cures he had effected, gives names and addresses of many of his patients, often adding grateful letters from them. He had but limited confidence in the "clan of prejudiced gentlemen," as he calls the College of Physicians, and he complains vigorously of the extortions of the Apothecaries. Metallic quicksilver was his panacea, and he prescribed it so lavishly that he acquired the title of "the quicksilver doctor." It forms balsam with the blood, he says. That is why it cures venereal diseases. Other doctors gave it, but in disguise, in the form of Ethiops Mineral generally; which was like using the sword in the scabbard.
His formula for "Diaphoretic Powder" is given in a chapter on gout. It was as follows:—
"Take opium 1 oz.; saltpetre and tartar vitriolated, each 4 oz.; liquorish 1 oz.; ipecacuanha, 1 oz. Put the saltpetre and tartar into a red-hot mortar, stirring till they have done flaming. Then powder them very fine. After that slice in your opium; grind these to a powder, and then mix the other powders with them. Dose, from 40 to 60 or 70 grains in a glass of white wine posset going to bed, covering up warm, and drinking a quart or three pints of the posset while sweating. In two or three hours at furthest the patient will be free from pain, and though before not able to put his foot to the ground, 'tis very much if he cannot walk next day. The remedy may be taken once a week or once a month."
The dose appears to us in these degenerate days a large one, and Dover states that "some apothecaries have desired their patients to make their wills before they venture upon so large a dose." But he declares he has given up to 100 grains, and the patient has appeared abroad the next day. The notion of danger,
