Sylva Sylvarum (1631 English edition)

...medicines that are gentle original: "Benedict", like strong purgatives, as those that are not without some harmfulness original: "Malignity".

20

Purging medicines, for the most part, have their purgative power original: "Vertue" in a fine spirit. This is shown by the fact that they do not endure boiling without much loss of power. Therefore, it is a good use in medicine original: "Physicke" if you can retain the purging power and take away the unpleasant taste of the purgative; this you may likely do by this method of infusing soaking a substance in liquid to extract its qualities often, with only a short soak each time. For it is probable that the horrible and odious taste comes from the coarser original: "Grosser" part of the substance.

21

Generally, working by infusions is crude and unguided, unless you first test the release original: "Issuing" of the various parts of the substance to see which of them release more quickly and which more slowly. By apportioning the time, you can take or leave that quality which you desire. To know this, there are two ways: the one is to test what a long soak and what a short soak produce, as has been said. The other is to test, in order, the succeeding infusions of one and the same substance, successively, in several liquors. For example: take orange peels, or rosemary, or cinnamon, or whatever you wish. Let them infuse for half an hour in water. Then take them out and infuse them again in other water, and then a third time. Then taste and consider the first water, the second, and the third. You will find them differing not only in strength and weakness, but otherwise in taste or odor. For it may be the first water will have more of the scent, being more fragrant, and the second more of the taste, being more bitter or biting, and so on.

22

Infusions in air (for so we may well call odors) have the same varieties as infusions in water, in that the various odors (which are in one flower or other body) come out at different times—some earlier, some later. So we find that violets, honeysuckle original: "woodbines", and strawberries yield a pleasing scent that comes forth first; but soon after, an ill scent comes that is quite different from the former. This is caused not so much by the flower ripening original: "Mellowing", as by the later release of the coarser original: "Grosser" spirit.

23

Just as we may desire to extract the finest spirits in some cases, so we may desire also to discharge them (as being harmful) in some others. So mulled wine original: "Wine burnt", by reason of the evaporating of the finer spirit, causes less inflammation and is best for fevers original: "Agues". Opium loses some of its poisonous quality if it is evaporated out, mingled with spirit of wine alcohol, or the like. Senna loses some of its "windiness" the quality of causing gas or bloating by decoction boiling down a substance. Generally, subtle or "windy" spirits are removed by burning original: "incension" or evaporation. And even in infusions of things that have too high a spirit, you were better off pouring off the first infusion after a short time and using the latter.

Bubbles are in the form of a hemisphere: air within, and a little skin of water without. It seems somewhat strange that the air should rise so swiftly while it is in the water, yet when it comes to the top, it should be held back by so weak a cover as that of the bubble. But as for the swift ascent of the air, while it is under the...