HERB TEA AND THE DOCTOR
At a meeting of the Massachusetts Bay Company held in London on
March 5, 1628-29, it was proposed that the Company "Intertayne a
surgeon for the plantation" and one Abraham Pratt was sent over
soon after. He lived in Roxbury, Charlestown and Cambridge. While
returning to England with his wife in the fall of 1644, their ship
was wrecked on the coast of Spain and both were drowned. At the same
meeting the Company selected a barber-surgeon, Robert Morley, to
go to New England and practice his calling on "aney of the Company
that are planters or there servants." In those days a barber-surgeon
employed himself in pulling teeth, bleeding and cupping.
Earlier than this, however, Doctor Samuel Fuller had come over
in the _Mayflower_ and was of the greatest service to the sickly
foundation at Plymouth. When John Endecott's wife lay dying at
Naumkeak (Salem), in 1629, Doctor Fuller was hastily sent for, and
the next year he was called to Matapan (Dorchester) where he "let
some twenty of these people blood: [and] had conference with them
till I was weary."[67] A month later he was at Charlestown writing
"I here but lose time and long to be at home, I can do them no good,
for I want drugs, and things fitting to work with." Three years
later he was dead of an infectious fever.
[67] _Bradford's Letter Book_ (1 Mass. Hist. Colls., Vol. III).
A large portion of the physicians in the early days of the Colony
were Puritan ministers who had studied medicine in England in
anticipation of removal to New England, as a hasty preparation for
such necessities as might arise. Each practised in his own flock and
Cotton Mather in his _Magnalia_ (Book III, Chap. 26), speaks of this
union of the two professions as an "Angelical Conjunction." When
Rev. Michael Wigglesworth died in 1705, his weeping parishioners in
the town of Malden, erected a stone to mark his grave and on it may
still be read the words
"Here lies intered in silent grave below
Maulden's physician for soul and body two."
In colonial times there was little regulation of medical practice,
although an ineffective law was passed in 1649. Any one might come
into a town and announce himself as a physician and if able to
cure patients of their maladies, his success was assured. Several
unfortunate failures, however, would seriously effect his standing.
As a natural result quacks appeared and disappeared in all the
larger towns.
In the seventeenth century, and later, there were two classes of
medical practitioners of which one prescribed vegetable substances
only, together with a free use of the lancet, and followed the
teachings of Galen, the Greek physician. The other school followed
the doctrines of Paracelsus and prescribed for the most part mineral
preparations, and oftentimes were styled "chemists." Of course there
was bitter rivalry between the two schools, each maintaining so far
as possible, a superstitious mystery concerning their profession.
There were few regular graduates from any recognized medical school.
Until after the Revolution most practitioners gained their scanty
store of medical knowledge by studying with some family physician
and in the homely school of experience. Dr. William Douglas, a young
Scotchman, began to practice in Boston in 1716. In 1721 he wrote "we
abound with Practitioners, though no other graduate than myself.
We have fourteen Apothecary shops in Boston. All our Practitioners
dispense their own medicines.... In general the physical practise in
our colonies is so perniciously bad that excepting in surgery and
in some very acute cases, it is better to let nature under a proper
regimen take her course than to trust to the honesty and sagacity
of the practitioner. Our American practitioners are so rash and
officious that the saying in Ecclesiasticus may with much propriety
be applied to them, 'He that sinneth before his Maker let him fall
into the hands of the physician.'"[68]
[68] 4 Mass. Hist. Colls., II, 164.
Governor John Winthrop was versed in medicine and his son, John,
Jr., and his grandson Wait Winthrop, both were proficient in the
profession. With Winthrop came Richard Palgrave and William Gager,
both physicians, and two years later arrived Giles Firman, Jr.,
whose father was "a godly man, an apothecary of Sudbury in England."
Giles, Jr., studied at the University of Cambridge and later settled
at Ipswich, Mass., where he practiced medicine, but found it "a
meene helpe" and later studied theology and eventually was ordained
rector of Shalford, co. Essex, England.
Toward the end of the century there were two physicians practicing
in Boston, Dr. Thomas Oakes and Dr. Benjamin Bullivant, of whom
Dunton, the London bookseller gossiped in his "Letters Written from
New England."[69]
[69] _Prince Society Publications_, IV, Boston, 1867.
Of Oakes he wrote that--
"His wise and safe Prescriptions have expell'd more Diseases
and rescu'd Languishing Patients from the Jaws of Death, than
Mountebanks and Quack-Salvers have sent to those dark Regions."
Concerning Dr. Bullivant he commented that--
"His Skill in Pharmacy was such, as rendered him the most compleat
Pharmacopean, not only in all Boston, but in all New England ... to
the Poor he always prescribes cheap, but wholesome Medicines, not
curing them of a Consumption in their Bodies, and sending it into
their Purses; nor yet directing them to the East Indies to look for
Drugs, when they may have far better out of their Gardens."
Doctor John Clarke, said to have been a younger son of a good family
in the north of England, with a collegiate education, and late of
London, was granted a four-hundred acre farm in the town of Newbury,
in January, 1638, and September 28th, following, the town also
granted that
"Mr. Clarke in respect of his calling should be freed and exempted
from all public rates either for the country or the towne so long as
he shall remayne with us and exercise his calling among us."
He exercised his calling in Newbury until 1647, when he removed to
Ipswich and two or three years later settled in Boston where he died
in 1664. Soon after removing to Boston he invented a stove "for the
saving of firewood & warming of howses," which the Great and General
Court confirmed for a term of three years. Nothing further is known
of this invention and the fireplace persisted until recent times.
When Doctor Clark removed from Newbury he was followed by Dr.
William Snelling who seems to have been a merry fellow in times of
drinking healths. On an occasion during the winter of 1651 he drank
to his friends in the following toast,--
"I'll pledge my friends,
And for my foes,
A plague for their heels
And a pox for their toes,"
which e'er long led to sorrowful acknowledgment of his weakness
before the Quarterly Court at Salem, and a fine of ten shillings for
cursing. This doubtless helped sustain the dignity of the Court and
strengthened virtue among the good men of the town of Newbury at
times when ribald mirth prevailed.
