80 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
providence of the Creator, f Heehath upon his taile a skinny, 
dry substance, parted into eels, which contain some loose, 
dry, hard bodies, that rattle in them (as if one should put 
little stones or pease into a stiffe and very dry bladder), that 
so he may by this noise give warning of his approach, the 
better to be avoided ; but if any be bitten, they know not 
stand in need of no better antidote than this root, which they 
chew and apply to the wound, and also swallow some of it 
downe, by which means they quickly overcome the malignitie 
of this poisonous bite, which otherwise would in a very short 
time prove deadly. Many also commend the use of this 
against the plague, smallpox, measles, and such like maligne 
and contageous diseases.’ 
“ An opinion is said to prevail in France that the produce 
of vineyards in which this plant abounds becomes deteriorated 
in quality.”* 
The claim of the Birthwort as a native plant rests upon 
still more slender grounds than the Asarabacca. Syme tells 
us that it is found “ among old ruins. Bare, and not indi¬ 
genous, confined to the south and east of England. I have 
seen specimens only from Lakenham.”f 
Like the preceding, this plant is sometimes met with in 
old- fashioned gardens, as it was at one time held in great 
repute, though now it is only looked upon as a curiosity. 
Lindley, in his f Flora Medica,’ refers to no less than 
fourteen species, or supposed species, which have been em¬ 
ployed in medicine, and that most of them really contain 
active principles cannot possibly be doubed; but we find the 
name of Birthwort given to some forms on account of the 
peculiar structure of the corolla, or A. serpentaria , from its 
peculiarly twisted roots, a signature, which pointed it out to 
our forefathers as a specific for snake-bites ; we do not 
wonder that a reputation gained upon so unreasonable a 
principle as the doctrine of signatures should, in more en¬ 
lightened times, fail to command respect, and all the more so 
in a case where a reputation founded in ignorance was at one 
time certain to take a stronger hold upon the public mind. 
* ‘English Botany,’ vol. viii, p. 92. 
t Ibid., vol. viii, p. 91. 
