THE ANGLO-SAXON HERBALS 19 



Against worm blast 

 against water blast 

 against thorn blast 

 against thistle blast 

 Against ice blast 

 Against venom blast 



if any venom come 



flying from east 



or any come from north 



[or any from south] 



or any from west 



over mankind 

 I alone know a running river 



and the nine serpents behold [it] 

 All weeds must 



now to herbs give way, 



Seas dissolve 



[and] all salt water 



when I this venom 



from thee blow." x 



In the chapter in the Leech Book of Bald 2 containing the 

 prescriptions sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to King Alfred, 

 we find among the virtues of the " white stone " that it is 

 " powerful against flying venom and against all uncouth things," 

 and in another passage 3 that these venoms are particularly 

 dangerous " fifteen nights ere Lammas and after it for five and 

 thirty nights : leeches who were wisest have taught that in 

 that month no man should anywhere weaken his body except 

 there were a necessity for it." In the most ancient source of 

 Anglo-Saxon medicine the Lacnunga we find the following 

 " salve " for flying venom : 



" A salve for flying venom. Take a handful of hammer 

 wort and a handful of maythe (camomile) and a handful of 

 waybroad (plantain) and roots of water dock, seek those which 



1 Translation from Dr. Charles Singer's Early English Magic and Medicine. 

 Proceedings of the British Academy. 



2 Leech Book of Bald, Book II. 64 



3 Id. Book I. 72. For other references to flying venom see Leech Book 

 of Bald, I. 113; 11.65. 