Dr. John Perkins who practised in Boston during the first half of
the eighteenth century, is said to have gone to London for two
year's study but his medical notebooks show that in his Boston
practise he prescribed for scrofula, syrup made of sow bugs
drowned in white wine. Castile soap boiled in strong beer he used
as a remedy for a "heavy load at the Stomac." For numb palsy he
prescribed "a bath of absinthe in _urina hominis_, used hot,"
and his cure for a nervous weakness of the eyes was "shaving the
head." He noted that "Widow Alcock [died] of a hot bread supper.
Jus. Billings did so of eating Brown Bread for breakfast, a Thing
he never used before," and Reverend McGee's wife died by eating a
supper of roast chickens at 13 days after childbirth and drinking
strong beer flip on it. "Wonderful that in learned and elevated
situations among ye great, should be such ignorance."
"Samuel Bent, Goldsmith, tender constitution and lax nerves, upon a
change of a linnen for a woolen cap to sleep in was affected with a
running of Bloody Water from ye nose, which staunched when he wore
linnen.
"Nathaniel Parkman's Daughter, scrophulously affected, had a blow
on the Head, on which the scrophula immediately left her and Chorea
St. Viti succeeded and followed her every Spring till she turned
consumptive and died."[70]
[70] Sprague, "Some Aspects of Medicine in Boston" (_Old-Time New
England_, Vol. XIII, p. 14.)
Doctor Perkins was quite modern in some of his theories. He entered
in his notebook--
"Exercise is good [for pains in the stomach] in young girls and
others that use a sedentary life. So Sarah Bergers was cured by
learning country dances.
"Wheat, ye Shoemaker, was cured [of hemorrhoids] by taking to ye
portering with a wheelbarrow."
Doctor Ball of Northboro had a medicine called, "Receipt for the
Scratches. One Quart fishworms, washed clean; one pound hog's lard
stewed together, filtered through a strainer and add one-half pint
oil of turpentine; one-half pint good brandy. Simmer it well and it
is fit for use."[71]
[71] _Ibid._
Obstetrics at that period was also a jolly pastime, as the doctor
and his volunteer assistants were regaled by a special brew known as
"groaning beer" and by freshly baked "groaning cakes."
In Salem lived Zerobabel Endecott, son of Governor John Endecott,
who practiced the healing art and who left behind him a remarkable
collection of medical recipes from which we include selections
illustrating the practice of the physician in colonial days. His
brother John, afterwards Governor of Connecticut, also seems to have
had some medical training as appears from a bill preserved in the
Massachusetts Archives, where under date of 1668, he charged five
shillings for "a Vomit and atendans" on one John Clark, "weak and
sike by reason of a scurvy and a dropsy." Doctor Zerobabel died in
1684 and bequeathed to his son John, who also was a physician and
who died in England, "al my Instruments and books both of phisicke
and chirurgery." The inventory of the estate shows "a case of
lances, 2 Rasors, a box of Instruments, 10 bookes in folio, 16 in
quarto, a saw with six Instruments for a chirurgion and a chest of
bookes & writings."
Other Salem physicians were George Emery who settled in the town in
1636 and sat on the gallows with a rope around his neck, in 1668,
for an unnatural crime; Rev. John Fiske, a graduate of Cambridge,
who had studied divinity and also physic, and came to Salem in
1637; and Daniel Weld, who was chief surgeon during the Narraganset
campaign in King Philip's War; Col. Batholomew Gedney, who left at
his death drugs and instruments inventoried at £60; Dr. John Barton,
who died of yellow fever; Dr. John Swinnerton, made famous by
Hawthorne's romance, and others followed.
William Salmon, in his "Compendium of Physick," published in
London in 1671, estimates the necessary qualifications of the
seventeenth-century physician as follows: "He that would be an
accomplished physician, ought to be furnished with three things,
1. honesty and a good conscience; 2. a substantial, real, and
well-grounded understanding through the whole Art of Medicine; 3.
with all such Instruments and Necessaries which are ordinarily made
use of in the performance of any medical operation," and these
instruments are listed as follows:
"The Parascuological Instruments, wherewith medicines are prepared,
whether Galenical or Chymical, are chiefly these: A brass Kettle; an
Alembick; a Circulatory; a Sieve; a Gourd; a Balneum Mariae; Tongs;
a Cauldron; a File; a Hippocras Bag; an Iron Mortar; a Pestle;
a Pitcher; a Marble; a glass Mortar and Pestle; a Seperator; a
Funnel; a Seirce; a Press; a Tile; a pair of Sheers; Vials; Boxes;
Crucibles; Gally-pots; Corks; Spoons; Strainers; Retorts; Receivers;
Bags; Spatulas; Weights and Scales; together with a Pair of
Goldsmiths Bellows; and convenient Furnaces fitted for any operation.
"The Chyrurgical Instruments with which the Artist ought to be
furnished, are chiefly these: A Plaister Box; an Uvula Spoon; a
Levatory; a Director; a pair of Forceps; a Spatula Lingua; an
Incision Knife; a pair of Scizzors; a Flame; a small Razour; a
stitching Quill; three square Needles; with a Case of good Launcets;
and a Salvatory; letting all be kept very sharp, clean and bright."
* * * * *
The following medical recipes are copied from a manuscript left by
Dr. Zerobabel Endecott of Salem and formerly in the possession of
the late Dr. Frederick Lewis Gay of Brookline.
_For y^e Bloudy Flux_
Stone horses Liuers[72] dried in an ouen being heat for houshould
bread, made into powder & giuen a spoonfull at a time in milk.
[72] "Fox Lungs for the mending of human lungs hardly able to
respire, and Bone of a Stag's Heart" are mentioned in the English
Dispensatory (Quincy), London, 1742.
_For a Spraine_
Take stronge bere este & honye, of equall quantyty & boyle them to
the Consistanty of honye & so apply it hott to ye place greeued.
_For Extreme Thirst & Vomiting in a Malignant Feauer_
Take salt of wormwood [scruple]i and a spoonfull of the Juce of
Lemonds mix them in a spoon & giue it the patient
_For Stone in the Kidnes and Blader Or To Prouent It_
Take wild Carret seeds & boyle in Ale & drinke Dose [dram]ii euery
Night.
_An Other_
Take 3 Drops of oyle of Fenill once a day.
