Chapter II: SAPO MOLLIS. Soft Soap (5)

Tournefort, his mode of ascertaining medicinal properties in
vegetables, 23.

Tortosa, his opinion respecting the solubility of Opium in the stomach
questioned, 136 (_note_).

Transition from diffusible stimulants to tonics imperceptible, 81.

Treacle, its powers in preserving vegetable powders, 195.

Triple Salts, their formation often affords apparent exceptions to the
usual law of affinity, 183.

_Trochisci_—Lozenges, observations respecting their _modus operandi_,
197.

Trumpet the, used by Asclepiades in the cure of Sciatica, 7 (_note_).

_Tuberes_ of Pliny, Knight’s conjectures respecting, 61.

Turmeric, an ancient remedy for Jaundice, 25.

Turner, Culpepper, and Lovel, properly denominated the Astrological
Herbalists, 13.

Turner, Mr. why he escaped from the dose of arsenic administered to
him, in yeast dumplings, 195.

Turnips, yellow, contain little, or no bitter principle, 79.

Turpentine, oil of, acts on the kidneys only when given in small doses,
95.

V

Vaccination, superstitious notions entertained respecting it in the
East, 15.

Van Helmont, his chemical zeal, 50;
his chemical doctrines espoused by Sylvius de la Boe, 50;
his mischievous doctrines, 100.

Van-Swieten, his opinion respecting the effect of sneezing in loading
the vessels of the head, 109.

Valentine, Basil, the father of Metallic Medicine, 48.

Valerian, its antispasmodic virtues, 78.

Valisnieri, his observations upon combination, 147.

Vapours, a fashionable disorder in the reign of Queen Anne, 33.

Variable activity of a medicine, a fact not to be overlooked by the
practitioner, 187.

Vegetable analysis, the great improvements in, 52.

Vegetable acids rarely the vehicle of poisons, 136 (_note_);
undergo decomposition in the digestive organs, 94.

—— astringents, whether they may not be incompatible with lime water,
182.

Vegetable diet, the supposed refrigerating effect of, explained, 113.

—— diuretics, generally bitter, 94.

—— eaters, less affected by vegetable poisons than carnivorous animals,
and why, 69 (_note_).

Vehicle of a remedy, how to be selected, 176.

Vena Portarum, one of the avenues through which medicinal substances
enter the circulation, 70.

Venesection increases the effects of Cathartics, 156;
of Mercury, 156;
when it ought to be avoided in cases of poisoning, and why, 137;
frequently promotes vomiting and why, 85;
a remedy of very early origin, 8;
may act as a tonic, 78.

Verbena, a word of general import (quasi Herbena), 37.

Verdegris, the virulent effects of increased by vinegar, 136.

Vertigo, instantly relieved by ether, and why, 69.

Vervain, Morley’s recommendation of, 17;
druidical superstitions respecting it, 11 (_note_).

Vienna Gout Decoction, 32 (_note_).

Views, Synoptical, of the arrangement of the Materia Medica, according
to Cullen, Murray, and Young, 72, 73, 74.

Vinegar of Wood described by Glauber, 33.

Vine twigs, a fixed alkali procured from, recommended by Basil
Valentine in the gravel, 49.

Villerobel relates that the bark remained for seven years in Spain
before any trial of its efficacy was instituted, 31.

Virgil, his allusion to the anti-narcotic influence of vegetable acids,
136.

Virey, his observations upon the growth of plants, 57.

——, Ray, and Linnæus, their observation respecting the influence of
pulverization upon the medicinal activity of a plant, 174.

Vis Medicatrix, its supposed agency, 76.

Viscus Quercinus, or Missletoe, druidical history of the, 13.

Vitriol, original meaning of the term, 37.

Vogel, believed in the efficacy of roasted toad, 6;
his attempt to class medicines according to their virtues, 6.

Voltaire’s illustrative fable of the Voluptuary Ogul, 35.

Vomiting, why it cannot be excited during profound intoxication, 84;
phenomena and pathology of, 83;
not effected by the stomach alone, 84.

U

Ulysses, hæmorrhage of, cured by a charm, 17.

Ultra-Chemistry, its mischievous tendency in medicine considered, 56.

_Umbelliferæ_, medicinal analogies between their species, 41.

Unseasonable collection of vegetable remedies, a great source of
fallacy, 62.

Uranus, discovery of that planet, by Herschel, 5.

Urea, the nature and habitudes of, considered, 116;
Dr. Prout’s opinion regarding the origin of, 116.

Urinary organs stimulated by saline bodies, 93 (_note_).

—— calculi, a tabular view of the different species of, 120.

Urine, analysis of, by Berzelius, 116;
its colour changed by the administration of rhubarb, and Indian fig,
68 (_note_).

—— of the husband, supposed to expedite labour pains, 16 (_note_).

W

Warburton, Dr. his error respecting the origin of amulets, 7.

Warren’s Blacking described in the Hecuba of Euripides, 33 (_note_).

Warm bath, mechanical notions respecting its operation and effects, 22.

Water, the potation of, promotes the action of the kidneys, 94;
sometimes sufficient to form vegetable powders into masses of pill,
196;
whether decomposed by the digestive organs, 141.

Waters of plants, formerly meant simple decoctions, 46.

Waters, mineral, a probable cause of their activity as remedies, 185.

Watering places, observations upon their efficacy, 35.

Watson, Bishop, his eloquent appeal on the importance of chemical
science, 54.

Wedelius, his Opiologia, 32.

Wecker’s Dispensatory contains several preparations in which the magnet
is an ingredient, 24 (_note_).

Wells, Dr. his opinion respecting the colouring matter of the blood, 25
(_note_).

Wesley, John, medical credulity of, 35;
cured by sulphur and supplication, 36.

Wheat, the relative proportions of Gluten in, vary in different
countries, 58.

Willis, Dr. his prejudice against sugar, 24.

Wine glass, to be estimated as containing f ℥ iss, 199.

Wiseman’s history of cures by the royal touch, 16.

Witch, the ashes of, a remedy against witchcraft, 26 (_note_).

Woulf’s apparatus originally described by Glauber, 33.

Wormwood, formerly supposed to be an antidote to drunkenness, 79.

Wood, vinegar obtained from, by Glauber, 33.

Woodcock, Elizabeth, buried in the snow for eight days, 6 (_note_).

Worms, four species of, generated in the human body, 138 (_note_).

Wounds inflicted by iron instruments formerly supposed to be fatal, 23.

Y

Yeast poultice, its modus operandi explained, 171.

Yellow turnips contain little or no bitter principle, 79.

Yellow fever, errors respecting the use of mercury in the, 34.

Young, Dr. his rule for apportioning doses according to different ages,
189;
his arrangement of the Materia Medica, 73.

Z

Zealanders supported, during a scarcity, by Linseed, 80.

