just a point on which no discussion or opinion has any bearing, until the matter of fact is ascertained. If there are Greek or other MSS. existing which can be proved genuine, then let it be ascertained by comparison whether the Latin edition agrees with them. That seems to be the only way of arriving at a conclusion.

For the present, however, I must confine my remarks to the book itself, leaving these questions of its history and authenticity and consideration of its contents for another occasion.*

Out of the unvisited recesses of English literature there emergeth ever and anon an unknown book of receipts, which may startle us no less by its title than by its contents. The following is a volume which is quite new to me, and which is omitted by the bibliographers. The title is worth reproducing in full :

Natura Exenterata: Or Nature Unbowelled By the most Exquifite Anatomizers of
Her. Wherein are contained, Her choiceft Secrets digefted into Receipts, fitted
for the Cure of all sorts of Infirmities, whether Internal or External, Acute or
Chronical, that are Incident to the Body of Man. Collected and preserved by
feveral Perfons of Quality and great experience in the Art of Medicine, whose
names are prefixed to the Book, Containing in the whole, One thousand seven
hundred and twenty. Very necessary for such as regard their Owne Health, or
that of their friends. Valetudinem tuam cura diligenter. VVhereunto are annexed
Many Rare, hitherto un-imparted Inventions, for Gentlemen, Ladies and others,
in the Recreations of their different Imployments. With an exact Alphabetical
Table referring to the several Diseases, and the proper Cures.

London, Printed for, and are to be fold by H. Twiford at his shop in Vine Court
Middle Temple, G. Bedell at the Middel Temple Gate Fleet street, and
N. Ekins at the Gun neer the West-end of S. Pauls Church, 1655.

This is a small, closely-printed 8vo, and it is made up almost entirely of receipts in medicine and surgery. These have been collected from many sources, a list of all the people who have contributed information being given. One salve, good for bruises and wounds, called Gratia Dei, was revealed (it is said) unto King Alexander by an Angel. Many of the receipts are fanciful or superstitious; substances, chiefly plants and their extracts, were employed, the virtues of which were, of course, really unknown, and some of the substances have happily dropped out of use. To many of the

*[Fuller details were communicated subsequently to the British Archeological Association at the meeting in Glasgow, September 4, 1888.]

receipts is appended the magic word “Probatum,” as in Lupton's, Mizaldus', and other collections. At the end are a few technical receipts.

The belief that the preservation of receipts by Persons of Quality conferred some additional virtue on them when healing had to be done is worth notice, as it indicates an attitude with regard to the practice of medicine which has been entirely altered by medicine having become somewhat scientific, or at least having to depend more upon the sciences for its progress.

Parallel with the chemical secrets published at London, in 1683,* Hartman edited another series by Sir Kenelm Digby:

Choice and Experimented Receipts in Physick and Chirurgery. As also Cordial and Distilled Waters and Spirits, Perfumes, and other Curiosities. Collected by the Honourable and truly Learned Sir Kenelm Digby Kt. Chancellour to her Majesty the Queen Mother. Translated out of several Languages by G. H. London, Printed for the Author, 1668.

This is a small 8vo volume, and has a portrait of the author engraved by Cross. I have seen another copy of it which has the following clause inserted after the word "Author:" "and are to be sold by H. Brome at the Star in Litte-Britain (sic), 1668." There does not seem to have been any portrait in this copy.

The volume deals mainly with receipts and prescriptions for different common ailments, but incidentally there is a little practical chemistry in the preparation of the compounds employed. Among them the product of the destructive distillation of tobacco, which was used for the cure of ulcers, and which even by external application caused sickness, is described.

In 1675, "the second edition corrected and amended" was printed at London, "by Andrew Clark, for Henry Brome, at the Gun at the West-End of St. Pauls."

Under Digby's name there appeared certain books of secrets in French and German, but they are not translations of this collection of Hartman's, although they contain a good many of his "choice receipts." The French version was made by Jean Malbec de Tresfel, the royal privilege for seven years is dated 1668, but I do not know if the book first came out then. The copies I have seen are of a later time, The oldest of them is printed along

* Trans. Archæol. Soc. Glasgow, 1883, II. p. 261.

with Digby's discourse on the powder of sympathy. It has no separate titlepage, but is headed Remedes Experimentez en Medicine et Chirurgie and appended are the secrets about cosmetics-pour la Conservation de la beauté des Dames. It forms a small 12° volume, and it was printed at Utrecht, for Rudolphe van Zyll, in 1681.

A second copy is the following:

Remedes Souverains Et Secrets Experimentez De Monsieur le Chevalier Digby, Chancelier de la Reine d' Angleterre. Avec plusieurs autres Secrets & parfums curieux pour la conservation de la beauté des Dames.

A Paris, Chez Guillaume Cavelier, au quatriéme Pillier de la grande Salle du Palais, au Palmier. M.DC,LXXXIV. Avec Privilege Dv Roy.

A third copy is in two volumes:

Nouveaux Secrets Expérimentez, pour conserver La Beauté Des Dames, et pour guérir plusieurs sortes de Maladies: Tirez des Mémoires de M. le Chevalier Digby, Chancelier de la Reine d'Angleterre. Avec son Discours touchant la guérison des Playes, par la Poudre de Sympathie. .. Sixiéme edition, revûë, corrigée & augmentée d' un Volume.

