That great naturalist, John Ray, whilst expressing his disbelief of the Doctrine of Plant Signatures as a whole, admitted that there were tangible grounds for the formation of the system. He wrote:-"Howbeit, I will not deny but that the noxious and malignant plants do, many of them, discover something of their nature by the sad and melancholick visage of their leaves, flowers, or fruits. And that I may not leave that head wholly untouched, one observation I shall add, relating to the virtues of plants, in which I think is something of truth; that is, that there are, by the wise dispensation of Providence, such species of plants produced in every country, as are made proper and convenient for the meat and medicine of the men and animals that are bred and inhabit therein. Insomuch that Solenander writes that, from the frequency of the plants that spring up naturally in any region, he could easily gather what endemical diseases the inhabitants thereof are subject to. So in Denmark, Friesland, and Holland, where the scurvy usually reigns, the proper remedy thereof, Scurvy-grass, doth plentifully grow."

The Old Herbals and Herbalisto.

It is impossible to make an attentive examination of the old Herbals without being astonished at the extraordinary number and nature of the ills which their authors professed to cure by means of plants and simples. Every conceivable disease and ailment appears to be enumerated, and each has a number of specifics allotted for its treatment and cure. The contents of these ancient works, indeed, are apt to heat the imagination, and to cause one to form a conception that the merrie England of our forefathers was a land swarming with wild beasts, so venomous in their nature, and ferocious in their proclivities, that the unfortunate inhabitants were constantly being grievously maimed and wounded by their malicious "bitings." Be this as it may, however, it is evident that the old herbalists deemed themselves fully equal to any emergency. Leopards, Wolves, and venomous beasts of all kinds, as well as Dragons, Serpents, Vipers, and Scorpions, could all, by means of herbs, be driven away, kept at bay, or killed, and the venom of their bites be quickly and effectually cured. Such simple things as the stings of Hornets, Wasps, and Bees, were of course easily extracted by men who professed themselves able and willing to draw out arrow-heads from wounds, or remove broken bones, glue them together, and cover them when bare of flesh. They could provide counterpoisons against deadly medicines, poisoned arrows, noxious herbs, and the bitings and stingings of venomous creatures; they could cure the bites of sea Dragons and mad Dogs, and could keep Dogs from growing great. They could cause troublesome and dangerous dreams, and they could cure nightmare. They could drive away dulness and melancholy, and consume

proud and superfluous flesh. They could preserve the eyesight, "helpe blacke eies comming by blowes," and take away redness. and yellowness. They could prevent the hair falling off, and restore it to the bald pate, and knew how to turn it yellow, red, or black. They could cause hens to lay plentifully, and refresh a They could cure lunatics. relieve madness, and weary horse. purge melancholy; to say nothing of counteracting witchcraft an the malignant influence of the mysterious Evil Eye. They could destroy warts, remove freckles, and beautify young wenches' faces. In fine, the herbalist of old was one

"Who knew the cause of everie maladie,

Were it of colde or hote, or moist or drie."

A remarkable characteristic of the herbarists (as they were called of yore) was a habit of ascribing extraordinary and fabulous properties to the herbs and plants whose merits they descanted upon. Just as the Druids taught the people of their time to call All-heal," and to look upon it as a the sacred Mistletoe the " panacea for all bodily ailments, so did the herbalists, in the pages of their ponderous tomes, set forth the marvellous virtues of Betony, Agrimony, Angelica, Garlic, Fennel, Sage, Rue, and other favourite medicinal plants. Johannes de Mediolano, a doctor, of the Academy of Salerno, once wrote of Rue, that it diminishes the force of love in man, and, on the contrary, increases When eaten raw, it both clears the sight the flame in women. and the perceptions of the mind, and when cooked it destroys fleas. The English herbalists called it Herb Grace and Serving-men's Joy, because of the multiplicity of ailments that it was warranted to cure; Mithridates used the herb as a counterpoison to preserve himself against infection; and Gerarde records that Serpents are driven away at the smell of Rue if it be burned, and that "when the Weesell is to fight with the Serpent, shee armeth herselfe by eating Rue against the might of the Serpent." The virtues of Rue, however, are cast into the shade by those of Sage. Says witty Alphonse Karr-" Rue is nothing in comparison with Sage. Sage preserves the human race; and the whole school of Salerno, after a long enumeration of the virtues of Sage, seriously exclaims: How can it happen that a man who has Sage in his garden yet Perhaps this exclamation was the foundation of ends by dying?""

the English proverb

"He that eats Sage in May

Shall live for aye.'

