Directions for Making Syrups, Conserves, &c. &c

Having in divers places of this Treatise promised you the way of making Syrups, Conserves, Oils, Ointments, &c., of herbs, roots, flowers, &c. whereby you may have them ready for your use at such times when they cannot be had otherwise; I come now to perform what I promised, and you shall find me rather better than worse than my word.

That this may be done methodically, I shall divide my directions into two grand sections, and each section into several chapters, and then you shall see it look with such a countenance as this is.

SECTION I. Of gathering, drying, and keeping Simples, and their juices.

CHAP. I. Of leaves of Herbs, &c.

CHAP. II. Of Flowers.

CHAP. III. Of Seeds.

CHAP. IV. Of Roots.

CHAP. V. Of Barks.

CHAP. VI. Of Juices.

SECTION II. Of making and keeping Compounds.

CHAP. I. Of distilled waters.

CHAP. II. Of Syrups.

CHAP. III. Of Juleps.

CHAP. IV. Of Decoctions.

CHAP. V. Of Oils.

CHAP. VI. Of Electuaries.

CHAP. VII. Of Conserves.

CHAP. VIII. Of Preserves.

CHAP. IX. Of Lohochs.

CHAP. X. Of Ointments.

CHAP. XI. Of Plaisters.

CHAP. XII. Of Poultices.

CHAP. XIII. Of Troches.

CHAP. XIV. Of Pills.

CHAP. XV. The way of fitting Medicines to Compound Diseases.

Of all these in order.

CHAPTER I. Of Leaves of Herbs, or Trees.

1. Of leaves, choose only such as are green, and full of juice; pick them carefully, and cast away such as are any way declining, for they will putrify the rest: So shall one handful be worth ten of those you buy at the physic herb shops.

2. Note what places they most delight to grow in, and gather them there; for Betony that grows in the shade, is far better than that which grows in the Sun, because it delights in the shade; so also such herbs as delight to grow near the water, shall be gathered near it, though happily you may find some of them upon dry ground: The Treatise will inform you where every herb delights to grow.

3. The leaves of such herbs as run up to seed, are not so good when they are in flower as before (some few excepted, the leaves of which are seldom or never used) in such cases, if through ignorance they were not known, or through negligence forgotten, you had better take the top and the flowers, then the leaf.

4. Dry them well in the Sun, and not in the shade, as the saying of physicians is; for if the sun draw away the virtues of the herb, it must need do the like by hay, by the same rule, which the experience of every country farmer will explode for a notable piece of nonsense.

5. Such as are artists in astrology, (and indeed none else are fit to make physicians) such I advise; let the planet that governs the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the herbs of Mars, let Mars be in the mid heaven, for in those houses they delight; let the Moon apply to them by good aspect, and let her not be in the houses of her enemies; if you cannot well stay till she apply to them, let her apply to a planet of the same triplicity; if you cannot wait that time neither, let her be with a fixed star of their nature.

6. Having well dried them, put them up in brown paper, sewing the paper up like a sack, and press them not too hard together, and keep them in a dry place near the fire.

7. As for the duration of dried herbs, a just time cannot be given, let authors prate their pleasure; for,

1st. Such as grow upon dry grounds will keep better than such as grow on moist.

2dly, Such herbs as are full of juice, will not keep so long as such as are drier.

3dly. Such herbs as are well dried, will keep longer than such as are slack dried. Yet you may know when they are corrupted, by their loss of colour, or smell, or both; and if they be corrupted, reason will tell you that they must needs corrupt the bodies of those people that take them.

4. Gather all leaves in the hour of that planet that governs them.

CHAPTER II. Of Flowers.

1. The flower, which is the beauty of the plant, and of none of the least use in physick, grows yearly, and is to be gathered when it is in its prime.

2. As for the time of gathering them, let the planetary hour, and the planet they come of, be observed, as we shewed you in the foregoing chapter: as for the time of the day, let it be when the sun shine upon them, that so they may be dry; for, if you gather either flowers or herbs when they are wet or dewy, they will not keep.

3. Dry them well in the sun, and keep them in papers near the fire, as I shewed you in the foregoing chapter.

4. So long as they retain the colour and smell, they are good; either of them being gone, so is the virtue also.

CHAPTER III. Of Seeds.

1. The seed is that part of the plant which is endowed with a vital faculty to bring forth its like, and it contains potentially the whole plant in it.

2. As for place, let them be gathered from the place where they delight to grow.

3. Let them be full ripe when they are gathered; and forget not the celestial harmony before mentioned, for I have found by experience that their virtues are twice as great at such times as others: “There is an appointed time for every thing under the sun.”

