Ninth Sign [Accidental Voice]

[beyondimagining]

[The communicator turns on as Will is halfway through reading something aloud to himself in a thoughtful tone of voice.]

-is called of some Sanguis Draconis, of the bloudy color of which the whole plant is possest.  If you take the roots of Monks Rhubarb and red Madder of each halfe a pound,  Sena foure ounces, Anise seed and Licorice of each foue

Comments

[wirewings]

...I don't understand. What does all that mean?

[beyondimagining]

Ah, this was on? I suppose I haven't quite gotten used to these communicator things.

I was reading from an old book. Herbals, they used to be called. They talk about the different kinds of plants and what you could use them for.

[wirewings]

You use them?

[You have piqued her interest!]

How do you use them? Plants can do things?

[beyondimagining]

All sorts of things. Back before modern medicines were discovered or invented, people studied different plants to see what benefits they had. The virtues of the plant, they called them.

They weren't always right about them, of course. And they could believe some very odd things about different plants. But a lot of the benefits they observed really do work.

[subshiki]

Sounds wordy to me.

[beyondimagining]

Ah, is it?

[subshiki]

It's almost a run on sentence.

[beyondimagining]

I suppose that was the style in the sixteenth century.

[arcanacabana]

New reading material?

[beyondimagining]

The 1633 edition of Gerard's Herbal. I found it back when all those items from home showed up.

[arcanacabana]

That's a decent item to get. Now all you need are the plants themselves.

[beyondimagining]

Old Gerard isn't much use for the plants around here. [Will agrees with great solemnity.] Suppose he never expected there to be a need to cover plants from another planet.

( voice; english )

[libertyfuckyeah]

What.

Re: ( voice; english )

[beyondimagining]

Is something wrong, sir?

( voice; english )

[libertyfuckyeah]

Are you cooking something? [ implied: can I have some? ]

Re: ( voice; english )

[beyondimagining]

No, I was just reading. Such curious ideas they had back then.

[lastyears_model]

That sounds rather interesting.

[beyondimagining]

Old Gerard had rather the interesting way of putting things sometimes.

[lastyears_model]

Certainly seems that way. What year was that recipe from anyway? Certainly sounds quite old.

[beyondimagining]

This edition was originally published in 1633, though much of the material was written much earlier. Gerard was rather fond of including references to the Greek Philosophers.