736 SCIENCE IN EARLY ENGLAND. 



is, however, spoilt by the reflection that turtle here is the French tour- 

 terelle, and is more familar as turtle dove. Here is also the adder 

 which fears the voice of the enchanter, and to keep itself from harm 

 closes one of its ears with its tail and presses the other to the ground ; 

 the eagle which, when its eyes are dim and its wings can no longer 

 carry it, flies to the highest regions of the sky, and when the sun has 

 burnt its wings and blinded its sight falls into a fountain, plunges 

 therein three times, and is revived; and many more too numerous to 

 mention. The fable of the adder stopping its ears is of great antiquity, 

 being alluded to in Psalms, lviii, 4 and 5: "They are like the deaf 

 adder that stoppeth her ear ; which will not harken to the voice of 

 charmers, charming never so wisely." Again, in Psalms ciii, 5, the 

 words, "So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's," give at least 

 an equal antiquity to the other one. 



In the " Leechdoms, Wort cunning, and Starcraft of Early England" 

 we are struck by the quaint Anglo-Saxon expressions for medicine, 

 botany, and astronomy, while at the same time we recognize that the 

 difficulty of translating scientific works into the vernacular must have 

 been very great. The Leech book, dating from 900 to 950, is compiled 

 from Greek and Eoman, as well as from Eastern and Scandinavian 

 sources. In it an ache or pain is usually called " wark," a word which 

 has survived to our own day in the dialect of this country, with only a 

 slight change. " For tooth wark, burn white salt and garlic, make them 

 smoke on glades (ashes), roast and tear to pieces, add pepper and club- 

 moss, 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 can not 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 equal share in the book, 

 e. g., for a remedy to be efficacious a plant must be gathered in a cer- 

 tain month when the moon is on the wane, or it must be dug up with- 

 out iron, and so on. Time, and not material, prevents any more quota- 

 tions 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 ©n 

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

 worts, whence they obtained the name of Centaurea. For 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 thinness 

 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 



