THE 
Venereal PATIENT'S Refuge: 
OR, THE 
SECRET DISEASE,
In all its 
Stages, Degrees, and Circumstances, 
Plainly describ’d. 
And the SPECIFICK REMEDY, which 
has of late cur’d so many with Ease, Safety, Privacy, 
Certainty, and Expedition; without a Salivation, Diet- 
Drinks, and such like Slip-Slops of Physick, Confinement, 
&c. as is fully related in a Tract dedicated to Dr. Paul 
Chamberlaine, now, for Public Good, discover’d and 
made known. 
And (in plain English) the Composition, Preparation, 
Virtues, and Use of Dr. Wall's famous Electuary; the 
Great Anti venereal Elixir; and other Medicines, suffi- 
ciently well experienc’d in Curing this Disease. 
The Cause and Cure of divers Secret Weaknesses, in 
both Sexes; and of a Constitution, injur’d, broken, and 
spoil’d by Mercury, unskillful Management, and 
Negligence in former Cures, though many Years ago. 
Design’d for the Use and Benefit of the Afflicted. 
By JOHN SPINKE, M. D. 
LONDON, 
Printed: And Sold by J. BAKER, and T. 
WARNER, at the Black-Boy in Pater Noster Row. 
1717. Price 1s. 6d.




To the Worshipful SOCIETY
of SURGEONS, London. 
Gentlemen, 
TO you, very often, as well as to Physicians, Per- 
sons, under the unfortunate Circumstances of a 
Venereal Infection, address themselves for 
Relief and a Cure. And hitherto, you Surgeons, 
as well as we Physicians, have, generally spea- 
king, been necessitated, for Want of a better Method, and 
more effectual Medicines, to treat Venereal Patients in the 
Height of the Distemper, with irksome Salivations, and te- 
dious Courses of Diet-Drink; And even virulent Gonor- 
rhœa’s, and stubborn Claps, are not (as you, Gentlemen, will, 
I believe, readily acknowledge) by the Methods and Medicines 
now in common Use, always to he carry'd off, and completely 
cured, without keeping the Patient long in Hand, under some 
Restraint, and perplexing him with Variety of Physick, Very 
Welcome therefore, to the World, and to you. Gentlemen, in 
particular, must a Discovery of that Great Antivenereal Me- 
dicine, The Specifick Remedy for the Secret Disease, be, 
which, from the Experience had of it by Dr. Ratcliff in his 
Life-time, Dr. Paul Chamberlaine, and other eminent Physi-
cians, in above two thousand Cures happily perform’d within 
a few Years past, as is fully related and confirm’d in that most 
ingenious little Tract, intitled, A Practical Scheme of the 
Secret Disease, dedicated to that eminent Physician Dr. Paul 
Chamberlaine, may be absolutely depended on for a Cure in any 
Venereal Case whatsoever: For, in any common Clap, it 
answers all Intentions of Cure, with Pleasure, Ease, Safety, 
Privacy, Expedition, and such Certainty, as scarcely to miss 
two in a Hundred: And when the Disease, by Negligence 
and Mismanagement shall he become a Confirm’d Pox ; and 
the Patient be afflicted with Breakings-out, Sores, and Scabs, 
in divers Parts of the Body, Ulcers in the Mouth and 
Throat, and Nocturnal Pains in the Arms, Shins, &c. Even 
then this Specifick Remedy performs the Cure without a Sali- 
vation, Diet-Drinks, and such like Slip-Slops of Physick, 
A2 which

which oblige to a Confinement, give Cause of Suspicion, &c. 
In all which Particulars, this Great Medicine so far excels 
those in common Use among Physicians and Surgeons, as that 
what is said of it must necessarily surpass Belief, until it shall 
be consider'd, that this Great Medicine is (what has been long 
wish'd for) a true Specific for the Secret Disease ; Then, 
indeed, the Wonder will cease: For, as you. Gentlemen, to 
whom I here address'd myself, very well know, it is the Pro- 
perty of a Specific Remedy, generally (some fay always) to 
cure that Disease for which it is a Specific; Whatever 
Age, Sex, and Constitution the, Patient shall be of; and 
with whatever Degree of the Disease afflicted; provided the 
Disease be not past Cure. The Secret Disease is, indeed, 
attended sometimes with urgent, painful, and very troublesome 
Symptoms, and, on those Occasions, this Great Medicine 
may he very aptly assisted, whereby the Cure will be sooner 
perform'd, than by the Specific Remedy of itself: 
And that nothing may be wanting, in order to render 
this Great Medicine, now discover’d and made known, as 
useful as possible, the Receipts of the Medicines that are, on 
those Occasions, necessary and proper to be us'd with it, are 
here set down in Words at length, and that in English; so 
that the most ignorant Person can't readily mistake, either in 
their Preparation or Use. I shall not, Gentlemen, trouble 
you with any Account of the Description here given of the 
Secret Disease, which, for the Sake of the Vulgar, is very plain: 
But, passing that by, as also what is said in Refutation of some 
Notions advanc'd by a late Writer, and Dr. Wall's famous 
Electuary, &c. here set forth in English Receipts, I shall 
only add, that throughout the whole of this Performance, the 
Public Good has been aim'd at, by him who requests your 
Excuse for this Freedom, and is, 
Worthy Sirs, 
Your most devoted 
Humble Servant, 
Nov. 20, 1716
JOHN SPINKE

(I)
CHAP. I. 
Of the Original Cause and Nature of the 
Secret Disease. 
‘ ACcording to the Principles of the new 
‘ Philosophy, a promiscuous Mixture of 
‘ different Company in one and the same 
‘ Woman, from the Heat and Action of the 
‘ Parts wherein it is lodg'd, and the dif- 
‘ ferent Activity of Spirits and volatile 
‘ Salts with which different Seeds abound, do so rarify 
‘ and ferment, as to become, by a Change of Figure, 
‘ Texture, and Cohæsion of its Parts (from being broken 
‘ and shatter'd in Fermentation) a CORRUPT Body or 
‘ Matter, and by Consequence a most violent ACID, 
‘ which is the natural Result and Product of all Fermentati- 
‘ ons; as appears in Vinegar, which is a corrupted Wine;
‘ Leaven, a corrupted Dough; Yeast, a corrupted Wort, &c. 
‘ and which are all more or less Acids, and corrupt Bodies, 
‘ as their Corruptions from more or less perfect Things: 
‘ For always Corruptio optimi pessima; so the sharpest Vi- 
‘ negar is made of the best Wine, and consequently 'tis 
‘ no Wonder that the very worst of all Distempers should 
‘ proceed from a Corruption of a Matter so refin'd and 
‘ perfect as human Seed is.
This is the Philosophical Account the ingenious and 
learned Author of The Practical Scheme of the Secret Di- 
sease has, in the sixteenth Edition of that Tract, given of 
the Original Cause of the Venereal Distemper; which Ac- 
count, altho' it has been ten several Times (in so many 
Editions) deliberated about by that Author, and be too,
B in


(2)
in the Main, as agreeable to what is to be met with in 
some other late Writers, treating of this Disease, as if 
it were transcrib'd from them; yet I must freely own, 
I look upon this Hypothesis to be a mere Philosophical 
Chimæra, altogether void of Truth: And that for the fol- 
lowing Considerations, 1. Because the Semen (when there 
is no Conception) remains not in the Uterus, or its Vagina, 
long enough to admit of a putrefactive Fermentation. 2. In 
Case it did, it is not conceivable that the Semen of one 
Man can differ so much, in its constituent Parts, from that 
of another Man, as that, should they be mix'd, and 
remain together, in the Manner suggested, they should 
ferment, and be, by that Fermentation, converted into 
the Venereal Virus. 3. Were promiscuous Copulation, by 
any Means, capable of producing that Poyson which is 
the Essence of the Venereal Disease, the World would 
certainly have been as well acquainted with that Di- 
sease (which, in these Parts, at least, it was not) before 
the Siege of Naples, in or about the Year of our Lord 
1594, as it has been since: For the same Cause always 
produces the same Effect; and Whoring was doubtless 
as much in Use, in the Ages before that Siege, as it was 
then, or has been since. Whatever therefore was the Ori- 
gin of the Secret Disease, a Corruption of the Seed of divers 
Men in some common Woman certainly was not. And 
as I reject the above-written Hypothesis it self, so I must 
declare my Disbelief of what our Author has said and 
affirm’d in Explanation of it; for how can it possibly 
be true, that a violent Acid should be the natural Re- 
sult and Product of all Fermentations? Are not Grapes, 
Apples, Pears, Plumbs, &c. sour, that is, Acid, in their 
immature and unripe State? And are they not, by a 
gentle and natural Fermentation, promoted by the Heat 
of the Sun, advanc’d from their State of Immaturity to 
that of Ripeness? And do not their Juices, in such their 
Time of Ripening, by Means of that Fermentation, lose 
their former Sourness, (or Acidity) and become delici- 
ously sweet and pleasant? Again, is it not by Fermen- 
tation, that the express'd Juice of the Grape is brought 
into Wine? That of the Apple into Syder? That of the 
Pear into Perry, &c. And will this Author perswade 
us, that all Kinds of Fruit, when just ripe, and in 
their


(3)
their Perfection, as also the most generous Wines, the best 
of Syder, Perry, &c. are all (even whilst they are in 
their best State, and most agreeable to the Palate) vio- 
lent Acids, and in a State of Corruption? Again, how 
can this Author expect that the Ladies will credit him, 
in affirming, that the best Wine Vinegar they use in their 
Pickles, and palatable Sauces, as also the Leaven and Yeast 
mix’d in all the Bread they eat, are, as such, corrupt 
Matters? Is it not, I beseech you, a well-known Truth, 
that Fermentation is only an intestine Motion of Particles? 
And is it not (too) as well known, that all Things are 
brought to Perfection by one Fermentation, as well as in- 
to a State of Corruption and Dissolution by another. If 
this be the best of our Authors new Philosophy, it will 
certainly be worth his while, laying that aside, to read 
a little old Philosophy. 
As to a true Knowledge of the Original Cause of the 
Secret Disease, it seems very difficult to be come at; and 
would probably be of little Advantage, if gain'd: For 
I deem it of small Importance to a Physician, and of less 
to an afflicted Patient, to know the Original Cause of 
this (or any) Disease; when, where, and by what 
Means it was introduc’d into the World: But unless 
a Physician be acquainted with the true Nature and ma- 
terial Cause of this (or any) Disease, he can’t rational- 
ly adapt Remedies proper for its safe, speedy, and effe- 
ctual Cure. Our learned Author, to this Purpose, says, 
‘ Any Man (Td. 16. p. 4.) that pretends to cure a Di- 
‘ stemper he does not perfectly, as well according to the 
‘ Principles of Philosophy as Anatomy, understand, that he 
‘ may rightly know how and when to oppose Acids to 
‘ Alcalies, and Alcalies to Acids, in which all Distempers 
‘ consist, acts only by Rote.' A Physician ought, as our 
Author says, to understand the Disease he pretends to cure; 
but I humbly conceive our ingenious Author’s new Philo- 
sophy has, in this Passage, brought him into another Mi- 
stake; for it is most certain, that all Diseases do not, as our 
Author has affirm’d, consist either in Acids or Alcalies. Nor 
does the whole Art of Physick consist in knowing how
and when to oppose Acids to Alkalies, and Alkalies to 
Acids. This would indeed be cutting the Work short 
both in Theory and Practice: for, as to Theory, it would 
B2 dis-

(4)
disengage us, in a very great Measure, from troubling 
our Heads with what Authors have, in their many large 
Volumes, wrote about the great Variety of Causes, Na- 
tures, and Difference of the many Diseases incident to hu- 
man Bodies. And as to Practice, we being only (as 
our Author intimates) to oppose Acids to A'calies, and 
Alcalies to Acids, as Occasion shall require there could
certainly be no farther Need of Bleeding, Blistering, 
Purging, Vomiting, Sweating, Salivating, giving Opiates, 
Cordials, &c. which Thing, could it be made out, would 
be good News to the sick and afflicted Part of Mankind. 
Come we now to consider the Nature, Essence, and 
material Cause of the Secret Disease; which I am very 
well assur’d does, as our Author has affirm’d of it, con- 
sist in an ACID. But he having not so fully describ’d 
the Nature of that Acid, as, in my Opinion, is necessa- 
ry, I will, in some Measure, supply that slight Defect. 
I say then, The Effence of the Venereal Infection consists in 
an Acid, of a malign and corrosive Quality, not absolutely 
fix’d, nor of it self volatile, but which is, by Heat, easily 
volatiliz’d; and which will, by Fermentation, convert the 
Fluids of an human Body (especially the Lympha, design'd 
by Nature for the Nutrition of the Part into which it shall 
be intromitted) into a corrupt malign Matter of its own Na- 
ture. It is the Nature of all Acids (and of this Vene- 
real Acid amongst the rest) to coagulate the Blood and 
Lympha, (which are made up of sulphureous and alcale- 
ous Particles) and to render them viscid; their Viscidi- 
ty occasions, in the capillary Vessels and Glandules, their 
Stagnation; their Stagnation, Obstructions and putrefactive 
Fermentations, and at length Breakings-out, Scabs, Ulcers, 
&c. in the Parts affected: All which, and the other 
Symptoms of this Disease, are more or less severe, 
according as the putrefying Fluid was more or less re- 
plete with the Venereal corrosive Particles, the Body more 
or less fill'd before with diseasy Humours, &c. So that 
having discover’d the Nature of the Venereal Infection, 
and its Effects on the Blood and Lympha, it would be no 
difficult Matter to account for the great Variety of 
Symptoms that Venereal Patients, according to their Age, 
Sex, different Habits of Body, Malignity of the Infecti- 
on, Way of receiving it, &c, are afflicted with. And
what

(5)
what our learned Author has said on that Head, shall be 
inserted in the next Chapter but one; for the Subject 
treated of in the ensuing Chapter being worthy of Con- 
sideration, and scarcely taken Notice of in the Practical 
Scheme, I shall supply that Omission here. 
CHAP. II. 
Of Receiving the Venereal Infection. 
THE Effence of the Venereal Disease consisting of a 
malign corrosive Acid, by Heat easily volatiliz’d, it a 
Infection may infallibly be communicated from one Per- 
son to another, by any Kind of Means, (five immedi- 
até, five mediaté) by which the malign penetrative Par- 
ticles of this Infection may be transmitted from any Part 
of an infected Person, into the cuticular Pores of any 
Part of a sound Body ; for 'tis no sooner through those 
Pores, but it meets some Fluid, which it viciates, ren- 
ders viscid, and (by farther Fermentation) colliquates 
and converts into a Virus of its own Nature. 
And by that Means it happens, that this Infection (by 
whatever Way receiv’d) first occasions a LOCAL Disease, 
that is, the principal Part (at least) of the Infection (for 
some short Time) adheres to and remains in the Part in- 
to which it first gain’d Admission; and in that Part, 
and those thereto adjacent, usually first discovers it 
self. That every one may have a satisfactory Notion of 
the Matter, I will subjoin a more particular Account 
how, and by what Means, Persons may and do be- 
come infected with this Disease, and of the Symptoms 
that do thereupon first ensue, viz. 
1. By the Venereal Enjoyment of an infected Companion; 
which I must not put down for a new Discovery. 
2. A Man may, as many know by dear-bought Ex- 
perience, receive this Infection by only lustful Dalliance 
with the obscene Parts of an infected Woman, (or, if be 
has a virulent Gonorrhœa, Shankers, &c. he may so give 
it


(6)
it a found Woman) altho' he does not absolutely enter 
her Body. 
3. Some have assur'd me, they have receiv'd the In- 
fection by only permitting their (pick'd up) Ladies to 
handle their privy Members; but in that Case, the Wo- 
man must first (to satisfy some private Grudge) have 
moisten'd her Hand with the infectious Filth of her own 
Body. When the Infection shall have been receiv'd by 
any of the Ways hitherto nam'd, it usually induces a 
Gonorrhœa, or some of the Symptoms of a Clap. 
Here one Remark seems proper, viz. That when the 
Infection is receiv'd by lustful Dalliance, without Penetra- 
tion; by Penetration, without an Emission of Seed; or 
by suffering a Woman to besmear the Yard with the in- 
fectious Filth of her own Body, altho' a Gonorrhœa,
Running, Heat of Urine, &c. may, and sometimes do, 
ensue; yet the first Symptoms more usually are external 
only, viz. the Yard becomes inflam'd, swell'd, sore; its 
Foreskin is sometimes so purs'd up, that its Nut can't, 
without Difficulty, be discovered; at other Times it is 
so girt about the Top of the Nut of the Yard, as that it 
can't, with Ease, be brought over it; or there happen 
little Ulcers, Shankers, Warts, an Oozing of a Matter 
from between the Foreskin and Nut of the Yard, almost 
like that of a Running, &c. Sometimes the One, and at 
other Times Another of these Symptoms begin to appear, 
a Week, two, or three after the Infection shall have been 
receiv'd. And in some Persons (whether there were or 
were not a Penetration, Emission of Seed, &c.) the In- 
fection shall cause a Running, and some of the other 
Symptoms too, and that in a very short Time. The Truth 
is, every Person does, in some Measure, differ from any 
other in Constitution and State of Health; and for that 
Reason the Infection will produce Symptoms different in 
one Person, from what it does in another. 
4. A Person may receive this Infection by lasciviously 
kissing any one who has Venereal Ulcers or Sores in the 
Mouth or Throat; in which Case the Lips are apt to 
break out in Scabs, that will not easily be remov'd; or 
being cured, will soon return, the Mouth and Throat be- 
come sore, ulcerated, &c. 
5. Lying

(7)
5. Lying (especially if it be often done) in the same 
Bed with a Person (tho' of the same Sex) that has the 
Venereal Disease in an high Degree, may communicate 
the Infection (at least in some Degree) to a sound Per- 
son; so may a Bed or Garment, constantly lain in or 
worn by a Person severely pox'd. And when the In- 
fection shall be receiv'd by either of these Ways, the in- 
fections Effluvia entering most Parts of the Body, and 
fixing in the military Glands, the first Symptoms common- 
ly are (unusual) Itching, Tingling, little Breakings- 
out on the Skin, Pimples, Pustules, Scabs, &c. that will 
not easily be cured. These Persons many Times appear 
and fare like those highly scorbutic, or like Persons 
brought to an ill State of Health, by the Venereal Di- 
sease not skilfully and well cured. 
6. Many Infants (their Parents, or one of them being 
pox'd) bring this Disease into the World with them; 
and in that Case, altho' they are born clear, and seem- 
ingly sound, yet they soon discover their Disease, by un- 
usual Breakings-out, &c. 
7. Pocky Infants oftentimes give this Disease to their 
Nurses, as well by sucking, as by being kiss'd and fondled 
by them. Many Nurses are thus ruin'd, they not pre- 
sently imagining what is the Matter with their Breasts, 
Lips, Mouths, &c. when affected with Breakings-out, 
Soreness, Ulcers, &c. that resist the Force of ordinary 
Remedies.
8. A great many Infants born sound and healthful, 
are spoil'd by Pocky Nurses. If a wet Nurse has the foul 
Disease, the Infant receives it of her by sucking; and 
the Infection first shews it self in the Child's Mouth, and 
soon after in other Parts of its tender Body. If either 
wet or dry Nurse has Venereal Ulcers in her Mouth, she 
gives the Disease to the Child by kissing and fondling of 
it. If she has Pocky Sores, Ulcers, or Breakings-out on 
her Body, she infects the Child by venomous Steams flow- 
ing from her diseas'd Carcass when in Bed. By all this, 
'tis apparent, that found Nurses ought to be cautious 
whose Infants they take to nurse; and the Parents of 
sound Children no less solicitous to what Nurses and 
Nursery-Maids they commit the Care of their tender 
Infants.
There

(8) 
There are some other more scandalous Ways by which 
some profligate Wretches have become infected with this 
Disease; but I shall pass'em by, as not fit to be named; 
beside, they are effectually comprehended by the gene- 
ral Rule laid down in the Beginning of this Chapter. 
And now I return to our learned Author. 
CHAP. III.
Of the different Stages and Degrees of the 
Secret Disease.
1st Stage. 
‘ THE venomous Venereal Matter wetting 
‘ and besmearing the private Parts in 
‘ the Act, not only outwardly, but also insi- 
‘ nuating it self inwardly into the Passage, by Reason 
‘ of the private Parts being at that Time dilated, turgid, 
‘ and distended with vigorous Blood and Animal Spirits, 
‘ by the Assistance of the Action grown hot, by which 
‘ their Pores are more than usually open'd, and the Air 
‘ within the Urethra, or Passage, is so rarify'd, that the 
‘ whole Tube (I mean the urinary Passage) becomes like 
‘ a Syringe, whose Embolus is drawn up; so that no 
‘ sooner is the Seed ejected, and that little Air which 
‘ remain'd in the Urethra thrown out, but immediately 
‘ by the Suction of the Tube, or rather indeed by the 
‘ Impulsion of the Weight, and Elasticity of the Air, it 
‘ rushes in again, loaded with Venereal Steams and Ef- 
‘ fluvia, which settle themselves on the mucous Glands 
‘ (as Dr. Drake calls them) in the Passage. 
‘ The Venereal corrupted Matter therefore being thus 
‘ in the Act, both outwardly and inwardly receiv'd, by 
‘ Consequence it frets, corrodes, corrupts, exulceration, and 
‘ eats thro' into not only the Pores, Orifices, and miliary 
‘ Glands of the Skin outwardly, but also into the mucous 
‘ Glands in the Passage inwardly; and thereby causes a 
‘ Tenderness, Heat, Redness, Itching, and Inflammation, 
‘ Small Pustules, Wheals, Blisters, and little Ulcers, both 
‘ without 

(9) 
‘ without on the private Parts, and also within the Pas- 
‘ sage. Hence proceeds, 
‘ 1st, That putrid Matter which drips and owes a- 
‘ way, and appears in clammy Drops upon squeezing the 
‘ Part; for by squeezing it, you press the Corruption con- 
‘ tain'd in those little Ulcers and Blisters in the Urethra, 
‘ out at the Orifice of the Passage. 
‘ 2dly, That Pain call'd Heat of Urine: Not that the 
‘ Urine is hotter in it self at that Time, than at others, 
‘ but the Passage being full of little Blisters and Ulcers, 
‘ is raw and sore, and by Consequence is fretted by 
‘ the punitive Figure of the acrimonious Salts of the 
‘ Urine, and so smarts, and seems, as it were, to burn 
‘ and scald as it goes through, just as any other raw 
‘ Place will do, in Case you pour Urine or Salt Water 
‘ upon it. And thus far is the first Stage of the Disease, 
‘ and is call'd a Liminary Clap, or Outside Infection, be- 
‘ ing, in Reality, no more than a mere superficial Ulcer 
‘ and local Injury; and therefore may with Care be cur'd 
‘ mostly by outward Means, without much purging or ta- 
‘ king of Physick. 
2d Stage,
‘ The venomous corrupted Matter fermenting 
‘ and creeping still more down the Passage, 
‘ corrupts the Liquor in the mucous Glanás, 
‘ naturally separated for the Lubrication of the Ure- 
‘ thra; the Sharpness of which Corruption stimulates 
‘ those Glands, and their excretory Ducts, and so excites 
‘ that Efflux and Quantity of Matter which comes a- 
‘ way, and is commonly call'd a RUNNING. 
‘ After this, the Venom creeps and insinuates it self a 
‘ little farther, 'till by Degrees it seizes on the seminal 
‘ Vessels, and there creates Ulcers, and corrupts the Seed, 
‘ which at length, by Reason of the Parts having lost 
‘ their Springiness and Retentive Faculty, involuntarily 
‘ comes away, in which consists properly a Gonorrhœa, 
‘ or Virulent Running; and is usually attended with 
‘ Swellings in the Groins and Testicles, shancrous Ulcers, 
‘ and a Cordeé. 
Here our Author is again under a great Mistake, which 
having pass'd Eleven of his Editions, that is, from the 
Fifth to the Sixteenth inclusive, I am satisfy'd he will be 
C glad


(10) 
glad to find it set right, viz, lie has made a Distinction 
where there ought to be none, that is, between that 
which is commonly call'd a Running, and that which 
is call'd a Gonorrhœa, or virulent Running: Supposing
(nay asserting) the One to consist of the Matter separa- 
ted by, and flowing from the mucous Glands, and the 
Other of the Seed it self flowing from the seminal Ves- 
sels: Whereas, in Truth, by the Words Running, viru- 
lent Running, and. virulent Gonorrhœa, is always meant 
the same Thing, as to the Matter of which it consists, 
and the Place from whence it flows, that is, as he has 
said, in Relation to a Running, the excretory Ducts of 
the Glandulæ Mucosæ, which are plac'd a little up the 
Urethra, being so weaken'd, relax'd, and ulcerated, as 
to permit a continual Discharge of the mucilaginous 
Humour they separate, that Humour is, by the Acid Par- 
ticles of the Venereal Infection, colliquated and convert- 
ed into a yellowish or greenish Matter, and which flow- 
ing forth from the Urethra, is call'd a Running, virulent 
Running, and virulent Gonorrhœa: Which is indeed some- 
times replete with fewer, and sometimes with more in- 
fectious Particles; which Particles cause the Difference 
of its Colour, or, at least, are generally said and thought 
so to do. But that the Seed it self is never, according 
to our Author's Notion, concern'd in this Matter, is 
most certain; for before the Seed can thus dribble a- 
way, the Caruncles through which it owzes in the Time 
of Coition, from the Necks of tie Vesiculæ Seminales in- 
to the Urethra, must be so injur'd, weaken'd, and re- 
lax'd, (if not eaten away) as to permit continually an 
involuntary Efflux of it; after which, there can be 
sew (if any) Erections; (of which most Men afflicted 
with a virulent Running, have more than they desire) 
but a Tabes Dorsalis will presently ensue, and soon after 
(an hundred to one) Death it self. And now having 
rectify'd this Mistake, let us return to our Author again.
3d Stage. 
‘ The Infection still increasing, eats its Way 
‘ through into the capillary Ends of the lym- 
‘ phatic Vessels and lacteal Veins, and throws 
‘ it self into the Blood, 'till the whole Mass is corrupt- 
‘ ed, the ]uices and Fluids all viciated and infected, 
‘ and

(11) 
‘ and the Body over-run with Breakings-out, Blotches, 
‘ Ulcers, Boils, Bubo's, Swellings, Spots, Pains, &c. And 
‘ this is the third and last Stage of this Disease, in which, 
‘ in plain English, and without mincing the Matter, 
‘ it now changes its Old Name of a Clap, into that of 
‘ the Pox.' Thus our Author in his fourteenth, fifteenth, 
and sixteenth Editions: But I must remind him of what 
he (describing the third Stage of this Disease, in his 
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth Editions) told us, 
namely, ‘ That this Acid (that is, the Acid of the Secret 
‘ Disease) is not only peculiar from all other Acids, be- 
‘ ing impregnated with a very peculiar Sort of Poyson, by 
‘ reason of a most peculiar mischievous Structure and Fi- 
‘ gure of its Parts: but also has Something else in it 
‘ which other Acids have not, viz. that it swarms with 
‘ a vast Number of poisonous minute Animalcula, infi- 
‘ nitely more deform'd and venomous than those which 
‘ a Microscope discovers to us in Vinegar and Aqua-fortis.'
Here I observe, 1. That our learned Author seems of 
Opinion, that neither Vinegar nor Aqua-fortis are Acids: 
For, he says, the Venereal Acid has something in it other 
Acids have not, viz. it swarms with Animalcula, more de- 
form'd and venomous than those in Vinegar or Aqua- 
fortis: So that in Case there be Animalcula in either Vi- 
negar or Aqua-fortis, as well as in the Venereal Acid, then 
the Venereal Acid has nothing in it, on that Account, 
which some other Acid has not, unless Vinegar or Aqua- 
fortis (abounding with Animalcula) be not Acids. 2. Our 
Author is also under a great Mistake, in thinking the 
Acid of none other Disease, but that of the Venereal, is 
productive of Animalcula: For, the Acid of the Itch, 
for Instance, is very fertile of them. 3. That although 
'tis generally known that Vinegar (when it begins, in 
hot Weather, to decay) swarms with Animalcula, alto- 
gether as deform'd and venomous as Mites in a Cheese, 
and sometimes as easy, without the Help of a Micro- 
scope, to be seen; yet, in all Probability, our scrutini- 
zing Author is the first Philosopher ever discover'd Ani- 
malcula, that is, living Creatures, in Aqua-fortis. I shall 
be glad to see what farther Account he will give of 
them (for certainly he will not slip that favourable Op- 
portunity) to the Royal Society, in the next Edition of his 
C2 Philoso-

(12) 
Philosophical Essay on Appended Remedies, which he has 
done that Society the Honour to dedicate to them. 
The Account our learned Author has given of this third 
Stage of the Secret Disease, the Pox, being very short, I 
will add thereto a few Lines from Doctor Sydenham, 
who, in his Epistle to Doctor Paman, says, At vero quo- 
ties sive (Opera Sydenhami, p. 295) diuternitate & in 
dictis partibus mora Contagio sursum fertur & sensim Sangui- 
ni labem imprimit, aut materia virulenta indebito Astringen- 
tium usu in Corpore retenta Humores putrescunt, Vera Lues 
Exorisur, &c. i. e. But as soon as either by the long 
Continuance of the Disease in the Parts first affected, 
the Contagion is carry'd upwards, and communicates its 
Malignity to the Blood, or the virulent Matter being re- 
tain'd in the Body, by the improper Use of Astringent 
Remedies, the Humours putrefy and corrupt, a true Pox 
arises; in which, Bubo's or Swellings sometimes appear in 
the Groin, and constitute its first Degree. Soon after, 
Pains seize the Head, and Spaces between the Joints, 
viz. Shoulders, Arms, and Legs, invading sometimes the 
one and sometimes the other, without any Order, cru- 
elly tormenting the Patient. In the Day he is some- 
times tolerably free from Pain; but in the Night when 
warm in Bed, he enjoys not much Ease 'till towards 
Morning. Dry Scabs, Tettars, &c. defile divers Parts of 
the Body; they are usually of a yellow Colour, not un- 
like an Honey Comb, whereby they are distinguish'd from 
other Breakings-out. Sometimes they spread over divers 
Parts of the Body, with a large Surface, after the Man- 
ner in which the Leprosy in the Writings of Physicians 
is said to have done. And by how much the more these 
Breakings out appear, by so much the less the Patient is 
afflicted with Pain. All the Symptoms do gradually in- 
crease, but the Pain more than the rest, even to that 
Degree of Violence, that the miserable Wretch can no 
longer contain himself in Bed, but straightaways leaps 
out, and in Uneasiness wanders about from Place to 
Place in his Bed-chamber 'till Day-light; then perhaps he 
can compose himself, for a while, to rest! Add to all 
this, that by Reason of the Vehemency of the Pain, 
the Skull, and Bones of the Arms and Legs, are from this 
Time rais'd up into Knobs, call'd Exostoses, not unlike 
to

(13) 
to the Swellings on Horses Legs, call'd the Spavin; and 
the Bones being so beset with Knobs, become carious, 
putrefy, and rot. Phagædenick Ulcers also devour va- 
rious Parts of the Body: These most usually first attack 
the Throat and Jaws, proceed insensibly by the Palate 
into the Gristle of the Nose, which it very soon destroys, 
so that the Nose wanting its Prop, falls flat. The Ul- 
cers daily increasing, and the Pains augmenting, the 
miserable Patient being partly overcome with continual 
Torture, and partly eaten up and devour'd with Ulcers 
and Putrefaction, lives a Life as uneasy as Torture, Stench, 
Rottenness, and Disgrace can render it; even a State 
much more wretched, and less to be desir'd, than that 
of being number'd amongst the Dead! Until at length, 
the Members perishing by Peice-Meals, the mangled Car- 
eass, now not to be endur'd amongst the Living, is 
committed to the Earth! 
Whoever can read this Account (penn'd by Dr. Sy- 
denham) of the dismal Effects of the Venereal Disease, 
and yet not think themselves concern'd to avoid those 
Acts of Lewdness that may probably introduce it into 
their own Bodies, when absolutely free from it; or that 
being unhappily (tho' but slightly) tainted therewith, 
shall not use their best Endeavours to get themselves 
well and perfectly cured, must doubtless be too coura- 
geous, or rather fool-hardy, duly to mind what (in 
Relation to the Affairs of this World) ought to be their 
most immediate and chiefest Concern. In the next 
Chapter I will present you with the Signs of a Clap, as 
set down, and that aptly enough, by our learned Au- 
thor. 
CHAP.

