HELLEBORE. 19 



year. In digging up the roots of some species of 

 Hellebore it was thought necessary to eat garlic 

 previously, to counteract the poisonous effluvia of 

 the plant; yet we find that the root was afterwards 

 dried and pounded to dust, and sniffed up the 

 nostrils in the manner of snuff; as it is related that 

 when Carneades, the Cyrenaic philosopher, under- 

 took to answer the books of Zeno, he sharpened his 

 wit and quickened his spirit, by purging his head 

 with powdered Hellebore*. 



In the year 1676, the author of Ci The Anatomy 

 of Melancholy" adds the Hellebore to the other 

 emblematical figures of his frontispiece, with the 

 following lines : — 



Borage and Hellebor fill two scenes, 

 Soveraign plants to purge the veins 

 Of melancholy, and cheer the heart 

 Of those black fumes which make it smart ; 

 To clear the brain of misty fogs, 

 Which dull our senses, and soul clogs ; 

 Tbe best medicine that e'er God made 

 For this malady, if well assaid. 



To these lines we add a cautionary verse from 

 Drayton : — 



Here Henbane, Poppy, Hemlock here, 



Procuring deadly sleeping; 

 Which I do minister with fear — 



Not fit for each man's keeping. 



* Dioscorides, lib. 4, cap. 151. Pliny, lib. 25, cap. 5. 



