Pil. Sapon. Co., formerly official as Pil. Sapon. c Opio, Pil. Opii, Pil. ex Opio, and when first authorised in the P.L., 1746, Pil. Saponacea, was adapted from a famous nostrum long sold as Matthews’s Pills, and as Starkey’s Pills. Starkey, a qualified physician, was understood to have devised the process, and Matthews was the vendor in whose name they were sold. But a little before his death in 1665 Starkey told Dr. George Wilson that the formula he had sold to Matthews was not his genuine and best process. In both, however, the characteristic ingredient was “soap of tartar,” which it was claimed added an aperient quality to the opium which made it safe to give in asthmas and other complaints when opium alone was objectionable. The soap of tartar was made by melting together in a crucible equal parts of cream of tartar and saltpetre, the compound being afterwards crystallised and powdered, and with it was incorporated 4 oz. of turpentine to each pound of the resulting salt. Matthews’s Pills were made from 4 oz. each of extract of opium, black hellebore, soap of tartar, and liquorice, with 1 oz. of saffron. Starkey’s deathbed formula ordered 4 oz. of extract of opium, 2 oz. each of nutmeg and mineral bezoar (calx of antimony), saffron and snake root, of each 1 oz., soap of tartar 8 oz., oil of sassafras ½ oz., tincture of antimony, 2 oz. These pills were also known as pilulæ pacificæ. DECOCTIONS OF SARSAPARILLA. Sarsaparilla, guaiacum, sassafras, and mezereon enjoyed fitful periods of fame in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially for the treatment of syphilis. From the time of their introduction the Paracelsists denounced these remedies, and Paracelsus himself was especially sarcastic about “the wooden doctors,” as he called those who relied on these woods. Still they were employed to an immense extent. A number of remedies were made from them, generally from a combination of them. One of these called the Lisbon Diet Drink became very popular in the eighteenth century. This was taken not only in syphilitic cases, but as an antirheumatic and generally purifying medicine. It was said to contain antimony, and the following was reputed to be a correct imitation of it:--Sarsaparilla, 90, red sandal, 90, yellow sandal, 90, rose root, 30, guaiacum wood, 30, sassafras, 30, mezereon bark, 15, sulphide of antimony, 60, boiling water, 3600. Infuse twelve hours and boil down to half, adding near the end of the boiling fifteen parts of liquorice. An English Dr. Leake wrote a book about this decoction in 1787, describing what he had seen of its good effects in the cure of venereal diseases, scurvy, and other stubborn chronic complaints. He had been to Lisbon, and intimated that he had obtained the correct formula, but he did not give it. He had, however, for some time made it, and would supply it in a concentrated form.