208 Signatures and Astrology [ch. 



holes in the leaves, signifie to us, that this herb helps both 



inward and outward holes or cuts in the skin 2. The 



flowers of Saint Johns wort, when they are putrified they 

 are like blood ; which teacheth us, that this herb is good 

 for wounds, to close them and fill them up " etc. 



It is sometimes held that the real originator of the theory 

 of signatures, in any approximation to a scientific form, was 

 Giambattista Porta, who was probably born at Naples 

 shortly before the death of Paracelsus. He wrote a book 

 about human physiognomy, in which he endeavoured to 

 find, in the bodily form of man, indications as to his character 

 and spiritual qualities. This study suggested to him the 

 idea that the inner qualities, and the healing powers of the 

 herbs might also be revealed by external signs, and thus 

 led to his famous work, the ' Phytognomonica,' which was 

 first published at Naples in 1588. 



Porta developed his theory in detail, and pushed it to 

 great lengths. He supposed, for example, that long-lived 

 plants would lengthen a man's life, while short-lived plants 

 would abbreviate it. He held that herbs with a yellow sap 

 would cure jaundice, while those whose surface was rough 

 to the touch would heal those diseases that destroy the 

 natural smoothness of the skin. The resemblance of certain 

 plants to certain animals opened to Porta a vast field of 

 dogmatism on a basis of conjecture. Plants with flowers 

 shaped like butterflies would, he supposed, cure the bites 

 of insects, while those whose roots or fruits had a jointed 

 appearance, and thus remotely suggested a scorpion, must 

 necessarily be sovereign remedies for the sting of that 

 creature. Porta also detected many obscure points of 

 resemblance between the flowers and fruits of certain plants, 

 and the limbs and organs of certain animals. In such cases 

 of resemblance he held that an investigation of the tem- 

 perament of the animal in question would determine what 

 kind of disease the plant was intended to cure. It will be 

 recognised from these examples that the doctrine of signa- 

 tures was remarkably elastic, and was not fettered by any 

 rigid consistency. 



The illustrations of the ' Phytognomonica ' are of great 

 interest as interpreting Porta's point of view. The part of 

 man's body which is healed by a particular herb, or the 



