it be of all four-footed beasts there is not a better remedy than to seeth a goat all whole in the very skin and a land toad together Also it is said that a fox will not touch any cockes hens or such like pullen that haue eaten before the dried liuer of a Reinard nor those hens which a cock hauing a collar about his necke of a Fox skin hath troden The like effects are reported of a weazils gall as also that kine and oxen both in the Isle Cyprus when they are troubled with the belly ach cure themselues with eating the excrements of a man that the cleyes of kine and oxens feet will not weare to the quick nor be surbated if their horns before were anointed with tar That wolues wil not come into any lordship or territory if one of them be taken and when the legs are broken be let bloud with a knife by little and little so as the same may be shed about the limits or bounds of the said field as he is drawne along and then the body be buried in the very place where they began first to dragge him Others take the plough-share from the plough wherewith the first furrow was made that yeare in the field and put it in the fire burning vpon the common hearth of the house and there let it lie vntill it be quite consumed and look how long this is in doing so long shal the wolfe do no harm to any liuing creature within that territorie or lordship Thus much by way of digression now it is time to return to the discourse of those liuing creatures which be raunged in their seuerall kinds and such as are neither tame nor sauage THE TVVENTY NINTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The Originall of Physicke When Physitians began to visit the sicke in their houses When came vp first The manner of curing diseases by outward application of Ointments and by frications Of Chrysippus and Erasistratus Of the Empirick practise of Physicke Of Herophilus and other famous Physitians How many times the order of Physick hath bin changed Who was the first professâ—…d Physitian in Rome and when he began to practise What opinion or conceit the antient Romanes had of Physitians Finally the imperfections and defaults in this art of Physicke THe admirable nature of a number of medicines as wel those which I haue already shewed as those which remain as yet to be handled forceth me to write yet more of Physicke and to sound to the very depth and bottome albeit I know full well that there is not a Latine writer who hath trauelled hitherto in this argument and am not ignorant how ticklish and dangerous a point it is at first to set abroch any new matters especially such whereby a man is sure to reape but small thanks and in deliuerie whereof is to make account of a world of difficulties But forasmuch as it is very like that those who are well acquainted with this study will muse how it is come about that the remedies drawn from simples so easie to be found and so accommodat to maladies are cast behind and grown out of vse in the practise of physick it cannot be but withall they must maruell much and think it a great indignity that no science and profession in the world hath had lesse solidity in it and bin more vnconstant yea and how it daily changeth still notwithstanding there is not any other more profitable and gainfull than it But to enter into the discourse thereof First and formost the inuention of this Art hath been fathered vpon the gods such I mean as are canonized gods in heauen yea and euen at this day we haue recourse stil vnto diuine Oracles for many medicines Moreouer the fabulous tales deuised by Poets haue giuen a greater name and reputation thereto in regard of the offence committed by Aesculapius in raising prince Hippolytus again to life for which bold part of his Iupiter being highly displeased smote him dead with lightning And yet for al this Antiquity hath not staid there but made relation of others who were reuiued by the means of the said Aesculapius or his art which during the Trojan war whereof the fame and bruit is more certain grew into much request and estimation and yet in those daies there was no other part of Physicke professed and practised but Chirurgery and that in the cure of wounds only But in the age insuing and for many a yeare after wonderful it is in what obscurity this noble science lay dead and as it were buried in darknesse and obliuion euen vntill the famous Peloponesiacke war for then arose Hippocrates who reuiued and set on foot againe the antient practise of Aesculapius so long forelet and being borne in Coos a renowned and wealthie Island altogether deuote and consecrated to Aesculapius he made an extract of al the receits which were found written in the temple of the said god for the maner was in that Island that whosoeuer were cured and deliuered of any disease registred there vpon record the experiments of medicines whereby they had remedie to the end that afterward they might haue help again by the same in like cases therupon as our countreyman Varro is persuaded after that the said temple was burned hee professed that course of Physick which is called Clinice Wherby Physitians found such sweetnes that afterwards there was no measure nor end of fees insomuch as Prodicus a disciple of Hippocrates and borne in Silymbria erecting that kind of practise in Physicke which is called Iatraliptice opened by that meanes the way to inrich euen those who vnder Physitians were employed in rubbing and annointing mens bodies yea and brought gaine to other base and seruile ministers atending vpon their cures After them came Chrysippus in place who through his much babble and pratling wherewith he was well furnished altered the Theoricke and speculatiue Physicke of Hippocrates and Prodicus with all their principles whom succeeded Erasistratus Aristotles sisters son and he chaunged also many of Chrysippus his rules and receits notwithstanding he was a scholler of his and brought vp vnder him This Erasistratus for curing king Antiochus receiued of his sonne Ptolomaeus king after him one hundred talents which to beginne withall I note by the way that you may see how euen in those daies Physitians were well rewarded for their pains and skill But in processe of time one Acro a citizen of Agrigentum in Sicilie much commended by the authority of Empedocles the famous naturall Philosopher began in that Island to institute another faction and sect of Physitians who grounding altogether their worke and operation vpon experience called themselues Empiriques Thus there beeing diuers schooles of Physick the professors in euery one of them entred into contention and variance some siding this way and others taking the contrary vntill at length Herophilus
of colours by the mixture of clouds aire and firie light together Certes they neuer are knowne but opposite to the Sun nor at any time otherwise than in forme of a Semicircle ne yet in the night season although Aristotle saith there was a Rain-bow seen by night howbeit he confesseth that it could not possibly be but at the full of the Moone Now they happen for the most part in winter namely from the Autumne Equinoctiall as the daies decrease and wax shorter But as daies grow longer againe that is to say after the Spring Equinoctiall they be not seene no more than about the Summer Sunstead when daies are at longest But in Bruma namely when they bee shortest they chance very often The same appeare aloft when the Sun is low and below when he is aloft Also they be of narrower compasse when the Sun either riseth or setteth but their body spreadeth broad and at noone narrower it is and smal yet greater and wider in circumference In Sommer time they be not seene about noon-tide but after the Autumne Equinoctial at all houres and neuer more at once than twaine The rest of the same nature I see few men doe make any doubt of CHAP. LX. ¶ Of Haile Snow Frost Mist and Dew HAile is ingendred of Raine congealed into an Ice and Snow of the same humor growne together but not so hard As for frost it is made of dew frozen In winter Snowes fall and not haile It haileth oftner in the day time than in the night yet haile sooner melteth by farre than snow Mists be not seene neither in Summer nor in the cold weather Dewes shew not either in frost or in hot seasons neither when winds be vp but only after a calm and cleere night Frosts dry vp wet and moisture for when the yce is thawed and melted the like quantitie of water in proportion is not found CHAP. LXI ¶ Of the shapes of Clouds SVndry colours and diuers shapes are seene in clouds according as the fire intermingled therein is either more or lesse CHAP. LXII ¶ Of the properties of weather in diuers places MOreouer many properties there be of the weather peculiar to certain places the nights in Africke bedewie in Winter In Italy about Locri and the lake Velinus there is not a day but a Rainbow is seene At Rhodes and Syracusae the aire is neuer so dimme and cloudy but one houre or other the Sun shineth out But such things as these shall be related more fitly in due place Thus much of the Aire CHAP. LXIII ¶ Of Earth and the nature thereof THe Earth followeth next vnto which alone of all parts of the world for her singular benefits we haue giuen the reuerend and worshipfull name of Mother For like as the Heauen is the mother of God euen so is she of men She it is that taketh vs when wee are comming into the world nourisheth vs when we are new borne and once being come abroad euer sustaineth and beareth vs vp and at the last when wee are reiected and forlorne of all the world besides she embraceth vs then most of all other times like a kinde mother she couereth vs all ouer in her bosom by no merit more sacred than by it wherwith she maketh vs holy and sacred euen bearing our tombes monuments and titles continuing our name and extending our memorie therby to make recompence and weigh against the shortnes of our age whose last power we in our anger wish to be heauy vnto our enemy and yet she is heauy to none as if wee were ignorant that she alone is neuer angry with any man waters ascend vp turn into clouds they congeale and harden into haile swel they do into waues and billows down they hasten headlong into brooks and land-flouds The aire is thickened with clouds rageth with winds and stormes But she is bountifull mild tender ouer vs indulgent ready at all times to attend and wait vpon the good of mortall men See what she breeds being forced nay what she yeeldeth of her owne accord what odoriferous smells and pleasant sauors what wholesome iuices and liquors what soft things to content our feeling what louely colors doth she giue to please our eie how faithfully and iustly doth she repay with vsury that which was lent and credited out vnto her Finally what store of all things doth shee feed and nourish for our sake Alas poor wretch pestiferous and hurtfull creatures when the vitall breath of the aire was too blame to giue them life she could not otherwise chuse but receiue them after they were sown in her and being once ingendred and bred keepe and maintain them But in that they prooued afterwards bad and venomous the fault was to be laid vpon the parents that ingendred them and not to be imputed vnto her For shee entertaineth no more a venomous serpent after it hath stung a man nay more than that she requireth punishment for them that are slow and negligent of themselues to seeke it She it is that bringeth forth medicinable herbes and euermore is in trauell to be deliuered of some thing or other good for man Ouer and besides it may be thought and beleeued that for very pittie of vs she ordained and appointed some poisons that when we were weary of our life cursed famine most aduerse and crosse of all other to the merits of the earth should not consume and waste vs with languishing and pining consumption and so procure our death that high and steepe rockes should not dash and crush our bodies in pieces nor the ouerthwart and preposterous punishment by the halter wreathe our necks and stop that vital breath which we seek to let out and be rid of last of all that we might not worke our owne death in the deep sea and being drowned feed fishes and be buried in their bellies ne yet the edge and point of the sword cut and pierce our bodie and so put vs to dolorous paine So that it is no doubt but in a pittifull regard and compassion of vs shee hath ingendred that poyson by one gentle draught whereof going most easily downe we might forgoe our life and die without any hurt and skin broken of our body yea and diminish no one drop of bloud without grieuous paine I say and like onely to them who be athirst that being in that manner dead nether foule of the aire nor wilde beast prey vpon or touch our bodies but that he should be reserued for the earth who perished by himselfe and for himselfe and to confesse and say the troth the earth hath bred the remedy of all miseries howsoeuer we haue made it a venome and poison to our life For after the like sort we imploy iron and steele which we canot possibly be without And yet we should not do well and iustly to complain in case she had brought it forth for to do hurt and mischiefe Now surely to this only part of Nature and the world
bloud within the bodie like as it stancheth bleeding at the nose if it be stamped and put vp into the nosethrils and otherwise a collution therof to wash the mouth withall doth much good to the teeth Semblably the juice distilled into the ears allaies their pain prouided alwaies as I haue often said alreadie that a mean and measure be kept As for the juice of the wild Rue if it be tempered either with oile of roses or of baies or els mingled with Cumin Honie it helpeth those that are hard of hearing discusseth the ringing sound in the ears Moreouer the juice of rue stamped and drawne with vinegre is excellent good to be instilled or let drop from on high by way of Embrochation vpon the region of the brain and temples of the head for the phrensie Some put thereto wild running Thime also and baies therewith annointing the head and neck of the patient Others haue prescribed it in case of Lethargie to those that can do no other but sleepe continually for to smel vnto And those haue giuen counsel also to them that be subject to the falling sicknesse for to drinke the juice thereof sodden in foure Cyaths of water before the fit came on them for to preuent and auoid the intollerable cold which they should endure as also to those that be apt to chill for cold to be eaten with meat raw Rue sends out euen the bloudie vrine which is gathered into the blader And as Hippocrates is of opinion If it be drunk with sweet thicke and grosse wine it causeth womens floures to come downe it expelleth the after-birth yea and the dead infant within the womb And therefore he aduiseth women in trauel to haue those naturall parts annointed with Rue yea to sit ouer a suffumigation made therof Diocles maketh a cataplasm with Rue Vinegre Hony Barly floure for faintings cold sweats and tremblings of the heart Likewise against the torments of the smal guts commonly called the Iliak passion he appointeth to take the decoction thereof in Oile and to receiue the same in lockes of wooll and so to be applied vnto the vpper region of the belly Many doe set downe two drams thereof drie and one dram and a halfe of Brimstone as an excellent receit to bee taken by those that reach and spit vp filthy and stinking matter but if they cast or send vp bloud they should drinke the decoction of three branches thereof in wine It is an ordinarie practise in case of the Dysenterie or bloudie Flix to giue it stamped first with cheese in wine but they mingle therewith Bitumen and so crum or break it into their drink against the difficulty of taking wind Also three drams of the seed therof is giuen in drinke to those that are fallen from a loft for to dissolue the bruised and cluttered bloud within them Item Take one pound or pint of oile of wine one sextar or wine quart seeth the leaues of Rue herin that oile so prepared is singular good for to annoint parts which are benummed and in manner mortified and blacke with cold Moreouer considering that it is diuretical as Hippocrates thinketh and doth prouoke vrine I canot but wonder at some who giue it as a thing that staieth vrin therefore appoint it to be drunke by those that cannot hold their water The inunction thereof with Allum and Hony clean seth the dry wild scab leprosy Likewise with Morel or Nightshade hogs grease and Bulls tallow it scoureth the Morphew taketh away werts discusseth and dispatcheth the Kings euil and such like tumors In like manner it killeth the fretting hot humor called S. Anthonies fire being applied to the place with vinegre Honny or Cerusse i. white Lead like as it cureth the Carbuncle laid too with vinegre alone Some there be who prescribe Laserpitium also to be joined with the rest in this liniment but without it they cure the chilblanes bloudy fals that be so angry in the night season Many vse to boile Rue together with wax reduce it into a Cerot which they apply to the swollen breasts or paps of women as also to the breaking out of phlegmatick pustules or wheales much like to our measels or small pockes Also being reduced into an vnguent with the tender sprigs or tops of Laurell it is a singular remedy for the flux or fall of humors into the burse of the cods And verily this Rue is counted so excellent an hearbe in operation this waies and so respectiue peculiarly to those parts that it is commonly holden for a soueraign remedie to heale all ruptures if a man take the wild of that kind and make a liniment of it and old Swines grease together Likewise if any bones or lims be broken a Cerot made with the seed of Rue and wax together is able to souder the fracture The root of Rue being reduced into a liniment cureth bloud shotten eies and restoreth to the natiue colour all skarres or spots that giue blemish to any part of the bodie Among the other properties that be reported of Rue this is one to be wondred at considering how hot it is of nature as all Physicians doe agree That a bunch thereof beeing boiled in oile Rosate and with one ounce of Aloe brought into the forme of an ointment should represse their siuet who are annointed therewith As also that ordinare vse thereof at meat should disable folke as wel in the act of generation as conception In which regard it is prescribed vnto them that shed their seed and vnto such as vse to dreame in their sleepe of amato rious matters and the delights of Venus But women with child must beware how they eat Rue they especially must forbear this hearbe for I find that it killeth the yong child conceiued within their bodies Thus much for the effects that it worketh in men and women Ouer and besides al which there is not an hearb growing in the garden that is so much vsed for the curing of 4 footed beasts whether they be broken winded and pursiue or otherwise bitten stung with venomous beasts in which cases there must be an injection made vp into the nosthrils of the juice of Rue in wine Also if it chance that a beast hath swallowed an Horseleech in drinking let it be taken with vinegre Finally in euery accident of theirs let Rue be prepared and ministred respectiuely vnto each griefe according to the manner set downe for men in the semblable case CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of wild Mint of garden Mint of Penyroiall of Nep and Cumin WIld Mint is called in Latin Mentastrum it differeth from the other in the form of the leaues for shaped it is like Basil how soeuer in color it resembles Penniroyal which is the cause that some name it the sauage Penyroiall In the time of Pompey the Great it was knowne by experience that the leaues of wild Mint chewed and applied outwardly cured the Leprosie
truth looke in what garden there groweth abundance of this hearbe the Bees there when they swarme will be soone intreated to tarie not be hastie to wander far abroad The same is a most present remedy not only against their stings but also of wespes spiders and Scorpions And being tempered with a little nitre it is singular against the strangulation of the mother Taken in wine it pacifieth the wrings and torments of the belly The leaues therof being sodden with salt and brought into an ointment are singular good for to be applied vnto the scrophules or swelling kernills called the Kings euill and likewise to the accidents of the seat and fundament as the swelling haemorrhoids or piles The juice taken in drinke bringeth women to their ordinary monethly courses it discusseth â—…eutosities and healeth vlcers it allaieth the paines of any gouts and cureth the biting of mad dogs it is good for the bloudy flix that hath run on a long time as also those fluxes which proceed from the imbecillitie of the stomack it helpeth them that be streight in the chest and cannot take their wind but bolt vpright it mundifieth also the vlcers within the breast To conclude it is said to be a singular remedie none like vnto it for to dispatch the webs in the eye if they be annointed with the juice thereof and honey tempered together Melilot is thought also to be good for the eyes if it be applied with milk or line seed It assuageth also the paine of the jawes and head if it be laid too with oile of Roses likewise it doth mitigat the paine of the ears if it be instilled or dropped into them with wine cuit Moreouer the tumors and breaking out of the hands it helpeth Being boiled in wine or stamped green it easeth the griefe of the stomacke The same effect it hath in the pain of the matrice But if the cods be amisse if the Longaon or tuill bee fallen and beare out of the bodie or if that part bee affected with other accidents Bath the place with a decoction of it boiled greene in water or cuit and the patient shal find ease But if there be an ointment made of it and oile of Roses incorporat together it is a soueraign remedie for all cancerous sores If it be boiled first in sweet wine or cuit it is the better for the purpose aforesaid and so prepared a speciall and effectuall thing it is for the wens called Melicerides wherein is engendred matter resembling honey CHAP. XXI ¶ Of Trefoile and Thyme of the day Lillie Hemerocalles of Elecampane and Southernewood and Cypres I Am not ignorant that folke are verily persuaded how that Trefoile or three leaued grasse is of great force against the stings of serpents and scorpions if either 20 graines of the seed bee inwardly taken in wine or warer and vinegre together or if the leaues and the whole hearb be sodden and the decoction drunk as also that serpents are neuer seen to lie vnder this Trefoile Moreouer I know full well that diuerse Authors renowmed and of great credit haue deliuered in their bookes That fiue and twentie graines of that Trefoile which we called Menianthes is sufficient for a preseruatiue and antidot against all poisons whatsoeuer besides many other medicinable vertues which be ascribed to this hearb But for mine owne part I am induced by the authoritie of the most graue and reuerend Poet Sophocles to stand against their opinion for hee affirmeth plainely That Trefoile is venomous Likewise Simus the Physician doth report that if the decoction of it sodden or the juice thereof stamped bee poured or dropped vpon any part of the body which is sound it wil cause the same fiery and burning smart as followeth vpon a place bitten or stung with a serpent And therefore I would thinke with them and giue counsell also that it is not to be vsed otherwise than a countrepoison For it may bee peraduenture that in this as in many other one poyson by a certaine antipathie and contrarietie in nature expelleth mortifieth another Moreouer this I markand obserue in their writings that the seed of the Trefoile which hath smallest leaues if it be reduced into a liniment is singular good to embellish womens skin and to preserue their beauty if the face be anointed therwith Thyme ought to be gathered whiles it is in the floure and then to be dried in the shade now there are of Thyme two kinds to wit the white which hath a woodie root growing vpon little hills and this is thought to be the better the second is blacker caries besides a black floure They are thought both of them the one as well as the other very good to cleare the eyesight whether they be eaten with meats or taken as a medicine In like maner an electuarie or lohoch made of Thyme is supposed to be excellent good for an old cough and being taken with hony and salt to raise and breake fleam causing the same to be raught vp with more facility also that if it be incorporat with hony it will not suffer the bloud to clutter and congeale within the bodie Applied outwardly as a liniment with Senuie it doth extenuate and subtiliate the rheume that hath of long time sallen in the throat and windpipe and so also it amendeth the grieuance of stomacke and belly How beit these Thymes must be vsed with measure and moderation because they set the body in an heat although they be binding and make the belly costiue Now in case there be an exulceration in the guts there must be taken the weight of 1 denier or dram in Thyme to euery Sextar of honey and vinegre semblably it must bee ordered in case of the pleurisie and when there lyeth a paine between the shoulders or in the breast A drink made of Thyme with honey and vinegre in manner of a juleb or syrrup cureth the griefe of the midriffe and precordiall parts neere vnto the heart And verily a soueraign potion this is to be giuen vnto them that be troubled in mind and lunaticke as also to melancholicke persons The same also may be giuen to those who be subject to the epilepsy or falling sicknes whom the very perfume and smell of Thyme wil raise out of a fit and fetch them again when the disease is vpon them It is said that such should lie ordinarily in a soft bed of Thyme This hearb is proper for those that canot draw their breath vnlesse the â—…sit vpright and to such as are short winded yea and good for women whose monethly courses are either suppressed or come but slowly And saâ—… that the infant were dead in the wombe a decoction of Thyme sodden in water vnto the thirds and so taken doth send it forth of the bodie Men also doe find a great benefit by Thyme if they drinke a syrrup made of it with honey and vinegre in case of ventosities and inflations also if their bellies be swoln
to come vnto the diseases of the seat there is nothing so good for them as Bears gall incorporat together with their grease Some put thereto litharge of siluer and Frankincense in which cases butter is very good if with Goose grease and oile of Roses it be reduced into a liniment the consistence or thickenesse of which composition must be such as the grieued place will admit namely that it be gentle and smooth so as there be no paine in the anointing Also Buls gal is a soueraigne medicine applied therto vpon soft lint for it wil quickly skin the chaps and clefts in the fundament If that part be swelled the suet of a Calfe is very good to anoint it therewith but if the tumors appeare about the share then there would be Rue ioined therto as for other infirmities incident to those parts nothing better than Goats bloud tempered with parched Barly meale In like manner for the hard knobs in the seat called Condylomata Goats gall by it selfe is a speciall remedy so is the gall of a Wolfe tempered in wine and so applied For the biles and impostumes rising in any place therabout there is not a better medicine to scatter and dissolue them than Bears bloud or Buls bloud dried first and so beaten to pouder But the soueraigne remedy of all others is the stone which a wilde Asse is said to void with his vrine at what time as he is killed in chase which stone as it commeth first-forth of his body seemeth very liquid and thin but being shed once vpon the ground it groweth thicke and hard of it selfe This stone tied to the twist or inward part of the thigh is said to dispatch all collection of humors that might ingender biles and botches or at leastwise so to resolue them that they shall neuer impostumat and come to suppuration This stone is very rare and hard to be found for it is not in euery wild asse but surely famous it is and much spoken of by reason of this medicinable property that it hath Moreouer the vrin of an Asse together with Nigella otherwise called Gith is singular good in these cases Likewise a liniment made with the ashes of an horse house incorporat together with oile and water so is the bloud of any horse but especially of a stallion the bloud also and gal of a Cow or Oxe Their flesh moreouer which we cal boeuf hath the same effect if it be laid warme vnto the place The ashes also of their cleies tempered with water and hony The vrine of the Goats the flesh of the male Goats boiled in water In like maner their dung sodden with hony Bears gall or the gall of a bore last of all the vrine of a Sow applied vnto the place with wooll As touching the galls which by ouermuch riding on horseback be incident to the twist and the inner parts of the thigh as euery man knoweth full well which do burne and chaufe the skin in those parts the fomie slime which a horse yeeldeth as well from his mouth as his cullions is soueraigne therefore if the place be annointed therwith It falleth out many times that there arise swellings in the very share and groine by occasion of some sores or vlcers in other parts of the body for the repressing of which there is a present remedy namely to take three horse hairs and to tie them in as many knots and so conuey them into the said vlcer which is the cause of such tumors CHAP. XVI ¶ Proper remedies for the gout the falling sicknesse for such as be taken or strucken with a Planet or dead palsie for the laundise and fractures of bones ACerot made of Beares grease Buls tallow and wax of each an equall quantity is singular good for the gout in the feet And yet some there be who adde vnto them Hypoquistis and gall nuts Others preferre a male Goats tallow together with the dung of a female goat Saffron or Mustard seed and the branches of Yvie stamped with Parietary also of the wall or els the floures of the wilde Cucumber reduced all into the forme of a cataplasme and so applied In like manner others vse a pultesse made of beasts dung the mother of vineger tempered together Some magnifie highly commend in this case the dung of a calfe which hath not as yet tasted of grasse or Buls bloud alone without any other thing likewise a wolfe sodden quicke till all the flesh be gon and nothing but bones remaining or els a liue Wolfe sodden in oile til the said oile be gellied to the height or consistence of a cerot Semblably there is good account made of the tallow of a hee goat with as much Parietary of the wall and a third part of Senvy as also of the ashes of Goats dung incorporat with hogs grease moreouer it is said that the best thing that the patient can do for to haue ease of the Sciatica is to endure the said dung as hot as possibly he can vnder his great toes till it be ready to burne them For all otherjointgouts as well in feet as hands or elsewhere the gall of a Beare is a soueraigne medicin as also a Hares foot bound fast to the place affected And some are of this opinion that the gout of the feet will be assuaged in case a man cut off the foot of a quick hare carrie it about him continually As touching kibes bears grease cureth them so it healeth also the chaps in the feet but more effectual it is in case there be allum put therto for which purpose Goats suet is commended the pouder also of horse teeth the gall of a bore or sow the lights likewise of a swine together with the fat laid to the place Now if the feet be surbatted galled and bruised in the sole by treading or stumbling against that which offendeth them the same medicines be very good but say they are benummed and frozen with cold the ashes of Hares haire bringeth them into order again The lungs also of an Hare slit and skiced so laid too is good for any bruise or contusion in the feet or the ashes of the said lungs applied thereto Contrariwise if they be scorched and burnt with the heat of the sun they find a most soueraign cure by the grease of an asse likewise by boeufe tallow oile of roses mixed together The corns agnels chaps callosities of the feet the fresh dung of a bore or sow doth heal if it be applied therto in form of a cataplasm and not remoued before the third day Of the like efficacy are the ashes of a swines ankle bones the lungs of a bore or sow or of a stag If one haue galled his feet by the fretting stubbornnes of hard shoes the vrin of an asse together with the mire that is made of the same vrine vpon the ground doth heal if it be applied to the place the corns or agnels find much ease
pain of the belly and the kidnies for the stiffenesse and starknesse of the lims the grieuance also of the sinews it serueth well in a clystre lay it to the tongue with bread it is soueraigne for the palsie or resolution of the sinews it helpes those that be short-winded if they take it in a Ptisan or with husked barly The floure of nitre incorporat in Galbanum and the rosin called terpentine of each an equall weight and reduced into a lohoch so as the patient swallow down the quantity of a Bean at once cures an old cough Burn or calcine nitre temper it afterwards with liquid pitch or tar and giue it to drink it cureth the squinancy The floure of nitre incorporat with the oile Cyprinum makes a pleasant liniment to annoint the body withal in the Sun for the gout or any paine of joints drunk in wine it doth exterminat and driue away for euer the jaundise it scattereth and discusseth ventosities it stoppeth bleeding at the nose if the patient receiue into the nosthrils the vapour of it out of boiling water mixed well with alume it riddeth away an itch foment or bath the arme pits duly euery day therewith in water it correcteth the ranke smell thereof Make a liniment or cerot of nitre and wax tempered together it healeth the vlcers occasioned by fleam after which maner it is good also for the sinews Being injected by a clystre it helpeth the flux of the belly proceeding from a feeble stomack Many Physitians haue giuen direction to annoint the body all ouer with sal-nitre and oile before the cold fits of agues which ointment serueth likewise for the leprosie and the vnseemly spots or freckles that blemish the skin To sit in a tub of nitre within the bains therwith to bath the body is a soueraigne thing for those that haue the gout be in consumption and either draw backward with the crampe or stretched and plucked so strait and stiffe therewith that they seem all of one entire piece Sal-nitre if it bee boiled together with sulphur turneth to be as hard as a stone CHAP. XI ¶ The nature of Spunges MAny sorts there be of Spunges according as I haue shewed already more amply in my treatise of water-beasts and those especially of the Sea and their seuerall natures howbeit some writers distinguish them after another manner into male and female for some of them they haue thought to be of the male sex to wit those which haue smaller pipes or concauities and those growing thicker and more compact whereby they sucke vp more moisture and these our delicat and dainty people die in colours and otherwhile giue them a purple tincture Others they count of the femal sex namely such as haue bigger pipes the same running throughout one continuity without interruption Of the male kind some be harder than others which they call Tragos the pipes whereof are the finest and stand thickest together There is an artificiall deuise to make spunges look white to wit if the softest and tendrest of them be taken whiles they be fresh in summer time and so bathed soked wel in the some of salt after which they ought to be laid abroad in the moon-shine to receiue the thick dew or hoary frosts if any fall with their bellies vpward into the aire I meane that part whereby they cleaue fast to rocke or sand where they grew that therby they may take their whitening That spunges haue life yea and a sensible life I haue proued heretofore for there is found of their bloud settled within them Some writers report that they haue the sense of hearing which directs them to draw in their bodies at any sound or noisemade and therwith to squize out plenty of water which they contained within neither can they easily be pulled from their rocks and therefore must be cut away wherby they are seen to shed a deale of bloud or that which resembleth bloud very neer Many do prefer the Spunges growing in places exposed to the North-wind before any other neither doe any hold and maintaine longer in any place their owne breath as Physicians doe hold who affirme that for this regard they be good for our bodies namely if wee entermingle their breath with ours by application for which purpose the fresher taken and the moister they be the better they are thought but this their operation is lesse perceiued in case they be wet in hot water and so applied likewise if they be soked in any vnctuous liquor or bee laid vpon any part of the body anointed This also is obserued by them that the thickest of them to wit such as haue the least pipes sticke not so hard to a place as others As touching the softest and finest spunges called Penicilli if they be applied vnto the eies after they haue beene soked in honyed wine they do allay and bring down any swelling in them The same are abstersiue and singular good to clarifie and cleanse the eies that be giuen to bleerednesse but those I say ought to be of the finest and softest kind For to stay the violent flux of rheumaticke humors into the eies there is nothing better than to apply spunges of any sort with oxycrat that is to say vinegre and water but with vinegre alone actually hot they be singular for the head-ach and otherwise any spunge that is fresh gotten doth discusse mollifie mitigat Old spunges do conglutinat and souder any wounds There is a generall vse of all spunges to wipe and mundifie any place to foment and bath withall to keep off the aire also and to couer it after fomentation vntill another medicine be made ready for to be laid on fresh Moreouer they be desiccatiue therfore if they be applied to rheumatick and moist vlcers and namely in old folke they dry vp the superfluous humors that find a way thither neither is there any thing so fit for to foment a fracture or green wound as spunges Also when any part of the body is cut off or dismembred what is so handsome to suck and soke away the bloud quickly that the cure may be throughly seen the order thereof as a spunge Furthermore spunges themselues serue to be laid to wounds somtime drie and somtime dewed or sprinkled with vinegre one while wet in wine anotherwhile moistened with cold water and all to defend them from inflammation but if they be bathed in raine water and so applied to members new cut they will not suffer them to swell and impostumat They are besides laid vsually to the sound parts where no skin is broken if there be any hidden and secret humor that runs vnder the place and puts it to paine and trouble such as needeth to be discussed or resolued also to impostumes if they be first annointed with boiled hony In like manner for the paine of the joints they are proper to be applied one while wet in vinegre with salt another while dipped in vinegre
ordinary Swallow the riuer Swallow Argatilis the bird Cinnamologie that steale Cinnamon and of Partridges 34. Of House-doues 35. Of Stock-doues 36. Of Sparrowes 37. Of the Kestrell or Stannell 38. Of the flight and gate of birds 39. Of certaine footlesse Martinets called Apodes 40. Of certain Guls that milk and suck Goats vdders and be named Caprimulgi also of Pelicanes named Plateae 41. The perceiuance and naturall wit of birds 42. Of the Linnet Popinjay or Parret and such birds that will learne to speake 43. The intelligence and vnderstanding that Rauens haue 44. Of Diomedes his birds 45. Of dull witted birds that will be taught nothing 46. The manner how birds drinke 47. Of foules called Himantipodes and Onacrotali and of other such strange birds 48. The names of many birds their natures 49. Of strange and new birds such also as bee holden for fabulous 50. Who devised first to cram hens capons of bartons mewes and coupes to keepe and feed foules and the first inuentor thereof 51. Of Aesopes platter 52. The generation of birds and what four footed beasts do lay eggs as well as birds 53. The knitting of eggs within the body the laying couving and sitting of them the maner and time of birds engendring 54. The accidents that befall to broodie birds whiles they sit and the remedies thereof 55. Auguries and presages by egges 56. What Hens be of the best kind 57. The diseases incident to Hens the cure 58. The maner how birds conceiue what number of egs they lay how many they hatch 59. Of Peacockes and Geese 60. Of Herons and Bitters The way to preserue and keepe egges 61. The only bird that bringeth forth her yong aliue feeds the same at the pap with milk 62. The conception of the Viper and how she is deliuered of her young also what land creatures lay egges 63. The ordinary generation of land creatures 64. The diversitie of liuing creatures in the maner of their engendring 65. The yong ones that mice and rats do breed 66. Whether of the marrow of a mans backe bone a serpent will engender 67. Of the Salamander 68. What things bee engendred of those that were never engendred and contrariwise what creatures they be which being engendered themselues breed not 69. The sences of living creatures 70. That fishes doe both heare and smell 71. That the sence of feeling is common to all liuing creatures 72. What creatures liue of poysons and eat earth 73. Of the meat and drink of diuers creatures 74. What creatures evermore disagree and which they be that agree well together 75. Of the sleepe of liuing creatures This booke hath in it of notable matters histories and obseruations 904 gathered out of Latine Authors and records Manilius Cornelius Valerianus the publike records and registers Vmbritius surnamed Melior Massurius Sabinus Antistius Labeo Trogus Cremutius M. Varro Macer Aemilius Melisses Mutianus Nepos Fabius Pictor T. Lucretius Cornelius Celsus Horatius Desulo Hysginus Sarsennae both father and sonne Nigidius and Manlius Sura Forreine Writers Homer Phoemonoes Philemon Boethius who wrote a treatise called Ornithagonia Hylas who made a discourse of Auguries Aristotle Theophrastus Callimachus Aeschylus Hiero Philometor Archytas Amphilochus the Athenian Anaxipolis the Thasian Apollodorus of Lemnos Aristophanes the Milesian Antigonus the Cymaean Agathocles of Chios Apollonius of Pergamus Aristander the Athenian Bacchius the Milesian Bion of Soli Chaereas the Athenian Diodorus of Pryaene Dion the Colophonian Democritus Diophanes of Nicaea Epigenes of Rhodes Evagoras of Thasos Euphonius of Athens king Iuba Androcion who wrote of Husbandrie and Aescrion likewise who wrote thereof Dionysius who translated Mago and Diophanes who reduced his worke into an Epitome Nicander Onesicritus Philarchus and Hesiodus ¶ IN THE ELEVENTH BOOKE ARE CONTAIned the stories and natures of small creatures and such as creepe on the ground Chap. 1. Of Insects in generall 2. The naturall industrie of those Insects 3. Whether Insects doe breath and whether they haue bloudor no. 4. The matter substance of the Insects body 5. Of Bees 6. The government and order which Bees keep by instinct of Nature 7. Diuers operations of the Bees the tearms thereto belonging 8. Of what floures Bees do make their cellars combes and other workes 9. What persons tooke a great loue to Bees and delighted to nourish them 10. The manner of Bees when they be at their businesse 11. Of Drones 12. The nature of Honey 13. Which is the best Honey 14. The seuerall and particular kinds of Hony in diuerse places 15. The markes and tokens of good Honey 16. Of a third kind of Honey and how a man should know good Bees 17. The regiment and policie that Bees obserue 18. Diuerse sorts of Bees and what things be hurtfull to Bees 19. The diseases incident to Bees 20. How to keepe the cast of Bees when they swarme that they flie not away also how to recover Bees in case their breed and race be lost 21. Of Wespes and Hornets 22. Of silke flies their wormes and Iackes called Bombylis and Necydalus and who first deuised silke-cloth 23. Of the silke-worme in the Island Choos 24. Of the Spiders and their generation 25. Of Scorpions 26. Of Stellions and Grashoppers 27. In what countries there bee no Grashoppers and where they sing not 28. The wings of Insects of Beetles and their kinds 29. Of Locusts 30. Of Ants or Pismires in Italie 31. Of Indian Ants or Emmets 32. The diuerse sorts of Insects 33. Of certaine creatures breeding of wood and liuing of wood 34. Of a certain creature that hath no passage to void excrements 35. Of Moths and Gnats 36. Of flies liuing in the fire named Pyrales or Pyraustae 37. A discourse Anatomicall of all parts and members of the bodie 38. Of Bloud also in what creatures bloud wil soonest clutter and congeale and whose wil not at all What creatures haue the grossest and heauiest bloud and which the finest and thinnest and lastly who haue no bloud at all 39. Whether the soveraignetie and excellencie of sence consisteth in bloud Of the skin and hide of the haires and dugs of liuing creatures 40. What creatures haue notable dugs or teats aboue the rest 41. Of Milke and what milke will make no cheese 42. Diuerse kinds of Cheese 43. How the lims and members of mans body differeth from other creatures 44. The resemblance that Apes haue to vs. 45. Of Nailes 46. Of Houfes 47. Of birds feet and their clawes 48. Of Insects feet from two to an hundred 49 Of Dwarfes in each kind and the genitall parts 50. Of Tailes 51. Of Voices 52. Of superfluous members of the bodie The sayings of Aristotle as touching long life 53. Of the wind breath that living creatures take What things if they be tasted be venomous and deadly The food of man as well for meat as drinke What causes they be that hinder digestion 54. How to encrease or diminish the corpulencie of
