the other and after this manner is the nativity of nitre 2. The process of making artificial Vitrial is manifold I shall speak of onely two and they are these 1. Cast Sulphur into melted Copper and there let it burn till it cease to burn any more then presently cast the melted Copper into rain-water which will thereby become green This do so often till all the Copper be dissolved in the water then evaporate the water and you shall have a good Vitrial Note that it is an acid spirit in the sulphur which opens and resolves the esurine Salt in the Copper whereby the Copper it self is corroded and fit for dissolution in the water 2. Take Copperas stone which is a certain Sulphurious glittering Marcasite break to pieces a good quantity of them and lay them in air and rain upon sticks over wooden vessels and in a certain time the stones will be resolved by an acid spirit in the air and water and washed down into the said vessel with the rain-water which will thereby become green and yield upon evaporation a good green Vitrial and after this manner do we make our Vitrial or Copperas in England Now let it not seem strange to any one that there is such an acidity in water and air for whence else doth Iron and Copper being put into water or standing long in the air especially in a cold Cellar contract such a rust as they do Is not this rust from the aforesaid acid spirit viz. of the air and water resolving the erusine Salt in those metals and making it thereby more corrosive and more powerfull to corrode part of the metals themselves with which it is mixed per Minima And will not this rust being boiled in rain-water yield a Vitrial Ob. But some will object and say that this rust is caused not from the acidity but onely from the humidity of the air and water resolving thereby the said esurine Salt Sol. This I will solve with a relation of two experiments viz. 1. Take the above named Copperas stones broken to pieces weigh them exactly and lay them in a cold moist place but so that no rain come at them to wash away the Salt thereof as it is resolved by the acidity of the air and after some moneths they will by a certain magnetical power attract a certain saline humidity and fall into a black pouder which being well dried and then weighed will prove far more ponderous than before which implies that there is an addition of something else than a meer quality viz. the humidity of air and water 2. Take a pound of Salt of tartar make it red hot and weigh it exactly then put upon it two pints of rain-rain-water distilled and evaporate it then put on more and evaporate that also and then make the Salt red hot again and weigh it and you shall find it far heavier than before which is caused by the said Salts attracting to it self that occult acid saline spirit which was in the water and fixing of it into its own nature and not by assimilating the water it self which will never be converted into Salt any otherwise than as it contains a saline acid spirit which is the onely thing coagulable in it Ob. Some again will object although they do admit of this acid spirit in air and water say that in case the said acid spirit do corrode and dissolve the metals it doth not follow that there is any such esurine Salt in those metals as distinct from the pure mercurial or other Sulphureous part of them but say that it corrodes onely the said mercurial and Sulphureous part thereof as we see aqua fortis doth silver and mercury and aqua regia doth gold and so becomes coagulated into a saline nature and consistency Sol. The said acid spirit of the air and water can not corrode or putrifie the pure metalline part of metals for we see that mercurie is not corroded and reduced into a saline nature thereby and that gold doth never rust and that because it is purified from all the said acid saline principle and is not at all corroded but by an aqua regia and silver contracts but little rust and that according to the small quantity there is in it of the said Salt And for the superfluous embrionated Sulphur that neither can be corroded by the said acid spirit any otherwise than it contains in it that esurine Salt for if we put pure Sulphur extracted from Sulpbur vivum into aqua fortis it will not be corroded thereby much less then by the aciditie of air and water nay Theophrastus saith that if woods and cords be smeered over with an unctuous oyl which he prescribes to be made out of Sulphur they will be preserved from putrifaction for ever though they continue in the air water or earth and the truth is nothing can open and resolve Sulphur but oyl being of a like unctuous nature with ' it as I have oftentimes tried There must therefore be another corporeal Principle viz. of a consentaneous suitable and saline nature that is apt for to be corroded and resolved and to coagulate the said spirit 3. Vitrial is made artificial after this manner viz. Take an ounce of spirit of Sulphur or vitrial and put it into a gallon of rain-water stir them well together then put into this acid water half a pound of the filings of Iron or Copper and within a few hours the metal will attract the said acid spirit to it self be dissolved it self thereby and coagulate that This being done decant the water and calcine the said mixture in a crucible and being poudered put it into rain-rain-water seething hot stirring them together and then all that being settled to the bottom that will settle powr off the clear green water and evaporate it and you will have a pure Vitrial Like unto this is the making