THE 
INEFFICACY 
OF ALL 
Mercurial Preparations 
IN THE 
CURE of VENEREAL 
AND 
SCORBUTIC DISORDERS, 
PROVED FROM 
REASON and EXPERIENCE: 
WITH A 
DISSERTATION
ON 
Mr. De VELNOS's VEGETABLE SYRUP, 
Which radically Cures every Species of the 
above Disorders. 
AND 
An accurate Analysis of that Medicine, 
Made by Order of the Marshal Duke of Biron, 
by Messrs. ROUELLE, and LA CASSAIGNE, Pro- 
fessors of Chymistry at PARIS. 
To which are added, 
A REFUTATION 
OF 
Dr. Burrows's late Scurrilous Pamphlet. 
By HENRY SAFFORY, Surgeon. 
The SECOND EDITION, with ADDITIONS. 
Interest Reipublicæ, cognesci malos. CICERO. 
LONDON: 
To be had of Mr. EVANS, Pater-noster-row; Mr. 
CORRALL, Catherine Street, Strand; and of 
Mr. SOUTHERN, St. ]ames's Street. 
M,DCC,LXXVI. 
Price ONE SHILLING. 




TO THE 
MEMBERS 
OF THE 
ROYAL COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS; 
THIS 
SMALL TREATISE 
ON THE 
INEFFICACY of MERCURY 
IN THE 
CURE of VENEREAL 
AND 
SCORBUTIC DISORDERS, 
Is humbly inscribed, 
By their Most Obedient Servant, 
HENRY SAFFORY. 



PREFACE. 
EVERY member of Society 
is under an indispensable 
obligation to promote, as 
far as he is able, the happi- 
ness of the whole community. The 
soft whispers of humanity plead strongly 
in behalf of the distressed; and the 
heart of that man must be callous in- 
deed, who withholds relief from the 
cries of anguish, when that relief is in 
his own power. The human frame is 
subject to many disorders: pain and di- 
sease are part of the portion of morta- 
A lity


(ii)
lity. Providence has indeed amply fur- 
nished the earth with medicines for as- 
suaging the one, and removing the 
other; but the knowledge of these sim- 
ples, their virtues, and the manner of 
application, are left to the sagacity of 
mankind; a task not easily performed. 
They are scattered in such amazing pro- 
fusion, and in such astonishing variety, 
that the mind is perplexed; and it is 
perhaps impossible for human abilities 
ever to discover all their virtues and 
properties. A composition of various 
ingredients often effects what all of 
them singly would attempt in vain: 
and as these combinations, as well 
as the simples themselves, are infinite, 
we need not be surprised, that not- 
withstanding the prodigious number 
of eminent men, from the age of 
Hippocrates to our own times, have 
spent their lives in Improving the heal- 
ing

(iii)
ing art, it is still far from having reach- 
ed the summit of perfection: and that 
we are yet ignorant of the virtues of 
many simples with which the bounti- 
ful hand of nature has so beautifully 
adorned the surface of the earth. New 
medicines are every day discovered, and 
chance or accident often reveals what 
the most assiduous application might 
have fought in vain. 
Perhaps a stronger instance cannot 
be given of our limited knowledge of 
medicines, than the many ineffectual 
attempts to subdue the inveterate ma- 
lignancy of some distempers, which 
have hitherto withstood all the power 
of physic, and are still considered as 
the opprobria of the healing art. But 
this must not be imputed to nature; 
she has provided medicines sufficient 
for every disorder: diseases of this kind 
A2 triumph

(iv)
triumph only over the ignorance of the 
practitioner. 
Among these maladies, venereal and 
scorbutic complaints, especially when 
complicated, are not the least formida- 
file; and physicians have often confes- 
sed, and often lamented, that they have 
too frequently baffled the power of every 
known medicine, and defied every at- 
tempt to subdue their violence. If my 
own declaration will add any weight to 
the general voice of practitioners, I can, 
with great truth, affirm, that during a 
long series of assiduous practice, I have 
met with numberless instances, where 
all the common methods have been tried 
without success, and the wretched pa- 
tients perished under the excruciating 
tortures of a loathsome disease. The 
fact indeed is too evident to want any 
farther proof: the universal acknow- 
ledgment

(v)
ledgment of the most celebrated phy- 
sicians have placed it beyond a doubt. 
Should any person, however, still hesi- 
tate to subscribe to the general opinion, 
I could wish him to visit the places 
where patients of this kind are received; 
because ocular demonstration would 
there convince him, that the fact is too 
certain. He would there see objects la- 
bouring under the extremity of anguish, 
breathing the most putrid exhalations, 
and quivering on the brink of eternity, 
after every known method has been tri- 
ed in vain. 
Affected by sufferings which could 
not be mitigated, and pierced with the 
cries of distress which could not be re- 
lieved, I have often wished that some 
fortunate accident, or some happy ge- 
nius, might discover a remedy, which 
would enable the faculty to conquer
these

(vi)
these dreadful diseases. But the wish, 
however generous, was long in vain; 
and I began to despair of ever seeing it 
accomplished, when I fortunately be- 
came acquainted with M. de Velnos, 
the author of a medicine which has ac- 
quired great reputation at Paris, as a 
specific in venereal and scorbutic disor- 
ders, either singly or complicated. I had 
been too often deceived by pretended 
discoveries, to believe implicitly his 
most solemn asseverations, with regard 
to the great virtues of his medicine. I 
had never been an advocate for secret 
remedies, and feared that interest, ra- 
ther than truth, might form the basis 
of his assertions; and that though it 
might possibly succeed in slight cases, 
it might want power to eradicate the 
disease when grown too powerful for 
other remedies. He perceived my doubts, 
and took an effectual method to remove 
them:

(vii)
them: he offered to submit the efficacy 
and merit of his medicine to a series of 
fair and candid trials. This was a pro- 
posal which no ingenuous practitioner 
could refuse. I accepted the offer; and, 
from a sufficient number of cures per- 
formed on patients labouring under 
those dreadful disorders, some of them 
considered as absolutely incurable, I am 
convinced, that his assertions were found- 
ed on truth; and have the strongest 
reasons to hope, that his medicine will 
prove of the utmost advantage to this 
country. For whatever opposition it 
may meet with, either from interest, 
or bigotry to the old methods of prac- 
tice, I am persuaded its own merit, 
when fairly tried by the unerring touch- 
stone of experience, will rise superior to 
all opposition, and silence even the 
tongue of envy. The candid and inge- 
nuous, those who can feel for the suffer- 
ings


(viii)
ings of their fellow creatures, and sym- 
pathize with distress they wish to relieve, 
will, I am satisfied, give the medicine 
a fair and impartial trial. 
I am not ignorant that every person 
who attempts to recommend a medi- 
cine to the public, without revealing 
the ingredients of which it is composed, 
must expect the most illiberal attacks 
from the malignant pen of calumny. 
His conduct will be severely censured 
by those whose interest is concerned to 
suppress the discovery; and perhaps he 
may not escape the animadversions of 
others, though they may have only 
some favourite theory, or even the old 
method of practice, to defend. But I 
have learned to despise all such ungene- 
rous attempts: they are the common 
attendants of any innovation. Almost 
every member of the faculty, however 
eminent

(ix)
eminent for his parts and learning, has 
met with illiberal treatment on endea- 
vouring to introduce any new disco- 
very, new medicine, or new operation 
in surgery. It will be needless to men- 
tion examples of this kind: he must be 
ignorant of medical history indeed, who 
does not immediately recollect many 
that have happened both in our own and 
foreign countries. It should also be re- 
membered, that several of the most 
eminent physicians, both of the last 
and present centuries, had their secret 
remedies; and perhaps they did more 
service to the community by conceal- 
ing the compositions, than they would 
have done, had they published them to 
the world. 
It is well known, that M. de Vel- 
nos performed, by the help of his me- 
dicine, amazing cures during his short 
B stay

(x)
stay in England: I myself was a wit- 
ness to several. I saw, with a secret 
satisfaction, his success, and became an 
advocate for his remedy from convic- 
tion. I have also received incontestible 
evidences of its prodigious efficacy 
from several of the first nobility in 
France; together with certificates from 
some of the most eminent physicians 
in that kingdom. These, I hope, will 
be considered as proofs sufficient to ex- 
culpate me from entertaining even the 
most distant wish to impose upon the 
public, in a matter of so much impor- 
tance. No person surely, who, by the 
assiduous labour of many years, has ac- 
quired some share of reputation, and 
established his character as a man of 
veracity, will rashly engage in an un- 
dertaking, that may sap the founda- 
tion of a structure, which has cost him 
his whole life to erect! For whoever
publishes 

(xi)
publishes a treatise of any kind, sub- 
mits the truth of what he has advanced 
to the examination of the public; and, 
confequently, cannot complain of its 
being thoroughly scrutinized. If his 
assertions are founded on truth, he has 
nothing to fear; like gold from the 
furnace, they will acquire a greater lus- 
tre from a candid enquiry. 
THE



THE 
INEFFICACY 
OF ALL 
Mercurial Preparations, &c. 
THOUGH Commerce is un- 
doubtedly an inexhaustible source 
of wealth, yet population forms 
the genuine riches of a king- 
dom; it gives at once both strength and 
permanence to the state. Without the as- 
sistance of a sufficient number of people, the 
trade of any country must languish and 
decay: the boasted manufactures must be 
neglected, and even the necessary labours of 
husbandman must fail. But notwith-
stand-

[14]
standing the evident superiority of popula- 
tion, it has been much less regarded than 
commerce; which, in this land of liberty, 
has been carried to a degree of perfection 
unknown in other countries, by the in- 
dustry, diligence, and activity of the inha- 
bitants, protected by the power, and as- 
sisted by the countenance, of the govern- 
ment. Every manufacture has been im- 
proved, and every invention encouraged, 
that had a tendency to promote the various 
branches of trade carried on in this flourishing 
kingdom. These are doubtless noble efforts, 
and demand the applause of every lover of 
his country: but surely population, on 
which even commerce itself depends, should 
not be neglected. It is really astonishing, 
that in a country, where the advantages and 
disadvantages of every contingent are nicely 
calculated, and the effect of almost every 
cause foreseen: where the relief of human 
nature, and the general advantage of society, 
form the sole wish and aim of the legislature; 
of

