Volume 1

A medicinal dictionary; including physic, surgery, anatomy, chymistry, and botany, in all their branches relative to medicine. Together with a history of drugs ... and an introductory preface, tracing the progress of physic, and explaining the theories which have ... prevail'd in all ages / By R. James.

  • James, R. (Robert), 1703?-1776.
Date:
1743-1745
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A medicinal dictionary; including physic, surgery, anatomy, chymistry, and botany, in all their branches relative to medicine. Together with a history of drugs ... and an introductory preface, tracing the progress of physic, and explaining the theories which have ... prevail'd in all ages / By R. James. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    common Garden-clary, channelled in fome Plants, fome jagg-* cd, others not. From the Midft of thefe {hoots up a fquare Stalk, hairy in like Manner, and furrounded with Leaves like the former, but often Idler, and thick befet with Branches, on which at the Joints hand the Flowers in Whorles. They confift of two Leaves, forming a clofe Lmpalement like thofe of common Clary, of a fnowy White, one of them which is raifed and gathered like a Wfoman s Hood, produc¬ ing from its Bofom, which is concave, like the Lip of May¬ weed, yellow Clufters, and a Silver-coloured Pointal. The Flower-cup is oblong, cut into five Divifions, and almoft hid by the Thicknefs of the Down, It has the {linking Smell of Archangel, or the Hedge-Nettle. The Root is fibrous ; the Seeds are four in a Cell, not two only, as C. Bauhi- nus, and Parkinfon from him, have related, like the Seeds of Clary, of a dark Brown, and triangular. It grows plen¬ tifully in Greece and Illyria. There are two Species of this Herb ; one with jagged Leaves, and another whofe Leaves are whole and even round the Edge. Raii Hijl. Vol. I. It is cultivated in Gardens, and flowers in Summer; its Root is the Part in Ufe. Dale. The Decodlion of the Root, drank, relieves the Sciatica, Pleurify, Spitting of Blood, and Hoarfenefs. It is taken with Honey in the Form of a Lincfus. Diofcorides, Lib. 4. Cap. 105. The fame is repeated, after Diofcorides, by Paulus .Egineta, L. 7. C. 3. and Dale in his Pharmacologia. AEthiopis is an Ingredient in a Drofaton, again!! Coughs and Pleurifies, defcribed by Myrepfus, Sett. 8. Cap. 54. Pliny relates, that the Magicians boafted, that the /Ethiopis would dry up Rivers and Ponds, if only caft into them, and open every Thing that is {hut at a Touch. But he laughs at thefe monftrous Accounts, L. 26. C. 4. iETHIQPS MINERALIS. /Ethiops Mineral. This Me¬ dicine takes the Name from the Colour, which is very black. It is made either with or without Fire. The Procefs for that made with Fire is thus: Take an unglazed earthen Veflel that will bear the Fire, put into it what Quantity of Sulphur you pleafe, let it melt o- ver the Fire, and, during the Fufion, mix with it, by Means of an iron Spatula, an equal Weight of Mercury revived from Cinnabar. Set the Mixture on Fire, and when the Sulphur is burnt away, the remaining Mafs, which is black, friable, and heavy, is the /Ethiops Mineral. The Dofe of this Medicine is, according to Lemery, betwixt eight Grains and two Scruples, but it may be given in much larger Quantities. It is recommended in an Afthma, Epilep- fy, Rheumatifm, Venereal Diforders, and King’s Evil. Le¬ mery. The /Ethiops Mineral without Fire is made by rubbing equal Parts of crude Mercury and Flowers of Sulphur together, till they are intirely incorporated, fo as Mercury intirely dis¬ appears, in a glafs Mortar, according to the Directions of the London and Edinburgh Difpenfatory, but according to Wilfon, in one of Iron. It requires much Labour to mix the Mercury and Sulphur intimately together, but a great deal of this may be faved by warming the Mortar over a gentle Fire, during the Trituration, for then they unite readily, and the Medicine can¬ not be worfe for it. The /Ethiops Mineral does not mix with any other Sub- flance without Difficulty. The Dofe is from ten Grains to a Dram, but a much larger Quantity may be taken. Various are the Accounts given of this Medicine by Authors. Some recommend it in all Foulneffes of the Skin, old Ulcers, and every Species of the Venereal Difeafe, and think every one agrees that it is effectual in deftroying Worms. Some have affirmed, that it will give a white Colour to Gold carried in the Pocket, and that a great deal of it has been found upon the Plaifters which have laid on the Ulcers of thofe that have been under a Courfe of it. One great Advantage which attends it is, that there is no Danger of a Salivation from its Ufe, if well prepared, but I do not think this any Evidence of its Efficacy. But Boerhaave is of a very different Opinion with RefpeCt to the medicinal Virtues of /Ethiops Mineral. He affirms, it cannot enter the LaCfeal Veflels, but is difcharged out of the Inteftines as it goes in; however, if it is attended with great good Fortune, he fays, it may poffibly kill Worms, and that this is all the EffeCt it can poffibly have. He farther alfo throws out a Sufpicion, that fo ponderous and unaCtive a Mafs may do a great deal of Mifchief in the tender Inte- flines of Children. This great Man appeals to Reafon, and Iris own Experience, for