The Bladderwrack yields a rich produce to the seaside agriculturist
highly useful as manure for the potato field and for other crops: and
it is gathered for this purpose all along the British coast. In Jersey
and Guernsey it is called _vraic_. Among the Hebrides, cheeses,
whilst drying, are covered with the ashes of this weed which
abounds in salt. Patients who have previously suffered much from
rheumatism about the body and limbs have found themselves
entirely free from any such pains or trouble whilst taking the extract
of _Fucus Vesiculosus_ (Bladderwrack). This Sea Weed is in
perfection only during early and middle summer. For fresh sprains
and bruises a hot decoction of the Bladderwrack should be used at
first as a fomentation; and, afterwards, a cold essence of the weed
should be rubbed in, or applied on wet lint beneath light thin
waterproof tissue, or oiled silk, as a compress: this to be changed as
often as hot or dry.

Laver is the popular name given to some edible Sea Weeds--the
_Porphyra lanciniata_, and the _Ulva latissima_. The same title was
formerly bestowed by Pliny on an [506] aquatic plant now
unknown, and called also Sloke, or Sloken.

_Porphyra_, from a Greek word meaning "purple," is the true Laver,
or Sloke. It is slimy, or semi-gelatinous of consistence when served
at table, having been stewed for several hours until quite tender, and
then being eaten with butter, vinegar, and pepper. At the London
Reform Club Laver is provided every day in a silver saucepan at
dinner, garnished with lemons, to flank the roast leg of mutton.
Others prefer it cooked with leeks and onions, or pickled, and eaten
with oil and lemon juice. The Englishman calls this Sea Weed,
Laver; the Irishman, Sloke; the Scotchman, Slack; and the student,
_Porphyra_. It varies in size and colour between tidemarks, being
sometimes long and ribbon-like, of a violet or purple hue;
sometimes long and broad, whilst changing to a reddish purple, or
yellow.

It is very wholesome, and preventive of scurvy, being therefore
valuable on sea voyages, as it will keep good for a long time in
closed tin vessels.

The _Ulva latissima_ is a deep-green Sea Weed, called by the
fishermen Oyster Green, because employed to cover over oysters.
This is likewise known as Laver, because sometimes substituted by
epicures for the true Laver (_Porphyra_) when the latter cannot be
got; but it is not by any means as good. The name _Ulva_ is from
_ul_, meaning "water."

Sea Spinach (_Satsolacea--Spirolobea_) is a Saltwort found growing
on the shore in Hampshire and other parts of England, the best of all
wild vegetables for the table, having succulent leaves shaped like
worms, and being esteemed as an excellent antiscorbutic.

The Sea Beet--a Chenopod--which grows plentifully on our shores,
gave origin to the cultivated Beetroot of [507] our gardens. Its name
was derived from a fancied resemblance borne by its seed vessels
when swollen with seed to the Greek letter B (_beta_).

    "Nomine cum Graio cui litera proxima primoe
    Pangitur in cerâ doeti mucrone magistri."

    "The Greeks gave its name to the Beet from their alphabet's
    second letter,
    As an Attic teacher wrote it on wax with a sharp stiletto."

By the Grecians the Beet was offered on silver to Apollo in his
temple at Delphi. A pleasant wine may be made from its roots, and
its juice when applied with a brush is an excellent cosmetic. The
Mangel Wurzel, also a variety of Beet, means literally, "scarcity
root."

Another Sea Weed, the Bladderlocks (_Alaria esculenta_),
"henware," "honeyware," "murlins," is edible, the thick rib which
runs through the frond being the part chosen. This abounds on the
Northern coasts of England and Scotland, being of a clear olive
yellow colour, with a stem as thick as a small goosequill, varying in
length, with its fronds, from three to twenty feet. The fruit appears
as if partially covered with a brown crust consisting of transparent
spore cases set on a stalk in a cruciform manner.

Common Coraline (_Corallina Anglica_), a Sea Weed of a whitish
colour, tinged with purple and green, and of a firm substance, is
famous for curing Worms.

The presence of gold in sea water, even as surrounding our own
islands, has been sufficiently proved; though, as yet, its extraction
is a costly and uncertain process. One analyst has estimated that the
amount of gold contained in the oceans of the globe must be ten
million tons, without counting the possible quantity locked up in
floating icebergs about the Poles.

Professor Liveredge, of the Sydney University, [508] examined sea
water collected off the Australian coast, as also some from Northern
shores, and obtained gold, from five-tenths to eight-tenths of a grain
per ton of the sea water. It occurs as the chloride, and the bromide of
gold; which salts, as recently shown by Dr. Compton Burnett, when
administered in doses almost infinitesimally small, are of supreme
value for the cure of epilepsy, secondary syphilis, sexual debility,
and some disorders of the heart.

Dr. Russell wrote on the uses of sea water in diseases of the glands.
He found the soapy mucus within the vesicles of the Bladderwrack
an excellent resolvent, and most useful in dispersing scrofulous
swellings. He advises rubbing the tumour with these vesicles
bruised in the hand, and afterwards washing the part with sea water.

SELFHEAL.

Several Herbal Simples go by the name of Selfheal among our wild
hedge plants, more especially the Sanicle, the common Prunella,
and the Bugle.

The first of these is an umbelliferous herb, growing frequently in
woods, having dull white flowers, in panicled heads, which are
succeeded by roundish seeds covered with hooked prickles: the
Wood Sanicle (_Europoea_).

It gets its name Sanicle, perhaps, from the Latin verb _sanare_, "to
heal, or make sound;" or, possibly, as a corruption of St. Nicholas,
called in German St. Nickel, who, in the _Tale of a Tub_, is said to
have interceded with God in favour of two children whom an
innkeeper had murdered and pickled in a pork tub; and he obtained
their restoration to life.

Anyhow, the name Sanicle was supposed in the middle ages to
mean "curative," whatever its origin: [509] thus, _Qui a la Bugle, et
la Sanicle fait aux chirurgiens la nicle_--"He who uses Sanicle and
Bugle need have no dealings with the doctor." Lyte and other
herbalists say concerning the Sanicle: "It makes whole and sound all
wounds and hurts, both inward and outward."

    "Celui qui Sanicle a
    De plaie affaire il n'a."

    "Who the Sanicle hath
    At the surgeon may laugh."

The name Prunella (which belongs more rightly to another herb) has
been given to the Sanicle, perhaps, through its having been
originally known as Brunella, Brownwort, both because of the
brown colour of its spikes, and from its being supposed to cure the
disease called in Germany _die braune_, a kind of quinsy; on the
doctrine of signatures, because the corolla resembles a throat with
swollen glands.

The Sanicle is popularly employed in Germany and France as a
remedy for profuse bleeding from the lungs, bowels, womb, and
urinary organs; also for the staying of dysenteric diarrhoea. The
fresh juice of the herb may be given in tablespoonful doses.

As yet no analysis has been made of this plant; but evidence of
tannin in its several parts is afforded by the effects produced when
these are remedially applied.

The _Prunella vulgaris_ is a distinct plant from the Self Heal, or
Sanicle, and belongs to the labiate order of herbs. It grows
commonly in waste places about England, and bears pink flowers,
being sometimes called Slough heal. This is incorrect, as the
surgical term "slough" was not used until long after the Prunella and
the Sanicle became named Self-heal. Each of these was applied as a
vulnerary, not to sloughing sores, but to fresh cut wounds.

[510] The _Prunella Vulgaris_ has a flattened calyx, and whorls of
purplish blue flowers, which are collected in a head. It is also
known as Carpenter's Herb, perhaps, from its corolla, when seen in
profile, being shaped like a bill hook; and therefore, on the doctrine
of signatures, it was supposed to heal wounds inflicted by edge
tools; whence it was likewise termed Hook-heal and Sicklewort,
arid in Yorkshire, Black man.

By virtue of its properties as a vulnerary it has also been called
_Consolida_; but the daisy is the true _Consolida minor_.

