So Septimiusfought with his difficulty by himself, as many a beginner Inscience has done before him; and to his efforts in this way arepopularly attributed many herb-drinks, and some kinds ofspruce-beer, and nostrums used for rheumatism, sore throat,and typhus fever; but I rather think they all came from AuntKeziah; or perhaps, like jokes to Joe Miller, all sorts ofquack medicines, flocking at large through the community, areassigned to him or her.
"Septimius Felton or, The Elixir of Life"
Nathaniel Hawthorne