72 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
13. The Phytognomonica. Giambattista Porta. Naples, 
1588. It has been held that Porta, who was born a short time 
before the death of Paracelsus, is to be regarded as the real 
founder of the doctrine of signatures. He certainly developed 
the theory to the fullest extent, pointing out the most obscure 
resemblances between flowers and fruits and the limbs and 
organs of animals. 
14. Adam in Eden. William Coles. Oxford, 1657. This 
herbalist of the seventeenth century made the doctrine of sig- 
natures peculiarly his own. Coles at least attempted to fol- 
low his theories to their logical conclusion. Commenting upon 
the large number of plants with medicinal virtues that pos- 
Sess no obvious signature, he concludes that these were pur- 
posely left blank by the Almighty in order to encourage man’s 
skill in discovering the properties of the plant for himself. 
He adds that if all were signed ‘‘the rarity of it, which is the 
delight, would be taken away by too much harping upon one 
string.’’ 
Recalling the position which astrology had come to occupy 
in the middle ages it is but natural that the influence of the 
heavenly bodies should have been applied to plants. 
15. “‘The book of secrets on the virtues of herbs, plants, and 
certain beasts ’’ Albertus Magnus. Many references to botani- 
eal astrology are to be found in this work. For instance we 
are told that ‘‘if the marigold be gathered the sun being in 
the sign of Leo and be wrapped in the leaf of a laurel, and a 
wolf’s tooth be added thereto, no man shall be able to have a 
word to speak against the bearer thereof but words of peace.’’ 
Concerning the plantain we read: “The root of this herb 
is marvelous good against the pain of the head because the 
sign of the ram is supposed to be the house of the planet Mars 
which is the head of the whole world.’’ 
16. “Astrological botany.’’ Leonhardt Thurneysser zum 
Thurn. Berlin, 1578. The writer of this extraordinary book 
was a charlatan of the first order, having to leave the country 
when he was detected selling gilded lead as a substitute for 
gold. He practiced medicine and sold amulets and talismans 
at great profit. He projected a great botanical work in ten 
volumes, owning a printing press and employing a large staff 
