The Elder Tree in figure is like the Ash sendeth forth long small reed-like branches covered with an outward bark of an ash colour the next rine to it is green and that is yellow and succulent which next clotheth the wood within which is contained a white and fungous pith the leaves are like those of the Walnut tree but less growing by intervals by threes fours yea if you look to both the sides of the branch by fives and sevens incompassing it together of an heavy smell lightly cut in edges In the tops of the branches and twigs there springeth sweet and crisped umbels swelling with white sweet smelling flowers in June befor St. Johns Eve which by their fall give place to a many branched Grape first green then ruddy lastly of a black dark purple colour succulent and tumid with its winish liquor Of all the wild plants 't is first covered with leaves and last unclothed of them We omit other descriptions this being full IV. The Place The place of its nativity is every where and scarce can you find any place where any other tree or shrub enmantle themselves in their green garments which the bountiful enricher of Nature hath envyed this treeling But it most delighteth in hedges orchards and other shadowy places or on the moist brinks of rivulets and ditches unto which places 't is thrust by the Gardeners lest by its luxury and importunate encrease whereby yearly it doth spread and enlarge it self it should possess the place of more honourable as they conceive and of more pretious Plants V. The Qualities and Vertues The Qualities in general are described by Galen lib. 6. Simpl. Medic. facul sect That it hath the force of desiccating conglutinating and digesting moderately which word for word is repeated by the Galenick Physician Paulus of Aegian lib. 7. Medic. â— 3. Dioscorides who as Galen witnesseth hath of all others written most accurately most truly and most learnedly of Plants did long agoe in more proper colours limn them in his fourth Book and 175 Chapter of the Matter of Medicine These are his words The faculty and use of both he meaneth the Elder and Ebulus is the same in exiccating and drawing water from the belly They are indeed troublesom to the stomach nevertheless their leaves being boyled as pot-hearbs will purge bile and pituite Their tender stalks being boyled in pot or pan effect the same The root being boyled in wine and given in meat helpeth the Hydroped yea it helpeth those that are bitten of a Viper drunk after the same manner Being boyl'd with water for bathing it softneth and openeth the vulva and corrects what enormities are there abouts The berries thereof drunk with Wine work the same effect Anointed on the hair they make them black The recent and tender leaves mitigate inflammations being with Polent anointed thereon Their anointing helps burning and the bitings of mad dogs They conglutinate profound and fustulous ulcers and helps the guttish being together with the fat of a Bull or hee Goat anointed These vertues so nobilitate the Elder that if after ages had not found out any yet they are enough to commend it to us But as in all other things as Seneca witnesseth Quest Natur. l. 7. c. 31. Nature doth not at once discover her mysteries neither are her secrets promiscously laid open to all being withdrawn and shut in her inmost Cabinets out of which some in this age some in another is received and unfolded Even so here one day hath taught another And the later Physicians with more intent thoughts falling into the contemplation both of other herbs and of the Elder they have tryed it in many affections to be most wholsom so that not undeservedly they esteem it a Panacaea or All-heal For what is given to others apart experience proves together to be in the Elder That I may say nothing of its wondrous and hid operations in expugning Epilepsies Plague Erysipelasses and other malign affections which shall be spoken of afterwards It hath a wonderfull force in purging out of the body all hurtfull bilous pituitous and especially serous humors from which bud such troops of sicknesses as is to be seen in that famous and learned Treatise of the ingenious Piso De serosa Colluvie Besides 't is Anodyne and by rarifying the skin and digesting the humors and vapours it lulleth the pain it provokes urine sweat expelleth the stone provoketh the stopt flowers and doth other rarities according to the parts and preparation thereof That not without cause what the more sober and learned Chymists have attributed to their manifold Medicinal Mercury Antimony Vitriol we may admit admire and acknowledge in our Elder though I willingly confess with some difference yea we are more to admire this seeing what is got in that Triad of Minerals is got with such sweat and pains