_For ye Dropsie Often Prou^d & Espetially Vpon One Man, Other Meanes
Vsed By Men of Skill Fayled This Was Affectuall_
Tak good store of Elder roots wash them & make them very Cleane then
splitt & steepe them in strong ale wort & Lett them stand together
while ye Ale is working then when it is 2 days old drinke of it
morning Noone & at night till health be obtained Lett there be as
many of ye Roots as Can well be steeped in the Ale The flowers are
of the same vse & more powerfull
_An Other_
Take Rie flower make past with water Role it thin and with ye greene
Leaues of Sage & a Littl Rosemary fill it as pye bake it very dry
beat altogether & take halfe a spoonefull at a time in a wine
Cupfull of your beere
_For a Sore Throte[73] or Kings Euell_
[73] _Quinsey._ First bleed, and purge with _Dincassia_, after vomit
with _Vinum Antimonii_; rub the tongue with the juyce of Crabfish
and Housleek, taking a little inwardly; ... ashes of burnt Crabs,
of Swallows, and Tincture of Corals, are excellent in the bastard
Quinsey; the ashes of an owl (feathers and all) blown into the
throat, opens and breaks the Imposthume wonderfully.--_Compendium of
Physick_ (_Salmon_), London, 1671.
Take Guaiacom sliced [oz]iij ye Bark of Guaiacom [oz]i infuse in
6 quarts of fair water on hott ashes 24 hours then boyle it ouer
a gentill fire till a third part be wasted then add of Epithimum
Pollepodium ana [oz]ii fumitory borrage & buglose Roots flowers of
Rosmary Prim Rose Cow slips Violets & sweet fenill seeds of Each
[oz]fs boyle it till a quart be wasted then add Sena [oz]iij boyl
it a Litle & straine it & Clarifie it with whits of Eggs sweeten it
with Sugar
Giue 2 or 3 spoonfulls euery morning to a child more to a groune
Person; enough to give 2 or 3 Lous stooles in a daye for 8 days
together this aLone haue Cured the Kings Euill
_For Paine in ye Eare_[74]
[74] _Deafness and Slow Hearing._ The juyce of Radishes, fat of
a mole, eele, or Serpent, juyce of an Onyon soaked in Sperrit of
Wine and roasted, essences of a mans or Bullocks gall, are all
very excellent. In difficulty of hearing, distilled Boyes Urine is
good; but better is the Oyl of Carawayes.--_Compendium of Physick_
(_Salmon_), London, 1671.
Take a mithredate & put it in into the eare with a Litle wooll &
Keep it warme
_For a Cough_[75]
[75] _Cup Moss._ This with some other Mosses of like kind, have
been mightily in vogue amongst the good Women for their Children's
Coughs; but they have not obtained in official nor extemporaneous
Prescriptions. They are said to be infallible in that which
is commonly called the _Chin-Cough_.--_English Dispensatory_
(_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Take eggs boyle them till they bee hard hold them in your hand one
at a time as hott as you Can suffer it & with ye heat & strength
of your hand press out the oyle, take a quantity of this oyle & a
Little powder of Alloes & fine Sugar make it into a surrup take a
Litle of this surrup as often as need Require this is Comended by G:
as if non Could Equall it
_A Balsam or Liquer That Will Heal Sores as For New in Man or Beast_
Tak very strong wort 3 gallons being all ye first of a boushell of
good malt then tak of Comfry roots & Elder roots of each 2 handfuls
the Leaues of Crud tobacko a handful Lett the Roots be brused &
boyled till halfe be wasted Put it into a Vessel & Keep for Vse Put
into it 3 li of hony before you take it of the fire, if it be a
deepe sore tent it, if an open sore wett a Duble Clout & Lay on the
sore Dress it always warme
_For ye Sciatica or Paine in ye Back or Side_[76]
[76] Burning "Spunck," an excrescence growing out of black birch, in
two or three places on the thigh of a patient, helps sciatica.--_New
England's Rarities_ (_Josselyn_), London, 1672.
Tak Fetherfew & steepe it in beer & drink first at morning & Last at
night
_A Powder for ye Dissines of ye Head Falling Sicknes[77] & Hart
Qualms That Haue Bin Oft Vsed_
[77] _Falling-Sickness._ In Children. Ashes of the dung of black
Cow [dram]i. given to a new born Infant, doth not only preserve
from the Epilepsia, but also cure it. In those of ripe Age. The
livers of 40 water-Frogs brought into a powder, and given at five
times (in Spirit of Rosemary or Lavender) morning and evening, will
cure, the sick not eating nor drinking two hours before nor after
it.--_Compendium of Physick_ (_Salmon_), London, 1671.
_Peacock's Dung_ is reckoned a specific in _Epilepsias_, and its
use is commended in _Vertigo_.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_),
London, 1742.
Whit amber [dram]ii Diarrhodian [dram]ii Seeds of Peony [scruple]ii
miselto [dram]i the fillings of a Deadmans skull [scruple]i[78]
mak all into a very fine Powder & tak of it as much as will Ly on a
shilling 2 or 3 nights together befor the new & befor the full moon
take it in Saxony or bettony water
[78] _Salt of Mans Skull._ The skull of a dead man, calcine it,
and extract the Salts as that of Tartar. It is a real cure for the
Falling-Sickness, Vertigo, Lethargy, Numbness, and all capital
diseases, in which it is a wonderful prevalent.--_Compendium of
Physick_ (_Salmon_), London, 1671.
It is to be feared that this has obtained a place in medicine, more
from a whimsical Philosophy, than any other account.... _A dead
Man's Hand._ This is supposed, from some superstitious Conceits
amongst Common People, to be of great Efficacy in dispersing
_scrophulous Tumours_. The part, forsooth, is to be rubbed with
the dead Hand for some time. And Report furnishes us with many
Instances of Cures done hereby; some of which may not improbably be
true, both as the Imagination in the Patient contributes much to
such Efficacies, and because the Sensation which stroaking in that
manner gives, is somewhat surprizing, and occasions a shuddering
Chilness upon the Part touched; which may in many cases put the
Fibres in such Contractions, as to loosen, shake off, and dislodge
the obstructed matter; in which consists the Cure.--_English
Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
_Mummy._ This is the Flesh of Carcases which have been embalm'd. But
altho it yet retains a place in medicinal catalogues, it is quite
out of vse in Prescription.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_),
London, 1742.
