Science in Early England. 23 



pepper and clubmoss, and lay on." No inconvenience is 

 too slight to find a remedy here. "Against a woman's 

 chatter, taste at night fasting a root of radish ; that day 

 the chatter cannot harm thee." Is a man weary and ill at 

 ease, "he may eat radish with salt and vinegar, soon the 

 world will be more gay." 



Empiricism and superstition have about an equal share 

 in the book, e.g., for a remedy to be efficacious a plant 

 must be gathered in a certain month when the moon is on 

 the wane, or it must be dug up without iron, and so on. 

 Time, and not material, prevents any more quotations in 

 this place. 



In the Wort-cunning, many valuable qualities are 

 ascribed to plants which, in our degenerate days, are 

 utterly neglected. Of feverfuge, we are told that "This 

 wort, which is named Centaurea minor, and which some 

 call the lesser churmel, is produced on solid lands and on 

 strong ones. Also it is said that Chiron the Centaur found 

 these worts, whence they obtained the name Centaurea. 

 JFor bite of snake take dust of this same wort or itself 

 pounded, administer to the patient in old wine, and it will 

 produce much benefit. For sore of eyes take this same 

 wort's juice, smear the eyes therewith ; it heals the thin- 

 ness of the sight." And so on for many, many pages. 

 The Starcraft in this book is the same as that given by 

 Wright in the Popular Treatises, and has been already 

 quoted from. 



We must now glance for a moment at Alexander 

 Neckam. Born at St. Albans in 1157, he migrated to 

 France at an early age, and obtained a professorship at 

 Paris in 1180, but in a few years returned to England. He 

 applied for admission to the great Benedictine Monastery 

 of his native town, but tradition relates that a jocular 

 reply of the Abbot nettled him so much that he joined the 

 Augustinians at Cirencester instead. The reply was as 