(14) 
CHAP. IV. 
The particular Signs to know a Clap by. 
‘ THIS Disease at its first Appearance shows it self 
‘ in very different Manners, according to the dif- 
‘ ferent Constitutions of Persons, and different Degrees of 
‘ Infection receiv'd: For a CLAP at its first Appearance 
‘ shows it self in some, by either a Heat, Redness, and 
‘ Itching, of the private Parts outwardly; or a Kind of 
‘ Burning, or Itching at the End of (or little Dartings, 
‘ Twitchings, and Shootings within) the Passage, according 
‘ as the venomous Acid Matter has more or less touch'd, 
‘ besmear'd, or enter'd into it. 
‘ These Symptoms are commonly follow'd by a Swelling 
‘ and Inflammation of the Parts, especially the Foreskin, 
‘ which sometimes thereby becomes so thick as to be 
‘ render'd immoveable: And a Cordee, accompany'd of- 
‘ tentimes with a large ugly opening of the Orifice of 
‘ the Urethra, from the Glans or Nut's being swell'd and 
‘ inflam'd. 
‘ In others it begins with only a Heat of Urine, which 
‘ at first is but little, and most sensible at the Orifice of 
‘ the Passage, where the Venom first fix'd it self in the 
‘ Act. This Symptom is usually accompany'd with fre- 
‘ quent Inclinations to make Water by little Dribblings of 
‘ sharp and seemingly hot Urine, which sometimes is 
‘ whitish, with little Strings, Threads, or, as it were, 
‘ Matter or Corruption in it. 
‘ In some, where it is mild, it appears at first without 
‘ any Heat or Scalding of Urine, Swelling, Redness, or 
‘ Pain at all; but only a small issuing out of a clammy 
‘ corrupt Matter, of a whitish, greenish, or yellowish 
‘ Colour, dripping and owing away, especially upon 
‘ Squeezing the Part, which is often gumm'd, and as it 
‘ were glew'd up with it, dividing the Urine into a 
‘ double Stream; and which Drops of Matter stains the 
‘ Linen of a yellowish or greenish Colour. 
‘ In


(15) 
‘ In others it appears with a Running and involuntary 
‘ flowing out of corrupted Matter (which is Nature's 
‘ Favour) without any Uneasiness or Pain at all. 
‘ In many Persons, after a little Running, one or both 
‘ Testicles become swell'd and painful; upon which the 
‘ Running commonly ceases, because the Corruption that 
‘ should flow away, precipitates thither, and causes 
‘ cold Shivering, Fainting, sick Qualms on the Stomach, 
‘ &c. And as these grow better, the Running usually 
‘ returns again. 
‘ In other Persons it begins with an unusual Pain in 
‘ the Members, and rowling of the Testicles, with Swellings 
‘ in the Groins, Pains in the Legs, Shoulders, &c. 
‘ In some again it appears at the Beginning with only 
‘ a seemingly insignificant Wheal, or Pimple, on the 
‘ Foreskin or Glans, like a Flea-bite, or Measles, which, by 
‘ Degrees, grows into a little Ulcer, like those on Chil- 
‘ dren's Mouths, and is what is commonly call'd a 
‘ Shancre. 
‘ Some Persons in the Beginning have a clammy cor- 
‘ rupted Humour continually gathering and issuing out, 
‘ not from the Passage, but, from between the Foreskin 
‘ and Nut, which being of a sharp corroding Nature, 
‘ frets the Part where it lies, and makes it sore, raw, 
‘ and full of little Wheals, Blisters, and chancrous 
‘ Ulcers. 
‘ In others a Soreness, and Debility (as if from a Cold 
‘ and Weariness) all over the Joints and Limbs, succeed 
‘ to the aforemention'd Symptoms, with Dulness of the 
‘ Spirits, Heaviness, Melancholy, Heat in the Palms of 
‘ the Hands, &c. 
‘ In others again, none other Symptoms of Malignity 
‘ appear, than a watery Humour ting'd with Blood, as is 
‘ usual in all slight Excoriations. 
‘ These more or less are the usual Symptoms of the Di- 
‘ sease, and Signs of Infection in the Beginning, propor- 
‘ tionally both in Men and Women; only with this 
‘ Difference, that they commonly vary in every distinct 
‘ Body, some happening to some Bodies, others to others; 
‘ insomuch that it rarely happens that two Persons in- 
‘ fected have Symptoms alike, but differ according to the 
‘ Difference of their Temperiments, and Constitutions; 
‘ greater


(16) 
‘ greater or less Degree of Infection receiv'd; Height of 
‘ Malignity and Infection in the Giver; (there being a 
‘ Difference between burning one's Finger with the 
‘ Snuff of a Candle and a red hot Iron) and Distance of 
‘ Time since it was receiv'd. For which Reason some 
‘ Persons find no Hurt for some Time after having been 
‘ in Company, Others find it immediately: So that some 
‘ Persons shall have a slight Clap hanging on them for 
‘ several Months, without making any great Appearance, 
‘ or giving much Uneasiness; when Others shall be severely 
‘ Poxt in a few Days; for the Degree of Infection does not 
‘ depend so much on the Quantity of Matter imbib'd, 
‘ as on the Virulency, Corrosiveness, and Acrimony of it. 
‘ But where the Malignity receiv'd, and the Symptoms 
‘ appearing, are greater than here describ'd, there is no 
‘ need of informing such Persons What ails them; if they 
‘ only reflect in whose Company they have been, their 
‘ Case is plain enough. Thus our Author, and to the 
Purpose. 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Cure of the Secret Disease in general;
and in its first Stage. 
‘ THIS Disease consisting in a venomous corrosive 
‘ ACID Ferment, that corrodes, frets, and eats 
‘ into whatever Part it once touches; the only true 
‘ Method of Cure in general, must consist in searching, 
‘ attractive, alcalious, and healing Medicines, so loaded 
‘ with volatile, sulphureous, oleagenous, globular, and 
‘ smooth Particles, as to be capable, first to find out, 
‘ and unite themselves with, then to dull, sheath, and 
‘ obtund the broken and ragged Points of this acid, 
‘ corrosive Ferment; next to throw it out of the Body; 
‘ and lastly, to heal up and strengthen the weaken'd 
‘ and injur'd Parts; it being a Maxim in Physick, as
‘ well

(17) 
‘ well as Morals, That all Contraries must be cured by 
‘ their Contraries. And none but Medicines endow'd 
‘ with these Qualities, can ever perform a Solid Cure of 
‘ this Distemper. 
‘ As to the First Stage of this Disease, it being 
‘ MOSTLY an Outward Injury, it may MOSTLY be 
‘ cured by Outward Applications, as other common Sores 
‘ are, provided there be but found external Remedies so 
‘ directly opposite to the Venereal Venom, as to have, 
‘ 1. Such globular, smooth, and mollifying Particles, 
‘ as may blunt, sheath, obtund, and subdue the rough, 
‘ ragged Points of the Venereal Miasmata. 2. Such 
‘ searching and abstersive Ones, as may dislodge and 
‘ wash them off from the infected Part, before they have 
‘ taken too deep a Root: And, lastly, such balsamic 
‘ and healing Ones, as may put an End to the Soreness, 
‘ Heat of Urine, Inflammation, and Pain. All which 
‘ may, in a great Measure, be perform'd by a certain, 
‘ abstersive, cleansing, and healing Water, which, in 
‘ the Directions seal'd up with the hereafter-mention'd 
‘ Remedy, I have taught Persons to make up themselves, 
‘ without any Charge, and which they are to wash 
‘ themselves Outwardly with, to search out, and wash 
‘ off the Venereal Steams, before they take too deep a Root. 
‘ But altho' it may by Chance happen Once or Twice in 
‘ an Hundred Times (which Swallow will not make any 
‘ Summer) that a Person slightly infected, may by the 
‘ timely Use of Outward Means, be freed from all Injury; 
‘ yet, I think, generally speaking, 'tis not safe to rely 
‘ too much on this Method; my Reason is, That altho' 
‘ the Infection be as yet but slightly recei'd, yet the 
‘ Blood circulating thro' those Parts where it lies, easier 
‘ than we imagine, takes along with it some of its 
‘ minutest Particles, being of so subtitled a Nature, as to 
‘ insinuate themselves into the Juices of the Body sooner 
‘ than we are aware of. So that as it is not safe to de- 
‘ pend altogether on Outward Applications to cure the Ve- 
‘ nom of a Viper, or Bite of a mad Dog (tho' only out- 
‘ ward Injuries) without, for more Security Sake, some 
‘ Antidote inwardly, to carry off whatever of the Poitou 
‘ may have stolen into the Blood: So I would advise all 
‘ Patients, altho' their Condition may be, to their own 
D ‘ Thinking,

(18) 
‘ Thinking, never so Slight, besides the Use of any Lo- 
‘ tion, to take a little (at least) of something inwardly, 
‘ to carry off whatever subtitle venomous Effluvia may 
‘ escape the Reach of the Water. The less will do. 
‘ Twill break no Bones, and can do no Harm, but will 
‘ confirm the Cure, by driving out whatever Snake may 
‘ lurk in the Grass. And here I recommend my Specifick 
‘ Remedy: But not near so much of it, as in the second 
‘ Stage. So that the Lotion does not entirely exclude all 
‘ Internal Medicines, but only lessens the Number of their 
‘ Doses. 
That the first Stage of this Disease, that is, a Clap very 
newly receiv'd, may be entirely cured by Externals only, 
without One Grain of Physick taken inwardly, some have 
affirm'd: But our Author has not promis'd any such Thing 
for his Lotion: He has only recommended its Use, in Con- 
junction with his Specifick, which is to be taken inward- 
ly. And whether there be, or be not, some one Lotion 
in the Possession of some Person or other, that will of it 
self, safely and effectually cure a fresh Clap, and that 
with Certainty; sure I am, there are several Liquors, that, 
being externally us'd, are of very great Service in fresh 
Claps; and not in them only, but in the other Stages of 
this Disease too; And the best that I know of, and of 
which I have had above 20 Years Experience, is that 
which I call, 
Liquor Medicamentosus: The Medicinal Liquor. 
This Liquor (whatever some Other may do) will not, 
that I know of, by any Use that can be made of it, 
either of it self cure a Clap, or preserve any One from all 
manner of Injury by the Venereal Infection, who shall 
boldly adventure to come where it is to be met with: 
But I know, by manifold Experience, that if the Ex- 
ternal Parts (of either Sex) pertaining to Generation, be 
wash'd and bath'd therewith hot presently, or as soon as 
may be, even altho' that be not of some Days, after 
an impure Coition, and that three or four Times a Day, 
for a few Days, it will (generally speaking) effectually 
prevent and preserve from many of the most troublesome 
Symptoms of a Clap, viz. swelling and pursing up of the
Foreskin 


(19)
Foreskin of the Yard, an owing of Matter from under 
the Foreskin, Sores, Breakings-out, Shankers, Venereal 
Warts, &c. and will also very much help forwards an 
effectual Cure to be perform'd by proper Internal Reme- 
dies. And indeed those Infections receiv'd by lustful Dal- 
liance, without Penetration; by Penetration without 
Emission of Seed; or by suffering a Woman to besmear 
the Yard with the infectious Filth of her own Body, (and 
the Truth is, when a Man shall first lasciviously handle 
the Privy-Parts of an infected Woman, and, whilst his 
Hand shall continue moist with the Filth of her Body, 
shall handle, rub, and chafe his own Privy-Members, he 
may thereby effectually Pox himself) in any of these 
Cases, the Infection being lodg'd chiefly in the Pores of 
the External Skin, the Cure can't be speedily and well 
perform'd, without the Use of this, or some other Ex- 
ternal Remedy; with which, in all such Cases, those Parts 
ought to be often and well bath'd hot. Women, who, 
by suckling Pocky Children, shall have their Breasts infect- 
ed; young Children, injur'd by the Steams of the Bodies 
of Pocky Nurses; and those who, by lying in the same 
Bed, &c. shall have receiv'd the Infection by the cuticu- 
lar Pores, ought to be often bath'd therewith, where-ever 
they shall find any Pimples, Pustules, Breakings-out, &c. 
They whose Mouths and Throats shall be affected with 
Venereal Sores, Ulcers, &c. may mix Honey of Roses with 
it, to sweeten it (otherwise it is better by it self) and 
use it for a Gargle. And, indeed, as a Lotion, it has 
not (that I know of) its Equal (in Venereal Cases) on 
Earth. And that it will do great Service (us'd as above 
directed) in preventing the External ill Effects of a Ve- 
nereal Infection, may be justly inferr'd from it's effectually 
curing venereal Pimples, Pustules, Scabs, Breakings-out, &c. 
whenever they shall happen in any Part of the Body, 
and even after they shall have continu'd for a long 
Time. But then they'll soon return, if their Cause be 
not remov'd by other Means. The Virtues of this Li- 
quor, in Cases that are not Venereal, are as follows, viz. 
1. Old Sores and Ulcers being, Morning and Evening, 
wash'd therewith hot, and a fine Linen Cloth 6 or 8 
Times double, or a Pledged of Lint, well moisten'd with 
it, being apply'd thereto, and moisten'd several Times in 
D2 the

(20) 
the Day, as it dries, without being taken off, will, in 
a short Time, be cured. In these Cases it far excels Bal- 
sams, Plaisters, &c. 
2. It frees the Face, and other Parts of the Body, from 
Worms in the Skin, and cures the Itching, Pimples, 
Pustules, and Breakings-out, occasion'd by them; by only 
bathing the Places affected therewith hot, twice or thrice 
a-Day, for some Time. 
3. It frees Childrens Heads from Scurf, Dandruff, and 
Lice; the Head being, but twice or thrice (in all) bath'd 
with it hot. It also destroys Crab-Lice, the Places they 
infest being also bath'd with it hot. 
4. It cures most Sorts of Scabs, Tetters, Ring-worms, 
white scaly Breakings-out, and other Defilements of the Skin, 
which it renders white, smooth, and soft; by only bath- 
ing with it hot, twice or thrice a-Day, and for about a 
Quarter of an Hour at a Time. It is a safe, neat, and 
clean Medicine; and may be us'd to the most tender and 
delicate Person in the World, and to any young Children. 
If it gets into the Eyes, it will make them smart (that is 
all) very much; otherwise it is entirely safe, tho' taken 
inwardly. 
Note 1. It must be heat in something of Earth, for 
Metal injures it. 
Note 2. In the Cure of Old Sores and Ulcers; . also 
of all inveterate Scabs, Breakings-out, &c. besides the
Use of this (or any other) External Remedy, Purgatives,
and other inward Medicines, are generally necessary to 
purify the Blood, and render the Cure effectual. Price 5s. 
a Pint. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the CURE of the second Stage of the 
Secret Disease; that is, a Virulent Go- 
norrhœa. 
THIS Stage being too stubborn for the Influence 
of the foregoing Method, the Patient must (there 
is nothing to be said) submit to take a little more of
some-

(21) 
‘ something inwardly, by Reason of the Progress the Di- 
‘ stemper has made. For whoever pretends to cure this 
‘ Stage, must do it by one or more Medicines which 
‘ contain such Particles as are entirely opposite to those 
‘ of the Venereal Ferment, viz. That have such Oleage- 
‘ nous and gently Cathartick Ones, as will blunt, cor- 
‘ rect, subdue, and throw out of the Body, the veno- 
‘ mous Acid Humour; and by their searching and bal- 
‘ samick Ones, cleanse and heal up the Ulcers, and so 
‘ take away the Running and Cordee; and lastly, by 
‘ their strengthening Properties, restore the weaken'd and 
‘ injur'd Parts to their ancient Tone and Vigour, after 
‘ the Malignity is well carry'd off; For if the Infection 
‘ be not well carry'd off, before the Running is taken 
‘ away, or any Astringents us'd to stop it, there will be 
‘ no honest Cure; and, as Dr. Sydenham says, the Pa- 
‘ tient, in having too nimble a Cure of a Clap, will be 
‘ Pox'd, by having the Venom thrown into his Blood; so 
‘ that 'tis hard to say, which poxes most, the Doctor or 
‘ the Disease. 
‘ But yet for all this, a Moderation must be us'd as to 
‘ the cleansing: For unless due Regard be also had to 
‘ the healing and strengthening Qualities in Antivenere- 
‘ al Remedies, you may sometimes purge a Person off his 
‘ Legs, and ruin his Constitution, without ever Curing 
‘ him. So that 'tis not purging with every common 
‘ Purge will do: No, it must be some Specifick Medi-
‘ cine, fortify'd with such Ingredients as have a peculiar 
‘ Antipathy against the Disease, viz., whose innate Na- 
‘ ture is, first to find out and draw to it self the Vene- 
‘ real Venom, wherever it lurks; then to unite and in- 
‘ corporate it self with it; then to sheath, blunt, dull, 
‘ and subdue its ragged Points; next to throw it out 
‘ of the Body; and lastly, to heal up and strengthen 
‘ the injur'd and weaken'd Parts. And in such a Re- 
‘ medy as this, and in none but such an one as this, e- 
‘ very Patient will find a satisfactory Cure. Now, I 
‘ know of but only ONE Thing in the World, that 
‘ will seriously and honestly perform this, which is the 
‘ Specific Remedy hereafter mention'd. And yet I be- 
‘ lieve I may say, without Vanity, that I not only 
‘ thoroughly understand the Disease, having apply'd my
‘ self 

(22) 
‘ self to the Study of it, but also that I understand the 
‘ various Methods of Curing it. And after all I find, 
‘ from a very large Experience, and about two thousand 
‘ Persons that lately have been cured by this Specific Re- 
‘ medy; to say nothing of upwards of twenty thousand 
‘ Cures it had perform'd, before the Secret of it was 
‘ communicated to me, that it is the only Thing for this 
‘ Disease. So that had it been but publish'd some Years 
‘ ago, as it is now, (to use Dr. Chamberlaine's Words 
‘ of it) Persons who had known of it, would have ta- 
‘ ken nothing else. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Cure of the third Stage of the Secret 
Disease, that is, the POX. 
‘ THIS Stage consists in the Acid Ferments, having 
‘ infected and turn'd the Blood, Serum, Lymph, 
‘ Juices, and Fluids of the Body. The Remedies to cure 
‘ it, must be such, as by their alcaleous and sulphure- 
‘ ous, as well as volatile Particles, enter immediately in- 
‘ to the Mass of Blood and Juices, and have a Preva- 
‘ lence to dilute them, and stop the Career of this Acid 
‘ Ferment; and by attenuating the tough pocky Slime 
‘ lodg'd in the Veins, and volatizing the stagnated and 
‘ coagulated Humours, to restore them to their former 
‘ Fluidity and Tenuity, and expel the malignant Impu- 
‘ rity that lurks, therein: All which, if skillfully un- 
‘ dertaken, may be perform'd without either any A- 
‘ siringents or Salivation, (which oftner prove the Ruin 
‘ of poor Patients than their Cure) by the Specific Re- 
‘ medy, assisted by the Method prescrib'd in the Direti- 
‘ ons, which will immediately enter into the Blood, and 
‘ strike at the Root of the Infection, without any more 
‘ ado, and carry it off. Of which see more in the 
‘ printed Directions, seal'd up with it, where the exact 
‘ Method of varying, ordering, taking, and assisting
‘ it,


(23) 
‘ it, to cure any of the three Stages, is plainly set down. 
‘ So that this Specifick Remedy is to be us'd in all the 
‘ three Stages, with this Difference, that 
‘ In the first Stage a little of it will do. 
‘ In the second it must be continu'd a few Days. 
‘ In the third it must be taken at certain Intervals, to 
‘ carry off the Venom prepar'd for Expulsion, by the 
‘ Method prescrib'd in the Directions. So that on this 
‘ LITTLE Remedy, which I justly call a Specifick for 
‘ this Disease, (if any such be in the World) depends 
‘ the Cure of any of the three Stages. For the Nature 
‘ of it is, as soon as ever it is taken, to find out, u- 
‘ nite, and incorporate it self intimately with the Ve- 
‘ nereal Poison, and so carry it off. If such a SECRET 
‘ as this (which now is only in my own Breast, the 
‘ Author of it being dead) be not a Specifick, there is no 
‘ such Thing in Nature as a Specifick. 
The first (and principal) Part of the fifth Chapter, 
the whole of the sixth, and thus far forwards of this 
Chapter, I have transcrib'd from our learned Author's 
sixteenth Edition; where, as you see, he has represented 
his Specific Remedy as an effectual Cure for the Pox it 
self, as well as for a Clap. ‘ On this little Remedy which 
‘ I (says he) justly call a Specifick for this Disease, de- 
‘ pends the Cure of any of the three Stages.' But when 
he publish'd his second, third, and fourth Editions, he 
was of another Mind; for in each of these Editions, 
(and very likely in his first, which I have not) he says, 
(pag. 31.) ‘ But if your Blood, Lymph, and Juices, by 
‘ Means of the capillary Veins be corrupted by the Ve- 
‘ nereal Poison, from a Neglect of it, or ill Management, 
‘ which you will know by these Signs: Great Pains in 
‘ the Head and Limbs, Breakings-out and Scabs almost 
‘ all over the Body; Ulcers, Boils, and Bubo's in the 
‘ Armpits, Groins, and Parts adjacent; Ulcers in the 
‘ Mouth and Throat; Swellings in the Glandules of the 
‘ Neck and the Jaws; Hoarseness of Voice; Nocturnal 
‘ Pains in the Shins, Arms, Reins, and other Parts;
‘ Falling of the Hair, Rottenness of the Bones, Consumpti- 
‘ on, &c. Pray take my ADVICE, and do NOT lay 
‘ out your Money upon this Specifick Remedy; for it 
‘ will NOT cure you. It will, 'tis true, keep your 
‘ Distemper

(24) 
‘ Distemper something under, 'till you get a better Cure, 
‘ by carrying off some Part of the Venom: But what's 
‘ that to the PURPOSE to your entire Cure? You 
‘ had better save your Money to do it effectually by a 
‘ thorough SALIVATION, under the Care of some 
‘ not only skillful and judicious, but conscientious Per- 
‘ son.'
Our Author, as you have seen, tells us his Specific
had perform'd above twenty thousand Cures, before it was 
made known to him, he (as you'll see in the next 
Chapter) us'd it several Years before he wrote about it, 
and publish'd it; then he publish'd it, and republish'd 
it, until his Book concerning it had pass'd a first, se- 
cond, third, and fourth Impression, without knowing 
that it would cure the Pox it self, as is very evident from 
the Passage above cited out of his fourth Edition. Yet 
NOW he has (O happy he!) found it out; nay, he 
discover'd the whole Matter, and was sufficiently con- 
vinc'd of the Truth of it, within the Space of TWO 
or THREE Months (for longer Time has not pass'd be- 
tween one Edition and another of his Books) after he 
publish'd his fourth Edition: For in his fifth Edition, (p. 
51, 52) he says, 'This (that is, the third) Stage consists 
‘ in an Acid. The Remedies to cure it must be such, as 
‘ by their alcaleous, sulphureous, as well as volatile Par- 
‘ ticles, enter immediately into the Mass of Blood.-- 
‘ ALL which, if skillfully undertaken, may be per- 
‘ form'd without any Mercurial Medicines or SALI- 
‘ VATION, (which oftner proves the Ruin of poor 
‘ Patients than their Cure) by the SPECIFICK Remedy, 
‘ assisted by the Method I have prescrib'd in the Directi- 
‘ ons.' - And so he proceeds throughout all I tran- 
scrib'd above from his 16th Edition. The same Passage is 
in his 6th and 7th Editions, p. 51, 52; in his 8th Edition, 
p. 14, 15; in his 9th Ed. p.8, 9; in his 10th Ed. p. 7; 
in his 11th, 12, and 13th Editions, p. 11; in his 14th, 
15th,and 16th Editions, p. 16. So that this Account of his 
Specifick's curing the Pox has run through an eleven of his 
Editions with a good Assurance, and without any Excuse 
being made for his having positively affirm'd, in his said 
second, third, and fourth Editions, that this Specific 
will NOT cure the Pox; or giving any Account how,
and 


(25) 
and by what Means, he discover'd (or came to know) 
it will cure it. Nor has he any where given an Account 
what induc'd him in his second, third, and fourth E- 
ditions, to recommend a SALIVATION, as the ON- 
LY Method for a good and effectual Cure in the Pox; 
and, in every Edition since, to allure the World a Sali- 
vation oftner ruins Patients than cures them. Physici- 
ans of Skill and Learning are not a accuston'd (whatever 
ignorant Quacks may be) thus to contradict themselves 
(at least not without assigning some Reason for it) in 
the several Editions of their Books. They would be a- 
sham'd their Readers should take Notice of their being 
so icon stent with themselves. And in Case you 
think our Author's Meaning is, That the Specifick cures 
a Clap without Assistance, and the Pox with the Assistance
of the Things prescrib'd in the Directions, do but turn 
to either his second, third, or fourth Editions, in each 
of which, having said his Specifick will cure a Clap, he 
positively affirms it will not cure the Pox; and yet he 
there (p. 29) says, ‘ I have in the Directions set down 
‘ plain Prescriptions in English, of whatever Things (ge- 
‘ nerally speaking) will be necessary for the Cure, toge- 
‘ ther with the Specifick Remedy.' You now see plain- 
ly the Specifick was always to be assisted (as Need should 
require) in curing a Clap, as well as now in curing a 
Pox. SO that upon the whole Matter, it seems to me 
evident, that the Specifick's curing the Pox, must either 
be a new and sudden Discovery of our ingenious Author, 
or an Imposition and a Cheat put upon the Town: For in 
his second, third, and fourth Editions, he, in as plain 
Words as can be us'd, owns his Specifick will NOT cure 
the Pox; which is certainly a sufficient Proof that he 
did not then know it will cure it: In his fifth, sixth, 
and succeeding Editions, he as positively affirms it will 
cure the Pox, as he does it will cure a Clap; and he so 
says, in order to put People on buying it, and taking it 
as well for the Cure of the Pox, as of a Clap, as their 
Occasion shall require: Which Thing must, I conceive, 
be a notorious Imposition and a Cheat, unless he made 
some Discovery in the Matter after he publish'd his fourth 
Edition, in which he said his Specifick will not cure the 
Pox, and before he publish'd his fifth Edition, in which 
E he

(26) 
he says it will. And if he did make such Discovery, 
why has he not told us when, how, and by what Means 
it was brought about? Which he having not done, 
makes me suspect he never made any such Discovery at 
all. And now I'll present you with what he has said 
about his first becoming acquainted with his Specifick; 
and what Pains he pretends he took to be assur'd of its 
Virtues, &c. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of the Specifick Remedy for the Secret 
Disease. 
‘ SOME Years ago (says our Author) I had an An- 
‘ tivenereal Medicine communicated to me by an 
‘ Eminent BROTHER Physician, who gave me such a 
‘ Character of it, that truly I was at first very hard to 
‘ believe what he said. He confirm'd what he said of 
‘ his own long Experience of it, and by the Experience 
‘ of an OTHER ancient and eminent Physician, who 
‘ had communicated it also to him; and who, he as- 
‘ sur'd me, for near FORTY Years had done Wonders 
‘ with it, many of which Years he had practis'd at Sea, 
‘ and in foreign Countries. I told him, that if all he 
‘ said of the Medicine were true, I should esteem it as a 
‘ great Treasure; but 'till I had made the Tryal of it, 
‘ he must Pardon me, if I suspended my Opinion. 
‘ Knowing therefore Experience to be preferable to the 
‘ best Speculative Knowledge, I set to work, scarce hoping 
‘ half the Success he had promis'd me, or indeed what I 
‘ found. Several Persons with COMMON Claps ad- 
‘ dress'd themselves to ME: I gave them the Medicine 
‘ away with them in their Pocket, with written Di- 
‘ rections for its Use, and order'd them to give me an 
‘ Account of the Success. Some brought me one Relation; 
‘ Others brought me another; but all with Thanks tend- 
‘ ing

(27) 
‘ ing to the same End, that they were cured. Nevertheless, 
‘ I was yet unwilling to lay too great an Estimate on 
‘ my new Remedy, fearing that the late Success in some 
‘ Particulars, might be partly an Effect of Chance, a hap- 
‘ py Constitution, Slightness of Infection, or some other 
‘ such favourable assisting Circumstance: BUT still con- 
‘ tinuing to give it to great Numbers, in most Degrees of 
‘ Infection in COMMON Claps, and always with an 
‘ equal Success, gave me such an Idea of it, that truly I 
‘ do really think it has not an Equal in the World for 
‘ this Distemper. And this I now spake upon a large 
‘ Experience of it. After this, I acquainted my Friend, 
‘ who communicated it to me, of my Success, to which 
‘ he boldly answer'd, that he would engage any Wager, 
‘ that of one hundred Persons in COMMON Claps, it 
‘ would not miss in TWO. Having therefore now no 
‘ small Value for my Remedy, I began to think how I 
‘ might render it MORE profitable to my self, and 
‘ useful to Others, than a PRIVATE Practice would do. 
‘ I communicated it to two of the Chief Physicians in 
‘ London, who both being pleas'd to honour it with their 
‘ Esteem, I was resolv'd to publish it, to the End that 
‘ what a great many in private Practice had us'd always 
‘ with Success, Others also, if they pleas'd, might reap 
‘ Benefit by. And accordingly, to proceed in Order 
‘ and Method, on the 14th Day of March, 1713, I 
‘ gave an Account of all the above-mention'd Particu- 
‘ lars, viz. of the great Success of this Remedy, the great 
‘ Numbers it had cured, and the Value the above-men- 
‘ tion'd Physicians had of it, to the Right Honourable 
‘ Sir Richard Hoare, Kt. Lord Mayor of the City of Lon- 
‘ don; who, to testify that he was fully satisfy'd with 
‘ the Account given, was pleas'd to sign it with his 
‘ own Hand; and on the 15th, I publish'd it in the 
‘ public Prints. 
Before 1 proceed farther, a few Remarks seem needful, 
1. If what our Author has here said be true, he must for 
certain be a very honest and cautious Man: For, ha- 
ving a Secret given him by an eminent Brother Physician, 
to whom also it had been communicated by another 
eminent Physician, who had us'd it near forty Years, and 
done near twenty Thousand Cures with it, 'tis almost sur-
E2 prizing 


(28) 
prizing our Author should be at all diffident in the Ac- 
count given him by such a Friend, as to its Virtues: But 
the most cautious and honest Physician on Earth, 
could, in the like Case, have done no more than our 
Author (says he) did; that is, make long and large 
Tryal of it, and take the Advice of eminent Physicians 
about it, before he publish'd it. 2. 'Tis very wonder- 
ful, that neither the One nor the Other of the eminent 
Physicians who had this Secret before our Author, nor 
our Author himself, in neither his abovemention'd seve- 
ral Years Tryal of this Remedy, or at least before the 
Publication of the 4th Edition of his Practical Scheme, 
should discover that this Specifick will cure the Pox, in 
Case it will really so do. 3. If any Physician of this 
Land, in this, or the last Age, had a Medicine to specifick
for Claps as our Author pretends this is, and had actually 
cured near twenty Thousand (or but twenty Hundred) Per- 
sons with it; (as our Author pretends was done) is it 
not even amazing, that neither that Physician, nor his 
Medicine, should, whilst he possess'd that Medicine, and 
practis'd with it, ever be publickly talk'd of? Can 
about twenty thousand People be cured of Claps by One 
Mam, or by Two Men in Succession, by One only Me- 
dicine, and neither the Doctor, nor his Medicine become 
the Subject of Conversation? But now let us hear the 
farther Account he has given of this Medicine, in the 
Words following the Passage cited above, viz. 
‘ The Account therefore I have to give of it, is this:
‘ That now tor several Years it has never fail'd curing 
‘ great Numbers of both Sexes, even from the slightest 
‘ Infection, to very bad Cases indeed, by a shorter or 
‘ longer Continuance of it, to the Astonishment even of 
‘ the Patients themselves, who, before Tryal, would 
‘ never believe such a mighty Alteration could have been 
‘ wrought in such deplorable Venereal Objects as them- 
‘ selves were, by ONE only innocent Thing, if they 
‘ themselves had not try'd it. The great Convenience 
‘ of this Remedy above all other Methods of Cure is, that 
‘ Persons may in a FEW Days care themselves with 
‘ IT privately, without taking ANY other Thing, 
‘ or exposing their Reputation to any One, being entire- 
‘ ly their own Physician: It bring to be carry'd about 
‘ with

(29) 
‘ with them in their Pocket, and so us'd, that neither its 
‘ Operation, (causing no Sickness at Stomach, or Disorder 
‘ in the Body, working chiefly by Urine, whose Heat it 
‘ suddenly takes away) nor the Patient's Way of Living, 
‘ (requiring no staying within Doors, or Hindrance of 
‘ Business) can ever give Suspicion to any One, or betray 
‘ them to be under such Circumstances to the nearest Re- 
‘ lation living, altho' in the same Bed together; answer- 
‘ ing ALL the Intentions of Cure, with such Pleasure, 
‘ Ease, Safety, Privacy, Certainty, and Expedition, as is 
‘ admir'd by all, in the following Manner. First, IT 
‘ finds out, unites it self with, (the Nature of it being 
‘ so to do, as the Load-Stone draws to it self Iron) and 
‘ expels chiefly by Urine, the Malignity of the Humours, 
‘ and Venereal Contagion, keeping it from the Head, 
‘ Nose, and other Noble Parts; causing a Secretion and 
‘ Separation of the noxious Humours, and particularly, 
‘ the Venereal Ones, from Others; by which Means IT 
‘ disperses, and carries off in their Infancy, those Swel- 
‘ lings without breaking them, which otherwise would 
‘ come to a troublesome Head, and break, and are 
‘ call'd Bubo's. Then IT heals, strengthens, and restores 
‘ the Tone of the Seminal Vessels, and other Parts weaken'd 
‘ and dilated by ill Medicines, over straining, too much 
‘ Purging, &c. to their ancient Springiness, and Vi- 
‘ gour; and lastly, SO perfectly completes the Cure, by 
‘ taking away the Running, (or Owing, or Gleet, after 
‘ a former ill Cure) that NONE will be disappointed 
‘ in any COMMON Clap, who will but be pleas'd 
‘ to try it: And MORE I cannot say of it. 
The above-written Account of the Specifick's curing a 
Common Clap only, is taken from our Author's 4th Edition; 
but is in every One of his Other Editions; excepting 
that there are some few Words in the Passage here tran- 
scrib'd, appropriating the Specifick to the Cure of a Clap, 
exclusive of the Pox; which Words in the succeeding 
Editions are left out; and that properly enough, seeing 
in all those Editions, our Author has assur'd the World 
his Specifick cures every State and Degree of the Secret 
Disease. And which, indeed, if it will not do, it can- 
not be a Specifick for if; for, 'A Specifick Remedy (says 
our Author, in seven or eight of his Editions from Dr.
Sydenham)

(30) 
Sydenham) 'is that which not only acts electively against 
‘ some One Distemper rather than an Other, but which 
‘ cures it at all Times, in all Places, in all Ages, Degrees, 
‘ Sexes, and Constitutions, provided it be not past Cure. 
But certainly our Author did not well consider what he 
was about, when in his second, third, and fourth Edi- 
tions he gave us this Description of a Specifick Remedy; at 
the same Time call'd his Little Remedy a Specifick for the 
Secret Disease; yet said positively it will not cure the 
third Stage of that Disease, but that a Salivation will. 
This was effectually Unspecificating his own dear Little 
Remedy at once: For if it be the Property, as he has said 
it is, of a Specifick Remedy to cure when ever the Disease 
be not past Cure; and his Little Remedy will not cure 
that Degree of the Secret Disease which a Salivation will 
cure; then, according to his own Account of the Mat- 
ter, his Little Remedy can't be a Specifick for that Disease. 
It was necessary therefore, in order to set this Matter to 
rights, and to make the Little Remedy appear a true Spe- 
cifick for the Secret Disease, that our Author should round- 
ly assert that it will effectually cure that Disease, in its 
very highest curable Degree. And this was not necessary 
to be done only to secure the People's entertaining a 
good Opinion of the Little Remedy's Virtue, but of our 
Author's Sense: For whilst he call'd his Little Remedy a 
Specifick, and acknowledg'd it will not answer his own 
Character of a Specifick, whatever People should think of 
the Medicine, they must certainly think him a Wise-acre. 
So that there was, we see, a sufficient Reason for our Au- 
thors ceasing to tell the World his Little Remedy will 
not cure the Pox, and affirming with Confidence, it will 
cure it, altho' it should be Truth and Matter of Fact, 
that he knows no more Now of its having any Virtue 
and Efficacy against the Pox, than he did when he pub- 
lish'd his 4th Edition. But, some Persons may be apt to 
say, if he asserts it will almost always so such Cures, as, 
in Truth, it will very seldom or never do, People will be 
disappointed: And, say I, what then? If One be dis- 
appointed, Another won't know it! No Remedy (as he 
has told us) is altogether infallible, and every disappointed 
Person will presume, that altho' it did not cure him, 
yet it has certainly cured Multitudes of Others, tho' he
neither

(31) 
neither knows whom, when, nor where! But however 
these Matters be, the Little Remedy is now, not only ho- 
nour'd with the Title of a Specifick, but is, in all Re- 
spects, represented as a Complete Specifick for the Secret 
Disease: It cures that Disease, as the late Editions of the 
Practical Scheme affirm, in every State and Degree there- 
of at all Times, in all Places, in all Persons, and in a 
few Days Time, as well as if no such Thing had ever 
been. This is the Character (as is sufficiently known) 
that the given-away-Books now report of the Specifick 
Remedy; only they refer to the Directions seal'd up with 
it, for the exact Method (Ed. 16. p. 16.) of varying, 
ordering, taking, and assisting it, in performing the Cure. 
Which Directions I will present you with next; that 
you may see what a complete Harmony and Agreement 
there is between the Account in the Practical Scheme, and 
the seal'd up Directions about the Specifick's answering 
ALL Intentions of Cure, without taking ANY Thing else 
(in a COMMON Clap, at least) in a FEW Days Time, 
without SLIP-SLOPS of Physick, Suspicion, Confinement, 
or telling One's Case to any One; and this too with 
Pleasure, Ease, Safety, &c. But as the Practical Scheme 
has undergone sixteen Impressions, so the Direction-Papers, 
for the Use of the Specifick, have been reprinted, I be- 
lieve, almost (if not altogether) as often, and every 
Time, as near as I can observe, with Alterations. Some 
that I have seen, contain'd 12 Pages, Others but 8; 
Some with an Appendix, and Others without. That which 
I shall transcribe from, consists only of 8 Pages, with- 
out any Appendix; and was (as I know by a Marginal 
Correction, with the Pen) printed at the Time the ele- 
venth Edition of the Practical Scheme was given away; 
when, it must be own'd, our Author had had Time 
enough to correct and amend these Directions, by put- 
ting in, or leaving out, what to himself seem'd neces- 
sary. As I transcribe these Directions, I shall intersperse 
some few Things from his later Directions, and some 
Observations and Remarks of my own.
Directions.] Directions for the Use of the Specifick Re- 
medy. Some general Directions which regard equally all the 
three Stages of the Secret Disease. When ever this Speci- 
fic Remedy is taken, it must be in the Manner follow-
ing.

