ard and therefore impenetrable Bodies; as the Diamond, Ruby,
Hyacinth, the Sapphire, the Smargad and Topaz, _&c._ who are not capable
of a Dissolution, and of altering or acting upon the Fluids, and as it is
most certain that many very cheap Medicines have greater and more
observable Effects, it's ridiculous to give a hard gritty Powder, which
may for many Reasons corrode and offend the Stomach and Bowels in their
Passage.

Among the many Foreign Vegetables imported here, I must take Notice of
Sarsaparilla, as it has had the Preference before many others, especially
of our own Growth, in many difficult and chronical Cases, will have
obtain'd its Credit and Reputation by being in good Company, and by being
prescrib'd with the cheapest Drugs, but of the greatest Virtues, _viz._
Guiacum, Sasaphras, China, and the Seeds of many most useful Plants. If it
has been by it self beneficial, in the Practice of the _West-Indies_, it
has lost its Qualities in the Passage into the colder Climates, being a
soft and thin Root, it may evaporate and exhale its most active Parts;
many of the late Writers have given this Judgment of it, that it is
_nullius Saporis vel Odoris_, of no Smell or Taste.

The Physicians have not yet done, but contrive to thrust into the Stomachs
of their Patients, not only the most loathsome, but the Parts of Animals,
which after their Death, are void of all Spirits or Oils, and are a dry
and unactive Earth.

Of the first Sort, Mummy claims the Precedence; this has had the Honour to
be worn in the Bosom next to the Heart, by the Kings and Princes, and all
those who could then bear the Price the last Age in all the Courts of
_Europe_; 'twas presented with the greatest Assurance, that it was able to
preserve from the most deadly Infections, and that the Heart was secured
by it from all the Kinds of Malignity: They expected long Life from the
decay'd, or dead, Spices, and Balsams, and Gums, and the Piece of the dead
Body of an _Egyptian_ Prince, or of a Slave preferred by him: If taken
inwardly, it was avow'd to be able to dissolve the Blood coagulated, to
give new Life and Motion to all the Spirits. The dry'd Hearts of many
Animals, the Livers, the Spleens burnt to a Powder; the Skins of the
Stomachs, or Guts of Cocks, and Worms, and the dry'd Lungs of Foxes, ought
to be rejected as loathsome and offensive without any Qualities to amend,
by the Expectation of any Advantage.

The Powder of Vipers by it self, and