A List of Simples and of such Medicinal Preparations as ought to be kept in Readiness for private Practice:
The Method of preparing and compounding such Medicines as are recommended in the former Part of the Book, with the Addition of several others of a similar Nature:
Ignorance and superstition have attributed extraordinary medical virtues to almost every production of nature. That such virtues were often imaginary, time and experience have sufficiently shewn. Physicians, however, from a veneration for antiquity, still retain in their lists of medicine many things which owe their reputation entirely to the superstition and credulity of our ancestors.
The instruments of medicine will always be multiplied, in proportion to men’s ignorance of the nature and cause of diseases: when these are sufficiently understood, the method of cure will be simple and obvious.
Ignorance of the real nature and permanent properties of those substances employed in the cure of diseases, is another reason why they have been so greatly multiplied. Physicians thought they could effect by a number of ingredients, what could not be done by any one of them. Hence arose those amazing farragos which have so long disgraced the medical art, and which were esteemed powerful in proportion to the number of simples that entered their composition.
The great variety of forms into which almost every article of medicine has been manufactured, affords another proof of the imperfection of the medical art. A drug which is perhaps most efficacious in the simplest form in which it can be administered, has been nevertheless served up in so many different shapes, that one would be induced to think the whole art of physic lay in exhibiting medicine under as many different modes as possible.
Different forms of medicine, no doubt, have their use; but they ought never to be wantonly increased. They are by no means so necessary as is generally imagined. A few grains of powdered rhubarb, jalap, or ipecacuanha, will actually perform all that can be done by the different preparations of these roots, and may also be exhibited in as safe and agreeable a manner. The same observation holds with regard to the Peruvian bark, and many other simples of which the preparations are very numerous.
Multiplying the ingredients of a medicine, not only renders it more expensive, but also less certain, both in its dose and operation. Nor is this all. The compound, when kept, is apt to spoil, or acquire qualities of a different nature. When a medicine is rendered more safe, efficacious, or agreeable, by the addition of another, they ought, no doubt, to be joined; in all other cases, they are better kept asunder. The combination of medicines embarrasses the physician, and retards the progress of medical knowledge. It is impossible to ascertain the precise effect of any one medicine, as long as it is combined with others, either of a similar or dissimilar nature.
In the exhibition of medicine, regard should not only be had to simplicity, but likewise to elegance. Patients seldom reap much benefit from things that are highly disagreeable to their senses. To taste or smell like a drug, is become a proverb; and to say truth, there is too much ground for it. Indeed no art can take away the disagreeable taste and flavour of some drugs, without entirely destroying their efficacy: it is possible, however, to render many medicines less disgustful, and others even agreeable; an object highly deserving the attention of all who administer medicine.
The design of the following pages is, to exhibit such a list of drugs and medicines as may be necessary for private practice. They are considerably more numerous indeed than those recommended in the former part of the Book, but are still greatly within the number contained in the most reformed dispensatories. The same medicine is seldom exhibited under different forms; and where different medicines answer nearly the same intention, there is commonly no more than one of them retained. Multiplying forms of medicine for the same intention tends rather to bewilder than assist the young practitioner, and the experienced physician can never be at a loss to vary his prescriptions as occasion requires.
The chemical and other difficult preparations are for the most part omitted. All of them that are used by any private practitioner are not worth preparing. He will buy them much cheaper than he can make them. Great care however is necessary to obtain them genuine. They are often adulterated, and ought never to be purchased unless from persons of known veracity. Such of them as are in common use are inserted in the list of drugs and medicines. Their proper doses and manner of application, are mentioned in the practical part of the Book, wherever they are prescribed.
Such articles of medicine as are to be found in the house or garden of almost every peasant, as barley, eggs, onions, &c. are likewise, for the most part, omitted. It is needless to swell a list of medicines with such things as can be obtained whenever they are wanted, and which spoil by being kept.
The preparations made and sold by distillers and confectioners are also generally left out. These people, by operating upon a larger plan, generally make things better, while it is in their power to afford them much cheaper, than they can be prepared by any private hand.