(32) 
ing. First, stir it very well together with the Point of 
a Knife, that its liquid and solid Parts may be well mix'd 
and incorporated together; because the thick Part of it 
always settles something hardish at the Bottom of the 
Gallypot, unless it be well stirr'd up, and mix'd toge- 
ther.
Remarks.] Here is a sufficient Proof, that this Remedy 
is only a Galenical Mixture, and not a Chemical Extract, 
as our Author (Ed. 5th, 6th, and 7th, p. 63.) boastingly 
pretends: For, a Chemical Extract is, in all its Parts, 
Homogene, and wants no stirring together, as Galenical 
Mixtures do. Our Author, in the Place cited, intimates 
that his Specifick consists of Vegetable and Mineral Ingre- 
dients; which I believe to be true enough: For altho' he 
has not said Bals. Capiv. Colocynth. and Mer. D. or Calomel. 
are Part of the Composition, yet, I think, any Man skill'd 
in Medicines may easily discover those three Ingredients 
in it; and Mercury, in soft Mixtures, always subsides 
and lies, as he says, hardish at the Bottom of the Pot. 
Directions.] Take the Quantity of a large Pea, Morn- 
ing and Night, or as much as will give 3 or 4 Stools in 
24 Hours; and if this Quantity gives more than 3 or 4 
Stools in 24 Hours, then take less, or not so often of it, 
(as for Example, only Morning or Night) for more 
Stools are not requisite, but fatigue the Patient too much; 
and if you find it too much, or inconvenient to take it 
so often, you may miss now and then a Day. When- 
ever you take it, you may go abroad indeed, but still 
better if you keep your self moderately warm at Home; 
and be sure, if you can, get a Draught or two of warm 
Broth, Posset-Drink, Gruel, or some such Thing, some 
Time after it. During your Illness, don't be let Blood, 
nor use any great Exercise, but abstain as much as you 
can from Dancing, Riding, Running, Jumping, &c. and 
live regular, but especially Chaste; for to inflame the 
Blood, stir up the Humours, and increase the Malignity 
by fast Living, whilst the Person is under Cure, is to 
undo with One Hand what is done with the Other, and 
is the Reason why so few are Cured. Abstain from all 
Salt and spiced Meats, strong, stale, SOUR, SHARP, 
and distill'd Liquors, as Stout, Punch, Brandy, and such 
like. But the more you drink of soft, small, smooth 
Liquors,


(33) 
Liquors, such as Milk, Milk and Water, (warm'd a 
little in very cold Weather) Whey, Broths, (especially if 
plenty of Turnips are boil'd therein, which are very 
good for you) Gruel, Barley-Water, Sage, Green, or in- 
deed any Sort of Tea, (but Bohea Tea is best for you) 
Milk-Coffee, &c. or indeed any thing that has Milk in 
it the better, for which Reason Milk-Pottage, Milk- 
Coffee, and Tea, and such like Things with Milk in 
them, are very good for you. But especially during 
your Heat of Urine. Drink plentifully as often as you 
can any of the above-mention'd Things; because the 
plentiful drinking of these small, soft, smooth Liquors, 
not only dilutes and washes the Blood, but also blunts and 
corrects the sharp arced Particles of the Urine, from 
whence proceeds the Uneasiness in making it, and so 
causes it to come away the easier; so that always take 
this for a general Rule, that the more you make Water, 
the better it is for you: And indeed we find by Expe- 
rience, that great Drinkers of any of the above-mention'd 
Things, always make a great deal of Urine. Gentlemen 
may drink now and then with Moderation, a Glass of 
good mellow, soft, smooth Wine, such as White Lisbon. 
The Breach of any of these Articles is so entirely oppo- 
site to your Cure, that it will retard it more in one Day, 
than the best of Remedies can forward it perhaps in a 
Month. 
Remarks.] Our Author's Specifick, you see, requires the 
same Regimen other moderate Purgatives do; that is, that 
Care be taken not to catch Cold, something drank warm 
whilst it operates, &c. So that here is no extraordina- 
ry Privacy. Our Author's Directions about Diet, Exercise, 
&c. above transcrib'd, being (tho' proper, yet) not very 
distinct and plain, I shall here set down my own 
Thoughts on that Subject: 1. In a Clap, whilst the Person 
takes Purgative Physick, in order to remove the Infection, 
a moderate spare Diet should be observ'd; and which 
ought to consist of Things Succulent and easy of Di- 
gestion; such as boil'd Veal, Lamb, Mutton, Beef, (not 
much salted) Poultry, Rabbits, fresh Fish, Broth, and 
Water-Gruel, especially that With Currants boil'd in it. 
As to Drink, Small-Beer, Oat-Ale, Ale, Ale-Purl; of 
Wines, Canary, white Lisbon, and new Rhenish are best:
F But

(34) 
But the best of all Liquors in a Clap is good Mead, or 
Metheglin: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, are not at all in- 
jurious. 2. When the Infection is remov'd, and Medi- 
cines are taken in order to cure the Weeping, and bring 
the weaken'd Parts to their due Tone; a more drying 
Diet (if it may conveniently be had) should be us'd; 
Meat Roasted, rather than that which is boil'd, is to be 
chosen; but only the leanest Part thereof eaten, fat 
Meat and Butter being now very injurious; but Cheese 
is not so: Strong Broths, Jellies, &c. are very proper; 
so are (for poor People) Neets Feet, Trotters, &c. most 
Garden-stuff, and Fruits, eaten in Quantity, are inju- 
rious: Almonds, and Raisons are very good in any Time 
of the Cure; and the Use of Tobacco cannot be hurtful. 
If you drink any Punch, take care it be genuine, not 
very strong, and that you drink not too much of it. 
Towards the End of the Cure, Red Wine, in Moderation, 
need not be dreaded. But throughout the Cure, Meats 
that are very fat, as also Butter; all Eatables of hard 
Digestion; as also Stale Beer., Brandy, and all sharp and 
hot Liquors ought to be avoided. Yet have I cured 
some Hundreds of, Persons, who, throughout all the 
Time of their Cure, kept, in all Respects (Temperance 
and Sobriety being observ'd) to their usual Ways of Eat- 
ing and Drinking. 3. He that has a Clap upon him, 
ought to be very cautious of engaging in any violent 
Exercise; first, because it more relaxes and weakens the 
Parts from whence the Fleeting flows, increases the Run- 
ning, and thereby retards the Cure; it being possible 
that violent Exercise should (as it sometimes dopes) bring 
a Running on Men, and the Whites on Women, shews 
this to be true. Secondly, violent Exercise puts all the 
Fluids in the Body into a more brisk Motion than they 
would otherwise be in, whereby the Infection is the 
sooner dispers'd all the Body over, and a Confirm'd Pox 
Occasion'd; yet of all Exercise, that of a Venereal 
Rencounter is, during a Man's having a Clap, of most 
pernicious Consequence. But after a severe Course of 
Physick for a Confirm'd Pox, moderate Exercise in the 
Country Air, is very serviceable; because it induces a 
Fermentation in the Blood, and assists in bringing it to its 
due Order and Texture, in which principally Health 
consists. 


(35) 
consists. 4. Whereas many Persons, under the Misfor- 
tune of this disgraceful and pernicious Disease, (especial- 
ly modest Women injur'd by their Husbands) are very 
apt to be pensive, thoughtful, melancholy, and dejected; I 
must inform them, that keeping themselves in such an 
Uneasiness of Mind, and Fear of never being well cured, 
is very much to their Prejudice, and hinders the Cure. 
Directions.] For the more easy taking the Remedy, the 
best Way is, to put a little of any Sort of Syrup, as of 
Marsh-Mallows, Poppies, &c. into a Spoon; (but the 
very beat Syrup of all, without Dispute, for this Use, 
is Syrup of Buckthorn, to be had at any Apothecary's for 
3 d. an Ounce) then to put about the Quantity of a 
large Pea of the Remedy (which, if you will, you may 
first wrap up in Leaf-Gold, a Wafer, Skin of a Codlin, or 
a Raison, or any such Thing) into a Spoon, and put a 
little more Syrup over it, and so sup it off, and you'll 
not taste it. 
Remarks.] According to this Direction, any Pills and 
Bolus's may be pretty easily gotten down. Our Author 
prefers Syrup of Buckthorn, because that, being a Purga- 
tive, will assist the Specifick, which ought to be taken in 
something that is pleasant, or otherwise be Well wrap'd 
up; for the Bals. Cap. and Colocynthis (commonly call'd 
Bitter Apple) render it a more disagreeable Bitter than 
either Aloes, or Soot; therefore not delectable to be 
tasted. 
Directions.] Bathing and Sweating are good through- 
out the whole Cure. 
Remarks.] The Use of Bathing, and Sweating, and 
Purgatives, all at one Time, and that for curing a Clap, 
certainly never was the Advice of a Physician. But pro- 
bably our Author does it to avoid Suspicion, Confinement, 
&c. However, after the Infection of a virulent Gonorrhœa 
is off, the Use of the Cold Bath, and Bathing in Cold 
Water, in a due Time of Year, is beneficial. 
Directions.] I could have seal'd up with the Specifick 
Remedy several of those little Things which I shall here- 
after prescribe; but they being to be us'd soon after 
they are made up, (or else they will lose a great deal of 
their Virtue) and it being uncertain how long they 
may lie in the Shop unfold, I thought (since the Charge 
F2 of


(36) 
of them is not great) it the honestest Way, by far, to 
write down here the faithful Receipts of them, and so 
let the Patient get them made up fresh, and then they'll 
be as effectual again, to what they would have been, 
had they been seal'd up with the Remedy, and lain for 
some Time unfold in the Shop. Whenever therefore I 
shall here prescribe any Thing to be taken by the Pa- 
tient, my Meaning is, that he write out the Prescription 
from this little Book, (for which Reason I shall take 
care to explain my self clearly) and call in at any Apo- 
thecary's Shop in his Walks, as he goes about his Business, 
and shew them the Paper which he has writ out, and 
they'll make up the Thing for him presently, without any 
more ado, for a small Charge, and never know what 
Use the Buyer designs it for. By which Means you'll 
always have the Things fresh, which otherwise would 
not keep their Virtues. But as for the Specifick Remedy, 
and Powders, they'll be as good some Years hence as they 
are now. 
Remarks.] I begin to find Work is cut out for our 
Patient, first, he must write out (or, if he can't write 
himself, he must get some blind Man; for One that can 
See, will discover what the Thing is for, by the Di- 
rection Paper he writes it from, to do it for him) what 
Receipt, or Receipts he wants to have made up; and 
away to an Apothecary, who, upon viewing the Note, 
cries out, Whose Writing is this, Sir? Mine, Sir, says 
the Patient, (softly and blushing.) Pray, Sir, what may 
it be for, says the 'Pothecary, (staring him hard in the 
Face?) Make it up, make it up, Sir, says the Patient, 
turning his Head another Way, drawing his Hat over his 
Eyes, and swearing (to himself) the 'Pothecary is a cun- 
ning Dog, and has certainly smok'd the Matter. At 
length, the Receipt is made up, and deliver'd by the 
'Pothecary with a Smile; and receiv'd by our Patient (if 
he be a Man of any Modesty) with a Blush, and an 
affected demure Countenance: And being once got 
safe out of the Shop, he swears he'll not come in that 
Street any more of a Month, when, God not, he may 
have another Errand of the same Sort to go on in 24 
Hours Time. The Specifick Remedy, and Powders, our 
Author says, will keep good some Years: But Mr. Lovel 
says,


(37) 
says, when he sold this Specifick Remedy, its Author us'd 
to come almost every Day to his Shop to change the Pots, 
because the Medicine would ferment and spue out. An 
excellent Composition to be carry'd to the East and West 
Indies, as its Author (Ed. 16, p. 26.) says it may be! 
And in St. James's Evening Post. July 12, 1716, he says 
a Chest full of it (believe him if you can) was sent for, 
and accordingly sent to New York! Note, A very small 
Chest, at his Price, will hold 10000l. Worth. But that 
Part of the Original Composition which caus'd it to fer- 
ment, is (I believe) now lest out; so that it will keep 
much longer in Order. But may not the Medicine be 
the worse for that Alteration? 
Directions.] You may buy a Syringe at any Pewterer's 
for 8d. Ask for a Man's Syringe; some call it a bub- 
pointed Syringe. 
Remarks.] Suppose the Patient be a Woman, must she 
ask for a Man's Syringe too? Or, must she not ask for 
a Womb Syringe? Besides, should the Pewterer happen to 
have a little more Sense than his Syringes, would he not 
certainly guess what Use these Syringes are to be put to? 
Our Author has many pretty Ways to prevent Suspicion. 
Directions.] To make the Lotion mention'd in the 
Practical Scheme; mix well the Lotion Powder, the whole 
Pot of it, in a Pint of Spring Water, in a Bottle, and 
shake the Bottle very well always before you use it. 
Warm it always Blood-warm before you use it, which 
you may do privately in your Chamber in a little Tin 
Saucer over a Candle. And if you put a Spoonful or 
two of Brandy to the Pint, it will be still the better; 
warm also Milk always before you inject it. Don't be 
afraid of Syringing your self; for it will be so far from 
hurting you, that you'll not even feel it, when you 
squirt the Liquor into your private Parts; keep the Li- 
quor in as long as you can. The best Tin Sauce-pan for 
your Use, is such an One as Nurses warm Children's Pap 
in, and to be bought for 2d. at any Tin-shop. So that 
any Gentleman may, after he is retir'd at Night from 
Company to his Chamber, warm this over a Candle, if 
he has no Fire, and do this all himself with little or no 
Trouble. When you use your Syringe, you must put the 
End

(38) 
End of it into the Liquor, and draw the Squirt to and fro, 
'till you find it makes a good Stream; then having drawn it 
a little above half Way, take it out of the Liquor, and draw 
the Squirt about half an Inch more out, that it may such in 
a little Air; then apply it to the Part, and keeping the End 
of the Syringe close in the Orifice of the Urinary Pas- 
sage, squirt it in; if you draw not a little Air, it will slab- 
ber and spill aside. 
Remarks. The last Lines here contain apt Directions 
for the Use of a Syringe; and all Injections ought to be 
us'd Blood-warm. If any Stiptick, Astringent, Drying or 
Healing Injection be us'd in a Clap, before the Injection be 
carry'd off, as it will help to stop the Running, so it will 
contribute towards poxing the Patient. Whether our Au- 
thor's be of that Tribe, may be judg'd by tasting either 
his Powder, or the Liquor it shall be mix'd in; for dis- 
solve it seems it will not: So that at best it can be but 
a slovenly Medicine. However, probably you may find 
much Ease and Pleasure in the Use on't, avoid Slip- 
Slops, Suspicion, &c. 
Directions.] If you have a Running, tye two Tapes to 
two Corners of a Handkerchief, and tye it about your 
Middle under your Shirt, to prevent being discover'd by 
your foul Linen. 
Remarks.] If you be neat, and not a little lazy, in- 
stead of tying the Tapes and Handkerchief together, you'll 
stitch them. 
Directions.] If there be Occasion to apply any Balsam 
or Plaister to your private Parts, you had best get a 
Piece of Leather, made like the Finger of a Glove, with 
a Hole in it to make Water through, and keep it on over 
all, ty'd by two Strings round your Waste. 
Remarks.] Here seems almost as much Bustle, as if no 
Specifick was concern'd in the Cure. 
Directions.] Throughout the WHOLE Cure, what- 
ever Stage your Condition belong to, you must be sure to 
keep the Urinary Passage open; for the more you make 
Water, the better, especially during your Heat of Urine: 
In order to which, take a Tea Spoonful of this Diure- 
tick Powder 3 or 4 Times a-Day, in a Glass of Milk, 
Whey, Spring-Water, or Wine and Water mix'd and 
sweeten'd with Sugar, The Powder is this:
Take 


(39) 
Take Sal Prunella 3 Drams, vitrolated Tartar 1 Dram, 
both in fine Powder, and mix'd together. 
It will cost you three Pence: Or, rather than fail, 
only Salt of Prunella alone. But above any thing, if 
you'll be but at the Trouble of getting it, the following 
Drink is the only Thing perhaps in the World to cool 
you, to ease your Pain, to cleanse the Urinary Passage, 
and to make you make Water plentifully, and carry off 
a great deal of the Malignity by Urine. 
Remarks.] Bless us! Were we not told the Specifick, 
in any common Clap would, without taking ANY 
Thing else, answer ALL the Intentions of Cure? Now 
we are directed to make a Drink to cool, ease Pain, cleanse 
the Urinary Passage, and carry off, the Malignity! And 
what then will remain for the Specifick to do? But, let's 
see what this most excellent Drink is. 
Directions.] Take Damask-Rose Water a Pint, re- 
ctify'd Spirit of Wine two Ounces, Oyl of Sul- 
phur, and Oyl of Vitriol, of each once Ounce and 
a Quarter, Spirit of Salt one Ounce. Mix them. 
'Twill cost about 18 d. 
Keep this Mixture in a Bottle, to use in the Manner 
following: Take of this Mixture an Ounce, or an Ounce 
and Half, (which I reckon is about two Spoonfuls;) put 
it into a Quart of Spring Water, mix them well together, 
and taste it: If it is of a Sharpness grateful enough to 
drink, 'tis well; but if 'tis too sharp, put a little more 
Water to it: If it is not sharp enough, put some few Drops 
more of the Mixture, 'till in fine, 'tis palatable enough 
to drink; Then sweeten it with double-refin'd Sugar, 
so as to be pretty pleasant; and drink plentifully of it 
as often as you please, even almost for your common
Drink. This will cool you, ease your Pain, and, to- 
gether with the Specifick Remedy, strike at the Root of 
the Malignity, and help considerably to carry it off by 
Urine. Drink often in the Day of it. 
Remarks.] Our Author told us, That this Disease con- 
sists in a Corrosive Acid Ferment; that its true Me- 
thod


(40) 
thod of Cure must consist, in searching, attractive, alca- 
leous, healing Medicines; loaded with volatile, sulphu- 
reous, oleagenous, globular, and smooth Particles: Not- 
withstanding which, he here prescribes Oyl of Vitriol, 
Oyl of Sulphur, and Spirit of Salt, which are the most 
violent, and most corrosive Acids (Aqua-forties excepted) 
known in the World, as very conducive to the Cure of 
this Disease. In the Beginning (too) of these Directions, 
he strictly forbids the drinking any sharp and sour Li- 
quors; and directs the drinking plentifully of Milk, 
Mill and Water, Milk-Coffee, Milk-Tea, &c. But here 
he directs the making a Mixture, as sharp as it will be 
palatable, with the most violent of Acids and Water, to 
be drank of every Day, and that often, during the 
whole Cure! Does our learned Author think Oyl of Vi- 
triol, Oyl of Sulphur, and Spirit of Salt, are Alcalies? 
Or does he think that They and Milk are nearly of One 
and the same Nature, and endu'd with much One and 
the same Qualities, that he has order'd them both to be 
drank of so liberally at one and the same Time & Cer- 
tainly he either does not heed, or does not know what 
he writes.
Directions.] If you have any Soreness in your Mouth 
or Throat, wash it often with the following Mixture, 
Take Plantain-Water half a Pint, Syrup of Mulber- 
ries two Ounces, Roach A Hum in Powder, and 
Honey, of each a Drachm; mix them. 
Keep the Mixture in a Bottle, to wash at Times your 
Mouth and Throat with. If you have not Plantain Wa- 
ter, use fair Water. Thus far Directions in general: Now 
I'll proceed to give Directions particular to every Stage. 
Directions for the first Stage. 
Besure first take some sew Doses of the Specific Reme- 
dy, as above order'd, for a few Days, after which, mix 
the Lotion Powder with a Pint of Water, as just now 
mention'd, and syringe your self 2 or 3 Times a-Day 
with it, and use 5 or 6 Syringe full at least each Time; 
but always first, if you can, syringe your self with 4 or 
5 Syringe full of warm Milk: Also, if you have any 
outward

(41) 
outward Soreness, Frettings, Wheals, Pimples, Blisters, 
Shankers, &c. wash them with a Bit of Sponge, or Rag, 
dip in the Lotion; and when your Pint of Lotion be 
done, use afterwards, both in this and the second Stage, 
warm Milk instead of it, both to syringe your self with, 
and also to wash outwardly with, whatever Soreness, 
Frettings, Wheals, Pimples, Blisters, Shankers, &c. you 
may have, and lay on them a little Piece of Diachylon 
Plaster, spread with a warm Knife, on a Bit of Linen- 
Cloth; you may buy a Pennyworth at any Apothecary's: 
But by no Means leave off taking the Specifick Remedy, 
for fear of leaving any lurking Malignity behind, it 
being certainly One of the best Things in the whole 
World to root out the Infection. 
Remarks.] My Thoughts about using styptick, astrin- 
gent, &c. Injections, I have told you already. Milk in- 
jected warm, will a little abate the Pain in an Heat of 
Urine; and not otherwise do (so far as I know) either 
Good or Hurt; and if this Lotion Liquor be of the Na- 
ture of Milk, the same may be said of that; But I 
suspect it to be Vitriolick and Aluminous, in which Case 
it will (being us'd before the Infection be off, as he di- 
rects it should) be of very pernicious Consequence. 
Directions.] Directions for the second Stage. 
You must first proceed as just now order'd for the 
first Stage, 'till the Matter that runs is become perfectly 
white, ropy, and glutinous, which will be in a few Days, 
if the Directions here prescrib'd be but punctually ob- 
serv'd, and then the Specifick Remedy need not be taken 
so often; and if the Running be not entirely gone, you 
must take this following Jelly, but not before the Ma- 
lignity is well carry'd off: For after a Person has been 
duly cleans'd of all Infection and Malignity, sometimes 
there will remain, from the Weakness of the Parts, a 
small Gleet and Running, which if you think to take 
entirely away by Purging, you may almost as soon 
purge their Lives away; so that then some Healer must 
be us'd, of which none in the World is better than this 
following: When therefore a Person has taken of the 
Specifick Remedy, 'till the Matter that runs is become 
G perfectly

(42) 
perfectly white, glutinous, and ropy, then they must take 
this following Jelly. 
Take a Pint of Red-Rose Water, put one Ounce of 
Gum Tragant into it, in a Gully-pot, let it soak 
24 or 30 Hours, strain it through a Cloth; it will 
be thick like Frumity: Then put into it half a 
Pound of Loaf-Sugar in Powder, grate in one 
whole Nutmeg; then mix, stir, and beat it very 
well together, and keep it in a Gully-pot. 
Take about Half a Spoonful at a Time, every 3 or 4 
Hours: 'Tis extraordinary pleasant to take, being just 
the same, in a Manner, as Harts-horn, or other fine 
Jellies. This will corroborate and strengthen all the 
weaken'd Seed Vessels, and take away entirely the Gleet, 
and is so pleasant and pretty a Thing to take, and so 
cheap and easy to make, that no Person can find any 
Fault with it: It will cost you about 18d. Make it 
up your self privately. 
Remarks.] In the Practical Scheme we were told, That 
ONE innocent Thing, the Specifick Remedy, without 
taking ANY other Thing, would answer ALL Inten- 
tions of Cure, find out the Infection, and expel it: Then 
heal and strengthen the Parts, and SO perfectly com- 
plete the Cure, by taking away the Running, (nay, the 
Owing and Gleet after a former ill Cure) that NONE 
would be disappointed in any COMMON Clap, In 
the Directions we are order'd to get an Oil of Vitriol, 
Spirit of Salt, and Oil of Sulphur Liquor made, and to 
drink of that daily, and often in the Day, to cool and 
cleanse the Urinary Passage, ease the Pain, and carry off 
(or help to carry off, as he imagines) the Malignity! 
And, the Malignity being gone, to get a Gum-Jelly 
made, and to take a Dose of that every three or four 
Hours; as also (on the same Days) a Dose of the Oyl of 
Vitriol, Oyl of Sulphur, and Spirit of Salt Liquor, which 
must (says he) be continu'd throughout the whole 
Cure. However, he is, I can assure you, much more 
favourable in the Matter now, than he was about a 
Year and half or two Years ago; when, in his seal'd 
up Directions, instead of this Jelly, he advis'd Two seve- 
ral


(43) 
ral Drinks, besides a strengthening Electuary. One of 
those Drinks he order'd to be made with Strasburg Tur- 
pentine one Ounce, Yolks of two Eggs, and new Milk 
two Quarts, well mix'd, and brought into a Liquor, 
which is easily done. Of this Liquor he advis'd half a 
Pint, or better, to be taken Morning, Noon, and Night; 
or near a Pint Morning and Evening only, 'till the Gleet 
should be gone. He advis'd the buying above half a 
Pound of Turpentine at the Drugstores; which will make 
about 16 Quarts (according to his own Directions) of 
Turpentine Liquor. And at the same Time this Turpen- 
tine-Drink was to be taken, the Oyl of Vitriol, Oyl of 
Sulphur, and Spirit of Salt Liquor was to be drank too. 
Then, says he, (in those old Directions, p. 6.) a Good 
Diet-Drink is of great Use throughout the whole Cure, 
in any of its three Stages, to alter, sweeten, and absorb
the Acid of the Blood and Lympha. Now of all Diet- 
Drinks, the following (says he) is the best in the World, 
(and then he sets down a common Receipt of a drying 
Diet-Drink:) But (says he) above all the Diet-Drinks in 
the World, (if you will but go to the Charge of it) 
whether for the first, second, or third Stage of the Di- 
sease, is the Volatile Salt of Vipers, taken to the Quan- 
tity of to or 12 Grains every Morning and Night, when 
you do not take the Specific Remedy, in a Glass of Sack;
it gives the Sack a Flavour but no Taste. It will cost 
about 30s. an Ounce. Then, says he, (in the above- 
mention'd old Directions, p. 8.) if the Running be not 
entirely gone, 
Take boil'd Turpentine one Ounce, Dragons Blood, 
and fire Bole, of each two Drams, Crabs Eyes 
three Drams, two Nutmegs, Lucatella's Balsam 
half an Ounce, and with Syrup of July-Flowers 
make an Electuary. 
Of which he advises you to take the Quantity of a 
Nutmeg every Morning, at four in the Afternoon, and at 
Night. But now, instead of these three Remedies, you 
are only to take a Jelly! 
Directions.] You must a little be your own Surgeon, 
if you will be cured privately, there is nothing to be 
G2 said;

(44)
said; for I do not pretend that the Specifick Remedy will 
perform a Surgeon's Part, no more than it will cure a 
Bubo actually broke: No, in such Cases you must give 
a helping Hand a little your self, as I mention'd expressly 
in the little Treatise of the Venereal Distemper, which I 
have writ, entitled, A Practical Scheme of the Secret Di- 
sease, in order not to DECEIVE any Person in the 
Performance of their Cure, by making them believe 
MORE than they will find, when they come to it; I 
have therefore given here Elbow Room for any Person who 
is but so pleas'd to go thro' the Cure themselves. 
Remarks.] Had our Author really intended not to 
deceive Persons, in Relation to what his Specifick Remedy 
will do in the Cure of the Secret Disease, instead of seal- 
ing up his Directions with his Remedy, he would certain- 
ly have tack'd them to his Practical Scheme, to the End 
that whosoever should, by that Pamphlet, be inform'd 
what Cures his Specifick will perform in the Secret Di- 
sease, might, at the same Time, be inform'd, what 
Assistance it requires in performing those Cures. And 
then, I 'am sure, the whole Affair would have born a 
more honest Countenance than it does now. 
Directions.] If you have any Soreness or Inflammation, 
spread with a warm Knife, a little Diachylon on a Bit 
of Linnen Cloth, and bind it on. But if the Soreness 
be from the Parts being fretted, and raw, little Pimples, 
Wheals, or Pustules broke out, and consequently so very 
bad as not to yield to this mild Application, which 
sometimes perhaps in some Persons it may not do, ac- 
cording to the Degree of Malignity receiv'd. Get the 
following Mixture made up by an Apothecary, and ap- 
ply it on Lint, and bind it on a little Bit of Linnen 
Rag, over the Soreness, and it will, in 2 or 3 Times 
using, certainly give you Ease and cure it; 'tis this: 
Take Balsam of Capivi, Balsam of Peru, and Mer- 
curius Dulcis in fine Powder, of each two Drams, 
Honey of Roses three Drams, mix them all well 
together like an Ointment. 
'Tis the most certain Thing in the World, for all 
Venereal Wheals, Shankers, Pustules, Pimples, Frettings, 
Rawnesses,

(45)
Rawnesses, or other such Breakings-out. Renew it two 
or three times a Day privately your self. 'Twill cost 
you about 8d. or 9d. But if there be only an In- 
flammation, Swelling, and Cordee, without any such lit- 
tle Pimples, Wheals, or Pustules broke out as just now 
mention'd, then get this following Mixture made up. 
Take the best Bole Armenick in fine Powder one 
Ounce, Camphire in Powder a Dram and half, 
Brandy or Spirit of Wine enough to make it into 
an Ointment. 
Lay some of it on a Bit of Linen Rag over the In- 
flammation, and renew it as often as dis dry. 'Tis a most 
admirable good Thing, and will not fail, I assure you. 
'Twill cost about 4d. Whilst you have this Inflamma- 
tion, Soreness, and Cordee, you must wash often the Part, 
first with warm Milk, or rather three or four times a 
Day hold it a while in warm Milk, and syringe it first 
with Milk, and then with the Lotion. 
I have here prescrib'd a few easy Things, which will 
not keep long after they are made up; and therefore I 
should have been very unjust to have seal'd any of them 
up with the Specifick Remedy, to have lain some Time 
unfold, and then to have had no Effect. These Things 
any One may get made up by any Apothecary, as I have 
mention'd, for the small inconsiderable Charge of per- 
haps a Shilling or two, nay, sometimes less, which o- 
therwise they must go to a Surgeon for, and perhaps pay 
three or four Guineas for. 
Remarks.] Our Author has taken Care the Apothecaries 
and Surgeons shall not cheat his Patients: But what As- 
surance have we he will not cheat them himself? May 
not, think you, an honest and skillful Surgeon better de- 
serve three or four Guineas for making a few proper and 
effectual Applications, (though of Things of small Price) 
than our Author one Guinea for a small Pot of his little 
Remedy, that requires such great Assistance in curing a 
small Clap? 
Directions.] If by Chance you should have a Bubo 
broke, besure draw it well with some Basilicon Oint- 
ment, apply'd on Lint, with a Paracelsus Plaister over it. 
Draw


(46)
Draw it as long as any Matter is in it, and then heal 
it with a Diachylon Plaister. 
If one or both your Testicles are inflam'd, swell'd, or 
sore, make up the following Poultice. Take a Pint of 
Bean Flower, three or four Spoonfuls of Brandy, and Vi- 
negar enough to make it into a Pultice, and apply it as 
warm as you can bear it, and keep it on with a Bag- 
Truss, or Purse, which you may make fit for the Part 
of Fustian or Linnen, or rather of a Sheep's Bladder. If 
you get at any Apothecary's half an Ounce of Camphire 
in fine Powder, (to do which, a few Drops of Spirit 
of Wine must be put into the Mortar along with it, or 
else 'tis impossible ever to powder it) and put to it, 
'twill be still so much the more effectual. You may 
have a Pint of Bean Flower at any Meal-Shop, or Corn- 
Chandler's, for about a Penny. Renew it two or three 
times a Day, 'till 'tis well, which will be in a few 
Days, and then commonly the Running returns, which 
whilst the Swelling lasts, oftentimes ceases. 'Twill cost 
about 6d. 
Now, this Remedy being to fall into the Hands of all 
Sorts of Persons, whose Cases are never all alike, 'twill 
happen that some Persons Conditions may require ma- 
ny of the Things I here prescribe, although others may 
not. Therefore I must endeavour to accommodate the 
Directions to all Cases, that no Persons may be at a 
Stand, or be puzzled in their Cure. I must therefore ad- 
vise my Reader, if his Clap be so good-natur'd as to re- 
quire nothing else but the Specifick Remedy, not to take 
it ill at least, that I prescribe some few other Things for 
Others, whose Case may not be so favourable as his. 
If you have any Excrescences, commonly call'd Carun- 
cles, in the Urinary Passage, or any carious Bones, (but 
that is what not two in an hundred have) you cannot 
in this Case manage your self, but must apply to a Sur- 
geon. 
Remarks.] In Case of a Phimosis and Paraphimosis, 
Symptoms that usually attend Claps, and of which our 
Author has not taken one Word of Notice, you must ap- 
ply to a Surgeon or Physician, as well as in Case of Ca- 
runcles. And now I have transcrib'd so much (and so 
much only) of our Author's Directions for the Use of his 
Specific,

(47)
Specifick, as relate to the curing the first and second 
Stages of the Secret Disease, that is, a Clap. And 
(HERE) I would willingly have every one who shall 
have read over so much of these Directions as I have 
hitherto transcrib'd, seriously reflect and confider, 1. 
Whether it be probable (or indeed possible) that any 
Physician could communicate the Receipt of this little 
Remedy (whatever it be) as a Specifick for Claps, so cer- 
tain in its Effects, as not to miss curing Two Persons in 
an Hundred, and assure his from his own Knowledge, 
and the Experience of another Physician, who should 
have had about forty Years Tryal of it. If we ima- 
gine a Physician communicated this Medicine, we must 
suppose he communicated the Directions too: And what 
Physician will ever account that Medicine a Specifick, or 
a Secret for any Disease, that must be assisted as our 
Author has endeavour'd to assist his Specifick in the Cure 
of a Clap? Not to take Notice how silly and unwor- 
thy a Physician's Pen the Prescriptions and Aids are he 
has set down. 2. Let it be also consider'd, from the 
Number and Nature of these aiding Prescriptions, how 
probable 'tis, and likely to be true, that our Author 
made that long and great Tryal of this little Remedy in 
common Claps, that he pretends he did, before he pub- 
lish'd it to be sold 3. Consider how much Truth there was 
in our Author's affirming, that that One innocent Thing, 
without taking any Thing else, answers ALL the Inten- 
tions of Cure; IT finds out the Infection; IT disperses 
Swellings in their Infancy; IT heals and strengthens; 
and SO perfectly completes the Cure, by taking away 
the Running, that NONE shall be disappointed in a- 
ny COMMON Clap, that will but be pleas'd to try it! 
Nay, that any ONE (Ed. 5th, 6th, 7th, p. 36.) will 
bless the happy Day they ever try'd it! So that (Ed. 
5th, 6th, 7th, p. 39.) what nauseous Pills, Powders, Drinks, 
Salivations, and other pernicious Astringents, Mercurial, 
and tedious Methods of Cure perform altogether, going 
round about the Bush, and exposing the Patients Reputa- 
tion into the Bargain, this little Remedy does privately a 
nearer Way Home! O Truth, Truth wer't thou, when 
our Author wrote this ? 
Directions

(48)
Directions for the third Stage. 
Directions.] First take one of the three Papers of Pow- 
der seal'd up with the Parcel, in a little Syrup, Treacle, 
or Conserve of Roses. Take it about five or six a Clock 
in the Evening. About three Quarters of an Hour 
after 'tis taken, 'twill begin to work both by Vomit 
and Stool. Until it does begin to work, don't take a- 
ny Thing; but after every Vomit, drink plentifully of 
Water-Gruel or Posset-Drink; you can't well drink too 
much. After it has done working, which will be all 
over in about two Hours Time, get a little Mace Ale, 
or mull'd Sack, and go to Bed. Miss the next Day, and 
the third Day take another Paper in the same Manner. 
Miss again a Day, and then take the third Paper also 
after the same Manner. 'Tis safe, gentle, and easy in 
its Operation. 
Next get this following Electuary made up by an 
Apothecary. 
Take Virginia Snake Root in Powder half an Ounce, 
Zedoary Root in Powder two Drams, Saffron half 
a Dram; Powder of Vipers, and volatile Salt of 
Vipers, of each two Drams; Oil of Amber, and 
Camphire in Powder, of each a Dram; Venice 
Treacle an Ounce: Make them into an Electuary 
with Syrup of Coral, 
OF this Electuary you must take the Quantity of a large 
Nutmeg Morning and Night every Day; 'twill not 
purge. but strike at the Blood to rectify it. Now, al- 
th' I prescribe this Electuary for this Stage; yet, if a- 
ny Person would but take of it now and then in the 
other Stages, 'twould perform Wonders in their Cure; 
as also alter all Cures of Claps for Security Sake, least 
the Blood may be infected. 
At some convenient Distance, as two or three times 
a Week, you must take of the Specifick Remedy, to carry 
off the Infection, which the just now mention'd Electu- 
ary will throw out of the Blood and Juices; so that 
ALL the Venereal Taint will soon yield to this Electua- 
ry and the Specifick Remedy. But this I mention for
those

(49)
those who are pleas'd to use it; not as absolutely ne- 
cessary, but ad melius esse; because 'tis pretty dear. But 
those Persons whose Case is misfortunately the third 
Stage of this Disease, must consider how many there
are in the World who spend 20 or 30 Pounds to get 
cured of this Stage, and perhaps in the End are scarce 
cured neither; there being a great deal of Difference be- 
tween the curing a Clap and the Pox. 
Those Gentlemen who are so averse from taking Phy- 
sick, that they cannot take this Electuary, let them take 
volatile Salt of Vipers, which is equally AS good in the 
present Case, as the just now mention'd Electuary; and 
this, whether for the first, second, or even third Stage of 
the Disease, if taken with the Specifick Remedy in the 
Manner following, viz. If you take the Specifick Reme- 
dy only at Night, and not the Morning following, 
then take that Morning following of the Salt of Vipers;
if you take the Specifick Remedy only in the Morning, 
then take the Salt of Vipers the Night before: And on 
any Day when you don't take the Specifick Remedy at 
all, then take the Salt of Vipers both Morning and Night, 
and at Noun too in the Manner following: Weigh out 
about 10 or 12 Grains of it, if 15 there is no Harm; 
put it into a Spoonful of Sack, and drink it clean off. 
It gives the Sack a Flavour, and no more Taste, than if 
you only put a little Sugar into it; and consequently 
is so neat, pretty, cleanly, and easy a Thing to take, 
that no one can refuse it. And 'tis certain, that a 
Person even pox'd shall be cured by the Specifick Remedy 
in above half the Time, if he also take (as I just now 
mention'd) the Salt of Vipers, than he would if he did 
not take it; and the same may be said of the other 
Stages, it being so great a Secret, if us'd with the Spe- 
cifick Remedy, that the Effect of it will be even stupen- 
dous. Don't go to an Apothecary for this Salt, because 
very few have it; but they'll give you Salt of Harts-Horn 
for it, which is not half so good. But go to some 
Chemist, 'twill cost you at least 30 s. an Ounce. What 
ever Stage your Condition is, you'll thank me for this 
Advice, (and that heartily too) if you use this Salt as 
I have here set down.
H  Remarks.] 

