her note that John of Gatisden, one of the oldest medical
authors, attributes decay of the teeth to "a humour or a worm." In his
"Rosa Anglica"[634] he says: "Si vermes sint in dentibus, Rx semen porri,
seu lusquiami contere et misce cum cera, pone super carbones, et fumus
recipiatur per embotum, quoniam sanat. Solum etiam semen lusquiami valet
coctum in aqua calida, supra quam aquam patiens palatum apertum si
tenuerit, cadent vermes evidenter vel in illam aquam, vel in aliam quae
ibi fuerit ibi posita. De myrrha et aloe ponantur in dentem, ubi est
vermis: semen caulis, et absinthium, per se vermes interficit."

[634] Liber Secundus--"De Febribus," p. 923, ed. 1595.

_Tub-fast._ In years past "the discipline of sweating in a heated tub
for a considerable time, accompanied with strict abstinence, was thought
necessary for the cure of venereal taint."[635] Thus, in "Timon of
Athens" (iv. 3), Timon says to Timandra:

"Be a whore still! they love thee not that use thee;
Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust.
Make use of thy salt hours: season the slaves
For tubs and baths: bring down rose-cheeked youth
To the tub-fast, and the diet."

[635] Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 906.

As beef, too, was usually salted down in a tub, the one process was
jocularly compared to the other. So, in "Measure for Measure" (iii. 2),
Pompey, when asked by Lucio about his mistress, replies, "Troth, sir,
she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub." Again,
in "Henry V." (ii. 1), Pistol speaks of "the powdering-tub of infamy."

_Vinegar._ In Shakespeare's day this seems to have been termed "eisel"
(from A. S. _aisel_), being esteemed highly efficacious in preventing
the communication of the plague and other contagious diseases. In this
sense it has been used by Shakespeare in Sonnet cxi.:

"like a willing patient, I will drink
Potions of eisel, 'gainst my strong infection."

In a MS. Herbal in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, occurs
"acetorum, ance vynegre or aysel." The word occurs again in "Hamlet"
(v. 1), where Laertes is challenged by Hamlet:

"Woo't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile?"

The word woo't, in the northern counties, is the common contraction of
_wouldst thou_, which is the reading of the old copies. In former years
it was the fashion with gallants to do some extravagant feat, as a proof
of their love, in honor of their mistresses, and, a