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
LETTER Concerning the present State OF PHYSICK And the REGULATION Of the Practice of it in this KINGDOM Written to a Doctor here in London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hipp. de dec Hab. LONDON Printed for Jo. Martyn and Ja. Allestry at the Bell in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1665. Imprimatur Mar. 30. 1665. Joh. Hall R. P. D. Episc Lond. à Sac. Domest WORTHY SIR NOw I am safely arriv'd here and retir'd from the noise and importunity of publick business I have a little leasure to consider the Civilities I received from you at London and thank you for them But my Lady is most particularly sensible of the favour you did her in sending her that excellent Syrup of your own preparation and as well for the good effects she has found of it as for your most exquisite manner of preparing it she ceases not to commend it infinitely to her nearest Relations and other Persons of Quality who will very shortly I know desire you to take the trouble of making some more of it for them And as her Ladyship has been wont alwayes to condemn the Syrups Conserves and other Medicines of the Apothecaries as nauseous fulsome and unhealthy compar'd with those which her self and other Ladies of the Countrey make without regard of expence or charge to have them perfectly good so now she does it much more in consideration of this which you have sent her These discourses of her Ladyship put me in minde of what past in that excellent company of Virtuosi at Sir Thomas House where you and I had lately the honour to receive a noble entertainment And in truth all then present did very much resent the unhappy estate of the profession of Physick as it now stands in this Kingdom both in respect of the worthiness of the thing it self and its mighty concernments in humane life and the society of mankinde as also as it is an honourable way wherein all the Gentlemen of England have been ever accustomed to breed and educate some of their Children And in both these respects there is no Gentleman in the Nation but ought to take himself concerned to secure it so far from the rude pretences of vain and bold men that in the first place it may be really serviceable to those ends for which Heaven mercifully gave it and also may be a decent and worthy means of subsistence as it hath hitherto been to persons of ingenuous Birth and liberal Education who shall in pursuance of those noble ends address themselves to the Study of it Now because you know very well that my curiosity and inclination have ever led me to a more then ordinary consideration of that which you profess you will the less wonder to finde me offering some propositions which in my poor opinion will remedy the present defects both in the method and practice of it restore it to its primitive and most excellent form and effectually establish it in that degree of honour and estimation which all Ages have so justly had for it And whereas I have several times found both your self and some other Physicians of my acquaintance possest with apprehensions because our House did not pass the Patent by His Majesty lately granted to the Colledge though I will not make my self guilty of so much rashness as to censure the advise by which that affair was governed yet I verily perswade my self if instead of that long Patent De novo you had followed the example of your Ancestors who finding some defects in the first Act of their Incorporation made in 14. H. 8. Chose rather to bring into the Parliament small Additional Bills praying such new powers as might enable them to put in execution the true intents of the first Act as that of 38. H. 8. In which they desire the priviledge of visiting the Wares of Apothecaries and afterward Primo Mariae another Bill requiring the Magistrates to be assisting to them in the execution of this Power which was forgot before And likewise another clause was desired commanding Goalers to receive and keep in safe custody such Prisoners as should from time to time be committed by the Authority granted to the Colledge till they should by them be thereof discharged I say if some such course as this had been taken I make no doubt but the zeal and care of this House is such for the honour and advancement of all true Learning in the Nation that it would have pass'd without much debate But considering the length of the new Charter the great numbers of men of several sorts that made opposition and pretended high exceptions against it the many weighty and important things at that time upon their hands and so the little leasure they had then to examine a business of that nature as they ought to do It is to me no great wonder that it was for the present laid aside I have great hope That whatever may be propos'd for the effectual advancement of this noble Art that does not onely serve the necessities of humane Life but also furnish Philosophy with so great a number of real and useful Experiments will be sincerely regarded and consider'd from the particular genius and inclination of the Age wherein we live which to me seems in a peculiar manner directed to the contemplation of Nature And although many admirable Spirits flourish'd in the former Age and labour'd in most kinde of humane knowledge yet the honour of the true method of penetrating into the causes of natural things is due onely to ours For excepting the Divine Wit of Copernicus none that I remember of that time did any thing of moment in natural Philosophy And I look upon Galileo as the first that introduc'd any sound and real speculations in that way by first discerning the necessity and use of Geometrical Theories in the considerations of Nature This fortunate beginning was well pursu'd by Kepler and brought to a great degree of perfection by D. Cartes whose incomparable Books have kindled in mens mindes such an ardour of searching into the causes of things that the great Spirits of our time seem all in a flame and not onely such persons as have been bred in Letters and Study but men of all Conditions and Businesses even Princes themselves are toucht with this inclination as the Prince Leopoldo in Italy but especially His Most Excellent Majesty who has set on foot the greatest design for this end that ever any Nation saw by Founding his Royal Society for the advancement of Natural Philosophy by Experiments which will certainly be as Immortal as his own Name and Fortunes If then we consider how much the business of Physick well constituted and manag'd will not only administer infinite occasions to the speculative men of this busie and enquiring Age but likewise of how much greater importance all its Experiments are both to the publick and to every one in particular we need not doubt but His Majesty will believe that His Colledge of Physicians is
