It may be they build upon the Vulgar Proverb that no Carrion will kill a Crow.

 

Diaprunum Simple, more rightly called Lenitive - Nich.

Take a hundred Damask Prunes fresh and ripe; boil them in a sufficient quantity of water till they be soft, then draw the pulp of them through a sieve, and in the liquor they were boiled in boil an ounce of Violet flowers, strain it, and in the decoction dissolve two pound of Sugar (they might have set down how much decoction there must be; I suppose you may boil the violets in three pints till one be consumed), and boil it into a syrup, then add of the pulp spoken of before, a pound; pulp of Cassia and Tamarinds, of each an ounce. Then, put in these following powders, of White and Red Sanders, Spodium, Rhubarb, of each three drachms; Roses, Violets, the seeds of Purslain, Endive, Barberries, Gum Tragacanth, Liquoris, Cinnamon, of each two drams; of the Four Greater Cold Seeds, of each one drachm. 

Make them into an electuary according to art. 

It may safely and is with good success given in acute, burning, and all other fevers, for it cools much and loosens the body gently. It is good in agues, hectic fevers and marasmos. 

You may take an ounce of it at a time at night when you go to bed, three hours after a light supper; neither need you keep your chamber next day, unless the weather be very cold,  or your body very tender. 

Diaprunum Solutive - Nich.

Take of Diaprunum Lenitive whilst it is yet warm, four pound; Scammony prepared, two ounces and five drams. 

Mix them together and make them an electuary according to art.

Seeing the dose of the Scammony is increased, according to the author, in this medicine, you may use a less weight of Scammony if you please. 

And therein the College said true, for the medicine according to this receipt is too strong, violent, corroding, gnawing, fetting, and yet this is that which is commonly called Duaprunes, which simple people take to give themselves a purge, being fitter to do themselves mischief (poor souls) than good, unless ordered with more discretion than they have; it may be they build upon the vulgar proverb, that no carrion will kill a crow. Let me entreat them to have a greater care of themselves, and not meddle with such desperate medicines; let them not object to me they often have taken it and felt no harm. They are not capable of knowing what harm it may do them a long time after; let them remember the old proverb, the pitcher never goes so often to the well but it comes broke home at last. 

Diacatholicon - Nicholaus.

Take of the pulp of Cassia and Tamarinds, the leaves of Senna, of each two ounces; Polypodium, Violets, Rhubarb, Annis seeds, Penidies, Sugar Candy, of each one ounce; Liquoris, seeds of Gourds, Citruls, Cucumbers, Melons, of each three drachms.

Let the things to be beaten be beaten, and take of fresh Polypodium, three ounces (bruise the Polypodium, else you had as good boil a flint); Fennel seeds, six drams. Boil them in four pints of Rain or Spring Water to the consumption of the third part, strain it, and add to the decoction two pound of the best Sugar; boil it again with the pulps of Cassia and Tamarinds, and the powders being added in the end. Make it into an electuary according to art. 

It is a fine cooling purge for any part of the body, and very gentle; it may be given (an ounce, or half an ounce at a time, according to the strength of the patient) in acute, in peracute diseases, for it gently loosens the belly and adds strength. It helps infirmities of the liver and spleen, gouts of all sorts, quotidian, tertian and quartan agues, as also headaches. It is usually given in clysters.

If you lift to take it inwardly, you may take an ounce at night going to bed, in the morning drink a draught of warm posset drink, and go about your business. 

Diacrocuma, or Species Electuarii de Croco - Mesue.

Take of Saffron, the roots of Asarabacca, the seeds of Parsley, Carrots, Annis, Smallage, of each half an ounce; Rhubarb, the roots of Spignel, Indian Spikenard, of each six drachms; Cassia, Lignea, Costus, Myrrh, Schoenanth, Cubebs, the roots of Madder, the juice of Wormwood and Maudlin made think (Ageratum), Opobalsamum or Oil of Nutmegs, of each two drams; Cinnamon, Calamus, Aromaticus, of each a drachm and a half; Scordium, Stoechas, juice of Liquoris, of each two drachms and a half; Tragacanth, one drachm. 

Make it up into an electuary with eight times their weight in Sugar dissolved in Endive Water, and clarified according to art. 