_For Rumatick Paines & To Coole Ye Liuer_
Tak the Conserue of the frut of Sweet brier as much as a good
nutmage morning & Evening
_For Vometing & Looseness in Men Women & Children_
Take an Egg break a Little hole in one end of it & put owt ye white
then put in about 1/2 spoonfull of baye salt then fill vp the egg
with strong Rom or spirits of wine & sett it in hott ashes & Lett
it boyle till ye egg be dry then take it & eat it fasting & fast an
hour after it or drink a Litle distilled waters of mint & fenill
which waters mixed together & drank will help in most ordinary Cases
_For a Person That is Distrated If It Be A Woman_[79]
[79] _Goose-Dung._ The Excrements of most Birds are accounted hot,
nitrous, and penetrating; for this reason they pass for inciders
and Detergents, and are particularly reckon'd good in Distempers
of the Head; but they are now almost quite laid aside in Practice.
_Elk's Hoof_ is also esteemed of mighty Efficacy in Distempers of
the Head. Naturalists tell us that the Creature itself first gave
to Mankind a Hint of its Medicinal Virtues; for they say, whenever
it ails anything in the Head, it lies in such a Posture as to keep
one of the tips of a Hoof in its Ear; which after some time effects
a Cure. But this I leave to be credited by those of more faith than
myself.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
_An Hysteric Emulsion._ Take Assafoetida 2 drams, dissolve cold
in a mortar with a pound and half of Black-Cherry-water, and
strain for Vse. This is tolerable, for its stinking Scent, but
to few; yet where it can be got down, it is very prevalent in
checking the inordinate Orgasm of the Spirits, and preventing those
Convulsions and Frenzies of Mind which arise therefrom; it may be
drank in the quantity of 2 ounces, according to the Urgency of the
Symptoms.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Tak milk of a Nurce that giues suck to a male Child & also take a
hee Catt & Cut of one of his Ears or a peece of it & Lett it blede
into the milk & then Lett the sick woman Drink it doe this three
Times
_For a Bruse In Any Part Of The Body_
Take of honey a Spoonfull & yest or barme or the emptings of strong
beer twice as much warm them & mix them together & apply it to the
place greeued admireable effects haue bin wroght by this means it
hath seldom fayled in Casses very Difficult in any part of ye boddy
though ye bones haue semed to be brused though it hath ben in head &
in broken bones it easeth paine & vnites the bones sodainly
_For Ye [J]andis_[80]
[80] _Hog-Lice Wine. Take Hog-Lice_ (i.e. Wood lice or Sow bugs),
half a pound, put them alive into two pound of White Port Wine, and
after some Days Infusion strain and press out very hard, then put
in Saffron, 2 drams, Salt of Steel, a dram, and Salt of Amber, 2
scruples, and ater 3 or 4 Days strain and filter for Use. This is an
admirable Medecine against the Jaundice, Dropsy, or any cachectic
Habit.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Take ye Juce of Planten and Camomell 3 or 4 spoonfuls in warme
Posset ale morning & Euening it helps in few days
Mir Turmarik & safron made into fine powder & drank twice or 3 times
a day in Possett ale is Excelent good Dose [scruple]i or Lett the
sik Person drink their own Vrin twice a day or ye Volatile fat of
Vrin [ ] morning & Euening in Posset ale
_To Eas Paines in Feauers_[81]
[81] _Plaister of Spinders._ Venice Turpentine [dram]iii, melt it;
then adde live Spiders No. XXX mix them with a Pestle till the
Turpentine be of an Ash colour, and the Spiders appear not; then
heat it, and adde of small Spiders No. XL. Stir them again, adding
powder of Asphaltum, and white Sal Armoniack, [dram]iii. grinde
them till the matter be cold and very black; keep it 14 dayes, then
soften it at the fire, and with your hands dipt in oyl, make it up.
Make Plaisters thereof, and cover them with leaf-silver or gold, and
lay them to the pulses of both wrists an hour before the fit of a
Feaver or Ague comes, leave them on nine days, then at the same hour
cast them into running water; by this means the Pliaster cures all
Feavers or Agues.--_Compendium of Physick_ (_Salmon_), London, 1671.
_Herring in Pickle_ is often prescribed in a Cataplasm to the Feet
in Feavers; because it is reckoned to draw the Humours downward
and thereby relieve the Head.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_),
London, 1742.
Tak Cardamoms or Graines of Paradice [dram]i Nutmegs [dram]ss
Safron [scruple]ij Sugar [dram]ii mak it to fine Pouder & giue
at any time as much as will Ly on a shilling at a time my pill is
better if the boddy be Loos
_For Ye Colik or Flux in Ye Belly_[82]
[82] _Flux of the Belly. Burnt Harts' Horn_ is reckoned a Sweetner
and is much used in Decoction against Diarrhoeas; and Fluxes of
the Belly. _Shavings of Hartshorn_ is much more in esteem amongst
_Family Doctresses_, than in the shops; but what most gives it a
Title to this Place, is that _Jelly_ which it is easily boiled into
in common water, and is accounted very nourishing and strengthening.
_Shavings of Ivory_ is much of the same nature as the former, and
boils in the same manner into a _Jelly_.
_Goat's Blood._ This is in a few Compositions under the same
Intention as the former; but it is not at all known in common
Prescription; and is deservedly almost forgot.--_English
Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
1 the powder of Wolues guts
2 the powder of Bores Stones
3 oyle of Wormwood a drop or 2 into the Nauell
4 3 drops of oyle of Fenill & 2 drops of oyle of mints in
Conserue of Roses or Conserue of single mallows, if ye Paine be
extream Vse it a gaine, & if need Require aply somthing hott to
the belly
_For Sharpe & Dificult Trauel in Women with Child By J C_
Take a Lock of Vergins haire on any Part of ye head, of half the Age
of ye Woman in trauill Cut it very smale to fine Pouder then take 12
Ants Eggs dried in an ouen after ye bread is drawne or other wise
make them dry & make them to pouder with the haire, giue this with
a quarter of a pint of Red Cows milk or for want of it giue it in
strong ale wort[83]
[83] Beaver's cods are much used for wind in the stomach and
belly, particularly of pregnant women.--_New England's Rarities_
(_Josselyn_), London, 1672.
