ABSTRACT
The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard, first published in 1597, lists more than twenty-six medicinal uses for rue, or the “herbe Grace.” Purportedly the plant “prouoketh vrine,” remedies testicle hardening, alleviates stomach “windines,” helps joint pain, reduces spleen swelling, “killeth the shingles,” eases an earache, sharpens eyesight, and stops a nosebleed. It can be used “with good successe against the dropsie,” ague fits, and poisonings, and is seen as a cough medicine and an abortifacient as well as a preventative against the plague. In order to attain these benefits, the reader of Gerard’s Herball must execute a number of processes after buying or harvesting this herb. It may be boiled with vinegar or with other plants (e.g., bay leaves, fenugreek, or dill), made into a poultice or ointment by adding it to grease or fat, combined with and preserved in oil, formed into a suppository, mixed with honey or wine, pressed for its juice, heated “in the rinde of a Pomegranate,” ground into a paste with figs, administered in a clyster, warmed in the sun, ground, beaten, scalded, or pickled.1 In addition to choosing a treatment, the practitioner must be able to discern different kinds of rue, as some wild varieties have poisonous potentials.
