76

lister’s travels in prance.

Men are apt to prefcribe to their phyfician, before he can poffibly tell what helhall in his judgment think fitting to give ; it is well if this was in negatives only ; butthey are prejudiced by the impertinence of the age, and our men, who ought to con-verfe with the patient and his relations with prognodics only, which are the honour ofphyfic ; and not play the philofopher by fanciful and precarious interpretations of thenatures of difeafes and medicines, to gain a fort of credit with the ignorant; and fuchcertainly are all thole that have not ftudied phyfic thoroughly, and in earned:.

Thofe drops were delired of me by other perfons of quality, as the Princefs d’Efpi-noy, the Uuchefs of Boullon, Monfieur Sei'ac, &c. and having bethought myfelf howmy mader, the late King Charles, had communicated them to me, and (hewed mevery obligingly the procefs himfelf, by carrying me alone with him into his elaboratoryat Whitehall, while it was diddling : alfo Mr. Chevins another time (hewed me thematerials for the drops in his apartment newly brought in, in great quantity, that is,raw filk: I caufed the drops to be made here. Alfo I put Dr. Turnefort uponmaking of them ; which he did in perfection, by diddling the fined raw filk he couldget. For my part I was furprifed at the experiment often repeated, having never triedit before. One pound of raw filk yielded an incredible quantity of volatile fait, and inproportion the fined fpirit I ever taded ; and that which recommends it is, that it iswhen rectified, of a far more pleafant fmell, than that which comes from fal armoni-ac or hartfhorne ; and the fait refined and cohobated with any well fcented chemicaloil, makes the king’s fait, as it is ufed to be called. This my lord ambaffador gave meleave to prefent in his name; and the doCtor now fupplies thofe which want. Silk,indeed is nothing elfe, but a dry jelly from the infeCt kind, and therefore very cordialand domachic no doubt. The Arabians were wife, and knowing in the materia medica^to have put it in their Alkermes.

This mud be faid for the honour of this king, that he has ever given great encou-ragements for ufeful difcoveries in all kinds, and particularly in phyfic. It is wellknown he bought the fecret of the jefuit’s powder, and made it public ; as he lately didthat of the hypococana.

To conclude, it was my good fortune here to have a bundle of original papers ofSir Theodore Mayerne, and his friends, who correl’ponded with him, prefented meby the Reverend Dr. Wickar, Dean of Wincheder, who marrying his kinfwomanfound them amongd other writings of law matters. I have not yet had the leifure toperufe them, but thofe who know the worth of that great man, will defire they maybe made public; which if they are, they fhallcome forth intire, and not difguifed, asfome of his other papers have been, to the great detriment of phyfic ; and I think it is•the fird example of this nature, that podhumous papers were ever abbreviated, andmade what they never were before, an intire and full publication.