Zinc, the _acetate_ of, to be preferred to the _sulphate_ as an
ophthalmic application, 170;
sulphate of, an excellent remedy in humoral asthma, 104.

INDEX
TO THE
PATENT MEDICINES, AND NOSTRUMS,
DESCRIBED IN THIS WORK.

“_Arcana revelata fœtent._”—Boerh:

“_Nullum Ego cognosco remedium nisi quod_ Tempestivo usu _fiat
tale_.”—Ibid.

Ague Drop, 411

Almond Paste, 277

Anderson’s Pills, 271

Anodyne Necklaces, 13 & 397

Anti-Pertussis, 522

Anti-Venereal Drops, 390

Aromatic Lozenges of Steel, 374

Aromatic Vinegar, 253

Bailey’s Itch Ointment, 520

Balsam of Honey, 314

Balsam of Horehound, 438

Balsam of Liquorice, 380

Barclay’s Antibilious Pills, 363

Bark, essential Salt of, 332

Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, 326

Bate’s Anodyne Balsam, 408

Battley’s _Liquor opii Sedativus_, 440

Beaume de Vie, 271

Black Drop, 440

Blaine’s Powder, 487

Boerhaave’s Red Pill, 395

Brodum’s Nervous Cordial, 379

Cephalic Snuff, 492

Chamberlain’s Restorative Pills for Scrofula, 395

Chamomile Drops, 279

Charcoal, Concentrated solution of, 322

Chelsea Pensioner, 381

Cheltenham Salts, 480

Cheltenham Salts, the original combined, 480

Cheltenham Salts, the efflorescence of, 480

Ching’s Worm Lozenges, 394

Cochrane Major, his Cough Medicine, 490

Colley’s Depilatory, 452

Corn Plaister, 359

Cough Drops, 438

Court Plaister, 359

Crespigny Lady, her Pills, 271

Daffy’s Elixir, 505

Dalby’s Carminative, 418

Davidson’s Remedy for Cancer, 298

De La Motte’s Golden Drops, 506

Delcroix’s Depilatory, 298

Dinner Pills, 271

Dixon’s Antibilious Pills, 271

Dutch Drops, 497

Eaton’s Styptic, 83

Eau Medicinale de Husson, 339

Economical Breakfast Powder, 493

Edinburgh Ointment, 509

Elixir of Longevity, 271

Elixir of Vitriol, 265

Essence of Vitriol, 265

Essence of Bitter Almonds, 431

Essence of Coffee, 325

Essence of Coltsfoot, 314

Essence of Mustard, 475

Essence of Mustard Pills, 475

Essence of Peppermint, 421

Essence of Senna, 401

Essence of Spruce, 495

Essential Salt of Bark, 331

Essential Salt of Lemons, 407

Everlasting Pills, 280

Ford’s Laudanum, 515

Ford’s Balsam of Horehound, 438

Fothergill’s Pills, 271

Freeman’s Bathing Spirits, 408

Friar’s Balsam, 314

Fumigating Pastiles, 313

Godbold’s Vegetable Balsam, 442

Godfrey’s Cordial, 468

Godfrey’s Smelling Salts, 275

Golden Drops, 506

Golden Ointment, 298

Golden Spirits of Scurvy Grass, 317

Gout Tincture, Wilson’s, 340

Gowland’s Lotion, 390

Green’s Drops, 390

Greenough’s Tincture, 503

Grindle’s Cough Drops, 438

Guestonian Embrocation for the Rheumatism, 497

Hannay’s Lotion, 415

Hatfield’s Tincture, 381

Hill’s Essence of Bardana, 381

Honey Water, 421

Hooper’s Pills, 271

Hudson’s Preservative for the Teeth, 503

Huiles Antiques, 430

Hungary Water, 482

Hunt’s Breakfast Powder, 493

Ipecacuanha Lozenges, 403

James’s Powder, 458

James’s Analeptic Pills, 458

Jesuit’s Drops, 314

Jackson’s Bathing Spirits, 408

Keyser’s Pills, 247

Lancaster or Black Drop, 440

Lardner’s Prepared Charcoal, 322

Lemons, Essential Salt of, 407

Liquor Opii Sedativus, 440

Lynch’s Embrocation, 408

Madden’s Vegetable Essence, 400

Magnesian Cheltenham Salts, 480

Marsden’s Antiscorbutic Drops, 390

Marseilles Vinegar, 253

Marshall’s Cerate, 329

Matthew’s Pills, 382

Matthew’s Injection, 504

Mock Arrack, 486

Moseley’s Pills, 462

Necklaces, Anodyne, 13

Norris’s Drops, 284

Norton’s Drops, 390

Nouffleur’s Vermifuge, 31

Opodeldoc, Steer’s, 408

Oxley’s Essence of Jamaica Ginger, 522

Pastilles, 313

Pate Arsenicale, 298

Peter’s Pills, 271

Pectoral Balsam of Honey, 314

Pectoral Balsam of Liquorice, 380

Permanent Ink, 293

Portland Powder, 32

Plunkett’s Ointment, 297

Radcliffe’s Elixir, 271

Refined Liquorice, 364

Remedy for the Tooth-ache, 318

Remedies various for the Hooping Cough, 522

Riga Balsam, 495

Rob Antisyphilitique, 390

Roche’s Embrocation for the Hooping Cough, 430

Royal Preventive, 450

Ruspini’s Tincture, 503

Rymer’s Cardiac Tincture, 321

Scouring Drops, 497

Seidlitz Powders, 476

Senna, Prepared Essence of, 401

Singleton’s Eye Salve, 298

Sirop de Cuisiniere, 390

Smellone’s Eye Salve, 267

Snuff Cephalic, 452

Sodaic Powers, 476

Solomon’s Anti-Impetigines, 390

Solomon’s Balm of Gilead, 504

Speediman’s Pills, 271

Spilsbury’s Antiscorbutic Drops, 390

Squire’s Elixir, 438

Starkey’s Pills, 382

Starkey’s Soap, 496

Steer’s Opodeldoc, 408

Sterry’s Plaister, 357

Stephens’s Mrs. Remedy for the Stone, 412

Storey’s Worm Cakes, 394

Stroughton’s Elixir, 379

Struve’s Lotion, 430

Sulphur Lozenges, 488

Swinton’s Daffey’s Elixir, 505

Taylor’s Remedy for Deafness, 269

Taylor’s Red Bottle, 486

Thieves’ Vinegar, 254

Thompson’s Cheltenham Salts, 480

Tolu Lozenges, 312

Transparent Soap, 467

Velno’s Vegetable Syrup, 390

Virgin’s Milk, 414

Wade’s Drops, 314

Walker’s Jesuit Drops, 381

Ward’s Essence for the Head-ache, 408

Ward’s Paste, 312

Ward’s White Drops, 390

Ward’s Red Drops, 514

Ward’s Sweating Powder, 508

Warner’s Cordial, 462

Webster, Lady, her Pills, 271

Whitehead’s Essence of Mustard, 475

Wilson’s Gout Tincture, 340

Worm Cakes, 394

-----

Footnote 1:

The College of Physicians may now be said to possess one of the most
complete collections of Materia Medica in Europe. That collected by
Dr. Burgess, and presented to the College after his death by Mr.
Brande, to whom it was bequeathed, has lately been collated with the
cabinet of Dr. Coombe, purchased for that purpose. Its arrangement has
been directed by a feeling of convenience for reference, rather than
by any theoretical views relative to the natural, chemical, and
medicinal histories of its constituent parts. Under proper
regulations, it is accessible to the studious and respectable members
of the profession.

