I. THIS little penny Quack-Book, which they sell for Two Pence, is only a Fardle or Bundle of Lies, containing scarcely one Grain of Honesty, or a Word of Truth in it (except what is in its three first Lines, which either by the Power of Truth, was extorted from them, or by an over-sight was let slip from their Pen) as by taking it to pieces, and scrutinizing it we shall make manifest in the following Lines, to the eternal Shame and Disgrace of the Authors thereof.

II. After this Book had been out for some time, and dispersed all over the Town, to answer the Design it was intended for, which was to decry, abuse, scandalize, and undoe, if possible, the honest and Skilful Apothecaries, and Ruine the whole Trade; they found it look'd with a very ill Face, and that a World of Peo­ple cry'd shame of it, to the great Disparagement of the Kna­vish Authors; and withal that probably its pernicious effects might call for an Answer; for which reasons some of the Gang prudently put into the Post-Boy an Advertisement, that the Per­sons Represented by those first Letters of their Names, and whom [Page 4]every Body was ready to suggest or suppose, did not write it, nor publish it to the World; whereby they thought by thus decrying their Right in its intrinsick Value, they might thereby prevent an Answer thereto, or any Reflections thereupon; and so gain their Point, of doing all the Mischief they design'd by it, and yet prevent a Detection of the Villany contained in it.

III. But the Blind took not the effect, and their little Tricks were discerned through it; for without doubt, if those Men, whom those Letters Represent were not the Amanuensis of it, yet they know who were, and had a great hand in it, and were the chiefest contrivers of it; and it is reported that the Son of the latter, was the very Person which handed or conveyed it to the Press. However, it owns it self to come from the College, and therefore without doubt some of the sneaking, malicious, and troublesome Members of it (who have more Envy than Skill or Honesty) might put their Fists to the Quill, and draw out in length those false and malicious Lines, which are only a Rhap­sody of Ignorance and Folly.

IV. Blew-Book. The Practice of Physick before Hippocrates was in Chirurgians hands, Page 3.

Salmon. This is the only Sentence of Truth I find in all their Quack-Book, for so indeed it was not only before Hippocrates his time, but in his time also, even down to Galen and Celsus, which as they were both great Physicians, were also the most eminent Chirurgians of their Day, and so it continued down, almost to our times: For many of our Modern Physicians, were even great Chirurgians also, witness the famous Aquapendens, Fallopius, Hildanus, Sennertus, Barbet, and many others, too tedious here to be named: and indeed there is so much of Truth in it, that it is impossible to be a good Physician without being a good Chi­rurgian first. A good Chirurgian may make a good Physician; but a Man can never be the latter, without being first excellent in the former: And if a Chirurgian is also skilful in Pharmaco­logia, or the Materia Medica first, he makes so much the better a Chirurgian; so that for my part I think, that they all three, viz. the Apothecary, Chirurgian, and Physician, did in former times consist in one Person, and so truly they ought to do now; and for which reason, the Apothecaries are the most proper and fit Persons to practice Physick of any Men in the Kingdom; nor do I think that they ought to loose their Prerogative of Primogeni­ture: The Quack-Doctor is but an Intruder into the Business of Physick and Chirurgery; nor do our Doctors come into their Profession by the Door, but as Thieves and Robbers clamber up the Walls, and so break in another way.

V. Blew-Book. It consisted then only in outward Applications, Pag. 3.

Salmon. That this is a notorious Lye, a Man that has but turn­ed over the Leaves of Hippocrates can easily tell: For that great Man (who was Apothecary, Chirurgian and Physician, all in his own Person) gives us in many places Prescriptions of inward Remedies: But it is true, that the first Beginnings of the Art of Physick was in Application of Externals, and from thence, as their Experience encreased, they, even the same Persons came to the use of Internals, so that the Use of External and Inter­nal Medicaments grew up, as it were, together, in the very same Persons, and one and the same Person exercised all those parts of the Art of Physick; and this was done for many Ages, yea even down to our days. By this it appears how ignorant these Men are in the Art they pretend to, and how little they have Read and Understood the Leaves of Antiquity.

VI. Blew-Book. The Number of Observations and Medicines encrea­sing, as well as the Number of Diseases, the whole Practice of Phy­sick became too large a task for one Person; and so it was thought necessary, that one Person should Cure only Inward Diseases, another Outward, and a third Prepare fit Medicines for both, whence came Physicians, Chirurgians and Apothecaries, Page 4.

Salmon. No, it was not because it was too large a Task, that the Practice of Physick devolved, or rather divided into those three Branches; but it was because of the Pride, Covetousness, and Idleness of the Physicians, who being so wonderfully sought after, relinquished the most necessary parts of Physick, which are the Preparing of Medicines, and the troublesome part, which is that of Manual Operation, and put it off to others whom they thought more inferiour Men: and from hence it was, that a proud, idle Physician, made an Ambitious, Covetous, Lazy Doctor, who assumed into his Province, the Art of prescribing Internals, leaving the rest to be managed by the other fort of Men: And thus, in process of time, to an Ambitious, Covetous, Lazy Doctor, a fourth part was added, viz. Ignorance; for he that designed for the Practice of Physick, over-looking and neglecting the two prime Parts, it follows naturally, that such a Doctor or Practiser of Physick, must be a very ignorant Fellow, for under­standing nothing Practically of the Materia Medica, nor of Ma­nual Operation, he, with all his Pride and Presumption, became it is true a sorry, but ignorant Doctor, as being ignorant of any practical Knowledge in the two main Fundamental Parts of the Art of Physick: And from these Causes proceeded truly the treble distinction of Men professing our Art. They say. It was th [...]ht necessary, that one Person should cure only inward Diseases, [Page 6]another outward Diseases, &c. but I ask them when or at what time, it was so thought necessary, and who it was by whom it was so thought necessary? I doubt it will be either too hard, or too shameful a Task for them to tell; it was only thought necessary by a company of ignorant scoundril Fellows, who scarcely knew any thing more of Physick or Medicine but the Name; and by such who had no more Right to the Profession thereof than Thieves and Robbers. From hence it appears, That an honest skilful Apothecary and Chirurgian, are the only true Men to make Physicians and Doctors of, as being the Men that can best and most easily understand, and attain to the true knowledge of pre­scribing Internals: And to speak the truth, the Art of Prescri­bing (which now makes a Doctor) is the easiest part of the whole Art of Physick, and easiest to be learned, much more easy I am sure than Pharmacology, and Chirurgery, which our pitiful, proud, ignorant Doctors so mightily scorn and despise.

VII. Blew-Book. Our wise Ancestors seeing that not only sound Judg­ment, but likewise great Learning and suitable Experience were re­quisite to qualify Physicians for Curing inward Diseases, thought fit to establish able Professors of Physick in all the Ʋniversities of Europe, Page 4, 5.

Salmon. Who your Ancestors were I know not, nor do I be­lieve that you can tell: But our wise Ancestors thought fit, for the Compleating of a Physician, that he should perfectly under­stand the Materia Medica, viz. the real Knowledge of all the Drugs used in Physick, and truly understand the Preparing them into Medicines; and withal be bred up in Mannual Operations; and it is the true knowledge of these things that can give a Man a sound Judgment, great Learning, and suitable Experience; not to skip at once from being a Pulpit-man, or a Reader of Prayers, to be a Doctor of Physick: No, this can by no means do; at this rate, and if these things would do, any Man may become a Doctor of Physick; but the learned Men in the Art will tell you another Tale: Nor is it possible to establish able Professors of Physick in the Universities of Europe, unless they be taken out of such Persons who have before hand served twelve or fourteen years to some able Apothecary and Chirurgian, and withal have read over the Ancients and other Masters of our Art; if the Universities did Cull out such as these to make Professors of (such as Dr. Barbet, Dr. Barnard, Dr. Badger, Dr. Greenvelt, &c.) they would be able Professors indeed; and not such Tools of Men, as many of our Blew-Book Sparks are.

VIII. Blew-Book. To hinder likewise all Persons from practising Physick, but such as took their Degrees, and to let none take their [Page 7]Degrees, but such as their Abilities recommended after due Exami­nation, Page 5.

