288 PRIMITIVE LEECHCEAFT 



It will be observed that this propitiatory notion, which 

 runs through so much ordinary folklore, has very little 

 place in these Anglo-Saxon prescriptions, most of which 

 are purely empirical and arbitrary. It appears, indeed, in 

 the directions quoted above for curing cataract, and in 

 some of the recipes for the bite of a mad dog ; but, as a 

 rule, the cure was supposed to depend on the virtues of 

 specified ingredients, modified sometimes by the hour of 

 the day or the age of the moon. A few of these ingredi- 

 ents mustard, aloes, colchicum, ginger, saffron, sulphur, 

 mercury, etc. remain in the modern pharmacopeia, 

 their use having been well known to oriental and Roman 

 physicians; their tradition had been preserved, but all 

 understanding of their true properties had been lost in 

 the general wreck of learning. 



Sometimes the Saxon name actually preserved the true 

 use of a wort which had been perverted to other and 

 probably futile purposes. Thus Delphinium staphisagria, 

 staves-acre, was known to the Saxons as louse-bane, yet 

 they recommended a drink of it to correct evil humours 

 of the body. At this day there is no such sovereign cure 

 for vermin in a dog's coat. Among herbs that may be 

 reckoned neutral in effect betony was ever a prime 

 favourite ; in the herbarium of Apuleius it is recommended 

 for no less than twenty-nine separate ailments for tooth- 

 ache, for sore eyes, for a broken head, for stomach-ache, 

 for fatigue after ' mickle riding or mickle ganging,' for in- 

 digestion (' if thou wilt that thy meat melt easily '), for bite 

 of an adder or a mad dog, for sore throat, or for ' foot-addle ' 

 [gout]. Hardly less popular was waybread [plantain], which 

 must at least have furnished a harmless draught, disposing 

 the patient to give an easy rein to his imagination. 