_A Wonderfull Balsam For Fistulos & Vlsers_
Take Borax [dram]ij put it into a strong stone botle of 2 quarts;
stop it Close with a good Corke & then Couer it with sealing wax
very Close & sett it into the bottom of a well or Cold Spring the
Space of three yeeres then take it out [when it will] al be turned
to a balsam whare with you may dress Sores
_To Stench Bleeding[84] in a Wound_
[84] _Bleeding at Nose._ If the flux be violent, open a vein on the
same side, and cause the sick to smell to a dried Toad, or Spiders
tyed up in a ragg; ... the fumes of Horns and Hair is very good, and
the powder of Toads to be blowed up the Nose; ... in extremity, put
teats made of Swines-dung up the nostrils.--_Compendium of Physick_
(_Salmon_), London, 1671.
_Cow's Dung._ This seems to be of a hot penetrating Nature; and is
experienc'd to do good in Erysipelous Swellings. This Cataplasm
is also highly commended by some in the _Gout_. _Pigeon's Dung_
is sometimes ordered in Cataplasms, to be applied to the soles of
the Feet in malignant Fevers and Deliriums. _Hog's Dung._ Is also
used by the Country People to stop Bleeding at the Nose; by being
externally applied cold to the Nostrils.--_English Dispensatory_
(_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Take a peec of Salt Beef & Rost it in the hott Ashes then make it
Cleane & put it into the wound & the blood will stop imediatly
_For To Make a Man Vomit Presently That Is Sick at His Stomack_
Take white Copperes [dram]i in powder in a Litle Beere or Water & it
will Cause one to vomit presently
_For Ye Plurisie_[85]
[85] _Pleurisy. Stone-Horse Dung_, seems to owe its present
Credit in medicine to the modern Practice. It is certainly of great
Efficacy in _Pleurisies_, _Inflammations_, and _Obstructions_
of the _Breast_. In all these Intentions it is now very much
prescribed.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Take the Leaues of wild mallows & boyl them in Oyle & being taken
out bray them in a morter & put them into a peece of Lining Cloth
& applie it to the greue and presently it will Cause the paine to
Cease Don Alexis
_For the Plurisies_
Take an Apple that is of a Sweete sente & taste in it a hole taking
out the Core so that the hole goeth not thorow & put into the hole
3 or 4 graines of Frankincense of the male Kind Otherwise Called
olibanum then Couer againe the saide hole with the Little Pece of
Apple that you tooke of first & rost it apon the Embers so that it
burne not but that it may waxe tender then take it from the fire and
breake it into fower parts with all the frankencense in it & so giue
the patient it to eate it will by & by make the Impostume to break &
heale him
_For the Shingles_
Take howse leeke Catts blod[86] and Creame mixed together & oynt the
place warme or take the moss that groweth in a well & Catts blod
mixed & so aply it warme to the plase whare the shingles be
[86] _Goat's Blood_ is mentioned in the English Dispensatory of 1742
as "deservedly almost forgot."
_For the Goute_[87]
[87] _Quintessence of Vipers._ Fat Snakes, Adders or Vipers in June,
cast away their heads, bowels and gall, cut them into bits, and dry
them in a warm Balneo; then put them into a bolt head with Alcohol
of Wine, so much as may overtop them eight fingers breadth; seal
the glass Hermetically, and digest for twenty days in Balneo, then
decant, etc., etc.
This quintessence is of wonderfull virtue for purifying the blood,
flesh and skin, and taking away all diseases therein; it cures
the falling-sickness, strengthens the brain, sight and hearing,
preserveth from gray hairs, and renovates the whole body, making it
become youthful and pleasant; it hindereth miscarriage, provokes
sweat, is good against the Plague, and all malign Feavers; it
cureth the Gout, Consumption, and French Pox, and ought to be
esteemed of the Sons of Men as a Jewel. Dose [dram]i. morning and
night.--_Compendium of Physick_ (_Salmon_), London, 1671.
Take any number of Vipers, open and cleanse them from all Worms and
Excrements, and the Females from their Eggs: Take out their Hearts
and Livers; dry them in the shade separately from their Bodies,
etc., etc.--_English Dispensatory_ (_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Take Ligmamuita [oz]xvi Sarssaparilla [oz]viii fennel Seeds [oz]vi
Boyle them in 2 Gallonds of water in a Pott Close Stopped till halfe
be Consumed then put it vp in a glasse Botle well Stopped & Every
morning take Sumthing Less than a gill & so in the Euening
Then take those Jngredients & Boyle it ouer againe in 2 or 3
Gallonds of water more & So Keepe it for your Continiall Drinking at
any time During the time of your Jllnes Proued Very Affectial apon a
man at Dunkerck
_Oyl of Roses_[88]
[88] _Paracelsus His Perfume._ Cow-dung, and distill it in Balneo,
and the water thereof will have the smell of Ambergrease. It is
a most excellent Perfume, abates the Heat of Feavers, and cures
all inward inflammations. Dose [dram]i.--_Compendium of Physick_
(_Salmon_), London, 1671.
Take Roses and Jnfuse them in good olliue oyle in a glasse in the
heat of the sun for sartaine Days while the oyl smeles like Roses;
oyl of Hipericon is made after the same manner
_For a Fractur of the Scull_
After the Scull is Layed open + and the Bones taken out By a Leuetur
or Cut By a trapan then fitt a pece of Parchment of the same Bignes
that the fractur is and oynt it with mell Rosarie or huny of Roses
and also the Edges of ye Bone & so put it in gently on apon the Dura
mater that Ciuers the Braines and apon that a good Plegen of tow &
a good bolster on that & so Continue that dressing while it is all
most well & the bone hes Cast of & then finish the Cure with Arseaus
his Linement; your parchment must haue a third fastened in the middle
_For Cutts or Sores_
Take the Scine of Salt Beefe & so Laye it to the Cutt or sore
_For To Heale or Dry Vp a Sore_
Take Sallet oyle and Read Lead and boyle it well together and dipe
peces of Lining Cloath in it Keep them for use
_For The Ague_
Take the Drye shell of a Turtell beat smale & boyled in water while
2 thirds of the water be consumed & drinke of it 2 or 3 times when
the Ague Cometh
_Probatum Easte January the 10 1681_
The Greene Oyntment that m^s Feeld did Vse to make[89]
[89] _Sympathetick Oyntment._ Boars grease, brains of a Boar, powder
of washed Earth worms, red Sanders, Mummy, Bloodstone, a. [oz]i,
moss of a dead mans Skul not buried [dram]i, make an Oyntment, S.A.