Salmon. That is, in plain English, to Monopolize all the Pra­ctise of Physick into their own hands; and that they may be im­powered to abuse all Mankind, and to Persecute all others who are not of their Class of Doctors; which I hope the Mercies of God are such to the poor People of this City, that he will never permit; nor suffer for the future, such ill-natured Fellows to Ty­rannize or Domineer over their Fellow Creatures, as they have of late done. But what they mean by taking their Degrees, is hard to be understood, unless it be those of Mandamus Doctors, Grace Doctors, Proxy Doctors, Caution Doctors, ad eundem Doctors, Master Doctors, Half Doctors, and No Doctors, of which kind of Doctors the greatest part of their Conventicle is composed. But if none should take their Degrees, or be suffered to Practise, but such as their Abilities should Recommend after due Examination; I am afraid that the biggest part of the Warwick-lane Sparks would be interdicted the whole Practise of Physick; and that many of the Persons whom they allow and approve of, would be found so scandalously Ignorant, as to be an Eternal Disgrace to the Learned Men of the Society. But it may be I am mistaken, and may not understand or know what they call Due Examination. It may be that of Examining into their Abilities, whether or no they are able to give eighty, ninety, or an hundred Pounds to be admitted as a Master Doctor, Half Doctor, or No Doctor, into their Conventicle, and so only have a License to Practise, as of late they have done some pitiful Fellows, to the manifest scandal of the Art of Physick. I really believe, if I was but to examine their Censors, they would be as unfit and unable to an­swer me, in some Questions I could put to them in the Art of Physick, as the greatest Novice in the Art might be unfit or un­able to answer them; and that some of them who think they bear the greatest Names, are the pittifullest and meanest Fellows of the pack.

IX. Blew-Book. King Henry VIII. Erected a College of Physici­ans in London, bestowing upon them a power, confirmed by several Acts of Parliament, to punish Mountebanks, and all other Preten­ders to Physick, and to hinder likewise any Person from practising Physick in London, or within seven Miles round it, that was not legally received into this College, tho' a Doctor of our own Ʋni­versities, Page 5.

Salmon. Monstrum horrendum, saevissima Pestis! That ever such a sort of Fellows, as are themselves, for the most part, either no Doctors, or but half Doctors, Master Doctors, ad eundem Doctors, [Page 8]Caution Doctors, Proxy Doctors, Grace Doctors, or Mandamus Do­ctors, none of which sort of Doctors ever performed their Exerci­ses for their Degree in any Ʋniversity, especially in any of Our Ʋniversities at home, should take upon them to hinder a real Do­ctor of Physick, (who has performed all his Exercises in Oxford or Cambridge) from Practising Physick in London, or in any other place seven Miles round the same, and that under the pretext of a Law also; who, I say, could ever believe such a thing. But let us examine into it, and see whether it be so or not; That they have a Patent from Henry VIII. let it be granted, but all such Popular Patents in themselves, which are not Confirmed by Act of Parliament, are only Monopolies, and tend to the hurt and detriment of the Subject. I know not any reason why I or any Body else should be obliged by any Patent or Law, to go to them to be killed; or to repair to such Fellows, while it does not appear to me, or another Body concerned, that they are really skilful, and truly understand the Art of Physick in all its parts; which I really believe the greatest part of them do not; witness their thousands of Miscarriages, a Catalogue of many of which I have by me, and at their request am ready to make out, with addition of both Patients and Doctors Names, and that in Print. As to their Patent, there is also some Question whether it be a true one or not, for it seems not to be sealed with the right coloured Wax, which ought to be yellow, and with which all true Patents are commonly Sealed. But supposing it be a true Patent, it gives them no Power over Doctors of Physick who have actually taken their Degrees in Oxford and Cambridge; nor have they a power to examine such, who have accomplished all things for their Degrees without any Grace: if so, as it will be in vain for any one to take a degree in any of our Ʋniversities, so it will make the College the greatest Monopoly in the World; for as much as their skill or abilities, tho' under so great a Probate, as the Testi­mony and Seals of the Universities, can be no qualification to privilege a Doctor of Physick to Practise in London, and seven Miles round the same. But they say, This Patent is Confirmed by several Acts of Parliament. But truly I cannot find yet, that ever it was confirmed by one. As for the pretended Act of 14 and 15 Henry VIII. Cap. 5. I have seen and examined the Parli­ament Roll it self, but in no part of the Act, or Parchment up­on which it is written, neither on the foreside or backside, nor on the top or bottom, nor yet on either hand, is the Royal Assent to be found, which is of absolute necessity for the Constitution of an Act of Parliament; if this be not true, a Clark of Parlia­ment, who can draw the form of an Act, may at the end of any [Page 9]Sessions of Parliament, thrust what Unsign'd Acts he pleases, or may be brib'd for, into the Roll, where having lain Dormant for some time or Number of years, and being forgotten; when in after Ages there shall be occasion to over-look the Rolls of Acts of Parliament, they being found among the Number, may by Posterity be taken for good Acts or Laws, not questioning their Validity, or how they came there, tho' design, trick, or bribery, were the very original Causes of their being found in that place; and so at this rate a Clark of Parliament may Act Kings, Lords, and Commons, all in his own Person, to the great abuse and pre­judice of the People of England, their Lives, Liberties, Estates and Properties; which thing, for the great danger of it, his Majesty and Parliament of England, I hope will for the future be very careful of; and this pretended Act, thus obtruded upon the good People of this City and Nation, I think ought to be look'd into, and be rejected as a thing spurious and false, and detrimen­tal to our Constitution and Government. As for that 1 Phil. & Mary, Ses. 2. cap. 9. it is only a Confirmation of the former pre­tended Act. Now if that of 14 & 15 Henry VIII. be no true Act, then it is no Law, and so is nothing; and so the Confirmati­on of it, is the Confirmation of no Law, or of nothing, and so in pleading can be of no use. But let us examine a little far­ther, and see how their Patent and pretended Act agree. Their Patent says, That the Community shall every year chuse a Presi­dent out of the Community, who shall transact all the Affairs of the College for his Year. The pretended Act says, that there shall be eight Elects, and that every year, the said Elects shall chuse a President out of the Elects. Now let any Man of com­mon Sense or Reason judge of these two, and see how they agree: If a President be chosen according to the Patent, it Contradicts the Letter of the pretended Act. But if the President be cho­sen according to the words of the pretended Act, it contradicts the very Letter of the Patent. Now what Man in his Wits is there, that cannot see that this pretended Act, not having the Royal As­sent, was only a hasty Birth, or unconsidered medly of Contra­dictions, made to serve an End? and that the Clerk not under­standing possibly Latin, made that gross mistake in wording his Act, to the very great Detriment of the wicked Design. Can any Man believe, that so August and Wise Assembly of Men, as a Parliament of England, which are a Choice of all the Great, Good, and Wise Men of the Nation, could be guilty of such a Heterogene piece of Work as that pretended Act is, and word it so Incongruously or Contradictory to the Words of their Letters Patents, thereby destroying in the one, what is built up in the [Page 10]other? And so confirm a Monopoly, wonderfully prejudicial to the Lives, Liberties, Estates and Properties of the good Peo­ple of England? Surely No. But now to show you how much a Law this pretended Act is, we will give you four famous Pre­sidents of Cases tryed by it, as to the very Merit of the Causes, and thereby you may see what Validity it is of. The First In­stance we shall give you is that of the famous Dr. Trig, who for­merly lived upon Tower-Wharf, whom they Sued, and upon a fair Tryal at Law were as fairly Cast. The Second Instance is that of Dr. Read, who then Lived at the Sun in Long-Alley, near Morefields: This Man they Sued at Law also, and the Merits of the Cause being Tryed, they came as blewly off, as before. The Third Instance is that of Sir Richard Barker, Kt. late of Barbacan, London; whom they Arrested, and Sued in the King's-Bench: This Gentleman (as did the others before) refusing to be Tryed by the Statute-Book, as not being the Law it self, but only a Co­py of the Law, requested to be Tryed by the Law of the Land, which is the Act in the Parliament-Roll; and was at the Charge and Expence of bringing the Parliament-Roll into Court; so that the Book was rejected, and the Roll it self only stood by: upon which the Judge viewing the Act, and not finding any where about it, the Royal Assent, told them in plain English, that Judgment must go against them; and that not finding the Royal Alsent to that Act, upon which their Declaration was grounded, he could not judge by it as a Law; that it was not in his Power to make it a Law, and that if they would have him to try the Cause by it, as a Law, they must first bring Henry VIII. out of his Grave to Sign it; and so the Cause went against them. The Fourth Instance is that of Dr. Richard Fletcher, which was Tryed at the King's-Bench in Guild-hall, London; Their Counsel brought their Green Bag, wherein they had an Exemplification of some Tryal or Tryals, which thro' the ignorance of those De­fendents Lawyers, went on the College-side: But Mr. Wallop, who was of Counsel for Fletcher, put a stop as to the Issues be­ing put upon their Green Bag; and desired of my Lord, that this our Cause might be Tryed by our Green Bag; which when my Lord Chief Justice demanded what it was, Wallop answer­ed it was the Law of the Land; and was (as it appeared to be) the Parliament-Roll; which when his Lordship perused, and found not the Royal Assent to the pretended Act upon which their Declaration was grounded, told the Adversaries Counsel, that he could not give Judgment for them by such an Act, which had not the Royal Assent to it, they fearing or seeing that Judgment was likely to go against them, did by their Counsel [Page 11]pray a special Verdict, and so it ended, and hangs to this day (almost twenty years since) in expectation of that special Ver­dict, which is to put an end to the Cause, to Fletcher's very great Honour, and the shame and Disgrace of the Fellows of the Warwick-Lane Monopoly. By these Presidents and Examples it is manifest, that four Great Judges or Lord Chief Justices of Eng­land, when a Tryal has come before them, which has depended upon the force of this pretended Act, would not, when the Act it self, in the Parliament Roll was brought before them, and the Subjects of England demanded Judgment according to the Law of the Land, presume to give a Judgment by it, against them.