enemy no more therefore the dolphins also enter the riuer Nilus in despight of the Crocodiles that take themselues for kings there as if this riuer were their peculiar kingdome but seeing they be otherwise inferiour to the Crocodiles in strength who alwaies driue them away from preiding or feeding there they deuise to ouermatch him in slie craft and subtilty and so kill him And in truth they haue certain fins or wings as it were vpon their backe as trenchant keene as kniues properly made as it were for this porpose For surely all creatures are herein naturally very skilfull and cunning to know not only their owne good and what is for them but also what may hurt and annoy their enemies Ware they be what offensiue weapons they haue and of what force they are they are not ignorant of fit occasions and opportunities to take their vantage ne yet of the weak parts of their occurrents by which they may assaile and conquer them the sooner Thus the Dolphins knowing full well that the skin of the Crocodiles belly is thin and soft make as though they were afraid of them as he comes and so diue vnder the water vntill he be gotten vnder his belly then punch and cut it with the foresaid sharp-pointed finnes Moreouer there is a kind of people that cary a deadly hatred to the Crocodile and they be called Tentyrites of a certaine Isle euen within Nilus which they inhabite The men are but small of stature but in this quarrell against the Crocodiles they haue hearts of Lions and it is wondrous to see how resolute and courageous they are in this behalfe Indeed this Crocodile is a terrible beast to them that flie from him but contrary let men pursue him or make head againe he runnes away most cowardly Now these Islanders be the only men that dare encountre him affront Ouer and besides they will take the riuer and swim after them nay they wil mount vpon their backs and set them like horsmen and as they turne their heads with their mouth wide open to bite or deuour them they will thrust a club or great cudgell into it crosse ouerthwart and so holding hard with both â—…ands each end thereof the one with the right and the other with the left and ruling them perforce as it were with a bit and bridle bring them to land like prisoners when they haue them there they will so fright them only with their words and speech that they compel them to cast vp and vomit those bodies againe to be enterred which they had swallowed but newly before And therefore it is that this is the only Isle which the Crocodiles wil not swim to for the very smell and sent of these Tentyrites is able to driue them away like as the Pselli with their sauour put Serpents to flight By report this beast seeth but badly in the water but be they once without they are most quick sighted All the 4 winter months they liue in a caue and eat nothing at all Some are of opinion that this creature alone groweth all his life and surely a great time he liueth The same riuer Nilus bringeth forth another beast called Hippopotamus i a Riuer-horse Taller he is from the ground than the Crocodile he hath a clouen foot like a boeufe the back maine and haire of an horse and he hath his neying also His muzzle or snout turneth vp his taile twineth like the Bores and his teeth likewise are crooked and bending downward as the Bores tusks but not so hurtfull the skin or hide of his backe vnpenetrable whereof are made targuets and head-pieces of doubty proof that no weapon wil pierce vnlesse it be soked in water or some liquor He eateth downe the standing corne in the field and folke say that he setteth downe beforehand where he will pasture and feed day by day and when hee sets forward to any field for his reliefe hee goeth alwaies backeward and his tracts are seene leading from thence to the end that against his return he should not be forelaid nor followed by his footing CHAP. XXVI ¶ Who first shewed the riuer-Horse and Crocodiles at Rome Also the medicinable means found out by the said dumbe creatures MArcus Scaurus was the first man who in his plaies and games that he set out in his Aedileship made a shew of one water-Horse and foure Crocodiles swimming in a poole or mote made for the time during those solemnities The riuer-Horse hath taught physitions one deuice in that part of their profession called Surgerie for he finding himself ouer-grosse fat by reason of his high feeding so continually gets forth of the water to the shore hauing spied afore where the reeds and rushes haue bin newly cut and where he seeth the sharpest cane and best pointed hee sets his body hard vnto it to pricke a certaine veine in one of his legs and thus by letting himselfe bloud maketh euacuation whereby his body otherwise inclining to diseases and maladies is well eased of the superfluous humor and hauing thus done hee stoppeth the orifice againe with mud and so stancheth the bloud and healeth the wound CHAP. XXVII ¶ What physicall Herbes certaine creatures haue shewed vs to wit the harts and stags the Lizards Swallowes Torteises the Weasell the Storke the Bore the Snake Dragon Panther Elephant Beares stocke-Doues house Doues Cranes and Rauens THe like deuice to this namely of clisters we learned first of a Fowle in the same Egypt called Ibis or the blacke Storke This bird hauing a crooked and hooked bill vseth it in stead of a syringe or pipe to squirt water into that part whereby it is most kinde and wholsome to auoid the doung and excrements of meat and so purgeth and clenseth her body Neither hath dumbe creatures directed vs to these feats onely practised by the hand which might serue for our vse to the preseruation of our health and cure of diseases for the hart first shewed vs the vertue of the herbe Dictamnus or Dittanie to draw arrowes forth of the bodie Perceiuing themselues shot with a shaft they haue recourse presently to that herbe and with eating thereof it is driuen out again Moreouer being stung with the Phalangium a kinde of spider or some such venomous vermin they cure themselues with eating Crai-fishes or fresh water crabs There is a certain herbe called Calaminth most soueraigne and singular against the biting of serpents wherewith the Lizards when soeuer they haue fought with them cure their wounds by applying it thereto Celendine the greater a most wholsome herbe for the eie sight Swallowes taught vs how to vse for with it they helpe their yong ones when their eies be â—…ore and put them to griefe The land Torteise by eating of a kinde of Sauorie or Marjerome called Cunila bubula armes himselfe against poyson when he should fight with serpents The Weasell vseth Rue as a preseruatiue when hee purposeth to hunt for Rats in case hee should
XXXIIII ¶ Of the Buffe or Tarandus the Lycaon and the Thos IN Scythia there is a beast called Tarandus which changeth likewise colour as the Chamaeleon and no other creature bearing haire doth the same vnlesse it be the Lycaon of India which by report hath a maned necke As for the Thoes which are a kinde of wolues somewhat longer than the other common wolues and shorter legged quicke and swift in leaping liuing altogether of the venison that they hunt take without doing any harme at all to men they may be said not so much to change their hew as their habit and apparell for all winter time they be shag-haired but in summer bare and naked The Tarandus is as big as an oxe with an head not vnlike to a stags but that it is greater namely carrying branched hornes clouen hoofed and his haire as deep as is the Beares The hide of his backe is so tough and hard that thereof they make brest-plates He taketh the colour of all trees shrubs plants floures and places wherein he lieth when he retireth for feare and therefore seldome is he caught But when he list to looke like himselfe and be in his owne colour he resembleth an Asse To conclude strange it is that the bare body of a beast should alter into so many colours but much more strange it is and wonderfull that the haire also should so change CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of the Pork-pen THe Porkpens come out of India and Africke a kind of Vrchin or hedge-hog they be armed with pricks they be both but the Porkpen hath the longer sharp pointed quilles and those when he stretcheth his skin he sendeth and shooteth from him when the hounds presseth hard vpon him he flieth from their mouthes and then takes vantage to launce at them somwhat farther off In the Winter he lieth hidden as the nature is of many beasts to doe and the Beares aboue the rest CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of the Beares and how they breed and bring forth their young THey ingender in the beginning of winter not after the common manner of other foure-footed beasts but lying both along clasping and embracing one another then they goe apart into their dennes and caues where the she beare thirtie daies after is discharged of her burden and bringeth forth commonly fiue whelps at a time At the first they seem to be a lump of white flesh without all form little bigger than rattons without eies wanting haire only there is some shew and apparance of claws that put forth This rude lumpe with licking they fashion by little little into some shape nothing is more rare to be seen in the world than a she beare bringing forth her yong and this is one cause that the male beares are not to be seen in 40 daies nor the femall for 4 moneths If they haue no holes and dens for the purpose they build themselues cabbins of wood gathering together a deale of boughes bushes which they couch and lay artificially together to beare off any shower so as no raine is able to enter and those they strew vpon the floore with as soft leaues as they can meet withall For the first 14 daies after they haue taken vp their lodging in this manner they sleep so soundly that they cannot possibly be wakened if a man should lay on and wound them In this drowsinesse of theirs they grow wondrous fat This their grease and fat thus gotten is it that is so medicineable and good for those that shed their haire These 14 days once past they sit vpon their rump or buttocks and fall to sucking of their fore-feet and this is all their food wherof they liue for the time Their yong whelpes when they are starke and stiffe for cold they huggle in their bosom and keep close to their warm breast much like to birds that sit vpon their egs A strange and wonderful thing it is to be told and yet Theophrastus beleeueth it That if a man take bears flesh during those daies and seeth or bake the same if it be set vp and kept safe it will grow neuerthelesse All this time they dung not neither doth there appeare any token or excrement of meat that they haue eaten and very little water or aquositie it found within their belly As for bloud some few small drops lie about the heart only and none at all in the whole body besides Now when spring is come forth they go out of their den but by that time the males are exceeding ouergrown with fat and the reason therof cannot be readily rendred for as we said before they had no more but that fortnights sleep to fat them withall Being now gotten abroad the first thing that they do is to deuoure a certain herbe named Aron i. Wake-robin and that they do to open their guts which otherwise were clunged and grown together and for to prepare their mouths and teeth again to eat they whet and set the edge of them with the yong shoots and tendrons of the briers and brambles Subiect they are many times to dimnesse of sight for which cause especially they seek after hony combs that the bees might settle vpon them and with their stings make them bleed about the head and by that means discharge them of that heauinesse which troubleth their eies The Lions are not so strong in the head but beares bee as weak and tender there and therfore when they be chased hard by hunters put to a plunge ready to cast themselues headlong from a rocke they couer and arme their heads with their fore-feet and pawes as it were with hands and so jump downe yea and many times when they are baited in the open shew-place we haue known them laid streaking for dead with one cuffe or box of the eare giuen them with a mans fist In Spain it is held for certain that in their brain there is a venomous qualitie and if it be taken in drinke driueth men into a kind of madnesse so as they will rage as if they were bears in token whereof whensoeuer any of them be killed with baiting they make sure work and burn their heads all whole When they list they wil go on their two hinder feet vpright they creep down from trees backward when they fight with buls their manner is to hang with all their foure feet about their head and hornes and so with the very weight of their bodies wearie them There is not a liuing creature more craftie and foolish withall when it doth a shrewd turne We finde it recorded in the Annales of the Romans that when M. Piso and M. Messala were Consuls Domitius Aenobarbus and Aedile Curule vpon the 14 day before the Calends of October exhibited 100 Numidian beares to be baited chased in the great Cirque and as many Aethiopian hunters And I maruell much that the Chronicle nameth Numidian since it is certain that no bâ—…rs come out of Africke CHAP. XXXVII ¶ Of the Rats of
ballace his body and so plungeth himselfe down and sinketh to the bottom CHAP. XXX Of the many-foot fish called Ozaena of the Nauplius and Locusts of the sea or Lobster OF the Polypus or Pourcontrell kind with many feet is the Ozaena so called of the strong sauor of their heads for which cause especially the Lampreys follow in chase after him As for the Many-feet or Pourcuttels they lie hidden for two months together and aboue two yeares they liue not They die alwaies of a consumption or Phthysicke the female sooner than the males and ordinarily after that they haue brought forth their yong frie. I cannot ouerpasse but record the reports of Trebius Niger one of the traine and retinue ef L. Lucullus Proconsull in Boetica which he vpon his knowledge deliuered as touching these Many-feet fishes called Polypi namely That they are most desirous and greedie of cockles muscles and such like shell-fishes and they againe on the contrarie side so soone as they feele themselues touched of the Polypes shut their shels hard and therwith cut asunder their clawes or armes that were gotten within and thus fall they to feed vpon those who sought to make a prey of them Now in very truth these shel-fishes all of them see not at all neither haue they any other sense but tasting of their meat feeling of their drinke These Polypi foreseeing all this lie in wait to spie when the said cockles c. gape wide open and put in a little stone between the shels but yet beside the flesh bodie of the fish for feare lest if it touched and felt it she would cast it forth again thus they theeue and without all daunger and in securitie get out the fleshie substance of the meat to deuoure it the poore cockles draw their shels together for to clasp them between as is aboue-said but all in vaine for by reason of a wedg between they will not meet close nor come neere together See how subtle and craftie in this point these creatures be which otherwise are most sottish and senselesse Moreouer the said Trebius Niger affirmeth that there is not any other beast nor fish in the sea more daungerous to doe a man a mischiefe within the water than is this Pourcuttle or Many-feet Polypus for if he chance to light on any of these diuers vnder the water or any that haue suffered shipwracke and are cast away he assailes them in this manner He catcheth fast hold of them with his clawes or armes as if he would wrestle with them and with the hollow concauities and noukes between keepeth a sucking of them and so long he suckes and sokes their bloud as it were cupping-glasses set to their bodies in diuers places that in the end he draweth them drie But the only remedie is this to turne them vpon their backe and then they are soone done and their strength gone for let them lie so they stretch out themselues abroad and haue not the power to clasp or comprehend any thing And verily all liuing creatures in the sea loue the smell of them exceeding well which is the cause that fishers besmare and anoint their nets with them to draw and allure fishes thither The rest which mine author hath related as touching this fish may seem rather monstrous lies and incredible than otherwise for he affirmed that at Carteia there was one of these Polypi which vsed commonly to go forth of the sea and enter into some of their open cesterns and vauts among their ponds and stewes wherein they keep great sea-fishes and otherwhiles would rob them of their salt-fish and so go his waies againe which he practised so long that in the end he gat himselfe the anger and displeasure of the maisters and keepers of the said ponds and cesterns with his continuall immeasurable filching whereupon they staked vp the place and empalled it round about to stop all passage thither But this thief gaue not ouer his acustomed haunt for all that but made meanes by a certaine tree to clamber ouer and get to the fore-said salt fish and neuer could he be taken in the manner nor discouered but that the dogges by their quick sent found him out and baied at him for as he returned one night toward the sea they assailed and set vpon him on all sides and therwith raised the foresaid keepers who were afrighted at this so sudden an alarm but more at the strange sight which they saw For first and foremost this Polype fish was of an vnmeasurable and incredible bignesse and besides he was besmeared beraied all ouer with the brine and pickle of the foresaid salt-fish which made him both hideous to see to and to stinke withall most strongly Who would euer haue looked for a Polipe there or taken knowledge of him by such marks as these Surely they thought no other but that they had to deale and encounter with some monster for with his terrible blowing and breathing that he kept he draue away the dogs and otherwhiles with the end of his long stringed winding feet he would lash and whip them somtimes with his stronger clawes like arms he rapped and knoked them well and surely as it were with clubs In summe he made such good shift for himselfe that hardly and with much adoe they could kill him albeit he receiued many a wound by trout-spears which they launced at him Wel in the end his head was brought and shewed to Lucullus for a wonder as big it was a as good round hogshead or barrel that would take and containe 15 Amphores and his beards for so Trebius tearmed his clawes and longstringed feet carried such a thicknesse and bulke with them that hardly a man could fathome one of them about with both his armes such knockers they were knobbed and knotted like clubs and withall 30 foot long The concauities within them and hollow vessels like great basons would hold 4 or 5 gallons a peece and his teeth were answerable in proportion to the bignes of his bodie The rest was saued for a wonder to be seene and weighed 700 pound weight This author of mine Trebius affirmeth that Cuttels also and Calamaries haue been cast vpon that shore ful as big Indeed in our sea there be Calamaries taken of 5 cubits long and Cuttels of twaine in length and these liue not aboue two yeares Mutianus reporteth that himselfe saw in Propontis another kind of fish carying as it were a ship of his owne and making saile with it like to some galley and a shel-fish it was fashioned with a keele like to a barge or barke with a poupe embowed and turned vp yea and armed as it were in the proe with a three-forked pike Within which lay hidden as he saith another liuing creature called Nauplius resembling a Cuttle fish and for no other reason in the world but to make sport and play with it for companie Now the manner of this pastime and sailing was in two
a truth it is hard to judge whether of them twaine plaied the beast more the father or the sonne But that it seemeth lesse pride and prodigalitie to swallow down the throat the greatest riches of Nature than to chew and eat at a supper mens tongues that is to say those birds that could pronounce our language CHAP. LII ¶ The engendring of birds and what foure-footed beasts lay egges as well as they THe generation of birds seemes alwaies to be after one the same manner And yet therein is to be found some strange extraordinarie worke Like as there be four footed beasts known also to haue eggs namely the Chamaeleons Lizards and such as we named among Serpents Of foules those that haue hooked clawes and tallons are but barren that way and lay few eggs Only the Kestrell laieth foure at a time And verily Nature hath well prouided in all the kind of foules That the mightier should be lesse fruitfull than the weaker and those that flie from the other The Ostriches Hens Partridges and Linnets are great laiers As touching the manner of their engendring it is performed two waies for either the female couche th downe as doe our hens or else stand vpon their feet as doe the cranes Of eggs some be white as those of Doues and Partridges others be pale and yellowish as those of water-foule some be spotted as those of the Turkie-hens others againe red and such egs Feasants lay and Kestrils All birds egges within the shell are of two colours In water-foules the yolke is more than the white and the same is more wan and duskish than in others The egges of fishes are of one colour and therein is no white at all Birds eggs are brittle shelled by reason of their heat Serpents eggs are more tough because of cold but they of fishes are more soft and tender for that they be so liquid Those of fishes and such creatures as liue in water haue round eggs ordinarily others be long and pointed at one end in the top Birds lay their egges with the rounder end comming forward their shell is soft whiles they be warm and a laying but presently they harden by piecemeale as they come forth Horatius Flaccus is of opinion that the longer the egge is the better tast it hath The rounder egge prooues to be the hen commonly the rest will be â—…ockes There is found in the top or sharper end of an egge within the shell a certaine round knot resembling a drop or a nauil rising aboue the rest which they call a Kinning CHAP. LIII ¶ The engendring of egges the sitting of birds and their manner of generation SOme birds there be that tread all times of the yeare and lay egs but only two moneths in mid winter and of those pullets lay more than old hens but they be lesse especially the first and last of one laiter So fruitfull they be that some of them wil lay threescore egs ere they giue ouer some euerie day others twice in one day and some will ouer-lay vntill they be so weâ—…ry and feeble withall that they will neuer lay more but die withall The little short legged grig hens called Hadrianae that came from Hadria are counted best Doues lay conuey ten times in the yeare some of them eleuen and in Aegypt there are found that giue not ouer in the twelue months euen at mid-winter in December Swallowes Ousels Quoists or Ringdoues and Turtles lay and sit twice in the yeare other birds ordinarily but once Thrushes and Blackbirds build their nests of mud and clay in trees and bushes one by another so neere as if they were linked together and lightly they eâ—…gender in some corner out of the way After the hen is troden within ten daies the egs commonly knit within her bellie are come to perfection readie to be laid Howbeit if hens haue some wrong done vnto them or if a man chance to pluck a feather or quill from a pigeon at that time or do them some such jniurie it will be longer ere they lay All egs haue within them in the mids of the yolk a certaine drop as it were of bloud which some thinke to be the heart of the chicken imagining that to be the first that in euerie bodie is formed and made and certainly a man shall see it within the verie egge to pant and leape As for the chick it taketh the corporall substance and the bodie of it is made of the white waterish liquor in the egge the yellow yolke serues for nourishment whiles the chick is vnhatched and within the egge the head is bigger than all the bodie besides and the eies that be compact and thrust together be more than the verie head As the chick within growes bigger the white turneth into the middest and is enclosed within the yolke By the 20 day if the eggs be stirred ye shall heare the chick to peepe within the â—…erie shell from that time forward it beginneth to plume and gather feathers and in this manner lies it within the shell the head resting on the right foot and the same head vnder the right wing and so the yolke by little and little decreaseth and faileth All birds are hatched with the feet forward contrarie to other creatures Some hens there be that lay all their egs with two yolkes and of them be hatched two chickens otherwhiles as Cornelius Celsâ—… writeth but the one of them is bigger than the other Howbeit others say it is impossible that one egge should come to two chickens Moreouer it is held for a rule that â—…here should not be put vnder a brood-hen aboue 25 egs at one time to sit vpon After the mid-winter hens begin to lay and sit The best brood is before the spring Aequinoctiall Those that be hatcâ—…ed after mid-summer neuer come to their full and kind bignesse and euermore the later the lesser CHAP. LIV. ¶ The infirmities and impediments incident to brood hens and the remedies THe best egs that can be put vnder hens when they sit are they that were laid ten daies before at the vtmost for neither old eggs nor yet very new laid are good for that purpose After that a hen hath sitten 4 daies take an eg from vnder her hold it in one hand by the narrow end and look between you and the light with the other ouer it if it be cleare through and of one colour it is supposed to be naught and will neuer proue a chicke and therefore put another in place thereof Another experiment there is by water the addle egg wil flote aboue as empty the sound and good will sinke to the bottom and such therefore being full are to be set vnder the hen We ye would try whether an egg be good or bad in this case our countrey wiues say you must not shake them in any hand for if the vital veins parts be broken blended together they will neuer proue Moreouer this is alwaies to
very few who haue a certaine pipe or conduit in stead of a gut the same wrapped and infolded together Which is the cause that if they be cut in two and pulled in pieces yet they haue a speciall property to liue long and each part asunder wil pant stir by it selfe The reason is because the vitall vertue in them whatsoeuer it is is not seated in any one member this or that but spred and defused throughout the whole body and least apparent in the head of all other parts for that alone vnlesse it be plucked away together with the breast moueth not one jot No kind of creatures haue more feet than these and the more they haue the longer liue they when they be diuided asunder as we see by experience in the Scolopendres Eies they haue that is certain besides sight they are not without the sences of feeling tasting some there be that smell a few that haue their hearing also CHAP. V. ¶ Of Bees BVt among them all Bees are principall and by good right deserue especiall admiration as being the only Insects ordained by Nature for mans vse They gather honie a most sweet pleasant fine and wholesome liquor They frame the hony combs and work the wax which serue for a thousand turns in this life They indure pains continually and dispatch their worke and businesse They haue a policie and Commonwealth among themselues They hold their seuerall counsels and there is not a swarme or cast that they haue without a king and captaine of their owne and that which is most admirable of all there be ciuill fashions and customes among them Moreouer being as they are neither tame and gentle nor yet to be counted wilde and sauage yet see the wondrous worke of Nature by the means of so little a creature nay a shadow rather to say a truth of the least creature she hath effected a thing incomparable what strength of sinewes what force and puissance is able to countervaile this so great industry and effectuall power of theirs What wit and policy of man is answerable to their discreet and orderly course Beleeue me they passe them all and in this one point surpasse That all things are common among them and nothing know they priuat and seueral What should we debate and make question any more as touching their breath Why should wee dispute of their bloud which cannot chuse but be very little in such smal bodies Let vs rather consider henceforth their wit and the gifts of their mind CHAP. VI. ¶ The naturall order and regiment that is in Bees BEes all winter time keep close within their hiues and good reason for how possibly should they indure hard frost and chilling snow how should they abide the piercing blasts of the North winds And verily it is the manner of all these Insects so to doe but yet they keepe not in so long For why being nestled warm as they are within our houses they sooner doe recouer their vigor come abroad betimes But as concerning Bees either the times haue changed places altered their course or els the writers beforetime of this argument haue greatly erred They begin to retire themselues and take vp their wintering harbor presently vpon the setting and occultation of the star Vergiliae and come not forth into the field againe vntill after the rising and apparition thereof So that Bees go not abroad at the very beginning of the Spring as Writers haue set downe for who seeth not the contrary throughout all Italie but remaine still close and secret vntill that Beanes begin to bloom before which time they settle not themselues to any worke or labour But from thence forward they lose not a day they slack not their painful trauel neither play they one jot if the weather be faire wil permit the first thing they do is to make their combs wax that is to say their own habitations store-houses When they are prouided of lodging they thinke vpon the multiplying of their owne kind and finally they gather and make both hony and wax the substance whereof they sucke from the floures of trees and hearbes from the gums also of trees which breed such gluie matter and besides out of the iuice gum and rosin of the willow elme and cane With these and such like they plaister all the hiue within throughout as it were with a coat or parget intermingling withall other iuices that are more vnsauorie gathered from the bitterest hearbs they can get to the end that they might keepe out other little vermines that are greedy of their hony as knowing full well that they are about a piece of worke which is worthie to be desired and sought after Of this gummy and glutinous substance they frame also their dores and entries which are wide and large CHAP. VII ¶ The proper termes belonging to their worke THe first foundation of their worke skilfull hony-masters do call Commosis the second Pissoceros the third Propolis which lieth between those former coats and the wax of the hony combe whereof there is so great vse in Physicke Commosis is the first coat or crust of a bitter tast Pissoceros commeth next after it as it were a thinner course of pitch or varnish and a weaker kinde of wax made of the more liquid and mild gum of vines and poplars But Propolis consisteth of a more solid matter as hauing the strength of some floures withall howbeit as yet it is no ful and perfect wax but the foundation and strengthening of the combs and serueth as a good defence against cold and to stop the passage of waspes and such hurtful creatures as would do iniurie to the bees for stil a strong sent it carrieth as which many men do vse in stead of Galbanum After this munition done then followeth the prouision of that which is called Erithace some terme it Sandaracha and others Cerinthus This must serue for the bees meat whereof they are to liue whiles they worke and found it is oftentimes laid apart within the concauities of their combs it being also of a bitter taste Now this Erithace commeth of the Spring-dew and the moisture issuing out of trees in manner of gum in lesse abundance euer when the South-west wind blows but when it is full South more blacke and in the Northerly constitution far better and more red withall Great store hereof Bees meet with vpon Almond trees Menecrates saith That it is a floure foreshewing what haruest shall insue but no man saith so besides him CHAP. VIII ¶ What flowers they be which Bees serue themselues most withall for their worke AS for wax Bees gather and make it of the floures of all trees herbs and plants sauing the docke and Goose-foot which are two kinds of herbs Some except also a kind of Broom called Spart but vntruly for in Spaine where there be many places full of that shrub the honie carrieth the strength thereof in
is some water will ingender this vermin if we do but wash therein For euen in wax there will breed mites which are thought to be of all creatures that haue life the very least Also ye shall haue others again ingender of filthy dry dust namely fleas which vse to skip and hop with their hinder feet lustily like these tumblers and vautors Last of all there be that come of a certaine moist pouder in câ—…anies of the ground and those be our ordinary little flies CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Of one kind of creature that hath no passage to void excrements THere is a creature as foule and ill-fauoured as the rest which hath euermore the head fast sticking within the skin of a beast and so by sucking of bloud liueth and swells withall the only liuing creature of all other that hath no way at all to rid excrements out of the body by reason whereof when it is too full the skin doth crack and burst and so his very food is cause of his death In Horses Asses and Mules these do neuer breed in Kine and oxen they be common and otherwhiles in dogs who are pestered not only with these ticks but also with all other vermine aboue named And in Sheepe and Goats a man shall finde none other but ticks It is as strange a thing also to see how the horse-leeches which be nourished in standing waters of fens are thirsty after bloud for these will thrust their whole head into the flesh for to draw and suck out bloud Finally there is a kind of flies that plagueth dogs and none else they are busie commonly about their eares where they will bite and sting them shrewdly for there they cannot come by them with their teeth to snap and kill them CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of Moths and Gnats WOoll and cloth when they be dusty breed moths especially if a spider also be gotten within them For the Spider is very thirsty and by reason that he drinketh vp all the moisture of the cloth or wool he increaseth the drinesse much more In paper also they will ingender A kind of them there is which carry their coats and cases with them as cockles and snailes do but they haue feet to be seen If they be turned out of their coats or husks they presently die If they grow still they wil proue to be Chrysalides The wild fig tree breeds certaine Gnats called Ficarij As for the Cantharides or French greene Flies they be bred of little wormes in Fig trees Peare trees wilde Pines or Pitch trees the Eglantine Brier and Roses A venomous vermin this is howbeit medicinable in some sort The wings be they that are good in physick cast them away the rest is deadly Moreouer there be other gnats that soure things will ingender And no maruell seeing there be some wormes found in snow which are white if the snow be but thin and new fallen But in case it haue lien long and bee deep a man shall find in the mids within those which are red for snow also if it be old waxeth red rough and hairy greater also than the rest and dull of motion CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of the fire-Fly called Pyralis or Pyrausta THe fire also a contrary element to generation is not without some liuing creatures ingendred therein For in Cypres among the forges and furnaces of copper there is to be seen a kind of four-footed creature and yet winged as big as the greater kind of flies to flie out of the very midst of the fire and called it is of some Pyralis of others Pyrausta The nature oâ—… it is this so long as it remaines in the fire it liues but if it chance to leap forth of the Furnace and fly any thing farre into the aire it dieth There is a riuer in the kingdome of Pontus called Hypanis which about the summer Sunstead vseth to bring down the streame thin pellicles or bladders like to grape kernels out of which there breaks forth and issueth a foure footed flie like vnto those aboue named and it liueth not aboue one day whereupon it is called Hemerobion i. a day-fly All other Insects of like sort may continue and liue a seuen-night The Gnat and the little wormes three weeks but such as bring forth their yong aliue may endure a full moneth As for the metamorphosis of these creatures from one forme to another it is most commonly performed in three daies or foure at the most All the rest of the winged kind lightly die in Autumne among which the brees and horse-flies are ordinarily blind first To be short those flies which haue bin drowned and so come to their death if they be laid and kept in hot cinders or ashes will come again to themselues and reuiue CHAP. XXXVII ¶ A discourse Anatomicall of the nature of liuing creatures part by part according to their particular members IT remaines now to treat of the seuerall parts of the body and ouer and aboue the former descriâ—…ion to particularize and set down the story of one member after another First therefore this is generall that all liuing creatures whatsoeuer hauing bloud haue also heads and few of them haue cops or crested tufts vpon their heads vnlesse it be birds and those be of diuers forms and fashions The Phoenix is adorned with a round plume of feathers out of the midst of which growes another little pennache Peacockes carry vpon their heads a tuft as it were of little hairy trees and the Stymphalides a lock of crisped and curled haires Feasants haue feathers standing vp like hornes The pretty Titmouse or Nonett is filletted or coifed vpon the head and in lieu thereof the Lark hath a little peruke of feathers whereupon at first it was called Galerita but afterwards after the French word Alanda and of it one of the Roman legions tooke the name because of their pointed Morions We haue written alreadie of the Ginny or Turky cocks and hens vpon whom Nature hath bestowed a folding crest lying from the very bill ouer the midst of the head vnto the nape of the necke She hath giuen also vnto all the sort of Seamewes Fen ducks and Moore-hens certain cops and crisped tufs to the Woodpeck also and Baleare crane But aboue all others the house dunghill cocks carry vpon their heads the goodliest ornament of their combe and the same consisting of a massie and fleshie substance indented besides like a saw And yet we may not properly say it is either flesh gristle or callositie but composed of some particular matter by it selfe which canot well be named As for the crests of dragons I could meet with no man hitherto that euer saw them To come now to Horns there be many fishes as well of the sea as fresh waters and also Serpents that haue horns in diuers and sundry sorts But to speak a truth and properly they be no hornes indeed for those pertain only to four-footed heasts As for Actaeon and 〈◊〉 of whom we read
pure virgins and haue not sacrificed vnto Venus The haire growing beneath the ventricles of the brain vnder the crown of the head like as also about the temples and eares falls not off quite Man alone of all creatures groweth to be bald I speake not of those that are so by nature Men women and horses wax gray haired Men and women both begin at the forepart of their heads to be grislie and afterwards behind Men and women alone be double crowned Some creatures haue the bones of their skull flat plain thin and without marrow and the same vnited or ioined together by certain sutures or seams indented toothed on either side which run one into another The ruptures and cracks of the brain pan cannot be consolidated and saundred perfectly again but if the spels and pieces be gently taken out and but smal there is no danger of death for in their place there will grow a certain callous cicatrice or fleshie substance that will supply in some sort that defect Bears of all others haue the tendrest suls and Parrats the hardest as we haue said before in place conuenient Moreouer all liuing creatures that haue bloud haue likewise brains yea those in the sea which we call Soft-fishes although they haue no bloud at all as namely the Pour-cuttles or Polypes But man for his bignes and proportion hath most braine of all other and the same is the moistest coldest part he hath within his body Infolded it is within two tunicles or kels both aboue and beneath whereof if the one be pierced and wounded to wit Piamater there is no way but present death Also men commonly haue more braines than women And both of them haue neither bloud nor veines therein as for that which is in other creatures it wanteth all kind of fat The learned Anatomists who haue searched diligently into the nature of things do teach vs a difference between the brain marrow of bones for brains in the boyling and seething wax hard In the midst of the braine of all creatures there be certaine little bones Man alone in his infancie hath his brain to pant and beat and fully settled it is not nor confirmed before that he begins to speak Of all parts necessary for life it is placed highest and next vnto the cope of head and heauen both without flesh without bloud without filth ordure And in truth it is the fort and castle of all the sences vnto it all the veines from the heart do tend in it they all do likewise end It is the very highest keep watch-tower and sentinell of the mind it is the helme and rudder of intelligence and vnderstanding Moreouer in all creatures it lieth forward in the front of the head and good reason because all our sences bend that way just before our faces From our braine comes sleepe from thence proceedeth our nappes our nods our reeling and staggering And looke what creature soeuer wanteth braine the same sleepeth not Stags by report haue within their heads twentie little wormes to wit in the concauity vnder their tongue and about that joincture where the head is graffed to the chin bone Man alone hath not the power to shake his eares Of flaggie long and hanging eares came the syrnames first of the Flacci families houses in Rome There is no one part of the bodie costeth our dames more than this by reason of their precious stones and pendant pearls thereat In the East countries men also as wel as women think it a great grace and brauery to weare earings of gold As touching their proportion some creatures naturally haue bigger or lesser than others Deere only the fallow as well as the red haue them slit and as it were diuided In Rats and mice they be hairy To conclude no creature hath ears but those that bring forth their yong aliue and none of them are without saue onely Seales Dolphins Vipers and such fishes as were called Cartilagineous and gristly And these all in stead of ears haue certaine holes oâ—… conduits except the foresaid gristly fishes the Dolphins and yet manifest it is that they do heare wel enough For delighted they be with musick and vpon some great noise and sudden crack they are astonished and then easily taken But maruel it is how they should heare as they do neither can I comprehend the reason and means thereof no more than I am able to shew how they do smell for no Organs and Instruments haue they thereof to be seene yet there is not an hound vpon the land sents better nor hath a finer nose than they Of all fouls the Like-owle and the Otus alone haue feathers like eares the rest haue only holes to heare by And after the same manner skaled fishes and serpents In Horses Mules and Asses and all such as serue either pack or saddle the ears are tokens of their courage more or lesse and will shew what stomack is within them If they be tired and weary they hang down flaggie be they afraid you shall perceiue them to wag too and fro in heat of fury they stand pricking vp in sicknes they lie downe Man only of all creatures hath a Face and Visage the rest haue either muzles and snouts or else bils and beakes Other creatures haue Foreheads also as well as men but in mans alone we may see reade sorrow heauinesse mirth and joy clemencie and mildnesse cruelty and seuerity and in one word guesse by it whether one be of a good nature or no In the ascent or rising of the forehead man hath Eie-brows set like to the eaues of an house which he can moue as he list either both at once or one after another and in them is shewed part of the mind within By them we denie by them wee grant These shew most of all others pride and arrogancie Wel may it be that pride doth appeare and settle in some other part yet here is the seat place of residence True it is that in the heart it beginnes but hither it mounteth and ascendeth here it resteth and remaineth No part can it find in the whole body more eminent and hauty and withall more steepe than the browes wherein it might rule and raigne alone without controlment Next vnder the browes is the Eie the most precious member of the whole body which by the vse of light makes difference between life and death Yet hath not Nature giuen eies to all creatures Oisters haue none and for some other shel-fishes it is hard to say whether they haue any or none As for Scallops if a man stir his fingers against them as they lie gaping open they wil shut as if they saw And the shel-fishes called Solenes giue backe if any edge-toole come neere vnto them Of foure-footed creatures Moldwarpes see not at all a certaine shew and forme they haue of eies to be seen if a man take off
