250 RUTACEZL. 
History, Uses, &c.— Rue was held in high estimation 
by the Greeks and Romans. Aristotle in his History of Animals 
(ix. 6) tells us that the weasel before fighting with serpents, 
rubs itself against this plant. Hippocrates considered it to be 
- resolvent and diuretic, and notices it in his chapter on female 
diseases. Pliny notices it in several parts of his Natural 
History, and calls it’ one of the best medicinal herbs. Celsus 
says of Rue, ‘‘Urinam movet, sensus excitat, purgat, mollit.” 
Apuleius (De Ver. Herb.) recommends the following supersti- 
tious practise “ad profluvium mulieris” ; “‘ Herbam rutam 
Circumscribe auro et argento et ebore, et sublatam eam 
alligabis infra talum.” Macer Floridus states that Mithridates, 
king of Pontus, used rue as a protection against poison :— 
“ Obstat pota mero vel cruda comesta venenis. 
Hoc Metridates rex Ponti seepe probavit, 
Qui Rute foliis, &e.” caee 
Johnston, in his Thaumatographia Naturalis, writes :—“ Ruta 
libidinem in viris extinguit, auget in feminis.” The plant was 
_ hung round the neck in the Middle Ages as a charm against 
vertigo and epilepsy; it was considered emblematic of good 
Juck, and a protection against sorcery, a herb dear to women, 
&c. (De Gubernatis.) 
The Hindus received the plant from the West along with 
the superstitions connected with it; they burn the leaves for 
the purpose of fumigating young children suffering from 
catarrh, and use a tincture of them as an external remedy in 
paralytic affections, and administer them internally in dyspep- 
sia. They consider rue injurious to pregnant women, a0 
Opinion expressed by Dioscorides. 
- The Arabians class rue among their attenuentia, vesicatoria 
and stimulantia. The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya 
describes three kinds—garden, wild, and mountain rue. He 
? considers it to be hot and dry in the third degree, to 
_. increase the mental powers, to act as a tonic -and digestive, 
and to increase the urinary 
~ leo states that ib ncte:ns an antaphrodisiac and causes abortion . 
Me 
and menstrual excretions. He - . 