All wounds are cured by this Oyntment, (provided the nerves and
arteries be not hurt) thus: Anoint the weapon that made the wound
daily once, if there be need, and the wounds be great; otherwise
it will be sufficient to annoint it every other day. Where note.
1. that the weapon be kept in clean linnen, and in a temperate
heat, lest the Patient be hurt; for if the dust fall, or it be
cold, the sick will be much tormented. 2. that if it be a stab, the
weapon be anointed towards the point descending. 3. if you want the
weapon, take blood from the wound upon a stick, and use as if it
were the weapon; thus the Tooth ach is cured by pricking the Gums,
and anointing the instrument.--_Compendium of Physick_ (_Salmon_),
London, 1671.
_Earth Worms._ These are often used in Compositions for cooling
and Cleansing the Viscera. They are good in _Inflammations_ and
_Tubercles_ of the Lungs and in Affections of the _Reins_ and
Urinary Passages. _Syrup of Snails._ Take Garden-snails early in the
morning, while the dew is upon them, a pound; take off their shells,
slit them, and with half a pound of fine Sugar put into a Bag hang
them in a Cellar, and the Syrup will melt, and drop through, which
Keep for Use. This is not kept in the shop, but is worth making for
young Children inclining to Hectics and Consumptions. A Syrup of
Earth-worms may be made in the same manner for the like Intentions.
_Frog's Spawn._ This another Cooler, but it is an insipid Phlegm,
and good for nothing more than common Rainwater; and will not
Keep long without mothering and stinking.--_English Dispensatory_
(_Quincy_), London, 1742.
Jt Cureth all Spraines and Aches Cramps and Scaldings and Cutts
healeth all wounds it doth suple molyfy Ripen & Disolues all Kind of
tumors hot and Cold and it will heale olde Rotten Sores and bites of
Venemos Beasts itch and mangenes and stench bloud it Easeth Swelling
and paines of the head and throate Eyes and Eares Gout and Seattica
and all outward Greefes
Take baye Leaues, Wormwood, Sage, Rue, Cammemoyle, mellelote,
groundsell, Violets, Plantaine, oake buds or Leaues [ ] Suckbery
Pursline, Lettuc, Red colworts, Saint Johns wort, mallows, mullin,
Jsop, Sorrell and Comfrye, yarrow, and Dead Nettles, and Mint,
mugwort, Rose leaues, gather them all in the heat of the Daye, pick
them Cleene but wash them not, Beat them well then take Sheepe
Suett three Pound Picke it Cleene and Shrid it Smale Pound them all
well together, then take 2 quarts of Sallet oyle then work them all
together with your hand till it be a Like then put it in an Earthen
Pott and Couer it Close and Lett it Stand 14 Dayes in a Coule Place
then Sett it ouer a Softe fire and Lett it Boyle 14 howers Stiring
it well then put into it 4 ounces of oyle of Spicke then Straine it
through a Corse Cloath & put it into [ ] Pott and Couer it Cloase
and Keepe it for your vse
_For Ye Toothe Ache_[90]
[90] _Tooth Ache._ Picking the gums with the bill of an osprey
is good for the tooth-ache. Scarifying the gums with a thorn
from a dog-fish's back is also a cure.--_New Englands Rarities_
(_Josselyn_), London, 1672.
Take a Litle Pece of opium as big as a great pinnes head & put it
into the hollow place of the Akeing Tooth & it will giue preasant
Ease, often tryed by me apon many People & neuer fayled
Zerobabel Endecott
* * * * *
Who would know the virtues of the herbs and simples that grew in the
gardens of the Massachusetts Bay? Many herbals have been compiled
and printed, none more enticing than Nicholas Culpepper's "English
Herbals," more truly entitled "The English Physician Enlarged," and
first published in 1653. It had an enormous sale. Since that year
twenty-one different editions have served their day, the last having
been printed at Exeter, N.H., as late as 1824.
Culpepper, the son of a clergyman, was born in London in 1616 and
died when only thirty-eight years old. In that short time, however,
he gained fame as a writer on astrology and medicine. At first
apprenticed to an apothecary, he later set up for himself as a
physician and acquired a high reputation among his patients.
In his catalogue of the simples he premises a few words to the
reader, viz.: "Let a due time be observed (cases of necessity
excepted) in gathering all Simples: for which take these few Rules.
All Roots are of most virtue when the Sap is down in them, viz.
towards the latter end of the summer, or beginning of the spring,
for happily in Winter many of them cannot be found: you may hang up
many of them a drying, by drawing a string through them, and so keep
them a whole year.
"Herbs are to be gathered when they are fullest of juyce, before
they run up to seeds; and if you gather them in a hot sunshine-day,
they will not be so subject to putrifie: the best way to dry them,
is in the Sun, according to Dr. _Reason_, though not according to
Dr. _Tradition_: Such Herbs as remain green all the year, or are
very full of juyce, it were a folly to dry at all, but gather them
only for present use, as Houseleek, Scurvy-grass, etc.
"Let flowers be gathered when they are in their prime, in a
sunshine-day, and dryed in the sun. Let seeds be perfectly ripe
before they be gathered.
"Let them be kept in a dry place: for any moysture though it be but
a moist ayr, corrupts them, which if perceived in time, the beames
of the Sun will refresh them again."
* * * * *
_Ageratum_ dryes the brain, helps the green sickness, and profit
such as have a cold or weak Liver: outwardly applyed, it takes away
the hardnesse of the matrix, and fills hollow ulcers with flesh.
_Anemone._ The juyce snuffed up the nose purgeth the head, it
clenseth filthy ulcers, encreaseth milk in Nurses, and outwardly by
oyntments helps Leprosies.
_Asphodel or Daffodil._ I know no physicall use of the roots,
probably there is: for I do not believe God created anything of no
use.