Footnote 2:

A late foreign writer impressed with this sentiment has given the
following flattering definition of our profession. ‘Physic is the art
of amusing the patient, while Nature cures the disease.’ This is a
sarcasm which can only be equalled by the churlish and ill-humoured
apostrophe of our own Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, in speaking of the
profession of physic, exclaims ‘It is a melancholy attendance on
misery; a mean submission to peevishness; and a continual interruption
of pleasure.’

Footnote 3:

Observation, says professor Leslie, is the close inspection and
attentive examination of those phenomena which arise in the course of
Nature; Experiment, as the term implies, consists in a kind of trial,
or artificial selection and combination of circumstances, for the
purpose of searching after the remote results.

Footnote 4:

The refractive power of an inflammable body bears also a proportion to
its perfection, whence it may be sometimes used as a test of its
purity; thus Dr. Wollaston found that genuine Oil of Cloves had a
refractive power of 1.535, while that of an inferior quality did not
exceed 1.498.

Footnote 5:

Elizabeth Woodcock, who was buried in the snow for the space of eight
days, in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and whom I frequently
visited, died in consequence of the stimulants which she could not
resist, and which in her peculiar state of excitement she was unable
to bear. In the first volume of the Memoirs of the Philosophical
Society of Manchester, a case of a Miner is recorded, who after
remaining for eight days without food, was killed by being placed in a
warm bed, and fed with chicken-broth.

Footnote 6:

For this purpose it appears that the toad was baked alive. The
following is the receipt in Colborne’s Dispensatory; ‘Bufo
Præparatus.’ “Put the toads alive into an earthen pot, and dry them in
an oven moderately heated, till they become fit to be powdered.”!

Footnote 7:

The application of the reeking entrails of a recently slain animal,
appears to have been one of the earliest methods adopted for the
relief of pain.

Footnote 8:

The words ‘Incantation,’ and ‘Charm,’ appear to have been derived from
the ancient practice of curing diseases by Poetry and Music. (Carmen)
Thus Cœlius Aurelianus, decantare loca Dolentia. Democritus says that
many diseases are capable of being cured by the sound of a flute, when
properly played. Marianus Capellus assures us, that fevers may be
cured by appropriate songs; Asclepiades actually employed the trumpet,
for the relief of Sciatica, and tells us that it is to be continued
until the fibres of the part begin to palpitate, when the pain will
vanish.

Footnote 9:

similar superstition is still practised by the Indians. There is a
species of green jasper found in many parts of America, particularly
in New Spain, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Piedra de
la Hyada, and is used for curing the Cholic by being applied to the
navel.

Footnote 10:

Lib. viii. c. 2. 5.

Footnote 11:

From this Art of Solomon, exhibited through the medium of a ring, or
seal, we have the eastern stories which celebrate the SEAL OF SOLOMON,
and record the potency of its sway over the various orders of Demons,
or of Genii, who are supposed to be the invisible tormentors or
benefactors of the human race.

Footnote 12:

Let the tradition respecting the discovery of the virtues of the bark
serve as an illustration. We are told, that an Indian being ill of a
fever, quenched his thirst at a pool of water, strongly impregnated
with the bark from some trees having accidentally fallen into it, and
that he was in consequence cured.

Footnote 13:

As these persons were ambitious to pass for the descendants of
Esculapius, they assumed the name of The ASCLEPIADES. The writings of
Pausanius, Philostratus, and Plutarch, abound with the artifices of
those early physicians. Aristophanes describes in a truly comic manner
the craft and pious avarice of these godly men, and mentions the
dexterity and promptitude with which they collected, and put into
their bags, the offerings on the altar. The patients, during this
period, reposed on the skins of sacrificed rams, in order that they
might procure celestial visions. As soon as they were believed to be
asleep, a priest, clothed in the dress of Esculapius, imitating his
manners, and accompanied by the daughters of the god, that is, by
young actresses, thoroughly instructed in their parts, entered, and
delivered a medical opinion.

Footnote 14:

Odyss Δ.

Footnote 15:

Hence, the Tincture of Opium has been called _Thebaic_ Tincture.

Footnote 16:

The Laurel was sacred to Apollo, with plantations of which his temples
were surrounded. Lucan informs us (Pharsal. lib. v.) that the speedy
death of the priestess was often occasioned by the ceremony.

Footnote 17:

Allusions to this plant frequently occur in the medical writings of
antiquity; we are told that Galen, in the decline of life, suffered
much from morbid vigilance, until he had recourse to eating a lettuce
every evening, which cured him.

Footnote 18:

Iliad Δ.

Footnote 19:

The Plague of London was supposed to have arisen from such a cause, as
we learn from the writers of that period. I shall quote a passage from
a pamphlet by W. Kemp, M. A. dedicated to Charles the Second. ‘One
cause of breeding the pestilence is that corruption of the air, which
is occasioned by the influence of the Stars, by the aspects,
conjunctions, and oppositions of the Planets, by the eclipses of the
Sun and Moon, and by the consequences of Comets.’ ‘Astra regunt
homines, sed regit astra Deus.’ Hippocrates advises his son Thessalus
to study numbers and geometry, (‘Epist. ad Thessalum.’) because, says
he, the rising and setting of the Stars have a great effect upon
Distempers. Citois, the historian of the celebrated Colic of Poitou
(Colica Pictonum), which raged with such epidemic fury in that
province during the Sixteenth century, drops a hint, apparently with a
view to account for the origin of the disease, viz. that to the great
astonishment of Astrologers, ‘a new Star had, in the same year made
its appearance in the constellation of Cassiopeia’.—(Diatriba de novo
et populari, apud Pictones, dolore colico bilioso.)

Footnote 20:

The precious stones were, at first, only used as Amulets, or external
charms, but like many other articles of the Materia Medica, they
passed, by a mistake in the mode of their application, from the
outside to the inside of the body, and they were accordingly powdered
and administered as specifics. An analogous case of the perverted
administration of a popular remedy is afforded in the history of the
Tench; which Sennertus describes as a remedy capable of curing the
Jaundice, which he allows is effected ‘by secret attraction, and the
power of Amulets.’ In the course of time, it became a reputed food in
the cure of that disease, and Tench broth was prescribed upon all such
occasions.

