14 



Prt()("EEDIN'(iS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



VOL. 0.">. 



\ (i/fldlilc Idinh: f/oldcii-lidirrd (hxi : Tdrldridii laiiih. — The liiizonio ami l)ase 

 of the .stipes of a fern (Cihotiiiiii hdroiiict:) . Tlie rhizome is densely covered 

 with soft iiohlen-hrown liairs. niid with tlio liases of the stipes for legs bears a 

 rude resenihiance to a small (luadriiiied. It was one of the marvelous drugs 

 of Kiiropeaii iiharmac.v in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries, and was 

 hcUeved to lie a sort of plant animal. It was said to spring from a seed, 

 .•ind root in the earth like a plant, and to feed upon surrounding herbs like 

 ail animal, turiung upon its root until it had devoured all within reach, when 

 it perished from starvation. The rhizome is thought by the Chinese to be 

 tonic and aphrodisiac. The tine hairs are an efficient styptic. (Fig. 7.) Cat. 

 No. 142,G07. U.S.N.M. 



Stdhicfitrs. — " ^Moreover tliis stone, reduced to a fine powder and one ounce 

 of it given inwardly, is wont efficaciously to provoke sweat; and in bones 



Fig. 7. — Veget.\I!LE Lame. 



liroke. being externall,v applied, mixed with convenient playsters. it is exceed- 

 ingly helpful. If by the benefit of distilled vinegar, it be resolved into a salt, 

 in the stone and knotted podagrical effects, by reason of its signature it 

 efficaciously operates." (Crollius. Treatise of Signatures, 1669.) Cat. No. 

 49,857, U.S.N.M. 



Walnuts. — " Walnuts have an entire signature of the head ; the exterior 

 rinde. or lierby encompassment, of the pericranium : Wherefore salt of the 

 rindes, for wounds of the pericranium, is a singular remedy. The interior 

 hard rinde. or wooddy shell, of the cranium. The thin skin encompassing the 

 kernel, of the skin and membranes of the brain. The kernel liath the tigui-e 

 of tlie In-ain itself: Therefore it is also helpful to the brain. For if the kernel 

 beaten be moistened with the quintessence of wine, and applied to the crown 

 of the bead, it comforts the brain and head wonderfully." (Crollius. Treatise 

 of Signatures.) Cat. No. 14.8,089. U.S.N.M. 