_Balm_, outwardly mixed with salt and applied to the neck, helps the
Kings Evil, biting of mad dogs and such as cannot hold their necks
as they should do; inwardly it is an excellent remedy for a cold,
cheers the heart, takes away sorrow, and produces mirth.
_Basil_ gives speedy deliverance to women in travail.
_Bedstraw._ Stancheth blood: boyled in oyl is good to annoynt a
weary traveller: inwardly it provokes lust.
_Borrage_, cheers the heart and drooping spirits, helps swooning and
heart qualms.
_Briony_, both white and black, they purg the flegm and watry
humors, but they trouble the stomack much, they are very good for
dropsies: the white is most in use, and is admirable good for
the fits of the mother; both of them externally used, take away
Freckles, Sun-burning, and Morphew from the face, and clense filthy
ulcers: It is a churlish purge, and being let alone, can do no harm.
_Buglosse._ Continual eating of it makes the body invincible against
the poyson of Serpents, Toads, Spiders, etc. The rich may make the
Flowers into a conserve, and the herb into a syrup: the poor may
keep it dry: both may keep it as a Jewell.
_Burdoc or Clot-bur_, helps such as spit blood and matter, bruised
and mixed with salt and applyed to the place, helps the biting of
mad dogs. It expels wind, easeth paines of the teeth, strengthens
the back ... being taken inwardly.
_Celondine._ The root is manifestly hot and dry, clensing and
scouring, proper for such as have the yellow Jaundice, it opens the
obstructions of the liver, being boiled in White Wine, and if chewed
in the mouth it helps the tooth-ach.
_Chamomel_ is as gallant a medicine against the stone in the bladder
as grows upon the earth. It expels wind, belchings, used in bathes
it helps pains in the sides, gripings and gnawings in the belly.
_Chick-weed_ is cold and moist without any binding, aswages swelling
and comforts the sinews much, and therfore is good for such as are
shrunk up, it helps mangy hands and legs, outwardly applyed in a
pultis.
_Cinkfoyl or Five-fingered grass._ The root boyled in vinegar is
good against the Shingles, and appeaseth the rage of any fretting
sores.
_Colts-foot._ Admirable for coughs. It is often used taken in a
Tobacco-pipe, being cut and mixed with a little oyl of annis seeds.
_Columbines_ help sore throats and are of a drying, binding quality.
_Comfry_ is excellent for all wounds both internal and externall,
for spitting of blood, Ruptures or Burstness, pains in the Back and
helpeth Hemorrhoyds. The way to use them is to boyle them in water
and drink the decoction.
_Cottonweed._ Boyled in Ly, it keeps the head from Nits and Lice;
being laid among Cloaths, it Keeps them safe from Moths; taken in a
Tobacco-pipe it helps Coughs of the Lungues, and vehement headaches.
_Dill._ It breeds milk in Nurses, staies vomiting, easeth hiccoughs,
aswageth swellings, provoks urin, helps such as are troubled with
the fits of the mother, and digests raw humors.
_Dittany_, brings away dead children, hastens womens travail, the
very smell of it drives away venemous beasts; it's an admirable
remedy against wounds made with poysoned weapons; it draws out
splinters, broken bones, etc.
_Fennel._ Encreaseth milk in Nurses, provokes urine, easeth pains in
the Reins, breaks wind, provokes the Terms.
_Fleabane._ Helps the bitings of venemous beasts. It being burnt,
the smoke of it kills all Gnats and Fleas in the chamber. It is
dangerous for women with child.
_Flower-de-luce_ or _water flag_, binds, strengthens, stops fluxes
of the belly, a drachm being taken in red wine every morning.
_Fumitory_ helps such as are itchy and scabbed, helps Rickets,
madness, and quartain agues.
_Gentian_, some call Bald-money, is a notable counter-poyson, it
opens obstructions, helps the bitings of venemous beasts, and mad
dogs, helps digestion, and cleanseth the body of raw humors.
_Golden Rod_ clenseth the Reins, brings away the Gravel; an
admirable herb for wounded people to take inwardly, stops Blood, etc.
_Groundsel_ helps the Cholick, and pains and gripings in the belly.
I hold it to be a wholsom and harmless purge. Outwardly it easeth
womens breasts that are swollen & inflamed, (or as themselves say)
have gotten an ague in their breasts.
_Hellebore._ The root of white Hellebore, or sneezwort, being grated
& snuffed up the nose, causeth sneezing, Kills Rats and Mice, being
mixed with their meat. Doctor Bright commends it for such as are mad
through melancholly. If you use it for sneezing, let your head and
neck be wrapped hot for fear of catching cold.
_Henbane._ Stupifies the senses and therefore not to be taken
inwardly; outwardly applyed to the temple it provokes sleep.
_Hops._ The young sprouts clense the Blood and cleer the skin,
helps scabs and itch. They are usually boyled and taken as they eat
Sparagus or they may be made into a conserve.
_Horehound_ clenseth the breast and lungs, helps old coughs, easeth
hard labour in child-bearing, brings away the after-birth.
_Hysop._ Helps Coughs, shortness of Breath, Wheezing, Kills worms in
the body, helps sore throats and noise in the ears.
_Knotgrasse_ helps spitting of blood, stops all fluxes of blood,
gonorrhaea or running of Reins, and is an excellent remedy for hogs
that will not eat their meat.
_Lavender._ The temples and forehead bathed with the juyce of it, as
also the smell of the herb helps swoonings.
_Lavender cotton_ resists poyson, kills worms.
_Lettice._ Cools the inflamation of the stomack commonly called
heart-burning, provokes sleep, resists drunkenesse and takes away
the ill effects of it, cools the blood, and breeds milk. It is far
wholsommer eaten boyled than raw.
_Liverwort_ is excellent for inflamations of the Liver and yellow
jaundice.
_Lovage_ cleers the sight, takes away redness and Freckles from the
Face.
_Lungwort_ helps infirmities of the lungs, coughs and shortness of
breath.
_Mallows._ They are profitable in the stingings of Bees, Wasps, etc.
Inwardly they resist poyson and provoke to stool....
_Man Drakes._ Fit for no vulgar use, but only to be used in cooling
oyntments.
_Marigolds._ The leaves loosen the belly and the juyce held in the
mouth helps the toothach.
