use of the common and more modern way of sending Bills to Apothecaries Shops but instead of that To buy their Physick of the said Apothecaries more or less as their practice shall requiâ—e Together with express order That no Physick should be given to any Patient without setting it first down in such manner and form as was accustomed before in the Bills sent to Apothecaries with the Patients name Year of our Lord and day of the Moneth and every such Bill to be fil'd up and kept by the Physician And the Physick so bought to be dispensed at home to the Patient by the Physician himself or his Servant or some young Student educated under him for that and all other things appertaining to his Art at reasonable rates The Physician not to demand or expect any other payment but for his Physick only unless he be sent for out of his own House and then to be paid his accustomed Fee according to the Ability of the Patient Yet this not to prejudice any other Physician of the Colledge who would take on him the Trouble and Charge of preparing all his Physick himself which was the use of the Ancients The reasons of this Proposition and the advantages it brings are very many and of great consideration 1. It appoaches as near to the genuine and true Method of Hippocrates Galen and other great Masters of Physick as the present constitution of things will admit And though your Self very well know what they did this way yet give me leave to put you in minde of some passages of Hippocrates and Galen to this effect for which I was lately beholding to Dr. our worthy friend He first acquainted me with the Letter of Hippocrates to an Herbarist his acquaintance to provide him things for the Cure of Democritus where he demands only Simples as Juyces and Tears of Plants which he orders to be sent in Glass Vessels and Leavs Roots and Flowers which he bids him put up in earthen Pots well clos'd he directs him to the time of gathering them and the place which was not difficult for him to do who was so well knowing of their Natures since he tells us how often he visited his Gardens and contemplated with wonder that Mysterious place the Earth which brings forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animals Plants Food Medicine and Riches And these Simples so bought and received were by himself to be prepared and compounded as occasion should require I need not describe to you the Physicians Shop out of the same Author who has a whole Treatise of it I shall content my self with a passage out of his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The conversation and manners of a Physician which evidently shows how that Physicians of that time did not onely dispense their own Medicines themselves but make them too in Shops of their own by Hippocrates called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His words are these A Phycsiian sayes he ought to have his Shop or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 provided with plenty of all necessary things as Lint Rowlers Splints all sorts of Chirurgical Instruments also of Medicines as for Wounds for the Eyes c. alwayes ready prepar'd Let there be likewise sayes he in readiness at all times another small Cabinet as it were of such things as may serve for occasions of going far from home have also ready all sorts of Plaisters Potions purging Medicines so contriv'd that they may keep some considerable time and likewise such as may be had and used while they are fresh The advantage of this will be very great for when you come to a Patient you will be more ready and certain what to do having all things prepar'd by you for your occasions Which is indeed a most excellent reason to perswade this course and much better then the hasty and praecipitate way of writing Bills And for Galen the same worthy Person has inform'd me There are so many things in him to this effect that it would be too great a vanity for me to tell you how he travell'd to Cyprus to enquire the nature of Mettals see Pompholyx Cadmia Diphryges Vitriol and brought home such quantity with him as might serve him all his life how he visited Palestine for its rich Balsom and the Bitumen found there or how curious he was at Lemnos to see the Terra Lemnia there he went likewise to Crete Alexandria and several other places for the same end and most earnestly conjures all who design'd themselves to this Study to do as he did and provide against the frauds and abuses of Impostors notwithstanding the great expence necessary for such an undertaking And a little after complains of a sort of men who contented themselves to know Simples out of Books Because sayes he the knowledge of sensible things can never be acquir'd but by frequent inspection and often repeated views I need not adde that he had a Repository which he call'd his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the name of Apothecary came where he tells us his Medicines were alwayes under his Eye or in his hand To acquaint you that he made the Emperours Treacle with his own hands or dress'd the wounded Gladiators himself nor ever gave any Medicine of which he had not first tasted and smelt nay made experiment of it he sayes upon his own person and how he was hated by the Roman Physicians for using Simples and plain Medicines would from me to you be extreamly impertinent who know all this so much better then I. I shall content my self for the present to rectifie a mistake of some who think that there was a trade of men in Galens time such as our Apothecaries now are but this proceeds from want of understanding the ancient sense of the word Pharmacopola which in those times signifi'd not an Apothecary but such a person as we now call a Mountebank one who sold Physick in Markets Fairs and other places of publick Concourse And these were ever reputed at Rome among the basest and meanest men of the Town and were obnoxious to the common Laws made against Rogues and Vagabonds as Pliny has noted And if there were nothing else we might take their Character from Horace Ambubaiarum Collegia Pharmacopolae Mendici Mimi Balatrones hoc genus omne Moestum ac sollicitum est Cantoris morte Tigelli And out of Max. Tyrius We shall find sayes he that there is no kinde of good thing but some evil will endeavour to counterfeit it so a Sycophant will imitate an Orator a Sophister a Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a Quack will pretend himself a Physician And for the Word Apothecary in Scripture 't is so well known that word means only sellers of rich Oyntments Perfumes Balsoms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such other Cosmeticks as were in use in those Countreys which sort of men were after by the Greeks call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and among the Romans from the place