Footnote 21:

Mystery is the very soul of Empiricism; withdraw the veil, and the
confidence of the patient instantly languishes; thus Pliny, ‘Minus
credunt quæ ad suam salutem pertinent, si intelligunt.’

Footnote 22:

It was this historian who said, that Medicine was invented by Apollo,
improved by Esculapius, and brought to perfection by the physician of
Cos.

Footnote 23:

Paracelsus exclaims, ‘Stellas terrenes esse Plantas, quæ celestes
plantas, i. e. Stellas, respiciant, ita ut quævis planta suam habeat
stellam specificam.’

The Druids of Gaul and Britain, who were both priests and physicians,
gathered and cut the _Missletoe_ with a golden knife, only when the
Moon was six days old, and being afterwards consecrated by certain
forms, it was considered as an antidote to poisons, and a preventive
of sterility. Plinii. Lib. xvi, c. 44.

The _Vervain_, (Verbena Officinalis,) after libations of honey, was to
be gathered at the rising of the dog-star, when neither sun nor moon
shone, with the left hand only; when thus prepared, it was said to
vanquish fevers, and other distempers, was an antidote to the bite of
serpents, and a charm to conciliate friendship. Plin. Lib. xxv. c. 9.
I shall however hereafter shew that the medicinal reputation of this
herb derived its origin from a source more ancient even than that of
Druidism. Magnenus (Exercitat. de Tabaco,) has given us the following
precept,—‘Tabacum seratur luna _crescente_, colligatur autem
_decrescente_ luna.’

Footnote 24:

In later times these heathen symbols were dropped, and others were
adopted to propitiate the favour and assistance of heaven; for this
purpose the Alchemists stamped the figure of the cross upon the vessel
in which they were to obtain their long sought for prize; a
superstitious practice, from which the term _crucible_ derived its
origin. I am well aware that another explanation has been given, and
that the word has been derived from _Crucio_, since in the language of
the Alchemists, the crucible was the vessel in which the metals were
_tortured_ to force them to assume the form of gold.

Footnote 25:

Mr. Boyle was pre-eminently credulous with respect to _specifics_, and
contributed very greatly to the encouragement and diffusion of
empiricism, by publishing many prescriptions as affording infallible
remedies, which were communicated to him by a variety of persons, who
either from ignorance or design vouched for their efficacy.

Footnote 26:

The Soothsayers attributed many mystic properties to the Coral, and it
was believed to be capable of giving protection against the influence
of ‘_Evil Eyes_;’ it was even supposed that Coral would drive away
Devils and Evil Spirits; hence arose the custom of wearing amulets
composed of it, around the neck, and of making crowns of it. Pliny and
Dioscorides are very loud in their praises of the medicinal properties
of this substance, and Paracelsus says that it should be worn around
the necks of infants as an admirable preservative against fits,
sorcery, charms, and even against poison. It is a curious
circumstance, that the same superstitious belief should exist among
the Negroes of the West Indies, who affirm that the colour of Coral is
always affected by the state of health of the wearer, it becoming
paler in disease. In Sicily it is also commonly worn as an amulet.

Footnote 27:

See “Sir Kenelm Digby’s Discourse upon the Cure by Sympathy,
pronounced at Montpellier, before an assembly of Nobles and learned
men. Translated into English, by R. White, Gentleman, and published in
1658.” King James the First obtained from Sir Kenelm the discovery of
his secret, which he pretended had been taught him by a Carmelite
Friar, who had learned it in America or Persia.

The _Sympathetic Powder_ was, as we learn from cotemporary physicians,
‘_calcined green vitriol_.’

Footnote 28:

This superstitious practice is repeatedly alluded to by the poets:
thus Sir Walter Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel—

“But she has ta’en the broken lance,
And wash’d it from the clotted gore,
And salved the splinter o’er and o’er.
William of Deloraine, in trance,
Whene’er she turn’d it round and round,
Twisted, as if she gall’d his wound,
Then to her maidens she did say,
That he should be whole man and sound.”—_Canto_ iii. _St._ xxiii.

Dryden has also introduced the same superstition in his Enchanted
Island. Act. v. Scene ii.

_Ariel._ Anoint the sword which pierced him with this

Weapon salve, and wrap it close from air

Till I have time to visit it again.

Again, in Scene 4th, Miranda enters with Hippolito’s sword, wrapt up:—

_Hip._ O my wounds pain me,

[_She unwraps the sword._]

_Mir._ I am come to ease you.

_Hip._ Alas I feel the cold air come to me; My wound shoots worse
than ever.

_Mir._ Does it still grieve you?

[_She wipes and anoints the sword._]

_Hip._ Now, methinks, there’s something laid just upon it:

_Mir._ Do you find no ease?

_Hip._ Yes, Yes; upon the sudden all this pain

Is leaving me—Sweet heaven, how am I eased!

Footnote 29:

At the same time it must be acknowledged that many of these revolting
applications have actually produced benefit by a physical operation;
we need only mention the nauseous remedies recommended by many writers
on Midwifery to expedite delivery, which induced the desired effect by
producing nausea, or vomiting. Hartman says (Opera. Fol. p. 72) that
he has often witnessed amongst the poor, that difficult labour has
been accelerated by a draught of the husband’s urine! and, he adds,
that horse dung infused in wine is efficacious in expelling the
Placenta. Sarah Stone, a midwife who published some cases in 1737,
mentions several instances of women in labour, to whom was given the
juice of leeks, mixed with their husband’s urine, in order to
strengthen the pains. Nauseous remedies have always enjoyed the
confidence of the vulgar; this prejudice would seem to be the result
of a species of false reasoning, by no means uncommon, that as every
thing medicinal is nauseous, so must every thing that is nauseous be
consequently medicinal.

Footnote 30:

Edward the Confessor was the first English king who _touched_ for the
Evil, but the foolish superstition has been wisely laid aside ever
since the accession of the House of Hanover.

Footnote 31:

This superstitious notion is not confined to the ancients, but is even
cherished at this day, in some of the more remote districts of the
kingdom; and we find frequent allusions to it in the popular poetry of
the seventeenth century.

“Tom Pots was but a serving man,
But yet he was a doctor good;
He bound his ’kerchief on the wound,
And _with some kind words_ he staunch’d the blood.”

Sir Walter Scott, in his “Lay of the last Minstrel”—

“She drew the splinter from the wound,
And with a _charm_ she staunch’d the blood.”

The reader will also find the enumeration of several charms for this
purpose, in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 273.

We learn also from Sennertus, that the older Surgeons had recourse to
prayers and magic for the extraction of foreign bodies from wounds; a
very interesting summary of their superstitions, and peculiar notions
concerning wounds, will be found in this author, under the head, “De
Rebus alienis e vulnere eximendis.” Lib. v. Pars, iv. Practicæ
Medicinæ.