impeached But some men there be which haue their tongues so at commandement and so artificially they can handle it and their throat together that they are able to counterfeit the singing of all birds and the voice of any other creature that one cannot know and discerne them asunder As touching Taste which is the judgement of meats and drinks to wit What smack and tallage they haue all other liuing creatures find it at the tip of their tongue only but man tasteth as wel with the pallat or roofe of his mouth The spungeous kernels which in men be called Tonsillae or the Almands are in swine named the Glandules That which betweene them hangeth downe from the inmost part and roofe of the mouth by the name of the Vvula is to be found in man onely Vnder it there is a little tongue which the Greekes call Epiglossis at the root of the other and the same is not to be found in any creature that laieth egs A twofold vse it hath lying as it doth between the two pipes Whereof that which beareth more outward and is called The rough Arterie or the Windpipe reacheth vnto the lungs and heart And as a man doth eat and swallow downe his meat this foresaid little flap doth couer it for feare lest as the spirit breath and voice passeth that way the meat or drink if it should go wrong to the other conduit or passage might indanger a man and put him to great trouble The other is more inward called properly the Gullet or the Wezand by which we swallow down both meat and drink and it goeth to the stomacke first and so to the belly This also the said flap doth couer by turns to wit as a man doth either speake or draw his breath lest that which is already passed into the stomacke should come vp againe or be cast vp vnseasonably and thereby impeach a man in his speech the Windpipe consisteth of a gristly and fleshie tunicle the Wezand of a membranous or sinewie substance and flesh together There is no creature hauing a necke indeed but it hath also both these pipes Wel may they haue a gorge or throat in whom there is found but the gullet only but nape of neck behind they can haue none As for those vpon whom Nature hath bestowed a neck they may with ease turn their head about too and fro euery way to looke about them because it is composed of many spondyles or turning round bones tied and fastened one vnto another by ioints and knots The Lion only together with the Wolfe and the Hyaena haue this necke bone of one entire and straight peece and therefore stiffe that it cannot turne Otherwise it is annexed to the chine and the chine to the loines This Chine likewise is a bony substance but made round and long and fistulous within to giue passage to the marrow of the backe which descendeth from the brain Learned men are of opinion That this marrow is of the same nature that the braine is and they ground vpon this experience That if the thin and tender skin that incloseth it be cut through a man cannot possibly liue but dieth immediatly All creatures that be long legged haue likewise in proportion as long necks So haue also water-fouls although their legs be but short But contrariwise yee shall not see any birds with long necks that haue hooked tallons Men onely and Swine are troubled with the swelling bunch in their throats which many times is occasioned by corrupt water that they drinke The vpper part or top of the Wezand is called the Gorge or the gullet the nether part or the extremitie thereof is the Stomacke There is another fleshie concauitie of this name vnder the windpipe annexed to the chine-bone long it is and wide made in fashion of a bottle flagon or rather a gourd Those that haue no gullet are also without a stomack a necke and a wezand as fishes for their mouths and bellies meet The sea Tortoise hath neither tongue nor teeth with the edge of his muffle so sharpe it is he is able well enough to chew all his victuals Vnder the Arterie or wind-pipe is the mouth of the stomacke of a callous or gristly substance thicke toothed with prickles in manner or a bramble for the better dispatching of the meat and these notches or plaits grow smaller and smaller as they approch neerer to the belly so as the vtmost roughnesse thereof in the end is like vnto a Smiths file Now are we come to the Heart which in all other liuing creatures is scituate in the very midst of the brest in man only it lies beneath the left pap made in maner of a peare with the pointed and smaller end beareth out forward Fishes alone haue it lying with the point vpward to the mouth It is generally receiued and held that it is the first principall part which is formed in the mothers wombe next vnto it the braine and the eies last of all And as these be the first that die so the Heart is last In it no doubt is the most plenty of heat which is the cause of life Surely it euer moueth and panteth like as it were another liuing creature by it selfe couered it is within-forth with a very soft yet a strong tunicle that enwrappeth it defended it is besides with a strong mure of ribs and the brest bone together as being it selfe the principall â—…tresse and castle which giues life to all the rest It contains within it certaine ventricles and hollow reâ—…s as the chiefe lodgings of the life and bloud which is the treasure of life These in greater beasts are 3 in number none there is without two This is the very seat of the mind and soule From this fountain there do issue 2 great vessels master-veins or arteries which are diuided into branches being spred as wel to the fore-part as the back parts of the body into smaller veins dominister vitall bloud to all the members of the body This is the only principall part of the body that cannot abide to be sick or languish with any infirmity this lingereth not in continuall pain no sooner is it offended but death insueth presently When all other parts are corrupt and dead the Heart alone continueth aliue All liuing creatures that haue an hard 〈◊〉 heâ—…t are supposed to be brutish those that haue small Hearts be taken for hardy and valiant 〈◊〉 â—…riwise they are reputed for timorous and fearfull which haue great Hearts And the biggest Heart in proportion of the body haue Mice Hares Asses Deere Panthers Weasels Hyâ—…es in one word all creatures either by nature fearefull or vpon feare hurtful In Paphlagonia Partridges haue two Hearts In the Hearts of Horses Kine Buls and Oxen are otherâ—…hiles bones found The Heart in a man groweth yerely two drams in weight vntill it be 50 yeares of age and from that time forward it decreaseth from yere to
yere as much whereupoâ—… he is not able to liue aboue 100 yeares for want of Heart as the Aegyptians be of opinion whose manner is to preserue the dead bodies of men spiced and embalmed It is reported of some men that they haue hearts all hairy and those are held to be exceeding strong and valoâ—… Such was Aristomenes the Messenian who slew with his owne hands 300 Lacedaemoniaâ—… Himselfe being sore wounded and taken prisoner saued his owne life once and made an escape out of the caue of a stone quarrie where he was kept as in a prison for hee got forth by narrow Fox-holes vnder the ground Being caught a second time whiles his keepers were fast asleep he rolled himselfe to the fire bound as he was and so without regard of his owne bodie burnt in sunder the bonds wherewith he was tied And at the third taking the Lacedaemonians caused his brest to be cut and opened because they would see what kind of Heart hee had and there they found it all ouergrown with hair Moreouer this is obserued in perusing the inwards of beasts That when they be wel liking and do presage good the Heart hath a kind of fat in the vtmost tip thereof howbeit this would be noted That according to the Soothsaiers learning their Heart is not alwaies taken for a part of the bowels or intrails for after the 123 Olympias when Pyrrhus king of Epyrus was departed out of Italy what time as L. Posthumius Albinus was king sacrificer at Rome the Soothsaiers and Wisards began first to look into the heart among other inwards That very day when as Caesar Dictator went first abroad in his roiall purple robe and tooke his seat in the golden chaire of estate he killed two beasts for sacrifice in both of them the intrailes were found without any Heart whereupon arose a great question and controuersie among the Augures and Soothsaiers How it could be that any beast ordained for sacrifice should liue without that principall part of life or whether possibly it might lose it for that present only Ouer and besides it is held for certaine that if any dye of the trembling and ache of the heart or otherwise of poison their heart will not burne in the fire And verily an Oration there is extant of Vitellius wherein he challengeth Piso and chargeth him directly with Poysoning of Germanicus Caesar vpon this presumption for he openly protested and prooued That the heart of Germanicus would not consume in the funerall fire by reason of poyson But contrariwise Piso alledged in his own defence the foresaid disease of the Heart called Cardiaca wherof as he said Germanicus died Vnder the Heart lie the Lights which is the very seat of breathing whereby we draw and deliuer our wind For which purpose spungeous it is and ful of hollow pipes within Few fishes as we said before haue any Lungs other creatures also that lay egs haue but smal and the same full of froth and without bloud wherupon they be not thirsty at all which is the cause likewise that Seales and Frogs can diue so long vnder the water The Tortoise also albeit he haue very large Lungs and the same vnder his shell yet there is no bloud therein And verily the lesser that the lungs be the swifter is the body that hath them The Chamaeleons lights be very big for the proportion of his body for little or nothing els hath he within it Next followeth the liuer which lies on the right side In that which is called the head of the Liuer much varietie and difference there is For a little before the death of Marcellus who was slaine by Anniball as he sacrificed there was found a Liuer in the beast without that head or fibres aforesaid and the next day after when he killed another for sacrifice it was seen with two When C. Marius sacrificed at Vtica the same was likewise wanting in the beast being opened Semblably when prince C. Caligula the Emperor sacrificed vpon the first day of Ianuarie at his entrance into the Consulship the Liuer head was missing but see what followed in that yeare his hap was to be slain Moreouer his successor Claudius within a month before he died by poison met with the like accident in his sacrifice But Augustus Caesar late Emperor of famous memory as he killed beasts for sacrifice the very first day that he entred vpon his imperiall dignity found in 6 of them 6 liuers which were all redoubled folded inward from the nethermost lobe or skirt beneath wherupon answer was made by tâ—…e Soothsayers That within one yere he should double his power and authority The foresaid head of the Liuer if it chance to be slit or cut presageth some euill hap vnlesse it be in case of feare and pensiuenesse for then it betokeneth good issue and an end of care and sorrow About the mountaine Briletum and Tharne also in Chersonesus neere vnto Propontis all the Hares ordinarily haue two Liuers and a wonderous thing it is to tell if they be brought into other countries one of the said Liuers they loose Fast to the Liuer hangeth the Gall yet all creatures haue it not And about Chalcis in Euboea the sheep are quite without Gall. But in Naxus they all haue two Gals and the same very big The strangers that come into both those parts think the one as prodigious monstrous as the other Horses Mules Asses Deere both red and fallow Roe-bucks Swine Cammels and Dolphins haue no Gall. Some Mice and Rats there be which haue it And few men there are without howbeit such are of a stronger constitution more healthfull longer liued Howbeit some are of opinion That all horses haue Gall not annexed to their liuer but within their bellie and as for the Deere aboue said it lieth as they think either in their taile or els their guts which by their saying are so bitter that hounds and dogs by their good wils would not touch them Now this Gal is nothing els but an excrement purged from the worst bloud therefore bloud is taken to be the matter thereof Certain this is that no creatures haue Liuers but such as likewise haue bloud And in truth the Liuer receiueth bloud from the heart vnto which it is adioined and so conueigheth and destributeth it into the veins Black choler lying in the Liuer causeth fury and madnesse in man but if it be all cast vp by vomit it is present death hereupon it commeth that we terme furious and raging persons by the name of cholericke or full of Gall so great is the venome of this one part if it reach once to the seat of the mind and possesse it Nay more than that if it be spred and dispersed ouer all parts of the body it infecteth it with the yellow jaundice yea and coloureth the very eies as it were with Saffron Let it out of the bladder or bag wherin it is ye
pigs before time is held for the worst of all In old time they called this morcell in Latine Abdomen and before it was growne hard and brawnie they neuer were wont willingly and wittingly to kil Sowes euen vpon the point of their farrowing and being readie to Pig as our monstrous gluttons doe now adaies because they would haue the teats soft tender and full of milke All horned beasts hauing teeth growing but in one jaw and pasterne bones about their feet do beare tallow or sewet and feed fat Those that be clouen-footed or otherwise haue feet deuided into many toes and beare no horns haue no tallow but grease or fat The tallow or sewet growes to be hard and when it is thoroughly cold is brittle and apt to crumble and breake and is euer found in the edge and extremities of the flesh contrariwise the seam or grease is enterlarded betweene the flesh and the skin liquid it is and easie to melt Some creatures there bee that will neuer be fat as the Hare and Partridge Generally whatsoeuer is barren be it male or female will soone feed fat Sooner grow they to be old which are ouer-fat No liuing creatures there are but haue a certain fat in their eies the tallow in any thing whatsoeuer is sensllesse for neither hath it Arteries nor Veines The fat also grease in most of them is without sence And hereupon it is That some affirme how Mice and Rats haue gnawne and eaten fat Hogs whiles they were aliue and made them nests in their backs yea and Lucius Apronius somtimes Consull had a sonne so fat that he could not goe so heauie was he loden with grease insomuch as he was faine to take some of his grease forth of the bodie and so discharge himselfe and become lighter Marrow seemeth to be much of the same natnre in youth it is red and in age waxeth white This is neuer found but in hollow bones and yet not in the legs of Horse Asse Mule or Dog And therefore if they chance to be broken they will not sowder and vnite againe which happens when the Marrow runs out to the place of the fracture In those that carrie grease or sewet fattie it is and greasie but in horned beasts it resembles Tallow Sinewie it is and that onely in the ridge of the backe of as many as haue no bones as namely in all fishes Beares haue none at al. A Lion likewise hath but very little to wit in some few bones of his thighes buts behind and also of his legs before vnder his shoulders For his other bones are so hard that they will strike fire as it were an hard flint The Marrow is hard in them that gather no grease but rather tallow The bones of Asse legs are good to sound shrill and to make pipes of Dolphins haue verie bones and not prickie chines for they bring forth their yong aliue Serpents haue only prickie ridges Fishes that be soft haue no bones but their bodie is bound with certaine hoopes or circles of flesh as the Cuttill or Calamarie Neither haue Infects any bones at all Those fishes which be not soft but gristly haue a kind of marrow in their ridge bone Seales haue gristle and no bone The eares and nosethrils of all creatures if they beare vp but a little haue a soft tender gristle apt to bend and wind such is the goodnesse of Nature prouiding that they should not breake A gristle if it be broken will not close together and be sound Neither will bones if ought be cut from them grow againe vnlesse it be in horses and such beasts of carriage and namely betweene the house and the pasternes A man Groweth in height and length vntill hee be one and twentie yeares of age then beginnes he to spread and burnish in squarenesse As well men as women-kind shute vp most and vndoe the knot that hindered their growth when they are come to fourteene yeares of age and be vndergrowne and most is this seene if some sicknesse happen about that time As for the Sinewes Ligaments and Cords which take their beginning at the heart be couered as it were with a certain white and glutinous substance and the like cause and nature they haue These in all bodies are tied to the slipperie bones the knitting of the bones together which be called joints they fasten and bind together some by comming betweene others by clasping round about others again by passing crosse ouer in one place they be twined round in another broad according as the figure of each part doth require Be they cut a two as they cannot knit againe so they put a man to no paine pricke or wound them a wonder to see what extremitie of paine will thereupon ensue Some creatures be without nerues and sinewes as namely fishes for they stand much vpon Arteries and yet ye shall haue neither the one nor the other in soft fishes Look where there be Sinews Cords and Ligaments those that lie more inward and vnderneath stretch out the part and giue libertie whreas the vppermost that lie ouer them draw the same in as much Among these are hidden the Arteries that is to say the passages of the spirit and life And ouer them ride the Veines euen the very conduits and channels that carie the bloud The Pulse or beating of Arteries is most euident in the extremities or ends of any members and for the most part bewraies hidden diseases Herophilus that renowmed Poet and interpreter of Physick hath with maruellous skill reduced the order thereof into an art he hath set downe most artificially the certaine measures and times the compasse the metricall lawes thereof according to euery age when they strike euen and steadie when too fast when too slow But the skill herof is little exercised and his inuention in that behalfe neglected because it seemed ouerwittie subtile and curious Howbeit the obseruation of the strokes either comming thick fast or slow and softly giueth a great light to judge of the strength of Nature that gouerns our life Arteries want sence and no maruell for they be without bloud Neither do they all containe within them vitall spirit For there haue beene knowne some of them cut in twaine and yet that part of the body only is mortified which receiued the offence Birds haue neither Veines nor Arteries Likewise Serpents Tortoises Lizards haue but very little bloud The Veines dispersed at the last into most fine and small threadie fibres vnder all the skin grow at the length to bee so slender that the bloud cannot possibly passe thorough them nor any thing else saue a thin humor or moisture which thorough infinite small pores of the skin doth breath forth and stands there like a dew and is called Sweat The place where all the Veines doe meet in a round knot together is the Nauell CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of Bloud as well that which soonest waxeth
drie as that which will not thicken at all Also which is the grossest bloud and heauiest which the lightest and thinnest and last of all what creatures liuing haue no bloud at all THose that haue much bloud and the same fat and grosse are angrie and chollericke The bloud of males is commonly blacker than that of females yea and more in youth than in old age and the same in the bottome and lower part setleth fatter and grosser than aboue In bloud consists a great portion and treasure of life When it is let out it caries with it much vitall spirit howbeit sencelesse it is and hath no feeling The strongest creatures bee they which haue the thickest bloud but the wisest those that haue thinnest the more fearefull that haue least but dull and blockish altogether which haue none at all Buls bloud of all other soonest congealeth and waxeth hard and therefore poison it is to be drunke especially The bloud of Bores red and fallow Deere Roe-buckes and all Buffles will not thicken Asses bloud is most fatty and grosse and contrarily mans bloud is thinnest finest Those beasts which haue more than 4 feet are bloudlesse Those that be fat haue small store of bloud because it is spent in fatnesse Man only bleeds at the nose some at one nosthrill alone others at both and some againe void bloud downward by the Hemorrhoids Many there be that cast vp bloud at certaine times ordinarie by the mouth as not long since Macrinus Viscus late pretor of Rome and vsually euerie yeare Volusius Saturninus Prouost of the citie who notwithstanding liued vntill hee was aboue fourescore and ten yeres old Bloud is the only thing in the body that increases presently For so we see that beasts killed for sacrifice wil bleed most freshly in greater abundance if they dranke a little before Those creatures that lie hidden in the earth at certaine times as we haue said before haue no bloud in all that while vnlesse it be some few and those very smal drops gathered about their hearts A wonderfull worke of Nature that it should be so as also that in a man it should alter and change euer and anon so as it doth vpon euery small occasion and the force and strength thereof varie not only for defect and want of matter to disperse abroad but also for euery little motion and passion of the minde as shame anger and feare For one while it sheweth pale another whiles red more or lesse in much varietie of degrees In case of anger it wil shew one color of shame and bashfulnesse appearing in another In feare doubtlesse it retires and flies backe in such sort as a man knowes not what is become of it so as many in that fit haue ben stabbed and run thorough and yet bleed not at all one drop but this suddaine change of colour happens to men only For in other creatures which as we haue said do alter their hue it is an outward colour that they take from the reflection of certain places neer vnto them man alone hath this change from within himselfe To conclude all maladies and death especially consume the bloud CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Whether in Bloud resteth the soueraignetie or no Also of the nature of Skin of Haires and the Paps SOmâ—… measure not the finenesse of spirit and wit by the puritie of bloud but suppose that creatures are brutish more or lesse according as their Skin is thicker or thinner and as the other couertures of their bodie be either grosse and hard or thin and tender as we see for example in Oisters and Tortoises They affirme moreouer that the thick hide in Kine Oxen and the hard bristles in Swine impeach the entrance of subtile aire and fine spirit into their bodies in such wise that nothing can pierce and passe through which is pure and fine as it should be And hereto they bring men also as a proofe who are thicke skinned and more brawnie for to be more grosse of sence and vnderstanding as who would say that Crocodiles were not very wittie and industrious yet their skin is hard enough And as for the Riuer-horse his hide is so thicke that thereof jauelines and speares are turned and yet so industrious is that beast that in some case he is his owne Physician and he hath taught vs to open a veine and let bloud The Elephants skin is so tough and hard that therof be made targuets and shields of so good proofe that is is impossible to pierce them thorough and yet they are thought to be of all four-footed beasts most ingenious and wittie Wherefore conclude we may that the skin it selfe is sencelesse and hath no fellowship at all with the vnderstanding and especially that of the head and whersoeuer it is of it selfe naked and without flesh be sure if it be wounded impossible it is to consolidate the wound and namely in the eie lids and bals of the cheekes All creatures that bring forth their young quicke are hairie those that lay egs haue either feathers as birds skales as fishes or else be couered with shels as Tortoises or last of all haue a plaine skin and no more as Serpents The quils of all feathers be hollow Cut them they will grow no more plucke them they will come againe Insects flie with thin and brittle pellicles or membranes The sea Swallowes haue them euermore moist and drenched in the sea As for the Bat he is afraid to wet them and therfore flies about housen his wings besides are diuided into joints The haires that grow forth of a thick skin are commonly hard grosse but euermore thinner and finer in the females In horses and mares they grow at length vpon their mains Lions also haue them long about their shoulders and foreparts Connies haue long haires about their checkes yea and within-forth as also in the soles of their feet and so hath the Hares according to the opinion of Trogus who thereby collecteth that hairy men likewise are more letcherous than other The hairiest creature of all other is the Hare In mankind only there grows haire about the priuy parts and whosoeuer wants it man or woman is holden for barren not apt for generation Haires in men and women are not all of one sort for some they bring with them into the world others come vp and grow afterwards Those they haue from their mothers womb do not lightly fall and shed and least of all in women Yet shal ye haue some women to shed the haire of the head by occasion of sicklinesse as also other women to haue a kinde of down vpon their face namely when their monethly fleurs do stay vpon them In some men the later kind of haires to wit of the beard c. wil not come of their own accord without the help of Art Four-footed beasts shed their haire yerely and haue it grow again Mens haire of their heads groweth most and next to it
or Strawberry tree is more plenteous in the head and toward the top the Oke the Wal-nut-tree Fig-tree and namely that which beareth the vnsauorie great figs Mariscae are more fruitfull beneath Generally all trees the elder they are the sooner they beare and make more hast to ripen their fruit the rather also if they grow in a ground leane and exposed to the Sun Contrariwise trees that be wild are later in bearing than other and some of them neuer yeeld fruit fully ripe Moreouer such trees vnder which the ground is tilled laid hollow haue their fruit sooner ripe are more fruitful withall than those that are neglected and not looked vnto Besides all this there is a difference in trees as touching bearing their fruit according to the age for the Almond tree the Pyrrie are most fertile when they be old as also mast trees and a certain kind of fig-trees Al others the yonger they are the more fruitfull they be howbeit later it is ere their fruit be ripe a thing most plainly to be obserued in Vines For the better wine commeth from the elder Vines but more plenty from the yonger As for the Apple-tree it becommeth of all other soonest old and in that age the fruit is nothing so good as in youth for both lesser be the Apples and also more worm-eaten insomuch as the very wormes will breed in them vpon the tree The Fig is the fruit alone of all trees that needeth some help of Physicke to ripen And this may be noted for a strange and miraculous thing in them That the later figs bee in more price than the hasty and early ripe and that there should be more reckoning made of preposterous and artificiall things beside the course of kind than of the naturall Also this is a generall rule Whatsoeuer tree is exceeding fruitful and beareth most the same continueth least while and soon waxeth old Yea and some of them are to be seen to die out right and that very quickely because they inioyed so fauorable a season to cause them so to spend themselues with bearing as wee may marke most easily in Vines CHAP. XXVIII ¶ Of the Mulberrie tree COntrariwise the Mulberry tree lasteth long and is very late ere it seemeth old For why it is not giuen greatly to beare fruit neither is ouerloden with Mulberries To conclude look what trees haue a curled graine in the wood as the Maple Date-tree and Poplar they continue a long time before they decay And in one word such as haue their roots digged or delued often and laid bare about are not long liued but soone age and decay CHAP. XXIX ¶ Of wilde trees AS for wilde trees they indure longest of all others And generally as carefull tending and looking to trees maketh them more fertile so there is nothing sooner bringeth age vpon them than fruitfulnesse and much bearing Hereupon it is likewise that such trees both bud and also blossome sooner than others yea and ordinarily their fruit is ripe before the rest in regard wherof they are more subiect to the iniury of the time the weather which causeth also diuers and sundry infirmities Moreouer as we haue said already in the chapter of mast trees there be many that bring forth fruits of different sorts among which may be reckoned the Lawrell with her variable floures and berries growing so thicke and principally the barren of that kind which beareth nothing els and therfore is esteemed of some the male The Hazels also and Filbard trees besides their nuts do carry certain chats with a callous substance of skales joined one within another but good for nothing CHAP. XXX ¶ Of the Box-tree the Greeke Beane or the Lotus AMong these is to be ranged the Box-tree which bringeth forth the most varietie of all others For it putteth forth a seed of her owne also a graine which they call Carthegon besides on the North side Misselto and on the South Hyphear whereof wee will write anone more at large so that otherwhiles a man shall find foure diuers things vpon the Box all together Moreouer of trees some be simple or single to wit such as from the root haue one trunke or body and no more and yet many boughes and branches as the Oliue Fig-tree and the Vine others be of a shrubs kind and put forth many shoots from the root besides the main trunk as the Rhamne thorn Paliurus and the Myrtle In like maner the Hazell nut-tree Howbeit the better is the tree and more plenteous in fruit when it is well branched from the body and hath not those suckers from the root ye shall find some again haue no principall stock at all as wee may see in a kind of Box and a certain Lotus beyond sea Others be forked in twain yea in fiue immediatly from the root and ye shall meet with those that put vp many trunks out of the earth but branch not into boughes as namely the Elders as also with others that forke not nor are diuided at all howbeit they be ful of arms boughs as the Pitch-trees Moreouer some there be which haue their boughes disposed in good order as the Pitch-tree Firre or Deale others again be as disorderly as the Oke Apple-tree and Pyrrie As for the Fir verily where it is diuided into boughs they grow directly vpright vnto heauen and spread not in breadth about the sides But a strange and wondrous thing it is of this tree that if it be headed or the tops only of those arms cut off the whole dieth thereupon but if they be lopped off close to the body it continueth still aliue Nay in case it be cut vnder the place where the branches put forth the stock or stump that is left will take no harme by it but remaine and liue crop the head onely thereof and the whole tree dieth To proceed some trees spread into arms immediatly from the root as the Elme others branch only toward the top as the Pine and the Greek Bean which at Rome for the pleasant tast of the fruit resembling cherries very much although it be of a wild nature they call Lotus This tree is much planted about faire houses in the court yards especially because the boughs spread so large for albeit the stock or body it selfe be but very short and small yet it brancheth so as that it yeeldeth much shade yea and often times the boughes reach to the neighbor housen But there is not a tree againe that maintaineth this shade a lesse while for when Winter is once come the leaues shed and then it admitteth the warm Sun for it Moreouer there is not another tree that beareth a fairer barke nor more pleasant to the eie nor that carieth either longer boughes and more in number than it or stronger a man that seeth them would say they were so many trees by themselues As touching the vse and commodities of this tree the barke serueth to colour skins and
320. g. bees after they haue stung be no better than drones ibid. k. drone bees are biggest 315. a. they take vp least lodgings ibid. Of bees worke three foundations 313. b. whom they will sting 320. k. bees are often sicke 320. m. bees sorrow for their dead king 321. a. bees performe a solemnitie of exercise ibid. e. they liue not aboue seuen yeares ibid. how they ere repaired 322. g. bees will not touch a dead carkasse ibid. i. bees onely make their owne meat 328. i Beetles haue no sting 326. k. they are remedies for children ibid. they are delighted in roses 355. e Bellerophon his letters in tables 394. l of the Belly 342. k Bellies that be fattest cause grossenesse of capacitie ibid. l Belus inuentor of Astronomie 136 h Ben or Behen 374. f. a nut onely for sweet ointments ib. Benacus a lake in Italy 248. g Beotia riuer 51. f Berenice haire a starre 34. l Berries different 447. f Besbicus Island sometimes ioined to Bithinia 40. i B I Bills giuen to birds in stead of mouthes and their vse 336. l. m. Biaeon a kinde of wine medicinable 416. i Bieuers gueld themselues 212. m. where they breed their nature 213 a Birch tree described and how it is emploied 468. i Bird-gaâ—…ders 281. b Birdâ—…me how it was made 497. a Birds singing when they ordinarily doe breed 287. c. birds very few haue gawles in the liuers 341. f. birds hatched with their taâ—…les forward 272. e. birds hauing neither veâ—…es nor arâ—…es 345. c. birds with hooked talons prey all 278. k. birds how they translate their egges from place to place hauing no hooked tallons 289. a. birds differ 〈◊〉 from another in flight and gate 291. f. birds how they drinke 295. c. birds of diuers feedings ibid. 〈◊〉 birds singing alter their notes 285. e. new birds 296. k. birds there be none without feet 351. d. birds language how to be vnderstood 296. l. birds of prey least fruitfull 297. f. birds that lay most ibid. birds how they engender 298. g. birds how they differ in laying and couving ibid. i. 300. k. birds small be fruitfull 301. d. blackbirds counterfeiting mans speech 293. d. blackebirds are gone for a time 284. g. blackebirds change both hew and tune ibid. Births strange for number for defects and superfluitie 164. h. i. Births of children vncertaine 158. k Birth at seuen months liue also at the eleuenth ib. A child legitimat borne within thirteene months after the supposed father deceased 159. a Bisontus or Boeufos of Germanie 199. f Bissextile yeare 585. b Bitches differ in their litters 303. c. bitches engender with Tigres 219. e. with wolues ib. how long they goe with young 220. h. their whelpes blind ibid. h. i Bithyae Women witches who haue a double sight in their eie 155. a Biting if a mad dog cured by Eglantine 220. k Bitumen comparable to the water of Styx 47. d Bitumen a strange slime 163. e B L Bladder where it is placed 343. f. bladder nut tree 467. c. bladder onely there found where is lungs and bloud 343. f. of the bladder in man and beast 343. f. bladder being wounded cannot be cured 344. g Blasted corne 574. i Blasts how they be occasioned 574. l m. blasts suddaine their names and nature 24. k Blattae flies are nourished in darkenesse 326. m Blazing starres See comets Volusius Saturnius how hee vsed to bleed 346. h Blossoming time of trees how long it lasteth 473. b Bloud apples 438. l. bloud ained See Raine bloud fat and grosse breedeth anger and choller 345. f. of bloud a discourse ibid. bloud of males blacker than of females ib. bloud containeth a great portion and treasure of life 346. g. it is without sence and feeling ibid. bloud that is thinnest causeth strength in creatures ibid. bloud that is thinnest maketh men wise ibid where it is but little maketh men fearefull ib. bloud of bulls soonest congealeth ib. it is poison to be drunke ibid. bloud of Asses most fattie and grosse ib. bloud of man thinnest and best ibid. bloud is but little in those that be fat ib. bloud cast vp by many at the mouth ib. h. bloud quicliest encreaseth of all parts of the body ib. bloud changeth with anger and furie ibid. in Blouming time raine hurtfull to corne 574. k B O Boae mightie great serpents 199. e. why so called ib. Bodies of men and women different beside the distinct parts of sex 165. e Boats of one entire piece of wood 490. g Boetica so called of Boetis 51. c Boeufes of India 224. k. bred by king Pyrrhus ibid. l. their manner of engendring and breeding ibid. of feeding 224. a. when they are to bee drawne and yoked ibid. b. sufficient for sacrifice ibid. e. knowne to speake ibid. Bolides flaming launces in the skie 17. b Bombyceae reeds or canes 484. g Bombycina garments of silke 322. m Bombyly the greater kinde of Bombyces 322. l Bombyx a flie breeding in Assyria ibid their hard neasts ibid. how they engender ibid. of Bones 345. a Bonasus what manner of beast and his properties 200. h Bondwoman brought forth a serpent 157. f Bones of Asses legs sound shrill 345 a. bones in some men without marrow 165. f. bones sometime found in the hearts of beasts 340. i Bore his owne Physitian 210. m. bore serued whole vnto the bourd 230. l Bore as wind 23. a Borystenes riuer 154. i Bosphori the streights Thracius and Cimmerius 117. f. why so called 115. a. Bosphori sometime land 40. l Botanismos what it is 577. a Boulters and Raungers 567. c Box tree wood commended in the root most 467. c. box tree serueth for arbours ibid. of box tree three kindes ibid. c. where it delighteth to grow ibid. d. the nature of the floure and wood ibid. box tree beareth varietie of fruits 476. g B R Brake see Ferne. Braine of a Date tree 386. m Brambles of three sorts 485. e. with a blacke berry with a rose and a red berry ibid. f. the bramble Idaea which is Raspis ibid. Brance what corne 559. d people Branded with hot yrons 116. h Brasse where first found 80. m. brasse-founders the first 188. k. brasse forges and furnaces who deuised ibid. k. Brawne of wilde bores in great request 230. l Braines the coldest part of mans body 332. m. they are without bloud or veines ibid. by seething they waxe hard 333. a. without flesh bloud filth or ordure ibid. braines the fort and castle of the sences ibid. braines and eies die first 340. g. of braines and the braine-pan 332. l. m. Bread of sundry sorts according to the meat eaten therewith 566. l. bread Parthicke or water-bread 567. a Breadth of the earth 48. i Breath of Lions stinketh 255. a. breath of beares pestilen 〈◊〉 and deadly ibid. breath of men by what meanes it is insected ibid. b. breath of man shall returne into the aire ibid. it is corrupted by much drinking of wine ib. breath of Elephants
winter Sauory to Cunila i. garden Sauory which among vs hath another name in Latin to wit Satureia much vsed in sauces and seasoning of our meats This Sauory is commonly sown in the month of February and hath no smal resemblance of Origan insomuch as they are neuer both vsed at once in sauce or sallads their vertues operations be so like Andy et the Egyptian Origanum is preferred before the said Sauory To come now to Lepidium i. Dittander or Pepperwort it was somtime a stranger also with vs here in Italy It is vsually sown after mid-February when the Western wind Fauonius hath plaied his part afterwards when it hath put forth branches it is cut downe close to the ground and then it is laid bare and sarcled the superfluous roots cut away so in the end cherished with muck Thus must it be serued the two first yeres For afterwards they vse the same in branches at all times if the cruell and bitter winter kill them not for surely this herb is most impatient of cold It groweth a good cubit in heigth bearing leaues like to Lawrel the same soft and tender But neuer is it vsed in meat without milke Now for Gith or Nigella Romana as it is an herb that groweth for the pastrie to fit the Bakers hand so Annise and Dil are as appropriat to the kitchen for Cooks as the Apothecaries shop for the Physician Sacopenium likewise is an herb growing verily in gardens but is vsed in Physicke onely Certain herbs there be that accompany others for good fellowship and grow with them as namely Poppy for commonly sowne it is with Coleworts Purcellane Rocket and Lectuce Of garden Poppies there be three kinds first the white wherof the seeds in old time being made into Biskets or Comfits with hony were serued vp as a banketting dish The rustical peisants of the countrey were wont to guild or glaze as it were the vppermost crust of their loaues of bread with yolks of egs and then to bestrew it with Poppy seed which would cleaue fast to it hauing first vnderlaied the bottome crust with Ammi or Annise seed and Gith then they put them into the ouen beeing thus seasoned which gaue a commendable taste to their bread when it was baked There is a second kinde of Poppie called Blacke out of the heads or bolls wherof a white juice or liquor issueth by way of incision like milk and many receiue reserue it carefully The third kind which the Greekes name Rhoeas our countreymen in Latin call the wandring or wild Poppie It commeth vp verily of the owne accord but in corne fields among Barly especially like vnto Rocket a cubite high with a red floure that soon wil shed and fall off whereupon it tooke that name of Rhoeas in Greeke Touching other kinds of Poppie growing of themselues I purpose to speake in the treatise of physicke and medicinable hearbs Mean while this cannot be forgotten that Poppies haue alwaies time out of mind been highly regarded and honoured among the Romanes witnesse Tarquine the Proud the last king of Rome who when his sonnes Embassadors were come to him for to vnderstand his aduise how to compasse the seignorie ouer the Gabians drew them into his garden and there by circumstance of topping the heads of the highest Poppies there growing without any answere parole dispatched them away sufficiently furnished by this demonstration with a double design euen to fetch off the greatest mens heads of the citie the readiest meanes to effect his purpose Againe there is another sort of hearbs that loue for companie to be set or sowne together about the Aequinox in Autumne namely Coriander Dill Orach Mallowes Garden dockes or Patience Cheruill which the Greeks call Paederos and Senuie which is of a most biting and stinging tast of a fierie effect but nathelesse very good and wholsom for mans bodie this hearb will come of it selfe without the hand of man howbeit proue it will the better if the plant be remoued and set elswhere And yet sow a ground once withall you shall hardly rid the place of it cleane for the seed no sooner sheddeth vpon the ground but a man shall see it greene aboue ground It serues also to make a prety dish of meat to be eaten being boiled or stewed between two little dishes in some conuenient liquor in such sort as a man shal not feele it to bite at the tongues end nor complaine of any eagernesse that it hath The leaues besides vse to be sodden like as other pot-hearbes Now there be of this Senuie three kinds the first beareth small and slender leaues the second is leaued like Rapes or Turneps the third resembleth Rocket The best Mustard seed commeth out of Aegypt The Athenians were wont to call it Napy some Thlaspi and others Saurion To conclude as touching the running wild Thyme and Sisymbrium i. Horse-mint or Water-mint most hils are replenished and tapissed as it were therewith and especially in Thracia where a man shall see a mighty quantity of wild Thyme branches which the mountain waters or land flouds carrie away and bring it downe with their streame to riuers sides and then folke plant them Semblably at Sicyon there grows great store conueighed thither from the mountaines neere adjoining and lastly at Athens brought thither out of the hill Hymettus In like manner also the foresaid water-mint commeth from the hils with a sudden dash of rain and is replanted accordingly It groweth rankest and prospereth best in the brinks and sides of pits or wells also about fish-ponds and standing pooles CHAP. IX ¶ Of Finkle or Fennell and Hempe IT remaineth now among garden hearbes to speake of those that be of the Ferule kind and namely of Fenell in particular a hearb wherin Snakes and such serpents take exceeding great delight as heretofore I haue declared and which being dried is singular good to commend many meats out of the kitchin into the hall There is a plant resembleth it much named Thapsia wherof because I haue alreadie written among other forraine herbes I will proceed forward to Hemp which is so profitable and good for to make cordage This plant must be sowed of seed after the western wind Fauonius bloweth in Februarie The thicker that it groweth the slenderer and finer it is When the seed therof is ripe namely after the Aequinox in Autumn folk vse to rub it out and then drie it either in the Sunne the wind or smoke But the stalke or stem of the Hemp it selfe they pluck out of the ground after Vintage and it is the husbandmans night work by candle lightto pill and cleanse it The best Hempe commeth from Alabanda especially for to make nets and toile where bee three kinds thereof That part of the Hempe which is next to the rind or pilling as also to the inner part within is worst the principal of it lieth in the middest and called it is Mesa Next to the Alabandian
