Introduction and Background

FROM:THE: LIBRARY-OF TRINITY-COLLEGE-‘TORONTO ina Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2006 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/ascriptu reherbal0Ocalluoft Scripture Werbal, What though I trace each herb and flower ‘That drinks the morning dew, Did T not own Jehovah's power How vain were all I knew ! BY MARIA CALLUOTT. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1842. 21268 Lonpon: Printed by A. Srorriswoopt New. Sireet-Square. rm PREFACE. My chief object and aim in writing this little book has been to induce those who read and love God’s written word, to read and love the great unwritten book which he has every where spread abroad for our learning. In doing this we shall follow the steps of our Lord Jesus. How constantly his lessons and parables are quickened and adorned by references not only to the use, but to the beauty, of the vegetable creation; saying of the Lily, “ Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these!” Observe, too, how the precursors of our own heavenly Teacher, the pro- phets, and the psalmist, and the writer of the Canti- cles, are perpetually setting forth the majesty and beauty of the heavens and earth, until we join them and cry, “Lord! how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.” iv PREFACE. A second reason for printing an English Scripture Herbal is, that, of the best and most trusty books on the natural history of the Bible, the greater number are written in the learned languages ; and, of the many millions who read the Scriptures in my native tongue, how few there are who can decipher the in- scription “ written in the Hebrew, and in the Greek, and in the Latin!”* . I feel, however, that I ought to give some account of the help I have had in composing my Herbal, a task which has occupied and comforted me during the last three years of a long and hopeless illness. The title I honestly acknowledge I have borrowed from an almost forgotten little book}, which used to * ‘The principal books of this kind ar Calmet’s Dictionary. Ursini Arboretum Biblicum, 1699. Miller's Hierophyticon, 1725. Scheutzer’s Physica Sacra, 1731. Celsius's Hierobotanicon, 1745. Forskal de Rebus naturalibus, &c., 1776. Bochart's Hierozoicon, 1793. Besides these, there are many books of early travels to Egypt and the East that throw great light on the natural history of the Bible. + Theobotanologia, sive Historia Vegetubilium Sacra; or a Scripture Herbal, by William Westmacott of Newcastle-under-Line, a physician, 1694. Many of his wonderful recipes are taken from Dr. Bates or Butts (perhaps Henry VIILs physician). PREFACE. v excite my admiration when a child, by the wonderful powers it ascribed to simples, especially if due regard were paid to gathering them at the rising and setting of their planets. It is a curious little work, and contains much that is rare, at least in our times. I have made use of another but very superior English tract, namely, that of Sir Thomas Brown; which professes to treat of all the plants named in Scripture, from the Fig-tree in Genesis to the Worm- wood of the Revelations. Gerard’s Herbal, and Dr. Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny, have been invaluable tome. Pub- lished but little before the authorised version of the Bible, the names of plants in them can hardly be other than those used by our venerable translators. The wood-cuts and histories in Gerard, and Pliny’s descriptions under the English names supplied. by Holland, have often guided me to the true plant of which I was in search. Of the works written professedly on any branch of the natural history, I have made most use of the Hierobotanicon of Celsius. That learned man, who was in part the tutor of Linnexus, and his predecessor in the chair of natural science at Upsal, employed fifty years in composing his most laborious work; and, when vi PREFACE. about to print it, travelled himself to Holland and Germany to procure the Oriental types necessary for the purpose. On his return, two hundred and fifty copies only were printed, and the work is now very difficult to procure. I owe the use of it to my ex- cellent friend Robert Brown, Esquire, without whose kindness in advising me and procuring for me books which I could not otherwise have commanded, my own little work, if executed at all, must have been defective indeed.