_The Word "Party"_ (Vol. vii., p. 177.).--I can furnish a more ancient
example of the use of this word than the one given by your correspondent.
In an old MS. "Booke of Recepts," in my possession, of the year 1681-2,
there occurs the following singular prescription:
"_The Powder of Buggs._--Take the buggs and wash them well in white
wine, and putt them in a new earthen pott, and set them in an oven till
they be dry enough for powder; then beat them, and sift them, and give
ye party as much as will lye upon a groate every morning in honey."
Can any one inform me for what disease this nauseous remedy was prescribed,
and whether it be now excluded from the pharmacopoeia? Perhaps this
oleaginous insect was formerly exhibited in those cases for which cod liver
oil is now so extensively used.