mouth the gums the Tonsils or Amygdales for gargarismes for the stomack the matrice the infirmities and accidents of the tuil or fundament and the head-ach Taken alone it is singular good for the ague with vineger for to procure sleep to restrain the heauing of the stomack and the offers to vomit The ashes of Roses burnt serue to trim the haires of the eiebrowes Roses dried and reduced into powder represse the sweat betweene the legs if it be strewed vpon the place Dried Rose leaues do represse and stay the flux of humors into the eies The floure which is the yellow in the mids procureth sleepe The same taken inwardly with vineger water staieth the immoderat flux of women and the whites especially also it represseth the reaching and spitting of bloud The pain of the stomack it appeaseth being taken in three cyaths of wine The seed or fruit of the Rose which is of a Saffron colour is best so it be not aboue a yeare old and the same dried in the shade As for the black it is nought and good for nothing To rub the teeth with this seed easeth the toothach the same prouoketh vrine Being applied to the stomack it is comfortable so it helpes S. Anthonies fire if it hath not run too long If it be drawn vp by the nosthrils it purgeth and clenseth the head As for the heads or knobs if they be taken in drinke they knit and bind the belly and withall do stay the flux of bloud vpward The whites or nails of the Rose leafe be singular for waterish eies so they be applied dry with bread crums the leaues verily if they be brought only into a liniment and outwardly applied are reputed soueraigne for the queasinesse and pain of the stomack for the gnawings and other accidents which the belly and guts be subiect vnto also for the Midriffe and other precordiall parts Moreouer they are good to be eaten if they be condite and preserued in manner of garden Dock or Patience But in keeping of Rose leaues an eie would be had to them for fear least they grow to a mouldinesse that quickly will settle vp them Drie Rose leaues are of good vse in Physick yea the very Rose cake after the iuice moisture is pressed out of the leaues serueth for some purpose For of them be made bags and quilts yea and drie pouders for to represse sweat and to palliat the strong smel therof with this charge and caueat that presently after that one is come out of the stouve or baine the pouder be suffered to dry vpon the body and then afterward washed off with cold water The wild Rose leaues reduced into a liniment with Beares grease doth wonderfully make haire to grow again where through some disease it is fallen away Lilly roots through their singular vertues and operations many waies haue ennobled their own floures for first and formost if they be taken in wine they be countrepoysons against the sting of serpents and the venom of Mushroms Sodden in wine and applied in maner of a cataplasme and so bound to the feet they mollifie and resolue the cornes but this must not be vndone and remoued in three daies Boiled with grease or oile they cause haire to come againe euen in places that were burnt If Lilly roots be drunk in honied wine they do euacuat downeward at the siege with other ordure the cluttered bruised and hurtfull bloud within the body Ouer and besides in this maner they help the spleen them that are bursten and bruised withall bring down womens terms orderly But if they be sodden in wine and so laid to in forme of a cataplasm they knit and heale sinues that were cut asunder They rectifie running tettars and lepries they scoure away dandruf and pilling skales in the face they make the skin smooth and take away riuels and wrinkles The leaues of Lillies boiled in vinegre are good to be layed to green wounds reduced into a cataplasme with Hony Henbane and wheat meale incorporate and vnited all together and so applied to the cods they represse the flux of humors falling to those parts The seed made into a liniment allayeth the heat of S. Anthonies fire And in the same sort the floures and leaues applied doe heale old sores As touching the iuice which is pressed forth of the floures of some it is called Mel i. hony of others Syrium singular good for to soften and mollifie the matrice for to procure sweat and to ripen impostumes tending to suppuration Now for Daffodils there be two kinds of them admitted by the Physitians for to be vsed in medicine the one with a purple floure the other of a grasse green This later Daffodil is aduerse and hurtfull to the stomack and therfore causeth it to ouerturn and vomit it setteth the belly also into a flux contrary it is to the sinues and stuffeth the head for which narcoticke qualitie of stupifying benumming the sences it took the name in Greek Narcissus of Narce which betokeneth nummednesse or dulnesse of sence and not of the yong boy Narcissus as the Poets do feign and fable The roots as wel of the one as the other Daffodil haue a pleasant tast as it were of honied wine the same is good for burns applied to the place with a little honey and so it helpeth dislocations and healeth wounds Moreouer a cataplasme made of it honey and oatmeale doth resolue and ripen biles and great apostemations and in that sort it drawes forth spils shiuers arrow heads and thorns and whatsoeuer stick within the body Being stamped and incorporat with barley groats and oile it cureth them that be bruised and smitten with a stone Mingled with meale it cleanseth wounds it scoureth the skin from all spots that disfigure it vea and taketh away the black morphew Of this floure is made the oile Narcissinum good to supple and soften all hard tumours good also to reuiue and heat againe whatsoeuer is stark and benummed with extreme cold And aboue all this floure is excellent for the ears howbeit it maketh the head to ake Of Violets there be some wild and of the field others domesticall and growing in our gardens The purple violets are refrigeratiue and do coole And therefore a good liniment is made of them to be applied vnto an hot stomack against burning inflammations A frontall likewise may be made of them to be laid vnto the forehead But a peculiar vertue they haue besides to stay the running and waterie eies as also to help the procidence or falling downe both of tuill and matrice and to reduce them again into their places Moreouer being applied to swellings and impostumations they resolue the same without any head or suppuration Guirlands being made of violets and set vpon the head resist the heauinesse of the head and withstand the ouerturning of the brains vpon ouer-liberall drinking yea the very smel thereof will discusse such fumes and vapors
or their cods yea and when their bladder is pained moreouer if it be applied as a cataplasme with wine it assuageth all tumors and bringeth downe swellings it staieth also the impetuous and violent flux of any humours to a place readie to breed an impostumation But if the same be applied with vinegre it taketh away werts and hard callosities It is good for the Sciatica and other gouts for dislocations and lims out of joint being beaten to pouder and bestrewed vpon a quilt of wooll moistned and bathed with oile and so laid to the place in manner of a fomentation A potion also thereof is vsually giuen in case of the gout to wit the weight of 3 Oboles in as many cyaths of vinegre and honey Also when the stomacke riseth against meat and refuseth it a drage or pouder of it with salt brings the appetite againe The day Lillie Hemerocalles hath leaues of a pale and wannish green colour otherwise soft and gentle the root is bulbous or Onion like and odoriferous which if it bee laid to the bellie in manner of a cataplasme doth euacuat waterie humors yea and thick bloud that lieth cluttered within the bodie ready to do a mischiefe The leaues make an excellent liniment to anoint the eies and the parts about it as a defensatiue against the rheum falling thither with violence as also to be applied vnto the paps and breasts of women which ake and are pained presently after child-birth Helenium an hearbe which sprang first from the teares of lady Helena as I haue already shewed is thought to haue a special vertue to preserue beauty and to maintain the skin fair pure and delicat as well in the face of women as in other parts of their body Moreouer a deepe opinion there is of this hearb that whosoeuer vse it shall proue amiable and gracious they shall I say win loue and fauour whersoeuer they come Also there is attributed and prescribed to this herb if it be taken in wine a mightie operation to procure mirth and make the heart mery and it is thought to be as effectuall that way as was that noble drinke Nepenthes so highly commended in Homer so called for that it puts away al heauinesse sorrow and melancholy And in faith the juice of Helenium is passing sweet and pleasant the root of Helenium taken in water vpon an emptie stomacke when a man is fasting is very good for them that are streight winded and cannot take their breath but vpright Now is the root white within and sweet also as is the hearb The same is giuen to drinke in wine against the sting of serpents To conclude being beaten into pouder it is said for to kill Mice As touching Abrotonum I find that there be two kinds of it The one of the plaines which I take to be the male the other of the mountaines which I would haue to goe for the female Neither of them both there is but it is as bitter as Wormwood The best is that which growes in Sicilie next to which that of Galatia is most esteemed The leaues are much vsed but the seed much more for to heat and chaufe any part of the bodie And therfore it is good and comfortable for the sinewes it cureth the cough it procureth them libertie of breath who cannot fetch their wind lying or leaning with their heads it helpeth the crampe it consolidateth ruptures it easeth the paine of the loines and maketh free passage for vrine The right manner of the decoction as well of the one as the other is to seeth them in bunches or bundles like handfulls vntill a third part of the water be consumed and foure cyaths is an ordinarie draught of this decoction The seed also being beaten into pouder is giuen to the weight of a dram in water for a drink And indeed so taken it comforteth the matrice and the natural parts of women A poultesse made of it and Barley meale applied vnto dull and broad swellings which gather not quickely to an head doth ripen them apace and bring them to suppuration Also beeing reduced into a liniment with a quince rosted or baked it cureth the inflammation of the eyes if they be annointed therwith it hath a vertue to driue a way serpents in case one be stung with them alreadie it expelleth the poison taken inwardly in drinke or laid too outwardly in forme of an ointment draweth it forth But most effectually is the power thereof seen in those poisoned and venomous stings which cause the bodie to shake chill and quake for cold as namely those of scorpions and the spiders called phalangia Moreouer good it is also for other poisons if it be taken in drinke and so it helpeth those that be surprised with any extreme cold how soeuer This propertie likewise it hath to draw forth of the bodie all spills or any thing else that sticketh within the same It driueth out of the body the worms engendred in the guts Finally it is said that if a branch therof be laid vnder the pillow where folk lieth in bed it wil put them in mind of wantonnesse and prouoke them to lust and against all charmes enchantments and witchcrafts which cool the heat of the flesh and disable or bind any person from the act of generation it is the most powerfull hearb of all others CHAP. XXII ¶ The medicinable vertues of Leucanthemum and Sampsuchum i. Marjerom LEucanthemum mingled with 2 parts of vinegre and so giuen to drinke is good for those that be short winded As for Sampsuchum or Amacacum that of Cyprus is most commended and the sweetest of all other this hearb brought into a liniment and applied with vinegre and salt is good against the venom of Scorpions Moreouer if it be put vp into the naturall parts of a woman in forme of a pessarie it helpeth much to bring downe their monethly courses for if it be taken in drinke it is not so effectuall Appled as a liniment after it is incorporat with barley groats it restraineth the flux of humors to the eyes The juice therof when it is sodden discusseth and dissolueth the ventosities that moue pangs and wrings in the belly a good medicine it is to prouoke vrine and by consequence for those that be in a dropsie Marjoram dried mooueth sneesing Thereof is made an artificiall oile called Sampsuchinum or Amaracinum singular for to heat the sinewes and to mollifie their stiffenesse and hardnesse as also by the heat thereof to comfort the matrice The leaues applied with hony serue very well to reduce the black and blew marks occasioned by stripes or bruises to their natural and liuely colour and brought into a cerot with wax it is good for dislocations of joynts CHAP. XXIII ¶ The vertues and properties of Anemone or Windfloure requisit in Physicke WHe haue discoursed of Anemone and those kinds thereof which go to the making of chaplets and guirlands it remaineth now therefore to speake of
the Kings euill with oile and Fenigreeke it helpeth the tumors of the midriffe and precordiall parts or in case the feuer be busie with the Patient then it must bee vsed with honey or old grease But if those swellings tend to maturation then wheat meale is commonly more lenitiue and assuageth pain better The same being reduced into a liniment with the juice of Henbane is good for the nerues but with honey and vinegre it taketh away the red pimples and spots appearing in the skin called Lentils Touching * Zea whereof is made the ordinary frumenty as I haue said the meale of it is counted better in operation than the other of barley but that of the three-moneth corn is more moist and emollatiue Tempered with red wine and so applied warm it is commended for the pricke of Scorpions also for them that reach and spit vp bloud and all accidents happening to the throat and windpipes but with goats suet or butter it is good for the cough The floure or meale of Fenigreek is the softest of al other it healeth running vlcers it skoureth dandruffe or skales in any part of the body it appeaseth and assuageth the pains of the stomack it cureth the maladies incident to the feet and paps if it be sodden with sal-nitre and wine and so applied accordingly The meale of Yurain or Darnell doth clense old vlcers and gangrenes more than any other Tempered with raddish salt and vineger it cureth ring-worms tettars shingles and such like with Sulphur-vis or quick brimstone it scoureth away the leprosie Applied in a frontall to the forehead with Goose-grease it helpeth the head-ache Boiled in wine with Pigeons dung and Line-seed it digesteth and bringeth to maturation the swelling kernels named the Kings-euil and other biles which be long ere they gather to an head and do ripen Of the sundry sorts of Barly groats or grosse meale called Polenta I haue said enough in my Treatise of corn which did require also the discourse of such things as be made of corn It differeth from Barly meale in that it is torrified or parched in which regard it doth the stomack good It bindeth and staieth the flux of the belly it represseth also and smiteth back the flushing of humors to the breeding of red and angry tumors It serueth for a liniment to the eies and easeth head-ach if it be applied with Mints or some other cooling herb In like manner it cureth kibed heels and the wounds occasioned by serpents also it healeth burnes and scalds if it be laid too with wine and in that sort it keepeth them from blistering If meale be driuen through a sercer or boulter and so reduced to floure and afterwards made with dough or paste it is a great drawer of noi som humors to the outward parts which is the cause that being applied to such places which look dead mortified by reason of the bloud spread vnder the skin it draweth out the same so that the very linnen bands wherwith they be lapped rolled become bloudy again But if wine cuit be ioined therewith the operation is more effectuall Moreouer the said floure is good to be laid vnto the callosities and corns of the feet For the fine floure of meale being sodden with old oile and pitch and applied so hot as the patient may abide it doth wonderfully cure the swelling piles and all other griefs about the fundament As touching the thick gruell or paps made with floure it nourisheth much and causeth the body to feed wel the past made of meale wherewith they vse to glew Papyr is ordinarily giuen warm to good effect for the reaching and spitting of bloud As for the frumenty called Alica it is a meere Roman inuention and not long ago first deuised for otherwise the Greeks if they had known of it would neuer haue written as they did in the commendation of husked Barly named Ptisana rather than of it And I thinke verily that the vse thereof was not taken vp in the daies of Pompey the great and therefore the followers and disciples of Asclepiades haue left little or nothing therof in writing That it is a soueraign and most wholsom thing no man verily maketh doubt or question whether it be washed and so giuen in honied water or whether it be sodden and so vsed in a thin supping or boiled higher to the consistence of a thick gruel or pottage The same for to stay the belly and stop a lask is torrified and then afterwards sodden with virgin-wax as before I haue shewed But a peculiar vertue it hath by it selfe to restore those that are consumed and fallen away through a long languishing sicknesse and then it must be ordered thus Take three cyaths of the said Frumentie seeth it in a sextar of faire water ouer a soft fire gently vntill by little and little all the water be consumed now after this imbibition when that the Frumenty hath thus drunk vp all the water there must be added thereto a sextar of Ewes milk or Goats milk and in the end a little hony This the patient is to take for certain daies together And in truth such a broth or supping is this as there is not in the world a more soueraigne restoratiue for all colliquations and consumptions whatsoeuer nor that will sooner set vpon their feet again those who be far gone and spent that way To come now to Millet it is a grain which being torrified aforehand for the purpose stoppeth the lask and dispatcheth all collick pains and torments of the belly Being fried and laied too hot in a bag there is not a better thing for the griefe of thesinews or to alay any other pain for most soft it is and lightest of all other and nothing in the world retaineth heat so well No maruell then if Millet be vsed ordinarily in those cases where heat is to do good To conclude the meale or pouder thereof incorporat with tar is a singular plaister to be laid vpon sores occasioned by the sting of Serpents or the prick of the vermine named Multipeda As for the Panick Diocles the Physitian called it Mel-frugum The same operations and effects it hath that Millet Being taken in wine it is good for the dysentery or bloudy flix to such tumors as need to euaporat and be resolued it is singular good for to be applied hot by way of fomentation Sodden in Goats milk and giuen twice a day to drink it bindeth the belly staieth flux and in that manner it assuageth the torments and wrings in the collicke Sesama stamped or beaten into pouder and so taken in wine restraineth immoderat vomits Reduced into a liniment and so applied it doth mitigat the inflammation of the ears cureth any burne or scalt place of the body The same effects it hath when it is green growethin the field Ouer and besides a cataplasme made thereof being boiled in wine is good for sore eyes To be eaten it is
giue wine in drinke Vpon which treatise or book of his an infinit number there were who haue written their Commentaries As for me according to that grauity which beseemeth Romanes and to shew affection and loue to all liberall Sciences I will not discourse thereof as a Physician but with great care and diligence write so distinctly as a deputed judge or arbiter delegat to determin of mans health and the preseruation thereof To dispute and reason of euery seuerall kind were a endles peece of work and so intricat as I wot not how a man should rid himselfe out of it if he were once entred so repugnant and contrarie are the Physicians one to another in that argument To begin first with the wine of Surrentum our ancients haue held it simply for the best aboue all others But our later and more moderne writers haue made greater account of the Albane and Falerne wines In summe euery one hath iudged of the goodnesse of wine according to his owne conceit and fantasie a most vnequall course of proceeding without all reason and congruitie to pronounce definitiuely vnto al others that for best that pleased and contented his owne tast most And yet set the case and say they were all agreed and of one opinion as touching the most excellent wines How is it possible that the whole world should enioy the benefit thereof since that great lords and princes themselues haue much adoe to meet with pure and perfect wines without one sophistication or other In good faith the world is grown to this abuse that wines be bought and sold now at an higher or lower price acording to the name and bruit that goeth onely of the cellars from whence they come whereas in truth the wines were marred and corrupted at the first in the very presse or vatt presently after the vintage and grape-gathering And therefore it is that now adaies a wonderfull thing to be spoken the smallest and basest wines are of all others least sophisticate and most harmelesse Well how soeuer it be and admit the noblest kinds of wine are most subject to those bruings and sophistication which make indeed the ods that is yet those wines beforenamed to wit the Falern Albane and Surrentine do still import and carrie away the victory and prise from all the rest by the generall voice constant sentence of al writers As touching the Falerne wine it is not wholesome for the body either very new or ouer old a middle age is best and that begins when it is fifteen yeres old and not before This wine is not hurtfull to a cold stomacke but I cannot say of a hot stomack If it be taken alone and pure of it selfe in a morning and drunke fasting it doth much good to them who haue bin troubled with a long cough or vexed with a quartan ague And verily there is not a wine that stirreth the bloud and filleth the veines so much as this It staieth the laske nourisheth the body How beit generally receiued and beleeued it is That this wine dimmeth the eye sight and doth no good to the bladder and neruous parts And indeed the Albane wines agree better with the sinews And yet the sweet wines that come from the vineyards of the same tract are not so whole some to the stomack but the harsh and hard austere wines of this kind be in that regard better than the Falerne wines aboue said And in one word these Albane wines help digestion but little and in some sort stuffe and fil the stomacke But the Surrentine wines charge not the stomacke any jot nor yet fume vp in the head nay they restrain and represse the rheumaticke fluxions both of stomacke and guts As for the wines of Caecubum they bee now past date and none of them are made any more But those of Setinum that remaine still and be in some request doe mightily aid concoction and cause the meat for to digest In a word Surrentine wines haue most strength the Albane drink harder and the Falerne be more mild and nothing so piercing as the rest The Statane wines come not far behinde these aboue named As for the Signine wine out of all question it is simply the best to bind the body stop a vehement flux thus much for wines and their properties in particular It remaineth now to speake of their vertues in generall First and foremost wine maintaineth and fortifieth the strength of man engendreth good bloud and causeth a fresh and liuely colour And herein verily consisteth the principall difference betweene our temperat climat within the heart as it were and middle part of the world from those intemperat Zones on either hand And looke how much the distemperature of the two Poles worketh in the inhabitants of those parts and hardneth them to endure and support all kind of trauell so much doth this sweet and pleasant liquor of the grape enable vs to abide and suffer the like labour And because we are entred into this theame note thus much moreoner That the drinking of milke nourisheth the bones of beere and ale and such like made with corne feedeth the sinewes and neruous parts but of water maintaineth the flesh and brawnie muscles onely Which is the cause that such nations as drinke either milke ale beere c. or sheere water are nothing so ruddie of colour nor so strong and firme to vndergoe painefull trauell as those whose ordinarie familiar drink is wine And in truth as the moderat vse of wine comforteth the sinews helpeth the eyesight so the ouer liberal taking thereof offendeth the one and enfeeb leth the other Wine recreateth refresheth the stomack wine stirreth vp the appetite to meat wine allaieth sorrow care and heauinesse wine prouoketh vrin and chaseth away all chilling cold out of the body Finally wine induceth sleep and quiet repose Moreouer this good property hath wine To stay the stomack represse vom its taken into the body and without-forth applied with wooll embrued and bathed therein to dissipat and resolue all swelling apostumes Asclepiades was so addicted to the praise of wine that he bashed not to make comparisons pronounce that the power and puissance of the gods was hardly able to match and counteruaile the might and force of wine Moreouer this is to be noted that old wine will beare a greater proportion of water than new and prouoketh vrine more although it withstand and allay thirst lesse Sweet wines do not so much inebriate and ouerturne the brain as others but they flote a loft in the stomacke whereas austere and hard wines be lighter of digestion and sooner concocted The lightest and smallest wine is that which soonest commeth to his age and sheweth it most quickely The wines which by age and long keeping lay downe their verdure and become sweet are lesse hurtful to the sinews than others The grosse fattie and blacke wines are not so good for the stomack howbeit they be most nutritive for
it to men rather than to women to aged persons sooner than to young folke and yet to a lustie young man before a child in Winteroftner than in Summer and to conclude to such as bee accustomed thereto more than to those who haue not drunke thereof beforetime A measure also and mean would be kept in the allowance of wine according to the strength thereof and the proportion of water mixed therewith and the common opinion importeth thus much That to one cyath of wine it is sufficient to put two cyaths of water ordinarily But in case the stomack be weak feeble so as the meat digest not nor passeth away downeward meer wine is to be giuen to the patient or at leastwise in greater proportion to the water But to retuin again to those artificial and made wines I haue heretofore shewed many sorts therof the making of them is at this day giuen ouer as I suppose and their vse needlesse and superfluous considering that now we giue counsel prescribe to vse the very simples themselues in their owne nature which go to their composition Certes beforetime the Physicians vpon a vain ostentation because they would seem to haue their apothecary shops furnished with such variety exceeded all measure in this behalfe insomuch as they were prouided of a wine made for sooth of Nauewes bearing the world in hand that it was singular good for militarie men if they found themselues ouerwearied either with the practise or the bearing of arms or in riding their hories yea and to say nothing of all the rest they had the wine also of Iuniper but is there any man so foolish as to think and maintain That Wormwood wine should be more profitable to our bodies than Wormewood the hearb it selfe What should I stand vpon the wine of dates among others of this range considering that it causeth head-ach and is good for nothing els but to ease the costiuenesse of the body for such as reach vp bloud As for that which we called Bion I canot see or say that it is an artificiall wine for surely al the art and cunning that goeth to the making of it lieth in this only That it is made and huddled vp in hast yet profitable it is for a weake stomack readie to ouerturn or that is not able to concoct and digest the meat within it wholesom for women with child comfortable to those who be feeble and faint good for the palsie the shaking of the lims the swimming and giddines of the head the wrings and torments of the belly and the gout Sciatica moreouer it hath the name for to haue a singular vertue to helpe in time of plague and to stand them in great stead who are pilgrimes and trauellers into far and straunge countries Thus much may suffice for Wines Moreouer say that wine be turned corrupted and changed from the own nature yet it leaueth not to retain certaine vertues and properties requisit in Physicke for vinegre also is medicinable Exceeding refrigeratiue it is cooleth mightily howbeit no lesse vertue and force it hath to discusse and resolue an euident proofe wherof we may see in this That if it be poured on the ground it will some and cast a froth Concerning the manifold operations that it hath in composition with other things I haue written oftentimes alreadie wil write stil as occasion shall serue But vinegre euen taken alone by it selfe fetcheth the stomack appetite again to meat and staieth the yex or hocquet and if it be smelled vnto it stinteth immoderat sneesing Being held in the mouth it preserues folk from fainting with extreme heat while they are in the bain or hot house Of it and water together there is made Oxycrat which is a drink more mild than vinegre alone And the same with water is comfortable to those who vpon the Suns heat haue gotten the headach or a day-feuer and be newly recouered being vsed also in the same sort with water it is counted most wholesom for the inflammation or theum of the eies A fomentation with oxycrat or water and vinegre is singular good vpon burns scaldidgs or rising of the pimples In like maner it cureth the leprosie scurfe and dandruffe running vlcers and scals bitings of dogs stinging with scorpions scolopendres and hardishrews and generaly it is good against all prickes of venomous beasts or pointed darts and any itch whatsoeuer Likewise against the biting or prick of the Cheeslip or Many-foot worme Applied hot with a spunge to the seat it is singular for the infirmities of the fundament But for this purpose there must be a decoction or fomentation made with three sextars of vinegre whereunto there should be put of Sulphur or Brimstone two ounces or a bunch of Hyssop and then set ouer the fire for to boile together In case of much effusion and losse of bloud which ensueth and followeth those who are cut for the stone or any thing els taken out of the body ther is nothing better than to foment the place without-forth with the strongest vinegre that may be had in a spunge and then to take inwardly in drinke 2 cyaths of the same for surely it cutteth and dissolueth the cluttered bloud lying within-forth Vinegre taken inwardly applied outwardly cureth the filthy tettars called Lichenes Being ministred by way of clyster it knitteth the belly and staieth al rheumatick fluxes that haue taken a course by the guts and entrails And the same helpeth as well the fall and slipping downe of the Longeon or fundament as the laxitie and hanging forth of the Matrice An old cough it restraineth the rheumes also and catarrhes it represseth which light on the throat and wind pipe it openeth the passages in them who labor for breath canot take their wind but sitting vpright it confirmeth also the teeth looâ—…e in the head mary it hurteth the blad der and doth harme in all infirmities of the sinewes The Physicians were ignorant heretofore of the soueraign vertue that vinegre had against the sting of the serpent called Aspis vntil by a meere chaunce they came to the knowledge hereof And thus stood the case It fortuned that a certaine fellow carying about him a bottle of vinegre trode vpon the said adder or serpent that turned vpon him againe and stung him howbeit he felt no harme at all so long as he carried the vinegre but so often as he set the bottle downe out of his hands the sting put him to sensible paine By which experiment it was found and knowne that vinegre was the only remedy and so with a draught therof he had help out of hand and was cured But behold another proofe and triall thereof They that vse to suck out the poyson of venomed wounds giuen by serpents and such like vse no other collution to wash their mouths withal but only vinegre certes the force of vinegre is such that it conquereth not only the
strength of our viands meats but also many other things for the very hard rocks which otherwise it was vnpossible to cleaue before with the violence of fire soone breake and giue way when vinegre is poured aloft This singular gift moreouer it hath that no liquor in the world giueth a better tast to our meats and sauces or quickneth them more than vinegre doth for which purpose if it be ouersharp and strong there is a means to mitigat and dull the force thereof either with a tost of bread or some wine again if it be too weake and apalled the way to reuiue it againe is with Pepper or the spice Laser but nothing moderateth it better than salt And to knit vp and close this discourse of vinegre I cannot forget nor ouerpasse one rare and singular accident that befell of late M. Agrippa in his later days was much troubled and afflicted with a grieuous gout of his feet and being not able to endure the intollerable paines therof took counsell of a certaine leaud leech some bold and venterous Emperick who made great boast of his deep skill and admirable knowledge for the Emperour Augustus Caesar whose daughter he had espoused he made not acquainted with the matter who gaue him counsell to bath his legs with hot vinegre and to sit therein aboue his knees at what time as his disease tormented him most true it is indeed that he was eased of his paine by this means for he lost the very feeling of his feet Howbeit Agrippa chose rather to be paralyticke in some sort and to want both vse and sence of his legges than to abide the extremitie of his gout CHAP. II. ¶ Of vinegre Scylliticke Of Oxymel Of the double cuit wine Sapa The lees of wine dregs of vinegre and of the foresaid cuit THe vinegre of Squilla or sea-Onions called Scillinum the elder it is and longer kept the more is it esteemed This vinegre ouer and aboue the other vertues of common vinegre before rehearsed hath this property To helpe the stomacke in case the meats lie souring and corrupting therein for no sooner doth a man tast thereof but it dispatcheth and riddeth away the foresaid inconuenience moreouer it is good for them that are giuen to vomit fasting in a morning for it hardeneth the throat the mouth of the stomacke which is ouer sensible knitteth the same It causeth a sweet breath confirmeth the flesh about the gums fasteneth the teeth which are loose and maketh a bodie look with a fresh and liuely color Being gargarized it draweth away and doth euacuat those grosse humors which caused hardnesse of hearing and openeth the auditory passages of the ears and so by consequence clarifies the sight of the eies Soueraigne it is besides for those who haue the falling sicknesse and who are troubled in mind by occasion of melancholy It cureth the turning and dizzinesse of the braine the suffocation or rising of the mother It helpeth such as be sore and bruised with dry blowes such as are falne headlong from high places and thereby haue cluttered bloud gathered within their bodies as many also as haue the infirmity or weaknesse of sinews or otherwise be diseased in the kidnies howbeit offensiue it is to those that haue any vlcer either within or without Touching the syrrup Oxymel Dieuches saith That the auncients in old time prepared and tempered it in this manner They tooke of honey ten pounds of old vinegre fiue hemines of bay salt one pound of Sauerie three ounces of sea water fiue sextars These together in a kettle they did set to boile and let them haue tenne walms ouer the fire then they lifted the pan from the fire poured this liquor out of one vessell into another so kept it for their vse but Asclepiades comes after disproueth all the maner of this composition and withall condemneth the vse thereof for the physicians before his time feared not to prescribe it to be drunk euen in feuers and yet both he and all do confesse and agree that this was a good drink against the venomous serpent called Seps also for them who were poysoned with Opium i. the juice of Poppey or with the gum Ixia which commeth from the hearb Chamaeleon Moreouer they all commend it to be gargled hot for the squinancy for the paine and deafnesse of ears for the accidents and infirmities of the mouth and throat like as at this day we vse in all these cases the sharpe brine or pickle called Oxalme which if it be made of salt and new vinegre that is fresh and quick it is better in operation As for the cuit named in Latine Sapa it commeth neere to the nature of wine and in truth nothing els it is but Must or new wine boiled til one third part and no more do remain this cuit if it be made of white Must is counted the better Vse there is of it against the flies Cantharides and Buprestes against the worms breeding in Pine trees named thereupon Pityocampae against Salamanders and generally all those beasts whose sting or tooth is venomous If a woman drink thereof together with scallions or such bulbs it sendeth downe the after-burden and expelleth the dead infant out of the womb And yet Fabianus mine author saith That it is no better than a very poison if a man drink it fasting presently after he is come out of the bain A consequent and appendant to these foresaid things is the lees of wine that is to be considered according to the wine from whence it commeth and verily the lees of wine are so strong that oftentimes it ouercommeth and killeth those who go downe into the vats vessels wherin the wine is made But to know and preuent the daunger thereof this experiment is found namely to let down a candle into the said vat for so long as it will not abide light but goe out still daungerous it is for a man to enter into those vessels And yet wine lees without any washing at all goe into the composition of many medicines Take wine lees a certaine quantity and of the floure-de-lis or Ireos root a like weight concorporat them together into a liniment singular it is to annoint the small pocks and such like cutanean eruptions The same either drie or wet may be applied with very good successe to the places stinged with the venomous spiders called Phalangia to the inflammations also of the genetoirs or priuy members to the paps or any other part of the body whatsoeuer Now for the better preparing therof it ought to be sodden in wine together with barley meale and the pouder of frank incense which done to be burned and so dried And to know whether it be sufficiently sodden or no make this triall If you touch it neuer so little at your tongues end and so tast therof when it is throughly cold it will seeme to bite and burne it if it haue had sufficient boiling as it ought but
of a perfect wine without appearance of any grape at all nor so much as of Must which ordinarily is the rudiment of wine All Pomgranats as wel sweet as tart are clad with a very hard coat rough rind And verily the coat which the sour kind hath is much vsed and in great request and namely the Curriers know full well how to dresse their skins therwith and this is the cause that the Physitians name it in Latine Malicorium And they would bear vs in hand That the same doth prouoke vrine as also that the decoction therof in vineger with gal-nuts among doth confirm and keep the teeth fast which do shake and are loose in the head Women with child and giuen to longing after a strange and vnreasonable manner finde much good and contentment hereby for no sooner tast they of it but the childe doth stir and sprunt in their wombe The Pomgranat diuided into quarters or parcels and laid to steepe and infuse in raine water for three daies or thereabout yeeldeth a good and wholsome drinke for them to take actually cold who are troubled with loosenesse of the body occasioned by a flux from the stomacke and with casting and reaching vp bloud Of the tart and soure Pomgranat there is a singular composition which the Greeks call Stomatice for that it is a most soueraigne medidine for the infirmities incident to the mouth and yet it is as wholsom for the accidents of the nosthrils and ears as also for the dimnesse of the eies for the trouble some ouergrowing turning vp of the skin and flesh about the roots of the nailes for the genitoirs or priuie members for corrosiue vlcers which they cal Nomae and for the proud flesh and all excrescences in sores Against the poison or venom of the sea-hare there is an excellent composition made with Pom granats in this manner take the grains or kernels of Pomgranates being despoiled and turned out of their outward rind or skin stampe them well and presse out their iuice and liquor from them seeth the same vntil a third part be consumed together with Safron Roch-allom Myrth and the best Attick hony of each halfe a pound Others do compound and prepare a medicine after another sort in this wise they take and pun many soure Pomgranats and draw out of them a juice which they seeth in a new cauldron or pot of brasse neuer vsed before to the thicknesse of honey this they vse in all infirmities of the fundament and priuy parts for al griefs and maladies which be cured with the medicinable juice Lycium with this they clense ears that run with filthy matter restraine all violent fluxes of humors newly begun and especially taking a course to the eies and rid away the red pimples and spots that arise in any part of the body Whosoeuer carieth in his hand a branch of the Pomgranat tree shall soone chase away any serpents The pill or rind of a soure Pomgranate boiled in wine and so applied cureth kibes A Pomgranat stamped and then sodden in three Hemines of wine vntill one remain is a singular remedy for the torments of the Collick and driueth wormes out of the belly A Pomgranate torrified in an ouen within a new earthen vessell neuer occupied before well stopped and couered with a lid and so being calcined and drunk in wine staieth the flux of the belly and assuageth the wrings in the guts The first knitting of this fruit when the tree begins to floure is called by the Greeks Cytinus Of which there be obserued strange properties approued by the experience of many men for if any person man or woman vnbraced vnlaced vnpointed and vnbuttoned with girdle loose hose vngartered shooes vnbuckled and hauing not so much as a ring about any singer come and gather one of these tender bnds or knots with 2 fingers only to wit the thumb and the fourth ring-finger of the left hand and after this ceremony performed proceed forward to another namely to touch lightly with the same bud the compas of the eies round about as if the priest should sacre or hallow them and withal when this is don coueigh the same into the mouth and swallow it down whole so as a tooth touch it not there goeth an opinion That he or she for certain shal feele no impediment or infirmity of the eyes that year throughout The same knots or yong Pomgranats if they be dried and beaten to pouder are very good to keepe downe all excrescences of ranke flesh and be wholesome for the gummes and teeth moreouer the very juice drawn out of them after they be sodden do fasten the teeth in the head although they were loose and ready to fall out before The very yong Pomgranats themselues alone newly knit and making shew vpon the tree if they be stamped to the form of a liniment are singular for any corrosiue vlcers such as tend to putrifaction Likewise they be excellent good in that sort prepared and applied for the inflammation of the eies of the entrailes and in manner for all those occasions wherein the outward rinds and pils do serue And here before that I proceed any farther I canot sufficiently admire and wonder at the careful industry and diligence of our antients before time which they imploied in the consideration of Natures workes searching as they did into euery secret and left nothing behind them vnassaied and vntried in somuch as they took regard of those little pretty floures appearing vpon these knots or buds before said such I meane as break forth and spring before the Pomgranat it selfe is formed and maketh any appearance which smal blossoms as I said before are called Balaustia For euen these as little as they be our ancestors haue found by their experiments to be aduerse vnto scorpions And true it is that being taken in drinke they do restraine the extraordinary flux of womens fleurs they heale the cankers and sores in the mouth the diseases of the Tonsils or Amygdales and of the Vvula they do helpe the spitting and reaching vp of bloud they cure the feeblenesse both of belly and stomack with the fluxes thereupon insuing they are singular besides for the grieuances of the priuy members and for all running vlcers spreading in any part of the body whatsoeuer Moreouer they made proofe of the said floures dried and this high magistery they found That being beaten to pouder they cured those of the bloudie flix who lay at the very point of death on that disease as also that there was not a better thing in the world to stay any lask or flux of the belly Nay they staid not here so inuentiue were our forefathers nor thought much to make trial of the very kernels or stones within their grains to see if they could meet with any goodnesse therein for to deliuer vnto posterity and the age following And in good faith they found That euen those as