The quantity ordered of every medicine is as small as could well be prepared, both to prevent unnecessary expence, and that the medicine might not spoil by keeping. Almost every medicine suffers by being kept, and should be used as soon after it has been prepared as possible. Even simple drugs are apt to spoil, and should therefore be laid in in small quantities; they either rot, are consumed by insects, or evaporate so as to lose their peculiar taste or flavour, and often become quite insignificant.
In the preparation of medicines, I have generally followed the most improved dispensatories; but have taken the liberty to differ from them wherever my own observations, or those of other practical writers, on whose judgment I could depend, suggested an improvement.
In several compositions, the ingredient on which the efficacy of the medicine principally depends is increased, while the auxiliaries, which are generally ordered in such trifling quantities as to be of no importance, are left out, or only such of them retained as are necessary to give the medicine a proper consistence, or the like.
The colouring ingredients are likewise for the most part omitted. They increase the bulk and price of the medicine; without adding any thing to its value. It would be well if they were never used at all. Medicines are often adulterated for the sake of a colour. Acrid and even poisonous substances are, for this purpose, sometimes introduced into those medicines which ought to be most bland and emollient. Ointment of elder, for example, is often mixed with verdegrise to give it a fine green colour, which entirely frustrates the intention of that mild ointment. Those who wish to obtain genuine medicines should pay no regard to their colour.
Some regard is likewise paid to expence. Such ingredients as greatly increase the price of any composition, without adding considerably to its virtue, are generally either omitted, or somewhat less expensive substituted in their place. Medicines are by no means powerful in proportion to their price. The cheapest are often the best; besides, they are the least apt to be adulterated, and are always most readily obtained.
With regard to the method of compounding medicines, I have generally followed that which seemed to be the most simple and natural, mentioning the different steps of the process in the same order in which they ought to be taken, without paying an implicit regard to the method of other dispensatories.
For many of the remarks concerning the preparation, &c. of medicines, I have been obliged to the author of the New Dispensatory. The other observations are either such as have occurred to myself in practice, or have been suggested in the course of reading, by authors whose names I am not able distinctly to recollect.
I have followed the alphabetical order, both with regard to the simples and preparations. A more scientific method would have been agreeable to some persons, but less useful to the generality of readers. The different classes of medicine have no great dependance upon one another; and, where they have, it is hard to say which should stand first or last; no doubt the simple preparations ought to precede the more compound. But all the advantages arising from this method of arrangement do not appear equal to that single one, of being able, on the first opening of the book, to find out any article, which, by the alphabetical order, is rendered quite easy.
The dose of every medicine is mentioned whenever it appeared necessary. When this is omitted it is to be understood that the medicine may be used at discretion. The dose mentioned is always for an adult, unless when the contrary is expressed. It is not an easy matter to proportion the doses of medicine exactly to the different ages, constitutions, &c. of patients; but, happily for mankind, mathematical exactness here is by no means necessary.
Several attempts have been made to ascertain the proportional doses for the different ages and constitutions of patients; but, after all that can be said upon this subject, a great deal must be left to the judgment and skill of the person who administers the medicine. The following general proportions may be observed; but they are by no means intended for exact rules. A patient between twenty and fourteen may take two thirds of the dose ordered for an adult; from fourteen to nine, one half; from nine to six, one-third; from six to four, one-fourth; from four to two, one-sixth; from two to one, a tenth; and below one, a twelfth.
Dispensatories are usually written in the Latin language. Even authors who write in English, generally give their prescriptions in Latin; and some of them shew so great an attachment to that language, as first to write their recipes in it, and afterwards translate them; while others, to compromise the matter, write the one half in Latin and the other in English. What peculiar charm a medical prescription, when written in Latin, may have, I shall not pretend to say; but have ventured to make use of the plainest English I could, and hope my prescriptions will succeed no worse for it.
