C H A P T E R X I I I .
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IL L IA M CO L E S , in his ‘ Art of Simpling ’ (a
work published in the year 1656), abandoning for
awhile practical instruction, moralises thus
/Though sin and Sathan have plunged mankinde
into an Ocean of Infirmities, yet the mercy of
God, which is over all His workes, maketh
Grasse to grow upon the Mountaines, and Herbes
for the use of men ; and hath not only stamped
upon them a distinct forme, but also given them particular Signatures,
whereby a man may read, even in legible characters, the use
of them.” This ancient Doctrine of Signatures was an ingenious
system elaborated for discovering from certain marks or appearances
on the various portion of a plant’s structure, the supposed
niedicinal virtue attached to it. A good illustration is to be found
m the following passage, translated from P. Lauremberg’s
Apparatus Plantarum “ The seed of Garlic is black ; it obscures
the eyes with blackness and darkness. This is to be understood
of healthy eyes, but those which are dull through vicious humidity,
from these Garlic drives this vicioiisness away. The tunic of Garlic
is ruddy; it expels blood. It has a hollow stalk, and it helps
affedtions of the wind-pipe.”
Many curious details of the system of Plant Signatures are to
be found m the works of Porta, Grollius, Schröder, and Kircher:
thes6 authorities tell us that there are given, not only in animals,
J i t also m vegetables, certain sure marks, signs, and indications
from which their virtues and powers can be inferred by the
sagacious and painstaldng student. Kircher is of opinion that the
derived their first knowledge of the elements of medicine
from these signs, which they had patiently and closely studied ;
and m one of his works he enunciates his views in the following
passage : “ Since one and all of the members of the human body,
under the wise arrangement of Nature, agree or differ with the
several objecfts in the world of creation, by a certain sympathy or
antipathy of nature, it follows that there has been implanted by
the providence of Nature, both in the several members and in
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natural objecTs, a reciprocal instinét, which impels them to seek
after those things which are similar and consequently beneficial
to themselves, and to avoid and shun those things which are
antagonistic or hurtful. Hence has emanated that more recondite
part of medicine which compares the Signatures or Charafiterisms
of natural things with the members of the human body, and by
magnetically applying like to like produces marvellous effects in the
preservation of human health. In this way, the occult properties
of plants—first of those that are endowed with life, and secondly
of those destitute of life—are indicated by resemblances; for all
exhibit to man, by their Signatures and Charadterisms, both their
powers, by which they can heal, and the diseases in which they are
useful. Not only by their parts (as the root, stem, leaf, fiower,
fruit, and seed), but also by their adtions and qualities (such as
their retaining or shedding their leaves, their offspring, number,
Leauty or deformity, form, and colour), they indicate what kind of
service they can render to man, and what are the particular
members of the human body to which they are specially appropriate.”
As examples of the pradtical working of the system of Plant
Signatures, Kircher tells us that if the root of the Chelidonium be
placed in white wine, it is rendered yellow, resembling bilious
humour, and thus discloses a sure and infallible remedy against
yellow jaundice. He remarks that he had learned this by personal
experience, having advised some persons suffering from that
malady to try Chelidonium as a cure; and that as a result they
were freed from the disease. Persons liable to apoplexy are said
to have a line resembling an anchor traced in their hands. _ The
plant Acorus has a similar mark in its leaves, and is a highly-
approved remedy for apoplexy. So again, a certain line or mark
is to be found in the hands of persons suffering from colic, similar
in charadter to an outline found traced in the foliage of the
Malohathrum, a plant which will afford relief to patients suffering
from the disorder. Hellebore, which emits a most disagreeable
odour, possesses the property of absorbing offensive smells and
expelling them. Dracontium, or Great Dragon, a plant which bears
a resemblance to a dragon, is a most effedtual preservation against
serpents; Pliny averring that serpents will not come near anyone
carrying this plant.
Other examples of the application of the Dodrine of Signatures
are not difficult to be found among the quaintly-named plants
enumerated in English herbáis. The Lung-wort (Pulmonaria),
spotted with tubercular scars, was a specific for consumption.
The Bullock’s Lung-wort (Verhascum Thapsis), so called from the
resemblance of its leaf to a dewlap, was employed as a cure for the
pneumonia of bullocks. The Liver-wort (Marchantia polymorpha),
liver-shaped in its green fructification, was a specific for bilious complaints.
The Blood-root {Tormentilla), which derives its name from
h ;