goo It healeth also sodden in water / the burstinge out of wheles / the burninge that commeth by fyre / the burninge inflammationes that come of choler or hote bloode The iuyce of Betes doth metelye well scoure awaye / and some tyme causeth the belly to be louse / and twitcheth and byteth the stomake / specially in them that haue a stomache ready to fele a thynge redelye / wherefore it is a meate noysome vnto the stomache / if it be muche eaten It norisheth but litle as other pot herbes or wurtes do Yet is it good wyth vinegre for the stoppinge of the lyuer and the milt Betes are of two contrarye natures The iuyce is hote and stoppeth the bellye / and engendreth thyrst But hys body is of grosse partes / windye / colde / harde of digestion Of Betonye Betonica BEtonye is called in Latin Betonica / in Greke Kestron or Psychotropon / in Duche Betonien / in Frenche Betoine or Betoisne Betonye hath a small stalke / a cubite longe or longer / foursquared / wyth a leafe softe / longe / indented about / and lyke vnto an oke lefe / well smellinge / and greater nere the roote In the toppes of the stalkes is sede in a longe head like an eare / as some kinde of Saueray hath It hath small rootes as Hellebor hath The Vertues of Betonye THE rootes of Betonye dronken in mede / drawe oute muche fleme by vomyt The leaues ought to be layd on partes that are burstē and drawen together / and they are good for weomen that haue the disease of the mother / to releise the stranglinge of the mother / in the quantite of a dramme wyth water and honye Thre drammes are to be dronken in xviij vnces of wyne agaynst the bytinges of serpentes The herbe is good to be layde as an emplaster vpon woundes made by venemous beastes A dramme of thys herbe dronken wyth wyne / is good agaynst deadly poyson If thys herbe be taken afore / and it chaunce a man afterward to drinke poyson / as Dioscorides writeth / it shall not hurt him It helpeth to make water It looseth the bellye / and if it be dronken with water / it healeth the fallinge syckenes / and them that are mad And wyth vinegre and honye / it healeth them that are sycke in of the diseases the lyuer or milte / if it be taken in the quantite of a dramme It helpeth digestion taken in the quantite of a Bean / after supper with sodden honye After the same maner it is good for them that belche oute a soure brethe It is good for them that are diseased in the stomache / both to be eaten / and the iuyce of it to be dronken / if they drinke afterward wyne delayed with water It is gyuen in the quantite of a scruple and a halfe / in two vnces of colde wyne delayed wyth water to them that spitt bloode In water it is good for the Sciatica / and for the ache of the bladder and kidneys It is good to be taken in the quantite of two drammes wyth water and honye for the dropsey / if the pacient haue an ague If he haue none / it is best to gyue it for the dropseye in wyne mixed with honye It helpeth them that haue the iaundis Betonye taken in the quantite of a dramme wyth wyne / draweth doune a womannes sickenes Foure drammes taken in a pint and a halfe of mede or honye water / maketh a purgacion It is also good for the Tysick / and for them that spitt matter or corrupcion out of the longes / if it be receyued wyth honye The leaues vse to be dryed and broken / and so kept in an earthen pott Thus muche doth Dioscorides write of Betonye / and Galene confirmeth thesame / writinge on thys wyse Betonye hath the power to cut in sunder / as the taste iudgeth / for it is somethynge bitter / and a litle bytinge / the whyche thynge hys operacion particularlye done / doth testifye For it deuideth insunder stones in the kydneys / and it purgeth and scoureth the longes / breste and lyuer It bringeth doune to weomen their syckenes / and suche other operaciones hath it whiche Dioscorides hath made mention of Plinye writeth that wyne and vinegre made wyth Betonye / are good for the stomach / and the clerenes of the eyes Of Paulis Betonye PAulis Betonye is much differing from Dioscorides Betonye / as Paulus witnesseth hys selfe It hath small braunches lyke vnto Peny ryall / but smaller / whiche if ye do tast of / it hath allmoost no qualite that ye can perceyue / Gesner supposeth that Veronica whiche is called in English Fluellin / is Paulis Betony but the manifest bitternes of it / wil not suffer it so to be But the herbe whyche I do set furth here in thys figure / hauinge both leaues and stalkes so / lyke Peneryal / that manye doth oft gather it for Peneryall / and beynge withoute all qualite whyche can be perceyued in taste / sauinge onelye a verye littel bitternes / after my iudgement is the true Paulis Betonye Thys herbe groweth in Sion gardine / and in diuerse woddes not far from Sion wyth a whyte floure mixed wyth blewe / and wyth a sede lyke vnto Bursa pastoris Betonica Pauli The Properties of Paulis Betonye PAulus Egineta / who onelye writeth of thys herbe / telleth no other good propertye of this herbe / but that it is good for the diseases of the kidneys Of Birche Betula BIrche is called in Latin Betula / or as some write Betulla / in Greke Semyda / in Duche Birckbaum / in French Boulean or Beula I finde nothinge of the Birche tre in Dioscorides / but thus do I finde written of the Birche in Plinye The Sorb or Serince tre loued cold places / and yet doth the Birche tre loue colde places better This Frenche tre is of a wounderfull whytenes / and of no lesse smalnes / greatly fearfull to many / because the officeres make roddes of it Thesame is good to make hoopis of / and twigges for baskettes / it is so bowinge The Frenche men set out of it a certain iuice or suck / otherwyse called Bitumē I haue not red of anye vertue that it hath in Physick Howbeit / it serueth for many good vses / and for none better then for betinge of stubborne boyes / that ether lye or will not learne Flechers make pricke shaftes of Birche / because it is heauier then Espe is Byrders take bowes of this tre / and lime the twigges and go a batfolinge with them Fisherers in Northumberland pyll of the vttermoste barke / and put it in the clyft of a sticke / and set it in fyre / and hold it at the water syde / and make fishe come thether / whiche if they se / they stryke with their leysters or sammonsperes other vse of Byrche tre knowe I none Matthiolus writeth that some men holde / that if
vaynes or synewes / it is softer / smouther / and more curled then the other is The other kinde is lower and groweth not so highe / and more rowghe / harder / and yelower The leaues are lyke vnto the brodder bay leaues / but they are sharper and indētid round about the edges / the hole lytle fot stalk / that all the leaues grow on / is a grene herbishe thinge / and not woodyshe / and vpon that the leaues growe / in a distincte order a small space goinge betwene one another / and they grow of eche side of the litle stalke by coples one ryght ouer agaynst another / after the maner of the sorbe aple tree leaues do grow The sede of the ashe tre groweth in long thinges like burdes tōges / whych are called of som wryters euen for that cause / linguae auium and they are called in Englishe ashe keyes / because they hangh in bunches after the maner of keyes The vertues of the ashe tree THē iuice of the leaues of an ashe tree / ether / in oyntment / or dronken in wyne / is good against the bitynges of vipers or adders The ashes that are made of the barke / layed to with water / taked awaye lepers Sum rekē that the pouder or clippes / or scrapinges of the wood / will destroye a man Out of the later wryters THe water that is distilled out of the barkes of the ashe tree / is a singuler remedy agaynst the stone and agaynst the jaundes The leaues of the ashe sodden in wyne / and dronken / are good for them that haue the disease of the mylte / and of the lyuers / sum do holde that the iuice that is pressed out of the ashen leaues / if it be dronken wyth wyne / is good to make fatte men leane but of this thynge as yet I haue no experiens There be sum also of that opinion / that they iudge that the continuall drynkinge in an ashen cuppe / lesseth the mylte as the olde Autors wryte / that the drinkynge in tamarisk doth Of the herbe called Gallion Galion Maydens heyre GAlion or Gallion is named in Englishe in the northe countrye Maydens heire / in Duche vnser lieuen frawē betstro / in Frēche / petit muguet Ther are two kyndes of Gallion / the greater are the lesse / the lesse kynde agreeth better wyth the descriptiō as here after ye may se Galion hath the name of that propertye that it hath in cruddynge of milke / it may occupye the place of cheslope / or a runnynge Galliō hath a braunche and a leaue very lyke vnto cleuer / or gooshareth / that ryght vp / it hath a small yelow flowre in the toppe / thick plenteous and well smellynge The vertues of Gallion THe flour is good to laye to burnt places / it stoppeth the gusshinge out of blode / mēge this herbe wyth a cyr-ope or oyntement made wyth rose oyle waxe / and layed in the sonne vntill it waxe whyte / and then it will refreshe them that are wery / the rotes prouoke men to the naturall office of matrimony Of rede Archangell GAliopsis sayth Dioscorides hath a leafe stalkes in all poyntes like vnto a nettell but smother / whiche yf he be brused / hath a strōge stinking sauor / and it hath a small purpell floure / and it groweth about hedges / and about howses / and oftymes in gardynes amonge