Siris Author:George Berkeley Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I.TN certain parts of America, tar-water rtf JL made by putting a quart of cold water to a quart of tar, and ftirring them well together in a VfOH, which, is lef... more »t flanding till .the tar finks to the bottom. A glafs of clear water being poured off for a draught is replaced by the fame quantity of frefh water, the veflel being fhaken and left to fland as before. And this is repeated for every glafs, fo.long-as the tar continues to impregnate the water fufficiently, which will appear by the fmell ami tafte. But as this method produceth tar- water of different degrees of ftrength, 1 chufe to make it in the following manner: Pout 3f gal'fon .of cold water on a quart of tar, and ftir and mix them thoroughly with a ladle or flat ftick for the fpace of three or four minutes, after which the vef- .iJej muft ftand eight and forty hours that the tar may have time to fubfide, when the clear .water is to be poured offand kept covered for ufe, no more being made from the fame tar, which may Rill ferve for common purpofes, 2 This cold infufion of tar hath been ufed fn fome of our colonies, as a prefefvative or preparative againft the fmall-pox, which foreign practice induced me to try it in my own neighbourhood, when the fmall-pox raged with great violence. And the trial fully anfwered my expectation : all thofe, within my knowledge, who took the tar-water having either efcaped that diftemper, or had it very favourably. In one family there was a remarkable inftance of fcven children, who came alt very well through the fmall-pox, except one yourrg, child which could not be brought to drink tar-water as the reft had done. 3. Several were preferved from taking the fmall- rox by th? ufe of this liquor: others had it in rhe mildeft mrfdeft manner,' and others that they might be abfa to ta...« less