Vomit is properly added of the Vinum Benedictum or Salt of Vitriol especially if the Patient has a Nausea by the force of which the Stomach generally the offending part is not only Unloaded but the whole Nervous Body continuous with the Kidnies and in this case very much affected is mightily reliev'd Then give the following Glister especially if no Stool succeeds the Vomit Take of Chamomile-Flowers a Handful Seeds of Cummin Sweet-Fennel Parsley bruis'd of each an Ounce Marshmallow-Roots cut and bruis'd two Ounces boil these in common Water to a Pint in the strained Liquor dissolve Venice-Turpentine an Ounce the bitter Purging Salt half an Ounce Syrup of Althea three Ounces If the pain encreases add to the Glister 40 or 50 drops of Laudanum These or the like Glisters will frequently bring away the Urine either with or without a Stone or Stoney Matter and the Pains vanish But if the pain continues stubborn we must have recourse to the following Apozem as a most powerful Remedy Take of Barley-Water Maced 3 or 4 Pints of the bitter Purging Salt 6 or 8 Drams Syrup of Althea 3 or 4 Ounces take this warm in an hour and halfs time more or less altho' the Patient does Vomit some part of it In heat of Urine The above-mentioned Apozem is effectual whether it proceed from the Acrimony of the Blood or from a Venereal taint In suppression of Urine Which happens either without a Stone or with so great a Stone as to stop the Urinary passage But if this Disease has continued for some days Bleeding and that plentifully is the first thing necessary then a sharp Glister with Syrup of Buckthorn and the Purging Salt must be Administred and while it Works drink the fore-mentioned Apozem or some Draughts of it and expect success especially if before every Draught you take a Spoonful of the following Mixture Of Fennel and Saxifrage Water of each an Ounce and half Salt of Ambera Dram Tartar vitriolated a Scruple Millepedes prepar'd two Drams Syrup of Althea an Ounce Mix. In a Diabetes In which most dangerous kind of Disease if there be need of a Medicine that will gently purge and cool very much this is the safest of all purging Medicines and indeed the almost only one by the help of which and the constant Use of the Chalybeate-Waters I have recovered some young persons from the very Gates of Death In the Jaundice Also in this Disease bleeding is seldom to be omitted but sometimes to be repeated if the Patient be Feverish Vomits are here very Useful for as much as they exterminate the Morbifick Sordes of the Stomach as well as press out the Boil stagnating in its Vessels and therefore if there be occasion it ought to be now and then repeated but if the Use of these or other Remedies prove unsuccessful we may suspect the Biliary passage is stopp'd either by the bigness or number of the Stones generated there Therefore we ought to persist in this Method prudently and with courage In any sort of Jaundice Calculous or Simple the Purging Water or its Salt is an excellent Medicine given in this or the following manner Take Pill Ruffi half a Dram Rhuburb Volatile Salt of Urine of each half a Scruple with Syrup of Wormwood make 6 Pills and take them at Night going to rest The Morning following take this Apozem Shavings of Hartshorn two Ounces boil them in 3 or 4 Quarts of Water to two then add Mace and Turmerick of each a Dram boil a little strain and add an Ounce of the bitter Purging Salt as much Syrup of Steell and make an Apozem to be taken as above directed If the Physician sees fit in the place of the Pills give the following Draught Take of the Tincture of Hiera Picra an Ounce and a half or two Ounces of Syrup of Cichory with Rhuhurb an Ounce Tartar vitriolated half a Scruple mix and take it at six or seven in the Morning Two Hours after drink the foregoing Apozem and repeat these Medicines at least every other Day If Aloeticks are too hot give in their place the Infusion of Rhuburb CHAP. V. Of the Use of the Purging Salt in Cephalick Diseases And first in Madness VVHere besides Bleeding and frequent Vomits Chephalick Unguents Setons in the Neck Vesicatories especially to the Leggs Catharticks and other Remedies are frequently us'd But to quicken the working of all even the Helleborate Purges nothing is more proper than the Purging Water or its Salt prescrib'd after the following manner Take of Bawm and Borrage of each a handful infuse 'em in four or five Pints of boiling Water in a Vessel close stopt for half an Hour To the Infusion strain'd add of the Bitter Salt ten Drams or less Syrup of Violets three Ounces mix and make an Apozem to be drank by it self or instead of Posset-Drink with any other convenient Purge Or take 8 Drams of the Salt in 8 Draughts of the Spaw or other Chalybeate Water in a morning fasting In the Intervals of other Catharticks especially in the Summer 't is very beneficial taken in the preceding Method for it wonderfully quiets the raging Disorders of the Humours and Perturbations of the Spirits In the