1. Plaister against Abortion.
Take Plaister for Ruptures 1 ounce; Cerate of Sanders, Countesses Unguent, each 3 drams; Oil of Myrtle 3 drams and half; Wax half an ounce; to these (when melted) add the following Powder, Viz. Dragons Blood. Mastic, Bole, Galls, Bistort Root, each half a dram; Amber, red Coral, Nutmeg, each 2 scruples; at last cast in Cyprus Turpentine, as much as needful to make it into an Emplastic Mass.
Let it be worn upon the Region of the Lions, to prevent Miscarriage.
My Opinion is, that Bole, Coral, Plaister of Paris, and the like, in Plaisters, do no good, upon the score of their being properly Astringents; for they touch nothing but the outward part where they lie; and (having nothing of Volatile Steams) fend no Medicinal Effluvia inward. But they make the Composition to be of a more Compact Body, and as 'twere better Mortar, to stick and cleave faster on. For Astringent Plaisters, (as I judge) do nothing at all, but adhere strongly, and compress the Cutis, and like a Bandage, constringe the Fibres, and to give the Part, as "twere, an Artificial Tone, and new Strength; and all this without Heating, or Discussing, or sitting uneasie on the parts, as Bandages are apt to do.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710