Page:Chronicles of pharmacy (Volume 2).djvu/88

 addresses Maria as "My nettle of India" (Act. II., Sc. 5), probably Indian hemp. We read of "parmaceti," "the sovereign'st thing on earth for an inward bruise," and also of the "villainous saltpetre" in Act I., Sc. 3, of "Henry IV." Part I.; in the second part (Act I., Sc. 2) there is an allusion to the fashion of diagnosis by the examination of a person's water; and in Act. IV., Sc. 4, we find mention of the deadly character of aconitum, and in the same scene of gold "preserving life in medicine potable." In "Antony and Cleopatra," the Queen greets Antony's messenger with the remark that though so much unlike him yet that "coming from him, that great medicine hath with his tinct gilded thee" (Act I., Sc. 5), evidently an allusion to the tincture of gold. Another reference to potable gold is found in "All's Well that Ends Well."

The plantain for a broken shin is called for by Costard in "Love's Labour's Lost" ("plantain, a plain plantain; no salve, sir, but a plantain," Act III., Sc. 1) ; plantain leaf for a broken shin is also recommended by Romeo (Act I., Sc. 2). In the same scene occur the words so dear to homeopaths: "One fire burns out another's burning." In "King John" (Act V., Sc. 2,) revolt is likened to a plaster which will heal "inveterate canker of the wound by making many."

In "Henry VI.," part II. (Act. V., Sc. 1) York quotes the legend of Achilles' spear "able to kill or cure"; while in "Hamlet" (Act IV., Sc. 7) Laertes declares that he will anoint his sword with unction bought of a mountebank;

"No mortal that but dips a knife in it, Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare, Collected from all simples that have virtue Under the moon, can save the thing from death That is but scratched withal."