[15]
so little regard is paid to the preservation of 
the lives of men, though confessedly one of 
the grand sources of population. Luxury, 
and diseases of various kinds, combine their 
malignant influences in lessening the number 
of the human species. The excessive use of 
spirituous liquors, and other modes of liv- 
ing, are destructive of propogation. The 
continual emigration of people to America, 
the vast number of hands employed in 
shipping, and the late call for men to the 
East Indies, and to settle our new con- 
quests, tend greatly to lessen the populous- 
ness of this country, to the irreparable in- 
jury of agriculture and commerce. 
But among all those causes of depopula- 
tion, that relative to diseases is the most 
alarming; because its destructive effects, 
though amazingly rapid, are silent and 
secret. How many daily perish by venereal 
and scorbutic diseases; a loss of the utmost 
consequence, because it greatly falls upon 
those

[16]
those men who are of the greatest service to 
the state. The scurvy may be considered 
as epidemical to England, owing perhaps 
to its situation as an island, the coldness 
and moisture of the air, the food of the inha- 
bitants consisting chiefly of meat, and the 
long voyages at sea, performed by such num- 
bers of people. We need not therefore be 
surprized to find, that almost every native 
of this island is more or less afflicted with 
the scurvy. This disease is of itself a suffi- 
cieut misfortune, but when complicated with 
a venereal complaint, becomes truly alarm- 
ing. The latter indeed is not, like the scurvy, 
natural to this country; it has been imported 
from the continent to the destruction of 
thousands; and may perhaps be considered 
as one of the evils resulting from a foreign 
trade. Wealth, the child of commerce, is 
the parent of luxury and pleasure; and hence 
the venereal disease, too often complicated 
with the scurvy, acquires a malignity in this 
island, which renders it more violent, rapid, 
and

[17]
and fatal. These diseases, handed down to 
posterity, are possibly the cause of that 
degradation of the human species, which 
had been so often lamented by the writers 
of our own times. Every discovery, there- 
fore, which tends to lessen this destructive 
malignancy, certainly deserves the attention 
of the public. It is, perhaps, absolutely 
impossible to destroy entirely the source of 
this evil; but it is possible to stop its 
alarming progress, if a medicine can be 
discovered that will eradicate both venereal 
and scorbutic disorders, whether single or 
complicated. A discovery of the most sin- 
gular importance to our soldiers and seamen, 
afflicted with the former, because it is almost 
constantly aggravated by a natural scorbutic 
habit. 
It is well known, that the venereal dis- 
ease is more easily cured, both in France, 
Italy, than in England; an advantage that 
results entirely from the warmth of the cli-
C mate;

[18]
mate; yet even there the disease too often 
becomes incurable, and triumphs over all the 
art of the physician. It is therefore no 
wonder that the difficulty is doubly increase 
ed in this country, and that the faculty have 
long wished that a medicine could be dis- 
covered, which would enable them to conquer 
this dreadful disease in its most malignant 
state, even when complicated with the scur-
vy. And this noble discovery has, for- 
tunately for the public, been made by Mr. de 
Velnos. His Antivenereal Vegetable Syrup, 
radically cures every stage of the venereal 
disease, though complicated with a violent 
scurvy. 
But, before I proceed to enumerate the 
virtues and properties of this valuable medi- 
cine, it will be necessary to consider the me- 
thods generally made use of in the cure of 
scorbutic and venereal diseases, and shew 
wherein they are deficient and inadequate to 
answer the intended purpose. 
It


[19]
It is not sufficient, in the cure of the 
scurvy, to preserve the habit of body from 
the predisposing causes: a long methodical 
treatment is necessary. 
The curative indications consist in correct- 
ing or preventing the alcalization of the 
humours; restoring the tone of the solids, 
and the fluidity of the juices; re-establishing 
the secretions; and, lastly, in procuring the 
necessary evacuations. 
The medicines commonly made use of to 
effect these purposes are sweet, acid, and 
bitter vegetables, given in different forms, 
and in different quantities, according to the 
various stages of the disorder. But these are 
inadequate to the purpose. It is not sufficient 
to affect an alteration in the humours, or 
even to re-establish the natural functions; for, 
Unless nature be farther assisted by proper 
evacuations, either by stool, sweat, or urine, 
the disease too often degenerates into a 
dis-

[20]
disease of another species; when it will be 
necessary to have recourse to antiscorbutics, 
given as alteratives, purgatives, bitters, 
acids, corroboratives, and gentle, sudorifics. 
These medicines, which experience has 
sufficiently proved to be necessary in making 
a radical cure, have their inconveniencies. 
Purgatives, however properly chosen, and 
artfully managed, too often weaken and im- 
pede digestion; and even their operation is 
not supported without difficulty by persons of 
scorbutic habits. Sudorifics disturb the ope- 
rations of nature, and, finding the humours in 
a state approaching to a dissolution, increase 
the evil, and often occasion a total decompo- 
sition. Hence we see the reason why the 
common method of curing the scurvy, though 
remarkably tedious, is not free from danger; 
nor is it always certain: too many instances 
occur in medical history, where all the abili- 
ties of the physician have been exerted in 
vain.
The

[21]
The venereal disease is too well known, 
and its effects too often fatally experienced, to 
need any explanation, either with regard to 
its nature, its origin, or the manner of its 
communication. It will be sufficient for my 
purpose to consider the several medicines hi- 
therto made use of in curing this disease, and 
shew that they, are all of them too often in- 
adequate to effect the necessary purpose. 
Three different kinds of remedies; sudori- 
fics, purgatives, and mercury, sometimes 
alone, and sometimes compounded, have been 
hitherto used in the cure of this disorder. 
Experience has abundantly shewn that the 
two first are not sufficient to answer the in- 
tention. Mercury, notwithstanding all its 
inconveniencies, has indeed long been consi- 
dered as a specific in the venereal disease; 
but in my opinion very unjustly. I wish 
there were no instance upon record where 
all its boasted virtues have failed, the pati- 
ents, after taking it in almost every form, 
have

[22]
have fallen a sacrifice to this loathsome dis- 
ease. And perhaps the only reason why it 
has so long maintained its place in practice is, 
because no other medicine of equal virtue, 
in venereal complaints, has hitherto been 
known. 
It will not be denied but mercury often 
cures the Venereal disease; but is not the 
patient exposed to dangers and accidents of 
the most alarming kind; and is not the cure 
too often partial and incomplete? 
Mercury is administered externally and 
internally. 
The external methods are by friction and 
fumigation. By either of these, it is divided 
into very minute particles, penetrates through 
the pores in its metallic form, and affects the 
salivary glands. 
By this method we are never certain with 
regard

[23]
regard to the quantity; we cannot judge of 
it by Its effects, because these are equivocal; 
it never acts equally on different patients; and 
the dissolution of the symptoms is an uncer- 
tain sign of a radical cure; for it sometimes 
happens, that notwithstanding all the symp- 
toms occur, the cause is not totally removed. 
What dependence therefore can be placed 
upon a medicine, whose effects are so uncer- 
tain? If we add to this the danger to which 
the patient is exposed, notwithstanding all 
the care of an experienced and prudent phy- 
sician, our opinion of the virtues of this 
boasted remedy will be greatly lessened. 
How often do the most fatal consequences 
happen from its use? It is not uncommon for 
the mercurial particles to be diverted suddenly 
to the head, stomach, or intestines, where 
the ravages they make are absolutely irre- 
parable. 
Whether the intention be to salivate, or 
whether the salivation comes on, notwith- 
standing

[24]
standing all the care and precaution of the 
physician, the following symptoms generally 
attend it: a swelling of the head and neck; 
an obstruction and Irritation of all the salivary 
glands: pain, inflammation, and exulceration 
of the internal parts of the mouth, attended 
wtih slough or excrescences, which occasion 
hemorrhages more or less considerable; fœtid 
gums; looseness and loss of teeth; and a 
cruel want of sleep, occasioned by the fear 
and danger of suffocation. 
The patient is more or less exposed to these 
dreadful symptoms, as he is more or less 
afflicted with a scorbutic habit; while the 
natural effects of the salivation, a strict regi- 
men, pain, and an almost total want of sleep, 
reduce him to the lowest state of depression; 
without affording him the consolation, that a 
radical cure will be the consequence of his 
sufferings: because mercury, though admini- 
stered with the utmost caution to patients 
afflicted with the scurvy, brings on too sud-
denly


[25]
denly a salivation, which is very difficult to 
stop; and the quantity of mercury the pati- 
ent has received is not sufficient to destroy 
the venereal virus. Nor can this defect be 
supplied; for every time an attempt is made 
to increase the quantity, the same accidents 
return. When this happens, and the venereal 
symptoms are alarming, the case of the patient 
becomes deplorable; the scurvy is irritated 
by a medicine absolutely improper, and both 
diseases soon increase to a degree that almost 
defies the power of medicine, and leaves the 
miserable patient without resource. 
But the scurvy is not the only circumstance 
that renders a salivation improper in the cure 
of the lues venerea. There are others, among 
which we may reckon various disorders inci- 
dent to the palate, the uvula, and the ton- 
sils; together with the erosions and exulce- 
rations of the fauces, which, spreading deep 
into the subjacent parts, often resemble an 
eating cancer, which cannot be totally cured 
D and

[26]
and consolidated, till the disorder which 
gave them birth is effectually subdued and 
removed. In this case, therefore, if in any, 
we are to observe the following maxim, that 
the peccant matter is neither to be conveyed 
to, nor evacuated by, the part affected; other- 
wise it must necessarily happen, that by an 
accumulation of the saliva, which to the 
taste of the patient is æruginous, virulent, and 
has its qualities heightened by the mercury, 
a gangrene must be produced, and soon after 
succeeded by a fatal sphacelus of the parts. 
Hildanus furnishes us with some remarkable 
instances of this kind, Cent. 3. Obs. 92. 
Salivation is also improper in cases where, 
besides a redundance of thick and viscid hu- 
mours, the patient’s strength is much impair- 
ed; and this is certainly a very just and rati- 
onal maxim; since, in consequence of the 
langour of the whole body, and the defect of 
a due tone, and sufficient motive force, all 
the parts, and even the more noble viscera 
are preternaturally flaccid; hence it happens
that