other herbes wythout settynge or sowynge The vertues of Galeopsis THe leaues / the stalkes / the sede / and the iuice of rede archangell scatter away harde lunpes and cancres / and driue away / and disperse harde wennes / swellinges / called in Latyn Panos / and the inflamed swellynges behynde the eares Ye must twyse on the day lay the emplaster warme to with vinegre / and bathe the place wyth the brothe of it It is very good to laye it to rottynge soores / etynge sores / and to deadly burnynges / called Gangreues Of Browme GEnista is called in Englishe Browme / in Duche Genist or Pfrim / in Frēche Dugenet Many well learned mē haue iudged the busse the we call browme / whiche is called of the Latines Genista / to be Spartiō of the Grecianes / and Plinye the noble clearke wrytyng of Genista in the xxiij booke / of his naturall stories / in the ix chapter / dowteth wheter Genista be Spartium of the Grecians or no. But if they the of late haue cōfunded Genistā wyth Sparto / and Plini / whiche douted whether Genista were Spartum or no / had sene both our comen broum that groweth in the feldes / and it that groweth only in gardines / whiche because it cam from beyounde the Sea / wy cal Frēche browme they would not haue cōfounded thē / nether Plinye woulde douted / whether the one had bene the other or no. The Frēche broū / which of late yeres cam to vs out of Spayn / is much tauler / then the comen brome is the twigges are long / grene / and smothe / resemblyng in all thynges a rishe / sauyng that in som there appere litle leaues / so litle that scarsely they deserue to be called leaues I thynke that because Dioscorides sawe them so litle so few / that he would not call them leaues The broum which is called in Latin Genista / hath cornered and roughe twigges / euen as the Poete Calphurnius in thys verse witnesseth Molle sub hirsuta latus exposuêre Genista They haue streched furth theyr soft syde vnder the roughe broume Then when as our gardin frenche broume is smouth / it can not be Genista whereof Calphurnius maketh mention The leaues of the brome are of two sortes / they that are in the endes / are very small lyke vnto them that are in the Spanishe brome But they that are benethe / are somthyng lyke rue leues / the twygges are roughe and fiuesquared Which markes are for differyng both from the description of Dioscorides / the lykenes of our Frenche or Spanishe brome The vertues of Browme BRowme sede taken in the quantite of a dram / or a dram and a halfe / purgeth waterishe humors If it be taken wyth a draught of mede or whay / it driueth suche mater from the ioyntes / both by vomit and purgation It suffereth not any towgh humors to abide in the bladder or kidnes The later wryters vse the water agaynst the stone Other take the leaues and twygges of it / and stepe thē a fiue or sixe dayes in vineger / and then bruse them / and presse oud a iuice / the whiche they geue in the quantyte of two onces and a halfe to them that haue the Sciatica I thinke it were better to mixe it wyth oyle / so to laye it vpon the greued place / then to take it inwarde / except the pacient were very stronge / the vomit that is prouoked by browme / is good for
them at the tyme of theyr byrth He that sayeth that a spere is necessary for a man of war / meaneth not that he should occupye his spere at dinner before the tyme of fighthinge cumme / but he meaneth that it is good to haue it at all tyme that he maye occupye it when nede requireth I trowe that Matthiolus will not saye that Aristolochia is good for weomen that are well deliuered all ready / then seyng it is good for weomen / it must be good for thē that are yet with child Wherefore the two noble clerkes / are to sore scourged of their sharp Scoolmaster for so litle a faut Nether do I vtterly excuse them / because they did not trāslate the Greke worde so properlye and truely as they should haue done The Vertues THe round is good agaynst all other poysones / but the long is good against serpentes and deadly venemes / if it be dronken / and laid to in the quantitie of a dram The same dronken with pepper and myrr / dryueth furth weomēs floures / and their byrth / and all the burdenes that the mother is charged with It doth the same ministred in a suppositorye before The rounde is of the same strēgth The same dronken wyth water is singularly good agaynst the shortwint sobbyng / the shakynge / the disease of the milt / the places shronkē / and burstynges / the paynes of the syde It draweth out prickes and shyuers If it be layd to it taketh awaye the scalles or scurffe of bones / eateth away rottē sores / scoureth thē that are foule or stinking With hony aris pouder / it fylleth vp hollowe places / it scoureth the goumes teeth The thyrd kind is supposed to helpe the same diseases that the other do / but more weykelye Mesue writeth that both the rounde and long hartwurt purgeth / that the round purged fleme and thynne water more then the other they purge the lūges excellētly of rottē fleme / the quātite that is to be gyuen of this herbe / is ether a dram / or a drā an halfe The rounde Aristolochia as Galene witnesseth / is more subtyle and fyne / then the other kyndes be therfore the rounde / for as much as it can more perfytely open / and make more fyne It healeth better then the other / such syckenesses as come of stopping or of grosse winde The rounde also maketh teeth whyt / and maketh the goumes clene All the kindes are at the leste hote and drye in the second degre and if any be hoter then other / Galene rekeneth the third kind to be so Of Aron / or Cockowpint COckowpynt called also in Englishe Rampe or Aron is named in Greke Aron / in Latin / Arum in Duche Pfaffenbinde in Frēche Vidchien / of the Herbaries / pes vituli and serpenta ria minor and of the Arabianes Luphminus It hath leues lyke dragō / but lōger / and not so full of spottes The stalke is somethyng purple and lyke vnto a betell / out of whych commeth furth a fruyte of the colour of saffrone The roote is whyte as dragones is / the whyche / beynge sodden / is eaten / because it is not so bytynge / as it was before Cockoupint or Aron The vertues THE roote / sede / and leaues of Aron / haue the same properties that Dragon hath The roote is layd vnto the goutye membres with coudunge / and it is layd vp and kept as Dragones rootes are / and because the rootes are gentler / they are desyred of manye to be eatē in England and in Germany Dioscorides semeth by his wrytinge to shewe / that where as he was borne / Aron / was not so sharpe / as it is with vs. Galene also writeth / that Aron is hote in the fyrst degre / and drye in the same But it that groweth with vs / is hote in the thyrde degre at the leste Wherefore some perauenture will saye / that thys our Aron is not it that Dioscorides and Galene wrote of But Galene in these wordes folowinge / whiche are written in the second boke dealementorum facultatibus / witnesseth / that there are two sortes of Aron / one gentle / and an other bytinge In quibusdam regionibus acrior quodammodo prouenit vt prope ad Dracontij radicem accedat c. In certayne regions after a maner it groweth more bitinge and sharpe in so muche that it is allmost as hote as Dragon is / and that the fyrst water must be casten out / and the roote sodden agayne in the seconde This herbe growinge in Cyrene / is differing from it of our countre For it that is with vs in Asia for a great parte / is sharper then it that groweth in Cyrene Of Mugwurte Artemisia uulgaris MVgwurt is called both of the Grecians and Latines Artemisia / of the Duche Beyfuss / or Byfoet The true Artemisia is as litle knowen nowe adayes / as is the true Pontyke Wormwode / and lesse as I thinke for thys great Mugwurt is suche an Artemisia / as oure Wormwode is Absinthium Ponticum / that is bastard / and not the true herbe Dioscorides writeth / that Artemisia for the moste parte groweth about the Sea syde / and Plinye writeth / that it groweth no where ellis / but in the Sea coastes Thys common Mugwurt of ours / groweth not at anye Sea syde that euer I coulde se yet for I coulde neuer se it in these coastes of England / nor Germanye / nor yet of Italye / but alwayes in hedges / and among the Corne far from the Sea Artemisia is a busshye herbe / like vnto Wormwode / but it hath greater and fatter leaues and braunches then Wormwood hath Fyrst thys great Wormwoode that is common with vs / is not the Wormwod that Dioscorides compareth Artemisiam to / but it is Pontike wormwode But this common Mugwurt is nothinge lyke Pontike wormwode / Therefore this common Mugwurt can not be Artemisia Dioscoridis Galenes Artemisia is hote in the second degre / and sklenderlye drye in the same But this common Mugwurte is scantlye hote in the fyrste degre Wherefore this common Mugwurt can nether be Artemisia of Dioscorides / nor of Galene / nor of Pliny I found in an Ylande beside Venise / the verye right Artemisia / whiche had leaues greater then Pontike wormwod a great deale / and fully hote in the second degre / and with floures muche vnlike vnto wormwode Pontike / but somethynge agreynge in sauour / but not alltogether Master doctor Wendy / the Kinges Physiciane can testifye of the same / whiche dyd examine the herbe with me This kinde maye be called in English Sea Mugwurt Some do take Feuerfewe for one kinde of Artemisia / and Tansye for an other kinde / and in dede I thinke not / but that Feuerfewe can do it that is required of Artemisia Howebeit / me thinke that the description of Dioscorides doth not agre in all poyntes wyth Feuer fewe
