign countries ; but, as our observations
are chiefly intended for this island, we shall pass this over. It
may not, however, be amiss to observe, for the behoof of such
of our countrymen as go to America, that an effectual remedy
is now said to be found for the bite of a rattlesnake. — The pre-
scription is as follows ; Take of the roots of plantain and hore-
hound, in summer, roots and branches together, a sufficient
quantity; bruise them in a mortar, and squeeze out the juice;
of which give, as soon as possible, one large spoonful ; if the
patient be swelled you must force it down his throat. This
generally will cure ; but, if he finds no relief in an hour after,
you may give another spoonful, which seldom fails. — If the
roots are dried, they must be moistened with a little water.
To the wound may be applied a leaf of good tobacco moisten-
ed with rum. We give this upon the faith of Dr. Brookes,
who says it was the invention of a negro ; for the discovery of
which he had his freedom purchased, and an hundred pounds
per annum settled upon him during life, by the General Assem-
bly of Carolina.

OF INFLAMMATION AND ABSCESSES.

From whatever cause an inflammation proceeds, it must ter-
minate either by dispersion, suppuration, or gangrene. Though
it is impossible to foretel with certainty in which of these ways
any particular inflammation will terminate, yet a probable con-
jecture may be formed with regard to the event, from a know-
ledge of the patient’s age and constitution. Inflammations hap-
pening in a slight degree upon colds, and without any previous
indisposition, will most probably be dispersed ; those which
follow close upon a fever, or happen to persons of a gross hab-
it of body, will generally suppurate ; and those which attack
very old people, or persons of a dropsical habit, will have a
strong tendency to gangrene.

247

And Family Dispensatory .

CURE.— If the inflammation be slight, and the constitution
sound, the dispersion ought always to be attempted. This will
be best promoted by a slender diluting diet, plentiful bleeding,
and repeated purges. The part itself must be fomented, and,
if the skin be very tense, it may be embrocated with a mixture
of three fourths of sweet oil, and one fourth of vinegar, and af-
terwards covered with a piece of wax plaster. If, notwithstand-
ing these applications, the symptomatic fever increases, and the
tumour becomes larger, with violent pain and pulsation, it will
be proper to promote the suppuration. The best application
for this purpose is a soft poultice, which may be renewed twice
a-day. If the suppuration proceeds but slowly, a raw onion
cut small or bruised may be spread upon the poultice. When
the abscess is ripe or fit for opening, which may easily be known
from the thinness of the skin in the most prominent part of it,
a fluctuation of matter which may be felt under the finger, and,
generally speaking, an abatement of the pain, it may be opened
either with a lancet or by means of a caustic. The last way in
which an inflammation terminates is in a gangrene or mortifica-
tion, the approach of which may be known by the following
symptoms : The inflammation loses its redness, and becomes
duskish or livid ; the tension of the skin goes off, and it feels
flabby ; little bladders fdled with ichor of different colours
spread all over it; the tumour subsides, and from a duskish
complexion becomes black ; a quick low pulse, with cold clam-
my sweats, are the immediate forerunners of death. When these
symptoms first appear, the part ought to be dressed with Lon-
don treacle, or a cataplasm made of lixivium and bran ; should
the symptoms become worse, that part must be scarified, and
afterwards dressed with basilicon softened with oil of turpen-
tine. All the dressings must be applied warm. With regard
to internal medicines, the patient must be supported with gen-
erous cordials, and the Peruvian bark exhibited in as large do-
ses as the stomach will bear it. If the mortified parts should

248

Culpepper's English Physician.

separate, the wound will become a common ulcer, and must be
treated accordingly. This article includes the treatment of all
those diseases, which, in different parts of the country, go by
the name of biles, imposthumes, whitloes, &e. They are all
abscesses in consequence of a previous inflammation, which, if
possible, ought to be discussed, but, when this cannot be done,
the suppuration should be promoted, and the matter discharged
by an incision, if necessary ; afterwards the sore may be dress-
ed with yellow basilicon, or some other digestive ointment.

OF WOUNDS.

N O part of medicine has been more mistaken than the treat-
ment or cure of wounds. It is however a fact, that no external
application whatever, contributes towards the cure of a wound,
any other w ay than by keeping the parts soft, clean, and defend-
ing them from the external air, which may be as effectually
done by dry lint as by the most pompous applications, while
it is exempt from many of the bad consequences attending them.
The same observation holds with respect to internal applica-
tions. These only promote the cure of wounds as far as they
tend to prevent a fever, or to remove any cause that might ob-
struct or impede the operations of nature. It is nature alone
that cures wounds ; all that art can do is to remove obstacles,
and to put the parts in such a condition as is the most favour-
able to nature’s efforts.

CURE. — The first thing to be done, when a person has re-
ceived a wound, is to examine whether any foreign body be
lodged in it, as wood, stone, iron, lead, glass, dirt, bits of cloth,
or the like. These, if possible, ought to be extracted, and the
wound cleaned, before any dressings be applied. When that
cannot be effected with safety, on account of the patient’s weak-
ness, or loss of blood, they must be suffered to remain in the
wound, and afterwards extracted when he is more able to bear
it. When a wound penetrates into any of the cavities of the

And Family Dispensatory . 249

body, as the breast, the bowels, &c. or where any considera-
ble blood-vessel is cut, a skilful surgeon ought immediately to
be called, otherwise the patient may lose his life. But some-
times the discharge of blood is so great, that, if it be not stop-
ped, the patient may die, even before a surgeon, though at no
great distance, can arrive. In this case, something must be done
by those who are present. If the wound be in any of the limbs,
the bleeding may generally be stopped by applying a tight lig-
ature or bandage round the member a little above the wound.
In parts where this bandage cannot be applied, various other
methods may be tried to stop the bleeding, as the application
of styptics, astringents. Sic. Cloths dipped in a solution of
blue vitriol in water, or the styptic water of the dispensatories,
may be applied to the wound. When these cannot be obtain-
ed, strong spirits of wine may be used. Some recommended
the agaric of oak as preferable to any of the other styptics ; and
indeed it deserves considerable encomiums. It is easily obtain-
ed, and ought to be kept in every family, in case of accidents.
A piece of it must be laid upon the wound, and covered with
a good deal of lint, above which a bandage may be applied so
tight as to keep it firmly on. Though spirits, tinctures, and
hot balsams, may be used, in order to stop the bleeding when
it io excessive, they are improper at other times. They do not
promote but retard the cure, and often change a simple wound
into an ulcer. People imagine, because hot balsams congeal
the blood, and seem as it were to solder up the wound, that
they therefore heal it ; but this is only a deception. They may
indeed stop the flowing blood, by searing the mouths of the
vessels ; but, by rendering the parts callous, they obstruct the
cure. When a wound is greatly inflamed, the most proper ap-
plication is a poultice of bread and milk, softened with a little
sweet oil or fresh butter. This must be applied instead of a
plaster, and should be changed twice a-day. If the wound be

250

Culpepper s English Physician,

large, and there is reason to fear an inflammation, the patient
should be kept on a very low diet. He must abstain from flesh,
strong liquors, and every thing that is of a heating nature. If
lie be of a full habit, and has lost but little blood from the
wound, he must be bled ; and, if the symptoms be urgent, the
operation may be repeated. But, when the patient has been
greatly weakened by loss of blood from the wound, it will be
dangerous to bleed him, even though a fever should ensue.
Nature should never be too far exhausted : it is always more
safe to allow her to struggle with the disease in her own way,
than to sink the patient’s strength by excessive evacuations.

OF BURNS,

In slight burns which do not break the skin, it is customary
to hold the part near the fire for a competent time, to rub it
with salt, or to lay a compress upon it dipped in spirits of wine
or brandy. But, when the burn has penetrated so deep as to
blister or break the skin, it must be dressed with some of the
liniments for burns, or with the emollient and gently-drying
ointment, commonly called Turner’s cerate. This may be mix-
ed with an equal quantity of fresh olive oil, and spread upon
a soft rag, and applied to the part affected. When this oint-
ment cannot be had, an egg may be beat up with about an equal
quantity of the sweetest salad oil. This will serve very w ell
till a proper ointment can be prepared. When the burning is
very deep, after the first two or three days, it should be dress-
ed w ith equal parts of yellow basilicon and Turner’s cerate mix-
ed together. When the burn is violent, or has occasioned a
high degree of inflammation, and there is reason to fear a gan-
grene or mortification, the same means must be used to prevent
it as are recommended in other violent inflammations. The
patient in this case must live low, and drink freely of weak
diluting liquors. He must likewise be bled, and have his body
kept open. But, if the burnt part should become livid or black.

And Family Dispensatory .

251

with other symptoms of mortification, it will be necessary to
bathe them frequently with warm camphorated spirits of wine,
tincture of myrrh, or other antiseptics, mixed with a decoc-
tion of the bark. In this case the bark must likewise be taken
internally, and the patient’s diet must be more generous.

OF BRUISES.

In slight bruises it will be sufficient to bathe the part with
warm vinegar, to which a little brandy or rum may occasion-
ally be added, and to keep cloths wet with this mixture con-
stantly applied to it. This is more proper than rubbing it with
brandy, spirits of wine, or other ardent spirits, which are com-
monly used in such cases. In some parts of the country, the
peasants apply to a recent bruise a cataplasm of fresh cow-
dung. I have often seen this cataplasm applied to violent con-
tusions occasioned by blowrs, falls, bruises, and such like ; and
never knew it fail to have a good effect. When a bruise is
very violent, the patient ought immediately to be bled, and
put upon a proper regimen. His food should be light and cool,
and his drink weak and of an opening nature ; as whey sweet-
ened with honey, decoctions of tamarinds, barley, cream-tartar
whey, and such like. The bruised part must be bathed with
vinegar and water as directed above ; and a poultice, made by
boiling of crumb of bread, elder-flowers, and camomile-flowers,
in equal quantities of vinegar and water, applied to it. This
poultice is peculiarly proper when a wound is joined to the
bruise. It may be renewed two or three times a-day. As the
structure of the vessels is totally destroyed by a violent bruise,
there often ensues a great loss of substance, w hich produces
an ulcerous sore, very difficult to cure. If the bone be affect-
ed, the sore will not heal before an exfoliation takes place;
that is, before the diseased part of the bone separates, and
comes out through the wound. This is often a very slow oper-
ation. and may even require several years to be completed.

252

Culpepper s English Physician ,

Hence it happens, that these sores are frequently mistaken for
the king’s evil, and treated as such, though, in fact, they pro-
ceed solely from the injury which the solid parts received from
the blow. Patients in this situation are pestered with different
advice. Every one who sees them proposes a new remedy, till
the sore is so much irritated with various and opposite appli-
cations, that it is often at length rendered absolutely incurable.
The best method of managing such sores is, to take care that
the patient’s constitution does not suffer by confinement or im-
proper medicine, and to apply nothing to them but some sim-
ple ointment spread upon soft lint, over which a poultice of
bread and milk, with boiled camomile flowers, or the like, may
be put, to nourish the part, and keep it soft and warm. Na-
ture, thus assisted, will generally in time operate a cure, by
throwing off the diseased parts of the bone ; after which the
sore soon heals.

OF ULCERS.

U LCERS may be the consequence of wounds, bruises, or
imposthumes, improperly treated ; they may likewise proceed
from an ill state of the humours, or what may be called a bad
habit of body. In the latter case, they ought not to be hastily
dried up, otherwise it may prove fatal to the patient. Ulcers
happen most commonly in the decline of life ; and persons who
neglect exercise, and live grossly, are most liable to them. They
might often be prevented by retrenching some part of the solid
food, or by opening artificial drains, as issues, setons, or the
like. It requires considerable skill to be able to judge whether
or not an ulcer ought to be dried up. In general, all ulcers
which proceed from a bad habit of body should be suffered to
continue open, at least till the constitution has been so far
changed by proper regimen, or the use of medicine, that they
seem disposed to heal of their own accord. Ulcers which are
the effect of malignant fevers, or other acute diseases, may gen-

And Family Dispensatory .

253

erally be healed with safety after the health has been restored
for some time. The cure ought not, however, to be attempted
too soon, nor at any time without the use of purging medicines
and a proper regimen. When wounds or bruises have, by wrong
treatment, degenerated into ulcers, if the constitution be good,
they may generally be healed with safety. When ulcers either
accompany chronical diseases, or come in their stead, they
must be cautiously healed . If an ulcer conduces to the patient's
health, from whatever cause it proceeds, it ought not to be heal-
ed ; but if, on the contrary, it wastes the strength, and con-
sumes the patient by a slow fever, it should be healed as soon
as possible. We would earnestly recommend a strict attention
to these particulars, to all who have the misfortune to labour
under this disorder, particularly persons in the decline of life ;
as we have frequently known people throw away their lives by
the want of it, while they were extolling and generously reward-
ing those whom they ought to have looked upon as their execu-
tioners. The most proper regimen for promoting the cure of
ulcers is to avoid all spices, salted and highseasoned food, all
strong liquors, and to lessen the usual quantity of flesh meat.
The body ought to be kept gently open by a diet consisting
chiefly of cooling laxative vegetables, and by drinking butter-
milk, whey sweetened with honey, or the like. A fistulous ul-
cer can seldom be cured without an operation. It must either
be laid open so as to have its callous parts destroyed by some
corrosive application, or they must be entirely cut away with
the knife : but, as this operation requires the hand of an expert
surgeon, there is no occasion to describe it. Ulcers about the
anus are most apt to become fistuious, and are very difficult to
cure. Some, indeed, pretend to have found Ward’s fistula-paste
very successful in this complaint. It is not a dangerous med-
icine, and, being easily procured, it may deserve a trial ; but,
as these ulcers generally proceed from an ill habit of body, they
will seldom yeild to any thing except a long course of regimen,

254 Culpepper s English Physician .

assisted by medicines, which are calculated to correct that
particular habit, and to induce an almost total change in the
constitution.

OF DISLOCATIONS.

"When a bone is moved out of its place or articulation, so
as to impede its proper functions, it is said to be luxated or
dislocated. As this often happens to persons in situations
where no medical assistance can be obtained, by which means
limbs, and even lives, are frequently lost, we shall endeavour
to point out the method of reducing the most common luxa-
tions, and those which require immediate assistance. Any per-
son of common sense and resolution, who is present when a
dislocation happens, may often be of more service to the pa-
tient than the most expert surgeon can after the swelling and
inflammation have come on. When these are present, it is
difficult to know the state of the joint, and dangerous to at-
tempt a reduction ; and, by waiting till they are gone off, the
muscles become so relaxed, and the cavity filled up, that the
bone can never afterwards be retained in its place. A recent
dislocation may generally be reduced by extention alone, which
must always be greater or less according to the strength of the
muscles which move the joint, the age, robustness, and other
circumstances, of the patient. When the bone has been out of
its place for any considerable time and a swelling or inflammation
has come on, it will be necessary to bleed the patient, and, af-
ter fomenting the part, to apply soft poultices with vinegar to
it for some time before the reduction is attempetd. All that
is necessary after the reduction, is to apply cloths dipped in
vinegar or camphorated spirits of wine to the part, and to keep
it perfectly easy. Many bad consequences proceed from the
neglect of this rule. A dislocation seldom happens without the
tendons and ligaments of the joint being stretched, and some-
times torn. When these are kept easy till they recover their

255

And Family Dispensatory.

strength and tone, all goes on very well; but, if the injury be
increased by too frequent an exertion of the parts, no wonder it
they be found weak and diseased ever after.

Dislocation of the jaw, — The usual method of reduc-
ing a dislocated jaw, is to set the patient upon a low stool, so
as an assistant may hold the head firm by pressing it against
his breast. The operator is then to thrust his two thumbs, be-
ing first wrapped up with linen cloths that they may not slip,
as far back into the patient's mouth as he can, while his fingers
are applied to the jaw externally. After he has got firm hold
of the jaw, he is to press it strongly downwards and backwards,
by which means the elapsed heads of the jaw may be easily
pushed into their former cavities. The peasants, in some parts
of the country, have a peculiar way of performing this opera-
tion. One of them puts a handkerchief under the patient’s
chin, then, turning his back to that of the patient, pulls him up
by the chin so as to suspend him from the ground. This me-
thod often succeeds; but we think it a dangerous one, and
therefore recommend the former.

Dislocation of the neck. — The neck may be dislocat-
ed by falls, violent blows, or the like. In this case, if the patient
recieves no assistance, he soon dies, which makes people im-
agine the neck was broken ; it is, however, tor the most part,
only partially dislocated, and may be reduced by almost any
person who has resolution enough to attempt it. A complete
dislocation of the neck is instantaneous death. When the neck
is dislocated, the patient is immediately deprived of all sense
and motion ; his neck swells, his countenance appears bloated,
his chin lies upon his breast, and his face is generally turned
towards one side. To reduce this dislocation, the unhappy
person should immediately be laid upon his back on the ground,
and the operator must place himself behind him so as to be able
to lay hold of his head witli both his hands, while he makes a
resistance by placing his knees against the patient’s shoulders.

256 Culpepper s English Physician ,

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In this posture lie must pull the head with considerable force,
gently twisting it at the same time if the face be turned on one
side, till he perceives that the joint is replaced, which may be
known from the noise which the bones generally make when
going in, the patient's beginning to breathe, and the head con-
tinuing in its natural posture. After the neck is reduced,
the patient ought to be bled, and should be suffered to rest
for some days, till the parts recover their proper tone.

