426 The fiveand twentieth Booke 
for that thofe kind of cattell,feed indifferently in manner ofall kind of hearbes. Certes; of what. Go 
power and efficacie hearbes are and namely, whateffectsthey may workeeven by themilkeofi ~ 
fourefooted beats grafing and pattaring therupon,appeareth manifeltly by two notable ¢xam=' 
ples which I will report unto you. About Abdera,and along the ftreet orhigh way called:Dicmies| 
des caufey,there lie certaine paftures,wherein all che horfes that feed,becomeenraged, dna ftark) 
wood thereby.Semblably,the hearbage belonging to Potniz,a town in Magnefia,driveth afies! 
to akind of madneffe. fn: ay Ned eave: 
Leaving now thofe hearbs which tooke their appellations of beafts,letus proceed co others.: } 
Among which, Ariftolochia deferveth to bee raunged with the beft and principall:an hearbe 
which feemeth to have had that name given it by great bellied women, forchatit ts * apse Ae } 
7 
* * 
aExccllent — ysoous. Our countreymen of Italie call this hearbe in Latine Malum terre, whichisias much; Hi — 
an in child. to fay,asthe* apple of theearth :and they doe make foure kinds thereof. The firfthatha round. 
bed Wherein root {welling and bunching out: leaves refembling theMallow, and partly thofecf Ivie, but 
che pe eae that they bee of a more browne and duskith colour,and withall,fofter in the hand, The fecond. 
buceheerror  Ariftolochia or Birthwort is taken to be the male,and hath a rootas thicke as a good bafton or 
a aie ftatie growing longwife to thelength of foure fingers. Thethird, which by fome iscalled Cle- 
menvith child Matis, by others, Ariftolochie of Candie, hath a root exceeding long and flender, like to 
vie ordinarily that of a yong Vine : and thisis reputed of all orherstorthe beftand moit effectual. The roots 
ees beq Of themall be of abox colour, the ftalkes final, andthe flowers purple. They beare little pret- 
andlicin. tie berries, much like tocapers, But itisthe root alone whichis medicinable. A fourth kind 
vas chere is alfo, which they call Pifolochia, fmaller and flenderer than the laftbefore, named ] 
Birthwort the Clematis. A root ithath divided into many fibres or ftrings, growing thicke one by another, 
round, coche thicknefle of big and well growne rufhes : whereupon fome have given itthe name of 
Polyrrhizon. All the fort of thefe Ariftolochies yeeld an aromaticall odour : butthelong and 
{maller root is that which ismoft pleafant to {mell unto: for ithath a fiefhierind, andis one of. 
the priacipall ingredients which enter intothofe odoriferous perfumes and omrments which - 
{tand moft upon Nard. Thefe Birthworts delight all of them to grow upon plaines and battle 
grounds, The rightfeafon to dig or draw them our of the earth, isin harveft ume: and then af. 
ver they be rid and skaled(asit were) from the earth or mould ticking unto them, they ufe to lay 
them up fafe. Howbeit the beft {imply arethofe which come out of Pontws.Andtake this fora _ 
generall rule, Thatin everykind,the weightieftis alwaies moft medicinable. Theround roored KB 
Ariltolochie hatha fpeciall propertie again {t the poyfon of ferpents, Yet there goeth the grea- 
- teft name of the long, for this excellent qualitie, if itbee true that isreported thereof : namely, - 
That if a woman newly conceived with child, applic the roorthereof to her natural pares with- 
inamorcell of raw boeufe, it will caufeher to breed and forme in her wombe amanchild. Our 
y Fithers here by in Campaine, do tearme the round root, The poyfon of the earth. Invery truth 
I have feene them with mine owne eyes to ftampe the faid root, and incorporatit with lime into 
a pafte,and foto caft it into the {ea tn final pellets or gobbets, for to catch fithes : and I affure 
you they will skud amaine, and make haftro this bait, andbee very eager of bit: but no fuoner 
have they tafted thereof, but they will turne up their bellies, and lie floating aloft upon the wa- 
ter ftarke dead, As for thar Ariftolochie, which for the manifold roots that ithath iscalledPo- L 
lyrthizos, it isthoughtto bee foveraigne for convulfions or crampes, contufions, or bruifes 5 
for fuch alfo ashave fallen from fome fteepe and high place, if the root bee drunke in waters 
Likewife, the feed of thiskind, is fuppofed fingular good for the pleurifie: and to cortoborat, 
Ytrengthen and heat weake and diftein pered finewes, The fame likewife may bee reckoned for a 
"Anyhearbe * Satyrion, ; 23 
poodtopre- —_ Itremaineth now to knit up this difcourfe witha rehearfall of all the operations and effects of 
IntFor al. _ theplants beforenamed, To begin then with che moft daungerous accident of all other,to wit, 
though there the fting of ferpents, thefe hearbes following are very medicinable and effeCtuall i that cafes 
ine NE wa namely ,Brittannica,and rhe roots of all the kinds of Panaces taken in wine. The flower andiced . ~ 
vertue, focal- befides(of Chironium efpecially);f it be drunk,or otherwife applied asa liniment with wineand M 
“aie 2 _¢_ olleAlfo the wild Origan or Marjeram called Cunila Bubula,hath a fingular property by it felfe 
Heche all o that way: like as Polomonia, otherwife called Philetoeria,if one take foure drams weight of the 
thersof hke root inwine,Semblably, Teucrion, Sideritis,and Scordotis,given in wine, But more particularly 
beccarmed 2 againft {nakes,adders,and {uch like,the {aid hearbs bee right foveraigne,cither inwardly taken or , « 
dSatyria. , Ouli- 
rons 
4 
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bf 
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