30 Chapter 2. 
Thefe names form the bulk of the book^ 
which confifts of one hundred and thirty 
chapters. After each name follows a 
jfliort defcription of the plant, the place of 
grov/th, and the properties. Then the dif- 
eafes to which each fimple is applicable* 
The work neverthelefs abounds with grofs 
errors in the names of plants, and inculcates 
the moft abfurd ceremonies and fuperfti- 
tions in the adminiftration of remedies ; yet 
it was in much efteem throughout the dark 
ages of literature. 
It muft not however be concealed, that 
fome of the learned have judged, that this 
work, at leaft as it now appears, was not 
written by the author whofe name it bears, 
but at a much later period. Johnson, the 
editor of Gerardy imagined it to be a tranf- 
lation of a Greek writer of the eighth cen- 
tury ; but his conjed:ure is not thought 
probable by FahHcins^'. The remarks of 
^ohnjhn prove, that this work was in com- 
mon ufe in the ages I have fpoken of ; and 
that the copies had been greatly corrupted 
and mutilated, by ignorant hands. 
♦ Blh, Latin, ob Er?zeJ}o. Lipf. 1774, torn. 3. p. 44. 
I will 