(50)
Remarks.] Thus we see all the Assistance our Author 
has affign'd his little Remedy against the Great POX, con- 
sist in three Papers of an Emetick Powder, and either an 
Electuary, or (in Place of it) the volutile Salt of Vipers, 
which he also pretends are very good in Claps, and ac- 
cordingly advices his clapt Patients to take them, or one 
(it matters not which) of them, to hasten the Cure; so 
that this little Remedy wants not Hear so many Assistants 
in encountering with the Pox, as in grappling with a 
Clap. As to Antimonial Emeticks, (of which his vomi- 
ting Powder is assuredly one Kind) he formerly (Ed. 5th, 
6th, 7th, p. 21) told us, (tho' foolishly and falsely) 
that any common Vomits will do as much Good; and that 
they are as nice Things as can be to fix the Distemper on 
the Lungs, and ruin the Patient, But our Author then 
wrote about another Man's Antimonial Vomits, not his 
own. As to his Viperine Electuary, and volatile Salt of 
Vipers, they are infallibly very noble Medicines for Hyste- 
rick Fits, Vapours, Melancholy, and on some other Occa- 
sions; but not, so far as I know, or see any Reason to 
believe, in removing and carrying off the Venom and 
Infection of either a Pox or Clap. However, our Au- 
thor has given so very great a Character of them, and 
their stupendous Effects in Venereal Cases, in Conjun- 
ction with his Specifick Remedy, that it must be a little
surprising to observe him slyly giving them both the 
Drop, and substituting Another (and as he now pretends) 
a better Medicine in their Place. In the 14th, 15th, 
and 16th Editions of his Practical Scheme, (but never be- 
fore) he tells us of an Elixir for broken Constitutions; 
and in the Directions seal'd up, since that Time, with 
his Specifick Remedy, he, in the Directions for the third 
Stage of the Disease, recommends, as formerly, the Use 
of three Papers of Emetick Powder, directs how they are 
to be taken, and sets down the Receipt of the Viperine 
Electuary, and advises the Quantity of a large Nutmeg 
to be taken of it every Morning and Night, as in his 
other Directions; and then say, 
‘ But for those Persons who will but be at the Charge 
‘ of it, the only Thing in the World for the third Stage 
‘ to be taken along with the Specifick Remedy, is the E- 
‘ lixir for broken Constitutions, mention'd in the 10th
‘ Chapter

(51)
‘ Chapter of the 14th (and following) Editions of the 
‘ Practical Scheme of the Secret Disease, according to the 
‘ Directions seal'd up with it, where the Manner is 
‘ plainly and clearly set down how it is to be taken 
‘ along with the Specifick Remedy for this Stage. But 
‘ for those Persons who are not inclin'd to have this 
‘ Elixir, then the just now mention'd Electuary is the 
‘ NEXT best Thing they can get. And altho' I pre- 
‘ scribe this Elixir for this Stage, yet if ANY Person 
‘ will but take of it now and then in the other Stages, 
‘ 'twould perform Wonders in their Cure; as also after 
‘ ALL Cures of Claps for Security Sake, lest the Blood 
‘ may be infected. 
‘ At some convenient Distances, as two or three times 
‘ a Week, you must take of the Specifick Remedy to car- 
‘ ry off the Infection, which the just now mention'd E- 
‘ lixir will throw out of the Blood and Juices; so that 
‘ all the Venereal Taint will soon yield to this Elixir, 
‘ and the Specifick Remedy. And again I must add, that 
‘ even in the first and second Stage of a Clap, as well as 
‘ in the third Degree, call'd the Pox, in some certain 
‘ Constitutions and Degrees of Infection receiv'd, where 
‘ the Cure goes on but slowly, by Reason of the Patient's 
‘ particular Temper and Constitutions of Body, (no two 
‘ Persons being equally alike easy to be cured) this Elixir 
‘ is the only Thing in the World to be taken with the 
‘ Specifick Remedy, to hasten and forward the Cure. Just 
‘ as two Horses will draw a Cart two or three Miles in 
‘ one Hour, which one of those Horses in that Time 
‘ would scarce tug and get along half a Mile. So that 
‘ all the Venereal Taint of any of the three Stages will 
‘ soon yield to the Use and Efficacy of BOTH these 
‘ Remedies join'd together: For the Elixir will throw 
‘ it out of the Blood, and the Specifick Remedy will en- 
‘ tirely carry it off. But this I mention for those that 
‘ are pleas'd to use it, not as absolutely necessary, but 
‘ ad melius esse, because of its Price. But those Persons 
‘ whose Case is unfortunately the third Stage of this 
‘ Disease, must consider how many there are in the 
‘ World, who spend 20 or 30 Pounds to get cured of 
‘ this Stage, and perhaps in the End are scarce cured 
‘ neither, there being a great Difference between the 
H2 'curing


(52)
‘ curing of a Clap and the Pox; and consequently I 
‘ hope they will not take it at all ill, that I prescribe 
‘ two Remedies for the Cure of this third riveted Stage. 
‘ And 'tis certain, that a Person in any of the three 
‘ Stages shall be cured by the Specifick Remedy in about 
‘ half the Time, if they also take this Elixir along with 
‘ it, according to the Directions seal'd up with the E- 
‘ lixir: For these Remedies being join'd together, they 
‘ act jointly in Conjunction with each other, in order 
‘ to root entirely out of the Blood the Venereal Infection, 
‘ and to carry it off, just in the same Manner as has 
‘ been mention'd in the Example of the two Horses 
‘ drawing a Cart, which one could not so well get a- 
‘ long. This Elixir being so great a Secret, if us'd 
‘ with the Specifick Remedy, that the Effects of it will be 
'even stupendous. 
Thus you see our Author has, in his late Directions, 
attributed to his new Elixir the very same Virtues he, in 
his former Directions, attributed to the Viperine Electua- 
ry, and the volatile Salt of Vipers: And that his Elixir 
is neither Viperine, nor of the Nature either of Vipers 
or their volatile Salt, is very plain from his affirming, 
in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Editions of his Practical 
Scheme, (p. 27) that it contains in its self the Virtues of 
most Diet-Drinks, brought by Chymistry into a small 
Compass; and his owning in the Directions for its Use, 
that it is gently purgative, and will give two or three 
Stools in 24 Hours. Now, Vipers and their volatile Salt 
are Things not us'd in Diet-Drinks, neither are they, or 
our Author's Viperine Electuary, at all purgative. How 
then comes it about, that our Author's new Elixir, 
which he owns to be purgative, and to be extracted from 
such Ingredients as most Diet-Drinks are compos'd of, 
which are Guajacum, Sarsafras, Sarsaparilla, &c. so exact- 
ly to correspond in its Nature, Qualities, and Efficacy 
in Venereal Cases, with the Viperine Electuary, and the 
volatile Salt of Vipers, as that our Author should recom- 
mend That to the World now, for the same Purposes he 
formerly recommended the Electuary of Vipers, and their 
volatile Salt, and that in almost the very same Words? 
I know of but One Way by which this Matter can be 
rationally accounted for, and That a very plain and 
homely

(53)
homely One, namely, on a Supposition, THAT our Author 
always puts down what comes uppermost, without 
concerning himself whether it be true or false: AL- 
WAYS provided it may serve his present Purpose, and 
be (in his Conceit) for his Advantage. 
And now I conceive the principal Part of my Title 
Page is effectually made good: The Secret Disease in its 
three several Stages and Degrees has been (tho' not very 
regularly, yet) plainly describ'd; and the Specifick Reme- 
dy, which has of late cured so many with Ease, Safety, 
Certainty, Privacy, and Expedition; without Slip-slops 
of Physick, Suspicion, Confinement, &c. AS RELATED 
in the Practical Scheme of the Secret Disease, dedicated to 
Dr. Paul Chamberlaine, has herein been discover'd and 
made known. My Meaning is, That the said Specifick Re- 
medy, by what has been here wrote about it, is effectu- 
ally discover'd and made known (in my Opinion) to be 
none Other than a mere -- what d'ye call it -- And 
an -- Aye marry is it -- on them that buy it! How- 
ever, probably Some, by what has been here said of it, 
may be prompted to buy it, and take it, and Others to 
pursue other Measures in order to a Cure. Every One 
as to them shall seem best. But, in all Likelyhood, 
there may be Some (too) who imagin'd, that instead of 
(or at least, together with) the Discovery made of the 
Specifick Remedy, as above, I should have made known 
of what Medicinal Ingredients it is compos'd, and how 
made up; that is, in plain English, that I should have 
set down its Receipt: And really, if I knew it, so I 
would, but I declare solemnly, its Receipt was never 
communicated to me, by any one Person or another, 
since the World began: Nor can I say, that I am sure 
I know exactly what it is; but I am sure, from the Au- 
thor's own Directions for its Use, that it is not what will 
answer to the Character given of it in the Practical Scheme; 
and all that I do know, in Relation to its Composition, 
you shall know presently. Our ingenious Author, in 
the 14th, 15th, and 16th Editions of the Practical Scheme 
(p. 21.) says, 'And for the farther Satisfaction of the 
‘ World, I must here tell my Reader, that this Specifick 
‘ Remedy is that Medicine which the famous Dr. Wall 
‘ was continually hankering after, and aim'd at; and 
‘ which


(54)
‘ which all his Life-time he was endeavouring to obtain 
‘ and find out; and offer'd a great Sum of Money for, 
‘ but could never get it. At last he made up a certain 
‘ Medicine in Imitation of it, which, for a long Time, 
‘ had a prodigious Run in the World, by HIS Name, at 
‘ a Guinea Price: And altho' it was only a weak fade 
‘ Resemblance of this, being only to it what a Beam of 
‘ the Sun is to the Sun it self, a small Rivulet to its Foun- 
‘ tain, or a Shadow to its Substance; yet he got a great 
‘ Reputation by it, and a certain Injection he us'd with it.' 
All this shews there is a very considerable Likeness be- 
tween our Author's admirable Specifick, and Dr. Wall's fa- 
mous Medicine; the One is made in Imitation of the Other, 
which is in reality the Counterfeit, let them say that can; 
and let Others think. But our learned Author has given 
us a little more Light into the Matter, in the 5th, 6th, 
and 7th Editions of the Practical Scheme, (p. 50.) in these 
Words, viz. ‘ Of all the Methods of Cure for this Distem- 
‘ per ever yet propos'd by ANY, (even the famous 
‘ WALL himself, whose Secret I have in Manuscript by 
‘ me, and which upon COMPARING them together, 
‘ I am convinc'd does not come near it) few are easier 
‘ than this.' Now from this Passage it is very plain, that 
our Author's Secret, and Dr. Wall's Secret are (tho' not 
altogether the same, yet) VERY much ALIKE: For, 
otherwise our Author needed not to have compar'd their 
several Receipts together in order to determine which of 
them is the best Medicine, as you see he acknowledges 
he has done. And that our inquisitive and learned 
Author may in Truth have got Dr. Wall's Secret by him 
in Manuscript, is probable enough from his having, in 
some Editions of his Practical Scheme, referr'd to the 2d 
Edition of Dr. Cockburn's late Treatise of a Gonorrhœa, 
where (p. 157.) the Receipt of Dr. Wall's Secret, call'd 
his Electuary, is in Print, and is as follows: 
Dr. Wall's Electuary. 
ꝶ. Pulp. Cass. recent. extract. ℥ii. Bals. Capyvi ℥i. Merc. 
Dulc. Ocul. Cancr. preparator. Sal. Prunel. āā ʒi. Sal. 
volatil. Succin. ℈iv. Syrup. de Alth. Femel, q.s. M. F. 
Conditum; de quo capiat magnitudinem Nuc. moscat. 
major. bis terve de die. 
That

(55)
That is in English, 
Take Pulp of Cassia fresh drawn two Ounces, Bal- 
sam of Caprivi one Ounce, sweet Mercury, Crabs 
Eyes prepar'd, and Salt Prunel, of each one Dram, 
volatile Salt of Amber four Drams, and make them 
into an Electuary with Syrup of Marsh-Mallows. 
Let the Patient take the Quantity of a large Nut- 
meg of it twice or thrice a Day. 
With this Electuary Dr. Wall is said to have got Repu- 
tation, and an Estate: But he did not (for I was perso- 
nally acquainted with him) pretend this Electuary to be 
a Specifick for any State or Degree of the Secret Disease: 
He, as he saw, or thought, proper, us'd other Medi- 
cines to remove and carry off the Infection, and Maligni- 
ty of the Distemper: Notwithstanding which, that he 
might oblige his Patients (the best Way to get Money 
and Credit) with a more than ordinary speedy Cure, he 
so frequently made Use of this his Balsamick Electuary, 
before it was really proper, and (as our Author says) of a 
certain Injection, as that (long before he died) he was 
more talk'd of for poxing his clap'd Patients, than he 
was at first for curing them in less Time than other 
Men did. But this Electuary, we are to suppose, (and 
that truly enough) is only like our Author's rare Specifick, 
and is not the very same Thing. 
But in the Year 1712, one Mr. Woodman, who writes 
himself Practitioner in Physick, and Surgery, publish'd a 
Tract, entitled, Medicus Novissimus; or, the Modern 
Physician, in which he treats of a Gonorrhœa; and having 
set down the Receipts of a Variety of Medicines for its 
Cure, at length (p. 302.) he sets down the Receipt of an 
Electuary, communicated (he says) to him by an Ancient 
Practitioner; and an Abstract of what he says of this 
his Old Friend's Medicine, is, That that ONE Medicine 
had cured several Claps and Gonorhœa's; IT (says he) 
answers ALL Intentions of Cure; IT takes off the Ma- 
lignity; IT is a Diuretick; (that is, works chiefly by 
Urine) IT suddenly takes off a Heat of Urine; IT heals; 
IT strengthens; and IT astringes (that is, takes away) 
the Running; (which is completing the Cure) IT may 
be

(56)
be carry'd in the Patient's Pocket; IT works so easily 
and gently, that neither the Patient's Countenance, nor 
Manner of Living, can betray him to be under such 
Circumstances to the nearest Relation or Friend he converses 
with: Thus Mr. Woodman. And out Author, as you 
may see by turning to Page 28, 29. of this Book, has us'd 
the very same Words and Phrases, in giving (at first) an 
Account of what he pretends his Specifick will do. Be- 
sides, Mr. Woodman (as our Author in some of his seal'd 
up Directions has done) recommends, as proper through- 
out the whole Cure, a drying Diet-Drink, &c. So that I 
firmly believe our Author, in giving an Account of the 
Virtues of his Specifick, laid Mr. Woodman's Book before 
him, and (facile est inventis addere) enlarg'd on what 
he there found said by Mr. Woodman of his Ancient 
Practitioner's Prescription, taking Care always to thrust in, 
with Exemplifications, whatever material and significant 
Words and Phrases Mr. Woodman had us'd; and that, 
having completed his own Account from Mr. Woodman's 
as a Pattern, he got a Quantity of Mr. Woodman's Ele- 
ctuary, made up by some Apothecary, put it himself pri- 
vately into small Gallypots, call'd it the Specifick Remedy, 
and left it, with Papers of Directions for its Use, at the 
Shops to be sold. However, I will now set down the 
Receipt of Mr. Woodman's Electuary, arid which you may, 
if you so please, entitle, 
The Specifick Remedy. 
Take Lenitive Electuary two Ounces, Sal Prunella 
three Drams, Powder of Rhubarb two Drams, 
Troches of Agarick, and of Alhandal, of each 
one Dram and an Half, Diaphoretick Antimony, 
burnt Harts-horn prepar'd, sweet Mercury finely 
levigated, and Rosin of ]allap, of each one Dram, 
with a sufficient Quantity of Balsam Capivi; make 
an Electuary, by beating them an Hour or two 
in a Mortar. 
The Dose is the Quantity of a Nutmeg, more or less, 
according to the Constitution, and Age of the Patient, 
every Morning and Night, or as much (so also says our 
Author

(57)
Author of his Specifick) as will give 3 or 4 Stools in 24 
Hours; for more purging is not requir'd. 
This Receipt and Dr. Wall's (as our Author suggests his 
and Dr. Wall's does) agree in the principal Ingredients of 
the Medicine; and consequently they cannot be widely 
different in their Virtues and Efficacy. I am, indeed, a 
little surpriz'd, that Mr. Woodman, who, by his Trea- 
tise, seems an ingenious and skillful Man, should attri- 
bute to this communicated Electuary so many Virtues 
more than what he could imagine it possess'd of. But, 
in all Probability, he did it in Complement to a donat- 
ing Old Friend, who had given him the Receipt. And, 
indeed, as he design'd his Book for the Use of Practitioners, 
who would know when and how to use this Electuary 
properly; and at the same Time set down the Receipts of 
many other Medicines, that, as Occasion should require, 
might be us'd with it, his bestowing a few extraordina- 
ry Flourishes on this his old Friend's Prescription, was ex- 
cusable enough; being no more than what many other 
Authors have done in Relation to Medicines of very 
little Worth. But it must be acknowledg'd, that such 
Encomiums on worthless Medicines many Times misguide 
young Practitioners, and often those who know nothing 
in Practical Physick, (as I am confident our Author does 
not) but from Books. The Lenitive Electuary and Sal 
Prunellæ will Certainly make this Electuary ferment and 
spue out in hot Weather, as our Author's did, when Mr. 
Lovel sold it for him; but the Lenitive Electuary, Dia- 
phoretick Antimony, and burnt Harts-horn, being left out 
of the Composition, the Medicine (and thereupon every 
Dose of it) will be much reduc'd in Quantity, keep 
much longer in Order, and not be very much alter'd in 
its Qualities and Operation; and being after some such 
Manner reform'd, it is, I believe, now sold under the 
Title of the Specifick Remedy. The Troches Alhandal are 
only Colocynthis (call'd usually Bitter Apple) prepar'd, 
and render the Medicine of a nauseous bitter Taste, in 
which Respect this Electuary must give place to Dr. 
Wall's, which is much more pleasant. But I never did, 
and do believe I never shall, make use of (or prescribe) 
either of them; because I am sure I know much better 
Medicines.
I I expect 

(58)
I expert some will, by Way of Objection, be apt to 
say, in Case the Specifick Remedy will not answer the 
Character given of it in the Practical Scheme, how came 
Dr. Paul Chamberlaine, who is an eminent Physician, to 
allow its being recommended to the World in his 
Name? To which my Answer is, That Dr. Paul Cham- 
berlaine himself can give the best Account of that Mat- 
ter; therefore ask him. However, I can assure you, 
that Dr. Chamberlaine, when consulted on the Point, is 
far from asserting that either our Author's Specifick or 
Elixir will really answer the Character given of them in 
the Practical Scheme, as you may see by his Answer to 
the following Letter, which I my self sent to Dr. Cham-
berlaine, viz. 
SIR, 
Sept. 1st, 1716; 
HAving gotten a little Book call'd, the Practical Scheme, 
at Mrs. Garway's, I find your Name in it, and 
thereupon resolv'd to request your Opinion of the Author 
and Medicine before I buy it; therefore beg you'll in- 
form me, by a Line or two, whether you know or be- 
lieve, that the Medicine call'd the Specifick Remedy, will 
really answer the Character given of it in the Practical 
Scheme. I should also be glad to know who the Author 
is, and where to wait on him. I request your Answer, 
because I must speedily take something, who am, 
Direct yours, for Mr. J. S. 
to be left at Tom's Coffee- 
house, Cornhill, 'till call'd 
for. 
SIR, 
Tour humble Servant 
unknown,
J. S. 
Superscrib'd, 
For Dr. Paul Chamberlaine, at his 
House in Great Suffolk Street, 
near Charing-Cross. 
The Doctor's Answer is contain'd in the following 
Certificate, viz. 
These are to certify, that I George Taylor, in Falcon- 
Court, Southwark, did, by the Directions of Dr. Spinke, 
Yesterday, being Sept. 7th, 1716, shew a Letter to Dr.
Charmberlaine, 

(59)
Chamberlaine, at his House in Great Suffolk-Street, near 
Charing-Cross, wrote in the following Words, viz. 
SIR, Sept. 1st, 1716. 
IN Answer to yours, I must own the Medicine you 
mention is an extraordinary good Specifick as any 
Panacæa can be; but I cannot say it will answer all Mat- 
ters ascrib'd to it by the Author, who may magnify his 
own as he pleases; nor have I any Commission to name 
him, nor can I assure you of a Cure from it, unless I 
were thoroughly acquainted with your present Complaint, 
which it is impossible I should, while you remain a 
Stranger, I shall only let you understand, that it is very 
good to cure a crazy Constitution, that has been ill treated 
and salivated by the Ignorant; 'tis also very good for 
the Evil, which I hope may satisfy your Curiosity, 
from Yours, P. C. 
You may be farther satisfy'd, if you please to come 
to my House in Great Suffolk-Street any Morning, 'till 
10 a-Clock; and every Afternoon from 2 'till 6, except 
Mondays, when you may hear of me at the Hannover 
Coffee-house in Finch-Lane from 5 'till 7. 
Superscrib'd, For Mr. J. S. to be left at Tom's Coffee- 
house, Cornhill, 'till call'd for. 
And I the said George Taylor farther certify, that by 
the Directions of the said Dr. Spinke, I ask'd the said Dr. 
Chamberlaine whether that was his Letter, who own'd it 
was; whereupon I told him, the Person's Case, who 
desir'd his Advice, was an old ill cured Pox, of about 
two Years standing, but now broken out on the Head, 
and some other Parts, and desir'd him to tell me, whe- 
ther the Medicines mention'd in the Practical Scheme 
would make a Cure in such a Case; to which the Doctor 
reply'd, they may do some Good; but the only Method 
for a Cure will be a Salivation; in which the Person 
need not be kept above 8 or p Days. Witness my 
Hand this 8th Day of September 1716. 
George Taylor. 
I2 To

(60)
To render Dr. Chamberlaine's Letter more intelligible 
to some of my Readers, 'tis necessary to take Notice, 
that a Specifick is a Medicine peculiarly appropriated to 
the Cure of some One Disease: And a Panacæa is a Me- 
dicine (said to be) good against All Diseases: So that to 
say this or that Medicine is as good a Specifick as any Par 
nacæa can be, is, in Effect, saying, That such a Medicine 
is as good a Specifick for such a Disease as any Medicine 
can be, that is good against all Diseases: And we have 
a Proverb which says, That which is good for Every Thing, 
is good for Nothing. In short, either the first Lines of 
the Doctor's Letter were run off without Consideration; 
or else they were design'd (which I rather think) as an 
ironical Banter on our Author, who has entitled his Lit- 
tle Remedy very boastingly a Specifick for the Secret Di- 
sease, and yet (as doubtless Dr. Chamberlaine must needs 
have taken Notice) has, in some Editions of his Practi- 
cal Scheme, represented it as a real Panacæa: I'll quote 
the Passage, Ed. 5th, 6th, and 7th, p, 40, 41. ‘ Besides, 
‘ it can do no Harm, suppose it were to do no Good, 
‘ which still is no small Commendation of a Medicine, 
‘ which is to make its own Way in the World. For if 
‘ it finds but little Infection, as in fresh Injuries, it finds 
‘ out what is, at least, wheresoever it lurks, and carries 
‘ it off, together with all REMAINS of Mercury, (of- 
‘ tentimes the worse Evil of the two) after former 
‘ Cures. If it finds no present Infection, (as in a Suspi- 
‘ cion only of Injuries) it sweetens, cleanses, and puri- 
‘ fies the Blood, carrying out of IT, and the Body, 
‘ ALL the Remains of former Venereal Infections and 
‘ Mercury, tho' of many Years standing, causing Scabs, 
‘ Breakings-out, and other such troublesome and dis- 
‘ graceful Eruptions in the Body, together with all foul 
‘ Scorbutick Humours, strengthening the Constitution, and 
‘ preserving Health; and is an extraordinary good Thing 
‘ for Gentlemen and others, who drink much, to keep 
‘ by them, to take a little of now and then, from Time 
‘ to Time, to carry off the ill Effects of bad Wine, and 
‘ other Liquors, Surfeits, Indigestions, hard Drinking, and 
‘ other Disorders; carrying away at once, what otherwise 
‘ would lay the Foundation of a Fit of Sickness; and 
‘ therefore will be found to be a good Thing for any 
‘ One

(61)
‘ One to take a little of at any Time, altho' they have 
‘ NOTHING of the Distemper 'tis here level'd at, and 
‘ whose Nature it is to root out, because it can do no 
‘ One any Harm, (for a Sucking Child may take it) and 
‘ always will do some Good or other; there being scarce 
‘ any Person but has SOME Illness or other to be carry'd 
‘ off, or whose Blood wants to be cleans'd, and purify'd. 
‘ And, indeed, this Article I look upon as no small 
‘ One, and which makes me set a greater Value upon 
‘ this my Little Remedy, viz. That it is, first, so innocent 
‘ a Thing, that even an Infant may take it, which I 
‘ am sure would not be true, were it any dangerous 
‘ Mercurial or Antimonial Preparation: Secondly, That 'tis 
‘ so necessary a Thing, that 'twill always do some Good 
‘ or other, even to Persons never so well in Health; and 
‘ consequently, were even EVERY individual Person in 
‘ the Kingdom to take of it, it would SUPPLY what- 
‘ ever want they CAN have of ANY Physick, whe- 
‘ ther for THIS Distemper, or any Other Ailment what- 
‘ soever, as the Scurvy, Gout, Rheumatism, Dropsy, Gra- 
‘ vel, Cholick, or any other Illness that proceeds from 
‘ a foul Blood. 
Thus you see, as our Author has, in some Parts of 
his Practical Scheme, pretended his Little Remedy to be a 
Specifick for the Secret Disease; so he has in other Parts 
thereof (for more or less of this last cited Passage is in 
every of his Editions) represented it as a Panacæa, so 
very efficacious against all Diseases, as that it will sup- 
ply whatever Want any One can have of any Physick, 
whether for the Secret Disease, or any other Ailment 
whatsoever, proceeding from a foul Blood. Why there- 
fore should I not think Dr. Chamberlaine's Saying of our 
Author's Little Remedy, that it is an extraordinary good 
Specifick as any Panacæa can be, was by him design'd as 
a Banter on out Author for this his foolish Ostentation 
and Vanity? Especially considering the Doctor, in the 
subsequent Part of his Letter, owns, in express Words, 
that he cannot say this Remedy will answer all the Matters 
ascrib'd to it by the Author, who, says he, may magnify his 
own as he pleases: By which the Doctor must design to be 
understood, that the Author had (in his Opinion) magni- 
fy'd his Little Remedy, beyond its due Merits. After
which, 

(62)
which, he goes on, like a real Honest and Skillful Physi- 
cian, (and would not, to serve his Friend, impose on a 
Stranger) saying, Nor can I assure you of a Cure from it, 
unless I were thoroughly acquainted with your present Com- 
plaint, which it is impossible I should, whilst you remain a 
Stranger, Our Author communicated to Dr. Chamber- 
laine, on the 29th of November 1715, (as he says in the 
Epistle dedicatory in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Editions 
of his Practical Scheme) the whole Secret, and Prepara- 
tion of this Medicine: So that we may presume Dr. 
Chamberlaine to be as good a Judge (at least) as our Au- 
thor, of the Virtue and Efficacy of this Medicine, yet he 
will not (as our Author does) assure those of a Cure from 
it, whose present Complaint he is unacquainted with: 
But, instead of such a Quackish Assurance, and putting 
Persons, right or wrong, on buying the Medicine, and 
then on governing themselves according to seal'd up Di- 
rections, stuff'd with whimsical Receipts, pick'd out of 
Books, he, as any skillful and honest Physician would do, 
directs the complaining Patient to apply to himself (not 
to an Old Woman in a Shop) to relate his Case, and receive 
Advice about it. And altho' the expected Patient never 
attended him; yet when a Messenger went with the 
Doctor's Letter in his Hand, and related the suppos'd 
Patient's Case, the Doctor ingenuously sent Word back 
by the Messenger, that altho' the Medicines recommend- 
ed in his Friend's Book as effectual in such Cures, might 
do some Good, yet the only Method for a Cure would be 
a Salivation. So when I my self (who then was, and 
still am, a Stranger to him) waited on the Doctor at his 
House, informing him of a Person (as the Case really 
was) who had taken of the Specifick Remedy in a fresh 
Clap, and was presently seiz'd with a Tumour in the 
Scrotum; he receiv'd me with all the Candour imaginable, 
freely own'd the Specifick Remedy, by reason of the Bal- 
sam of Capyvi contain'd in it, is not very proper in 
fresh Claps; but said he, if Persons will run and buy and 
take Things on their own Heads, who can help it?
CHAP. 

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CHAP. IX. 
Of Specifick Remedies in General. 
And of a true Specifick for the Secret 
Disease. 
WHEN Occult Aristotelian Qualities began to lose 
Ground in the Schools, and give Way to the 
Cartesian Philosophy, the Phœnomina of Nature began to 
appear in so much a clearer Light, as they were made 
to appear more consistent with Reason. Physick above 
all bore the greatest Share of Advantage from this new 
System, whose Mechanick Principles set it in a clearer 
View than ever it was before, by reconciling rationally 
Causes and Effects. 
‘ A Specifick Remedy, says Dr. Sydenham, is that which 
‘ not only acts electively against some one Distemper, ra- 
‘ ther than Another, but which cures it at all Times, in 
‘ all Places, in all Ages, Degrees, Sexes, and Constitutions; 
‘ provided it be not past Cure. Now 'tis certain there 
‘ are such Remedies as these, by reason of a peculiar 
‘ Disposition, Texture, Order, and Motion of their Parts, 
‘ which render them fitter to insinuate themselves into, 
‘ and encounter with the Morbifick Matter of One Di- 
‘ stemper more than Another. Thus the Bark is a Speci- 
‘ fick against Fevers; Scurvy-grass the Scurvy; Opium 
‘ causes Sleep; Spanish Flies violently affect the Urine 
‘ only; and so of many more. Hence the ingenious 
‘ Mr. Boyle has wrote a whole Treatise of the Agreeable- 
‘ ness of Specifick Remedies with the Mechanical and Cor- 
‘ puscular Philosophy, by reason of a particular Texture, 
‘ Order, Motion, and Activity of their Particles, more 
‘ or less agreeable to the Acids or Alkalies of the Distem- 
‘ pers they are to encounter with. Thus we see many 
‘ have happily succeeded in the Use of some One Speci- 
‘ fick Remedy, by which they have done almost Won- 
‘ ders. Dr. Davison, a Physician formerly to the French 
‘ King,

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‘ King, acquir'd such a Reputation by a Specifick Anti- 
‘ venereal Remedy he had, that the Physicians of Paris gave 
‘ him 20000 Pistols for discovering it to them. One 
‘ Gianatus, a Surgeon, receiv'd 2000 Crowns of Charles the 
‘ IXth King of France, as a Reward for the Success of 
‘ an Antivenereal Specifick he cur'd the same King with. 
‘ Another, one Pena, a Physician at Paris, cured Henry 
‘ the IIId, of France, of this Disease with One peculiar 
‘ Specifick Medicine, which he had learn'd of a Turk, 
‘ after the King was given over by his Physicians. Not ma- 
‘ ny Years since. Sir Rob. Talbor in France, and Sir Kenelm 
‘ Digby here in England, cured almost every One by their 
‘ Specificks against Fevers, and so of many more. 
‘ Hence it appears evidently, that Distempers have 
‘ their Specificks; and most certain it is, that this Di- 
‘ stemper has its Specifick also. Now if I am NOT that 
‘ LUCKY Man, as exactly to have hit upon IT, at 
‘ least 'till it shall be demonstratively prov'd, that such 
‘ an ONE is discover'd, I cannot for my Life help 
‘ thinking, but that the Remedy I propose, is the ON- 
‘ LY Specifick as yet found out. 
If all Blunderers were to be Knighted, our Author 
might certainly expect Honour: For, in the 2d, 3d, and 
4th Editions of his Practical Scheme, he, in many Places 
asserted his Little Remedy to be a Specifick for the Secret 
Disease, and yet own'd it will not cure the third Degree 
of that Disease, the Pox, without doing which, it can't, 
according to his own Account of Specificks, be a Specifick 
for that Disease; in his 5th and 6th Editions, he affirm'd 
it cures all States and Degrees of the Secret Disease, even 
the Pox it self; so that it would then answer his Cha- 
racter of a Specifick: But in what I have above tran- 
scrib'd from his 7th Edition, and which is Word for 
Word in his 8th Edition, he gives Reasons (as you see) 
for why it should (or may) be believ'd, that this Di- 
stemper has its Specifick, and then (after all his Bustle and 
Noise) plainly discovers a Distrust of his being the 
Lucky Man who has hit upon it! Nay, to shew more 
Folly still, subjoins, That 'till it can be prov'd, that 
such an ONE (that is, a Specifick) is discover'd, he 
can't but think his the ONLY Specifick as yet found 
out! that is, (for it will bear none other Construction)
there 

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there being NONE found out, his is the ONLY One 
found out! This is a Specimen of our Author's Univer- 
sity Logic! 
However, I must own, our Author has not been aim- 
ing at a meer Non-Entity: There are (as he has said) 
Specific Remedies. And there is One Remedy (at least) 
which is as true a Specifick for the Secret Disease, as any 
Medicine in the World is for any other Disease. And 
of this Specific I my self am possess'd, and have had a 
large and satisfactory Experience. And from my own 
Experience of it, I affirm, That this Specifick will (soon 
after 'tis taken) be diffused into all Parts of the Body, 
and (being so dispers'd) it will find out, unite, and in- 
corporate with the Malignity (be it more or less) of the 
Secret Disease, where-ever it be lodg'd, and will separate 
it from the Blood, and other Fluids, and (gradually) car- 
ry it all (with it self) entirely out of the Body: Where- 
upon the Symptoms of this Disease, that is, the Pains, 
Breakings-out, Sores, Scabs, &c. will (whatever Parts of 
the Body so ever they affected) even presently vanish, 
and be gone! So that this Specifick does really perform 
the Cure in every State and Degree of the Secret Disease, 
with more Ease, Safety, Privacy, Certainty, and Expedi- 
tion, than any other Medicine hitherto discover'd, known, 
or us'd can do. 
This Specifick fully answers the Character our Author 
has (as above) quoted from Dr. Sydenham, of a Specifick
Remedy: For it not only acts electively (as it were) a- 
gainst the Venereal Disease rather than any other; but 
effectually cures it at all Times; that is, in hot, cold, or 
temperate Weather: In all Places, that is, in this, or 
any other Country: In every Age; that is, of whatever 
Age the Patient be: In every Degree; from the most 
slight Clap, to the most confirm'd Pox, with whatever 
Symptoms the same be attended: In all Sexes; that is, 
both in Men and Women: In all Constitutions; that is, 
of whatever Constitution, or Habit of Body the Patient be: 
Provided the Disease be not (which seldom happens) 
past Cure, and then no Remedy can cure. This Specifick 
also cures the Scurvy, Rheumatism, Aches and Pains in the 
Limbs, Breakings-out in any Part of the Body, &c, by 
its excellent Faculty of purifying the Blood. When there-
K fore 