Footnote 32:

The reader will find this subject treated more fully in the
Introduction to our work on “MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.”

Footnote 33:

See a Tour through England, by Dr. Nemnich of Hamburgh.

Footnote 34:

_Nostrum_, (our own.) This word, as its original meaning implies, is
very significant of this characteristic attribute of quackery. See the
note under the article ‘Liquor Opii Sedativus.’

Footnote 35:

Aristides was the dupe and victim of the Asclepiades for ten
successive years; he was alternately purged, vomited, and blistered;
made to walk bare-footed, under a burning sun in summer, and in winter
he was doomed to seek for the return of health, by bathing his feeble
and emaciated body in the river. All this severity, he was made to
believe, was exercised towards him by the express directions of
Esculapius himself, with whom he was persuaded to fancy that he
conversed in his dreams, and frequently beheld in nocturnal visions.
Upon one occasion, the god, fatigued with the importunities of his
votary, ordered him to lose 120 lbs. of blood; the unhappy man not
having so much in his body, _wisely_ took the liberty of interpreting
the oracle in his own way, and parted with no more than he could
conveniently spare.

Footnote 36:

As we are here investigating the follies of Physic, it will not be
foreign to the subject to state, that the above observation may with
as much truth and force be applied to medical writings as to medical
substances. Nothing is more fatal to the permanent success and
character of an author, than the extravagant and unmerited encomiums
of time-serving reviewers. It would be invidious to illustrate this
truth by examples, or we might adduce some striking instances where
the inappropriate wreath has strangled the object which it was
intended to adorn. It is a matter of deep regret that the _Magnates_
of our profession do not combine in supporting a respectable medical
Review.—‘Manus Apolline dignum.’

Footnote 37:

This theory is still cherished in the preservation of the formula for
Pilulæ Opiatæ, in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia.

Footnote 38:

The practice of this physician does not appear to have been very
successful, if we may credit Juvenal.—

“Quot Themison ægros autumno occiderit uno.”

Footnote 39:

See ‘An Experimental Enquiry into the effects of Tonics, and other
Medicines, on the cohesion of the Animal fibre.’ By Dr. Crawford.

Footnote 40:

Van Swieten, in his Commentaries on the Venereal disease, has an
aphorism founded on the same hypothesis, ‘Render the blood and lymph
more fluid, and you will have destroyed the virus.’ Sect. 1477.

In the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal College of
Physicians, there is a paper to the same effect, entitled, ‘On the
Operation of Mercury, in different diseases and constitutions, by
Edward Barry, M.D. F.R.S.’ Read at the College, July 13, 1767.

Footnote 41:

Genesis ix. 23.

Footnote 42:

The animal nature of the colouring matter of the blood was first
pointed out by Dr. Wells, but Fourcroy and Vauquelin considered it to
be owing to subphosphate of iron. Mr. Brande, in 1812, demonstrated
the fallacy of this opinion, and proved, by satisfactory experiments,
its title to be considered as a peculiar animal principle; the
subsequent experiments of M. Vauquelin have confirmed Mr. Brande’s
results.

Footnote 43:

The Magnet, or Loadstone, in powder, entered also as an ingredient in
several plaisters, to draw bullets, and heads of arrows, out of the
body, as in the ‘Emplastrum Divinum Nicolai,’ the ‘Emplastrum Nigrum’
of Augsburg, the ‘Opodeldock’ and ‘Attractivum,’ of Paracelsus, with
several other preparations, to be found in the Dispensatory of Wecker,
and in the practice of Sennertus.

Footnote 44:

PYRETOLOGIA, p. 17, A. D. 1692.

Footnote 45:

Sturmius, in his ‘Febrifugi Peruviani Vindiciæ,’ published in 1658,
observes that he saw twenty doses of the powder sold at Brussels for
sixty florins, in order to be sent to Paris, and that he would
willingly have been a purchaser of some doses, even at that price; but
the Apothecary was unable to supply him: an anecdote not more
illustrative of the reputation of the bark, than of the honesty of the
vender.

Footnote 46:

This produced a pamphlet from Dr. Slare, entitled ‘A Vindication of
Sugars against the Charge of Dr. Willis and others: dedicated to the
Ladies.’ 1715.

Footnote 47:

This conceit did not escape the notice of the metaphysical poets of
the seventeenth century; Cowley frequently availed himself of it to
embellish his verse.

Footnote 48:

Genesis xxx. 14.

Footnote 49:

This mineral derives its name from the ancient belief that it was
found in the nest of the eagle. It is a variety of iron ore.

Footnote 50:

‘Chrysost. Magneni Exercit. de Tabaco.’

Footnote 51:

For a further account of this conceit, see Crollius, in a work
appended to his “BASILICA CHYMICA,” entitled, ‘De Signaturis internis
rerum, seu de vera et viva Anatomia majoris et minoris mundi.’

Footnote 52:

In various black-letter works on Dæmonology we are assured that three
scruples of the ashes of the witch, when she has been _well and
carefully burnt_ at a stake, is a sure Catholicon against all the evil
effects of Witchcraft! The popular author of WAVERLEY alludes to this
superstition in his ABBOT.

Footnote 53:

Massaria, a learned Professor of Pavia in the sixteenth century,
absolutely declares that he would rather err with Galen than be in the
right with any other physician!

Footnote 54:

This practice of Bishop Berkeley has been ridiculed with great point
and effect, in a pamphlet entitled ‘A cure for the Epidemical Madness
of drinking Tar Water,’ by Mr. Reeve; in which, addressing the Bishop,
he says, “thus, in your younger days, my Lord, you made the surprising
discovery of the unreality of matter, and now in your riper age, you
have undertaken to prove the reality of a universal remedy; an attempt
to talk men out of their reason, did of right, belong to that author
who had first tried to persuade them out of their senses.” Tar water
was also at one period considered to possess very considerable
efficacy in Syphylis.

Footnote 55:

The Euphrasia Officinalis, or Eye-bright, which is indebted for its
celebrity to the doctrine of Signatures, as before stated, is actually
employed at this time in cases of dimness of sight. See a Paper upon
the efficacy of this plant by Dr. Jackson, in the London Medical and
Physical Journal, vol. 23, p. 104.

Footnote 56:

Its rejection was proposed by the late Dr. Heberden, and upon the
College dividing on the question, there were found to be _thirteen_
votes for retaining, and _fourteen_ for rejecting it.

Footnote 57:

This preparation consists of 72 ingredients, which are arranged under
13 heads—viz. ACRIA, of which there are 5 species. AMARA, of which
there are 8. STYPTICA vulgo ASTRINGENTIA, 5 in number. AROMATICA
EXOTICA, 14. AROMATICA INDIGENA, 10. AROMATICA EX UMBELLIFERIS, 7.
RESINOSA ET BALSAMA, 8. GRAVE-OLENTIA, 6. VIROSA, _seu quæ Narcosin
inducunt_, under which head there is but one species, viz. Opium.
TERREA INSIPIDA ET INERTIA; this comprises only the _Lemnian Earth_.
GUMMOSA, AMYLACEA, &c. 4 species. DULCIA, _liquorice and honey_.
VINUM, _Spanish_.

