Fennell and Honey being clarified, and made up into an ointment, and used to be put into the eyes. The se∣cond [ 2] propertie is, that Rue abateth carnall lust, which is also confirmed by Galen, where he writeth of Rue; Qui•• & te••••ium est partium ••••atus{que} extinguit, quare ad inflationes competit, ac Veneris appetitum cohibet, digerit{que} atque exiceat sane strenue. Yet Schola Salerni in this point maketh a difference betweene men and women: for they say;
Ruta viris coitum minuit, mulieribus a••ge••.
Because the nature of women is waterish and cold▪ and Rue heateth and drieth, therefore (say they) it stirreth them more to carnall lust, but it diminisheth the nature of men, which is of temperature like un∣to the aire, that is, hot and moist. The third proper∣tie [ 3] is, that Rue maketh a man quicke, subtill, and inventive; by reason that by heating and drying, it maketh a mans spirits subtill, and so cleareth the wit. The fourth is, that the water that Rue is sod∣den [ 4] in, being cast and sprinkled about the house, riddeth away Fleas, and killeth them. Beside these foresaid properties, which bee all very profitable for Students, Rue hath a speciall vertue against poyson, in so much that the very smell of Rue keepeth a man from infection, as is often proved in time of pesti∣lence: for a Nose-gay of Rue is a good preservative, but being received into the body, it is of much grea∣ter force. For as Dioscorides writeth, Lethalium me∣dicamentorum antidotum est si semen ex vino acetabuli men∣sura ebibatur, folia per se sumpta, aut cum nucibus, jug••andi∣bus, aridis{que} ficis inefficaces venenorum vires reddunt, contra serpentes simili modo sumere convenit. Arnoldus affirmeth,