bastarde saffrone are made litle cakes by putting to the iuice of it / almondes nitre / anise / and sodden honye / whiche also louse the bellye These are parted into foure partes whiche are of the bignes of a walnut / wherof it is sufficient to haue taken two or thre before supper The maner of temperinge of this confection is this Take of the whytest sede of bastard saffrone one sextarye / of perched almondes and blanched iij. cyates / of anyse one sextary / of aphronitre one dram / and the fleshe of thyrtye dried figges The iuyce of the sede maketh milke go together and to crud / and maketh it more mete to soften the bellye Mesue writeth that bastard saffrone purgeth thinne fleme water both by vomite and also by purgation if it be taken inward / and that doth it lykewise put into the bodye by a clister / and therefore it is good for the colyke and suche lyke diseases / it scoureth the brest and the longes / speciallye with this electuarye that followeth / and his owne oyle wherefore it maketh the voice clere / and by muche vsinge of it / increaseth the sede / it scoureth and openeth The floure of it with honyed water / healeth the iaundies / and because it hurteth the stomake / ye must mixe with it anyse or Galanga / or Mastick / or suche lyke that are comfortable for the stomake Suche thinges that be byting and sharpe as Cardomomum / Ginger / and Salgemmy put vnto it / maketh him worke souner / and saue the guttes from harme so ten drammes of the kernelles of bastard saffrone with a drame and a half of Cardomomum made into pilles of the bignes of smal peases / in the quantite of v. drammes purge sufficiently / the same kyrnelles bounde in a cloth / and put into oxymel / and speciallye of squylla / whilse it is sodden / maketh it purge well Take xviij drammes of the kyrnelles of bastard saffrone / sixe drammes of penydies / of Cardomomum / of Ginger / of eche a dramme and a halfe / make of these mixed together lumpes of the bygnes of a walnut / and gyue one or ij The same kyrnelles sodden in the broth of a cock or a henne with the forsaid spices / haue the forsayd strength and operation This sede is gyuen in medicine from foure drammes to fyue The floure is geuen from one dram to iij. Galene sayeth that bastard Saffrone is hote in the thirde degree / if anye man wil laye it withoute Mesue sayeth that it is hoote in the firste degree / and drye in the seconde Of middow Saffrone COlchicon / otherwyse called Ephemerum / is named of the Potecaries / but falsely / Hermodactylus / in Duche zeitlos / and herbstblum / hundshodeu and wild Saffran bloome / in Frenche au chien / it maye be called in English middow Saffrone or Dogge stones I haue sene it muche in Germanye both in woodes and in middowes / and I haue sene it growe in the West countre besyde Bathe Colchicon as it is describeth in Dioscorides / bringeth furth a whytish floure lyke vnto Saffrone in the ende of Autumne / after that tyme it bringeth furth leaues lyke vnto Bulbus / but a great deale fatter / it hath a stalke a span longe / bearinge reade sede The roote is blackish rede / which when it is a litle bared / and hath the vtter skin scraped of / is whyte and soft / and full of whyte iuyce and swete in taste / his round roote hath in the middes of it a Wild Saffron Wild Saffron with the floure sede ryft / out of the which the floure commeth furth / it groweth moste in Mecena and in Colcus The floure of this herbe is whyte blewish and not whyte / the huskes that holde the sede / are lyke vnto dogges stones / wherfore the Duche men call this herbe hunds hoden / that is dogges coddes or stones The warning that Matthiolus gyueth vnto Apothecaries / that they shoulde vse no more the rootes of Colchicon for Hermodactilis / is worthy to be hearde and taken hede of / of al honest Apothecaries and Physicians to / that make anye pilles or any other medicines of them Let them that are syke in the goute / take hede that they take not in the pilles of Hermodactilis / except other Hermodactili go to the making / then the common Hermodactili they are sterke poyson / and will kill a man within one daye Matthiolus gesseth that an herbe in Italy / called there commonly Palma Christi / shoulde be the righte Hermodactylus but he will not geue sentence The Nature of wilde Saffrone IT is good to knowe this herbe that a man maye isschewe it / it will strangell a man and kyll him in the space of one daye / euen as some kinde of Tode stolles do The roote is swete and prouoketh men there by to eate of it / if anye man by chaunce haue eaten anye of thys / the remedye is to drinke a great draught of cowe milke Of Beane of Egypt Colocasia COlocasia called in Greke Cyamos Egyptios / and in Latine Faba Egyptia / maye be called in Englishe / a beane of Egypt I haue sene the right Colocasia in Italye / and a kinde of the same in Germanye / and ones growynge in Englande It that I sawe in Germany grewe vpon thre English miles from Bon besyde Siberge Beane of Egypt hath large leaues lyke vnto butter burr / called in Greke Petasos or Petasites / a stalke of a cubit long / and an inch thick / a floure after the lykenes of a rose / twise as bigge as the poppy floure hath And when as the floure is begon / it hath litle vessels lyke vnto the honye combes or waspes as Ruellius translateth thylakiskais or lyke vnto litle places or caskettes / wherein anye thinge is layd In them is a litle beane aboue the coueringe / comminge out lyke a littel belle / as ryseth on the water / The roote is stronger then a rede roote is The beane whilse it is grene / is eaten / and when it is drye / it is black and bigger then the common beane The properties of Beane of Egypt THE nature of the beane of Egypt is to be astringent and binding It is good for the stomak / for the bloody flixe / for the other flixe in the bellye / or the smal guttes taken with beane mele after the maner of grewel / the barkes sodden in honied wine / if iij. ciates thereof be taken / profit muche more for thesame purpose that grene thinge and bitter in tast / whiche is in the middes / if it be broken and sodden with rose oyle / and poured into the eare / is good for the ache of the eare Of Coniza Conisa magna Conizae alia species COniza is of two sortes / the greater and the lesse I haue sene both the kindes in Italy betwene Cremonia Ferraria by the Padus
lytle but what shoulde be the cause of this diuersyte or what nature meaneth in this thinge / surelye I can not tel Thus farre hath Tragus wryten of the brake seede But as he hath not tolde wherfore the sede is good / euen so haue I no experyence as yet wherfore it is good / sauynge that I do gether by no vayne cōiecture / that in healynge of dyuers grefes / it is of greater poure and strengthe then ether the roote or leaues be The vertues of the male ferne THe roote of the male ferne dryueth oute the brode wormes of the bellye / if yowe take it in the quātyte of foure drames of mede / otherwyse called hunyed water / but it will worke more effectuallye if ye take it with xij graynes of Diagredy or Scamonye / or blacke Hellabor / but they that receyue this medicine / had nede to take garlyke before / and it is good for them that haue a swelled mylte / The roote is good to be dronken / and also to be laide to in playstre wyse for the wondes that are made wyth an arrowe of reede / wherof they saye this is the tryall The ferne will peryshe / if ye sett reedes rounde aboute it in good plentye / And lyke wyse the reede will vanyshe awaye if ye compasse him aboute wyth ferne rounde aboute The rootes of the femall ferne taken wyth honye after the maner of an electuarye / dryue brode wormes oute of the gutter if they be dronken wyth wyne / in the quantyte of three drammes / they dryue oute rounde wormes They are not good to be geuen vnto women whiche wolde haue manye children / nether are they good to go muche ouer for women that are alredye wyth childe The powdre of them is good to be sprynkled vpon moyste soores whiche are harde to be couerid wyth a skynne / and ill to be healid It is a good remedye for the neckes of suche beastes as are accustomed to the yokes / Somme vse to seth the grene leafes of Brakes wyth other wortes or pot herbes / to receaue them to soften their bellye wythall The later wryters do affirme that the juyce whiche is pressyd oute of a Ferne roote / laide to wythe rose water / or wythe other colde water / if ye can gett no rose water / is good for all maner of burnynges and skaldinges / but ye muste two or three tymes streine the water powdre together / and then it will be slymye / and then it is perfectlye good for the purposes aboue rehersed / when as no other remedye will helpe as men of experience do testyfye This is a maruelous nature that the Ferne hath namelye the male / that if a man cut the roote of it in the myddes / it will shewe of eche syde a blacke egle wyth two heades oute of white / Plinye also wrytith / that if the roote of the Ferne be broken and laide to / pulleth furth the sheuer of a reede that styckith in the fleshe / and lykewyse that the roote of the reede laide to / pullyth furth to sheuers of a Brake that is in the fleshe Of Polypodys or Vuallferne or Okeferne Polipodium Filicula Polipody or Vualferne or Okeferne FIlicula is called in Greke Polipodiū / in Englyshe Polipodium or Walle