Dislocation of the shoulder. — The humerus or up-
per bone of the arm may be dislocated in various directions :
it happens however most frequently downwards, but very sel-
dom directly upwards. From the nature of its articulation, as
well as from its exposure to external injuries, this bone is the
most subject to dislocation of any in the body. A dislocation
of the humerus may be known by a depression or cavity on the
top of the shoulder, and an inability to move the arm. When
the dislocation is downward or forward, the arm is elongated,
and a ball or lump is perceived under the armpit ; but, when
it is backward, there appears a protuberance behind the shoul-
der, and the arm is throw n forwards towards the breast. The
usual method of reducing dislocations of the shoulder is to seat
the patient on a low stool, and to cause an assistant to hold his
body so that it may not give way to the extension, while another
lays hold of the arm a little above the elbow, and gradually ex-
tends it. The operator then puts a napkin under the patient's
arm, and causes it to be tied behind his own neck ; by this,
while a sutlicient extension is made, he lifts up the head of the
bone, and with his hands directs it into the proper place.
There are various machines invented for facilitating this oper-
ation, but the hand of an expert surgeon is always more safe.
In young and delicate patients, it is a very easy matter to re-
duce the shoulder by extending the arm with one hand, thrust-
ing in the head of the bone with the other. In making the ex-
tension, the arm ought always to be a little bent.

257

And Family Dispensatory .

Dislocation of the elbow. — The bones of the fore-
arm may be dislocated in any direction. When this is the case,
a protuberance may be observed on that side of the arm towards
which the bone is pushed, from which, and the patient’s in-
ability to bend his arm, a dislocation of this joint may easily
be known. Two assistants are generally necessary for reducing
a dislocation of the elbow; one of them must lay hold of the
arm above, and the other below, the joint, and make a pretty
strong extension, while the operator returns the bones into
their proper place. Afterwards the arm must be bent and
suspended for some time with a sling about the neck. Luxa-
tions of the wrist and fingers are to be reduced in the same
manner as those of the. elbow, viz. by making an extension in
different directions, and thrusting the head of the bone into
its place.

Dislocation of the thigh. — When the thigh-bone is
dislocated forward and downward, the knee and foot are turn-
ed out, and the leg is longer than the other; but, when it is
displaced backward, it is usually pushed upward at the same
time, by which means the limb is shortened, and the foot is
turned inwards. When the thigh-bone is displaced forward
and downward, the patient, in order to have it reduced, must
be laid upon his back, and made fast by bandages, or held by
assistants, while by others an extension is made by means of
slings fixed about the bottom of the thigh a little above the
knee. While the extension is made, the operator must push
the head of the bone outward, till it gets into the socket. If
the dislocation be outwards, the patient must be laid upon his
face, and, during the extension, the head of the bone must be
pushed inward. Dislocations of the knees, ankles, and toes,
are reduced much in the same manner as those of the upper
extremities, viz. by making an extension in opposite directions,
while the operator replaces the bones. In many cases, how-
ever, the extension alone is sufficient, and the bone will slip

258 Culpepper s English Physician.

S3

into its place merely by pulling the limb with sufficient force.
It is not hereby meant, that force alone is sufficient for the re-
duction of dislocations.

OF BROKEN BONES, &c.
is, in most country villages, some person who pre-

tends to the art of reducing fractures. Though, in general,
such persons are very ignorant, yet some of them are very suc-
cessful ; which evidently proves, that a small degree of learn-
ing, with a sufficient share of common sense and a mechanical
head, will enable a man to be useful in this way. We would,
however, advise people never to employ such operators, when
an expert and skilful surgeon can be had; but, when that is
impracticable, they must be employed : we shall therefore re-
commend the following hints to their consideration : When a
large bone is broken, the patient’s diet ought, in all respects,
to be the same as in an inflammatory fever. He should like-
wise be kept quiet ajtid cool, and his body open by emollient
clysters, or, if these cannot be conveniently administered, by
food that is of an opening quality; as stewed prunes, apples
boiled in milk, boiled spinage, and the like. It ought however
to be here remarked, that persons who have been accustomed
to live high are not all of a sudden to be reduced to a very
low diet. This might have fatal effects. There is often a ne-
cessity for indulging even bad habits, in some measure, where
the nature of the disease might require a different treatment.
It will generally be necessary to bleed the patient immediately
after a fracture, especially if he be young, of a full habit, or
has, at the same time, received any bruise or contusion. This
operation should not only be performed soon after the accident
happens, but, if the patient be very feverish, it may be repeat-
ed next day. When several of the ribs are broken, bleeding
is peculiarly necessary. If any of the large bones which sup-
port the body are broken, the patient must keep his bed for

And Family Dispensatory .

259

several weeks. It is by no means necessary, however, that he
should lie all that time, as is customary, upon his back. This
situation sinks the spirits, galls and frets the patient's skin, and
renders him very uneasy. After the second week he may be
gently raised up, and may sit several hours, supported by a
bed-chair, or the like, which will greatly relieve him. Great
care, however, must be taken, in raising him up, and laying
him down, that he make no exertions himself, otherwise the
action of the muscles may pull the bone out of its place. It has
been customary, when a bone was broken, to keep the limb for
five or six weeks continually upon the stretch. But this is a
bad posture. It is both uneasy to the patient and unfavour-
able to the cure. The best situation is to keep the limb a little
bent. This is the posture into which every animal puts its
limbs when it goes to rest, and in which fewest muscles are
upon the stretch. It is easily effected, by either layihg the
patient upon his side, or making the bed so as to favour this
position of the limb. All that art can do towards the cure of
a broken bone, is to lay it perfectly straight, and to keep it
quite easy. All tight bandages do hurt. They had much
better be wanting altogether. A great many of the bad con-
sequences which succeed to fractured bones are owing to the
hospital-practice of tight bandages. The best method of re-
tention is by two or more splints made of leather or pasteboard.
These, if moistened before they be applied, soon assume the
shape of the included member, and are sufficient, with the as-
sistance of a very slight bandage, for all the purposes of reten-
tion. The splints should always be as long as the limb, with
holes cut for the ankles when the fracture is in the leg. In frac-
tures of the ribs, where a bandage cannot be properly used,
an adhesive plaster may be applied oyer the part. The pa-
tient, in this case, ought to keep himself quite easy, avoiding
every thing that may occasion sneezing, laughing, coughing,
©r the like. He ought to keep his body in a straight posture.

260 Culpepper s English Physician.

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and should take care that his stomach be constantly distended,
by taking frequently some light food, and drinking freely of
weak watery liquors. The most proper external application
for a fracture is oxyerate, or a mixture of vinegar and water.
The bandages should be wet with this at every dressing.

OF STRAINS.

^TRAINS are often attended with worse consequences than
broken bones. The reason is obvious ; they are generally neg-
lected. When a bone is broken, the patient is obliged to keep
the member easy, because he cannot make use of it ; but, when
a joint is only strained, the person, finding he can still make
a shift to move it, is sorry to lose his time for so trifling an
ailment. In this way he deceives himself, and converts into
an incurable malady what might have been removed by only
keeping the part easy for a few days. Country people gene-
rally immerse a strained limb in cold water. This is very pro-
per, provided it be done immediately, and not kept in too long.
But the custom of keeping the part immersed in cold water
for a long time, is certainly dangerous. It relaxes instead of
bracing the part, and is more likely to produce a disease than
remove one. Wrapping a garter, or some other bandage, pret-
ty tight about the strained part, is likewise of use. It helps to
restore the proper tone of the vessels, and prevents the action
of the parts from increasing the disease. It should not how-
ever be applied too tight. Bleeding near the affected part will
frequently have a very good effect : but what we would recom-
mend above ail is ease. It is more to be depended on than
any medicine, and seldom fails to remove the complaint.

OF RUPTURES.

C hildren and very old people are most liable to this dis-
ease. In the former it is generally occasioned by excessive

261

And Family Dispensatory.

crying, coughing, vomiting, or the like. In the latter, it is
commonly theeffect of blows or violent exertions of the strength,
as leaping, carrying great weights, &c. In both, a relaxed hab-
it, indolence, and an oily or very moist diet, dispose the body
to this disease. A rupture sometimes proves fatal before it is
discovered. Whenever sickness, vomiting and obstinate cos-
tiveness, give reason to suspect an obstruction of the bowels,
all those places where ruptures usually happen ought carefully
to be examined. The protrusion of a very small part of the gut
will occasion all these symptoms ; and, if not returned in due
time, will prove mortal. On the first appearance of a rupture
in an infant, it ought to be laid upon its back, with its head
very low. While in this posture, if the gut does not return of
itself, it may easily be put up by gentle pressure. After it is
returned, a piece of sticking plaster may be applied over the
part, and a proper truss or bandage must be constantly worn
for a considerable time. The method of making and applying
these rupture-bandages for children is pretty well known.
The child must, as far as possible, be kept from crying, and
from all violent motion, till the rupture is quite healed. In
adults, when the gut has been forced down with great violence,
or happens, from any cause, to be inflamed, there is often great
difficulty in returning it. The patient should be bled ; after
which, he must be laid upon his back, with his head very low,
and his breech raised high with pillows. In this situation flan-
nel cloths wrung out of a decoction of mallows and camomile-
flowers, or, if these are not at hand, of warm water, must be
applied for a considerable time. A clyster made of this de-
coction, with a large spoonful of butter and a little salt may be
afterwards thrown up. If these should not prove successful,
recourse must be had to pressure. If the tumour be very hard,
considerable force will be necessary; but it is not force alone
which succeeds here. The operator, at the same time that he
makes a pressure with the palms of his hands, must with his

262 Culpepper s English Physician.

fingers artfully conduct the gut in by the same aperture through
which it came out. The manner of doing this can be much
easier conceived than described. Should these endeavours
prove ineffectual, clysters of the smoke of tobacco may be tri-
ed. These have been often known to succeed where every other
method failed. An adult, after the gut has been returned, must
wear a steel bandage. It is needless to describe this, as it may
always be had ready-made from the artists. Such bandages
are generally irksome to the wearer for some time, but by cus-
tom they become quite easy. No person, who has had a rup-
ture after he arrived at man's estate, should ever be without
one of these bandages. Persons who have a rupture ought
carefully to avoid all violent exercise, carrying great weights,
leaping, running, and the like. They should likewise avoid
windy aliment and strong liquors ; and should carefully guard
against catching cold.

OF RECOVERING DROWNED PERSONS.

The length of time during which a person may remain im-
mersed in water, without being drowned, is very unequal, in
different individuals; and depends as much on the temperature
of the water as on the particular constitution of the subject:
in general, however, there is less prospect of recovery, after
having continued fifteen minutes in a watery grave. In sucli
cases, death ensues from impeded respiration, and the conse-
quent ceasing of the circulation of the blood, by which the body
loses its heat, and, with that, the activity of the vital principle.
The water produces all the changes which take place in drown-
ing, only indirectly, by excluding the atmospheric air from the
lungs, as they admit but a very inconsiderable quantity of fluid
to pass into them, during immersion. Hence we shall find, in
the progress of this inquiry, that inflation of the lungs is one
4)f the principal means of restoring life.

Before we describe the various methods and instruments that

And Family Dispensatory , 263

have been successfully adopted, for recovering drowned persons,
it will be useful to advert to those circumstances which deserve
to be duly weighed, previously to any active measures being
taken on such unfortunate occasions: 1. The season and wea-
ther; 2. Length of time the person has continued under wa-
ter; 3. The state of his mind when the accident happened:
whether he was intoxicated, frightened, Arc. ; 4. Constitution
of tire body, and whether he was in a state of perspiration;
5. The height from which he fell, and whether his head plung-
ed foremost; 6. Depth of the water; whether it was cold or
warm, sea, or river water, and how he was dressed. Lastly,
7. The manner in which he was taken out, whether by the legs,
and without receiving any injury, or by instruments ; and wheth-
er he was rolled about in a tub, or what other methods were
pursued for his restoration.

Symptoms of Apparent Death by Drowning.'] Coldness;
paleness of the w hole body ; the lips of a livid hue ; the mouth
either open or firmly closed ; the tongue blue, sw elled and pro-
truded ; the eye lids closed, the eyes turned, and their pupils
dilated ; the face swelled and blue ; the lower belly hard and
inflated. The first signs of returning animation are, convulsive
starting of the muscles of the face, or feet; motion of the eye-
lids; a spasmodic shivering of the body.

Treatment.] 1. After having been carefully taken out of the
water by the arms, so as to prevent the least iujury to the head
and breast, the body ought to be carried to the nearest house
(if possible, in a bier,) with the head somewhat raised ; or, in
fine warm weather, the resuscitative process may with more ad-
vantage be performed in the open air, especially in sun-shine.

2. When the subject is deposited, the upper part of the body
should be supported half-sitting, with the head inclining towards
the right side.

3. The clothes are to be taken off without delay, but with
the greatest precaution; as violent shaking of the body might

264

Culpepper s English Physician,

extinguish the latent spark of life.

4. The mouth and nose must be cleansed from the mucus
and froth, by means of a feather dipped in oil.

5. The whole body should now be gently wiped and dried
with warm flannel cloths, then covered with blankets, feather-
beds, hay, straw, &c. In cold or moist weather, the patient is
to be laid on a mattress or bed, at a proper distance from the
lire, or in a room moderately heated; but in the warm days of
summer, a simple couch is sufficient.

6. If the patient be very young, or a child, it may be placed
in bed between two persons, to promote natural warmth.

7. In situations where the bath cannot be conveniently pro-
cured, bladders tilled with lukewarm water should be applied
to different parts of the body, particularly to the pit of the
stomach ; or a warming-pan wrapped in flannel gently moved
along the spine; or aromatic fomentations frequently and cau-
tiously repeated.

8. As the breathing of many persons in an apartment would
render the air mephitic, and thus retard, or even prevent the
restoration of life, not more than five or six assistants should
be suffered to remain in the room where the body is deposited.

Stimulants generally employed: X. Moderate friction with
soft, warm flannel, at the beginning, and gradually increased by
means of brushes dipped in oil, till pulsations of the heart are
perceptible.

2. Inflation of the lungs, which may be more conveniently
effected by blowing into one of the nostrils, than by introducing
air into the mouth. For the former purpose, it is necessary to
be provided w ith a wooden pipe, fitted at one extremity for
filling the nostril, and at the other for being blown into by a
healthy person's mouth, or for receiving the muzzle of a pair
of common bellows, by u hich the operation may be longer con-
tinued. At first, however, it will always be more proper to in-
troduce the warm breath from the lungs of a living person, than

And Family Dispensatory .

265

to commence with cold atmospheric air. During this operation,
the other nostril and the mouth should be closed by an assis-
tant, while a third person gently presses the chest with his
hands, as soon as the lungs are observed to be inflated.

3. Stimulating clysters, consisting of warm water and com-
mon salt ; or a strong solution of tartar emetic ; or decoctions
of aromatic herbs: or six ounces of brandy, should be speedily
administered.-^-We do not consider injections of the smoke of
tobacco, or even clysters of that narcotic plant, in all instances
safe or proper.

4. Let the body be gently rubbed with common salt, or with
flannels dipped in spirits ; the pit of the stomach fomented with
hot brandy; the temples stimulated with spirit of hartshorn;
and the nostrils occasionally tickled with a feather.

5. Persons of a very robust frame, and whose skin after be-
ing dried, assumes a rigid and contracted surface, may be put
into tlie sub-tepid bath, of about 65 deg,, which must be grad-
ually raised to 75 or 80 deg., of Fahrenheit's scale, accord-
ing to ci cumstances; or the body carried to a brewhouse, and
covered with warm grains for three or four hours: but these
expedient generally require medical assistance.

6. Violent shaking and agitation of the body by the legs and
arms, though strongly recommended, and supposed to have
often forwarded the recovery of children and boys, appears to us
a doubtful remedy, which can be practised only in certain cases.

7. Sprinkling the naked body of a drowned person with cold
water ; submitting it to the operation of a shower-bath, or the
sudden shocks of the electric fluid ; as well as whipping it with
nettles, administering emetics, and blood-letting, — are desper-
ate expedients, which should be resorted to only after the more
lenient means have been unsuccessfully employed.

It is, however, a vulgar and dangerous error, to suppose that
persons apparently dead by immersion under water, are irrecov-
erable, because life does not soon re-appear : hence we serious-

266 Culpepper s English Physician .

ly entreat those who are thus employed in the service of hu-
manity, to persevere for three or four hours at least, in the ap-
plication of the most appropriate remedies above described;
for there are many instances recorded, of patients who recov-
ered, after they had been relinquished by ail their medical and
other assistants.

Treatment on the return of life: As soon as the first symp-
toms of that happy change become discernible, additional care
must be taken to cherish the vital action, by the most soothing
means. All violent proceedings should, therefore, be immedi-
ately abandoned, no farther stimulants applied, nor even the
ears of the patient be annoyed by loud speaking, shouting, &c.
At that important crisis, moderate friction only is requisite.
And, if the reviving person happen to be in the bath, he may
either remain there, provided his sensations be easy and agreea-
ble, or be removed to a comfortable bed, after being expediti-
ously dried with warm flannels : fomentations of aromatic plants
may then be applied to the pit of the stomach ; bladders filled
with warm water, placed to the left side ; the soles of the feet
rubbed with salt; the mouth cleared of froth and mucus, and
a little white wine, or a solution of salt in water, dropped on
the tongue. But all strong stimulants, such as powerful elec-
tric shocks, strong odours of volatile salts, &c. are at this pe-
riod particularly injurious. Lastly, the patient, after resuscita-
tion, ought to be for a short interval resigned to the efforts of
Nature, and left in a composed and quiescent state : as soon as
he is able to swallow, without compulsion or persuasion, warm
wine, or tea, with a few drops of vinegar, instead of milk, or
gruel, warm beer, and the like, should be given in small doses
frequently repeated.

Having stated the leading particulars to be attended to, in
the practical treatment of persons who are on the eve of suffer-
ing from aquatic suffocation, we shall accompany them with a
few directions, addressed to those humane assistants who often

267

And Family Dispensatory .

fall victims for want of due precaution in the execution of their
benevolent design.

