156 pFant Tsore, Tsege'r^b/, onR Tsijnc/, 



the red colour of its roots, was adopted as a cure for the bloody 

 flux. The throat-like corolla of the Throat-wort (Campanula Trache- 

 lium), better known as the Canterbury Bell, caused it to be ad- 

 ministered for bronchitis. Tutsan [Hypericum aitdrosamum) was 

 used to stop bleeding, because the juice of its ripe capsule is of a 

 claret colour. Brucella (now spelt Prunella) was called Brown-wort, 

 having brownish leaves and purple-blue flowers, and was in con- 

 sequence supposed to cure a kind of quinsy, called in German die 

 hraune. This plant has a corolla, the profile of which is suggestive 

 of a bill-hook, and therefore it was called Carpenter's-herb, and 

 supposed to heal the wounds inflicfted by edge-tools. Pimpinella 

 Saxifraga, Alchemilla arvensis, and the genus Saxifvaga, plants which 

 split rocks by growing in their cracks, have been named " Break- 

 stones," and were administered in cases of calculus. Clary was 

 transformed into Clear-eye, Godes-eie, Seebright, and Oculus Christi, 

 and eye-salves were consequently made of it. Burstwort was 

 thought efficacious in ruptures. The Scorpion-grass, or Forget- 

 Me-Not [Myosotis), whose flower-spike is somewhat suggestive of a 

 scorpion's tail, was an antidote to the sting of that or other 

 venomous creatures. The Briony, which bears in its root a mark 

 significative of a dropsical man's feet, was adopted as a cure for 

 dropsy. The Moon-daisy averted lunacy ; and the Birth-wort, 

 Fig-wort, Kidney-vetch, Nipple-wort, and Spleen-wort were all 

 appropriated as their names suggest, on account of fancied 

 resemblances. The Toad-flax (Linaria), it may here be pointed 

 out, owes its name to a curious mistake on the part of some 

 believer in the Doctrine of Signatures. According to Dodoens, 

 it was useful in the treatment of a complaint called buboes, 

 and received its Latin name, Bubonium. A confusion between 

 the words bubo and bufo (Latin for toad) gave rise to its present 

 name of Toad-flax ; and soon arose legends of sick or wounded 

 toads seeking this plant and curing themselves with its leaves. 



The general rules that guided the founders of the system of 

 Plant Signatures, which were supposed to reveal the occult powers 

 and virtues of vegetables, would seem to have been as under: — 



Vegetables, as herbs and plants, or their fruit, seed, flowers, 

 &c., which resemble some human member in figure, colour, quality, 

 and consistence, were considered to be most adapted to that 

 member, and to possess medical properties specially applicable 

 to it. 



All herbs or plants that in flowers or juice bear a resemblance 

 to one or other of the four humours, viz., blood, yellow bile, phlegm, 

 and black bile, were deemed suitable for treating the same 

 humour, by increasing or expelling it. 



All yellow-hued plants, if they were eatable, were thought to 

 increase yellow bile. In this category were included Orach, 

 Melons, Crocus, yellow Turnips, and all other yellow plants which 

 have a sweet flavour. 