Head-Ach In which Distemper especially arising from a hot Cause or in a hot Constitution I have never found any thing so efficacious as the following Method In the first place bleed a sufficient quantity and from such Veins as the Circumstances of the Patient do indicate This done give a Vomit if the strength will permit After let the Patient take the following Medicines Of Scammony powder'd Rhubarb powder'd Mercurius dulcis each half a Scruple or 12 Grains with Syrup of Buckthorn make five Pills to be taken at four or five in the Morning and sleep after 'em Three hours after drink the following Apozem Of Water aromatiz'd with Mace 3 or 4 Pints of the Purging Salt 6 Drams or an Ounce Syrup of Violets two Ounces mix and take it keeping your Chamber Repeat this Apozem and Pills every 3d or 4th Day and without the Pills in the intervening Days and continue this Method for a Fortnight or three Weeks if the Case require it In a Virtigo Here also we must begin with Bleeding in the Arms especially if the Disease be the consequence of too much drinking Then apply Cupping Glasses with Scarification to the Shoulders and hinder part of the Head For in this Disease as well as in the former and for Inflamations of the Eyes I do always prescribe 'em to that part rather than another and with better success These things premis'd take the following Pills c. Of Mastick Pills two Scruples Chymical Oil of Marjoram 5 Drops Take 'em at night going to rest and next morning the following Apozem Of Spring Water aromatiz'd a Quart or three Pints distill'd Water of Sage four Ounces of Marjoram two Ounces of the bitter Purging Salt 6 Drams or an Ounce mix and make an Apozem to be
A TREATISE OF THE Nature and Use Of the Bitter Purging Salt Contain'd in EPSOM And such other VVATERS By NEHEMIAH GREW M. D. Fellow of the College of PHYSICIANS and of the ROYAL SOCIETY LONDON Printed in the Year 1697. ADVERTISEMENT THat this Salt is made and sold in greater or lesser Quantities by Francis Moult Chymist at the Sign of Glaubers-Head in Watling-Street And this Translation at no other Place 〈◊〉 TO THE READER THE Reason of my publishing this Book in English is the general Use I observe to be made of the Bitter Purging Salt in this Town and elsewhere by all sorts of Persons and that promiscuously in all Cases as Peoples Fancies or Humours prompt 'em without any Advice beyond Publick Fame or the good Woman that last visited The Sellers of this Salt are likewise such as use to dispose of other Catholick or Universal Medicines who neither know how to direct the Buyer nor care what becomes of the Taker so as they attain their End their part of the Profit There is indeed this difference That other Medicines that have grown Popular were always usher'd out with printed Directions or Certificates of it's Virtues and numberless Cures as Daffy's Elixir Spirit of Scurvy-Grass Atkins 's Oil for the Gout c. Nay the very Disciples of Ponteus afford for publick Benefit a printed Encomium for a Voucher to the Twelve-Penny Packet This I thought sufficient to Vindicate my Translation of Dr. Grew's Nature Use of the Bitter Purging Salt which I intend to give to those who buy any quantities of the Salt And I 'd have the Reader take notice That this is no Quack-Bill no boasting Rhodomontado of any Ignorant Pretender no guilded Bush to set off bad Wine but the Observations of an Ingenious Physician Fellow of both Societies and publish'd by him in Latin for the Information of the Practicers of Physick and for no Private Interest or Profit But I can scarce believe the Doctor ever foresaw the Consequence of his Commendations wou'd be the pushing every Body upon the Use of it Hand over Head therefore I doubt not his Pardon for my Translating it without his Knowledge my Design being not to discover the secret Method of its Preparation but to prevent by these Directions the Mischiefs he tells us may ensue the Abuse of so good a Medicine Farewell Part the First OF THE NATURE OF THE Bitter Purging Salt CHAP. I. How the bitter Purging Waters were first Discovered THE Mineral Waters arising near Epsom in Surrey the chief of all the bitter Purging Waters were found out by a Country Man in or about the Year 1620. For near the first Ten Years none but the Country People made use of them and they only to wash External Ulcers Afterwards the Lord Dudley North Father to Francis the late Lord-Keeper labouring under a Melancholy Disposition for which he had formerly Drank the Spaw-Waters in Germany was resolv'd to try the Vertue of these Epsom Waters flattering himself I suppose that he had found Chalybeate-Waters at his own Door However tho' they answer'd not his desire and expectation as to their Nature yet he did not repent of his Experiment but from that time drank these Purging Waters as a Medicine sent from Heaven with abundance of success Many others encouraged by his Example try'd the operation of these Waters and amongst the first Maria de Medicis Mother to the Wife of King