of Vitrial by sprinkling a considerable quantity of distilled Vinegar upon the pouder of Steel or Copper and letting of them stand till the mixture grow very hot by fermentation and be again cooled and then putting it into rain-water seething hot and proceeding as in the foregoing process Almost after the same manner is Verdigrease made viz. by hanging plates of Copper or Brass over the hot vapours of Vinegar Now these three processes of making artificial vitrial being seriously considered will clearly illustrate the nativity of natural vitrial which is as I conceive after this manner viz by an acid subterraneal spirit whereof there is great quantity in some mines corroding the veins of Iron or rathe Copper which being thus resolved and opened are by the water that passeth through them dissolved after which this liquor is boyled to a Vitrial and thus is made the Vitrial in Dansick Hungarie c. Note that any of the said Vitrials if they be made out of Copper whether natural or artificial being distilled in a forceing furnace yield oyle and spirit and the Caput Mortuum
bituminous vapours Ob. What is the reason that seeing this water hath passed lately through the bituminous burnings as it appears by its fresh odour of the same should be cold and not hot as hot Baths are Sol. 1. It was the opinion of Fallopius that such kind of waters proceed from a remote fire but passing through narrow passages retain their full odour and tast which cannot be vanished by the way any otherwise than smoak through a Chimney or pipe although by the length of its passage it may loose its heat 2. Though the fire be near to the superficies of the earth where this water breaketh forth yet it is very probable that the coldness thereof may proceed from a mixture of a cold spring before the breaking forth thereof Neither let it seem strange to any that cold springs and hot may be so near together in the bowels of the earth for just above the head of this Sulphur-well there arise two cold Springs which meet and run down within a few feet of the head of the same And Mr. Jones in his treatise of Buck-stones Bath in Derbishire saith that the cold Springs and hot Springs are so near that a man may put one finger in the cold and another in the hot Having in some measure declared unto you the cause of this Sulphur-well viz. of its saltness bitterness and sulphurious odour I shall in the next place give an account of some experiments and observations which I made and they are these viz. 1. If Silver be put into this water it is thereby tinged first yellow and then black but Gold is not all discoloured thereby 2. If this water be a little boiled it looseth its tinging property and also stinking odour 3. It coagulates milk if it be boiled therewith 4. The distilled water thereof looseth its odour and doth not coagulate milk 5. If the water be boiled it will still coagulate milk though it looseth its odour 6. Seven gallons yield by evaporation a pound of Salt which though at first black I have made as white as snow 7. This Salt coagulates milk also 8. This water kills worms and such kind of creatures presently if they be put therein 9. I filled two Vial glasses with this water in wet weather and stopt the one but the other I left open The water in that which was stopt within an hour or two became white and thick and within two or three dayes deposited a white sediment and the sides of that glass were furred the water in the other glass altered not 10. I filled two Vial glasses in fair weather whereof the one I stopt but the other left open the water in neither of them turned colour any whit considerably onely a kind of a thin whitish matter after two or three dayes fell to the bottom the water continuing very clear The water of that glass which was stopt retained its odour most 11. A pint of this water weighs two scruples i. e. fourty grains more than a pint of common Spring-water Note that the reason of its tinging white metals is not from any bodily Sulphur or bitumen mixt with it for the substance of them will not mix with water but swim on it as in the Spring at Pitchford in Shropshire and in Avernia in France and in divers other places but from the vapours or the subtile atomes efluvia's thereof which are mixed with the water and in boiling are evaporated The reason of its coagulating property is from some occult acidity in the Salt thereof which to sense is not perceptible onely by effect Out of the Salt is drawn a very good spirit of excellent vertue as I shall declare in the next Chapter Before I conclude this Chapter it will be worth taking notice that about 240 yards above the head of this Sulphur-well is a bog of about twenty yards diameter in which I digged a mineral kind of substance like the finders of Iron but almost rotten being corroded with some acid spirits of which that bog is full as also other places This mineral substance being cast into the fire burns blew and smels like Sulphur It is in tast like Vitrial and out of it Vitrial may be drawn nay in time it will be almost all resolved into Vitrial For I washed it and set it in a Cellar for two or three dayes and it was covered over with a white sweeetish Vitrial which I dissolved in water and set the said substance in a Cellar again and it contracted the like I did as before still reiterating this work till it was almost all turned to Vitrial In the said bog I found three or four sorts of waters viz. a Sulphur and Vitrioline and of each two sorts This was done the last day of my abode there