THis rare and excellent Root being sent me by my Brother, who is Factor to the East India Company, and it being so wonder­fully commended, and approved of by the Brach­manes, for its great Cures, I could not choose but publish it to the World, for the Advantage of Man­kind.

The Brachmanes are a sort of Indian Physicians, much celebrated not only by the Natives, but by Foreign Merchants that reside there, the English pre­ferring them before their own Countrey Doctors, when they labour under any Distempers. They are of the Sect of the Pythagoreans, and as they eat no Flesh, but are nourisht by the Produce of the Earth, so they rather choose to cure Diseases by Plants [Page 4] than Minerals. They have Great skill in Herbs, and know their Natures, as if they had been instructed by Adam or Solomon.

This Root is warm but not hot, of a very tem­perate Quality; it consists of very fine, subtil, spi­rituous parts, and hath a peculiar Odour, distinct from any that I ever smelled to: It exceedingly re­creates the Vital and Animal Spirits, and by its Taste and Colour may easily be known to be Ape­rative and Cephalick, comforting the Brain and Nerves, and putting the Animal Spirits into Order, when they have been in a Tumult by any Passion or Convulsive motions.

When persons are in Convulsive Fitts, Nature seems to be as it were in an Earthquake, and in its last Agony; and by the frequent Returns of such Fitts, those Endowments which distinguish us from Brute Creatures, are in a great measure lost: our Understanding, that great Light, is darkned, and our Memory that excellent Repository is bro­ken, and like a Sive lets through whatever is put into it.

A Gentlewoman who had a Concussion of her Head, caused by a Fall down Stairs, with great Debility of her Spirits, was Cured by this Root, to her and my great admiration; and although whilest her Vapours were upon her, she would not be perswaded but that she was dying; yet after­wards she would smile at those Gentlewomen who talked so, and would name her self as an Exam­ple of so great Folly.

[Page 5] Perhaps it is the best Medicine in the World for Women in Childbed, or any who have received prejudice by Frights, they quickly restore them to the use of their Senses, and make them lively and chearfull.

A Shop-keepers Wife at Glocester, who had dread­full Fits of the Mother, with unusual Symptoms, and great Oppressions, almost strangled with suffocating Vapours in her Throat, was cured, that they have not returned, nor I see no suspicion of it. But I must say, that I have ever found the Spirit, the Tin­cture, and the Extract drawn out of this Root, far more effectual than any Composition whatso­ever.

It's very lamentable to observe, three thousand in a Year tumbled into their Graves by these Di­stempers, as we find by the Bills of Mortality.

When our Compassionate Saviour was upon Earth, he demonstrared his Divine Power in the Cure of these Distempers more than in any other; because labouring under these Diseases, we are nei­ther fit for the service of God or Man, nor are capable of the Exercise of Reason or Faith.

I could tell you of a Learned Divine, whose Dis­order in his Head was so great, caused by Cepha­lick Distempers and Vertiginous Fumes, that he could not preach, being attended with frequent Convulsive Motions in all his Nerves, yet by the use of the Drops drawn out of this Root, was per­fectly cured.

[Page 6] Many young Children have been miraculously restored by it from Convulsion Fits, both in the Brain and Bowels: For as Dr. Willis well ob­serves, The Griping in the Guts is but an affecti­on of the Nerves in those parts, and no Remedies so efficacious in that Disease, as those that streng­then the same.

I cannot choose but recommend it to all Nurses, to drop into their Childrens Victuals, it being so exceeding temperate and pleasant, that I have known them take it, when they have refused all other Forms of Medicines.

By this wonderful Root some Children when they have been Toothing, were cured only by Rubbing their Gumms with the Electuary: Others by the Nurses taking the Drops in all her Drink, for which Cause it's called by some the Childrens Guardian.

I know a young Gentleman, who being subject to Convulsions from his Cradle, and could have no relief from the best Remedies in vulgar use, but was to the grief of his Relations cast sometimes into the Fire, and sometimes into the Water, by the Force of this Disease; and at last by the using of these Drops every New and Full Moon, was re­stored, and Married a Wife, and none of his Chil­dren ever had Fitts.

A poor Old Woman also who was many years afflicted with Fits of the Mother, that the Com­mon [Page 7] People thought her Possess'd, her Symptoms of Skreeching, and strange Motions and Distorti­ons were so terrible; yet by the Use of this Re­medy found great Advantage, and recommended it to all she knew.

I am credibly inform'd by an Eminent Chyrurgion who came from the Indies, that the Inhabitants in those Countreys Anoynt their bodies with a mixture of the Powder of this Root, and only by that Ex­ternal Application cure many Distempers, and live to a great Age.

An able Physician of my Acquaintance boyls the sliced Root in all his Broath, as a great Secret a­gainst Gripings in his Guts and Bowels proceeding from the Wind Collick, and finds Admirable Advan­tage.

I am well assured that there is an Hospital in Italy, for the Cure of Lunatical persons, where the Do­ctors use this Root with wonderful success, it mighti­ly Relieving all Discomposures of the Brain.

To see Persons foaming at mouth, Tearing their Hair, beating their Breasts, Weeping, and Wailing, and Gnashing their teeth, is a Melancholy Prospect, and may well move pity: And therefore none but the Devil or his Agents can Envy mankind the Knowledge of so useful a Remedy.

Let none despise this Root because it is a simple uncompounded thing, for I remember the Great Lord Bacon reckons it amongst one of the Deficients in [Page 8] Physick, that we study Art more than Nature, and Elaborate Methods more than simple Medicins. Whereas nine parts in ten of the known World trust to the latter more than the former.

A Captain of a Ship who is Extreamly troubled with Griping in his Guts, and Cramps in his Bowels, constantly procures Ease, only by Chewing a bit of this Root and Swallowing his Spittle.

I know a modest discreet young Gentleman, that on a sudden when he is Writing, o [...] Talking with a Friend, or at Meals, shall be surpriz'd with Dread­ful Convulsive Motions, as if he were blown up with a train of Gun-Powder; and he finds that the very Odour of this Root carried about him, and often applyed to his Nostrils, prevents many fits, bet­ter than Spirit of Sal Armoniack, Amber, or Harts­horn, which are too strong for him.

Twenty Drops of the Tincture are to be taken every Morning in Tea, the same Quantity of the Spirits every Afternoon in Mum, and also twenty Drops of the Extract at Night in Chocolate, for Men or Women; half the Quantity for Children.