N. B. The Apothecary’s weights, and the English wine measures, are used throughout the whole book, the different denominations of which will appear from the following Table:
| A pound | contains | twelve ounces. |
| An ounce | − − | eight drachms. |
| A drachm | − − | three scruples. |
| A scruple | − − | twenty grains. |
| A gallon | contains | eight pints. |
| A pint | − − | sixteen ounces. |
| An ounce | − − | eight drachms. |
| A spoonful is the measure of half an ounce. | ||
The subject of this section is not the natural balsams, but certain compositions, which, from their being supposed to possess balsamic qualities, generally go by that name.
This class of medicines was formerly very numerous, and held in great esteem: modern practice, however, has justly reduced it to a very narrow compass.
Take of white Spanish soap, one ounce; opium, unprepared, two drachms; rectified spirit of wine, nine ounces. Digest them together in a gentle heat for three days; then strain off the liquor, and add to it three drachms of camphor.
This balsam, as its title expresses, is intended to ease pain. It is of service in violent strains and rheumatic complaints, when not attended with inflammation. It must be rubbed with a warm hand on the part affected; or a linen rag moistened with it may be applied to the part, and renewed every third or fourth hour, till the pain abates. If the opium is left out, this will be the saponacious balsam.
Take of olive oil, one pint; Strasburg turpentine and yellow wax, of each half a pound; red saunders, six drachms. Melt the wax with some part of the oil over a gentle fire; then adding the remaining part of the oil and the turpentine; afterwards mix in the saunders, previously reduced to a powder, and keep them stirring together till the balsam is cold.
This balsam is recommended in erosions of the intestines, the dysentery, hæmorrhages, internal bruises, and in some complaints of the breast. Outwardly it is used for healing and cleansing wounds and ulcers. The dose, when taken internally, is from two scruples to two drachms.
Take of benzoin, powdered, three ounces; balsam of Peru, two ounces; hepatic aloes, in powder, half an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest them in a gentle heat for three days, and then strain the balsam.
This balsam, or rather tincture, is applied externally to heal recent wounds and bruises. It is likewise employed internally to remove coughs, asthmas, and other complaints of the breast. It is said to ease the colic, cleanse the kidnies, and to heal internal ulcers, &c.
The dose is from twenty to sixty drops.
This, though a medicine of some value, does not deserve the extravagant encomiums which have been bestowed on it. It has been celebrated under the different names of The Commander’s Balsam, Persian Balsam, Balsam of Berne, Wade’s Balsam, Friar’s Balsam, Jesuit’s Drops, Turlington’s Drops, &c.
As boluses are intended for immediate use, volatile salts and other ingredients improper for being kept, are admitted into their composition. They are generally composed of powders, with a proper quantity of syrup, conserve, or mucilage. The lighter powders are commonly made up with syrup, and the more ponderous, as mercury, &c. with conserve; but those of the lighter kind would be more conveniently made up with mucilage, as it increases their bulk less than the other additions, and likewise occasions the medicine to pass down more easily.
Take of alum, in powder, fifteen grains; gum kino, five grains; syrup, a sufficient quantity to make a bolus.
In an excessive flow of the menses, and other violent discharges of blood, proceeding from relaxation, this bolus may be given every four or five hours, till the discharge abates.
Take of gum guaiacum, in powder, ten grains; flowers of sulphur and cream of tartar, of each one scruple; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.
In rheumatic complaints, and disorders of the skin, this bolus may be taken twice a day. It will also be of service in the inflammatory quinsey.
Take of calomel, six grains; conserve of roses, half a drachm. Make a bolus.
Where mercury is necessary, this bolus may be taken twice or thrice a week. It may be taken over night; and if it does not operate, a few grains of jalap will be proper next day to carry it off.
Take of the best rhubarb, in powder, from a scruple to half a drachm; of calomel, from four to six grains; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity to make a bolus.
This is a proper purge in hypochondriac constitutions; but its principal intention is to expel worms. Where a stronger purge is necessary, jalap may be used instead of the rhubarb.
Take of sperma-ceti, a scruple; gum ammoniac, ten grains; salt of hartshorn, six grains; simple syrup, as much as will make them into a bolus.