As many fatal accidents happen to individuals who wish to
rescue others in danger of being drowned, especially when the
former are unskilful in the useful art of swimming, w hich ought
to be learnt at an early period of life, we think it our duty to
remind the reader of the two excellent contrivances, the Air-
jacket, and Bamboe Habit.

The Airjacket is a dress made of leather, in which are con-
tained several bags or bladders, composed of the same mate-
rials, and communicating with each other. These are filled
with air blown through a leather tube, having a brass stop-cock,
accurately ground at its extremity. In order to confine this
elastic fluid, the jacket must previously be wetted ; and thus
the person is supported in the water without any effort, by the
aid of these bladders placed near the breast.

The Bamboe Habit is an invention of the Chinese, by the
use of which a person unskilled in the art of swimming may
easily keep himself above water. The Chinese merchants,
when going on a voyage, always provide themselves with this
simple apparatus, to save their lives, in cases of danger from
shipwreck. It is constructed by placing four bamboes hori-
zontally, two before and two behind the body of each person,
so that they project about twenty-eight inches : these are cross-
ed on each side by two others, and the whole properly secur-
ed, leaving an intermediate space for the body. When thus
formed, the person in danger slips it over his head, and ties it
securely to the waist : by which simple means he cannot pos-
sibly sink.

In lieu of Bamboes, four pieces of light wood of a sufficient
strength, with pieces of cork secured along the whole length
of each piece, forms a machine calculated to enable any one to
venture into water, however deep, with safety.

Its figure is here subjoined.

268

Culpepper s English Physician.

Every family dwelling on the banks of lakes or rivers, or near
ponds, ought to be always provided with two or three such use-
ful articles, to serve in cases of emergency ; as it w ill generally
be too late to procure them on the spur of the occasion.

Instruments for recovering the Drowned.

1. A forked instrument with blunt points, for making a su-
perficial search after the drowned body, and sounding the par-
ticular situation in which it lies.

2. In winter, in cases of immersion by breaking of the ice,
a useful instrument is a ladder, to one end of which is attached
a long handle, by which it admits of being pushed over the
aperture by a person standing on a firm part of the ice, while
another places himself on it over the aperture, and is thus en-
abled to search for the body, by an instrument called an Ex-
tractor.

3. The Extractor is a linked pair of tongs, which on immers-
ing it into water, open by its own weight, as well as by the slid-
ing down of an iron ring. It may again be closed by pulling
a double cord which is fastened to the same ring and thus shift-
ed upwards. Thus the instrument descends with open arms
to embrace the body, and by pulling the cords it seizes firm
hold of it and is drawn up.

4. A bier of wicker work, in the form of a slanting, oblong
basket, for conveying the body of the drowned, in a posture

209

And Family Dispensatory .

somewhat raised. This simple contrivance has the advantage,
that the water may easily run off, while the patient is carried :
and, as many unfortunate persons are materially injured by
rough treatment, before they arrive at a house of reception,
so that their recovery is thus often frustrated, we recommend
the universal adoption of this useful implement.

Lastly, we cannot conclude this subject, without affording
the reader a view of the different articles belonging to a com-
plete chest of instruments, and other materials, employed in
the various processes for recovering suspended animation
from drowning, viz ;

A small bottle of rectified spirit of wine.

Ditto,

white wine vinegar.

Ditto*

sweet oil.

Ditto,

white French brandy

Ditto,

volatile sal ammoniac.

Ditto,

vitriolic setlnr.

Ditto,

mustard-seed.

A machine for injecting the smoke of tobacco.

A leather tube, together with a pair of bellows, for inflating
the lungs.

Another tube of leather, for introducing medicines into the
stomach.

A small syringe for clearing the throat of mucus.

Three woollen covers, or blankets.

Four brushes, and six woollen cloths* for performing friction.
Several emetics.

Two lancets for blood-letting.

One pound of tobacco.

A roller and cushion, to be used in venesection.

Two qnills, a sponge, and some lint.

A pocket-knife.

An apparatus for striking fire.

Camomile am! elder-flowers.

270

Culpepper s English Physician ,

Common salt — and a printed copy of rule* and directions
for treating the drowned.

OF CONVULSION FITS.

C/ONVULSION fits often constitute the last scene of acute
or chronic disorders. When this is the case, there can remain
but small hopes of the patient s recovery after expiring in a fit.
But, when a person, who appears to be in perfect health, is sud-
denly seized with a convulsion fit, and seems to expire, some
attempts ought always to be made to restore him to life. Infants
are most liable to convulsions, and are often carried off very
suddenly by one or more fits about the time of teething. There
are many well-authenticated accounts of infants having been re-
stored to life, after they had to all appearance expired in con-
vulsions; but we shall only relate the following instance men-
tioned by Dr. Johnson in his pamphlet on the practicability of
recovering persons visibly dead ; In the parish of St. Clement’s
at Colchester, a child of six months old, lying upon its mother’s
lap, having had the breast, was siezed with a strong convulsion
fit, which lasted so long, and ended with so total a privation of
motion of the body, lungs, and pulse, that it was deemed abso-
lutely dead. It was accordingly stripped, laid out, the passing
bell ordered to be tolled, and a coffin to be made ; but a neigh-
bouring gentlewoman who used to admire the child, hearing of
its sudden death, hastened to the house, and, upon examining
the child, found it not cold, its joints limber, and fancied that
a glass she held to its mouth and nose was a little damped with
the breath : upon which she took the child in her lap, sat down
before the fire, rubbed it, and kept it in gentle agitation. In
a quarter of an hour she felt the heart begin to beat faintly ;
she then put a little of the mother’s milk into its mouth, con-
tinued to rub its palms and soles, found the child begin to move,
and the milk was swallowed ; and in another quarter of an hour
she had the satisfaction of restoring to its disconsolate mother

271

And Family Dispensatory .

the babe quite recovered, eager to lay hold of the breast, and
able to suck again. The child throve, had no more fits, is grow-
ing up, and at present alive. There are many other things
which might be done, in case the above should not succeed ;
as rubbing the body with strong spirits, covering it with warm
ashes or salt, blowing air into the lungs, throwing up warm stim-
ulalimg clysters, or the smoke of tobacco, into the intestines,
and such like. When children are dead-born, or expire soon
after the bitth, the same means ought to be used for their re-
covery as if they had expired in circumstances similar to those
just mentioned. These directions may likewise be extended
to adults, attention being always paid to the age and other cir-
cumstances of the patient. The means used with so much
efficacy in recovering drowned persons are, with equal success,
applicable to a number of cases where the powers of life seem
in reality to be only suspended, and to remain capable of re-
newing all their functions, on being put into motion again.
It is shocking to reflect, that for want of this consideration
many persons have been committed to the grave, in whom the
principles of life might have been revived. The cases wherein
such endeavours are most likely to be attended with success,
are all those called sudden deaths from an invisible cause, as
apoplexies, hysterics, faintings, and many other disorders
wherein persons in a moment sink down and expire. The va-
rious casualties, in which they may be tried, are, suffocations
from the sulphureous damps of mines, coalpits, &c. the un-
wholesome air of long-unopened wells or caverns ; the noxious
vapours arising from fermenting liquors ; the steams of burn-
ing charcoal; sulphureous mineral acids; arsenical effluvia,
&c. The various accidents of drowning, strangling, and ap-
parent deaths, by blows, falls, hunger, cold, &c. likewise fur-
nish opportunities of trying such endeavours. Those perhaps
who to appearance are killed by lightning, or by any violent
agitation of the passions, as fear, joy, surprise, and such like.

272 Culpepper's English Physician.

might also be frequently recovered by the use of proper means,
as blowing strongly into their lungs, &c.

OF COLD BATHING.

Immersion in cold water is a custom which lays claim to
the most remote antiquity : indeed it must have been coeval
with man himself. The necessity of water for the purpose of
cleanliness, and the pleasure arising from its application to
the body in hot countries, must very early have recom-
mended it to the human species. Even the example of other
animals was sufficient to give the hint to man. By instinct
many of them are led to apply cold water in this manner 4
and some, when deprived of its use, have been known to lan-
guish, and even to die. But whether the practice of cold bath-
ing arose from necessity, reasoning, or imitation, is an enquiry
of no importance ; our business is to point out the advantages
which may be derived from it, and to guard people against an
improper use of it. The cold bath recommends itself in a
variety of cases ; and is peculiarly beneficial to the inhabitants
of populous cities, who indulge in idleness, and lead sedentary
lives. In persons of this description the action of the solids
is always too weak, which induces a languid circulation, a crude
indigested mass of humours, and obstructions in the capillary
vessels and glandular system. Cold water, from its gravity,
as well as its tonic power, is well calculated either to obviate
or remove these symptoms. It accelerates the motion of the
blood, promotes the different secretions, and gives permanent
vigour to the solids. But all these important purposes will be
more essentially answered by the application of salt water.
This ought not only to be preferred on account of its superior
gravity, but likewise for its greater power of stimulating the
skin, which promotes the perspiration, and prevents the pa-
tient from catching cold. It is necessary, however, to observe,
that cold bathing is more likely to prevent, than to remove.

And Family Dispensatory

273

obstructions of the glandular or lymphatic system. Indeed,
when these have arrived at a certain pitch, they are not to be
removed by any means. In this case the cold bath will only
aggravate the symptoms, and hurry the unhappy patient into
an untimely grave. It is therefore of the utmost importance,
previous to the patient’s entering upon the use of the cold bath,
to determine whether or not he labours under any obstinate
obstructions of the lungs or other viscera; and, where this is
the case, cold bathing ought strictly to be prohibited. In what
is called a plethoric state, or too great a fulness of the body,
it is likewise dangerous to use the cold bath, without due pre-
paration. In this case there is great danger of bursting a
blood vessel, or occasioning an inflammation of the brain, or
some of the viscera. This precaution is the more necessary to
citizens, as most of them live full, and are of a gross habit.
Yet what is very remarkable, these people resort in crowds
every season to the sea-side, and plunge into the water with-
out the least consideration. No doubt they often escape with
impunity; but does this give a sanction to the practice] Per-
sons of this description ought by no means to bathe, unless the
body has been previously prepared by suitable evacuations.
Another class of patients, who stand peculiarly in need of the
bracing qualities of cold water, is the nervous. This includes
a great number of the male, and almost all the female, inhab-
itants of great cities. Yet even those persons ought to be
cautious in using the cold bath. Nervous people have often
weak bowels, and may, as well as others, be subject to conges-
tions and obstructions of the viscera; and in this case they will
not be able to bear the effects of the cold water. For them,
therefore, and indeed for all delicate people, the best plan would
be to accustom themselves to it by the most pleasing and gen-
tle degrees. They ought to begin with the temperate bath,
and gradually use it cooler, till at length the coldest proves
quite agreeable. Nature revolts against all great transitions ;

274

Culpepper's English Physician.

and those who do violence to her dictates have often cause to
repent of their temerity. To young people, and particularly
to children, cold bathing is of the last importance. Their lax
fibres render its tonic powers peculiarly proper. It promotes
their growth, increases their strength, and prevents a variety
of diseases incident to childhood. The most proper time of
the day for using the cold bath is no doubt the morning, or at
least before dinner; and the best mode, that of quick immersion.
As cold bathing has a constant tendency to propel the blood
and other humours towards the head, it ought to be a rule al-
ways to wet that part as soon as possible. By due attention to
this circumstance, there is reason to believe, that violent head-
aelis, and other complaints, which frequently proceed from cold
bathing, might be often prevented. The cold bath, when too
long continued in, not only occasions an excessive fiux of hu-
mours towards the head, but chills the blood, cramps the mus-
cles, relaxes the nerves, and wholly defeats the intention of
bathing. Hence, by not adverting to this circumstance, ex-
pert swimmers are often injured, and sometimes even lose their
lives. All the beneficial purposes of cold bathing are answer-
ed by one single immersion; and the patient ought to be rub-
bed dry the moment he comes out of the water, and should
continue to take exercise for some time after. When cold
bathing occasions chillness, loss of appetite, listlessness, pain
of the breast or bowels, a prostration of strength, or violent
head-aches, it ought to be discontinued.

OF DRINKING THE MINERAL WATERS.

The waters most in use for medical purposes in Britain, are
those impregnated with salts, sulphur, iron, and mephitic air,
either separately or variously combined. The errors which
so often defeat the intention of drinking the purgative mineral
waters, and which so frequently prove injurious to the patient,
proceed from the manner of using them, the quantity taken.

And Family Dispensatory . ts /•“>

the regimen pursued, or using them in cases where they are
not proper. Drinking the water in too great quantity, not
only injures the bowels and occasions indegestion, but gene-
rally defeats the intention for which it is taken. The diseases,
for the cure of which mineral waters are chiefly celebrated, are
mostly of the chronic kind; and it is well known that such dis-
eases can only be cured by the slow operation of alteratives,
or such medicines as act by inducing a gradual change in the
habit. This requires length of time, and never can be effect-
ed by medicines which run off by stool, and operate chiefly on
the first passages. Those who wish for the cure of any obsti-
nate malady from the mineral waters, ought to take them in
such a manner as hardlv to produce any effect whatever on the
bowels. With this view a half-pint glass may be drunk at bed-
time, and the same quantity an hour before breakfast, dinner,
and supper. The dose, however, must vary according to cir-
cumstances. Even the quantity mentioned above will purge
some persons, while others will drink twice as much without
being in the least moved by it. Its operation on the bowels
is the only standard for using the water as an alterative. No
more ought to be taken than barely to move the body; nor is
it always necessary to carry it this length, provided the water
goes off by the other emunctories, and does not occasion a
chillness, or flatulency in the stomach or bowels. When the
water is intended to purge, the quantity mentioned above may
be all taken before breakfast. To promote the operation of
mineral waters, and to carry them through the system, exer-
cise is indispensably necessary. This may be taken in any
manner that is most agreeable to the patiant, but he ought
never to carry it to excess. As a purgative, these waters are
chiefly recommended in diseases of the first passages, accom-
panied with, or proceeding from, inactivity of the stomach and
bowels, acidity, indigestion, vitiated bile, worms, putrid sores,
the piles, and jaundice. In most cases of this kind, they are

276

Culpeppers English Physician .

the best medicines that can be administered. But, when used
with this view, it is sufficient to take them twice, or at most
three times a week, so as to move the body three or four times ;
and it will be proper to continue this course for some weeks.
But the operation of the more active mineral waters is not con-
fined to the bowels. They often promote the discharge of
urine, and not unfrequently increase the perspiration. This
shows that they are capable of penetrating into every part of
the body, and of stimulating the whole system. Hence arises
their efficacy in removing the most obstinate of all disorders,
obstructions of the glandular and lymphatic system. Under
this class is comprehended the scrophuia or king’s evil, indo-
lent tumours, obstructions of the liver, spleen, kidneys, and
mesenteric glands. When these great purposes are to be ef-
fected, the waters must be used in the gradual manner men-
tioned above, and persisted in for a length of time. It will
be proper, however, now and then to discontinue their use for
a few days. The next great class of diseases, where mineral
waters are found to be beneficial, are those of the skin, as the
itch, scab, tetters, ring-worms, scaly eruptions, leprosies,
blotches, foul ulcers, &c. Though these may seem superficial,
yet they are often the most obstinate which the physician has
to encounter, and not unfrequently set his skill at defiance;
but they will sometimes yield to the application of mineral
waters for a sufficient length of time; and in most cases of
this kind these waters deserve a trial.

THE GREEN-SICKNESS.

Green -SICKNESS, or Chlorosis , a disorder which fre-
quently attacks females after the age of puberty. It is at-
tended with a depraved appetite, and a desire to eat substances
that are not food, such as chalk, ashes, salt, &c. ; the skin is
pale and discoloured ; the face sallow or greenish, but some-
times of a livid hue ; there is a deficiency of blood in the veins ;

And Family Dispensatory .

277

with a soft swelling of the whole body, especially the legs
during the night; debility; palpitation; and suppression of
catamenia.

Causes.— A sedentary life ; scanty, or indigestible food ; ob-
structions of the bowels; and frequently inordinate passions.

Cure. — Although the experience of all ages has attested,
that the most certain relief in this female complaint is a change
from a single to a connubial state, yet as this expedient is not
always convenient, the following plan should be steadily pur-
sued : A nourishing diet, with an allowance of generous wine,
in small quantities ; abstinence from acids, spirituous liquors,
and whatever may suddenly heat or cool the body ; moderate
daily exercise, especially on horseback ; or, if that cannot be
procured, general friction of the whole frame with warm flan-
nel every morning and evening; sleeping on mattresses, in-
stead of soft feather-beds ; early rising, and chearful company.
Besides these general regulations, it will be useful to keep the
bowels continually open, by taking small doses of vitriolated
tartar, a scruple or half a dram, to be repeated four or six
times when necessary in one day ; to battle the lower extremi-
ties frequently in warm water, and to wear worsted stockings
in preference to silk or cotton; to apply the steam of hot wa-
ter with due precaution ; and lastly, to resort to the tepid bath
every other day, or as often as is compatible with the strength
of the patient.— -If, nevertheless, these gentle means prove un-
successful, the more powerful remedies, such as chalybeates,
bitters, mercurials, &c. must be prescribed by the profession.
- — In some of the most tedious and inveterate cases of chlorosis,
almost immediate relief was obtained by inhaling dephlogisti-
cated air, or oxygen gas, which, however, should be administered
only by persons sufficiently acquainted with the nature of that
powerful agent.

CULPEPPER’S DISPENSATORY,

FOR

FAMILY USE;

CONTAINING

A choice SELECTION of invaluable PRESCRIPTIONS for
almost all DISEASES incident to the HUMAN BODY.

AROMATIC OR SPICE WATER.

