CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HERBAL,

AND

ENGLISH PHYSICIAN;

The way of making and keeping all necessary compounds.

CHAP. XIV.

Of Pills.

    1.   They are called Pillulae, because they resemble little balls; the Greeks call them Catapotia.
    2. It is the opinion of modern Physicians, that this way of making medicines were invented only to deceive the palate, that so, by swallowing them down whole, the bitterness of them might not he perceived, or at least might not be insufferable; and indeed most of their pills, though not all, are very bitter.
    3. I am of a clear contrary opinion to this:  I rather think they were done up in a hard form, that so they might be the longer digesting, and my opinion is grounded upon reason too, not upon fancy or hearsay. The first invention of pills was to purge the head; now, as I told you before, such infirmities as lie near the passages, were best removed by decoctions, because they pass to the grieved part soonest; so here, if the infirmity lies in the head, or any other remote part, the best way is to use pills, because they are longer in digestion, and therefore better able to call the offending tumour to them.
    4. If I should tell you here a long tale of medicines working by sympathy and antipathy, I would tell you a long story. They that are set to make physicians may find it in the treatise. All modern physicians know not what belongs to flats and sharps in music, but follow the vulgar road, and call it a hidden quality, because it is hidden from the eyes of dunces, and indeed none but astrologers can give a reason for it ; and physic without reason, is like a pudding without fat.
   5. The way to make pills is very easy, for with the help of a pestle and mortar, and a little diligence, you may make any powder into pills, either with syrup, or the jelly I told you of before.