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Show 1586 a Theatrum ‘Botantcum. € ing of urine;in which difeafe ithitha mervailous {peedy operation,to clenfe the uritories; from flim ny flegme andA in them, or the paflages in the necke of the yard,as alfo to wafte and confume away fiefhy excref ese gathered 8 fence in the necke of the bladder or yard : italfo caafeth'a {weet breath, being fometimes chewed in the mouth, and helpeth a cold moift braine : & helpeth the trembling of the heart,and the wind chollicke. CHAP. Gummi Elem. XXX, Gum Elemni, %ia\ His Gum being not mentioned with the former becaufe we have not as. yet attained the knowledge # of the tree, from whencethis Gum Elemniis taken ; I referved for this place : for although feme my have taken it to be theliquour or gum that floweth out of the wild Erhiopian Ollive tree, yetit is g] moft certaine it cannot be it, for it is {aid that the gum of the Ollives will not burne like Roffin,nor 7 melt with the heate of fire, asthe Gum E/emni will doc, which isa yellowith kinde of Gum, clecre and tranfparent, which being broken fheweth mote whiteand gummy within, quickely — a = 'o burning and melting thereat, ofa little quicke fentand tafte. Itis of efpeciall ufe in all woun 6 fra ners the head and skull, tobe mixed withthe Balfames and oyntments ufed for that purpofe 2 it - 0 _ : ed for the toothache, when the paines come by the defluxion of rheumeinto them, to lay a plaifter thereof on thetem- ples as they doc with Mafticke, eee Trise 17, : ee: The Theater of Plants. winhihtatinateadaiag. Cua P32, ples-‘one againtt another, which are but {mall thicke, hard; and almoft round, withdivers veines in them, abiding Cver'greene onthe branches : at the joynts and ends of the branches come forth manyflowers, ftanding ina tuft together, every one ona long footeftalke confifting of fixe whitifh yellow leaves, not very great with fome threds inthe middle, which afterwards turneinto fat yelowith griftly fruice;. of the fafhion ofthe feed veffell ofa Phlashi Or Brrfa pastoris, thatis, wich two divifion s, andin the one fide a hard gtillly feed, as hard as an horne ‘almoft, ‘the other being for the moft part empry , hangine downe together by their long footeftatkes s’ it yeeldeth forth alfoa summe or Roffin, of a darke colour, which will eafily burne; ic gtoweth infundry places of the Weft Indies, where they call it Guayacan, and wee in Latine thereafter Guajacum by fome Lignum Santtam, and Lignam Indicum, and taken by fome to bea kinde of Ebony, for the firme= nefle and weightineffe, others a kind of Boxe, But asI have faid heretofore in fundry places ofthis Worke, moftofthe Trees and Herbes that grow ih the Indies are differin g from thofe thar grow in Europe, Guajaco Occiduo frasilis arbor, A Welt Indian tree like Guajacam, The branch of this ttee Phave here exhibited unto you, as Zobel hath fet it forth before, nor having had the like brought fince his dayes that Iknow,which fhewetham ore fapine tofore was utuall. which he hath defcribed inthis manner, The tree negligence in all our Sea men, then hereis great from whence this was taken,crowe ing uptight, whofebarke was like unto that of the Jada tree: the greene leafe, of the forme of a Pomecitton leate, but thicke and {moothlike unto the Bay, buclarger and fhorter,with fundry veines running therehrough, at the toppes of whofe branches grow cods, of a leatherlike fubftanc e, andround forme ina manner flat likea peece of mony, in whofe middle is contained flatcifh feed, like unto a Lentill, both for colourand forme, and bitterifhtafte. Palum Sanétum Indie Occidue. A differing Indian Guajacum. Cuarv. XXXI. Guajacum five Lignum Santum, Lignnm Vite. He Ligunm vite that gcoweth infomepartsofthe Indies, is muchbetter thenin others, yet is the wood ofall,hard,firme, clofe and heavy, fo chat it will fincke in water more then Ebony and nor »{ fwim, of an hot fharpe and refinoustafte, {omewhat burning in the throate: theblacker or J} browneris better then the yellow,being ina mannecall heart, the yellow being as it were buc thefappe: The tree groweth great witha reafonable thicke greenifh gummy barke, fpread with{andry armes and branches both great and {mall, and on them winged leaves {et by coujoc e Liga: fom, Ligne m Vite, ero Guajaco Occidico fimilis arbor A Welt ,ndian trec like Guajacum. Lobel hath remetmbred thiv alf in his eAdverfaria after this fafhion Divers have thought thistobe a Palme like the laft® or Pals Sanflus, a ftake of fucha holy tree, which yer is :differin g from it or Guajacum, howfoevet it was fo fignified for the tiee is not very great like unto an Ath, but fmaller, and the barke much like itin colour: the leaves werelike Plaintaine leaves but thicker; fateer,{ maller and fhorter : the fruite was of the bigneffe of a Wallnut;whichferved themto purge their bodies, The diftafes for which the ufuall Guajacamis appointed, that is,both the the barké,and gum, are fundry, helping all cold flegmaticke and windy humonrs,andalthough they are wood, good, and with eff-& uled for EPilepfies or thefalling ficknefle, catarrhes,rheumes and cold deftiliations on the lungs, or other Parts, conghes alfo and confumprtions, thegout and all other joynt aches, and many other the like difeafes, andto make the teeth white and firme, if they be often wathed with the decoction thereof : yet was it firft onely ufed for the French difeate, as we andthe Spaniards callir, the Neepolit ane asthe French callit, the Spanife pippe as the Gers mans callit, bucasit is indeed the Indian contagion:for when Chriftop borus (olonm, commonly called Columbus, firft opened the Welt Indies to che Spaniards, tney companying with the Indian women, got this their familiar and naturall country difeafe fromthem, and brought it with them ftom Santo Doningo, being the firlt place the Spaniards pofle fled there,unto the King of Spaines campe, which was then at Naples, treating of a peace wich the FrenchKing, in Anno 1493, bringing of the Natives withthe m,both men and women: The Phyfitions in thofe times not knowingthis difeafe or the caufes thereof were of divers opinions, fome taking it to proceed from the corrupt vittailes that the fouldiers were forced to eate, which bred melanch olicke and aduft biood, and hamonrs, others to the conjunctionof Saturne and Mars, and thereupon (not knowin g it to be anew difeafe) they celledicby divers ames, as the Leprofie,the running fcabbe,the poxe and the like, referring it to fome of the ancient knownedifeafes, but all in vaine : the cure hereof by this wood, firft was knowne from whenceic firft {prungs fora Spaniard being plagued withthis difeafe, having an Indian that played the Leech, to bé his fervant, was cared thereof by drinking the decoction ofthe wood given him bythe Indian, which cure was prefently divulged , not onely to the reltof the Spaniards inthe Indies, but in Spaimealfo, and fo cor tently to the whole world, » XXXII Hermodattylys, Ucrmodagtiles. 9 Ermodattiles are to be numbred among the unknowne Di ugges, the fhameof ages and countries, who (alchough theyput of the matrer to the Apothecarie thé Phyfitions in all s, and the Apothecaries to the Merchants that bring many{ackes full into their Countries with other commodities, bur & theyalfo take no further care to know what they are, or where or how they grow to declare it) g, thould be skillfall in the knowledge of all Plants, and (hould give order that the unknowne might i be made more manifelt: bue what doe I in in dangerof {plitting. Divers of the later Writers,as wellfo faying ? runne my Barke on the Reckes and put her Greekes, as Arabians and Latines have made mentionofthe Hermodaétile (alchough none of the Ancients) and have fet downe Perience.unto them; but no one hath ever declared either the place or manner the properties, well knowne byex. of the growing thereof, but oncly <He{wes, who maketha thew of defcription, which is almoft as good as nothing, faying it is a roote of a monn. taine herbe, whereoffome are long likea finger,andareround, white both within and without, which every One may fee by thefight, butthat any fhouldbe long like a finget,is bur ratherhis {uppofition from the name;them that he ever {aw fuch indeed, and therefore divers have imagined diverfly, fome taking them ‘to be the roores of Colcbicums, but they are dangerousif not deadly, befides the unlikenefle in forme, colour and fub(ance « Otherstake the Dens Caninus to bethey, but they are more unlikely, for they are {malland long, not thicke and fhort,as the Hermodagtiles are ; befides the qualityno way agreeth, therewith AZatrhiolus firlt tooke Orch Serapias, called Palma Chrifti, the handed telticle tobe they, becaufe the word 2pp.ttnxn'aG- fignifieththe Hermeris or Hermi dattylos, Hermes fingers, and thefe rootes being like the fingers of ones hand, may well be fo called,bux having |
