Purging Ale.
Take roots of sharp-pointed Dock 12 ounces; Polypodium 4 ounces; Horse-Radish 2 ounces; Herbs, Ground-Ivy, Water-Cresses, Brook-lime, Scurvy-Grass, each 2 handfuls; Sassaphras, Juniper-Berries, Coriander-Seeds, Liquorice, each 1 ounce; Senna 4 ounces; Raisins half a pound: Make all these fit to put into 4 gallons. To these may be added, Rheubarb 2 ounces.
Those that are scorbutick, Cachectic, and abound with Humours, and faeculencies, may drink a pint of it (more or less) every Morn in the spring for a week or two, with good advantage.
Le Mort tells us, that Purging-Drinks purge little or nothing, if kept till stale and soure.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710