(66)
fore it is taken (as it often very prudently is) only for 
Security Sake, after a Venereal Injury is fear'd, but (per- 
haps was) not receiv'd, IT, in those Cases, frees the 
Blood of such Scorbutick (and other) Impurities, as might, 
in Time, have occasion'd some Distemper. In short, it 
is a very great Purifier of the Blood: And, in carrying 
off the Old Remains of the Secret Disease, after Cures for- 
merly manag'd unskillfully, it is a sure Remedy. Its 
Price (that all Persons may be able to purchase it) is but 
5 s. the Dose; whereas its Excellency renders it worth a 
Guinea the Dose: For each Dose will do more Good in 
any Venereal Case than 6 or 8 Doses of other Physick. 
And its Operation (as made up, for Common Use, in- 
to small Pills) is very gentle, safe, and easy; and does 
not hinder Business. 
It must be allow'd, That the Circumstances of almost 
every Venereal Patient differ from those of another, as well 
in Regard of the Patient's Age, Sex, Habit of Body, and 
Way of Living, as in Regard of the different Degree of In- 
fection receiv'd; the Length of Time since receiv'd; the Va- 
riety and Urgency of Symptoms, &c. which Matters render 
it impossible that every Person (seemingly in the like Case) 
should be cured with the same Number of Doses: Some 
Persons will be cured of a Clap with but 2 or 3 Doses of 
this Specifick; others must take 5 or 6 Doses. In a Pox 
6 or 8 Doses are generally requir'd; sometimes 10 or 12 
Doses. But the Cure being certain, what is the Trouble 
and Charge of 2 or 3 Doses extraordinary? The Virtues 
of this Specifick being really as Great and Certain as above 
related, they assuredly ought to be made known and pub- 
lish'd, for the Good and Welfare of the People, in a Place 
where, and at a Time when, so many Persons are afflict- 
ed with this Disease, in one Degree or Another: And 
when, and where (too) so many dangerous (or at best, 
ineffectual) Medicines are daily offer'd to the Publick in 
News-Paper (and other) Advertisements, by conceal'd 
Quacks, and other ignorant Pretenders to the Cure of 
this Disease. It is but too well known, that many a 
Person of a strong, healthy, and hail Habit of Body, by 
the Use of Mercurial, Balsamick, and Astringent Me- 
dicines, administer'd by unskillful Medicasters, for the 
Cure of a slight Venereal Infection, instead of being there-
by 

(67)
by cured, and restor'd to a good State of Health, has 
been render'd of such an infirm, broken, weak, and 
shatter'd Constitution, as will not easily be (by common 
Medicines) brought to rights. Whereas this Specifick, 
in a few Days Time, effectually cures (as I know by 20 
Years Experience) any Degree of the Secret Disease, re- 
stores the Patient to as perfect Health as was before en- 
joy'd, and (into the Bargain) purifies the Blood, and 
frees it from scorbutick, sharp, and diseasy Humours; 
so that it does really mend (and not like some Quack 
Compositions, impair) an healthful Constitution, and good 
Habit of Body. 
But (not to lead any One into a Mistake) I must ac- 
knowledge, that altho' this my Specifick, as made up 
into small Pills for common Use, has perform'd some 
Hundreds of Cures, yet it is necessary it should (as the 
Specificks for other Diseases daily are) be sometimes va- 
ry'd in its Form, Dose, and Manner of being given, and, 
as the Circumstances of particular Persons shall require, be 
mix'd with, and assisted by other Medicines: And then, 
being so skillfully manag'd, it will effectually answer 
the Character here given of it. 
If a second Edition of this Tract be call'd for, I in- 
tend therein to discover the Material Medical of the Spe- 
cifick I here recommend; and to convince all skillful 
Physicians that it will perform all that I have here said 
of it: And I will also then more fully prove, that the 
pretended Specifick Remedy boasted of in the Practical 
Scheme, cannot possibly answer the Character the Author 
of that Pamphlet has therein given of it. 
CHAP. X. 
Of a simple Gonorrhœa, Old Gleets, and the 
Whites in Women. 
THese are Weaknesses and Infirmities I should here 
take no Notice of, were it not that they bear so 
near a Resemblance to a Virulent Gonorrhœa, as that they 
K2 can't

(68)
can't, by Persons unacquainted therewith, be readily 
distinguish'd from it. 
A Simple Gonorrhœa attends Men, and is an involun- 
tary flowing of the Seed, the Caruncles thro' which it 
owes in the Time of Coition, from the Necks of the 
Vesiculæ Seminales into the Urethra, being injur'd and 
corroded, or (at least) so weaken'd and relax'd in their 
Fibres, as to permit the Seed insensibly to flow away. 
This is an Infirmity that may (but seldom does) happen; 
and when it does, the Patient soon waxes lean and 
feeble, (especially about the Loins) is brought into a 
Tabes Dorsalis, and, if not speedily taken Care of, to 
his Grave. This is a Simple Gonorrhœa, properly so call'd: 
But that usually so call'd, is none other than an ordi- 
nary Weeping, or Gleet, free from a Venereal Infection, 
which I shall next describe. 
A Gleet (properly so call'd) in a Man, is a Flowing 
of Matter, altogether free from a Venereal Infection, se- 
parated by the Glandules Mucosæ, or (as sometimes hap- 
pens) by the Glandulæ Prostatæ; either of which Glan- 
dules may, by divers Means, be so weakn'd and relax'd 
in the Fibres of their excretory Ducts, as to permit a 
continual Discharge of the Mucilaginous Humour they 
separate, and which, by being permix'd with some 
corrosive (tho' not Venereal) Particles, will be so coli- 
quated and alter'd in the Texture and Cohesion of its 
Particles, as to be converted into a Sort of Pus, Sanies, 
or Matter that will much resemble that of a Virulent 
Gonorrhœa. But whereas a Virulent Gonorrhœa is soon 
attended with some (nay with many) other Symptoms of 
a Venereal Infection, a Gleet (being void of that Infection) 
is never accompani'd with any of them; Nor does it 
weaken and emaciate the Patient as a Simple Gonorrhœa 
(properly so call'd) does. Many Authors, I know, have 
wrote otherwise, but Experience (as well as Reason) is 
against them: For many Persons have been afflicted 
with Gleets from Year to Year, (therefore call'd Old 
Gleets) yet have neither been pox'd, nor much weaken'd, 
or otherwise prejudic'd in their Healths. 
The Disease call'd (Fluor Albus) the Whites in Wo- 
men, is analogous to a Gleet or Weeping (as some call it) 
in Men. And as the Glandules of the Urethra in Men, 
separate


(69)
separate that Matter which constitutes the Gleet, so the 
Glandules of the Vagina Uteri, whose excretory Ducts 
are call'd Lacunæ, separate (usually) the Matter that is 
discharg'd, under the Name of the Whites in Women. 
And altho' Women being of a more cold and moist 
Habit of Body than Men, are, on that Account and 
some others, more liable to be afflicted with the Whites, 
than Men with Gleets, yet a Gleet in Men, and the 
Whites in Women, are but one and the same Disease, 
and owe their Origin (very often) to the same Causes, 
which sometimes are Venereal Rencounters too frequently 
repeated; and sometimes other violent Exercises, especi- 
ally in weak and disease Habits of Body, &c. But the 
Truth is, Gleets in Men most commonly owe their Be- 
ginning to a virulent Gonorrhœa, and so very often do 
the Whites in Women: The Infection of which being 
carry'd off, the Fibres of the excretory Ducts of the Glan- 
dules in the Urethra in Men, and in the Vagina Uteri in 
Women, are not easily (by the Method and Medicines 
in common Practice) to be restor'd to their pristine 
Tone; but will remain relax'd, weak, &c, and a Weeping 
(properly call'd a Gleet in Men, and the Whites in Women) 
will (especially in an ill Habit of Body) for a long Time 
remain, unless proper Measures be taken for a Cure. 
Thus I have briefly shewn what a simple Gonorrhœa, and 
what a Gleet in Men, and what the Whites in Women 
are: They are all free from any Infection, and can never 
(let Authors say what they please) degenerate into the 
Venereal Disease; and in that principally consists their 
essential Difference from a virulent Gonorrhœa: Their 
formal Difference from that Disease, and by which they 
may be distinguish'd from it, you may learn from the 
following Particulars, viz. 
1. A simple Gonorrhœa (under which Term I shall here 
comprehend, as most Authors do, as well a Gleet, as a 
simple Gonorrhœa properly so call'd, viz. any Dripping 
of Matter from the Yard that is free from a Venereal 
Infection) is seldom attended with an Heat and pricking 
Pain in making Water, painful Erections, or any of the 
other Symptoms that attend a virulent Gonorrhœa. 
2. In a simple Gonorrhœa, the Matter that flows 
is waterish and thin, something glutinous and whitish,
and 

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and seldom becomes ill-colour'd, unless in a considera- 
ble Time, and in a Disease Habit of Body: But the 
Matter of a virulent Gonorrhœa is more thick, less gluti- 
nous, and soon changes to a yellowish or greenish Co- 
lour, and stains the Linnen (which the other does not) of 
the same Colour, altho' the Person be (otherwise) in a 
good State of Health. 
3. The Matter of a simple Gonorrhœa will not flow, 
during the Time of an Erection; but the Matter of a 
virulent One will. 
4. In a simple Gonorrhœa the Patient is seldom inclin'd 
to Venery, which in a virulent One he frequently is. 
5. The procuring Cause, when that can be known, ef- 
fectually distinguishes these Infirmities: For a simple Go- 
norrhœa is the Effect of over Straining, violent Exercise, 
Excess of Venery, &c. But a virulent Gonorrhœa caus'd 
(as you've seen) by a Venereal Infection} receiv'd by an 
impure Coition. 
6. The Effects of these Diseases distinguish them no 
less than their procuring Causes: For a simple Gonor- 
rhœa (properly so call'd) daily renders a Man more and 
more weak and feeble, brings on him a Tabes Dorsalis, 
and ends in Death. A virulent Gonorrhœa is usually 
attended with other Symptoms of the Secret Disease. But 
a Gleet scarce weakens at all, but (being free from In- 
fection) sometimes remains for several Years, and the Pa- 
tient continues all the while strong and healthful. 
To distinguish the Whites in Women from a virulent 
Gonorrhœa, is a Matter of more Difficulty: For Wo- 
men, if weakly, are very apt to have the Whites; and 
sometimes the Woman being of an ill Habit of Body, 
there is so much Acrimony attends them, as to cause a 
slight Heat of Urine, and their Colour also becomes chang'd. 
On the other Side, in a Virulent Gonorrhœa, if the In- 
fection was but slight, the Woman is oftentimes but a 
little (if at all) molested with an Heat of Urine; nor 
does the Matter that flows, much vary in its Colour. 
Baglivi's Observation seems to be the best Criterion of 
Distinction, viz. That in Case the Matter continues 
flowing during the Tune the Menses flow, (that is, 
whilst She has Them, as the Women express it) and 
permix together with them, the Woman is undoubted- 
ly

(71)
ly Clapt: But if the Matter ceases during the Time the 
Menses flow, and returns soon after they are gone, her 
Disease is the Whites only. Other Signs, says he, are 
fallacious, but this infallible. And indeed, by the As- 
sistance of this Rule, and the Consideration of other 
Circumstances, such as the Absence or Presence of other 
Symptoms of a Venereal Infection, &c. it may be, with 
Certainty, determin'd with which of these Infirmities a 
Woman is afflicted. 
A simple Gonorrhœa, (properly so call'd) is an Infirmi- 
ty that does very seldom happen; and when it does, 
generally terminates in Death. A Gleet in Men, and 
the Whites in Women, are common Infirmities; and are 
generally said to be very hard to be cured: And so, 
indeed, by the usual Methods of Practice they are: But 
if proper Measures be taken, Men and Women, who 
are not much in Years, may, in a short Time, and with- 
out much Trouble, be freed from those (to neat and 
cleanly Persons) very disagreeable Companions. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of a broken Constitution, and its Cure. 
OUR Author (according to his methodical Way) 
has made a broken Constitution, and its Cure, the 
Subject of the third and tenth Chapter of the 14th, 15th, 
and 16th Editions of his Practical Scheme: That is, in 
the third Chapter, he has describ'd a broken Constitution 
by its Symptoms; and in the tenth he proposes a Cure for 
it. His Description of it (in the said third Chapter) is 
as follows: ‘ Besides the three already mention'd Stages 
‘ of the Secret Disease, there is yet another much more 
‘ unhappy State in which the greatest Part of Mankind 
‘ misfortunately find themselves; which is, a broken, 
‘ spoil'd, and ruin'd Constitution and Habit of Body, of- 
‘ tentimes attended with a continual Gleet, commonly 
‘ luck'd upon as incurable, (no pleasant Companion to a 
‘ clean

(72)
‘ clean neat Man, and which in Time will bring a 
‘ Consumption) after former ill Cures; particularly after 
‘ Salivations, and taking of Mercury, which ought to 
‘ have been (but was not) well carry'd off; and there- 
‘ fore lies lurking in the very Bones of the poor ruin'd 
‘ Patient. So that after a Salivation is over, and a Cure 
‘ seemingly perform'd, commonly there remains several 
‘ pernicious Symptoms of the Disease; or else some fa- 
‘ tal Relicks of the Mercury (oftentimes the worse Evil 
‘ of the two) which afterwards make a Havock in the 
‘ Body, and sooner or later will shew themselves by 
‘ Spots, Breakings-out, wandering Pains, Weakness and Pains 
‘ in the Back and Loins, Trembling in the Joints, Weary- 
‘ ness and Numbness of the Limbs, Giddiness in the Head, 
‘ Owzings, and small Gleets, thick soul offensive Urine, 
‘ with Threads, Films, Skins, and as it were Hairs in it, 
‘ with a greasy Scum at the Top, and a thick Matter set- 
‘ tling at the Bottom, with a Sharpness, Pain, Heat, or 
‘ Stoppage in the making it, together with several other such 
‘ Weaknesses and Disorders. Than which, nothing is 
‘ more common after ill manag'd Cures, as too many 
‘ unhappy Persons daily experience, rendering Life en- 
‘ tirely uneasy for Want of Health; which is indeed 
‘ its only Sauce: For, as Martial says, Non est vivere 
‘ sed valere vita. And thus the poor Patient, who for- 
‘ merly was a strong, healthy, sound, hail Person, becomes 
‘ of an infirm, broken, weak, and miserable Constitution. 
Hitherto our Author has only represented what often 
happens to Venereal Patients, whose Cures were not well 
and skillfully manag'd; and whose misfortunate Cir- 
cumstances are indeed very often as great (and such) as 
our Author has here (aptly enough) describ'd them to 
be. In what next follows, he reflects on the Method 
and Medicines generally prescrib'd by Physicians to cure 
these Disorders, and to bring a shatter'd Constitution to 
Rights, viz. 
‘ Now, to remedy these Evils after former Cures, the 
‘ usual Method is to prescribe to these poor unhappy 
‘ Persons, (whose Miseries make them credulous to al- 
‘ most every Thing) Bottles of Diet-Drinks, Boxes of 
‘ Balsamick Pills, strengthening Bolus's, and other such 
‘ like nauseous and tedious Courses of Physick. But 
‘ alas!

(73)
‘ alas! the poor Patient has been tir'd too much with 
‘ such Loads of Physick already to take any more. If no 
‘ other Means would do, these long and tedious Courses 
‘ of Physick must be undergone; but other more effectu- 
‘ al Remedies are now found out. And therefore for 
‘ this unhappy State, I shall in the 10th Chapter 
‘ of this Book propose a much more easy and compen- 
‘ dious Method of Cure, by an extraordinary Chemical 
‘ Elixir. 
Diet-Drinks, Balsamick Pills, and strengthening Bolus's, 
have been for so many Ages prescrib'd by the Genera- 
lity of Physicians; and that, most an End, with such 
good and satisfactory Success, as that our Author's new- 
found-out Elixir (of which doubtless he knew nothing 
when he publish'd his 13th Edition) will scarcely bring 
them into a Disreputation; unless it should perform much 
greater Feats than what I expect from it. But let's hear 
his Account of it from his 10th Chapter. 
‘ I here (says he) propose to the World a great Me- 
‘ dicine, which for restoring a sound Habit of Body af- 
‘ ter Salivations, taking of Mercury in former Cures, has 
‘ not its Equal, it being certainly the greatest and most 
‘ noble Thing in the World to clear and cleanse the 
‘ whole Mass of Blood of all Relicks and Remains of Ve- 
‘ nereal Infection, ill Effects of Mercury, Salivations, and 
‘ bad Medicines, that cause Spots, Breakings-out, wander- 
‘ ing Pains, Weakness, and Trembling in the Joints and 
‘ Limbs, Dullness and Giddiness in the Head, and other 
‘ such Disorders. It is so great a Purifyer of the whole 
‘ Body, by freeing it from all sharp Humours, that cause 
‘ Breakings-out, Itching, Pains, and Uneasinesses, as well 
‘ from the Scurvy as the Venereal Disease, which in 
‘ Time breaks the best of Constitutions, that no one Me- 
‘ dicine can do more. It has nothing of Mercury in it, 
‘ but is so innocent, that an Infant may take it. It 
‘ carries off the Infection chiefly by Urine. Great Num- 
‘ bers of Persons, after Venereal Cures, have experienc'd 
‘ its wonderful Effects in cleansing and strengthening 
‘ their Reins and seminal Vessels, recovering their lost 
‘ Tone, and restoring all Parts to their natural Force, 
‘ Strength, and Vigor. The Nature of this Elixir being 
‘ to supply the long Use of nauseous Diet-Drinks, and 
L'other


(74)
‘ other such Courses of Physick, which Persons are gene- 
‘ rally so averse from. For after Persons are cured, there 
‘ commonly remains something to be carry'd off, either 
‘ from the Disease or Mercury. The Blood wants to be 
‘ purify'd, and the Constitution strengthen'd; for which 
‘ End, Turpentine Pills and Bolus's, long Diet-Drinks, 
‘ and other such Courses of Physick, are usually prescrib'd; 
‘ and instead of them this Elixir, which a thousand times 
‘ transcends them, takes Place; doing more at a few Doses 
‘ by being taken a few Drops in a Glass of Ale or Wine, 
‘ than some Gallons of Diet-Drinks, or other Slip-slops of 
‘ Physick shall in a Month, by restoring the Blood to 
‘ that due and agreeable Fluidity and Texture of its 
‘ Parts, which has been impair'd by long Courses of 
‘ Physick, and which occasion those Complaints Persons 
‘ so daily make after Venereal Courses of Physick.' 
You now have seen all (in Effect) that our Author 
has said as to the Virtues and Efficacy of his Elixir; and 
all which (admitting it to be true) does not, so far as 
I can conceive, amount to any Thing more than what 
he had before assur'd us his Specifick Remedy will per- 
form, namely, that it will sweeten, cleanse, and purify 
the Blood, and carry out of IT, and the Body, ALL Old 
Remains of Venereal Infection and Mercury, which cause 
Scabs, Breakings-out, and other troublesome and disgrace- 
ful Eruptions in the Body, and all scorbutick Humours, 
strengthen the Constitution, and preserve Health. This, I 
say, which he had (as you've seen) said of his Specifick 
Remedy, is, in my Opinion, comprehensive of all he 
has promis'd for and said of his Elixir. But probably 
it may be suggested, in his Favour, that supposing the 
Specifick and the Elixir are both good Medicines, and 
proper in these Cases, they being both, as he advises and 
directs, taken alternatively, they in Conjunction will 
sooner bring about and accomplish the Cure, than ei- 
ther of them would or could alone, and without the 
other's Assistance. And this indeed is what our Author 
himself chiefly insists upon, and affirms concerning 
them ; and yet I don't well conceive how even this 
can be; for the Specifick and the Elixir are both equal- 
ly Purgatives; and why One proper Purgative often re- 
peated should not perform a Cure in as little a Time, 
and


(75)
and effectually, as two several purgive Medicines taken 
alternatively will or can do, is beyond my Comprehen- 
sion. A Change indeed in the Form of the Medicine, 
may be very agreeable to some Persons, and that is all 
that can truly be said in the Case. But why has our 
Author found Fault with Turpentine Pills, and Turpen- 
tine Bolus's? Is not well near One half of the Composi- 
tion of his Specifick Remedy, Balsam of Capyvi? And 
what is Balsam of Capyvi, but a fine Sort of Turpen- 
tine? And may not therefore every Dose of his Speci- 
fick Remedy, without any great Impropriety of Speech, be 
call'd a Turpentine Bolus? But our Author having not 
said, (nay, not given the least Intimation) in his 
Practical Scheme, that his Chymical Elixir is at all purga- 
tive, otherwise than by Urine, I'll here transcribe his Di- 
rections for its Use, viz. 
‘ Directions for the Use of the Great Chymical Anti- 
‘ venereal Elixir for broken, spoil'd, and ruin'd Con- 
‘ stitutions, and Habits of Body, by former ill Cures, 
‘ Salivations, and Mercury, belonging to the Practical 
‘ Scheme of the Secret Disease. 
‘ TAKE about a Tea Spoonful of this Elixir in
‘ about six or seven Spoonfuls of Beer, Ale, or 
‘ any Sort of smooth Wine, as white Lisbon, or Wine 
‘ and Water; take of it thus every Morning and Night 
‘ for about a Fortnight or three Weeks together, fasting 
‘ an Hour in the Morning after it, and taking it the 
‘ last Thing at Night going to Bed, having supp'd an 
‘ Hour at least before-hand; but as for Drinking, it 
‘ signifies nothing if you should have drank but a lit- 
‘ tle before the taking of it. 
‘ If you do not like to take it thus, then you may 
‘ take it two or three times in the Day, carrying it in your 
‘ Pocket; but 'tis not so well to take it at any Time 
‘ when you eat.  
‘ As for those Persons who have been particularly in- 
‘ jur'd by taking Mercury, and are of a very uneasy 
‘ Constitution, with Burnings, Itching, Breakings-out, 
‘ Wandering Pains, and restless uneasy Nights, and are 
‘ in a Manner worn out and weaken'd by Venereal 
L2 'Courses

(76)
‘ Courses of Physick: Such Persons as these must take it 
‘ longer and oftener, as they find their Strength and Con- 
‘ stitution will bear it; FOR besides its working by 
‘ Urine, it will commonly WORK also by Stool two or 
‘ three Times a-Day: But it requires no Confinement; 
‘ only I would advise Persons not to go Abroad in cold, 
‘ wet, sloppy Weather, more than just Needs must. 
‘ Therefore Persons must, according to Prudence, regu- 
‘ late their taking of it, according as they find two or 
‘ three Stools a-Day may be more or less inconvenient to 
‘ them; in which Case it must not be taken so often, 
‘ or less at a Time of it, if it give more than two or 
‘ three Stools in a Day. And in this Manner Persons 
‘ must keep to it, 'till they find all manner of Uneasiness 
‘ gone, which commonly is upon taking it a Month or 
‘ six Weeks, tho' many Times much sooner: But it can- 
‘ not be expected, that great, rooted, obstinate Evils, 
‘ can be remov'd on a Sudden, 'tis far better to be 
‘ cared thus, without any Hindrance of Business, as 
‘ Hundreds have been, than by troublesome tedious Diet- 
‘ Drinks, and Salivations. 
‘ It requires no Abstinence from any Diet, or keeping 
‘ at Home; but the fresher your Diet is, as plain roast 
‘ and boil'd; and the more temperate as to drinking of 
‘ Wine, the better: But be sure drink no Punch, Stout, 
‘ Brandy, Stale Beer, and such like sharp Liquors. You 
‘ may use moderate Exercise, Those Persons who are 
‘ pleas'd to take of the Specifick Remedy along with this 
‘ Elixir, must do it in the Manner following. Take of 
‘ this Elixir, as just now has been said, near upon every 
‘ Day; and of the Specifick Remedy about twice a Week, 
‘ accepting to the Directions seal'd up with the Specifick 
‘ Remedy: But on those Days, and at those Times that 
‘ you take the Specifick Remedy; you must not take of 
‘ this Elixir. And if you should find any Inconvenience, 
‘ or Fatigue, from taking either of them so often, you 
‘ may rest, and miss now and then a Day. And by 
‘ this Means, this Elixir will throw the Pocky Humour 
‘ out of the Blood, and the Specifick Remedy will entirely 
‘ carry it off. So that all the Venereal Taint will soon 
‘ yield to these Remedies; it being certain, that a Per- 
‘ son will be cured in half the Time, if they take the 
‘ Specifick

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‘ Specifick Remedy along with this Elixir in the Manner 
‘ just now mention'd: For both these Remedies join'd 
‘ together, act potently in Conjunction with each other, 
‘ in order to root entirely out of the Blood the Venereal 
‘ Infection, and so carry it off: Just as two Horses will 
‘ draw a Cart two or three Miles in One Hour, which 
‘ only one of those Horses in that Time could not so 
‘ well get along. 
Our Author, in his Directions seal'd Up with his Speci- 
fick Remedy, orders such a Dose of that to be taken, 
when it be taken, as may give three or four Stools in 24 
Hours; And in his Directions seal'd up with his Elixir, 
he directs (as you have now seen) so much of that to be 
taken, when it be taken, as may give two or three 
Stools a-Day; the Difference is only One Stool in 24 
Hours. So that according to our Authors, present Project 
of curing Fresh Claps, Virulent Gonorrhœa's, Poxes, whe- 
ther New or Old, and Broken Constitutions; as also, the 
Scurvy, Dropsy, Rheumatism, and all Diseases proceeding 
from a Foul Blood, with only (or chiefly with) his Speci- 
fick Remedy, and Chymical Elixir, there is to be in, and 
throughout, the performing these Cures, first of all, 
purge, purge, purge; and then, in the next Place, go to 
Stool, go to Stool, go to Stool; and this Course is to be per- 
form'd daily, and every Day, (if you can hold it) al- 
ternatively, until you find all Manner of Uneasiness gone, 
should that be seven Years first. But the best on't is, 
People may have Paper for their necessary Occasions, in 
what Quantity they please, at Mrs. Garway's, Mr. Coo- 
per's, and at the Sugar-Loaf over-against Old Round Court 
in the Strand, for only asking for it, by the Name of 
the Practical Scheme, &c. 
But our Author, desirous of demonstrating that his 
Elixir is vastly superior in Virtue and Efficacy to any 
Diet-Drink, attempts it by the following Similitude, viz. 
‘ The diffused Rays of the Sun coming in at a Window, 
‘ are a long Time, even in a hot Day, before they will 
‘ warm One's Hand: But if you contract the scatter'd 
‘ and dispers'd Beams into a Point thro' a Burning-Glass, 
‘ your Hand will presently be burn'd. Just in the same 
‘ Manner, Diet-Drinks in themselves are so very slow in 
‘ effecting the End for which they are propos'd, that 
‘ unless


(78)
‘ unless Persons perfectly Rince and Wash themselves
‘ with them, they prove little better than a mere Chip in 
‘ Pottage; so that Persons had almost as good never 
‘ take them: Whereas this Elixir being of a volatile, 
‘ searching, cleansing, and renovating Nature, and 
‘ containing in it self the Virtues of most Diet-Drinks, 
‘ brought here by Chymistry into a small Compass, and, 
‘ as it were, contracted, and concenter'd into a Point, pre- 
‘ sently, as soon as ever it is taken, searches and enters 
‘ into the very Substance of the Blood; dilutes, and 
‘ cleanses it; sweetens and purifies it! Now, I am 
very much mistaken, if the Similitude ought not to be 
worded after the following Manner, viz. As the Rays 
of the Sun, being diffused in the Ambient Air, refresh, 
invigorate, enliven, and support all Vegetables, and Ani- 
mals in their very Being and Existence: But being, by a 
Burning-Glass concentrated, and drawn into a Point, 
scorch up, burn, destroy, and kill, all Vegetables and Ani- 
mals that come in their Way; that is, within the Focus 
of that Glass: Even so, the Salutiferous Particles of the 
Medicinal Ingredients proper for a Diet-Drink, being, by 
a gentle Infusion, drawn out into, and diffused in a fit 
Quantity of Water, Ale, or Wine, will refresh, relieve, 
and even add new Life, Strength, and Vigor to the 
afflicted Patient, by diluting his Blood, cleansing, sweeten- 
ing, and purifying of it after an admirable Manner: 
But the Medicinal Particles of these Diet-Drink-Ingre-
dients being by Chymistry (like the Rays of the Sun by a 
Glass) as it were concentrated, and drawn into a small 
Compass in Rectify'd Spirit of Wine (as in our Author's 
Elixir) will scorch, Shrivel up, and (as the Saying is) 
burn One's Guts out presently! That is, in Case such a 
Medicine be taken by it self; and, if it be not, the 
Similitude is lost: For the Rays of the Sun are no longer 
scorching and burning, than whilst they remain concen- 
trated by the Glass: And a Mixture compos'd of our 
Author's Elixir, and Ale, Wine, or Water, differs not so 
much from a Draught of Diet-Drink, as he would wil- 
lingly have it thought to do. 
Our Author still more effectually to convince the 
World of the Excellency of his Elixir, above that of 
Diet-Drinks, goes on as follows, viz. 'How the Virtues 
'of

(79)
‘ of most Diet-Drinks are here by Chymistry contracted, 
‘ as it were, into a Point in this Great Medicine, as just 
‘ now has been said, may be made clear in the Manner 
‘ following. Chymistry being an Art which draws out, 
‘ by the Force of Fire, the very Essence and Life of 
‘ Things, separating by Consequence the Purities of all 
‘ Things from their useless Dregs, and earthy Substance, 
‘ in order to the Preparation of Medicines most grateful 
‘ to the Palate, by abridging their Dose, and more 
‘ Healthful to the Body, by throwing away their Dross: 
‘ Whereas the Galenists proceed quite in a contrary 
‘ Manner, exhibiting to the Patient as well the impure 
‘ and terrestrial Parts of Medicines, as the pure and spi- 
‘ rituous Ones. This will appear clear in an Example 
‘ of Jalap Root, which consists of two Parts, to-wit, a 
‘ Resinous Part, wherein its whole purgative Faculty con- 
‘ sists; and an earthy gross Parr, which is of no Use, 
‘ but only to clog and load the Stomach for Nothing. 
‘ Now the whole Virtue of the Root consisting in its 
‘ Rosin, it seems altogether unnecessary that a Person 
‘ should load, nauseate, and clog their Stomach with 
‘ 50 or 60 Grains of this Root in Substance, for the Sake 
‘ of only 4 or 5 Grains of its Rosin, contain'd in those 
‘ 5O or 60 Grains of its Root; and which 4 or 5 Grains 
‘ of Rosin, will have a much better Effect than 50 or 60 
‘ of the Root. 'Tis therefore by the Art of Chymistry, 
‘ that this Resinous Part is separated and extracted from 
‘ the other useless, gross, terrestrial Part, which the 
‘ Chymists throw away, after they have extracted and 
‘ drawn all the Rosin from it, in order to abridge and 
‘ lessen the Dose, by giving to Persons only 4 or 5 
‘ Grains, instead of 50 or 60. And 'tis this Chymical 
‘ Method that is here made Use of in the Preparation of 
‘ this Great Specific Elixir; by which the Extraction of 
‘ it from Minerals, Vegetables, and other the usual In- 
‘ gredients of Diet-Drinks is so order'd, that a few Drops 
‘ only of it, in a little Beer, Ale, or Wine, shall do 
‘ more Good at once taking, than two whole Quarts of 
‘ any Diet-Drink will at eight Times taking, reckoning 
‘ after the Rate of Half a Pint to each Draught, as is 
‘ usually prescrib'd to Patients. According to which 
‘ Computation, twice only taking of this Elixir, viz. 
‘ a few

(80)
‘ a few Drops either Morning and Night, or at any 
‘ other Times of the Day, equals the taking of four 
‘ Quarts of any Diet-Drink. Now, which of these two 
‘ Doses, to-wit, either a few Drops of this grateful 
‘ Elixir, (the Taste of it being that of a most pleasant 
‘ Bitter) to be taken at ONCE; or two Quarts of a 
‘ Diet-Drink, to be taken at eight nauseous Draughts, 
‘ will be most acceptable to Persons, whose Conditions 
‘ determine them to take something of this Kind, need 
‘ neither Poor Robin, nor Partridge to foretell.' 
Here I must remark, 1. That altho' Chymistry be a 
noble Addition to Pharmacy, and of very great Use in 
the Preparation of Medicines, yet the old Galenical Phar- 
macy still remains necessary and useful. For some Part 
of the Materia Medica will not admit of a Chymical 
Analysis; or, of being any Way chemically treated, 
without being thereby divested of such Virtues as they 
posses'd before they were so manag'd. 2. That a Diet- 
Drink is, in reality, as much a Chymical Preparation as 
an Elixir: They are both made by a gentle Infusion 
only; the Diet-Drink in a large Iron, Copper-tin'd, or 
Tin-Pot, which (to do it well) must not be above half 
full, and close stop'd with Lute; and the Elixir in a 
large Glass Mattress, well stop's also; the first is set to 
infuse over a gentle naked Fire, the other in a Sand Heat. 
The Menstruum (which makes the Difference) us'd in 
extracting the Medicinal Particles of the Ingredients in 
making a Diet-Drink, is usually Water, and sometimes 
Ale or Wine: The Menstruum with which the Medicinal 
Particles of the Ingredients are extracted in the Prepara- 
tion of Elixirs is Rectify'd Spirit of Wine. Diet-Drinks, 
when taken, are taken by themselves: Elixirs and 
Tinctures, mix'd with Ale, Wine, or Water. But whe- 
ther Water, Ale, Wine, common (or rectify'd) Spirit of 
Wine, be us'd in making these Extractions, a very plea- 
sant colour'd, clear, and transparent Medicinal Liquor is 
obtain'd; and the Dross, that is, the unserviceable 
Parts of the Ingredients, is left behind in the Pot or 
Glass, and cast away. Diet-Drinks are, I acknowledge, 
usually reckon'd amongst the Galenical Medicines; and 
Elixirs are number'd with the Chymical Preparations: 
But there being none other Difference between them, 
in

(81)
in Relation to their Preparation, than what I have ta- 
ken Notice of, I think the One is, in Truth, as much 
a Chymical Preparation as the other. 3. Altho' Water, 
Ale, Wine, common (and rectfy'd) Spirit of Wine, are all 
us'd, that is, sometimes the One, and at other Times 
Another of them, in extracting the serviceable Particles 
of Physical Ingredients; yet these different Menstruums 
are us'd to serve different Intentions: That is, the Virtue 
and Efficacy of the Ingredients usually put into Diet- 
Drinks, consist as well in their saline as in their sulphu- 
reous Particles. Now, Water will best extract their Saline 
Particles, but will leave a great Part of their sulphureous 
Particles behind: Ale and Wine will also extract princi- 
pally their saline Particles, but will receive more of 
their sulphureous Particles than Water can do. Common 
Spirit of Wine will extract the major Part of both the 
saline and sulphureous Particles of these Ingredients; and 
that nearly in an equal Degree, being it self equally 
Aqueous and Spirituous: But Rectify'd Spirit of Wine, 
being an exalted Sulphur, preys principally on the sul- 
phureous Particles of those Ingredients, extracts them, and 
leaves the greatest Part of their saline Particles untouch'd. 
So that as skillful Physicians want either the saline or the 
sulphureous Particles of these Ingredients, or a Mixture of 
them both; they accordingly make Choice of either an 
Aqueous, Vinous, or Spirituous Menstruum for their 
Extraction. 
From what has been said, it is plain, 1. That a Diet- 
Drink made with Water, as it will not have receiv'd 
the very same Particles from the Ingredients, that either 
Ale or Wine (which are somewhat spirituous) would 
have done; so it cannot be possess'd of the very same 
Virtues a Diet-Drink made with Ale or Wine, from the 
same Ingredients, will have. 2. That seeing Water, in 
these Extractions, chiefly preys on, dissolves, extracts, 
and receives into it se]f, the saline Particles of these In- 
gredients, and leaves the most part of their sulphureous 
Particles behind; and that Rectify'd Spirit of Wine does 
(on the Contrary) chiefly prey on, dissolve, draw out, 
and receive, the sulphureous (that is, the Resinous) Par- 
ticles of these Ingredients, and leaves the greatest Part 
of their saline Particles behind; nothing can be more
M plain 