TAKE of white canella, half a pound ; fresh outward peel of
lemons,. four ounces ; lesser cardamom seeds, two ounces ; French
brandy, two gallons. Let them steep together for four days ;
and then distil off two gallons.

This is a warm serviceable cordial for it gratefully invigorates
the animal spirits^. stimulates the nerves, and thus dissolves cold
viscid humours, and expels flatulencies. It is an excellent sto-
machic, helps digestion, and stops vomiting; and as a carmi-
native is used in the rougher cathartics. Half a wine-glass of
it is a dose in windy and painful complaints of the stomach and
bowels, and to be repeated occasionally.

PLAGUE AND FEVER WATER.

Take roots of master-wort , a pound and a half? angelica
seeds, half a pouod ; elder flowers, leaves of scordium, of each
four ounces ; French brandy, three gal Ions. Steep them together
for the space of four days ; and then draw off, by distillation ,
two gallons and a half.

The ingredients are well chosen for the purposes intended ; it
being designed as a high cordial in very low and languid cases,
and to raise the spirits in the plague and malignant fevers with
depressions. If a fifth part of distilled vinegar be added, it is
then termed aqua epidemia acida, which is a very powerful
sudorific, and resister of putrefaction in all pestilential and
other putrid fevers.

EYE-WATER.

Take white vitriol, half a pound; water, four pints. Foil
them until the vitriol is dissolved , and then filter the liquor for
use.

This is calculated to cool and repel those sharp rheums and
inflammations which sometimes fall upon the eyes, where the
vessels, being weak and thin, are often unable to resist duly
the impulse of the blood, unless they are constringed and
strengthened by some such collyrium. It is likewise good to
clear them of beginning films and specks. If it should prove
too sharp for tender eyes, it may be diluted with a little spring
or rose water.

No. 30. 4 S

280

Culpepper's Dispensatory.

ANODYNE BALSAM.

Take of saponaceous balsam, or opodeldoc, a pound and a
half; of liquid laudanum, half a pound. Mix them for use.

This is certainly an extremely penetrating and resolvent ano-
dyne, both for internal and external use; being a most excel-
lent medicine for procuring ease in the extremities of pain, and
in nervous and nephritic cholics. It cleanses all the viscera and
glandular parts' therefore good in the jaundice and such dis-
tempers of the urinary passages as proceed from the obstruction
of gravel or slimy humours. Inwardly it may be given from 20
to 40 drops. And outwardly, applied to the pained part, does
mighty service, a rag being dipped in it, and retained there-
on.

ALEXETERIAL BOLUS.

Take of Virginian snake-root, fifteen grains ; of castor, ten
grains; of camphor, three grains; syrup of sugar , enough to
mix and make them into a bolus.

This is a powerful alexipharmic, and is given in most kinds
of fevers, especially the worst and more malignant sort, attend-
ed with convulsions and deliria. It is hardly ever omitted,
when the pulse and spirits begin to flag in the progress of a pu-
trid fever, small-pox, measles, milliary fever, &c. It is good
in nervous and paralytic cases, which proceed from too much
humidity; as also in the febricula, whether hysterical or hypo-
chondriacal. If plentifully prescribed, it requires to be well
diluted with small liquors; and, thus managed, it seldom fails
of raising a diaphoresis, and bringing the distemper to a cri-
sis.

DIAPHORETIC BOLUS.

Take of compound powder of contrayerva , and of crude salt
of ammoniac, each one scruple ; syrup of sugar , as much as is
sufficient to make a bolus.

This penetrates into the most intimate parts, and is a noble
aperient, sudorific, antiseptic, and diuretic. Hence it becomes
proper, in cases where perspiration is to be augmented; and in
fevers, in which the disorder is to be eliminated by the cuticu-
lar discharges. It is prescribed, with a draught of the plague-
water, to remove cachectic and anasarcous swellings.

BOLUS OF JALAP WITH MERCURY.

Take of choice jalap, one scruple; calomel, from five to ten
grains; syrup of sugar , a sufficient quantity. Mix them to-
gether into a bolus.

Cit Ipep per s D Ispensa t o ry

281

This is a proper bolus in most cases where a brisk purgative,
preceded by a clyster, is necessary, either to make a revulsion
after bleeding in inflammatory swellings and obstructions of the
parts contained in the head, neck, or thorax; or to make an
evacuation of the intestines anil adjacent viscera of the abdo-
men. Thus may a bilious fever be carried off, when it has lin-
gered, and there is little probability of its ending critically by
any other way: as a diaphoretic and hydrogogue, it is of use
in dropsies, defluxions of the head, eyes, and ears.; as also in
humoral cough *, and many obstinate chronical distempers. It
destroys worms, cures a violent gonorrhoea and floor albus. It
is also good to cleanse the bowels from their redundant viscid
mucus, that often clogs or shuts up the chylopoietic system, so
as to hinder the entrance and proper effects of other medicines.
In intermitting fevers it is a specific.

A PECTORAL BOLUS.

Take of spermaceti , fifteen grains ; of gum ammoniacum , ten
grains ; of the volatile salt of hartshorn , seven grains. Mix ,
and make them into a bolus .

This is an excellent balsamic in many distempers of the
breast; and gently deterges and heals. In coughs, pleurisies,
and inward imposthumations, where the mucus of the bowels
has been abraded by acrimony, and choler ; as also in diarrhoe-
as and dysenteries, this is a very good healer. In ulcerations
of the kidneys and bloody urine, it is likewise a very suitable
medicine; and, by softening and relaxing the fibres, it contri-
butes frequently to the expulsion of gravel. It may be taken
once or twice a-day, with some proper emulsion, draught, or
julep, according to the indications.

THE RHUBARB BOLUS WITH CALOMEL.

Take of the best purgative rhubarb , twenty five grains ; of
calomel, five grains. Mix , and make them into a bolus, with
as much syrup of sugar as will suffice.

This is an admirable medicine in most cases where purging is
necessary, to cleanse the first passages of any thing that hinders
the successful operation of other alterative medicines. See the
virtues ot the Jalap Bolus, which this nearly answers, but is
more astringent, hepatic, stomachic, and apurger of the urine
and sabulous concretions.

EMOLLIENT CATAPLASM.

Take of the crumb of bread, eight ounces ; white soap, one
ounce; fresh cow’s-milk , a sufficient quantity. Boil them a
little , and spread for use.

•282

Culpepper's Dispensatory.

This is anodyne, penetrating, and resolvent; therefore ap-
plied to the soles of the feet in fevers, to the joints when afflic-
ted with the gout, and causes sometimes the exudation of a
great quantity , of serous matter ; and to white swellings.

SUPPURATING CATAPLASM.

This is made by adding to the foregoing cataplasm , of raw
onions bruised, one ounce and a half ; basilicon ointment, one
ounce .

This is good to draw and suppurate all kinds of tumours,;
and to ripen, break, and cleanse, imposthumations.

APERIENT ALE.

Take of old mustard- seed, ten ounces ; long birthwort-reot ,
six ounces; tops of lesser centaury, two ounces; savin, one
ounce ; new small ale, ten gallons.

This cleanses the womb, excites the menstrual discharges,
and forwards delivery. It is serviceable in hysterical disorders,
and good to loosen and discuss viscidities; and, therefore, ex-
cellent in all paralytic cases, and the deeays and defluxions.at-
tending old age.

CEPHALIC ALE.

Take of wild valerian-root, two ounces; whole mustard-seed \
six ounces; Virginian snake-root, two ounces; rosemary , or
sage, three ounces ; new small ale , ten gallons.

This is good against epilepsies, apoplexies, palsies, and all
diseases of that kind, and vertigoes from uterine obstructions.;
it is also of use in almost all nervous complaints; especially
such as arise from too great moisture and cold.

STRENGTHENING CONFECTION.

Take of bole-ammoniac prepared, three ounces; tormeniil
roots, nutmegs, olibanum, of each two ounces ; opium, one dram
and a half ; syrup of dry roses, thrice the weight of the pow-
ders. Mix them according to art.

This alexipharmic, anodyne, and astringent, vulnerary, is
recommended in immoderate evacuations of the abdomen. A
dram or two of it, at a dose, along with the chalk julep, will
give an effectual check to the disorder. It is successfully pres-
cribed for diarrhoeas in the measles, small-pox, or fevers; as
also for relaxations, haemorrhages, and hurts in the time of
pregnancy; and likewise for the Jluor albus, and seminal weak
Jiess.

ANTIHECTIC DECOCTION.

Culpepper s Dispensatory .

283

Take of the roots of comfrey , eringo , each half an ounce:
conserve of roses , ounces ; ivater, three pints. Boil these

ingredients together , /*// remains a quart of liquor after

straining; to which add of sweet spirit of vitriol, forty
drops.

This is grateful and strengthening; it restrains the saline
particles of the blood, and hinders it from rushing too impetu-
ously through the lungs; therefore it takes place in newly-be-
gun consumptions, hectic fevers, night sweats, &c. where the
colliquation of the humours causes a wasting of the muscular
parts.

COMMON DECOCTION.

Take of mallow leaves, camomile flowers, each one ounce: wa-
ter, two quarts. Boil till one quart of the liquor is wasted:
then strain out the remaining decoction for use.

This is emollient and carminative, therefore accounted a
good anodyne, and excellent against gripes, nephritic pains,
stranguaries, and heat of urine; as also for cramps, and such-
like spasms. It is likewise used in lotions and clysters.

THE DIURETIC DECOCTION.

Take of the roots of parsley, or those of fennel, one ounce;
seeds of wild carrot, three drams; pellitory of the wall, half
an ounce; raisins of the sun, two ounces; water, three pints.
Boil them together, till there remains a quart of liquor after
straining ; to which add, of nitre, one dram.

This absterges much slime and viscid adhesions from the
stomach and bowels; cleanses the viscera, particularly the kid-
neys; keeps the juices cool aud fined; and greatly assists
their discharge by urine, especially in uterine and hysteric ca-
ses.

VULNERARY DECOCTION.

Take of the herb ground ivy, leaves of plantain, each half an
ounce; water, three pints. Boil them till there remains a
quart of liquar after straining ; to which add, of white sugar,
half an ounce .

This is cooling, abstersive, and vulnerary; and prescribed
as an astringent in distempers of the lungs, chiefly for such
consumptions as proceed from sharp thin humours, weaknes-
ses, and spitting of blood.

ANTIDYSENTERIC ELECTUARY.

Take of the strengthening confection, one ounce ; balsam of

284

Culpepper s Dispensatory .

Lucatellus , f dissolved in the yolk of an egg,) half an ounce.
Mix them together.

This is an excellent internal vulnerary in an obstinate bloody
flux, to prevent abortion, &c., and very aptly formed for corres-
ponding with such purposes. The confection has its share in
accomplishing a cure, partly from its astringency, partly from
its opiate quality, by rendering the vessels insensible of the
pungency of the morbific particles ; while the virtues of the
balsam agglutinate, heal, and stop up, the mouths of the ves-
sels, and sheath the acrimonious humours which abrade the
parts.

BALSAMIC ELECTUARY.

Take of conserve of roses , two ounces ; balsam of Lucatellus,
( dissolved in the yolk of an egg,) one ounce. Mix, and make
them into an electuary.

This is a noble medicine, easy to take, and ought to be re-
peated on the urgency of such coughs as give suspicion of tuber-
cles, ulcerations, and decays of the lungs. It dissolves tough
phlegm in the bronchia, cures catarrhs and coughs from tick-
ling defluxions; it repairs and heals inward exulcerations and
bloody discharges, especially of the kidneys, bladder, and ute-
rus. In seminal weaknesses, old gleets in both sexes, there
can be nothing better contrived. The quantity of a nutmeg
may be taken two or three times in a day, with a draught of
the antihectic decoction.

CEPHALIC ELECTUARY.

Take of wild valerian-root, misletoe of the oak, each one
ounce; syrup of sugar, a sufficient quantity . Mix them into
an electuary.

This is calculated for disorders of the head, and is in great
esteem for epilepsies and inveterate head-achs. It is frequent-
ly prescribed in apoplexies, vertigoes, and convulsions, from
uterine obstructions.

ELECTUARY AGAINST THE PILES.

Ta ke of lenitive electuary , two ounces ; sulphur vivum, half
an ounce. Make thereof an electuary.

The quantity of a nutmeg is to be taken of this every morn-
ing and night; it will keep the belly moderately lax, and great-
ly ease the piles.

LENITIVE ELECTUARY.

Take three ounces of polypody-roots, and three quarts of wa-

Culpepper s Dispeiisaiory . 285

ter. Boil till two quarts are wasted ; adding , towards the end
of the coction, two ounces of sena, and half an ounce of corian-
der seeds. Strain out the liquor , add to it four pounds of white
sugar, and boil to the consistence of a thick syrup; with which
mix a pound of the pulp of French prunes : half a pound of the
pulp of cassia , and the same quantity of tamarinds. Make the
whole into an electuary.

This cools and purges very gently, and is convenient enough
to add in clysters. Internally, it is more proper to prevent cos-
tiveness than to be exhibited as a regular cathartic. It is also
intended to cleanse the liver and other viscera.

STRENGTHENING ELECTUARY OF BARK.

Take of Peruvian bark Gne ounce and a half; colcothar of vit-
riol, three drams; syrup of sugar , a sufficient quantity. Make
them into an electuary.

In robust constitutions this is prescribed for stubborn agues ;
and also for fluxes and haemorrhages. It promotes discharges
by urine, destroys worms, brings them away, and strengthens
the fibres ; but in thin hectical habits it is not so proper. The
colcothar here prevents the bark from going off by stool, which
it is sometimes apt to do; and opium likewise will have the
same effect.

ELECTUARY AGAINST FLUXES.

Take of the strengthening confection, tivo ounces ; extract of
logwood, one ounce; syrup of dry roses , a sufficient quantity.
Make them into an electuary.

This is an astringent, and good to fortify the stomach and
bowels when weakened by a diarrhoea; and is much esteemed
of late for its virtues in curing a dysentery.

WARM PLASTER.

Take of gum plaster, one ounce ; blistering-plaster, two drams.
Melt them together over a gentle fire.

The chief intention of this is to raise blisters, and to create a
stimulus in a languor or stupor of the nervous system; to dis-
solve a viscosity or siziness of the juices, and hinder their ten-
dency to a coagulation; or to cause a derivation and discharge
of some morbific humour, and prevent its returning into the
blood ; therefore it is esteemed useful in some inflammatory fe-
vers, dropsies, and certain stages of the crystalline or watery
small pox ; especially if the pustules subside, and the extremely
viscid matter of the disease can neither be brought to suppurate,
nor be carried off by diuretics. It remarkably affects the kidneys
and bladder, and provokes urine, not by an easy natural eject-

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

<286

ment, but rather by an erytismus from its acrid salts that cause a
stranguary, which should be guarded against by broths and
emulsions. It is good against a mortification, and reckoned an
efficacious cleanser and scourer of the urinary passages and ute*-
rus, when obstructed with slough and viscidities. But its use
requires the highest caution and prudence ; hence it is not every
one who must think himself qualified to meddle, without distinc-
tion, with remedies, which are sure to do good or hurt accord-
ing as they are administered.

COMMON PLASTER.

Take of litharge prepared , three pounds ; oil of olives , six
pounds. Boil them up to a due consistence.

This is to supply the place of the diachylon plaster of former
dispensatories ; and is esteemed more emollient, muturant, and
resolvent. It will also incarnate and cicatrize.

DEFENSIVE PLASTER.

Take of litharge prepared, two pounds ; oil of olives, four
pounds. Boil them almost to the consistence of a plaster, in which
qualify six ounces of yellow wax , and four ounces of olibanum.
Then add six ounces of bole ammoniac prepared, two ouncss of
dragon's blood in powder , and four ounces of Venice turpen-
tine.

This is employed to consolidate fractures, to strengthen luxa-
tions and weaknesses of the loins and joints; and is also ser-
viceable for ruptures and chilblains.

BLISTERING PLASTFR.

Take of Burgundy pitch, twenty ounces ; Venice turpentine,
cantharides in powder, each six ounces.

This is a powerful epispastic, and is applied either to the
head, between the shoulders, or to the soles of the feet. See
its use in the Warm Plaster. But when applications are made
to the feet, with an intent to stimulate strongly, excite pain
therein, and relieve the head, cataplasms composed of equal
parts of scraped horse-radish and powdered mustard-seed,
moistened with old yeast, will answer the design expeditiously,
strongly, and effectually.

MERCURIAL PLASTER.

Gum plaster is substituted here for diachylon.

This admirably warms, softens, and discusses, all indura-
tions and hardened tumours, be they chalky, scrophulous, or
venereal.

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

287

STOMACH PLASTER.

Take of yellow wax, eight ounces ; tacamahaca in powder ,
palm oil, each four ounces. Melt them together, and add of
cloves in powder, two ounces ; expressed oil of mace, one ounce
and a half. Mix, and make them into a plaster, which is to
he moistened, when fresh spread, with some drops of distilled
oil of mint.

This is intended as a warm carminative, and cordial, appli-
cation to the stomach, and exerts very considerable effects
when such things are wanted ; therefore it is useful in flatulen-
cies, gripes, and all complaints arising from indigestion ; and
a cold weak stomach cannot well fail finding relief from its
use.

COMMON EMULSION.

Take of sweet almonds, one ounce ; water, one quart. Make
them into an emulsion ; to which add of white sugar, two drams.
If three darms of gum arabic be previously boiled in the water ,
the preparation is called Arabic Emulsion.

Either of these is singularly useful in many emergencies ; par-
ticularly in acute distempers, and the gravel. In heat of urine
and stranguaries, either from acrimonious humours or the salts
of epispastics, they give immediate ease; and ought to be
drunk while fresh, half a pint at a time, and pretty often.
There are other sorts of emulsions, which are calculated for di-
uretics, coolers, and pectorals.