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
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
they inhabited Seplasiarii Vnguentarii that I shall not give you any further trouble about it 2. The second reason for this Method is this The Physician is hereby oblig'd to make himself throughly acquainted with the Nature Goodness and exact Preparations of Medicines now sold by the Apothecary whether Simple or Compound Otherwise he will not know how to lay out his money and may easily be impos'd upon by the dishonesty of another to the ruine of his Patient of his Reputation and consequently of his Livelihood and Subsistence For what ever accident may happen from the ill preparation of the Physick it will now become the fault of the Physician whose ignorance or neglect it was that he did not provide what was good for his occasion 3. For the reason before alledg'd The Physician will be also engag'd to frequent visits of the Apothecaries Shop to view his Simples and consider his manner of preparation from which he will likewise gain many opportunities of Improving Medicines already in use both as to their Essicacy and Operation and also as to their Taste and Scent which ought to be one great part of a Physicians care and is now too much neglected although nothing can be more his interest then this He will be also more able to invent new Medicines and bring in the use of Simples yet undiscover'd Lastly he will have frequent occasions of observing many excellent Phaenomena which now pass unregarded through the hands of Apothecaries and their Servants for the use and service of Philosophy 4. This renders the Physician much more acceptable to every Patient and affords him many real opportunities of gaining his hearty kindeness and affection which others now enjoy and also takes away the Scandal and Reflexion which is cast upon the Physician by some Apothecaries and upon both the Physician and Apothecary by Mountebanks and those that call themselves Chymists For the first Although the writing of a Bill and directing proper Remedies for every Distemper be the result of the pains and careful Study of many Years and the Physician that prescribes well may justly be said under God Almighty to be principal in the cure of the Disease yet an ordinary Patient is not sensible of this but thinks it very hard to part with ten shillings for a few words in Paper especially when he must go from thence to the Apothecary and there be at another extraordinary charge for what was prescribed and also use some means beside to oblige the Apothecary to prepare it well Whereas if the same Physician should instead of that give the Physick it self that is to be taken at a reasonable and moderate price assuring the Patient of his care to prepare it as it ought to be and also his counsel and advice for nothing unless sent for out of his own house he must needs infinitely gain the heart and good will of every man Besides many occasions would be offer'd of giving to the Poor for nothing which is Christian Charity and sometimes also to the Rich themselves of which a wise man will know how to make an honourable and discreet advantage and put frequent obligations upon them For the second I remember well the Apothecaries counsel laid a great and unhandsome scandal upon all your Colledge and that in publick before a Committee of our House affirming you incompetent to visit their Shops or to make a judgement of their Medicines and though it was then said with much rashness and passion there being so great a number of your Learned Members excellently knowing this way yet I wish there had been no cause to think it in some part true But this will for ever prevent all calumny of that nature for now you will understand them better then the Apothecaries themselves On the other side the Mountebanks Chymists c. have nothing to boast of so much as the making their own Physick recommending their great industry and care to finde out and prepare exactly the best of Medicines and accusing the Shops of dull enactive and slight preparations and your selves of too much delicacy pride sloth and ignorance for not providing better and taking pains as they pretend to do in searching into the Rich and large Stock of Remedies which the wisdom and bounty of Nature has created in so great plenty for the benefit of men 5. This will restore the ancient true and only fit way of breeding up young Students in this Faculty That is to say in exercises of Anatomy knowledge of Herbs mixing and compounding Medicines visiting the Sick under the direction of a grave Physician not as they are now for the most part in speculative discourses only and reading of Books Thus was the late famous Dr. Wright the younger educated under Dr. Fox and was the first Physician that dissected at the Colledge which till his time had ever made use of Chirurgeons in their publick Theatre And while the young Physician employes his industry in such services as these for the elder he gains besides what is learn't from Books and Authors the long experience of the other sees his Patients hears him discourse of their several cases considers the Medicines provided for them and observes their several effects All which advantages you now in vain give away to Apothecaries to whom the Practice of Physick does not belong And if this has been the course that all mankinde has ever taken to raise and propagate Practical Arts and Trades of daily use in humane life why should it not be us'd in Physick which is a Practical Art of so much greater consequence especially if we consider how dangerous the errors of this Profession are and how necessary a Practical Education is for any man that intends the exercise of it as Galen and more particularly Hippocrates often inculcates and the nature of the thing makes it evident I need not tell you how it was confin'd till the time of Hippocrates to one single Family under a curse not to communicate it to any other nor reckon up the many famous men who were Galen's Masters from whom he learn't this Art and whom he mentions with so much honour Yet give me the favour to recall an excellent Passage of Hippocrates to this effect He advises a Physician when he carries his Disciples with him to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Patient to appoint in his absence such a one of them to observe the Patient as is well advanc'd and studied in this Art and knows what is fit to be done and how to give him an account of the case that so he may be ignorant of nothing that is material though he could not be there himself These things consider'd if a person of three or four years standing in either of our Vniversities for none else should be entertained by any should agree with a Physician for a reasonable consideration and acknowledgement to be made which was held very honourable in Hippocrates age as appears in his Oath and
