When the earliest priests of Rome brought
faith and medicine to England, they found that
the science of healing had professors and a
literature of its own already. The major por-
tion of the Saxon remedies were at that time
surrounded with superstitious rites, and the priests
wisely substituted forms of prayer for pagan
incantations, and in this way medicine was in-
wrought with the new religion. In a work
entitled " Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Star-
craft of Early England," in two volumes, pub-
lished under the authority of the Master of the
Rolls, and edited by the Rev. O. Cockayne, M.A.,
the most complete account appears of the prac-
tice of medicine in Saxon times.
The leech books edited by Mr. Cockayne were
written for the use of medical practitioners ; and
the words, " as leeches know how," frequently
made use of prove that medicine was made a
study. The herbs of the garden, the field, and



SAXON LEECHDOM. 71

the forest afforded the Saxons their chief materials
for heaHng all sicknesses ; but they also occa-
sionally dre.w remedies from birds and animals.
ANGLO-SAXON MOTHER AND INFANT.
Upwards of fifty well-known herbs are amongst
those mentioned in the books, and of foreign
drugs upwards of twenty are named. When
they laid birds or animals under contribution they
treated them with great cruelty. Thus a love-
charm was furnished by the hyena, but the
portion required had to be taken from the animal
while alive; the heart of the mole was to be
swallowed while palpitating; the heart of the
hen was to be applied while warm; the warty
excrescences from the fore legs of animals cured



72 A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICINE.