by those indefatigasearchers of the many works and windings of Nature but we attain our desire in this with light and little labour SECT 2. Of the Receipts of Medicaments drawn out of the Elder BEfore we come to the Diseases cured by the Elder 't is worth our labour first to explain the Medicaments which out of each part thereof ought and can be prepared lest in divers affections the same with a great deal of loathing and labour be repeated we will here set down the more curious and common beginning with the Berries as the best and last product of that Simple CAPI Of the Medicaments from the Berries 1. Of the Rob Tincture Extarct or Essence TAke the ripe Berries of the Elder picked from their stalks press the juice out of them which being strained is to be thickned on a soft and clear fire Some in time of their inspissating add a little sugar that the pallat may rellish it the better and this is called the Rob of Elder berries with sugar Of the Rob or inspissat juice of the Berries without sugar the Tincture and extract is prepared after this manner Take a pound of this Rob put it in a long and capacious Glass called by the Chymists a Cucurbite put thereon the spirit of Wine or the proper spirits of the Elder described in this Chapter so that it be a handful high above it The Glass being well closed that the spirit may not exhale digest it in Balneo four or five days shaking the Glass twice a day After that strain the whole matter contained in the Cucurbit through gray paper Take the strained liquor which is obscurely reddish and is called of some the Tincture of the Elder or Granorum actes and may be kept without further distillation to good purpose put it in a Glass Cucurbit and having put on the Alembick distil it on a slow Balnean heat till the Menstruum or that spirit drop by drop separate and the extract of the berries remain in the bottom like hony If the Menstruum be not totally extracted that which remains in the Cucurbit is called by the modern Chymists the
ounce for a dose dissolved in two or three ounces of Barley-water Or make this powder Take of Tragea Granorum Actes ounces 2. Oculi Cancrorum prepared dr 1. Sugar rosat intablets Sugar perlat half an ounce mix them Of which give a drachm in two spoonfuls of the syrup which we now commended CAP. XXII Of the diseases of the Intestines 1. Of the Colick BEcause besides a bare distemper a pituitous humor a vitrious or flatulent useth oft to be the cause of the Colick therefore their encrease are to be cut off Wine prepared of the berries or flowers work this effect leasurely Likewise the water of the bark and roots mixt with a third part of the syrup of the juice of the buds and infusion of the flowers which wonderfully mitigate pain whereof take oft an hour before meat for preserving you four ounces Or where nature is more strong give a half or whole drachm of the Polychrestick powder of the buds in the syrup of the flowers made thin with Wine To dissipate wind mitigate pain and loosen the bound belly use this Clyster Take of Elder-leaves two handfuls Of Elder-flowers and Cammomile-Roman-flowers of each an handful Of the stones of Elder-berries dryed drach 2. Being cut and pounded boil them in pure wine or wine of the Elder till the Colature come into eight ounces add The oyl of the infused flowers three ounces Of Elder-hony two ounces The Yeolk of one Egg mix them and make a Clyster apply it hot The spirit of the berries is of great vertue here because it dissipateth not only in the stomach but in the intestines also all mescusness of pituite and other viscid humors By its great diaphoretick vertue it dissipateth all thin and serous humors in the intestines it warmeth by its penetrating heat the intrails made cold by drink air c. and so taken both inwardly and anointed it stilleth the huge pains that arise thence I know a Church-man who by this spirit in a short time dissipateth the Collick which is familiar to him and upon the least occasion bred In place of this use the spirit of the flowers well purified from its phlegm c. The distilled oyl of Elder-flowers imbibed in silk and applied to the navel with a ventose is a most gentle paregorick Whereof also give four drops in a spoonful of the spirit of flowers or berries The spirit of Elder-salt given in the water of the flowers or in broth in the quantity of six or seven or eight drops by his cleansing and dissipating vertue preserving from the Collick But if you perceive by the thirst intense heat and constitution of the patient that these pains arise from the abundance of hot and sharp boylous humors or some other hot cause you are to use these things which I have set down in the former Chapter in the heat of the stomach unto which add the syrup of