* The enthusiastic Hasselquist, short as was his career, did much for Scripture botany. Struck with an expression in one of Linnzeus’s lectures, regretting that so little was known of the natural history of Palestine, the young man devoted himself to travels in that country; and, overcoming difficulties of which poverty and bad health were not the least, he reached Syria, saw some part of Egypt, but never recovered * It may seem vain-glorious thus publicly to boast of the friendship of this great botanist, who, by the universal voice of the naturalists on the continent of Europe, has received the title of Prrxcrrs Boranrconum, a title hitherto bestowed only on Linneus. But I shall soon be beyond the power of expressing gratitude in this world, and I am willing with what breath I have to thank him, and to express a regard that has lasted. long, and can only end with life. His friend Mr. Bennet has also done much for me, and must receive my thanks here for all his trouble. PREFACE. vii from the heat and fatigue of his journeys in Palestine, and died a martyr to science.* Forskal, another of the same class, if he did not travel expressly to seek Bible plants or to explore the vegetation of the Holy Land, did very much to increase our knowledge of the botany of the East, and, like poor Hasselquist, became a victim to the effects of fatigue and a hot climate. On the revival of letters after the long night of the dark ages, the ancient botanists and physicians had their share of the attention of scholars. Hermolaus Barbarus, in his lectures at Rome, included botany, as known to the Greeks, among the natural sciences on which he discoursed. Mathiolus wrote more than one treatise on the botany of Dioscorides, and others followed in the same train. But the travels of Clusius into Spain and Africa, and the visit of Prosper Alpinus into Egypt, gave an impulse to the study of living plants which could not but bear worthy fruit. Of their followers among the older travellers, I have profited most by the journeyings of Rauwolf, * His papers were placed in the hands of Linneus, who best knew their value. Few biographical sketches are so interesting as that prefixed by the master to the travels of his unhappy pupil. vili PREFACE. in whose book we find the work of a cheerful active mind, allowing nothing to escape observation. His descriptions are consequently satisfactory, and the few figures he has given of rare plants are trustworthy as far as they go. Kampfer’s agreeable Amenitates Exotice has fur- nished me with much instruction relative to the Oriental drugs and plants, especially the palm. Among more recent travellers I have read with great advantage Tournefort’s travels in the Levant, Bruce's in Abyssinia, Dr. Russell’s history of Aleppo, and Sonnini’s account of the visit of the French sga- vans to Egypt: and, of contemporary travellers, I have found Dr. Royle most to be depended upon, either for confirming old notions concerning the drugs of the East, or adding the weight of his testimony to those of more recent botanists, illustrated as his work is by beautiful coloured figures. From Mr. Loddiges’s curious collection of exotic plants, he kindly sent me specimens from which I have drawn three of my most interesting subjects. But were I to name every friend to whom I owe plants or prints to copy, and every book I have con- sulted, this notice would become unreasonably long. I must, however, mention two little modern books, PREFACE. ix now published in English. The first and best we owe to an American author. Dr. Harris’s Dictionary of the Natural History of the Bible is most carefully and conscientiously compiled, and is an admirable book for the table of every reader of Scripture, though it is not, as the ingenious writer imagines, so perfect as to supersede the necessity of any other. The second small book I would name is Rosen- miiller’s Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible. This I did not see till my own work was just ready for the press. At first