ANODYNE CLYSTER.

Take of the infusion of linseed, six ounces; liquid laudanum
forty drops. Mix them together.

This is excellent to assuage pains in lyenteries, and inflamma-
tions of the uterus and bladder, by reason of a proximity and
consent of parts.

ANTICHOLIC CLYSTER.

Take of the common decoction, half a pint ; tinctura sacra ,
one ounce; common salt , one dram; linseed oil, two ounces.
Mix them together.

This falls in with the view of unloading the bowels of their
costive contents, and consequently procures an immediate re-
lief on many occasions, chiefly in flatulencies, gripes, and bili-
ous cholics. The addition of the salt, by a mild gentle stimu-
lus, insures its effects. It likewise destroys worms, particular-
ly the ascarides, if assisted with a few grains of calomel by the
mouth.

4 T

288 Culpepper s Dispensatory:

THE PURGING CLYSTER.

Take of the common decoction, half a pint ; white soap, one
mince ; syrup of bcukihorn, an ounce and a half. Mix them
according to art.

This is penetrating, detersive, and capable of dissolving in-
durations and grumous viscidities of the intestinal tube, espe-
cially in the jaundice, and by ridding the bowels of their con-
creted contents may prevent an inflammation. It is useful in
disorders of the head, and may cause a revulsion in the faecu-
lent vomitings.

EXPRESSION OF MILLEPEDES.

Take of live millepedes, ( commonly called wood-lice,) three
ounces ; simple fennel-water, one pint; compound horse-radish
water , half a pint. Bruise the millepedes, gradually adding
to them the distilled waters; and afterwards press out the li-
quor.

This is an excellent diuretic, sweetener and cleanser of the
blood, and a most efficacious medicine in all chronic cases,
that are to be relieved by promoting the urinary discharges, as
are many inveterate ulcers, strumas, and scrophulous disorders,
and such as frequently are the forerunners of scorbutic dropsies,
from a retention of such humours as obstruct the viscera, and
till the whole habit with water and viscidities. Hence it is of
singular efficacy in the stone, jaundice, nephritic pains, dysu-
ry, cholic, and asthma.

AROMATIC FOMENTATION.

Take of cloves , mace, each one dram ; red wine , one pint.
Boil them a little, and then strain out the liquor.

This, applied warm to the abdomen, will be found of admi-
rable service in cholics, and for relaxed weak stomachs that
are subject to distention from flatulency. It may be used to
the head with success in any disorders from too much moisture
and pituitous defluxions.

STRENGTHENING FOMENTATION.

Take of oak-bark , one ounce; pomegranate-peel, half an
ounce ; forge-water three pints. Boil them till there remains
a quart of the strained liquor; to which add of roch-alum ,
two drams.

This is proper for haemorrhages, whether uterine, haemorr-
hoidal, or from any other part. It is also good to foment
sprains, fractures, or paralytic limbs ; and will help to check
immoderate vomitings.

Culpeppers Dispensatory .

289

THE COMMON GARGLE.

Take of watery six ounces; nitre , one dram; honey of roses,
one ounce. Mix them together. To this gargarism are some-
times added , of sweet spirit of vitriol, fifteen drops.

This is proper to cleanse and scour the mouth and throat
from slough, and the phlegmatic matter which stuffs and tume-
fies the glands. It is also good to cool and deterge the mouth
when sore, parched, and dry with a fever.

EMOLLIENT GARGLE.

Take of marsh-mallow roots , two ounces; figs in number
four; water , three pints. Boil till there remains one quart of
liquor , which strain out for use.

This is excellent to assuage pain and inflammation in the
throat or mouth, to maturate any ulcer therein, and to mollify
the blistered tongue and fauces in a salivation. The learned
and accurate Sir John Pringle observes, that in the inflamma-
tory quinsy, or strangulation of the fauces, little benefit arises
from the common gargles ; that such as are of an acid nature
do more harm than good, by contracting the emunctories of
the saliva and mucus, and thickening those humours; that a
decoction of figs in milk and water has a contrary effect,
especially if some sal-ammoniac be added; by which the saliva
is made thinner, and the glands brought to secrete more free-
ly; a circumstance always conducive to the cure.

SALINE DRAUGHT.

Take salt of wormwood , one scruple; lemon-juice, half an
ounce ; white sugar, one dram. Mix them together.

This is an effectual remedy to stop vomitings, and is of sin-
gular use in fevers, especially those of the intermittent kind,
when the bark often fails. It causes gentle breathing sweats,
and may be repeated every five or six hours occasional-

ty-

ANTISCORBUTIC INFUSION.

Take of water-trefoil, two ounces; oranges , half an ounce;
boiling water, two quarts. Let them stand in infusion
for a night in a close vessel; afterwards strain the liquor,
and then add to it of compound horse-radish water, half a
pint.

This is effectual against scrophulas, the king’s evil, and all
obstinate scorbutic diseases. In the rheumatic, dropsical, and
cachectic, habits, it will be of good service. It likewise gives
due warmth to the nerves, which in paralytic cases they are

290

Culpepper’s Dispensatory.

destitute of. It may be drunk at discretion, and the use
of it continued according to tire exigency of the disor-
der.

INFUSION OF LINSEED.

Take of linseed , two spoonfuls ; liquorice-root sliced, half an
ounce ; boiling water, three pints. Let them stand to infuse
by the fire for some hours, and then strain off the liquor.

If an ounce of the leaves of colt’s-foot be added to these in-
gredients, it will then be the pectoral infusion. Both these
are emollient mucilaginous liquors, and may be taken with ad-
vantage as ordinary drink in difficulty of making water ; and in
coughs and other complaints of the breast.

BALSAMIC INJECTION.

Take of balsam copaiba, half an ounce ; the yolk of one egg.
Work them well together, and gradually add of time-water,
six ounces; honey of roses, two ounces . Mix the whole well
together.

This is excellent for the consolidation of wounds, and t©
cleanse and heal ulcerations, gleets, and seminal weaknesses,
if used two or three times a-day ; and for corroborating
the nervous parts, which have been relaxed by the dis-
ease.

THE MERCURIAL INJECTION.

Take of quicksilver, balsam capaiba, each half an ounce.
Heat and work them together, till the quicksilver is extinguish-
ed ; then put to the mass the yolk of an egg. Mix the whole
very well together, gradually adding of rose-water , half a
pinL

This is calculated for gonorrhoeas, and venereal ulcers in the
urethra, vagina, and uterus ; the quicksilver destroys the viru-
lency, while the balsam heals and sheathes the excoriated parts
from the acrimony of the urine.

THE CORDIAL JULEP.

Take of alexeterial water , four ounces ; aromatic water, two
ounces; saline aromatic spirit, tincture of saffron, each two
drams ; white sugar, half an ounce. Mix , and make them in-
to a julep.

This is a high cordial, and will bring on an effectual mois-
ture; consequently remove all weariness, heat, and tension,
of the parts; therefore it is of great service in the depressed
j*tate of fevers, fatigue from excesses, and lowness of spirits.

Culpepper's Dispensatory .

291

A few spoonfuls, drunk every three or four hours, will, by its
enlivening quality, communicate an agreeable sensation. It
is likewise very aptly prescribed with powder and boluses.

DIAPHORETIC JULEP. ;

Take of alexeterial water , four ounces ; spirit of minderms ,
two ounces ; volatile salt of hartshorn , ten grains* syrup of
meconium, one ounce. Mix them together.

In slow malignant fevers, with cold clammy sweats, pale vi-
sage, a low intermitting pulse, and where great restlessness
prevails, this julep will be singularly beneficial. A tea-cupfui
may be given and repeated every four or five hours, till some
^crisis appears, and the distemper abates.

DIURETIC JULEP.

Take of spirit of mindereuse, four ounces ; compound horse-
radish water , two ounces ; syrup of marsh-mallows, three oun-
ces. Mix, and make ajnlep ; to which may be added occasion-
ally, of spirit of amber, one dram.

This is strongly diuretic; hence a good remedy against a
suppression of urine from any cause, the gravel, and nephritic
pains. It will also promote and assist an urinary crisis ; and
may be repeated as the urgency of the symptoms indicates.

THE FETID JULEP.

Take of rue-water, six ounces; assafoetida, one dram and a
half. Dissolve the assafeefida in the water, and add to the so-
lution, of antihysieric water, two ounces ; distilled oil of harts-
horn, twenty drops, received upon ten drams of white sugar.
Mix the whole well together.

This is ordered in hysteric affections, and a defective state
t>f the menses, and sometimes in hypochondriacal cases. A
tea-cupful may be taken three or four times a-day.

THE SALINE JULEP.

Take of mint-water, syrup of lemons, each two ounces; salt
of wormwood, one dram. Make them into a julep.

This is an admirable remedy in vomitings and hiccups. It
has a mild and innocent virtue, though powerfully attenuating
and resolving, diuretic, and sudorific : hence it is excellent in
rheumatisms, fevers, and all disorders from a siziness of the
blood. Two or three spoonfuls are given every five or six
hours.

292 Culpepper s Dispensatory „

THE ANODYNE LINIMENT.

Take of nerve-ointment , three ounces ; balsam of turpentine ,
one ounce. Mix them together.

This is a warm invigorating topic, and may be used with
good effect, to excite the nerves to action when too languid. It
is applied to paralytic and numbed limbs, to restore a due sense
and feeling; and, by its penetrating quality, it is of good use
in a sciatica and the gout.

PECTORAL LOHOCH.

Take of spermaceti, white soap, each two drams ; whites of
eggs, a sufficient quantity. Mix them thoroughly together, and
then add of fresh drawn linseed-oil , one ounce and a half ;
syrup of marsh mallows, three ounces. Mix the whole well to-
gether.

This contains very great emollient and balsamic virtues ; and
by the inciting and detergent property of the soap, becomes a
powerful deobstruent in infarctions of the breast; hence it is
recommended in a difficulty of respiration, either from a dry
husky cough, or a tough thick phlegm; and likewise in impos-
thumations and tubercles of the lungs.

ALOETIC PILLS.

Take succotrine aloes, white soap, of each equal parts ; thin
noney, as much as is sufficient. Make them into a mass.

The soap here is added purely to promote the dissolution of
the aloes in the stomach; for pills made up of raisins, and sub-
stances not easily dissoluble, frequently pass through the body
entire; hence by the purgative quality of the aloes, and deter-
gent property of the soap, the glairs and viscidities of the intes-
tines are dissolved and carried off; therefore the pills are sto-
machic, antefebrile, and excellent in nephritic and cholic pains.
— Moreover, the aloes, being hepatic, forward the discharge of
the bile, whilst, by the concomitancy of the soap, it breaks the
obstructions of the liver, blends and assimilates the humours.
Hence it appears how advantageous and essential it is to adapt
and combine medicines judiciously.

PURGING ECPHRATIC PILLS.

Take succotrine aloes, extract of black hellebore, scammony,
of each two ounces ; vitriolaied tartar, three drams ; distilled oil
of juniper, a dram and an half ; syrup of buckthorn, as much as
is sufficient to make the whole into a mass.

These are an excellent hydragogue, particularly in cachectic
and scorbutic habits abounding with dropsical humours. Three

293

Culpepper's Dispensatory.

wmsBmmmmmstsm^tKaBmtiaeKimaa^m ii'i'irwf irii’asamKiiaBBgroM— a—

or four of these may be taken once a-day, or every other day,
and continued according to the exigency of the complaint.

MERCURIAL PILL.

Take of purified quicksilver and honey , each half an ounce.
Rub them together in a mortar , till the globules of mercury are
perfectly extinguished ; then add of Castile soap , two drams',
powdered liquorice, or crumb of bread, a sufficient quantity to
give the mass a proper consistence for pills.

When stronger mercurial pills are wanted, the quantity of
quicksilver may be doubled. The dose of these pills is differ-
ent, according to the intention with which they are given. As
an alterant, two or three may be taken daily. To raise a saliva-
tion, four or five will be necessary. Equal parts of the above
pill, and powdered rhubarb made into a mass, with a sufficient
of simple syrup, will make a mercurial purging pill.

MERCURIAL SUBLIMATE PILL.

Dissolve fifteen grains of the corrosive sublimate of mercury
in two drams of the saturated solution of crude sal ammoniac,
and make it into a paste, in a glass mortar , with a sufficient
quantity of the crumb of bread. This mass must be formed into
one hundred and twenty pills.

This pill, which is the most agreeable form of exhibiting the
sublimate, has been found efficacious, not only in curing the ven-
ereal disease, but also in killing and expelling worms, after other
powerful medicines had failed. For the venereal disease, four
of these pills may be taken twice a-day, as an alterant three,
and for worms two.

PACIFIC PILLS.

Take of galbanum, myrrh, white soap, of each two ounces ;
opium, one ounce ; syrup of sugar, as much as is sufficient to
make the whole into a mass fit for pills.

These are admirable in assuaging hypochondriacal and hyste-
ric complaints, nephritic and uterine pains, caused either from
obstructions, or ulcers in the kidneys or uterus.

The PECTORAL PILLS.

Take of gum ammoniacum, an ounce and an half; myrrh,
one ounce ; balsam of sulphur terebinthinated , one dram ; syrup
of marsh-mallows, as much as will make the whole into a mass.

These are healing and balsamic in a haemopthisis, infarctions,
and ulcers of the lungs.

294

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

STOMACHIC PILLS.

Take of succotrine aloes , an ounce and a half; gum ammoniac ,
myrrh , each half an ounce ; vitriolated tartar , two drams ; dis-
tilled oil of minty half a dram ; syrup of sugar , a sufficient
quantity. Mix according to art.

These, by their cathartic, bitter, attenuating, and aromatic,
qualities, incide and purge away sloughy humours, which foul
the coats of the stomach ; also warm and fortify the fibres,
whereby the gastric juice and digestion are promoted. They
are most convenient in an advanced age, and full cachectic ha-
bits, which abound with cold viscid humours. They may be ta-
ken five or six at a dose.

The BALSAMIC POTION.

Take of balsam capaiba, three drams ; distilled oil of juniper ,
thirty drops ; the white of an egg. V/ork them well together ,
and mix in, of fennel-water , compound horse-radish water , each
three ounces; syrup of marsh-mallows, two ounces.

This is vulnerary and diuretic ; hence chiefly of use in
wounds, ulcers, and weaknesses, of the kidneys and uterus.

LITH ONTRIPTI C POTION.

Take of white soap ( the outward part being pared off ), one
ounce; warm lime-water, one quart. Stir them together till
the soap is perfectly dissolved.

This, by its penetrating and alkaline virtues, is intended for
the gravel and stone, which it dissolves and prevents by assimi-
lating the humours, and by absorbing those acidities which form
calculous concretions.

COMPOUND SPIRIT of LAVENDER.

Take flowers of lavender, fresh gathered , a pound and a half;
fresh flowers of rosemary, half a pound ; fresh outward part of
lemon-peel, three ounces; rectified spirit of wine, a gallon and a
half. Distil in balneo marice to dryness. In the distilled spirit
steep for two days, of cloves, cubebs, and shavings of red soun-
ders, each two ounces ; then strain out the spirit for use.

POWDER for EPILEPTIC and CONVULSION FITS.

Take flowers of zinc , musk, and factitious cinnabar, of each
equal parts ; mix them together in a glass or marble mortar.
The dose is from three grains to ten and upwards, mixed in a
little treacle or honey , every night and morning.

The use of this powder, with dipping children in a tub of

Culpepper s Dispensatory .

295

spring water every morning, has very often relieved them, when
every other remedy has proved abortive.

PURGING POWDERS FOR WORMS.

Take of scammony, calomel, and the best Turkey rhubarb,
tn powder, of each equal parts ; double-refined sugar, the weight
of the whole ; rub it all very well together in a marble mortar ,
and keep for use.

The dose for children is from ten grains to twenty-five, once
or twice every week. This is preferable to any quack-medicine
whatever.

A UNIVERSAL POWDER FOR CHILDREN’S

DISORDERS.

Take of white magnesia, six drams ; cinnabar of antimony ,
two scruples; mix them into a fine powder for use.

This powder will not only prevent the numerous disorders
children are liable to, but will also remove many, and all that
arise from acidities in the stomach. — This is preferable to all
other remedies yet known, for children in cutting their teeth,
sickness at their stomachs, &c. &c. The dose is from ten grains
to half a dram, more or less twice a-day.

POWDER TO PROMOTE DELIVERY.

Take borax in fine powder, castor, cinnamon, and myrrh,
of each three drams ; saffron and savin, of each one dram and
a half; mix them, and make a powder for use.

A dram of this powder facilitates the birth, and promotes
the lochia and menses.

THE FAMOUS SYMPATHETIC POWDER.

Take of green vitriol, eight ounces ; of gum tragacanth reduc-
ed to an impalpable powder, one ounce: mix these together,
and let a small quantity of the powder be sprinkled on the
wound , and it immediately stops the bleeding. The vitriol must
be calcined to whiteness in the sun, before it be mixed with the
gum.

The above powder is used by the miners at Gosselaer in Ger-
many, in all their wounds; and, I believe, was never known
to fail. This powder, Mons. Lemery and Sir Kenelrn Digby
tell us, has also the following wonderful property, that, if it be
spread on a cloth dipped in the blood of a wound so as to incor-
porate with the blood, the wound would be cured, though the
patient were miles off, and never saw the medicine. From this
remarkable sympathetic property it derived its name.

4 u

29 6

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

POWDER FOR A SORE THROAT.

Take one ounce and a half of purified sal ammoniac , and half
an ounce of purified nitre , mix them very well together in a mor-
tar for use.

About six or eight grains of this powder is to be frequently
held in the mouth, and to be gently swallowed down the throat.
This very often answers better than gargles. If necessary, lose
a little blood and take a brisk purge before you use the pow-
der.

