PLANTS OF THE PLANETS 281 
who may have been another pupil of Albertus Magnus, and who is 
known as a commentator on Aristotle. His Liber aggregationis 
is cited in the Aggregator practicus, perhaps 1350 A. D. 
Early editions of these works were separate ; later ones * com- 
bine the three. The last, that on plants, which from its name 
might be expected to be an extensive treatise, is but a meagre af- 
fair and full of superstition ; it describes the medical use of Cheli- 
donta, Melisophylos, and a few other plants,{ only sixteen in all, 
and then tests the herbs of the planets, ascribing its Affodil/us to 
Saturn, Poligonia vel Corrigiola to Sol, Chrynostates to Luna, 
Arnoglossa to Mars, Pentaphilon to Mercury, Achaton vel Jusqut- 
amus to Jove, and Pisterion (1. e., verbena) to Venus. 
Superstition and magic permeate the entire Aggregationis,{ and 
it bears the lineaments of the astrologer throughout. It is in fact 
an offshoot of the race of Hermes Trismegistus, its lineage tracing 
back to the Kiranides, which spoke in similar tone of the plants 
of the planets a thousand years before ; andto Raimundus’ transla- 
tion; which had just made its appearance. Its author, “ egomet 
Albertus,” as he styles himself, acknowledges his indebtedness to 
Kiranis in set terms, remarking in his preface that he will place in 
his book the sorcerer’s plant lore which he “ finds in the book Chy- 
randis and in the book Alcorat”’; the first of these no doubt refer- 
ting to Raimundus’ Latin version of the Kiranides. 
The medical uses described are chiefly those of magic rather 
than of medicine, and it is remarkable that this slight work, de- 
scribing only about twenty plants should, have sufficed to eclipse 
* As in 1601, and in the “‘Zidel/us de Secreto Mulierum et de Virtutibus Her- 
barum,”’ Amsterdam, 1740, ex 6i5/. Columbia,—which treated of plants on pages 118- 
130 only. | 
ey are Eliotropia, Urtica, Virga pastoris, Provincia (periwinkle), Lingua 
canis, Jusquiamus, Lilium, Viscus quercinus, Centaurea, Salvia, Nephta, Verbena, 
Rosa, Serpentina : besides Chelidonia and Melisophylos. 
{ Meyer, 4: 83, claims that Albertus de Saxonia could not have been a German, 
for he says of a plant ‘‘dicitur Martegon id est Sylphium quem admodum scsi in 
lingua Theothisca’’ ; and could have had no conception of Greek, for when in using 
Albertus Magnus, he attempts to quote Greek names, he mixes those of Greek = 
Latin origin inextricably. Albertus Magnus had said ‘+ Jusguiamus is a Greek name 3 
but Albertus de Saxonia has it ‘* J/usguiamus is the Latin name of a plant which in 
Greek is Ventosius.”” Albertus Magnus had said, *‘ the plant which is called Quin- 
quefolium in Latin, is named in Greek Pentafilon’’ ; he of Saxony has it “ Quingue- 
folium is the Greek name of a plant which in Latin is called Serpentaria.”’ 