ferne / in Duche Engelsaet / or engelsuß / in Frēche Polipode It groweth in ake trees in olde walles It dryeth whythoute bitinge Dioscorides sayeth that Polipodium groweth in mossye walles / and in olde bodies or bellyes of trees / and speciallye of okes / it is of a spann length / and lyke vnto a ferne / somethinghe roughe / but not so finelye deuided / the roothe is full of heares wherein are cōteyned certayne lōge thinges lyke the feet or claspers of the fyshe / called Polipus / they are of the thicknes of a mans lytle fingre / grene wythin and somethinge russet The vertues of Polipodium oute of Dioscorides POlipodiū hath the poure and vertue to purge It is good to be geuen sodden wyth a henn / or wyth fishe / or wyth betes / or with mallowes to make a purgation The poudre of the roote myxed wyth mede / dothe purge coler fleme it is excedinge good to be laide one those membres that are oute of ioynte / and agaynste the chappes or ryfles that are in the fingers The vertues of Polipodium oute of Mesue POlipodiū is the roote of an herbe that groweth vpō stones trees / whiche the Grecianes call Dendropterim / that is tree Ferne. It that groweth vpō the stones is full of superfluous / rawe / and wyndye moysture / whiche ouerturneth the stomacke It is better that groweth vpon trees / namelie / suche as bare acornes or maste / speciallye yf it be great / sownde / freshe well fastened together / full of knottes wythoute blackyshe redde grene wythin as fistikes be / with a swete taste / astringent / somethinge bitter and somthinge spicie It scowreth away grosse tough humors it maketh rype dryeth vp It purgeth ye euē from the iointes / melācholy or grosse / or towgh fleme It is good for these causes for all diseases that aryse of melācholi as the quartayne yf it be taken wyth mede / doder of tyme salt Indian Al maner of wayes it is good for the colike and for the hardnes of the mylt Polypody drieth lesseth or thinneth the body To auoyde that / that shall not bringe the stomacke to vomitinge / it must be geuen wyth mede or barly water / or the brothe of rasines / or wyth the broth of cockes / or hēnes / or sodden wyth whay It is good to drinck it mixed wyth well sauoringe sede / and other spycye thinges as anise / carua / fenell / ginger / and suche lyke that cōforte the lyffe or the naturall power of the stomacke Polypody can byde lōge sethinge inough It maye be geuen from ij drames vnto six Thus farmesue / an vnce an halffe of our Englishe Polypody will scarsely purge / som vse to drye the rote / to geue a drā of the powder at the lest for a purgatiō / bid the patient after it iiij houres The stylled water of Polipodiū as Tragus wryteth / is good for the quartayne / for the cowgh / for that short winde / against melancholye / against greuous and heun dreame / if it be drōkē certaine cōtynuall dayes together But I thinke that the wine that the rotes are soddē in / made a lytle swete wyth sugger or hony / shoulde worke muche better / for the aboue named purposes / then the water / whych of whatsoeuer herbe it be of / hath no suche strengh as the juice and broth of the same herbe Is ther any water better then rose water is / and hath more strēgh of the rose / and yet ij vnces of the iuice of roses / worketh more in purgynge / thē xvj of water
the rote of this herbe is sodden / clengeth scowreth woundes / and namely fistulas and cankers / the same scowreth out foule spottes / if the face bewasshed dayly therwyth Of the herbe called Gingidion GIngidiō is a lytle herbe lyke vnto wilde carret / but smaller and bitterer / the roote is smalle / whitishe / and somwhat bytter / this is the fassion of Gingidiō / and the description of it after Dioscorides / Gingidion Cheruel Rewellius / Fuchsius / and Gesuerus / thre great learned men holde in ther bokes / that Gindion is the herbe which is commenly named of the commen arberies Cerefolium / in Englishe Cheruell / in Duche Keruel oder kerbel kraut / in Frēche Cerfuile How be it / I dare not geue sentence wyth them / bycause I can not fynde the bittenes and the astriction or byndynge in oure cheruel that Dioscorides and Galene require in theyr Gingidion How be it / the forme and fassion of the herbe it agreeth well jnough wyth the description of Gingidion Columella in his x. boke / whiche is de cultu hortorum / that is of the trimynge or dressinge of gardens in this verse Iam breue cherephylum torpenti grata palato Semeth to call that herbe cherefilon whiche the comē herbaries call cherephyllion / whiche is in Englishe our cheruell The vertues of Gingidion oute of Dioscorides THe leaues of Gingidion both raw and sodden / or kept in sucket or sauce is / good for the stomak / and they are good to prouoke vryne / the brothe of it droncken wyth wyne is good for the bladder The vertues of Charuell oute of the later wryters THe iuice of the herbe and the water whiche is stilled / if it be dronken / dissolueth and breaketh in sounder the blode whiche is runne together / ether by the reason of betinge or by a fall / the leaues of cheruel brused and layde to after the maner of an implaster / dryue awaye all swellynges and bruses that come of betinge or of falles / euen as the herbe called scala caeli doth Of Nigella Romana GIt / otherwyse called Melanthion / and also Melaspermon / is called in Englishe Nigella romana / as the apothecaries call it also / in Duche / Schwartz kummich / in Frenche Nielle Git hath small braunches / som tyme excedynge two spannis in lengh / it hath lytle leaues lyke grownsell / but muche smaller in the toppe of the herbe ther groweth a lytle thynne heade lyke vnto popy / but it is somthinge longe / there rynneth thorowgh the heade certayne fylmes Git or Nigella Romana or skynnes / wherin is conteyned a blacke seede sharpe and well smellinge All this description of Dioscorides agreeth well vnto oure Nigella romana / sauinge that ther is no suche lyknes betwene it grownsell / as Dioscorides semeth to make by comparynge of these two together / whiche two herbes nowe in oure tyme are vnlyke one to another / that no man will saye ther is any lyknes betwene them at all / wherfore it appereth that ether we haue not the same Git that Dioscorides hath sene in his tyme / or elles this worde Erigerōtos is put in Dioscorides Greke texte in the stede of som other worde How be it the properties of oure Nigella romana doth agree well wythe it the Dioscorides describeth / and therfore jow maye be bolde to vse it The vertues of Git or Nigella Romana NIgella Romana layde vnto a mans forhead / releaseth the heade ache / it helpeth blodshotten eyes / if the disease be not olde / if it be broken and put into the nosethrilles wyth the oyle of flour delice or Ireos It taketh away lepers / frekelles / hardnes and old swellinges / if it be layde to with vinegre The same layde to with stale pysse will take awaye aguayles that are scotched about after the maner of a circle The broth of it with vinegre is good for the tothe ache Anoynt the nauell wyth the water that this is sodden in / and it will dryue out the rounde wormes of the belly It heleth them that haue the pose / if ye breake it and laye it vnto your nose If it be taken many dayes together wyth wyne / it bryngeth downe flowres / and causeth a man make water better / draweth furth mylke into the brestes / and it is good for them that are short wynded A dram weyght of it / dronken wyth water / healeth the bytynges of the felde spyder The smoke of it / dryueth serpentes away Take hede that ye take not to muche of this herbe / for if ye go beyonde the mesure / it bryngeth deth Of Vuadde VVadde is called in Latin Glastū / in Greke Isatis / in Duche wayd or weyt / in Italien Guado / in Frenche Guesde Ther are two kyndes of wadde / the garden or sowen wadde / and the wilde or vnsowen Glastum VVadde wadde the diers occupy the garden wadde / or that kynd of wadde whiche is trimmed wyth mannes labor in dyenge of wull and clothe And it hath a leafe lyke vnto playntayne / but thicker / and blacker the stalke is more then two cubites longe / the wilde wadde is lyke the sowen wadde / and it hath greater banes lyke vnto Lettyce / small stalkes / and muche deuyded / some thynge redyshe / in whose toppe ther hang certayne vesselles / muche lyke vnto lytle tonges / wherin the seede is contayned / it hath a small yelow floure This herbe is called in Englande / new ashe of Ierusalē The former kynde groweth muche in the countrey of Iulyke / and in some places of Englande The wylde kynde groweth not in England that I know / sauynge onlye in gardens / but it groweth plenteouslye wythout anye sowynge in high Germany by the Renes syde Of the vertues of wadde DIoscorides / The leafes layde to after the maner of an emplaster / swage all kyndes of swellinge They ioyne together grene woundes / and stoppe the runnynge out of blod They heale saynt Antonies fyre / or cholerike inflamationes / consumynge sores / rottynge sores / that runne at large The wilde wadde both dronken layd to emplastre wyse / helpeth the milt Of Cottenwede Gnaphalium Cottenvvede DIoscorides sayeth that Gnaphalium hath lytle softe leaues / whiche some vse for downe or stuffinge of beddes / and other description of Gnaphaliū / can I nether fynde in Dioscorides nor Plinye / but I haue sene the herbe ofte in many places of Germany / in some places of Englande It is a short herbe not a spanne longe / at the fyrst sight it is lyke a braunche of rosamary / but that the leaues are broder whiter in that toppe is a small yeolowe floure the leaues / when they are dryed and broken / are almost nothinge els but a certayne downe / wherwyth because men in tymes past did stuffe pillowes quishions / it was called of the Latines Cētunculus /
