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The Pharmacopeia Extemporanea
Thomas Fuller published his Pharmacopeia Extemporanea in English in 1710. It caused quite a stir by giving away medical recipes previously guarded jealously by doctors. He explains his motives in The Preface.
Fuller lists some 800 recipes, divided into the following categories:
- Ales
- Bags, Balsams, Boluses, Broths and Cakes
- Cataplasms and Caudles
- Decoctions
- Diets and Draughts
- Electuaries
- Eleosacchara, Elixirs, Emetics, Emulsions, Epithems, Errhines and Essences
- Expressions and Extracts
- Foments, Frontals and Fumes
- Gargles
- Glysters
- Honeys, Hydrogalas, Hydromels and Infusions
- Juices and Juleps
- Lambatives, Laudanums, Lavaments, Liniments, Litus, Lixivia and Lohochs
- Lotions, Lozenges and Masticatories
- Mixtures
- Nodules, Oils, Oxymels, Pastes and Pellets
- Pills
- Plaisters
- Possets and Potions
- Powders
- Ptisans, Quilts, Robs, Sudorificks, Spirits, Stones, Sugars, Suppositories and Syrups
- Tinctures and Tobaccos
- Unguents
- Vapours, Wafers, Waters, Wheys and Wines
To track down individual ingredients, I recommend using the Database search (e.g. search the body text for "snail")
As always, click on the name (e.g. Antimonal Ale) to see more details.
Units of Measurement
The Pharmacopeia uses Apothecary units, some of which may be unfamiliar.
The smallest unit of weight is the grain, weighing 64.8 mg or 1/480 of a troy ounce. The equivalent unit of volume is the minim. Fuller uses the term drop which is roughly equivalent to 20 minims . The other main units are the scruple - 20 grains, and dram or drachm - 60 grains or 3 scruples.
Solid Measurements | ||||||
| 1 pound | = | 12 ounces | 96 drams | 288 scruples | 5,760 grains | 373 grams |
| 1 ounce | = | - | 8 drams | 24 scruples | 480 grains | 31.1 grams |
| 1 dram | = | - | - | 3 scruples | 60 grains | 3.89 grams |
| 1 scruple | = | - | - | - | 20 grains | 1.296 grams |
| 1 grain | = | - | - | - | - | 64.8 mg |
Liquid Measurements | ||||||
| 1 liquid pint | = | 16 fl. ounces | 128 fl. drams | 384 fl. scruples | 7,680 minims | 473 ml |
| 1 fluid ounce | = | - | 8 fl. drams | 24 fl. scruples | 480 minims | 29.6 ml |
| 1 fluid dram | = | - | - | 3 fl. scruples | 60 minims | 3.70 ml |
| 1 fluid scruple | = | - | - | - | 20 minims | 1.23 ml |
| 1 minim | = | - | - | - | - | 0.062 ml |
1 drop =~ 1 fluid scruple.