Elder-flowers which is either to be taken alone or made thin with the best stilled water of Elder-flowers II. Of Worms THe Chrystaline Salt of the Elder preserveth and freeth from worms It robs them of their nourishment kills them and purgeth them out The dose is from half a scruple to half a drach or two scrup For those of riper years which are troubled with worms you are to prepare in the Spring-time a dish made of Elder-buds delivered from their bitter naucious taste by the effusion of boyling water with oyl salt and vinegar which is to be used as a sallet before supper For the oyl closeth the breathing places of the worms and maketh the belly slippery Salt and vinegar cleanse cut and kill the worms The Elder-buds do loosen the belly purge the worms and thrust forth their fuel That this sallet may be more pleasant you may add some tender leaves of sorrel which likewise resist worms At other times the powder of the buds taken in the morning for a few days a scruple at once in broth is commendable Give to more delicate persons frequently a spoonful of the syrup of the juice of the buds with which mix half a scruple of prepared Hearts-horn Some press out the juice of the recent leaves and mix it with honey or honey-roset and give it sometimes before other meat and by this means kill and purge out worms Where the stomach and intestines are furred and filled with a greater quantity of tenacious putrid pituit mucilage give twice or thrice the Polichrestick powder of the buds in their syrup 3. Of Lienterick and Celiaick Fluxes ALbeit at the first sight the Elder seem not fit for fluxes notwithstanding in Lienteries Celiaick fluxes where the meat and drink are either in that form in which they were received or else half concocted and not much altered voided out of the body sooner than was fitting by reason of the weakness of the retentive faculty of the stomach and intestines proceeding for the most part from a cold and humid distemper the spirit of Granorum Actes both simple and stomatical is used with a great deal of profit Therefore a spoonful or two of it is oft to be given with Rie or Wheat-bread or being imbibed in a double linnen cloth applyed to the stomach or abdomen Moreover Tragea granorum actes the cordial powder prepared of it is profitable whereof give twice a day viz. morning and evening before meat a drachm in three or four spoonfuls of generous wine For drink in time of meat you may use wine prepared of Elder-berries dried Cinnamon and Cloves 4. Of the Dissentery IN the Dissentery which is a bloudy and painful emptying of the belly Oswald Crollius from their signiture commends the Elder-berries of which the Chymists but chiefly Quercetan in lib. 1. cap. 2. of his Dogmatick Pharmacy describes this Tageam communicated to him by D. VVolfius Professor in the University of Marpurg so often mentioned and commended by me in this Treatise Press the juice out of the Elder-berries when they are ripe which is in Autumn of which Juice and Rye-flower make paste work it well and thereof make little Cakes which in a Oven are to be baked to the hardness of Bisket that they may be reduced to a subtile powder which powder is again to be imbibed in the juice and made in paste baked and pulverised as before And this is to be done the third time At last all being done reduce it again to a subtile powder it will keep long and is a hid specifick against a Dissentery Take a drachm of this and as much of the powder of a Nutmeg incorporate them well with a soft rosted egg and sup it up This is called Tragea granorum Actes that is a powder of the grains of Elder And thus far Quercetan Others prepare it thus Take Rie-bread hot out of the Oven moisten it with the juice of Elder-berries and bake it again in the Oven being dry again moysten it with the juice of Elder-berries and do so four or five times then reduce this
half of Linden flower-water half an ounce Make an Emulsion according to art which being edulcerate Rotalis manus Christi perlatis give it by spoonfuls Let the Nurse sometimes take the Conserves Syrup or water of Elder flowers or having taken the spirit juice or extract of the berries let her provoke smell that thereby her milk being clear of the sharper and more malignant serosities may be the more wholsom I knew an infant which being taken sometime with Epileptick fits each day with a great deal of crying and pain of belly did dung a yellowish greenish matter whom neither Clysters nor cleansing Linctussies did any good I counselled his mother seeing I saw her milk more serous and thin that she should twice or thrice a week take the rhob or juice of the Elder-berries mixt with burn'd Harts-horns and drink a draught of the water of the flowers above it and provoke her