X. Blew Book. This— Society, has improved Physick, and made more Discoveries in Nature, than all the rest of the Phy­sicians in Europe: They have found out the Circulation of the Blood, — perfected the Materia Medica, Corrected the Dispensatory, and brought Physick to a greater Certainty and Perfection since Hen­ry VIII. time, than their Predecessors did in Two thousand years be­fore. Page. 6.

Salmon. This is a wonderful Brag, and an admirable way of Boasting; and yet after all we will prove, that there is not one word of it Truth. Nor do I believe that they can produce any one single Discovery in Nature, or any rare and specifick Medi­cament of their Invention, or any other ways have added any advantage to the Art of Physick, since they have been a Body to this day; except that memorable Design of Degrading them­selves from being Doctors, and in earnest turning Apothecaries, by purely stealing the Apothecaries Trade from them. I see no reason why the Apothecaries and Chirurgians may not as well turn Doctors, and practise Physick (as having a greater right to it) as they to steal the Apothecaries Trade from them, to which they have not the least Pretension. But to the matter in hand, they say, That they have found out the Circulation of the Blood: I wonder at their Impudence; when they had no more hand in that Invention, than they had in building of the Pyramids of Egypt; that excellent and admirable Production, was the sole Discovery of that most ingenious Man Dr. Harvey, a Chirurgian, and a Member of the Chirurgians Company: whom afterwards, for the Honour of his great Name, they seduced, to be a Mem­ber of their Conventicle. They say they have perfected the Mate­ria Medica; yet that is a thing of so large a Consideration, that it is not possible for the Series of all Ages to perform it; but if Bragging and Boasting, and Lying would do it, they are the likeliest Men to do it in the World: I wonder that Men should [Page 12]have the Confidence, to affirmat this rate, when they know them­selves, that not one of twenty of them, knows by sight one Drug of an hundred, when they see it, or can call them by their proper Names; much less do they know them being Compoun­ded into Medicines; and as for their knowledge of the Art of Compounding Medicaments, I leave that to be judged of by the Learned in the Art, who will give themselves the idle time to view the many silly and unlearned Books, they have from time to time published, to the detriment of Mankind. The choicest of all Remedies are prepared by Chymistry, which is an Art they have from its first Invention decry'd, even almost to this present time; how then should they become all of a sudden knowing in an Art they have ever so slighted and despised; and since the Materia Medica is not to be perfected, but by Chymistry, and that their Knowledge and Skill in it is so short, and so narrow, so poor and so mean, how is it possible that the perfection thereof, should ever lye within the Spheres of their activity? They say, They have Corrected the Dispensatory: if so, this gives a dreadful box of the Ear to their Predecessors, who had not Learning nor Skill enough to form a good Pharmacopoeia, but to leave it under their Correction. But why should we believe that these present Fellows are wiser, or more skilful than those who went before them? And for what reason can we believe them to be honest­er? As for their Dispensatory they so brag of, it is too true a Jest, to say it had almost an infinite number of Faults in it; but as for their mending of it, it is Tinker-like done, if ever they mended one hole in it, they made ten more for it. But I am of Opinion, that they made faults where there were none, and brought it forth into the World, ten times worse than they found it, as you may easily perceive if you examine it by my Translation thereof, and my Comment thereupon; and tho' therein I have Corrected it in some hundreds of places, where the faults of it were very gross; yet a thousand other faults in it I have left untouched, for brevity sake. They say, They have brought Phy­sick to a greater Certainty and Perfection than their Predecessors did in Two thousand Years before: That is to say, to a certain Me­thod of Quacking, which the Ancient and Learned Physicians for above two thousand years last past, never knew nor under­stood: We know by your exouisite endeavours you have brought the whole essential part of Physick to the use of about five things, viz. of the Cortex, Steel, Opium, Mercurius Dulc [...], and Blood sucking, these you have determined for the Cure of all Diseases, which you promiscuously use (I will not say as the Toy takes you in the Head, but) according as your Discretion shall direct you: This [Page 13]rare Method I confess the Ancients knew nothing of, 'tis you that have Consummated Physick to this Acme of Perfection, and out-done, in their own way, all the Quacks that ever were in the World before you: You have brought Physick to such a certain­ty, that if a Man goes to any Apothecary, and does but tell him the name of his Doctor, he will before-hand tell him what he will prescribe to his Patient, let the Disease be what it will. What can the World think now of this exquisite Certainty? What a shame is it, to all the Ancient Doctors of our Art, that a few upstarts, Fellows but of yesterday, should stumble upon five such admirable things, which by their own Powers and Effi­cacy should be able to absolve the whole Practise of Physick? What thick skull'd Fellows were Hippocrates, Galen, Avicen, Cel­sus, and a Thousand more of them, that they should not hit up­on a few things so facile and easy to be found out? Oh no! the Honour and Glory of it was perfectly designed for the Men of our Age, for the Wonder-working, and mighty Professors of Warwick-lane.

XI. Blew-Book. Physicians had reason to think, that neither the Lives of their Patients, nor their own Reputation could be safe, unless they were sure of the goodness of the Medicines they prescribed to the Sick. Page 6, 7.

Salmon. I know not what you think, nor how much you value the Lives of your Patients, I am sure if the Miscarriages of the Blood-sucking Doctors of this Age were but exposed to publick view, it would be in terrorem to all future Generations for ever: And if you ground your Reasons upon your own Knowledge, or certainty of the Goodness of the Medicines pre­scribed to the Sick, then I am sure the Apothecaries and Chirur­gians stand the fairest for the honest and just Practise of Physick, of any Men in the World, and so you are condemned out of your own Mouths. I must confess I should not think any Pati­ents Life safe, unless it was in an Apothecary-Doctors, or a Chirur­gick-Doctor's hands, all other Doctors are truly but Quacks, and suck out the Bowels of People's Estates, and trifle with their Lives, which is too plainly manifest by a great many that I can name. As for Reputation, that's not to be talk'd of, where the Lives of patients are of no value, or the Covetousness of the Doctor is without Limitation or Bounds. And as for your turn­ing Apothecaries for the reason you give in this Paragraph, it is as vain as can be, for you are yet no more sure of the goodness of the Medicines you prescribe than you were before, because possibly you may trust the Preparations of them to crafty Servants; and who knows whether they may not abstract the most valuable Ingredi­ents [Page 14]out of them, as knowing where to make a better Penny of them, and withal, that if they should play such a trick, they are sure their Masters have not Skill and Judgment enough to find out or detect them of the Cheat.

XII. Blew-Book. About Sixty Years ago, all the Apothecaries of London and Westminster, did not amount to an Hundred, and at present they are above Eight hundred, Page 7. & 8. London may be fully satisfied with Two hundred; page 12.

Salmon. The Gift of Lying is certainly an Inheritance to the Authors of this Blew-Book; there is scarcely a Line in it, but is stuft with a Lye, or something worse: They say, there is above Eight hundred Apothecaries at present in London and Westminster; and I perswade my self, and it is known to the Company of A­pothecaries, that they are but a little above half that Number. But supposing they should be right in that; they shew their won­derful Charity and good Nature in the next Paragraph, where they say London may be fully satisfied with Two hundred; What must become then of the other Six hundred which they reject, their Wives, Children, and Families? why they must give over their Trades, and go a Begging, or else starve; this is the Cha­rity, this the Kindness of Our Mighty Regulators of Physick; they shall come and turn Apothecaries, and take the Trade out of their Hands; and when they have done, turn above Six hundred Men, their Wives, Children, and Families out a-doors, to seek their Fortunes in the wide World: But now I think of it, I will find out an Expedient for them in this Case, which is Lex talionis, and a very just thing; that since the Doctors will turn Apothecaries, by stealing their Trade from them, to which they have no right at all; these Six hundred discarded and excluded Apothecaries, shall immediately turn Doctors, and set up the Pra­ctise of Physick as a Recompense for the Theft, and so make Re­prisals.

