=.) PLANTS AND PLANETS. 155 
Of the All Heal he says: “It is under the domi- 
nion of Mars, hot, biting, and cholerick ; and remedies 
what evils Mars afflicts the body of man with, by 
sympathy, as vipers flesh attracts poison, and the 
loadstone iron.” 
The Alkanet is “under the dominion of Venus, 
and indeed one of her darlings, though somewhat 
hard to come by.” ‘“ Dioscorides saith, it helps such 
as are bitten by a venomous beast, whether it be 
taken inwardly or applied to the wound; nay, he saith 
further, if any one that hath newly eaten it, do but 
spit into the mouth of a serpent, the serpent instantly 
dies.” 
He tells us of the Adder’s-tongue fern: “It is an 
herb under the dominion of the Moon and Cancer, 
and therefore, if the disease be caused by the evil 
influence of Saturn in any part of the body governed 
by the moon, or under the dominion of Cancer, this 
herb cures it by sympathy. What parts of the body 
are under each planet and sign, and also what disease, 
may be found in my astrological judgment of dis- 
eases.” He further tells his readers that similar par- 
ticulars concerning “the internal work of nature in 
the body of man may be found in my Ephemerts for 
the year 1651. In both which you shall find the 
chaff of authors blown away by the fame of Dr. 
Reason, and nothing but rational truths left for the 
ingenious to feed upon. Lastly, to avoid blotting 
paper with one thing many times, and also to ease 
your purses in the price of the book, and withal to 
make you studious in physic, you have at the latter 
end of the book the way of preserving all herbs either 