[27]
that the viscid forces of the humours being 
thrown into violent commotions by the effi- 
cacy of the mercury, are easily, and in great 
abundance, thrown into those viscera; but 
cannot, in consequence of the weakness of 
the resisting fibres, be so easily expelled 
from them. Hence these accumulated and 
peccant humours become stagnant, and occa- 
sion terrible symptoms of various kinds.* But 
a more irreparable misfortune is produced, 
when these sordes are conveyed to the brain, 
already weakened by previous disorders; for 
by this means, palsies, apoplexies, and other 
terrible lethargic disorders must be soon pro- 
duced. But since in a lues venerea of some 
standing, and deeply rooted in the humours, 
there is generally a large quantity of peccant 
matter; and since the strength of the patient 
is, for the most part, much exhausted, either 
by the force of the disease, previous intemper- 
* Vide Sennert. Prax. Med. Part. 4. Lib. 6. Fallop. De 
Lue Venerea: & Sylv. Math. Med. Lib. 2. Cap xi. 
ance

[28]
ance, surfeits, or an excess of venery, it ge- 
nerally happens, that, in those circumstances, 
a salivation, by some considered as the only 
sovereign remedy for a lues venerea, is 
highly improper and absurd. Many are in- 
deed of opinion, that even in these circum- 
stances the body may be rendered fit for 
bearing a salivation; if, for instance, before 
its use, the redundance of the peccant matter 
is lessened, and the spissitude corrected by 
venesections, purgatives, and the repeated 
exhibition of sudorifics; but Sydenham’s opi- 
nion is certainly much better founded; that 
ingenious practitioner, in his Treatise De Lue 
Venerea, tells us, that by such measures the 
body is no more prepared for bearing a sali- 
vation, than the bodies of soldiers would be 
prepared for battle, by cutting their nerves. 
Hence we see that mercury used externally, 
either by rubbing or fumigation, is so far 
from being a specific in the cure of venereal 
disorders, that it is often deleterious; instead 
of curing, it destroys the patient. Let us now 
consider


[29]
consider how justly it maybe termed a specific 
in the cure of the lues venera, when admi- 
nistered internally. 
Mercury in its crude state, and undivided 
by any intermediate body, given internally, 
produces no sensible effects. Cinnabar and 
Æthiop's  mineral, very little; because it is 
absolutely necessary to reduce mercury to a 
saline form, in order to render it capable of 
being dissolved in the juices of the stomach; 
for by that means only it is capable of enter- 
ing the minute vessels of the human body. 
On this principle, mercury has been com- 
bined with all the mineral and vegetable 
acids, and thence an infinite number of sa- 
line mercuries have been produced; but the 
effects and dangers of them all are directly 
proportional to the quantity of acid spiculæ, 
with which the mercury is loaded. Hence 
we see the reason why mercurial preparations 
degenerate into poisons; and why they are 
always more or less dangerous. 
The

[30]
The principal preparations of mercury, 
given in a dry form, are turpeth mineral, 
mercurius dulcis, calomel, panacea of mer- 
cury, white precipitate, &c. 
Keyser’s and Belloste’s pills, by their diffi- 
cult solubility, remain long enough in the 
stomach to occasion the most alarming mis- 
chiefs; and these will always be proportional 
to the degree of activity of the medicine, 
and the quantity of the dose. This method 
of exhibiting the saline preparations of mer- 
cury, should never be practised without the 
utmost caution, on account of the alarming 
accidents that may result from their extreme 
irritating properties. 
Sometimes, on account of the violent cor- 
rosive quality of the mercurial preparation, it 
is disolved in a large quantity of some fluid, 
as water, spirit of wine, &c. Even corrosive 
sublimate, one of the strongest preparations 
of mercury, is given in this manner; and sold
to

[31]
to the public under different names; but al- 
ways to the prejudice, and too often to the 
total destruction of the patients constitution. 
By this method of exhibiting the saline pre- 
parations of mercury, its particles, being al- 
ready minutely divided, penetrates the ca- 
pillary vessels, and at once irritates and cor- 
rodes the nerves. It is therefore no wonder 
that the afflicted patient, too often with a pain- 
ful degree of certainty, attributes to this cause 
the first attack of a nervous disorder, which 
all the power of physic can never remove. 
If to these we add the inconveniences in- 
separable from mercurial preparations, and 
which are always the consequences of their 
use; if we consider the small number of pa- 
tients to whom mercury may be exhibited 
with safety, among whom we must rank 
youths and old men, women and hypochon- 
driacs; because the delicacy and sensibility of 
the nerves of the one, and the rigidity of those 
of the other, render them more susceptible of 
the



[32]
the bad effects of saline mercury; the use of 
mercurial medicines will be confined within 
very narrow limits. It frequently causes 
miscarriage in women during the first months 
of their pregnancy, and kills the fœtus in the 
womb of those who are farther advanced; it 
debilitates the stomach, occasions dysente- 
ries and spitting of blood; causes severe and 
continual pains, tremblings, and the palsy: 
accelerates a pulmonary consumption in those 
a little inclinable to that disorder: for mercu- 
ry always greatly affects the lungs of those 
who have made a free use of it. Add to this 
the chronicle diseases occasioned by this me- 
dicine, and which are with the utmost diffi- 
culty, if ever, cured; and generally sup- 
posed to owe their origin to other causes; its 
being absolutely improper to be adminstered 
to valetudinarians, and persons of weak and 
delicate constitutions; and its being absolutely 
contrary when the disease is complicated with 
others, especially with the scurvy; and then 
let the reader judge how far mercurial pre- 
parations are useful.
In 

[33]
In a variety of venereal cases, mercury, in- 
stead of removing, increases the complaint; 
such as ulcers in the palate, swelling of the 
tonsils, caries and exostoses of the bones, in- 
durations of the glands of the groin and 
neck, buboes, where they have acquired a 
certain degree of malignancy, inflammation 
and hardness of the testicles, warts, and fresh 
contracted claps; in many other cases it 
serves only as palliative. 
Where then is the boasted efficacy of mer- 
cury? Experience has abundantly proved that 
the small degree of advantage derived from 
mercurial preparations is more than balanced 
by the alarming consequences inseparable from 
their use: the inconveniences far exceed the 
utility. 
But it may be asked, how can these conse- 
quences be prevented? Is it possible to cure 
some stages of the venereal disease without 
the assistance of mercury? The answer is 
easy; It is—Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup effec- 
E tually

[34]
tually performs the cure, without being fol- 
lowed with any of those evils, which always 
attend a course of mercurial medicines. It to- 
tally eradicates the disease in its most alarming 
stages, without offering the least injury to the 
constitution. It may be given with the ut- 
most safety to persons of the most delicate 
frame; to youths, and even women far ad- 
vanced in their pregnancy, Its action is re- 
markably gentle: it ruffles not the consti- 
tution; it impedes not the common operations 
of nature. Of benign and friendly properties, it 
rather supports than impairs the nervous sys- 
tem. It is equally effectual in the scurvy as in 
the venereal disease; a complaint which has so 
long baffled the skill of the most eminent 
physicians, and which is so common in this 
country. It answers all the curative indications 
already enumerated for eradicatin that cruel 
disease; it serves at once as a remedy for the 
disorder and food for the patient. It acts as an 
alterative, and by its corroborative qualities 
re-establishes the secretions; discharges part 
of

[35]
of the peccant matter through the pores of 
the skin; loosens the belly to a convenient 
degree, and becomes a purgative without its 
inconveniences. 
But when the venereal disease is complica- 
ted with the scurvy, the Vegetable Syrup of 
M. de Velnos, is perhaps the only remedy 
hitherto known that can effect the cure. It is 
equally adapted to both, and both are eradi- 
cated with the same ease, and nearly in the 
same time. 
A medicine, endowed with these noble vir- 
tues, surely deserves the notice of physicians; as 
it will enable them to conquer a complication 
of diseases, which has hitherto defied the 
power of medicine, and carried thousands of 
useful members of society untimely to the 
grave. This capital medicine has been known 
some time in France, and has met with the 
approbation of the faculty at the royal col- 
lege of physicians in Paris, and I would 
willingly

[36]
willingly hope, that by introducing here a 
medicine, which totally eradicates all kinds 
of venereal and scorbutic disorders, without 
the least injury to the constitution, I shall be 
thought to have done some service to this 
country, by saving the lives of many of my 
fellow creatures. 
But in order to support in England the 
great reputation which the Vegetable Syrup 
of Mr. de Velnos has justly acquired in 
France, and prevent the public being im- 
posed upon by a spurious medicine, it is ne- 
cessary to observe, that a composition of a 
very different nature is sold in London, under 
the deceptive title of The Vegetable Syrup of 
Mr. de Velnos, with improvements. Dr. Bur- 
rows, the author of this medicine, being 
well acquainted with the virtues and efficacy 
of Velnos’s Syrup, and the great reputation 
it had justly acquired at Paris, agreed with 
the Inventor for a certain number of bottles 
of the Vegetable Syrup, which he administered 
in

[37]
in London, promising to pay M. de Velnos a 
certain price for each bottle, and actually 
performed some remarkable cures with 
that quantity of the medicine. But his covet- 
ousness soon proved too strong for his virtue; 
he scrupled not to sacrifice the confidence of 
a generous public at the shrine of avarice. 
A spurious composition, under the ungenerous 
pretence of its being the medicine of Mr. de 
Velnos with improvements, has for some time 
been advertised in the public papers by this con- 
scientious gentleman. Dr. Burrows has indeed 
pretended, that he knew the composition of 
Mr. de Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup. But it may 
surely be asked how he came by the secret? 
he never had it from the inventor; and no 
other person in the world knew what the in- 
gredients are of which it is composed; before 
Dr. Mercier and myself, who purchased the 
receipt from Mr. de Velnos. 
It


[38]
It has more than once been asserted in 
this dissertation, that Mr. de Velnos’s Syrup 
is composed of simple vegetables only; 
and that from this circumstance it derives 
a peculiar advantage over all other me- 
dicines extracted from any bodies belong- 
ing to the mineral kingdom. Because, 
though it is far more efficacious, it is not 
susceptible of those dreadful consequences 
that generally attend a course of drastic 
mineral preparations. It may be given with 
success in all complications, at all seasons, 
and to all constitutions. Even an error in 
the administration, or the imprudence of 
the patient, can produce no alarming 
effect. It is therefore of the utmost im- 
portance to establish the truth of this as- 
sertion, namely, that the Syrup of Mr. de 
Velnos is compounded of simple vegetables 
only:

[39]
only: and I flatter myself that the fol- 
lowing ANALYSIS of the Medicine 
will be abundantly sufficient for that pur 
pose.
ANALYSIS

[40]
ANALYSIS 
Of the Syrup of Mr. de Velnos, * made 
by Order of the Marshal Duke de Biron, 
by Messrs. Rouelle and La Cassaigne, Pro- 
fessors of Chemistry in Paris; who first 
made the Experiments separately, and then, 
in order to corroborate the Truth of the 
whole, repeated them together. 
THIS Remedy, in its natural state, 
exhibits the appearance of a syrup of a 
thinner consistence than the common; of 
a brown colour; transparent; of a taste a
little 
* This Medicine was administered by Dr. Mittie, in the hos- 
pital of French guards, under the inspection of Messrs. Bercher, 
Le Thuilier, Doyen, Guilbert, and Deslou, doctors regents of 
the faculty of medicine, and M. Dusouart, surgeon major of the 
regiment of guards. 