and therefore much eating of them causeth a man to grow corpulent and nathelesse to be strong and lusty withall which is the cause that professed wrestlers and champions were in times past fed with figs. For Pythagoras a great master and warden of these exercises was the first man who brought them to eat flesh meat Moreouer figs be restoratiue and the best thing that they can eat who are brought low by some long and languishing sicknesse and now vpon the mending hand and in recouerie In like manner they are singular for the falling euil and the dropsie Figs applied as a cataplasme are excellent either to discusse or els bring to maturity any imposthumes or swellings but they doe the seat more effectually if either quicke-lime or sal-nitre be mixt therwith Boiled with Hyssop they clense the brest break and dissolue the flegmatick humors either fallen to the lungs or there ingendred so by consequence rid away an old cough Sodden in wine so applied as a liniment they cure the infirmities incident to the seat or fundament they mollifie and resolue the swelling tumors of the paps they discusse and heale fellons pushes biles risings behind the ears A fomentationmade with their decoction is good for women And the same being sodden with Faeni-greek are excellent for the pleurisie Peripnewmony i. the inflammation of the lungs Boiled with Rue they assuage the ventosities or collicke in the guts The same being incorporat with verdi-grease or the rust of brasse cureth the morimals of the legs and with Pomgranats they heale the rising exulceration of the flesh and skin about the naile roots But made into a cerot with wax they heale burnes scaldings kibed heels Seeth Figs in wine with wormwood and barley meale and put nitre to them they are passing wholesome for those who are in a dropsie Chew them they binde the belly Make a cataplasme of Figs and salt together the same is singular for the sting of scorpions Boyle them in wine and so apply them you haue an excellent remedy to draw forth carbuncles to the outward parts and bring them to an head Take the fattest fullest Figs you can get lay them vpon the vgly and ill fauored tumor called Carcinoma i. the Canker so it be not vet exulcerat I assure you it is a soueraigne remedy and hardly can be matched againe and so it is also for the festering and eating vlcer Phagedaena There is not another tree againe growing vpon the face of the earth that yeeldeth better or sharper ashes than the wood of the Figge-tree doth either to clense vlcers or to incarnat consolidat and restrain flux of humors It is taken in drink for to resolue cluttered bloud within the body Semblably if it be giuen to drink with water oile of each one cyath it serues wel for those who are dry beaten bruised who are fallen from some high place such also as haue spasms inward rvptures And thus they vse to giue it in al cramps and namely in that vniuersall convulsion which holdeth the body so stiffe that it can stir no way nor other as if it were made of one intire piece without any ioint Likewise both taken in drink and also infused or iniected by clystre it helpeth the fluxe occasioned either by a feeble and rheumatick stomacke or els by the vlcer of the guts If a man rub the body all ouer with it and oile together it setteth it into an heat were it before benummed A liniment made of it and wrought with wax and oile Rosat together skinneth a burnt or scalded place most finely leauing no skar at al to be seen Temper it with oile and therwith annoint their eies who are pore-blind sand blind or otherwise short-sighted it amends their eie-sight to conclude rub the teeth often therewith it preserueth them white neat and from rotting Thus much of Fig-tree ashes Moreouer it is commonly said That if one come to a Fig-tree bend a bough or branch therof downward to the ground and bearing vp his head without stooping reach and catch hold of a knot or ioint with his teeth and so bite it off that no man see him when he is doing of it and then lap the same within a piece of fine leather tied fast by a thred and hang it about his necke it will dispatch the kings-euill and swelling kernels or inflammations behind the eares The bark of the Fig-tree reduced into pouder mixed with oile and so applied healeth the vlcers of the belly Green Figs taken raw stamped and incorporat with niter and meale take away all warts whether they be smooth or rough The ashes made of those shoots that spring from the root is a kind of Antispodium and may go for Spodium indeed If the same be twice calcined and burnt and then mixed with cerusse or white lead and so reduced into trochiskes they make a good collyrie or eie-salue to cure the roughnesse and exulceration of the eies As many vertues as the mild fig-tree hath yet the wild is much more effectuall in operation howsoeuer she yeeldeth lesse milke or white juice than the other doth For a branch onely of it is as good as rennet or rindles to make milk turn and run to a cheese curd Howbeit that milky liquor which it hath if it be gathered and kept vntill it be dry and wax hard serueth to season our flesh meats and giue them a good tast For which purpose it is wont to be mixed and dissolued in vineger then the flesh must be well rubbed and poudred therwith The same is vsually mingled with caustick and corrosiue medicines when there is an intention to raise blisters and make an issue It causeth the belly to be laxatiue and openeth the matrice if it be vsed with Amyl pouder Being taken in drink with the yolk of an egg it prouoketh womens fleurs Applied in a liniment with the floure of Feni-greeke it easeth the pains of the gout it clenseth the leprosie and foul wild scab it killeth ring-worms and fell tettars it scoureth away freckles and such flecks as disfauor the face likewise it cureth the parts stung with venomous serpents or bitten with mad dogs Moreouer this juice of the wild Fig-tree applied vnto the teeth with a lock of wooll allaieth their ach so it doth also if it be put into them that be worme-eaten and hollow The tender yong branches together with the leaues if they be mingled with Eruile are good against the poison of venomous sea-fishes But then according to some Physitians there must be wine added to this receit The said tender branches being put into the pot with Boeuf and so boiled together saue much fewell for lesse fire by far will serue to seeth the meat The green figs of this wild fig-tree brought into a liniment do mollifie and discusse the kings euil and all other tumors and apostemes And in some measure the leaues also haue the same operation
three deniers weight of the root and drinke the same in three cyaths of sweet wine she shall be quickly deliuered and brought to bed the same drink sendeth forth the after-birth and prouoketh womens monthly terms Daphnoides or the wild Lawrell or call it by any other of those names before rehearsed hath many good vertues it purgeth the belly if you take the leafe either green or drie to the weight of three drams with salt in hydromel or honyed water being chewed it draweth downe flegmatick and watery humors The leaf also moueth to vomit and is offensiue to the stomack The berries likewise be purgatiue if a man take fiue or ten of them at once CHAP. IX ¶ Of the tame or gentle Myrtle tree planted Of Myrtidanum and the wilde Myrtle OF garden Myrtles the white is not so medicinable as the black the fruit or berries of the Myrtle help those that reach vp bloud taken with wine they put by the danger of venomous mushrums chew them in your mouth your breath will be the sweeter for it two daies after It appeareth by the Poet Menander that the good-fellows Synaristeusae were wont to eat Myrtle berries the weight of one denier in wine is good for the bloudy flix If they haue a little siuering or waulm ouer the fire in wine they make a good water or liquor to cure vntoward vlcers to heale especially such as be in the extreame parts of the body Of them and barley groats there is made a cataplasme for bleered eies for the fainting also and trembling of the heart being applied to the left pap or breast In like manner the same being vsed with pure vndelaied wine is singular for the prick of scorpions for the infirmities of the bladder the head-ach and the apostemations betweene the angle of the eies and the nose if they be taken before they yeeld filthy matter and so they cure other tumors or swellings and if their pepins or kernels be taken forth and then incorporat with old wine they be singular for the small pocks and meazles The juice of Myrtle berries bindeth the belly but prouoketh vrine A liniment also is made thereof with wax for the said pox and meazles also against the sting of the venomous spiders Phalangia The said juice doth colour the haire blacke Of the same Myrtle there is an oile made more lenitiue and mild than the iuice or liquor aboue-named yet there is a wine of Myrtles more kind gentle than it which wil neuer ouerturn the brain or make one drunk The same if it haue lien and be stale bindeth the belly and staieth a laske it strengtheneth the stomack also and represseth vomits it assuageth the griping pains in the guts and restoreth appetite to meat the pouder of drie Myrtle leaues restraineth sweats if the body be strewed therwith though it were in a feuer The same pouder is good for the feeblenesse of the stomack and the flux from thence proceeding it reduceth the matrice into the right place when it beareth down out of the body it cureth the infirmities of the seat healeth running scalls and vlcers warisheth S. Anthonies fire and the shingles being vsed thereto in some fomentation retaineth and staieth the haires ready to shed scoureth away dandruffe drieth vp wheals pocks and meazles and last of all skinneth burnes and scaldings The pouder entreth into those vnguinous or oleous plasters which the Greeks call Liparas And such a kind of plaster in like manner as the oyle of these Myrtle berries is most effectuall in those sores which light vpon moist parts as for example the mouth and the matrice The leaues in substance beaten to pouder and tempered with wine are a counterpoison against venomous mushrums but incorporat with wax into a liniment they do ease the gout of any joints and driue back rifings and impostumations The same leaues boiled in wine are giuen to drink for the bloudy flix and the dropsie VVhen they be dried and brought into pouder they serue to cast and strew vpon vlcers also to restraine any bleeding They scoure away freckles and such like spots of the skin they heale the rising ouergrowing and parting of the skin about the naile roots also whitflaws chilblanes piles swelling bigs in the fundament the accidents befalling to the cods filthy maligne and morimall vlcers and last of all burns applied in manner of a cerot For the ears running with filthy matter there is good vse of the leaues burnt also of their juice and decoction The same are likewise burned to serue for certain antidots or counterpoisons In like manner to the said purpose the tender sprigs of the Myrtle with the floure vpon them are gathered and calcined within an ouen in a new earthen pot well couered and close luted after which they be reduced into pouder and mixed with wine The ashes of the leaues burnt healeth burnes To keepe the share or groine from swelling although there be an vlcer there it is sufficient if the party haue about him a shoot or branch only of the Myrtle prouided alwaies that it touched neither yron nor the earth As touching Myrtidanum how it is made I haue shewed already Applied vnto the matrice or natural parts of a woman either by way of fomentation or liniment it doth much good And much better if it be made with the bark leafe and berry of the Myrtle Moreouer of the softest leaues braied and stamped in a mortar there is a juice pressed forth by pouring green wine by little and little among and otherwhiles raine water which is vsed much for the vlcers and sores of mouth seat matrice and belly to dye the haire black to wash and bath the arm-holes with to scoure away spots and freckles and in one word when and wheresoeuer there is need of astriction The wilde Myrtle or Oxymyrsine called also Chamaemyrsine differeth from the ciuill and gentle Myrtle in the rednesse of the berries and the smal growth The root is highly esteemed for boiled in wine and so taken in drink it cureth the paine in the raines the difficulty of vrine especially when it is thick and of a strong sauor The jaundise also it helpeth and cleanseth the matrice if it be brought into pouder and mixed with wine The yong and tender buds eaten after the manner of Sperage crops with meat first rosted in the embers the seed likewise taken in wine oile or vineger break the stone The same seed stamped and drawne with vineger and oyle rosat allaieth the head-ach but in drink it cureth the jaundise Castor called Oxymyrsine with the sharp prickie leaues like the Myrtle and wherew i th beesomes be made by the name of Ruscus and saith it hath the same properties Thus much for planted trees and their medicinable vertues proceed we now forward to the wild THE TVVENTY FOVRTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme CHAP. I. ¶ Medicinable vertues obserued in wild trees NAture
a bath of this decoction The root of this Cerrus in powerful against the prick of scorpions The bark of the Corke tree beaten into pouder and taken in hot water is excellent for to represse any flux of bloud whether it be vpward or downward The ashes of the said bark giuen in wine hot is greatly commended for the reaching and spitting of bloud CHAP. V. ¶ Of the Beech and Cypressetrees Of the great Cedars and their fruit called Cedrides of Galbanum THe leaues of the Beech tree being chewed do much good to the gums and lips in any accidents that be fall vnto them The ashes of Beech mast is singular for the stone if it bee applied as a liniment The same also bringeth haire againe when by occasion of sicknesse it is shed and fallen away if the place be annointed with it and hony together Cypresse tree leaues stamped and so applied are a conuenient remedie for the sting of Serpents Also laid vnto the head with dried groats of Barley they ease the pain therof occasioned by the heat of the Sunne In like sort the same cataplasme cureth ruptures For which cause a drinke made of them is very good A liniment also of Cypresse leaues and waxe mingled together assuageth the swelling of the cods Tempered with vineger they will make the haire cole black Moreouer if they be stamped with two parts of soft dough or the tender crums of bread so incorporat together with Amminean wine they allay the paine of the feet or the sinews The little bals or Apples hanging vpon Cypresse trees are soueraigne for to be taken in drinke against the sting of serpents and for the casting vp of bloud out of the body Brought into an onitment they serue for the swellings or impostumes gathered to a place Take them whiles they be yong and tender stamp them with swines grease and Bean floure they do much good to those that are bursten and for that purpose a drink made of them is passing effectuall With ordinary meale they serue in a cataplasme to be applied vpon the swelling kernels behinde the ears as also the kings euill There is a juice drawn out of these apples after they haue bin stamped together with their grains or seed within which if it be mingled with oile helpeth them to their cleare sight again whose eies are ouercast with a web dimmed The same effect it hath if it be taken in wine to the weight of one Victoriat or halfe dram But Cypresse apples rid and cleansed from their grains within and reduced into a liniment with fat dried figs and so applied vnto the cods cure their infirmities and namely resolue the tumors incident to those parts but incorporat with leuaine they dispatch the Scrophules or kings euill The root and leaues punned together and then taken in drink do comfort the bladder and help such as are diseased with the strangury they serue also against the prick of the venomous spiders Phalangia Their small shauings or scrapings if a woman take in her drinke procure her monethly terms and are singular for the sting of scorpions The great Cedar called by the Greeks Cedrelate as one would say the Fir-Cedre yeeldeth a certain pitch or parrosin named Cedria a singular medicine for the tooth-ach for it breaketh them fetcheth them out of the head and easeth all their pain As touching the liquor that runneth from the Cedar and the manner how it is made I haue written already this kind of pitch were excellent for the eies but for one discommodity in that it causeth head-ach It preserueth dead bodies from corruption a world of yeares contrariwise liuing bodies it doth putrifie and corrupt A strange and wonderfull property thus to mortifie the quick and quicken as it were the dead It marreth and rotteth apparell as wel linnen as woollen and it killeth all liuing creatures And therefore I would not aduise as some haue done to tast this medicine and take it inwardly for the squinancie or crudities of the stomack neither would I be bold but fear rather to prescribe it in a collution with vineger to wash the mouth withall for the toothach or to drop it into their eares who be hard of hearing or otherwise haue vermine within them But a monstrous and beastly thing it is which some report of it That if a man do annoint therwith the instrument or part seruing for generation at what time as he is minded to know a woman carnally it wil bring her to an abortiue slip if she were conceiued before or hinder conception if she were cleare Howbeit I would not make doubt to annoint therwith the head other parts for to kill lice or to rid away the scurffe or scaily dandruffe among the haire either in head or face Some giue counsell for to drink it in sweet wine cuit vnto them who are poisoned with the sea Hare For mine own part I hold it a safer way and an easier to annoint therwith the leprosie But some of the foresaid authours haue applied it to filthy putrified and stinking vlcers the excrescences therein as also to rub or annoint therwith the eies against the pin and web such accidents as dim and darken the sight Moreouer they haue prescribed to drink a cyath of it for to cure the vlcer of the lungs and to expell wormes and vermin out of the belly Of this pitch or rosin there is an oile made which they call Pisselaeon and the same is far more strong in operation for all the infirmities aboue named than the simple rosin it selfe Certaine it is that the fine dust scraped or filed from the Cedar wood chaseth away serpents so do the berries also of the Cedar beaten to pouder and reduced with oile into a liniment in case a man annoint his body all ouer with the same As touching Cedrides i. the fruit of the Cedar it is soueraign for the cough and prouokes vrine bindeth the belly healeth ruptures It cureth spasmes convulsions or cramps yea and helpeth the infirmities of the matrice if it be applied accordingly Also it is a counterpoison against the venomous sea Hare and a medicine for other maladies aboue named and namely for apostemes and inflammations Of Galbanum I haue written heretofore Good Galbanum should be neither moist nor dry but such in all respects as I haue described already Being taken of it selfe alone in drink it cureth an inueterat cough shortnesse and difficultie of winde ruptures crampes and convulsions Outwardly applied it is singular for the Sciatica pleurisie or pains of the side angry biles and fellons It is good also to be vsed in case the flesh corrupted by meanes of corrosiue vlcers as wolues and such other is departed and eaten from the bone moreouer for the wens called Scrophules or the kings euill the knots and nodosities growing vpon the ioints and the tooth-ach it serueth also in a liniment with hony for to annoint scald heads With
the Pitch tree Larch tree brused and sodden in vineger do ease the tooth-ache if the mouth be washed with the decoction The ashes made of their barks skin the places that be chafed fretted and galled betweene the thighs and heale any burn or scald Taken in drinke they bind the belly but open the passages of the vrin A perfume or suffumigation therof doth settle the matrice when it is loose and out of the right place But to write more distinctly of these two trees the leaues of the Pitch tree haue a particular property respectiue to the liuer and the infirmities thereof if one take a dram weight of them and drink it in mead and honied water It is well known and resolued vpon that to take the aire of those woods and forests only where these trees be cut lanced and scraped for to draw pitch and rosin out of them is without all comparison the best course which they can take who either be in a consumption of the lungs or after some long and languishing sicknes haue much ado to recouer their strength Certes such an aire is far better than either to make a long voiage by sea into Egypt or to goe among the cottages in summer time for to drinke new milk comming of the fresh and green grasse of the mountains As for Chamaepitys it is named in Latine by some Abiga for that it causeth women to slip their conception beforetime of others Thus terrae i. ground Frankincense this herb putteth forth branches a cubit long and both in floure and sauor resembleth the Pine tree A second kind there is of Chamaepitys lower than the other seeming as though it bended and stooped downward to the ground There is also a third sort of the same odor that the rest and therefore so named This last Chamaepitys riseth vp with a little stalke or stem of a finger thicknesse it beareth rough small slender and white leaues and it groweth commonly amongst rockes All these three be herbs indeed and no other and should not be ranged among trees yet for names sake because they carry the denomination of Pitys i. the Pitch-tree I was induced the rather to treat of them in this present place to stay no longer Soueraigne they bee all against the pricks or stings of Scorpions applied in manner of a liniment with dates and quinces they be wholsome for the liuer their decoction together with barly meale is good for the infirmities of reins and bladder Also the decoction of these hearbes boiled in water helpeth the jaundise and the difficulty of vrine if the Patient drinke thereof The third kind last named taken with hony is singular against the poison of serpents and in that maner only applied as a cataplasme it clenseth the matrice natural parts of women If one drink the same herbe it will dissolue and remoue the cluttered thick bloud within the body it prouoketh sweat if the body be therwith annointed and it is especially good for the reins Being reduced into pills together with figs it is passing wholsome for those that be in a dropsie for it purgeth the belly of waterish humors If this herb be taken in wine to the weight of a victoriat piece of siluer i. halfe a Roman denier it warisheth for euer the pain of the loins and stoppeth the course of a new cough Finally if it be boiled in vineger and so taken in drink it is said that it will presently expel the dead infant out of the mothers wombe For the like cause and reason I will do the herb Pityusa this honor as to write of it among trees since that it seemeth by the name to come from the Pitch tree this plant some do reckon among the Tithymals a kind of shrub it is like vnto the Pitch tree with a small floure and the same of purple color If one drink the decoction of the root to the quantity of one hemina it purgeth downward both fleam and choler so doth a spoonfull of the seed therof put vp into the body by suppositories The decoction of the leaues in vineger doth cleanse the skin of dandruffe and scales if the decoction of rue be mingled therwith it is singular for sore brests to appease the wrings and tormenrs of the cholick against the sting of serpents and generally for to discusse and resolue all apostemations and botches a breeding But to returne againe to our former trees how Rosine is ingendred in them of their seuerall kinds and the countries where they grow I haue shewed before first in the treatise of wines and afterwards in the discourse and histories of Trees And to speak summarily of rosins they may be diuided into two principal kinds to wit the dry and the liquid rosin The dry is made of the Pine and the Pitch trees the liquid commeth from the Terebinth Larch Lentisk Cypresse trees for these beare rosin in Asia and Syria wheras some there be of opinion That the rosins of the Pitch and Larch trees be all one they be much deceiued for the Pitch tree yeeldeth a fatty rosin and in maner of frankincense vnctuous but from the Larch tree there issueth a subtill and thin liquor running like to life hony of a strong and rank vnpleasant smell Physitians seldome vse any of these liquid Rosins and neuer prescribe them but to be taken or supped off with an egge As for that of the Larch tree they giue it for the cough and exulceration of some noble parts within neither is that per-rosin of the Pine tree much vsed as for the rest they be not of any vse vnlesse they be boiled Touching the diuers manners of boiling them I haue shewed them sufficiently But if I should put a difference between these rosins according to the trees from whence they come the right Terpentine indeed which the Terebinth yeeldeth liketh and pleaseth me best being of all others lightest and most odoriferous If I should make choice of them in regard of the countries where they are found certes they of Cypresse and Syria be best and namely those that in colour resemble Attick hony and for the Cyprian rosin that which is of a more fleshie substance and drier consistence Of the dry per-rosins those are in most request which be white pure transparent or cleare quite through In generall those that come from trees growing vpon mountains be preferred before them of the plains also regarding the Northeast rather than any other wind For salues to heale wounds as also for emollitiue plasters rosins ought to be dissolued in oile for drinks or potions with bitter almonds As touching their medicinable vertues they be good to clense and close vp wounds to discusse and resolue any apostemes which bee in gathering Moreouer they be vsed in the diseases of the brest and namely true Terpentine by way of liniment for then it is singular good especially if it be applied hot also for the
must and haue his feet washed in faire water before he commeth to gather it he ought to do sacrifice vnto the gods with bread and wine moreouer no knise or yron toole is to be vsed hereabout neither will any hand serue but the right and that also must do the deed not bare and naked but by some skirt or lappet of his coat between which was done off with the left hand and so closely besides as if he came to steal it away secretly last of all when it is gathered wrapped it must be and caried in a new linnen napkin or towell The Druidae of France haue agreat opinion of this herbe thus gathered and haue prescribed it to be kept as the only preseruatiue against all hurtfull accidents misfortunes what soeuer saying that the fume thereof is singular good for all the infirmites diseases of the eies The Druidae or Prelats of France aboue named make great account of another herb growing in moist grounds which they name Samolus and forsooth if you did well you should gather it fasting with the left hand in any wise in the gathering not look back howsoeuer you do Moreouer when it is thus gathered it ought not to be laid down out of the hand in any place but in the troughs cisterns or channels where swine kine or oxen vse ordinarily to drink where it must be likewise stamped and then without faile the foresaid cattell shal be warished and secured from all diseases As concerning gums I haue heretofore declared how many kinds thereof are to be sound To speak of them in generall The better that any gum is the more effectuall be the operations thereof hurtfull they are to the teeth they haue a property to thicken or coagulat bloud and therefore be good for those who cast and reach vp bloud likewise they be singular for burns as also for the wind pipe and instruments of respiration The superfluous and corrupt vrine within the body they prouoke and giue passage vnto They dul diminish the bitternesse of other medicines wherin they be mingled how soeuer otherwise they be astringent do fortifie other qualities That which commeth from the bitter almonds and is of a stronger operation to thicken and incrassat hath vertue also to heat the body The best gums be those of Plum-trees chery trees and vines they haue all of them a drying and astringent quality if any part be annointed with them and dissolued in vineger they kill the tettars or ringwormes in children heale them vp Being drunk to the weight of foure oboli in new wine they be good for any inueterat cough Moreouer they be thought to make the colour more fresh liuely pleasant to procure and stir vp the appetite to meat also to help those who be pained with the stone in case they be drunk in sweet wine cuit And to conclude with some particularity The gum of the Egyptian thorne is soueraigne for wounds and all accidents of the eies CHAP. XII ¶ Of the Arabian Thorne of the white Thistle Bedegnar of Acanthium and Acacia TOuching the Arabian Thorne or Bush and the commendable qualities therof I haue sufficiently spoken in the treatise of perfumes and odoriferous confections yet thus much moreouer I haue to say of the medicinable vertues that it doth thicken and incrassat thin and rheumatick humors it restraineth all catarrhes and distillations it represseth the reaching vp bloud staieth the immoderat flux of womens monthly terms for which purposes the root is more effectuall than any other part of the plant The seed of the white Thistle is singular for the sting of scorpions a garland made of it and set vpon the head assuageth the paine thereof Much like vnto this is that Thistle which the Greeks call Acanthion but that the leaues be much smaller and those are sharpe pointed and prickly all about the edges and couered with a downe resembling a cobweb which the people of the East countries do gather and therof make certain cloth for garments resembling silke The leaues or roots drunk in substance are supposed to be a singular remedy for the crampe or convulsion which draweth the neck and body backward Moreouer there is a kind of Thorne whereof commeth Acacia and it is the juice thereof It is found in Egypt to issue from certain trees which be white black and green howbeit the best Acacia by far is that which the former that is to say the white and the black do yeeld There is made likewise a kinde of Acacia in Galatia which is most soft and tender and the tree that affoordeth it is more pricky and thorny than the rest The seed or fruit of all these trees is like vnto Lentils but only that the grain is lesse and the cod or huske wherein it lieth smaller The right season to gather this fruit is in Autumn for if it be taken before it is too too strong For to draw this juice which we cal Acacia the cods wherin the grains lie ought to be throughly steeped first in rain water soone after when they be punned or stamped in a mortar the sayd juice is pressed forth with certaine instruments seruing for the purpose which done they let it remaine within mortars in the sun and there take the thickening and so at length reduce it into certain trochisks and reserue them for vse There is a iuice likewise drawne out of the leaues but the same is not so effectual as the other The curriours vse to dresse their skins with the seed or grains therof in lieu of Galls The juice which the leaues of the Galatian thorne aboue said doth yeeld and namely the blackest is reiected for naught like as that also which is of a deepe red colour Contrariwise that which is either purple or ash-colored and russet to see too as also that which will be soone dissolued is of exceeding efficacy to thicken and coole withall and is preferred before all other in colyries or eie-salues now for these vses some are wont to wash the trosches aforesaid others torrifie and burn them They are good to colour the haire of the head black they heale S. Anthonies fire and corrosiue sores yea and all grieuances of the body that consist in moisture they cure any impostumes joints that are bruised kibed heels and the turning vp of the skin and flesh from the naile roots They represse the exceeding flux of womens monthly fleurs the matrice and tiwell if they be slipt and faln out of the body they reduce into their place again In sum for the eies for the sores and infirmities of the mouth and naturall parts seruing for generation they be soueraigne CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the common Thorne of the wilde or wood Thorne of Erysisceptrum of Spina Appendix of Pyxacanthus and Paliurus of Hulver or Holly of Yeugh and Brambles with the medicinable vertues of them all THe common Thorn also wherewith the Fullers vse to
medicines which they cal Styptick or astringent there is not a better thing than to boile the root of this blackberry bramble in wine to the thirds and namely to make a collution therwith to wash the cankers or sores breeding in the mouth or to foment the vlcers growing in the fundament And verily of such a binding and astringent force is this bramble that the very spungeous bals that it beareth will grow to be as hard as stones Another kind of brier or bramble there is vpon which groweth a rose some cal it Cynosbatos others Cynospastos it beareth a leafe like to the print or sole of a mans foot A little bal or pill it breedeth furred or bristled much after the maner of the Chestnut which serueth as a speciall remedy for those that be subiect to the stone As for Cynorrhonos it is another plant different from this wherof I will speak in the next book CHAP. XIV ¶ Of Cynosbatos and the Raspice of the Rhamnos and of Lycium and Sarcocolla Of a certaine composition in Physicke called Oporice AS for the bramble named Chamaebatos it beareth certain black berries like grapes within the kernell wherof it hath a certain string like a sinew whereupon it came to be called Newâ—…ospastos it is a different plant from the Caper which the Physitians haue named also Cynosbatos Now the tender stems of the foresaid Cynosbatos or Chamaebatos condite in vineger are good for them to eat who are troubled with the opilation of the spleen with ventosities for it is a singular remedy for those infirmities The string or sinew thereof chewed with Mastick of Chios purgeth the mouth The wild roses that grow vpon this brier being incorporat with swines grease are excellent for to make the haire grow againe when it is shed by some infirmity The beries of these brambles if they be tempred with oile oliue made of green and vnripe oliues colour the haire black The proper season to gather the floures of these brambles that cary beries like to mulberies is in haruest time the white kind of them drunk in wine is a soueraign remedy for the pleurisie the flux of the stomack the root sodden to thethirds stoppeth a lask and staieth the flux of bloud likewise a collution made therwith fastneth loose teeth if they be washed withall The same decoction or liquor is good to foment the vlcers of the seat priuy parts The ashes of the root burnt keep vp the uvula from falling The Raspis is called in Latin Rubus Idaeus because it groweth vpon the mountain Ida and not elswhere so plenteously Now is this bramble more tender lesse in growth it putteth forth also fewer stalkes vpright and those more harmelesse and nothing so pricky as the other brambles before named besides it loueth well to grow vnder the shade of trees The floures of this bramble reduced into a liniment with hony restrain the flux of rheumaticke humors into the eies and keepeth down the spreading of S. Anthonies fire and giuen in water to drink it cureth infirmities of the mouth In all other cases it hath like operations to the former brambles Among the diuers kinds of brambles is reckoned the Rhamne which the Greeks cal Rhamnos notwithstanding that it is whiter more branching than the rest This Rham beareth many flours spreading forth his branches armed with pricks not crooked or hooked as the rest but streight and direct clad also with larger leaues A second kind there is of them growing wilde in the woods blacker than the other yet inclining in some sort to a red colour this carieth as it were certain little cods Of the root of this Rham boiled in water is made the medicine that is called Lycium The seed of this plant draws down the after-birth The former of these two which also is the whiter hath a vertue more astringent and cooling than the other therfore better for impostumations and wounds howbeit the leaues of both either green or boiled are vsed in liniments with oile for the said purpose But as touching Lycium the best of all other is by report made of a certain Thorne tree or bush which they cal Pyxacanthos Chironia the form wherof I haue described among the Indian trees indeed the most excellent Lycium by many degrees is that Indian Lycium thought to be The manner of making this Lycium is in this wise they take the branches of this plant together with the roots which be exceeding bitter after they be well punned and stamped seeth them in water within a brasen pan for three daies together or therabout which don they take forth the wood set the liquor ouer the fire again where it taketh a second boiling so long till it be come to the consistence or thicknes of hony howbeit sophisticated it is many times with some bitter juices yea and with the lees of oile beasts gall The very froth scum in maner of a flory that it casteth vp some vse to put into colyries medicines for the eies The substance of the juice besides is abstersiue it mundifieth the face healeth scabs cureth the exulcerations or frettings in the corners of the eies it represseth old rheumes distillations clenseth ears running with filthy matter represseth the inflammations of the almonds in the mouth called Tonsillae of the gums staieth the cough restraineth the reaching casting of bloud if it be taken to the quantity of a bean being spred in maner of a plaster or liniment and so applied it drieth vp running and watery sores it healeth the chaps and clifts in any part of the body the vlcers of the secret parts seruing for generation any place fretted or galled new and green vlcers yea and such as be corrosiue and withall growing to putrefaction it is singular for the calosities werts or hardcorns growing in the nosthrils and all impostumations moreouer women find great help by drinking it in milke for any violent shift or immoderat flux of their monthly sicknes the best Indian Licium is known by this That the masse or lump therof is black without-forth red within when it is broken but soon it commeth to a black colour An astrictiue medicine this is and bitter withal and hath the same effects which the other Lycium is reported to haue but specially if it be applied to the priuie members of generation As touching Sarcocolla some be of opinion that it is the gum or liquor issuing from a certain thorny plant or bush and they hold that it resembleth the crums of frankincense called Pollen or Manna Thuris in tast seemeth to be sweetish yet quick and sharpe withall This Sarcocoll stamped with wine and so applied represseth all fluxes in a liniment good it is for yong infants This gum also by age and long keeping waxeth black but the whiter is the better thereby is the goodnesse knowne But before I depart from this treatise of
to fetch away the very Ellebore again if it lay ouer-long in the body either by other purgatiue medicines or by clysters oftentimes also by opening a veine or bloud-letting And say that Ellebore taken in manner aforesaid wrought very well yet they vsed to obserue euery vomit the diuers colors of humors that came away which many times were fearfull to behold yea and when the Patient had done casting they considered also the ordure and excrements that passed away by the belly they gaue order besides for bathing either before or after the taking of Ellebore as occasion best required yea and they took great heed and regard of the whole body besides and yet did what they could the terrible name and report that went of this medicine passed all their care and circumspection whatsoeuer for it was an opinion generally held and receiued That Ellebore doth eat away and consume the flesh seething in the pot if it be boiled therewith But herein were the antient Physitians much too blame and greatly in fault in that they were ouer timorous and for feare of such accidents insuing vpon this medicine gaue it in too small a dose wheras indeed the greater quantity that one taketh of it the more speedily it worketh and the sooner passeth out of the body when it hath once done the errand Themison vsed to prescribe two drams and not aboue The Physitians who followed after allowed the dose of foure drammes grounding vpon a notable and famous apothegme or speech of Herophylus who was wont to say that Ellebore was like vnto a valiant and hardy captaine for when quoth he it hath stirred all the humors within the body it self issueth forth first and maketh way before them Moreouer there is a strange and singular deuise To clip the root of Ellebore with small sizzers or sheares into little pieces then to sift them through a sercer that the bark or rind may remain still and when it is clensed and purged from the pith or marrow within the same may fall thorow and passe away which is passing good to stay vomits in case the Ellebore doe worke too extreamely furthermore if we looke for good successe in our cure by ministring of Ellebore in any wise wee must take heed and be carefull how we giue it in close weather and vpon a darke and cloudie day for certainly it putteth the Patient to a jumpe or great haâ—…ard and causeth most grieuous and intollerable pains and torments For that it should be taken in summer rather than in winter no man doubteth thereof Ouer and besides the bodie ought to be prepared a seuen-night before during which time the Patient is to eat tart and sharp meats and poignant sauces to abstaine from wine altogether and the fourth and third day before to assay by little and little to vomit gently last of all to forbeare supper ouer-night when hee is to take his Ellebore the morrow As touching the manner of giuing Ellebore the white may be drunke in some sweet wine but the best and chiefest way of taking it is in milke grewell or pottage Of late dayes there is come vp a pretty inuention To slit or cut Radish roots and within those gashes to stick or enterlace pieces of white Ellebore which don to bind them close vp again that the strength and vertue thereof may be incorporat in the foresaid roots and thus by the means of this kind temperature with the Radish to giue it vnto the Patient Ordinarily this medicine of Ellebore continueth not aboue foure houres within the body but it commeth vp againe and within seuen it hath done working And thus being vsed as is before said it is a most soueraigne remedie for the falling sicknesse the swimming or dizzinesse of the head it cureth melancholicke persons troubled in mind such as be brain-sick mad lunaticke phrantick and furious it is singular good for the Elephantie the foule and dangerous morphew called Leuce the filthie leprosie and the generall convulsion whereby the body continueth stiffe and starke as it were all one peece without any joynt It helpeth those that be troubled with trembling shiuering and shaking of their lims with the gout and the dropsie and namely such as bee entering into a tympanie singular it is for those that haue weake and feeble stomackes and can keepe nothing that they take for such as are giuen to spasmes or crampes lie bed-rid of the dead palsie or such chronicke diseases encumbered with the Sciatica haunted with the quartaine Ague which will not be ridde away by any other meanes troubled with an old cough vexed with ventosities and griping wrings and torments which be periodicall and vse to come and goe at certaine set times howbeit Physitians forbid the giuing of Ellebore vnto old folk and yong children Item to such as be of a foeminine and delicate bodie as also to those that be in minde effoeminate likewise to those who are thinne and slender soft and tender in which regards wee may not be altogether so bold to giue it vnto women as vnto men In like manner this is a medicine that would not bee ministred inwardly to fearefull timorous and faint-hearted persons neither to those who haue any vlcer in the precordiall region about the midriffe ne yet vnto such as vsually bee giuen to swell in those parts and least of all vnto those that spit or reach vp bloud no more than to sickely and crasie persons who haue some tedious and lingring maladie as phthysicke c. hanging vpon them and namely if they be grieued and diseased in their sides or throat Neuerthelesse applied without the bodie in manner of a liniment with salted hogs grease it cureth the breaking forth of flegmaticke wheals and pimples as also healeth old sores remaining after imposthumes suppurate and broken mixed with parched or fried braleygroats it is a very rats-bane killeth both them mice The Gauls or Frenchmen when they ride a hunting into the chase vse to dip their arrow heads in the juice of Ellebore they haue this opinion that the venison which they take will eat the tenderer but then they cut away the flesh round about the wound made by the foresaid arrows Furthermore it is said That if white Ellebore be beaten to pouder and strewed vpon milk all the flies that tast thereof will die To conclude the said milke is good to rid away lice nits and such like vermin out of the head and other parts of the body CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the herbe Mithridation Of Scordotis or Scordium Of Polemonia and Philetaeria otherwise called Chiliodynama Of Eupatorie or Agrimonie Of great Centaurie otherwise named Chironea Of the little Centaurie named also Libadion and Felterrae Of Triorches and the medicinable vertues vpon these Simples depending CRatevas hath ascribed the inuention of one herb to K. Mithridates himselfe called after his name Mithridation this plant putteth forth no more than two leaues and those directly and immediatly from
