Tuesday, June the 21st, 2005
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“Another Stratagem is, to give strange and hard names to their Medicines, such as are Pilulae radiis Solis extractae, and in English is no more than Pills dryed to that consistence by the Sun-Beams, which ignorant people have thought were made of the Sun Beams… I have heard a Pseudochymist blasphemously brag, he saw in the making of a grand Elixir, the Quintessence of the Trinity in Unity, and infinite other pitiful captivations of silly people, to be seen on every Gate and Post of this City; such as are the Spirit of the Salt of the World, Panchymagogon, and other ten-footed Greek names, and some other Mongrel nonsensical ones compounded of several Languages; promising certain, speedy, and concealed Cure of incurable Diseases.” — Christopher Merrett, A Short View Of The Frauds And Abuses Committed By Apothecaries