1S6 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



- as jai I tc cure the wounds it made, the sight of a yellow bird would cure 

 jaundice, and the yellow juice of the Celandine would be equally effective. 

 This wild flower is still to be found in hedges near Tillages, being probably 

 naturalized and not native. Hippocrates maintained that if Nature, when 

 effecting a cure, showed certain peculiarities in the process, the physician 

 should assist by means of drugs which brought on similar symptoms. 

 Philosophers took a wider view; thus one "likes" a thing or person 

 because they are "like" what appeals to us. The idea is embodied in 

 proverbs, as "Birds of a feather flock together," "Blood is thicker than 

 water." fee. Hence Lungwort [PtUmonaria officinalis) was a remedy for 

 lung-diseases, because of the spotted character of the leaves. Soldiers 

 wounded should drink a decoction of Polygonum Pcrsicaria, because 

 of the reddish dark blotch on the leaves, which resembled blood. The 

 leaves of the cyclamen have somewhat the shape of an ear ; hence they were 

 prescribed in aural complaints. Viper's Bugloss, was a cure for the bite 

 of a viper because the stem has spots like those on a viper's back. 



It was thought by some that diseases might be compared to poisons, 

 which may be driven out by "contraries " or drawn out by "similars." 

 Thus one wrote : " It is well known that if a venomous toad be dried 

 and powdered, and the powder sprinkled on a poisoned wound, it will 

 draw out the poison as a magnet draws iron, and the wound will heal ; 

 similarly antimony is a poison, but if treated chemically it will acquire 

 the power of drawing out poisons from the human body." 



Correspondences are shown by "signatures." Thus, if a plant has 

 a flower of two colours, it has two virtues ; if three, then it has three, 

 &c. (Paracelsus). A decoction of a thistle, because it is spiny, is good 

 for pains in the side. The leaves and kernels of the peach tree are useful, 

 "for we see on the fruit of the peach, if it be pressed by the ringer, 

 a hollow place, so also severe wounds leave hollow places behind them." 



A curious superstition resided in " Sympathetic ointment." This was 

 made of moss from a skull which had been exposed to the air, oil of roses, 

 linseed oil. and some other things: then if you can procure the weapon 

 with which a man has been wounded having some of his blood upon it, 

 and anoint it with the sympathetic ointment, the wound will heal of itself 

 without pain, even though the patient be twenty miles off. This idea was 

 firmly believed in in the sixteenth century ; but in 1592 it was strongly 

 denounced as absurd by the great chemist and physician Andrew 

 Libavius, who wrote : " I was carving a ham and cut my thumb to the 

 bone. I sprinkled the wound with sugar, and bandaged it (without 

 anointing the carving knife), and with that single dressing it healed 

 completely in a short time." Nevertheless the superstition flourished. 



Asteology and Medicine. — It was said of old " No one can be a 

 good physician who is not skilled in Astronomy." It was thought that 

 the planets caused illnesses by exhalations, as the sun by its excessive 

 heat ; hence there was no use trying to cure an astral disease while its 

 star was in the ascendant. 



" The d ctrine that the heavenly bodies, and particularly the signs of 

 the zodiac, exert an influence on the human frame was held throughout 

 the middle In the sixteenth century astrological calendars were 



compiled to show the proper days and seasons in which alone medicine 



