Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1878 — William Grace. [ARTICLE]

William Grace.

As a general inquiry of “What is Grace’s Salve, and who is its originator?” may seem to be a question worthy of being answered, we have been induced to give the following brief, yet truthful account of its history: This salve is a vegetable preparation, invented in the seventeenth century by Dr. William Grace, who was surgeon in King James’ army, and who from that time always used it in his professional practice, whenever soreness or inflammation presented itself. As a medical agent for the cure of wounds, it was followed with great success, and thousands of the veterans that were wounded in the campaigns of 1688 and 1689 owed to this salve the salvation of their lives. Col. Richard Grace, who was King James’ chamberlain, introduced this Salve into the royal palace, where it was used with the greatest success, and highly esteemed for its virtues in the cure of sores. At the siege of Athlone, Col. Grace ordered it to bo administered to his compatriots who were wounded during the memorable day of the battle; and it was used with such success that the head surgeon of the army at Aughrim ordered Dr. Grace to manufacture 100 gross, and distribute it among the hospitals before the battle. On the sad defeat at Aughrim, after Ginkle’s army took possession of the battle-field, several ambulances, which had boon abandoned by the retreating army, were found to contain sealed cases of the Salve. The English surgeons tested it upon their wounded and ascertained its value, and thus were both of the contending armies befriended by it. Both Dr. William Grace and Col. Richard Graco died in tho camSos 1691—the former of disease, the latter in the intronohmouts of Athlone, with the Hag of his country wrapped around him, cheering his men on to victory. After the death of Dr. Grace, the Salve was not used much outside of his family, until the rebellion of 1798, when William Grace, grandfather of the subscriber, applied its virtues, at the battle of Ross, to his brave comrades who fell wounded while fighting for tho rights of their countrv. This Salvo was quite extensively used in certain localities of Ireland, being furnished gratuitously by the subscriber’s parents until 1848, when they left tho land of their nativity and came to this country, bringing with them the secret of the Salve they received from their ancestors. They continued to make the Salve, as before, for their neighbors, free of charge, until the fall of 1861, when the frequent calls for it, and the serious cases cured by it, induced the subscriber to bring it into more general notice, and to charge a small price for the articlo that has received tho recommendation of patriots upon the battlofields of yore, as well as from persons of the present day. Toronto Advertiser, Jfarch 6, 1878.