[41]
little medicinal, but principally that of 
sugar. 
Experiment I.
ONE pound of the Syrup, distilled in 
balneum mariæ, gave not the least indication 
of Spirit; but the phlegm was slightly aro- 
matic. 
Experiment II. 
FOUR ounces of the Syrup poured into 
a plate of delph ware, and placed in balneum 
mariæ, produced one ounce five drams of 
crystaline matter, of a brownish colour, and 
which attracted the humidity of the air. 
Experiment III. 
SIX drams and a half of the above cry- 
stalline matter, being put into two ounces of 
F rectified


[42]
rectified spirit of wine, and digested in bal- 
neum mariæ, the menstruum was strongly 
tinctured; and, after being decanted, filtrated 
and set in a cool place, deposited a sweet, 
viscous extract. 
Experiment IV. 
A second digestion in the same quantity of 
spirit of wine, gave the same produce. 
Experiment V. 
By a third digestion in the same quan- 
tity of a spirit of the same quality, the men- 
struum was not so deeply tinctured; and, 
being deposited in a cool place, a small 
quantity of little crystals of a sweet sugary 
taste, shot to the sides of the vessel. 
Ex-

[43]
Experiment VI. 
A fourth and fifth digestion gave the 
same produce. 
Experiment VII. 
AFTER these five digestions, there re- 
mained a black matter weighing twelve 
grains, of an insipid taste, absolutely insolu- 
ble in spirit of wine, but easily soluble in 
water. On being thrown on burning coals, 
it gave a smell compounded of those arising 
from animal and vegetable substances; owing 
to the matter used in the clarification of the 
Syrup. 
Experiment VIII. 
THE menstruum charged both with the 
extract and saline matter, being mixed, first 
with

[44]
with a little, and afterwards with a large 
quantity of water, did not become turbid. 
Experiment IX. 
THE spirit of wine, charged with the 
extracted matter of the first and second di- 
gestion, being drawn off in balneum mariæ, 
and again cohobated and distilled, there re- 
mained an extract, sweet and very tenaci- 
ous, of a yellow brown colour, attracting the 
moisture of the air; and being added to that 
which was actually deposited, weighed three 
drams and a half. 
Experiment X. 
WE have already observed, that from 
the third, fourth, and fifth digestions, some 
crystals were obtained; these crystals weigh- 
ed a dram. The menstruum in which they 
shot

[45]
shot, being evaporated, produced no more; 
but there remained a dry sugary matter, 
weighing one dram and one scruple. The 
crystalline particles were prevented from 
shooting, by being wrapped up in a small 
portion of the unctuous extract obtained by 
the two first digestions. 
Experiment. XI. 
THESE crystals, as well as the unctu- 
ous extract, being thrown upon burning 
coals, did not decrepitate, but diffused a smell 
of burnt sugar. 
Experiment XII. 
FOUR ounces of the Syrup, being placed 
in balneum mariæ, and the fluid evaporated 
to a dryness, there remained one ounce five 
drams of desiccated matter. This matter 
pul-

[46]
pulverised, was put into a glass retort with 
four ounces of well rectified æther, and di- 
gested in a sand heat, with a moderate de- 
gree of fire. The æther was then drawn 
over into a mattrass luted to the mouth of 
the retort; cohobated; again distilled, and 
again cohobated; after which the digestion 
was continued for two hours. By this means 
we obtained a tincture, diffusing the smell of 
ambergris; and the æther being evaporated, 
the dry matter had the same smell, was 
transparent, and of an acrid taste, This 
desiccated matter dissolved totally in spirit 
of wine; and water being added to the 
tincture, it rendered it but very little turbid. 
Experiment XIII. 
A part of the above desiccated matter di- 
gested in warm water dissolved totally, except 
a few minute resinus particles in such small 
quantity, that they seemed not to have re- 
sided

[47]
sided originally in the medicine, but to have 
been formed by the action of the small 
portion of acid in the æther on the oily parts 
of the vegetables used in the composition of 
the syrup. 
Experiment XIV. 
Six ounces and a half of the disiccated 
matter procured from a pound of the syrup, 
being put into a retort, and the vessel placed 
in a reverberating furnace, there first came 
over a considerable quantity of phlegm, the 
acidity of which increased in proportion as 
the fire was augmented. As the heat be- 
came more violent, the acid became more 
concentrated, and more empyreumatic; and 
at the same time there came over a black 
oil, partly limpid, and partly thick. The 
fire being raised to the most violent degree, 
more acid and oil came over; but not a single 
particle of mercury. The retort being broke.
there 

[48]
there remained, dispersed all over the inter- 
nal source, a burnt matter or coal, ex- 
tremely rarified, like that of an unctuous 
body. 
Experiment XV. 
THIS coaly matter being pulverized, 
mixed with the black flux in a crucible 
well lured, and melted in a wind furnace, 
not a single metallic particle was found at 
the bottom of the crucible. 
(Signed) Rouelle, 
La Cassaigne. 
(Professors of Chemistry in Paris.) 
OB-

[49]
Observations and Deductions. 
I. 
It follows from the first experiment that 
one or several aromatic vegetables are used in 
composition of the Syrup. 
II. 
From the small degree of colour and taste 
of the extract obtained by the second expe- 
riment, it is plain, that the syrup contains 
only a small quantity of active particles, and 
that sugar, or some saccharine matter, forms 
the predominant part of the medicine. 
III. 
It follows also from the third, fourth, 
and ninth experiments, that the active par- 
G ticles


[50]
ticles in the syrup are very few, and that 
a considerable quantity of honey is used 
in the composition. 
IV. 
From the fifth, sixth, tenth, eleventh, 
and fourteenth experiments, it follows, that 
sugar is also used in the competition of 
the syrup; because we have been able to 
separate it from the extract by crystalliza- 
tion, and consequently to determine the 
quantity; and as it is very probable, that 
equal parts of sugar and honey are used, and 
as two drams and a scruple of sugar are con- 
tained in two ounces of the syrup, if we add 
two drams and a scruple of honey, there 
will remain only one dram and twelve grains 
of active particles. 
V. 
It is evident from the seventh experiment, 
that the syrup had been clarified either with
isinglass,

[51]
isinglass or the whites of eggs; but the quan- 
tity of either is too small for us to imagine it 
is used to increase the virtues of the medicine. 
VI. 
From the eighth, twelfth, and thirteenth 
experiments it appears, that the syrup does 
not, in its natural state, contain any resinous 
particles; but as the active part dissolves 
equally in water and spirit of wine, it may 
be considered as a resinous extract. 
VII. 
In fine, it is evident from the fourteenth 
and fifteenth experiments, that the syrup 
does not contain a single particle, either of 
mercury, antimony, or any metallic or semi- 
metallic substance whatever. 
CONCLUSION. 
From the whole therefore it appears that 
the syrup of Velnos is compounded of a con- 
siderable


[52]
siderable portion of sugar and honey, of a 
resinous extract from one or several aroma- 
tic vegetables, and a small part of isinglass 
or whites of eggs; the whole dissolved in a 
large quantity of water. 
Signed 
LA CASSAIGNE, 
AND 
ROUELLE.
CASES

REFUTATION 
OF 
Dr. BURROWS’s late PAMPHLET. 
However unwilling the author of the fol- 
lowing little tract has always been to 
answer declamatory language, such calumny 
obliges him to prove, before an impartial pub- 
lic, his own rectitude and his opponent’s base- 
ness. When falsehood and detraction are 
employed to vilify an individual, a regard to 
his own character admonishes him to reply, 
but when that falsehood may eventually in- 
jure the community, it is criminal to be 
silent. 
The

[54]
The author, conscious of the justice of his 
cause, with pleasure appeals to facts, disdain- 
ing to use scurrility for argument, or falla- 
cies for truths. In a pamphlet published by 
Dr. Burrows, with the pretence of refuting 
arguments advanced in a publication by the 
late Mr. Saffory, surgeon, the readers were 
promised a full and satisfactory account of the 
whole matter in dispute, and the title page, 
like the trumpeter at a puppet-shew, an- 
nounced that his was the only booth in the 
fair; but expectation, as usual, was disappoint- 
ed, and the piece refuted itself. 
A disputed point is seldom discussed with 
that candour and calmness necessary to in- 
vestigate truth. Men are often deluded by 
their passion, and florid futile arguments often 
deceive the understanding, and mislead the 
mind, False logic, like a glaring blaze, daz- 
zles the senses, but is soon extinguished by 
the steady beams of truth. It therefore is 
necessary to reply to the many false assertions
of

[55]
of Dr. Burrows, detect his evasions, and ex- 
pose him to the public, as he realy is, an im- 
postor, Fænum habet in cornu, longe fuge. HOR. 
Well knowing the difficulty of discounte- 
nancing conceit, or reclaiming injustice, the 
author wished to decline the thankless task; 
but as the Doctor’s self-sufficiency has brought 
this retort upon himself, let him remember 
that he who throws the first stone is answer- 
able for the consequences. 
Dr. Burrows informs us that Mr. de Vel- 
nos was bred to the sea, and commanded a 
ship trading to the Levant, and sagaciously 
concludes that therefore he was not the ori- 
ginal inventor of the Vegetable Syrup. Have 
not the most useful discoveries both in physic 
and mechanics originated either from chance, 
or the experiments of the curious? Mr. de 
Velnos fortunately learned the basis of his 
medicine in his travels; he has acknowledged 
that the salutary roots, plants and flowers, the 
com-

[56]
component parts of his syrup, were pointed 
out to him in Nigritia, by a native of Calabria, 
and being an eye witness of its wonderful ef- 
fects in the most obstinate venereal and scor- 
butic disorders, he was induced to make it into 
an agreeable syrup, of which he claims the 
invention. 
Dr. Burrows asserts in his affidavit that he 
not only knows the composition of Mr. de 
Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup, but has improved 
the same. Would not a candid declaration 
of the manner, time, and place in which he 
procured this knowledge satisfy the public, 
more than the mere ipse dixit of an interested 
man? Messrs. Saffory and Mercier have every 
testimony in their profession, to convince the 
public of their being the only proprietors of 
Velnos’s original Vegetable Syrup, as it will 
appear by the following affidavit: 
AFFI-