XIII. Blew Book. The Number of Apothecaries thus encrea­sing, it necessarily follows, that either they must starve, or raise the value of their Drugs beyond reason; or by their Interest, get on­ly such Physicians employed, as have the Conscience to prescribe more Medicines than the Distemper requires; or Quack to sell their Drugs without a Physician's Order; page 9.

Salmon. Whatever their Numbers may do, I am sure the Course you are a taking is effectually to make them starve: If you would but let them alone, they fear not but to do well e­nough, as they have all along, hitherto done: But you are re­solved upon new measures; you will have the Honour and the gain of the one, and the Prosit of the other; 'tis no matter [Page 15]what becomes of others, so you but get by it, they may beg or starve for all you, you matter it not: But since this is your Conscience, it is as reasonable that they should take other measures too. If they do not starve, you say, They must raise the value of their Drugs beyond reason. I find the Authors of the Blew-Book, have not only the Gift of Lying, but also the Gift of Scandalizing, and that in Commendam: They are resolved now to strike at the root of the Trade; and with their Blew-Book to give a black and blew stroak to the whole Trade of Apothecaries at once; this is a Scandal they think will bear Water, this will do their Work to the purpose, and now they fear no Colours, but that they shall be able to carry on the Design to the utmost, and Ruine six hundred Families at once, beyond all retrieve, un­less the Apothecaries will have the easiness and good nature to do it of their own accords, by their special Advice and Direction. But lest this Scandal should not take, as in probability it will not, among those who have tryed both, and do already know by Experience, that they can make use of an Apothecary eight weeks at less Charges, than one of those Doctors one Week; I say, wisely foreseeing that the Scandal is not Armour of Proof in their Defence, they have another notable Stigma, which is, That the Apothecaries by their Interest, will get only such Physici­ans employed, as have the base Conscience to prescribe more Medicines than the Disease requires. I know not who are so guilty of this Crime, as the Authors of the Blew-Book, who some of them by their Black and Blew Practises, have in a few Years leap'd from the next degree above Begging, to Estates of many Hundreds if not Thousands a Year; and yet these plaguy covetous Wret­ches, cannot be satisfied or contented, but they would still have more, and think much at every Morsel which goes besides their own Chops. Something is the matter that the Curing of Bodies is so much better than the Curing of Souls; else several of our Grande Doctors would never have left the Pulpit, to have ply'd an Hospital for so many Years together, as they have done. But to tell the truth of the Business, 'tis not the Apothecary that makes it his Business to get such damnable ill Doctors, but such wretch­ed Doctors who have continually courted the Apothecaries to commend them to their Patients, which has been to the preju­dice of the Trade, and of the whole Art of Physick: And this practise, when the honest Apothecary found it out, and would not Countenance it, was the true Cause of the great breach which is between them and the Doctors, and which now is become so wide, that I hope it will never be healed again. The last thing they charge them with is, Quacking, by selling their [Page 16]Drugs without a Physician's Order; as if any greater Quacks could be in nature than they are. I am consident I could teach a Youth of twelve or fourteen years of Age, in ten days time, the whole Mystery of their way of Practise, and if he under­stands but a little Latin, make him as able to Prescribe as any of them; for since they have very learnedly abstracted, or reduced the whole Art and Practise of Physick to four or five things, viz. the Cortex, Steel, Opium, Mercurius dulcis, and Blood-sucking, 'twould be an easy matter to sub-sume the practise of those five Essentials into so short a Method, or into so few easy Rules, as a youth of any ordinary Capacity or Ingenuity, might be able to get them by Heart in eight or ten days time, why might not then an ingenious and skilful Apothecary be master of the My­stery (whose practise it has been for many Years, by their special Directions) so as to use it upon occasion to serve their turn? But if I mistake not, the Apothecaries know better, and will never fetter the practise of Physick with those few things, they knowing hundreds of others full as good, and more essen­tial to the Cure of Diseases in many Cases: From hence it is manifest, that the Apothecary (if he practises) does not appear to be so much a Quack, as the Doctor.

XIV. Blew-Book. The excessive number of Apothecaries— likewise Discredits that of Chirurgery: for Apothecaries, as like­wise Barbers, Mountebanks, Quacks, and a multitude of other Pretenders, practise Chirurgery with as much Assurance, tho' with less Success, as the ablest Members of the Chirurgians-Hall; Page 9, 10.

Salmon. What an Art of Colloguing these Blades of the Blew-Book have got [...] see how Hypocritically they begin to Claw the Chyrurgians! I wonder how this fit of Love and Good Na­ture came upon the score; I am sure it is not usual with them, to have such Friendship for the Chirurgians, nor to have such a Concern upon them, for fear Barbers, Mountebanks, Quacks, and other Pretenders should encroach upon their Profession; what can be the meaning of it? Why truly they are the Apothecaries, yea verily the wicked Apothecaries, that stand in the Way; these are the Men that do all the mischief; they, sincerely Friends, have encroached upon our Monopoly already, and we plainly sore­see, by the help of our Prophetical Optick Glasses and Perspe­ctives, with other fore-seeing Instruments, that if these Vile, I say Vile Apothecaries, be suffered to go on, they will (Dear Bre­thren) make inroads upon your Profession as well as upon ours; and these things we cannot but with Tears I say with Tears in our Eyes give you timely fore-warning of; that you might joyn, [Page 17]at least lay your helping hands to the labouring Oar, without which we can never think, that we shall bring our Bark safe to the desired Port of Securit.

XV. Blew-Book. It is therefore reasonably hoped that the Par­liament may in due time take a matter of so great and general a Con­sequence into their Consideration, and provide some effectual means of reducing this Company within some reasonable Bounds, and keep­ing it so, page 10, 11.

Salmon. It is more reasonable to be hoped, that the Parlia­ment may in a short time take a matter of so great and general a Consequence into their Consideration, as all Prosecutions at Law by pretended Acts of Parliament, which never past the Royal Assent, and to prevent the same for the future, and to declare by Act of Parliament, all such pretended Acts Null and Void, and to be holden for no Law, as indeed they are none: and to pro­vide some effectual means of Reducing the Fellows of Warwick­lane into some reasonable bounds of Moderation; and to keep them so; that they may not in time to come, domineer and ty­rannize over their Fellow-Subjects, and Ruine quiet and peace­able Men, and the King's Liege People, by long and vexatious Prosecutions in Courts of Judicature, against all manner of Right, Justice, and Law, under the Notion and Pretence of such Statutes, which never yet had the Royal Assent, nor were ever Confirmed by any King or Queen of England; nor under pretence of such Laws to assume such a Tyrannizing Power, as when three or four of them shall think sit, to Prejudge a Man a Criminal, and guilty of male Practise in the Art of Physick (when it is a very great question whether they themselves understand what the true practise thereof is, as in the late Case of the Learned and Worthy Dr. Groenvelt, which is notoriously known) and then upon those their Suggestions, and Pre-judging, to Act the part of a Chancelor, Judges, Juries, and Witnesses, all at a time, in their own Persons, and so to Pre-judge him in the Pe­nalty, and to the Damage of 20 l. to be paid down for their own use, for the supposed ill Management, or male Practise of their Art (as in the late Cases of Dr. William Rivet, and Dr. John Groenvelt aforenamed, tho' many others more Learned and Skil­ful than they, had formerly declared the same to be good and true Practise, as in the Case of the last named Person:) and then if they refuse to pay the said 20 l. to Commit the supposed Criminal, or a Criminal only of their own making, to Newgate, without Bail or Mainprize, till the same be paid down into their ungodly, unmerciful and covetous Paws; which is a Power and Authority greater then ever any King or Queen of England ever [Page 18]pretended to, over the meanest Subject; and which I hope our most August Assembly, at the next Meeting, or Sessions of Par­liament will so effectually consider of, as to abridge them of, and punish them for, and cause them to refund, and make sa­tisfaction to the Injured Persons for all the wrong they have done them, both in this, and several other Cases. But as for their ho­ping that the Parliament should reduce the Apothecaries Company, is plainly to desire the Government, or Supream Authority to take away the Liberties, Priviledges, Estates and Properties of English­men; which is a desire so malicious and wicked, that I question whether any thing beside, could be uttered so Vile as it is.

