The condition of medicine and pharmacy in Saxon times has been
carefully portrayed in three volumes published, in 1864, under the
authority of the Master of the Rolls at the expense of the Treasury.
These were edited by the Rev. Oswald Cockayne, M.A., and appeared
under the title of “Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft.” Many old
documents were translated and explained, and from these the ideas of
medicine in these islands a thousand years ago were made manifest.
Mr. Cockayne gave at length a Saxon Herbarium, written, he supposed,
about the year 1000, and professing to be a translation from
Apuleius, a Roman physician of the second century, with additions
from Dioscorides, and some from native science. A few specimens will
suffice to show the character of the herb treatment in England before
the Conquest.
CRESS, WATERCRESS (Nasturtium officinale).
1. This wort is not sown, but it is produced of itself in wylls
(springs), and in brooks, also it is written that in some lands it will
grow against walls.
2. In the case that a man’s hair fall off take juice of the wort which
one nameth nasturtium, and by another name cress; put it on the nose;
the hair shall wax (grow).
3. For sore of head, that is for scurf and for itch, take seed of this
same wort and goose grease. Pound together. It draws from the head the
whiteness of the scurf.
4. For soreness of the body (the Latin word is ad cruditatem,
indigestion) take this same wort nasturtium, and pennyroyal; seethe
them in water, give to drink; then amendest thou the soreness of the
body, and the evil departs.
5. Against swellings, take this same wort, and pound it with oil; lay
over the swellings; then take leaves of the same wort, and lay them
thereto.
6. Against warts, take this same wort and yeast, pound together, lay
thereto, they be soon taken away.
MAYTHE (Anthemis nobilis).
For sore of eyes, let a man take ere the upgoing of the sun, the wort
which is called Chamaimelon, and by another name Maythe, and when a man
taketh it let him say that he will take it against white specks, and
against soreness of the eyes; let him next take the ooze, and smear the
eyes therewith.
POPPY (Papaver somniferum).
1. For sore of eyes, that is what we denominate blearedness, take the
ooze of this wort, which the Greeks name Makona and the Romans Papaver
album, and the Engles call white poppy, or the stalk with the fruit;
lay it to the eyes.
2. For sore of temples or of the head, take ooze of this same wort,
pound with vinegar, and lay upon the sore; it alleviates the sore.
3. For sleeplessness, take ooze of this same wort, smear the man with
it, and soon thou sendest the sleep on him.
* * * * *
Many of the herbs named in the Herbarium were employed for other
purposes than those for which they were used in later practice. Comfrey
is recommended for one “bursten within.” It was to be roasted in hot
ashes and mixed with honey; then to be taken fasting. But nothing is
said of its bone-setting property. Mullein, subsequently famous as
a pectoral medicine, is recommended in the Herbarium as an external
application in gout, and to carry about to prevent the attacks of wild
beasts. Dill is prescribed as a remedy against local itching; fennel in
cough and sore bladder; and madder for broken legs, which it would cure
in three days.
To prevent sea-sickness the traveller had to smear himself with a
mixture of pennyroyal and wormwood in oil and vinegar. Peony laid over
a lunatic would soon cause him to upheave himself whole; and vervain or
verbena if carried on the person would ensure a man from being barked
at by dogs.