Charles I. the Right Honourable George Lord Goring Earl of Norwich and many other Persons of Quality These and all others who drank the Epsom-Waters came not for Pleasure but Health and therefore always consulted their own or some Neighboring Physician for the Rules they were to observe In a little while Physicians came of their own accord to these Waters by whose Authority they acquir'd so great a Reputation that 2000 Persons have been there in one Day to drink or divert themselves About 30 Years since many of the Inhabitants of London whose Business or Poverty obstructed their going to Epsom had the Waters sent to them Thus the Ice being broke others brought great quantities to Town which they sold as well to Sick Persons as Apothecaries and continue still to do so No wonder then that so few sick People go to these Waters 't is not that the Modern Physicians esteem them less but because the Numbers of such as Drink at home and at other Wells of the same Nature do every Day mightily encrease For a few Years after the Discovery of the Epsom-Waters was publish'd others of the same sort found out by Enquiry or Chance grew into tolerable Repute and Use The Names of the Principal are Barnet in Hertfordshire North-Hall in Hertfordshire Acton in Middlesex Cobham in Surrey Dullidge in Surrey Strettham in Kent Besides these the Curious and Inquisitive may discover very many more to us unknown especially if they take along with them this Direction that sweet Waters generally arise from the tops of Hills but these from the Bottoms CHAP. II. Of the Nature of the Bitter Purging Waters THese Waters have no taste but a moderate bitterness which is very sensible Some that have Travelled into Syria and Egypt mention bitter Waters in those Countries and St. James in his Epistle takes notice of sweet and bitter Waters as very common things in the Eastern Parts all which bitter Waters 't is probable are of this sort These Fountains are not of an equal Strength nor Vertue but some are much stronger than others with the strongest Dullidge is justly reckon'd with the gentler Epsom These Waters in their Springs are without smell but kept some Days or Weeks in Vessels close stopp'd they putrifie and stink especially in Summer time which will happen to all Waters and sometimes also to the clearest Spring Water as we are told by those that Sail near the Equator Pour a little of this Water to Sirrup of Violets and 't will remain blue and unchang'd as if 't were mix'd with common Spring-water By the adding Lime water it gives a whitish Muddy colour as if some drops of Milk were mix'd with it and the white parts will in about an hours time subside in the form of a cloudy curdling produc'd from the Union of the chalky Lexivial and the acidity of the Cathartick Salts All these Waters will curdle Milk if it be added to them when they are hot or boiling but not at all if mix'd when they are cold The Waters of any of these Wells evaporated in a glazed Earthen or any other proper Vessel will yield a kind of a Cream a top and a sediment at the bottom of the Vessel of both together 6 8 or 10 Drams from a Gallon This Cream is of an Ash colour Stony substance and resembles Plaister but certainly not at all Lixivial for every one knows that the Lapis Calcarius or Lime-Stone calcin'd altho' actually cold will grow very hot by pouring Water upon them and emit a very great and thick
addition of Galls as will White-wine Vinegar tho' more obscurely but the infusion of Galls will be in no wise alter'd by the Spirit of the Purging Salt tho' an Acid nor by the Spirit of 🜠or Oil of Vitriol from whence as well as many other ways the different Nature of these and other Acids may be shown I took 8 Glass Bottles of River-Water and with some drops of Sirrup of Violets colour'd them all blue alike one of which I let stand without any thing else added to it To a 2d I put a little Sal Nitri to a third some of the bitter Purging Salt to a fourth a little Lime-Water to the fifth a dissolution of the Calx of the Purging Salt to the sixth an infusion of white Tartar to the seventh the Distill'd Spirit of the Purging Salt to the last a little of both Lime-Water and the Purging Salt In the three first the Cerulous colour remain'd only a little faded In the 4th and 5th the Cerulous colour was converted to a manifest Green in the former turbid and paler in the latter like a Smarag'd very deep and clear In the 6th and 7th it turn'd purple in the first obscure but the latter was like a true Amethyst The green colour in the 4th and 5th vanish'd in about 3 hours but the 5th was much deeper and more durable From this manifold Experiment we may observe that as Nitre although by accension it will yield a fix'd Lixivial Salt and by Distillation an Acid Spirit yet has neither a Lixivial nor Acid tast therefore gives neither green nor purple colour to the Sirrup so we may conclude the Purging bitter Salt to consist of like principles that is not solely Acid but also Alkalious and