Decoction

Use in the book

Randolotius’s example appears in the causes of hypochondriacal melancholy. While intent on copying medical notes, he is disturbed by an unspecified incident, falls into an attack, drinks a decoction of wormwood and is reportedly relieved. The surrounding discussion connects mental disturbance with bodily disorder, especially in already ill-disposed bodies; the anecdote does not establish a universally effective cure.

The wider catalogue gives decoction practical importance beyond that case. Borage and bugloss may appear as the plant itself, juice, plant parts and several prepared forms. Decoctions can also moisten sponges in external fomentations, so the noun identifies how the preparation was obtained rather than requiring that it be swallowed.

For hellebore, preparation is a point of disagreement. Forestus and Capivaccius reject taking the substance itself but permit decoction or infusion; Fernel describes the purge as terrible and limits it to robust people. Other authorities allow the material, whereas the physician named Vidus Vidius prefers an extract. No single permitted form or claim of safety can be extracted from this sequence.

Codronchus’s praise of wormwood oil and salt works against the bulk and unpleasantness of decoctions and infusions. The later case of a German prince reports benefit from China root and sassafras preparations, then immediately warns that the same remedies might have poisoned a third patient by overheating the liver and blood. These are attributed historical claims, and the patient-dependent qualification is part of the meaning of the example.

Related entries

Receipt

Distillation and rheum

Simples

Helleborism

Epithemes

Places to read

1. Subsection 4. Causes of Hypochondriacal, or Windy, Melancholy · paragraph 41Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
2. Subsection 4. Causes of Hypochondriacal, or Windy, Melancholy · paragraph 42Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
3. Subsection 4. Causes of Hypochondriacal, or Windy, Melancholy · paragraph 43Wormwood is the ingredient; decoction specifies the preparation drunk in Randolotius’s reported attack.
4. Subsection 4. Causes of Hypochondriacal, or Windy, Melancholy · paragraph 44Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
5. Subsection 3 Alteratives Herbs and Other Plant Remedies · paragraph 8The list distinguishes decoctions from other forms in which borage and bugloss may be prepared.
6. Subsection 5 Compound Alteratives Criticism of Compounds and Mixed Medicines · paragraph 28Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
7. Subsection 5 Compound Alteratives Criticism of Compounds and Mixed Medicines · paragraph 29Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
8. Subsection 5 Compound Alteratives Criticism of Compounds and Mixed Medicines · paragraph 30Fomentations carry the liquid on sponges, so a decoction need not be a drink.
9. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 28Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
10. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 29Forestus and Capivaccius permit prepared liquid forms of hellebore while rejecting administration of the material itself.
11. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 30Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
12. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 31Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
13. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 32Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
14. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 27Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
15. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 28Codronchus prefers wormwood oil and salt to voluminous drinks; fulsome expresses offensiveness, not praise.
16. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 29Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
17. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 31Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
18. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 32Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
19. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 33The reported successful remedy is immediately made patient-dependent: the same treatment might poison a third patient.
20. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 34Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.

In this edition

“decoction of wormwood” remains “decoction of wormwood”, with the preparation explained in the note. “spunges, wet in some decoctions” becomes “sponges soaked in decoctions”. “in decoction or infusion” becomes “a decoction or infusion”. The unchanged technical noun preserves distinctions that a general rendering such as medicine would obscure.

“fulsome decoctions, and infusions” becomes “nauseating decoctions and infusions”. The negative adjective belongs to Codronchus’s comparison. In the prince’s case, the rendering specifies China root, but the source’s separate salt of sassafras remains alongside the decoction rather than becoming an ingredient silently folded into it.

Decoction · decoction · local use 1

Printed “decoction” (English; lemma).

A preparation made by boiling material in liquid.

Here: Wormwood is the ingredient; decoction specifies the preparation drunk in Randolotius’s reported attack.

Context: Randolotius’s account, retold by Burton, reports relief after an unspecified disturbing incident while copying a physician’s notes.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: decoction of wormwood

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a preparation made by boiling material in liquid in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Decoction · decoctions · local use 1

Printed “decoctions” (English; lemma).

A liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material.

Here: The list distinguishes decoctions from other forms in which borage and bugloss may be prepared.

Context: Burton’s historical classification of preparations; their listing together does not make their preparation methods identical.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: decoctions, distilled waters, extracts, oils

Word and construction: The indexed form supplies a liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Decoction · decoctions · local use 2

Printed “decoctions” (English; lemma).

A liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material.

Here: Fomentations carry the liquid on sponges, so a decoction need not be a drink.

Context: Burton lists external applications following internal compounds.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: spunges, wet in some decoctions

Modern rendering: sponges soaked in decoctions

Word and construction: The indexed form supplies a liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Decoction · decoction · local use 2

Printed “decoction” (English; lemma).

A boiled-liquid preparation, distinguished here from an infusion and the substance itself.

Here: Forestus and Capivaccius permit prepared liquid forms of hellebore while rejecting administration of the material itself.

Context: Reported professional disagreement; Fernel restricts the frightening purge to robust bodies, and other authorities later differ.

Source: original body

Source wording: in decoction or infusion

Original and modern wording: decoction or infusion

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a boiled-liquid preparation, distinguished here from an infusion and the substance itself in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Decoction · decoctions · local use 3

Printed “decoctions” (English; lemma).

A liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material.

Here: Codronchus prefers wormwood oil and salt to voluminous drinks; fulsome expresses offensiveness, not praise.

Context: Burton reports Codronchus’s comparative therapeutic claim; the anomalous final Latin sequence in the margin remains distinct.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: fulsome decoctions, and infusions

Modern rendering: nauseating decoctions and infusions

Word and construction: The indexed form supplies a liquid prepared by boiling medicinal material in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Decoction · decoction · local use 3

Printed “decoction” (English; lemma).

A boiled-liquid preparation of named medicinal materials.

Here: The reported successful remedy is immediately made patient-dependent: the same treatment might poison a third patient.

Context: Laelius’s reported cases and letters supply the success claim; Burton adds the hypothetical harm through overheating liver and blood.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: the decoction of China and Sassafras, and salt of Sassafras

Modern rendering: a decoction of China root and sassafras, and salt of sassafras

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a boiled-liquid preparation of named medicinal materials in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.