Regarding the wondrous curative properties of Betony, Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, wrote a volume setting forth the excellencies of the herb, which he demonstrated would cure no less than forty-seven different disorders; and in England an old advice to the sufferer is, " Sell your coat, and buy Betony." Agrimony is another herb whose praises were loudly proclaimed by

M

the herbalists; it formed an ingredient in most of the old-fashioned herb teas, and Drayton speaks of it as "All-heal, and so named of right." Of Angelica, or Holy Ghost, Parkinson writes that it is so goode an herbe that there is no part thereof but is of much use. Fennel, in addition to its uses as a medicine, was recommended by old writers, when boiled in wine, as a counterpoison for use by such as had been bitten by those terrible reptiles, serpents, and scorpions that seem to have so exercised the ancient herbalists. Treacle-Mustard, or Triacle, was also highly esteemed as a cure for "all those that were bitten or stung by venomous beasts, or had drunk poison, or were infected with pestilence : it formed one of seventy-three ingredients in making "Venice treacle"-a famous vermifuge and antipoison in the Middle Ages. The Vervain, or Holy Herb, was credited with almost supernatural healing powers. English Mercury was called All-good; and other herbs obtained the names of All-heal, Clown's All-heal, Self-heal, Poor-man's Treacle, Poor-man's Parmacetty, the Blessed Herb, Grace of God, Master-Wort, Ploughman's Spikenard, &c., on account of the numerous virtues which the herbalists had discovered in them. One of these old worthies (the compiler of a Herbal, and a believer in astrology) has, indeed, stated in rhyme, his conviction that there was no disease but what would yield to the virtues of herbs and the skill of the herbalist. "In his book,” he confidently says

66

'He hath a method plain devised,

All parts of it, so curiously comprised;

That vulgar men, which have but skill to read,

May be their own physicians at need;

The better sort are hereby taught, how all

Things springing from earth's bowels safely shall

By love or hatred (as the Stars dispose)

Each sickness cure, that in the body grows."

The poet Michael Drayton has drawn the portrait of an ancient simpler, and has given a list of the remedies of which he made the most frequent use; the lines are to be found in his 'Polyolbion,' and as they contain examples of herbs selected under the system of the Doctrine of Plant Signatures, they may be appropriately introduced at the conclusion of this chapter:—

"But, absolutely free,

His happy time he spends the works of God to see,
In those so sundry herbs which there in plenty grow,
Whose sundry strange effects he only seeks to know;
And in a little maund, being made of Osiers small,
Which serveth him to do full many a thing withal,
He very choicely sorts his simples, got abroad;
Here finds he on an Oak rheum-purging Polypode;
And in some open place that to the sun doth lie,
He Fumitory gets, and Eyebright for the eye;
The Yarrow wherewithal he stays the wound-made gore,
The healing Tutsan then, and Plantaine for a sore;

And hard by them, again, he holy Vervain finds,
Which he about his head that hath the megrim binds;
The wonder-working Dill he gets not far from these,
Which curious women use in many a nice disease;

For them that are with Newts, or Snakes, or Adders stung
He seeketh out a herb, that is called Adder's-tongue;

As Nature it ordain'd its own like hurt to cure,

And sportive did herself to niceties inure.

Valerian then he crops, and purposely doth stamp

To apply unto the place that's haled with the cramp;

The Chickweed cures the heat that in the face doth rise,

For physic some again he inwardly applies;

For comforting the spleen and liver, gets for juice
Pale Horehound. which he holds of most especial use.
And for the labouring wretch that's troubled with a cough,
Or stopping of the breath by phlegm that's hard and tough,
Campana here he crops, approved wondrous good;
Or Comfrey unto him that's bruised, spitting blood;
And for the falling ill by Five-leafe doth restore,
And melancholy cures by sovereign Hellebore:
Of these most helpful herbs yet tell we but a few
To those unnumbered sort of simples here that grew,
What justly to set down even Dodon short doth fall,
Nor skilful Gerarde yet shall ever find them all."

CHAPTER XIV.

Plants and the planets.

WO centuries ago there existed a very general belief that every plant was under the direct influence of a particular Planet, and therefore that all the details connected with its cultivation and utilisation were to be conducted with a strict regard to this supposition. Aubrey has recorded his opinion, that if a plant "be not gathered according to the rules of astrology, it hath little or no virtue in it;" and the Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem on Gardens,' says, with respect to flowers

"This frequent charge I give, whene'er you sow
The flow'ry kind, be studious first to know
The monthly tables, and with heedful eye
Survey the lofty volumes of the sky;
Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars,

What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares;
What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows,

What both in east and west the Sun foreshows;

What aid from Helice the trees obtain,

What from Boötes with his tardy wain;
Whether the wat'ry Pleiades with show'rs
Kindly refresh alone, or drown the flow'rs;
For Stars neglected fatal oft we find,
The Gods to their dominion have assign'd

The products of our earth and labours of mankind."

Michael Drayton, in whose time the doctrine of planetary influence on plants was generally accepted, says, in reference to the longevity of antediluvian men:

"Besides, in medicine simples had the power

That none need then the planetary hour

To helpe their working, they so juiceful were."

Culpeper, who was a profound believer in astrology, has given at the commencement of his British Herbal and Family Physician,' a list of some five hundred plants, and the names of the Planets which govern them; and in his directions as to the plucking of leaves for medical purposes, the old herbalist and