SOME OBSERVATIONS Made upon the HERB Cassiny; Imported from CAROLINA: SHOWING Its Admirable VIRTUES in Curing the SMALL POX.  
Written by a Physician in the Country to Esq Boil at London.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1695.   

SOME OBSERVATIONS Made upon the HERB Cassiny: SHOWING Its Admirable Virtues in Curing the SMALL POX. In a LETTER, etc.  
SIR,  
I Am sorry to hear that the Small Pox is so rise at London, it's the less Wonder to find you so Inquisitive after a good Specific Remedy in that Distemper: I must tell you, I know no better Medicine in that Case than the Famous Carolina Herb called Cassiny.  
There are abundance of Persons now Dye of the Small Pox in our Town and Country, but I attribute it very much to ill Management of Nurses and Ignorant People, who give many hot Medicines, under the pretence of driving out, as Sack, and Saffron, and Mithridate, and Venice Treacle; by this means they fire the Blood into a Favour, and that kills them. I only give a few Drops of the Tincture of this temperate Herb in Water-gruel, or in Panado, or Posset-drink, and do nothing else all the while, but leave it to Nature, and I find better Success.  
I have had many in one Family down at one time of this loathsome Distemper, and all recovered with this Method; but if any desire to die with more pompous Prescriptions, much good may it do them.  
The Medicines made of this Herb do not in the least heat the Blood, but rather moderate and gently allay the violent Fermentation of it, if it be too high, and yet safely help the Expulsive Faculty if it be too weak. This Specific keeps them out of the Head and Throat, and secures the Lungs, by helping Expectoration.  
I have often observed, that the slower they are in coming forth, the more dangerous; and if the Salivation or Spitting ceaseth before the eleventh Day, especially in a Flux Pox, there is then much more reason to fear the Patients being poisoned by the return of the purulent Matter inwards: And yet in this extreme hazard the Tincture of this Herb in Small Beer, and some times in Tare Broth, hath saved the Lives of many.  
I being once sent for to a Boarding-School, where several young Gentlewomen, who highly valued their Beauty, were surprised with the Small Pox, I only gave them the Drops drawn out of this Herb in all their liquid Aliment, as Water-gruel, and Posset-drink, and Small Beer, and caused them to keep their Faces covered with their Masks all the time, and they recovered, and preserved their Complexions.  
I remember that an Eminent Physician of London told me an extraordinary Case of a Court Lady of great Beauty, a Patient of his, who was much afflicted at the Death of many who died of the Small Pox, and he was resolved to try a contrary Method to what had been taken with those, he kept her moderately warm covered with Scarlet Blankets, omitted Bleeding, and caused her to take no more Nourishment than would keep her from starving; her Drink was Posset-drink, with Figgs in it; her Food only Bread and Water boiled together, with seven Drops of this Specific which came out of Carlina; he caused a live Sheep to be kept in the Chamber all the time of her Illness, to draw away the malignity; the Sheep died, but the Lady recovered, although it was a very unkindly sort, which much threatened her Life; the Dr. told me he durst never give her any Opiate Medicine, lest it should stop her Spitting, which is the most proper way of Evacuation in all sorts of Pox, both great and small.  
The Virtues of this excellent Plant are at large mentioned in an Account of Carolina, and also in the History of the West Indies, a Latin Book written by John Delait of Antwerp, many Years since, who tells us that it's an Admirable Dioretick, it also greatly corroborates Nature, and helps her to cast off whatever is offensive to the Animal and Vital Spirits, and also it promotes genuine easy Sweats, and mild friendly transpirations, preserving the Mind serene, and the Body active and lively a long while after, without any other Nourishment, and none but Persons of great Quality are permitted to use this Noble Beverage, which they drink as we do Ten and Coffee.  
Purchas in his Pilgrimage tells us, that at Florida, now called Carolina, they live to a very great Age, and speaks of one of their Kings who was three Hundred years old; and whenever the Inhabitants of that Country meet with Mournful Accidents, or Subjects of Lamentation, they drink Cassiny to cheer their Hearts.  
A famous Sea-Chyrurgeon who came from those Parts, had most of his Ships Passengers taken sick of the Small Pox, and recovered them with Medicines made with this Herb.  
I have so great an Opinion of this Plant, that if I had an Only Child who had the Small Pox, I would give him the Tincture of it in all his Drink, and depend upon it under God, as much as I would upon the Peruvian Bark in a Quartan Ague.  
FINIS.