Euphorbium The same being grown thick and hard if a man break it resembleth gum Ammoniacke Tast it neuer so little at the tongues end it setteth all the mouth on a fire and so continueth it a long time hot but more by fits vntill in the end it parcheth and drieth the chaws and throat also far within CHAP. VIII ¶ Of Plantain Buglosse and Borrage Of Cynoglossa or Hounds tongue Of Buphthalmus i. Oxe eie or Many-weed Of Scythica Hippice and Ischaemon Of Vettonica and Cantabrica Of * Consiligo and Hiberis Of Celendine the great Canaria and Elaphoboscos Of Dictamnum Aristolochie or Hertwort That fish are delighted so much therwith that they will make hast vnto it and be soon taken Also the medicinable vertues of those herbs aboue named THemison a famous Physitian set forth a whole booke of the herbe Way-bred or Plantaine wherein he highly praiseth it and challengeth to himselfe the honor of first finding it out notwithstanding it be a triuiall and common herb trodden vnder euery mans foot Two kinds of it be found the one which is the lesser hath also narrower leaues and inclining more to a blackish green resembling for all the world sheepe * or lambs tongues the stalke is cornered bending downward to the ground it growes ordinarily in medows The other is greater with leaues enclosed as it were within certain ribs resembling the sides of our body which being in number seuen gaue occasion to some herbarists for to call it Heptapleuron as a man would say the seuen ribbed herb The stem of this Plantain riseth to a cubit in height much like to that of the Naphew That which groweth in moist and waterie places is of greater vertue than the other Of wonderfull power and efficacy it is by the astringent quality that it hath for to dry and condensate any part of the body and serueth many times in stead of a cautery or searing yron And there is nothing in the world comparable vnto it in staying of fluxes and destillations which the Creeks call Rheumatismes To Plantain may be ioined the herb * Buglossos so called for that the leafe is like an Oxe tongue This herb hath one speciall property aboue the rest that if it be put into a cup of wine it cheareth the heart and maketh them that drink it pleasant and merry whereupon it is called Euphrosynon Vnto this for affinity of name it were good to annex Cynoglossos i. Hounds tongue for the resemblance that the leaues haue to a dogs tongue a proper herb for vinet-works and knots in gardens It is commonly said That the root of that Cynoglossos which putteth forth 3 stems or stalks and those bearing seed if it be giuen to drink cureth tertian agues but the root of that which hath foure is as good for the Quartains Another * Cynoglossos there is like to it which carrieth small burs the root whereof being drunke in water is a singular counterpoison against the venome of toads and serpents An herb there is with flours like vnto oxe eies wherupon it took the name in Greek * Buphthalmos the leaues resemble Fennel it groweth about town sides it shutteth forth stalkes from the root plentifully which being boiled are good to be eaten Some there be who call it Cachla This herb made into a salue with wax resolueth all * schirrous and hard swellings Other plants there be which beare the names not of men but of whole nations which first found them and their vertues out And to begin withall beholden we are to Scythia for that which is called Scythica It groweth notwitstanding in Boeotia and is exceeding sweet in tast Also there is another of that name singular good for the cramps called by the Greeks Spasmata An excellent property it hath besides for that whosoeuer holds it in their mouth shall for the time be neither hungry nor thirsty Of the same operation there is another herb among the Scythians or Tartars called Hippice because it workes the like effect in horses keeping them from hunger and thirst And if it be true that is reported the Scythians with these herbs wil endure without meat or drink for twelue daies together Touching the herbe Ischaemon the Thracians first found out the rare vertue that it hath in stanching bloud according as the very name implies For say they it wil stop the flux of bloud running and gushing out of a veine not only opened but also if it were â—…ut through It coucheth and creepeth low by the ground and is like vnto Millet but that the leaues be rough and hairy The manner is to stuffe the nosthrils therewith for to stay the bleeding at nose And that which groweth in Italy stancheth bloud if it be but hanged about the neck or tied to any part of the body The people in Spaine named Vettones were the first authors of that herb which is called in France * Vettonica in Italy Serratula and by the Greeks Cestron or Psychotrophon Surely an excellent herb this is and aboue all other simples most worthy of praise It commeth forth of the ground and riseth vp with a cornered stalke to the heigh of two cubits spreading from the very root leaues of the bignesse of Sorrell cut in the edges or toothed in manner of a saw with floures of a purple color growing in a spike seed correspondent therto The leaues dried and brought into pouder be good for very many vses There is a wine and vineger made or condite rather with Betony soueraign for to strengthen the stomack and clarifie the eiesight This glorious prerogatiue hath Betony that look about what house soeuer it is set or sowed the same is thought to be in the protection of the gods and safe enough for committing any offence which may deserue their vengeance and need any expiation or propitiatory sacrifice In the same Spain groweth * Cantabrica lately found by the people Cantabri and no longer since than in the daies of Augustus Caesar. This herb is to be seen euery where rising vp with a benty or rushy stalk a foot high vpon which you may behold small long floures like to cups or beakers wherein lie enclosed very small seeds Certes to speak the truth of Spain it hath bin alwaies a nation curious in seeking after simples And euen at this day in their great feasts where they meet to make merry Sans-nombre they haue a certain wassell or Bragat which goeth round about the table made of honied wine or sweet mead with a hundred distinct herbs in it and they are persuaded that it is the most pleasant and wholsomest drinke that can be deuised yet there is not one amongst them all who knoweth precisely what speciall herbs there be in all that number in this only they be all perfect that there go a hundred seuerall kinds therto according as the name doth import In our age we remember well that there was an hero discouered
strong but the root and fruit do smell the stronger The apples of the white when they be ripe the maner is todry in the shadow but the juice drawn out of them is permitted to stand in the Sun for to gather and harden In like sort the juice of the root whether it be bruised and stamped or sodden in grosse red wine to the consumption of a third part The leaues moreouer of Mandrage are commonly kept and condite in a kind of pickle or salt brine for otherwise the juice of them whiles they be fresh and green is pestiferous and a very poison And yet order them so wel as you can hurtfull they be euery way the only smell of them stuffeth the head and breedeth the murre and the pose Howbeit in some countries they venture to eat the apples or fruit thereof but those that know not how to dresse and order them aright lo se the vse of their tongue thereby and proue dumbe for the time surprised and ouertaken with the exceeding strong sauor that they haue And verily if they be so bold as to take a great quantity therof in drinke they are sure to die for it Yet it may be vsed safely enough for to procure sleep if there be a good regard had in the dose that it be answerable in proportion to the strength and complexion of the patient one cyath thereof is thought to be a moderat and sufficient draught Also it is an ordinary thing to drink it against the poison of serpents likewise before the cutting or cauterizing pricking or launcing of any member to take away the sence and feeling of such extreme cures And sufficient it is in some bodies to cast them into a sleep with the smel of Mandrage against the time of such Chirurgery There be that drink it in lieu of Ellebore for to purge the body of melancholick humors taking two oboles therof in honied wine Howbeit Ellebore is stronger in operation for to euacuat black choler out of the body and to prouoke vomit As touching Hemlock it is also a ranke poison witnesse the publicke ordinance and law of the Athenians wherby malefactors who haue deserued to die were forced to drink that odious potion of Hemlock Howbeit many good vertues hath this herb and would not be reiected and cast aside for the sundry vses therof in Physicke The seed is euery way hurtfull and venomous As for the stems and stalks many there be that do eat it both green also boiled or stewed between two platters Light these stems be as kexes and full of ioints like Reeds and Canes of a darke gray or sullen colour rising vp many times aboue two cubits high and toward the top they spread and branch The leaues in some sort resemble Coriander but that they be more tender and a strong stinking smell they haue with them The seed is thicker and grosser than that of the Annise The root likewise hollow and of novse in Physicke The leaues and seed are exceeding refrigeratiue which if they haue gotten the mastery and vpper hand of any that hath taken them so as there is no way but one without help they shal feele themselues begin to wax cold in their extream or outward parts so to die inward howbeit there is a remedy euen then before the cold haue taken to the vital parts namely to take a good draught of wine which may set the body in a heat and chaufe it again mary if they drinke it with wine there are no meanes in the world to saue their liues There is a juice pressed out of the leaues and floures both together for that is the right reason namely whiles it is in flour the which is pressed out of that seed stamped being afterwards dried in the Sun and made into bals or trosches kils them that take it inwardly by congealing cluttering their bloud for this is a second venomous and deadly quality that it hath which is the cause that whosoeuer die by this means there appear certain spots or specks in their bodies after they be dead And yet there is a vse of this juice to dissolue hot and biting medicines therin in stead of water moreouer there is made of it a very conuenient cataplasme to be applied vnto the stomack for to coole the extreame heat thereof But the principal vertue that it hath is to represse and stay the flux of hot humors into the eies in summer time and to assuage their pains if they be annointed therewith It entreth besides into collyries or medicines deuised to ease pain and verily there is no rheumatick flux in any part of the body but it stoppeth it The leaues also of Hemlocke doe keepe downe all tumors appease paines and cure watering eies Anaxilaus mine Author saith That if a pure maiden doe in her virginity annoint her brests with this juice her dugs will neuer grow afterwards but continue still in the same state True it is indeed that beeing kept vnto the paps of women in child-bed it drieth vp their milk as also extinguisheth naturall seed if the cods and share be annointed therwith What remedies they should vse to saue themselues who are adiudged by law to drink it I for my part-purpose not to set down The strongest Hemlocke and of speediest operation is that which growes about Susa in the confines of Parthia Next to it for fearful working is that which commeth out of Laconica Candy and Natolia In Greece the Hemlocke of Megara is counted the quickest and then that of Attica Crestmarine or Sampier called the wild Crethmos riddeth the eies of the gummy viscous water that sticketh in them if it be applied thereto and if it be made into a cataplasme with fried Barly meale it assuageth also their swelling There groweth commonly an herbe named in Greeke Molybdaena that is to say in Latine Plumbago euen vpon euery corne land in lease resembling the Dock or Sorrell with a thicke root and the same rough and pricky Let one chew this herb first in his mouth then eftsoons lick with his tongue the eie it consumeth and taketh away the Plumbum which is a kinde of disease or infirmity incident to the eies As touching the first Capnos which in Latine is commonly called Pedes Gallinarei i. hens feet it groweth about decaied wals and ruinat buildings among rubbish in hedges the branches be very smal spread loosely or scattering the floure of a purple colour the leaues green the juice wherof discusseth the dimnesse and thicknesse about the eies and clarifieth the sight and therefore it is vsually put into eie-salues There is another herb of the same name like in effect but different in form from it which doth branch thicke and is of a tender substance the leaues for shape resembling Coriander and those of a wan or ashie colour but it beareth a purple floure it groweth in Gardens Hort-yards and Barly-lands If the eies be
say Sowbread it staies any bleeding whether it be at the mouth raught vp from out of the body or at the nosthrils whether it run by the fundament or gush from the matrice of women Likewise Lysimachia stancheth bloud either in drink liniment or Errhin put vp into the nose The like effect hath Plantain seed Cinquefoile also both taken inwardly and applied outward ly Moreouer if the nose bleed take the seed of Hemlocke beat it into pouder mixe it with water and so put it vp handsomly into the nosthrils Also Sengreene and the root of Astragulus To conclude wild Hirse called in Greek Ischaemon and Achillaea do stay any issue of bloud CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the herbe Equisetum of Nenuphar Harstrang Sideritis and many more effectuall to stanch bloud Of Stephanomelis and Erisithale Also remedies against wormes and vermine HOrse-taile named in Latine Equisetum and by the Greeks Hippuris an herb which heretofore I disallowed to grow in any medows and it is esteemed the very haire proceeding out of the earth like for all the world to the haire of an Horse-taile if it bee boiled in a new earthen pot neuer occupied before so as the pot be brim full when it is set on the fire and so to continue seething vntill a third part be consumed doth wast the spleen of lackies footmen if for 3 daies together they drink one hemine of the decoction at a time and besides this charge they ought to haue in any wise to forbeare all fat and oily meats for 24 houres before they begin this diet drink In describing of this herb the Greeks do not agree but are of diuers opinions some giue that name to a certain herb with blackish leaues resembling those of the Pine tree and they report a wonderfull vertue thereof and namely that if it doe but touch a man it wil stanch any issue of bloud And as some name it Hippuris so others called it * Ephedros and there be again who giue it the name Anabasis because forsooth as they say it climes vpon trees and hangeth down from thence with many blackish slender haires in manner of rishes resembling horse tailes Small branches it hath ful of joints and few leaues which be also fine and small The * seed that it beareth is round like vnto Coriander and the root of a wooddy substance this kind say they groweth principally in thickets and groues An astringent and binding power it hath The juice if it be conueighed vp into the nosthrils stenteth bleeding at nose though it gushed out from thence it knitteth also the belly and stoppeth a lask Taken in sweet wine to the quantity of 3 cyaths it helpeth the bloudy flix Vrine it prouoketh the cough it staieth and cureth straitnesse of winde when the patient is forced to sit vpright for to draw his breath It healeth ruptures and represseth those sores that loue to spread and run ouer the body The leaues are good to be drunk for the infirmities that offend guts bladder a speciall vertue it hath to cure those that be bursten bellied and haue their guts slipping downe in the bag of their cods The said Greek writers describe also another Horse-taile by the name of Hippuris with shorter softer and whiter haires than the former and they commend it as a soueraigne herb for the sciatica and for wounds to be applied vnto the place with vineger namely for to stanch bloud in which case the root of Nenuphar serueth very well if it be stamped and laid vpon a green wound If a man or woman void bloud at the mouth which doth rise from the parts below there is not a better thing than Harstrang taken in drinke with the seed or berries of the Cypresse tree And as for Sideritis the herb it is so powerfull that way that it stancheth bloud out of hand if it be applied kept fast to the wounds of these sword fencers that fight at sharp bleed they neuer so fresh the which effect we may see in the ashes and coles of Fennell-geant but the toad stoles or Mushrums growing about the root of the said plant doth the feat more surely in case the nose gush out with bloud Hemlock seed also beaten to pouder tempered with water and so put vp is counted very effectuall to stay the bleeding in like maner * Stephanomelis if it be applied with water The pouder of Betonie dried and drunk in Goats milk stancheth bloud issuing out of womens brests by the nepples The same doth Plantaine bruised and laid too in a pultesse The juice of Plantaine is good to be giuen them that vomite bloud For a bloud that runneth vp and downe breaking out one while here and another while there a liniment made of a Burre root and a little swines grease is commended to be excellent For such as be bursten or haue any rupture within be plucked with convulsions or haue faln from on high Centaury the greater the root of Gentian being stamped into pouder or boiled the juice of Betonie be counted singular means to recouer and more than that if a vein be broken by ouermuch straining the voice or the sides Likewise Panaces Scordium and Aristolochia taken in drinke serue well for the same purpose Moreouer if any be bruised within the body or haue bin ouerturned backeward and throwne downe it is good for them to drinke the weight of two oboli of Agarick in three cyaths of honied wine or in case an ague follow them withall in honied water for which purpose serueth also that kind of Verbascum or Mullen the floure whereof resembleth gold the root also of Acorus All the kindes of Housleeke to wit Prick-madam Horse-taile or Stone-crop but indeed the iuice of the biggest is most effectuall In like manner the decoction of Comfrey root and Carot taken raw There is an herbe called Erisithales with a yellow floure and leafed much after the manner of Brankvrsine the same ought to be drunk in wine as also Chamerops in the same case As for Irio it would be giuen in some supping and Plantain may be vsed any way it matters not how which herb hath this good property ouer and besides to cure the lowsie disease whereof Scylla the Dictatour died who was eaten with lice A wonderfull thing that in the very masse of bloud there should be ingendered such creatures to consume mans body But the juice of the wild vine called Vva Taminia as also of Ellebore is soueraigne against this foule and filthy maladie in case the body be annointed all ouer with a liniment made of it and oile together As for the said Taminia if it boyled in vineger it killeth such vermine breeding in clothes or apparell so they be washed or rubbed therewith CHAP. XIIII ¶ For vlcers and wounds To take away werts Of the herbe Polycnemon VLcers as they be of many sorts so they are cured after diuers manners If they be such as run and yeeld
the same againe saying withall this charme I tied the knot and I will vndo it againe therewith go his waies she shall soone after fall to her businesse and haue more speedy deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus both do affirme That if the squinancy be anointed with man or womans bloud it skilleth not out of what vein or part of the body it issued it is an excellent remedy for that disease The like effect it hath if their mouthes be rubbed with the said bloud who being ouertaken with the epilepsie are falne down for immediatly thereupon they will rise and stand vpon their feet Some write That if the great toes be pricked vntill they bleed again the drops that come forth worke the like effect in the falling sickenesse so that the face of the Patient be sprinkled or besmeared therewith or if a maiden touch the parties face that lieth in a fit of the said disease with her bare thumbe or great toe he shall come againe to himselfe and recouer By which experiment Physitians going by coniecture are of opinion That such persons subject to that disease should feed of the flesh of such beasts as neuer were with yong Aeschines a Physitian of Athens was wont to cure squinsies the inflammations of the amygdals the infirmities of the uvula and all cancerous sores with the ashes of a man or womans body burnt and this medicine he called Botryon Many maladies there bee that goe away the first time that either a man hath carnall knowledge of a woman or that a maid seeth her monthly sicknesse but if they end not at such a time commonly they proue chronicke diseases and continue a long time and especially the falling sicknesse It is said moreouer That the company of a woman easeth them very much who are stung with a scorpion but women in the same case catch harme by that means Some say also that if the eies be dipped three times in that water wherein a man or woman hath washed their feet they shall be troubled neither with blearednesse nor any other infirmity And others there be who affirm that the wens called the Kings euil the swelling kernels also behind the ears and the squinancy are cured with touching the hands of them that haue died a violent vntimely death Some stand not so much vpon that point but say That the backe of the hand of any one that is dead it skills not how nor by what means if it touch the grieued part wil work the like effect so that the dead party the Patient be both of one sex As for the tooth-ach it is a common speech That if one bite off a peece of some tree that hath been blasted or smitten with lightning prouided alwaies that he hold his hands behind him at his back in so doing the said morsell or peece of wood will take away the toothach if it be laid vnto the tooth Some there be who giue direction to take the perfume of a mans tooth burning in the fire for to ease the too h ach of a man and semblably of a womans tooth to help woâ—…en in the same case Others you shall haue that prescribe to draw one of the eie-teeth called in Latine Canini out of the head of man or woman lying dead and not yet enterred and to wear the same against the tooth-ach It is a common speech That the earth found in or about a man or womans scull is a singular depilatory and fetcheth away the haire of the eiebrows As for the grasse or weed that grows therein if any such may be found it causeth the teeth to fall out of the head with chewing only As also that no vlcer wil spread farther but keep at a stay if there be a circle drawne about it with the bone of a man or womans body As touching the cure of a tertian ague some there be who lade vp water out of 3 pits as much out of one as another and mingle all together which done they put the said water into a new earthen pot that neuer was occupied before begin to the Patient out of it giuing the rest vnto him or her for to drink when the fit commeth But for the quartan ague they get me a broken fragment of a wooden pin which held the sides crosse peece of a paire of gallows together wrap it within a lock of wool and so hang it about the Patient or els they take a peece of the halter or rope from the gallows and vse it in like maner for the foresaid purpose but wot ye what when the patient is by this meanes rid of the feuer the said parcel of wood or cord they vse to bury or bestow close in some hole within the ground where the Sun may neuer shine on it then the accesse wil neuer return more See the toies vanities of these Magitians and yet these be not all for they run on stil and say that if one take a whetstone which hath serued a long time to whet kniues other edge tooles on and lay the same vnder the boulster or pillow where one lieth that is ready to faint and giue vp the ghost vpon some indirect means by sorcery witchcraft or poisoning but this must be done without the knowledge of the said party you shal from the very mouth of the patient hear what poison was giuen in what place at what time but who it was that gaue it he or she shal not be able to name Moreouer this is known for a truth that if one be strucken speechlesse with lightning and then the body be bent and turned toward the wounded place the party shal recouer presently and speak again Some there be who to driue back and keep down the biles and botches that rise in the share take the thred or yearn out of the weauers loome which serue for the selvedge or list making seuen or nine knots and in the knitting of euery one of them name some widow or other and then tie it fast about the grieued place Also for to assuage the paine of any wound they giue order that the wounded party take a naile or some other thing that one hath troden vnder foot and to weare the same tied about the neck arme or other part of the body For to be rid of warts some chuse a time to pluck them vp by the roots when the Moone is twenty daies old at least and then lay themselues along vpon their backs in some ordinary high way looking fully vpon the Moone and stretching their armes backeward as farre as they can beyond their heads and looke what they can catch hold of with their hands therewith they rub the place If one cut and pare an agnell or corn in any part of the body obseruing a time when a star seemeth to shoot or fall they say it wil quickly weare away and be healed for euer They would beare vs in hand That if a man poure vineger vpon
receiue nor hold any thing it is good to presse hard and straine the feet together or els to thrust both hands into hot water To come now vnto our speech and exercise of the tongue in many cases and for diuers causes it is wholsom to speak but little I haue head say that Mecaenas Messius inioined himselfe three yeres silence and during that time neuer spake word for that in a fit of a convulsion or crampe he had beforetime cast vp bloud In case any thing be ready to fall or rush violently against vs and that we be in danger of some stroke say that we be climbing vp hill or turned downe backward or lying along there is not the like meanes againe to preserue our bodies as to hold our winde and this inuention we had from a bruit and dumbe beast according as I haue shewed before Moreouer it is said that to stick down a spike or yron naile in that very place where a man or womans head lay during the fit of the falling sicknesse at the very first time that hee or she fell secureth the party that so doth for euer being troubled with that disease Also it is holden for a singular thing to mitigat the intollerable torments of the reins loins and bladder to pisse with the body bending forward and groueling in the bathing tubs within the baines As for greene wounds it is wonderfull how soon they will be healed in case they be bound vp and tied with a Hercules knot and verily it is thought that to knit our girdles which we weare about vs euery day with such a knot hath a great vertue in it by reason that Hercules first deuised the same Demetrius in a treatise that he compiled as touching the number of foure affirmeth that it is of great efficacy and he alledgeth reasons why it is not good to prescribe in any medicine to be drunke the quantitie of foure sextars or foure cyaths To rub the ears behind is supposed to be very good for them that are giuen to be bleare-eied like as to rub the forehead forweeping or watering eies Concerning the signs of life death which may be found in man this is one That so long as the Patients eie is so cleare that a man may see himselfe in the apple of it wee are not to despaire of life As for the Vrine of mankind diuers authors haue treated of it who as I find haue not onely set downe their reasons in nature as touching the vertue thereof but also haue bin very ceremonious and superstitious in handling that argument yea and they haue written distinctly of the seuerall kinds of vrine digested into certain principal heads And among other things I remember that they set down the vrine of men that are vnable for generation to be singular good by way of injection to make women fruitfull But to speak of such remedies as we may be bold to name with honesty the vrine of yong children who be not yet vndergrowne nor 14 yeres of age is good against the venomous humor of the Aspides or Adders which the Greeks name Ptyades for that they spit their poison vpon the eies and faces of men and women Also the same is held to be singular for the pearle the cataract the filmes the pin and web in the eies like as for the eie-lids also and the accidents happening vnto them Being incorporate with the floure of Eruile it is good for sun-burnings sodden also with bolled leeks to the consumption of the one halfe in a new earthen pot which was neuer occupied it is excellent to mundifie the eares that run with matter or that haue any worms or vermin within them and verily a stouph made with the vapour of this decoction bringeth downe the desired sicknesse of women Dame Salpe ordaineth to foment the eies with the said decoction for to fortifie the sight and to strengthen them that they fal not out of the head she appointeth to make a liniment with it and the white of an egge but principally if it be of an ostrich and therewith to annoint the skin that hath bin tanned and burnt in the Sun for the space of two houres together with it a man may wash away any blots or blurs of ink Mans vrine is much commended for the gout in the feet as wee may see by Fullers who neuer be goutie because ordinarily their feet are in mens vrine Stale chamber-lie or vrin long kept and incorporat together with the ashes of oister shels cureth the red-gomb in yong infants and generally in all running vlcers the same so prepared serueth in a liniment for eating cankers burns and scalds the swelling piles the chaps and rifts in the seat and feet also for the sting of serpents The most expert and skilfull midwiues haue pronounced all with one resolution that for to kill an itch in any part of the body to heale a scald head to scoure away dandruffe and scurfe in the head or beard and to cure the corroding vlcers in any place but in the priuy members especially there is not a liquor more effectuall than vrine with a little sal-nitre put thereto But surely euery mans own water if I may for reuerence of manhood so say is simply best and namely if the Patient that is bitten with a dog do straightways bath the place therewith or in case there be any prick of vrchin hedghog or such like spill sticking in the flesh to apply the same thereto in spunges or wooll and so let it lie on But say it was a mad dog that bit the Patient or that he be stung with a serpent it is good to temper it with ashes and lay it vnto the sore For as touching the vertue thereof against Scolopendres it is wonderfull what is reported namely That whosoeuer be hurt by them if they doe wet the crown of their heads but with one drop of their own vrine it will presently cure the same so as they shall feele no more pain nor harm thereby Ouer and besides by the speculation of our vrine we are able to giue iudgement and pronounce of health and sicknesse for if the first water made in a morning be white and cleare and the next after it higher coloured and inclining to a deep yellow the former sheweth that concoction was then begun and the second is a signe that digestion is now perfect A red vrine is naught but the black is worst of all likewise if it be ful of bubbles and froth aloft and be withal of a grosse and thick subsistence the same is but a bad water If the Hypostasis or Sediment which setleth heauy to the botom be white it signifieth that there is some pain and grieuance like to insue about the joints or principall parts within the body Doth an vrine look greenish it betokeneth some obstruction or disease already in the noble bowels and inwards is it of a pale hew it saith that choler aboundeth in that
fauour The same is good to be drunke in oxymell to the weight of two oboli for the falling sicknesse and applied in forme of a pessarie it prouoketh womens fleurs Now if you would chuse the best Crocodilea take that which is whitest brittle or easie to crumble least weighty in hand and withall swelling in manner of a leuaine if it be rubbed between the fingers The manner is to wash it as they do white lead called Cerusse Sophisticated it is with amyll or the scouring Fullers clay Tuckers earth called Cimolia but principally with the dung that sterlings meut which are of purpose caught and fed only with rice Now there is not a better thing in the world say these Magitians for the cataract than to anoint the eies with it and honey together And if a man may beleeue their words there is a soueraigne perfume made of the guts and the whole body besides for women who are sicke of the mother or otherwise diseased in the matrice if they sit ouer it whiles it smoketh In like manner it doth them good to be lapped round about with wooll that hath bin so perfumed The ashes of the Crocodiles skin as well the bigger as the lesse brought into a liniment with vineger and applied vnto those parts of the body which had need to be cut away or dismembred causeth the patient to haue no sense or feeling at all either of saw or launcer The very swoke also of the said skin burning doth the semblable The bloud of both Crocodiles mundifieth the eies and causeth them to see cleare which are annointed therewith remouing the filmes and dispatching the spots that impeach the same The very body or flesh it selfe of the Crocodile all saue head and feet is good meat sodden for those who bee troubled with the Sciatica the same cureth an old cough especially the chin-cough in children and assuageth the paine of the loins The Crocodiles haue a certaine fat in them that is depilatorie for no sooner is the hare rubbed therewith but presently it sheddeth The said fat or grease preserueth those who be anointed therewith from the danger of the Crocodiles and is excellent good to bee melted and dropped into the wounds made by their bit The Crocodiles heart wrapped within a lock of wooll which grew vpon a black sheep hath no other color medled therewith so that the said sheep were the first lambe that the dam yeaned is said to driue away quartane agues To this discourse of Crocodiles wee shall not doe amisse if we annex other beasts in some sort resembling them and which be likewise straungers as well as they And to begin with the Chamaeleon Democritus verily made so great reckoning of this beast that hee compiled one entire booke expressely of it and hath anatomized euery seuerall member thereof and certes I cannot chuse but take great pleasure therein knowing as I do by that meanes how to descicipher and deliuer abroad the loud lies of vaine Greekes This Chamaeleon for shape bignesse is much answerable to the Crocodile last named differing onely in the curbing or crookednesse of the ridge-bone and largenesse of the taile There is not a creature in the world thought more fearefull than it which is the reason of that mutability whereby it turneth into such varietie of colours howbeit of exceeding great power against all the sorts of hawkes or birds of prey for by report let them fly and soare neuer so high ouer the Chamelaeon there is an attractiue vertue that will fetch them downe so as they shall fall vpon the Chamelaeon and yeeld themselues willingly as a prey to be torne mangled and deuoured by other beasts Democritus telleth vs a tale That if one burn the head and throat of the Chamaeleon in a fire made of oken wood there will immediatly arise tempests of rainy stormes and thunder together and the liuer will do as much saith he if it burne vpon the tiles of an house As for all the other vertues which the said author ascribeth to the Chamaeleon because they smell of witch-craft and I hold them meere lies I will ouerpasse them all vnlesse they be some few for which he deserueth well to be laughed at and would indeed be reproued by no other means better namely That the right eie of this beast if it be pulled out of the head whiles it is aliue taketh away the pearl pin and web in man or womans eies so it be applied therto with goats milk The tongue likewise plucked forth quicke secureth a woman from the danger of childbirth if shee haue it bound to her body whiles shee is in trauell If there be found by chance a Chamaeleon in the house where a woman is in labor she shall soon be deliuered in safety but if such an one bee brought thither of purpose the woman is sure to die Also the Chamaeleons tongue pulled out of the head whiles the Chamaeleon is quicke promiseth good successe in iudiciall trials The heart bound within black wooll of the first shearing is a most soueraigne remedy against quartan agues The right forefoot hanged fast to the left arm within the skin of a Hyaena is singular against the perrils and dangers by theeues and robbers as also to skar away hobgoblins and night spirits In like manner whosoeuer carry about them the right pap of this beast may bee assured against al fright and feare But the left foot they vse to torrifie in an ouen with the herb called also Chamaeleon and with some conuenient ointment or liquor to make in certaine trosches wherof if a man do carry any in a box of wood about him he shal go inuisible as sayth Democritus if we were so wise as to beleeue him who affirmeth moreouer That whosoeuer hath about him the right shoulder of the Chamaeleon shall be able to ouerthrow his aduersarie at the barre and to vanquish his enemie in the field but first hee must be sure to cast away and make riddance of the strings and sinewes belonging thereto and to tread them vnder-foot As for the left shoulder I am ashamed to relate vnto what monstrous spirits hee doth consecrate it and namely how by the vertue thereof a man may cause what dreames and fantasticall illusions hee listeth yea and make those whome hee will himselfe to imagine the same apparitions As also how the right foot of the said beast driueth away all such strange visions euen as the lethargie will goe away by the meanes of the left side of this beast which lethargie was occasioned by the right Touching head-ache hee sayth plainely that the next way to cure it is to be sprinckle and wet the same with wine wherein either of the two sides were soked Take the ashes quoth hee of the left thigh or foot chuse you whether incorporate the same with the milke of a Sow and therewith annoint the feet it wil be an occasion speedily to bring the gout vpon them But of the Chamaeleons
soles doth corrode in which respect it is good to eat away scurfe about the brims of sores and vlcers and verily Buls bloud fresh running out of the body is reckoned no better than venom and yet I must except Aegira a city in Achaia where the priestresse of the goddesse * Ops at what time as she is to prophesie and foretel things to come vseth by drinking buls bloud to prepare her self before she goeth down into the vault or shrouds out of which she deliuereth her prophesies so forcible is that sympathy wherof we speak so much that otherwhiles it is occasioned either by a religious opinion deuotion in mens mindes or els by the nature of some place Drusus somtimes a Tribune of the commons in Rome drank as it is reported Goats bloud to make himselfe look pale * wan in the face at what time as he meant to charge Q. Caepio his enemy with giuing him poison And verily the bloud of a buck goat is so strong that there is not any thing in the world wil either sharpen the edg of any yron tools sooner or harden the same when it is keen than it And as for the ruggednes of any blade it wil take it away more effectually and polish it better than the very file Considering then this diuersity which is seen in the bloud of beasts I cannot write thereof in such generall termes as of a thing indifferently common to euery one of them but I must be forced to speak particularly of their seuerall effects In which regard I will treat respectiuely of beasts according as they do yeeld remedies against this or that malady and first as touching those which are aduerse vnto Serpents To begin then with Stags and Hinds no man there is so ignorant but he knoweth that they plague serpents to the very death for they pluck them forth of their holes and eat them when they haue don And not only whiles they be aliue do they war against serpents with the breath of their nosthrils but also when they be dead euery member and piece of their body is contrary vnto them Burn a piece of an Harts horne you shall see how the smoke and smell thereof will chase away serpents as I haue obserued hertofore yet they say that the perfume of the bones which are about the throat of a Stag hath a contrary property to gather them together Let a man lay vnder him Stags skins in stead of a mattrace he shall sleep securely without any feare that serpents will approch to do him harm The rennet in their maw or the rede it selfe if it bee drunk with vineger is a soueraigne antidot against their venomous sting and look what day one do but handle it he shall be sure and safe from any danger by them The genetoirs of a Stagge kept vntill they be dry like as the pizzle also made into pouder and taken in wine is a singular counterpoison resisting the venome of Serpents Euen as the rim of the paunch which is called in Latine Centipellio Whosoeuer haue about them so much as the tooth of an Hart or be annointed with the marrow or suet of a Stag Buck or Hind-calfe need not to fear any serpents for they will flie from them But aboue all remedies there is none like to the rennet of a Fawne or Hind-calfe such a one especially as was ripped out of the dams belly as I haue shewed heretofore If together with Deeres bloud there be burned the herbe Dragon bastard Mariaram and Orchanet in a fire made with Lentisk wood Serpents by report will gather round together into an heap take away the same bloud and put into the fire the root of Pyrethrum they will scatter asunder againe I read in Greek writers of a certain beast lesse than a Stag but like in haire called Ophion which folk say is wont to be found only in the Isle Sardinia but I suppose that the race of them is vtterly extinct and gone Wherefore I will forbeare to write of the medicinable properties reported by that beast CHAP. X. ¶ The medicines against Serpents found in the wild Bore in Goats and wild horses Also of other remedies which diuers beasts do yeeld against all diseases THe brains of a wild Bore is highly commended against the sting and venome of serpents So is the bloud likewise Semblably is the liuer kept and preserued long with Rue if the same be drunk in wine In like maner the fat of the wild bore incorporat with hony rosin Also the liuer of a tame bore being clensed from the filaments and strings therein taken to the weight of foure oboli or the very brains drunke in wine If a man burn the horn or haire of goats the fume therof driueth away serpents as it is commonly said and the ashes that come thereof either drunke inwardly or applied in a liniment without are of great force against their stings Moreouer a draught of Goats milke taken with the grape of the vine Taminia or of their vrine drunk with squilliticke vineger Furthermore it is said that cheese made of Goats milk together with Origan vsed in a cataplasme or their tallow incorporat with wax worketh the like effect A thousand medicines besides are reported to be drawn from this beast as shall hereafter appeare whereat for mine own part I much maruel considering it is commonly said that he is neuer out of a feuer The wilde of this kinde doe affoord medicines more effectuall than the tame and those as I haue said multiplie exceedingly As for the Bucks or male Goats they haue medicinable properties apart by themselues And Democritus saith That the Buck which the dam bare alone is of greater efficacy than any other who affirmeth moreouer that it is very good to anoint the place stung with serpents with Goats dung sodden in vineger also with the ashes of the said dung fresh made and tempered with wine into a liniment In sum as many as hardly are cured of serpents stings recouer therof passing wel if they ordinarily haunt Goat-pens and stals where they be kept But such as would haue a more speedy assured cure take the panch cut out of a Goat newly killed together with the dung found therein presently bind the same fast to the place affected so soone as they be stung Others perfume the flesh newly hurt with kids hair burnt with the same smoke chase away serpents they vse also to apply their skin newly flaied to the wound like as the flesh and dung of a horse that lieth out and feedeth abroad in the field the rennet likewise of an Hare in vineger against the prick of a scorpion and the venomous tooth of an hardishrew Moreouer it is said that as many as rub and anoint their bodies with hares rennet need not feare their stinging If any be hurt by a scorpion Goats dung helpeth them but the better if it be boiled in vineger and in case