"The decoction of Prunell," says Gerard, "made with wine and
water, doth join together and make whole and sound all wounds,
both inward and outward, even as Bugle doth. To be short, it serveth
for the same that the Bugle serveth; and in the world there are not
two better wound herbs, as bath been often proved."

The Bugle, or middle Comfrey, is also a Sanicle, because of its
excellence for healing wounds, in common with the Prunella and the
true Sanicle. It grows in almost every wood, and copse, and moist
shadowy place, being constantly reckoned among the Consounds.

This herb (_Ajuga reptans_) is of the labiate order, bearing dark
blue or purple flowers, whorled, and crowded into a spike. Its
decoction, "when drunk, healeth and maketh sound all wounds of
the body." "It is so singular good for all sorts of hurts that none who
know its usefulness will be ever without it. If the virtues of it make
you fall in love with it (as they will if you be wise), keep a syrup of
it, to take inwardly, and an ointment and plaister of it to use
outwardly, always by you."

The chemical principles of the Prunella and the Bugle [511]
resemble those of other Labiate herbs, comprising a volatile
oil, some bitter principle, tannin, sugar, and cellulose. The
Ladies' Mantle, Alchemilla--a common inconspicuous weed, found
everywhere--is called Great Sanicle, also Parsley-breakstone, or
Piercestone, because supposed to be of great use against stone in the
bladder. It contains tannin abundantly, and is said to promote quiet
sleep if placed under the pillow at night. "_Endymionis somnum
dormire_."

SHEPHERD'S PURSE.

The small Shepherd's Purse (_Bursa Capsella Pastoris_) is one of
the most common of wayside English weeds. The name _Capsella_
signifies a little box, in allusion to the seed pods. It is a
Cruciferous plant, made familiar by the diminutive pouches, or
flattened pods at the end of its branching stems. This herb is of
natural growth in most parts of the world, but varies in luxuriance
according to soil and situation, whilst thickly strewn over the
whole surface of the earth, facing alike the heat of the tropics,
and the rigours of the arctic regions; even, if trodden underfoot,
it rises again and again with ever enduring vitality, as if
designed to fulfil some special purpose in the far-seeing economy
of nature. It lacks the winged valves of the _Thlaspi_.

Our old herbalists called it St. James's Wort, as a gift from that
Saint to the people for the cure of various diseases, St. Anthony's
Fire, and several skin eruptions. In France, too, the plant goes by
the title of _Fleur de Saint Jacques_. It flowers from early in
Spring until Autumn, and has, particularly in Summer, an acrid
bitter taste. Other names for the herb are, "Case weed," "Pick
pocket," and "Mother's heart," as called so by [512] children.
If a pod is picked they raise the cry, "You've plucked out
your mother's heart." Small birds are fond of the seeds.

Bombelon, a French chemist, has reported most favourably about
this herb as of prompt use to arrest bleedings and floodings, when
given in the form of a fluid extract, one or two teaspoonfuls for a
dose. He explains that our hedge-row Simple contains a tannate, an
alkaloid "bursine," (which resembles sulphocyansinapine), and
bursinic acid, this last constituent being the active medicinal
principle. English chemists now prepare and dispense the fluid
extract of the herb. This is given for dropsy in the U. S. America as
a diuretic; from half to one teaspoonful in water for a dose.

Dr. Von Ehrenwall relates a recent case of female flooding, which
had defied all the ordinary remedies, and for which, at the
suggestion of a neighbour, he tried an infusion of the Shepherd's
Purse weed, with the result that the bleeding stopped after the first
teacupful of the infusion had been taken a few minutes. Since then
he has used the plant in various forms of haemorrhage with such
success that he considers it the most reliable of our medicines for
staying fluxes of blood. "Shepherd's Purse stayeth bleeding in any
part of the body, whether the juice thereof be drunk, or whether it be
used poultice-like, or in bath, or any way else."

Besides the ordinary constituents of herbs, it is found to contain six
per cent. of soft resin, together with a sulphuretted volatile oil,
which is identical with that of Mustard, as obtained likewise from
the bitter Candytuft, _Iberis amara_.

Its medicinal infusion should be made with an ounce of the plant to
twelve ounces of water, reduced by [513] boiling to half-a-pint; then
a wineglassful may be given for a dose.

The herb and its seeds were employed in former times to promote
the regular monthly flow in women.

It bears, further, the name of Poor Man's Permacetty (or
Spermaceti), "the sovereignst remedy for bruises;"--"perhaps," says
Dr. Prior, "as a joke on the Latin name _Bursa pastoris_, or 'Purse,'
because to the poor man this is always his best remedy." And in
some parts of England the Shepherd's Purse is known as Clapper
Pouch, in allusion to the licensed begging of lepers at our crossways
in olden times with a bell and a clapper. They would call the
attention of passers-by with the bell, or with the clapper, and would
receive their alms in a cup, or a basin, at the end of a long pole. The
clapper was an instrument made of two or three boards, by rattling
which the wretched lepers incited people to relieve them. Thus they
obtained the name of Rattle Pouches, which appellation has been
extended to this small plant, in allusion to the little purses which it
hangs out by the wayside. Because of these miniature pockets the
herb is also named Toy Wort; and Pick Purse, through being
supposed to steal the goodness of the land from the farmer. In
Queen Elizabeth's time leper hospitals were common throughout
England; and many of the sufferers were banished to the Lizard, in
Cornwall.

The Shepherd's Purse is now announced as the chief remedy of the
seven "marvellous medicines" prepared by Count Mattaei, of
Bologna, which are believed by his disciples to be curative of
diseases otherwise intractable, such as cancer, internal aneurism,
and destructive leprosy.

Count Mattaei professed to extract certain vegetable [514]
electricities found stored up in this, and some other plants, and to
utilize them for curative purposes with almost miraculous success.
His other herbs, as revealed by a colleague, Count Manzetti, are the
Knotgrass, the Water Betony, the Cabbage, the Stonecrop, the
Houseleek, the Feverfew, and the Watercress. Lady Paget, when
interviewing Count Mattaei, gathered that Shepherd's Purse is the
herb which furnishes the so-called "blue electricity," of
extraordinary efficacy in controlling haemorrhages. Small birds are
fond of the seeds: and the young radical leaves are sold in
Philadelphia as greens in the Spring.

SILVERWEED.

Two _Potentillas_ occur among our common native plants, and
possess certain curative virtues (as popularly supposed), the
Silverweed and the Cinquefoil. They belong to the Rose tribe, and
grow abundantly on our roadsides, being useful as mild astringents.

The _Potentilla anserina_ (Silverweed) is found, as its adjective
suggests, where geese are put to feed.

Country folk often call it Cramp Weed: but it is more generally
known as Goose Tansy, or Goose Gray, because it is a spurious
Tansy, fit only for a goose; or, perhaps, because eaten by geese.
Other names for the herb are Silvery Cinquefoil, and Moorgrass. It
occurs especially on clay soils, being recognised by its pinnate
white silvery leaves, and its conspicuous golden flowers.

In Yorkshire the roots are known as "moors," which boys dig up and
eat in the winter; whilst swine will also devour them greedily. They
have then a sweet taste like parsnips. In Scotland, also, they are
eaten roasted, or boiled; and sometimes, in hard seasons, [515]
when other provisions were scanty, these roots have been known to
support the inhabitants of certain islands for months together.

Both the roots and the leaves are mildly astringent; so that their
infusion helps to stay diarrhoea, and the fluxes of women; making
also with honey a useful gargle. The leaf is of an exquisitely
beautiful shape, and may be seen carved on the head of many an old
stall in Church, or Cathedral. By reason of its five leaflets, this
gives to the plant the title "five leaf," or five fingered grass,
_Pentedaktulon_. _Potentilla_ comes from the Latin _potens_, as
alluding to the medicinal virtues of the species.

