166 THE ENGLISH TIIYSICIAN ENLAKGED. 



second is commoiily found in the woods in Xorlhaniplon- 

 shire. 



Tiific.l The first (lowcreth in December or January ; 

 the second in February or IVIarch. 



Governtuent and firtiics.'j It is an herb of Saturn, and 

 therefore no marvel if it hath some sullen conditions 

 M'ith it, and \vould be far safer, beinp; purified by the 

 art of the alchymist, than given raw. if any have taken 

 any harm by taking it, the common cure is to take goat's 

 milk: if you cannot get goat's milk, you must make a 

 shift Avith such as you can get. The roots arc very 

 effciSlual against all melancholy diseases, especially such as 

 are of long standing, as quartan agues and madness ; 

 it helps the falling sickness, tlie leprosy, both the yellow 

 and black jaundice, the gout, sciatica, and convulsions; 

 and this was found out by experience, that the root of 

 that which groweth wild in our country, works not so 

 churlishly as those do which are brought from beyond 

 sea, as being maintained by a more temperate air. The 

 root, used as a pessary, provokes the terms exceedingly ; 

 also being beaten into powder, and strewed upon foul 

 ulcers, it consumes the dead ilesh, and instantly heals 

 them ; nay, it will help gangrenes in the beginning. 

 Twenty grains taken inwardly is a sufHcient dose for 

 one time, and let that be corretled with half so much 

 cinnamon ; country people used to rowel their cattle 

 \vilh it. If a beast be troubled with a cough, or have 

 taken any poison, they bore a hole through his car, and 

 j)ut a piece of the root in it, this will help him in 24 hours 

 time. Many other uses farriers put it to, which 1 shall 

 forbear. 



Herb Robert. ?. (h. m. 2.) 



Tins herb is in great repute amongst farmers, in diseases 

 of their cattle. 



Descript.'] It riseth up with a reddish stalk, two ivct 

 high, having divers leaves thereon upon very long and 

 reddish foot-stalks, divided at the ends into three or five 

 divisions, each of them cut in on (he edges, some deeper 

 than others, and all dented likewise about the edges, 

 which sometimes turn reddish. At the tops of the stalks 

 2 