Mesue appoints clarified Honey. 

It is exceeding good against cold diseases of the stomach, liver or spleen, corruption of humours and putrefaction of meat in the stomach, ill-favoured colour of the body, dropsies, cold faults in the reins and bladder, provokes urine.

Take a dram in the morning.

Electuarium de Citra Solutive.

Take of preserved Citron peel (viz. the middle bark which is thick), conserves of Violets and Bugloss, Diatragacanthum frigidum, Diagrydium, of each half an ounce; Turbith, five drams; Ginger, half a drachm; the leaves of Senna, six drachms; Sweer Fennel seeds, a drachm; White Sugar dissolved in Rose Water and boiled according to art, ten ounces.

Make them all into a solid electuary according to art.

Here are some things very cordial, others purge violently; both put together make a composition no way pleasing to me. Therefore, I account it a pretty receipt, good for nothing. 

Electuarium Elescoph - Mesue.

Take of Scammony and the best Turbeth, of each six drachms; Cloves, Cinnamon, Ginger, Emblicks, Mirobalans, Nutmegs, Polypodium, of each two drachms and a half; Sugar, six ounces; clarified Honey, ten ounces.

Mix them and make them into an electuary according to art.

Mesue appoints only clarifed Honey, one pound and four ounces, to make it up into an electuary, and says it purges choler and phlegm, and wind from all parts of the body; helps pains of the joints and sides, the cholic, it cleanses the reins and bladder. 

Yet, I advise you not to take too much of it at a time, for it works pretty violently, though well corrected by the pen of Mesue. Let half an ounce be the most, for such whose bodies are strong, always remembering that you had better ten times take too little than too much. You may take it in White Wine, and keep your self warm.

If you would have my opinion of it, I do not like it. 

Confectio Hamech - Fernel.

Take of the barks (that is, only the stones cast away) of Citron, Myrobalans, two ounces; Myrobalans, Chebs and Black, Violets, Colocynthis, Polypodium of the Oak, of each an ounce and a half; Wormwood, Thyme, of each half an ounce; the seeds of Annis and Fennel, the flowers of Red Roses, of each three drams.

Let all of them, being bruised, be infused for one day in two pints (four pints is little enough) of Whey, then boil it to one pound, rub it with your hands and then press it out, and add to the decoction Juice of Fumitory, pulp of Prunes, and Raisins of the Sun, of each half a pound; White Sugar (take the double quantity of them also), clarified Honey, of each a pound. Boil them to the thickness of Honey, sprinkled in towards the latter end Agrick trochiscated, Senna, of each two ounces; Rhubarb, an ounce and a half; Epithimum, an ounce, Diagrydium, six drachms, Cinnamon, half an ounce, Ginger, two drachms, the seeds of Fumitory, Annis, Spickenard, of each one drachm.

Make an electuary of them according to art. 

The receipt is chiefly appropriated as a purge for melancholy and salt phlegm, and diseases thence arising as scabs, itch, leprosies, cancers, infirmities of the skin; it purges addust humours, and is good against madness, melancholy, forgetfulness, vertigo.

It purges very violently, and is not safe given alone. I would not advise the unskillful not to meddle with it inwardly. You may give half an ounce of it in clysters in melancholy diseases, which commonly have astingency a constant companion with them.

Electuarium Indum Minus - Mesue.

Take of Turbith, Sugar, of each a hundred drams; Mace, Pepper, Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, Cardamons, Nutmegs, of each seven drachms; Scammony prepared, twelve drachms. 

Mix them with three times their weight (the Sugar excepted) of clarified Honey, and so make them into an electuary according to art.

It purges the bowels, as also the joints of putrified phlegm; it breaks wind, is therefore profitable for the cholic.

The College have much altered the quantity of the Turbith and Sugar. It purges violently, and is not for the use of the vulgar. 

Lenetive Electuary.

Take of Raisins of the Sun stoned, Polypodium of the Oak, Senna, of each two ounces; Mercury, one handful and a half; Jujubes, Sebestens, by number twenty; Maidenhair, Violets, French Barley, of each a handful; Damask Prunes stoned, Tamerinds, of each six drachms; Liquoris, half an ounce.