(82)
plain, than that these two Medicines, (that is, a Diet- 
Drink, made with Water, and an Elixir with Rectify'd 
Spirit) tho' drawn from the same Medicinal Ingredients, 
must necessarily be well near as different in their Na- 
tures, Properties, Virtues, and Efficacy, as the saline, and 
sulphureous Particles of those Ingredients are: Whence it 
follows, 3. That our Author's Contrivance of bringing 
the Virtues of most Diet-Drinks into a small Compass, 
by Chymistry, is a mere Chimera; and effectually disco- 
vers his great Ignorance in the Materia Medica, and Che- 
mistry. A Diet-Drink, containing the saline Particles of 
the Ingredients diffus'd in it, like nitrous Particles in the 
Air; yet so intermix'd and soften'd with sulphureous Par- 
cels, as not to be very pungent, dilutes the Blood, clean- 
ses, sweetens, and purifies it, carrying off its Feculencies 
by Urine; thereby rendering the Patient every Day 
more easy, pleasant, brisk, and lively; which noble 
Virtues, and Effects, can't be rationally look'd for, from 
the resinous Particles of these Ingredients, extracted by, 
and embody'd with an exalted Sulphur, that will scarce- 
ly touch the saline Particles in which the Virtues and 
Efficacy of Diet-Drink Ingredients, do, most an End, 
principally consist. And as to Diet-Drinks being nau- 
seous, and our Author's Elixir pleasant to take; let the 
World judge (without applying either to Poor Robin or 
Partridge) whether an Half-Pint Glass of a well pre- 
par'd curious Diet-Drink, that for Colour, Clearness, Fine- 
ness, Transparency, Scent, and Taste, may even vye with 
the best Wine, be not more eligible, and even inviting 
to be drank by any Person, whether sick or well, than 
a Glass of either Ale or Wine, turn'd with the Admix- 
ture of our Author's Elixir, thick, and wheyish; so that 
any One, not knowing what it is, would take it for 
Piss, that had stood a while in the Chamber-pot, and 
was, as we call it, broke; as happens when Persons 
have a Cold upon them, that is going off. And as to 
Jalap Root, its whole Virtue does not, as our Author has 
ignorantly affirm'd, consist in its Rosin: For Jalap 
abounds with Saline, as well as Resinous Particles; and 
those Saline Particles, in Conjunction with its Resinous, 
render it an admirable Hydragogue: And for that Rea- 
son, all well experienc'd and skillful Physicians prescribe 
Jalap

(83)
Jalap in Substance for Dropsical Persons; and not its Ro- 
sin, which containing but few of its Saline Particles, is 
not, on those Occasions, so serviceable. Nor will the 
Rosin of Jalap, when given (as it very seldom is) alone, 
work near so well, pleasantly, and to so good Purpose 
as Jalap in Substance does. But Rosin of Jalap (by 
Reason of its being Purgative in a small Quantity) is 
more fit than Jalap in Substance, to be mix'd with 
other Ingredients, in Pills, Bolus's, &c. And for those 
Purposes chiefly it is prepar'd. 
And now I conceive it highly necessary, that our in- 
genious and learned Author should investigate new Ar- 
guments to convince the World of the Excellency of this 
pretended Great Elixir, and so to support its Reputa- 
tion, as to make it go briskly off, at the Price of a 
Guinea each little Bottle. 
However, some Persons, perhaps, may be desirous of 
knowing more directly of what, and how this Elixir is 
made; or, at least, how to make Another that may be 
equivalent to it: To oblige therefore such Persons, I 
say, That our Author having, in the Practical Scheme 
(Ed. 14, 15,16, p. 28.) inform'd us, that it is extracted 
from the usual Ingredients of Diet-Drinks, (that is, as 
he must mean, the Ingredients of Diet-Drinks generally 
us'd in Venereal Cases) by the same Chymical Method the 
Rosin of Jalap is extracted from the Jalap Root, and that 
it is bitter, and, in his seal'd up Directions, that it is so 
purgative, as that a Tea-spoonful of it being taken Mor- 
ning and Night, will give (generally speaking) two or 
three Stools in 24 Hours, I conceive an Elixir made ac- 
cording to the following Prescription, will be more like 
our Author's (as he now Sells it) in Colour, Scent, Taste, 
Operation, and Effects, than his Specifick Remedy (vid. p. 
53, &c.) is like Dr. Wall's famous Electuary; nay, I be- 
lieve they will not be easily distinguish'd the One from 
the Other; and therefore I shall call it, as he does his, 
The Great Antivenereal Elixir. 
Take Guajacum in Powder one Pound, Guajacum Bark in 
Powder six Ounces, Sarsasras in Powder four Ounces, 
China Roots, and Sarsaparilla slit, cut short, and well
M2 bruised,

(84)
bruised, Centaury the less, and Gention, of each two 
Ounces, Jalap in Powder eight Ounces; put all into 
a large Matrass, and pour to them Rectify'd Spirit of 
Wine one Gallon, digest in a Sand Heat for three 
Weeks, or a Month, shaking the Glass once every 
Day. Then, the Matrass being cold, filtrate the 
Elixir thro' whited brown Paper, and put it up for 
Use. 
The Dose is the Quantity of a Tea-Spoonfull, in a 
Glass of Ale Morning and Evening, when-ever you 
desire to be purg'd, and made sickish and out of Order, 
to little or no Purpose. 
Now, altho' (as I said before) our Author has given 
a pretty true Account of the Symptoms of a Broken Consti- 
tution, and of such Disorders as usually attend Persons 
not well cured of the Secret Disease; yet, I believe, the 
Reader may receive a more clear and satisfactory Notion 
of the Matter, from a Consideration of the Aptness there 
is in the Venereal Infection, and any (tho' slight) Remains 
thereof to unite, and incorporate with some other Di- 
stempers, and thereby to constitute (as it were) a new, 
and anomalous Disease. As for Example: The Scurvy, 
which is of it self a very contumacious Distemper, and 
his Symptoms that, when inveterate, much resemble 
some that attend the Pox: But when a Venereal Infection, 
or some Remains thereof, shall be incorporated with the 
Scurvy, the scorbutick Symptoms will be render'd worse 
than they were before; and the Patient will be perplex'd 
with Indispositions, Uneasiness, and Disorders, not alto- 
gether proper to either the Secret Disease, or the Scurvy. 
The like may be said of the King's-Evil, the Itch, the 
Rheumatism, and of most Chronical Diseases. Nay, some 
Authors affirm, that even Fevers, and other Acute Di- 
seases, may be render'd more severe than Ordinary, and 
more difficult to be cured, by being complicated with 
the Venereal Disease. 
And this Complication of the Venereal and some other 
Disease may happen, either by the Patient's being afflict- 
ed with that other Disease at the Time the Venereal In- 
fection was receiv'd, or by Means of the Secret Disease 
being not well cured, in a Person otherwise of good
Health: 

(85)
Health: For in Case a really sound and healthy Person 
becomes infected with the Secret Disease, and happens 
not to have its Infection well carry'd off, and the Blood 
and Juices of the Body absolutely restor'd to their for- 
mer Purity, the remaining Particles of the Venereal In- 
fection being in some Measure broken, shatter'd, and 
alter'd in their Texture, &c. may probably never pro- 
duce any of the genuine Symptoms of the Secret Disease, 
but rather an inveterate Scurvy, Rheumatism, King's-Evil, 
Leprous Breakings-out, or some other Disease, to which 
the Patients Constitution, Habit of Body, Way of Living, 
&c. shall contribute: And there are but few (if any) 
Persons so healthful, as that they are not (in some 
Measure at least) inclin'd to one Disease or Another;
and every Disease taking its Origin from, or being (tho' 
but slightly) complicated with the Venereal Disease, 
must be cured with proper Antivenereal Remedies; for 
they will not give Way to any other Medicines. 
Now, when (as has been hinted) the Venereal Di- 
sease and the Scurvy are complicated, they must necessa- 
rily constitute an anomalous Disease, that will partake 
of both those Diseases, but will have Symptoms (in some 
Respects) different from either of them. The like may 
be said of the Venereal Disease complicated with any 
other Disease. And this Complication of one Disease with 
Another, is the principal Cause of so many (seemingly) 
new Diseases every Day appearing in the Word; and 
every such new Disease usually retains the Name of that 
Disease of which it does principally partake, (when 
that can be known) and the Name of the other Disease 
is added by Way of Epithet. Thus when the Scurvy 
principally afflicts any Person, yet in Conjunction with 
a Venereal Taint, that new Disease is call'd a Venereal or 
Pocky Scurvy; and so of other Diseases. And when any 
(either internal or external) Disease proves stubborn, and 
of difficult Cure, in a Person who has formerly (tho' 
many Years before) had any Species of the Venereal Di- 
sease, some Remains thereof ought to be suspected, and 
Antivenereal Medicines apply'd to for Cure. The Cure 
of these Anomalous Diseases resulting from a Complica- 
tion of the Venereal and some other Disease together, 
must be regulated (sometimes) as well according as the 
Nature

(86)
Nature of the Disease, complicated with the Venereal 
Disease, shall require; as according as the Age, Sex, 
Constitution, &c, of the Patient, Variety, Urgency, &c. 
of Symptoms shall indicate: But my Grand Specifick for 
the Secret Disease being taken once in three or four Days, 
and my Elixir Aureum every Day, for some short Time, 
seldom fail (being, I verily believe, the very best Me- 
dicines in the World on these Occasions) in performing 
(without any farther Assistance) an effectual Cure in any 
of these Complicated Cases; and in retrieving and bring- 
ing to Rights a Constitution weaken'd, broken, and shat- 
ter'd, by rough, and improper Medicines, Mercury, and 
Salivations us'd in the Cure of the Venereal (or any other) 
Disease. I will add a few Words about the real and 
well experienc'd Virtues and Effects of this 
Elixir Aureum: Or Golden Drops. 
Of this Noble Elixir I made some Mention in a 
Tract publish'd about seven Years ago, entitled, London's 
Medicinal Informer, But I then call'd it, Tinctura de 
Sulphure Aureæ; because it is an Elixir, that is, a very 
thick and deep Tincture, drawn as well from the Sul- 
phur of Gold, as of other Metals, and some Vegetables. 
And such a Medicine must necessarily be most service- 
able on these Occasions; because many of the Disorders 
of these complicated Cases, and of a Broken Constitution, 
spring, in some Measure, from minute Particles of 
Mercury lodg'd here and there about the Body, as well 
as from the Remains of the Secret Disease : And altho' 
some Diet-Drinks, Sudorificks, and Volatile Salts, especi- 
ally the Volatile Salt of Vipers, are very proper and ser- 
viceable in carrying off the Remains of Mercury; yet 
there is not any other Thing in the World, that dis- 
lodges and carries off Mercury so effectually as Gold 
does. If Gold be held in a Person's Mouth who is in a 
Salivation, it will be turn'd White. Nay, if you put a 
Piece of Gold into your Mouth, (says Sir K. Digby, in 
his Treatise of the Sympathetick Powder, p. 87.) and stir 
Mercury about in a Dish with one of your Toes, that 
Gold will attract some of its Particles, and become white, 
which sufficiently shews the Power of Cold, in attract-
ing 

(87)
ing Mercury, when scatter'd about in the Body, and in 
the Blood. Aurum Fluminans is, in these Cases, an ex- 
cellent Medicine; Aurum Potabile is a better; but this 
Elixir Aureum is better than either of them. It is in- 
deed the very best, most efficacious, and even infallible 
Remedy, absolutely to free the Blood, and all the Body, of 
Mercury, after the Cure of the Venereal Disease, especial- 
ly when the same was perform'd by Salivation. 
This excellent Elixir not only frees the Body of Mer- 
cury, but wonderfully sweetens and strengthens the 
Blood, recreates and revives the Spirits, and, as it were, 
renovates the whole Man. So that all little Spots, slight 
wandering Pains, Weakness in the Reins and Seminal Ves- 
sels, occasioning a thick and soul Urine, seemingly with 
Threads, Films, or Hairs flying about in it; Trembling 
in the Joints, Weariness, and Numbness, Paleness in the 
Face, Giddiness in the Head, Dimness of Sight, Indisposi- 
tion to stir up and down, Faintings, inward Weakness, 
and a seemingly Consumptive Habit of Body, after Vene- 
real Cures, are effectually cured by the Use of this Golden 
Elixir: And that by its admirable Faculty of purifying 
and strengthening the Blood, exhilarating and brisking 
up the Spirits, and bringing all weaken'd Parts to their 
due Tone; whereby the languishing, and almost despair- 
ing Patient is quickly restor'd from a weak, broken, 
and almost ruin'd Constitution, to a found, plump, and 
healthy Habit of Body, a florid Countenance, and an easy, 
pleasant Temper of Mind, even without any Trouble at 
all: For this Elixir is pleasant to take, and has no 
Manner of Operation, excepting that it works a little 
by Urine, and sometimes (not often) promotes a very 
gentle breathing Sweat in the Night: But it is very Cor- 
dial, Strengthening and Reviving. Price 10s. the Bottle, 
with Directions. 
To


(88)
To Dr. Paul Chamberlaine. 
SIR, 
ALtho' the Author of the Practical Scheme of the Secret Di- 
sease, and Essay on Appended Remedies, recommending a 
Necklace for Children's Teeth, &c. dedicated several Editions of 
those little Tracts to you, and frequently made Use of your 
Name in those Pamphlets, News-Paper-Advertisements, &c. ap- 
parently in Expectation that your Character and Reputation 
would promote the Sale of his Specifick Remedy, Elixir, Neck- 
lace, &c. which I always look'd upon as so many Impositions 
on the People, and for that Reason resolv'd, for the Safety 
of Peoples Health and Lives, to give the Publick such Informa- 
tion concerning them as I was capable of, and which I have now 
in part done, yet I determin'd not to make any Reflections on 
your having countenanc'd this Author: And consequently you 
will not find, throughout the whole of the preceding Tract, 
so much as one Word that bears hard on your Conduct herein, or 
than can prejudice your Good Name and Reputation: For I 
thought it highly probable, that either you was not fully ap- 
pris'd of this Author's disingenuous Management: Or that you 
might bellow but few (if any) Thoughts about the Consequen- 
ces of it. But the Mask is off, the 17th Edition of the Practical 
Scheme is now publish'd, with The Essay, &c. tack'd to it: 
And Letters Testimonial, or an Approbation in your Name pre- 
fix'd to them both. Which Approbation is couch'd in suck 
Terms, as fully discover (in Case it be, as I must presume it to 
be, of your own Writing) that you are well acquainted with, 
and intirely approve of what this Author has done, and that 
you assist him to the utmost of your Power: So that in Case 
he be a mere Quack, and not (as he pretends) a Physician; and 
his Remedies instead of being (as boasted of) great and valua- 
ble Medicines, be really but so many Impositions on the Town, 
you (I think) in having thus avowedly espous'd his Interest, 
and assisted him, by your said Approbation, under your Hand, 
in carrying on his Designs, ought to be look'd on as a Man of 
like Honesty with himself. Nay, I verily believe, judging 
by the said Approbation, and your present Conduct, that he and 
you are really in Copartnership in these Matters, and actually 
share the Profits thence (by your united Endeavours) arising be- 
tween you: So that altho' in writing the preceeding Tract, I 
study'd to screen your Reputation, yet you must now excuse 
me in making such Remarks and Reflections on the said Appro- 
bation, as I think (presuming it genuine) it properly requires:
And 


(89)
And in case this Approbation be (as I am very confident it is 
not) publish'd by your Author, in your Name, without your 
Knowledge, you must blame him, not me, for the Consequen- 
ces of my Reflections thereon. 
Doctor Chamberlens Approbation. 
Approbation.] I Paul Chamberlaine, Doctor in Physick, do hereby 
testify to all Persons whom this may concern, 
that I intirely approve of, advise, and recommend to the 
World the Use of the hereafter mention'd Remedies, (which 
have been publish'd now for a long Time in several Languages 
with a constant and uninterrupted Success) as the very best 
that in my Opinion have ever been known, publish'd, or made 
use of for the following Distempers. 
1st. For the Secret Disease, Broken Constitutions, Kings-Evil, Scur- 
vy, &c. the invaluable Specifick Remedy and Elixir belonging to 
The Practical Scheme of Secret Injuries and Broken Constitutions. 
2dly. For the easy Breeding, and Cutting of Children's 
Teeth, Women in Labour, and Distempers of the Head, the 
Sovereign Necklace, whose Virtues are ingeniously explicated in 
the Essay writ upon it. 
My Judgment therefore, Opinion, and Advice, is, that Persons 
in those Circumstances, can use no better, safer, and withal 
more effectual Remedies in the whole Compass of Physick, than 
these, whose Use I: hereby Advise to all Patients, because I 
believe, from my Experience of it, the Specifick Remedy to be the 
only ONE Thing in the World intirely to root out, and carry off 
any Venereal Infection; and consequently to perform a Cure 
with the greatest Pleasure, Ease, Safety, Privacy, Certainty, and 
Expedition, of any Antivenereal Remedy ever yet known or pub- 
lish'd, being a Non-such in its kind for this End. The same 
also I say of the Elixir for Broken Constitutions, as all who 
try them will to their Comfort find. So that bad these excel- 
lent Remedies been but publish'd formerly as they are now, Gentle- 
men and others who had known of them, would (in MY Opinion) 
have taken nothing else. 
Remarks.] Really, Doctor, there seems to be a great deal of 
Reason for your giving a good Character of this Specifick Remedy 
and that, as you well say, from your Experience of it: For 
your Author, in the 5th Edition of the Practical Scheme, treat- 
ing of the Cure of the second Stage of the Secret Disease, says 
(p. 50) of this Specifick Remedy 'That had it been but pub- 
‘ lish'd some Years ago, as it is now, (to use the Words of a 
‘ certain Gentleman lately cur'd by it) Persons who had known 
N 'of


(90)
‘ of it would have taken nothing else.' This very Passage is 
in Ed. 6, 7, p. 50. Ed. 8, p. 14, Ed. 9, p. 9. Ed. 10, p. 7. Ed. 
11, 12, 13, p. 11. Your Author, Sir, having thus in eight 
Editions told us what a certain Gentleman, who was cured by 
his Specifick Remedy, us'd to say of it, in his 14th, 15th, and 
16th Editions, seems to explain the Matter: For there, still 
treating of the Cure of the second Stage of this Disease, he 
says, as before of the Specifick Remedy, ‘ That (p. 15) had it 
‘ been but publish'd some Years ago, as it is now, (to USE 
‘ Dr. Chamberlaine's WORDS of it) Persons who had known of 
‘ it would have taken Nothing else.' Here, Sir, you see, the 
very Words attributed in eight Editions to a terrain Gentleman 
lately Cured by the Specifick Remedy, are at length, in three Edi- 
tions, attributed to Dr. Chamberlaine. That certain Gentleman 
therefore, and Dr. Chamberlaine, must assuredly be One and the 
same Person, And is not this a plain Intimation, nay, al- 
almost a Proof, that, in Case your Author may be believ'd, Dr. 
Chamberlaine himself has been Cured by this Specifick Remedy? 
And still to make the Matter more plain, your Author in his 
Epistle dedicatory to Dr. Paul Chamberlaine prefix'd to the said 
14th, 15th, and 16th Editions of the Practical Scheme, tells the said 
Dr. Chamberlaine, (and thereby the World) that he the said Dr. 
Chamberlaine us'd frequently to buy the said Specifick Remedy at 
the Shops where it is sold! Which if he did, doubtless it was 
to take himself. Old Rats love Cheese! But, Sir, that which 
seems to put the Matter beyond Dispute, is, your now recom- 
mending this Specifick Remedy to the World from your own Experi- 
ence of it: And using your self, in the two or three last Lines, 
I have above transcrib'd from your Approbation, almost the 
very Words your Author first attributed (as above) to a certain 
Gentleman lately Cured by this Remedy, and afterwards to Dr. 
Chamberlaine. And if, Sir, you have been Cured with Pleasure, 
Ease, Safety, Privacy, and Expedition, by this Specifick Remedy 
who can blame you for speaking well of it ? And if the Case 
was thus, probably you might chuse to oblige your Doctor with 
this Approbation of his Remedies, rather than with a Certificate 
of your own Cure to be put into the News-Papers. 
But, Sir, after what you have said, as above, in your said 
Approbation concerning the Specifick Remedy, what can you 
say to the Contents of the Letter you sent concerning it (Vid. 
p. 59) to Tom's Coffee-house? In which you have these Words, 
viz. I cannot say it [the Specifick Remedy] will answer all Mat- 
ters ascrib'd to it by the Author, who may magnify his own as he 
please! If, Sir, you cannot say the Specifick Remedy will answer 
all Matters ascrib'd to it by its Author in the Practical Scheme, 
how can you, in Point of Prudence, Honesty, and Conscience, justify
your

(91)
your having approv'd of, and recommended to the World, the 
Perusal of that Tract, and the Use of that Medicine in the Man- 
ner you have done? Ought not, Sir, your saying of your Au- 
thor, that he might magnify hit own as he please, to be taken 
for a Concession that, in your Opinion, your Author had said 
more of his Specifick Remedy than was true concerning it? 
Nay, your having said, that you cannot say it will answer all 
Matters ascrib'd to it by its Author, is a Proof that such were your 
Thoughts. And the Case being thus, do you not stand self Convict- 
ed of having endeavour'd to assist your Author in imposing on the 
credulous (and unfortunate) Part of Mankind, who will pur- 
chase it, on a Presumption that it will really answer all Mat- 
ters ascrib'd to it by its Author? And in Case the Specifick Re- 
medy will not answer all Matters ascrib'd to it by its Author, 
who can tell whether it will answer any, and which of them? 
And, again, if the Specifick Remedy will not answer all Mat- 
ters ascrib'd to it by its Author, will not (think you) the Ap- 
probation you have given of it, prompt People to believe that 
it will answer all Matters ascrib'd to it by its Author? And 
will not such their Belief founded on your Approbation, prompt 
them to purchase it? Nay, was not your Approbation printed, 
on purpose to promote the Sale (amongst other Things) of this 
Specifick Remedy? May not therefore, every one who shall pur- 
chase this Specifick Remedy, and shall find it not to answer such 
Matters as he, finding them ascrib'd to it by its Author, ex- 
pected from it, as properly be said to be impos'd on, and cheat- 
ed by Dr. Chamberlen, whose Approbation and Recommendation 
encourag'd him to purchase it, as by the Author of it himself? 
And, Doctor, in that Letter you sent to Tom's Coffee-House, 
you us'd (also) these Words, vis. Nor can I assure you of a Cure 
from it, unless I were thoroughly inform'd of your present Complaint; 
which it is impossible I should, whilst you remain a Stranger. Now, 
Sir, in Case you can't assure any One of a Cure from this Spe- 
cifick Remedy, of whose present Complaint you are not thorough- 
ly inform'd, and whose Person remains a Stranger to you; 
how comes it to pass, that you have recommended this 
Remedy (or approv'd its being recommended) to be carry'd 
Abroad for the Use of Foreigners? For in the 17th Edition. 
of the Practical Scheme that is come out with your Approba- 
tion, and which is (as well as the Specifick Remedy) by you re- 
commended to the World, it is said (p. 22.) ‘ This Specifick 
‘ Remedy is seal'd up with printed Directions for its Use, not 
‘ only in English, but also in the French, High-German, Low- 
‘ Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, and Polish 
‘ Languages, for the Use and Benefit of Merchants, and others 
‘ trading Abroad, and all Sorts of European Foreigners, so easy,
N2 'clear, 

(92)
‘ clear, full, and plain, that any Person, tho' never so
‘ REMOTE, may privately Cure themselves! 'Tis also the 
‘ most convenient Thing that can be us'd at Sea, and in other 
‘ Countries, not only of Europe, but in the East and West-Indies.' 
Now, Doctor, in Case what you wrote in your Letter sent to 
Tom's Coffee-House, is, as I verily believe it is, Matter of Fact, 
and Truth; Namely, that you can't assure any One of a Cure 
from the Specifick Remedy, unless you be thoroughly acquainted 
with their present Complaint: Does not this Project of recom- 
mending the Specifick Remedy to be carry'd into Foreign Parts, 
with seal'd up Directions for its Use, look as if You and your 
Author were about Trying whether you can't impose on and 
cheat, with this Specifick Remedy, Persons that are Clapt and 
Pox, even all the World over? 
Again, Doctor, when the Letter you sent to Tom's Coffee- 
House was brought back to you by Mr. Taylor, who told you 
the Person's Case who desir'd your Advice, was an Old ill-cur'd 
Pox, of about two Years standing, broken-out on the Head, and 
some other Parts, and requested your Opinion, whether the ME- 
DICINES, that is, the Specifick Remedy and Elixir mention'd 
in the Practical Scheme, would make a Cure in such a Case, you 
return'd for Answer, That they might do some Good: But 
that the only Method for a Cure, would be a Salvation: Not- 
withstanding which, in the 17th Edition of the Practical Scheme 
your Author (with your Approbation, which renders it the 
same as if actually said by your self) says, the third Degree 
of the Secret Disease, that is, the Pox, may be cured without a 
Salivation (which oftener proves the Ruin of poor Patients than 
their Cure) by the Specifick Remedy? Thus, Sir., you see we 
have Dr. Paul Chamberlen, against Dr. Paul Chamberlen! If 
what Dr. Paul Chamberlen wrote in his Letter sent to Tom's 
Coffee-House, and what he said to Mr. Taylor, who carry'd 
back his Letter and ask'd his Advice, be Truth; then what Dr. 
Paul Chamberlen has wrote and allow'd to be printed in Ap- 
probation and Recommendation of the Specifick Remedy, and the 
Matters contain'd in the Practical Scheme, cannot be Truth: 
And in Case what Dr. Paul Chamberlen has wrote, and al- 
low'd to be printed in Approbation and Recommendation of the 
Specifick Remedy, and the Matters contain'd in the Practical 
Scheme, be Truth; then what Dr. Paul Chamberlen wrote in 
the Letter sent to Tom's Coffee-House, and what he said to Mr. 
Taylor, as above, cannot be Truth: From whence (take it which 
way you please) it evidently appears, in my Opinion, that Dr. 
Paul Chamberlen is a Gentleman who may (indeed) write, 
print, and say what he please: But who will not very hastily 
(if at all) to be believ'd in what he shall write, say, or 
print:


(93)
print: For (as he knows) there is a Proverb which is against 
him. 
Approbation.] I am also fully convinc'd, that the above-men- 
tion'd Necklace is the most homogeneous, and infrequently the 
most naturally proportion'd Remedy in the World to streng- 
then and open the Alveoli or Sockets of the Gums in Children 
and thereby make them easily breed and cut their Teeth with- 
out any Convulsions, Fever, or Pain at all, and consequently 
will save many a Child's Life. Also to give an easy Time to 
Women in Labour, and cure most Distempers of the Head, by 
a very particular Property it is endow'd with of fortifying 
and strengthening the Brain. 
For which Reason, I recommend to every Person's serious 
Perusal, before they use these Remedies, those two most Excel- 
lent little Treatises which the Ingenious and Learned Author 
has writ upon them, and gives away Gratis (at a very great 
Expense) in several Languages, entitl'd, 
1st, A Practical Scheme of Secret Injuries and Broken Con- 
stitutions. 
2dly, A Philosophical Essay upon this Admirable NECK- 
LACE. 
Remarks.] You having thus, Sir, recommended these two 
little Treatises to Peoples serious Perusal, it must be presum'd 
you have seriously perus'd them your self. And that you find 
Nothing in them but what you either take to be Truth, or what 
you would (at least) have other Folks think to be Truth; for 
recommending them, is recommending whatever is therein 
contain'd. Therefore you Approve (1) of your Author's Phi- 
losophical Account of the Origin of the Venereal Disease; name- 
ly, that it sprung from a promiscuous Copulation: For that 
Account is, in this 17th Edition, as well as in the former Im- 
pressions of the Practical Scheme. As to which I have spoken at 
the Beginning of this Tract. (2dly) In this 17th Edition (p. 4) 'tis 
said, ‘ Any Man that pretends to Cure a Distemper he does not 
‘ perfectly, as well according to the Principles of Philosophy as A- 
‘ natomy understand, that he may rightly know hoto and when to 
‘ oppose Acids to Alcalies, and Alcalies to Acids, in which all Di- 
‘ stempers consist, acts only by Rote.' This Passage, Sir, did 
you not write your self Doctor in Physick, would make me sus- 
pect you are little acquainted with the Nature of Diseases, and 
their true Method of Cure, I took some Notice before (p. 3) 
of this Passage. And (3dly) in this 17th Edition (p. 5) it is said, 
‘ The Venom creeps and insinuates it self a little further, 'till 
‘ by degrees it seizes on the Seminal Vessels, and there creates 
‘ Ulcers, and corrupts the Seed; which, at length, by Reason 
‘ of

(94)
‘ of the Parts having lost their Springyness, and Retentive Fa- 
‘ culty, involuntarily comes away, in which consists properly 
‘ a Gonorrhœa, or virulent Running. -- And this is the 2d Stage 
‘ in which it [this Disease] is call'd a Virulent Clap.' This 
Passage, Doctor, effectually shews, that altho' you and your 
Author have taken upon your selves to recommend Medicines 
for the Cure of the Secret Disease, yet you are both so very ig- 
norant in the Nature of it, as not to know from whence the 
Matter of a Virulent Gonorrhœa flows, nor of what it does con- 
sist. I therefore refer you to the 9th and 10th Pages of, this 
Tract for Information. 4tbly, In this 17th Edition (p. 14) 
we are told, that the 3d Stage of the Secret Disease, that is, the 
Pox, may be Cured without either any Astringents or Salivation, 
by the Specifick Remedy. This, Sir, must imply, that you and 
your Author imagine that other Practitioners use Astringents, as 
well as Salivations, in curing the Pox ; but, Sir, Astringents are 
given (when given at all) to take off the Remains of a Gleet 
after the Infection, in the first or second Stage of this Disease is 
carry'd off, and never in the Pox. You therefore and your 
Author apparently discover, that neither of you know what 
Remedies are proper for, and us'd in the Cure of the several 
Stages of this Disease. And did (do you think) any Doctor in 
Physick besides your self, ever talk of putting a Person into a Sa- 
livation for 8 or 9 Days, for the Cure of an Old Pox of two 
Years standing? Vid. page 59. 
5thly The whole of what your Author wrote in his 14th, 15th, 
and 16. Editions of the Practical Scheme about his Elixir which 
contains (as he pretends) in it self the Virtues of most Diet- 
Drinks, drawn, by Chymistry, into a small Compass, is printed 
in this 17th Edition, and consequently has receiv'd your Ap- 
probation: Which must be allow'd to discover that you, as 
well as your Author, are very little acquainted with the true 
Nature and Properties of the Materia Medica, and with Chy- 
mical Pharmacy. In short, it may justly be suppos'd, that were 
you much better skill'd in the Theory and Practice of Physick, 
than your Author, you never would have given this Approbation 
of his Performances. 
I ought now, Sir, to run over, and make some Remarks on 
The Essay upon the Necklace: But, for want of Room, I shall 
here take no further Notice of it, then to observe, that your 
Author having in that Essay proved, that Appended Remedies 
have, in some Cases, been serviceable seems to think that Proof, 
sufficient to convince the World, that his Necklace (being an 
Appended Remedy) will do whatever he and you are pleas'd to 
say it will do: But, for my Part, I am so fully satisfy'd that 
he and you both know, that the Specifick Remedy and Elixir will 
not



(95)
not perform what he in the Practical Scheme, and you in your 
Approbation thereof, have said they will; as that altho' I well 
know Appended Remedies are, in many Cases, of good Use, yet 
I cannot, on his and your Authority, believe this Necklace 
will, in any tolerable Measure, answer the Character given of 
it in the said Essay and in your Approbation thereof. 
However, Sir, you having allur'd us, that this Necklace is en- 
dow'd with a Property of fortifying and strengthening the 
Brain, I will take the Freedom to advice, that you and your 
Author wear some of them about your own Necks: For I ve- 
rily believe that his and your Brains are very weak, if not a 
little turn'd. And probably, in Case this Necklace be endow'd 
with the Property you say it is, the meaning it may bring them 
to Rights!
But, Sir, you have not only approv'd of the Practical Scheme, 
Essay, &c. but of their Author, calling him the Ingenious and 
Learned Author. And this we must not suppose you to have 
done, as I, in the proceeding Tract, have done, Ironically, but 
in earnest, that People may (as well from your Character of 
him, as from his own Account of himself) believe him to be 
an Ingenious and Learned Physician. Now, Sir, was your 
Author such a Person, why should he conceal himself from 
the World? Physicians of Learning and Ingenuity love to be 
known; and People, when they read Learned and Ingenious 
Tracts, are desirous of knowing who is the Author of them. 
And when People buy and take Medicines, whether they do 
them Good or Harm, it must be a Satisfaction to them to know 
who prescrib'd, and who prepar'd them: It is really conveni- 
ent (nay, absolutely necessary) therefore on these Accounts, 
that your Author should be known to the Town. 
Besides, Sir, your Learned and Ingenious Author, in the 
5th, 6th, and 7th Editions of his Practical Scheme, has bestow'd 
One whole Chapter of 20 Pages, in Characterizing, Scandali- 
zing, and Abusing those Persons who, he there says, offer their 
Service in and about this Town, for the Cure of the Secret Di- 
sease; and when he has bestow'd what Characters he has thought 
fit (that is, such as his Learning, Ingenuity, and Good Man- 
ners, prompted him to) on Others, why should not I (or any 
One else) make known, as far as can be, who he himself is, 
and what his true Character? As to the Treatment your Au- 
thor has afforded Others, I will, for your Satisfaction, tran- 
scribe a little of it from the Practical Scheme, {Ed. 5, 6, 7, Ch. 
2) and subjoin short Remarks thereon, viz. ‘ The Cure (be- 
‘ gins he) of this [the Venereal] Distemper, being at best but a 
‘ CROOKED sort of Practice, no Physician of Note cares to 
‘ be known to undertake it.' This Passage, you know, Sir, 
has


(96)
has Nothing of Truth in it: The Cure of the Secret Disease 
being no more a Crooked Practice, than that of curing any other 
Disease: Nor do Physicians of Note decline Curing it, as Oc- 
casion offers. The most famous Physicians of this and other 
Nations, ever since the Disease first made its Appearance in 
this Part of the. World, have as freely wrote about that, as 
about any other Disease, and as avowedly profess'd its Cure. 
But, Sir, this was spoken by your Author, by Way of Intro- 
duction to the Scandal, and silly Invectives he was then going 
to pelt those Persons with, who pretend principally (if not, 
some of them, wholly) to the Cure of the Secret Disease; and 
who, for that Reason, he fear'd, might hinder the Sale of his 
Specifick Remedy. For which Reason (says he) other Persons (no 
Physicians) usually offer their Service in this Point. But, Sir, you, 
and every Body else know, That 'tis not Regular Physicians de- 
clining the Cure of the Secret Disease; but Venereal Patients, 
for Privacy Sake, Inclination, and Proneness to run to Strangers, 
that make more Intruders into the Practice of Physick pretend 
to that Cure, than to Others. You may (continues he) have a 
Bill thrust into your Hands, directing you to some Hand and Urinal, 
&c. Some Eminent Physicians distribute Bills: Doctor Pechy of 
the College of Physicians did it many Years; so did Doctor Sal- 
mon, &c. But, it must be own'd, Some who distribute Bills are, 
for certain, very unfit qualifi'd for the Administration of Phy- 
sick; yet are they (the most Contemptible of them) preferable 
to skulking (won't be known) Medicasters: Because with the 
first a Man may converse, and, by their Discourse and Conver- 
sation, judge of them: But of the Latter, One has no Way 
of guessing any Thing concerning them; unless by what is 
printed, which many Times is not of their own Composition: 
And, in Case it be, a Man may be capable of transcribing 
from Books, and of putting an Account of any Disease tolerably 
well together, without having any true Knowledge of the 
Nature of that Disease, and its Cure. Besides, it looks more 
probable, that a Person who shews himself in the Cures he 
pretends to, should really understand them, than One who 
says his Medicines are of this and that Efficacy, but will not 
himself be known. Your Author having exercis'd his little 
Share of Sense sarcastically on about 20 particular Persons, the 
meanest of whom ought to be deem'd superior to himself, he, 
at length, very demurely acquaints us (p. 28.) with the Requi- 
sites for constituting a Quack-Doctor, viz. A General Receipt or 
two; a few Cramp Words; an Arm Chair; a Night Gown; a 
good Stock of Impudence, and Ignorance; which last, let it he 
(says he) as great as possible it can! Now, Sir, Nothing is 
more plain, than that your Author has a general Receipt or two;
that


