6o^ 
Of the Biltorie of Plants. 
Li 
B. 2. 
Icene in the Chapters of C at anance,Cynosb atos ,Hcmeroc alhs,Crat aogonon , and diuers others which atc 
or feemc to be fignificant, and to import iomcthingby their nam& yet he faith nothing thereof Ic 
maybethatvvhich they would exprefTeby the name, was, that thehearbe had fo piercing a fkul tie 
thatit would eat into thevery flefh. The fecond and third Argument both are anfwered if this 
firft word be Greeke,as I haue aireadie ihewed it to be, and there are not many words in Greeke 
that more frequently enter into fach compofifion than *.>„ ^amfhagp,e<dypUm,QVfipham and 
many other may drew. Moreouer, it hath beene (bandflM^Diofeondes, ot any elfehow iirnpie fo- 
euer they were,if they had knowne the firft word to haue beene Latineand Saxifrara, to fay againe 
prefently after that the Romanes called it Saxtfranga.osSaxifragaJor fo it fhould b^and not Sarxi 
frangakut I feare that theatfnntie of lounds more than of figmfication hath caufed this confuiion 
efpecially in the middle times betweene vs and Diofeorides, when learning was at a very low ebbe’ 
The chiefe-reafons that induce mee to thinke this Chapter warthie to keepe his former place in 
Diofeorides, are thefe : Firft, the generall confent ofall both Greeke and Latine copies ( as * Marcel 
I™ iaith) how antient loeuer they be. Secondly, the mention of this herbe for the fame effeift in 
fome Greeke Authours of a reafonable good antiquitie , for Paulus vEgineta teftifieth that 
*.,»*», »^iu'.,Thcn Tr Manus amongft other things in a Omditum Nephriticnm men- 
tions zttSitfty, : but Nonas a later Greeke calls it *4^.- fo that it is euident they knew and vfed 
iome iimple medicine that had both the names of Sarxiphagon and Saxiphragos, which is the Latine 
Saxifraga Now feeing they had, and knew filch a fimple medicine, it remaines we enquire after the 
ihape and figure thereof. Diofeorides defcribes it to be aftirubby plant, growing vpon rockes and 
craggie places, like vnto Epithymum : boiled in wine and drunke, it hath the faculty to helpe the 
trangurie and Hickct ; it al fo breakes the ftone in the bladder and prouokes vrine This word 
Epithymum is, not found in moll copies,but a fpace left for fome word or words that were wanting • 
.But Marcellas faith, he found it expreft in a booke which was Omnium vetufilfimus & probat, fr, m/s • 
and Hermolaus Barhams faith ,Veterem in Diofcoride/>/nW» hums herb a vidian plus folds Jam cif 
ns mwutisper ramosex tntervallo conditis , necfrequemibus, in cacumin e fur a dor, m flood (L /rentes potins 
quam flojculi, fubrubiaa radtce non fine fibris. A figure reafonable well agreeing with this defcription 
or Hcrmolaus,\ lately rcceiued from my friend M r . Goodyer, who writ to me that he had fouo-ht to 
know \vhat Sax, fraga (to wit, of the Antients) fhould be ; and finding no antient Authour that had 
delcribed ittoany purpofe, he fought 4>«r«».f ; which word Apuleius (faith he) is the printed title- 
my Manufcnpt acknowledgeth no Authour but Apolienfis Plato ■ there is no defcription neither' 
but the Manufcnpt hath a figure which I haue dravvneand fent you, and all that -verbatim that hee 
hath written ofit, I fhould be glad to haue this figure cut and added to your worke, together with 
hiswords, becaufetherehathbeenefolittlewritten thereof bythe Antients. Thishis requeft I 
thought fit to performed haue( for the better fatisfaftion of the Reader) as you fee made a fur- 
t er enquine thereof : wherefore I willonely adde this, that the plants here defcribed,and the A'- 
Jine Saxifraga^otCo/um.togctherwith the two Chickwced Saxifrages formerly delctibed Chap.x 
3 the figure and deliniation of this of the Antients. 
come neereftof any that I know to t 
2{omen iflius herbs, Saxifraga. 
Icon & deferiptio ex Manufcripto vetu- 
tiifimo. 
fllujdam dicunt earn Scolopendrittm,alq 
Scoliomos ,alij Vitis canum , quidam -vero Bru~ 
cos. It alt Saxifragam. Egyptij Pepcrem,alij 
Lamprocam earn noniinant. Nafcitur enirn in 
Multibus dr locis faxops. 
Vnacura iplius adcalculos expellendos 
. Herbamiiiam Saxifragam contuftm calcu- 
lofo potum dabis in vino. Ip fe vero fifebrici- 
tauent cum aqua calida, tarn prefens effcclum 
ab expert is traditum,-vt eodem die per fed is eie- 
ffifqite calculis ad fmitatem -vfque produ- 
ct. 
1 This firft little herb, faith Camera - 
>•;/«, hath been called Saxifraga magna, not 
from the greatnelfe of his growth, but 
of his faculties : The ftalke iswooddie, 
writhen 