self to sweat in her bed or couch Which being done not only the Epileptick fits but also those painfull wringings of the childs belly did cease and by little and little the excrements came to their natural form The cure of those that are come to age In those that are come to age 't is first necessary above all things to purge the body well In the Spring time macerate the bark of the roots of Elder in the whey of Cows milk which being dulcerat with Sugar let him each morning take a hearty draught thereof Or Take the Polichrestick powder of the buds two scruples or one drachme Of recent Rob of the Elder well thickned with good Sugar as much as will make a bole Or take the prescribed bole dissolve it in the whey of Milk add thereto the Syrup made of Juice of the buds and berries ounce I. mix it prepare a draught But if the Patient be prone to vomit give him the oyl expressed out of the kernels The spirit of the flowers and berries of the Elder in and out of the Paroxysm is of great power but it may be made more efficacious thus R. Take of the middle bark of the Elder Of the roots of Poeonie of each six drachms Of dried Elder leaves and buds Of Lynden-tree flowers of each one handful Of Rew-seed two drach Of the Berries of herb Paris numb 20. Of Jews-ears numb 6. This being cut and pounded put as much of the spirit of the Elder thereon as will be a hand broad high above them and in a hot place and well stopped vessel macerate them eight daies distil them in glass vessels in B. M. till they be dry mix with them the distilled spirits the salt drawn out of its dregs and keep it for the Anti-Epileptick Spirit of the Elder Whereof give a whole or half spoonful to the Epileptick in the time of his Paroxisme afterwards using it every quarter of the Moon to dissipate the Epileptick corruption by sweating or insensible transpiration and to guard the brain With this same in the time of the fit rub the nostrils gums and pallat adding thereto a Grain or two of Castor Herein likewise excels the tincture and extract of Granorum Actes the preparation and using of which is set down in the 31 Chapter out of Quercetan Or Take of Granorum actes scrup 1. Of the berries of Herb Paris pulverised half a scrup Mix them and form pils thereof numb 15. or being dissolved in the Anti epileptick Spirit of the Eldergive them in the Paroxisme Mark by the way That the berries of herb Paris called by some Bear or Wolf grapes is held by some Matrons as a great secret against the Epilepsie and they give them ever in an unequal number as 3 5 7 or 9 in the water of Linden Tree flowers or of the roots of Squamaria which I my self have found effectual in some children Seeing these berries are mixt with some Antidotes especially with the Saxonian and half a drachm of the seeds of these berries as Matthiolus relates being given avail much against long sickness and Witchcraft it should not seem strange to any man that they much help in the Epilepsie if they consider seriously the maligne nature of the Epileptick vapor and its enmity with the brain Some affirm that the water of the flowers drawn up into the nose prevails much against the Epilepsie and Vertigo In the same affects the eyes and face are to be washed oft with this water Anoint gently in the fit it self the contracted members with the oyl of the flowers of the first description that thereby the Acrimony of the humors and vapors may be mitigate that the matter may be dissipate and the nerves comforted The oyl of the second and third description or the distilled oyl is much commended if the palmes of the hands and soles of the feet if the temples of the head and nape of the neck be anointed therewith Amulets There is likewise set down a singular Amulet made of the Elder growing on a Sallow If in the month of October a little before the full Moon you pluck a twig of the Elder and cut the cane that is betwixt two of its knees or knots in nine pieces and these pieces being bound in a piece of linnen be in a thred so hung about the neck that they touch the spoon of the heart or the sword-form'd Cartilage and that they may stay more firmly in that place they are to be bound thereon with a linnen or silken roller wrapt about the body till the thred break of it self The thred being broken and the roller removed the Amulet is not at all to be touched with bare hands but it ought to be taken hold on by some instrument and buried in a place that no body may touch it Petraeus Nosilog Harmon l. 1. dissert 6. Finkius Ench. Harm c. 5. The cause of which is not absolutely hid seeing the Elder and its grains help this disease These are the words of Petraeus in the mentioned place There are some that ascribe the same effect to the Bore tree growing on the Tylia or