Sed. 6. Of Electuaries, &c.

here given, it makes a noble Medí- thefe Creatures, be put

cine, and cannot be exceeded byany Compofítion as an Alexiphar-mic, and a Cephalic ; for there isfcarce any particular View, whichany Sympton can give in either ofthefe Intentions, tor which thereare not many Ingredients herein ofgreat efficacy provided. It is a goodOpiate, and may more fafely betaken than ».many of the plainerOpiates, in Cafes that require fomeStimulus to beüs'd at the fame time,with fuch things as procure Indo-lence ; becaufe fuch alone are apt tooccafion Stagnations, and other In-conveniences. There is gr. i. ofOpium in each 3 ¡v. and thereforeit may be given from 9 i. to 5 ii.as the Strength and Circumftancesof the Patient require. Many herehave a Prejudice, that this Medicinemade in England is not fo good aswhat comes from Venice ; as if theName, which by mere accident ithas obtain'd, confin'd it to be madegood only in that Place : and theirVipers, they fay, are much betterthan any other. But there is noFoundation in this : for tho theirCountry is hotter, and fo may themore rarify the Viperine Juices, inwhich their Efficacy herein confiits;yet the manner of their makingthem into Troches lofes fo much oftheir Volatility, that the way wehave here directed to manage them,Carries much more of their Virtuesinto the Medicine. Beiîdes, this isbut a naked Suppofition, and inwhich there does not feem to beany weight : for we may judgeby their poifonous Properties, theBites of our Vipers, at the proper timeof the Year, which is the hotteft, areas efficacious and deadly as theirs.But to end all Controverfy on thisHead, if a proportionable quantityof the Volatile Salt drawn from

43 S

^^^^ into thisMedicine, inftead of any other Pre-paration, the Virtues will then beexactly the fame : for the Salt whichis produced from one, tho it doesnot rife in fuch Plenty, is howeverof equal Virtues with that whichcomes from another. But if anyother Country has the advantageover us in this one Ingredient, ourshas it much more in another of asgreat, if not greater moment ; andthat is, in the Saffron : for thatwhich our own Country produces isof four times more Strength andGoodnefs upon every account, thanany which comes from aboard.This fooh'fh Opinion of the foreignTheriaca being better than what ismade here, has occafion'd the com-mon People to be cheated, as theytoo much deferve, with the worft ofMedicines for right Venice Treacle*For they imagining that to be theproper Place of its Manufacture, andthat it can come from thence ge-nuine at cheaper Rates than it is herefold at in our Shops, pleafe them-felves much with buying a tin Potat a low Price of a dirty Sailor, whopretends to have imported it, wraptup with printed Directions in theItalian Tongue ; whereas fome ofour Druggifis, and unworthy whole-fale Dealers in Pharmacy, makethis wretched Stuff of little elfethan the fweepings of their Shops,have the very Bill 5 printed in Lon~don, and put it off in this Difguifeupon fuch fimple People. In rea-lity, no Country can make thischeaper than our felves, and noteafily fo cheap, becaufe many ofthe Ingredients are furnifh'd us fromboth the Indies. And no one here 3buying every thing to the beft ad-vantage, can make it for fo little as■^s. per lb out of pocket j and there-fore any one may judge what thatf f 2 muft