4. When you have gathered them, dry them a little, and but a little in the sun, before you lay them up.

5. You need not be so careful of keeping them so near the fire, as the other before-mentioned, because they are fuller of spirit, and therefore not so subject to corrupt.

6. As for the time of their duration, it is palpable they will keep a good many years; yet, they are best the first year, and this I make appear by a good argument. They will grow sooner the first year they be set, therefore then they are in their prime; and it is an easy matter to renew them yearly.

CHAPTER IV. Of Roots.

1. Of roots, chuse such as are neither rotten nor worm-eaten, but proper in their taste, colour, and smell; such as exceed neither in softness nor hardness.

2. Give me leave to be a little critical against the vulgar received opinion, which is, That the sap falls down into the roots in the Autumn, and rises again in the Spring, as men go to bed at night, and rise in the morning; and this idle talk of untruth is so grounded in the heads, not only of the vulgar, but also of the learned, that a man cannot drive it out by reason. I pray let such sapmongers answer me this argument; If the sap falls into the roots in the fall of the leaf, and lies there all the Winter, then must the root grow only in the Winter. But the root grows not at all in the Winter, as experience teaches, but only in the Summer: Therefore, If you set an apple-kernel in the Spring, you shall find the root to grow to a pretty bigness in the Summer, and be not a whit bigger next Spring. What doth the sap do in the root all that while? Pick straws? ’Tis as rotten as a rotten post.

The truth is, when the sun declines from the tropic of Cancer, the sap begins to congeal both in root and branch; when he touches the tropic of Capricorn, and ascends to us-ward, it begins to wax thin again, and by degrees, as it congealed. But to proceed.

3. The drier time you gather the roots in, the better they are; for they have the less excrementitious moisture in them.

4. Such roots as are soft, your best way is to dry in the sun, or else hang them in the chimney corner upon a string; as for such as are hard, you may dry them any where.

5. Such roots as are great, will keep longer than such as are small; yet most of them will keep a year.

6. Such roots as are soft, it is your best way to keep them always near the fire, and to take this general rule for it: If in Winter-time you find any of your roots, herbs or flowers begin to be moist, as many times you shall (for it is your best way to look to them once a month) dry them by a very gentle fire; or, if you can with convenience keep them near the fire, you may save yourself the labour.

7. It is in vain to dry roots that may commonly be had, as Parsley, Fennel, Plantain, &c. but gather them only for present need.

CHAPTER V. Of Barks.

1. Barks, which physicians use in medicine, are of these sorts: Of fruits, of roots, of boughs.

2. The barks of fruits are to be taken when the fruit is full ripe, as Oranges, Lemons, &c. but because I have nothing to do with exotics here, I pass them without any more words.

3. The barks of trees are best gathered in the Spring, if of oaks, or such great trees; because then they come easier off, and so you may dry them if you please; but indeed the best way is to gather all barks only for present use.

4. As for the barks of roots, ’tis thus to be gotten. Take the roots of such herbs as have a pith in them, as parsley, fennel, &c. slit them in the middle, and when you have taken out the pith (which you may easily do) that which remains is called (tho’ improperly) the bark, and indeed is only to be used.

CHAPTER VI. Of Juices.

1. Juices are to be pressed out of herbs when they are young and tender, out of some stalks and tender tops of herbs and plants, and also out of some flowers.

2. Having gathered the herb, would you preserve the juice of it, when it is very dry (for otherwise the juice will not be worth a button) bruise it very well in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, then having put it into a canvas bag, the herb I mean, not the mortar, for that will give but little juice, press it hard in a press, then take the juice and clarify it.

3. The manner of clarifying it is this: Put it into a pipkin or skillet, or some such thing, and set it over the fire; and when the scum arises, take it off; let it stand over the fire till no more scum arise; when you have your juice clarified, cast away the scum as a thing of no use.

4. When you have thus clarified it, you have two ways to preserve it all the year.

(1.) When it is cold, put it into a glass, and put so much oil on it as will cover it to the thickness of two fingers; the oil will swim at the top, and so keep the air from coming to putrify it: When you intend to use it, pour it into a porringer, and if any oil come out with it, you may easily scum it off with a spoon, and put the juice you use not into the glass again, it will quickly sink under the oil. This is the first way.

(2.) The second way is a little more difficult, and the juice of fruits is usually preserved this way. When you have clarified it, boil it over the fire, till (being cold) it be of the thickness of honey; This is most commonly used for diseases of the mouth, and is called Roba and Saba. And thus much for the first section, the second follows.