_Marshmallowes_ are meanly hot, of a digestion softening nature,
ease pains, help bloody fluxes, the stone and gravell; being bruised
and well boiled in milk, and the milk drunk is a gallant remedy for
the gripings of the belly, and the bloddy flux.
_Mint._ Provokes hunger, is wholesome for the stomack, stays
vomiting, helps sore heads in children. Hinders conception and
is naught for wounded people, they say by reason of an antipathy
between it and Iron.
_Mugwort_, an herb appropriate to the foeminine sex; it brings down
the terms, brings away birth and afterbirth, easeth pains in the
matrix.
_Mullin._ Stops fluxes and cures hoarsenesse and such as are
broken winded; the leaves worn in the shooes provokes the Terms,
(especially in such Virgins as never had them) but they must be worn
next their feet.
_Nettles._ The juyce stops bleeding; they provoke lust exceedingly;
help that troublesome cough that women call Chin-cough. Boyl them in
white wine.
_Onions_, are extreamly hurtfull for cholerick people, they breed
but little nourishment, and that little is naught; they are bad
meat, yet good physick for flegmatick people, they are opening and
provoke urine, and the terms, if cold be the cause obstructing;
bruised and outwardly applyed they cure the bitings of mad dogs;
roasted and applied they help Boils, and Aposthumes; raw they take
the fire out of burnings; but ordinarily eaten, they cause headach,
spoil the sight, dul the senses and fill the body full of wind.
_Orpine_ for Quinsie in the throat, for which disease it is inferior
to none.
_Penyroyal._ Strengthens women's backs, provokes the Terms, staies
vomiting, strengthens the brain (yea the very smell of it), breaks
wind, and helps the Vertigo.
_Pimpernal_, male and foemale. They are of such drawing quality that
they draw thorns and splinters out of the flesh, amend the sight,
and clense Ulcers.
_Plantain._ A little bit of the root being eaten, instantly staies
pains in the head, even to admirations.
_Purslain._ Cools hot stomacks, admirable for one that hath his
teeth on edge by eating sowr apples, helps inward inflamations.
_Reubarb._ It gently purgeth Choller from the stomack & liver, opens
stoppings, withstands the Dropsie, and Hypocondriack Melancholly. If
your body be any strong you may take two drams of it at a time being
sliced thin and steeped all night in white Wine, in the morning
strain it out and drink the white Wine.
_Rosemary._ Helps stuffings in the head, helps the memory, expels
wind.
_Rue, or Herb of Grace._ Consumes the seed and is an enemy to
generation, helps difficulty of breathing. It strengthens the heart
exceedingly. There is no better herb than this in Pestilential times.
_Sage._ It staies abortion, it causeth fruitfullness, it is singular
good for the brain, helps stitches and pains in the sides.
_St. Johns Wort._ It is as gallant a wound-herb as any is, either
given inwardly or outwardly applied to the wound. It helps the
Falling sickness. Palsie, Cramps and Aches in the joynts.
_Savory._ Winter savory and summer savory both expell wind
gallantly, and that (they say) is the reason why they are boyled
with Pease and Beans and other such windy things; 'tis a good
fashion and pitty it should be left.
_Senna._ It cheers the sences, opens obstructions, takes away
dulness of the sight, preserves youth, helps deafness (if purging
will help it), resists resolution of the Nerves, scabs, itch and
falling sickness. The windiness of it is corrected with a little
Ginger.
_Solomon's Seal._ Stamped and boyled in Wine it speedily helps
(being drunk, I mean, for it will not do the deed by looking upon
it) all broken bones, it is of an incredible virtue that way; it
quickly takes away the black and blew marks of blows, being bruised
and applyed to the place.
_Sorrel_ cutteth tough humors, cools the brain, liver and stomack,
and provokes apetite.
_Southern-wood or Boy's love_, is hot and dry in the third degree,
resists poyson, kills worms, provokes lust; outwardly in plaisters
it dissolves cold swellings, makes hair grow; take not above half a
drachm at a time in powder.
_Spinage._ I never read any physicall virtues of it.
_Spleenwort_ is excellent good for melancholy people, helps the
stranguary and breaks the Stone in the bladder. Boyl it and drink
the decoction; but because a little boyling will carry away the
strength of it in vapours, let it boyl but very little, and let it
stand close stopped till it be cold before you strain it out; this
is the generall rule for all Simples of this nature.
_Spurge._ Better let alone that taken inwardly; hair anoynted
with the juyce of it will fall off: it kills fish, being mixed
with anything they will eat, outwardly it takes away Freckles and
sunburning.
_Sweet-Majorum_ is an excellent remedy for cold diseases in the
brain, being only smelled to; it helps such as are given to much
sighing, and easeth pains in the belly....
_Tansie._ The very smell of it staies abortion or miscarriages in
women. The root eaten, is a singular remedy for the Gout; the rich
may bestow the cost to preserve it.
_Toad-flax_ clenses the Reins and Bladder, outwardly it takes away
yellowness and deformity of the skin.
_Toads-stools._ Whether these be roots or not it matters not much;
for my part I know little need of them, either in food or Physick.
_Tyme._ Helps coughs and shortness of breath, brings away dead
children and the after birth, helps Sciatica, repels wind in any
part of the Body, resisteth fearfullness and melancholy.
_Valerian_, white and red, comforts the heart and stirs up lust.
_Vervain._ A great clenser. Made into an oyntment it is a soveraign
remedy for old headache. It clears the skin and causeth a lovely
color.
_Wake-Robins_ or _Cuckow-pints_. I know no great good they doe
inwardly taken, unlesse to play the rogue withall, or make sport;
outwardly applyed they take off Scurf, Morphew, or Freckles from the
face, cleer the skin, and cease the pain of the Gout.
_Water-Lilies._ The roots stop lust. I never dived so deep to find
any other virtue.
_Wood Bettony_ helps the falling sickness, and all headaches comming
of cold, procures apetite, helps sour belchings, helps cramps
and convulsions, helps the Gout, Kills worms, helps bruises, and
cleanseth women after their labor.
_Wormwood_ helps weakness of the stomack, clenses choller, kills
worms, helps surfets, cleers the sight, clenses the Blood, and
secures cloaths from moths.
_Yarrow._ An healing herb for wounds. Some say the juice snuffed up
the nose, causeth it to bleed, whence it was called Nose-bleed.