SUBSEC. 3. Alteratives, Herbes, other vegetals, &c.

Amongst those 800 simples, which Galeottus reckons up, lib. 3. de promisc. doctor. cap. 3. and many exquisite herbalists have written of, these few following alone, I finde appropriated to this humour: Of which some be alteratives; which by a secret force, saith Renodæus, and speciall quality expell future diseases, perfectly cure those which are, and many such incurable effects.

This is as well observed in other plants, stones, minerals, and creatures, as in herbs, in other maladies as in this. How many things are related of a mans skull? What severall vertues of corns in a horse legge, of a Wolves liver, &c. Of diverse excrements of beasts, all good against severall diseases?

What extraordinary vertues are ascribed unto plants? Satyrium & eruca penem erigunt, vites & nymphea semen extinguunt, some herbs provoke lust; some again, as agnus Castus, waterlilly, quite extinguisheth seed: poppy causeth sleep, Cabbige resisteth drunkenness, &c.

and that which is more to be admired, that such and such plants, should have a peculiar vertue to such particular parts, as to the head Anniseeds, foalfoot, Betony, Calamint, eye-bright, Lavander, Bayes, Roses, Rue, Sage, Marjorum, Piony, &c. For the lungs Calamint, Liquorice, Ennula campana, Hysop, Horehound, water Germander, &c. For the heart, Borage, Buglosse, Saffron, Bawm, Basil, Rosemary, Violet, Roses, &c.

For the stomack, Wormwood, Mints, Betony, Bawm, Centaury, Sorel, Purslan. For the liver, Darthspine or Camæpitis, Germander, Agrimony, Fennell, Endive, Succory, Liverwort, Barbaryes. For the spleen, Maidenhair, finger-ferne, dodder of thyme, hoppe, the rinde of ash, Betony. For the kidnies, grumell, parsly, saxifrage, plantane, mallowe. For the womb, mugwort, pennyroyall, fetherfew, savine, &c. For the joynts, Camomile, S. Johns-wort, organ, rue, cowslips, centaury the lesse, &c.

And so to peculiar diseases. To this of melancholy you shall find a Catalogue of herbs proper, and that in every part. See more in Wecker, Renodeus, Hœurnius lib. 2. cap. 19. &c. I will briefly speak of them, as first of alteratives, which Galen in his third book of diseased parts, prefers before diminutives, and Trallianus brags, that he hath done more cures on melancholy men by moistning, then by purging of them.

In this Catalogue, Borage and Buglosse may challenge the chiefest place, whether in substance, juice, roots, seeds, flowers, leaves, decoctions, distilled waters, extracts, oils, &c. for such kind of herbs be diversly varied. Buglosse is hot and moist, and therefore worthily reckoned up amongst those herbs which expell melancholy, and exhilarate the heart, Galen lib. 6. cap. 80. de simpl. med. Dioscorides lib. 4. cap. 123. Pliny much magnifies this plant. It may be diversly used; as in Broth, in Wine, in Conserves, Syrops, &c.

It is an excellent cordiall, and against this malady most frequently prescribed; an herb indeed of such Soveraignty, that as Diodorus lib. 7. bibl. Plinius lib. 25. cap. 2. & lib. 21. cap. 22. Plutarch sympos. lib. 1. cap. 1. Dioscorides lib. 5. cap. 40. Cælius lib. 19. c. 3. suppose, it was that famous Nepenthes of Homer, which Polydamna Thonis wife (then King of Thebes in Ægypt) sent Helena for a token, of such rare vertue, that if taken steept in wine, if wife and children, father and mother, brother and sister, and all thy dearest friends should die before thy face, thou couldst not grieve or shed a tear for them.

Qui semel id paterâ mistum Nepenthes Iaccho Hauserit, hic lachrymam, non si suavissima proles, Si germanus ei charus, materq; paterq; Oppetat, ante oculos ferro confossus atroci.

Helenas commended Boul, to exhilarate the heart, had no other ingredient, as most of our Criticks conjecture, then this of Borage.