In former days the Cinquefoil was much affected as a heraldic
device through the number of the leaflets answering to the five
senses of man; whilst the right to bear Cinquefoil was considered an
honourable distinction to him who had worthily mastered his senses,
and conquered his passions.

Silverweed tea is excellent to relieve cramps of the belly; and
compresses, wrung out of a hot decoction of the herb, may at the
same time be helpfully applied over the seat of the cramps. A potent
Anglo-Saxon charm against crampy bellyache was to wear a gold
ring with a Dolphin engraved on it, and bearing in Greek the mystic
words:--"Theos keleuei mee keneoon ponois," "_God forbids the
pains of colic_." This acted doubtless by mental suggestion, as in
the cure of warts. The knee-cap bone, or patella, of a sheep, known
locally as the "cramp-bone," is worn in Northamptonshire for a like
purpose; also the application of a gold wedding ring (first wetted
with saliva, an ingredient in the holy salve of the Saxons), to a stye
threatened in an eyelid is often found to disperse the swelling; but in
this case [516] it may be, that a sulphocyanide of gold is formed
with the spittle, which promotes the cure by absorption.

A strong infusion, if used as a lotion, will check the bleeding of
piles, the ordinary infusion being meantime taken as a medicine.

The good people of Leicestershire were accustomed in bygone days
to prevent pitting by small-pox with the use of Silverweed
fomentations. A distilled water of the herb takes away freckles,
spots, pimples in the face, and sunburnings; whilst all parts of the
plant are found to contain tannin.

The Creeping Cinquefoil (_Potentilla replans_) grows also
abundantly on meadow banks, having astringent roots, which have
been used medicinally since the times of Hippocrates and
Dioscorides.

They were found to cure intermittent fevers, such as used to prevail
in marshy or ill-drained lands much more commonly than now in
Great Britain; though country folk still use the infusion or decoction
for the same purpose in some districts; also for jaundice.

Likewise, because of the tannin contained in the outer bark of the
roots, their decoction is useful against diarrhoea; and their infusion
as a gargle for relaxed sore throats. But, except in mild cases, other
more positively astringent herbs are to be preferred. The roots afford
a useful red dye.

SKULLCAP.

A useful medicinal tincture (H.) is made from the Skullcap
(_Scutellaria_), which is a Labiate plant of frequent growth on the
banks of our rivers and ponds, having bright blue flowers, with
a tube longer than the calyx. This is the greater variety
(_Galericulata_). There is a lesser variety (_Scutellaria minor_),
which is [517] infrequent, and grows in bogs about the West of
England, with flowers of a dull purple colour. Each kind gets its
name from the Latin _scutella_, "a little cap," which the calyx
resembles, and is therefore called Hood Wort, or Helmet flower.
The upper lip of the calyx bulges outward about its middle, and
finally closes down like a lid over the fruit. When the seed is ripe
it opens again.

Provers of the tincture (H.) in toxic doses experienced giddiness,
stupor, and confusion of mind, twitchings of the limbs, intermission
of the pulse, and other symptoms indicative of the epileptiform
"petit mal"; for which morbid affection, and the disposition thereto,
the said tincture, of a diluted strength, in small doses, has been
successfully given.

The greater Skullcap contains, in common with most other plants of
the same order, a volatile oil, tannin, fat, some bitter principle,
sugar, and cellulose.

If a decoction of the plant is made with two ounces of the herb to
eight ounces of water, and is taken for some weeks continuously in
recent epilepsy, or when the disease has only functional causes, it
will often prove very beneficial. Likewise, this decoction, in
common with an extract of the herb, has been given curatively for
intermittent fever and ague, as well as for some depressed, and
disordered states of the nervous system.

A dried extract of the lesser Skullcap (_Lateriflora_) is made by
chemists, and given in doses of from one to three grains as a pill to
relieve severe hiccough, and as a nervine stimulant; also for the
sleeplessness of an exhausted brain.

SLOE.

The parent tree which produces the Sloe is the Blackthorn, our
hardy, thorny hedgerow shrub (_Prunus_ [518] _spinosa_), Greek
_Prounee_, common everywhere, and starting into blossom of a
pinky white about the middle of March before a leaf appears, each
branchlet ending in a long thorn projecting beyond the flowers at
right angles to the stem. From the conspicuous blackness of its rind
at the time of flowering, the tree is named Blackthorn, and the spell
of harsh unkindly cold weather which prevails about then goes by
the name of "blackthorn winter."

The term Sloe, or Sla, means not the fruit but the hard trunk, being
connected with a verb signifying to slay, or strike, probably because
the wood of this tree was used as a flail, and nowadays makes a
bludgeon.

In the Autumn every branch becomes clustered with the oval
blue-black fruit presently covered with a fine purple bloom; and
until mellowed by the early frosts, this fruit is very harsh and
sour.

The leaves, when they unfold late in the spring, are small and
narrow. If dried, they make a very fair substitute for tea, and when
high duties were placed on imported tea, it was usual to find the sloe
trees stripped of their marketable foliage.

Furthermore, the dark ruby juice of Sloes enters largely into the
manufacture of British port wine, to which it communicates a
beautiful deep red colour, and a pleasant sub-acid roughness. Letters
marked upon linen fabric with this juice, when used fresh, will not
wash out.

If obtained by expression from the unripe fruit, it is very useful as
an astringent medicine, and is a popular remedy for stopping a flow
of blood from the nose. It may be gently boiled to a thick
consistence, and will then keep throughout the year without losing
its virtues. Winter-picks is a provincial name for the Sloe fruit,
[519] and winter-pick wine takes the place of port in the rustic
cellar. The French call them Prunelles.

Sloe-blossoms make a safe, harmless, laxative medicine. To use
these, "Boil them up, and drink a cup of the tea daily for three or
four days; it will act gently, painlessly, but thoroughly." The syrup
is especially useful for children.

Country people bury the Sloes in jars to preserve them for winter
use; and the bush which bears this fruit is sometimes called,
provincially, Scroggs.

Sloes may be gathered when ripe on a dry day, picked clean, and put
into jars or bottles, without any boiling or other process, and then
covered with loaf sugar; a tablespoonful of brandy should presently
be added, and the jar sealed. By Christmas, the syrup formed from
the juice, the sugar, and the spirit, will have covered and saturated
the fruit, and then a couple of tablespoonfuls will not only make an
agreeable dessert liqueur, but will act as an astringent cordial of a
very pleasant sort.

In Somersetshire the Sloe is named Snag (as corrupted from "Slag,"
i.e., Sloe). The juice is viscid, and when thickened to dryness, is the
German Gum Acacia.

Those provers who have taken experimentally a tincture made from
the wood and bark and leaves of the Blackthorn, all had to complain
of sharp pains in the right eyeball and accordingly the diluted
tincture is found, when administered in small quantities, to give
signal relief for ciliary neuralgia, arising from a functional disorder
of the structures within the eyeball. Dr. Hughes says: "It not only
relieves such pains, but also checks the inflammation, and clears the
vision." The medicinal tincture is made (H.) with proof spirit of
wine from the flower buds collected in early spring [520] before
they expand. The Sloe has been employed as a styptic ever since the
time of Dioscorides. "From the effects," says Withering, "which I
have repeatedly observed to follow a wound from the thorns, I find
reason for believing that there is something poisonous in their
nature, particularly in the autumn."

Next to the Sloe in order of development comes the Bullace
(_Prunus insititia_), a shrub with fewer thorns, and bearing its
flowers after the leaves have begun to unfold.

The fruit is five times as big as the Sloe, but likewise of a delicate
bluish colour. It is named from the Latin plural bullas, meaning the
round bosses which the Romans put on their bridles. Lydgate (1440)
used the phrase, "As bright as Bullaces," in one of his poems. In
Lincolnshire the blossom is known as "Bully bloom," and the fruit
are "Bullies." After harvest the women and children go out
gathering them for Bullace-wine. Boys in France call Slot's
"_Sibarelles_," because it is impossible to whistle immediately after
eating them. Some writers say the signification of "Sloe" is "that
which sets the teeth on edge."

