YOu may justly wonder that I who am a Stranger to you, should commu­nicate a Specifick Medicine to one whose Ex­perience can furnish him with many; but the Reason why I do it, is, because your Emi­nent [Page 4] Station in the Colledge renders you the more capable of recommending it to the Practice of other Physicians. I confess the thing hath been known by Name a long time, but it hath not been brought into ge­neral use; and this was the Fate of the Pe­ruvian Bark, untill we know who made suc­cessfull Experiments of it, and brought it into Great Reputation.

I have in my Travels through several Parts of the World, made many curious Observa­tions upon the use of specifick Remedies, and I have Communicated several, as some at London can tell you. I know no more need of Publishing my Name, than the Author of The Whole Duty of Man had for Not-divulging his. I am sure my Design is not private Ad­vantage, but Publick Benefit.

I hear of very considerable Cures that have been wrought at London by the Use of some Spicificks that I have made made Pub­lick, and that encourages me to tell the World of more, in Imitation of the Example of the [Page 5] great Esquire Boyle, who was my particular Friend.

The Learned and Curious Sir John Floyer at Litchfield, hath been wonderful Kind in Communicating many Specificks, and put us in a way to find out the Nature and Quali­ty of Druggs by their tastes and smells; and he saith that he doth not question but that the Artificial Jumbles of many Medicines to­gether will in time be rejected, and every Ingenious Practicer will chiefly make use of Simple Medicines, by which his Patient will be more suddenly, safely and pleasantly Cured.

When I call to mind the Practice of Hy­pocrates and Galen, who wrote their Books and Publisht their Receipts in the Language of the Countrey where they dwelt, I judge I may well be excused from Blame.

The Specifick that I recommend is the Tincture drawn from the true Nephrittick Wood, which comes from Hyspaniola; it may [Page 6] be known from the spurious sort by its com­municating a Blew Sky-coloured Tincture un­to Spring-water, which the other will not do: By its peculiar quality it resists the Petrifa­ctive Disposition of the Reins and Bladder, it cleanseth those parts from mucilaginous sli­my Humours, which are apt to lodge in the Urinary Passages, and by its Abstersive Pro­perty it prevents the Coagulation of Sand and Gravel, it dilates and lubrifies the Uretors, and causeth an easie expulsion of small Stones, and cures a Suppression of Urine and Stran­gury; it heals the Excoriation, caused by the Acrimony of the Humours, and easeth Pain in making Water; it cools the Reins, and mitigates the scalding Heat of Urine, and dissolves the Stone as far as any Medicine is capable of doing it.

I could give you many strange Examples of great Cures wrought with it: And particu­larly a Woman much afflicted with the Stran­gury, with an acute Pain in her Hip, and frequent reaching to Vomit, she took Sixty Drops of the Tincture, Morning, Noon, and [Page 7] Night, in Ale and White-wine dulcified with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, she voided in a Months time Nine Ounces of Gravel, and thirty small Stones like great Pins-heads, and found great Ease.

A young Gentleman who was so exceed­ingly wrackt with the Stone that he was ad­vised to be Cut, but a Friend coming in ad­vised him to take the Drops of the Tincture drawn out of this Wood in Oyl of Walnuts, and it gave him Relief, and prevented the Return of his Pains, he continu'd it two Months.

I my self frequently take the Spirit, and sometimes the Extract, in all my Drink, fifty or sixty Drops at a time, and find great ad­vantage: I draw the Spirit and Extract with Rhenish Wine.

An old Man who had frequent stopping in his Water, with twitching smart Pains, and sometimes bloody Urine and great scalding, was wonderfully eased by the use of this [Page 8] Tincture, taken in Spaw-waters, and some­times in Milk sweeten'd with Honey. It's endless to give Instances, I therefore take leave to Subscribe my self