■270 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1738. 



observed to grow plentifully upon Newmarket Heath, &c. I wonder it should 

 have such a virtue as you mention, but it seems it is well attested. Dr. 

 Hulse writes to me, he finds it in Grey's Farrier."* This (Mr. S. observes) 

 seems pretty evidently to refer to the same plant mentioned by Aubry,-|- and 

 this surely was the plant that not being well dried and preserved, the society 

 could not tell what to make of, and which Mr. Ray found to be the sesamoides, 

 which he then thought was the plant that Grey called the star of the earth ; 

 but upon further consideration, he was firmly persuaded, that the coronopus, 

 and not the sesamoides, was the plant intended by de Grey (for so his name 

 ought to be written) and indeed, to Mr. S. there seemed to be the greatest 

 probability, if not absolute certainty, of this latter opinion; for the sesa- 

 moides was a plant so little known in Grey's time, that the botanists who were 

 contemporary with him, took it for a plant that was wholly a stranger in England, 

 as may be seen in Johnson upon Gerard, and in Parkinson, and the manner of 

 giving it, as directed by Grey, viz. first 3, then 5, and then ^ plants, roots 

 and all, speaks it to be a small herb, such as is the coronopus, and not such a 

 large one, with a great, sticky or woody root, as the sesamoides. Of this 

 Mr. S. was very sure, that in Norfolk, his native county, and which, if he 

 mistook not, was Grey's also, the coronopus is called the star of the earth 

 (and among other names given it by Dodonaeus, this of Stellaria, and Stella 

 Terrae, is one, p. 95 of the English translation; and he describes it as lying 



* Entitled, The Expert Farrier, 2d edition, -tto. l652, p. 1 60. His receipt is as follows : 

 " Take the herb which grows in dry and barren hills, called the star of the earth j gathering it 

 3 days together. The first time you must gather 3 of these herbs, with all the whole roots ; 

 and wash them clean, and pound them well ; which done, give them to your horse in milk, 

 beer, ale, or white- wine ; but be carefiil the horse takes all the herbs and roots : if you will, 

 you may make up these herbs and roots in fresh or sweet butter, which wUl do as well. The 

 2d day give the horse 5 of these herbs and roots, as before; and the 3d day give him 7. Do 

 this punctually, and you may be well assured the horse will be perfectly cured; for though I 

 have never tried this medicine, yet I know that the party of whom I had it, has cured many 

 cattle of all sorts with it. I myself can say thus much of this receipt, that I knew it cure a 

 whole kennel of hounds, one beagle excepted, which they did not suspect to be bitten ; so he 

 fell mad and died, but all the rest escaped. Another time, a gentleman's son of my acquaint- 

 ance was unfortunately bitten, who was cured by the party who taught me this receipt; and 

 this young gentleman, who was then a boy of 10 years old, was so far spent with the disease, 

 before this man took him in hand, that his senses were affected, and he talked very idly; yet 

 he cured him, so as he lived and did well, &c." 



+ In a letter to Mr. Ray, published by Mr. Derham, and dated Aug. 5, I691, wherein he 

 says, that king James sent to the R. S. a plant called the star of the earth, with the receipt 

 made of it to cure the bite of a mad dog, which is in Phil. Trans. N° 187. 