FOR VOMITINGS, BILIOUS DISORDERS, &c.

Take mint-water , syrup of lemons, of each four ounces',
salt of wormwood, two drams. Mix them well together for
use.

In vomitings, hiccups, rheumatisms, fevers, and all disor-
ders from a siziness in the blood, no preparation can be more
innocent nor more efficacious. Two or three table spoonfuls
are to be taken every four or five hours.

DECOCTION FOR CATARRHS, COLDS, &c.

Take of compound testaceous powder, one ounce ; gum arahic
in powder, half an ounce ; water, two quarts ; boil it till one
pint of the water is wasted: then add to the turbid decoction ,
of aromatic water, one ounce and a half; white sugar , half an
ounce , and mix the whole well together for use.

This composition will be found immediately useful in destroy-
ing sharp corrosive matter in the stomach, and absorbing all
acidities in the first passages. Half a pint of it in fevers, colds,
or the like disorders, may be taken three or four times every day,
blood-warm.

SWEATING DRAUGHT, FOR RECENT COLDS.

Take of the spirit mindereus, four ounces ; syrup of poppies,
and simple cinnamon-water, of each one ounce ; volatile salt of
hartshorn, half a scruple. Mix them together for two draughts ,
and take one of them when going into bed, and the remainder
the second evening after.

In rheumatisms, pains in the head, and other parts, the
above sweating draught will be found to answer every in-
tent,

FOR AN INVETERATE COLD OR COUGH.

Take a large tea-cupful of linseed , two-pennyworth of stick-
liqnorice , and a quarter of a pound of sun-raisins.— Put these
into two quarts of soft water, and let it simmer over a slow

297

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

fire till it is reduced to one; then add to it a quarter of a pound
of brown sugar-candy pounded , a table spoonful of old rum,
and a table spoonful of the best white wine vinegar or lemon-
juice. The rum and vinegar are best to be added only to that
quantity you are going immediately to take ; for , if it be put
into the whole , it is apt , in a little time , to grow flat. Drink
half a pint at gomg to bed, and take a litile when the cough is
troublesome.

This receipt generally cures the worst of colds in two or three
days, and if taken in time may be said to be almost an infallible
remedy. It is a most sovereign and balsamic cordial for the
lungs, without the opening qualities which endanger fresh colds
by going out. It has been known to cure colds that have
been almost settled in consumptions, in less than three
weeks,

FOR A PUTRID SORE THROAT.

Take of the best Peruvian hark , in gross powder , one ounce
and a half; Virginian snake-root , three drams : boil them to-
gether in three quarts of water to one quart ; then strain the
liquor , and add two drams of elixir of vitnol; take a large tea-
cup full of it every third hour. To every dose you may add a
small quantity of brandy if you chuse it.

The steam of the following ingredients received into the
throat through a funnel every hour will do a deal of ser-
vice.

Take vinegar , one pint ; honey , half a pound ; myrrh, in
powder, half an ounce ; boil them well together, and it is jit
for use.

Blisters applied to the throat, and behind the ears, are equal-
ly as beneficial in this disease, in case the pulse and spirits are
very low. If a vomiting continues, Take four table-spoonfuls
of lemon-juice, and put to it one dram of salt of tartar ; white
sugar, half an ounee; mint-water, three ounces: mix them very
well together. The dose is a table-spoonful every hour. — This
is the famous saline julep so much approved of by the faculty.

as an antidote against vomiting and sickness of the stomach.

After the disorder is subdued, the patient should take a few
purges of rhubarb, senna, or the like. But, on the contrary,
whilst the putrid ulcers remain in the throat, and a violent
looseness should come on, it must be checked, by taking two
tea-spoonfuls of diascordium two or three times a-day.

ALE FOR THE INWARD PILES.

Take half an ounce of black pitch , and boil it in a pint of

i V

«

298

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

good ale till it comes to half a pint , then drink it off blood-
warm.

This, though a simple remedy, has proved very effectual in
many stubborn cases, where other things of much greater ex-
pence have proved abortive.

ALE FOR THE JAUNDICE.

Take one quart of ale , and add to it tivo ounces of hemp-seed,
and half an ounce of turmeric, in powder: boil them over the
fire about a quarter of an hour, then strain it for use.

This may be sweetened with coarse sugar. Half a pint of it
at a dose; ,to be taken every morning.

VOMITING DRAUGHT.

Take of ipecacuanha, in fine powder, twenty-five grains ;
alexeterial water, half an ounce', compound spirit of lavender,
half a dram; syrup of orange-peel, one dram ; mix them for
use.

DRAUGHT FOR THE DROPSY.

Take of peppermint water, one ounce ; simple cinnamon-wa-
ter, half an ounce ; spirituous cinnamon-water, two drams ;
thebaic tincture, forty drops ; lye of tartar, half a dram ; sy-
rup of marsh-mallows, one dram: mix them together for a
draught .

This is the medicine which cured a person labouring under
an ascites and tympany at the same time, where the pain was ve-
ry severe, attended with great thirst, and thick high-coloured
urine rendered in small quantities. The strong purges increas-
ed the distemper. Soap, lixivials, salts, balsam of gilead, nitre,
and the like, all proved abortive. This draught brought unex-
pected relief, by procuring rest, and causing a copious discharge
of water. By repeating the medicine for some time, every
eight hours, and then only twice a day, and afterwards using
corroborants, or medicines that produce strength of body, &c.
the cure was perfectly completed.

FOR CONSUMPTIONS.

Take leaves of comfrey the greater, Solomon's seal, and pim-
pernel, each four handfuls ; liquorice-root , two ounces', infuse
them cold for twelve days in two gallons of lime-water , and
take off the clear liquor for use.

This is very easily made, and is much better than if it were
to be distilled. It is of excellent use in such consumptions as
.proceed from a sharp thin blood; especially in those whohave
been injured by a certain bad disease, or have any hereditary

Culpeppers Dispensatory .

299

remains of scrophulous or leprous humours. It must be druuk
for about forty days together, to the quantity of a quart or
two every day, if the stomach can bear so much. It will also
be of the utmost service to wash foul ulcers with.

DECOCTION FOR INWARD DECAY.

Take ground ivy , scabious, and coif spoof, each two hand-
puls ; hyssop, one handful ; elecampane-root, one ounce ; liquor-
ice, four ounces ; agrimony , four handfuls: boil them together
in nine quarts of barley-water till they come totdbout a gallon,
.then strain At for use .

This pectoral can be depended on in coughs and consump-
tions of the lungs.

FOR THE ASTHMA, AND SHORTNESS OF

BREATH.

Take of the milk of gum ammoniac , six ounces ', syrup of
squills, four ounces and a half: mix them together.

This promotes expectoration in, a very great degree, and re-
lieves those who are short-breathed.; it is also justly esteemed
for its serviceable properties in asthmatic cases, by rarefying
and thinning viscid cohesions in the pulmonary vessels. A spoon-
ful is , to be taken four or five times every day, and in particu-
lar every morning.

INJECTIONS FOR ULCERS IN THE VAGINA AND

WOMB.

Take quicksilver, balsam c apiece, of each half cm ounce:
beat and work them together , till the quicksilver is extin-
guished ; then put to the mass , the yolk of an egg : mix them
very well together , gradually adding half a pint of rose-
water.

As well as for injections in ulcers in the vagina occasioned
from the corrosiveness of a long continuance of the whites, it is
equally as efficacious for a gonorrhoea, particularly if any ulcers
be in the urethra. This simple preparation sheathes the excori-
ated parts from the acrimony of the urine.

ESSENCE FOR THE HEAD-ACH.

Take of French brandy, or rectified spirits ofwiue , one quart ;
prut it into a strong bottle ; and add one ounce of camphor cut
smalT ; a quarter of an ounce of essence of lemon ; and two oun-
ces of the strongest volatile spirit of sal ammoniac. Stop the
bottle quite close, and shake it three or four times a day for a
.week.

300

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

The method of using it is to rub the hand with a little of it,
and hold it hard upon the part affected until it is dry; if the
pain is not quite relieved, repeat it till it is.

COMPOUND TINCTURE OF SENNA, COMMONLY
CALLED DAFFYS ELIXIR.

Take of the best senna , two ounces; jalap , coriander seeds ,
and cream of tartar , of each one ounce ; coarse sugar, three
quarters of a pound', brandy, three pints: let them stand for
ten or twelve days: then strain off what is fine for use.

This is an agreeable purge, and nothing can be more useful
than to keep it ready-made for family use.

•GODFREY’S CORDIAL.

Take seven gallons of water, raspings of sassafras, and anise-
seeds, of each four pounds ; powder of carr aw ay -seeds, eight
ounces', opium, sir ounces; coarse sugar, fifteen pounds: boil
them together , till one half of the liquor be evaporated, then
strain it through a coarse bag or cloth , and add three gallons
of spirit of wine rectified.

STOUGHTON'S BITTERS.

r

Take gentian-root, two ounces ; dried orange-peel, two oun-
ces and an half; cochineal, in powder, half a dram', proof spi-
rit, or brandy, two pounds: let them stand ten or twelve days ,
and decant off what is clear for use.

FRIAR'S BALSAM, COMMONLY CALLED TUR-
LINGTON'S BALSAM, OF LIFE.

The true and best method of making it: Take gum Benjamin ,
twelve ounces ; gum florae, eight ounces ; balsam of Tolu ( or
Peru ), four ounces ; succoirine aloes, two ounces ; rectified
spirit of wine, five quarts and a pint: let them stand to digest
twelve or fourteen days , then decant for use.

PILLS FOR GIDDINESS, PALSY, HEAD-ACH, &c.

Take native cinnabar, levigated, two drams', castor, and salt
of amber , of each one dram; oil of marjoram, fifteen drops;
balsam of Peru, one dram ; syrup of piony, a sufficient quanti-
ty to make the mass; and form nine pills out of every dram of
it. The dose is three of them to be taken three times a day.

PASTE FOR THE FISTULA, PILES, &c.

Take a pound of elecampane-root, three pounds of fennel

301

Culpepper s Dispensatory.

seeds, and one pound of black pepper ; let these be made into a
very fine powder , separately ; take two pounds of honey, and
the same quantity of sugar, in powder ; melt the honey and su-
gar together over a gentle fire, scumming them continually, till
they become as bright as amber: when they are cool , mix and
knead them into your powders in the form of a paste.

The dose is the size of a nutmeg, morning, noon, and night.
This has been found a specific for the fistula, piles, &c.

FOR THE WHOOPING COUGH, BY THE ROYAL
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

Take flower of Benjamin, and strained opium , of each two
drams; camphor, two scruples ; essential oil of anise-seed, half
a dram; rectified spirit of wine, one quart: digest, and strain
off the elixir.

This is originally from Le Mort, and was published by
Quincy, with four ounces of liquorice, and four of honey,
which the college have omitted, it is anodyne and diaphore-
tic, and greatly contributes to allay tickling coughs, to open
the breast, to give freedom of breathing, to cure an asthma, but
particularly the WHOOPING-COUGH IN CHILDREN.
The dose for children is from five drops to twenty ; and, to
grown persons, from twenty to an hundred, at night and morn-
ing, in Malaga wine.

Dr. SMITH'S PRESCRIPTION FOR THE WHOOP-
ING COUGH.

Take of the musk julep, six ounces ; paregoric elixir , half an
ounce; volatile tincture of valerian, one dram: mix them, and
take two spoonfuls three or four times every day.

Take milk of gum ammoniac, and small cinnamon- water,
of each two ounces; tincture of castor, two drams ; syrup of
balsam, half a dram: mix them, and administer one spoonful
presently after.

Towards the decline of the disease, a decoction of the bark,
in full doses, may be prescribed to advantage.

END OF THE DISPENSATORY.

: /

.

*

* - ,

,

%

i • .

.

$ A'

* '• *

‘

’

INDEX

TO THE MEDICAL PART.

ABDOMEN , or belly, the
structure of, with an expla-
nation of all its parts, &c.
98.

Agues, or intermittent Fe-
vers, the causes, symptoms,
regimen, and medical treat-
ment, of, 151.

Ale for the inward piles, 297.

Ale for the jaundice, 298.

Aloetic Pills, 292.

Alexeterial Bolus, 280.

Anodyne Balsam, 280.

Anodyne Clyster, 287.

Anodyne Liniment , 292.

Anthony’s Fire, St. See Ery-
sipelas.

Anticholic Clyster, 287.

A n ti dysenteric Electuary, 283 .

Antihectic Decoction , 283.

Aperient Ale, 282.

Apoplexy, its cause and cure,
228.

Aromatic or Spice Water,

279.

Arteries, their structure and
office, with their names and
description, £ c. 43.

Asthma, its different kinds,
causes, symptoms, and cure,
&c. 226.

Balsamic Electuary, 284.

Balsamic Potion, 294.

Bladder , inflammation of the,
198.

Blistering Plaster, 286.

Blood, generation and circu-
lation of, 127.

Blood, involuntary discharges
of, to cure, 207.

Blood, spitting of, 210.

Blood, vomiting of, 211.

Bolus of Jalap with mercury,

280.

4

Bones, or structure of the hu-
man skeleton, 82.

Bones, broken, how to treat,
258.

Brain , inflammation of, its
symptoms and cure, 181.

Bruises, how to treat, 251.

Burns, to heal and cure, 250.

Cartilages. See Gristles.

Cancer, its extreme danger,
and best method to cure,
240.

Cholera Morbus , its danger,
and best mode of cure, 200.

Cholic, the different kinds,
and modes of cure, 195.

Cold Bathing, cautions pre-
vious to, 272.

Colds and Coughs, how to
cure, 187-189.

Consumptions, the different
kinds, and methods of cure,
160.

Convulsion Fits, 270.

Cough , whooping, 190.

Cramp of the Stomach, 235.

Cephalic Electuary , 284.

Cephalic Ale, 282.

Daffy’s Elixir, 300.

Decoction for catarrhs colds,
&c. 296.

Decoction, common, 283.

Decoction for a putrid sore
throat, 297.

Decoction for inward decays,
299.

— -for Asthma, 299.

Defensive Plaster, 286.

Diabetes, description of, and
cure, 293.

Diaphoretic Bolus, 280.

Diarrhoea, or Looseness, 201.

Diseases in general, their
prevention and cure, 141.

X

304

Index to the Medical Part .

Dislocations, 254.

Draught, saline, 289.

For a putrid sore throat, 297.

Draught for the dropsy, 297.

Drink for consumptions, 298.

Drinking the Mineral Waters.
cautions previous thereto,
274.

Dropsy, , how to cure, 215.

Drowned Persons, recovering
of, 262.

Diuretic Decoction, 283.

Dysentery, or bloody Flux.

Electuary against the piles,
284.

Electuary against fluxes, 285.

Elixir for the whooping-
cough, 301.

Emetic, or vomiting draught,
298.

Emollient Cataplasm, 281.

Emulsion, common and Arabic,
287.

Epilepsy, or Falling Sickness,
233

Erysipelas , or St. Anthony's
Fire, 179.

Essence for the head-ach, 299.

Eye Water , 279.

Eyes, inflammation of, and
cure, &c. 182.

Eat , its origin, quality, and
office, 31.

Fevers , their nature, general
tena ncy, and cure, 149.
Fevers, intermittent, 151.

Fever, acute or continual, 154.

Fever , slow or nervous, 164.

Fever, malignant, putrid, or
spotted, 166.

Fever , the miliary, 169.

Fever , the remitting, 170.

Fever , scarlet, 178.

Fever , bilious, 179.

Fibres, their construction and
office, 28.

Flatulencies, or Wind, 237.

Flesh of the Human Body, its
diversity, substance, &c. 26.

Fomentation, aromatic, 288.

Fomentation , strengthening,
288.

Friar's Balsam, 300.

Gargle, common, 289.

Gargle, emollient, 289.

Generative Parts in men and
women, a minute description
of, 15, 20.

Godfrey's Cordial, 300.

Gout, how to alleviate, 218.

Gravel and Stone, 205.

Green Sickness, how to treat,
276.

Gristles, or Cartilages, their
nature and office, 29.

Head, description of, 4.

Heart , its wonderful construc-
tion, sensation, and office,
15.

A particular discription there-
of, 123-127.

Heart-burn, to cure, 229.

Hiccup, how to prevent, 235.

Hymen, its situation and of-
fice, 192.

Hypochondriac Complaints,
239.

Hysteric Complaints, 237.

Jaundice , symptoms and cure,
214.

Infants , diseases of, 234.

Inflammations and Abscesses,
246.

Infusion, antiscorbutic, 289.

Infusion of linseed, 290.

Injections, balsamic, mercuri-

r al, 290.

Injections for ulcers in the va-
gina and womb, 299.

Intestines, described, 75.

Intestines, inflammation of the,
193.

Itch, how to prevent, or cure,
225.

Index to the Medical Part.

305

Juleps, cordial, diaphoretic,
diuretic, foetid, saline, 290,
291.

Kidneys , their situation, struc-
ture and office, 109.

Kings Evil , 223.

Lavender , compound spirit of,
294.

Lenitive Electuary , 284.

Ligaments, their construction
and use, 28.

Lithontriptic Potion, 294.

Li ver, its substance and office,
107.

Liver , inflammation of the,
199.

Looseness. See Diarrhoea.

Lungs , their construction and
office.

Lungs, inflammation of, 159.

Man, physical and astronomi-
cal discription of, 1.

Membranes, their construction
and office, 27.

Measles, symptoms of, and
cure, 176.

Mercurial Plaster , 286.

Miners , exposed to injuries
from unwholesome air, and
mineral evaporations, 143.

Millepedes, expression of, 288.