Finally comes the true Wild Plum (_Prunus domestica_), which is
far less common than the two preceding sorts. Its flowers are large,
and in small clusters, whilst the leaves unfold with the blossom. The
fruit is a small brownish plum, intensely sharp and acrid to the taste,
and the tree is thorny. Only in this latter respect does it differ from
an inferior kind of garden plum of which the cultivation has been
neglected.

The cultivated Plum has been developed from the Wild Plum, and
has been made to exhibit some fifty varieties of form and character.
The fruit of Damascus was formerly much valued, being now
known as Damascenes, (damsons), Damasin, or Damask prune.

[521] All the Wild Plums develop thorns; but the cultivated kinds
have entirely cast them off. The Plum, as a fruit, was known to the
Romans in Cato's time, but not the tree.

"Little Jack Horner," says the familiar nursery rhyme, "sat in a
corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and he pulled
out a plum, and said 'What a good boy am I.'"

    "Inquit, et unum extraheus prunum,
    Horner, quam fueris nobile pueris
            Exemplar imitabile"!

When ripe, cultivated Plums are cooling and slightly laxative,
especially the French fruit, which is dried and bottled for dessert.
They are useful for costive habits, and may be made into an
electuary; but, when unripe, Plums provoke choleraic diarrhoea. The
garden fruit contains less sugar than cherries, but a large amount of
gelatinising pectose. Dr. Johnson was specially fond of veal pie with
plums and sugar. He taunted Boswell about the need of gardeners to
produce in Scotland what grows wild in England. "Pray, Sir," said
he, "are you ever able to bring the Sloe to perfection there?" On
Change a hundred thousand pounds are whimsically known as "a
plum," and a million of money is "a marigold." Lately a Chicago
physician whilst officiating at a Reformatory found that the boys
behaved themselves much better when taking prunes in their diet
than at any other time. These act, he supposes, on certain organs
which are the seats, and centres of the passions.

From France comes the Greengage, named in that country (out of
compliment to the Queen of Francis the First) _La Reine Claude_. It
was brought to England from [522] the Monastery of La Grande
Chartreuse, about the middle of the eighteenth century, by the Rev.
John Gage, brother to the owner of Hengrave Hall, near Coldham,
Suffolk; and taking his name this fruit soon became diffused
throughout England.

French Prunes are conveyed to England in their dried state from
Marseilles. With their pulp, figs, tamarinds, and senna, the officinal
"lenitive electuary" is made; and apothecaries prepare a medicinal
tincture from the fresh flower-buds of the Blackthorn.

Culpeper says: "All Plumbs are under Venus, and are like women--
some better, some worse."

In Sussex and some other counties, a superstitious fear attaches
itself to the Blackthorn in bloom, because of the apparent union of
life and death when the tree is clothed in early Spring with white
flowers, but is destitute of leaves; so that to carry, or wear a piece
of Blackthorn in blossom, is thought to signify bringing a death token.

SOAPWORT.

The Soapwort (_Saponaria officinalis_) grows commonly in
England near villages, on roadsides, and by the margins of woods,
in moist situations. It belongs to the _Caryophyllaceoe_, or Clove
and Pink tribe of plants; and a double flowered variety of it is met
with in gardens. This is Miss Mitford's "Spicer" in _Our Village_. It
is sometimes named "Bouncing Bet," and "Fuller's herb."

The root has a sweetish bitter taste, but no odour. It contains resin
and mucilage, in addition to saponin, which is its leading principle,
and by virtue of which decoctions of the root produce a soapy froth.
Saponin is likewise found in the nuts of the Horse-chestnut tree, and
in the Scarlet Pimpernel.

[523] A similar soapy quality is also observed in the leaves, so
much so that they have been used by mendicant monks as a
substitute for soap in washing their clothes. This "saponin" has
considerable medicinal efficacy, being especially useful for the
cure of inveterate syphilis without giving mercury. Several writers
of note aver that such cases have been cured by a decoction of
the plant; though perhaps the conclusion has been arrived at
through the resemblance between the roots of Soapwort and those of
Sarsaparilla.

Gerard says: "Ludovicus Septalius, when treating of decoctions in
use against the French poxes, mentions the singular effect of the
Soapwort against that filthy disease"; but, he adds, "it is somewhat
of an ungrateful taste, and therefore must be reserved for the poorer
sort of patients." He employed it _soepe et soepius_.

The _Pharmacopoeia Chirurgica_ of 1794, teaches: "A decoction of
this plant has been found useful for scrofulous, impetiginous, and
syphilitic affections. Boil down half a pound of the bruised fresh
herb in a gallon of distilled water to two quarts, and give from one
to three pints in the twenty-four hours."

Formerly the herb was called Bruisewort, and was thought of
service for contusions. It will remove stains, or grease almost as
well as soap, but contains no starch.

Saponin, when smelt, excites long-continued sneezing; if injected or
administered, it reduces the frequency and force of the heart's
pulsations, paralyzing the cardiac nerves, and acting speedily on the
vaso-motor centres, so as to arrest the movements of the heart, on
which principle, when given in a diluted form, and in doses short of
all toxic effects, it has proved of signal use in low typhoid
inflammation of the lungs, where restorative stimulation of the heart
is to be aimed at.

[524] Also, likewise for passive suppression of the female monthly
flow, it will act beneficially as a stimulant of the womb to incite its
periodical function.

In a patient who took a poisonous quantity of Saponin at Saint
Petersburg all the muscular contractile sensitiveness was completely
abolished; whilst, nevertheless, all the bodily functions were
normally performed. Per contra, this effect should be a curative
guide in the use of Soapwort as a Simple.

Saponin is found again in the root and unripe seeds of the Corn
Cockle, and in all parts of the Nottingham Catch-fly except the
seeds; also in the wild Lychnis, and some others of the Pink tribe.

SOLOMON'S SEAL.

The Solomon's Seal (_Convallaria polygonatum_) is a handsome
woodland plant by no means uncommon throughout England, particularly
in Berkshire, Bucks, Rants, Kent, and Suffolk.

It grows to the height of about two feet, bearing along its curved
drooping branches handsome bells of pure white, which hang down
all along the lower side of the gracefully weeping flower stalks.

The oval leaves are ribbed, and grow alternately from the stem, for
which reason the plant is called Ladder-to-heaven; or, "more
probably," says Dr. Prior, "from a confusion of _Seal de notre
Dame_ (our Lady's Seal), with _Echelle de notre Dame_ (our Lady's
Ladder)." The round depressions resembling seal marks, which are
found on the root, or the characters which appear when it is cut
transversely, gave rise to the notion that Solomon, "who knew the
diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots," had set his seal upon
this in testimony of its value to man as a medicinal root. The
rhizome and [525] herb contain convallarin, asparagin, gum, sugar,
starch, and pectin.

In Galen's time the distilled water was used by ladies as a cosmetic
for removing pimples and freckles from the skin, "leaving the place
fresh, fair, and lovely." During the reign of Elizabeth it had great
medical celebrity, so that, as we learn from a contemporary writer,
"The roots of Solomon's Seal, stamped whilst fresh and green, and
applied, taketh away, in one night, or two at the most, any bruise,
black or blue spots gotten by falls, or woman's wilfulness in
stumbling upon their hasty husband's fists, or such like," and "that
which might be trewly written of this herb as touching the knitting
of bones, would seem to some well nigh incredible; yea, although
they be but slenderly, and unhandsomely wrapped-up; but common
experience teacheth that in the worlde there is not to be found
another herbe comparable for the purpose aforesaid. It was given to
the patients in ale to drink--as well unto themselves as to their
cattle--and applied outwardly in the manner of a pultis."

The name Lady's Seal was conferred on this plant by old writers, as
also St. Mary's Seal, _Sigillum sanctoe Marioe_.

