“Strait to the ’pothecary’s shop I went, And in love powder all my money spent; Behap what will next Sunday after prayers When to the alehouse Lubberkin repairs, These flies into his mug I’ll throw, And soon the swain with fervent love shall glow”. “Botanomancy,” Ferrand states, “which is done by the noise or crackling that kneeholme, box, or bay leaves make when they are crushed betwixt one’s hands or cast into the fire, was of old in use among the pagans, who were wont to bruise poppy flowers betwixt their hands, and by this means thinking to know their loves.” A CHARME OR AN ALLAY FOR LOVE. “If so be a toad be laid In a sheepskin newly flaid, And that ty’d to man ’twill sever Him and his affections ever.”—Herrick’s _Hesperides_. The winged ant was another favourite ingredient in love philtres, and was first used by Rhazes, who prepared the winged ant in the form of tincture by maceration in alcohol. This tincture, dropped in the homœopathic manner into wine or mixed with food, was supposed to have a wonderful action in producing symptoms of the tender passion in the coldest hearts. The winged ants alone were used in this preparation, which enjoyed a long reputation, and was subsequently known as “Hoffmann’s Water of Magnanimity,” and largely used in the seventeenth century as an aphrodisiac. CHAPTER XIII. THE PIONEERS OF PHARMACY AND BOTANY—PHYSIC GARDENS. The operation of distillation was unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans, although Dioscorides and Pliny describe a process which may be considered that of distillation in its infancy. The process was not known in England until the time of Henry II. To the Arabs we are indebted for the discovery of manna, cassia, senna, and rhubarb, also aromatics, such as musk, nutmeg, mace, and cloves. Blisters were known and used by the Arabs, who are the first also on record to mention sugar extracted from the cane, and sugar-candy, which they called honey of cane. Rhazes and Avicenna were the first physicians to introduce improvements in pharmaceutical preparations. The latter was the first to mention the three mineral acids, and distinguish between vegetable and mineral alkalies. In the year 1226, Roger Bacon, a native of Ilchester, in Somersetshire, and a Franciscan monk, may be said to have laid the foundation of chemical science in Europe. He was excommunicated by Pope Nicholas, and imprisoned for ten years for supposed dealings with the devil. He professed to have discovered an elixir of life, which he affirmed prevented corruption of any constitution and the infirmities of age for many years. Following Bacon, at the end of the thirteenth century, came Arnoldas de Villa Nova, or Villeneuve, who was the first to recommend the distilled spirit of wine impregnated with certain herbs, from which we date our use of tinctures in medicine.