[57]
AFFIDAVIT of Mrs. de Velnos. 
Jane de Velnos, late of Paris, but now re- 
siding in Dean Street, Soho, in the coun- 
ty of Middlesex, maketh oath, and faith; 
That she is the lawful wife of John Joseph 
Vergely de Velnos, the inventor and sole pro- 
prietor of a medicine known by the name of 
Velnos’s Original Vegetable Syrup; and this 
deponent faith, That her said husband having 
been afflicted with a severe and continued ill- 
ness, have long since intrusted this deponent 
with the secret for making the said medicine. 
This deponent hath since that time constantly 
sold and administered the said medicine by 
her agents in Paris, and elsewhere in the 
kingdom of France, with the greatest suc- 
cess: And this deponent faith that her hus- 
band having been prevented by such illness 
from coming to England, she hath lately, by 
virtue of a general power and authority given 
to her by her said husband, communicated to
H Peter

[58]
Peter Mercier, of Frith Street, Soho, in the 
county of Middlesex, doctor of physic, all and 
every the ingredients made use of by this depo- 
nent in the composition of the said Syrup, 
and hath taken the said Peter Mercier into 
partnership with her said husband and her- 
self, for the better administering the said me- 
dicine in his Britannic majesty’s dominions; 
the said Peter Mercier having, in conjunction 
with Messrs. Saffory, surgeons in London, 
been concerned in the sale and administration 
of the said medicine for three years past; and 
this deponent upon her oath faith, That the 
said medicine have not any thing of a mer- 
curial, antimonial, or metallic nature what- 
soever in its composition, but is made and 
prepared from simple vegetables only; and 
this deponent faith, That she hath been so 
induced to communicate the said secret to the 
said Peter Mercier, as well in consideration 
of the great trust and confidence this depo- 
nent and her husband have in his integrity, 
as also, if possible, to prevent the public from 
being

[59]
being imposed upon by any medicine offered 
to them in the name of this deponent’s hus- 
band, every such medicine being spurious. 
Sworn at the Public Office in 
Symmond’s Inn, the 13th 
of April 1775, before me 
JANE DE VELNOS. 
BEN. BLUME, Interpreter. 
THOMAS CUDDON. 
Thus the Doctor hoped to overturn the 
structure of reputation raised by the Original 
Vegetable Syrup, and to mount upon the ruin 
of others; though he presumes to sell as a 
principal the medicine he once sold as an 
agent, may as easy detection ever attend simi- 
lar impositions! 
Messrs. Saffory and Mercier procured the 
secret by a legal purchase, at which this agent 
took great umbrage, but has never told the 
public how he obtained his knowledge of the 
composition, and has constantly refused to 
submit his medicine to analyzation, the only 
fair mode of proving it genuine or spurious. 
Dr. Bur-

[60]
Dr. Burrows next assures us that Mr. de 
Velnos has long since divulged his secret to 
a committee of twenty-four members of the 
faculty at Paris: this he should know is a 
matter of form in that country, upon grant- 
ing what they call a privilege. Mr. Senac, 
first physician to the king, being satisfied by 
the accounts of Monsieur Petit and other emi- 
nent physicians, of the great efficacy of Mr. 
de Velnos’s medicine, after it had been ana- 
lyzed by two professors of chymistry, under 
the inspection of the Marshal Duke of Biron, 
granted him, gratis, what is here styled a pa- 
tent; but were his majesty’s letters patent 
here as hard to obtain, the king’s signature 
would never have been prostituted as in the 
present instance, nor would Dr. Burrows 
have had authority to give fraud a sanction. 
Dr. Burrows also communicated his secret 
to a committee, but did he divulge the com- 
ponent parts of his spurious nostrum? he did 
not; nor was it required of him. I beg the 
reader

[61]
reader to judge whether the ablest chymists 
could, from what he thought proper to reveal, 
gather sufficient information to enable them 
to make his syrup. 
Copy of Dr. Burrows’s Deposition, taken upon 
Oath. 
“ I take of the eccoprotic or milder purge- 
“ ing plants, with a proper quantity of sal 
“ tartar, and let them infuse some time; 
“ after which, I make use of antivenereal 
“ and antiscorbutic plants, moderately bruis- 
“ ed before expression, adding a quantity of 
“ the juice of dendelion; then depuration is 
“ necessary, for freeing them from all hete- 
“ rogeneous matter, afterwards let them 
“ stand some time in a moderate digesting 
“ heat; then decantation is required, after 
“ which despumation, by adding white of eggs 
“ to the fluid to be clarified, and when boiled 
“ to a proper consistence, filtration or perco- 
lation

[62]
“ lation follows, by passing without pressure 
“ the fluid to be purified through proper 
“ strainers, at length it is made into a syrup 
“ for use. ” 
Risum teneatis Amici. 
How destitute of understanding must that 
man be, who can stoop to contradict his own 
assertions! this, through necessity, Dr, Bur- 
rows has recourse to; he has repeatedly ac- 
knowledged the receipt of one hundred quarts 
of syrup from Paris, at two different times; 
yet in his last pamphlet he affirms with his 
natural effrontery, that he never administered 
a single bottle of Velnos’s Syrup in this king- 
dom. The contrary is the fact. Dr. Burrows 
received fifty bottles of Mr. de Velnos’s syrup 
from Paris, which was paid for, agreeable to 
articles; when that quantity was disposed of 
he sent for fifty bottles more, for which he 
never made any remittance, and this broke 
off the correspondence between him and Mr. 
de Velnos. 
When

[63]
When it becomes necessary for a man to 
rail, it is injudicious to stigmatize his adver- 
sary with the very epithet which he himself 
deserves. From this, however, in the warmth 
of his defamation the Doctor shrinks not, 
and brands another with the name of 
nostrum-monger general, when he was con- 
tractor at one time for three different 
nostrums from Paris, viz. with Mr. Vala- 
breque for his Persian drops, with Mr. de 
Velnos for his Vegetable Syrup, and with 
Mr. Gamet for his cure of cancers: the last 
he advertised here lately, since which the 
Doctor has fortunately hit upon a new me- 
thod of convincing himself and friends, of the 
credulity of the public, by improving the art 
of midwifery, and facilitating births. 
The remarks which have fallen from the 
pen of Burrows relative to Dr. Mercier’s hav- 
ing kept an academy, his decoying Mr. de Vel- 
nos from France, his acting behind the curtain, 
and personating the late Mr. Saffory, are lit- 
tle paltry insinuations, more worthy the 
mouth

[64]
mouth of a valet, than the great improver 
of medicine. Dr. Mercier has had an uni- 
versity education, has received his 
diploma, which constitutes him master of 
arts, and doctor of physic; he was a partner 
from the beginning, and known as such; 
never attempted to personate another, but 
by a candid behaviour has gained the esteem 
of his numerous acquaintance, and the cha- 
racter of an honest man. 
Mr. de Velnos came to England unasked 
to claim his right, and to expose Dr. Bur- 
rows for imposing on the public a spurious 
medicine in the name of the author. 
Dr. Burrows says in his pamphlet, page 
15, “ Mr. de Velnos finding himself totally 
“ disappointed in his mighty expectations, 
“ and probably having discovered that he 
“ was allured over as a mere tool to carry 
“ on the machinations of others; as the 
“ wisest step he had taken during that whole 
“ trans-

[65]
“ transaction, returned to France, promising 
“ to revisit London, but has not made his 
“ appearance since.” 
The following plain tale will expose the 
Doctor’s talent of falsifying. In order to put 
a stop to the practices of an impostor, Mr. de 
Velnos repaired to London, where he met with 
the reception he deserved both from his friends 
and the public; and, during a residence of three 
months, properly exhibited the character of 
Dr. Burrows, his unfaithful agent. He then 
returned well satisfied to Paris, with an in- 
tention soon to revisit England, but age and 
infirmities prevented him from putting this 
design into execution. He therefore sent his 
wife to London, with a special power of at- 
torney, and she has confirmed upon oath the 
truth of the above, * and other particulars, 
which would be sufficient to put any man 
but Dr. Burrows to shame and confusion.
* Vide the affidavit, page 57.
I I know

[66]
I know not whether the Dr. possesses the 
second sight, or by what other extraordi- 
nary quality he became so well acquainted 
with our agreement with Mr. de Velnos. 
How can he tell what quantity of Syrup 
was left with Messrs. Saffory and Mercier? 
they can prove they had a large stock when 
Mr. de Velnos returned to France, and have 
since received two invoices at such a rate as 
has enabled them to sell it at one guinea 
per quart, which may serve as an answer 
to his silly observations concerning the re- 
duced price. 
Dr. Burrows asks, what satisfaction can the 
public receive from the analyzation of the 
medicine? they are assured that it contains 
not a grain of * mercury or other metallic sub- 
stance. Dr. Burrows says the same of his 
boasted specific, but has forgot to prove it; 
* A quality which can with truth and justice be attri- 
buted to no other remedy in the same disease. Dr. Bur- 
rows’s first pamphlet, page five.
a sim-

[67]
a simple assertion from a man whose affidavit 
has been proved untrue will be distrusted. 
Dr. Burrows, in his account of cures, insert- 
ed the case of Mrs. Mary Boardman of 
the Cloisters, four months after her death; 
this cure was certainly complete, and we 
doubt not but his medicine has given the 
same effectual relief to many others. 
Dr. Burrows accuses Dr. Mercier of vend- 
ing a spurious sort of bougies, thereby inva- 
ding the property of Mr. Lalller, Surgeon. 
Now, the said Lallier is no surgeon, but was 
a servant to Mr. Daran in Paris, where he 
learned to make bougies. Dr. Mercier has 
been intimately acquainted with Mr. Daran 
both in Paris and in London, and purchased 
his compositions from a person who lived 
with the said Daran, who made his medica- 
ted bougies for a long time, as may be attested 
on oath, if required. 
How-

[68]
However, the accusation, had it been true, 
was impertinent, and strongly marks the 
weakness of a man casting about for argu- 
ments of recrimination, 
The author of this little tract has now 
gone through Dr. Burrows’s pretended refu- 
tation of the late Mr. Saffory’s remarks, &c. 
has shewn it to be a shameless and evasive re- 
cantation of former principles. He hopes 
that if justice is preferred to a specious shew 
of honesty and truth, the remedy and argu- 
ments will alike bear analyzation, while 
Dr. Burrows stands convicted as an impostor 
at the bar of that impartial public, whose 
favour the author wishes to enjoy, as he may 
deserve. 
CASES,