Boil them according to art, strain them out and dissolve in the decoction pulp of Cassia, Tamarinds and fresh Prunes, Sugar of Violets, of each six ounces, of the best Sugar, two pound. Lastly, add an ounce and a half of Senna in powder to every pound of electuary. 

So bring it into a form according to art. 

It gently opens and mollifies the bowels, brings forth choler, phlegm, and melancholy, and that without trouble. It is cooling, and therefore is profitable in pleuresies and for wounded people. 

A man of a reasonable strength may take an ounce of it going to bed, which will work next morning.

Electuarium Passulatum.

Take of the Polypodium of the Oak, three ounces; the leaves of Senna, the roots of March Mallow fresh, of each two ounces; Annis, two drams. 

Infuse them all in Spring Water, a sufficient quantity in a glazed vessel and boil them according to art; then, strain them out and add to the decoction pulp of Raisins of the Sun drawn through a sieve, half a pound; White Sugar and Manna, of each four ounces. Boil them again to the thickness of Marmalade, and renew it four times a year.

The College are so mysterious in this receipt, a man can hardly give directions how to make it, for they give only uncertainties. 

You had best first boil the roots in three pints of water to a quart, then put in the Senna and seeds, boil it to a pint and a half, then strain it and add the rest. The Manna will melt of itself as well as the Sugar; indeed, you had best dissolve the Manna by itself in some of the decoction, and so strain it because of its dross. 

It purges gently both choler and melancholy, cleanses the reins and bladder, and therefore is good for the stone and gravel in the kidneys. 

I leave out the dose till the College have learned wit enough to make the receipt plainer.

Electuary of the Juice of Roses - Nich. Myrepsus.

Take of Sugar, and the juice of Red Roses, of each one pound and four ounces; of the three sorts of Sanders, of each six drams; Spodium, three drachms; Diagrydium, twelve drams; Camphire, a scruple.

Make of them an electuary according to art. Let the juices be boiled with the Sugar to a just thickness, then add the other things in powder. 

It purges choler, and is good in tertian agues and diseases of the joints.

It purges violently, therefore let it be warily given. I omit the dose, because it is not for a vulgar use. I would not willingly have my countrymen do themselves a mischief; let the gentry study Physick, then shall they know what belongs to it. A lazy gentry makes block-headed physicians. 

Electuarium Reginae Coeloniens.

Take of the seeds of Saxifrage and Gromwell, juice of Liquoris, of each half an ounce; the seeds of Caraway, Annis, Smallage, Fennel, Parsley of Macedonia, Broom, Carrots, Bruseus, Sparagus, Lovage, Cumin, Juniper, Rue, Siler Mountain, the seeds of Accorus, Pennyroyal, Cinquefoil, Bayberries, of each two drachms; Indian Spickenard, Schoenanth, Amber, Valerian, Hog's Fennel, Lapis Lincis, of each a dram and a half; Galanga, Ginger, Turbith, of each two drachms; Senna, an ounce; Goat's Blood prepared, half an ounce. 

Mix them together. First beat them into powder, then make them into an electuary according to art, with three times their weight in Sugar dissolved in White Wine.

It is an excellent remedy for the stone and wind cholic, a drachm of it being taken every morning. I assure such as are troubled with such diseases, I commend it to them as a jewel. 

Hiera Picra Simplex - Galeni.

Take of Cinnamon, Xylobalsamum or wood of Aloes, Asarabacca, Spickenard, Mastic, Saffron, of each six drachms; Aloes unwashed, twelve ounces and a half; clarified Honey, four pound and three ounces.

Make it up into an electuary according to art. Also, the species is kept by itself in shops. 

It is an excellent remedy for vicious juices wjicj lie furring the tunicle of the stomach, and such idle fancies and symptoms which the brain suffers thereby, whereby some think they see, others that they are in bed, and between sleeping and waking. Besides this, it very gently purges the belly, and helps such women as are not sufficiently purged after their travail. 

Being thus made up into an electuary, it would be so bitter a dog would not take it, and the species kept by itself is not so sweet; your best way (in my opinion) to take it (for I fancy the receipt very much, and have had experience of what I have written of it) is to put only so much Honey so as it will make it into pills, of which you may take a scruple at night going to bed (if your body be not very weak) in the morning drink a draught of hot broth or posset drink; you need not fear to go about your business, for it will hardly work till next day in the afternoon, and then very gently. 

