Oxymel

Use in the book

Squill oxymel heads a list of further compound preparations after Burton has divided purgers by route of administration and by liquid or solid form. It stands beside Quercetan’s named syrups, other compound syrups and Heurnius’s purgative rooster broth. The sequence supplies a pharmaceutical category and neighbours, not quantities or a recipe. The following objection concerns the syrups and is reported as refuted by Mattioli; it should not silently be assigned to oxymel alone.

Unqualified oxymel reappears in the discussion of persistent hypochondriacal melancholy, among means of gently inducing vomiting. That paragraph immediately juxtaposes warnings against hot medicines and against cold medicines, then says the choice varies with the person and is difficult to determine. The next passages emphasize avoiding unnecessary medicine and describe a remedy helpful in two cases that might harm a third. This is an attributed historical therapeutic setting, not present-day advice.

Related entries

Receipt

Confection

Purging

Places to read

1. Subsection 3 Compound Purgatives · paragraph 36Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
2. Subsection 3 Compound Purgatives · paragraph 37The name heads a further catalogue of compound purgative preparations, beside syrups and a purgative broth.
3. Subsection 3 Compound Purgatives · paragraph 38Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
4. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 30Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
5. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 31The unspecialized name occurs among ways of gently provoking vomiting in persistent hypochondriacal illness.
6. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 32Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.
7. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 33Surrounding argument or qualification for the cited medicinal use.

In this edition

“Oxymel Scilliticum” becomes “squill oxymel”: the plant modifier is translated and the preparation name retained. The note defines honey, vinegar and the additional squill, without adding quantities or reconstructing a standard recipe. “oxymel” remains “oxymel” in the later passage, whose note supplies the honey-and-vinegar meaning.

Oxymel

Printed “oxymel” (English; lemma).

A medicinal mixture of honey and vinegar.

Here: The unspecialized name occurs among ways of gently provoking vomiting in persistent hypochondriacal illness.

Context: Burton reports a historical treatment within immediately conflicting advice about hot and cold medicines; the next passage insists on need and patient-specific judgement.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: oxymel

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a medicinal mixture of honey and vinegar in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

squill oxymel

Printed “Oxymel Scilliticum” (Latin; phrase).

A medicinal honey-and-vinegar preparation with squill.

Here: The name heads a further catalogue of compound purgative preparations, beside syrups and a purgative broth.

Context: Burton’s historical preparation name; the list includes Quercetan’s syrups and Heurnius’s broth but does not explicitly attribute this first item to either.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Oxymel Scilliticum

Modern rendering: squill oxymel

Word and construction: The indexed form names or supplies a medicinal honey-and-vinegar preparation with squill in this expression.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.