XVI. Blew-Book. It is — likewise for more ample be­nefit to the Publik very necessary, that the Lord Mayor, conjoyntly with the College of Physicians, and Court of Aldermen, should Rate and Publish, the Price of all Simple and Compound Medicines. Page 12.

Salmon. 'Tis mannerly to give the Lord Mayor the preference; but I see they have the Confidence (I will not say Impudence) to take it of the Court of Aldermen: but letting their ill Manners pass, we will come to the Matter in Hand; What brave Blades these Blew-Book-men are, that they should presume to tell the Lord Mayor his Duty, or what is necessary for him to do; as tho' the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen do not know their Business without their Direction: But the jest of it is, that the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen, should so much demean themselves, or have so little to do, as to walk up and down the Town after their Tails; I fancy they have Business of much greater Concern, and what is infinitely better and more necessary, as more becoming their Honour, Places and Stations in the Government of this Imperial and Mighty City. But what is that which the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen are to do? Why, it is to Rate and Publish the Price of all simple and Compound Medicines: A thing as much out of the Element, and far from the Business of the Chief Magistrates of this City, as I am distant from Constanti­nople, or either of the Indies. How should the Lord Mayor, &c. (if it was his Duty) come to know the Prizes of Drugs, and Com­pound Medicines, since the Prizes of Drugsalter and change eve­ry day? And how often in the Year must he look after it, and alter the old Price, and set a new Price upon all Apothecaries Compounded Medicines? I fear me, if he was to do this, and to do it justly, it would not only take up all his time, but be an impossible Work to be done to boot, nor would three or four­score times a Year be sufficient to make his Reviews and Alterati­ons [Page 19]of the Prizes; [...] which they Answer, That the Co [...]leg [...] of Physicians should be Conjoyn'd to them, and Assistants with them in performing this Work: And this they think mends the Matter, which I think not; for I believe that not a Member of that Bo­dy, nor all the Members together, are able to do this thing, to do it truly and justly; and I question whether they have so much skill in Arithmatick, or the Operations of Numbers, as artfully to do it; nor do I believe, that if they can do it, that they will afford themselves the time or liberty to undertake and perform so great, indesatigable, and endless a Task; these are only words of Course to amuse Mankind withal, and abuse unthinking Peo­ple.

XVII. Blew-Book. Our Apothecaries — are forced to keep them (viz. their Medicines) too long in their Snops, and sometimes till they rot, and are only fit to be thrown away: it will seem unrea­sonable to any thinking Man, that a poor Patient must pay dearer for his Medicines, because they are rotten, and destructive to his Bo­dy too, Page 12, and 13. — All of them not having Sale enough for their Drugs, they are, and still as their Number encreases, will be, more and more obliged to keep them till they rot, and to do mis­chief when prescribed, no Patient being judge of the Goodness or bad­ness of them. Page 11.

Salmon. A Man can hardly forbear Smiling, to see how these Sparks here pitty the poor Patient, whilst the hardness of their Hearts, will give them leave to take excessive, unjust, exorbi­tant and unreasonable Fees of poor and mean People, and that without the least remorse of Conscience for the same: Else how could some who leapt from the Pulpit, scarcely worth a Groat, some few years since, get such vast and prodigious Estates in so short a time: But to the matter, Scandal and Detraction is all the Business of this Blew Quack-book; if the Magistrates or the Government will not do the Business for them, they are resol­ved to endeavour to do it themselves, and that by all manner of ill ways they can imagine; as Defamation and Detraction, and taking away the Apothecaries good Names, and as basely as may be, suggesting to the World, that their Drugs and Medicaments are rotten, and fit only to be thrown away, and destructive to the Body of the Patient. Supposing by such false Stories, the People may be made to believe it; and then they think the Apothecaries Credit will be so Wounded, that all People will at once, and in a lump (as it were) leave them, and so come and stick close to the Blew-Book-Men. Now let us enquire into the reason, Why the Apothecaries Medicaments are so subject to Rot: Truly the fault is Originally in the Warwick-lane-Men, who made the Phar­macopoeia [Page 20]or Dispensatory; in which they have hardly put one good Medicine, but things of little worth, and very apt to rot and decay; so that such Faults (it may be) are wholly to be impu­ted to them; and truly I question, whether they knew any bet­ter things, or hand skill enough amongst heaps of Prescriptions, to chuse those which were best: There are Medicines to be prepa­red and made, which will not rot or decay in many Ages: And such are those in my Pharmacopoeiae Chirurgica, lately publish­ed in my Art of Chirurgery, which Set of Medicaments, if they were established by Law, for the Apothecaries to make, and fur­nish their Shops with, the Warwick-lane-Men could never justly complain of ill Medicines, and such as would rot or spoil: But why the Apothecaries Preparations should not keep as well from rotting, as the Blew-book-Mens Preparations (which are pretend­ed to be one and the same) I know not; unless it be for this Reason, that the Prescriptions of the Dispensatory are vastly nu­merous, and mostly made of perishing Things, and such as are very apt to Spoil (by the Prescriptions of which Obsolete Book, they are bound to make up all their Compositions:) And since the Sparks have with admirable sagacity, reduced the whole Pra­ctise of Physick chiefly to the five aforenamed things, viz. the Cortex, Steel, Opium, Mercury, and Bloodsucking; it follows of Consequence, that the greatest part of the Apothecaries Compo­sitions and Medicaments for want of being Prescribed to, must spoil and rot, to the very great Prejudice and Damage of the Trade; Whereas, were the Medicaments of the Shops, the same with those in my Pharmapaeia Chirurgica, they would not be damp­nified by long keeping, if there was not that general Use for some things, as there may be for others; those Preparations in respect to their Virtues, Excellencies, smalness of Dose, and Durability, will always be as good as Plate to lye by one, and be equivalent to the most fine Gold. They say, No Patient is judge of the goodness or badness of them, i. e. of Apothecaries Medica­ments: True, nor is any Patient Judge, of the Goodness or Bad­ness of the Blew-book-Mens Compositions and Preparations; and so if they should be pleased, or think it in their Consciences to be no Sin, to put a Cheat upon the Publick, it would be as equal­ly impossible to discover it; I am sure their Probity and Morals will give us no assurance to the contrary; witness their illegal and unjust Dealings with the Learned Dr. Badger.

XVIII. Blew-Book. But we must leave to the Wisdom of the Parliament, and of our Magistrates, to regulate these Matters the best way they will think proper for the Benefit of the Rich. Page 13.

Salmon. I find that their chief care is, that these matters may be regulated the best way for the Benefit of the Rich; and good reason too, because those are the only Persons which can feed them liberally, and give them often and large Fees, and therefore in Gratitude (tho' they be otherwise ill-natured Fellows enough) they ought to wish them well. However, this they pru­dently leave to the wisdom of the Parliament, and so do I, and all those good People, whom they have basely Abused and Persecu­ted against all Law, Justice, and Right: And hope the Parlia­ment will look into the Matter, and resolve us by their Votes, and a peculiar Act for that purpose, that all Forms of Acts of Parliament, not having the Royal Assent, shall be holden for no Law; and indeed it ought to be accounted no less than high Trea­son, to judge any Subject of England, by any Form of an Act, not ratified by the Royal Power of some King or Queen of Eng­land; for by such Practises, they that so judge, assume the Royal Power of making Laws, subvert Justice, and overturn the very Foundations of our Government. And I doubt not, but when the Parliament shall look into this matter, and find this Form of an Act, without the Royal Assent annexed to it, as I have said; that they will take care likewise that all Judgments formerly past by virtue thereof, may be reverst, and where Exe­cution has been made, that the Blew-Book-Fellows may be made to refund, or repay, to those Persons so abused (if alive) or to their Heirs, Executors, or Administrators, the whole value so taken away, with the Interest thereof, for so many years as they have unjustly kept it, and that a compleat Satisfaction may be made to those Persons to the utmost penny of their Dama­ges.

XIX. Blew-Book. We give here a short account of the Chari­table Method which the College of Physicians, after several years Consideration, has lately thought of, and used, to provide the poor with Medicines, cheaper than has hitherto been ever practised in any Country, page. 13.

