Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

86

Goat's Blood is mentioned in the English Dispensatory of 1742 as "deservedly almost forgot."

87

Quintessence of Vipers. Fat Snakes, Adders or Vipers in June, cast away their heads, bowels and gall, cut them into bits, and dry them in a warm Balneo; then put them into a bolt head with Alcohol of Wine, so much as may overtop them eight fingers breadth; seal the glass Hermetically, and digest for twenty days in Balneo, then decant, etc., etc.

This quintessence is of wonderfull virtue for purifying the blood, flesh and skin, and taking away all diseases therein; it cures the falling-sickness, strengthens the brain, sight and hearing, preserveth from gray hairs, and renovates the whole body, making it become youthful and pleasant; it hindereth miscarriage, provokes sweat, is good against the Plague, and all malign Feavers; it cureth the Gout, Consumption, and French Pox, and ought to be esteemed of the Sons of Men as a Jewel. Dose [dram]i. morning and night. —Compendium of Physick (Salmon), London, 1671.

Take any number of Vipers, open and cleanse them from all Worms and Excrements, and the Females from their Eggs: Take out their Hearts and Livers; dry them in the shade separately from their Bodies, etc., etc. —English Dispensatory (Quincy), London, 1742.

88

Paracelsus His Perfume. Cow-dung, and distill it in Balneo, and the water thereof will have the smell of Ambergrease. It is a most excellent Perfume, abates the Heat of Feavers, and cures all inward inflammations. Dose [dram]i. —Compendium of Physick (Salmon), London, 1671.

89

Sympathetick Oyntment. Boars grease, brains of a Boar, powder of washed Earth worms, red Sanders, Mummy, Bloodstone, a. [oz]i, moss of a dead mans Skul not buried [dram]i, make an Oyntment, S.A.

All wounds are cured by this Oyntment, (provided the nerves and arteries be not hurt) thus: Anoint the weapon that made the wound daily once, if there be need, and the wounds be great; otherwise it will be sufficient to annoint it every other day. Where note. 1. that the weapon be kept in clean linnen, and in a temperate heat, lest the Patient be hurt; for if the dust fall, or it be cold, the sick will be much tormented. 2. that if it be a stab, the weapon be anointed towards the point descending. 3. if you want the weapon, take blood from the wound upon a stick, and use as if it were the weapon; thus the Tooth ach is cured by pricking the Gums, and anointing the instrument. —Compendium of Physick (Salmon), London, 1671.

Earth Worms. These are often used in Compositions for cooling and Cleansing the Viscera. They are good in Inflammations and Tubercles of the Lungs and in Affections of the Reins and Urinary Passages. Syrup of Snails. Take Garden-snails early in the morning, while the dew is upon them, a pound; take off their shells, slit them, and with half a pound of fine Sugar put into a Bag hang them in a Cellar, and the Syrup will melt, and drop through, which Keep for Use. This is not kept in the shop, but is worth making for young Children inclining to Hectics and Consumptions. A Syrup of Earth-worms may be made in the same manner for the like Intentions. Frog's Spawn. This another Cooler, but it is an insipid Phlegm, and good for nothing more than common Rainwater; and will not Keep long without mothering and stinking. —English Dispensatory (Quincy), London, 1742.

90

Tooth Ache. Picking the gums with the bill of an osprey is good for the tooth-ache. Scarifying the gums with a thorn from a dog-fish's back is also a cure. —New Englands Rarities (Josselyn), London, 1672.

91

Robert Hunt, a lime seller of Boston, differing with a man, drew a sword and made two or three passes at him, upon which the man seized the sword and broke it and went for a warrant to apprehend Hunt who at once shut himself up in his house with a loaded gun and two pistols beside him. When the officers appeared he fired out of the window several times and wounded two boys but at last was taken and committed to prison where three days later he committed suicide by hanging "with an old single Garter." The same afternoon his body "was carried thro' the Town in a Cart, and buried near the Gallows, having a stake first drove thro' it." —Boston Gazette, Apr. 18, 1749.

92

Thursday last, in the Afternoon, Mark, a Negro Man, and Phillis, a Negro Woman, both Servants of the late Capt. John Codman, were executed at Cambridge, for poisoning their said Master, as mentioned in this Paper some Weeks ago. The Fellow was hanged, and the Woman burned at a Stake about Ten Yards distant from the Gallows. They both confessed themselves guilty of the Crime for which they suffered, acknowledged the Justice of their Sentence, and died very penitent. After Execution, the Body of Mark was brought down to Charlestown Common, and hanged in Chains, on a Gibbet erected there for that Purpose. —Boston Evening-Post, Sept. 22, 1755.

93

At the Court of Assize, at Springfield, the 2d Tuesday of September last, Daniel Bailey and Mary Rainer, of a Place adjoining to Sheffield in that county, were convicted of Adultery, and were sentenced to suffer the Penalty of the Law therefor, viz. to sit on the Gallows with a Rope about their Necks, for the Space of an Hour; to be whipt forty Stripes each, and to wear for ever after a Capital A, two Inches long, and proportionable in bigness, cut out in Cloth of a contrary Colour to their Cloaths, and sewed upon their upper Garments, either upon the outside of the arm, or on the back. —Boston Evening-Post, Oct. 9, 1752.

A case of incest in Deerfield: "the man was set upon the Gallows with a Rope about his Neck for the space of one Hour, to be whipped in his Way from thence to the Goal 30 stripes, and to wear a Capital I of two Inches long, and proportionable Bigness on his upper Garment for ever. Sentence against the Woman, for special Reasons, we hear, is respited for the present." – Boston Evening-Post, Oct. 7, 1754.

At the Superior Court held in Cambridge last week, one Hannah Dudley of Lincoln was convicted of repeatedly commiting Adultery and Fornication with her own Mother's husband, an old Man of 76 years of age. She was sentenced to be set upon the Gallows for the space of one Hour, with a Rope about her Neck, and the other end cast over the Gallows, and in the way from thence to the Common Goal, that she be severely whipped 30 stripes, and that she for ever after wear a Capital I of two inches long and proportionable bigness cut out in Cloth of a different Colour to her Cloaths, and sewed upon her upper Garment on the outside of her arm, or on her Back, in Open View. [No further mention is made of the step-father.] – Boston News-Letter, Aug. 16, 1759.

94

On Tuesday the 12th Instant, about 3 p.m. were executed for Piracy, Murder, etc., three of the Condemned Persons mentioned in our Last viz. William Fly, Capt., Samuel Cole, Quarter-Master, and Henry Greenville… Fly behaved himself very unbecoming even to the last; … Their Bodies were carried in a Boat to a small Island call'd Nicks's-Mate, about 2 Leagues from the Town, where the above said Fly was hung up in Irons, as a spectacle for the warning of others, especially sea-faring men; the other Two were buried there. —Boston News-Letter, July 7-14, 1726.

95

Suffolk County Court Files, Vol. I.

96

The list here printed, is in abstracted form in the order as printed and does not include the rates imposed, deemed immaterial for the present purpose. For complete data consult The Statutes of the Realm, London, 1819, Vol. V, pp. 184-202.

97

Quantity.

98

Quintal.