AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 3 
ALKANET. 
Besipes the common name, it is called 
Orchanet, and Spanish Bugloss, and by 
apothecaries, Enchusa. 
Descript.] Of the many sorts of this 
herb, there is but one known to grow com- 
monly in’ this nation; of which one take 
this description: It hath a great and thick 
root, of a reddish colour, long, narrow, 
hairy leaves, green like the leaves of Bug- 
loss, which lie very thick upon the ground; 
the stalks rise up compassed round about, 
thick with leaves, which are lesser and nar- 
rower than the former; they are tender, and 
slender, the flowers are hollow, small, and 
of a reddish colour. 
Place.| It grows in Kent near Rochester, 
and in many places in the West Country, 
both in Devonshire and Cornwall. 
Time.] They flower in July, and the be- 
ginning of August, and the seed is ripe 
soon after, but the root is in its prime, as 
carrots and parsnips are, before the herb 
runs up to stalk. 
Government and virtues.] It is an herb 
under the dominion of Venus, and indeed 
one of her darlings, though somewhat hard 
to come by. It helps old ulcers, hot inflam- 
mations, burnings by common fire, and St. 
Anthony’s fire, by antipathy to Mars; for 
these uses, your best way is to make it into 
an ointment; also, if you make a vinegar 
of it, as you make vinegar of roses, it helps 
the morphew and leprosy; if you apply the 
herb to the privities, it draws forth the 
dead child. It helps the yellow-jaundice, 
spleen, and gravel in the kidneys. Diosco- 
rides saith, it helps such as are bitten by a 
venomous beast, whether it be taken in- 
wardly, or applied to the wound; nay, he 
saith further, if any one that hath newly 
eaten it, do but spit into the mouth of a ser- 
pent, the serpent instantly dies. It stays the 
flux of the belly, kills worms, helps the fits 
of the mother. Its decoction made in wine, 
and drank, strengthens the back, and easeth 
the pains thereof: It helps bruises and 
falls, and is as gallant a remedy to drive 
out the small pox and measles as any is; an 
ointment made of it, is excellent for green 
wounds, pricks or thrusts. 
ADDER’S TONGUE, OR SERPENT’S TONGUE. 
Descript.| Tus herb has but one leaf, 
which grows with the stalk a finger’s length 
above the ground, being flat and of a fresh 
green colour; broad like Water Plantane, 
but less, without any rib in it; from the 
bottom of which leaf, on the inside, rises 
up (ordinarily) one, sometimes two or three 
slender stalks, the upper half whereof is 
somewhat bigger, and dented with small 
dents of a yellowish green colour, like the 
tongue of an adder serpent (only this is as 
useful as they are formidable.) The roots 
continue all the year. 
Place.] It grows in moist meadows, and 
such like places. _ 
Time.] It is to be found in May or April, 
for it quickly perisheth with a little heat. 
Government and virtues.| It is an herb 
under the dominion of the Moon and Can- 
cer, and therefore if the weakness of the 
retentive faculty be caused by an evil in- 
fluence of Saturn in any part of the body 
governed by the Moon, or under the domi- 
nion of Cancer, this herb cures it by sym- 
pathy: It cures these diseases after speci- 
fied, in any part of the body under the 
influence of Saturn, by antipathy. 
It is temperate in respect of heat, but 
dry in the second degree. The juice of the 
leaves drank with the distilled water of 
Horse-tail, is a singular remedy for all 
manner of wounds in the breasts, bowels, 
or other parts of the body, and is given with 
good success to those that are troubled 
with casting, vomiting, or bleeding at the 
mouth or nose, or otherwise downwards. 
The said juice given in the distilled water 
of Oaken-buds, is very good for women who 
