of Plinies Naturall Hiorie. 
| todeliver them in writing, efpecially feeing wee have fo great {tore of fafe andharmeleffe mede- 
cines, which we may be {ure can doe no hurt. Indeed, the root of Halicacabus they ufe to drinke 
and make no bones atit, who would beknowne for great prophets to foretell future things :and 
thereforeit is alone for them, ro be feene furious and raging, the better to colour their knaverie 
and lead the world bythe nofe ina fuperftitious conceitand periuafion of their divine gift of 
prophefie, and fo to feed men ftillin theirfolly, But whatis the remedie, when a man 1s thus 
overtaken? (for furely!I am better content to deliver that)Even to give the partic thus intoxicat, 
a great quantitie of mead or honeyed water, and to caufe him to drinke 1t off ashotashe can, 
Neither willl over-pafle this one thing befides, That Halicacabus iso adverfe unto the nature 
of the A fpis,that if the rootthereof be held anything neare unto the faid ferpent, itwill bring 
afleepe and mortifie that venomous creature,which by a foporiferous power that it alfo hath of 
the owne, caftetha maninto adeadly fleepe,and killeth him therewith, And therefore, to con- 
clude, hereupon it commeth, that thefame roor bruifed and applied with oile, is afoveraigne 
and prefentremedie to them who are ftung by the forefaid Afpis. 
Cuap. xX x11 
: eS. Of Corchorum,and Cnicus, — 
WHey of Alexandria in Zgyprufe'to eat ordinarily of Corchorum: This herb hath leaves 
cnwrapped and enfolded one within another, after the manner of the Mulberrie . Good it 
is (asthey fay)forthe midriffe and the partsabout the heart: alfo to recover baire that is 
falne away by fome infirmitie ; and likewife for the red pimples or fauce-fleame in the face. read 
moreover,that the skab or mange inkine and oxeii;is moft {peedily curedthereby. And Nican- 
der vercly doth report, Tharit helpeth the ftinging of ferpents, if ic bee ufed before it be inthe 
floure, As touching Cnicus, otherwife called Atraétylis (an hearb appropriat tothe land of 42- 
gypt) I wouldthinke it meet not to ufemany words about it, butthatit yeeldeth a foveraigne re- 
medic again{t the poifon of venomous beatts;yea and the daungérous mufhroms,ifa man have 
eaten them. This is certain, and an approoved experiment, Ihatwhofoever are wounded by the 
fting of {corpions, (hall never feele {mart or paine, fo long asthey hold that herb in their hand. 
2& Cuap, XXXII 
Of Perfoliita. 
Hechaplet-makers in gypt fet great {tore by Perfoluta alfo, which they fow and planrin 
their gardens, only forto make coronets and guirlands. Twokinds there be of it :themale 
and the female. Ic is faid, that the one as well as the other, if icbe put under man or woman 
in bed they fhall have no mindner power atalltoplay at Yee game,and {pecially the man. 
Cuap, XXXILIL 
| OR OF Meafures and Weights. 
Nd forafmuch as we fhall have occafion oftentimes in fetting downe VWeights and Meas 
fures,to ufe Greeke vocables, I carenot much even in this place, tointerpret thofe words 
oncetor all. Firft and foremoft, the Atticke Drachma [for all Phyficians in manner goe 
by the poife of Athens} doth peife jufta Romane filverdenier:and the fame weigheth alfo fix 
Oboli: now one Obulus is as much in weight asten Chalci. A Cyathus, of itfelfe alone, com- 
meth toten drams in weight. When youfhallreadthe meafure of Acetabulum , take itfor the 
fourth part of Hemina, thatis to fay, fifteén drams, To conclude, Mna, which we in Latine call 
Mina, amounteth juftto an hundreddrams Attickes- = 
L itj THE 
113 
