493J John Radcliffe (1650-1714)

Pharmacopoeia Radcliffeana: or, Dr. Radcliff’s prescriptions, faithfully gather’d from his original recipe’s. To which are annex’d, useful observations upon each prescription. [By Edward Strother.]

London : printed for Charles Rivington, at the Bible and Crown, against the North Door of St. Paul’s Church, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1716. PRICE: $900

Duodecimo: 14.8 x 9 cm. signatures: a6, B-H12   Second  edition. (same year as the first).

  The final leaf is a publisher’s advertisement. Text pages are age toned, some with light to moderate foxing. A popular work, a second edition with a portrait was issued the same year as the first (which was issued without a portrait). This copy is solidly bound in aproperately looking  modern full calf.

John Radcliffe was a successful, Oxford-educated, English physician. He established a large practice at London that was as much a result of his witty conversation as his clinical skill and accurate prognoses, though sometimes his wit seems to have verged on rudeness, especially to his social superiors, and his prognoses were blunt. He became chief physician to the Princess Anne in 1686, after which he was employed professionally by William III, whom he eventually offended.  

  Radcliffe, was a friend of Isaac Newton, enjoyed the patronage of James II, thanks to whose favour he was elected as one of the founding fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, and was also appointed principal physician to the King’s younger daughter Princess Anne. He amassed a great fortune and collected paintings by artists including Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer; he purchased stocks and shares, and invested in property; he had a library that reflected his wide range of interests, and he owned a magnificently well-stocked wine cellar. 

When he died, his estate was estimated to be worth around £140,000. He never published a work during his lifetime, he bequeathed money in trust to Oxford University to build and maintain a library,

He is commemorated by a number of landmark buildings in Oxford, including the Radcliffe Camera (in Radcliffe Square), the Radcliffe Infirmary, and the Radcliffe Observatory. (Wellcome IV, p. 462; D.N.B.).

What distinguishes this work is not merely the preservation of Radcliffe’s prescriptions, but the appended observations, which transform it into a practical record of early 18th-century clinical reasoning—linking remedy, diagnosis, and physiological theory in a way exposed in printed formularies of this time.

The Universal Powder.

Take Crabs Claws prepard, CrabsEyes prepar’d, Pearl prepar’d, Pearl Sūgar, of each a Dram; mix, and make a Powder; divide it into 8 Papers, of which take one every Morning and Evening in a Spoonful of Asses Milk, drinking half a Pound upon it.

1

OBSERVATIONS:

Never were testaceous Powders more universally us’d, than by this great Man ; they were to him like Hudibras’s Sword, or the Knife of Delf, for they serv’d all Purposes; and therefore I have chose to call ’em, The Universal Powder. To speak Truth, in England, the most rebellious Distem pers we are infested with, are from stubborn mineral Salts; the Correction of which are not better compass’d  than by the absorbing Powders, Calces and Lacteats ; so that in Consumptions, where the Salts, by their Vicinity and Plenty, dilaniate the Fibres into an Ulcer, or occasion, by their irritating Particles, a brisker Oscillation of the Fibres, and consequently a quicker Circulation, and a Heatick ; nothing has been found more effe&tual than this Powder, and this Milk. Moreover, as the excessive Heat in the Blood is also communicated to the Stomach, the Milk, put to’ it, would coagulate, as is usual in Dairies that are over-hot, and thus would be robb’d of great Part of its Virtue.

This Prescription is also of admirable Use in any Eruptions that depend on Acrimonies of the volatile Species, and which are generally known by their great Itchings, and a great Effervescence in the Palms and and Soles. In Stranguries from acrimonious Salts, Milks, and these Powders, do well; fcorbutick Persons of the hotter Kind are reliev’d by this Method, having first premis’d some few Doses of Infusions of Sena or Rhubarb. When Women are much troubled with immoderate Fluxes of the Menfes, this Method is commendable in the Intervals. In fine, whenever you observe it said in these Sheets, that any Distemper is fuppos’d to proceed from acrimonious Salts, this Method will, mutatis mutandis, serve the Turn; only ’tis to be observ’d, that great Care muft be taken, whether the Salts in the Blood be not mineral ones; and confequently not only stubborn, but requiring also specifick Corrigents, which no Body, that is ignorant of the soil, and what Salts it contains, can judge of.

Hence it is convenient in Serous Catarrhs, in the malignant” Meastes, or Small-Pox, as well as in malignant Fevers; in a Gangrene, in the Plague, an Anasarca, a Palsy, Convulsions from cold. Humours; in the cold Scurvy, and in hysterical Persons. But whilst the Stomach is fill’d with a Saburra that is viscid and acid, ’tis bad ; as also in Atrophies, in Women with Child, in Diseases where there is a Defect of Serum, in bilious and bečtic al People, in Polypi of the Heart; because they cannot bear Diaphoreticks ; nor in pletborick Habits.

Diaphoreticks should be elective ; that is, agreeable’ to the present State; and – fome Lenients ought to be premis’d, before their Admini. ftration.

Some dispute, whether after Sweats the Shéets and Shirt ought to be chang’d: But surely when the Sweats are symptomatical, or turn such after they have been critical, what forbids it? For such, all know, are not to be encouragid, according to Pet. Salius diversus de Feb.. Beftilent. And therefore as no greater Comfort fort can be granted to the Sick, than dry, warm, and clean Linen, I fee nothing that can förbid such a necefsary Change.

Hauftus Anodynus.

B Aq. Lact. Alex. Z ii. Pæon. Compi

z ft. Syr. de Mecon. zi. Extract.

Op. Thebaic. gr.isl. m. f. Haustus ; horà fomni fumendus.

The Anodyne. Draught. Take Alexiterial Milk-Water two

Ounces, Compound Pæony-Water • half an Ounce, Syrup of white Poppies one Ounce, Extract of Theban Opium one Grain and half; mix, and make a Draught ; to be taken at Bed-time.

OBSERVATIONS.

Talling this Draught is aim’d at the easing violent Pains any where, or violent Fluxds, whether of Blood or Humours: But ’tis somewhat strong, and therefore leveli’d against such Diforders in strong Constitutions only; for what weak one can bear upwards of two Grains and half of Opium ? Take Care of inflammatory, Colicks; for they are more fix’d by such a procedure ; which are only remedy’d by repeated bleeding, smooth Medicines by the Mouth, and emollient Glyfters, and Fomentations : The lliack Passion is also to be treated cauti. oully; and Care must be taken not to administer Opiates, but upon absolute Necessity; for they fix the Humours too much, but also hinder the peristaltick Motion, so that the Feses will perhaps never pass; for if we consider how much they are impeded before in their….