the olde cough Many vse it now / wyth great profit agaynst the stone and the diseases of the kydnes in the stede of the ryght turpētine Aetius writeth thus of all rosines All kyndes of rosine / hete / dryue away / softē / drawfurth and opē / and heal woundes and bynd them together / muche more then waxe doth And Galene in hys booke de simplicibus medicamentis writeth thus of rosines All rosines do heate make drye But they differ one frō other The rosine of the lentiske tree called mastick / deserueth worthely the chese prayse amōgest thē all Amōgest other rosynes / it of the turpētinetre is best It hath an open or manifest byndyng / but not so muche as mastick hath / but it hath ioyned with it a certayn bitternes / whereby it rypeth more thē mastick doth by the meanes of the same qualite / it cā scour so that it cā heale sores scabbes / it draweth more thē other rosines / because it is also of finer partes And the same Galen in the thyrd boke de medicamētis secūdū gn̄a writeth thys sentēce Of these kindes of rosin is / is that which called larigna / that is rosin of the larche tre which is moyster / or more liqued / but of the substāce of the moyst rosen of the pichtre / which the grossers sell for turpētine thē that know not the one frō other But that rosyn both in smel tast working is sharper quicker thē turpētine is There fore the rosin of the larche tre hath a like vertue with thys and with the turpentine / but it hath a greater poure in dryuing away a more subtile / or fyner substāce Of Agarik BEllonius woundereth that any man dare holde the Agarik doth grow in other trees then in the larche tre / but hys meruelyng is again to be merueled at / seyng that good autores wryte / that it may be found also in other rosin bringing trees But thys do I thincke / that the best Agarick that is this day / is foūd in the Larche tre Agarik is soulde very dere bothe in Itali / Frāce / Germany and Englād Wherfore they that would take the paynes to sayle to Norway whiche is nerer vnto England / thē is ether Rome or Compostella they myght bryng many thynges from thence more profitable for the realme of Englād / then that which some bring from the aboue named places For besyde many diuerse kyndes of herbes and rootes which grow there in great plenty / and may be gotten wyth a small coste / the values of the symples well estemed / there may a man haue not only most excellent turpentine of the comē sort / but also the moste precious Agarick If no other men will take the paynes to bring this commodite vnto theyr contre / I will aduise the falconers that go to Northway / that both for theyr own profit and for theyr countreyes / that they learne to know the Larch tree / that they myght bryng into England not only good comen turpentine / but also costly and precious Agarick If any man will take the payn to gather Agarick / let him first learne wel by the forewriten descriptiō to know the Larch tre / and then marke it that I shall tech hym in these wordes immediatly folowyng Agarike is the same / in a larche tre that brueche as the Northern Englishmen call it / or as other call it / a todstole / is in a birche or a walnut tre / where of som make tunder bothe in England and Germany for their gunnes Agarick as it is very precious / so is it not very cōmen nor good to finde / for somtyme a man shall se in som places a thousand trees / erhe fynde one that hath Agarick growyng vpon it It groweth moste commenly in olde trees and in suche / as are growing in hyghest cliffes rockes and toppes of mountaynes of al other It groweth neuer in the bughes of the tree / but vpon the bole or body of the tre / som tyme higher and som tyme lower / as other thynges lyke mushrum mes / todestooles or bruches do The only tyme of gatheryng of Agarick is in the end of haruest / when as it is dry and full rype It that is gathered in the summer and in the spryng / except it be of the last yearis grouth / is both vnholsom for mans body / and the same can not be gathered without the great ieperdy of the gatherer / for then it is full of water / which when it cōmeth furth / with a perillus vapor that it hath / it smiteth in to the heade and maketh hym very syke And as the waterish vnrype Agaricke is vnholsom / so it that is passed two yeares olde / is of no pryce nor value Of Agarick out of Dioscorides THere are two kindes of Agarick / the one is the male / the other is the female The female whiche is the better / hath right or streygth orders / or lynes / of veynes / goyng within it The male is rounde and faster fastened together Bothe the kindes haue a swete taste at the first tastyng / but afterwarde / it turneth into a bitter taste The nature of Agarick is to bynde together to heate It is good for the gnawinges in the belly / for rawnes for bursten places for thē that are brusen hurt with falling The vse is to geue a scruple in honied wyne / to them that haue no ague / and with mede to them that haue a feuer It is also good for them that haue the blody flix to thē that haue the guelsought or iaundesse / to them that are shortwynded / and to thē that are diseased in the lyuer and the kydnes We vse to gyue a dram whē a mans water is stopped / if the mother be strangled / or if a man be ill colored It is taken with maluasei when a man hath cōsumption or tisyck and with oxymel or honied vinegre / when a man is cumbred with the disease of the milt If the stomack be so flashe and louse that it can hold no meat / then is it beste to be taken alone / without any moysture After the same maner is it gyuen to them that belche out a soure breth If it be taken in the quantite of two scruples an half / with water / it stoppeth vomityng of bloode If it be taken with honied vinegre / in lyke weyght / it is good for the sciatica and the payn in ioyntes and the fallyng siknes It bryngeth also doun to wemen theyr syknes In the same quantite it is good to be taken againste the wyndenes of the mother If it be taken before the shakyng of an ague / before the fit come / it taketh the shaking away The same taken in the quātite of a dram or two with mede / purgeth the belly It is a good
remedy against poyson taken about the quātite of a dram with a drinck well dilayed with water It is a speciall remedy against the styngyng of serpentes and for the biting of the same if it be drōkē in the quātite of one scruple an half with wine Galene writeth also that if Agaricke be layd vnto with out / that it is good for the bytyng and styngyng of a serpēt Mesue writeth that Agarick is hote in the firste degre dry in the seconde It is gyuē in pouder sayeth Mesue / from one dram to two / but in broth from ij drammes to fiue Of the herbe called Laserpitium I Haue nether spoken with any man / nor rede in any writer of this our time / that durst say that he had sene the ryght Laserpitium / wherof Theophrast and Dioscorides make mention of But Ruellius iudgeth that the vertuous herbe called Angelica is Laserpitium gallicum If there be any Laserpitium ether in France or Germany / I would rather take Pillitori of Spayn called of the Duche meister wurtz / to be Laserpitiū then angelica / because it hath leues more like persely thē Angelica hath If any man trauayl in to farre countres / woulde learne to know the ryght Laserpitium / let hym well marke these descriptiones which I shall now trāslate out of Dioscorides and Theophrast / he shall the soner come by the true knowledge of it Laserpitium groweth in Syria / Armenia / Media / and Lybia / with a stalck lyke a ferula or fenelgyant / which stalck they call Maspetum It hath leaues lyke Persely / and a brode sede The iuice that cometh out of the stalck roote is called Laser The stalcke is called Silphiō / the roote Magudaris / som call the leafe also Maspetū Theophrast describeth Laserpitiū thus The roote of Laserpitiū is manifolde thicke It hath a stalck as the ferula hath / a leafe whiche they call Maspetū lyke vnto Persely The sede is brode / is of the fasshō of a lefe such as that which is called the lefe The stalck Laser seu Laserpitium perished euery yeare as the stalck of ferula doth The rote is couered with a black skinne I can fynd no more in these two aunciēt writers cōcerning the descriptiō of Laserpitiū / but these few wordes wiche I haue now rehersed vnto yow By these wordes of Dioscorides and Theophrast / Matthiolus and al other that hold that Benzoin is the swete Laser of Cyrene / are reproued and founde fauty in a great error For Dioscorides Theophrast make Laserpitiū an herbe / and such one as dieth euery yeare concerning the stalkes and top at the leste / and Laser to be the dryed iuice of an herbe / when as we know by the stickes peces of wod that we finde oft in Benzoin or Belzoin / by the experiēce of Lodouicus Romanus whome also Matthiolus allegeth / gyuyng therby other men wepens to feight against hym self that Belzoin or Benzoin is the rosin of a tree / and not the iuice of any herbe But as for assa fetida / I wil not deny / but that it is Laser medicum or Syriacum / as Matthiolus other writers haue taught in theyr wrytinges The properties of Laser and Laserpitio THe roote heateth / and in meates is