for carbuncles take the brains of a tame sow rost the same and apply it vnto the sores it is a soueraigne remedy Touching the scabs that men be subject vnto there is not the like medicine for killing the same to the marow of an asse a liniment made with the vrin of the said beast together with the earth vpon which he hath staled Butâ—…r likewise is very good in that case as also for the farcins sullanders and mallanders in horses if it be applied therto with rosin made hot so is strong buls gluedissolued in vineger with quick lime put thereto also goats gall tempered with the ashes of alume calcined For the red blisters and meazils likewise there is not a better medicine than the dung of a cow or oxe and therupon they tooke the name of Boae The mange in dogs is healed with beasts bloud so they be bathed therewith whiles it is fresh and warm and after the same is dried vpon the body to follow it a second time the same day the morrow after to wash them throughly with lie made of strong ashes If thorns spills bones and such like things haue gotten into the flesh and there sticke cars durg is very good to draw the same forth likewise the treddles of a goat with wine Any rendles also but especially that which is found in an hares maw serue in that case reduced into a salue with the pouder of frankincense and oile or else with the like quantity of birdlime or the cereous matter in the Bee-hiue called Propolis Furthermore the grease of an asse is singular to reduce any swe rt sploches and black skars to a fresh and natiue colour which if they ouergrow the skin about them are brought downe and made more euen and subtill by an inunction of calues gall but the Physitians prepare the sayd gall with an addition of myrrh hony and safron and then put it vp in a brasen box for their vse yet some there be who mingle with the rest verdegris or the rust of brasse CHAP. XIX ¶ Receits appropriat to the maladies of women and the diseases of sucking babes also remedies for them that are vnable to performe the act of generation TO begin with the naturall course of womens purgation the gall of a bul or oxe applied to their secâ—…et parts in vnwashed greasie wooll is very effectuall to bring the same down The skilfull midwife of Thebes Olympias vsed to put thereto hyssope and sal-nitre For this purpose harts horne burnt to ashes is very good to be taken in drinke But if the matrice be out of order and vnsetled it is not amisse to apply the same ashes vnto the naturall parts yea and buls gall together with Opium to the weigh of two oboli or else perfume their secret parts with a suffumigation of deers hair Moreouer it is said that the hinds when they perceiuethemselues to be in calf swallow down a little stone which is singular good for women with child to carry about them that they may go out their full time and therefore much seeking there is after this stone which is commonly found among their excrements at such a time or else in their womb if haply they be killed with calfe for then it is to be had there also Moreouer there are found certain little bones in the heart and matrice of an hinde and those bee passing good for great bellied women and such as be in â—…auel of child-birth As for that stony substance resembling a pumish which in like manner is found in the wombe of kine I haue spoken already in my discourse or Kine and their nature If the matrice of a woman be growne hard and haue a scirrhe in it the fat of a wolfe will mollifie it if it be grieued with paine the liuer of a wolfe assuageth the same When women be neare their time and ready to cry out it is good for them to eat wolues flesh or if when they fall first to trauell there be but one by them who hath eaten therof this is such an effectuall thing that if they were forespoken or indirectly dealt withall by sorcery witchcraft this is thought to ease them of paine and procure them speedy deliuerance But in case such a one as hath eaten wolues flesh chance to come into the chamber when a woman is in the mids of their trauell she shall surely haue a hard bargaine and die of it Moreouer great vse there is of the hare in all womens infirmities for the lungs of an hare dried made into pouder and taken in drinke is comfortable to the matrice and helpeth it in many accidents thereof the liuer drunk with Samian earth in water staieth the excessiue flux of their fleurs the rennet of their maw fetcheth away the after-birth when it staieth behind but then in any wise the woman must not bathe or sweat in bain theday before the same rennet appliedas a cataplasme vpon a quilt of wooll with Safron the juice of porret forceth the dead infant within the mothers wombe to come forth Many are of opinion that if a woman eat with her meat the matrice of an hare she shall thereupon conceiue a man child if she company with her husband And some say that the genetoirs of the male hare yea the rendles are good for that purpose And it is thought that if a woman who hath giuen ouer bearing children doe eat the young leueret taken forth of the dams belly when she is newly bagd she wil find the way again to conceiue breed freshly as before but the magitians do prescribe the husband also to drink the bloud of an hare for so say they he shall sooner get his wife with child And they affirme moreouer that if a maiden be desirous her brests or paps should not grow any more but stand alwaies at one stay knit vp round and small she is to drink 9 treddles or grains of hares dung and for the same intent they aduise a virgin to rub her bosom with a hares rennet hony together also to anoint the place with hares bloud where the haire is plucked off if they be desirous that it should not grow again As touching the ventosities and inflation of the matrice it is good to vse thereto a liniment made of bores or swines dung incorporat with oile but in this disease it were better for to represse the said windines flatuosity to spice a cup with the pouder of the same dung dried giue it to the woman to drink for whether she be vexed with wrings whiles she is with child or pained with afterthrows in childbed she shall find much ease by that potion Furthermore it is said that sows milk giuen with honied wine to a woman that is in labour helps her to speedy deliuerance Let a woman newly brought to bed drink the same milk alone she will proue a good milch nource and haue her brests strut with milke but
it helpeth them when they breed teeth or haue their gums sore or mouth exulcerat If there be hung about the neck of a little infant the tooth of a wolfe it keepeth them from starting or skriching in their sleep for feare and allaieth the pain which they feele in toothing the same doth also a wolues skin And verily the great master teeth and grinders of a wolfe beeing hanged about an horse necke cause him that he shall neuer tire and be weary be he put to neuer so much running in any race whatsoeuer Let a nurce anoint her brest with the rennet of an hare the babe that she giueth sucke vnto shall by that means be knit in the belly and not be troubled with the laske The liuer of an Asse with a little of the herb Panax mingled withal dropped into the mouth of an infant preserueth it from the falling sicknes and other dangerous diseases but this they say must be don for forty daies together If a child be lapped in a mantle or bearing-cloth made of an asse skin it shall not be affrighted at any thing The colts teeth that first fall from an horse-fole if they be hung about yong childrens necks ease them much of the pain that they haue in breeding teeth but more effectuall they be in case they neuer touched the ground The milt of a boeufe eaten with honey and the same reduced to a liniment and applied accordingly is good for the pain of the spleen put hony thereto it healeth the running skals that trouble children The milt of a calfe sodden in wine stamped and brought into a liniment healeth the cankers or little sores in the mouth that yong infants be subiect vnto The Magitians haue a deuise to take the brains of a female goat let it passe through a gold ring to drop the same into the mouth of infants new born before the teat be giuen vnto them which they say is singular good against the falling sicknes and other infirmities that to such babes are incident Goats dung wrapt within a piece of cloth and so hanged about a yong child stilleth it being neuer so froward or vnquiet and a girl especially The gums of yong babes washed with goats milk or annointed with hares braines cause them to haue great ease in toothing Cato is of opinion that whosoeuer vseth to eat hares flesh shall sleep well And the common sort of people are persuaded that the meat of this kind of venison causeth them that feed vpon it to look fair louely gracious for a week together afterwards For mine own part I think verily it is but a toy and meere mockery howbeit there must needs be some cause reason of this setled opinion which hath thus generally caried the world away to think so the magitians affirm for certain that if the eies be anointed with the gal of a female goat such only as had bin offred in sacrifice or laid vnder the pillow in bed it wil procure them to take their repose who were far out of sleep the ashes of a goats horn incorporat into an vnguent with oile of myrtles keeps those from diaphoretical sweats who are anointed therwith A liniment made of bores gall prouoketh vnto carnal lust the same effect there is of that virulent slime which Virgil the Poet describeth to drop from a mares shap against the time that she is to be couered also the stones of an horse so dried that they may be reduced into pouder for to be put in drink moreouer the right genetoir of an asse drunk in wine as need requireth or tied in a bracelet fast to the arme inciteth to venerie furthermore the frothie sperme that an asse sheddeth after he hath couered the female gathered vp in a peece of red cloth and inclosed within siluer so caried about one is of great power in this case as Osthanes mine author saith But Salpe a famous courtizan giueth direction to plunge the genitall member of this beast seuen times together in hot oile and with the said oile to anoint the share and parts therabout Bialcon aduiseth to drink the ashes of the said member or the stale of a bull presently after hee hath done his kind to a cow and with the earth that is moistened and made mire with the said stale to anoint the priuy parts Contrariwise there is not a thing that cooleth the lust of a man more than to annoint the said parts with the dung of myce and rats To conclude for to auoid drunkennesse take the lungs of an hog be it bore or sow it matters not in like manner of a kid and rost it whosoeuer eateth thereof fasting shall not be drunke that day how liberally soeuer he take his drinke CHAP. XX. ¶ Strange and wonderfull things obserued in beasts THere be other admirable properties and vertues reported of the same beast ouer besides those before rehearsed for it is said that whosoeuer do find and take vp an horse shoe shaken from the houfe an ordinary thing that happeneth vpon the way when a horse casteth his shooe and lay the same vp they shall find a remedy for the yox if they do but call to mind and thinke vpon the place where they bestowed the same Also that the liuer of an Hare is in this regard for curing of the hicket like to an horse shooe Moreouer if an horse doe follow in chase after a wolfe and chance to tread vpon the tracts where the wolfe hath run he will be broken winded and burst euen vnder the man vpon his backe It is thought moreouer that the ankle-bones of swine haue a property to make debate and quarrels Also when any sheep-pens or oxe-stals be on a fire if some of the dung be cast forth the sheepe and oxen that be within will sooner be gotten and drawne forth and neuer come thither again Furthermore that goats flesh will haue no ranke smell or taste if so be the same day that they were killed they did eat barley bread or drinke water wherein Laser was infused Besides that no flesh which is powdred well with salt in the wane of the moone shall euer corrupt and be subiect to worme or maggot But see how diligent and curious our ancestors haue bin in searching out the secrets of euery thing insomuch as we find obserued by them That a deafe Hare will sooner feed and grow fat than another that heareth And to come vnto leechcraft belonging to beasts it is said that if an horse void bloud excessiuely it is good to poure or iniect into the body hogs dung with wine As for the maladies of kine and oxen tallow sulphur-vif crow garlick a sodden hens egge are singular good medicines to be giuen euery one of them beaten together in wine the fat also of a fox is good in that case If swine be diseased the broth made of horse-flesh sodden is very good to be giuen them in their wash to drinke And in what disease soeuer
be the venomous flie Buprestis or the deadly herb Aconitum The dung of wild quoists or stockdoues taken in drink hath a speciall vertue to helpe those that haue drunke quicke-siluer Finally the flesh of the ordinary or common house weazill kept in salt is a present counterpoison against allvenome that goeth vnder the name of Toxicum if one drinke of it the weight of two drams CHAP. VI. ¶ Medicines to bring haire againe in places that by some disease are bald also to rid away nits for to rectifie and keepe in order the Eye-lids and the haire growing thereupon for to cure the pearle in the Eye and generally for all the accidents befalling to the Eyes lastly for the impostumat kernels behind the eares THe naked places in head or beard are replenished again with haire by a liniment made of the ashes of sheeps dung incorporat in Cyprin oile hony also with the ashes of mules or mullets houses applied with oile of Myrtles Our countryman and Latine writer Varro affirmeth moreouer That the dung of mice which he by a proper name calleth Muscerda is a convenient medicine for the said infirmity and defect he attributeth also the same operation to the heads of flies applied fresh to the bald place if so be the same were before rubbed hard and in some sort fretted with a figtree leafe Some vse in this case the bloud of flies others mingle their ashes with the ashes of paper vsed in old time or els of nuts with this proportion that there be a third part only of the ashes of flies to the rest and herewith for 10 daies together rub the bare places where the haire is gone Some there be again who temper and incorporat together the said ashes of flies with the juice of the Colewort and brest-milk others take nothing thereto but hony Certes a strange thing it is of these flies which are taken to be as senselesse and witlesse creatures yea and of as little capacity and vnderstanding as any other whatsoeuer and yet at the solemne games and plaies holden euery fifth yeare at Olympia no sooner is the bull sacrificed there to the Idoll or god of Flies called Myiodes but a man shall see a wonderfull thing to tell infinit thousands of flies depart out of that territory by flights as it were thicke clouds But to come again to the foresaid infirmity of haire-shedding the ashes of the heads tails yea and the whole bodies of nice burnt are very good to make it come again especially if the haire went off by occasion of some venomous matter or poison so are the ashes of an vrchin or hedgehog medled with hony or the skin therof burnt and applied with tar As for the head alone of an vrchin consumed into ashes it is thought so effectual for this purpose that it will cause haire to grow again vpon a skar but for the cure of the foresaid defect of haire called Alopecia the places ought before the application of those topicke medicines to be wel prepared with the razour and a sinapisme or rubificatiue made of mustard-seed vntill the place look red howbeit some chuse rather to take vineger vnto it Here note by the way that whatsoever vertue we attribute vnto hedgehogs the same is more effectuall in the porkespine Moreouer Lizards torrified yea and calcined as I haue shewed before with the root of reeds or canes that be green and new drawn which that it may burne the better with the Lizards ought to be sliced small yeeld ashes which being incorporat well in oile of myrtles doe retaine the haire and keep it from shedding if the place be annointed therwith and the green lizards in this cure and operation be simply the best but if you would haue this medicine to work more effectually put thereto salt Bears grease and Onions stamped Some there be who in ten sextars of old oile seeth ten greene Lizards and therewith make a liniment thinking it sufficient therewith to annoint the place once a moneth and no oftener The ashes of vipers skins doth raise haire quickly againe and make it grow apace where it was shed so doth Hens dung that is fresh and new if the place be plied with annointing Take a rauens egge and mix it with the dung aforesaid in a vessell of brasse and therewith rub and annoint the head so that it were shauen before it will cause the new haire to come vp blacke but vntill this vnguent be dried vpon the head the patient must hold oile in his mouth for feare lest the teeth also by this means turn blacke and withall this ought to be done in the shade or within house and the foresaid ointment not to be washed off in 4 daies space Others in this cure vse the bloud and brains of a rauen together with some thick and deep coloured wine Some boile a rauen throughly vntill the flesh be parted from the bones and in the dead time of the night when euery body is found asleepe put him vp into some pot or vessell of lead There be again who hauing prepared and rubified the skin with salnitre do annoint the place where the haire is gone or groweth thin with a liniment made of Cantharides and tar punned incorporat together Now forasmuch as Cantharides be of a caustick quality and corrosiue great heed would be taken that they doe not fret and eat into the skin over deep Now when the place is thus prepared and lightly exulcerat they ordain to apply thereto a liniment made of mice heads and their galls incorporat and wrought together with their dung putting thereto Ellebore and Pepper The head many times is pestered with nits but for to rid them away there is not a better thing than dogs grease Some for this purpose make a dish of meat with snakes dressing and ordering them as eels and so eat them or els they take their slough which they slip off in the spring time and drinke the same Otherwhiles there be certaine branny scales called dandruffe which ouer-spread the head to clense it from this scurfe and deformity it were not amisse to annoint the head with sheeps gal tempered with fullers scouring clay and let it remaine on the head vntill it be drie For the painfull head-ache it is commonly thought that the heads of naked snails I meane those that be found without shels and are vnperfect yet and not fully made plucked from their bodies are a singular remedy to be hung about the neck or tied to the head with this charge that there be taken forth of their heads first a certain stony hard substance which is made flat and broad like a thin grauell stone and if the said snails be but yong and small they vse to stamp them and in manner of a frontall apply them to the forehead In like manner the bones of a Vultures head whether it be the common Geire or that which the Greeks cal Aegypios hanged about the neck or fastned
them shels and all into a plaister or liniment but especially such as be found sticking to the roots of shrubs and bushes The ashes of the serpent Aspis calcined are likewise very good for this disease if they be incorporat with buls tallow so applied Some vse snakes grease and oil together also a liniment made with the ashes of snakes burnt tempered either with oil or wax Moreouer it is thought that the middle part of a snake after the head and taile both be cut away is very wholsome meat for those who haue the kings euill or to drink their ashes being in the same manner prepared and burnt in a new earthen pot neuer occupied mary if the said snakes chanced to be killed between two cart-tracts where the wheeles went the medicine will look much more effectually Some giue counsell to apply vnto the affected place Crickets digged out of the earth with the mould and al that commeth vp Also to apply Pigeons dung only without any thing els or at the most to temper it with Barley meale or Oatmeale in vinegre Likewise to make a liniment of a Moldwarps ashes incorporat with hony Some there be who take the liuer of a Moule crush and bruise it between their hands working it into a liniment and lay the same to the sore and there let it drie on the place and wash it not off in three daies And they affirme That the right foot af a Moule is a singular remedie for this disease Others catch some of them cut off their heads stampe them with the mould that they haue wrought and cast vp aboue ground reduce them into certain trochisks which they keep in a box or pot of tinne and vse them by way of application to all tumors and impostumes which the Greeks call Apostemata and especially those that rise in the necke but then they forbid the patient to eat porke or any swines flesh during the cure Moreouer there is a kind of earth-beetles called tauri i. Buls which name they took of the little hornes that they carry for otherwise in colour they resemble tickes some tearme them Pedunculos terrae earth lice These also worke vnder the ground like wants and cast vp mould which serueth in a liniment for the Kings euil such like swelling as also for the gout in the feet but it must not be washed off in three daies space Howbeit this is to be noted that this medicine must be renued euery year for the said mould wil continue no longer in vertue than one year In sum there be attributed to these beetles all those medicinable properties which I haue assigned vnto the crickets called Grylli Moreouer some there be who vse in manner and cases aforesaid the mould which ants do cast vp Others for the Kings euil take iust as many mads or earthworms in number as there be wens gathered and knotted together and bind the same fast vnto them letting them to drie vpon the place and they are persuaded that the said wens will drie away and consume together with them There be again who get a Viper about the rising of the Dog star cut off the head and taile as I said before of snakes and the middle part betweene they burne the ashes that come thereof they giue afterwards to be drunke for three weeks together euery day as much as may be comprehended and taken vp at three fingers ends and thus they cure and heale the kings euill Moreouer there be some that hang a Viper by a linnen thread fast tied somewhat vnder the head so long till she be strangled and dead and with that thread bind the soresaid wens or Kings euill promising vnto their patients assured remedie by this meanes They vse also the Sowes called Multipedae and incorporat the same with a fourth part in proportion to them of true Turpentine and they be of opinion That this ointment or salue is sufficient to cure any impostumes whatsoeuer As touching the paines that lie in the shoulders there is a proper medicine made in forme a liniment with the ashes of a Weazill tempered with wax which easeth the same To keepe young boies from hauing any haire growing on their face that they may seem alwaies young it is good to annoint their cheekes and chin with Ants egges Also the marchants or hucksters that buy yong slaues to sell them againe for gaine vse to hinder the growth of hair as well of the visage as in the armeholes and vpon the share that they may be taken for young youths still by annointing those parts with the bloud that commeth from lambs when they be libbed which ointment doth good also to the armpits for to take away the ranke and rammish smell thereof but first the haire there growing ought to be pulled vp by the roots Now that I am come to speake of the precordiall region of the body know this That by this one word Praecordia I meane the inwards or entrailes in man or woman called in Latine Exta whensoeuer then there shall be pain felt in these parts or any of them apply thereto a yong sucking whelpe and keepe it hard huggled to the place doubtlesse the said griefe will passe away from the part to the puppie it selfe as men say and this hath been found true by experience in one of those whelpes ripped and opened aliue and the said bowels taken forth for looke what part in man or woman was grieued the very same was seene infected thereupon in the puppie And such whelpes thus vsed for the curing and taking vpon them our maladies were wont to be enterred with great reuerence and ceremoniall deuotion As touching the pretty little dogs that our daintie dames make so much of called Melitaei in Latine if they be euer and anon kept close vnto the stomacke they ease the paine therof And in very truth a man shall perceiue such little ones to be sicke yea and many times to die thereupon whereby it is euident that our maladies passe from vs to them CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the diseases incident to the lights and liuer Of those that vse to cast and reach vp bloud at the mouth MIce are very good for the infirmities of the lungs especially those of Barbarie if they be first flaied then sodden in oile and salt and so giuen to the patient for to eat Thus prepared and vsed they cure them that either spit purulent and filthy matter or else reach vp shere bloud But a dish of meat made of snailes with shels is most excellent for the stomacke But for the better ordering and dressing of them first they ought to siver ouer the fire and take a few waulmes till they be parboiled without touching or medling one jot with their body afterwards they must be broiled vpon the coales without putting any thing in the world vnto them and then to be serued vp in wine and fish pickle or brine called Garum and so eaten But the best
for this purpose are those of Barbarie It is not long agoe that this experiment was found but since it was once known many haue done themselues much good thereby But that which I had well neare forgotten many obserue to take them in some od number Howbeit as holesome as they are supposed to be otherwise this discommoditie is found by them That they cause those to haue a strong and stinking breath that vse to eat them Being stamped without their shels and so drunk in water they helpe them that reach bloud vpward But that you may know that there be degrees of them in goodnes The best snailes simply are they of Barbary and namely those about the quarter neere Soli Next to them are much esteemed such as are gathered in the Islands Astypelaea and Sicilia for they are of a meane bignesse for such as be grown very great haue their flesh hard and bevoid of humidity Then are ranged in a third place those that come from the Baleare Islands called Cavaticae because they breed in caues and holes There be good also brought from the Islands Capreae Holesom these shel-snailes may be well ynough but toothsome surely they are not whether they be old kept or new taken Those that be found in riuers which haue white shels cary a rank and strong sauour with them so do the wild sort that are not kept vp and fed in stewes pits and be hurtfull to the stomack but good to loosen the bellie euen so are all the sort of the little ones But contrariwise those that breed in the sea are better for the stomack than others and most effectuall to allay the pains therof Moreouer it is said that they do most good of what kind soeuer if they be swallowed downe aliue all whole with vinegre Moreouer there be of these snailes called Aceratae of a broad making and growing in many and sundry formes of whose properties and how they are to be vsed I wil write elswhere in place conuenient The inner skin of a Hen or Capons gesier preserued till it be drie and reduced into pouder and so put into a cup of drinke like spice the same also eaten fresh newly rosted or broiled is singular for the catarrhes that fall into the breast and for a moist cough Shel-snails punned raw giuen in a supping with three cyaths of warm water serue wel to appease stay the cough Take a piece of a dogs skin and tie the same about any one of your fingers which you will it staies all rheumes and distillations The broth made of Patridges is soueraigne to comfort and refresh the stomack As touching the griefe oâ—… pain of the liuer it is said That the flesh of a wild Weazill or her liuer eaten is a singular meat therfore so be Ferrets rosted in manner of little pigs The worms with many feet called sowes or cheselips are very proper for them that draw their wind short but there must be one and twentie of them neither more nor lesse dissolued in the best Atticke hony and so giuen in drink and swallowed down by a pipe or tunill the reason why they must be thus conueied through such a cane or tunill is this because looke what cup or boule they so touch they staine the same black Some take of them to the quantitie of one sextar and torrifie them vpon a pan or platter vntill they looke white and be calcined and then incorporat them in hony there be Latine writers who call this worme Centipeda as if it had an hundred feet and then giue direction that they should be taken in hot water Furthermore it is said That if the patient do either eat or drinke for the space of nine daies together one snaile hot stamped shell and all in three cyaths of wine cuit he shall find helpe if he were giuen either to faint and swoune or to be lunatick and to go beside himselfe or else be subject to the dizzinesse of the head Others giue order to take them after another maner namely one the first day the morrow twain the third day three the fourth two and the fift one again and in this wise they cure those who are shortwinded or haue an impostume broken within their bodie There is a kinde of Insect resembling a Locust but that it hath no wings which in Greek is called Tryxalis a Latine name it hath not found yet as some do thinke and writers there be not a few who are of opinion That it is the same that our Gryllus or criquet Call it what you will let there be twenty of them torrified and drunk in honied wine it is reported for to be a singular medicine for those that cannot take their breath but sitting vpright and for such as spit bloud There is one writer who ordaineth to take snailes vnwashed and to poure vpon them either the Mere-gout of the grape that runneth on t first without pressing or else sea-water and so to boile them therein and afterwards to eat them for a cough And the same Authour giueth counsell to pun them shels and all and to take them with the foresaid Mere-gout to the same effect Touching inward impostumes broken the hony wherein a number of Bees haue bin drowned to death hath a peculiar vertue to heale them The lungs of a Vulture burned to pouder in a fire made of Vine-cuttings giuen in wine morning euening if the patient be free from the ague so there be put thereto one moitie of Pomegranat floures and the floures of Quinces and Lillies as much of each is a very soueraign remedie for those that cast vp bloud out of their bodie but if he be in a feauer the same medicine would be taken in the decoction of Quinces As for the paine of the spleene if we may beleeue the receits and prescriptions of the Magicians the patient ought to haue the milt or spleen of a sheep spread and laid ouer the place but the patient that hath the application thereof must say these words withall This I do to cure the spleene Which done and said the same milt of the sheep must be laid vp close and hidden within the wall or behind the seeling of the bed chamber where the sick body lieth and sealed vp with a signet for feare it should be taken away with this charge that he or she that hath the bestowing of it repeat the foresaid charme nine times thrice ouer If a dogs bellie be ripped aliue and the spleen taken forth whosoeuer eateth thereof shall find it very good to ease them of the said maladie But some content themselues with laying it fresh and warme to the region of the spleen Others giue the spleen of a young whelpe but two daies old in squillitick vinegre to the patient but they make not the patient acquainted with the medicine what it is or else they minister the spleen of an Hedgehog in the same manner Likewise they giue the
there was not that vse of them in physick as at this present for now adays if folk be amisse or il at ease straightwaies they run to the bains and bath for remedy And in truth those waters which stand vpon brimstone be good for the sinews such as come from a veine of alume are proper for the palsie or such like infirmities proceeding from resolution of the nerues Moreouer they that hold of bitumen or nitre such as be the fountains Cutiliae be potable and good to be drunke and yet they are purgatiue To come to the vse of natural bains and hot waters many men in a brauery sit long in a bath and they take a pride in it to indure the heat of the water many hours together and yet is there nothing so hurtfull for the body for in truth a man should continue little longer in them than in ordinary artificiall bains or stouphs and then afterwards when he goeth forth hee is to wash his body with fresh cold water not without some oile among Howbeit our common people here thinke this to be very strange will not be brought to to it which is the reason that mens bodies in no place are most subject to diseases for the strong vapours that steme from thence stuffe and fil their heads and although they sweat in one part yet they chil in another notwithstanding the rest of their bodies stand deep within the water Others there are besides who on the like erronious conceit take great joy in drinking a deal of this water striuing avie who can poure most of it downe the throat I haue my selfe seen some of them so puffed vp and swolne with drinking that their very skin couered and hid the rings vpon their fingers namely when they were not able to deliuer again the great quantity of water that they had taken in Therefore this drinking of much water is not good to be vsed vnles a man do eftsoons eat salt withall Great vse there is and to good purpose of the mud which these fountains do yeeld but with this regard that when the body is besmeared and bedawbed outwardly therwith the same may dry vpon it in the Sun Well these hot waters be commonly full of vertue howbeit this is not generall That if a spring be hot by and by we should think it is medicinable for the experience of the contrary is to be seen in Egesta of Sicily in Larissa Troas Magnesia Melos and Lipara Neither is it a sure argument of a medicinable water as many are of opinion if a piece of siluer or brasse which hath bin dipped therein lose the colour for there is no such matter to be seene by the naturall baths of Padua neither is there perceiued in them any difference in smell from others Concerning Sea waters the same order and mean is to be obserued especially in such as bee made hot for to help the pains and infirmities of the sinews and many hold them good to souder fractures of bones yea and to cure their bruises and contusions likewise they haue a desiccatiue vertue wherby they dry rheumaticke bodies in which regard men bath also in sea water actually cold Moreouer the sea affoor deth other vses in diuers and sundry respects but principally the aire therof is wholsome for those who are in a phthysicke or consumption as I haue beforesaid and cureth such as doe reach or void bloud vpward and verily I remember of late daies that Annaeus Gallio after that he was Consull tooke this course namely to saile vpon the sea for this infirmity What is the cause think ye that many make voiages into Aegypt surely it is not for the aire of Egypt it self but because they lie long at sea and be sailing a great while before they come thither Furthermore the vomits also which are occasioned at sea by the continual rolling and rocking of the ships neuer standing stil are good for many maladies of head eies and brest and generally they doe cure all those accidents for which the drinking of Ellebore serueth As for sea water to be applied simply of it selfe vnto the outward parts physitians are of opinion that it is more effectual than any other for to discusse resolue tumors more particularly if there be a cataplasme made of it and barly meale sodden together it is singular for the swellings behind the ears called Parotides They mingle the same likewise in plasters such especially as be white and emollitiues and if the head be hurt and the * brain touched and offended it is soueraigne to be infused into the wound It is prescribed also to be drunke for albeit the stomack take some offence and hurt thereby yet it purgeth the body well and doth euacuat melancholick humors and black choler yea and if the bloud bee cluttered within the body it sendeth it out one way or other either vpward or downeward Some haue ordained it to be giuen for the quartan feuer others aduise to saue and keep it a time for to serue the turne in case of Tinesmes which are vnordinat strainings at the stoole to no effect also for all gouts and pains of joints and in very truth by age long keeping it forgoeth al that brackish tast which it had at the first Some boile it before but all in generall agree in this To vse for these purposes that sea water which was taken out of the deep far from the land such as is not corrupt with any mixture of fresh water with it and before their patients do drink it enjoyne them to vomit and then also do they mingle with it either vineger or wine for that purpose They that giue little thereof and by it selfe appoint radishes to be eaten presently vpon it with honied vineger or oxymell for to prouoke the patient to vomit againe Moreouer they vse otherwhile to minister a clystre made of sea water first warmed verily there iâ—… not a better thing than it for to bath and foment the cods withall if they be swelled either with ventosities or waterish humors Also it is much commended for kibed heels if they be taken before they are broken and exulcerat and in like manner they kill the itch cure scabs tettars and ringwormes Sea water serueth wel to wash the head to rid it of nits and filthy lice yea and reduceth black and blew marks in the skin to the fresh and liuely colour againe In all these cures after the vse of salt-water it is passing good to foment the place affected with vineger hot Ouer and besides it is thought to be very wholsome and good against the venomous stings of serpents and namely of the spiders Phalangia and scorpions Semblably it cureth those that be infected outwardly with the noysome saliuation or spittle of the Aspis called Ptyas but in these cases it must be taken hot furthermore a perfume made with sea-water and vineger is singular for the head-ach If it be clysterized hot
the said Tortoise a long while in wine Moreouer the gall of Tortoises mixed with hony amendeth all the imperfections incident to the eies if they bee annointed therewith yea if it were a cataract the gall of a sea Tortoise tempered with the bloud of a riuer Torroise and womans milk riddeth and scoureth it away The said gall is very proper to giue a yellow die or colour to womens haire Against the poison of Salamanders sufficient it is to drinke the broth or decoction of a Tortoise As touching those kind of Tortoises that liue and breed in mud and moorie waters which I reckoned to be the third kind broad they be and flat in the backe as well as vpon the brest neither doth their shell arise arch-wise in manner of a vault these are il favored to see to and yet as louelesse as they be they are not without some medicinable vertues and remedies for take 3 of them and throw them into a fire made of Vine twigs or their cuttings when their shels or couers begin to diuide in sunder and part one from another pull them hastily out of the fire pluck the flesh out of their shels seeth them in a gallon of water with a little quantity of salt put thereto thus let them boyle vntill a third part of the liquor be consumed This broth or decoction if it be drunken is thought to be soueraign for those that be troubled either with the palsie gout or paine of joints The gall of these Tortoises purgeth also phlegmaticke humours and corrupt bloud out of the body And after that this medicine hath don his part and set the belly in a loosenesse a draught of cold water knitteth it againe and staieth all To come now vnto the fourth kind of Tortoises which keepe in fresh riuers they affoord an excellent remedy for to rid away a quartane ague in this manner prepared and vsed first take certain tortoises diuide one piece from another take out the fat within stamp the same with the herb called housleek and Lineseed incorporate all into an ointment let the patients be annointed therewith before the fit commeth all ouer the body saue the head only and when they be well lapped with cloathes about them giue them some hot drink This I say is thought to be a soueraigne medicine against the said ague But a tortoise to be applied for this purpose ought to be taken at the full of the moone because there may be more fat found in her Mary the sick body must not be anointed men say at any time but two daies after The bloud of tortoises which are of this fourth kinde if it be dropped on the head by way of embrochation appeaseth the head-ach that vseth to return and come often by fits the same also applied vnto the kings euill cureth it Some are of opinion that the better to let tortoises bloud and according to art as requisit it is in such cases of physick they ought to be laid along with their bellies vpward and so their heads to be cut off with a brasen knife and then they giue order to receiue the bloud in a new earthen vessel neuer occupied before which bloud is excellent to anoint the shingles or any kind of S. Anthonies fire likewise the running scalls of the head and also werts The same Authors doe promise and warrant That with the dung of all sorts of Tortoises the biles called Pani may be discussed and resolued And although it be incredible and not to be spoken yet some there be who haue written That any ship maketh way more slowly at Sea that carrieth within it the right foot of a Tortoise And thus much shall suffice as touching Tortoises And now from henceforth as touching the fishes and other water creatures I meane to discourse of them and their medicinable properties according to euerie disease which they serue for And yet I am not ignorant that many a one will be desirous to know all at once the vertues of each liuing creature which indeed maketh them to seem more admirable a great deal Howbeit this course that I meane to take I hold to be more expedient and profitable to this life namely to set downe receits and remedies digested by order of each disease and malady considering that one thing may be good for this Patient and another for that and some medicines are sooner found and gotten than others CHAP. V. ¶ Sundry medicines and receits taken from those liuing creatures which conuerse in waters and the same digested orderly into diseases And in the first place such as be appropriat to poysons and venomous beasts HEretofore haue I written of venomous honey and the countties wherein such is gathered and made now if any be poisoned therewith good it is to eat the fish called Arata i. a Guilt-head Or say one be glutted with pure hony or haue taken a surfet thereof being of all other most dangerous wherby the appetite is clean gon and the stomack oppressed with crudities for to preuent farther danger Pelops ordained for a special antidote or defenfatiue the meat of tortoises boiled after the head feet and taile were cut away But Apelles in this case attributeth as much to Scincus Now what this Scincus is I haue declared heretofore Shewed also I haue oftentimes in many places how venomous the monthly fleurs of women are but yet as hath bin said already the fish called a Barble is a singular remedy against the poison therof like as both applied outwardly in a liniment and taken inwardly as meat it is a soueraigne thing for the prick of the Puffin or Forkfish of Scorpions as well of the land as the sea and of the malicious spiders Phalangia The ashes of a Barble fresh taken and calcined is a generall counterpoison but more particularly it helpeth those who haue eaten deadly Mushroms Also it is said That if the fish called a Sea-star wel besmeared and anointed all ouer with the bloud of a Fox be fastned to the lintell or hanged to the brasen naile or ring of a dore it will put by all charmes forceries and witchcrafts that none shall come into the house or if any doe yet they shall not worke any harme As for the pricke or sting of sea-dragons and scorpions a cataplasme of Sea-stars flesh applied thereto healeth them so it doth also the venomous bit of spiders In sum the broth of their decoction is thought to be a soueraigne remedie against all manner of poisons whether it be that a man haue taken it by the mouth or be stung and bitten by any venomous beast As touching fishes kept in salt they are not without their medicinable vertues for to eat salt fish is very good for them who are strucken with serpents or otherwise bitten or stung by any venomous beast so they drink to it eftsoons pure wine of the grape and withal be sure to cast vp again by vomit toward euening their foresaid meat which they did
