A Variolose Decoction.
Take Scorzonera roots 1 ounce and half; Liquorice half an ounce; Figs 8; Raisins stoned 1 ounce; shaved Hartshorn 2 drams; boil in Barly Water 3 pints to 30 ounce, adding (when three quarters boiled) Cochineal (not bruised) 4 scruples; strain and sweeten it with Syrup of Gilly flowers and Lemons, each 1 ounce.
Scorzonera we are under a necessity of prescribing, because the irresistable Custom of Physicians will have it so. But seeing it hath neither Taste nor Smell, nor any other manifest Quality to recommend it, its Virtues must be allowed to be very obscure, if any at all. And perhaps the common Wealth of Physick, would not sustain much damages, if it were for the future banish'd the Shops, together with the numerous rout of other Impertinents.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710