AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 13 



i choler, and therefore does much help pains 

 | in the hips, and other parts ; being boiled 



Desmpf.'J ASARABACCA appears like { in whey, they wonderfully help the oh- 

 an evergreen, keeping its leaves all the | structions of the liver and spleen, and there- 

 Winter, but putting forth new ones in the! fore profitable for the dropsy and jaundice: 

 time of Spring. It has many heads rising ! being steeped in wine and drank, it helps 

 from the roots, from whence come many {those continual agues that come by the plenty 

 smooth leaves, every one upon his foot ; of stubborn humours ; an oil made thereof 

 stalks, which are rounder and bigger than j by setting in the sun, with some laudanum 

 Violet leaves, thicker also, and of a dark j added to it, provokes sweating, (the ridge 

 green shining colour on the upper side, and J of the back being anointed therewith) and 

 of a pale yellow green underneath, little or | thereby drives away the shaking fits of the 

 nothing dented about the edges, from among j ague. It will not abide any long boiling, 

 which rise small, round, hollow, brown \ for it loseth its chief strength thereby ; nor 

 green husks, upon short stalks, about an j much beating, for the finer powder pro- 

 inch long, divided at the brims into five | vokes vomits and urine, and the coarser 

 divisions, very like the cups or heads of | purgeth downwards. 



the Hen bane seed, but that they are smaller:! The common use hereof is, to take the 

 and these be all the flower it carries, which j juice of five or seven leaves in a little drink 



are somewhat sweet, being smelled to 

 and wherein, when they are ripe, is con- 

 tained small cornered rough seeds, very 

 like the kernels or stones of grapes or 

 raisins. The roots are small and whitish, 

 spreading divers ways in the ground, in- 

 creasing into divers heads ; but not running 



to cause vomiting ; the roots have also the 

 same virtue, though they do not operate so 

 forcibly; they are very effectual against the 

 biting of serpents, and therefore are put as 

 an ingredient both into Mithridite and 

 Venice treacle. The leaves and roots being 

 boiled in lye, and the head often washec 



or creeping under the ground, as some other I therewith while it is warm, comforts the 

 creeping herbs do. They are somewhat j head and brain that is ill affected by taking 

 sweet in smell, resembling Nardus, but \ cold, and helps the memory, 

 more when they are dry than green ; and i I shall desire ignorant people to forbear 

 of* a sharp and not unpleasant taste. the use of the leaves ; the roots purge more 



Placed] It grows frequently in gardens. ; gently, and may prove beneficial to such as 

 Time.~] They keep their leaves green all ; have cancers, or old putrified ulcers, or 

 Winter ; but shoot forth new in the Spring, j fistulas upon their bodies, to take a dram 

 and with them come forth those heads or of them in powder in a quarter of a pint of 

 flowers which give ripe seed about Mid- \ white wine in the morning. The truth is, 

 summer, or somewhat after. : I fancy purging and vomiting medicines as 



Government and virtues^] It is a plant: little as any man breathing doth, for they 

 under the dominion of Mars, and therefore ; weaken nature, nor shall ever advise therc 

 inimical to nature. Thi-s herb being drank, to be used, unless upon urgent necessity, 

 not only provokes vomiting, but purges j If a physician be nature's servant, it is his 

 downward, and by urine also, purges both | duty to strengthen his mistress as much as 

 choler and flegm : If you add to it some | he can, and weaken her as little as may be. 

 spikenard, with the whey of goat's milk, or I 



honeyed water, it is made more strong, but i AS "^us, SPARAGUS, OR SPKRAOP.. 

 it purges flegm more manifestly than! DescriptJ] IT rises up at first with divers 



