take thee, artemisia, lest I be weary on the way." Sign it with the sign of the cross when thou pullest it up.
Helias to Alfred.
In one of the Leechbooks translated by Mr. Cockayne is found a letter on medicines from Helias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to King Alfred the Great. Mr. Cockayne believes it to be authentic. There was a patriarch of that name at Jerusalem contemporary with Alfred, and the medicines he recommends are such as were obtainable in the Syrian drug shops at that date. It is to be presumed that the information was given in reply to a request for some recipes from the king. Helias recommends scammony, ammoniacum, gum dragon, aloes, galbanum, balsam, petroleum, triacle, and alabaster. Of petroleum he writes:—
"It is good to drink simple for inward tenderness, and to smear on outwardly on a winter's day, since it hath very much heat; hence one shall drink it in winter; and it is good if for anyone his speech faileth, then let him take it; and make the mark of Christ under his tongue, and swallow a little of it. Also if a man become out of his wits, then let him take part of it, and make Christ's mark on every limb, except the cross on the forehead, that shall be of balsam, and the other on the top of his head."
The patriarch had strong faith in Theriaca, and the directions he gives for its administration are minute, and would be explicit if he had only explained how much he meant by "a little bit."
"Theriaca," he says, "is a good drink for all inward tenderness, and the man who so behaves himself as is here said, he may much help himself. On the day on
