THE USE OF SIMPLES 21 



bred medicines are both more easy for the parson's 

 purse, and more familiar for all men's bodies. So, 

 when the apothecary useth either for loosing, rhubarb, 

 or for binding, bolearmena, the parson," says Herbert, 

 " useth damask or white roses for the one, and plain- 

 tain, shepherd's purse, knotgrass for the other, and 

 that with better success." So for salves, the parson's 

 wife for the wife, says Herbert, is to be chosen, not 

 for her " qualities of the world," but for her " skill in 

 healing a wound" " seeks not the city, but prefers 

 her garden and fields before all outlandish gums. 

 And surely hyssop, valerian, mercury, adder's tongue, 

 yarrow, meliot, and St. John's-wort, made into a salve, 

 and elder, camomile, mallows, comphrey, and smallage, 

 made into a poultice, have done great and rare cures. 

 And in curing of any the parson and his family use 

 to premise prayers, for this is to cure like a parson, 

 and this raiseth the action from the shop to the 

 church." 



And doubtless there was a certain virtue in many 

 of these old-world remedies. The use of them would 

 hardly have been continued had their efficacy been 

 found altogether wanting. And certain it is that 

 many of these herbal preparations were regarded with 

 favour even by scientific men. John Ray was the 

 greatest naturalist of his age, and may be fairly said 

 in his Methodus Plantarum to have laid the foundation 

 of modern scientific botany, yet he not only believed 

 in the virtue of plants, but even used herbal remedies 

 for his own ailments. Towards the end of his life 

 Ray suffered severely from some scrofulous complaint, 

 and was greatly troubled with ulcers on the legs. For 

 this we find him using a " decoction of elecampane, 

 dockroot, and chalk, in whey, and bathing the affected 