(97)
that is, the Receipts of his Specifick Remedy, and Elixir: Cramp 
Words, and Latin Phrases, are frequent in the 5th, 6th, and 
7th Editions of his Practical Scheme! And very likely he may 
have an Arm-Chair, and a Night-Gown, at his (either real, or 
sham) Sister's Lodgings, at the Sugar-Loaf over-against Old 
Round Court in the Strand, ready provided against the Time 
his Doctorship shall please to receive Visits: Impudence he seems 
to be abundantly supply'd with; and of Ignorance (in Physick) 
I have made it appear that he has no Want: So that as soon 
as he please he may present himself in Cathedrâ Doctoris! After 
a little more silly Raillery, he says (p. 30.) What Risque now must 
Persons run, that venture themselves with such self-made Doctors as 
these? Now, (say I) in Case those Persons must be thought to 
Risque, and hazard their lives, who, in any Disease, apply to 
Persons processing Physick, merely because those Persons had not 
a University Education; certainly a much greater Risque do they 
run, who buy Specifick Remedies, which (are sold, amongst other 
Fools-Bawbles, at Toy-Shops, and) are prepar'd by Nobody knows 
whom. Your Author, Sir, goes on, and (p. 30.) says, ‘ Thus 
‘ the World swarms with Cant, Pacquet-Venders, Urine-Gazers, 
‘ Medicine Sellers, Mountebanks, Operators, Bill-Doctors, Health- 
‘ Menders, Physick-Mongers, Men-Spoilers, Empiricks, Sham-Doctors, 
‘ Bublers, and Quacks.' Now, Sir, are not almost every one 
of these pretty Names applicable to your Author himself? Are 
not his Practical Scheme and Essay stuff'd with Cant? Is not he 
a Pacquet-Vender, Medicine-Seller, and a Physick-Monger? Are not 
his Books actually Bills, and as such given away? And whether 
he be, or be not, a Sham-Doctor, Man-Spoiler, Bubler, and a 
Quack, I leave to my Readers to determine. But, Sir, your 
Author, in the same Page, goes on still, and informs us, that 
all the Persons spoken of, instead of having had 'an Acade- 
‘ mical Education, were originally Jacks of all Trades, and Re- 
‘ negado Mechanicks, as, Broken Weavers, Barbers, Bakers, 
‘ Smiths, Sailors, Cobblers, Tinkers, Taylors, Scriveners, Foot-boys, 
‘ Merry-Andrews, &c. who know nothing of the Matter they 
‘ undertake, farther than to get the Money. ['Tis common 
with Knaves to judge other Folks Honesty by their own!] ‘ But 
‘ having got a Receipt or two, a few hard Words, and a good 
‘ Share of Impudence, (their other Trade failing them) are 
‘ now commenced Doctors, boasting, in Places where they are 
‘ not known, of their Electuaries, Apozems, Bolus's, Decoctions, 
‘ Spagyricks, Panacæa's, and Tetrachymagogons; pretty Words to 
‘ amuse the Ignorant, whose Miseries make them credulous to 
‘ almost every Thing.' Now, good Doctor Paul Chamberlen, 
are you not surpriz'd, that your Friend, who endeavours that 
neither his Person nor Place of Residence should be known to
O more



(98)
more Persons than Needs must; and who, being little known 
any where, may be said, by News-Paper Advertisements, and 
given-away Books, very much to boast every where of his 
Specifick Remedy, Elixir, Necklace, Purging Sugar-Plumbs, Saf- 
fron-Drops, Daffy's-Elixir, Ague-Plaister, Rheum-Plaister, Beauti- 
fying-Cream, &c. all to be had of his (reputed) Sister up one 
Pair of Stairs at the Sugar Loaf over-against Old Round Court 
in the Strand: Are you not, I say, surpris'd that he thus rails 
at, and abuses Others, for doing the very Things he every Day 
does himself? Of what a mean, base, mischievous Spirit and 
Disposition must he be, thus to act? However, Sir, you now see 
how your ingenious and learned Author manages his Matters, 
in Order to get Money and Reputation! He, being a very cun- 
ning Fellow, expects to be well thought of himself, by means 
of his endeavouring that Others should be ill thought of, for 
those very Practices he himself pursues, and hopes to get Credit 
by! Nay, (such is his Wisdom, that) he hopes to be proclaim'd the 
most honest Doctor in Town, on Account of those very Things for 
which he (p. 32.) calls Others damm'd Dogs, and Rogues in Nature! 
And those, he tells you, whom he calls damm'd Dogs and Rogues in 
Nature, are some of the Topping Doctors of the Tribe! And now, 
Sir, is it not, think you, a great deal of Pity that a Gentleman 
of so much Learning, Knowledge in Physick, Philosophy, and Chy- 
mistry, and endow'd with so much Good Sense, and Good Man- 
ners as your Ingenious and learned Author appears to be possess'd 
of, and endow'd with, should remain a Stranger to the World? 
Allow me therefore, Sir, for once to commit a Rape on his 
(sham) Modesty, and to oblige him nolens Volens to be known to 
his Patients, as it is (you know) very proper every skillful Physi- 
cian should be. 
Your Author, Sir, told us, in the 13th Edition of the Practi- 
cal Scheme, that his Specifick Remedy was remov'd from Mr. Lo- 
vel's on the 15th of March 1715. After which, it seems, ano- 
ther Specifick, call'd, The Royal Specifick Arcanum, was left there 
to be sold, with Books given gratis to recommend it: Which 
Royal Specifick Arcanum, and Books, your Author thought fit to 
represent to the World, in an Advertisement in the News-Paper 
call'd St. James's Post, on Sept. 7th, 1715, as Counterfeits of 
his Specifick Remedy, and Practical Scheme: Whereupon the Au- 
thor (who is a German) of the Royal Specifick Arcanum, &c. 
caus'd an Advertisement in their Vindication, to be publish'd in 
St. James Post, on Sept. 14th, 1715; which last mention'd 
Advertisement is as follows, viz. 
In answer to a false, envious Publication in this Paper on 
Wednesday, Sept. 7th, This is to give Notice, That the only 
Book teaching People to know their own Case, and cure them- 
selves


(99)
selves of any Venereal Injury, is given away by Mrs. Weed, at 
Mr. Lovel's, the Sign of the Patten facing Suffolk-Street, recom- 
mending the true Protestant Specifick, much less in Quantity 
than that so vapour'd of in the Practical Scheme of the Secret 
Disease, given at Mrs. Garway's, and at Mr. Cooper's near Hun- 
gerford Market, and wrote by one TANNER, whose Character 
take as follows. Several at Mr. Lovel's have assur'd us, he is a 
POPISH PRIEST, whom they have seen performing MASS, 
and know to be a very lewd Debauchee; who, tho' he has the 
Impudence to stile himself Physician, is as much a QUACK as his 
Brethren Upstarts he pretends to detect. See now the Doctor 
and the Saint, that talks so much in his Books of Mens sana 
& Corpus sanum! Nigroq; simillima Cygno. But the Double 
Doctor is very angry at the Book at Lovel's, and tells us, Virgil 
says, interstripit Auser Olores, and so say I too. Yet One would 
think he dealt with the Devil, for he has more Tricks than 
Wafers, Beads, and Crosses, being Ommium Horarum Homo, ac- 
cording to the Romish Mode: For such Priests use to be Rare 
Shews, Cobblers, and Spies under any Covert! This Year he de- 
dicates to the Royal Society an Essay, &c. to sell a Necklace at 
the Millener's near the Play-house in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, (made, 
I'll warrant you, of the Wonder-working Relicks of some old 
rotten Saint!) But to induce you to buy it, and shew his Mag- 
num Ingenium, he has found out, he says, what the Ingenious 
long waited for, i. e. A new Art of Short-Hand; vide Rich's. 
He has more Shapes still: Here he puts off Purging Sugar-Plumbs, 
Saffron-Drops, Daffy's Elixir, and a Blister Plaister. Utrum Ho- 
rum mavis accippe. Is not the Doctor then a good Confessor to 
prepare variety of Physick for such stubborn Hereticks? But that 
at Mr. Lovel's is Heretical, so no Wonder he damns the Book for 
a Counterfeit. The second Part of his Life will be ready when 
he pleases: And 'tis hop'd the publick will beware; for instead 
of passing for Doctors, he and his Crew, our restless Foes, should 
be pack'd off to Rome and St. Omers. 
Thus the Advertisement in St. James's Post. Now hear what 
my Friend Mr. Taylor says to the Matter. 
I George Taylor, living in Falcon-Court, Southward, hereby cer- 
tify, that being Yesterday, Sept. 7th, 1716, among some 
other Persons a drinking with Mr. Lovel, who keeps the Toy- 
shop at the Patten over-against Great Suffolk-Street End, near 
Charring Cross, the said Mr. Lovel declar'd solemnly over and 
over again, before all the Company, that the Person for whom 
he, the said Mr. Lovel, sold the Specifick Remedy for the Secret 
Disease, went, at a Presbyterian's House at Westminster, where he 
lodg'd, by the Name of Twist, but that his right Name is Tan- 
O2 ner:



(100)
ner: That he has heard, and does believe he is a Popish Priest: 
And One Mr. Davis a Watch-Maker, then in Company, and 
who then lodg'd at Mr. Lovel's said, it can (as he believes) be 
prov'd that this Twist, alias Tanner, has officiated as a Popish Priest 
beyond Sea. Mr. Lovel said, when we sold Tanner's Specifick Re- 
medy, Tanner came to his Shop almost every Day to change the 
Potts, because the Matter in them Spu'd out. That he, the said 
Mr. Lovel, was very much and often abus'd for selling that Me- 
dicine, because it did not answer the Buyers Expectations. And 
Mr. Lovel, further said that One Man who had bought the Spe- 
cifick Remedy of him, and taken it (as he said) without Effect, 
demanded his Money again, which Mr. Lovel refusing to Re- 
turn, that Man took out a Warrant against him, and carry'd 
him before a Justice of the Peace, who order'd Mr. Lovel to re- 
turn that Man his Money again, which he then did: And 
that, soon after, Tanner himself order'd Mr. Lovel, that when- 
ever any Person should make a Noise and seem Resolute, he should 
Return the Money, without more ado; which he thereupon 
several Times did. Witness my Hand this 8th Day of Septem- 
ber, 1716. George Taylor. 
And now, Doctor, are you not almost asham'd of your In- 
genious and Learned Author? Is this, do you think, a proper 
Time for an English Protestant to countenance, and confederate 
with Sculking Popish Priests? Does not your Author (Practical 
Scheme Ed. 5, 6, 7, p. 72.) say, ‘ Now, as I have writ this 
‘ little Treatise as well for my own Diversion, as for the Instructi- 
‘ on of Others, Utile Dulce, not getting a Penny by it: So 
‘ my Readers are very Welcome to pass what Censure they 
‘ please upon it. And as for the Remedy I have left to be 
‘ sold, if not ONE is sold in a Years Time, it will not break 
‘ one Hour of my Rest; I having (God be thanked) indepen- 
‘ dent of these little Profits, a very handsome Subsistence.' 
And is it not, Sir, reasonable to suppose, that the Subsistence 
your Author here vapours of, is an Allowance either from Rome, 
or St. Germains, to promote the Pope and the Pretender's Inte- 
rest in Great Britain? And may not every One who counte- 
nances and conceals Popish Priests, be justly suspected of being 
an Enemy to our Protestant King GEORGE ? Have we not just 
now had a Popish (as well as a Jacobite) Rebellion? And has 
the same (do you think) not been promoted in some measure, and 
encourag'd (as also our late Street-Mobbs, Riots and Tumults) by 
Popish Priests lurking One in One Corner, and Another in Ano- 
ther, amongst Us? Are not Popish Priests accustom'd, in these 
Protestant Countries, to assume any Shape, Character and Employ- 
ment to the End that by means of that Disguise they may have 
an



(101)
an Opportunity of instilling, Disloyal, and Popish Principles in- 
to the People? Do not all Papists call the Reform'd Religion, 
Heresy? And Protestants, of every Denomination, Hereticks? 
And does not the Romish Church indulge and encourage her 
Votaries, and all of her Communion, in endeavouring, by all 
means, to extirpate Heresy, and Hereticks? Do not the Romish 
Priests perswade the People of their Church to believe that Mur- 
dering Protestants, and Killing Dogs are alike innocent Actions? 
Nay, many Times, that the assisting in publick Murders, and 
Massacres, for the Good (as they pretend) of the Holy Roman Ca- 
tholick Church, are meritorious Deeds? Do not the Histories of 
the Massacres of Paris, Ireland, &c. prove this? And, Sir, 
who can tell what your Author's real Aim and Design is, in 
publishing his pretended Great Remedies? If he be (as you see 
is said of him) a Popish Priest; may he not, by means of them, 
oblige (designedly) the Romish Church, in destroying some of 
those she deems Hereticks in Great Britain? may not his Speci- 
fick and Elixir be design'd to Ruin the Constitutions of those Per- 
sons, who shall take them? And may not his Necklace be de- 
sign'd to prevent Parents taking proper Measures to preserve 
their Infants? That is, that whilst they depend on his (do-no- 
Good) Necklace, the Infant (who, by proper means, might have 
been reliev'd) may be snatch'd away by Death? And should 
Women, on his and your Advice, depend, in the Hour of Tra- 
vel, on the Efficacy of this Necklace, how many of them 
would inevitably be lost? So that, Sir, your Author may, for 
ought we know, have a Design on the Healthy Well-Being, and 
Lives of the Protestant Men, Women, and Children of this 
Kingdom, in the Sale of his Specifick, Necklace, &c. And in- 
deed, what else can he aim at? For, as to the Profits thence 
arising, he professes, you see, that he is not in any concern 
about it! Two Objections, I know, may be made against this 
Surmize, viz. 1. That in this Case the British Catholicks might, 
by this Means, be injur'd, and destroy'd as well as the Prote- 
stant. To which I answer (1) That without all Doubt the 
Pope, and the Generality of Foreign Papists (even the Pretender 
himself) would be glad that all the Papists of these three King- 
doms were Murder'd, on Condition that all the Protestants were 
Murder'd, with them. (2) In case your Author be endeavour- 
ing to do what Mischief he can with his Specifick, &c. It may 
justly be supos'd that the most noted Papists of these Kingdoms 
are let into the Secret; And consequently are themselves safe. 
The second Objection is, that the many Authentick Certificates 
publish'd of Cures done, prove the real Goodness, Worth, and 
Efficacy of your Author's advertis'd Remedies. To this I an- 
swer, that this Objection cannot be of any Force, until it shall 
be


(102)
be prov'd, that the Persons who sign those Certificates, are 
Persons of Good Sense, and Real Honesty: Such as cannot them- 
selves be impos'd on, and who will not impose on Others. 
For, otherwise, we can't have any Good Assurance that any 
such Cures as are certify'd of, were really perform'd. Nay, for 
ought can be publickly known, the pretendedly cured Certifyers 
may be none Other than some Popish Confederates, who will 
certify (and swear) any Thing to serve your Author, and the 
Interest of their Holy Church! And, Sir, why should your Au- 
thor, in Case he has none other Views than the Gains to be 
made by Quacking, and the Vending of Medicines, sculk from 
one Lodging to Another, and absolutely refuse to be known, 
even to them who take his Medicines? And why should he go 
by one Name in one Place, and Another in Another? And 
why does he pretend sometimes to one Business, and at other 
Times to Another? Did he not, above three Years ago lodge 
at Mr. Parsit's at the Blew Ball in the Vinegar-Yard, Drury-Lane? 
And after that, at Mr. Partridge's, at the Fox over-against the 
Maypole in the Stand? And after that, at the Black Perriwig 
over-against Durham Yard? And did he not, in those Places, 
go by the Name of Tanner? And did he not afterwards lodge 
at Mr. Holmes's, a Carpenter, in the Ambry, near the Gate-house 
in Westminster? And did he not there go by the Name of Twist, 
'till Somebody discover'd his other Name, viz. Tanner? And 
has he not also gone by the Name of Pritchard? And who can 
tell which (or whether any) of these be his right Name? Did 
not Mr. Lewis of Covent-Garden, Bookseller, sell his Short-Hand 
Book, and receive Letters for him from those who wanted to be 
taught? Did he not, after that, become a Bird-Merchant? Did 
he not publish a Book about Breeding, and Teaching Canary- 
Birds? Is not that Book (unless lately remov'd) to be had of 
Mr. Bradshaw, a Barber, next Door to the King's-Head, at the 
End of Crown-Street, between Denmark-Street and SoHo-Square? 
But, Sir, which is more to our Purpose, do you know, or did 
you ever hear, That your Author, at any Lodging or Habitation, 
profess'd himself (by any Name whatsoever) a Doctor in Phy- 
sic, a Surgeon, or an Apothecary? Or that he did ever practice 
as such? And if not, how can you excuse your having ap- 
prov'd of, and recommended to the World, his Medicines, and 
Treatises, in which he insinuates himself to be a Graduate Phy- 
sician of good Note, Reputation, and Business? 
Really, Doctor Chamberlen, in Case your Ingenious and 
Learned Author be a Popish Priest, or ever has been One, altho', 
as is also said of him, now (perhaps only under a Colour) di- 
vested of his Priesthood, on Account of his scandalous Life and 
Conversation, you may (indeed) hug him, and make as 
much





(103)
much of him as you please; but, for my Part, I must own, I 
have very little Esteem and Value for those Gentlemen. How- 
ever, for Good Manners Sake, I will not say (whatever I think) 
of Popish Priests, as your Author has done in the Practical Scheme 
(Ed. 5th, 6th, and 7th, p. 32.) of his (now) Brethren the 
Quacks, that they are Damn'd Dogs, and Rogues in Nature! 
Presuming, Doctor, that your Author has not as yet prevail'd 
with you to burn your Bible, I request you to turn to I Kings, 
Chap. 22. where it is written for our Instruction, 
Verse 20. And the LORD said, Who shall perswade Ahab, that 
he may go up, and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And One said on this 
Manner, and Another on that Manner. 
21. And there came forth a Spirit, and stood before the LORD, 
and said, I will perswade him. 
22. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I 
will go forth, and I will be a Lying Spirit in the Mouth of all his 
Prophets. And he said, Thou shalt perswade him, and prevail also: 
Go forth, and do so. 
Here, Sir, we see a Spirit, who doubtless was the Devil, had, 
in the Days of Old, God's Permission to be a Lying Spirit in the 
Mouth of all Ahab's Prophets: And, Sir, I have a Suspicion, 
that the same Spirit has God's Permission, at this Day, to be a 
Lying Spirit (vid. 2 Thess. Chap, ii.) in the Mouth of all the 
Pope's Priests: For if is a known Maxim with them, That 
Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks. Now, Sir, they who will 
not keep Faith, that is, be as good as their Word, must be Liars 
of Course: So that (in Case I have a right Notion of this 
Matter) every Popish Priest, being possess'd with a Lying Spirit, 
must necessarily be a Liar himself, and a Prompter of other 
People to Lying. Now, Sir, let us see whether your Author 
has not, in his Books, Advertisements, and Certificates, given as 
convincing Proof as can reasonably be desir'd, that he is as 
really possess'd with this Lying Spirit as any One of Ahab's Pro- 
phets ever was; and that accordingly, he follows the Dictates 
of this lying Spirit himself, and prompts others so to do. 
First, as to your Author's being really possess'd with a Lying 
Spirit, and following his Dictates, let it be judg'd of from the 
following Particulars. 1. As to himself, who, it seems, ne- 
ver was other than a Priest, a Teacher of Short-Hand, a Breeder 
and Teacher of Canary-Birds, &c. yet in his Practical Scheme 
insinuates that he is a Physician: In the Practical Scheme (Ed. 
14th, 15th, 16th, p. 3.) he says, 
1st, He went through Courses of Philosophy at the University, 
before he began the study of Physick; and in every Edition of 
that Tract, to the l3th inclusive, he says, his Specifick Remedy 
was communicated to him by a Brother Physician. And, gi- 
ving



(104)
ving Advice (Ed. 5th, 6th, 7th, p. 71.) to poor People, who 
can't purchase his Specifick, he bids them apply to a Regular 
Physician, (as if he was One himself) who has taken his 
Degrees in an University! And (Ed. 5th, 6th, 7th, p. 54, 55.) 
he insinuates, that his Reasons for not making himself known, 
when he publish'd his Specifick Remedy, were, 1st, That Persons 
having the Medicines and Directions, might cure themselves. 2dly, 
A Fear of being kept too much in Town. 3dly, And chiefly, 
a Fear of injuring his other Medicinal Practice: ‘ For, (says he, 
‘ p. 55.) to be sure, no Ladies, Or other Persons of Honour and 
‘ Reputation, will ever come to such a Physician's House, for 
‘ Fear of being suspected to have this Distemper, by those who 
‘ shall see them go out and in, if once his Name is up for cu- 
‘ ring it: So that he must bid adieu to his other Practice, if he 
‘ designs to have this. For ALL which Reasons, this Specifick 
‘ Remedy, with the Lotion, &c. to assist it in the several Stages 
‘ of the Distemper are seal'd up, &c.' All these Affections and 
Insinuations, Sir, of your Author concerning himself, are doubt- 
less the Effects of his being possess'd with the above-mention'd 
Lying Spirit! 
2dly, As to the Specifick Remedy, I observe, 1. That the first 
Notice your Author (so far as I know) gave us of it, was in a 
Folio Half Sheet, entitled, Good News to the World, given gratis 
at Mrs. Garway's, &c. And in that Half Sheet he says, this 
Specifick Remedy was never us'd by any Other than Himself and 
one Physician more: But in every Edition of the Practical 
Scheme he owns it was known to, and long us'd by two Physi- 
cians before it was discover'd to him. These Relations are in- 
consistent, and can't be both true. 2. In every Edition of the 
Practical Scheme your Author affirms, the Specifick Remedy was 
communicated to him by an eminent Physician;  and that he, 
before he publish'd it, made large Tryal of it in Private Pra- 
ctice. 3. In every Edition of the Practical Scheme, he says, 
after this Tryal of his Specifick in private Practice, he communi- 
cated it to two of the chief Physicians in London, and had their 
Approbation of it before he publish'd it. 4. And as in every 
Edition of the Practical Scheme, your Author tells us, he, before 
be publish'd his Specifick Remedy, communicated it to two Phy- 
sicians; so, in his Epistle Dedicatory, prefix'd to the 14th, 15th, 
and 16th Editions, he tells us, he also communicated the 
whole Secret and Preparation of it to your self, and to Dr. Rad- 
cliff. But, Sir, your Cunning Author, as if he was possess'd 
with a Foolish Spirit, as well as with a Lying Spirit, having thus 
told us, he himself has communicated this Specifick Remedy to 
four Physicians, who, in that Case, may, for ought he can 
know to the contrary, have communicated it to four Hundred 
other


(111)
But, Sir, the main Observation I have to make on this Affair, 
and which all the World, I am sure, will allow, affords a 
convincing Proof of your Author's want of Veracity; or, if 
you please, of his being possess'd with a Lying-Spirit, is this, 
viz. Your learned and ingenious Author in the 13th Edition 
of the Practical Scheme, as also in the 23d Page of that Edition, 
inform'd the World that the Specifick Remedy was, before the 
Publication of that Edition, remov'd from Mr. Lovel's to 
Mr. Cooper's: And in the same Edition (namely the 13th) of 
the Practical Scheme, the same Promise of a Return of Money, 
and on the same Terms as in its former Editions, is continu'd, 
and, after many fine Things in Commendation of the Speci- 
fick Remedy, your Author there (p. 20.) says, ‘ But what is still 
‘ more than all that has been said of it, is, that out of the 
‘ great Quantities that have been dispos'd of since it was first 
‘ publish'd, not so much as any ONE Person ever yet demand- 
‘ ed a Return of their Money again; or even ever made any 
‘ the LEAST Complaint of it; which to be sure some Peevish 
‘ Person or other, would not have fail'd to have done, 
‘ if they could but have found the least Room for any Flaw 
‘ or Complaint in it, considering the Free Offer that is here 
‘ made of it, out of such a great Number of Persons that have 
‘ bought of it, if it had not fully answer'd their Expectations.' 
Your Author, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Editions of the 
Practical Scheme, has made no Promise of Returning Money on 
any Terms whatever: But in each of these Editions, (p. 22.) 
he says, 'Since it [the Specifick Remedy] was first publish'd, 
‘ not so much as any ONE Person ever made any the LEAST 
‘ Complaint of it; which to be sure some Perish Person or 
‘ other would not have fail'd to have done, if they could 
‘ but have found the Least Room for any Flaw, or Complaint 
‘ in it." The very same Passage, Doctor, is continu'd in 
(p. 19. of) the 17th Edition of the Practical Scheme that is come 
out with your Approbation: And the Words here by me put in 
Capitals, are so printed in the Practical Scheme, the better and 
more effectually to convince People of the Truth and Im- 
portance of this Passage and Circumstance; namely, that not 
so much as ONE Person, from the first Publication of the 
Specifick Remedy, even until the Publication of the 17th Edition 
of the Practical Scheme, how (Novemb. 1716) given away at 
Mrs. Garway's, at the Royal-Exchange, Mr. Cooper's, the Corner 
of Charles-Court in the Strand, and up One Pair of Stairs at 
the Sugar-Loaf, over-against old Round-Court in the Strand, 
has ever (NO not so much as ONCE!) made any the LEAST
Complaint of this Little Remedy: But, on the contrary, have 
(Ed.




(112)
(Ed. 17th, p. 23.) ALL, as many as have taken of it, been 
Cured by it; and have recommended it One to Another. 
Thus your Author, Sir, and with your Approbation: Not- 
withstanding all which, a sufficient Number of Complaints, 
if I am rightly inform'd, have been made of this Little Remedy 
at Mr. Cooper's, and at Mrs. Garway's, who have themselves 
been (I believe) oftener, and more than they desir'd, affronted, 
and roughly talk'd to by Persons who bought this (in Truth) 
Little Remedy of them, and found it not to answer their Ex- 
pectations. However, Doctor, what can either you, or your 
Learned and Ingenious Author, say to this Passage in Mr. Tay- 
lor's before-going Certificate, (p. 100) viz.-- That be the said 
Mr. Lovel, was very much abused, for selling that Medicine, be- 
cause it did not answer the Buyer's Expectation. And Mr. Lovel 
farther said, That one Man, who had bought it, and taken it 
without Effect, demanded his Money again, which Mr. Lovel re- 
fusing to return, he took out a Warrant against him, and carry'd 
him before a Justice of the Peace, who order'd Mr. Lovel to re- 
turn that Man his Money again, which he then did: And that 
soon after, Tanner [that is, your Author] himself order'd Mr. 
Lovel, that whenever any Person should make a Noise, and seem 
Resolute, he should return the Money without more ado, which 
thereupon he several Times did. 
Now, good Doctor Chamberlen, will you be pleas'd, Sir, to 
view over this Matter, consider it well, and, when you shall 
have so done, tell us seriously, whether you do believe that 
the Devil has, at any Time, and when, since he became a 
Lying Spirit in the Mouth of King Ahab's Prophets, ever once 
prompted any Man to tell (much less, to print) a more noto- 
rious and bare-fac'd LYE than your Author has publish'd in the 
13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Editions of his Practical 
Scheme, in therein telling the World, that since his Specifick Re- 
medy, otherwise (by himself) call'd, his Little Remedy, was 
first publish'd, not so much as any ONE Person, ever made any the 
LEAST Complaint of it; but that ALL, as many (Ed. 17th, p. 23.) 
as has taken of it, have been cured by it: When he (your Au- 
thor) well knew the Matters contain'd in the above-written 
Passage of Mr. Taylor's Certificate, to be Fact and Truth. And 
yet, Sir, your Author (such is his Hypocrisy) insinuates him- 
self to be a very conscientious Man! And one who is very 
cautious of being guilty of a Lye! Do but behold this Wolf in 
Sheep's Clothing; this demure Devil acting the Saint; I could 
(says he, Ed. 17th, p. 24.) easily tell the World if I would, That 
a few Doses of it will ALWAYS INFALLIBLY cure the very 
Word of Cases; but then I should tell one of the worst of Lyes. 
Now, Sir, could this Passage be thrust in by your Author with 
any




(107)
in Injuries of not above three or four Days Date, according to 
the Degree of Malignity receiv'd; for some Persons will be 
deeply infected in a few Days, whereas others shall have a 
very slight Clap hanging on them some Months. Where this, 
I say happens, it may require more than One Pot, two may 
do; but the Use of THREE will disappoint no ONE in the 
Cure of any COMMON Clap, Gleet, Running or Gonorrhœa, if 
the above-mention'd Rules and Directions be but punctually and 
cheerfully observ'd; for I cannot pretend to cure any Person 
who will not lend a helping Hand themselves. If this ME- 
THOD with THREE Pots, disappoints any One whose Case 
is only the First, or Second Stage of this Disease, they shall have 
their Money return'd again, AS I'll presently mention. But 
as to the THIRD Stage, how do I know how a Person's Blood 
may be infected? I'll promise NO certain Quantity nor Time, 
for the Cure of this Stage. ALL that I CAN do, is, to propose 
to such of my Readers as may unfortunately have the third 
Stage upon them, a Method of Cure to be us'd with the Specifick 
Remedy, which has cur'd Hundreds, and therefore why not 
them? Tho' I think in my Heart, that whoever does but 
follow and stick close to the Method here mention'd, will not 
be frustrated in their Expectation, let their Case be what it 
will; but at least, there will be NO Return of Money, on Ac- 
count of the third Stage. 
Now as to the Return of Money: Any Person, who, within 
28 Days inclusive, after buying their first Pot, will come to 
the Shop where they bought their Pots, and upon the Word and 
Honour of a Gentleman declare these following Points: 
1st. That their Condition was only the first, or second Stage 
of the Distemper, and that they have taken THREE entire 
Pots, and follow'd exactly and punctually all the Directions. 
2dly. That they have so follow'd the Cure, as to have taken 
the three entire Pots now mention'd all within the prescrib'd 
28 Days; which will also appear by the Shop Book, wherein 
the Sale of every Pot is Register'd; which they may easily 
do, if they have but their Cure so at Heart as to be serious 
about the Matter, having a whole Lunar Month here allow'd 
them for taking of THREE Pots, which are no bigger than 
three Walnuts, and which those of my Patients take usually 
in less than 20 Days, whose Case is such as to require three 
Pots. Besides, to take something this Week, and by finding 
Benefit from it, to neglect going On, as too many do, is not 
the best Way to be cured, it must be follow'd while you are 
at if. Not but that a Person may be cured so, but 'tis not so 
certain, and consequently NO Return of Money is promis'd to
P2 such




(108)
such Delays, where the Fault is in the Neglect of taking the 
Remedy, and not in the Remedy itself. 
3dly. That they have not hinder'd the Cure by any criminal 
Venereal Act, for 28 Days last past, and that they find NO 
Benefit, shall receive where they bought their three Pots, their 
three Guineas again; only giving a Receipt for them, for the 
Satisfaction of the Author, (otherwise, the Shops must be ac- 
countable for them) and also producing the three Pots, with 
the Papers and Covers wherein they were wrapt, with three 
of these Books of Directions, &c. for a Testimony that three such 
Pots were bought there on such and such Days. But NO 
Return of Money will be under THREE Guineas, because many 
Persons Distemper is such, that less will not Cure them; and 
if Persons will not take enough to Cure them, 'tis their Fault, 
and not the Remedy's, and consequently the Blame lies at their 
own Door. 
Observations.] Now, Sir, you have seen on what Terms 
your Author, in his seal'd up Directions, promised a Return of 
Money: And, in order to make due Reflections on them, 'tis 
necessary to look back to what I just before transcrib'd from 
the Practical Scheme, in Relation to this Matter, and then I am 
very confident you'll allow the following Observations, on the 
whole, are proper and just; and that they make it evident, 
that your Author's good Intentions and Integrity in this Affair, 
may very reasonably be suspected, viz. (1) That where the 
Promise is made, in the Practical Scheme, that their Money shall 
he return'd, who shall buy, take, and find NO Benefit by the 
Specifick Remedy, not one Word is said of the many Prescriptions 
set down in the seal'd up Directions to assist that Remedy in 
curing a Clap: In another Place, indeed, of the Practical 
Scheme, there are (which must, it seems, help out at a dead 
Lift) the ensuing loose, and (as it were) careless Expressions, 
viz. ‘ Now since this Remedy is to fall into the Hands of all 
‘ Sorts of People, of which SOME may be willing to provide 
‘ a FEW Things, for their Cure, altho' OTHERS may not; 
‘ For the Sake therefore of THOSE Persons, I have in the 
‘ Directions set down plain Prescriptions in English, of what ever 
‘ Things (generally speaking) will be necessary for the Cure, 
‘ together with the Specifick Remedy, which is the Basis and 
‘ Foundation of all.' Now, Sir, here it is only said, that be- 
cause some might, altho' Others might not, be willing to pro- 
vide a few Things for their Cure, for their Sake who are wil- 
ling so to do, Prescriptions are set down, which fully implies, 
that the Specifick Remedy will do without them: So that I do 
not conceive it possible that any One should take much Notice 
of this Passage, after he had been told over and over again, that
that



(109)
that ONE innocent Thing the Specifick Remedy, would answer 
ALL Intentions, and SO perfectly compleat the Cure, that 
NONE, in COMMON Claps, should be disappointed; that is, 
of being cured (as the Practical Scheme assur'd) with Ease, 
Safety, Privacy, Certainty, and without Slip-Slops of Physick. 
(2) Not one Word is said, that THREE Pots (much less that 
three Pots, and all the Slip-Slops, nauseous Draughts, &c. pre- 
scrib'd in the Directions) must be taken within the 28 Days. 
(3) Not one Word is said, in any one Edition of the Practical 
Scheme, that they who should demand a Return of their Money, 
must declare their Condition was only the first or second Stage. 
Of the Secret Disease: Or, that in Case their Condition was the 
third Stage, (that is, the Pox) there should be NO Return of 
Money. (4) Not one Word that a Return of Money should be 
deny'd to those who should have Conversation with a Woman 
during those 28 Days. Of all which Particulars, your Author, 
in Case he meant honestly, most certainly ought to have ap- 
priz'd every Body in his given-away Books, as well as the 
Unfortunate, after taking their Money in his seal'd up Dire- 
ctions:  For he must believe, that most Buyers would be sur- 
priz'd at, and think themselves trick'd and impos'd on, in 
Relation to (some at least) of these Particulars. But your 
Author seems plainly (in my Opinion) to have endeavour'd so 
to word his given-away Books, as to put People on buying 
his Specifick Remedy; and so to manage the Terms about return- 
ing Money, as that, supposing a thousand (or ten thousand) 
Persons should buy and take his Specifick Remedy, and not one 
Person be cured by it, not one Person should ever be found 
capacitated to demand a Return of Money conformable to the 
Terms on which he promis'd it should be return'd; and con- 
sequently a Return should not ever be made! For they who 
should buy, and take this Specifick Remedy, in Expectation of 
being cured of a Pox by it, are plainly told, (that is, in the 
seal'd up Directions, but not in the given-away Books) that 
they, however it shall happen to them, shall have NO Return 
of their Money: And as for them who are Clap'd only, they 
(too) must either go without their Money, or take three entire 
Pots (whether they can or not) of the Specifick Remedy, together 
with all the real Slip-Slops prescrib'd in the Directions, use all 
the Plaisters, Lotions, Balsams, &c. as their Case shall seem to 
require, and declare (on the Word and Honour of a Gentleman; 
otherwise the Declaration stands for nothing, which excludes 
all Women, and more than nine Parts in ten of the Men) that 
they have so done, within the said 28 Days, and find NO 
BENEFIT! Now, Sir, I conceive it hardly possible, (and so 
doubtless did your Author too, when he penn'd his Terms)
that


(110)
that any One labouring with a Clap, should take purging (and 
other) Physick (whether proper or not) for a whole Month to- 
gether, and yet be able solemnly to declare he has receiv'd 
no Benefit. A Man, after Having taken Physick for any Disease, 
is very apt to suppose he has receiv'd Good by it, when indeed 
he has not. And in a Clap, a Man may think he has receiv'd 
Benefit by that Physick, that has really done him much Harm; 
that is, it may have stop'd his Running, and seemingly have cured 
his Clap; but at the same Time may have lock'd up the In- 
fection, or have thrown it into his Blood, and have pox'd him. 
And a Man may also receive some Benefit from a Medicine 
that will never cure him: To this Purpose, your Author, in 
three or four of his Editions, said of his Specifick Remedy, in 
Relation to the Pox, Take my Advice, (said he) and do not lay 
out your Money upon this Specifick Remedy, for it will not 
cure you; 'twill, 'tis true, keep your Distemper something un- 
der, by carrying off some Part of the Venom: But what's that 
to the Purpose of your entire Cure? Thus your Author himself 
(formerly) on his Specifick Remedy, in Relation to the Pox! The 
same I may suggest of it in Relation to a Clap; namely, that 
in Case it will not cure a Clap, or, at some Times, should hap- 
pen not to cure a Clap, yet doubtless, being taken for a Month 
together, and that according to his Directions, the Person ta- 
king it, will certainly receive, or seem to have receiv'd some 
Benefit by it; so that I do not see how, on your Author's 
Terms, any one Person should demand a Return of Money, even 
tho' many should use his Specifick Remedy, and none be cur'd by 
it. Besides, most Gentlemen, when disgusted with the Sight 
of a Heap of Prescriptions they thought nothing of, or see 
Reason to believe they shall not be cured by the Specifick Remedy, 
will rather send their first Guinea, together with their Not-to- 
be-found Doctor, to the Devil in a hearty Curse, than once 
think of exposing themselves at Lovel's, Cooper's, or Garway's, 
in demanding a Return of their Money on the Terms set down 
in the Directions; And as to Persons in mean Circumstances, 
who might perhaps go to the Pawn-Brokers for Money to buy 
the first Pot, in Expectation of Wonders from it, we may 
readily guess (without excluding them from a Demand, as 
not being Gentlemen) what their Fate will be. And to what 
Purpose, Sir, could your Author put it in his Terms of Return- 
ing Money, that the Person demanding it should produce 
his Pots, and not only them, but their Covers, the Papers they 
were wrapt in, and all the three Books of Directions: I say, 
to what Purpose should he put all this in his Terms, unless to 
farther incapacitate Persons for making a Demand of their 
Money, on a Presumption that some or other of those Trifles 
would be scatter'd, mislaid, and lost.
But,
. 