[69]
CASES, 
Wherein Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup has been 
administered with the most surprizing Success 
in venereal and scorbutic Cases. 
CASE I. 
London, 
(to wit)
ELeanor Smith, now of the 
parish of St. Botolph, Bishops- 
gate; make the oath and faith, that she, this 
deponent, for some months past has been 
afflicted with the most dreadful symptoms of 
the venereal disease, attended with shankers 
and sores of the foulest kind, together with 
the most excruciating and constant pains in 
her head and limbs, which reduced her to 
so miserable a state of lowness, that she could 
not walk across the room without assistance. 
This deponent also declares, that she was, at 
the same time, afflicted with what is called 
a hectic fever, in consequence of the above 
complaints,

[70]
complaints; but by the taking of M. de 
Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup, administered to 
her by Messrs. Saffory and Son, surgeons in 
Bishopsgate Sreet, London, this deponent de- 
clares, that she was perfectly and radically 
cured; that she now remains in perfect 
health, and that all her sores are healed, 
without having any other remedy applied to 
them, except the syrup used as a wash. 
Eleanor Smith. 
Sworn, September 30, 1772. 
Before me, 
WILLIAM NASH, Mayor. 
CASE II. 
Mary Wilson, late of the parish of St. 
Botolph, Bishopsgate, about 22 years 
of age, laboured under a complication of 
some of the most obstinate venereal symp- 
toms I ever saw. The injury had been re- 
ceived

[71]
ceived some years; and she had been long 
afflicted with the most excruciating pains, 
running sores in many parts of her body, 
shankers upon the labiæ, and a node of the 
size of a pigeon’s egg, and excessively pain- 
ful, on one of her legs. She was naturally 
of a scorbutic habit, and this, complicated 
with the venereal disease, had so emaciated 
her body, that even an attempt to effect the 
cure, by the common method, must have 
been attended with the most fatal consequen- 
ces. But by taking of four bottles of Vel- 
nos’s Vegetable Syrup, and observing a strict 
regimen, every symptom of her complaint 
was removed; she was perfectly cured, and 
in less than three weeks after recovered her 
former strength. 
Witness to the Cure, 
Le Febvre, M. D. 
Dover Street, Pic-
cadilly 
CASE

[72]
CASE III. 
John Nelson, formerly of the parish of 
Maplebeck, in the county of Notting- 
ham, mariner, had, for fifteen years, labour- 
ed under a dreadful complication of the scur- 
vy and venereal disease. He acquired the 
former in his youth, by the almost constant 
use of salt provisions at sea, and contracted 
the latter when about twenty years of age. 
Time had increased the symptoms to so vio- 
lent a degree that even life itself was become 
a burthen. He had continual running sores 
in both his legs, a fistula in perineo, which 
had penetrated the urinary passage, so that 
he voided as much water through the wound 
as by the urethra. In this deplorable con- 
dition he began a course of the syrup, which 
in about two months removed all his com- 
plaints, and in less than four, was radically 
cured and enjoyed since a better state of health 
than he ever could remember in any one pe- 
riod of his life. 
CASE

[73]
CASE IV. 
MR. William Painter, of Church Street, 
St. Anne’s, after being for a conside- 
rable time afflicted with a most inveterate 
and confirmed venereal disorder, attended 
with a chancre on the glans penis, of a most 
enormous size, which had eat quite through 
into the urethra; with a variety of other 
dreadful symptoms, excruciating nocturnal 
pains in the head and limbs, venereal blotches, 
and, from repeated mercurial courses, quite 
emaciated. In this situation he regularly took 
a course of the Vegetable Syrup; and in one 
month was perfectly cured. 
CASE V. 
Alexander Nevie, living with Mr. Col- 
lier, a baker, in Bishopsgate Street 
Without, was cured by taking four bottles 
K only

[74]
only, of a confirmed lues, being not only 
afflicted with a most violent phimosis, but 
had all the inguinal glands schirrous, ulcers 
in the urethra, attended with a pocky hectic, 
and so delicate a constitution, that not the 
most gentle dose of any mercurial preparation 
that could be given, but what instantly flung 
him into the flux, and brought on variety of 
disorders; he was several times attempted to 
be cured in the common way, which was ab- 
solutely impossible: in this situation he took 
the Original Syrup, and in three weeks was 
perfectly cured. 
CASE VI. 
A Gentleman, whose name I have liberty 
to mention, was for three years afflicted 
with strictures and ulcerations in the urinary 
passage, the effects of an ill cured gonorrhœa, 
for which he had tried almost every remedy 
extant,

[75]
extant, but never received the least benefit. 
In this situation he took six bottles of the 
Vegetable Syrup with unlooked-for success; 
and has gratitude enough to declare, that e- 
very future happy moment of his life dates 
its origin from the remedy he so fortunately 
experienced. 
CASE VII. 
To Messrs. SAFFORY and MERCIER. 
HAving lately received a cure by taking 
your Vegetable Syrup, which from the 
nature of my complaints I totally despaired 
of, I am induced to give you this public assu- 
rance of my being indebted, perhaps for life 
and constitution, to your invaluable medicine; 
a most obstinate scorbutic complaint had at- 
tended me for a considerable time, for which 
I had repeatedly taken the advice of some of 
she most eminent of the faculty in vain; it 
grew


[76]
grew at last so exceeding bad as to affect one of 
my eyes, which I was daily in fear of losing, 
attended with a total loss of appetite, and ex- 
cessive pains in all my limbs; being recom- 
mended to the Syrup by a friend of mine, 
who had received a remarkable cure, I was 
induced to try it, which I did with the most 
pleasing effect; being perfectly and radically 
cured of all my disorders by taking five bottles 
only. 
I remain, gentlemen, 
Your most grateful humble servant, 
JOHN BAXTER, 
Of the Ladies’ Coterie, Albermarle-Street. 
CASE VIII. 
James Spence, Esq. at No. 12, Castle 
Street, near Barner Street, Oxford Road, 
was, for many years, afflicted with a violent 
scurvy, which affected both his legs, as to oc-
casion 


[77]
casion continual eruptions, and ulcerations of 
a most malignant nature; after trying many 
medicines in vain, was radically cured by 
taking five bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup. He now remains in perfect health, 
and is willing, for the general good of man- 
kind, to satisfy any person of the above truth. 
CASE IX. 
MR. Lever, at No. 6, George Yard, 
Lombard Street, was afflicted with a 
surfeit and a violent scurvy, his face and 
whole body being full of red spots and pim- 
ples, of which he was radically cured by 
taking five bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup. 
CASE X. 
MR. John Cruchet, of West Street, St. 
Anne’s, Soho, was for many years af- 
flicted with a virulent scurvy, both his legs 
were

[78]
were swelled and full of lived pimples, which 
occasioned so great a lameness, that it was 
with great difficulty he could walk, after 
taking four bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup was radically cured. 
CASE XI. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
Induced by a motive of humanity, I re- 
quest my case may be published, the pe- 
culiar misfortunes of which bore so heavy on 
me that life became a burthen. I was af- 
flicted with the most violent scurvy, my 
whole body almost one universal scale, parti- 
cularly my arms and legs, which was pro- 
nounced to be a leprosy. I had been an out- 
patient at St. George’s hospital, but met with 
no relief, the excruciating pains constantly 
depriving me of rest for several months. I 
had most of my joints affected with painful 
and indurated swellings, particularly my
right

[79]
right ancle, and my knee contracted, which 
occasioned such a lameness that it was with 
the greatest difficulty I could stand; I was 
also excessive weak and in a decline, from a 
hectic fever, together with a total loss of ap- 
petite. The first bottle of the Original Vege- 
table Syrup greatly abated my pains, five fi- 
nished my cure in the space of six weeks, and 
restored me to my former health and strength; 
which to this moment I enjoy, to the surprise 
of several people of credit and reputation, who 
will attest the same. In gratitude to you, 
and for the good of mankind, I request you 
to publish my case. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your most obedient humble servant, 
ROBERT HUTTON, 
At the Penny-Post Office, Lambeth- 
Marsh, opposite Mount Row. 
Witnesses to the cure. 
J. WILLIS, Master of the Thatch’d 
House Tavern, St James’s Street.
R. SUTTON, Master of the Ladies’ 
Coterie, Albermarle Street. 
CASE

[80]
CASE XII. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
Gratitude to you, and feeling for my 
fellow creatures, are the motives of 
this letter, which I request yon will publish 
in justice to your most excellent Vegetable Sy- 
rup, and in order to let the world know the 
great virtues of that admirable medicine. 
I had been for a long time afflicted with a 
violent scurvy, complicated with a general 
rheumatism of my whole body, which ren- 
dered me so feeble and helpless that I could 
not turn myself in bed without assistance. I 
laid in this melancholy situation for upwards 
of three months, with the additional agony 
of pains from head to foot; a wasting hectic, 
and a total loss of appetite to struggle with. 
Two


[81]
Two eminent persons of the faculty constant- 
ly attended me, without being able to procure 
me the least relief; or alleviate my disorder. 
Nature being quite exhausted, I despaired of 
recovery, when Mr. Hutton, (at the penny 
post office, Lambeth Marsh, opposite Mount 
Row) an old patient of yours, and one who 
had already experienced the certain efficacy 
of your most admirable, remedy recommended 
me to you. 
After taking the first bottle, I found my 
strength so amazingly restored, that I could 
not only turn in my bed without help, but 
even walk my room. In short, I recovered 
so fast that in about a fortnight I was able to 
go out, and when I had taken six bottles, 
was (by the grace of God) radically cured of 
all my complaints, and found myself once 
more in possession of those inestimable blessings, 
health and tranquility. The truth of the 
above is very well known to all the neigh- 
L bours,


[82]
bours, who are ready to attest the same to 
any enquirer. 
I am, 
With the warmest sense of gratitude, 
Gentlemen, 
Your most obliged humble servant, 
THOMAS HOWELS, 
Farrier, Lambeth Marsh. 
Witnesses to the cure, 
JOS. HOPKINS, Surgeon, 
No. 85, Frith Street, Soho. 
ROBERT HUTTON, 
Lambeth Marsh.
CASE XIII. 
MR. Beaumgartner, merchant, of Poor 
Jewry Lane, Aldgate, residing at Chel- 
sea, was, for a number of years, afflicted with 
a most virulent scurvy, which had occasioned 
one universal scurf over his head, which con- 
stantly discharged a large quantity of peccant 
fœtid