Salmon. Here's brags of Charity indeed, but what does it amount to? Truly only to this, that if poor People have any Money, they may have Medicines of them for it; but if they have no Money, positively, they must go without; and this without any Circumlocution, is the downright sense of the mat­ter: Now if the Blew-Book-men, can thus impudently interlope into the Apothecaries Trade, by dispensing the Medicaments they prescribe, endeavouring their Ruine and Undoing; Why should it not be as just for the Apothecaries, to study the Art of Prescrip­tion, and turn Doctors, and so Prescribe their own Medicines [Page 22]which they dispense? I think it is no sin in the Apothecaries to make the Case as broad, as the Doctors have made it long. But they will tell you, that the Poor shall have Medicines cheaper, than [...] [...]therto been ever prastised in any Country. How shall I or any poor Body know that? Why, they tell you so, and you are bound in Conscience to believe them: Now I cannot tell that, for tho' it may be possible to be true, yet it is not probable that it is true: and the reason I have for it is this, that I have taken them in so many Lies and manifest Falsities in this Book, which I my self know to be so, that I cannot tell when to believe them; and I cannot help it for my Life, the believing all they say to be false, unless I know it my self before-hand, to be true; and indeed this is that which common Lyars get, by such assidu­ous telling of Lies, that no Body can believe them when they speak Truth. But they say, this Method after many years Consi­deration, they have lately thought of: so it seems, they have been but lately thinking of it, yet it has been many years under their Consideration: All that long time they thought nothing at all of it; they are the only. Men in the World then, that I know of, that can consider with themselves for many years, without thinking of the matter they consider of: This is a Bull all over: what pity is it that Men of their Stations should be able to write no better English.

XX. Blew-Book. The President, Censors, and Majority of the Members, &c. — pitying the miserable Condition poor Patients were in for want of Remedies, agreed — that Medicines should be prepared at the College, and given at the Poor at the prime Cost, p. 14. To relieve the Poor for ever with Medicines at the Intrinsick Value, page 15.

Salmon. Here's a great Cry, and a little Wool, as the Devil said, when he shore his Hogs. Here is a wonderful pitying the Poor for want of Remedies; and therefore they say, that Medi­cines shall be prepared and given to the prime Cost, and this prime Cost they declare to be the intrinsick Value. It is an odd thing, that such Men as they are cannot write good English, without ma­king so many Bulls in it, how are their Medicines given to the Poor, when they only sell them, and will let no Body have them without Money? And what does all this noise of Charity a­mount to, but only what I said before, viz. that if poor People bring Money with them they may have Medicines, but not other­wise. But they will give their Advice Gratis: Who knows that, or what Security have we that they will keep their word, and not bring it into their Intrinsick Value? And if they should do it, what is it worth, especially when poor People have not Money [Page 23]by them to buy Bread, or other Necessaries. Something I spoke to this Head, in an Advertisement I gave about the Town; and I hear the Blades found fault with it, that I begun my Observa­tions about Intrinsick Value with Item, and not with Imprimis; now the reason of that was, because I could do no otherwise, that being taken out of the middle of the Account. But in this place I care not greatly, if I give you the Imprimis, which is, so much for loosing our certain Practise, and trusting to an uncer­tainty, in Degrading our selves, by turning Apothecaries, out of meer spight and malice to the Trade, because we would have six hundred Families be turned out a-doors, and sent a Grazing or Begging. Item so much for half a Dozen Bottles of Claret, after the Company had drunk enough, upon Consideration, that it ought to be put into the Intrinsick Value, for that they were then met about the Concerns of the Business. Item, so much for debasing the College, by turning it into a Mechanick-SHOP, against the Honour and Dignity of the Place. Item, so much for the Price of the Drugs. Item, so much for Waste in ma­king up. Item, so much for Laboratory Room. Item, so much for the Use of the Weights. Item, so much for the Use of the Scales. Item, so much for Dispensing the Ingredients. Item, so much for the Use of the Pestle. Item, so much for the Use of the Mortar. Item, so much for Preparing them. Item, so much for SHOP-room. Item, so much for Servants Wages. Item, so much for the Interest of their Money. Item, so much for Spoiling, they not being used whilst they are good. Item, so much for Prescribing (tho' it is pretended to be done for no­thing, the deceit not being this way discernible.) Item, so much for attending upon the Business, only two bits of an Afternoon in a Week. Item, so much towards the Charge of the Penny-Quack-Book, which the Blew-Book-men put forth, and fell for Two Pence. Item, so much for the Loss of Reputation, for doing so many things against the Dignity of the Profession of Phy­sick, and the Laws of Common Honesty and Morality. Now when all these Items (with a many more) are gathered into one Sum, who knows how dear the Intrinsick Value of their Quack-trash will be? But as it is probable they (I mean the Blew-Book-men) may have a Dispensation for lying; so there is no heed to be taken to them, tho' they should promise to sell their pittiful, nasty, Quack-stuff Fifteen Shillings in the Pound cheaper than an Apothecary can his well prepared Medicines.

XXI. Blew-Book. The Dispensary is the place where the Medi­cines are Dispensed, or given out to the Poor: Here are all sorts of Cordial and Distilled Waters, Electuaries, Syrups, Pouders, Pills, [Page 24]Plaisters, Oyntments, Spirits, Salts, Tinctures, Roots, all Com­pound and simple Medicines; and in short, all outward and in­ward Medicaments, that are, or need generally be made use of, &c. page 15, 16.

Salmon. The Word Dispensary, is Barbarous, and of the Classis in [...]mae Latinitatis, not to be found in any Lexicon or Dicti­onary of the Greek or Latin Tongues, but only in Du Fresne's Glos­sary; and signifies here no more plainly than a SHOP: But this word, because it looks so Mechanick, and comes off with such a degrading Sound, the Blades were loth to express in Eng­lish, that they might not fall under the Contempt of the Vul­gar. This being said, the next thing that follows, is the Raree­show; all the Shows in Bartholomew-Fair, cannot present you with a more Pageant like Intrcitum. What do you lack, what would you Buy? here are all sorts of Cordial and Distilled Waters; here is the wonder of the World, come in and take your places; I question whether the veriest Quack or Mountebank, that ever pist, can accost you with a more Hyperbolick Exordium: But now after all, what if you should be Cheated? why, they know plainly you must hold your Tongue, and not complain, for fear of being Laughed at. Just like the Persons who went to see the terrible Monstrous Beast, which had two Heads, ten Ears and but one Mouth, without Eyes, Arms, Legs, or Tail, which if any one struk, it would make a dreadful thundring noise like the Roaring of a Lyon: The House being full of Spectators at Half a Crown a man, the Sight being produced, it proved to be no­thing but a Drum; they were no doubt, all vext to be so Cheated, yet resolved not to Complain, but let the next Commers disco­ver it at their own Costs and Charges, as they had done; and this they did to avoid being laugh'd at, and so must you. In my Conscience and Soul, I do not think, any Quack-Bill that ever was Published, can equal this of the Blew-Book-men; it is perfectly Quacking all over, with all the Hyperboles that the thing will admit of: For in the first place, I do not believe they have all sorts and varieties of the things they here brag and boast of: then in the next place, it is a very great Question, whether they are well and truly Prepared or no, or whether the Person or Persons which make the Mish-mash, or Medly, have the Skill they ought to have or not; And Lastly, that the won­derful and mighty Sight, consists of nothing but what's com­mon and mean, like that of the Drum aforementioned, which makes a great noise, and yet has nothing in it. Now, if I am mistaken, and this be not meer Quacking, I would be glad to know what is: But some Men may do any thing and be ac­counted [Page 25]honest, with all the Applause imaginable, whilst others less guilty, if they step but awry, shall be taken for Horse-stealers.

XXII. Blew-Book. In the next place they tell us of General Meetings, — new Regulations, — Committees, — gi­ving of Orders, — receiving Accounts, — inspecting in­to Servants Conducts, — preparing Matters, — appoint­ing Curators, — to see their Servants do not Cheat, — nor the Stock be robbed, — keeping of the Money, — their Confusions and Disorders, — signing of their Bills, &c. page 16, 17.

Salmon. What is all this to the Business, what have we, or the good People of London to do with the Blew-Book-men's fiddle-faddles, and fooleries, with the private Concerns of their Mono­poly, with their ordering and disordering their Fools-baubles, and their tittle-tattle about nothing that Concerns us; What is it to the Publick whether they agree or disagree; joyn, or disjoyn; whether they Cheat, or are Cheated; keep Accounts, or no Ac­counts; whether their Servants rob them or not; and whe­ther they have any Money, or no Money, or who keeps it? But this is to let the World know something of nothing, and how they manage doing to no purpose, but only to amuse them­selves and others, that they may look like Men of Business, when they have no Business, or nothing to do. Truly all this is like Bedlam-discourse, or the wild Romances of the Mad-men there, so that it merits no farther Observations, or Animadversions there­upon.

