THE WORMWOOD. 351 



cines, nor by any wild beast, neither yet by the 

 sun himself/' when he himself complacently avows 

 that he thrust sticks into the ground, with other 

 sticks " fastened also crossewais over them/' " about 

 the place where cyclamen " grew in his garden, in 

 order to prevent "the danger and inconvenience" 

 to those who came "neere unto it," or had to "stride 

 over it/' giving, at the same time, numberless other 

 proofs of concurrence in the easy belief of his age. 

 This is, moreover, by no means the only occasion on 

 which he expresses his virtuous indignation against 

 "old wives fables, fit only for writers who fill up 

 their pages with lies and frivolous toies ! " So much 

 for consistency ! 



Gerarde, however, highly esteems the herb for 

 more legitimate uses, strongly recommending it for 

 weak stomachs and eyes, loss of appetite, fainting 

 fits, worms, and jaundice. For these complaints, 

 he tells us, it is to be taken internally, ten or 

 twelve spoonsful of the tea, three times a day, as 

 " withstanding putrefactions ; " while it is much 

 commended as a poultice or fomentation, as well 

 as for driving away gnats for which purpose it 

 is much used by Asiatics, being burned in torches. 

 He says it is also of use for "helping them that 

 are strangled with eating of mushroomes or toad- 

 stools/' for the "biting of a shrew, or of a sea- 

 dragon," and as an antidote to the "poison of 

 Ixia;"* while the "sea cypress" (A. marrtima) 

 "cureth such as are splenetic;" and "cattle-going 

 near the sea, and eating it, get fat and lusty." In the 

 * He supposes this to be the juice of the thistle chamseleon. (?) 



