The new dispensatory: containing, I. The elements of pharmacy. II. The materia medica, or an account of the substances employed in medicine with the virtues and uses of each article, so far as they are warranted by experience and observation. III. The preparations and compositions of the London and Edinburgh pharmacopoeias / By William Lewis, M.B., F.R.S.

  • Lewis, William, 1708-1781.
Date:
1768
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The new dispensatory: containing, I. The elements of pharmacy. II. The materia medica, or an account of the substances employed in medicine with the virtues and uses of each article, so far as they are warranted by experience and observation. III. The preparations and compositions of the London and Edinburgh pharmacopoeias / By William Lewis, M.B., F.R.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    85/712 (page 69)
    Acrids. AC rids are fubftances of a pe- cerate it: chewed, they occaiion a Co- netrating pungency. Appli- pious difcharge of faliva: and fnuft- edtotheikin, they inflame or exul- ed upthenofe,provokefneezing. Thefe fubftances, confidered as the fubje&s of pharmacy, maybe di¬ vided into three clafles, 1. In diflillation with water : as horfe-radifh, muftard, fcurvy-grafs, &c. 2. By infuflon only ; as the greater celandine, pyrethrum, &c. 3. Neither to infuflon, nor diflillation : as arum and dracunculus. yielding their acrimony The general effefts of acrid me- of the fquill in particular, for the dicines are, to ftimulate the veflels, cure of this diforder, feveral in- and diflblve tenacious juices. In ftances are related in the Commer- cold leucophlegmatic habits, flag- cium literarium ofNorimberg for nations of the fluids, and where the years 1737 and 1739. Car- the contra&ile power of the folids theufer thinks, that not the afth- is weak, they prove powerful ex- ma itfelf, but a particular eifeCl of peftorants, deobftruents, diuretics, it, was removed by this medicine, and emmenagogues ; and if the He obferves, thatin all afthmas, the patient is kept warm, fudorifics. free circulation of the blood through In hot bilious conftitutions, pie- the pulmonary veflels, is impeded ; thoric habits, inflammatory di- and hence; during every paroxyim, (tempers, where there is already a the lungs are in a kind of oedema- degree of irritation, where the tous ftate : that if this oedema, be- juices are too thin andacrimonious, coming habitual, remains after the or the vifeera unfound ; thefe fti- fit is over, it is either perpetually mulsting medicines prove highly pccafioningfrelh ones, or gives rife prejudicial, and never fail to ag- to a dropfy of the breafl : that acrid gravate the difeafe. medicines, by removing the oede- Certain acrid fubftances have ma, remove what was originally an been lately recommended in dry. efFe£t of the afthma, and in time a convulflve afthmas : of the efficacy caufe of its aggravation. Aromatics. ARomatics are fubftances of a warm pungent tafte, and a more or lefs fragrant fmell. Some of the fpices are purely aromatic, as cubebs, pepper, cloves ; fome fubftances have a fweetnefs mixed with the aromatic matter, as ange¬ lica root, anifeed, fennel feed ; fome an aftringency, as cinnamon; fome a ftrong mucilage, as cafta- lignea; fome a bitternefs, as orange peel. The aromatic matter itfelf, contained in different fubje&s, dif¬ fers alfo not a little in its pharma¬ ceutic properties. It is extra&ed from all by redlified fpirit of wine; F 3 from