the Truth of what he afferts. As to Reafon, it is difficult to conceive, that the intimate Union of two fuch penetrating Subfiances as Sulphur and Mercury, {hould make a third Body utterly unadive. And if his Ex¬ perience did not furnifh him with any Evidence of the Ef¬ ficacy of this Medicine, he muff have been very unlucky in this Inftance, for it has certainly done great Services in other A E T Hands; but to confefs the Truth, it requires a long Perfcve- rance, in order to have any great Effcdls, except in the Cafe of Worms. On the other Hand I believe, thofe who have been very lavifh in the Praife of this Medicine, have done it without any very good Foundation, for it has the kaft Efficacy of all the Clafs of Mercurials. _ _ Upon the Whole /Ethiops Mineral has had the Fate of moft other Medicines. When one confiderable Man fpoke well of it, this was fufficient to make all thofe concerned in the Practice of Phyfic, who have neither Charadler nor Ideas of their own, to extol it beyond all Bounds of Credibility. And the Difapprobation of another great Man, however ill founded, has been fufficient to fink it into its prefent Difrepute. The Proportion of the Mercury to the Sulphur, in this Prepa¬ ration, is different in different Authors. Boerhaave direds three Parts of Sulphur to two of Mercury. Somewhat in Imitation of this is a Medicine of much greater Efficacy, defcribed firft, I believe, by Dr. Cockburn, in hia Treatife on a Gonorrhaea, and now generally called tETHIOPS ANTIMONIALIS. It is thus made: Firft flux equal Parts of Antimony and Sea-fait in a Crucible for an Hour, then let the Matter cool, break the Crucible, and knock off the Scoria, then rub equal Parts of the Regulus made in this Manner, and Mercury together, till they are incorporated. This requires more Labour than the /Ethiops Mineral, but largely repays the Trouble by its great Efficacy, for, I believe, there are few Medicines in Ufe of equal Vir¬ tue. It will cure moft chronical Diforders of the Skin, and is admirable in all Sorts of Obftrudions. Hence it becomes fer- viceable in the King’s Evil, and the moft obftinate glandular Difeafes, and many chronical Diftempers that are out of the Reach of other Medicines. I do not give a great deal of Cre¬ dit to Accounts that may be found difperfed in medicinal Au¬ thors of Cures performed on cancerous Patients, but I have the greateft Reafon to attribute the Cure of two Tumors, that were efteemed cancerous by every Body that examined them, to a long Ufe of this Medicine, and Holt Wafers, which in thefe Cafes were drank at a great Diftance from the Spring. In Venereal Diforders of a long Standing, I have often been a Witnefs of fuch Effects as I have not feen from any other mercurial Medicine whatever. This, like all Antimonials, will contrail an emetic Quality by being expofed to the Air* which is probably owing to the Acid it imbibes. It may be given in the Quantity of a Scruple, or more in fome Confti- tutions, but I have learnt to begin its Ufe in a fmaller Quan¬ tity from an Inftance I once faw of its proving a ftrong Eme¬ tic, when there was no Reafon to expedt fuch an Effedl, and when the Dofe was only eight Grains. The Cafe was that of a young Lady, who had complained fome Time of {hooting Pains in a Tumor of her Breaft. The very fame Morning another Lady took fifteen Grains of the fame Medicine, and from the fame Apothecary, and, as I was well informed, out of the fame Viol, and, notwithftanding this, in the laft Inftance it had no vifible Operation, though it adted with fo much Violence in the firft. iETHNA. Rulandus and Johnfon explain this, that fub- terraneous* invifible, and fulphureous Fire, which calcines Rocks in the Bowels of the Earth. Hence they call igneous Meteors that appear about burning Mountains in different Shapes, ^Ethnici, which they feem to think the Spirits of Men. iETHOLICES. ’AiSoXixe?. From WSw, to inflame. Su¬ perficial Puftules of the Skin, raifed by Heat. They feem to mean Boils. iETHYA. Ai0t>a.. A Sea-fowl, called by the Latins Mer* gus or Fulica. A Coot. iETHYIA. ‘A»flw*. Signifies a Mortar. , iETlA. ’AThe Caufe of a Diftemper. Hence iETIOLOGIA. ’AmoXoyia, ^Etiology, that Part of the Theory of Phyfic, which explains the Caufes of Difeafes and their concomitant Symptoms. iETITES. The Eagle-Jlone, thus diftinguilhed by Authors: /.Etites, Aquilee lapis, Offic. /Etites, feu Aquilinus lapis, Worm. 77. Charlt. Foff. 31. /Etites, Schrod. 345. Schw. 361. Kentm. 34. Aldrov. Muf. Metal. «^8o. Lapis /Etites, Boet. 375. De Laet. 114. Matth. 1389. ZEtitce, Gefn. de Lap. IO. p. 9. Geoff. Praeledl. 68. /Etites, Ochreo ferreus, Wodw. Att. Tom. 2. P. 1. pag. 9. Eagle-Stone. A Stone, big, as it were, with another Stone rattling in its Womb, of a dark, ruffet, or Afh-Colour, and commonly of an oval Figure. The Oriental is accounted the beft. Dale. The Stone /Etites, being {hook, founds as if it were pregnant with another Stone. Tied to the left Arm, it retains the Foetus in thofe Women who are fubjedt to mifearry : But, in Time of Labour, it muft be taken from the Arm, and tied to the Thigh, and the Woman will be delivered without Pain. Mixed with Bread, it finds out Thieves, for a Thief will never be able to fwallow it, after he has chewed it. Boiled with Victuals, it is laid to work the fame Feat,