28 



Fifteenth-Century Herbals 



[CH. 



number of figures in a jeweller's shop, and two large wood- 

 cuts of doctors and their patients illustrate the medical 

 portion with which the book concludes. 



The treatise on Plants is considerably modified from the 

 German Herbarius, and the virtues of the herbs described 

 are dealt with at greater length. The Herbarium of 

 Apuleius Platonicus is more than once quoted, though not 



Text-fig. 12. "Arbor vel lignum vite paradisi " = Tree 

 of Paradise [Ortus Sanitatis, Mainz, 1491]. 



by name. A number of new illustrations are added, some 

 of which are highly imaginative. The Tree of Life (Text- 

 fig. 12) and the Tree of Knowledge are dealt with amongst 

 other botanical objects, a woman-headed serpent being 

 introduced in the first case, and Adam and Eve in the 

 second. There is a beautiful description of the virtues of 