The Arabs understand by Solomon's Seal the figure of a six-pointed
star, formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting each other, as
frequently mentioned in Oriental tales. Gerard maintains that the
name, _Sigillum Solomunis_, was given to the root "partly because
it bears marks something like the stamp of a seal, but still more
because of the virtue the root hath in sealing or healing up green
wounds, broken bones, and such like, being stamp't and laid
thereon."

The bottle of brass told of in the _Arabian Nights_ as fished up was
closed with a stopper of lead bearing the [526] "Seal of our Lord
Suleyman." This was a wonderful talisman which was said to have
come down from heaven with the great name of God engraved upon
it, being composed of brass for the good genii, and iron for the evil
jinn.

The names _Convallaria polygonatum_ signify "growth in a valley,"
and "many jointed." Other titles of the plant are Many Knees,
Jacob's Ladder, Lily of the Mountain, White wort, and Seal wort.

The Turks eat the young shoots of this plant just as we eat
Asparagus.

SORREL.
(_See_ "Dock," _page_ 157.)

SOUTHERNWOOD.

Southernwood, or Southern Wormwood, though it does not flower
in this country, is well known as grown in every cottage garden for
its aromatic fragrance. It is the _Artemisia Abrotanum_, a
Composite plant of the Wormwood tribe, commonly known as "Old
Man." Pliny explains that this title is borne because of the plant
being a sexual restorative to those in advanced years, as explained
by Macer:--

"Hoec etiam venerem pulvino subdita tantum Incitat."

Pliny says further that this herb is potent against syphilis, and
_veneficia quibus coitus inhibeatur_. Its odour is lemon-like, and
depends on a volatile essential oil which consists chiefly of
absinthol, and is common to the other Wormwoods. "Abrotanum" is
a Greek term. Another appellation of this plant is "Lad's love," and
"Boy's love," from the making of an ointment with its [527] ashes,
to be used by youngsters for promoting the growth of the beard.
"Cinis Abrotani barbam segnius tardiusque enascentem cum aliquo
dictorum oleorum elicit." The plant is found in Spain and Italy as an
indigenous herb. Its leaves and tops have a strong aromatic odour,
and a penetrating warms bitterish taste which is rather nauseous. An
infusion, or tea, of the herb is agreeable: but a decoction is
distasteful, having lost much of the aroma. The plant was formerly
in great repute as a cordial against hysterics, and to strengthen the
stomach of a weakly person. It will expel both round worms and
thread worms, whilst its presence is hostile to moths; and hence has
been got one of its French names, "Garde robe." Externally it will
promote the growth of the hair. In Lincolnshire it is known as
"Motherwood."

SOWBREAD, or CYCLAMEN.
(_See page_ 450, "Primrose.")

SPEEDWELL.

This little plant, with its exquisite flowers of celestial blue, grows
most familiarly in our hedgerows throughout the Spring, and early
Summer. Its brilliant, gemlike blossoms show a border of pale
purple, or delicate violet, marked with deeper veins or streaks. But
the lovely circlet of petals is most fragile, and falls off at a touch;
whence are derived the names Speedwell, Farewell, Good-bye, and
Forget-me-not.

Speedwell is a Veronica (_fero_, "I bring," _nikee_, "victory"),
which tribe was believed to belong especially to birds. So the plant
bears the name "Birds' Eyes," as well as "Blue Eyes," "Strike Fires,"
and "Mammy Die" (because of the belief that if the herb were
brought [528] into a family the mother would die within the year).
Turner calls the plant "Fluellin," or "Lluellin," a name "the
shentleman of Wales have given it because it saved her nose, which
a disease had almost gotten from her." Further, it is the Paul's
Betony, called after Paulus OEgineta. The plant belongs to the
Scroflua-curing order.

It is related that a shepherd observed how a stag, whose
hind-quarters were covered with a scabby eruption brought about through
the bite of a wolf, cured itself by rolling on plants of the Speedwell,
and by eating its leaves. Thereupon he commended the plant to his
king, and thus promoted his majesty's restoration to health.

In Germany it bears the title _Grundheele_, from having cured a
king of France who suffered from a leprosy for eight years, which
disease is named _grund_ in German. At one time the herb was held
in high esteem as a specific for gout in this country, but it became
adulterated, and its fame suffered a downfall.

The only sensible quality of the Speedwell is the powerful
astringency of its leaves, and this property serves to protect it
from herbivorous foes.

It has been long held famous among countryfolk as an excellent
plant for coughs, asthma, and pulmonary consumption. The leaves
are bitter, with a rough taste; and a decoction of the whole plant
stimulates the kidneys. The infusion promotes perspiration, and
reduces feverishness. The juice may be boiled into a syrup with
honey, for asthma and catarrhs.

When applied outwardly, it is said to cure the itch; and by some it
has been asserted that a continued use of the infusion will overcome
sterility, if taken daily as a tea. The French still distinguish the
plant as the [529] _Thé d'Europe_; and a century ago it was used
commonly in Germany in substitution for tea. As a medicine, by
reason of its astringency, it became called _Polychresta herba
veronica_.

"My freckles with the Speedwell's juices washed," says Alfred
Austin, our Poet Laureate.

The Germans also name this plant _Ehren-preis_, or Prize of
Honour; which fact favours the supposition of its being the true
"Forget-me-not," or _souveigne vous de moy_, as legendary on
knightly collars of yore to commemorate a famous joust fought in
1465 between the most accomplished champions of England and
France.

The present Forget-me-not is a _Myosotis_, or Mouse Ear, or
Scorpion Grass.

In Somersetshire, the pretty little Germander Speedwell is known as
Cat's Eye: and because seeming to reflect by its azure colour the
beautiful blue firmament above, this pure-tinted blossom has got its
name of _veron eikon_, the "true image" (_Veronica_); just as the
napkin with which a compassionate maiden wiped the face of Christ
on the morning of His crucifixion, held imprinted for ever on its
fabric a miraculous portrait, which led to her being afterwards
canonised on this account as Saint Veronica.

The Emperor Charles the Fifth of Spain is said to have derived
much relief to his gout from the use of this herb. It contains
tannin, and a particular bitter principle.

SPINACH.

Spinach (_Lapathum hortense_) is a Persian plant which has been
cultivated in our gardens for about two hundred years; and
considerably longer on the Continent. Some say the Spinach was
originally brought [530] from Spain. It was produced by monks in
France at the middle of the 14th century.

This is a light vegetable, easily digested, and rather laxative,
besides having some wonderful properties ascribed to its use. Its
sub-order, the Saltworts (_Salsolaceoe_), are found growing in
marshes by the seashore, and as weeds by waste places, serving
some of them to expel worms.

"Spinach," says John Evelyn, "if crude, the oft'ner kept out of
Sallets the better; but being boiled to a pulp; and without other
water than its own moisture, is a most excellent condiment with
butter, vinegar, or lemon, for almost all sorts of boiled flesh, and
may accompany a sick man's diet. 'Tis laxative and emollient, and
therefore profitable for the aged." Spinach is richer in iron than the
yolk of the egg, which contains more than beef. Its juice produced
in cooking the leaves without adding any water is a wholesome
drink, and improves the complexion.

It was with a delicate offering of "gammon and spinach" in his
hands, Mr. Anthony Roley, of nursery fame, went so sadly a
wooing:--

    "Ranula furtivos statuebat quaoerere amores:
        Me miserum! tristi Rolius ore gemit.
    Ranula furtivos statuebat quoerere amores,
        Mater sive daret, sive negaret iter."

A wild species of Spinach, the "Good King Henry," grows in
England, and is popular as a pot herb in Lincolnshire.

SPINDLE TREE (Celastracoe).