and therefore I had not time to make any further search onely some of that mineral substance I took with me with which I tried the aforesaid experiments If any Gentleman would be pleased to expend some costs in digging up this bog and erecting some new Wels there he would prove an acceptable benefactor to his Countrey and it may be some new kind of water might be discovered hereby having yet more vertues than any of the former Note that the stink of this Sulphur-well is perceived afar off especially in moist and cold weather CHAP. XV Of the vertues and uses of the Sulphur-well together with directions and cautious for the taking of it THe use of this water is either inward or outward It being taken inwardly incideth abstergeth attenuates and resolves viscous thick humours and irritates every vessel of the body to expel whatsoever humours are offensive in them It openeth and removes those strong and obstinate obstructions whether in men or women that would not yield to any other Medicine whatsoever It doth oftentimes evacuate by stool great lumps of viscous slimy matter which was certainly whilest it was in the body the cause of some great distemper oppressure gripings tensions c. and which could hardly any other way be removed It heateth and quickneth the stomack bowels liver spleen bloud veins nerves and indeed the wholy body in so much that it consumes crudities rectifieth all cold distempers in all parts of the body causeth a good digestion cures the Dropsie Spleen Scurvy Green sickness Gout Cramp Epilepsie head-ach Vertigo Kings evil and all such Symptomes as proceed either from crudities cold viscous slimy or corrupt humours which obstruct distemper the stomack Bowels Messentery Liver Veins Brain and Nerves and these though of long continuance It killeth worms infallibly Note that this water must be begun by degrees and the full proportion be taken not at once but at several times exercise intermediating as in the taking of the Spaw The full dose or quantity to be taken must be proportioned according to the constitution strength of the party his bearing of it as also the humour offending the predominancy of the distemper and the aptness of the
For the better passing of the waters let the first glass be mixed with Sugar Syrrup of Liquorish or de quinque Radicibus or Nitre or Spirit of Salt or Vitrial Salt of Tartar or a glass of white wine in the midst of the water or mixed with three or four of the first glasses or two or three glasses of the Sulphur Well in the midst of the Spaw-water or a good draught of the decoction of Fennel or Parsley-roots be taken half an hour before the water Note that some of the aforesaid things are penetrative and so force their way and some are sweet and therefore are sooner attracted to and by the Liver and so the more speedily evacuated In case of the necessity of any of the aforesaid mixtures it will be convenient and necessary that some experienced Physitian be first consulted withall And if you meet with none at the Spaw that you can confide in York and other places are not far where you shall find such Gentlemen that are able to advise you as concerning this so also in any other case and especially if any unexpected accident should fall out whilest you are drinking the waters In case in the taking of the waters sumes and vapours fly to the head as oftentimes they do even to inebriation let none be disheartned thereat for either they are the spirits of the water themselves alone which will do the head much good or else there is a mixture of wind from the stomack for when that is filled with water the wind that was in it must of necessitie be forced up to the head but there it continues but a very short time And as there is no necessity of preventing it so neither can it be well prevented but yet for some satisfaction let Nutmeg and Coriander seed being beaten together into a gross pouder be taken after every fourth part of the water for the gratefull vapour thereof will also be carried up to the head with the force of the other vapours from the stomack and withall somewhat corroborat and close the mouth of the stomack Q. It may be demanded whether or no the rednes and hot pimples of the face may be cured by the inward use of this water and it is the more questioned because it dries and heats the Liver Sol. It is true that for the most part the rednes of the face is increased by the use of this water but yet notwithstanding it may in a great measure be cured with the help thereof with the observing of certain rules and cautious which do much conduce thereunto The patient that is thus affected his body being well prepared by medicaments phlebotomie must in the first place drink of this water ten or twelve mornings together for by this time it will in some considerable measure remove those obstructions of the messentery Liver which are the chiefest cause of the aforesaid distemper then let him be purged with some cooling lenitive and then because the continual use of the water should not as doth steel heat the bloud too much or rather by its strengthning the inward parts drive outwardly the heated corrupt humours of the body too fast I advise that he do for seven or eight dayes together drink clarified whey made with cooling moist and diuretical herbs and medicaments as Borage Lettuce Seangreen Endive Grasroots Parsly and Fennel-roots Nitre Tamarines Liquorish and such like and withall have a vein breathed if nothing contradict it and then return again to the use of the water for another