XXIII. Blew-Book. We need not here mention where the Sub­scribers, (i. e. the Blew-Book-men) dwell, nor who they are; this the Church-Wardens, and the Poor, may learn at the College; and there is hardly a Parish in London or Westminster, where one or other of them does not live, page 18.

Salmon. And so we think, where the Blew-Book-men dwell, or who they are, is not necessary to be mentioned, nor is it worth any Man's knowing; nor can it possibly be worth the while for Church-Wardens, or the Poor, to take the pains to en­quire: For what do they get by it? truly nothing that I know of; if they have no Money, they must have no Medicines: and if they have Money, they must give them for their Trash, the full of what they call the Intrinsick Value, which how much that is, I know no Mortal but themselves can tell; it is what value soever they are pleased to put upon it, which I believe an honest Apothecary will afford you much better, as Cheap. I cannot help my having an ill Opinion of men of their Kidney, for Men that [Page 26]will be unjust in one thing, will be unjust in another. I am un­willing to unravel the whole Story of Mr. Ragg the Apothecary; or that dreadful Contrivance against the Life of Dr. Coatsworth of St. Albans, the Relations of which two Transactions, to hear them, would make a Man's two Ears to Tingle: I am willing to spare them a little, to see if they will mend, and not to expose them with all the Truth I am able: A farther scrutiny of their particular Actions I will defer, and let sleep, without a future Provocation. They go far that never return, and I am yet in some hopes they may see their fatal Errors, and unaccountable Follies, and amend. As for the Parishes of London and Westmin­ster being supplied with them, I think it to be no Blessing but a Curse; and they to be happiest, who have least to do with them; I perswade my self, that the Church-Wardens of Parishes will never trouble their Heads with their Fooleries, whose Charities are of no more worth than a Scotch-Mist, which if a Man walks long in it, will do him such a mischief as to wet him to the Skin.

XXIV. Blew-Book. The Medicines are delivered out of the College, at the Intrinsick Value, that is at the first Cost; for — making no advantage of them, no more is required of the Publick, then what will just support the Stock, without which it would necessarily sink, page 18.

Salmon. A learned Discourse, and just worth nothing; as if every body did not know, that if a Man sells his Commodity for less than it stands him in, all Costs and Charges being con­sidered, he must be a looser by it, and his Fund or Stock must waste, and at length come to nothing. Now let us consider, be­sides the first Costs of the Drugs, there is Laboratory-room, Shop­room, Ʋse of Ʋtensils, waste in making up, spoiling by long keep­ing, Expences, Servants Wages, Attendance, and a many other things, which if they should not be added to the Prime or first Cost of the Drugs, the Fund or Stock would in time infallibly be lost or sunk; and therefore you must really conclude, that all the Items in Sect. XX. aforegoing, are to be accounted for here. The next thing which I am to take notice of, is, That they are delivered out of the College; but this they speak by a kind of Rhetorical Figure called Auxesis, wherein they magnify a thing, and make it greater than truly it is; for they deliver their Slip-slops, out of a SHOP, as all Apothecaries do: but they thought College sounded greater, and lookt more magnificent than the mechanick and degrading Term of a SHOP, as count­ing themselves something above it; tho' at the same time they can submissively and meanly submit, to any thing that they think [Page 27]a Penny is to be gotten by. But if they should make you believe, that they will afford their stuff at the simple prime Cost of the Drugs, that is so vain a thing, that nothing can be more foolish to be spoken, for that they tell you, they must sell their Mat­ters at such a price, as that their Stock may not sink by it: And yet they have so craftily worded their Discourse, that at first sight, a Man would really believe, that they spoke as they meant and intended, and that there was nothing else to be un­derstood by Intrinsick Value, but the prime or first Costs of the Drugs; whereas upon viewing the thing, and throughly scanning their words, there is nothing that they less intend; and so a Cheat is put by Lump or whole Sale upon the Understanding. What ways have Men to sham the World withal, and what may not they do, who think that they have Authority to say and do what they please, be it right or wrong, good or bad? How can any Man be safe to deal with such Persons, who seldom or ne­ver speak as they mean; nor mean as they speak? Unless you know before-hand, that you must understand them by the Con­traries, and always take them in the opposite sense; at least in a sense different from what their words signify.

XXV. Blew-Book. The Benefit the Publick does, and may reap thereby, it is fifteen Shilligs in the Pound; that being here af­forded for five Shillings, for which the Apothecaries exact Twenty Shil­lings, — a great Relief to indigent People, — poor Fa­milies, and Gentlemen's Servants, page 18, 19.

Salmon. What Benefit the Publick may receive by this their empty Charity, I suppose will be invisible, like to Ghosts which haunt the Air, not to be seen of any, but such as are furnish­ed with Second Sights; they say it is Fifteen Shillings in the Pound, viz. That they will afford that for Five Shillings, which the Apothecaries take Twenty Shillings for. But 'tis probable the Blew-Book-men may have a Dispensation for Lying, and so no heed is to be taken to them: Can any Body believe it is possi­ble, that those well-prepared Medicines, which an Apothecary takes Twenty Shillings for, that the same should be sold at a Quack-SHOP for Five Shillings; would not any one in his senses believe, that they must be either defective in the Ingredi­ents, or spoiled in the making? But after all, how shall we know that they speak Truth, and that the same Medicaments full as good, and as exactly and well prepared, they will sell so much below the Price? I assure you he must have a great Faith, that can believe such an incredible assertion, from Men of their Mo­rals, without having any other Assurance than their bare word, or say-so for it. They tell us, it will be a great Relief to indi­gent [Page 28]People, poor Families, and Gentlemens Servants. But how, or wherein, I nor any Body else knows: Oh, they will give them their Advice or Prescription Gratis, page 17. 'Tis so in words, but it is to be supposed, that tho' they pay nothing down for it, that they have the Cunning to put it into the Intrinsick Value, because he that writes the Bill or signs it, does also put the Price at the bottom of it, and the Servants are responsible to the Curators for the Price writ upon every Bill, page 17, 18. This is Proof e­nough with a Vengeance, that they make their own Markets, even as they please themselves, and gives a great Umbrage, that all the Items aforementioned at Sect. XX. are true. But sup­pose for Argument-sake, they should do this Gratis, what does it all amount to, to those poor People who have no Money, to pay them their Market Price for it? Why it amounts to nothing; for if they have no Money, or if they have some Money, and not the full Price, they must certainly go without it; Now what this Invisible Charity is, who can tell; I know not who it can be of Service to, but such as take nothing, and live upon the Air. But after all, I suppose they did this to Ape me; because I give to the Poor Gratis, so would they; but herein they and I dif­fer: I give to all poor People, not only my advice Gratis, but proper Remedies or Medicines for the Cure of their Distempers freely, and that without Money or Price. Whereas they only pretend to give their advice to the Poor for nothing, which is as much as nothing; for it is that which costs them nothing, and which I very much fear is worth nothing; so that from their own words, it is manifest, that tho' they seem to follow me, yet they do it not the half way; their Charity could not carry them through Stitch with the pious Design. But when all shall be computed, considering the goodness of Apothecaries Medicines, and their skill in well preparing them, I really believe, notwithstanding the Blew-Book-mens boasting, that they will find the Apothecaries Shop the cheapest place of the two.

XXVI. Blew-Book. The Physicians — have obliged them­selves — to attend by turns, two of them at a time, at the College every Week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, at three a Clock in the Afternoon, to give Advice Gratis there to all poor Diseased Persons, whose Sickness will permit them to repair thither for help, page 19.

Salmon. What their Gratis Advice is, we have Discoursed before, so that nothing more need be said of it in this place. But as to their Attendance, it is very short and narrow. These Blew-Book-men, are by their own Report, to the number of five and Forty which have subscribed, page 14. And it is strange, that [Page 29]out of such a Number, no greater Attendance can be given in so great and mighty a City as this of London is, where the poor are so vastly numerous: Not two whole days they can afford, nor yet two half days, but only two bits of an Afternoon, viz. only from three a Clock post meridiem, for so few hours as their Worships are pleased to stay. Surely they expect but little Business, and but few Patients, that so short a limited time will do their Business in; it is very narrow and short Charity I am satisfied in, that such a Body of them as Forty five, cannot af­ford to spend no more time about it. But the Brevity of the time, agrees with the Penuriousness of their Charity, and both conspire alike to the Benefit of the poor sick Patient, who if he has any Money, shall have some of their Blessings, but if he has none, shall certainly go without. Thus they feed the wretched and miserable with a bit, and a knock; whereas I who am but One, attend upon my Charity almost whole Days, and every day in the Week; and I believe I Cure more than three hun­dred poor People (I speak within Compass) of their deplorable Distempers in a year; with a Continuation of the same Charity every Year, which Course I intend (through the help of God) to persue to the utmost Period of my Life. And as to repairing to them for help, if they have no Money, I am sure they must go without it.