Linden tree seeing both by a peculiar property are anti-epileptick some hang a cross made of the Elder and Sallow mutually in wrapping one another about the childrens neck Petr. Loco Allegat Albeit there be some that deny all specifick operation to Amulets of the Elder growing on the Sallow and Linden tree and to all other Amulets Nevertheless their reasons are not of such weight that they satisfie the mind of a desirous learner 't is not impossible that so little a piece of the Elder bound to the skin should break the force of so stubborn a disease for though it do not draw out sensibly the vitious humors yet it may act against the morbifick cause and rout it some other way by alluring and some other way expugning those vitious humors and that malignant Miamse most noisom to the brain it having in little bulk great force which being or removed 't is likely the Epilepsie will cease though the
little before and having anoynted his loynes with Elder-oyle he must go into a 〈◊〉 made of Pease-straw and Mallows the flowers of Elder and Cammomile afterward let him drink a spoonfull of this spirit in white-Wine and stay in the Bath till he avoid the Stone And to avoid swouning let him hold to his nose a sponge dipt in Elder-vinegar and let him moisten his pulses with this same vinegar or some cordial Epithem This Medicine hath its original from the experiments set down in the Dutch Matthiolus and is called a wonderfull Medicine by Muller in his Mysteries Medicinal Nevertheless this is to be preferred to that in respect of the vertues it hath from the pith or spirit of the Elder to break the stone A Stonebreak Essence or Extract He that pleaseth may prepare an excellent Essence or Extract against stony tartarous diseases as followeth Take of the Pith of the Elder one ounce Of the dryed Berries of the Elder Of recent Juniper-berries of each an ounce and half Of Liquorice mundified six drachmes The Pith and Liquorice are to be cut in small pieces and the berries grosly powdered being mixed let them be infused in a sufficient quantity of Elder spirit and let them stand in a hot place for a fortnight together stirring each day the glass and stopping the mouth thereof well that time being ended put them in a linnen bag and in a press press them strongly put the strained liquor in a Cucurbit and putting to the Alimbeck thereof distil that spirit in Balneo till that which remains in the bottom become as thick as hony having mixed before with it two drachms of the Magisterie or salt Ocular Cancror being mixed keep them in a glass vessel whereof give from a scruple to a drachm dissolved in a spoonful of that spirit that was distilled from them and in the water of Linaria distilled with Rhenish wine observing those things which were prescribed before in the administration of the stonebreak spirit of the Elder The salt of the Elder is commendable in salt tartarous diseases given alone or mixed with the former extract in a convenient liquor 8 or 6 grains of the spirit of salt doth cleanse these tartarous muddinesses Dysuria and Ischuria In the difficulty of making water and in the not making water at all these Medicines are excellent seeing these symptomes arise from a muddy and mucid humor or from a glewish toughness that obstructeth the urinal passages But chiefly the stonebreak extract of the Elder is good in this case whereof give a scruple in the water of the flowers of Vinaria and the diseased is to be fomented about the secrets with the decoction of the Radish and Vinaria Pliny saith that the stones being drank in two ounces weight move urine CAP. XXVI Of the Affections of the Womb. TO mollifie and open the secrets of a woman and cure the diseases about them it is affirmed by Dioscorides to be done by incession made of the Roots of Elder boyled in water 1. Of the stopping of the Monethly Terms MAny Medicines made of the Elder are to be used in the defect of the monethly Termes which for the most part proceeds from a gross bloud or tough humor closing or obstructing the orifices of the Histerick veins First then you are to use things which open the belly and disburthen it of that putrid filth give them therefore to drink the wine of the berries which looseneth the belly and maketh thin the bloud and grosse humors The distilled water of the middle-bark mixt with the purging water of the berries prepared as Quercetan directs serves for both ends The dose is three ounces with one ounce of the syrup of the berries bark or buds Which if you desire to be more Cathartick add to it half a drachm or as much as sufficeth of the Polychrestick powder of the buds The Elder-rob with the powder of the white Dittany or of Pimpinel is the womens Medicine Gabel Shover hath this Take of ripe