hard of digestiō / and noysum to the blader If it be layd one wyth oyle / it is good for brused places and wyth a cerote or treat made of waxe it is good for hard lumpes and wennes / with oyle of Ireos it is good for the sciatica / or with the cerot of priued floures If it be sodden in vinegre and laid to with a pomgranat pill / it is good to take those thynges away that grow to muche about the fundamēt If it be drōken / it withstandeth poyson / it maketh the mouth smell well / if it be menged with salt or with meat The best Laser is rede throw shynyng lyke vnto myrr / not grene / myghty in smell / of a pleasant taste / and when it is steped / it waxeth easely white The iuice dryed and hardened it is beste The leues deserue the second prayse / and the thyrde the stalck For it hath a sharpe poure / it maketh wyndenes / it healeth a scald heade / if the place be anoynted with it / and peper wyne and vinegre It sharpeneth the eysyght / and if it be layd to with hony / it healeth the cataract of the ey / or the haw in the eye when it is in the begynnyng It is good to be put into the holes of the tethe / for the tuthe ache / or to be bound about in a cloth with Olibano or Frāckincense It is also good to washe the mouth with it and hysop sodden with fygges in water and vinegre It is good to be pu◠into the wound of them / that are bitten of any wod or mad beaste It is myghtely good against the poyson of arrowes or dartes / and against all beastes / that cast out venem ether dronken or layd to with out It is dabbed about the stynginges of scorpiones / with oyle well menged / or tempered It is layde vnto deadely burninges / if they be a litle holdē and constreyned together before / and with rue nitre and hony / or by it self / it is also layd to carbuncles If ye cut a circle roūd about aguayles or any hard lumpes / and make this medicines soft with the broth of figges or menge it with a cerot / it will pull them away With vinegre it healeth the foul skurf of the skinne It healeth also outwaxynges or to growinges in the fleshe and the swellyng fleshe about the nose thrilles which is called polypus / if that it be layd to a certayn dayes with coperus or verdgrese It helpeth the old roughe scurfenes of the iawes If it be takē dilayed with water / it healeth quicly the horsenes of the voice If it be layde to with hony / it healeth the Vuula It is good to be gargled agaynst the squinsey with mede They that vse to eat of it loke much more freshly / thē they had won to do / and with a better color It may be gyuen with great profit agaynst the coughe / in a soft eg / and againste the pleurest in suppinges / and against the iaundes and dropsey with dried figges The same dronken with wine peper and olibane or ryght frankincense dryueth away the trymlyngh and shaking of agues It is gyuen in half a scruple weyght to them whose heade stādeth backwarde If any horsleches or lougheleches cleue to a mans wesand / thys / if it be dronken / will driue them doun / if a man will make a gargle with it / and with vinegre It is good to be dronkē for milck that is clodded and run together in lumpes It is good for the fallyng sicknes / dronken with oxymel or honied vinegre If it be
if a man wolde eat it / he had nede to sethe it very muche Aueroes writeth that the gardine carot is good for them that ar slow to the worke of increasyng the world with childer Of the herbe called Peplis Peplis PEplis whome som call wild porcellayn / Hippocrates calleth pepliō / for the moste parte groweth by the see syde / it hath a brode shaddowyng bushe which is full of whyte iuice The leues ar lyke vnto porcellayn / rounde and rede benethe Vnder the leues is a rounde sede as there is in pleplo with a burnyng taste It hathe but one single roote / which is empty and small I haue sene thys herbe in Ilandes about Venis It is very lyk vnto our English wartwurth / which is iudged of learned men to be tithimalus helioscopius / but it is much shorter thicker / and spredeth it self vpon the ground / it may be called in Englishe see wartwurt The vertues of Peplis PEplis taken in the quantite of an acetable with one cyate of mede / purgeth out choler and fleme thys herbe haue I sene in an yland besyde Venis Of the herbe called Peplis Peplos PEplus is a busshy herbe full of milky iuice / with litle leues lyke rue / but a litle broder / with a round bushe of herbes in the top / almoste a span lōg / spred vpon the grounde The sede is roūde groweth vnder the leues sumthyng lesse thē whyte poppy sede It is full of many helpes It hath but one roote that void nothyng worthe It groweth amongest the vindes in gardines I neuer saw thys herbe in any place sauyng only in Bonony / where as my master Lucas aboue xvj yeres shewed me with many other strange herbes which I neuer saw sence I cam out of Italy I know no name for thys herbe but for lak of a better name / it may be called pety spourge Thys herbe hath no other vertues as Dioscorides writeth then Peplis hath Of Vuod bynde Periclymenum PEriclymēnon is named of the comon herbaries matrisylua / in Englishe Wodbynde / or Honysuckle in som places of Englād / the Duche men call it Waldgilgen / the Frenche men call it / cheure fueille Wodbynd doth bush vp in one stalk alone and hath litle leues whiche stande by lyke spaces one from an other / imbracynge the stalk / white in vnder lyke vnto Iuy And ther grow litle twigges vp amongest the leues where on grow berries lyke vnto Iuy berries The flour is white like the faba floures / which men take for our beane / somthyng round / as thoughe it leaned down toward the leafe The sede is harde / and not easye to be plucked away The roote is round and thik It groweth in feldes and hedges / and windeth it self about busshes The properties of wodbynde IF ye gather the sede of Wodbynd when it is rype / dry it in a shaddowy place / will geue a dram of it in wyne for the space of xl dayes / it will melt away the mylt / dryue away werines / it well be excellētly good medicine for shortnes of wynde / for the hitchcoughe or yiskyng It will dryue furth water / but vpon the sixt day after the continual vse of it / it will dryue out blody water The same is good for a woman that hath an hard laboryng of childe The leues haue the sam vertues And som write that if a man drynk the leues xxxvij dayes together / that they will make hym that he shal get no mo childer If ye seth the leues of wodbynd in oyle / anoynte them that haue the ague comming vpon them by certayn courses and commynges about / and they will ease them Of the Great bur Lappa maior Personatia THe great bur is named in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin personata not persolata / of the comon herbaries lappa maior / in Duche groß Kletten / in Frenche Gletteron The bur hath leues lyke vnto a gourde but bygger / rougher / blacker and thicker The stalk is som thyng whytishe / howbeit it is found som tyme with out any stalk at all It groweth comonly about townes and villages / about diches and hyghewayes doug hylles suche vile places The vertues of the great bur THe roote of the bur taken with pinaple kirnelles / in the quantite of a dram / is good for them that coughe out matter or fylthy gear / or bloode The roote is good to be layd to / for the ach that commeth by the wrinchyng or streuyng of any ioynte The leues ar good to be layd vpon olde sores Of the herbe called Petasites Petasites PEtasites hath soft stele or footstalk / a cubit lōg and somtyme longer / it is of the thicknes of a mannis finger / and in the top of it groweth a lefe which hath the fasshon of an hat / it hangeth doun after the maner of a todestool Dioscorides maketh no mention nether of the masterstalke nether of the flour of thys herbe / but I haue sene bothe In the myddes of Marche in watery groundes besyde riuerse / and brookes that ryn all the year / and ar not dry in summer thys herbe bryngeth first furth a short stalk / where vpon grow many floures as they were in a cluster / in color purple in whyte After that the stalke and floures ar faided gone away / then com vp the leues / euen as it chanceth vnto the herbe which is called in Greke Bechion / and in Latin Tussilago It hath a grete and long bitter roote with a very strong smell Thys herbe is called in Northumbreland an Eldin / in Cambridgeshyre a Butterbur / in Duch Pestilētz wurtz The vertues of Petasites BUtterbur is good as Dioscorides writeth for fretyng sores suche as ar extremely harde to he le / if it be beten and layd to after the maner of an emplaster The later writer and namely Hieronymus Tragus write that the root of thys herbe is good agaynst the pestilence They gyue a litle of the pouder of thys herbes roote in wyne to the pacient / about the quantite of a dram / and prouoke hym to sweate there with / which thyng it doth very myghtely They vse the same roote beatē into pouder agaynst the stranglyng of the mother They gyue it also both to men and beastes for wormes / to weomen that ar vexed with the vprysyng of the mother / and to any that ar shortwynded The herbe is without all dout hote and dry muche aboue the second degre Matthiolus without all reson or sufficient profe reproueth Ruellius and Fuchsius in the settingfurth of thys herbe / worthy more to be reproued hym self for so vnworthely reprouyng of them Amatus Lusitanus the ape of Matthiolus writeth much more vnlearnedly and more lyingly then Matthiolus doth For he writeth thus We can not tell what Petasites is / if it be not a kynde
