citlpeper's complete herbal. 31 



It i« of a cooling and drying quality, and very effectual 

 for putrid ulcers in man or beast, to kill worms and cleanse 

 putretieti places. The juice thereof dropped in, or other- 

 wise applied, consumeth all cold swellings, and dissolveth 

 the congealed blood of bruises by strokes, falls, &c. A 

 piece of the root, or some of the seeds bruised and held to 

 an aching tooth, taketh away the pain : the leaves bruised 

 and laid to the joint that hath a felon thereon, tiketh it 

 away ; the juice destroyeth worms in the ears, being drop- 

 ped into them : if the hot arssmart be strewed in a cham- 

 ber, it will soon kill all the fleas ; and the herb or juice of 

 the cold arssmart put to a horse or other cattle's sores, will 

 drive away the fly in the hottest day of summer : a good 

 handful of the hot bitter arssmart put under a horse's 

 saddle, will make him travel the better, although he were 

 half tired before. The mild arssmart is good against all 

 imposthumes and inflammations at the beginning, and to 

 heal all green wounds. 



All authors chop the virtues of both sorts of arssmart 

 together, as men chop herbs to the pot, when both of them 

 are of clean contrary qualities. The hot arssmart groweth 

 not so high or so tall as the mild doth, but hath many 

 leaves of the colour of peach leaves, very seldom or never 

 spotted ; in other particulars it is like the former, but 

 may easily be known from it if you will be pleased to 

 break a leaf of it across your tongue ; for the hot will 

 make your tongue to smart, so will not the cold. If you 

 see them together you may easily distinguish them, be- 

 cause the mild hath far broader leaves : and our College 

 Physicians, out of their learned care of the public good, 

 anglic^y their own gain, mistake the one for the other in 

 their A'err Master-piece^ whereby they discover, — 1. Their 

 ignorance ; 2. Their carelessness ; and he that hath but 

 half an eye may see their pride without a pair of upecta- 

 clea, I have done what 1 could to distinguish them in 

 the virtues, and when you find not the contrary named, 

 use the cold. The truth is, 1 have not yet spoken with 

 Dr. Reason, nor his brother, Dr. Experience, concerning 

 either of them. 



ASARABACA« — (Asarum Furo^xjntm,) 



J)e$erip, — Asarabaca hath many heads rising from the 

 roots, from whence come many small leaves, every on^ 

 upon h'lM own foot stalks which are rounder and bi£i?er 