This bolus is given in colds and coughs of long standing, asthmas, and beginning consumptions of the lungs. It is generally proper to bleed the patient before he begins to use it.
Take of jalap, in powder, a scruple; cream of tartar, two scruples. Let them be rubbed together, and formed into a bolus, with simple syrup.
Where a mild purge is wanted, this will answer the purpose very well. If a stronger dose is necessary, the jalap may be increased to half a drachm or upwards.
Cataplasms possess few or no virtues superior to a poultice, which may be so made, as, in most cases, to supply their place. They are chiefly intended either to act as discutients, or to promote suppuration; and as they may be of service in some cases, we shall give a specimen of each kind.
Take of barley-meal, six ounces; fresh hemlock leaves, bruised; two ounces; vinegar, a sufficient quantity. Boil the meal and hemlock in the vinegar for a little, and then add two drachms of the sugar of lead.
Take of white lily root, four ounces; fat figs and raw onions, bruised, of each one ounce; yellow basilicum ointment, two ounces; gum galbanum, half an ounce; linseed meal, as much as necessary. Boil the roots along with the figs in a sufficient quantity of water; then bruise and add to them the other ingredients, so as to form the whole into a soft cataplasm. The galbanum must be previously dissolved with the yolk of an egg.
Where it is necessary to promote suppuration, this cataplasm may be used by those who chuse to be at the trouble and expence of making it. For my part, I have never found any application more proper for this purpose than a poultice of bread and milk, with a sufficient quantity of either boiled or raw onion in it, and softened with oil or fresh butter.
Sinapisms are employed to recal the blood and spirits to a weak part, as in the palsy and atrophy. They are also of service in deep-seated pains, as the sciatica, &c. When the gout seizes the head or the stomach, they are applied to the feet to bring the disorder to these parts. They are likewise applied to the patient’s soles in the low state of fevers. They should not be suffered to lie on, however, till they have raised blisters, but till the parts become red, and will continue so when pressed with the finger.
The sinapism is only a poultice made with vinegar instead of milk, and rendered warm and stimulating by the addition of mustard, horse-radish, or garlic.
The common sinapism is made by taking crumb of bread and mustard-seed in powder, of each equal quantities; strong vinegar, as much as is sufficient, and mixing them so as to make a poultice.
When sinapisms of a more stimulating nature are wanted, a little bruised garlic may be added to the above.
This class of medicines is of more importance than is generally imagined. clysters serve, not only to evacuate the contents of the belly, but also to convey very active medicines into the system. Opium, for example, may be administered in this way when it will not sit upon the stomach, and also in larger doses than at any time it can be taken by the mouth. The Peruvian bark may likewise be, with good effect, administered in form of clyster to persons who cannot take it by the mouth.
A simple clyster can seldom do hurt, and there are many cases where it may do much good. A clyster even of warm water, by serving as a fomentation to the parts, may be of considerable service in inflammations of the bladder, and the lower intestines, &c.
Some substances, as the smoke of tobacco, may be thrown into the bowels in this way, which cannot by any other means whatever. This may be easily effected by means of a pair of hand-bellows, with an apparatus fitted to them for that purpose.
Nor is the use of clysters confined to medicines. Aliment may also be conveyed in this way. Persons unable to swallow, have been, for a considerable time, supported by clysters.
Take of linseed-tea and new milk, each six ounces. Mix them.
If fifty or sixty drops of laudanum be added to this, it will supply the place of the Anodyne Clyster.
Take of milk and water, each six ounces; sweet oil or fresh butter, and brown sugar, of each two ounces. Mix them.
If an ounce of Glauber’s salt, or two table-spoonfuls of common salt, be added to this, it will be the Purging Clyster.
Take of camomile flowers, an ounce; anise-seeds, half an ounce. Boil in a pint and a half of water to one pint.
In hysteric and hypochondriac complaints this may be administered instead of the Fœtid Clyster, the smell of which is so disagreeable to most patients.
To four ounces of the infusion of camomile flowers, add an equal quantity of Florence oil.
This clyster is beneficial in bringing off the small worms lodged in the lower parts of the alimentary canal. When given to children the quantity must be proportionably lessened.