During the autumn, in our woody hedgerows a shrub becomes very
conspicuous by bearing numerous rose-coloured floral capsules,
strikingly brilliant, each with a [531] scarlet and orange-coloured
centre. This is the Spindle Tree (_Euonymus_), so called because it
furnishes wood for spindles, or skewers, whence it is also named
Prickwood, Skewerwood, and Gadrise, or Gad Rouge. The word
"gad" is used in our western counties for a stick pointed at both ends
to fasten down thatch. The Spindle Tree has a green bark, and
glossy leaves, producing only small greenish flowers: whilst the
pendulous ornaments so brilliantly borne in autumn are four-lobed
capsules of a pale red hue, which open out and disclose ruddy
orange-coloured seeds wrapped in a scarlet arillus. It is further
known as the Louseberry Tree, from the fruit being applied to
destroy lice in children's heads, whilst its powdered bark will kill
nits, and serve to remove scurf. Other popular titles owned by this
shrub are "gatter," "gatten," and "gatteridge." The ripe fruit, from
which a medicinal tincture is prepared, furnishes euonymin, a
golden resin, which is purgative and emetic. This acts specially on
the liver, and promotes a free flow of bile. The plant also yields
asparagin, and euonic acid. An ointment is made with the fruits: and
the powdered resin is given in doses of from half-a-grain to two
grains.

In the United States of America, this tree is the Wahoo, or Burning
Bush. The green leaves of one species are eaten by the Arabs to
induce watchfulness. In allusion to the actively irritating properties
of the shrub, its name, _Euonymus_, is associated with that of
Euonyme, the Mother of the Furies. The bark is mildly aperient and
causes no nausea, whilst at the same time stimulating the liver
somewhat freely. To make its decoction add an ounce to a pint of
water, and boil together slowly. A small wineglassful may be given,
when cool, for a dose two or three times in the day. Of the
medicinal tincture made from the bark with spirit [532] of wine, a
dose of from five to ten drops may be taken with water in the same
way. French doctors call the shrub Fusain, or _bonnet de prètre_
(birretta). They give the fruit, three or four for a dose, as a
purgative in rural districts: and employ the decoction, whilst
adding some vinegar, as a lotion against mange in horses and cattle.
Also, they make from the wood when slightly charred a delicate
crayon for artists.

SPURGE.

Conspicuous in Summer by their golden green leaves, and their
striking epergnes of bright emerald blossoms, the Wood Spurge, and
the Petty Spurge, adorn our woodlands and gardens commonly and
very remarkably. Together with many other allied plants, foreign
and indigenous, they yield from their severed stems a milky juice of
medicinal properties. The name _Euphorbioe _has been given to
this order from Euphorbus, the favourite physician of Juba, King of
Mauritania. All the Spurges possess the same poisonous principle,
which may, however, be readily dissipated by heat; and then, in
many instances, the root becomes a nourishing and palatable food.
For example, the Manioc, a South American Spurge, furnishes a
juice which has been known to kill in a few minutes. Nevertheless,
its root baked, after first draining away the juice, makes a
wholesome bread: and by washing the fresh pulp a starch is
produced which we know as Tapioca for our table. This is so
sustaining that half-a-pound a day is said to be sufficient of itself
to support a healthy man. The Indian rubber and Castor oil plants
belong also to this order of Euphorbioe.

The Wood Spurge, seen so frequently during our country rambles,
suggests by its spreading aspect a [533] clever juggler balancing on
his upturned chin a widely-branched series of delicate green saucers
on fragile stems, which ramify below from a single rod. Each saucer
is the bearer again of sub-divided pedicels which stretch out to
support other brightly verdant little leafy dishes; so that the whole
system of well poised flowering perianths forms a specially
handsome candelabrum of emerald (cup-like) bloom. The botanical
title Spurge is derived from _expurgare_, to act as a purgative,
because of the acrid juice possessing this property. Gerard says "the
juice of the Wood Spurge, if given as physic, must be ministered
with discretion, and prepared with correctories by some honest
apothecary." Furthermore, this juice, "if mixed with honey causeth
hair to fall from that part which is anointed therewith, if it be done
in the sun." Therefore, what better place may there be than a
wooded English meadow on a sunny day for a clean and convenient
natural shave by those of the fair sex who, unhappily, own hirsute
facial appendages of which they would gladly be rid? _Euphorbia
Peplus_, the Petty Spurge, is equally common, and often called
"wart weed." It signifies, "Welcome to our house," and turns its
flowers towards the sun. The Irish Spurge (_Hiberna_), is so powerful
that a small bundle of its bruised plant will kill the fish for
several miles down a river. Yet another Spurge (_Lathyris_), a twin
brother, bears caper-like seeds which are sometimes dishonestly
pickled and sold as a (dangerous) substitute for the toothsome
flowerbuds taken in sauce with our boiled mutton. The whole tribe
of Spurges contains two hundred genera, and forms, what we call
now-a-days, "a large order." The roots of several common kinds are
used in making quack medicines, which are unsafe, [534] and
violent in action. Because of its milk-white sap the Wood Spurge
bears the name in Somersetshire of Virgin Mary's Nipple: and yet in
other parts, for the like reason, this plant is known as Devil's Milk.
Chemically, most of the Spurges contain caoutchouc, resin, gallic
acid, and their particular acrid principle which has not been fully
defined. In France the rustics sometimes purge themselves with a
dose of from six to twelve grains of the dried Wood Spurge: and its
juice is used in this country as an application to destroy warts;
also, to be rubbed in behind the ear for ear-ache, or face-ache. The
famous surgeon, Cheselden, employed a noted plaster made with the
resin of Spurge for relieving disease of the hip joint by
counterstimulation. But, to sum up, I would say with wise Gerard,
"these herbes by mine advice should not be received into the body,
considering there be so many other good and wholesome potions to
be made with other herbes that may be taken without peril."
Nevertheless, a tincture prepared (H.) from the Wood Spurge, with
spirit of wine, may be given admirably in much diluted doses for
curing the same severe symptoms which the plant produces when
taken to a toxical degree. Offensive diarrhoea, with prolapse of the
lowest bowel, will be certainly remedied by four or five drops of
this tincture, first decimal strength, with water, every two or three
hours: especially if, at the same time, there be a burning and
stinging soreness of the throat. Said young Rosamond Berew
(1460), in _Malvern Chase_, concerning "a tall gaunt figure," noted
for her knowledge of herbs, sometimes called the Witch, but
worshipped by the hinds and their children:--"There is Mary, of
Eldersfield; I expect she has been on Berthill after Nettles to make a
capon sit, or to gather Spurges for ointments." [535]

STITCHWORT.

The Stitchworts, greater and less (_Stellaria holostea_), grow very
abundantly as herbal weeds in all our dry hedges and woods, having
tough stems which run closely together, and small white star-like
(_stellaria_) blossoms.

These plants are of the same order (Chickweed) as the Alsine and
the small Chickweed. Their second name, Holostea, signifies "all
bones," because the whole plant is very brittle from the flinty
elements which its structures contain.

As its title declares, the great Stitchwort has a widespread reputation
for curing the stitch, or sharp muscular pain, which often attacks one
or other side of the body about the lower ribs.

In the days of the old Saxon leechdoms it was customary against a
stitch to make the sign of the cross, and to sing three times over the
part:--

    "Longinus miles lanceâ pinxit dominum:
    Restet sanguis, et recedat dolor!"

    "The spear of Longinus, the soldier, pierced our Saviour's side:
    May the blood, therefore, quicken: and the pain no longer abide!"

Or some similar form of charm.

Gerard said of folk, in his day: "They are wont to drink it in wine
(with the powder of acorns) against the pain in the side, stitches, and
such like." But according to Dr. Prior, the herb is named rather
because curing the sting (in German _stich_) of venomous reptiles.
In country places the Stitchwort is known as Adder's meat, and the
Satin Flower: also Miller's Star, Shirtbutton, and Milk Maid, in
Yorkshire: the early English name was Bird's Tongue.

[536] About, Plymouth, it is dedicated to the Pixies; whilst the
lesser variety is called White Sunday, because of its delicate white
blossoms, with golden-dusted stamens. These were associated with
the new converts baptised in white garments on Low Sunday--the
first Sunday after Easter--named, therefore, White Sunday.