[83]
fœtid matter: there was also upon his fore- 
head a lump as big as a pigeon’s egg; seve- 
ral of the joints were enchylosed, particularly 
the left arm, which he had nearly lost the 
use of. At the same time he was afflicted 
with severe complaints, universal lassitude, 
and a want of appetite; together with a con- 
stant and most excruciating rheumatic pains 
in all his limbs. In this deplorable state, he 
applied to M. de Velnos, when he was last 
in town, who gave his Syrup with the great- 
est success: the fourth bottle perfected the 
cure, except a little lameness, which was re- 
moved after M. de Velnos’s departure, by 
administering of a fifth bottle, the patient 
was radically cured; and now remains in per- 
fect health. 
CASE XIV. 
MR. John Man of Cold Bath Fields, 
was most severely affected with a com- 
plication of the scorbutic rheumatism; he had 
lost

[84]
lost the use of one arm for three years before, 
which limb never had the appearance of any 
eruptions, the other was constantly covered 
with large pustules like the small pox. Every 
application both external and internal had 
failed. A physician advised him to try the 
Original Syrup, which he did with surprising 
effect; the first bottle that he took apparently 
disagreed with him, and made him rather 
hotter than before; the second threw him at 
times into a violent itching of the blood, and 
several spots appeared on the lame arm, which 
in a fortnight was covered with a thick rash,
he then began to feel a free circulation in the 
limb, and by perseverance in the use of the 
Original Syrup, he perfected a cure, and has
the perfect use of all his limbs. 
CASE XV. 
John Hanson, a mariner, who from living 
on salt provisions had acquired the scurvy 
in so violent a degree as to be covered over 
entirely


[85]
entirely, body and legs; as a leopard with an 
universal white scale that would scrape off 
like chalk, a continual nauseous and vomit- 
ing, and could digest nothing the least solid; 
six bottles of the Syrup perfectly cured him, 
and he now remains well and in perfect 
health. 
CASE XVI. 
MR. James Sprags of Spitalfields was af- 
flicted with scorbutic eruptions over 
most parts of his body, which constantly dis- 
charged an ischorus matter prodigiously of- 
fensive, and of so hot a nature as to excori- 
ate the skin wherever it touched, his general 
constitution was much emaciated, dwindled 
to a mere skeleton from excess of pain; was 
relieved by a few bottles of the Original Sy- 
rup, and perfectly cured in ten weeks. 
CASE

[86]
CASE XVII. 
MR. Alexander Donald, of Margaret 
street, Cavendish square, after being 
affected in the most violent manner for six 
years with the scorbutic humour so interwo- 
ven in his constitution as to occasion a caries 
of the shin bone, which never could be 
brought to separation, tho’ he had tried fifty 
different remedies, and had been salivated 
twice; by taking five bottles of the Original 
Vegetable Syrup the bone exfoliated, in two 
months he was perfectly cured, the wound 
healed, and his constitution restored to its 
pristine health. 
CASE XVIII. 
MR Mathews, formerly of Chancery 
Lane, was for fourteen years, afflicted 
with the scurvy every spring and fall, he was 
covered

[87]
covered with running sores, which, by the 
use of salt bathing, was a little kept under; 
he was at Margate at the time he applied for 
the Original Syrup, at which place be took 
five bottles, and was radically cured, that is 
two years ago, and he has not had the least 
return since. 
CASE XIX. 
J. Watts, a labourer, afflicted in the most 
terrible manner with scorbutic erup- 
tions all over his body, and a wound upon 
one of his legs, for which he had been in 
four different hospitals without the least be- 
nefit, five bottles of the Original Syrup per- 
fectly cured him. 
CASE

[88]
CASE XX.
MRS. Martin, of Horden, was for several 
years in the most alarming situation, 
from a violent swelling of the abdomen, and 
a prodigious indurated lump as big as a cricket 
ball, of the right side; she had generally a 
yellow complection, bordering on the jaun- 
dice, universally obstructed with scorbutic 
eruptions and pimples at times, her disorder 
was pronounced a bad liver, and supposed to 
be fatal, but fortunately her physician who 
attended her advised Velnos’s Original Syrup, 
which by taking regularly with the most 
minute attention for three months, she be- 
came gradually restored to a state of perfect
health, which she enjoys to this hour. 
CASE XXI. 
Andrew Moss, at Bow, was for upwards 
of seven years afflicted with a scorbu- 
tie nervous headache, so as to prevent his
working

[89]
working at his trade, which was that of a 
carpenter, he was frequently taken in an in- 
stant with such excruciating pains in his fore- 
head as to occasion partly the loss of sight; 
he had on one arm some scaly white pustules, 
which at times discharged, then he was free 
from pains in his head; he took five bottles 
only of Velnos’s Original Vegetable Syrup, 
which perfectly and radically cured him. 
CASE XXII. 
MR. Marchmont, a foreigner, residing in 
Mark Lane, had from his infancy 
been afflicted with a leprous scorbutic, he 
was at times one universal scale; six bottles 
of the Original Syrup, and a great attention 
to regularity of diet perfectly cured him.
M CASE

[90]
CASE XXIII. 
MR. Goodwin, of Lambeth, had, by re- 
quest of some of the faculty, been sali- 
vated for some swellings that were of an 
alarming nature, the glands under the arm- 
pits, in the throat and groins were prodigi- 
ously indurated, but did not give the least way 
to the strongest mercurial courses that could 
be used, both external and internal; it was 
judged scrophulous, he was advised to try the 
Original Syrup, which he did with the de- 
sired effect, in less than two months he was 
perfectly cured. 
CASE XXIV. 
MR. Munroe, resident at Brighthelm- 
stone, was for fourteen years afflicted 
with scorbutic eruptions in his face and neck, 
for

[91]
for which, he had applied to several of the 
faculty with no success; his head, face and 
shoulders being one universal scab, five or 
six bottles of the Original Syrup made him 
perfectly well. 
CASE XXV, 
MR. Warren, a gentleman whose af- 
flictions in point of illness was incre- 
dible, never knowing a single day’s ease or 
health for many years; he was afflicted by 
scorbutic obstructions, hereditary, his whole 
family being eat up with the scurvy, his feet, 
legs and arms were one sore, at times dis- 
charging plentifully, at others quite dry, 
with a white scale, his face covered with red 
pimples; he was also affected with a constant 
nervous head-ach, and had the rheumatism 
in every limb. In this situation, exhausted by 
repeated trials of almost every medicine ex-
tant, 

[92]
tant, he took a regular course of the Ori- 
ginal Syrup, which in two months cured 
him. 
CASE XXVI. 
Paul Martin, of Birmingham, coachman 
to a gentleman of that place, cured of a 
confirmed lues, after trying different prepara- 
tions of mercury in vain, by taking a few 
bottles of the Original Vegetable Syrup. 
CASE XXVII. 
MR. John Bradwick, of Plummer’s Court, 
Holborn, cured of an inveterate lues. 
See his case, written by himself, which can- 
not with decency be printed. 
CASE

[93]
CASE XXVIII. 
MR. Raimond, valet de chambre to a 
nobleman, cured of an inveterate scur- 
vy in his hands and feet, complicated with a 
certain disorder, by taking six bottles of the 
Original Vegetable Syrup. 
When it is remembered how few persons choose 
to have their names publicly mentioned, es- 
pecially in venereal cases, no apology will 
perhaps be expected for inserting the follow- 
ing cures performed on anonymous patients: 
but have obtained free liberty to refer any 
candid enquirer to those patients, who will 
very readily give them abundant satis- 
faction. 
CASE XXIX. 
Mr. and Mrs. G. of Crown Street, Soho, 
were cured of a confirmed and invete- 
rate venereal complaint, of twenty-one years 
standing,

[94]
standing, which disorder being so complicated 
with the scurvy, that it baffled every medi- 
cine, administered by several persons of the 
first consequence in their profession; they had 
also took without the least effect thirty bot- 
tles of Burrows’s Syrup with improvements. 
Six only, of the Original Syrup, administered 
to each, radically cured and restored them 
both to their perfect health and strength. 
The particulars of their disorder, and the above 
case is written in the husband’s hand writing, 
with permission to shew it to any candid en- 
quirer, and is to be seen by applying to Dr. 
Mercier, at No. 39, Frith Street, Soho. 
CASE XXX. 
C.F. Esq. of Devon, by unfortunately 
loading his constitution with mercu- 
rials, together with a natural scorbutic ha- 
bit, had by the violence of the disorder lost 
the

[95]
the sight of one eye, the other could scarce 
distinguish large objects, his gums were en- 
tirely eat away, several of the teeth were ca- 
rious, and a small portion of the lower jaw 
diseased, generally dibilitated, with night 
sweats, and a bed hectic cough; in this situ- 
ation Messrs. Saffory and Mercier were sent 
for to see him, they advised his being 
brought to London, and placed under their 
care, when by a careful administration of the 
Original Vegetable Syrup, they had the pleasure 
to return him to the longing arms of a large 
and excellent family, in about three months, 
perfectly well; a large portion of the jaw se- 
parated, several of the teeth were extracted, 
and after taking only three bottles, he could 
sleep half the night with perfect ease, lost his 
cough, and by degrees every unfortunate 
symptom vanished. 
CASE

[96]
CASE XXXI. 
T. W. Union Stairs, Wapping, from a 
constant use of salt provisions, had the 
scurvy settled in the point of his right arm, 
which became quite scrophulous, a large 
wound broke out near the tip of the elbow, 
from whence a large discharge issued for se- 
veral months; in less than a fortnight, by 
taking the Original Vegetable Syrup, the 
wound bore a different aspect, the discharge 
lessened, and in six weeks he was perfectly 
well. 
CASE XXXII. 
L. B. of Onger, in Essex, a grazier, la- 
boured under a complication of disor- 
ders, particularly a deafness, occasioned, as 
was pronounced by a scorbutic humour in the 
blood, which shewed itself even in his infant 
state;

