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Blue-Bottle: Saturn

The truth is, I have known this herb cure some diseases of Saturn, of which I thought good to quote one. Many times such as give themselves much to drinking, are troubled with strange fancies, strange sights in the night time, and some with voices, as also with the disease ephialtes, or the mare. I take the reason of this to be (according to Fernelius) a melancholy vapour made thin by excessive drinking strong liquor, so flies up and disturbs the fancy, and breeds imaginations like itself, viz. fearful and troublesome. These I have known cured by taking only two spoonfuls of the syrup of this herb, after supper two hours, when you go to bed. But whether this does it by sympathy or antipathy, is some doubt in astrology. I know there is a great antipathy between Saturn and Venus in matter of procreation; yea, such a one that the barrenness of Saturn can be removed by none but Venus; nor the lust of Venus be repelled by none but Saturn; but I am not of opinion this is done this way, and my reason is, because these vapours, though in quality melancholy, yet by their flying upward, seem to be something aerial; therefore I rather think it is done by sympathy; Saturn being exalted in Libra, in the house of Venus.