Preparatives

Use in the book

Burton makes anatomy itself a preparative. Having anatomized body and soul, he says that this preliminary work allows him to define melancholy and distinguish its kinds intelligibly. The term gives the digression a forward purpose: it equips the reader for the intended subject. A preparative is thus not intrinsically a medicine, even in a book whose treatment sequence repeatedly uses that sense.

The distinct phrase “preparation of humors” appears in a causal account attributed to Fernel. Diet supplies matter and nourishment for disease, while air, passions and other evident causes cannot produce the effect unless bodily constitution and the disposition of the humours cooperate. Here preparation is an existing readiness or susceptibility, not a physician administering a preliminary drug. The sentence’s “except” makes cooperation necessary in the account being presented; it does not merely say that such cooperation sometimes accompanies the disease.

The therapeutic use has an order, but the authorities disagree about its exact beginning. Burton says first prepare, then purge after bloodletting; Bruel instead begins with an enema before bloodletting, while the common sequence passes from lenitives through preparatives to purgers. Syrups with waters or decoctions are then described as usual preparatives, repeated over several days. The purpose, rather than syrup as a fixed substance, determines the category: the earlier account says syrups “digest” the humour, and the next passage places them in preparative use with waters or juleps. “Digest” there means preparing or maturing the humour for evacuation, not digesting a meal.

The next instruction materially limits the sequence: purges come last and are not to be used at all if the malady can be relieved otherwise, because they weaken and dry. A subsequent paragraph requires perseverance but also intervals of rest so that nature is not exhausted. The preparative stage therefore does not prove that every case must proceed to forceful evacuation. Nor is the same regimen transferred unchanged to every bodily form: hypochondriacal melancholy requires attention to liver, spleen, stomach and regions beneath the ribs as well as heart and brain, while its synopsis asks that the treatments be less vehement.

“Chymical preparatives” shifts from place in a regimen to products of preparation. The list includes extracts, distillations, oils and drinkable gold; a later boast claims that one drop outdoes the opponents’ nauseating potions. The adjacent controversy first gives chemical physicians’ attacks on Galenists, then Galenists’ hostile replies, while Burton asks why he should enter so large a dispute. The boast is not a demonstrated potency comparison endorsed without qualification. The separate “preparations” in Paracelsus’s earlier brag and “preparation” in the reference to black hellebore’s recipes and cautions distinguish products from the process of making them.

The practical family extends beyond the dispensary. In Poggio’s hunting anecdote, “all this preparation” means the rider’s elaborate equipment and entourage. Elsewhere preparations are arrangements for receiving a wealthy man, and the catalogue of costly cosmetics asks why so much effort and expense precedes being seen. These examples display readiness, provision and display rather than an early dose. Finally, fasting is called “a preparative to devotion,” but the surrounding passage distinguishes moderate, seasonable use from harmful excess. Burton can praise that preparation and still call the ritual preliminaries of Lucian’s underworld journey “idle.” The intended end and the judgment on the means remain separate from the noun’s general sense.

Related entries

Purging owns evacuation and its directions; Lenitive the gentler preceding remedies; Alteratives the neighbouring class that changes the condition. Corrected medicines distinguishes preparation that moderates harmful properties; Paracelsian retains the chemical-school terminology. See Syrup and julep (Syrup and julep) for the preparation forms and Decoction for boiling.

Explained vocabulary: Additional Terms.

Places to read

1. Member 3 Subsection 1. The Definition of Melancholy Its Name and Distinctions · paragraph 2Anatomy readies the reader for definition and classification.
2. Subsection 1 Bad Diet as a Cause. Substance. The Quality of Foods · paragraph 32Preparation of humours means their cooperating disposition.
3. Subsection 13. Love of Gambling and the Like, and Excessive Pleasures, as Causes · paragraph 31Hunting equipment in Poggio’s satirical anecdote.
4. Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraph 29Arrangements for a wealthy person’s reception.
5. Synopsis of the Second Partition · paragraph 29The synopsis requires less forceful treatment in windy melancholy.
6. Subsection 4 Precious Stones Metals and Minerals as Alteratives · paragraph 41Paracelsus’s boast about the potency of his preparations.
7. Subsection 5 Compound Alteratives Criticism of Compounds and Mixed Medicines · paragraph 25Digesting the humour means making it ready for evacuation. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
8. Subsection 5 Compound Alteratives Criticism of Compounds and Mixed Medicines · paragraph 26Syrups used as preparatives to other medicine.
9. Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards · paragraph 34Preparation as one of the matters for which authorities must be consulted.
10. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 31Competing starting points and the lenitive–preparative–purger sequence.
11. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 32The usual syrup-and-water preparations and repeated administration.
12. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 33Purging may be omitted if another means gives relief. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
13. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 34A course of treatment must allow nature rest. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
14. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 50Chemical preparatives as manufactured remedies.
15. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 51The chemical party’s attack on Galenist practice. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
16. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 52Burton withdraws from an extended controversy. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
17. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 53Paracelsus’s self-praise frames the ensuing potency claim. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
18. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraph 54The drop-versus-potions boast and the hostile reply.
19. Member 3. Subsection 1 Treatment of Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraph 25Earlier methods qualified for different bodily sites.
20. Artificial Attractions of Love and Incitements to Lust Gestures Clothes Dowry and So On · paragraph 10Costly preparation for attractive appearance.
21. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraph 3Harm attributed to excessive fasting and meditation. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
22. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraph 4Fasting as a preparative to devotion.
23. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraph 5Moderation and proper timing qualify the praise. [Context, not a headword attestation.]
24. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraph 23Lucian’s underworld preparations called idle.