Elder-berries Of Rosemary of each one handful Of Pimpinel-roots half an ounce Boyled in a quart of strong old Wine whereof drink a good draught warm each morning for three days before the time of their courses and let them fast two houres after The spirit of the berries is likewise usefull which by its subtility passes through the whole body and through the least vessels thereof cutting and attenuating the grosness of the humors it may be taken the same time before the courses use to flow The dose is a pretty spoonfull in Wine or some distilled water in place of the simple spirit you may take the Hysterick described hereafter in the same quantity and manner for his vertue is great in moving the courses The oyle of the second description is commendable if two or four drops thereof be added to these spirits In the Scyrrous disposition of the matrix where the cram'd humor is hardened into a Scyrrous closing the orifice of the veins and stopping the courses besides these Medicines you must make incessions of the leaves and root of the Elder boyled in water as Dioscorides commands Let there likewise be an oyntment made of the oyle of the infused flowers and leaves mixed with the fat of a hen This same fat dissolved in the decoction of the roots and leaves is to be injected into the womb 2. Of the flowing of the Courses TRagea granorum actes excelleth in stopping these whereof give half a drachm and as much Nutmeg in a soft egg or red Wind singed by the quenching of red hot gold in it Take of Tragea Granorum Actes half an ounce Of Nutmegs a little roasted Of the roots of Tormentil Of red Coral prepared with Rosewater of each two scruples Of Sugar-rosat in Tablets six drachmes Let them be mixed for a Tragea whereof take morning and evening two drachmes for a dose in the former liquors If the bloud be too serous and fluid that serousness is either to be purged gently by the belly or by weak Hydroticks by sweating whereof we have spoken largely in another place Gabel Shover hath this Give to the woman in the morning three spoonfuls of the best water of Elder-flowers and command her to fast three hours after 3. Of the Suffocation of the Matrix SEeing this most perillous Disease dependeth from a malignant and cold air exhaled from the womb and uterine vessels to the Midriff Heart and Brains the womb is to be purged of all malignant and putrid humors and the strength is to be corroborated Apply here those things which were set down in the stopping of the Courses both because these used not to be the least and seldomest cause of these malignant vapors and likewise because the Medicaments purge and dissipate these uterine filths gathered upon whatsoever occasion A half or whole spoonful of the spirit of the flowers or berries of the Elder greatly availeth here both out and in time of the fit for both powerfully discuss these
putting thereon a green leaf of the Elder or one dried in the shadow In an eating Herpes having purged sweat and breathed a vein this Cataplasm is commended wherewith she-Montebanks have gained largely Pound in an Earthen Vessel with a woodden Pestle the green leaves of the Elder adding to them in the time of pounding a little Elder-vinegar after that manner that women make sawces of the Watercress Sorril and such like Mix with this pounded and succulent matter one part of the ashes of Elder-leaves and two parts of the powder of the leaves that it may become like a paste or thick Cataplasm Add to it that it may stick the better a little Turpentine dissolved with the yeolk of an Egg apply it twice a day to the ulcerous places being first wiped with clean linnen Neither is this a mere new invention for John de Vigo in the first part an 7th book of his Chirurg saith That Elder-leaves pounded with Hellebore and Oximel Scillitick doth cure Ringworms Itches and Scabs CAP. XIX Of the Erysipelas or Rose IT is usual as soon as the Rose invadeth to take those Medicines whereby nature is helped to thrust the matter from the inward to the outward parts For which end the rob with the water-vinegar of the Elder-flowers are applyed for learned Physitians do acknowledg that this matter wanteth not its own malignity Wierus useth this potion Of the Water of Elder-flowers three ounces Of Parsley-seed half a drachm Of T. Sigillata half a scruple Mix them There are some that in all Erisipelas even in that which followeth oft-times the Scurvie doe swallow this bole and drink the water of Elder-flowers above it to discuss the malignity by sweating Take of the Rob of the Elder two drachmes Of Mineral Bezoartick six grains mix them Or take of the extract of Elder-Rob two scruples Of Sulphurat nitrate Antimony half a scruple mix them But if the belly be bound give the syrup made of