a little Lixivial But it may be evidently demonstrated that its principles do partake of both by the acidity of its Spirit and the green colour its Calx gives Sirrup of Violets like Aqua Calcis and other Lixivial Liquors In the last Bottle the colour was deeper and more durable by the combination or union of the twofold Alkalious Salt the bitter Purging Salt and the Calcarious as Ink is made by the union of two Astringents And 't is very plain that the existence of these Salts and their efficacy in altering Colours depends not on the fire because the infusion of white Tartar will like the Spirit of the Purging Salt die the Sirrup of a purple colour Lastly Take notice that I call the Alkaline Principle in this Purging Salt potentially and after a sort Lixivial For as we have observ'd in this Chapter you can perceive no Lixivial tast even in the Calx of this Salt which does not hinder but that an Alkaline Principle may be in this Salt as appears from the fore cited Experiments tho' it has never endured the fire but after Calcination it is prov'd to be I know not how Lixivial I call it Lixivial tho that nor any other Name in Use that I know of is justly adapted to its Nature for there is a want of proper Words to express our meanings in nothing so much as in Philosophy such as should lead us through the Footsteps of Nature and Intelligibly express its admirable variety CHAP. IV. Of the difference between the bitter Purging Salt Allom and the Muriatick Salt FRom the fore-cited Experiments and those we shall now mention rightly understood and compar'd 't will evidently appear that the Purging bitter Salt tho' it may have some Qualities common to other Salts does differ in its Nature and Species from all other Salts Very many have confidently affirm'd it to proceed from an Aluminous Minera but inconsiderately for from whence is it they prove it but because they coagulate Milk which is no reason at all for by the same ridiculous Argument Vinegar Wine Beer and whatever curdles Milk must be Aluminous Nor does it appear from hence that like Allom when melting it swells and rises in bubbles for Borax melted will have the same Elevation but Borax does not curdle Milk therefore is not Aluminous nor from thence can the bitter Purging Salt be so Moreover from an Ounce of Allom calcin'd half an hour in a Crucible there will remain half an Ounce of Calx To this pour a sufficient quantity of common Water to dissolve the Saline parts and there will remain about 52 Grains of an insipid and simple Earth at the bottom of the Vessel which is six times as much as the like quantity of the Calx of the bitter Salt will leave behind it Nor is the Spirit of Allom Distill'd with a strong Fire any thing like the Spirit of this Salt for the first has a greater acrimony and much less grateful tast and which is worth Observation a Fetid smell very like to the Spirit or Gass of Sulphure The tast likewise of this bitter Purging Salt and Allom is so different that nothing can be more for that of Allom is austere and has no bitterness the other no manner of austerity but wholly bitter Besides they are evidently distinguish'd by their Natural Figures for the Chrystals of Allom the Factitious at least considering its Altitude are something flattish and consist of 8 Planes two viz. those at top and bottom Sexangular and Parallel The greater and less sides of these Planes are so placed alternately that the 3 greater answer to the 3 less About these are plac'd 6 Quadrangular Planes with unequal sides and angles the greater bending towards the Centre of the Chrystal and the less accordingly How very unlike this is to the before-describ'd Figure of the Purging Salt may easily appear by comparison Nor can this bitter Purging Salt with more Justice be reckon'd amongst the Muriatick or common Salts which well purify'd has a very different tast from the Purging Salt and also from Allom its Figure is likewise as different for it shoots not long ways but contracted almost in the form of a Cube Besides the Purging Salt calcin'd in a Crucible with a strong Fire emits no visible vapour nor loses more than half of its weight but common Salt thus calcin'd as 't is much more fluid so it ascends in thick smoaky vapours leaving scarce an 18th part of the whole in the Crucible Neither which may seem strange does the Spirit of common Salt Distill'd as the Spirit of the Purging Salt coagulate Milk unless added to it when 't is Boiled To be certain of this I try'd the following Experiment To a Pint of River Water impregnated with a Dram of the bitter Purging Salt and boiling I threw in 3 or 4 Spoonfuls of Milk and let it boil again presently the curdled Milk swam upon the Water It did the same with as much of the Spirit of the bitter Purging Salt Lastly Instead of the Spirit of the Purging Salt I us'd the Spirit of common Salt and that much stronger than the former Spirit in the same proportion and method but the Milk remained fluid in its Natural state without any