SOME OLD SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT TREES AND HERBS. 187 



could be given or venesection performed. Some forbade any medicines to 

 be given when the moon was in the signs of the ram, the bull, or the 

 he-goat, as they are ruminating animals . . . and all medicine would 

 therefore tend to return to the mouth."* 



The famous Herbal of Culpeperwas published in 1653 and ran through 

 many editions ; two, a small and a large, are still issued from the press. 

 It is called " An Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of 

 this Nation." 



He does not always say why plants are under the dominion of the 

 planets, but now and then he does give a reason, which, however, the 

 intelligent reader of to-day will hardly consider sufficient. Thus in 

 dealing with Henbane : " I wonder how astrologers could take on them 

 to make this an herb of Jupiter . . . The herb is, indeed, under the 

 dominion of Saturn ; and I will prove it by this argument. All the herbs 

 which delight most to grow in Saturnine places are Saturnine herbs, and 

 the Henbane delights most to grow in Saturnine places . . . Scarce a 

 ditch or a [manure heap] is to be found without it growing by it : ergo, it 

 is an herb of Saturn." 



I once went into a small herbalist's shop, and, in conversation, asked 

 why it was that so many drugs were put into one receipt ; as in the 

 fourteenth century there were upwards of fifty in some cases. The pro- 

 prietor said there are two reasons ; one was to secure the chance of one or 

 two being effective ; but also, as to-day, people would not buy it if the 

 prescription has not several put into one mixture ! 



After all, are the ignorant poor of to-day, who insist on this, more to be 

 pitied than the higher classes who think it is "unlucky " to be married in 

 May ? not knowing that this has descended from Rome because the 

 Lemuria, or commemoration of the deceased, was held in that month ! 



* Medical History from the Earliest Times, by Withington, p. 251. 



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