I have found the benefit of it, and from my own experience I commend it to my countrymen. 

Hiera with Agrick.

Take of Species Hiera Simple without Aloes, Agrick trochiscated of each half an ounce; Aloes not washed, an ounce; clarified Honey, six ounces. 

Mix them together into an electuary.

Look but the virtues of Agrick, and add them to the virtues of the former receipt; so is the business done without any further trouble.

Hiera Logaddi - Nich.

Take of the pulp of Colocynthis, Polypodium, of each two drachms; Euphorbium, Poley Mountain, the seeds of Thymelaea (Spurge Flax. See the Simples), of each one drachm and a half and six grains; Centaury the Less, Agrick, Gum Amoniacum, Indian Leaf or Mace, Spikenard, Squils prepared, Diagrydium, of each one drahm; Aloes, the leaves of Thyme, Germander, Cassia, Lignea, Bdellium, Horehound, of each one scruple and fourteen grains; Cinnamon, Opopanax, Castorium, long Birthwort, the three sorts of Pepper, Saffron, Sagapenum, Parsley, of each half a drachm; Hellebore Black and White, of each six grains; clarified Honey, a pound and a half.

Mix them together and make them into an electuary according to art. Also, you may keep the species by itself. 

It takes away be the roots daily evils coming of melancholy, falling-sickness, vertigo, convulsions, megrim, leprosy, and many other infirmities.

For my part, I should be loth to take it inwardly unless upon desperate occasions, or in clysters. It may well take away diseases by the roots, if it take away life and all. 

Hiera Pachii, or Diacolocynthidos - Nicholaus Alexandrinus.

Take of Colocynthis, Agrick, Germander, Horehound, Stoechas, of each ten drachms; Opopanax, Sagapenum, Parsley seeds, round Birthwort roots, White Pepper, of each five drachms; Spikenard, Cinnamon, Myrrh, Indian Leaf, Saffron, of each four drachms. 

Let the gums be bruised in a mortar, the rest sifted, all of them made into an electuary with clarified Honey three pound, three ounces and five drams(which is indeed the triple weight).

It helps the falling sickness, madness, and the pain in the head called χεθαλαλτια, pains in the breast and stomach, whether they come by sickness or bruises, pains in the loins or backbone, hardness of women's breasts, putrifactions of meat in the stomach and sour belchings. 

It is but seldom used, and therefore hard to be gotten.

Tryphera Minor - Foaeon, Mesue.

Take of Myrobalans, Chebs, Bellericks, Indian and Emblicks, Nutmegs, of each five drachms; the seeds of Watercress, the roots of Asarabacca, Origanum of Persia, or Dittany of Crete, Black Pepper, Olibanum, Bishop's Weed, Ginger, Tamaris, Indian Spikenard, Schoenanthus, Cyperus roots, of each half an ounce; Steel prepared, twenty drachms.

Let the Myrobalans be roasted a little with fresh butter; let the rest, being powdered, be sprinkled with a little oil of sweet almonds, then add to them Musk, a drachm, and with three times their weight in clarified Honey make them into an electuary according to art. 

It helps the immoderate flowing of the terms in women and the haemorrhoids in men; it helps weakness of the stomach and restores colour lost, it frees the body from crude humours, and strengthens the bladder, helps melancholy, and rectifies the distempers of the spleen. 

You may take a drachm in the morning, or two if your body be anything strong. 

Tryphera Solutive - Renodeus.

Take of Diagrydium, ten drams; of the best Turbith an ounce and a half; Cardomoms the Less, Cloves, Cinnamon, Mace, of each three drachms; Yellow Sanders, Liquoris, Sweet Fennel seeds, of each half an ounce; Acorus, Schoenanth, of each a drachm; preserved Citron peel, Roses, of each three drachms; Violets, two drachms; Penidies, four ounces; Sugar Candy, half a pound; Honey well clarified in juice of Apples, a pound.

Make an electuary according to art.

The Diagrydium and Turbith are purging, the rest are all cordial. But what to make of them put together, I know not; therefore, I leave them, and pass to . . .