CHAPTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF HEPATICOLOGY. 133 



places, having minute leaves adhering to earth and stones. 

 The greater the leaves it has, the better it is; it is called 

 Hepatica because it is particularly a helper of the liver. 



Hieronymus, '' the herbarist, on Hepatica, 



Hepatica is held in three different ways. First, it is what 

 adheres to stones and rocks about old abandoned springs, 

 with leaves alternately pinnate and clinging to each other, 

 not very different from that which is commonly called 

 Pulmonaria. The second is the herb which they now call 

 indiscriminately Mcdrissylva ^ or Siellaris, — in German, 

 Waltmeister, — though they commonly make Caprifolium 

 also Mater sylvce. The third is Trifolium aureum^ ^ —in 

 Teutonic, Guldener Klee^ — which grows in woods and rough 

 places. 



This, BO far as I remember, is all that I have found con- 

 cerning Hepatica among received authors.*' 



The greater portion of the third page, Brunfels devotes to 

 a statement of the medical qualities of Hepatica, according 

 to the beliefs of the age. The first of the two figures given 

 by Brunfels is manifestly that of the plant called Anemone 

 Hepatica by Linnseus, while the second represents a sterile 

 thalloid liverwort, most probably Marchaniia polymorpJia. 



The "Novi Herbarii Tomus H" is largely made up of 

 dissertations of different writers upon various medical and 

 botanical subjects, among which are observations by Leon- 

 ardus Fuchsius upon several matters ^'heretofore not rightly 

 understood by physicians." His treatment of the hepatic 

 question is so lucid and interesting that I may be pardoned, 

 I am sure, for attempting to give an interpretation of his 

 words. "The herb called by the moderns ijTepa/tca," he 

 says, 10 "is that which Dioscorides, Galenus, and other 

 Greeks, name Lichen^ as may easily be discerned from their 



probability, whose work "De Arte 

 arer. fide Haller, in 1500. 



8 Asperula odorala, L. 

 fl Anemone Hepatica^ L. 

 10 Novi Herbarii Tomus 



