Tr i b e 17. The Theater of "Plants* 
Gha p,55„ 
tines Terra Lemma or Terra Thofe rites ofGcntilifme being ccafed, others were brought in and Hied by 
the Chriftians, and when the Venetians were Lords of this ifle, asof'many other in thofe Seas, they impofed 
thisorder, ihatbutoncly oneday in a yeare the earth fbonld bediggedand carryed awayto be ufed: Forbid¬ 
ding any upon great penalties to take any privily without leave : which cudome the Turkes Ariflly obferve to 
thisday, but the hill in this Hie is much controverted, being fufpedted not to be the fame from whence 
the earth was taken in G alerts time, yet the Greekcs of the Iflcalfirmeconftancly, they never heard or 
knew of any other place : The earth as galen faith of it in his time, was called of fom zMilcos Lemnia,Rubric* 
Lemnia : becaufe it was in colour reddifh like Rubric* Ruddle, but thar it did not colour the fingers, as Rubricit 
Ruddle doth, and this the Pried onely as is before Laid fealed: Another fort is the Rubrica which wee take to be 
our ordinary Bolearmoniacke, and fome thinke that out fined and bed Orientall Bole, is the true Terra Lemnia, 
becaufe ir is of the fame reddidi colour, not tainting the fingers, and that the Terra Lemnia or figiUata, thar we 
have in rhele times much differech from it, and very divers in it felfe one unto another, for fome is whirifh or 
very pale red, and thar in lurnpes or peeces not fealed, others that are fealed now adayes with Arabian Cha- 
rafters, which are interpreted Tin imaebton, that is Terra fgillata, are not without fome doubt of counterfet* 
tin,’, lb that of two and twenty forts of chele fmall cakes of lealed earth, which BtUmimt faith he had fought out 
and gotten in the (bops of the Druggids in Conflantinople, it was hard to judge which of them, or whether any 
ofthem were right or no, for as he faith, fome cakes were much greater then oihcrs, and fome of apalebrow- 
nilbcolour, ofa fatty fubdance like tallow, eafie tobe chewed, and without any grittineffe therein, which 
fome others have, that were more red, and fomewhat acidc in tade: Some againe had divers red fpots in a whi- 
tiiliearth; and fome (mell lo fweete that it may be thought tobe fo made ,• Andfome againe of a wan colour, 
tending to yellow, others very gritty betwecnc the teeth being chewed; chele and divers other varieties, dee 
fbewthatcovetoufnefTe (thisbeingofmuchcAeeme J isthecauleof counterfeiting, and befides experience 
flic weth us, that the earthes of fundryocher Countries are found to be of excellent properties, both to provoke 
fweate, to refid poyfon, and notably to dry and bind fluxes, catarrhcs,&c. all which are attributed to the bed 
Terra Lemnia, but Galen in hiscime had the tryall of the Bohu, or Terra, or Lapis Armenm, which you pleafe 
to call ir, for fundry elpeciall remedies wherein it was effeftuall, as alfo in a great Plague time in Rome, which he 
compared to that was in Greece in Thucjdidcs time, for as he faith, whofoever tooke of that Bolus Armeniut, dif- 
folved in thinne wine or water.werefavedifthey were to be faved, for no ocher thing couldif that did not tand 
therefore feeing we have fo little right Terra Lemnia or figi/laia wherein to trud, and fo much counterfet, where¬ 
of we have caufe to beware, my advife is rather to ufe the bed fine Bole ( which both in forme and quality cotn- 
meth necreit to the trued Terr a Lemnia,) then any other fubditute or new found earth, going under the name of 
the right, although they have divers good properties in them. Let no man impute this as a temerity in me, for 
could 1 be affured that we could have true Terra Lemnia, or that the true that no w is to be had were of that ex¬ 
cellency that Diofierides, Galen and others report of that in their times, I would fpare my advife andfpeakeo- 
therwife. Butfeeingl have commended thefine Bole forthe bed fubdicuteunto Terra Lemnia, leeme alfo de¬ 
clare unto you, although I have faid fomewhat before of Bole, the fpeciall ufesofboth of them, that by compa¬ 
ring their properties, you may fee how little they differ in quality: The chiefeft effeilofTcrra Lemnia, accor¬ 
ding to Diefcoridcs, is to refid the venomc of Serpents, and other deadly poyfons, for which caufe it is put into 
thegreae Antidotes againfl: them, and is goad alfo againd laskes and fluxes: but galen lerteth them forth more 
largely, for as he faith, having had a Booke given him when he was in the Ifle of Lemnos, by one of chechiefed 
men, containing all the properties of Terr* Lemnia , he (heweth that befides the remedies of venome and deadly 
poyfons, he had experience of the helpe it gave to thofe chat had eaten of the Sea H are, or of Camharidet, de¬ 
fending them from all the fits that doe accompany thofe that have taken of them, as slfo the biting of a mad dog, 
and that it wonderfully helpeth old fores that are hard to be cured, and frefh wounds alfo to confolidate them. 
The fine Bole of Armenia,Galen (heweth to be admirable effefluall in the plague, as is before faid, it alfo is lin¬ 
gular good in laskes, hlooddy flixes, and (pitting of blood, for the catarrhe,or defluxion of rheamc and thinne hu¬ 
mours upon the breft and lungs, and (liorcneffe of breath, marvelloufly drying and helping them, and Iikewile 
againfl the foule ulcers in the mouth, the ulcers in the lungs or other parts, and the fiftula in any, without applying 
any other thing that might clenfe it, or take away the callous skinne therein, this ontly dryed it, and healed 
imp. 
Chap, LIII. 
Turbith ifpcinarum. Theufuall Turbith. 
S Aving faid fomethirgbefore in the Claflis of purging Plants, concerning the various forts of Tur¬ 
bith, asdiversdidtakethem.andaccount of them, whereof I mcanc not to fpeakc againe in this 
place, but yet 1 thought good hcre.to fay fomewhat more of the true Turbith, which is a forraigne 
Drugge, and ufed in the Apothecaries (hops, not knownetous or any other cerrainely, that hath 
written thereof,what forme or face the plant cruely bcareth, whofe rooce it is: for although C] ac¬ 
tion faith,that he faw the plant growing greene and in flower (yet he faith himfelfe that it differeth 
from that which wc ufe in our fhoppes) which he detcribcch to have no great or long rooce, whofe flalkc is like 
untolvy, fpreadingontheground, of a fingers thickeneffe or more, and two hands long, and fome times much 
longer: the lesves irelikeuntothofeofthe Marfh Mallow, and fe are the flowers of a reddifh white, 
and fometimes all white, bur not changing three times a day, as fome report of it that part of the llalke that is 
next unto the rootc and is gummy, is onely ufed, the red being too fmall is of no ufei fometimes the rooteis 
gathered with the Italke, which is unprofitable, the flalke oncly being of ufe in Phyficke: the whole is jnfipidc 
without tafle : fo that you may perceive by this delcription, that this Turbith of garden, is buc the flalke of an 
herbe as it feemeth (but our Turbith in (hops is plainely deferned to be a rooce, yet fomewhat imall, and of an 
*Ch-co!our on the outfide, and whits within, having a pith in the middle, which h cut out and call away as un- 
Xxxxxx 3 profitable,, 