Upon no principle of combination can this heterogeneous farrago be
vindicated. It has, however, enjoyed the confidence of physicians for
many ages, and is therefore entitled to some notice. It was supposed
to have been invented by Mithridates, the famous king of Pontus, the
receipt for which was said to have been found among his papers after
his defeat by Pompey, at which time it was published in Rome under the
title of ‘Antidotum Mithridatum;’ but the probability is, says Dr.
Heberden, that Mithridates was as much a stranger to his own antidote
as several eminent physicians have since been to the medicines that
are daily advertised under their names. It was asserted, that whoever
took a proper quantity in the morning, was insured from poison during
the whole of that day, (Galen de Antidot. Lib. 1.) and it was further
stated, that Mithridates himself was so fortified against all baneful
drugs, that none would produce any effect when he attempted to destroy
himself. (Celsus, lib. 5. c. 23.) In the course of ages it has
undergone numerous alterations. According to Celsus, who first
described it, it contained only 35 simples; Andromachus, Physician to
Nero, added vipers, and increased the number of ingredients to 75; and
when thus _reformed_, he called it γαλήνη—but in Trajan’s time it
obtained the name of _Theriaca_, either from the vipers in it, or from
its supposed effect in curing the bites of venomous animals.
Damocrates gave a receipt for it in Greek Iambics, which has been
preserved by Galen. It appears then that its composition has hardly
remained the same for a hundred years; it is, says Dr. Heberden, a
farrago, that has no better title to the name of Mithridates than, as
it so well resembles, the numerous undisciplined forces of a barbarous
king, made up of a dissonant crowd collected from different countries,
mighty in appearance, but in reality, an ineffective multitude, that
only hinder each other. ANTIOPIAKA, by W. Heberden, M. D. 1745.

Footnote 58:

The consumption of Tea has greatly increased in England during the
last thirty years. In 1787 the total amounted to sixteen millions of
pounds, whereas in 1821, it exceeded twenty-two millions.

Footnote 59:

Hernandez de Toledo sent this plant into Spain and Portugal in 1559,
when Jean Nicot was Ambassador at the Court of Lisbon from Francis II,
and he transmitted, or carried either the seed, or the plant to
Catherine de Medicis: it was then considered as one of the wonders of
the new world, and was supposed to possess very extraordinary virtues;
this seems to be the first authentic record of the introduction of
this plant into Europe. In 1589 the Cardinal Santa Croce, returning
from his nunciature in Spain and Portugal to Italy, carried thither
with him Tobacco, and we may form some notion of the enthusiasm with
which its introduction was hailed, from a perusal of the poetry which
the subject inspired; the poets compare the exploit of the holy
Cardinal with that of his progenitor who brought home the wood of the
true cross.

————————————————————“Herb of immortal fame!
Which hither first with Santa Croce came,
When he, his time of nunciature expired,
Back from the Court of Portugal retired;
Even as his predecessors, great and good
Brought home the cross.”——

In England, it is said that the smoking Tobacco was first introduced
by Sir Walter Raleigh on his return from America. James the First
wrote a philippic against it, entitled a “COUNTERBLASTE TO TOBACCO,”
in which the royal author, with more prejudice than dignity, informs
his loving subjects that ‘it is a custome loathsome to the eye,
hatefull to the nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the lungs;
and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the
horrible Stigian smoake of the pit that is bottomlesse.’ In 1604 this
monarch endeavoured by means of heavy imposts to abolish its use in
this country, and in 1619 he commanded that no planter in Virginia
should cultivate more than 100 lbs. It must be confessed that some
legislative enactment was necessary at this period for restricting the
custom of smoking Tobacco; for we are told in the _Counterblaste_,
that many persons expended as much as five hundred pounds per annum in
the purchase of this article, which in those days was an enormous
amount.

In 1624 Pope Urban the VIIIth published a decree of excommunication
against all who took snuff in the church. Ten years after this,
smoking was forbidden in Russia, under the pain of having the nose cut
off; in 1653 the Council of the Canton of Appenzel cited smokers
before them, whom they punished, and they ordered all innkeepers to
inform against such as were found smoking in their houses. The police
regulations of Bern made in 1661 was divided according to the Ten
Commandments, in which the prohibition of smoking stands immediately
beneath the command against adultery; this prohibition was renewed in
1675, and the Tribunal instituted to put it into execution—viz.;
CHAMBRE AU TABAC—continued to the middle of the eighteenth century.
Pope Innocent the XIIth, in 1690 excommunicated all those who were
found taking snuff or tobacco in the church of St. Peter at Rome; even
so late as 1719 the Senate of Strasburgh prohibited the cultivation of
Tobacco from an apprehension that it would diminish the growth of
corn; Amurath the IVth published an edict which made smoking Tobacco a
capital offence; this was founded on an opinion that it rendered the
people infertile. Those who are curious to learn more of the history
of this extraordinary plant, I beg to refer to a very interesting
paper by ‘Medicus,’ in the 24th volume of the ‘London Medical and
Physical Journal,’ page 445.

Footnote 60:

What other discovery or invention ever produced such political
consequences as the introduction of the Potatoe as an article of food?
From its operation as the main constituent of national sustenance the
population of Ireland has advanced from little more than one million
to near seven millions, within the last century and a half!

Footnote 61:

Med. Trans. of the College of Physicians, vol. vi. p. 92.

Footnote 62:

That the _warm_ and not the _cold_ bath was esteemed by the ancient
Greeks, for its invigorating properties may be inferred from a
dialogue of Aristophanes, in which one of the characters says, ‘I
think none of the sons of the gods ever exceeded Hercules in bodily
and mental force,’—upon which the other asks ‘Where didst thou ever
see a _cold_ bath dedicated to Hercules?’

Footnote 63:

The prohibition of the bath was numbered amongst the mortifications to
which certain priestesses in Greece were bound by the rigid rules of
their order.

Footnote 64:

T. Bartholini Hist. Anat. et Med. cent v. Hafniæ. Med. Transactions,
vol. 3, p. 177.

Footnote 65:

MADAME NOUFFLEUR’S RECEIPT is as follows. Three drachms of the root of
the _Male Fern_, reduced to a fine powder, and mixed with water—this
constitutes one dose. Two hours after taking the powder, a bolus of
Calomel, Scammony, and Gamboge, is to be administered.