Melissa Bawm, hath an admirable vertue to alter Melancholy, be it steeped in our ordinary drink, extracted, or otherwise taken. Cardan lib. 8. much admires this herb. It heats and dries, saith Heurnius, in the second degree, with a wonderfull vertue comforts the heart, and purgeth all melancholy vapors from the spirits, Matthiol. in lib. 3. c. 10. in Dioscoridem. Besides they ascribe other vertues to it, as to help concoction, to cleanse the braine, expell all carefull thoughts, and anxious imaginations. The same words in effect are in Avicenna, Pliny, Simon Sethi, Fuchsius, Leobel, Delacampius, and every Herbalist. Nothing better for him that is melancholy then to steep this and Borage in his ordinary drink.

Matthiolus in his fift book of medicinall Epistles, reckons up Scorzonera, not against poison only, falling sicknesse, and such as are vertiginous, but to this malady; the root of it taken by it self expells sorrow, causeth mirth and lightnes of heart.

Antonius Musa that renowned Physician to Cæsar Augustus, in his book which he writ of the vertues of Betony, cap. 6. wonderfully commends that herb, animas hominum & corpora custodit, securas de metu reddit, it preserves both body and minde, from fears, cares, griefs, cures falling-sicknes, this and many other diseases, to whom Galen subscribes, lib. 7. simpl. med. Dioscorides lib. 4. cap. 1. &c.

Marigold is much approved against Melancholy, and often used therefore in our ordinary broth, as good against this and many other diseases.

Lupulus, hop, is a soveraign remedy; Fuchsius cap. 58. Plant. hist. much extolls it; it purgeth all choler, and purifies the blood. Matthiol. cap. 140. in 4. Dioscor. wonders the Physicians of his time made no more use of it, because it rarifies and cleanseth: we use it to this purpose in our ordinary beer, which before was thick and fulsome.

Wormwood, Centaury, Penniroyall are likewise magnified and much prescribed (as I shall after shew) especially in Hypocondriake melancholy, daily to be used, sod in whey: and as Ruffus Ephesius, Areteus, relate, by breaking winde, helping concoction, many melancholy men have been cured with the frequent use of them alone.

And because the spleen and blood are often misaffected in melancholy, I may not omit Endive, Succory, Dandelyon, Fumetory, &c. which cleanse the blood. Scolopendria, Cuscuta, Ceterache, Mugwort, Liverwort, Ashe, Tamerisk, Genist, Maidenhair, &c. which much help and ease the spleen. To these I may adde Roses, Violets, Capers, Fetherfew, Scordium, Stœchas, Rosemary, Ros Solis, Saffron, Ocyme, sweet Apples, Wine, Tobacco, Sanders, &c.

That Peruvian Chamico, monstrosâ facultate, &c. Linshcosteus Datera; And to such as are cold, the decoction or Guiacum, China, Salsaperilla, Sassafras, the flowers of Carduus Benedictus, which I find much used by Montanus in his consultations, Julius Alexandrinus, Lelius, Egubinus, and others.

Bernardus Penottus prefers his Herba solis, or Dutch-Sindaw, before all the rest in this disease, and will admit of no herb upon the earth to be comparable to it. It excells Homers Moly, cures this, falling sicknes, and almost all others infirmities. The same Penottus speaks of an excellent balm out of Aponensis, which taken to the quantity of three drops in a cup of wine, will cause a sudden alteration, drive away dumps, and chear up the heart.

Ant. Guianerius in his Antidotary hath many such. Jacobus de Dondis the Aggregator, repeats ambergreece, nutmegs, & all spice amongst the rest. But that cannot be generally, Amber and Spice will make a hot brain mad, good for cold and moist. Garcias ab Horto hath many Indian plants, whose vertues he much magnifies in this disease.

Lemnius instit. cap. 58. admires Rue, and commends it to have excellent vertue, to expell vain imaginations, Divels, and to ease afflicted souls. Other things are much magnified by writers, as an old Cock, a Rams head, a Wolfes heart born or eaten, which Mercurialis approves; Prosper Altinus, the water of Nilus; Gomesius all sea water, and at seasonable times to be sea-sick: Goats milk, Whey, &c.