Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lenitive Electuary

LENITIVE Electuary, a preparation kept in the apothecaries' shops, and consisting generally of two parts of pulverized senna; one part of coriander seeds in powder, incorporated with four parts of the pulp of tamarinds; a similar portion of prunes; and a sufficient quantity of simple syrup, so as to reduce the whole into an electuary.

It is chiefly employed as a gentle aperient in doses of one tea-spoonful, taken frequently in the course of the day; but, as it is apt to become mouldy, and to lose its efficacy, if kept too long, it ought to be newly prepared, and may be more advantageously employed as a vehicle for administering the more active medicines.—Nor should this compound be indiscriminately swallowed by the lower classes of people, who thus cloy their stomachs on every occasion, without knowing whether it be a proper medicine for their complaint.