RANDOLPH. — MANDUAGORA IN FOLK-LORE AND MEDICINE. 517 



From the passages above cited it appears that there has never been a 

 time since the first century of the Christian era when this use of niandi-ayora 

 was wholly unknown to writers. But what is the evidence that through- 

 out this time physicians were actually using the plant as an anaesthetic'? 

 Is there any such evidence, or must we believe that they simply handed on 

 this story of its virtues witliout ever testing it? We shall best arrive at a 

 conclusion by examining the passages in these several authors separately. 

 For the sake of convenience I shall bepn with the one cited last. 



1. Giovanni Battista della Porta. He simply quotes Dioscorides, and 

 names him as his authority. Besides, the words I have quoted are taken 

 from the latter's description of his " third species," the identification of 

 which, as we have seen, is very doubtful. 



2. Valerianus. In the note on p. 494, above, I have quoted this 

 author as saying that the ancient uses of mandragora were probably 

 little known in his time. He cites Dioscorides and Pliny, and he had 

 perhaps read elsewhere of the use of the plant to produce anaesthesia,* 

 but there is no reason to suppose that he had any personal knowledge of 

 its use for this purpose. 



3. Bartholomaeus Anglicus. The work from which our passage is 

 taken does not profess to be more than a compilation from many sources. 

 In his chapter on mandragora the author cites Dioscorides, Pliny, and later 

 writers. The chapter begins with an excerpt from Isidorus, to which the 

 passage I have quoted belongs. There is no independent evidence here. 



4. Bruno Astensis. The words of this writer do not indicate that he 

 had any personal knowledge of this use of the plant. It is evident from 

 the wording of the passage quoted that he took it from Isidorus. 



5 and 6. Serapion and Avicenna. It will prove convenient to treat 

 these writers in their chronological order. 



The works of Serapion, a Syrian, were early translated into Arabic, 

 and came down to posterity as the oldest treatise on medicine in the 

 Arabic language. f The bulk of his chapter on the mandragora is an 

 almost word for word translation from Dioscorides ; a few lines of it 

 appear to be taken from Galen, a few resemble the pseudo-Apuleiau 

 chapter, and a few are of wholly uncertain source ; all the passages on 

 the use of the plant as an anaesthetic are based upon Dioscorides. 



* His remark, on the authority of "physicians" {medici multa tradidenint) , that 

 this use of mandragora was very common (plnrimus) is worthy of note. But lie 

 does not cite tlie names of his aiitliorities, and it hardly seems Hkely that he had 

 any particular physicians in mind. 



t See Neub.-l'ag., vol. 1, p. 596. 