/ and to be poured vpon the same the same driueth awaye scurfe and scales the tyme of taking of the iuyce of it is / when that it floureth by cutting of the barke this hath poure to scoure awaye those thinges / which bringe darcknes vnto the apple of the eye Out of Galene A Man may well vse the leaues of the willow tre for to glew woundes together / the moste part of Physiciones vse the floures of the willowe tre most of all for the preparing of a drying emplaster / for the poure therof is to drye / for besyde that it byteth not / it hath also a certayn binding / ther are certayn also / whiche presse out the iuyce of it / kepe it as a medicine without all byting and drying vp very profitable for many thinges / for ye cā not finde any thinge more profitable for many thinges thē a medicine is / which drieth without byting / doth binde a litle / but the barke hath the like poure / with the floures and the leaues but that it is of a dryer complexion as all barkes be Som men do burne the barke and vse the ashes of it / for all thinges that had nede of a mighty dryer Of Sage Saluia Veronica foemina Saluia maior Saluia minor SALuia is called in Greke Elilisphacos / in English Sage or Sauig / in Duche Salben or Selue / in Frenche Saulge Sage is a long bushe full of bowes and braunches / hauing twigges four square / somthyng whytish / and leaues lyke the Quince tre / but longer / rougher / thicker / and priuely resembling horenes of a worme cloth / whyte vnder / smellinge wounderfully / but the smell is greuous / it hath sede lyke the wilde horminum in the top of the stalke / it groweth in rough places / Hetherto Dioscorides Dioscorides maketh but one kinde of Sage / but Theophrast maketh two kindes of Sage / one wyth a rougher / and the other wyth a smoother leafe / but nowe are there founde more kindes / the whyche though they differ one from an other muche in roughnes / and smoothnes in greatnes and smallines / and in diuersite of coloures / yet in my iudgement / they do agre al in one vertue and propertye / and although som be stronger then other som be The vertues of Sage THe broth wherein the leaues and branches are sodden / dryue fourth water / and bring furth floures / and draweth furth the byrth / and it healeth the pricking of the fishe / called in Latin pastinaca marina / whych is lyke vnto a flath / with venemous prickes about hys tayl◠It maketh heyre black / it is good for woundes / it stoppeth the blood / and scoureth wilde sores / the broth of the leaues and the braunches wyth wine stancheth the iche of the priuites / if they be washed therewith Out of Galene Galene writeth that Sage is of an euident hote complexion / and somthing binding The vertues of Sage out of Aetius THe heating poure of sage is euidently knowen / but the binding vertue is but small / but som wryte that if a perfume be made of sage ouer the coles / that it will stop the excessiue flowing of womens floures But Agrippa writeth that sage beyng a holy herbe / is eaten of lionesses beynge wyth yong / for it holdeth and stayeth the liuely byrth Wherfor if a woman drinke a pounde of the iuyce of it wyth a litle salte / at a certayne tyme / whiche Phisiciones can tell / if she do lye wyth her husbande / vndoutingly she shall conceyue They saye when as the pestilence was in a place of Egypt / called Coptos / that they that remayned alyue after the pestilence / compelled theyr wiues to drinke much of thys iuyce and so they had in short tyme great encrease of chyldren Orpheus sayeth that two cyates of the iuyce of sage with one vnce of honye / if it be geuen vnto a man with drink fasting / will stoppe the spitting of blood but it is good agaynst the tysick and exulceration of the lunges If it be dressed thus / take of spiknarde two drames of the sede of sage perched / beaten / and sifted xiiij drames / of pepper xij drames / menge all these together in the iuice of sage / and make pilles thereof / and geue a dram at a tyme / in the morning to the patient fasting / and so much against night / and drinke water after the pilles Of Sauerye SAtureia or Cunila is called in Greke Thymbra / in English sauerye / or saueraye / in Duche saturey / in Frenche sarriette it is hote and drye in the thyrde degre / as the taste will teache you / whensoeuer ye will trye it / for it biteth the tong myghtely Although diuerse and great learned men haue made one herbe of Thymbra and satureya / yet it is playne by the autorite of Columella / and other olde writers / that they are two seuerall herbes And because Dioscorides maketh two kindes of thymbra / it is not vnlyke / but that the one is it that is called thymbra / of the Grekes and som Latines / and the other is it that is called of the Grecianes thymbra / and of the Latines satureia Satureia satiua The wilde kinde is greater and hoter / and the gardin thymbra is lesse then the other and more gentler / and therfore more fit to be eaten as Dioscorides writeth The wilde thymbra after the iudgemēt of Matthiolus / is Satureia hortensis of Columel Whereof he maketh mention in hys verses As for the fyrste kinde that Dioscorides describeth / I thinke it shall be harde to fynde any suche in Englande / when as Matthiolus compleyneth that he can fynde none suche in Italy And allthough we haue here in England two kindes of sauerye / one that dyeth euery yeare / and is commonly called sauerey / and an other kinde that is called winter sauerye in English / and closter hysope in Duche / which dureth both summer winter Yet nether of these answer vnto the description of Dioscorides / for it that Dioscorides describeth it thus / described it groweth in rough places / and in a bare grounde / it is like tyme / but lesse tenderer / it beareth an eare full of floures / they of an herbish or grene color The vertues of Sauerye Dioscorides wryteth no more of the vertues of sauerye / but that it serueth for the same purposes / that thyme serueth for / wherfore if ye wil know what vertues sauery hath / loke them out in the chapter of thyme Of the herbe called Satyrion Satyrium Satyrium trifolium Satyrium regale Satyrium floribus apium similibus SAtyrion is named in latine Satyrium / it maye be named in English / whyt Satyriō / or whyte hares coddes / or in other more vnmanerly speche / hares ballockes Dioscorides describeth Satyrion thus Satyrion whiche som call
Swartwalt in Duch / where as is the beginninge of Hircinij sylue It groweth not in England that I know / sauing only in gardines The rootes are now condited in Danske / for a frende of myne in London / called maister Alene a marchant man / who hath ventered ouer to Danske / sent me a litle vessel of these / well condited with very excellent good hony Wherefore they that woulde haue anye Angelica / maye speake to the Marchauntes of Danske / who can prouide them inough The vertues of Angelica ANgelica is hote and drye at the lest in the third degree All the later writers agre in this and experience confirmeth the same that Angelica is good against poison / pestilent ayres / and the pestilence it selfe The practitioners of Germany write thus of Angelica If that any man be sodenly taken / ether with any pestilence / or any soden pestilent ague / or with to much soden sweting / let him drinke of the pouder of the roote of Angelica / halfe a dram / mingled with a dram of triacle / in thre or foure spoundfullis of the water of Angelica distilled out of the rootes / and after go vnto bed / and couer him selfe wel / and at the lest faste thre houres after / which if he do / he shal beginne to sweate / and by the helpe of God he shall be deliuered from his disease If you haue not triacle at hand / you maye take a whole dram of the roote of Angelica in pouder / with the forenamed quantite of the distilled water / and it will bring the same effecte that the other composition did The roote of Angelica steped in vinegre / and smelled vpon in the tyme of the pestilence / and thesame vinegre beyng sometyme dronkē / if you be fasting / saueth a mans bodye from the pestilence But it were better in my iudgement / to stipe the roote of Angelica in sharpe white vinegre / and after it be sufficiently steped / to put it into a rounde hollowe balle / full of holes / ether of siluer / or of tinne / or of Ieniper woode / with some cotten or wolle dipped in the same vinegre / or ellis with some fine cloth / that anye of these maye holde the vinegre the longer and if a man haue suche a ball / he maye be the more bolder to venter where the pestilence is / then if he had a great sort of other medicines The water distilled out of the rotes of Angelica / or the pouder of the same is good for gnawing and payne of the bellye / that commeth with cold / if the body be not bounde withal To be short / the water distilled / or the pouder of the roote is good for al inwarde diseases as the pleuresy / in the beginning before the hete of the inflamation becomed into the bodye for it dissolueth and scatereth abroad / such humores as vse to geue matter to the pleuresy It is good also for the diseases of the lunges / if they come of a cold cause and for the strangurian of a cold cause / or of a stoppinge It is good also for a woman that is in trauaile of childe / and to bringe doune her sicknes At other tymes when nede requireth / it is good also to dryue wind awaye that is in the bodye / and to ease the payne that commeth of the