X.] PLANTS AND PLANETS. 153 



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 viper's 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 sa.th, 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 Ephemeris 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 



