INSANE ROoT.] NATURAL HISTORY. 167 
rind. And thereof cometh juice with good smell, and is 
white as almonds, and is fat when it is tempered and 
neshed [i.e., softened]. And so the tree that beareth Frank- 
incense groweth without tilling, and loveth clay-land; and 
the Arabs tell that Frankincense shall not be gathered nor 
the tree thereof pared but of holy men and religious, that 
be not defiled by touching of women in time of gathering. 
Frankincense is gathered and brought on camels’ backs to 
the city that hight Sabocriam ; and there is a gate opened 
therefor. And it is not lawful to lead it by another way. 
And [it] is not lawful to beg neither to sell thereof, before 
due portion be offered to the god that they worship. And 
is assayed by witness, if it burneth anon to coals, and 
waxeth on light on high, if it hold not together the teeth, 
when it is bitten, but breaketh anon and falleth to powder. 
Of Frankincense set afire cometh a good smelling smoke, 
shapen as a rod, and small beneath, and full movable, and 
turning, and crooked with many bendings and wrinklings, 
and moveth towards contrary sides with most light movings, 
and destroyeth stench of carrion by good savour thereof, 
and thirleth and passeth straight to the brain, and com- 
forteth and refresheth the spirit of feeling, and spreadeth 
into the cells of the brain. 
Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xvii. § 173. 
Ir Incense be drunk by a healthy man, he runs the risk 
of becoming mad, or of dying. It strengthens the memory. 
Flortus Sanitatis, bk. i, ch. cccclxxxiv. 
In English Frankincense and Incense. It doth help and 
strengthen the wit and understanding, but the often taking 
of it will breed the head-ache, and if too much of it be 
drunk with wine, it killeth. 
Gerard's “ Herbal,” s.v. 
Insane Root. 
Macsety, i. 3, 85. 
[The commentators consider this to be hemlock, but it is 
possible that it might be henbane, which as Gerard notes 
(“ Herbal,” s.v.), was called /nsana, and, according. to Pliny 
(bk. xxv. ch. 4), troubles the brain, and puts men_ beside 
their right wits.] 