XXVII. Blew-Book. It will be thought no small Relief to a poor sickly Person — to have thus recourse to the College twice a Week, to have his Case sedately heard, by two Grave Physicians, and to have their advice in Writing for nothing; and Medicines there rea­dy made, for what they only Cost, page 19, 20.

Salmon. Here is Tautologies upon Tautologies, the same things over and over again; their Relief if you have no Money, is no Relief, nor can you expect it, for they tell you themselves, that you must pay for your Medicines, what they Cost; which is in plainer terms, what they shall be pleased to set down at the bot­tom of their Bill, page 17, 18. whether it be reasonable, or un­reasonable, and you must take it at a venture without finding sault: But the jest of it is, That the poor Patient shall have his Case sedately heard by two Grave Physicians: One would think by their foolish way of wording it, that it was some brangling Cause to be heard at some of the Courts in Westminster-hall or Guild­hall, at the former of which places it is hoped, that some of their Cases will be e're long heard, to their shame and Contempt. Besides, it looks by their Discourse, as if they lived far from Neighbours, for it is always thought so when Folks begin to praise themselves: They say, The poor Patients Case shall be se­dately [Page 30]heard by two Grave Physicians. Now what they mean by this damnable hard word [Sedately] who can tell? Whether it signifies Appeasedly, or Mitigatingly, or Temperately, or So­berly, or Calmly, or some other thing, is difficult to be under­stood? But letting that very hard word alone; the Cream of the jest is, That the Case shall be heard by two Grave Physicians; now here is another hard word [Grave] (as for Physicians we will let them alone, because we do not know whether they are Physicians or no, or only Fellows which call themselves so, or whether they may not be master Doctors, or half Doctors, or no Doctors, which may know little or nothing of Physick:) the thing which we chiedy reflect upon is that they are Grave (not Sepulchralis, but) Gravis, heavy, grievous, fore, dangerous, ungentle, uncourteous, and so let them go, and glad we are rid of them.

XXVIII. Blew-Book. It is hoped the Lord Bishop of London, the Rectors, Church-Wardens, and Overseers for the Poor of the several Parishes, will, as they have occasion, direct their respective Poor hither for Advice and Relief — as likewise for prevent­ing them for going to Quacks and Mountebanks, &c. page 20.

Salmon. I do not doubt but that honourable Person, the Lord Bishop of London, as also the Rectors, &c. of Parishes, have something else to do, than to mind the Blew-Book-mens fooling and trifling, especially when it is to no purpose: And I won­der at their Impudence, that they should think that the Honou­rable Person aforenamed, should so far demean himself, and stoop below his Character and Dignity, to be an Assistant to their De­ceits, and shamming of Mankind: For to speak in sober sad­ness, all their whole Design is, only to ruine the Apothecaries Trade, and to get it into their own hands, and so (under the Umbrage of their pretended Charity) to make their own Fortunes by it, tho' it is really thro' the Ruine of anothers. As to their Advice, that it will be worth any thing, is more than any the wi­sest Man can say; but as to their Relief, it is the same which we told you of before, if they bring Money they may expect some of their Trash for it, but if they have no Money, they must be sure to go without: this is their admirable and wonder-working Charity; but if People should be prevented from going to Quacks, I am sure they must not then come near the Blew-Book-men.

XXIX. Blew Book. To make this Charitable work the more easy — it would be requisite, that the Rectors of Parishes and Church-Wardens should agree to allow some small Contribution out of the Money paid to the poor in every Parish, towards hiring one Room in Covent-Garden, and another towards the Monument—without sending so far as the College of Physicians, which is near St. Pauls, in the Center of London, p. 21.

Salmon. How? What have the Rectors of Parishes to do with the Poors Money? This I am sure of, the Law of the Land will never permit them to dispose of it; and by what Law can Church-Wardens give that Money away, which is for buying the Poor Bread, to Hire Apothecaries-SHOPS for the College of Physicians? I am sure, if they-should be so silly to do such a thing, they might be made to refund it again out of their own Purses, and that with Interest. I wonder at the Im­pudence of these Blew-Book-men! They cannot be contented to act illegal, base and ill things themselves, but they must be en­couraging and prompting others to do the like; but I doubt not, but that the Rectors and Church-Wardens of Parishes will be wi­ser, and not be imposed upon by such ill-minded People. Now the World may see these Mens Charity for all their so great Pro­fession of it; they would have the Charity-Money belonging to the Poor given to them, to Hire College-SHOPS withal, in which these narrow-Soul'd-Fellows may Act their villanious de­signs against the whole Company of Apothecaries, to the Ruine and Destruction of their Trade, and the undoing some hun­dreds of Families, and this all under the pretence of Charity; all which they would willingly do, thro' the help of the Poors Charity-Money; they have not Souls of their own large enough to act this pretended Charity (which after all is no Charity) out of their own Pockets. No! they are willing, and had rather have it out of the Poors Chest; this indeed pleases them much better. But then for their direction, how to know in what part of the City the College is: Why, they tell you, it is near St. Paul's in the Centre of London; as if they were ashamed of its true Scituation; the true Direction is this, Situate in Warwick-lane, near our Pleasure-House of Newgate, which every Thief knows; now judge you, which of the Directions is the better, or nearer the mark.

XXX. Blew-Book. The Physicians (I suppose they mean the Blew-Book-men) design to have Lectures of Chymistry and Anatomy, read in the College every Year; and to try a great many natural Ex­periments; as likewise to examine Quack Medicines, to discover and publish the Cheats of those Impostures, &c. page 21.

Salmon. As for their Lectures of Chymistry, it is so rediculous that nothing can be more; that they should set up for that Art, they have all along from their first Conventicling till now, de­dryed and declared against as useless, Empirical and Dangerous, is a Riddle not to be unfolded; it is like Phormio (who never had seen or knew any thing in the Art of War) his reading a milita­ry Lecture before Hanibal, the ablest Soldier in the World. I intend, God willing, to make e're long Monthly Lectures of [Page 32] Physick, Chirurgery, Anatomy and Chimistry, in Our College of Black-Fryars, in which we shall unfold the Foundations of those Arts, and raise up Super-structures of Knowledge, as may be of perpetual Duration, and be good for, and useful to, the Uni­versality of Mankind. Their trying of natural Experiments, is like a Blind Man's groaping out his way in the dark; for not un­derstanding the Principles of Chymistry, nor viewing things in a true Light, it cannot be otherwise supposed, but that their Ex­periments must be deceitful, like the Fallacious Mediums by which they were found out. Then they pretend to Examine Quack Me­dicines, whereas their own are nothing else, and of the worst kind too: nor have they or any of them the Skill, to know things contained in any Composition of anothers making: how then can they Examine Quack Medicines, or discover the Cheats of Impostors, the Blew-Book-men themselves, being so great of the kind? But all this is only mighty bragging, and Boasting of things they know nothing of, and which truly lye above the Sphears of their diminutive Knowledge, and is indeed the most like to Mountebanking and Quacking in the World.

XXXI. Blew-Book. —The Apothecaries Bills are gene­rally unreasonable, page 21.

Salmon. That is, our Enemies being Judges. But if the En­quiry into this Scandalous Assertion be rightly made, by compa­ring an Apothecaries Attendance upon a Patient, with a Doctors, or one of the Blew-Book-mens, we shall find a vast difference in the Account. An Apothecaries Attendance upon a Patient ten Weeks together, with his Bill at end of it, will not amount to so much mo­ney as a Blew-Book-mans will do in one week, and this I have several times observed to be true. But you see Scandal is all they aim at, they will be sure to observe Matchiavel's Rule, which is to fling dirt enough, for that in so doing they are sure some will stick.

XXXII. Blew-Book. If any Enemies to the Publick Good, should artfully give out any ill meaning in this Charitable Design of the College; Time and Experience will shew, that there is nothing else intended by it, but the Relief of the Poor, the Honour of the College and the Improvement of Physick, page 22.

Salmon. If any Enemies to the Publick Good, shall malicious­ly give out any ill-meaning to this our honest design of discovering what the Blew-Book-men are; Time and Experience will shew, that there is nothing else intended by it but the eviction of the male-practises of their Monopoly, to the hurt of the Poor, dishonour of the Society of Physicians, and Disimprovement of the Art of Physick, as we have, ex abundanti, demonstrated.