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Consumption, with a “hectick”, is tuberculosis progressing into a state with fever onset. These recipes continue on the theme previously proposed by Osborn although the move towards other medicines suggests he is trying to provide other ways to eliminate the excess phlegm or other humours agitating and incapacitating the lungs. Some of these recipes are more of a drying nature, such as those incorporating clay and such. The bracer is aded to tonify the overall body. The use of Barbadoes Tar has a possible association uncovered by the work on Cadwallader Colden. This suggestion is possibly linked to Berkeley’s recommendation of the use of Tar as a medicine. Either Osborn recommended it as a traditional recipe that he knew about, suggesting Berkeley’s Tar recipe does possibly have some traditional roots. If Osborn recommended it as a result of the popularization of Berkeley’s Tar, this is an example of him making use of a similar ideology popularized by Berkeley’s writing.
Many of the above herbs bear tradition doctrines of signatures for treating a condition of the lungs. There are several herbs with these traits, i.e. phlegm as a signature for mallows and comfrey, and capillaries as the signature realted to maidenhair. Sulphurated Balsam of Turpentine comes directly from the pharmacopeieas for the time, perhaps one of Peter Shaw’s works.
Brian Altonen, MPH, MS 