and little effect to serve dishonourable interests I have heard some worthy Members of your Colledge wish also that a new Pharmacopoea were agreed upon But it was quite of another Nature from that now in use For although this be better than any other extant Yet I know they well understand it has many things that need Reformation but that is a business that requires mature consideration and the present perplexity of affairs will not permit it yet I think you are not unwilling the world should know you can take notice where it is defective as well or better than any of those men who would go about to disgrace it with vain and impertinent clamors taken out of Zwelfer and some other Writers It was wisht that the Shops instead of the Medicines now commonly made were furnished with Simples only Of which such as are best and most effectually used with a little or an easie preparation as powdering infusing boiling and the like should be so kept as might longest preserve their vertue and operation and such as are most operative by a more curious way of preparing as in Tinctures Extracts Essences Elixirs Spirits Syrrups Juyces Robs Conserves c. to be likewise in such manner prepar'd as may retain their vertues most and likewise render them most durable By which means although the present expence of making them be more yet considering their long duration it will in effect be less then it is in the present Method The Physician that comes to buy will be able to make a better judgement of their goodness and may use them either either simple which was the way of ancient times or compound them as he sees occasion by which he will likewise come to observe the many and great alterations that happen from mixtures of several things together he will also be more able to make them gustful and palateable thus preserving the Tone of the Stomach which is so much destroyed by ordinary Physick that in Chronical Distempers it may be doubted whether it do not more hurt this way than it can do good another Likewise in all compositions he will be sure to have the vertues of every ingredient which will scarce be found in the compounds of the Shops as has well been observed by Zwelfer yet he himself is not without his faults in the same kinde too as my little experiments have informed me In a word Simple Medicines thus prepared and kept are not so subject to corrupt by the usual fermentations of mixt things and so will be more effectual for the use of such Physicians or Chirurgeons as have occasion to carry them abroad with them as Hippocrates has well noted or such as are employed in the Service of His Majesties Armies or Navies But not to give you too much trouble with my long Letter if we please to consider the strange and intricate variations of Diseases brought in partly by new Dyet discoveries of new places the nature of particular Soils and how these are mixt combin'd and complicated both with the old and with one another it will be the rather necessary to put something of this nature in execution I have often heard your self and several others of your ingenious Collegues discourse well and substantially on this Argument which makes me the more wonder at the late Writer of Medela Medicinae who would contrary to his own reason and conscience endeavour to perswade the world that this was a thing altogether unthought of not only by your Colledg of Physicians but all those who are commonly call'd Galenists and yet he himself hath said no one thing in that whole discourse concerning this matter that can be pretended new for which he has not cited the very Books and words of some Galenist or Methodist as he calls them And to me it seems the greatest Argument in the world on your behalf why his Majesty and the Parliament should shew you all manner of kindeness that such various and irregular changes daily appear in the Distempers of humane Body For if we allow Physick to be altogether Empirical as he pretends it must needs follow that in such things he ought to be esteem'd most able and sufficient who is furnish'd with most and best Experiments either from his own observation and these are properly his or by reading of Books which afford him the experiments of all the rest of the world and can best conclude and argue from the Analogy Correspondence and Harmony they have to one another so that a study'd Physician must in all consideration of reason have far the advantage of any other But 't is alledg'd You are too rigoroufly confin'd to the rules and methods of the Ancients who had few or no experiments of this kinde and likewise neglect that high and more potent way of Medicine which the Chymists only know how to make use of But 't is evident this is a very unkinde and unjust imputation for though in the former age when Chymistry first began to show it self in Europe It was condemned for its novelty and dreaded as full of dangers yet for any to affirm in these more illuminated times that Physicians so oblige themselves to ancient Methods as to despise or not consider the differences and alterations of several times Regions Dyets Tempers changes of Diseases caus'd by these The new and more exquisite wayes of preparing Medicines If he be a man of learning and understanding he must needs be thought to abuse his own reason for some particular interest since he brings so great a scandal not onely upon many worthy private persons but upon the freedom and ingenuity of the whole age whose happiness and honour it is to be unconfin'd and disdains the Pedantry of being enslav'd to any name or sect whatsoever and when an Inquisition of truth comes before them can as little regard the names of Hippocrates and Galen as of Paracelsus or Helmont and as freely make use of any thing it findes good in these as reject what is untrue or mistaken in the other And to measure the temper of the present time by that of the past is so great an injustice that I will desire no other instance to shew it then out of that Book For those very men who were as he sayes at first condemned by publick censure of the Colledge of Paris Sir Theod. Mayern and Quercetan came by his own confession in after times to be held and reputed among the greatest Physicians of their Age nay further to see how little you despise Rational Chymistry One of these very same men Sir Theod. Mayern a great Chymist and an excellent Physician was one of the chief men of your Colledge in his time and had a great share in making the Pharmacopoea Since then your selves look upon Rational Chymistry as an excellent way of enquiry into the natures of things and manag'd with sound Reason and Philosophy an excellent way also of preparing Medicines since you are as much conversant