(105)
other Persons, tells us also, in those three Editions, (p. 16.) 
That this Secret, the Specifick Remedy, the Author of it being 
dead, is now ONLY in his own Breast! Your Author, Sir, 
doubtless, thought telling Folks he had made known this Secret 
to four eminent Physicians, and that they all approv'd of it, 
would make abundance of People think the better of it: And 
then asserting, that the Secret is now only in his own Breast, 
would prevent People's expecting of it from any other Hand. 
Bur here, Sir, we see how necessary it is, (according to the 
Proverb) That a Liar should have a good Memory. (5) Your 
Author, Sir, in some Editions of the Practical Scheme, positive- 
ly affirms, that this Specifick Remedy in common Claps, will, 
without taking ANY other Thing, answer ALL Intentions of 
Cure; so that NONE Will be disappointed who will but be 
pleas'd to try it. (6) And your Author, in his 14th, 15th, 
and 16th Editors, (p. 21.) pretends this Specifick Remedy is the 
‘ Medicine which the famous Dr. Wall was continually hanker- 
‘ ing after, and aim'd at; and which all his Life-time he was 
‘ endeavouring to obtain and find out, and offer'd a great 
‘ Sum of Money for, but could never get it.' But, Ed. 17th, 
p. 15, He says, this Medicine, when it was communicated to 
him, was very imperfect: And that he has so alter'd it, and 
improv'd it, as to make it almost quire another Thing! So 
that it seems the ingenious Dr. Wall was all his Life-time han- 
kering after, and endeavouring to purchase a very imperfect 
Medicine! (7) Your Author, Sir, tells us in every One of his 
Editions, that this Specifick Remedy had been us'd by two eminent 
Physicians successively, for above 40 Years: And (Ed. 14, 15, 
16, p. 15.) had done upwards of 20000 Cures, before it was com- 
municated to him; Is it not strange, Sir, that during 40 
Year's Experience of a Medicine, and performing twenty 
thousand Cures with it, two eminent Physicians should not 
bring that Medicine to Perfection? (8) But, Sir, your Author 
is, it seems, now appriz'd, that he having communicated the 
Original Receipt of his Specifick Remedy first to two of the chief 
Physicians of London, and afterwards to your self and Dr. Rad- 
cliff, that that Receipt could be no longer his own Secret: And, 
for that Reason, he, as I conceive, pretends now to have so 
improv'd and alter'd that Remedy, as to make it almost quite 
another Thing, and consequently (Ed. 17, p. 15) it became now 
(says he) entirely my own Secret! When he publish'd his 16th 
Edition, it was his own Secret, because the Author of it was 
dead: Now he has publish'd his 17th Edition, it is his own 
Secret, by Means of the Alterations and Improvements he has 
made of it! (9) Bur, Sir, notwithstanding the great Alterati- 
ons and Improvements your Author, p. 15 of his 17th Edition;
P pretends
 

(106)
pretends he made of the Specifick Remedy, so as to make it 
almost quite another Thing; yet, in the 22d Page of his 17th 
Edition, he, having entirely forgot what he had done, tells us 
this true Original Specifick Remedy is seal'd up with printed 
Directions for its Use, &c. i. e. almost quite alter'd from what it 
was, and still the same! Did, Sir, do you think, the Lying 
Spirit ever before put a Man on publishing such apparent Fal- 
sehoods, and even down-right Contradictions? But, Sir, the most 
notorious Falsehood of all, is still behind. 
Your Author, Sir, in the former Editions of the Practical 
Scheme, says, ‘ Any Person who will, in 28 Days, (Time 
‘ enough in all Conscience, to see whether it does good or not) 
‘ inclusive from their buying it, come to Mr. Lovell, or 
‘ Mrs. Garway, [says every Edition to the 11th inclusive: To 
‘ Mr. Cooper, or Mrs. Garway, ways the 12th Edition] according 
‘ as where they bought it, and only on the Word and Honour 
‘ of a Gentleman declare, without any Witness, but to either of 
‘ them alone, that having us'd the Specifick Remedy, bought 
‘ there such a Day, they find NO Benefit by it, shall, confor- 
‘ mable to the Points mention'd in the Directions, have their 
‘ Money return'd again, without the least Demur or Diffi- 
‘ culty. 
This Assurance, Sir, of returning those Persons their Money 
again, who should buy the Specifick Remedy, take it, and find 
no Benefit by it, carry'd an Air of Honesty in it, and was, 
doubtless, a great Inducement, together with the Character 
given of the Medicine, to many Persons to lay out their Money 
in the Purchase of it: But if your Author so manag'd the 
Matter, as to give a considering Person just Grounds of Sus- 
picion, that his sole Intention was to prompt Persons to part 
with their Guineas without a Design of returning any, be the 
Success of the Remedy what it would; then I conceive this 
Honest-Faced-Assurance of returning Money, ought nor, over- 
hastily to be taken for a Proof, that your Author is an honest 
Man: And whether he has so manag'd the Matter, as to give 
such Grounds of Suspicion, let the World judge from the follow- 
ing Account of this Matter contain'd in your Author's seal'd 
up Directions, and my Observations on the whole. 
Directions.] Where the Infection is but small, One Pot of the Speci- 
fick Remedy is full enough for the Cure, if the foregoing Rules be but 
observ'd. For although sometimes in slight Infections, the Pati- 
ent may seem to be well, with taking but half a Pot: Yet it 
ought to be continu'd for some time, to root out, and carry off 
entirely the Venom and Malignity, and to prevent a Relaps 
of the Gleet and Running: But when it has taken deeper Root, 
which more frequently happens than Persons imagine, even 
in


(113)
any other than a knavish Design to make People think him ho- 
nest? And that he endeavours to have nothing but Truth in his 
Book? And is it not very plain, that he cares not whether 
what he writes be Truth or Falsehood, provided it does but pro- 
mote his Interest? A few Lines farther (Ed. 17th, p. 24.) he 
says, Now what I have to say more, is this, That this Specifick 
Remedy is not INFALLIBLE; and I desire no One to buy it as 
such. No, it may possibly fail in some particular Cases. Nay, 
(p. 21.) he says, Suppose a Person very SLIGHTLY Clap'd, 
should take some considerable Quantity of this Remedy, without 
being cured, I should not value it a Bit the less for such a Want 
of Success in same ONE particular Person. Now, Sir, in Case 
an Hundred Persons buy your Author's boasted of Specifick Reme- 
dy, and not One of them receive any Good by it; each of those 
Persons must (and probably will) suppose their own to be the 
only (very odd) particular Case, in which this Little Remedy has 
fail'd; So that, altho' not ONE Person of a Thousand Takers 
of this Little Remedy should be cured by it, yet, One not know- 
ing of Another's Disappointment, your Author (I verily believe) 
hopes these last-mention'd Concessions of his, namely, That his 
Little Remedy may possibly fail in some particular (and even very 
slight) Cases, will effectually screen and secure both himself 
and his Little Remedy from Reproach. 
And now, Sir, I conceive you may be sufficiently convinc'd 
that your Author does himself follow the Dictates of the Lying 
Spirit I presum'd him to be possees'd by: And that he does, as 
Occasion offers, prompt Others to do so too, I offer the en- 
suing Particulars for a Proof, viz. I. The following Certificate, 
which has been often printed in the News-Papers, and in seve- 
ral Editions of the Practical Scheme, viz. 
I Ann Avery, House-keeper 20 Years, next Door to the Golden 
Boy in Red-Lyon-Street, Holborn, six Years ago was so injur'd 
by a Husband with the Secret Disease, that it broke out in large 
Blotches on my Head, and nine Holes in my Legs, with other 
dreadful Symptoms nor here to be nam'd; so that I went five 
Years with a Stick, and spent constantly 6d. a Week in Salve 
for five Years together. I had Dr. Radcliff came to me, and 
after him several other eminent Physicians, and took their Pre- 
scriptions without any Benefit. At last, despairing of a Cure, 
having wept whole Nights and Days to see my self so ruin'd; 
I was advis'd by a Friend, to take of the Specifick Remedy: I 
took only a few Times of it; I have now thrown away my 
Stick, my Legs are well, my Head entirely cured, and I am as 
well as ever I was in my Life. This (since I had it from a 
Q Husband)




(114)
Husband) I own to all the World, for the publick Good, and 
will farther satisfy any Person that will come to me. 
Witness my Hand, Am Avery. 
I call'd on Mrs. Avery about this Certificate, and asking her 
how she knew that either her Husband or her self ever had the 
Foul Disease, she assur'd me that she did not know that either 
of them ever had it: That Dr. Radcliff, and all Physicians and 
Apothecaries she advis'd with about her Distemper, told her it was 
not the Pox: That she her self thought it sprung from some 
Remains of the Itch, of which she had been cured some time 
before her late Breakings-out happen'd; But that a Gentlewoman 
happening (by meer Accident) to be bespatter'd with Dirt near 
her Door, she invited her in to clean her self; and that this 
Gentlewoman observing her Condition, after some Discourse 
about it, told her drown-right it was the Pox; and that her Bro- 
ther, who (said she) is a Doctor, sells a Medicine for that Disease; 
advis'd her to take some of it; and afterwards brought 
her, at several Times, as much of it (together with something 
for outward Use) as she told Mrs. Avery her Brother sold for two 
Guineas; which Mrs. Avery says she took and us'd, and hopes 
has cured her: But she says, Nothing was taken of her for these 
Medicines. Only, as soon as she seem'd well (and before she 
had quite done taking) this Certificate was brought her to sign, 
and sign it she did; and then she was directed to inform those 
who should enquire, that she was cured by the Specifick Remedy 
belonging to the Practical scheme, and sold (then) at Mr. Lovel's, 
and at Mrs. Garway's. Thus Mrs. Avery to me: And the like 
Story she has told to some Others. 
I George Taylor, living in Faulcon-Court, Southward, certify, 
that I this Day calling on Mrs. Avery in Red-Lyon Street, 
Holburn, whose Certificate is in the Practical Scheme, which I 
shew'd her; she told me, the Medicines she took, the Doctor's 
Kinswoman help'd her to, gratis: That she could procure them 
for me; but (said she) they must cost you a Guinea, that being 
the Price of the Parquet. I enquir'd as diligently as I could 
into her Case, but could find no Reason to believe she ever had 
any Thing of the Secret Disease, Witness my Hand, this 8th 
Day of September, 1716. 
George Taylor. 
Thus, Sir, it seems plain, That Mrs. Avery (with whose 
Certificate your Author has made most ado) has been prompted 
by your Author and his Sister, or Kinswoman, to certify, to the 
Scandal of her (absent) Husband, and her self, that she was
pox'd 


(115)
pox'd by her Husband, whom she never (as she assur'd me) 
knew to have had the Foul Disease. She has also been prompt- 
ed to certify that she was cured of the Foul Disease (without 
knowing she ever had it) by the Specifick Remedy, of which 
she does not know (otherwise than by the Information of the 
above-mention'd Gentlewoman, to her a Stranger) that she ever 
took One Grain! So that her Certificate (as well founded as any 
of the Rest, for ought I can discover) ought to stand for No- 
thing: It being, indeed, a Fardel of Falsities. 
2. An Advertisement has been in a great many News-Papers of 
late, and is now in the Practical Scheme, (Ed. 17th p. 41.) 
which begins thus, viz. 
WE Thomas and Elizabeth Griffiths, who keep the great 
old publick News-Shop, (commonly known by the 
Name of Mrs. Bond's News-Shop) over against the Blue Posts 
and Rummer Eating-House at Charring-Cross, do hereby testify, 
That by ONLY putting about our Child's Neck, at three 
Months Old, the celebrated Necklace recommended by Dr. 
Chamberlen, for Children's Teeth, it has now cut most of its 
Teeth, &c. 
Almost every Man has 30 Teeth: So that, according to this 
Certificate, Mr. Griffith's Boy must (by Virtue of this Necklace) 
have cut 16 Teeth, if not more, on (or before) the 14th of 
August 1716. But, a Friend of mine call'd to see this Child 
towards the End of Sept. 1716, and this Boy had then cut 
but FIVE Teeth! would Thomas Griffiths, and Elizabeth his 
Wife, think you, have agreed to publish this notorious Lye 
to the World, had they not been thereto prompted (nay, as I 
am told, hir'd) by your Author? And this Falsehood of theirs put 
One Madam Bowman, at the next Door to Old Man's Coffee-House, on 
getting one of these Necklaces for her Child, but she was oblig'd 
afterwards to send for a Surgeon to open its Gums! 
Thus, Sir, although your Author pretends in the Practical 
Scheme, (Ed. 17, p. 20, 21.) that these thankful Advertisements 
and Certificates are publish'd in the News-Papers ENTIRELY 
UNKNOWN to him, yet I believe that he writes them all 
himself, and pays the Persons very well, who allow their 
Names to be put to them. But on Account of his saying they 
are publish'd entirely unknown to him, I'll transcribe One more 
which was publish'd in the Post-Boy, August 18, 23, and 28, 
1716, viz. 
The Author of the Practical Scheme of Secret Injuries, and 
Broken Constitutions, returns Thanks to Mr. Allen for the fol
Q2 mere 




(116)
lowing Advertisement, which he was pleas'd, out of his own 
mere Good-Will, to publish in this Paper on Thursday August 
16 past. Viz. 
A Gentleman having had a very grievous, and almost con- 
stant Pain, in the Small of his Back, for above 20 Years, and 
having try'd several Things to no Purpose, at last being ad- 
vis'd to the Specifick Remedy belonging to the Practical Scheme, 
I took only a few Times of it, by which I am perfectly well, 
and altogether free from my Old Pain, as any Person that 
pleases may be fully satisfy'd of, by enquiring of Mr. Allen, 
at the Sign of the Oxford-Arms over-against Durham-Yard in 
the Strand; this I do to let the World know the great Benefit that 
I have found by this Remedy. Note, the Practical Scheme, &c. 
Here, Sir, your Author returns Thanks to Mr. Alien, as if 
he did not know who the Gentleman is: But I was inform'd 
at Mr. Allens, that this Gentleman's Name is Shewler; that he 
is a Limner, and that he lodges up two pair of Stairs at the 
Sugar Loaf, over-against Old Round Court in the Strand! The 
same House where your Author's (reputed) Sister lodges up One 
Pair of Stairs, and sells his Parquets of Quack Medicines, even 
the Specifick Remedy it self! Who therefore can believe that 
this Advertisement, directing an Enquiry, to be made of Mr. 
Allen, was publish'd entirely unknown to your Author? In short, 
Sir, I can't find, by all the Enquiry and Observations I have 
been able to make, that there ought to be any more Credit 
given to Certificates publish'd on the Behalf (and in Recom- 
mendation) of your Author's boasted of Specifick Remedy, Elixir, 
and Necklace, than to what is said of them in the Practical 
Scheme and Philosophical Essay. Your Author, so far as I can 
find, purchases all these Certificates; and in case he will pay 
well, he may doubtless have as many Certificates as he shall 
think fit, to put in the News-Papers, sign'd by Persons in and 
about this Town, and worded (without any Regard to Truth 
and Honesty) just as he himself shall please.  
In St. James's Evening-Post, July 12, 1716, and in divers 
other News-Papers, about that Time, is an Account of a certain, 
pretended Sea-faring Person, who having been formerly cured-of 
the Secret Disease by the Specifick Remedy, took some of it with 
him to the West-Indies, and had then desir'd that a Chest full 
of, the said Remedy might be sent to him, which (says that 
Account) was then (July 1716) done accordingly by the Ante- 
lope Galley bound for New-York. In the 17th Edition of the 
Practical Scheme, (p. 27.) we have the same Account: But with 
this Addition, viz. that ‘ the same Person afterwards coming 
‘ to England, took again another great Quantity of the said
‘ Remedy


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‘ Remedy, along with him another Voyage, on board the New- 
‘ York Pink bound for Jamaica. 
Now, Sir, not to take Notice of the large Quantity of this 
little Remedy a Sea-Chest will hold, how it is possible, that a 
Chest of Goods (however vendible) should be sent from Eng- 
land, be receiv'd, and dispos'd of at New-York, and the Re- 
ceiver and Disposer thereof be return'd to England, have here 
dispatch'd his Business, (how little so ever) and be sail'd 
away for Jamaica, and all in three Month's Time? And the 
Time between the Specifick Remedy's being (as was pretended) 
sent to New-York, and the Date of your Approbation prefix'd to 
the 17th Edition of the Practical Scheme, is no longer: And 
in Avery few Days after the Date of your Approbation, the 17th 
Edition was advertis'd to be given away. Your Author's Lying 
Spirit, Sir, has certainly a Design to expose him to the Ridi- 
cule of the People. 
In this 17th Edition of the Practical Scheme, which, Sir, 
is come out with your Approbation: It is (p. 28.) said, 'I
‘ could reckon up great Numbers of undeniable Testimonies of 
‘ Cures by these Remedies on Persons even given over by all 
‘ Others: But having trespass'd on my Readers Patience too 
‘ long already, I'll make an End, desiring him to peruse the 
‘ several News-Papers of these four Years last past, wherein 
‘ he will find ABOVE 3000 Authentick Advertisements of 
‘ of surprising Cures wrought by these Remedies.'  Now, Sir, 
I'll hold either you or your Author an even Wager, that nei- 
ther he nor you can produce and shew so many as One Hun- 
dred, instead of Three Thousand, several and distinct Advertise- 
ments of Cures done (or said to be done) by the Specifick Remedy, E- 
lixir, and Necklace, since they, or the first of them, which was 
the Specifick Remedy, was first advertis'd and recommended 
to the World, which was (Practical Scheme Ed. 17, p. 16.) on 
the 14th of March, 1713, to this very Day, being November 
23, 1716. And One Hundred is but a Thirtieth Part of Three 
Thousand: But perhaps One Word of Truth, to Nine and 
Twenty Falsehoods, may be more than ought to be expected 
from a (reputed) Popish Priest, possess'd with a Lying 
Spirit! 
Approbation.] And to satisfy the World that this is 
my real Sentiment, Opinion, and Advice, I do here own, 
that I my self have not only now for several Years in my 
Practice almost daily made Use of these very same Remedies, 
but also continue so to do; and that with so much the 
greater Pleasure and Satisfaction of Mind, because I experi- 
ence them to be Safe, Certain, and Effectual, entirely answer- 
ing the Ends for which they are propos'd. These being those 
great




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great SECRETS which former Ages have continually been en- 
deavouring to find out, but never could; And therefore for 
want of them our Forefathers were oblig'd to prolong very much 
their Cures, by going round about the Bush. But what shall 
we say? The Time of their Discovery was not yet come. 
They were design'd ONLY for this lucky Author, who happi- 
ly has hit upon them. And as for the Necklace in particular, I 
my self constantly wear one on each Leg by Way of Garters 
for the Cramps, which, for many Years before I wore them, I 
was grievously afflicted with; and for which I also recommend 
at. As witness my Hand this 13th of Sept. 1716. 
Paul Chamberlen. 
Here, Doctor, you fay, that you have for several Years us'd 
these very Remedies almost daily in your Practice: But then, 
Sir, you must have us'd them a long Time before you knew what 
they were; for your Author in his Epistle Dedicatory, says, it was 
on the 19th of November 1715, that he communicated the Speci- 
fick Remedy to you: However, he does in the same Epistle (Ed. 14, 
15, 16,) say, that you us'd frequently to buy the Specifick Reme- 
dy at the Shops where it is sold, to cure your own POOR Patients 
with! If this be Truth, Sir, I fancy you to be the ONLY 
Doctor in Physick, in or about London, that ever us'd to frequent 
Toy-Shops to buy Quack-Medicines to practice with! But then it 
must be own'd that you were very charitable to give a Guinea 
a Piece for Pots of (you knew not what) Stuff, of the Bigness (vi- 
de p. 107.) of a Walnut, to cure poor Patients with! But Sir, your 
Indigemous Author, in the said Epistle, says, your Business lies en- 
tirely another Way: So that it seems, Doctor, you have us'd these 
Remedies, for several Years, almost daily in your Practice, without ha- 
ving any had Occasion for them, as well as without knowing what 
they were! But, Sir, how comes it to pass that you tell 
us, that these Remedies were design'd ONLY for your lucky 
Author, who happily has hit upon them? Does not your Author, in 
every Edition of the Practical Scheme, tell the World, that the 
Specifick Remedy was communicated to him by a Physician, to 
whom it had also been communicated by another Physician, 
who had us'd it (Ed. 17. p. 15) near 40 Years? How then can 
he be said to be the lucky Author, who has happily hit upon it? 
But your Author (Ed. 17, p. 15) says, he has now so alter'd this 
Specifick Remedy, as to make it almost quite another Thing: And 
perhaps this Remedy thus alter'd, is what you mean that your 
lucky Author has happily hit upon: But then, Sir, with this Reme- 
dy, thus alter'd, you are, it seems, wholly unacquainted: For 
your lucky Author there adds, and consequently it became now en- 
tirely my own Secret: And, Sir, in Case it be (now) entirely your
Author's

 

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Author's own Secret, I hope you will not have the Assurance to 
pretend to know what it is! I own that your Learned and 
Ingenious Author says (Ed. 17. p. 22) of this Remedy, now so 
alter'd as to be almost quite another Thing, that it is the true O- 
riginal Specifick Remedy! But I must, I believe, become a juggling 
Popish Priest my self, before I shall be able to comprehend how 
a Specifick Remedy can be so alter'd from what it was, as to be 
made almost quite another Thing, and yet still continue to be 
the true Original Specifick Remedy it was at first! This is po- 
pish Transubstantiation all over. 
And, Sir, as to the Chimical Elixir , your Author never made 
any mention of it, until he so did in the 14th Edition of the 
Practical Scheme, which has not been, publish'd (as yet) a full 
Year. And had he sooner known of it (tho'I believe it 
good for but little, yet) I believe we should sooner have heard 
of it. And as to the Necklace, if I am rightly inform'd, it is 
made in Imitation of a very excellent and serviceable One made 
and sold for many Years past, by Mr. Lovel: However, if It is 
not full out two Years since your Author first publish'd his. 
And now, Sir, having made such (and such only) Remarks 
and Observations on this Approbation, as, I conceive, it justly 
call'd for and deserves, I will add one Concession, namely, 
that I do not, in Truth, believe that you ever once deliberate- 
ly read over the Practical Scheme and Essay, much less the 
Directions your Author seals up with these Remedies: For I can- 
not in Reality, perswade my self to entertain an Opinion so 
much to the Disadvantage of your Knowledge in the Theory and 
Practice of Physick, and your Honesty, as it would be to suppose, that 
after a serious and mature Consideration of the Matters contain'd 
in the said Practical Scheme and Essay, and a full Knowledge 
of your Author and his Management, you drew up, with your 
own Hand, this Approbation, sign'd it, and gave it to be print- 
ed. No, I rather believe that your cunning and designing 
Author, with whom, I know, you have not been long ac- 
quainted, entertain'd you, over a Bottle, with some Romantick 
Relations of Cures, pretended to have been perform'd by these 
Remedies, and then produc'd this Approbation, compos'd, and 
wrote by himself, requested and (on an Assurance of some 
Advantage thence to accrue to your self) obtain'd your 
Leave to have it printed in your Name, as if it had been of 
your own drawing up. 
And, Sir, as to your learned and ingenious Author, I shall 
leave every One to think of him, and his Specifick Remedy, 
Elixir, &c. as to himself shall seem reasonable. I must own 
that I was, and am really of Opinion, from the many Com- 
plaints I have heard of the Specifick Remedy, that it was necessary
for

 

(120)
for the Safety of People's Health and Well-Beings that something 
should be publish'd concerning it; and, after the Approbation 
publish'd in your Name appear'd, I resolv'd to set your Author; 
as well as his Remedies, in as true a Light as I could, in the 
View of the People, that they might know, and consider of him 
and them, before they should have any Concerns with either of 
them: Which being done, si vult Populus decipi, decipiatur: Or, 
Sir, as you said to me in your own House, if People will run and 
buy Medicines, and take them on their own Heads, who can help 
it? However, Sir, I have, as I hope, so manag'd the Matter, 
as that my Remarks, Reflections, and Observations, have been 
pertinent, just, and such as can, by no Means, wrongfully 
bring either Yourself or your Author, or his Remedies into a 
Disreputation: For I solemnly declare, I would not, under a 
Pretext of preventing the Publick's being impos'd on, wittingly 
and willfully do Injustice to any Private Person. And if thro' 
Inadvertency, Mistake, Misinformation, or by any Means whatever, 
any Thing has (as I hope and believe there has not) slip'd my 
Pen, unjustly to the Prejudice of yourself, or your Author, ei- 
ther as to your own, or his Good Name and Reputation, or the 
real Worth and Excellency of his pretended Great and Valuable 
Remedies, you and he (too) are of Age-, and Capacity to write, 
and publish a proper and suitable Vindication. And therefore, 
without farther Ceremony, I'll subscribe myself, 
SIR,
From my House, the Golden- 
Key, by Dr. Burgess's
Meeting-House, in New- 
Court, Cary-Street, Lit- 
tle Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 
Nov, 26, 1716. 
Your very humble Servant,
JOHN SPINKE.

(121)
POSTSCRIPT. 
I must acknowledge my self under an Apprehension, that 
some of my Readers will surmise that Less might have 
suffic'd to have been said about the Matters contain'd in the 
Practical Scheme, its Author, his Specifick Remedy, Chymical E- 
lixir, &c. But the Truth is, it is not so easy a Matter, as ma- 
ny, at first View, will imagine, to set such an Affair as was 
here before me, in such a Light, as that all Readers should fully 
comprehend it. However, I am very confident every One 
will think the Expense of this Tract, and his Trouble in read- 
ing it over, well bestow'd, when he shall have duly consider'd 
the following Particulars, (1) That this Treatise contains, over 
and above a suitable Information concerning the Author of the 
Practical Scheme, and his Remedies, a plain, full, and satisfa- 
ctory (tho' not a Regular and Methodical) Description, and Ac- 
count of the Secret Disease, in all its  several Stages, Degrees, and 
Circumstances: That is, such an Account as is altogether suffici- 
ent to give any Person a true idea and satisfactory Notion of 
their own Case. (2) I submit it to every One's Consideration, 
whether it be not better to have been at the Charge of this 
Treatise, and the Trouble of having read it, than it would have 
been to purchase the Specifick Remedy, &c. (3) By reading 
over this Tract, every One will be well appriz'd, how very 
hazardous it is, for Persons labouring with the Secret Disease 
to buy Medicines offer'd to sale at Shops, and to take and depend 
on them for a Cure, when the Author of them will not be 
seen and known; For, doubtless, other conceal'd Medicasters 
are, generally speaking, as indifferently well stock'd with 
skill in Physick, Honesty, and Veracity, as the Author of the 
Practical Scheme. And, indeed, my Advice to People is, that 
when ever they observe a Medicine to be highly applauded, and 
well recommended in Bills and Advertisements, as if pre- 
par'd by some eminent Physician, Surgeon, &c. who does not 
discover plainly who he is, and where to be met with, that 
they expect an Imposition, and that they thereupon give not 
the least Credit to what they shall find said of any such Medi- 
cine, and its Author, merely on the Account of any such Au- 
thor's having said so and so of himself, and his Medicine. 
And my Reason for such Advice is, a firm Belief, that such con- 
ceal'd Preparers and Advertisers of Medicines, are (most an End) 
the most ignorant of Quacks, Persons who know very little 
(if any Thing to the Purpose) in Physick; and some of the 
R most

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most proflegate of the People, who, being Persons void of Vir- 
tue and Honesty, study to put those Things, and those only, in- 
to print, concerning their (not to be known) selves, and their 
(publish'd) Medicines, which they conceive may promote their 
own Profit, without being at all concern'd whether what they 
write and print be Truth: So that to promote their Interest, 
they will, in print, assert that for Truth concerning Them- 
selves and their Remedies, which they, in their own Consci- 
ences, believe (nay, positively know) to be a down right 
Falsehood. And, indeed, whilst so little Truth, Sincerity, and 
plain-down-right-honest Dealing is to be met with amongst Per- 
sons free enough to be seen and known, 'tis amazing to me, 
that any Persons should be so very Credulous as to put Confidence 
in what is said and affirm'd (for their own Interest Sake) by 
Preparers and Advertisers of Medicines who will not be either 
known to, or seen by them whose Money they take, and live 
by; and to whom (sometimes) they will pretend to give Ad- 
vice (for a Fee) by Letters, altho', perhaps, they be, in Truth, in- 
capable of either Writing or Reading. 
When therefore any Physician, Surgeon, or Apothecary, has ac- 
quired the Knowledge of a Medicine that he conceives will, 
being offer'd to Sale, be serviceable to the People, and profi- 
table to himself, he flincheth not, at the same Time he pub- 
lishes his Medicine, to let the World know who he is, who is 
the Author of it, and where he is to be found. And, indeed, 
when any One shall have bought a Medicine, and shall find himself 
under some Difficulty in the Use of it, to whom, so properly 
as to its Author (if he be a Man of Skill) can such a Person ap- 
ply for farther Advice, and Directions? But certainly when 
a Man shall, like the Author of the Practical Scheme, vaunt 
himself a Physician, and shall pretend that he is more than or- 
dinarily skillful in the Cure of some One Disease, and shall, by 
means of Advertisements, (or otherwise) prompt People to pur- 
chase Medicines which he shall recommend (with seal'd up Di- 
rections for their Use) as proper for, and effectual in the Cure of 
that Disease, and shall (perhaps) also pretend to give them such 
farther Advice and Directions, by Letters, as shall be wanted, 
but shall (as if asham'd) absolutely refuse to be known to (or 
seen by) those Persons who shall have bought and taken his ad- 
vertis'd Remedies; certainly, I say, when a Man shall thus 
act, he, in so doing, gives just Occasion of having it suspected 
(at least) that his Remedies (however boasted of, and recom- 
mended) are of but little (or no) Value, and that he himself 
is a meer Cheat and an Impostor: For it can't (in my Opinion) 
be reasonably conceiv'd, that any Physician or any honest Man, 
should take any such like Measures. 
4. When


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4. When any Person, afflicted with the Secret Disease, shall 
have read over, and duly consider'd what is here wrote con- 
cerning the Nature, Symptoms, and dangerous Consequences of it, 
he will assuredly conclude it Concerns him, in order to prevent 
his own Ruin, not only to disregard the Remedies offer'd to sale 
by unknown Authors, but also to avoid all ignorant Pretenders 
to its Cure, and to apply himself to some skillful Physician, or 
Surgeon, who, as he shall have Reason to believe, has made 
this Disease, in some Measure, his particular Study, and in 
the Cure of which he shall have been Conversant, and well 
Experienc'd: It being (as the Author of the Practical Scheme, 
Ed. 13, p. 19, well enough observes) possible that a Person may 
be a very good Physician, or Surgeon, and yet, when the Question 
comes to be about this Distemper, he may know but little of the 
Matter. It being, indeed, a Distemper that many eminent 
Physicians, and Surgeons are not often concern'd in the Cure of; 
and consequently they cannot perform its Cure with that Ease, 
Speed, Safety, Certainty, and Privacy, that some Others, who 
have been more us'd to it, can do: For Nothing makes a 
Man to perfect in any Business, as constant Practice and Expe- 
rience. 
FINIS. 
ERRATA.
P. 7. l. 9. for military, read miliary, p. 12. l. 7. after Sive add 
Morbi. p. 28. l. 10. blot out, neither, p. 43. l. 8. blot out, above, 
p. 76. l. 37. for phmoisis read phimosis. p. 99. l. 15. for Auser, 
read Anser, and l. 28 for accippe read accipe. 
As to the Words Cbamberlaine, and Chamberlen, the Author 
of the Practical in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Editions of 
that Tract, us'd the Word Chaberlaine, and in the 17th Edition 
the Word Chamberlen, which oblig'd the Author of this to use 
them both, altho' he presumes One and the same Person is in- 
tended by them. As to other Mistakes, which the Author hopes 
are only literal, the Reader is desir'd to correct them as they 
shall occur to him in reading. 
R2 Whereas

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WHereas I William Lovell, at the Patten over against Great 
Suffolk-Street End, new Charing Cross, have, for about 
ten Years past made and fold a Necklace, which the Author of 
the Necklace now sold up one Pair of Stairs at the Sugar-Loaf 
over against Old Pound Court in the Strand, and said to be re- 
commended by Dr. Chamberlen, offer'd me a certain Number of 
Guineas to let him know what it is, but I refus'd his Offer, and 
and never discover'd any thing of it to him. My Necklace 
does really cause Children to breed and cut their Teeth with 
Ease and Safety, prevents and cures their Convulsions, and has 
been experienc'd to prevent and cure the Tooth-Ach. Mrs. Pig- 
got in Cock's-Head Court in Golden Lane, is usually affected with 
Fits and Convulsions when she does not wear this Necklace, 
which certainly prevents them, Whosoever desires to know more 
of it, may be further inform'd of my self, at my Shop above- 
mention'd, and of Mr. John Cooper, Gold Chain Maker in the 
Old Change, at the upper End of Cheapside; at either of which 
Places this Necklace is to be had, Price 5 s. each. 
William Lovell. 
SPECIFICK DROPS for the Mouth-Scurvy: The Scurvy causes the 
Flesh of the Gums to be soft and Spungy, to waste away, ulcerate 
and bleed often; whereby the Teeth become foul, incrustrated 
of a yellow or blackish Colour, often aking, and full of small 
Worms at their Roots; then they decay, loosen, and fall out. 
This Scorbutick Decay of the Teeth and Gums likewise causes the 
Breath to scent very disagreeably, and sometimes to stink intol- 
erably: Now these Drops presently make foul, black, and 
yellow Teeth, pure clean and very White; prevent decay'd 
Teeth from growing worse; fasten loose Teeth, cause fore, 
wasted, ulcerated, bleeding Gums, to grow up firm about the 
Teeth, destroy Worms at their Roots, and preserve the Teeth and 
Gums firm, sound, well-colour'd, well-scented, free from Pain, 
and from the Scurvy, to extreme Old Age. They are very plea- 
sant in Use, and in curing the Mouth-Scurvy, in making and 
keeping the Teeth white, firm, and sound, and the Breath 
(when its ill Scent proceeds from the Teeth and Gums) delight- 
fully sweet, they will never fail any One. Taken inwardly, 
they purify, the Blood, &c. Price 3s. 6 d. the Ounce Glass. Sold 
at Mr. Lovel's above mention'd, and by the Author of this Trea- 
tise, who prepares them; and is well assur'd a Medicine, so very 
effectual, in the above mention'd Cases, was never before pub- 
lish'd for Sale.