Muscles, their astonishing pro-
perties and curious con-
struction. A minute inves-
tigation and discription of
them, 54.

Nerves, a discription of them,
with their properties, situa-
tion, and use, 49.

Nervous Diseases, their cause
and cure, 230.

Night-mare, its cause and
cure. 236.

Palsy. 232.

Paste for the Fistula Piles &c.
300.

Pectoral Lohoch 292.

Pills, various kinds, how to
make, 292-294.

Piles, bleeding and blind, 209.

Plague and Fever Water , 279.

Plasters, various kinds, 285,
286.

Pleurisy, its causes and cure,
156.

Poisons, how to repel, 243.

Powders of various kinds, how
to make 294-296.

Pulses, the explanation and
doctrine of, 132.

Purging Clyster, 288.

Quinsey or Inflammatory Sore
Throat., 183.

Reins and Kidneys, descrip-
tion of, 19.

Reins, their situation and of-
fice, 109.

Rheumatism, how to cure,

220.

Rhubarb Bolus, with Calomel,
281.

Ruptures, in adults, 260.

Scurvy, causes of, symptoms
and cure. 222.

Stomach, its parts described,
13.

Stomach, inflammation of the,
192.

Strains , how to cure, 260.

Stone and Gravel, 205.

Skin, or Cuticle, its ■ .turc,
substance, &c. 25.

Skeleton, or bones proper to
the human body, their con-
struction, names, property,
and office, 82.

Sedentary Life, the ill conse-
quences ot it, 146.

Small-pox, its nature, symp-
toms, and mode of treat-
ment, &c. 171.

Small-pox , inoculation of, by
the most approved modern
method, 174.

306

Index to the Medical Part

Sore Throaty inflammatory,
symptoms of, danger, and
necessary treatment, 183.

Sore Throaty putrid, malig-
nant, or ulcerous, its conta-
gious quality, symptoms,
and best mode of cure, 185.

Scrophula , how to cure, 223.

Stomach Plaster , 287.

Stoughton's Bitters, 300.

Strengthening Confection, 282.

Strengthening Electuary of
the Bark, 285.

Suppurating Cataplasm, 282.

Tendons , their construction,
substance, and office, 30.

Thorax, or middle Ventricle,
its parts described, 120.

Veins, particular description
of, with their names, order,
office, and curious construc-
tion, 32.

Vomiting, how to cure, or pre-
vent, 202.

Ulcers, how to treat, and cure,
252.

Urine, suppression of, 205.

Urine, bloody, 211.

Vulnerary Decoction, 283.

Whooping or Chin Cough, how
to cure, 301.

Women, diseases of, 215.

Worms, purging Powder for,
295.

Wounds, how to heal, 248.

I

INDEX TO THE HERBS AND PLANTS.

;

Page.

Page.

Adder’s Tongue

Assarabacea

-

23

...

5

Avens

m

- 27

Agrimony

-

6

Barberry

-

- 29

Agrimony, Water

-

8

Barley

-

• 30

Alder, Black

A

11

Basil

jtm

- 31

Alder, Common

13

Balm

-

- 28

Alehoof

*»

9

Bay-Tree

-

- 32

Alexander

11

Beans

-

- 33

Allheal

-

3

Beans, French

-

- 34

Alkanet

«

4

Bed-Straw

•»

- 35

Amara Dulcis

4

Beech-Tree

m

- 41

Amaranthus

•>

16

Beets

m*

- 37

Anemone

-

17

Betony, Water

- 38

Angelica

14

Betony, Wood

(tk

- 39

Archangel

-

19

Bilberries

—

- 42

Arrach, Garden

•

17

Birch-Tree

-

- 44

Arrach, Wild

•»

18

Bird’s Foot

*

- 44

Arsesmart

21

Bishop’s Weed

45

Artichokes

163

Bistort

-

- 46

Ash -Tree

•

26

Blights

-

50

Asparagus

-

24

Blue Bottle

-

- 52

Asparagus, Prickly

-

25

Borage and Bug]

OSS

- 51

Index to the Herbs and Plants . 307

Page.

Page.

Bramble

•

49

Cresses, Black

-

105

Brank Ursine

-

53

Cresses, Sciatica

-

106

Briony

■-

54

Cresses, Water

-

107

Brooklime

-

56

Cross Wort

-

-

108

Broom and Broomrape

58

Crowfoot

-

•V

109

Buckshorn -

-

61

Cuckow Pint

-

-

110

Buckshoru Plantain

-

60

Cucumbers

TO

-

112

Bugle-

-

62

Cudweed

- .

-

102

Burdock

-

66

Daisies

-

-

113

Burnet

64

Dandelion

-

-

114

Butcher's Broom

-

57

Darnel

-

-

115

Butter Bur

-

65

Devil's Bit

-

mo

117

Byfoil

-

43

Dill

-

-

116

Cabbages and Coleworts

67

Dock

-

118

Calamint

-

69

Dodder

-

-

119

Caltrops, Water

-

72

Dog Grass

-

-

120

Camomile

-

71

Dove’s Foot

-

_

121

Campions, Wild

*

73

Down or Cotton ‘Thistle

123

Carduus Benedictus

-

74

Dragons

-

-

124

Carraway

-

78

Duck's Meat

-

-

122

Carrots

-

75

Elder-Tree

-

-

124

Celandine

77

Elder, Dwarf

-

-

124

Celandine, Smaller

-

80

Elecampane

-

128

Centaury, Ordinary

81

Elm -Tree

-

-

126

Cherries, Winter

--

83

Endive

-

-

127

Cherry-Tree

—

82

Eringo

-

-

129

Chervil

-

84

Eye bright

-

-

131

Chervil, Sweet

-

85

Fennel

-

-

135

Chesnut, Earth

-

87

Fennel, Sow

-

138

Chesnut-Tree

-

86

Fern

-

-

132

Chick Pease

•

88

Fern, Water

—

-

133

Chickweed

87

Feverfew

-

-

133

Cinquefoil

-

89

Fig-Tree

-

-

139

Cives

-

91

Figwort

-

-

137

Clary

-

92

Filopendula

-

-

138

Clary* Wild

-

93

Flax weed

-

-

141

Cleavers

94

Fleawort

-

142

Clown’s Wound-wort

95

Flower-de-luce

145

Cock's Head

96

Fluellin

-

146

Colt’sfoot

—

98

Flux Weed

-

-

144

Columbines

-

97

Fox Gloves

-

148

Comfrey

-

99

Fumitory

-

-

149

Coral Wort

-

100

Furze Bush

-

150

Cost-mary

-

102

Garlic

-

-

151

Cowslips

-

103

Gentian

-

-

152

Crab’s Claws

1

104

Germander

-

154

308 Index to the Herbs and Plants .

EBB

Gilly Flowers, Clove

Page.

153

Madder

Page.

202

Golden Rod

—

157

Maiden Hair

203

Gooseberry Bush

-•»

159

Maiden Hair, Golden

203

Gout Herb

-

158

Maiden Hair, White

204

Gromel

-

158

Mallows

205

Groundsel

-

161

Maple-Tree

—

208

Hart’s Tongue

-

164

Marigolds

211

Hawkweed

~

165

Marjoram, Sweet

209

Hawthorn

-

167

Marjoram, Wild

209

Hazel-Nut

-

165

Masterwort

201

Heart’s Ease

—

163

Maudlin, Sweet

212

Hellebore, Black

—

173

Medlar

213

Hemlock

-

168

Melilot

214

Hemp

-

169

Mercury, Dog

—

216

Henbane

-

170

Mercury, French

-

215

Herb Robert

—

174

Mint

218

Herb Truelove

—

175

Misletoe

220

Horehound

-

178

Moneywort

-

221

Holly

-

183

Moonwort

-

222

Hops

-

177

Mosses

o-

224

Horsetail

-

179

Motherwort

225

Hound's Tongue

-

182

Mouse-ear

•»

226

Houseleek

-

181

Mugw^ort

-

227

Hyssop

-

176

Mulberry-Tree

—

228

Hyssop, Hedge

••

172

Mullein

-

229

Ivy

-

185

Mustard

f :>

John's Wort, St.

183

Mustard, Hedge -

Juniper

-

186

Nailwort

■■

Kidney M^prt
Knapweed

e»

187

Nep

—

23

-

188

Nettle

—

235

Knot-Grass

-

189

Nightshade

237

Ladies’ Mantle

-

191

Oak

238

Ladies' Smock

-

193

Oats

239

Lavender

-

192

One Blade

23

Lavender Cotton

193

Onions

m .

24’-

Lettuce

-

194

Orchis

24C

Lily of the Valley

196

Orpine

242

Lily, Water

194

Parsley

243

Lily, White

-

196

Parsley Pert

•

244

Liquorice

-

197

Parsnip

-

245

Liver Wort

-

198

Parsnip, Cow

•

245

Loosestrife

-

198

Peach-Tree

247

* Loosestrife with spiked

Pear-Tree

—

248

Heads

-

159

Peliitory of Spain

-

249

Lovage

-

201

Pellitory of the Wall

256

Lungwort

-

202

Penny Royal

-

252

Index to the Herbs and Plants. 309

Page.

Paee.

Pepper Wort

-

256

Scurvy Grass

313

Periwinkle

-

256

Self-heal

315

Peter’s Wort, St.

-

257

Service-Tree

316

Pimpernel -

-

258

Shepherd’s Purse

316

Pine, Ground

-

260

Smallage

317

Piony, Masculine and

Solomon’s Seal

302

feminine

-

254

Sopewort

*

318

Plantain

-

261

Sorrell

_

319

Plums

-

263

Sorrell, Wood

320

Polypody -

-

264

Southernwood

321

Poplar-Tree

-

266

Sow-thistle

•

321

Poppy

-

267

Spignel

322

Primroses -

-

271

Spleen-wort

—

323

Privet

-•

272

Star-thistle

—

324

Purslain

-

270

Stonecrop

-

327

Queen of the Meadow

s

273

Strawberries

325

Quince-Tree

-

274

Succory

•

326

Radish

-

275

Tamarisk-Tree

-

330

Ragwort

-

276

Tansy, Garden -

-

330

Rattlegrass

-

278

Tansy, Wild

-

332

Rest-harrow

-

279

Thistle

-

332

Rhubarb

-

289

Thistle, Fullers -

—

336

Rhubarb, Bastard

-

291

Thistle, Melancholy

-

333

Rhubarb, Monk's

-

291

Thistle, Our Lady’s

-

334

Rocket

-

280

Thistle, Woolly or Cotton

335

r jket, Winter

-

281

Thorn, Black

-

338

rfa"'1 y

287

Thorough-wax

-

339

1

1

rn

• t

-

282

Thyme

-

340

ie, Garden

-

294

Thyme, Wild

-

340

Rue, Meadow

-

293

Tobacco, English

-

328

Rupture Wort

-

296

Tormentil

-

341

Rushes

-

298

Mithridate Mustard

-

337

Rye

-

298

Treacle Mustard

«*

337

k ffron

-

299

Trefoil, Heart

-

344

t ;e

-

299

Trefoil, Meadow

•

344

l ge, Wood

—

301

Trefoil, Pearl

»w

345

.samphire

-

303

Turnsole

-

343

Sanicle

-

304

Tutsan, or Park-leaves

345

Saracen’s Confound

-

306

Valerian, Garden

-

346

Sauce-alone

-

307

Vervain

-

347

Savine

-

308

Vine

-

349

Savory, Winter and

Violets

-

349

Summer

-

308

Viper’s Bugloss -

-

350

Saxifrage, Burnet

-

310

Winter Green

-

160

Saxifrage, White

-

309

Wall Flowers or

Scabious -

«•

311

Winter Gilly Flowers

352

310

Diseases cured by the

Walnut-Tree
Wheat —
Willow-Tree
Woad

Wold, or Dyer’s Weed

Page.

353

355

357

358
355

Wood-bine, or Honey-
suckles -
Wormwood
Yarrow

Page.

359

300

368

APPENDIX.

Ammomum, common -

369

Am mom urn, the true -

369

Barrenwort; or

Epime-

dium

370

Behen, White

• •

371

Buck bean, or Marsh Tre-

foil

-

371

Bur Reed -

m am

372

Corn Marigold

372

Cow Wheat

- .

373

Cyperus, Long

<a ce-

374

Flag, sweet

-

374

Fleabane

375

Fool’s Stones

376

Frog Bit

—

376

Gold of Pleasure

377

Gladwort

a

377

Goat's Beard

mm m.

378

Ground Pine - - 378

Hare’s Foot - - 379

Henry, good, or English
Mercury - - 380

Honey Wort - - 380

Horehound, Black - 381

Jacinth or Hyacinth - 381

Milk Thistle - - 382

Milkwort - - 383

Mint, Water - - 334

Oxeye - - _ 335

Sneesewort, with serrated
leaves - - - 388

Speedwell - - 336

Water Arrow' Head - 387

Water Plantain - - 388

Woodroofe - - 387

Wormwood, Sea - 388

Diseases cured by the foregoing
Herbs and Plants.

ABORTION, 47, 132, 156,
260

Aconites, or Resisters of Poi-
son, 229, 260
Aches, 4, 260, 277
Adust Choler, 120
After-birth, 11, 15, 29, 32.
54, 84, 93, 110, 133, 141,
178, 192, 196, 216, 227,
256, 257, 260, 299, 352
Agues. 7, 9, 15, 23, 29, 39.
42, 60, 69, 73, 88, 95, 98,
130, 135, 165, 177, 186,

194, 201, 206, 217, 231,

250, 293, 29-5, 2!&, 319,

328, 334, 348

Almonds in the Ears, 47, 74,
118, 234
Andieomes, 54
Anthony's Fire, St. 4, 37, 90,
98, 104, 122, 166, 181,
188, 206, 269, 283, 295,
326, 358

Appetite, 29, 40, 43, 83, 86,
108, 153, 193, 209, 219,
238, 319

Apoplexy, 196, 221, 352
Arteries, 28, 67
Asthma, 179, 359
Back, easing Pains, strength-
ening of the, 5, 93, 263,
349

faregoing Herbs and Plants .

311

Baldness, 37, 321, 353, 368
Barrenness, 75, 132, 234
Beasts, venomous, 4, 24, 28,
&1, 38, 46, 47, 49, 60, 68,
74, 146, 151, 153, 184,
186, 193, 235, 253, 344,
347, 361
Beauty, 103, 339
Bees, 31, 182
Belching, 39, 64
Belly, binders of the, 183, 188,
228, 248, 263, 286
Belly, openers of the, 25, 68,
182, 183, 194, 206, 228,
248, 263, 292, 337
Bindings, 7, 42, 44, 165, 327,
353, 359
Birth, 4

Biting of mad Dogs, 4, 16,
28, 67, 75, 137, 151, 152,
182, 218, 219, 263
Biting of Serpents, 11, 23, 69,
126, 129, 135, 154, 177,
220, 245, 263

Black and Blue Spots, 32, 46,
56, 69, 118, 211, 242, 232,
302, 261
Bladder, 26, 67, 102, 103,
139, 160, 167, 216, 229,

260, 347, 349
Blastings by Lightning, 27,2
Bleedings, 5, 20, 34, 40, 46,

62, 65, 75, 90, 108, 126,

175, 179, 181, 189, 198,

218, 222, 227, 229, 235,

274, 299, 302, 304, 316,

327, 338, 347, 357, 359
Bleeding by Leaches, to stay,
33 0

Blemishes, 107, 129
Blindness, 170, 195
Blisters, 38, 109, 274, 287
Blood, to cool the, 319, 341
Blood, Spitting of, 5, 40, 49,
96, 119, 183, 237, 248,

261, 273, 283, 299, 316
Bloody Urine, 96, 99, 179,

> 4

261, 272, 317
Blows, 252, 256
Boils, 28, 75, 94, 202, 239,
298, 319
Bones Broken, 55, 99, 115,
127, 130, 133, 139, 183,
188, 311
Bots, 152
Bowels, 5, 70, 76
Brain, 24, 28, 29, 71, 94,
104, 126, 132, 154, 181,
187, 192, 194, 196, 211,
213, 256, 261, 283, 298
Breast, 8, 9, 28, 99, 108,-113,
137, 141, 144, 162, 171,
191, 207, 218, 230, 261,
275

Breath, stinking, 38, 146, 219,
220, 287, 317
Breathing, Difficulty of, 15,
32, 34, 40, 56, 63, 70, 129,
177, 182, 203, 211, 287,
311, 340, 347
Bruises, 2, 5, 21, 28, 39, 53,
63, 84, 91, 99, 104, 113,
121, 133, 138, 232, 252,
253, 303, 306, 315, 339
Burning, 4, 14, 21, 30, 38, 54,
127, 167, 185, 197, 257,
330, 346
Cachexia, 8, 12, 103, 114
Cancers, 7, 10, 96
Cankers, 38, 48, 56, 65, 73,
75, 91, 124, 146, 189, 227,
276, 299, 308, 320, 330
Cantharides, 45, 238
Carbuncles, 311, 353
Cattle, poisoned, 174
Catarrhs, 217, 276
Child-birth, 28, 97
Chilblains, 38, 137, 172, 188
Chin-cough, 207, 340
Choler, 4, 11, 23, 75, 82, 113,

119, 124, 145, 153, 161,

169, 183, 209, 247, 265,

283, 292, 319, 344, 345,

349
Y

312

Diseases cured by the

Choler Pushes, 98
Choleric Fluxes, 268
Choleric Humours, 240, 217,
269, 282, 283, 3.26, 329,’
362

Cholic, 7, I0y 15, 28, 71, 76,
121, 133, 161, 176, 187,
220,. 230, 265r 274, 286,
294, 307, 308, 310
Chaps, 219, 265, 299, 345
Cold, 71, 213