head of a creifish be wrapped together with the flesh of a Nightingale within a piece of a stags skin and so worne either about the neck or otherwise tied fast to some part of the bodie they will cause him or her that weareth them to be watch full not inclined one whit to sleep They vse likewise the rennet of a Whale or els of a Seale giuing it vnto those that be growing into a lethargie for to smell vnto and some of them annoint those that be already in a lethargie with the bloud of tortoises The fish likewise called Spondylus is said to rid away the tertian ague in case the patient weare one of them without any thing else about the necke like as the riuer shel-snails eaten fresh and new gathered cure the quartan howbeit some there bee who for that purpose keep them condite in salt and giue them after they be punned for to drink The wilks also or wrinkles called Strombi suffered to lie and putrifie in vineger do with their very smell awaken and raise those that lie in a lethargie The same are good likewise for such as be ready to faint and fall into cold sweats through feeblenesse of the heart and stomacke The fishes named Tethcae eaten with rue and hony are soueraigne for to restore them whose flesh is fallen away in a consumption The fat of a dolphin melted and drunk in wine cureth such as be in a dropsie In case the head be heauie and ready euermore to fall asleepe there is not a better thing than to rub the nosthrils with some conuenient ointment or to hold thereto some perfume or els to stop the same any way it makes no matter how Also the meat of the foresaid wilks or wrinkles stampt giuen in 3 hemines of honied wine with as much water or in mead or honied water if the patient haue a feuer withal is singular good against the said drow sinesse likewise the juice or decoction of creifishes with honey Moreouer water-frogges boiled in old wine with the red wheat Far and eaten as meat so as the patient drinke also of the broth out of the same vessell where they were sodden are thought to be soueraigne for such sleepie diseases or else take a tortoise cut away his head feet and taile plucke out his guts and garbage the rest of the flesh condite so as it may be taken without any lothing or rising of the stomack for this is held to be singular in this malady Moreouer fresh-water creifishes eaten with their broth haue the name to restore such as be in a phthysicke or consumption of the lungs The ashes either of a sea-crab or riuer creifish be excellent either for burne or scald and this manner of cure also serueth for to restore haire again but then they hold opinion that together with the ashes of the riuer creifishes there be wax vsed bears greace Also the ashes of frogs gal is thought good for a feuer As for Shingles and S. Anthonies fire the bellies of liue frogs applied to the place doe extinguish and quench the extremitie of their heat but in any case order is giuen that they be tied by the hinder leggs with their mouths bending forward to the end that their often breathing also vpon the place may coole and do good Furthermore many there be who vse for that purpose the ashes of the heads of the fishes called Siluri as also of saltfish with vinegre and apply the same to such wildfires and inflammations The liuer of a Puffen or Forke-fish sodden in oile being outwardly applied killeth not onely the itch and scab of men but also the scurfe and mange of four-footed beasts most effectually The callositie or thick skin wherewith Purple fishes couer their heads and hollow concauitie if it bee punned and applied vnto wounded sinews doth consolidat and sowder them againe though they were cut asunder The rennet of a Seale or Sea-calfe taken in wine to the weight of one obolus helpeth those that lie in a lethargie so doth fish-glew Ichthyocolla Such as are giuen to the shaking and trembling of their lims find much benefit by Castoreum if they bee rubbed and annointed with it and oile together I read that Barbles are hurtfull meat for the sinews and many are of opinion that as much feeding vpon fish causeth bleeding so the same may be stanched with the poulpe or pourcuttle if it be stamped and applied to the place of which fish thus much moreouer is reported That of himselfe he yeeldeth a certain salt pickle and therefore there should be no salt put into the liquor while he is seething Item that it ought to be sliced and cut with an edged reed for with an yron knife it will take infection and the nature of it is such as to keep and retaine it still For the stanching of bloud they vse also the ashes of frogs or els their bloud dried to be applied accordingly But some would haue the ashes to be made of that kind of frog which the Greeks name Calamites because it liueth among reeds bushes and shrubs of all others is the least and greenest and yet many do ordain if the flux of bloud be from the nostrils to take the ashes of young frogs breeding in the water whiles they be tadpoles and haue little wriggling tailes and those must be calcined for that purpose in a new earthen vessell to put vp the said ashes into the nose On the contrary side the horsleeches which we call in Latine Sanguisugas i. Bloudsuckers are vsed for to draw bloud And verily it is iudged that there is the same reason of them as of ventoses and cupping-glasses vsed in physicke for to ease and discharge the body of bloud and to open the pores of the skin But here is all the harme and discommoditie of these horsleeches That if they be once set too for to draw bloud the body will looke for the same physick again euery yere after about the same time be ill at ease for want thereof Many physicians haue thought it good to vse them for the gout of the feet also Well set them to the haemorrhoids and where you will they fall off lightly when they are full and satisfied euen with the very weight of the bloud which pulleth them downe or els by strewing some salt about the place where they sticke too and otherwhiles it falleth out that they leaue their heads behind them fast fixed in the place where they settled and by that means make the wound incurable and mortall which hath cost many a man his life as it happened to Messalinus a noble man of Rome and who in his time had bin a Consull whose forturne it was to die therupon hauing set them to his knee whereby we may see that oftentimes they bring a mischiefe for a remedy and the red ones are they that in this respect ought to be feared To preuent therfore this dangerous
inconuenience they vse with a paire of sizzers to clip them at the very mouth as they be sucking and then shall you see the bloud spring out as it were at the cocke of a conduit and so by little and little as they die they will gather in their heads and the same will fall off and not tarrie behind to do hurt These horsleeches naturally are enemies to Punaises in so much as their perfume killeth them Furthermore the ashes of Beuers skins burnt and calcined together with tar stancheth bloud gushing out of the nose if the same be tempered mingled wel with the juice of porret The shels of cuttles applied to the body with water draw forth arrow heads pricks or spils that sticke deepe within the flesh so doth any saltfish if the fleshie side be laid therto yea and fresh-water creifishes haue the same effect likewise the flesh of the fresh water Silurus for this fish breedeth in other riuers besides Nilus applied to the place either fresh or salted it makes no matter worke with the same successe The ashes of the same fish and the fat be of the same operation and very attractiue As for the ashes of their ridge-bone and prickie finnes they are taken to bee as good as Spodium and are vsed in stead thereof As touching those vlcers which be corrosiue as also the excrescence of proud flesh growing in such sores there is not a better thing to represse and keepe them downe than the ashes of Cackerels or the fish Silurus aforesaid The heads of salted Perches be singular good for cancerous vlcers and the more effectually they will work in case there be salt mingled with their ashes and together with knopped Majoram or Sauorie and oile be incorporat into a liniment The ashes of the Sea-crab burnt and calcined with lead represse cancerous sores and for this purpose sufficient it were to take the ashes only of the riuer creifish medled with hony and lint but some chuse rather to mingle alume and hony with the said ashes As for the eating sores called in Greeke Phagedaenae they may be healed well with the fish Silurus kept vntill it be dried and so together with red orpiment reduced into a pouder Likewise morimals and other consuming cankers and those sores which be filthy and growing to putrefaction are commonly healed with the old squares of the Tunie fish Now if there chance to be wormes and vermine breed in the said vlcers the only means to cleanse them is with the gall of frogs But the hollow sores commonly knowne by the name of Fistuloes are enlarged kept open yea and brought to drines with tents made of saltfish conueied into them within fine linnen rags and within a day or two at most they will rid away all the callositie together with the dead and putrified flesh within the sores yea and represse the eating and corrosiue humor in them if they be wrought into the forme of a salue or emplaster and so applied To mundifie vlcers there is not a fitter thing than stockfish made into a tent with fine lint of rags and so put into the sore Of the same effect are the ashes of the sea-vrchins skin The pieces of the fish Coracinus salted discusse and resolue the hotapostems named carbuncles if they be applied so doe the ashes of the Barble salted and calcined Some vse the ashes of the head of the said fish onely with hony or els the very flesh of Coracinus The ashes of murrets tempered with oile delay take down any swelling The gall likewise of the Sea-scorpion taketh off the roufe of sores and bringeth skars that ouergrow the flesh vnto the leuell of the other skin The liuer of the fish Glanus causeth werts to fall off if they be rubbed withall Also the ashes of Cackerell heads do the like if they be tempered with garlick but for the thyme werts particularly they vse them raw the gall likewise of the reddish sea scorpion and the small sea fish Smarides punned and brought into a liniment do the like The grosse pickle sauce called Alex if it be made through hot cures the raggednesse of nails the ashes also which come of Cackerell heads do extenuat and make them fine The fish Glauciscus eaten in the own broth causeth women to haue store of milke so doe the small fishes called Smarides taken with ptisan or barley gruell or els boiled with fennell and in case they haue sore brests the ashes of Burrets or Purple shells incorporat with honey doe heale effectually A liniment made of Sea crabs or fresh-water Creifishes takes away the offensiue haires that grow about womens nipples or breast heads the fleshie substance also of the Burrets applied to them work the same effect A liniment made of the fish called a Skate will not suffer womens paps to grow big A candle-weike or match made of lint and greased al ouer with the oile or fat of a dolphin and so set a burning yeeldeth a smoake which will raise women againe lying as it were in a trance and dead vpon a fit of the mother the same do Macquerels putrified in vinegre The ashes either of Pearch or Cackerel heads tempered and incorporat with salt sauerie and oile serue for all the accidents of the matrice and more particularly in a perfume bring down the after-birth Semblably the fat of a Seale or Sea-calfe conueighed by meanes of fire in a perfume vp into the nosthrils of a woman lying halfe dead vpon the rising and suffocation of the matrice bringeth her to her selfe againe so doth it also if with the rennet of the same Seale it be put vp in wooll after the manner of a pessarie into the priuie parts The ashes of the Sea-fish called Pulmo applied conueniently to the region of the matrice and kept fast thereto purgeth women passing well of their monethly fleurs of the same operation are Sea-vrchins stamped aliue and drunk in some sweet wine but the riuer Creifishes likewise punned and taken in wine do contrariwise stay the immoderat flux thereof Likewise it is said that a sussumigation of the fish Silurus especially that which breedeth in Africa causeth women to haue more speedie and easie deliuerance in childbirth as also that Crabfishes drinke in water doe stop the excessiue ouerflowing of their monethly terms whereas with hyssop they set them a going and purge them away Say that the infant sticke in the birth and by reason of painfull labour be in danger of suffocation let the mother drinke the same in like manner there will present help ensue Women with child vse also either to eat them fresh or drink them dried that they may go out their full time and not slip an abortiue fruit Hippocrates vseth the same and prescribeth vnto women for the bringing down of their sicknesse and likewise to thrust out the infant dead in their wombs to drinke them in honied wine with fiue dock roots stamped together with â—…e and soot and in very
the nature of sulphur The nature of Bitumen approcheth neere vnto brimstone where it is to be noted in the first place that the Bitumen whereof I speake is in some places in manner of a muddy slime in others very earth or minerall The slimy bitumen ariseth as I haue said before out of a lake in Iurie as for the minerall bitumen it is found in Syria about a maritime town vpon the seacoast called Sidon but both the one and the other are of a compact and massie substance growing together fast and vnite And yet there is a kind of Bitumen liquid and namely that of Zacynthus and the Bitumen which is brought from Babylon where verily it is white naturally as it groweth The Bitumen also which commeth from Apollonia is liquid and all these the Greeks doe comprehend vnder one name Pissasphalton a word deriued of Pitch and Bitumen There is a fatty kind of Bitumen likewise resembling an vncteous or oleous liquor within the territorie of Agragentum in Sicilie arising out of a fountaine and it floteth aloft The inhabitants of the countrey vse to scum and fleet it off by the meanes of certaine chats or catkins which grow vpon many reeds and canes for quickly will it hang and cleaue to the downe of such Great vse they haue of this Bitumen for it serueth their turnes to maintain lamp-light in steed of oile therewith also they kill the farcins scabs and mange in their jades and laboring garrons Some writers there be who reckon Naphtha whereof I haue written in my second book to be a kinde of Bitumen but so ardent it is and holdeth so much of the fire that wee know not which way to make any vse thereof Concerning the marks of good Bitumen the best is knowne by the glosse that it carrieth if it shine exceeding much the same also is ponderous and weighty whereas the lighter sort is but indifferent heauy and argueth some sophistication with pitch In operation it hath the qualities of brimstone astringent it is and yet resolutiue it draweth together and soldereth withall A perfume thereof while it burneth chaseth away serpents The Babylonian Bitumen is thought to be very effectuall for the cataracts pearles and filmes that ouerspred the eies soueraigne likewise for the leprie and filthy tettars of the face called Lichenes and the itch in any part of the body it serueth in a liniment for the gout and there is no kind thereof but it causeth the haires of the eie-lids which grow vntowardly and fal into the eies for to turn vp againe If the teeth be well rubbed with bitumen and sal-nitre together it doth ease and assuage their paine and being giuen in wine it helpeth an old cough and the shortnesse of wind In case also of the dissenterie it is taken in that manner for it staieth a bloudy flix but if it bee drunke with vineger it doth discusse and dissolue cluttered bloud which is within the body and expelleth the same downeward by seege it doth likewise assuage the paine of the loynes or small of the backe and generally mitigateth any griefe of the joints if it bee layed too in manner of a cataplasme with Barley meale There is a speciall plastre or cataplasme made of Bitumen which carrieth the name thereof it stancheth bloud it bindeth and draweth together the edges of a wound also it knitteth and vniteth again sinews which be cut in twain There is an ordinary medicine also for the quartane ague made in this wise Take of Bitumen one dramme of Mints the like weight of Myrrhe the quantitie of one Obolus mix and incorporat all these together a perfume or smoke thereof will bewray the falling sicknesse The very smell of Bitumen also discusseth the fits of the mother when it riseth and stoppeth the womans breath A suffumigation thereof doth likewise reduce the matrice and tiwill into the right place if they bee slipped and fallen downe too low and ready to hang forth of the bodie beeing drunke with Wine and Castoreum it bringeth the ordinary course of the monethly termes in women It serueth also for diuerse and sundrie other vses than in Physicke For if any brasen Pots Chaufers pannes or kettles or such like vessels bee enhuiled therwith it hardeneth them against the violence of fire I haue said already that they were wont in old time to vernish their images with bitumen it hath beene vsed in mortar also in stead of lime and with that kind of cement were the walls of Babylon laid and the stones sodered together Iron-smiths also haue much vse of bitumen and namely in sanguining or colouring their ironworke and nailers especially about their naile heads many other waies likewise it serueth their turne As touching Alume which we take to be a certain salt substance or liquor issuing out of the earth there is no lesse vse therof than of bitumen and the emploiment is not much vnlike Of alume there be many kinds in the Island Cypresse there is found alume which they call White and another named Blacke and albeit the distinction in the colour be but small yet it is occupied to farre different vses for the cleare alume which they name the white is proper for to colour wooll with any bright tincture contrariwise the blacke serueth for sad darke and browne colours The foresaid black alume is occupied much by goldsmiths to purge and purifie their gold and yet all these alumes the one as well as the other be engendred of water slimie mud that is to say of a certaine sweat that the earth naturally doth yeeld it is suffered to run and gather togither into a place during winter and in the heat of summer it fermenteth and taketh the perfection that which commeth soonest to concoction and ripenesse the same is alwaies the whitest and purest As touching the mines of alume they grow naturally in Spaine Aegipt Armenia Macedonia Pontus and Affricke which be all countries of the continent in the Islands likewise it is found namely in Sardinia Melos Lipara and Strongyle The best simply is that which commeth out of Aegypt and in the next place is that accounted of Melos In sum alume may be reduced into two principal kinds for either it is pure and cleare or els thick and grosse as for the former kind it may be knowne whether it be good and naturall if it be bright like water white as milk not offensiue to their hands that rub it yet participating in some sort of a fiery heat this they cal Phormion but in case it is sophisticat you may soon find it by the juice of a pomegranat for that which is true and the right kind is no sooner mixed therewith but it waxeth black The second sort is of a pale color and besides naturally rugged in the hand and lightly it will stain like gall nuts which is the reason that the Greeks cal it Paraphoron The vertues of the cleare alume be astringent hardning and fretting if
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 36. i 41. d. 52. k. 66. k. l. 72. h. i. 110 g. 131. c. 173. d. 174. g. 180. h. 198. k. 202. g. 207. d. 268. h. 273 f 288. h. 290. i. 299. e. 301. c. d. 313. c. d 315. d 339 c. d. 340. g. h. 340. k. 353. a. 396. g. k. l. m. 448. k 449. a. how to be hastened 205 c after-birth how to be sent or brought away 43. f. 50. h 54 h. 57. f. 60. k 65. d. 74. b. 78. g. 106. g. 110 g 127. c. 129. d. 150. g. 157. c. 174. g. 182. m. 197. b 199. d. 201. a. 216. g. 266. l. 267. a. c. d. c. f. 273. f 279. a. 288. h. 290. i. 339. d. 341. a. 395. f. 417. e 430. m. 448. i. 448. m. Bisontes See Busles Biting by man or woman how to be cured 61. b. 143. b 172. h. 301. a. 443. l. Bitumen approcheth the nature neere to brimstone 557. b Bitumen slimie in Iurie ibid. Bitumen Minerall in Syria ibid. Bitumen liquid where it is found ibid. where it is white ibid. Bitumen vnctuous in the territorie of Agragantum 557. c how the paisants gather it ibid. the vse thereof ibid. marks to kâ—…ow good Bitumen 557. c. d the operation of Bitumen 557. d the plaister of Bitumen for what it is good 557. e how it serueth to enhuile vessell of brasse 557. f. 558. g with cement of Bitumen the wals of Babylon were built 558. g. how Bitumen serueth yron-smiths and nailers ibid. B L Blacke and blew vnder the eies how to be discussed 272. h 277. c. Blacke of painters called Indicum 530. k Blacke of Dyars made of florey ibid. Blacke colour of painters called Tryginon ibid. vsed much by Polygnotus and Mycon painters ibid. an artificiall colour 530. h. which is best ibid. Blacke Elephantinism deuised by Apelles 530. k shoâ—…emakers Blacke 510. k. m Blacke and blew marks vpon stripes and bruses how to be taken out 39. c. 44. k. 50. g. 54. h. 62. h. 64. l. 109. b 126 l. 134. g. 141. b. 143. f. 149. c. 161. c. 163 a 172. i. 192. i. 200. k. 240. g. 272. h. 277. c. 289. c 318. l. 337. d. 350. i. 352. i. 394. k. 413. b. 424. h. Blacke stones 588. h Bladder pained how to be eased 129. a. 130. g. 140. m 207. a. 238 m. 254 g. h. i. k. 255 a. b. c. 263 d. 384 k 430 g. Bladder stopped how to be opened 77. b See more in vrine Bladder itching how to be helped 130. i Bladder scabbed excoriate and exulcerate or otherwise grieued how to be mundified and eased 38 i. 46 i 47 d c. 61 a. 70 h. 72 l. 102 g. 107 f. 110. g. 120 h 161 c. 171 d. 206 l. 255 c. 267 b. 290 i. 352 h 437 c. for the Bladder appropriate and comfortable medicines 148 k. 150. l. 163 b. 167 c. 171 c. 174 i. 179 b. 180 k 181. f. 216 h. 289 a. 359 c. 384 h. 444 g. 589 f. Blains See Biles and Pushes Blatta a kinde of flie or Beetle mediâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i k l m diuerse kindes of them described ibid. and their sundry vertues ibid. Blattaria what hearbe and why so called 228. k. the description ibid. Bleach See Itch and Scabs Blechnon See Ferne. Bleeding occasioned by feeding much vpon fish 447. a how the same is staied ibid. b Bleeâ—…s a foolish hearbe 76. l. the danger thereof ibid. Blemishes in the visage how to be taken away 52. i. 55. e 56. i. 58. k. 133. c. 144. g. 314 k. 422. m. See more in Visage Skin Pimples and Freckles Blennij certaine fishes of the Mullets kind 444. g. the ashes thereof be medicinable ibid. d Blindnesse what remedies for it 421. d. See more in Eye-sight Blisters red how to be cured and preuented 43. f. 139. b 158. k. 338. l. red Blisters rising like purples how to be repressed 186. h Blisters vpon burning or scalding how to be healed 303. c 351. c. Blisters how to be raised 166. m See more in Causticke Bloud what engender and encrease 46. g. 152. g Bloud-suckers 361. d. See Horsleeches Bloud of a bucke goat is strong 321. c the effect that it hath in edge tools ibid. Bloud of goats maketh a pale looke ibid. Drusus a Tribune of Rome drank it for that purpose ib. Bloud of red Deere ibid. f Bloud of Saturne what it is 357. a Bloud of man or woman is medicinable 301. d Bloud of horses and mares is corosiue and dangerous 321. b Bulls bloud venomous ibid. vnlesse it be at Aegira a citie in Achaea ibid. Bloudifals how to be healed 148. l. 173. c. 258. m. 324. k. 393. e. 589. b. See more in Chilblanes flux of Bloud in horse how to be staied 342. k Bloud cluttered and congealed in the bodie how to be dissolued and expelled 39. e. 103. a. 110. i. 141. c. 156. g 157. a. 167. f. 182. g. 412. m. 557. e. how to be kept from cluttering 162. h Bloud breaking out at times in sundry places how to be repressed 263. f Bloud lost how to be recouered 156. m Bloud-stone See Haematites Bleeding how to be staunched 45. c. 52. h. 57. d. 59. d 78. k. 119. f. 120. i. 127. c. 140. l. 142. k. 146. k 158. k. 169. d. 170. i. 171. d. 174. l. 178. l. 184. k 196. h. 197. a. 199. b. 223. f. 245. a. â—…63 a. 272. i 273. d. 274. i. 284. h. 307. 〈◊〉 337. f. 338. g. 350. h 365. c. See more in Issue of bloud Bloud vomiting how to be repressed 263. f. 424. i. 430. g 529 a. 589. f. See more in bloud voiding vpward Bloud spitting reaching and voiding vpward what remedies therefore 39. c. f. 43. a c. 44. i. 48. h. 49. d. 55. c 58. g. 59. d. 73. c. 75. a. f. 102 g k l. 138 l. 140 m 146 i. 147 a b f. 149 c. 159 a. 160 g. 163 a e g 164 l. 165 c. 171 c. 172 g l. 174 h. 178 l. 179. a 184 h. 186 l. 188 k. 190 g. 194 g i. 195 c. 196 g 197 d. 245 f. 246 g. 247 b c. f. 249 f. 263 e. 272 i 274. g. 275 c. 285 d. 289 c. 291 d. 305 d. 329 b c 352 h. 353 a. 380. i k. 381 b c. 412 k. 424 i. 442 i 559 d. Bloudie sâ—…ix how to be cured 37 b. 39 a e. 40 k. 42 h. 46 i 47 b d. 48 g. 49 d. 52 k. 55 c. 66 i. 72 k. 73 c d e 102 h. 106 l. 120 l. 126 g. 129 a. 130 l. 137 b 139 f. 142 i. 146 i. 147 a b. 148 h i. 153 c. 161 c 163 e. 165 f. 168 g. 172 i. 174 h. l. 177 b c d f 190 h k. 195 e. 196 i. 197 f. 220 l. 248 m. 249 a b c f. 250 g h i. 263 d. 272 l. 281 a. 285 b 287. c. 289 c. 291 d. 311 c. 314 g. 318 k. 331 b c d e f. 332 g. 352 h l. 353 c d. 382 i k l m.
or berry whereof is Vvâ—…Taminia * as Theophrastus saith sâ—…dden in alc hordeaceâ—… Zytho * Thought to be Dent de lion * Carthamus or bastard safron but Turnebus supposes it to be put for Cici whereof commeth Oleum Cicinum * Colu although some read fusis i. spindles * Glycyrrhizon but this agreeeth not with our Liquorice * Tribulus Aceâ—…abulis * A kind of thistle some call it Mans bloud * S. Mary histle * Nonrâ—…ra visum est aequè in omnibus terris nascitur Ex Theop. which is clean contrary to Pliny * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Theo phrast i. like the seed of Sesama * And therfore it is called resta bonis or resta aratâ—…i because it staieth the draught of the Oxe at plough * Anthenius * Deceit so called because the bitternesse dâ—…ceiueth many a one looking like to a kind of Ci chorie * Semipedali Dioscor hath Sesquipedali i. a foot and a halfe * Cyperi of rather Xyphij or Phasgani * Napis Dioscor Glandibus i. nuts or acornes * Candoâ—… some reade Color â—…in colour * No more hath Cypirus in Aegypt by his owne saying * This Cyperis is taken to be Curcuma or Terramerita called therupon corruptly Turmericke * Igneae â—…citatis * Siccis foemina â—…sperguntur I doubt that Pli ny read in Dioscorides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Vnguenta and then it carieth this sence that dried Roses powdred enter into sweet ointments * or rather the spungiâ—… substance growing vpon the Câ—…ncre brier and wild Rose Zedoâ—…rium * Nay it is a great enemie vnto it * Dia crocis Paul 〈◊〉 * Tineâ—…rum 〈◊〉 Plinie commonly taketh Tinâ—…as for wormes in the belly although otherwise it betokeneth sores and skals in the head As namely Dioscorides * Dioscorides hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Mushromes whereof there be some that be daungerous for suffocation But Plinie as it should seeme read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and accordingly hath translated it * So is not Inula or our Elecampane And therefore either it is not Helenium here or else Plinie doth mistake in this place as in many others * which agreeth not with ours Hereupon Aâ—…â—…ne is called Rosepaâ—…sl v * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Grâ—…k bet keneth Wind whereupon Ruellius called it Herba-veati and Gerard Wind-sloure moâ—… properly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Dioscorides it seemeth he read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * oâ—… rather Daphnocides out of Dioscor * Taken by the most part for wild Bâ—…sill * Some take it for Kali * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dioscoâ—… somewhat brackish * Iua muscata or Arthritica * Some thinke it is Motherwoort others Feuerfew * Surely according to Dioscoridâ—…s Plinie should haue written thus Flore per ambitum candido intus melino id est with a floure white round about but within of a darke yellow like to honey this agreeth to Feuerfew * Alkakengi or winter-cherry * or ather for that the sayd berry heth within 〈◊〉 cod like a bladder * All such as be neither within Greece nor Italie * Portibus augetur aâ—…ctoritas Made of Oke leaues and branches * M. Minutius â—…ea holly * Echinatis It seemeth that Pliny neuer saw Liquorice but read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Lentisci indeed the leaues are like to those of the Lentiske tree * Inlinguae suhdit is such as be our Ecligmata or Lochs * A kinde of Matfellon or Knapweed Ervifarina * Scorpiocides * or Cypirus * Parietary of the wall * Where to say a truth he describeth Helxine for Ixine or Chamaeleon the white * Diosc. Cerato Cyprine * or Vitraria because it is vsed to scoure glasse and pipkins withall * Made with a deuise to blow coles kindle fire for to rest the inwards of beasts sacrificed or as some thinke it was the proper name of that youth * Haply hee meaneth Phoenicâ—…halonos i the Aegyptian Date or Oxyphoeâ—…ices our Tamarinds a kind of Dates appropriat for agues * This is verified of the Cichory flour rather which also doth regard the Sun * This is called Aerdor copieis by Pliny himselfe and is an hot distemperature of the head * Maidenhair * A kind of Cichorie * So are none of our Cichories * The seed of a kind of Rosemary * Alyris rather according to â—…tius * Some name it Hares care Hâ—…sycb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sectum venenatum * But they meane the venomous Iusect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In truth the flies Buprestes which some take to be Câ—…ntharides are thought to haue some operation in that kind * Which some take for a kind of wâ—…ld angelica or Gâ—…lla dei Pecten veneris wild Cheruile or Shepheards needle Our Chervile A kinde of smooth Bindweed Bastard Parsly A kind of water Cresses or Lauer. Some take these for our Artichokes * Sonchuâ—… * Gum Sucâ—…ie * Dios. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. ful and fresh but it seemeth that Plinie read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Betula noâ—… Ferula * Lavantur ve plumbum some read Linuntur ad plumbum i. a liniment is m. de of the for lead-shotteÌ„ eyes c. vide â—…p 1â—… lib. 25. * or Laserpitiâ—… * He meaneth by Cauterium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medicameÌ„te 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth draw humours and the bloud to the habit and outward parts a necessarie course to be taken in Atrophia and namely after long diseases that the body may be equally nourished * Some reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Dioscor hauing a faint weak pulse * Corpusculis rerum * Regius morbâ—… Vide Galen lib. 1. de Naturalibus facultatibus Spâ—… * Cum Menta rather Melle iâ—…hony according to Columella for Mints be hot * It groweth indeed commonly vpon new wals although the name seemeth to come from Mares i. Mice and Rats rather than Muri i. Wals. * This booke goeth now vnder this title De ratione victus in morbis acutis * Contra quanto inuocentior est alica * He glanceth at Diatritos i. fasting three daies together * For that color in old time was best esteemed and therby chaste Matrons were knowne from wanton harlots who affected yellow haire Alex. ab Alex. c. 18. l. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Horehound * He confoundeth as it should seeme the vertues of Horminum i. Clarie the hearbe with the graine called also Horminum * The Earth * Much like to our 〈◊〉 * Some take it for Bryonie * 〈◊〉 â—…ther 〈◊〉 out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * I see no reason of this clause here but thinke it superfluous according to some manuscript copies * Merum * Circa Ilia *
therto the seed of Mullen boiled in wine stamped and reduced into a cataplasme Hemlocke incorporat with hogs grease All these applied accordingly do assuage paine and bring down any swelling occasioned by dislocation The leaues of Ephemerum brought into a liniment are good for any bunches or tumors caused by those accidents if they be taken betimes whiles they may be discussed and resolued As touching the Iaundise I cannot but wonder at it especially appearing as it doth in the eies namely how the gall should get vnder those fine membranes and tunicles lying so close couched as they do Hippocrates hath taught vs a rule That if the jaundise shew in a feuer after the seuenth day from the beginning thereof it is a deadly signe Howbeit I my self haue known some to haue escaped and liued stil notwithstanding that desperat signe But this is not alwaies a symptome incident to an ague but happeneth otherwhiles without a feuer and then a drinke made of the greater Centaurie as I haue before shewed doth with stand stay the course therof Also Betony riddeth away the iaundise if the patient do drink three oboli therof in one cyath of old wine The leaues of Veruaine likewise haue the like effect if the same quantity be drunke foure daies together in one hemine of wine hot But the speediest cure of this disease is by Cinque-foile or fiue leaued grasse if three cyaths of the juice be taken with salt and hony in drink The root of Sowbread is a soueraigne medicine for this infirmity if the Patient drinke the weight of three drams but this care ought to be had that the room be hot and so close that no winde may come in for feare of catching cold and then it will driue out the jaundise by sweat lustily The leaues of Fole-foot taken in water the seed of Mercuries both the male female if a cup of drink be spiced therewith or if it be sodden with Wormewood or cich pease the * berries of hyssop drunk with water the herb Liuerwort so that the patient ab stain from all worts or potherbes so long as he taketh it Capillus veneris giuen in wine and the Fullers herb in wine honied be all of them good medicines for the jaundise As for the sores called Fellons or Cats-hairs they will breed euery where in any part of the body and put folk to great anguish and trouble who haue them yea and otherwhiles indanger their life especially if they meet with lean and worn bodies But what remedy Take the leaues of the herb Pycnocomos let them be stamped and incorporate with fried Barley meale and so applied in case the said fellons are not drawne to a pointed or sharpe head The leaues also of * Ephedros brought into a liniment and laid too do discusse dissolue them if they be taken in the beginning Moreouer you shall not see a part of the body but it is subiect to the Fistulaes which creepe inwardly and hollow as they go but especially when by the vnskilfull direction of Physitians or the lewd hand of chyrurgions there be an incision vntowardly made in the body The help is to make tents of Centaurie the lesse with honey boiled and put them into the concauity Also to vse an injection of Plantain juice To apply Cinquefoile with salt and hony Ladanum also with Castoreum to lay vnto the sore Vmbilicus veneris with deere Marow especially of Stag or Hind hot The string or pith of a Mullen root fashioned slender to the form of a tent put into the vlcer or the root of Aristolochia in that manner vsed or the juice of Tithymall conueied into it serue all to cure the Fistula Al inflammations biles impostumes are healed by a liniment made of Argemony leaues So be all hard and schirrous tumors occasioned by the gathering of humors with Veruaine or Cinquefoile sodden in vineger with the leaues and roots of Mullen with hyssope applied in wine with the root of Acorus so that there be a fomentation withall made of the decoction of the said herb and finally with Housleek In like manner these herbs before rehearsed do heale bruises hard tumors or bunches and hollow sores The leaues of * Illecebra draw forth any arrow heads and whatsoeuer sticketh within the body so do the leaues of Folefoot the Carot also and the leaues of * Lions paw stamped and incorporat with fried Barly meale in water The leaues of Pycnocomos punned or the seed beaten to pouder with Barly meale parched and so reduced into a cataplasm are good to be applied to biles and impostumes broken running matter In like manner the Ragworts are to be vsed As touching the accidents that happeâ—… in the bones the root of Satyrion if it be laid outward ly vpon them are thought to work a most effectual speedy cure Al cankerous eating sores likewise impostumes growing to suppuration are healed with the sea weeds if they be applied before they be dried withered Also the root of marsh Mallow doth dissipate and scatter all gatherings of humors to an impostume before it be come to an head and to suppurat Plantain and the Clot Bur are singular for burns or scalds healing them vp so clean without a skar that a man shall not perceiue the place the maner is to take the leaues seeth them in water stamp them into a liniment and so to apply them Likewise the roots of Sowbread together with Housleek the herb it selfe Hypericon which I called before Corion haue the like effect For the infirmities incident to sinews and joints Plantain is a soueraigne herb if it be stamped with salt so is Argemonia punned and incorporat with hony The juice of Harstrang is singular to annoint those that be sprained such also as be stretched with an vniversall cramp as if they were all of a peece For to mollifie the hardnesse of sinews that be shrunk vp there is not a better thing than the juice of Aegilops and to assuage their pain a liniment made with groundswell and vineger is excellent For those that be sprained and troubled with that crampe which draweth their necke backward it is good to rub and annoint them well with Epithymum with the seed of S. Iohns woort which also is called Coris and to drinke the same As for the hearbe Phrynion they say it hath vertue to conglutinat and vnite sinews again if they were cut in sunder if it be laied too presently either stamped or chewed in the mouth For such likewise as be spasmatick plucked backward with the cramp or troubled with trembling and shaking of the lims it is good to giue them the root of the marsh Mallow to drink in mead and in that maner taken it healeth those that be stiffe and stark for cold Finally the red seed of the herbe Paeony stancheth any flux of bloud the root thereof hath the like operation As for Cyclaminos that is to
the other skin about them But with brimstone it cureth the raggednesse of the nails it staieth likewise the haire of the head which is giuen to shed also if it be mixed with a fourth part of gall-nuts it healeth the vlcers in a womans head but if it be well smoked it helpeth to preserue the haires of the eie-lids An ounce weight thereof boiled in one hemine of old wine vntill there be three ounces and no more of the whole remaining is giuen an ounce at once to those who are in a phthysick Some appoint a little hony to be put thereto The same together with Quick-lime reduced into a liniment is singular for the biles and impostumes called Pani as also for felons and the hard tumors of womens paps it serueth besides to cure inward ruptures and convulsions spasmes crampes and dislocations Being applied with white Ellebore it healeth corns agnels fissures chaps and callosities But incorporat with the pouder of a saltars pot-shard it heales the swelling impostumes behind the ears as also the wens called the Kings euil being ordered in like manner If the body be well rubbed and annointed therwith in the baine or hot-house it taketh away all itch red pimples wheals rising in the skin Moreouer prepared after another sort to wit with old oile together with the stone called by the Greekes Sarcophagus beaten to pouder adding thereto the herb Cinquefoile stamped in wine either with Quicklime or with ashes and so reduced into a liniment it is very good for those that be troubled with the gout Thereof also is made a singular plaster against inflammations in this wise Take of the said grease the weight of fourscore and fiue pound of white litharge of siluer one hundred pound weight mix them both together As for Bores grease if there be a liniment made of it and rosin it is thought to be excellent good for to anoint therwith vlcers that be corrosiue and giuen to spread farther In old time men vsed it most about the axletrees of their carts and wagons anointing them therwith that the wheels might turn about more easily whereupon it took the name Axungia And being emploied in this maner it serueth for a medicin to cure the vlcers of the seat priuy members seruing to generation by reason that it is mixed and coloured with the rust of the yron incorporat into it The antient Physitians made most account alwaies of the said hogs grease by it selfe which was plucked from the kidnies for after it was clensed from the strings veins and skins they washed it often and rubbed it well in rain water which done they sod it in new earthen pots shifting it out of one into another many times and beeing thus tried and clarified they kept it for their vse Howbeit all are agreed that when it hath taken salt it is a greater emollitiue it heateth also discusseth and resolueth more yea being washed in wine it is much better than otherwise As touching the fat or grease of a Wolfe Massurius writeth that in old time it was esteemed before any other had the price aboue all And he saith that new wedded wiues were wont vpon their mariage day to anoint the side posts of their husbands houses therwith at their first entrance to the end that no charms witchcrafts and sorceries might haue power to enter in thus much of grease Look what vertue grease hath the same be sure is the suet and tallow endued with which commeth from those beasts that chew cud and although it may be handled dressed otherwise yet in force it is nothing inferior But what talow soeuer it be the best way of pre paring it is after the skins or veins be rid away to wash it first either in sea water or salt brine and then within a while to stamp it in a mortar eftsoons sprinkling it with sea-water after which it ought to be sodden in many waters vntill it haue lost all the sauor rank tast that it had and then at last by setting it in the Sun continually it wil be reduced to a perfect whitenesse moreouer this is to be noted that the best suet is that which groweth about the kidnies But say that old tallow is called for and to be vsed in any cure it ought first to be melted and then anon to be well and often washed in fresh cold waters which done it must be liquified a second time casting and pouring thereupon eftsoons the best odorifeorous wine that may be gotten after which maner they vse to seeth it again and again and neuer giue ouer vntill the rank smell and sent thereof be clean gone and verily many are of opinion that particularly the fat of Buls Lions Panthers and Cammels ought thus to be ordered and prepared As for the vses properties of these Pomonades I will treat thereof in conuenient place Concerning marrow it is a thing common to all creatures like as the fat abouesaid All the kinds thereof are emollitiue and incarnatiue they dry also heat the body The best marrow simply is that of Deere as well red as fallow next to it in goodnesse is calues marrow and then in a third rank follow kids and goats marrow Prepared they ought to be and dressed before Autumne when they be new and fresh washed and dried in the shadow But afterwards they must be melted again and run through a finer sercer or pressed through linnen strainers which done they should be put vp in earthen pots and set in a cold place But of all those things which are generally to be found in euery liuing creature the gall is that which is of greatest efficacy in operation for power it hath naturally to heat bite cut draw discusse and resolue The gall of smaller beasts is taken to be more subtill and penetratiue than that of the greater and therfore supposed to be the better for to go into eie-salues Buls gall is thought to haue a speciall faculty aboue all others principally in setting a golden colour vpon skins brasse What gall soeuer it be in the preparation therof for any vse regard must be had that it be taken fresh and new and then the orifice of the burse or bag wherein it is contained ought to be tied fast with a good round pack thred thus being bound vp close it must be cast into boiling water and there remain halfe an hour within a while after so soon as it is dried out of the Sun it ought to be preserued and kept in hony The gal of horses only is vtterly condemned reputed as a very poison which is the cause that the arch-Flamin or principall sacrificer is forbidden by law expressely to touch an horse notwithstanding that in Rome it is an ordinary thing to sacrifice euen horses publickly and not their gall alone but also their bloud is corrosiue by nature and putrifactiue The bloud of Mares milke likewise vnlesse they be such as were neuer couered nor bare