In this edition

The modern column uses “preparatory medicines” for the therapeutic class but “chemical preparations” for the manufactured remedies. Those are genuinely different local uses of the printed preparatives. “Preparation of humors” becomes “disposition of the humours,” while the hunting preparation becomes “equipment.” The broader verb “prepare” in “first prepare, and then purge” states an operation without naming a particular recipe. Distilled waters and decoctions remain distinct preparation forms; the old plant names do not by themselves establish exact modern species or standardized formulas.

a preparative [expository]

Preliminary work that makes the reader ready for the subject to follow.

Original wording: “as a preparative to the rest”

Modern wording: “in preparation for what follows”

The preceding anatomy of body and soul supplies groundwork for the coming definition of melancholy. The noun specifies its function in the exposition, not a medicinal substance. Lookup: preparative [exposition]; a preparative to the rest.

preparation of humors

The disposition or state of the humours that makes them receptive to a cause.

Original wording: “the constitution of body, and preparation of humors do concur”

Modern wording: “the bodily constitution and disposition of the humours cooperate”

The second noun phrase, not the entire paired expression, corresponds to disposition of the humours. Fernel’s argument makes this cooperation a condition for the other causes to take effect. Lookup: preparation of humors; preparation [bodily readiness].

preparation [equipment]

An assemblage of equipment and attendants made ready for an activity.

Original wording: “to what use all this preparation served”

Modern wording: “what all this equipment was for”

The recovered man is asking about the rider, hawk, horse and spaniels in Poggio’s hunting satire. Preparation here can name the assembled provision rather than the act of getting ready. Lookup: preparation [equipment]; hunting preparation.

preparation [arrangements]

Arrangements made in advance for a reception or appearance.

Original wording: “what preparation is made for his entertainment”

Modern wording: “What preparations are made for his reception”

Entertainment means receiving and treating the wealthy guest, with food, perfumes and spectacle. The appearance passage similarly names advance labour and expense, not a medicine. Further checked occurrences: the passage. Lookup: preparation [arrangements]; preparations.

preparatives [before treatment]

Medicines intended to ready the body or humours for further treatment, especially evacuation.

Original wording: “proceed from lenitives to preparatives, and so to purgers”

Modern wording: “proceed from gentle laxatives to preparatives, and then to purgatives”

The ordering defines the preparatives’ role but does not make the next purge obligatory: the following passage excludes purging when other means give relief. Further checked occurrences: the passage; the passage; the passage. Lookup: preparatives; preparatory medicines; prepare [before purging].

Related functional verb, not a spelling of preparative: “digest this humour” becomes “prepare this humour for evacuation”. note explains digest as preparing or maturing a humour for evacuation. The object is humour, not food; the relation is preparatory within the historical account. Lookup: digest [prepare humour].

preparation [making a drug]

The process by which a medicinal substance is made ready for use.

Original wording: “receipts, dose, preparation, and other cautions”

Modern wording: “recipes, dosage, preparation and other cautions”

Burton directs the reader to named authorities for these particulars of black hellebore. Preparation is one category of information, not a claim that the present passage gives a complete procedure. Lookup: preparation [drug making].

Chymical preparatives

Medicinal preparations produced by chemical or alchemical processes.

Original wording: “those Chymical preparatives”

Modern wording: “chemical preparations”

The local examples are finished remedies such as extracts and distillations. The later claim about the superiority of one drop is a party’s boast in a controversy, not a definition of this class. Further checked occurrences: the passage; the passage. Lookup: Chymical preparatives; chemical preparations; preparatives [prepared medicines].

a preparative to devotion

A preliminary practice intended to ready someone for devotion or another religious undertaking.

Original wording: “a preparative to devotion”

Modern wording: “a preparation for devotion”

The practice is fasting. Its praise is qualified in the next passage by moderation and proper timing, and does not cancel Burton’s adjacent warning about excessive fasting. The related preparation for Lucian’s underworld journey is instead judged idle; a shared preparatory purpose does not imply equal approval. Further checked occurrences: the passage. Lookup: preparative to devotion; preparation [devotional].