Take jelly of starch, four ounces; linseed oil, half an ounce. Liquify the jelly over a gentle fire, and then mix in the oil.
In the dysentery or bloody flux, this clyster may be administered after every loose stool, to heal the ulcerated intestines and blunt the sharpness of corroding humours. Forty or fifty drops of laudanum may be occasionally added; in which case, it will generally supply the place of the Astringent Clyster.
Take of common decoction, ten ounces; Venice turpentine, dissolved with the yolk of an egg, half an ounce; Florence oil, one ounce. Mix them.
This diuretic clyster is proper in obstructions of the urinary passages, and in colicky complaints, proceeding from gravel.
This clyster is made by mixing three ounces of vinegar with five of water-gruel.
It answers all the purposes of a common clyster, with the peculiar advantage of being proper either in inflammatory or putrid disorders, especially in the latter.
☞ We think it unnecessary to give more examples of this class of medicines, as ingredients adapted to any particular intention may be occasionally added to one or other of the above forms.
Eye-waters have been multiplied without number, almost every person pretending to be possessed of some secret preparation for the cure of sore eyes. I have examined many of them, and find that they are pretty much alike, the basis of most of them being either alum, vitriol, or lead. Their effects evidently are, to brace and restore the tone of the parts; hence they are principally of service in slight inflammations; and in that relaxed state of the parts which is induced by obstinate ones.
Camphor is commonly added to these compositions; but as it seldom incorporates properly with the water, it can be of little use. Boles and other earthy substances, as they do not dissolve in water, are likewise unfit for this purpose.
Take of alum, half a drachm; agitate it well together with the white of one egg.
This is the Collyrium of Riverius. It is used in inflammation of the eyes, to allay heat, and restrain the flux of humours. It must be spread upon linen, and applied to the eyes; but should not be kept on above three or four hours at a time.
Take of white vitriol, half a drachm; rose-water, six ounces. Dissolve the vitriol in the water, and filter the liquor.
This, though simple, is perhaps equal in virtue to most of the celebrated collyria. It is an useful application in weak, watery, and inflamed eyes. Though the slighter inflammations will generally yield to it, yet in those of a more obstinate nature the assistance of bleeding and blistering will often be necessary.
When a strong astringent is judged proper, a double or triple quantity of the vitriol may be used. I have seen a solution of four times the strength of the above used with manifest advantage.
Take sugar of lead, and crude sal ammoniac, of each four grains. Dissolve them in eight ounces of common water.
Forty or fifty drops of laudanum may be occasionally added to this collyrium.
Those who chuse may substitute instead of this the collyrium of lead recommended by Goulard; which is made by putting twenty-five drops of his Extract of Lead to eight ounces of water, and adding a tea-spoonful of brandy.
Indeed, common water and brandy, without any other addition, will in many cases answer very well as a collyrium. An ounce of the latter may be added to five or six ounces of the former; and the eyes, if weak, bathed with it night and morning.
Confections containing above sixty ingredients are still to be found in some of the most reformed dispensatories. As most of their intentions, however, may be more certainly, and as effectually answered by a few glasses of wine or grains of opium, we shall pass over this class of medicines very slightly.
Take of Japan earth, three ounces; tormentil root, nutmeg, olibanum, of each two ounces; opium dissolved in a sufficient quantity of Lisbon wine, a drachm and a half; simple syrup and conserve of roles, of each fourteen ounces. Mix and make them into an electuary.
This supplies the place of the Diascordium.
The dose of this electuary is from a scruple to a drachm.
Every Apothecary’s shop was formerly so full of these preparations, that it might have passed for a confectioner’s warehouse. They possess very few medicinal properties, and may rather be classed among sweetmeats than medicines. They are sometimes, however, of use, for reducing into boluses or pills some of the more ponderous powders, as the preparations of iron, mercury, and tin.