fortnight and after that again to cooling purges and the cooling and clarified whey as before for a moneths time Note that withall that some topical Medicines are to be applied to the place affected as oyl of the yelks of Eggs oyl of Tartar juice of Lemmon and Salt unguentum alhum but above all flores sulphuris dissolved in oyl or the like By such kind of means with the use of the Spaw-water I would undertake to cure almost any red pimpled face whatsoever CHAP. XI Of the necessity and manner of exercise in the use of the waters EXercise is whilest the water is in the body very necessary as being good to laxate the passages of the body to excite the natural heat for the better digestion of the waters if as I said before we may properly call it a digestion for by this means saith Archigenes as also Aetius the internal vessels being heated will more strongly attract and expell Some kind of exercise is if strength permit to be continued from the first glass to the evacuation of the whole proportion taken Now for exercise in particular riding on a trotting horse or in a Coach are the best because thereby the muscles of the abdomen being pressed do intend the expulsive faculty of the Ureters and bladder And where those cannot conveniently be had and used I commend walking bowling pitching of the bar and leaping and the like all which must be used so moderatly as not to provoke sweat for by sweat the water will be drawn into the habit of the body to the endangering of a dropsy and such like symptomes They that are not able to walk nor have the accommodation for riding must take the waters in their bed for the warmeth of the bed doth as I said before serve very well instead of exercise and answers to the intensions thereof Sleep is very hurtfull because in sleep all exceptions or evacuations of excremently except sweat which is thereby promoted and for the aforesaid reasons to be prevented are suppressed Sitting on the ground is hurtfull and also standing in the Sun and walking late in the evening CHAP. XII Of the time of the year and day when the Spaw is chiefly to be taken IN frosty weather the water is strongest because the mineral spirits thereof are by the binding of the earth suppressed and prevented from evaporating through the superficies thereof as they do at other times by which means the water becomes the more strongly impregnated therewith But by reason of the inconveniency of journying and of the uncertainty of the frost I prefer the Summer viz. from the beginning of May to the end of September and before and after if the season be dry Ob. Some may object against the use of the Spaw in the Canicular or Dog dayes because say they Hippocrates in the fifth of his fourth book of Aphorismes saith {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} forbiding thereby purgations and evacuations and these being forbidden say they how shall we prepare our bodies for the taking of the waters Sol. This aphorisme having been these many years grosly mistaken hath been the occasion of the deaths of thousands I say mistaken because purgations are not here at all forbidden but onely intimation given that in that season by reason of that usual extremity of heat the humours being drawn outwardly towards the habit of the body are not so easily retracted and evacuated by way of purgation as
being more remote from the medicament and also in a contrary motion Besides who is ignorant of the great difference betwixt the climate Hippocrates lived in and ours as also betwixt his medicine and ours which are both far milder and temperate than his And who doth not know being the same also which Heurnius saith of the seasons of his Countrey that May June prove oftentimes far hotter moneths then July and August It is needles to enter upon any long confutation of the Vulgar opinion which is weakly grounded upon the said aphorism and hath a long time been absurdly maintained and the rather because it begins to be generally exploded And indeed it is good for men to grow wise by others harms In extream wet weather the water becomes far weaker than before and the reason is because the rain although it doth not usually sink above ten feet deep yet may into some of the veins of the said spring which lye towards the superficies of the earth In such a season the water may best be omitted as having but little or no strength in at most not enough to qualify the coldnes and moisture thereof unless it be corrected and amended with Sugar of Iron made out of the very Mine of Iron or with spirit of Vitrial for want of the other The fittest time in the morning is betwixt six and seven of the clock for those that be of a strong digestion But as for those that are very sick with a nauseousness in their stomacks in case they rise early I advise that they lye longer in their bed and sleep for the better digestion of those crudities for otherwise they will be carried down with the water into the narrower passages and cause great obstructions and the water thereby become more impassible As for the taking of the waters in the afternoon I have occasionally declared my judgement with the reasons thereof in the tenth Chapter page 89. CHAP. XIII Of the Dyet to be observed by Spaw-drinkers THe greatest reason why many receive but little benefit and some none by the Spaw is because of their intemperancy in respect of dyet This water for the most part begetteth a very great appetite by reason whereof many forget themselves at Table putting in more than nature can dispose of