same The roote maye be sodden ether in water or in wine / as the nature of him that is sicke doth require The iuyce of the roote put into a holow toth / taketh awaye the ache / and so likewise doth the distilled water put in at the eare Moreouer the iuyce and the water also of Angelica / quicken the eye sight / and they breake the litle filmes that go ouer the eyes / wherof darknes doth rise Of the rotes of Angelica and pitch / maye be made a good emplaster against the bytinges of mad beastes The water / the iuyce / or the pouder of the roote sprinckled vpon the diseased place / is a very good remedye against old and depe sores / for they do scoure it and clense them / and couer the bones with fleshe The water of the same in a cold cause / is good to be layde on places diseased with the goute and sciatica also for it stancheth the payne and melteth awaye the tough humores that are gathered together The sede is of lyke vertue with the roote The wilde Angelica that groweth here in the lowe woodes and by the water sydes / is not of suche vertue as the other is Howbeit the surgiones vse to seth the rote of it in wine / to heale grene wondes withal These properties haue I gathered out of the practicioners of the Germanes / but I haue not proued them al as yet my selfe / but diuers of thē I haue proued and found to be true Of Aquilegia called Columbine AQuilegia is called in Englishe Columbin / and in Duche Ackeley Columbine groweth onlye in gardines in England / as farre as I know / but I haue sene it growe wilde in Germanye both it with the whyte floure and eke with the blewe The first leues that come out / are lyke vnto great Selendine / they are iagged round aboute / and spred vpon the earth In the moneth of Iune / it groweth into a rounde and smoth stalke / higher then a mans cubite / and in the toppe it hath blewe or white floures much lyke vnto the herbe / which is called in English Larkes clawe / and in Duche Riders spurge After that the floures are gone there rise foure corners like vnto Nigella Romana / which haue sede lyke vnto flees The roote is whyte and long / and ful of smale fringes about the ende lyke thredes The herbe / the sede / and the roote resemble a certaine swetenes Aquilegia The vertues of Columbine TRagus writeth that a dram weight of the sede of Columbine brused / and with a halfpennye weight of Saffron / dronken with wine / is good for the yelow iaundies This is knowen by experience if he will go to a warm bedde after that he hath taken it / and prouoke swete After the same maner vsed / it openeth the wayes of the lyuer / of whose stopping arise many diseases After the same iudgemente of the same Tragus / the water of the floures rightly distilled / if it be dronken is good for the same purpose / it is good against soundinge Of Medewurt / or Medow wurt / or Mede swete / and of some named Vlmaria Barba capri MEdewurte is an herbe well knowen vnto all men / it groweth about water sydes / moyst places and sennes / and it hath a leafe like vnto Agrimonie / indented much The stalkes are four square / holow within / dunne in color / whiche are somtyme as highe as a man It hath verye many floures in the toppe which are lyke the floures of Philipendula / a far
vsed for methel nuttes / are the righte nuces vomicae that is vomite nuttes And for his proofe he alledgeth Serapion / and he maketh this difference / that the right vomike nuttes haue litle knoppes vpon them lyke eyes / and that the methel nuttes haue dounye or roughe skin all ouer them Oute of the Arabianes / and chefelye out of Serapio / and them that he citeth SErapio maketh two chapters of Nux Methel and of Nux Mechil and a seueral chapter of the fruyte called Nux vomica where they must be thre seuerall thinges and not one simple first I wil rehearse what he writeth of the vomike nut Of the Vomike nut LEum alcey or alke / is named in Latin Nux vomica This nut ether alone or with other medicines as salt / maketh a man vomite strongly / for salt furthereth perbreakinge / and stereth the humores / and maketh them more easelye go furth by casting or vomiting The quantite of them to be taken is two drammes Take twentye drammes of the drye toppes or leaues of Dill / and seth them in a wine pint of water vntill the halfe be sodden awaye / and put some honye to it / and let the medicine be made of honye / and afterward let it be menged with this sodden water and dronken / and then it maketh a man vomit easely / and it loseth the bellye sometyme One Abraham in Serapio writeth thus There is a nut whose color is betwene grayshe / blewishe / and whitishe / greater then a hasel nut / and there are knobbes in it / and if ye take a dram of the pouder of the barke of it that is sifted with two great drammes of the pouder of Dill or Fenel sede / and put vnto it a sufficient quantite of honye / and drinke it with warme water / it wil make a man vomite choler and tâ—eme / and it wil make some go to the stole also Here in this texte I find nothing that mislyketh me / sauing that this Abraham geueth but one dram / when as other geue two drammes / and that he compareth it vnto a hasel nut / when as there is no lykenes at al betwene an hasel nut and the vomiting nut so far as I haue rede or sene by experience Of the nut Methil oute of the 365. Chapter of Serapio De temperamentis LEum Methel / that is nut Methel / is a fruyte lyke vnto the vomiting nut / and the sede of it is lyke vnto the sede of a Citron / Haese writeth in the same chapter that the nut Methel is lyke vnto the vomike nut / and that the sede of it is lyke vnto the sede of Mandragoâ—a / that the barke of it is rough and the tast of it is delectable and fatty or vnctuous / that it is colde in the fourth degre / and that if one kirat of it be geuen in wine / it maketh a man wonderfully dronken / and a kirat is the weight of foure barly cornes But if it be gyuen in the quantite of two drammes and two seuen partes of a dram / it wil kill a man furth without any delaye Rasis beynge alledged in the same chapter sayth / that it maketh vnsensible / and peraduenture killeth and stoppeth and stancheth / and make a man vomit / and an other of the Arabianes sayth that fyue drammes of the Methel nut make one dronken verye sore / if there be much of it geuen / it killeth And therefore he that taketh of it / ought to take in hote butter / and to set his outwarde partes in warme water / be so ordered that he maye vomit enough / and let him be so cured as he that hath taken Mandragoram Rasis also in his Simples writeth that the Methel maketh num or vnsensible / and bringeth somtyme destruction / and engendreth dronkennes / lothsumnes and vomitinge Oute of Auicenna THE Nux methel is poyson / and maketh num or vnfelable / it is lyke vnto a vomike nut / and the sede of it is like the sede of a Citron / it maketh vnfelable the head / and maketh forgetfulnes / and is ill for the brayne / the quantite of a dauich maketh a man dronken / the poyson of it killeth in one daye Thus muche haue I translated out of the Arabianes / and so muche as I coulde finde in any Arabian / that is translated into Latine / of al that I can gather of these Arabianes / the nut Methel stereth a man to vomit muche more then Nux vomica doth / and that in lesse quantite / wherfore the working of Nux Methel deserueth more the name of the vomitinge nut / then the commonly called nut vomike doth But seynge that it is out of all dout / that they are verye perillous / I will aduise al my frendes to vse nether of both in their bodyes / but to vse them to catche fishe / byrdes / and some litle beastes therewith and it were best to take out the stomake of suche as are taken streight waye / and not to suffer them to lyue after they be dosyed or made dronken Of the fruyte called Anacardium ANacardium maye be called in Englishe Hart nut / of the likenes that it hath with an hart / for it is lyke a byrdes hart in proportion and in color also It groweth in Sicilia in the hote hilles / whiche burne continuallye vnder the ground This hart nut is hote and drye in the fourth degre / and is very good for the marring or hurting of the memory and senses / is good for al diseases of the brayne that come of colde and moystenes It is good against losing of the sinewes / and it remoueth forgetfulnes and helpeth the memorye / halfe a dram of it if it be receyued / is good for the memorye / and the inward part is best / but because it is extremely hote / it is deadly ieperdous for yong men / and for them that be of a colerike or hote complexion therefore it ought not to be geuen vnto theÌ„ / and it ought onlye to be geuen to them that haue the palsey / or are afrayd of the palseye Of Adders tonge O Phyoglosson is called in Latine Lingua serpentina in English Adders tonge / of some other Adders grasse / though vnproperly Adders tong hath one fat leafe a finger long like water Plantayne / but much narrower / for the quantite of it out of the lowest part / whereof there riseth a litle stalke which hath a longe tonge vpon it / not vtterly vnlike a serpentes tonge / whereof it hath the name It groweth in moyst and medowes in the ende of April / and in the beginninge of May and shortely faydeth awaye Ophioglosson The vertues of Adders tonge THis is a wounde herbe / and healeth woundes which are almost vncurable / or at the least wonderfully hard to be healed The nature of it is also to dryue away great swellinges / and to preuent