442. _wan in pestilence_, acquired during the pestilence. This is an
allusion to the great pestilence of the years 1348, 1349; or to the later
pestilences in 1362, 1369, and 1376.
443. _For_ = because, seeing that. It was supposed that _aurum potabile_
was a sovereign remedy in some cases. The actual reference is, probably, to
Les Remonstrances de Nature, by Jean de Meun, ll. 979, 980, &c.; 'C'est le
fin et bon or potable, L'humide radical notable; C'est souveraine
medecine'; and the author goes on to refer us to Ecclus. xxxviii. 4--'The
Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not
abhor them.' Hence the Doctor would not abhor gold. And further--'C'est
medecine _cordiale_'; ib. 1029. To return to _aurum potabile_: I may
observe that it is mentioned in the play called Humour out of Breath, Act
i. sc. 1; and there is a footnote to the effect that this was the
'Universal Medicine of the alchemists, prepared from gold, mercury, &c. The
full receipt will be found in the Fifth and last Part of the Last Testament
of Friar Basilius Valentinus, London, 1670, pp. 371-7.' See also Thomson's
Hist. of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 164; Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, pt. 2.
sec. 4. mem. 1. subsec. 4. [43]