BUT in these precautionary Directions, it is to be particularly advertised, that Astringents of any Kind whatsoever, as _Bole_, _sealed Earth_, _Lemnian Earth_, _Coral_, &c. are not to be given to Maidens, and Women in their monthly Courses, for Fear they should occasion Obstructions, and other bad Disorders: Those Remedies also are as much to be blamed which force this Evacuation by thinning the Blood too much, and irritating the Uterine Vessels: And lastly, in the Preservation as well as the Cure, the Seasons of the Year, Sex, Constitution, Age, _&c._ are carefully to be attended to. BUT before I proceed further, Gratitude obliges me to do Justice to the Vertues of _Sack_, as it deservedly is ranked amongst the principal Antidotes, whether it be drank by it self, or impregnated with _Wormwood_, _Angelica_, &c. for I have never yet met with any Thing so agreeable to the Nerves and Spirits in all my Experience. That which is best is middle-aged, neat, fine, bright, racy, and of a Walnut Flavour; and it is certainly true, that during the late fatal Times, both the infected and the well found vast Benefit from it, unless they who used it too intemperately; many indeed medicated it with various _Alexipharmick Simples_. IT remains that we now say somewhat concerning the Use of _Tobacco_, whose Vertues for this Purpose are extreamly cried up by _Diemebrooeck_, and some others; but whether we regard the narcotick Quality of this _American_ Henbane; or the poisonous Oil which exhales from it in Smoaking; or that prodigious Discharge of Spittle which it occasions, and which Nature wants for many other important Occasions; or, lastly, the Exercise it gives to the Lungs in drawing it; besides the Aptitude of the pestilential Poison to be taken down along with it, and the Irksomeness of its Scent; I must confess my self at Uncertainties about it; though as to my self, I am its professed Enemy, and was accustomed to supply its Place as an Antidote with _Sack_. WE now then come to external Remedies, amongst which _Amulets_, and Characters, demand the first Notice: It must indeed be granted, that it is no new Custom or Contrivance to hang these Charms, made various Ways, about many Parts of the Body, but what Vertues these Things have, is worth some Enquiry. IT hath obtained with many, that Nature, or the Soul of the World, hath impressed upon some certain Bodies a very diffusive magnetick Vertue; whereupon some _Adepts_ have ascribed to many of these Bodies a Faculty of expelling Poisons. Others conceit, that both artificial and natural Poisons do, by a certain Sympathy, when outwardly applied, draw away every Thing that is detrimental to the Constitution; after the Manner as _Amber_ attracks Straws, and (as they report of the _Snake-stone_) imbibe its Venom: Some others again contrive _Amulets_ of Spices, to invigorate Nature, and support her against the Enemy.