134 



THE COMPLETE HERBAL 



the kernels of the stones do wonderfully 

 ease the pains and Avringings of the belly 

 through wind or sharp humours, and help! 



much more, and are very good in repelling 

 medicines ; and if the wild sort be boiled 

 with mushrooms, it makes them less dan- 



to make an excellent medicine for the stone \ gerous. The said Pears boiled with a ,ittle 

 upon all occasions, in this manner : I take honey, help much the oppressed stomach, 

 fifty kernels of peach-stones, and one hundred \ as all sorts of them do, some more, some 

 of the kernels of cherry-stones^ a handful of\ less : but the harsher sorts do more cool 

 elder flowers fresh or dried, and three pints \ and bind, serving well to be bound to green 

 of Muscadel; set them in a close pot into a bed \ wounds, to cool and stay the blood, and heal 

 of horse-dung for ten days, after which distill up the green wound without farther trouble, 

 in a glass with a gentle Jire, and keep it for \ or inflammation, as Galen saithhehath found 

 your use : You may drink upon occasion \ by experience. The wild Pears do sooner 

 three or four ounces at a time. The milk or j close up the lipsof green wounds than others, 

 cream of these kernels being drawn forth j Schola Selerni advises to drink much 

 Avith some Vervain water and applied to I wine after Pears, or else (say they) they are 

 the forehead and temples, doth much help i as bad as poison ; nay, and they curse the 

 to procure rest and sleep to sick persons tree for it too ; but if a poor man find his 

 wanting it. The oil drawn from the kernels, stomach oppressed by eating Pears, it is but 

 the temples being therewith anointed, doth working hard, and it will do as well as 

 the like. The said oil put into clysters, \ drinking wine, 

 eases the pains of the wind cholic : and i 



i * .1 i c ,i PELLITORY OF SPAIN. 



anointed -on the lower part or the belJy, j 



doth the like, and dropped into the ears, : COMMON Pellitory of Spain, if it be 



eases pains in them ; the juice of the leaves | planted in our gardens, will prosper very 



doth the like. Being also anointed on the i well ; yet there is one sort growing ordina- 



forehead and temples, it helps the megrim, jrily here wild, which I esteem to be little 



and all other pains in the head. If the | inferior to the other, if at all. I shall not 



kernels be bruised and boiled in vinegar, 



until they become thick, and applied to the 



head, it marvellously procures the hair to 



grow again upon bald places, or where it is 



too thin. 



THE PEAR TREE. 



PEAR Trees are so well known, that they 

 need no description. 



Government and virtues^] The Tree belongs 

 to Venus, and so doth the Apple tree. For 

 their physical use they are best discerned 



deny you the description of them both. 



DescriptJ] Common Pellilory is a very 

 common plant, and will not be kept in our 

 gardens without diligent looking to. The 

 root goes down right into the ground bear- 

 ing leaves, being long and finely cut upon 

 the stalk, lying on the ground, much larger 

 than the leaves of the Camomile are. At 

 the top it bears one single large flower at a 

 place, having a border of many leaves, 

 white on the upper side, and reddish under- 

 neath, with a yellow thrum in the middle, 



by their taste. All the sweet and luscious { not standing so close as that of Camomile, 

 sorts, whether manured or wild, do help to 1 The other common Pellitory which 

 move the belly downwards, more or less. \ grows here, hath a root of a sharp biting 

 Those that are hard and sour, do, on the j taste, scarcely discernible by the taste from 

 contrary, bind the belly as much, and the : that before described, from whence arise 

 leaves do so also : Those that are moist do divers brittle stalks, a yard high and more 

 in some sort cool, but harsh or wild sorts | with narrow leaves finely dented about the 



