422 C hap . 35. 
7 bec.tr u.m Botanicum. 
R IB E 
I:> 
DJ 1 f 
I 
3 
doe, and doth not grow downe right, like other forts of rootes, and area little warmc or hot in tatte upon th 
ton°ue, drawing water as Pelhnry of Spaiite, but nothing lb hot nor fharpe.or drawing rtaeumc lo much,whicl 
is not well perceived, unlefl'e heedfully observed, neither doth the heate abide any long time alter the chewim 
but is foone gone, leaving the roote almolt like a dry chip, e without any manildt Itipticity, aflringency, 0 
aromatirity, that I could perceive, although Monardw larch it hach.and judgeth it to be hot and dry in the leconr 
degree. 
'The Place, 
It growetli faith UtoiMw/ai in Cbarciu,mA as Fcrrm aforefaid, laith mTonfaglia, provinces in Peru, i n th< 
Well-Indies ,and in fornc other places there, and Irom thence brought into Spaine, and lo to ocher Countryes. 
The Time, 
We muft abide the time to know further hercot, belore we can declare it to any other. 
The Thames. 
CATonardva firft wrote hereof from the intelligence he had by Ofmm Letter to him, and called it Radicci Vent 
nis adirerfdntes, and laid the Spaniards called it Contrajerva, which is as much as Alexipharmacum, a counter 
poyfon,or rootes refilling v’enome and poyfon ; efpecially of that wherewith the Indians t by dipping their arrow 
heads therein,killed both the Spaniards and other their enemies in their warres, and the wild bealts whom the] 
hunted,ind is the fame alfo that C fat put calleth Drakena radix. I have given it the title of Alcxipharmacum Indi 
cttmfit'e Contrayervd Hifpanor/tm t 2n\din Jinglifb the IndianSpanijh Counterpoyfon, from both places and pro 
perties. 
The Vermes. 
The rootes hereof (faith Monardw,? etrus dc Ofma and Iofua Petros made into powder, and taken in whit< 
W ine is a mod: prelent remedy againft all manner of venomes and poyfons,of what kinde foever they be( excep¬ 
ting tjfacrcurie Sublimate onely, which is to be cured by drinking of no other thing but milke ) by forcing th< 
poyfon upward by vomit, and avoiding and expelling it by 1 wearing’ the powder drunke in the fame mannei 
(they fay) refifteth fuch charmc or the like witchery, that is uled in lu'.h drinkes that are given to procure love 
T t like wife killeth the wormes of the belly, and is alfo good againft agues, either tertian , quotidian, or qttartaine, tc 
be taken before the camming of the fit, which will not onely hinder or leflen the fits, but by continuing the ufi 
thereof, will utterly take them away- I have knowne foinothat have made a compofition of the powders of thu 
TooiQ > r Bez.arflone and Scorfoneraxoozts made into a made or lumpe, to be ufed upon occahon againft poyfons anc 
infections of the Plague, or any ocher contagious difeafe as the fmall pox, purples, meafles, or other that raid 
fpots in the flefh, and is a moil foveraine cordiall to preferve the heart and the vitall fpirits from danger, anc 
to expell it by fweating ; &c. For the laid F err us faith, that the fBewfione is engendred in the beaft that breedetf 
it by the vertue of this herbe which it eateth, and by the naturaJl difpolition of the beaft, lome alfo adde untc 
that confetFion, fome other things, as befides Scorjonera rootes,Biftort, Tormentill,or the like, as every ones a£ 
feeftion leadeththem more or lefie. Ferrw faith he made a try all hereof with the t eft Treakle, and found it mor< 
cfFecFuall for the difeafes aforefaid. Againe he faith, that the Indians doe not eate the bodies of thofe they have 
Paine by their poyfoned arrowes, untill they have lyen three or foure dayes with their wounds wafhed with the 
juice of this herbe, which rendereth them tender and fit to be eaten, which before were hard. 
Vnto this Claflls alfo fhould appertaine divers other Plants, but that fome of them are already deferibed, and 
fet forth in my former Booke, as LMirobilio^c. And of the Antidotes, or remedies againft poyfon > fome arc 
there alfo fet forth, as Angelica,Cardans Benedtflus, &c. And fome likewife not onely in the firft Tribe of this 
worke here before,as Cbamapitjt,&c,bwV\n^n^iy ozh^v[ClaJJies l \\QiQof i as they happen to be entreated of in 
their order. 
SAXI- 