may require it for use 4. It will enlarge the materia Medica and make a greater variety of Practice which must needs be of excellent concernment unless we think as some over-bold men have lately don that nature has made so ample provisions in vain but they who provide at home will be lead to save expense as much as they can to confine themselves to a very scanty and narrow method of Practice as some foolish persons know no other Medicaments but what are made from Mercury and Antimony despising all the royal Apparatus of Gods Creatures beside though we cannot doubt but the vast alterations and various dispositions of Bodies Climates Diseases were particularly aim'd at by Nature in her so infinite and magnificent provisions of help And though I do not deny that Medicaments Antimonials and Mercurials decently prepar'd are of wonderful efficacy yet it is so well known they cannot perform half that is so idly promis'd by their admirers at all times and in all bodies and that a mean and ordinary decoction has in some cases effected what they could not do 5. By preserving the publick sellers of Medicines or Pharmacopolae you comply with the present State of things which cannot well admit any other change then what has been said 10. And whereas many apprehensions and suspicions have lately arisen between the Physician and Apothecary as if the Apothecary did invade the Physicians practice This way will for ever most entirely and absolutely secure his Practice and Profession to himself For now the Apothecary will never see a Physicians Bill from which they alwayes take direction nor the Patient himself and so be utterly ignorant of that case for which the Physick is prepar'd and us'd nor will he hear the Physician reason and discourse of the due times and manner of administring it or explain the nature and cause of the distemper nor have occasions of officious intervening between the Physician and Patient nor dispense the Physick with praise of his own great pains and care in preparing it as he was wont to do so that he will quickly free himself of the imputation some now lay upon him and be for ever unable to do the Physician that injury which is now suppos'd to be done by some of them All this the Physician obtains by only concealing his Bills the writing of a Bill being as I may say the mystery of his Trade in which therefore he does nothing but what is held most reasonable among all men 11. This will likewise secure the Physician another way against the suppos'd usurpation of Apothecaries for if any Apothecary shall take on him to practise Physick upon notice giv'n to the Colledge it may be enacted among your selves without troubling the Parliament for new power and without the envious way of sining and imprisonment That no Physician shall buy any Medicines of such Apothecary till the Colledge be fully satisfied that he is sensible of the injury done to them and will cease to do the like for the Future 12. It gives every Physician as many or more opportunities of doing kindness to his particular friends that are Apothecaries And that is by being himself and engaging as many Physicians as he has interest in to become their customers 13. As to matter of Consultation among Physicians it is here sufficiently provided for by fileing up Bills of all the Physick they give and therefore this is to be required of every man by the Colledge under severe Penalties And if any man have particular Medicines of his own which you call Nostra the case is here the same as in the former way For I am inform'd every Physician is oblig'd to acquaint the Colledge with them if it be requir'd Besides this filing of Bills or entring them into a Book may have another excellent use For doing it Alphabetically a Physician may by some private note discern a great while after which of his Medicines had a good effect and which had not or fail'd and in what Tempers of Body and how to accommodate himself to the same persons at other times and lastly may from hence if he pleases produce great numbers of observations which may well deserve the Publick and be highly useful to Posterity And it would be very much for the good of their Profession If no Physician would for the future write any thing in the practice of Physick but what had been experimented by himself and that all the practitioners of it would be more careful to set down such remarkable accidents that come under their observation 14. This way by making the Physician a perfect Master of the Materia Medica has these three great effects besides what has been mention'd already 1. It renders him more able to discover the use of Simples when he has occasion to travel into Forreign Parts so enlarging both Physick and Philosophy with new and useful discoveries 2. He will be more fit to serve the Prince in His Navy or Army where if his stock of Medicines be all spent or corrupted without this knowledge he is utterly uncapable of providing himself a new to his own dishonour and prejudice of others 3. By observing the several mutations that happen in the preparations of things as well Simple as Compound he will be assisted to consider what effects like them may happen upon their mixture with the Blood and other juyces of the Body and to give a huge light to the reasons of the Phaenomena both in Health and Sickness Of this that very worthy person Dr. Willis has already given the world an excellent taste and promis'd an entire Discourse upon that subject which would be of vast use and in which he stands indebted to the publick 15. It is a generous and worthy thing that Physicians should be knowing in the materia Medica as was Hippocrates Galen and all the old Masters of this Science It has been already said how great the endeavour of these brave men was to acquire a perfect understanding of all they made use of And without doubt it is a thing most indecent and unnatural for a Physician to despise the knowledg of that by which all his great works are to be effected In the old and heroical times of Physick Medicines were excellently call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The hands of the gods And I think it is the highest sort of shame to see a Physician at a loss for Medicaments in the Countrey where Nature the bountiful provider of them has so rich and large a Shop open because he wants his Apothecary to write to or the knowledge of the things themselves or the way how to make use of them 16. This way has in many great respects the advantage of the common course of writing Bills to the Apothecaries For in the first place by seeing the very things they administred by mixing ordering compounding them as they have occasion by consideration of the tastes scents and colours of Medicines and how variously all