Footnote 66:

DUKE OF PORTLAND’S POWDER FOR THE GOUT.—Equal quantities of the roots
of _Gentian_, and Birthwort (_Aristolochia rotunda_) the tops and
leaves of Germander (_chamædrys_) Ground Pine (_Chamæpitys_) and
lesser Centaury, (_Chironea Centaurium_) powdered and mixed
together.—As this is a combination of bitters, it might, without
doubt, be serviceable in certain cases of Gout.

Footnote 67:

This medicine was brought into vogue by M. Husson, a military officer
in the service of France, about fifty years ago.

Footnote 68:

So popular was this plant that it acquired the title of ‘Anima
articulorum.’ It formed the basis of the Dia Articulorum, the Pulvis
Arthriticus Turneri, and the Vienna Gout Decoction.

Footnote 69:

Alexander’s Prescription consisted of Hermodactyllus, Ginger, Pepper,
Cummin seed, Aniseed, and Scammony; which, says he, will enable those
who take it to walk immediately.

Footnote 70:

“Magisterium Opii fit solvendo Opium in aceto, et præcipitando cum
sale tartari.——”

Footnote 71:

This was the favourite remedy of Dr. Andrew Boorde, who practised
physic in Hampshire, and in his work printed in the black letter in
London, entitled a ‘Breviarie of Health,’ he advises for a tooth-ache
depending upon worms, ‘a candell of waxe with Henbane seeds, which
must be lighted so that the perfume of the candell do enter into the
tooth.’ This said Dr. Andrew Boorde is too important a personage to be
passed over without some farther notice in this place, being no less
than the Founder of that dignified class of the medical fraternity,
better known by the name of _Merry Andrews_. Dr. Andrew Boorde lived
in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary, and was in the
constant habit of frequenting fairs and markets, at which he harangued
the populace publicly: his speeches were extremely humourous and
occasioned considerable mirth; his successors in this same line
naturally endeavoured to imitate his bright example, and hence this
class of itinerant quacks obtained the generic appellation of MERRY
ANDREWS. Since the humiliating triumph of Quackery displayed at the
Freemason’s tavern, under the presidency of the member for Coventry,
and more recently at Margate, there is reason to believe that this
class of itinerant mountebanks will assume a new and more dignified
appellation, and that in commemoration of the services of their
_philosophical_ president, the worthy member above stated, they will
in future be designated by the name of RANTING PETERS.

Footnote 72:

I have been lately much amused with the lucubrations of a classical
friend, who by way of casting ridicule upon such researches,
undertakes to prove to my satisfaction that WARREN’S BLACKING is no
other than the νασμος μελαναυγες “_Black flowing Splendour_,”
described in the Hecuba of Euripides.

Footnote 73:

This species of delusion, from mistaking the _Post hoc_, for the
_Propter hoc_, always reminds me of the story of the Florentine Quack,
who gave the countryman six pills which were to enable him to discover
his lost Ass,—the pills beginning to operate on his road home, obliged
him to retire into a wood, where he found his ass. The clown soon
spread a report of the wonderful success of the empiric, who in
consequence, no doubt, reaped an ample reward from the proprietors of
strayed cattle.

Footnote 74:

The grant of £5000 to Joanna Stephens, for her discovery of certain
medicines for the cure of the Stone, is notified in the London Gazette
of June, A. D. 1739. See _Liquor Calcis_.

Footnote 75:

Wesley’s Journal, vol. xxix. 290–293.

Footnote 76:

Soon after the invention of the art of Printing, the works of
Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and Pliny, were published in various forms,
and Commentators swarmed like locusts. The eagerness with which this
branch of knowledge was cultivated may be conceived, when it is stated
that the Commentary of Matthiolus on Dioscorides, which was first
printed in 1554, passed through seventeen editions, and that 32,000
copies had been sold before the year 1561; and he tells
us in this work, that he received in its execution the
assistance and reward of Emperors,—Kings,—Electors of the Roman
Empire,—Arch-dukes,—Cardinals,—Bishops,—Dukes, and Princes, ‘which,’
says he, ‘gives greater credit to our labours than any thing that
could be said.’ In very many cases, however, says Dr. Pultney, ‘this
learned Commentator mistook the road to truth, and did but perplex the
science he so industriously laboured to enlighten.’

Footnote 77:

Turner, the father of English Botany, was of opinion, that it was the
Polygonum Bistorta; Munting, a Dutch physician, that it was the
Hydrolapathum Magnum, or Rumex Aquaticus or Great Water Dock, an
opinion which received the sanction of Ray. Others have supposed it to
have been Polygonum Persicaria, and some have considered it as the
Primula Auricula. This one example is adduced to shew the mortifying
uncertainty that involves the history of ancient plants.

Footnote 78:

Meade thinks that the Athenian poison was a combination of active
substances,—perhaps that described by Theophrastus as the invention of
Thrasyas, which, it was said, would cause death without pain, and into
which Cicuta and Poppy entered as ingredients.

Footnote 79:

“Verbenasque adole pingues, et Mascula Thura.”—_Virg. Eclog._ viii.

“Ex Ara hac sume Verbenas tibi.”—_Terent. Andria._

“ara castis
vincta Verbenis.”——_Hor. Od._ xi. _Lib._ iv.

It is a curious fact that in Tuscany the word _Vervena_ is applied to
denote _any_ kind of slips, shoots, suckers, or bundles of plants, at
this very day.

Footnote 80:

AMLYUM, the Starch of wheat, originally denoted a powder that was
obtained without the application of a mill, from α, not, and μυλος, a
mill; thus Dioscorides “Αμυλον ὡνόμασται δἷα τὸ χωρὶς μυλου
κατασκευαζεσθαὶ”—i. e. _because it is prepared without a mill_.

Footnote 81:

Gerard in his Herbal (1597) denominates it, by way of distinction,
Potatoe of _Virginia_, and he recommends it to be eaten as a
_delicate_ dish, not as common food; indeed some time elapsed after
its introduction before it became general, and it was cultivated as an
article of diet in Ireland several years before it was common in
England.

Footnote 82:

The inhalation of the fumes of _Orpiment_ is a practice attributed to
Galen; and one of the most distinguished of his disciples, Rhazes,
recommends it to be inhaled by consumptive patients, in combination
with stimulant and resinous substances, such as _Storax_, _Myrrh_,
_Galbanum_, and _Aristolochia root_. Bennet recommends the same
practice in such cases. Willis informs us that a similar custom
prevailed among certain empirics of his day, and asserts that they
took such pieces of carpet as were dyed with _Orpiment_, and having
cut them into small pieces, exposed them to heat, and, by means of an
inverted funnel, made the patients inhale the vapour. Sir Alexander
Crichton seems disposed to believe that such applications might prove
useful by changing the action of any ulcer to which they were applied.