Cough, 15, 32, 42, 43, 51, 56,
70, 91, 98, 106, 109, 129,
139, 138, 165, 166, 169,

177, 182, 187, 197, 202,

199, 207, 209, 227, 230,

233, 242, 245, 257, 269,

279, 281, 288, 299, 308,

346

Conception, 299
Congealed Blood, 2
Consumption, 51, 67, 68, 178,
187, 297, 269, 288
Convulsions, 3, 4, 40, 56, 70,
88, 103, 124, 129, 153,
163, 253, 221, 336, 359
Cramp, 4, 26, 54, 56, 70, 71,
88, 103, 153, 213, 229,
253, 292, 299, 310, 321,
328

D a nd riff, 38, 311, 358
Head Child, 4, 5, 52, 57, 82,
141, 139, 146, 154, 192,
213, 240, 252, 253, 260,
299

Deafness, 10, 75, 137, 172
209, 217, 308, 321, 330,’
353

Defluxions, 296, 299, 320,
327, 259

Diabetes, 47, 341, 368
Digestion, 69, 153, 165, 193,
202, 219, 230, 286, 288,
303, 307

Difficulty of Breathing, 2, 23
98, 137, 233, 257, 294
Dimness of Sight, 288, 29>
294, 308, 358

Disease, sudden, 3
Dislocations, 54, 58
Dogs, 178, 183
Dreams, 167, 194, 220, 270
Dropsy, 2, 9, 12, 23, 27, 33,
40, 56, 58, 71, 77, 78,
124, 130, 137, 141, 145,

152, 154, 158, 165, 167,

177, 186, 188, 198, 209,

211, 213, 224, 227, 244

252, 260, 261, 292, 306’

317, 326
Drowsiness, 287
Drunkenness, 185
Dullness of Spirit, 191
Disury, 26, 33, 34, 38, 54,
57, 66, 67, 70, 75, 186,
330, 343, 347

Ears, 7, 10, 112, 126, 131,
136, 144, 164, 172, 179,
186, 189, 209, 211, 217,
218, 221, 238, 242, 244,
247, 257, 250, 263, 282,
308
Earwig, 169

Epidemical Diseases, 15, 40,
47, 65, 66, 353
Ephialtes, 103, 255
Excoriations, 207, 261, 271
Eyes, 5, 10, 17, 26, 31, 32,
34, 40, 49, 53, 61, 68,
79, 82, 94, 109, 111, 113,
124, 126, 131, 136, 140,
147, 150, 163, 167, 178,
181, 187, 195, 202, 211,
215, 217, 224, 238, 244,
253, 260, 263, 282, 283,
285, 321, 325, 330, 346,
347

Face, 28, 33, 75, 88, 107,
202, 253, 358

Fainting, 28, 192, 225, 253,
275, 284, 344
Falls, 25, 63, 91, 138, 302
Falling Sickness, 4, 40, 56,
91, 103, 136, 137, 149,
154, 163, 174, 177, 187,
192, 206, 213, 221, 230,

foregoing Herbs and Plants .

313

243, 244, 345, 254, 261,
362, 267, 299, 349
Fat, a decrease, 95
Felons, 2, 23, 94, 176, 234
Fevers, 31, 49, 51, 54, 67,
71, 91, 114, 196, 317,
322

Films in the Eyes, 94, 325
Fistulas, 10, 63, 75, 91, 121,
146, 161, 235, 239, 245,
257, 276, 308, 323, 347,
368

ForgetfijJp^ss, 9, 23, 195
Fleas, 23
Flies, to keep from, 9
Flagging Breasts, 191
Flux of Blood, 7, 16, 28, 29,
31, 33, 38, 43, 47, 49, 50,
54, 61, 65, 87, 95, 96, 99,
103, 137, 140, 145, 147,
156, 157, 160, 169, 179

182, 185, 188, 194, 198,

214, 221, 224, 230, 238,

239, 243, 261, 269, 274,

275, 284, 292, 296, 299,

302, 315, 317, 319, 330,

338, 341, 368

Freckles, 36, 103, 112, 124,
257, 281, 310, 347
French Pox, 16, 75, 130, 148
163, 172, 178, 183, 302
Frenzy, 40, 103, 136, 247,
248, 269, 340, 347
Fundament, 49, 112, 116,
216, 219, 263, 282
Gall, 70, 141
Galled Feet, 34
Gangrenes, 56, 63, 99, 114,
174, 237, 330, 353
Gout, 4, 10, 15, 22, 29, 40,
54, 68, 91, 112, 158, 171,
174, 188, 196, 224, 230,
237, 256, 257, 253, 256,
267, 292, 294, 344
Gnats, 8, 132, 191
Green Sickness, 82
Gravel, 5, 26, 34, 49, 56, 57,

74, 75, 82, 97, 102, 121,

132, 151, 157, 161, 189,

207, 235, 245, 257, 275,

282, 296, 304, 309, 321,

330, 347
Griping, 13, 120, 156, 163,
194, 202, 227, 261, 340
Gums, 48, 63, 74, 219, 332
Hair, to make grow, 89
— , to restore, 127, 183, 197,
203, 207, 232, 248, 251
Head, 17, 23, 49, 94, 137,
146, 156, 192, 203, 207,

211, 216, 219, 234, 230,

242, 283

Head-ach, 57, 122, 126, 138,
154, 171, 178, 185, 224,

247, 256, 282, 315, 326,

338, 346, 347, 349
Heat, 165, 167, 197, 257
Heart, 28, 65, 95, 153, 154
Haemorrhoids, 183, 188, 272,
321 330
Hiccough, 116, 135, 165, 218,
224

High Colour, 46
Hips, 340

Hoarseness, 68, 91, 143, 198,
207, 233, 247, 264, 269,
275, 299, 349
Humours, 275
Hypochondria, 114, 119
Jaundice, Black, 58, 174

Yellow, 18, 26, 27,

32, 40, 47, 70, 71, 106,
114, 149, 169, 174, 185,
244, 245, 247, 261
Iliac Passion, 308
Imposthumes, 9, 23, 31, 1 14,
239, 242, 257, 276, 298,
299, 305, 311, 337
Inflammations, 23, 33, 46, 51,
57, 73, 91, 94, 98, 126,

167, 171, 188, 194, 198,

216, 218, 243, 257, 269,

272; 292, 319, 310, 344,

349, 350, 353, 368

314 Diseases cured by the

Infection, to preserve from,
242, 311

Indigestion, 15, 28, 29, 40,
78

Joints, 4, 34, 58, 81, 91, 99,

123, 146, 211, 260, 283,
294, 323, 332, 344

Itch, 4, 9, 11, 38, 49, 51,
75, 78, 111, 164, 178, 187,
209, 308, 311, 319, 341

Kernels, 97, 115, 163, 220,
227, 319, 327, 346

Kibes, 137, 172, 188

Kidneys, 105, 121, 130, 151,
160, 188, 198, 260, 305,
330, 351

King’s Evil, 21, 31, 54, 74,
81, 95, 130, 137, 149, 153,
156, 188, 201, 207, 220,
240, 276, 281, 308, 327,
330, 357

Knots in the Flesh, 91, 97,
113, 115, 162, 170, 203,
221, 227, 328

Lasks, 116, 145, 147, 180,
165, 169, 172, 179, 185,
189, 224, 228, 229, 257,
■274, 283, 292

Leprosy, 5, 27, 31, 57, 70,

124, 127, 137, 174, 187,
220, 232, 237, 239, 253,
311, 357

Lethargy, 4, 17, 107, 136,
230, 237, 242, 247, 256,
299, 308, 340

Lice, 11, 28, 58, 172, 177,
293, 330

Limbs, 186

Liver, 4, 7, 9, 11, 28, 42,
63, 65, 71, 86, 102, 112,
119, 127, 145, 165, 164,
15*3, 179, 188, 198, 219,
245, 251, 261, 270, 284,
293, 313, 325, 334, 340,
341

Loathing of Meat, 214, 281

JLongings,, 214, 349

Loose Teeth, 325, 332
Loss of Voice, 192, 269
Lungs, 31, 87, 129, 135, 137,
162, 177, 198, 202, 206,

209, 213, 221, 233, 235,

253, 287, 294, 298, 340,

358

Lust, to provoke, 26, 86,
164, 218, 232, 240
Last, to stop, 167, 468, 194,
358

Madness, 174
Mad Dogs, 263
Marks in the Skin, 281, 302
Measles, 5, 47, 201, 29%
341

Megrims, 32, 143, 330
Melancholy, 10, 18, 28, 51,
65, 68, 120, 134, 150, 152,
174, 207, 217, 226, 255,
265, 323, 330, 332, 350
Members disjointed, 145, 183
Memory, 75, 132, 187, 194,
219,287,302

Milk in Nurses, 51,435, 194,
206, 213, 267, 321, 325,
350

Milk curdling, 218, 244
Milk in Cattle, 97
Mineral Vapour, 152
Miscarriage, 214, 299, 331
Morphew, 5, 56, 114, 119,
129, 178, 202, 257, 281,
294, 311, 347

Mother, 5, 18, 26, 34, 46,
56, 66, 78, 116, 118, 126,
129, 134, 186, 206, 213,
217, 2 26, 234, 235, 245,
257, 253, 255, 294, 306,
308, 310

Mouth, 10, 46, 51, 63, 74,
91, 97, 150, 229, 253,
276, 303, 306, 313, 338,
349

Muscles cut, 96, 99
Nails in the Flesh, 8, 211
221

\

!

foregoing Herbs and Plants.

315

Navels of Children, 145, 165
Neck, 124, 232, 335
Nerves, 49, 99, 185, 346
Nipples, 145

Nocturnal Pollutions, 164
Noise in the Ears, 38, 172, 177,
209, 211, 317, 221
Obstructions of the Gall, 78,
82, 114, 120, 135, 169, 202

— Liver, 3, 4, 9,40,

11, 24, 33, 38, 40, 70, 80, 82,
114, 120, 130, 135, 141,
149, 178, 179, 192, 202,

243, 244, 257, 260, 288,
347, 351

Spleen, 2, 9, 10,

11, 33, 38, 40, 56, 70, 82,
109, 114, 130, 135, 149,
178, 179, 192, 202, 243,

244, 257, 260, 261, 347
Pains, 167, 230, 278, 294,

306

• — — in the Bowels, 102, 187,
.227, 292, 321, 330
- — Sides, 40, 91,

102, 145, 152, 232, 238,
294, 346

— Reins, 2, 232

„ — ^ .Rack and Belly,

40, 103, 120, 135, 145, 253

sEars, 95, 126,

209, 215, 218, 220, 257,

264, 267, 292, 294, 330

Head, 102, 134,

256, 263, 269, 298, 299
Palsy, 33, 40, 56, 91, 103,
113, 126, 138, 187, 196,
220, 260, 301, 308, 351,
359

Pestilence, or Plague, 10, 47,
49, 66, 151, 240, 260, 334,
347, 357

Phtliysic, 43, 99, 197, 204,
227, 256, 270, 287, 288
Phlegm, 11, 26, 56, 58, 67,
102, 108, 111, 124, 145,
165, 173, 178, 211, 217,

235, 242, 251, 292, 299,
308, 310, 313, 323, 327,
340, 344

Piles, 49, 81, 99, 112, 138,
143, 183, .188, 230, 257,
264

Pimples, 47, 107, 149, 294,
311

Pin and Web, 168, 196, 198,
263, 343, 344, 347
Pissing Blood, 7, 31
Pleurisy, 15, 164, 233, 235,
311

Poison, 15, 28, 33, 47, 49, 53,
72, 111, 118, 141, 165,
176, 178, 186, 193, 206,
275, 294, 319, 345, 350
Polypus, HI, 124, 237, 265
Privities, 33, 49, .63, 113,
122, 141, 157, 171, 181,
223 276

Pushes, 88, 98, 150, 167,
362

Quartan Agues, 20, 131, 152,
174, 261, 265, 274
Quotidian Agues, 102, 131
Quinsy, 8, 49, 91, 177, 202,
243, 276, 349, 354, 366
Rheum, 106, 112, 165, 179,
213 294

Reins, 16, 26, 47, 130, 167,
189, 230, 260, 270, 293,
296, 302, 305, 330, 347,
349

Rickets, 124, 335
Ringworms, 51, 56, 75, 79,
115, 178, 198, 218, 238,
264, 294, 308, 311, 319
Ruptures, 6, 40, 45, 47, 54,
70, 91, 99, 102, 109, 111,
122, 157, 187, 222, 227,
243, 280, 302, 332, 340
Scabby-heads, 49, 149, 197,
207, 235, 257

Scabs, 9, 11, 27, 38, 63,
129, 150, 164, 178, 187,
209, 218, 2&2, 237, 263,

316

Jk

Diseases cured by the

nrarr^vem

281, 294, 311, 341
Scars, 70, 343

Sciatica, 10, 15, 22, 67/ 70,
82, 91, 100, 107, 113, 171,
174, 188, 227, 233, 256,
267, 294, 308, 330, 335,
345

Scurvy, 57, 107, 187, 193,
275, 311, 341

Seed, to increase, 130, 242,
281

Serpents biting, 7, 11
Shingles, 91, 181, 237, 247
Sinews, 4, 40, 49, 67, 71,
88, 122, 146, 185, 197,
211, 224, 227, 311, 353,
357

Skin, 66, 103, 126, 127, 167,
201, 256, 281, 313
Sleep, to procure, 269, 272
Small pox, 5, 47, 201, 298,
341

Smell lost, helpeth, 38
Sores, 7, 21, 49, 67, 75, 129,
149, 157, 176, 178, 189,

191, 198, 227, 237, 284,

292, 299, 301, 306
Speech lost, 196, 287
Spleen, 4, 9, 11, 20, 29, 58,
71, 107, 120, 135, 145,
154, 165, 177, 186, 209,

216, 263, 293, 313, 323,

325, 330, 334, 341, 351
Splinters, 8, 56, 94, 115, 154,
167, 230, 258, 311, 346
Stitches, 27, 40, 56, 71, 76,
129, 153, 185, 238, 266,
299

Stomach, 11, 28, 31, 40, 43,
61, 76, 85, 112, 129, 137,
153, 161, 165, 178, 209,

219, 243

Stone, 4, 26, 33, 34, 37, 44,
56, 61, 67, 71, 76, 82, 97,
102, 121, 130, 203, 207,
214, 224, 228, 237, 279,
621

Strangury, 11, 26, 57, 97,
138, 155, 180, 197, 217,
247, 260, 267, 282, 321,
323, 346

Sun-burning, 39, 103
Surfeits, 15, 68, 186, 362
Swellings, 13, 31, 41, 57, 68,
71, 86, 94, 95, 127, 146,
155, 168, 176, 184, 203,
216, 233, 276, 311, 344,
362

Swoonings, 29, 51, 120, 192,
226, 253, 345

Teeth, 129, 139, 157, 271,
294

Terms, to provoke, 4, 9, 10,
15, 29, 40, 57, 68, 80, 94,
107, 116, 130, 151, 162,
178, 186, 202, 213, 234,
243, 257, 299, 308, 344,
351

to stop, 16, 38, 49, 65,

99, 104, 140, 198, 214,

221, 224, 237, 257, 279,
294, 308, 330, 353

Tetters, 42, 51, 75, 178, 181,
198, 218, 263, 294, 308,
319

Thirst, 211, 270, 319, 320,
324

Throat, 10, 18, 51, 73, 97,
112, 202, 282, 315, 349
Thorns, 8, 56, 94, 322
Tooth-ach, 4, 11, 15, 23, 28,
48, 58, 137, 177, 229, 260,
269, 330

Travail in Women, 226
Tumours. See Swellings
Venom, 310, 335
Veins broken, 53, 90, 299, 341
Venery, 194, 218, 235, 281
Vertigo, 2, 4, 38, 56, 75, 1 03
Vomiting, 5, 24, 43, 47, 61,
65, 96, 121, 126, 183, 218,

222, 224, 238, 253, 270,
284, 320

Ulcers, 4, 6. 7, 10, 17, 21,

foregoing Herbs and Plants .

317

38, 40, 47, 51, 53, 63, 65,
75, 76, 91, 95, 102, 107,
111, 114, 126, 135, 138,

145, 157, 173, 175, 179,

185, 189, 201, 227, 238,

260, 261, 274, 279, 282,

296, 304, 307, 317, 322,

330, 339, 347, 355 I

Urine, bloody, 8, 61, 83, 87,
340

Warts and Wens, 62, 79, 138,
139, 217, 228, 267, 343,
345

Wheals, 38, 57, 68, 88, 150,
257, 294, 321

Wheezings, 66, 98, 129, 137,
177, 198, 233, 257, 287,
347

Whitloes, 57, 234

Whites, 5, 16, 20, 38, 50, 6o,
99, 193, 219, 274, 332

Wind, breaking, 11, 15, 32,
46, 58, 75, 116, 165, 243,

288, 317, 330, 368
Womb, 18, 56, 134, 226, 330,
347, 349

Worms, 3, 5, 9, 33, 40, 47,
69, 102, 103, 118, 129,
135, 153, 169, 173, 178,
193, 225, 240, 247, 268,
308, 328, 341, 353
Wounds, 5, 6, 10, 23, 27, 34,
40, 45, 49, 58, 63, 95, 96,
102, 104, 113, 122, 127,

139, 157, 160, 176, 191,

201, 122, 227, 230, 272,

294, 302, 306, 330, 346,

! 368

Wrinkles, 111

Yellow Jaundice, 3, 5, 8, 11,
51, 57, 75, 91, 97, 120,
130, 135, 141, 150, 155,

178, 179, 198, 209, 217,

233, 261, 283, 290, 296,

299, 306, 316, 319, 323,

326, 341, 362

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directions

For placing the Plates of Anatomy belonging to the

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Nerves of -ditto * - “ "

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