But in some parts of Wales the Stitchwort bears the names of
Devil's-eyes and Devil's-corn. Boys in Devonshire nickname the
herb Snapjack, Snapcrackers, and Snappers.

Parkinson tells us that in former days it was much commended by
some to clear the eyes of dimness by dropping the fresh juice into
them. Again, Galen said: "The seed is sharp and biting to him that
tastes it."

As a modern curative Simple, the Stitchworts, greater and less,
stand related to silica, a powerfully remedial preparation of highly
pulverised flint. This is because of the exquisitely subdivided flint
found abundantly dispersed throughout the structures of Stitchwort
plants; which curative principle is eminently useful in chronic
diseases, such as cancer, rickets, and scrofula. It exercises a deep
and slow action, such as is remedially brought to bear by the
Bethesda waters of America, and the powdered oyster shells of Sir
Spencer Wells.

The fresh infusion should be steadily taken, a tea-cupful three times
daily, for weeks or months together. It may be made with a pint of
boiling water to an ounce of the fresh herb. Likewise, the fresh plant
should be boiled and eaten as "greens," so as to secure medicinally
the insoluble parts of the silica. This further serves against albumen,
and sugar in the urine.

[537] STONE CROP (_See House Leek, page 273_).

STRAWBERRY.

Properly, our familiar Strawberry plant is a native of cold climates,
and so hardy that it bears fruit freely in Lapland. When mixed with
reindeer cream, and dried in the form of a sausage, this constitutes
Kappatialmas, the plum pudding of the Polar regions.

"Strawberry" is from the Anglo-Saxon _Strowberige_, of which the
first syllable refers to anything strewn. The wild woodland
Strawberry (_Fragaria vesca_) is the progenitor of our highly
cultivated and delicious fruit. This little hedgerow and sylvan plant
has a root which is very astringent, so that when held in the mouth it
will stay any flow of blood from the nostrils. Its berries are more
acid than the garden Strawberry, and make an excellent cleanser of
the teeth, the acid juice dissolving incrustations of tartar without
injuring the enamel.

A medicinal tincture is ordered (H.) from the berries of this
Woodland Strawberry, which is of excellent service for nettle rash,
or allied erysipelas: also for a suffocative swelling of the
swallowing throat. "_Ipsa tuis manibus sylvestri nata sub umbrâa:
mollia fraga leges_," says Ovid. An infusion of the leaves is of
excellent service in Dysentery.

It is incorrect to call the fruit a berry, because the edible,
succulent pulp is really a juicy cushion over which numerous small
seeds are plentifully dotted; whilst the name Strawberry is a
corruption of Strayberry, in allusion to the trailing runners,
which stray in all directions from the parent stock.

Being of very ancient date, the Strawberry is found widely diffused
throughout most parts of the world. [538] Among the Greeks its
name _Komaros_, "a mouthful," indicated the compact size of the
fruit. By the Latins it was termed _Fragaria_, because of its delicate
perfume.

Virgil ranked it with sweet-smelling flowers; Ovid gave it a tender
epithet; Pliny mentions the Strawberry as one of the native fruits of
Italy; Linnaeus declared he kept himself free from gout by eating
plentifully of the fruit; and Hoffman says he has known consumption
cured by the same means.

From Shakespeare we learn that in his day the fruit was grown in
Holborn, now the centre of London. Gloster, when contemplating
the death of Hastings, wishes to get the Bishop of Ely temporarily
out of the way, and thus addresses him:--

    "My Lord of Ely--when I was last in Holborn
    I saw good Strawberries in your garden there;
    I do beseech you send for some of them."

In Elizabeth's time doctors made a tea from the leaves to act on the
kidneys, and used the roots as astringent.

All former Herbalists agreed in pronouncing strawberries
wholesome and beneficial beyond every other English fruit. Their
smell is refreshing to the spirits; they abate fever, promote urine,
and are gently laxative. The leaves may be used in gargles for
quinsies and sore mouths, but, "if anyone suffering from a wound in
the head should partake of this fruit, it would certainly prove fatal,"
in accordance with a widespread superstition.

So wholesome are Strawberries, that if laid in a heap and left by
themselves to decompose, they will decay without undergoing any
acetous fermentation; nor can their kindly temperature be soured
even by exposure to the acids of the stomach. They are constituted
entirely of soluble matter, and leave no residuum to [539] hinder
digestion. It is probably for this reason, and because the fruit does
not contain any actual nutriment as food, that a custom has arisen of
combining rich clotted cream with it at table, whilst at the same time
the sharp juices are thus agreeably modified.

    "Mella que erunt epulis, et lacte fluentia fraga":--

    "Then sit on a cushion, and sew up a seam;
    And thou shalt have Strawberries, sugar, and cream."

Cardinal Wolsey regaled off this delicate confection with the Lords
of the Star Chamber; and Charles Lamb is reported to have said,
"Doubtless, God Almighty could have made a better berry, but He
never did."

Parkinson advised that water distilled from strawberries is good for
perturbation of the spirits, and maketh the heart merry.

The fruit especially suits persons of a bilious temperament, being "a
surprising remedy for the jaundice of children, and particularly
helping the liver of pot companions, wetters, and drammers." "Some
also do use thereof to make a water for hot inflammations in the
eyes, and to take away any film that beginneth to grow over them.
Into a closed glass vessel they put so many strawberries as they
think meet for their purpose, and let this be set in a bed of hot horse
manure for twelve or fourteen days, being afterwards distilled
carefully, and the water kept for use."

The chemical constituents of the Strawberry are--a peculiar volatile
aroma, sugar, mucilage, pectin, citric and malic acids in equal parts,
woody fibre, and water.

The fruit is mucilaginous, somewhat tart and saccharine. It
stimulates perspiration, and imparts a violet scent to the urine.
When fermented for the purpose it yields an ardent spirit. If beaten
into a pulp [540] when ripe, and with water poured thereupon, it
makes a capital cooling drink which is purifying, and somewhat
laxative.

Strawberries are especially suitable in inflammatory and putrid
fevers, and for catarrhal sore throats. French herbalists direct that
when fresh, and recently crushed, the fruit shall be applied on the
face at night for heat spots and freckles by the sun. From the juice,
with lemon, sugar, and water, they concoct a most agreeable drink,
_Bavaroise à la grecque_; also they employ the roots and leaves
against passive hemorrhages, and in chronic diarrhoea.

In Germany, stewed strawberries, and strawberry jam are taken at
dinner with roasted meats, or with chicken. This jam promotes a
free flow of urine.

It is to be noticed that though most commonly wholesome and
refreshing, yet with some persons, particularly those of a strumous
bodily habit, Strawberries will often disagree. The late Dr.
Armstrong held a very strong opinion that the seed grains which lie
sprinkled allover the outer surface of each pulpy berry are prone to
excite much intestinal irritation, and he advised his patients to suck
their Strawberries through muslin, in order to prevent these
diminutive seeds from being swallowed.

German legends dedicate Strawberries to the Virgin, with whom
they are reputed to have been a favourite fruit. She went a berrying
with the children on St. John's morning; and therefore no mother
who has lost a young child, will taste the delicacy then. The
Strawberries symbolise little children who have died when young,
and the mothers suppose they ascend to heaven concealed in the
fragrant pulp.

From the French, _fraise_, signifying the Strawberry [541] leaves
borne on the family shield, is derived in Scotland the name of the
Frazers. And eight of these (so called) leaves wrought in ornamental
gold form a part of the coronet which our English dukes claim as
one of their proud insignia, conferred by Henry the Fourth. Being
desirous of adding fresh splendour to the Coronation of a
Lancastrian Prince he introduced these leaves into the regal Crown.
An earl's coronet has eight leaves: that of a marquis four.

SUCCORY.

The Wild Succory (_Cichorium intybus_) is a common roadside
English plant, white or blue, belonging to the Composite order, and
called also Turnsole, because it always turns its flowers towards the
sun.

