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Pulvis Comitissae Cantii,
or, Pulvis e Chelis Cancrorum Compositus
Powder of Crabs Claws Compound,
The Countess of Kent’s Powder,
or Gascoines Powder
or, Pulvis e Chelis Cancrorum Compositus
Powder of Crabs Claws Compound,
The Countess of Kent’s Powder,
or Gascoines Powder
Tradition:
Western
Source / Author:
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Herb Name
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Preparation:
Prepare each ingredient by levigating them in a Mortar with a little Rose Water until so fine they cannot be felt between the fingers
Function:
Clears Heat, resists Poison
Use:
1. Children’s Fever
2. Burning Fever
3. Spotted Fevers including Measles and Small Pox.
4. Resists Infection during Epidemics.
5. Restlessness and Nightcrying in Children
6. Some claimed it useful to facilitate Birth.
Dose:
20–30 grains for adults; 4–10 grains for an infant; to 15 grains for a 10 year old
Cautions:
None noted
Modifications:
1. If to every ounce of the above powder was added 1 dram of powdered Bezoar, this formed Bezoardic Powder.
2. Some added Bone of a Stags Heart.
3. Some added Contrayerva, Scorzonera and Saffron
4. The powder was frequently made into Troches with Deer Horn Jelly (with Saffron added), or a Gelatin made of Viper Sloughs (as in the London Pharmacopeia, 1650).
1. The above is the original formula as first used by The Countess of Kent. However, there were many variations of this formula. The Countess of Kent was known to use this charitably to help the poor children in her district when they had Fever.
2. Charras in his French Pharmacopeia (1678) said: ‘This powder is very famous, and in high request in England against Epidemic Distempers, particularly against the Small Pox and Measles. It is also highly commended for the Plague, as well to preserve, as cure. For it strengthens the Heart, and all the Noble parts, against the malignity of these diseases, against Pestilential Air, and preserves them from all sorts of Infection. Nor is it less esteemed in France by persons that know the virtue of it’.
2. Charras in his French Pharmacopeia (1678) said: ‘This powder is very famous, and in high request in England against Epidemic Distempers, particularly against the Small Pox and Measles. It is also highly commended for the Plague, as well to preserve, as cure. For it strengthens the Heart, and all the Noble parts, against the malignity of these diseases, against Pestilential Air, and preserves them from all sorts of Infection. Nor is it less esteemed in France by persons that know the virtue of it’.
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