The state of medicine in England in Anglo-Saxon times is said by Strutt[637] to have been very degraded. Medicine consisted chiefly of nostrums which had been handed down from one age to another, and their administration was usually accompanied with whimsical rites and ceremonies, to which the success was often in a great measure attributed. The most ignorant persons practised the profession, and particularly old women, who were supposed to be the most expert and were in high repute amongst the Anglo-Saxons. After the establishment of Christianity the clergy succeeded to the business carried on by the ancient dames, and it must be admitted that the superstitious element in their treatment of disease was not less prominent than in that of their venerable predecessors. Bede says[638] that Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, taught that “It is very dangerous to let blood on the fourth day of the moon, because both the light of the moon and the tides are upon the increase.” Before any medicine could be administered, fortunate and unfortunate times, the changes of the moon and appearance of the planets, had to be considered. Many medicinal books were amongst those which Ælfred the Great caused to be translated into the Saxon tongue. Some of them were embellished with illustrations of herbs, etc., so that about the tenth century some knowledge of medicine was diffused, and Strutt thinks there may have been persons whose only profession was medicine and surgery, besides the ecclesiastics who practised these arts, before the close of the Saxon government.[639] The Anglo-Saxons, even after their conversion to Christianity, retained much of the superstition of their ancestors; they placed faith in astrology, and had some acquaintance with astronomy, which they obtained from the Romans, from whom they learned most of the arts and sciences. They had a good knowledge of botany, and their MS. were embellished with excellent drawings of the herbs and plants.[640] Theodore brought with him a large collection of books, and set up schools in Kent, where many students were instructed in the sciences and the knowledge and application of medicine and the rules for the preservation of the health.[641] The Rev. Oswald Cockayne has given us, in his translation of the Saxon _Leech Book_, a very curious and interesting citation from Helias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who wrote to King Ælfred in answer to his request to be furnished with some good recipes from the Holy Land: “Patriarch Helias sends these to King Ælfred:[642]__ * * * * *