e specific name of the
tutsan [14] (_Hypericum androsoemum_), derived from the two Greek words
signifying man and blood, in reference to the dark red juice which
exudes from the capsules when bruised, was once applied to external
wounds, and hence it was called "balm of the warrior's wound," or
"all-heal." Gerarde says, "The leaves laid upon broken skins and scabbed
legs heal them, and many other hurts and griefs, whereof it took its
name 'toute-saine' of healing all things." The pretty plant, herb-robert
(_Geranium robertianum_), was supposed to possess similar virtues, its
power to arrest bleeding being indicated by the beautiful red hue
assumed by the fading leaves, on account of which property it was styled
"a stauncher of blood." The garden Jerusalem cowslip (_Pulmonaria
offinalis_) owes its English name, lungwort, to the spotting of the
leaves, which were said to indicate that they would be efficacious in
healing diseases of the lungs. Then there is the water-soldier
(_Stratiotes aloides_), which from its sword-shaped leaves was reckoned
among the appliances for gun-shot wounds. Another familiar plant which
has long had a reputation as a vulnerary is the self-heal, or
carpenter's herb (_Prunella vulgaris_), on account of its corolla being
shaped like a bill-hook.

Again, presumably on the doctrine of signatures, the connection between
roses and blood is very curious. Thus in France, Germany, and Italy it
is a popular notion that if one is desirous of having ruddy cheeks, he
must bury a drop of his blood under a rose-bush. [15] As a charm against
haemorrhage of every kind, the rose has long been a favourite remedy in
Germany, and in Westphalia the following formula is employed: "Abek,
Wabek, Fabek; in Christ's garden stand three red roses--one for the good
God, the other for God's blood, the third for the angel Gabriel: blood,
I pray you, cease to flow." Another version of this charm is the
following [16]:--"On the head of our Lord God there bloom three roses:
the first is His virtue, the second is His youth, the third is His will.
Blood, stand thou in the wound still, so that thou neither sore nor
abscess givest."

Turning to some of the numerous plants which on the doctrine of
signatures were formerly used as specifics from a fancied resemblance,
in the shape of the root, leaf, or fruit, to any particular part of the
human body, we are confronted with a list adapted for most of the ills
to which the flesh is he