A La Haye, Chez Etienne Foulque, Marchand Libraire, dans le Poote. M.DCC. The first volume is a reprint of the preceding; the second volume contains Digby's discourse on the powder of sympathy, and a number of other secrets partly chemical, partly medical, drawn from various sources, but whether or not gathered by Digby originally, I do not know. The secrets for preserving female beauty, which give the book its title, occupy only eight pages at the end of the first volume.

The German translation appeared under the title Medicina Experimentalis Digbaana, das ist: Auszerlesene und bewährte Artzney-Mittel. The translator's name is not given, but it is probably M. H. Hupka, the name of the person who translated the discourse on the powder of sympathy, mentioned below. The preface is dated Franckfurt, 1670, about which year the first edition was published. In 1672, at the same place, appeared the only edition of the book which I have seen, and which is stated to have been newly revised and enlarged with several approved experiments. The translation contains the bulk of the receipts given in the French version, but the arrangement is somewhat different, and there are a few alterations.

Digby was the author of a wine and cookery book also, entitled The Closet Opened, the third edition of which was printed at London in 1677. As it is

by Digby, and as it has a title similar to that of other books already mentioned, it may be allowed a place in the present notes. There is a portrait of Digby prefixed; it is a copy of that by Cross, but besides being of inferior execution, it alters his expression, and is lacking in dignity.

In the course of these Notes reference more than once has been made unavoidably to books about sympathy and antipathy,* but considering the amount of attention which it attracted it is perhaps necessary to take some notice, however brief, of the discourse on the powder of sympathy, one of the most famous of Digby's productions. It was, moreover, the revelation of a thorough-paced secret, a revelation, the course of which Digby traces in a very interesting way, and the necessity for which he deplores, though he finds himself unable to avoid it. But though the subject falls generally under the category of a medical or surgical secret, it is itself so very special, the discussions about it are so technical, the literature is so extensive and branches out so widely, departing from the main theme of the present notes, that if anything is to be said about it at all it will be more convenient to deal with it in a special supplement, in which not Digby's discourse alone but other works on the subject as well can be considered in detail. Digby's discourse was not the first on the subject by any means. The controversy between Goclenius and Roberti has already been referred to. Another controversy arose about Digby's time between Papin and Cattier, and a third was carried on with the usual amicable interchange of insults between Parson Foster and no less notable a man than Robert Fludd. It was all in the air therefore, and Digby was too susceptible a person to avoid catching the infection. So far as I can ascertain, the Discourse was first delivered in French to "a solemne assembly" at Montpellier, "by way of Oration, and taken in short writing upon the place as 'twas uttered." The privilege is dated December 21st, 1657, the printing was finished February 15th, 1658, and the book was published at Paris. It was translated into English by R. White, and the edition printed at London in 1658 for R. Lowndes, "at the White Lion and T. Davies at the Bible in S. Pauls Church-Yard, over against the little North Door," is called the second, and is corrected and augmented. This would seem to imply that

Among these are the work by Mizaldus on the Harmony of things; Irvine's Medicina Magnetica; Goclenius on the Weapon-salve, and others.

there was an earlier first edition, but I have not met with a copy of it, nor have I seen a reference to it. I am disposed to think that the French edition may have been reckoned the first, and that the English version was viewed as the second. In 1660 another edition was called for, it was styled the third,

and the fourth appeared in 1664.

The French version was repeatedly printed; it is included in the editions printed at Utrecht in 1681 and at the Hague in 1700, and there are others which I have not had the opportunity of examining.

It was translated into German by M. H. Hupka, with the title:

Eröffnung unterschiedlicher Heimlichkeiten der Natur, .. und vornemlich von einem wunderbaren Geheimnüsz in Heilungen der Wunden, ohne Berührung, vermög desz Vitrioli, Durch die Sympathiam, Discurszweise gehalten in einer Hochansehnlichen Versamlung zu Montpelier in Franckreich, Durch den Hochwolgebornen Herrn Grafen, Herrn Kenelm Digby,

The first edition, I believe, appeared in 1658, that is, immediately after the French was published. Of the second edition I do not know the date, but the third was printed at Franckfurt in 1664, the fourth in 1668, and the fifth in 1700. Lowndes' account of this book of Digby's is very imperfect, whereas Watt runs to the other extreme, and quotes editions, such as that of 1644 in folio, the existence of which is not only not vouched for, but is impossible. The consideration of these matters, however, must be left over for more minute inquiry than can be bestowed on it at present.*

Reference was made before to a little book of technical receipts called: Art's Treasury of Rarities: and Curious Inventions, published at London by G. Conyers. There was another book covering pretty much the same ground, also published by him, having this title:

In

Art's Master-Piece: Or, a Companion for the Ingenious of either Sex.
Two Parts.
To which are added many curiosities and rare Secrets,
known to few, and highly Profitable and Pleasant. The Third Edition. With
Additions by C. K.

London, Printed for G. Conyers at the Golden Ring, and J. Sprint at the Blue
Bell, both in Little-Britain. Price One Shilling.

[A paper on the subject was afterwards read to the Society on March 15, 1888, under the title: Bibliographical Notes on the Magnetic Cure of Wounds, the Weapon Salve, the Powder of Sympathy and Sympathetic Cures.]

+ Trans. Archæol. Soc. Glasgow, 1883, II. p. 196.