The marrow of physicke, or, A learned discourse of the severall parts of mans body being a medicamentary, teaching the manner and way of making and compounding all such oyles, unguents ... &c. as shall be usefull and necessary in any private house ... : and also an addition of divers experimented medicines which may serve against any disease that shall happen to the body : together with some rare receipts for beauties ... / collected and experimented by the industry of T.B.

CHAP. XX.

BOxing or cupping is the application of some instrument, either for the evacua∣tion of some humour under the skinne, or to divert the course of some humour to an other part, and to draw away such things as are hurtfull to nature; they are for the most part of glasse with wide bellies, and are sometimes applied with scarification and sometimes without: the way to apply them is thus, put into the glasse a little dry flax and stick it to the bottome of the glasse with a little wax, then light the flax with fire and apply the glasse to the place, when the flesh is swolen up, presse it about the edges, and the glasse will fall off: then with an incision knife scarify the place a little, and apply the cupping-gl••sses as before, and draw as much bloud as shall seeme convenient; then drie the place with a soft cloth and anoint it with oyle of Roses and sleepe a while after.

Leaches Where cupping-glasses cannot be applied there we put horseleaches as to the gums, nose, fingers, wombe, and fundament; anoint the place first with the bloud of some other creature that they take hold the more egerly, and apply them to the place holding them in a linnen cloth, for if you handle them in your bare hand they will be stomachfull, and will not bite; when they are filled with bloud and fall off, then either apply more leaches or else cupping-glasses; to cause them to fall off, you shall put some powder of aloes, salt, or ashes upon their heads, also if you desire to know how much bloud they

have sucked, sprinckle them with salt powdered, and they will vomite it up againe, if you cut off their railes as they are sucking they will have no end of sucking untill you put them off, if the part bleed much after the leach∣es are off, you shall cleave a beane in two, and presse the one halfe upon the place and binde it on, or burnt cot∣ton, applied will stay it.

What leches are the best. Note that those that have the head greater then the rest of the body, and are greene coloured, glittering with blewe raies on the back the rest of the body being black, are in no wise to be applied to any place for they are very dangerous; but chuse such as are found in cleare water in ponds, and sandy ground, that have their heads little and bodies small, round, red bellied, the backs striped like threads of gold, and those must be kept in a jarre glasse in cleane water, changing the water once in two or three daies, putting into the water a fewe crummes of white bread.