employed to an immense extent. A number of remedies were made from them, generally from a combination of them. One of these called the Lisbon Diet Drink became very popular in the eighteenth century. This was taken not only in syphilitic cases, but as an anti-*rheumatic and generally purifying medicine. It was said to contain antimony, and the following was reputed to be a correct imitation of it:—Sarsaparilla, 90, red sandal, 90, yellow sandal, 90, rose root, 30, guaiacum wood, 30, sassafras, 30, mezereon bark, 15, sulphide of antimony, 60, boiling water, 3600. Infuse twelve hours and boil down to half, adding near the end of the boiling fifteen parts of liquorice. An English Dr. Leake wrote a book about this decoction in 1787, describing what he had seen of its good effects in the cure of venereal diseases, scurvy, and other stubborn chronic complaints. He had been to Lisbon, and intimated that he had obtained the correct formula, but he did not give it. He had, however, for some time made it, and would supply it in a concentrated form.
A compound decoction of sarsaparilla was introduced into the London Pharmacopœia of 1788, and the Liquor Sarsæ Co. Conc. of the B.P. is the direct descendant of that preparation.
Sirop de Cuisinier has long been a popular preparation of sarsaparilla in France, and has been officially recognised by the Codex for a century. A compound syrup of sarsaparilla was introduced into the United States Pharmacopœia in 1820 expressly as an imitation of the French syrup. The original Sirop de Cuisinier was evidently a proprietary article, but I have not been able to trace its history. The Codex formula prescribes sarsaparilla, with flowers of borage and white roses,
