_
We have sometimes found in the Shops of our Druggists, a certain Wood,
which is there called _Lignum Nephriticum_, because the Inhabitants of the
Country where it grows, are wont to use the Infusion of it made in fair
Water against the Stone of the Kidneys, and indeed an Eminent Physician of
our Acquaintance, who has very Particularly enquir'd into that Disease,
assures me, that he has found such an Infusion one of the most effectual
Remedyes, which he has ever tried against that formidable Disease. The
ancientest Account I have met with of this Simple, is given us by the
Experienc'd _Monardes_ in these Words. _Nobis,_ says he,[16] _Nova Hispania
mittit quoddam ligni genus crassum & enode, cujus usus jam diu receptus
fuit in his Regionibus ad Renum vitia & urinae difficultates ac arenulas
pellendas. Fit autem hac ratione, Lignum assulatim & minutim concisum in
limpidissima aqua fontana maceratur, inque ea relinquitur, donec aqua a
bibentibus absumpta sit, dimidia hora post injectum lignum aqua caeruleum
colorem contrabit, qui sensim intenditur pro temporis diuturnitate, tametsi
lignum candidum fit_. This Wood, _Pyrophilus_, may afford us an Experiment,
which besides the singularity of it, may give no small assistance to an
attentive Considerer towards the detection of the Nature of Colours.
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