[97]
state; he had for several years a fœtid dis 
charge of wax and matter from both ears, 
and often extremely deaf; at times the glands 
of the neck enlarged, and once suppurated; He 
had tried innumerable remedies, and had ap- 
plied in vain to two persons famous in dis- 
orders of the ears: a gentleman in the 
neighbourhood who had received a cure by 
the Syrup, recommended it to the above per- 
son, whom, by taking seven bottles, in the 
space of nine weeks became perfectly well, 
and has remained so ever since. 
CASE XXXIII. 
H. G. of the island of Guernsey, was con- 
fined to his room seven months with 
the rheumatism, complicated with some 
other disorders, particularly the scurvy, to so 
violent degree that he was constantly obliged 
to be dressed by a surgeon twice a day, for 
N three


[98]
three months, having running sores in both 
legs and arms, most of his joints were abso- 
lutely echylosed, and by the use of crutches 
only he could crawl across the room, he was 
then attended by a physical person in the is- 
land, who had administered the Original Syrup 
with surprizing effect; he put this person un- 
der a strict course of it, which in less than 
four months, perfectly restored him to the 
free use of all his limbs, and a perfect 
restoration of health. 
CASE XXXIV. 
L. U. of the island of Grenades, was cured 
by taking four bottles only of the Ve- 
getable Syrup, after every other method had 
failed, of a virulent sharp scorbutic humour, 
that excoriated every other part it fell on; in 
this case, it was remarkable that he had taken 
two bottles only, when the ischor that dis 
charged 

[99]
charged from the scorbutic eruptions had lost 
its usual heat; for, before, the very rheum 
that came from his eyes, caused the skin to 
come off from the face; in one month he 
was perfectly cured. 
CASE XXXV. 
H. G. recommended as a pauper, by the 
parish officers, was cured of an invete- 
rate scurvy which had broke out in red pim- 
ples all over his body, with so violent an 
itching as to occasion him to tear the skin 
off in such a manner, that he could not turn 
from one side to the other. He took five 
or six bottles of Velnos’s Original Syrup, 
and was perfectly cured, and remains without 
the least return of his disorder.
CASE

[100]
CASE XXXVI. 
Another person, recommended by the 
same officers, received a cure in a si- 
milar case, except this last was complicated, 
he having the jaundice and dropsy at the 
same time, but as it all arose from one grand 
cause, Obstructions, and that scorbutic, the 
Syrup had a happy effect, and he was well 
in a short time. 
CASE XXXVII. 
W. T. recommended by Mr. Thomson 
of Cheshire, had from his infancy, 
occasioned by a surfeit, one of the most viru- 
lent scorbutic complaints that could possibly 
be, attended with several aggravating circum- 
stances, inch as a general debility, night 
sweats, and swellings in the legs; he took 
only four bottles, of the Syrup, and was, and 
now remains in perfect health.
CASE

[101]
CASE XXXVIII. 
A Gentleman who keeps a lottery office, 
being afflicted with an inveterate scurvy, 
after spending five hundred pounds in various 
medicines and advice in vain, was radically 
cured by taking seven or eight bottles of Vel- 
nos’s Original Vegetable Syrup. 
CASE XXXIX. 
A Gentleman residing in Holborn, was af- 
flicted with several cutaneous irruptions 
in the face, occasioned by a sharp scorbutic 
humour in the blood, was perfectly cured by 
taking six bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup. 
CASE

[102]
CASE XL. 
A Gentleman of Marsham Street, West- 
minster, cured of carnosities and stric- 
tures in the urethra, with excoriations on the 
præputium of twenty years standing, by the 
use of a few medicated bougies and seven bot- 
tles of our syrup, he was radically cured. 
CASE XLI. 
AN officer cured of an inveterate lues, af- 
ter trying the strongest mercurial pre- 
parations in vain, was radically cured by 
taking seven bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup. 
CASE XLII. 
AN elderly lady, cured of an inveterate 
scorbutic complaint and pimpled face, 
occasioned by a surfeit, by taking five bottles 
of the Original Vegetable Syrup. 
CASE

[103]
CASE XLIII. 
A Valet de chambre to a nobleman had al- 
most lost the use of his left arm, by the 
use of mercury, and was full of pains in the 
joints, especially his ancles; he was radically 
cured by taking six bottles of the Original 
Vegetable Syrup. 
CASE XLIV. 
The daughter of a gentleman had seve- 
ral ulcers in her legs, one in particular 
on the side of the tibia, very deep and of a 
malignant nature, the skin of her legs was 
like the scale of a fish, she was radically cured 
by taking at two different times a course of 
the Syrup. She was recommended to wash 
the sores with the Syrup, and in less than 
three months, was perfectly cured. 
CASE

[104]
CASE XLV. 
A Young lady of Southampton, afflicted 
with an inveterate scorbutic humour 
and pimpled face, was perfectly cured by 
taking five bottles of the Original Vegetable 
Syrup. 
CASE XLVI. 
A Country gentleman had several irrup- 
tions in his face, arms and legs, occa- 
sioned by a surfeit, complicated with the 
scurvy, was radically cured by taking six bot- 
tles of Velnos’s Original Vegetable Syrup. 
CASE XLVII. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
I Should think myself wanting of gratitude, 
and even of humanity, was I to delay any 
longer to acquaint you of the extraordinary 
cure


[105]
cure I received by the use of your Vegetable 
Syrup. I had been afflicted for several years 
with a most malignant scrofulous and scor- 
butic humour all over my body and face, es- 
pecially in my head, arms and legs, which 
constantly discharged an ischorus matter very 
offensive, and of so hot a nature as to exco- 
riate the skin of my face wherever it touched, 
my constitution very much debilitated, and 
dwindled to a mere skeleton from excess of 
pain. After trying several medicines in vain, 
which did me more harm than good, a gen- 
tleman of this place recommended me to your 
Vegetable Syrup, having performed a surpris- 
ing cure on one of his friends; I applied to 
you, and after the second bottle I found my- 
self stronger, having a better appetite; the 
dwellings in my neck disappeared gradually, 
the discharge of my sores were less offensive, 
and in two months time was radically cured 
of all my complaints, to the great joy of all 
my acquaintance, and have enjoyed ever since 
a perfect state of health. In gratitude to you,
O and 


[106]
and for the good of those afflicted as I was, 
I request you to publish my case. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your most obliged humble servant,
JOHN LANE, 
Master of the Angel Inn and 
Livery stable, Birmingham.
Birmingham, July 25, 1775. 
Witnesses to the cure, 
THO. WARREN. 
P. F. BOURGEOIS. 
CASE XLVIII. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
The extraordinary cure I have lately re- 
ceived by a course of your Velnos’s Ve- 
getable Syrup, binds me in gratitude to make 
known to the public, the wonderful effects 
of that most salutary remedy. At the time, 
I begun the Syrup, I was afflicted with the 
most melancholy and severe venereal symp- 
toms

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toms that could possibly be; ulcerations of 
the worst nature in the throat and palate, 
almost all I drank came through the nose, 
the bones of which were considerably affected. 
I had constant excruciating pains in all my 
limbs, one of my knees was enchylosed, the 
ancles as well as shin bones considerably en- 
larged. I had been salivated in the Lock 
Hospital, since which, I have been under the 
hands of many of the faculty, and of the first 
consequence in their profession; tired of life, 
and lost to despair, I was advised to take 
your Syrup, by a person receiving a cure in a 
similar case. l am now, by taking six bottles 
of it, in perfect health, radically cured of all 
my disorders, and a living witness of the great 
efficacy of the Original Vegetable Syrup; in 
gratitude for benefits received, I request my 
case to be published, and am respectfully, 
Gentleman, 
Your ever obliged humble servant, 
GEORGE OLIVER. 
Long-Acre, November 23, 1775. 
CASE


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CASE XLIX. 
Extract of a Letter from Paris, Feb. 3, 1776. 
(Translated from the French.) 
To Dr. Mercier. 
SIR, 
I have the pleasure to acquaint you that 
Mr. De Velnos’s Syrup hath performed 
here lately a wonderful cure. The secretary 
of the Venetian Ambassador, after a course 
of mercury had failed, had his throat ul- 
cerated all over, and could take no food but 
by the means of a syringe, so that there was 
hardly passage to convey through that instru- 
ment a little broth, and by taking a few bot- 
tles of the Syrup (administered by Dr. Mi- 
quet,) he was radically cured, to the great 
astonishment of the faculty and advocates of 
mercury. 
I am, Sir, 
Your most obedient servant, 
LE CLERC. 
CASE

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CASE L. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
Having received a perfect cure of a bad 
complication of a nervous and scorbu- 
tic disorder which had afflicted me for several 
years, with the most violent pains in my 
head, much emaciated, and reduced by low 
spirits. I fortunately took seven bottles of 
your Original Velnos’s Vegetable Syrup, 
which has restored me to my proper health, 
after trying various medicines and variety of 
advice in vain. I am desirous of making this 
known, and therefore give you leave to pub- 
lish it. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your most obliged humble servant, 
ELIZABETH RYLAND. 
No. 25, Bennet Street, West- 
minster, July 10th 1776. 
CASE

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CASE LI. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
GENTLEMEN, 
Having been for upwards of six years, af- 
flicted with a most violent scorbutic 
humour in my arms and legs, complicated 
with the rheumatism, which almost totally 
deprived the use of my limbs, so as to 
disenable me from carrying on my usual busi- 
ness, and, by taking five bottles of your Vel- 
nos’s Original Vegetable Syrup, am perfectly 
cured: After the second bottle I was able to 
walk several miles upon the stretch, which I 
had not been able to perform for these several 
years past, and by the grace of God and the 
assistance of your Vegetable Syrup, I enjoy at 
present a perfect share of health. In justice 
to your most excellent medicine, and for the 
benefit

[111]
benefit of those afflicted as I was, I send you 
this extraordinary case, with my consent to 
publish it. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your most obliged humble servant, 
FRED. POTTERAT. 
No. 13, Bow Lane, 
July 10, 1776. 
CASE LII. 
To Messrs. Saffory and Mercier. 
Gentlemen, 
I Return you my sincere thanks for the 
great benefit I have received, in taking 
your Vegetable Syrup, by the excellence of 
which I have been cured of a continual pain, 
which occured from having caught cold in 
fishing, &c. this pain was so violent, that I 
could not rest in the night, of which I am, 
thank God, radically cured, and am very 
willing

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willing to give the testimony of the above to 
any inquirer. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your obedient humble servant, 
CHARLES SAVARY, 
Coleman Street, No. 56, 
August 13, 1776. 
FINIS. 
ERRATUM. 
At the End of Case XXVII. read, “ This case is writ- 
“ ten by the Patient, and is to be seen by enquiring 
“ at No. 39, Frith Street, Soho. ”