[p. 76]By using hydromel without ptisans, instead
of any other drink, you will generally succeed in the treatment of
such diseases, and fail in few cases; but in what instances it is
to be given, and in what it is not to be given, and wherefore it is
not to be given,- all this has been explained already, for the most
part. Hydromel is generally condemned, as if it weakened the powers
of those who drink it, and on that account it is supposed to accelerate
death; and this opinion arose from persons who starve themselves to
death, some of whom use hydromel alone for drink, as fancying that
it really has this effect. But this is by no means always the case.
For hydromel, if drunk alone, is much stronger than water, if it do
not disorder the bowels; but in some respects it is stronger, and
in some weaker, than wine that is thin, weak, and devoid of bouquet.
There is a great difference between unmixed wine and unmixed honey,
as to their nutritive powers, for if a man will drink double the quantity
of pure wine, to a certain quantity of honey which is swallowed, he
will find himself much stronger from the honey, provided it do not
disagree with his bowels, and that his alvine evacuations from it
will be much more copious. But if he shall use ptisan for a draught,
and drink afterward hydromel, he will feel full, flatulent, and uncomfortable
in the viscera of the hypochondrium; but if the hydromel be taken
before the draught, it will not have the same injurious effects as
if taken after it, but will be rather beneficial. And boiled hydromel
has a much more elegant appearance than the unboiled, being clear,
thin, white, and transparent, but I am unable to mention any good
quality which it possesses that the other wants. For it is not sweeter
than the unboiled, provided the honey be fine, and it is weaker, and
occasions less copious evacuations of the bowels, neither of which
effects is required from the hydromel. But one should by all means
use it boiled, provided the honey be bad, impure, black, and not fragrant,
for the boiling will remove the most of its bad qualities and appearances.
PART 16
You will find the drink, called oxymel, often very useful in these
complaints, for it promotes expectoration and freedom of breathing.
the following are the proper occasions for administering it. When
strongly acid it has no mean operation in
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