the berries juice which looseneth the belly and resisteth malignancy In more strong bodies and where evil humors stick in the first passages you may give a half or whole drachm according to the patients strength of the Polychrestick Powder of the buds To temper the heat of the bloud in the intrails these things are set down in the cure of the hot feavers Topicks The Topicks here should not be cooling repelling or fat which obstruct the pores of the skin lest that sharp and malignant matter be thrust to more noble parts or closed up in the diseased whence oft times the part hath been gangrenat For which cause the common people by all means avoid moystening of the part when any evil here ariseth ascribed it to it though not rightly for all moystening is not to be avoided but only that which is made of restringent repellent things that obstruct the pores but those which unlock the pores and digest the humors and consume them Though they be liquid they are so far from hurting that they greatly help John de Vigo testifieth that the Elder hath the vertue of resolving drying and opening by reason of the subtilty of its parts wherefore these following made of it may be safely used Shave the bark from the trunk and apply it every day three times round about the part diseased of the Rose Or R. of white Sope ounce 1. dissolve it in lib. 3. of the water of the flowers of the Elder apply it warm to the diseased part and when it drieth renew it Some dry them before and apply them dry that they may satisfie the peoples desire that much fear moysture in this disease This is commended Take of the water of Elder-flowers five ounces Of Theriack of Andromache one drachm Mix them Dip linnen cloths in it and wring them in your hand and apply them warm to the place and when they are dry dip them in the liquor and apply them Or R. The dried berries of the Elder ounce 1. the flowers of the same M. 1. Having pounded cut them boil them in lib. 2. of the simple-water to the consumption of the third part Add to the Colature ounces 3. of a thin Lixive mix them Dip a linnen cloth in them being warm wring it a little and apply it to the part as hath been shewn Taberna Montanus saith he hath tryed that the Rose being anointed with the Rob of the Elder doth ease and discuss it Lac Aureum which is prepared of the Lixive and oyl of the Elder well stirred together till it acquire a milky colour is commended much chiefly here when the Rose enclines to ulceration and gangrenates For by its drying and cleansing vertue it hindereth further putrifaction and corruption and by mixing the oyle it mitigateth the pain and cureth the ulcer apply it hot Those that avoid all moysture let them use clothes dipt oft in these liquors and dryed or which is common sprinkle upon the diseased part small bran mixt with the like quantity of the powder of Elder-flowers Specificks To prevent this disease many wonderfully praise this following R. Of new Elder-flowers or in defect thereof of those well dryed M. 1. of Milk of a red Cow or at least with red spots boyle them in a close vessel and upon a slow fire Let him drink once twice or thrice when the Moon waineth or if they will through every month in the year of this colature in the morning and they shall be afterward free of this disease See Dr Sennert de febrib lib. 2. cap. 16. Neither is this Medicine destitute of reason for it is probable that the fluxibility and accrimony of the bloud being taken away by this Medicine Nature is less afterward pricked by it yea those malignant impressions stampt on the liver reins defiling the bloud by their contagion are altogether wiped off by the frequent use of this specifick Medicine An Amulet made of the Elder on which the Sun never shined if the piece betwixt the two knots be hung about the patients neck is much commended some cut it in little pieces and sew it in a knot in piece of a mans shirt which seems superstitious I learned the certainty of this experiment first from a friend in Lipsick who no sooner err'd in diet but he was seized on by this disease yet after he used this Amulet he protested he was free yea that a woman to whom he lent it was likewise delivered from this disease Notwithstanding I leave the whole matter to other mens judgments who may easily try it seeing there is so many secret works in Nature whose operation is evident yet their causes are hid in such deeps of obscurity that they cannot be searched out by the sharpest sight of mens reason CAP. XXX Of Inflammations Oedema's and Schirrouses 1. Of Inflammation DIoscorides writeth that the green and tender leaves being applyed with polent mitigate Inflammations The cakes of the flowers and leaves left after distillation if it be wet with the oyl of infused