indebted for it to the late vain expositors of nature, who have mightily inveighed against, and undervalued the ancient Greek physicians, in whose works only this art is to be learned, unless individuals could singly live over as many ages, as those wise men did collectively. Men are apt to prescribe to their physician, before he can possibly tell what, he, in his judgement, shall think fit to direct for them. It is well if this were done in negatives only, but they are prejudiced by the impertinence of the age, and our men, who ought to converse with the patient and his friends with prognostics only, which are the honor of physic, and not play the philosopher by fanciful and precarious interpretations of the nature of diseases and their remedies, with a design to gain credit from the ignorant; such physicians as these have certainly not studied the art of physic thoroughly and in earnest. As the drops above-mentioned, were desired of a There were two receipts which were purchased by Charles, at a large expence, one was called the royal styptic; it seemed at first to have power over hæmorrhage, but disappointed the great expectations that were raised by it. It was merely a sulphate of iron prepared in a particular way. The other was the article here spoken of, the formula of which, Charles purchased of Dr. William Goddard, and Before the gave the sum of fifteen hundred pounds for it. king bought the receipt, the medicine was known by the name of Gutta Goddardiana, vel Arcanum Goddardianum, Goddard's secret, or drops. It was a volatile salt and oil distilled from bones, but as there was a disagreeable smell caused by the bones, silk was substituted. Its virtues are similar, but inferior to the volatile liquor of hartshorn, me by other persons of quality, viz. the Princess d'Espinois, the Dutchess of Bouillon, Mons. Sesac, &c. I began to reflect that my master, the late king Charles, had not only communicated to me the process, but very obligingly shewed it to me himself, by taking me alone into his elaboratory at Whitehall, while the distillation was going on: I also remembered that Mr. Chevins, on another occasion, shewed me the materials for the drops, and which were newly brought in, viz. raw silk in great quantity; and I therefore caused the drops to be made here. I also put Dr. Tournefort upon making them, which he did in perfection, by distilling the finest raw silk he could get. For my own part I was surprised at the result of this experiment, having never before tried it; one pound of raw silk yielding an incredible quantity of volatile salt, and in proportion the finest spirit that I ever tasted; and what recommends it is, that when rectified, it is of a far more pleasant smell than that which comes from sal ammoniac or hartshorn; while the salt, refined and coholated with any well-scented chemical oil, makes the King's Salt, as it used to be called. This my Lord Ambassador gave me leave to present in his name, and the Doctor now supplies those who *want. Silk, indeed, is nothing else than a dry jelly of the insect kind, and therefore it must be very cordial and stomachic. The Arabians were wise and knowing in the materia medica, to have put it into their Alkermes. It must be acknowledged for the honour of the French king, that he has ever given great encouragements for useful discoveries of all kinds, but particu d larly in medicine. It is well known that he lately bought the secret of the Jesuits' powder, and made it public, as he did that of Ipecacuanha *. To conclude, it was my good fortune here, to have a bundle of original papers of Sir Theodore Mayerne, * The virtues of bark were first discovered in the year 1500, but a century and a half elapsed before this article was known to Europe. And even when its power in curing ague was ascertained, the prejudices against it were so violent, that a quack, named Talbor, was obliged to disguise it and sell it as a specific for ague under an assumed name. Morton tells us that he charged five guineas an ounce for it, and that one person paid him ten guineas for two ounces. It is no wonder that he taught the faculty to administer it in large doses. Qu. did Lewis purchase Talbor's secret? e Ipecacuanha having been extolled as a specific in the cure of dysentery, to which the inhabitants of Paris were from local circumstances so prone, it was natural that the French king should wish his subjects to have the benefit of the discovery. He took a very judicious method of introducing it, by employing Helvetius to administer it gratuitously. By these means he attained his purpose, and Helvetius was enriched by a most extensive practice. I do not find the amount of the sum given by the king either for this or the bark, nor the name of the individual of whom he made the purchase. 'I have not been able to ascertain that Dr. Lister ever gave these papers to the world; but in the year following the publication of his Journey, the works of Mayerne were published by Dr. Jos. Browne, in two volumes, folio, under the title of "Theo. Turquet Mayernii Equitis Aurati, Medici et Philosophi suo ævo perplurimè celeberrimi Opera Medica." Mayerne was a native of Geneva; he graduated at Montpelier, and was a candidate for practice at Paris. His attachment to chemical remedies, however, brought the and his friends who corresponded with him, presented to me by the reverend Dr. Wickar, Dean of Winchester; who marrying his kinswoman, found them amongst other writings of law matters. As yet I have not had leisure to peruse them, but they who know the worth of that great man, will desire that they may be made public. If they should be, they shall come forth entire, and not be disguised as some of his other papers have been, to the great detriment of medical science; affording, as I think, the first example of this nature, that posthumous papers ever were abbreviated and made what they never were, before an entire and full publication. old Galenical physicians upon him, who procured a decree of the faculty against consulting with him. In 1611 he accepted the invitation of James I. to settle at London, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1324 he received the honour of knighthood. He was successively physician to James, and the first and second Charles, and died in the eighty-second year of his age, at Chelsea, A. D. 1655. "Gloriæ, divitiarum, et annorum satur," satiate of renown, of riches, and of years. FINIS. |