these are changed and altered by the mixture of several things together they will be much more able to preserve in memory what is proper and useful for every Distemper then by reading their names in Books onely and so direct better and with greater ease and certainty Likewise by understanding the true wayes of mixture and being acquainted with the tastes and scents of things a great many errors will be avoided and Physick be render'd much more pleasant and palateable Finally a great many excellent Experiments will be drawn from it for the use of Philosophical speculations Now in the present Method of your Bills either the Physician depends wholly upon the memory of what he has read in Books which Galen greatly condemns and then we shall never hope to promote this Art beyond its present limits although 't is well known there are so great treasures of powerful and active Medicines yet undiscovered Besides if we do not exactly remember the very proportions and measures of every thing in every Medicine which is impossible we cannot reasonably hope well from it because as my Lord Bacon observes the Experiment was made in such quantities only which when we alter considering the nature of things à priori are altogether unknown to us we know not what we do And though Physicians commonly endeavour to provide themselves rather of the general materia medica then of particular Receipts yet if we duely weigh the strange alterations that happen upon the blending several things together and the unexpected results of quite different qualities the unpleasing scent and taste they acquire many times especially if their proportions are not precisely just we shall not think it strange that so wise a man as that great Person was blam'd this last and uncertain way And as to the common proportions and quantities by which Physicians govern themselves in the usual forms of Medicines they vary so much according to the several natures of things that whoever is not well acquainted with the things themselves shall never be able as Galen notes to direct as he ought to do And none will doubt but any Physician could make a better Apozem Potion Julep or the like by measuring the Proportions of each ingredient by his taste and scent then by writing a Bill from the unexact proportions of Authors especially if he be not very well acquainted with the things he prescribes In a word neither these proportions themselves nor their Books had ever been at all if Physicians had not in former times been knowing in all Simples examined their vertues and tempers enquir'd into their effects and mixt them with their own hands 17. Lastly if any still think this way too troublesome and are unwilling to excuse a little trouble for so many great conveniences both to themselves and their whole Profession there remains yet another expedient for them which they may make use of without doing prejudice to those we are contented to enter into the course already propos'd They may if they please have an Apothecary of their own and send their Bills to be made up by him as now they are provided only 1. That the time and manner of using it be not set down nor 2. The name of the Patient 3. That it be not sent by the Patient but by their own Servants 4. That it be returned to the Physicians again with the Physick it self to be fil'd up by them with the Patients name added or entred into a Book as was said before and the Physick so made and provided by the Physicians order to be fetch'd at their own houses as it is now at the Apothecaries Shops or from thence sent home by their own Servants to the Patient Now if we consider how this way respects the Apothecaries 't is evidently a fair and moderate course between them and the Physicians not taking away nor lessening any of the priviledges and immunities granted to them by their Charter or which they claim and enjoy as Freemen of this City or other Cities and Corporations For it hinders not their making and selling of Physick to any that please to buy of them which thing only belongs to their Trade To visit the Patient feel his Pulse consider his Vrine discourse of the state of the Disease and prescribe proper Remedies for it is the business and care of the Physician So that I dare presume no Apothecary who is content to live on his own Trade without invading the Profession of another and I doubt not but the greatest number and ablest men among them are such will think ill of it but rather be pleased to see that for the future all causes of jealousie and suspicion between Physicians and them will for ever cease the interests of both be preserv'd and the practice of Mountebanks and Quacks brought to nothing 2. It will very much conduce to the profit and advantage of the Apothecary For now the people finding encouragement to address themselves to the Physicians who before to decline the charge and expence of a Doctors advice went only to the Mountebank who made and gave all his Physick himself It must needs come to pass that the Apothecaries must provide and vend much greater quantities then they could before And thus all that which went away to Quacks and other ignorant pretenders be brought into the hands of the industrious and careful Apothecary 3. It will insensibly lessen that exorbitant number of Apothecaries which makes the Trade burdensome to it self and scarce a competent subsistence for a man after he has spent a good sum of money and seven years or more in an Apprenticeship to understand it For as things are now while the Masters or their Servants are employed by the Physician to visit his Patients and carry Physick about if an Apothecary have great business he will be under a necessity of taking several Apprentices else he cannot perform such attendances abroad and the business of the Shop too And this has made so vast an encrease of the Trade within a few years as has rendred it but a mean way of livelyhood to a great many and very dangerous to the sick Now as their number will by little and little grow less so the Trade will become better and they who are of it both for skill and estate much more considerable To come now and consider how much more this way is for the common good and welfare of the people and in general of all men First it mightily abates the charge and expence of Physick and this is the only reason why so many persons not of the poorer sort only but even some others of a better condition daily put themselves into the hands of Mountebanks and other ignorant persons to the great prejudice of the lives and health of men Also many Poor of this City and other places to the high dishonour of Religion perish for want of necessary help whilst on the one hand they are terrified by the Physicians Fee and