Footnote 83:

Calomel.—There is some doubt respecting the original meaning of this
word, it literally signifies, _fair_, _black_, καλος, μελας. Sir
Theodore Mayerne is said to have given the name to it, in consequence
of his having had a favourite black servant who prepared it; but is it
not more probable, that its name was derived from the change of colour
which it undergoes from _black_ to _white_, during its preparation?
Another explanation has been also given, viz. quòd _nigro_ humori sit
_bonum_—a _good_ (καλος) remedy for _black_ (μελας) bile. This Theory
derives much support from the black appearance of the stools, which is
usually produced by the use of Calomel, and which was erroneously
attributed to the searching and efficacious nature of the purgative.
The Calomel of Riverius was a compound of _Hydrargyri Sub-muriat:_ ℈j
and _Scammoneæ_ gr. vij, and Mr. Gray thinks that the term Calomel was
first applied to this remedy, as being a mixture of a white and dark
coloured powder.

Footnote 84:

For further information upon this subject the reader may consult my
work on “the Elements of Medical Chemistry.”

Footnote 85:

Dr. Blair thinks that the ancients were led in many instances by the
comparison of habit, to ascribe similar virtues to plants; there does
not however appear to be a trace of what may be called System, in the
writings of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, or Pliny. Cæsalpinus was the
father of botanical system, and he was probably the first who
suggested the idea that the virtues of plants were discoverable by
their structure and alliance to each other. In his preface to his
work, “De Plantis,” he says ‘Quæ enim generis societate junguntur,
plerumque et similes possident facultates.’ This idea was pursued by
Petiver, an apothecary in the city of London, a name well known in the
annals of Botany; there is a paper by him on this subject, in the 21st
volume of the Philosophical Transactions, entitled, “Some attempts to
prove that herbs of the same make and class, for the generality, have
the like Vertue, and Tendency to work the same Effects.” Dr. Murray
has adopted an arrangement founded upon natural character in his
celebrated work entitled, “Apparatus Medicaminum”.

Footnote 86:

Russell’s Nat. Hist. of Aleppo.

Footnote 87:

The student will find an interesting dissertation upon this subject in
a late work, entitled “L’Histoire Naturelle des Medicamens.” Par J. J.
Virey, 1820.

Footnote 88:

Lord Bacon attributes the operation of purgatives to three causes,
viz. 1. to _extreme bitterness_, as in Aloes, 2. to _loathsomeness and
horrible taste_, as in Agaric and black Hellebore, and 3. to _a secret
malignity_, as in Antimony, &c.

Footnote 89:

This might be illustrated by the recital of numerous fallacies to
which our most simple perceptions are exposed from the powers of
association, but I will relate an anecdote, which to my mind
elucidates the nature and extent of such fallacies more strikingly
than any example which could be adduced. Shortly after Sir Humphry
Davy had succeeded in decomposing the fixed alkalies, a portion of
_Potassium_ was placed in the hands of one of our most distinguished
chemists, with a query as to its nature? the philosopher observing its
aspect and splendour, did not hesitate in pronouncing it to be
metallic, and uniting at once the idea of weight with that of metal,
the evidence of his senses was even insufficient to dissever ideas so
inseparably associated in his mind, and, balancing the specimen on his
fingers, he exclaimed, “it is certainly metallic, and _very
ponderous_?” Now this anecdote is not related in disparagement to the
philosopher in question. Who could have been prepared to meet with a
substance, so novel and anomalous as to overturn every preconceived
notion?—A METAL SO LIGHT AS TO SWIM UPON WATER, AND SO INFLAMMABLE AS
TO CATCH FIRE BY THE CONTACT OF ICE!

Footnote 90:

Virey, “Essai d’Histoire Naturelle et Physicolog: sur la
perfectibilité de l’homme.”

Footnote 91:

Second Voyage of Captain Cook, vol. 4.

Footnote 92:

The cause of the green colour of oysters is sometimes an operation of
nature, but it is more generally produced by art, by placing them in
situations where there is a green deposit from the sea, which appears
to consist of the vegetating germs of marine _Confervæ_ and _Fuci_,
and which impart their colour to the oysters. For this object the
Dutch formerly took oysters from beds on our coasts, and deposited
them on their own. Native oysters transported into the Colchester beds
soon assume a green colour. It is unnecessary to refute the popular
error which attributed this change of colour to the operation of
copper.

Footnote 93:

We must admit that some of these allegories are too obvious to be
mistaken. Homer attributes the plague that prevailed in the Grecian
camp to the darts of Apollo; what was meant by this, but that it arose
from the action of a burning sun, upon the marshes and slimy shores of
Troas? and what, again, can be more obvious than the allegory by which
Echo is made the daughter of air and earth?

Footnote 94:

Bacon’s works, vol. 5, p. 470. 4th Edit. London, 1778.

Footnote 95:

Leslie’s Elements of Natural Philosophy.

Footnote 96:

Virg. Georg. iv. 392–402.

Footnote 97:

Dioscorides and Pliny describe a process, which may be considered that
of distillation in its infancy; it consists in obtaining oil from
pitch, by spreading over it while boiling, fleeces of wool, which
receive the vapour and afterwards yield it by expression. In this
country the art of distillation was unknown at the time when the
Romans had possession of it. It is said to have been introduced in the
early part of HENRY II.

Footnote 98:

It was destroyed in the sixth century, by the CALIPH OMAR, the
cotemporary and companion of Mahomet.

Footnote 99:

The Saracens, in their treaty with the Greek Emperors, demanded, by
express articles, the works of the ancients.

Footnote 100:

Garcias as well as Geoffroy and Hill say that Ætius mentions camphor,
but it cannot be found, as Dr. Alston has observed, in that, or in any
other Greek author. There is a _Camphoræ herba_ in Myrepsus; but this
is evidently a different thing.

Footnote 101:

The Records of Physic, if I am not deceived, will afford numerous
instances of similar error, from mistaking figurative expressions for
literal truths. A knowledge of this species of fallacy will explain
the origin of several very extraordinary receipts. I shall select the
following instance, by way of illustration. In many of the ancient
works on Physic, we find the _blood of the goat_ extolled for its
efficacy in dissolving stones, and, from this supposed lithontriptic
virtue, it forms the principal ingredient of the POWDER OF NICOLAUS,
and of the ELECTUARY OF THE QUEEN OF COLEIN. The expression which gave
origin to this belief was evidently allegorical, signifying that the
blood of the goat, by which our Saviour was typified, was capable of
softening the stony hearts of his enemies, or, according to others,
that by his influence, the stony rocks, and veil of the temple were
shatterd. _Browne’s Vulgar Errors._

Footnote 102:

Silver, Mercury, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead.

Footnote 103:

Agricola de veteribus et novis metallis: Lib. 1.

Footnote 104:

2 Kings, chap. ix. verse 30.

Footnote 105:

It has been already stated, that we are indebted to an Indian for the
discovery of Bark, and it now appears we derived our knowledge of
Mercury to the wildest of the alchemists. May it not then be said that
we are indebted to a _savage_, and a _madman_, for two of our most
powerful remedies?

Footnote 106: