The writer then goes on to describe in detail the virtues of the plants, and it will be useful to follow him in detail. Operationes. A. Dyas (i.e. Dioscorides) Arthemisia virtutem habet acerrimam purgativam attenuantem calidam et leptinticam. B. Elixatura eius causas mulieris mitigat. menstruis imperat. secundinas excludit. mortuos infantes in utero deponit. constrictiones matricis resolvit. omnes tumores spargit. accepta calculos frangit. urinam provocat. herba ipsa tunsa et in umbilico posito menstruis imperat. C. Succus eius mirre (i.e. myrrhae) mixtus et matrici suppositus omnia similiter facere novit. D. Coma eius sicca bibita. z.iii. stericas (i.e. hystericas) causas componit. E. Si quis iter faciens eam secum portaverit non sentiet itineris laborem. F. Fugat etiam demonia in domo posita. Prohibet etiam maledicamenta et avertit oculos malorum. G. Item ipsa tunsa cum axungia et superposita pedum dolorem ex itinere tollit. H. Arthemisia quae taygetes vocatur facit ad vesicae dolorem et stranguriam succo dato ex vino. z.ii. I. Febricanti ex aqua ea ciatis (l. cyathus) duas potui datur. K. Succus tunsa cum axungia et aceto coxarum dolori medicatur ligata usque in tercium diem. L. Ut infantem hilarem facias incende et suffumigabis et omnes incursiones malorum avertet. et hilariorem faciet infantem. nervorum dolorem et tumorem trita cum oleo bene subacta mirifice sanat. M. Dolorem pedum gravitur vexatis radicem eius da cum melle manducare et ita sanabitur ut vix credi posset eam tantam virtutem habere. N. Succo eius cum oleo rosarum febriens perunctus curatur ea. Hanc herbam si confricaveris lasaris odorem habet. O. Galienus. Ambae species arthemisiae conveniunt lapidibus in renibus existentibus et ad calefactiones et extractiones secundarum (1. secundinarum). When we read through this list of virtues and operations, we see the origin of many things in the later herbals. It is quite clear that to the author of the Hortus Sanitatis the herb in question was women's medicine. We might roughly group the operations as follows: It is clear that the real value of the herb lies in its influence upon women and children and upon travellers, and in the power as an amulet. The reason for its connection with travellers does not yet appear: the other curative and prophylactic qualities are thoroughly Artemisian. Especially interesting is the appearance of Artemis as the one that takes care of the baby, the κουροτρόφος. We are evidently coming nearer to the source of the magic and of the medicine. Now let us see what Dioscorides says about the plant, since it is clear that the herbals in part derive from him; the Artemisia is described in Dioscorides, " De materia medica,” lib. III. cap. 117, 118. 117. ̓Αρτεμίσια ἡ μὲν πολύκλωνος, ἡ δὲ μονόκλωνος . μὲν πολύκλωνος φύεται ὡς τὸ πολὺ ἐν παραθαλασσίοις τόποις, πόα θαμνοειδής, παρόμοιος ἀψινθίῳ, μείζων δὲ καὶ λιπαρώτερα τὰ φύλλα ἔχουσα· καὶ ἡ μέν τις αὐτῆς ἐστιν εὐερνής, πλατύτερα ἔχουσα τὰ φύλλα καὶ τοὺς ῥάβδους· ἡ δὲ λεπτότερα, ἄνθη μίκρα, λεπτά, λευκά, βαρύοσμα· θέρους δὲ ἀνθεῖ· Ενιοι δὲ τὸ ἐν μεσογείοις λεπτόκαρπον, ἁπλοῦν τῷ καυλῷ, σφόδρα μικρόν, ἄνθους περίπλεων κηροειδοῦς τῇ χροίᾳ· λεπτοῦ καλοῦσιν ἀρτεμισίαν μονόκλωνον· ἔστι δὲ εὐωδεστέρα τῆς πρὸ αὐτῆς. Αμφότεραι δὲ θερμαίνουσι καὶ λεπτύνουσιν· ἀποζεννύμεναι δὲ ἁρμόζουσιν εἰς γυναικεῖα ἐγκαθίσματα πρὸς ἀγωγὴν ἐμμήνων καὶ δευτέρων καὶ ἐμβρύων, μύσιν τε καὶ φλεγμονὴν τῆς ὑστέρας καὶ θρύψιν λίθων καὶ ἐποχὴν οὔρων. ἡ δὲ πόα κατὰ τοῦ ἤτρου καταπλασθεῖσα πολλή, ἔμμηνα κινεῖ· ὁ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῆς χύλος λεανθεὶς σὺν σμύρνῃ, καὶ προστεθείς, ἄγει ἀπὸ μήτρας, ὅσα καὶ τὸ ἐγκάθισμα· καὶ ποτίζεται ἡ κόμη πρὸς ἀγωγὴν τῶν αὐτῶν. πλῆθος <γ. 118. ̓Αρτεμίσια λεπτόφυλλος ἥτις γεννᾶται περὶ ὀχέτους καὶ φραγμοὺς καὶ εἰς χώρας σπορίμους· τὸ ἄνθος οὖν αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ φύλλα τριβόμενα ὀσμὴν ἀποδίδωσι σαμψύχου. εἰ οὖν τις πονεῖ τὸν στόμαχον, καὶ κόψει τὴν βοτάνην ταύτης μετὰ ἀμυγδαλίνου ἐλαίου καλῶς, καὶ ποιήσει ὡς μάλαγμα καὶ θήσει ἐπὶ τὸν στόμαχον, θεραπευθήσεται. εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ νευρά τις πονεῖ, τὸν χύλον ταύτης μετὰ ῥοδίνου ἐλαίου μίξας χρίει, θεραπευθήσεται. A careful comparison of these passages of Dioscorides will show that almost every sentence has been transferred to the herbals. The prominence of the woman's medicine in Dioscorides is most decided. The magical qualities do not appear in this passage, nor is there any reference to Mt. Taygetus. The plant grows, according to Dioscorides, by runnels, and in hedges and ditches and fields. The same prominence of the woman-medicinal factor appears in the description given by Pliny in his "Natural History" (xxv. 36) as follows: "Mulieres quoque hanc gloriam affectavere: in quibus Artemisia uxor Mausoli, adopta herba, quae antea parthenis vocabatur. Sunt quae ab Artemide Ilithyia cognominatam putant, quoniam privatim medeatur feminarum malis, etc.' These sentences also can be traced in the herbals. It is quite likely that Pliny is right in giving the plant the alternative name of "maid's medicine," though we need not trouble further about Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus. She is an obvious after-thought. That the mugwort has continued as a maid's medicine to our own time may be seen by a pretty story which Grimm quotes from R. Chambers,1 but without seeing the bearing of the tale. "A girl in Galloway was near dying of consumption, and all had despaired of her recovery, when a mermaid, who often gave people good counsel, sang :— Wad ye let the bonnie may die i' your hand, They immediately plucked the herb, gave her the juice of it, and she was restored to health. Another maid had died of the same disease, 1 1 Grimm, "Teut. Myth." Eng. tr. III. 1211; R. Chambers, "Pop. Rhymes," p. 331; Swainson, "Weather Folk-Lore," p. 60. |