Conserves are compositions of fresh vegetables and sugar, beaten together into an uniform mass. In making these preparations, the leaves of vegetables must be freed from their stalks, the flowers from their cups, and the yellow part of orange-peel taken off with a rasp. They are then to be pounded in a marble mortar, with a wooden pestle, into a smooth mass; after which, thrice their weight of fine sugar is commonly added by degrees, and the beating continued till they are uniformly mixed; but the conserve will be better if only twice its weight of sugar be added.
Those who prepare large quantities of conserve generally reduce the vegetables to a pulp by the means of a mill, and afterwards beat them up with the sugar.
Take a pound of red rose buds, cleared of their heels; beat them well in a mortar, and, adding by degrees two pounds of double-refined sugar, in powder, make a conserve.
After the same manner are prepared the conserves of orange-peel, rosemary flowers, sea-wormwood, of the leaves of wood-sorrel, &c.
The conserve of roses is one of the most agreeable and useful preparations belonging to this class. A drachm or two of it, dissolved in warm milk, is ordered to be given as a gentle restringent in weakness of the stomach, and likewise in phthisical coughs, and spitting of blood. To have any considerable effects, however, it must be taken in larger quantities.
This may be made by boiling the sloes gently in water, being careful to take them out before they burst; afterwards expressing the juice, and beating it up with three times its weight of fine sugar.
In relaxations of the uvula and glands of the throat, this makes an excellent gargle, and may be used at discretion.
Preserves are made by steeping or boiling fresh vegetables first in water, and afterwards in syrup, or a solution of sugar. The subject is either preserved moist in the syrup, or taken out and dried, that the sugar may candy upon it. The last is the most useful method.
Soak Seville orange-peel in several waters, till it loses its bitterness; then boil it in a solution of double-refined sugar in water, till it becomes tender and transparent.
Candied lemon-peel is prepared in the same manner.
It is needless to add more of these preparations, as they belong rather to the art of the confectioner than that of the apothecary.
Water readily extracts the gummy and saline parts of vegetables; and though its action is chiefly confined to these, yet the resinous and oily being intimately blended with the gummy and saline, are in great part taken up along with them. Hence watery decoctions and infusions of vegetables, constitute a large, and not unuseful, class of medicines. Although most vegetables yield their virtues to water, as well by infusion as decoction, yet the latter is often necessary, as it saves time, and does in a few minutes what the other would require hours, and sometimes days, to effect.
The medicines of this class are all intended for immediate use.
Take of the roots of marsh-mallows, moderately dried, three ounces; raisins of the sun, one ounce; water, three pints.
Boil the ingredients in the water till one-third of it is consumed; afterwards strain the decoction and let it stand for some time to settle. If the roots be thoroughly dried, they must be boiled till one half the water be consumed.
In coughs, and sharp defluctions upon the lungs, this decoction may be used for ordinary drink.
Take of camomile flowers, one ounce; elder flowers, and sweet fennel seeds, of each half an ounce; water, two quarts. Boil them for a little, and then strain the decoction.
A medicine equally good may be prepared by infusing the ingredients for some hours in boiling water.
This decoction is chiefly intended as the basis of clysters, to which other ingredients may be occasionally added. It will likewise serve as a common fomentation, spirit of wine or other things being added in such quantity as the case may require.
Boil three ounces of the shavings, or chips, of logwood, in four pints of water, till one half the liquor is wasted. Two or three ounces of simple cinnamon-water may be added to this decoction.
In fluxes of the belly, where the stronger astringents are improper, a tea-cupful of this decoction may be taken with advantage three or four times a-day.
Boil an ounce of the Peruvian bark, grossly powdered, in a pint and a half of water to one pint; then strain the decoction. If a tea-spoonful of the weak spirit of vitriol be added to this medicine, it will render it both more agreeable and efficacious.
Take of Peruvian bark and Virginian snake-root, grossly powdered, each three drachms. Boil them in a pint of water to one half. To the strained liquor add an ounce and a half of aromatic water.
Sir John Pringle recommends this as a proper medicine towards the decline of malignant fevers, when the pulse is low, the voice weak, and the head affected with a stupor but with little delirium.
The dose is four spoonfuls every fourth or sixth hour.