umed that
they were mainly imaginary.

The bishop, as is usual in such cases, speaks of himself as
indispensably obliged, by the duty he owes to mankind, to make his
experience public. Now this was by no means evident, nor does it follow
in general, that because a man has formed a favorable opinion of
a person or a thing he has not the proper means of thoroughly
understanding, he shall be bound to print it, and thus give currency
to his impressions, which may be erroneous, and therefore injurious.
He would have done much better to have laid his impressions before some
experienced physicians and surgeons, such as Dr. Mead and Mr. Cheselden,
to have asked them to try his experiment over again, and have been
guided by their answers. But the good bishop got excited; he pleased
himself with the thought that he had discovered a great panacea; and
having once tasted the bewitching cup of self-quackery, like many before
and since his time, he was so infatuated with the draught that he would
insist on pouring it down the throats of his neighbors and all mankind.

The precious fluid was made by stirring a gallon of water with a quart
of tar, leaving it forty-eight hours, and pouring off the clear water.
Such was the specific which the great metaphysician recommended for
averting and curing all manner of diseases. It was, if he might be
believed, a preventive of the small-pox, and of great use in the course
of the disease. It was a cure for impurities of the blood, coughs,
pleurisy, peripneumony, erysipelas, asthma, indigestion, carchexia,
hysterics, dropsy, mortification, scurvy, and hypochondria. It was of
great use in gout and fevers, and was an excellent preservative of
the teeth and gums; answered all the purpose of Elixir Proprietatis,
Stoughton's drops, diet drinks, and mineral waters; was particularly to
be recommended to sea-faring persons, ladies, and men of studious and
sedentary lives; could never be taken too long, but, on the contrary,
produced advantages which sometimes did not begin to show themselves for
two or three months.

"From my representing Tar Water as good for so many things," says
Berkeley, "some perhaps may conclude it is good for nothing. But charity
obligeth me to say what I know, and what I think, however it may be
taken. Men may censure and object as they please, but I appeal to time
and experiment. Effects misimputed, cases wrong told, circumstances
overlooked, perhaps, too, prejudices and parti