THE COMPLETE HERBAL 



them : Country people commonly take the 

 berries of it, and having bruised them, ap- 

 ply them to felons, and thereby soon rid 

 their fingers of such troublesome guests. 



We have now showed you the external 

 use of the herb ; we shall speak a word or 

 two of the internal, and so conclude. Take 

 notice, it is a Mercurial herb, and there- 

 fore of very subtile parts, as indeed all 

 Mercurial plants are ; therefore take a 

 pound of the wood and leaves together, 

 bruise the wood (which you may easily do, 

 for it is not so hard as oak) then put it in 

 a pot, and put to it three pints of white 

 wine, put on the pot-lid and shut it close; 

 and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve 

 hours, then strain it out, so have you a 

 most excellent drink to open obstructions 

 of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty 

 of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed 

 blood in any part of the body, it helps the 

 yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black 

 jaundice, and to cleanse women newly 

 brought to bed. You may drink a quarter 

 of a pint of the infusion every morning. 

 It purges the body very gently, and not 

 churlishly as some hold. And when you 

 find good by this, remember me. 



They that think the use of these medi- 

 cines is too brief, it is only for the cheap- 

 ness of the book; let them read those books 

 of mine, of the last edition, viz. Reverius, 

 Veglingus, Riolanus, Johnson, Sennertus, 

 and Physic for the Poor. 



ALL-HEAL. 



IT is called All-heal Hercules's All-heal, 

 and Hercules's Woundwort, because it is 

 supposed that Hercules learned the herb 

 and its virtues from Chiron, when he learn- 

 ed physic of him. Some call it Panay, 

 and others Opopane-wort. 



Descript.'] Its root is long, thick, and 

 exceeding full of juice, of a hot and biting 

 taste, the leaves are great and large, and 

 winged almost like ash-tree leaves, but that 



they are something hairy, each leaf con- 

 sisting of five or six pair of such wings set 

 one against the other upon foot-stalks, broad 

 below, but narrow towards the end; one of 

 the leaves is a little deeper at the bottom 

 than the other, of a fair yellowish fresh 

 green colour : they are of a bitterish taste, 

 being chewed in the mouth ; from among 

 these rises up a stalk, green in colour, 

 round in form, great and 'strong in magni- 

 tude, five or six feet in altitude, with many 

 joints, and some leaves thereat; towards 

 the top come forth umbels of small yellow 

 flowers, after which are passed away, you 

 may find whitish, yellow, short, flat seeds, 

 bitter also in taste. 



Place.'] Having given you a description 

 of the herb from bottom to top, give me 

 leave to tell you, that there are other herbs 

 called by this name; but because they are 

 strangers in England, I give only the de- 

 scription of this, which is easily to be had 

 in the gardens of divers places. 



Time.'] Although Gerrardsaith, that they 

 flower from the beginning of May to the 

 end of December, experience teaches them 

 that keep it in their gardens, that it flowers 

 not till the latter end of the summer, and 

 sheds its seeds presently after. 



Government and virtues.'] It is under the 

 dominion of Mars, hot, biting, and choleric; 

 and remedies what evils Mars inflicts the 

 body of man with, by sympathy, as vipers' 

 flesh attracts poison, and the loadstone 

 iron. It kills the worms, helps the gout, 

 cramp, and convulsions, provokes urine, 

 and helps all joint-aches. It helps all cold 

 griefs of the head, the vertigo, falling-sick- 

 ness, the lethargy, the wind cholic, obstruc- 

 tions of the liver and spleen, stone in the 

 kidneys and bladder. It provokes the 

 terms, expels the dead birth : it is excellent 

 good for the griefs of the sinews, itch, stone, 

 and tooth-ache, the biting of mad dogs and 

 venomous beasts, and purges choler very 

 gently. 



