INSANE ROOT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 167 



rind. And thereof cometh juice with good smell, and is 

 white as almonds, and is fat when it is tempered and 

 neshed [i.e., softened]. And so the tree that beareth Frank- 

 incense groweth without tilling, and loveth clay-land ; and 

 the Arabs tell that Frankincense shall not be gathered nor 

 the tree thereof pared but of holy men and religious, that 

 be not defiled by touching of women in time of gathering. 

 Frankincense is gathered and brought on camels' backs to 

 the city that hight Sabocriam ; and there is a gate opened 

 therefor. And it is not lawful to lead it by another way. 

 And [it] is not lawful to beg neither to sell thereof, before 

 due portion be offered to the god that they worship. And 

 is assayed by witness, if it burneth anon to coals, and 

 waxeth on light on high, if it hold' not together the teeth, 

 when it is bitten, but breaketh anon and falleth to powder. 

 Of Frankincense set afire cometh a good smelling smoke, 

 shapen as a rod, and small beneath, and full movable, and 

 turning, and crooked with many bendings and wrinklings, 

 and moveth towards contrary sides with most light movings, 

 and destroyeth stench of carrion by good savour thereof, 

 and thirleth and passeth straight to the brain, and com- 

 forteth and refresheth the spirit of feeling, and spreadeth 

 into the cells of the brain. 



Bartholomew (Bertbelet], bk. xvii. 173. 



IF Incense be drunk by a healthy man, he runs the risk 

 of becoming mad, or of dying. It strengthens the memory. 



Hortus tianitatis, bk. i. ch. cccclxxxiv. 



IN English Frankincense and Incense. It doth help and 

 strengthen the wit and understanding, but the often taking 

 of it will breed the head-ache, and if too much of it be 

 drunk with wine, it killeth. 



Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. 



Insane Root. 



MACBETH, i. 3, 85. 



[The commentators consider this to be hemlock, but it is 

 possible that it might be henbane, which as Gerard notes 

 (" Herbal," s.v.), was called Insana, and, according to Pliny 

 (bk. xxv. ch. 4), troubles the brain, and puts men beside 

 their right wits.] 