and hence are crudities the nursery of all diseases And it is true what Galen saith affirming that no man shall be vexed with sicknes that is not oppressed with crudities And whence crudities saith Hippocrates but from fulnes affirming also that to eat without fulnes is the rule of health He also saith that what diseases so ever are cured by evacuation are caused by repletion and do not we see that all diseases are cured by evacuation viz. vomiting purging bleeding sweat and urine When the Chylus is ill concocted or rather corrupted for Aristotle calls it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} corruption not concoction it passeth crude through the whole body for the second concoction doth not amend the first nor the third the second so that hence of necessity great obstructions the occasion of tensions gripings all manner of hypochondriacal distempers stone gravel distemper of the head heart liver stomack bowels limbs and indeed of all parts There is an Italian Proverb that he that will eat much must eat little that is by eating little he shall live long and so eat much A sober dyet as it prevents so also cures many infirmities and distempers by diminishing crudities already bred and reducing all the humours of the body to the government of nature Let such dyet be used as may not hinder the effects of the Spaw being of a good laudable nourishment of easie digestion and may freely pass through the vessels serving for the distribution thereof Let not the meat be dressed or sauced deliciously so as to prolong appetite beyond the satisfaction of natural hunger and thirst thereby causing a greater quantity to be taken in than otherwise would or nature requires or can digest For the most part meat offends more by its quantity than quality In more particular manner I forbid all flesh that is very salt and fat Bacon Pork Neatsfeet Tripes tame Ducks Geese gizards of Poultry all salt Fish Eels and all things that come from milk except Butter Whey Milk Pottage Chees-curds also Leeks Onions Parsnips Cabbage Muskmillions Cucumbers Helmont forbids nothing onely excess saying that Nature hates curiosities I could reckon up divers other things that I should forbid but because they are never used at the Spaw it will be needles to mention them I disapprove not of Beef if it hath been salted but a week especially for those that love it I allow for those whose bloud and Livers are hot Pears Apples Plums Cherries Rasp-berries ripe Goose-berries and raw Sallets but with this caution that they be eaten a little before supper and also sparingly and one glass of white wine drank after them for they do temper the bloud and promote the curing of the distemper thereof I forbid much variety of meats because of the unequalness of their concoction and because nature is although the pallate be not best satisfied with simplicity of dyet And excellently doth Macrobius discuss this point As for drinks I commend beer or ale that is neither too small or too new They whose stomacks are very cold may drink Beer or Ale as strong as can be made and also a glass or two of Sack with a rost put into it which they may eat and these do much further and help concoction I approve of the drinking of pure thin well refined white and Rhenish wine but not at meals unless in a very little quantity because they are very diuretical and penetrative carrying down with them to the Liver and through the narrow vessels the crude juyce of the meat before it be concocted thereby endangering obstructions but let them be drunk a little before supper The time of eating must be considered according to the passing of the water through the body for when the Urine begins to change its colour passing from white to a higher colour then is it a sign that the water is passed through and then something may be eaten and not before unless when good part of the water although not all hath passed through freely and then ceased for an hour or two and then also it is time to eat something for it may be that nature hath disposed of the residue that is left behind retained for some other uses as to moisten some dry parts of the body or the like They that are first ready to eat may stay their stomacks as we call it with a mess of broth which commonly is there made very good and then have so much good fellowship and civility to wait for their dinners till all the good company of the house be ready for the same Let the supper be larger than the dinner because in
it succeeded ill This might be true but what then Might not those Physitians though otherwise knowing enough be ignorant of the right use of the waters themselves and of the preparations requisit for the taking of them with success Or might not they be willing to bring the Spaw out of credit because it might happily cure their patients too soon and thereby be prejudicial to them Or might not their patients be unwilling to drink the water regulary or disorder themselves in respect of diet exercise and the like Now whether either of these or all these might be the cause of the aforesaid unsuccesfulnes I cannot determine onely this I know that the use of Physick is not onely not unsafe but very necessary in the use of the waters nay and in many cases to be mixed with the waters themselves as in the next Chapter I shall more particularly give you to understand Three or four dayes before giving over the waters they must be abated by degrees as at the beginning increased by degrees After the ending of the waters immediatly even before you