THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES 105 



herb Robert one is conscious that the plant gives 

 forth a strong odour, which to some folk is an 

 added attraction, while others entirely fail to 

 confirm this. The name has been in use some 

 hundreds of years, and various theories as to its 

 origin and significance have been evolved. As 

 written it suggests association with some person, 

 and St. Robert, Robin Goodfellow, and other more 

 or less mythical individuals, have been evolved, I 

 but very possibly this Robert is but a corruption 

 of rubworl, the red plant. 



It was an article of mediaeval belief that an all- 

 wise, all-merciful Providence had given in the 

 wayside weeds remedial efficacy for all the ills 

 of mortality : that it was man's duty to study and 

 work out so great a boon, and that the plants 

 themselves often bore not obscurely impressed 

 upon them their service to suffering humanity. 

 This belief is known as the Doctrine of Signatures, 

 and is referred to as a matter wholly beyond cavil 

 by the older writers. " Though Sin and Satan 

 have plunged mankinde into an Ocean of Infirmities, 

 yet the Mercy of God, which is over all his workes, 

 maketh Grasse to grow upon the Mountaines and 

 Herbes for the use of men, and hath not only 

 stamped upon them a distinct forme but also hath 

 given them particular Signatures whereby a man 



1 In France the plant is the Bec-de-grue Robertin, and 

 in Germany it is the Ruprechtskraut 