the great array of learned names at the foot of each page alarmed me, even more than the words in Oriental characters. But I was soon satis- fied that Rosenmiiller, though a diligent and labo- rious compiler on Scripture matters, had depended for his botany entirely on the authors whom I had already consulted, adopting their quotations as his own. Of course I was pleased, after looking through the work of so meritorious a Bible scholar, that I had nothing to alter, and nothing to add to what I had previously gleaned from his predecessors. I must now say something of the cuts which head the descriptions of the plants. The collecting the figures and drawing them on the wood-blocks, as it was a work of labour, so it was a labour of love. The x PREFACE. authorities whence they are taken will be found in the index to the cuts; and the great solace I have derived from the drawing of them, confined as I am to a sick bed, makes up for whatever pain there might be in acknowledging that the faults are entirely my own, since my lines were most carefully and accu- rately followed by that excellent wood-engraver Mr. W. Folkard, to whose exactness and diligence I am greatly indebted. 7 That the drawings and the descriptions, together with the illustrative matter contained in my hum- ble book, may effect the object I have already laid open, namely, that of inducing even a few to unite the study of the unwritten book of God with that of his written law, is the ardent wish and fervent prayer of THE AUTHOR. Nors.—I have never been able to discover the author of the beautiful lines set to music by Handel, which I have chosen for my motto. They are not Dr. Watts’s, But tradition assigns the poem of the Solomon, as well as some other oratorios of Handel, to his friend Dr. Morell. INDEX TO PLANTS IN THE SCRIPTURE HERBAL. Axaum, on Arnve . . Thuja articulata, called by some Cal- litris quadrivalvis, Desfontaines Atl. and Shaw - dewowe s G ¢ ¢ Renygdalus oormonia, boat Anors . . {Aloe perfoliata Zinn, Aloe socotrina DeCand. Anse... . Pimpinella Anisum Zinn. Areun . 0... Pyrus Malus Linn. Asi . " . . Fraxinus excelsior Linn. Aspataruus . . —. Anthyllis Hermannise Linn. (This is called in its place Aspalathus Creticus. I was not aware, when the sheet was in press, of the change of name.) Bart . . . —. Balsamodendron Gileadense Kunth Baruzy . . . ~~. - Hordenmvulgare Linn, . Bay Tres . . —. Laurus nobilis Zinn. } Bay, Ross . . —._ Nerium Oleander Linn. Bosuuwun =. Anyriscomiphora Hozburgh Beans... Vicia Faba Linn. Box Tass . . . Buxus sempervirens Linn. Brawstz =. =. ~—«.- Rubus fruticosus Linn. Baar . . . . Rosacanina Linn. Burrvss =. ~~. ‘Typha latifolia Linn. Page 30 38 45 53 37 61 65 68 xii INDEX TO PLANTS. Page Caramvs, on Sweet Cane Andropogon Calamus —aromaticus Royle's Bot. of Himalaya Moun } nR tains, p.425. Campnon =... Laurus Camphora Linn. Corner, Kurros, on Cv: PHER, THE H&ENNA or} Lawsonia inermis Linn. THe Arans Carer. =... Capparis spinosa Zinn, =... 84 Cassia, 1... . Laurus Cassia Linn, }: ee Cassa,2.. 0... Cassia Fistula Linn. Cepar. . . . Pinus Cedrus Zim. . . a - 91 Cunsnur . . « Fagus Castanea Zinn... 102 Ciswamon =... Laurus Cinnamomun Linn. - 6 105 Crrron . a « . Citrus Medica Linn. . . ie . 108 Cocke. . +. Agrostemma Coronaria Linn. * . 1g CorranpeR ‘ + Coriandrum sativum Zinn. . : . 114 Corron . . =. . Gossypium herbaceum Zinn. =... 116 Cucumber . . . Cucumis sativa Linn. . ei ‘ . 120 Comme . 0... Cuminum Cyminum Linn... . 128 Cypress . =. «. Cupressus sempervirens Linn, . 126 Dove's Dune . . . Orithogalum umbellatum Linn. . . 129 Enosy . . . —. DiospyrosEbemum Linn... . 134 Em oo. . . Ulmus campestris Zinn, =... 187 Fie . . a : « Ficus Carica Linn. 4 . . . 139 Fr. . . $ . Pinus Abies Linn. a Fircues . * Fs . Vicia Sativa Linn, a . Frags, or Wrrp. « Zostera Marina Linn, . Frax . . ‘ + Linum Usitatissinum Zinn. Frankincense . + Boswellia Thurifera Roxburgh Garpanum. . + Bubon Galbanum Linn. ‘ . +172 Gamo. =.) . —, Allium Ascalonieum Zinn, . 0. . 175 Gorner Woon See 8 ee 2 ee TT? INDEX TO PLANTS. Gourp (Wp) . . Cucumis Prophetarum Linn, Gourp (Jonan’s) . Ricinus communis Linn, } Gre _{ Festuca fluitans Lim. also } Glyceria fluitans R. B. Hausen