return from thence some such purging Physick will be necessary as may evacuate all the water that shall remain secretly in the body as oftentimes it doth and withall comfort and strengthen the stomack and Liver and moisten the bowels if there be any feaver of too great astriction of body afterwards Also a very spare diet will be very necessary for a moneth after for by this means nature will become master of the bodily infirmities all crudities being removed and prevented CHAP. X. Of particular directions and cautions in particular cases and of preventing and curing such accidents and symptomes which sometimes happen in the taking of the waters THey that have a very good digestion may in the afternoon about five or six hours after dinner take half the quantity which they did in the morning but with this caution that they eat a very light supper after it and as for those that have a very bad concoction let them altogether forbear it in the afternoon or at most drink but a glass for the diluting and better distributing of the chylus if already perfected If any shall drink of the water for the curing of an ague let them so observe the time for the taking of it that it may be all passed through them before the coming of the fit because otherwise nature will be distracted in her motions viz. evacuating the water by Urine and the morbifick humour by sweat And as for those that have a continual feaver let them forbear it altogether unless the humours be concocted and fit for evacution either by sweat or Urine as I have more at large declared in the fourth Chapter concerning the taking of cold water inwardly in case of a feaver My advise is that they that have very weak and cold stomacks should take the water a little warm'd first i. e. the cold being just taken off The truth is the coldness of the waters doth very little good at all unless it be to allay a very great heat and drought So great a quantity thereof as is usually taken cold must of necessity diminish the natural heat in cold constitutions A glass of cold water cast upon a fire though but small may make it burn the more strongly but if ten or twenty be cast upon it they if they do not quite extinguish it yet will so far check it that it will a long time labour under the destructive contrariety thereof And actual heat is far more suitable to nature if so be the vertue of the water is not dimished thereby as it is not as I have demonstrated by the second experiment in the foregoing Chapter far more effectual the potential heat thereof being sooner reduced into act without any checking or oppressing the natural heat The stomack being a nervous part and of exquisite sense must needs be offended with that which is actually cold This made the ancient Grecians and Romans drink most of their water and wine hot as we find in Salmuths collections The Lord Virulam wonders that calidum bibere is so much grown out of use If to drink an ordinary quantity of drink cold were not approved of by the Ancients with what face shall I commend the taking of gallons of cold water every morning for certain weeks together I do therefore seriously advise those that have cold and effeminate stomacks to take off the cold from the water before they drink it If upon the taking of the water it pass not through the body freely but is retained it is to be considered in what place of the body it is at a stand that accordingly some appropriated means may be administred for the evacuation of it For if it be retained in the belly or hypochondries which will appear by its rumbling wind tension oppressure a glyster will evacuate it if in the stomack which appears by a disposition to vomit hiera picra or Rhabarb will be convenient for the opening and cleansing thereof and making free passage for it from thence If it be retained in the habit of the body and veins which appears by oppressure and a chilness over the body without the aforesaid rumbling tension wind c. I approve of hiera picra with Jollap Mechoacan or the like hydragogal medicaments They that when they have taken the waters cannot evacuate them for want of exercise as being to feeble to stir much or walk and not having the conveniencies of horses may either drink all their proportion of water in the bed or take some part at the Well and then go to bed and there take the residue I have oftentimes observed that the water would freely pass through many when they were in bed but would not otherwise and the reason of it was as I conceived because the passages of their body were contracted by going into the air but more open by the warm'th of the bed Now for the rendering the water more effectual it will be necessary as is the course in Italy to make use of some specificks with the drinking of it H. ab Heer 's allowes of the decoction of Sanicle Pimpernel Scabions c. to be drunk in case of spitting of bloud inward Impostumes Ulcers Wounds and Infirmities of the breast and Lungs the benefit whereof he experienced by many years practise And why may not we do the like in several cases as to allow of a spoonfull or two of the juyce of Saxifrage or the like to be taken in the first glass in case of the stone or gravel or to take Turpentine pills or a bole with Turpentine and Cassia the night before and in case of very great obstructions dropsie and cold moist stomacks or the like to mix some Sugar of steel or steel wine with the first glass But note that in such cases they are to be taken half an hour or a whole hour before the taking of any more of the water