158 FLORA HISTORICA. 



and credulity of mankind, for by these arts they 

 pretended to work miracles and to exhibit astonish- 

 ing appearances in nature, as well as to penetrate 

 into the counsels of heaven. 



Divested of these pretended powers, there is no 

 doubt but that the Druids were better acquainted 

 with the medicinal properties of herbs than any 

 other class of men in their day ; since their resi- 

 dences being in the recesses of mountains, groves, 

 and woods, where vegetable productions were con- 

 stantly courting their attention, it is natural to 

 suppose that they would in some measure become 

 acquainted widi the qualities of plants in general. 

 That the Druids of Gaul and Britain applied them- 

 selves to this study, and made great use of herbs 

 for medical purposes, we have sufficient evidence, 

 since we learn from scattered hints in Pliny's 

 Natural History, that they sometimes extracted the 

 juice of herbs and plants, by bruising and steeping 

 them in cold water, and sometimes by infusion in 

 wine ; that they made potions and decoctions by 

 boiling them in water ; and we learn also that they 

 frequently dried certain herbs before infusing them, 

 and that they administered some plants by fumiga- 

 tions, and practised the art of making salves and 

 ointments of vegetables, for which they had great 

 renown even at Rome, to which city they exported 

 the Vervain, and hence it was called Britannica, 



