Della Porta Magia Naturalis (German 1713)

...those warlike times with Antonyoriginal: "Antonio"; referring to Mark Antony, the Roman general and triumvir. Dioscorides served as a physician in the Roman army., which caused him to be unable to experiment precisely or investigate everything in person. Instead, he recorded the nature of various herbs and other natural things only from hearsay, and—as we suspect—likely did not believe everything himself.

For what an excellent remedy it would be—if it were true—what he reports about the herb VitexThe chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus), which since antiquity was believed to suppress sexual desire. or Chaste-Lamboriginal: "Agnus castus" or "Keusch-Lamm": that if one held this herb in their bare hand, they could ride a horse without a saddle for a full 100 miles without ever chafingoriginal: "sich einen Wolff ritte"; literally "riding oneself a wolf," an old German idiom for the painful skin irritation or saddle sores caused by friction during riding..

It would also be something extraordinary, and pregnant maidens—or rather, frivolous harlots—would no longer regard drinks made from Savinoriginal: "Sabina" or "Seven (Satten-) Baum"; Juniperus sabina, a shrub notoriously used in folk medicine to induce menstruation or abortion. if his words corresponded with the facts. He writes of the female Fernoriginal: "Farren-Kraut" that as soon as a pregnant woman steps upon it, her fruit would immediately depart from her, and she would thus be forced to miscarry.

Indeed, we certainly believe that women would make an idol out of him if what he mentions about the herbs PhyllonAn ancient plant name, likely referring to a species of Mercurialis or "Mercury herb." and Mercuryoriginal: "Mercurialis" or "Bingel-Kraut"; in folklore, different parts or "sexes" of the plant were thought to determine the gender of a child. were certain: namely, that if a woman drank the juice of the "male" variety of these herbs, or merely applied the leaves to her private partsoriginal: "natürlichen Ort"; a common early modern euphemism for the genitals., she would unfailingly become pregnant with a son.

What Pliny the Elderoriginal: "Plinius Secundus von Verona"; a Roman author (23–79 AD) whose "Natural History" was the standard reference for the physical world for over a millennium. of Verona—a man of tireless diligence, as is evident from his writings—has done for such natural sciences is well enough known to scholars and physiciansoriginal: "Physicis"; referring to natural philosophers who studied the laws of nature.. However, we guarantee and offer the sure promise that almost no superstitious error in natural matters can be found today among the learned or unlearned that is not also found in Pliny. Yet, we also maintain that in such matters, more blame should be attributed to the reader for being so gullible than to Pliny himself.