It blows with a blue blossom somewhat paler than the Cornflower,
but "bearing a golden heart."

Its fresh root is bitter, and a milky juice flows from the rind, which
is somewhat aperient and slightly sedative, so that this specially
suits persons troubled with bilious torpor, and jaundice combined
with melancholy. An infusion of the herb is useful for skin eruptions
connected with gout. If the root and leaves are taken freely, they
will produce a gentle diarrhoea, their virtue lying chiefly in the
milky juice; and on good authority the plant has been pronounced
useful against pulmonary consumption. In Germany it is called
Wegwort, or "waiting on the way." The Syrup of Succory is an
excellent laxative for children.

The Succory or Cichorium was known to the Romans, and was
eaten by them as a vegetable, or in salads. Horace writes (_Ode_
31):

        "Me pascunt olivae,
    Me chicorea, levesque malvae."

[542] And Virgil, in his first _Georgic_, speaks of _Amaris intuba
fibris_. When cultivated it becomes large, and constitutes Chicory,
of which the taproot is used extensively in France for blending with
coffee, being closely allied to the Endive and the Dandelion.

This is the _Chicorée frisée_ when bleached, or the _Barbe de
Capucin_. The cortical part of the root yields a milky saponaceous
juice which is very bitter and slightly sedative. Some writers
suppose the Succory to be the Horehound of the Bible. In the
German story, _The Watcher of the Road_, a lovely princess,
abandoned for a rival, pines away, and asking only to die where she
can be constantly on the watch, becomes transformed into the
wayside Succory.

This Succory plant bears also the name of _Rostrum porcinum_. Its
leaves, when bruised, make a good poultice for inflamed eyes, being
outwardly applied to the grieved place. Also the leaves when boiled
in pottage or broths for sick and feeble persons that have hot, weak,
and feeble stomachs, do strengthen the same.

It is said that the roots, if put into heaps and dried, are liable to
spontaneous combustion. The taproot of the cultivated plant is
roasted in France, and mixed with coffee, to which, when infused, it
gives a bitterish taste and a dark colour.

The chemical constituents of Succory and Chicory are--in addition
to those ordinarily appertaining to vegetables--inulin, and a special
bitter principle not named.

Chicory, when taken too habitually or too freely, causes venous
passive congestion in the digestive organs within the abdomen, and
a fulness of blood in the head. Both it and Succory, if used in excess
as a medicine, will bring about amaurosis, or loss of visual power in
[543] the retina of the eyes. Therefore, when given in a much
diluted form they are remedial for these affections.

The only benefit of quality which Chicory gives to coffee is by
increase of colour and body, with some bitterness, but not by
possessing any aroma, or fragrant oil, or stimulating virtue. French
writers say it is _contra-stimulante_, and serving to correct the
excitation caused by the active principles of coffee, and therefore it
suits sanguineo-bilious subjects who suffer from habitual tonic
constipation. But it is ill adapted for persons whose vital energy
soon flags; and for lymphatic, or bloodless people its use should be
altogether forbidden.

The flowers of Succory used to rank among the four cordial flowers,
and a water was distilled from them to allay inflammation of the
eyes. The seeds contain abundantly a demulcent oil, whilst the
petals furnish a glucoside which is colourless unless treated with
alkalies, when it becomes of a golden yellow.

SUNDEW.

The Sundew (_Ros solis_, or _Drosera rotundifolia_) is a little plant
always eagerly recognised in marshy and heathy grounds by ardent
young botanists. In the sun its leaves seem tipped with dew
(_drosos_). It grows plentifully in Hampshire and the New Forest,
bearing a cluster of hairy leaves in a stellate form, at the top of a
slender stem. These leaves either from lack of other sustenance in so
barren a soil, or more probably as an advance in plant evolution to a
higher grade of development, excrete a sticky moisture or dew,
which entangles unwary flies settling on the plant, and which serves
to digest these victims therewith. Each of the long red [544] hairs on
the leaves is viscid, and possesses a small secreting gland at its top.

Some writers say the word Sundew means "sin" ever, moist (dew).
The plant is also called Redrot, and Moor Grass, because the soil in
which it grows is unwholesome for sheep.

It goes further by the additional names of Youthwort, and
Lustwort--_quia acrimonia sua sopitum veneris desiderium excitat_
(Dodoeus). The fresh juice of the herb contains malic acid in a free
state, various salts, and a red colouring matter; also glucose, and a
peculiar crystallisable acid. Cattle of the female gender are said to
have their copulative instincts excited by eating even a small
quantity of the plant. Throughout Europe it has long been esteemed
a remedy of repute for chronic bronchitis and asthma; and more
recently, in the hands of homoeopathic practitioners, it has acquired
a fame for specifically curing whooping cough in its spasmodic
stages, after the first feverishness of this malady has become
subdued. It signally lessens the frequency and force of the
spasmodic attacks, besides diminishing the sickness.

Provers who have pushed on themselves the administration of the
Sundew in toxical quantities, developed hoarseness, with
expectoration of yellow mucus from the throat and upper lungs, as
well as a hacking cough, and loss of flesh, this combination of
symptoms closely resembling the form of tubercular consumption
which begins in the throat, and extends mischievously to the lungs.
Regarded from such point the Sundew may be justly pronounced a
homoeopathic antidote to consumptive disease of the nature here
indicated, when attacking spontaneously from constitutional causes.

[545] Moreover, country folk notice that sheep who eat the Sundew
in their pasturage have often a violent cough, and waste away. Dr.
Curie, of Paris, fed cats with this plant, and they died subsequently
with all the symptoms of lung consumption, their chest organs being
afterwards found studded with tubercular deposit though cats are not
ordinarily liable to tubercle.

So the Sundew may fairly be accepted as a medicinal Simple for
laryngeal and pulmonary consumption in its early stages, as well as
for whooping-cough, after the manner already explained. A tincture
is made (H.) from the entire fresh plant, with spirit of wine, of
which a couple of drops may be given in water several times a day,
to a child of from four to eight years old, for confirmed
whooping-cough; and if this dose seems to aggravate the paroxysms,
or to provoke sickness, it must be reduced in strength, and dilution.

Also from four to ten drops of the tincture may be administered with
a tablespoonful of cold water, two or three times a day, for several
consecutive weeks, to a consumptive adult, in the early stages of
this disease. Dr. Hughes (Brighton) has employed a diluted tincture
of the Sundew (one part of this tincture admixed with nine parts of
spirit of wine) in doses of from three to five drops with water,
to a child of from three to eight years of age, for spasmodic
whooping-cough, several times in the day, with marked success; whilst
a larger dose or the stronger tincture served only to increase the
cough in violence and frequency. The same results may perhaps follow
too strong or full a dose to a consumptive patient, so that it must be
regulated by the effects produced. Externally, the juice [546] of the
fresh Sundew has been used for destroying warts.

SUNFLOWER.

The Sunflower (_Helianthus annuus_) which is so popular and
brilliant an ornament of cottage gardens throughout England in
summer and autumn, is an importation of long standing, and has
been called the Marigold of Peru.

Its general nature and appearance are so well known as scarcely to
need any description. The plant is of the Composite order,
indigenous to tropical America, but flourishing well in this country,
whilst bearing the name of _Heli-anthus_ (Sunflower), and smelling
of turpentine when the disc of the flower is broken across.

The growing herb is highly useful for drying damp soils, because of
its remarkable power of absorbing water; for which reason several
acres of Sunflowers are now planted in the Thames Valley. Swampy
districts in Holland have been made habitable by an extensive
culture of the Sunflower, the malarial miasmata being absorbed and
nullified, whilst pure oxygen is emitted abundantly.

An old rhyme declares, for some unknown reason:--

    "The full Sunflower blew
    And became a starre of Bartholomew."

The name Sunflower has been given as most persons think because
the flowers follow the sun by day turning always towards its shining
face. But Gerard says, about this alleged fact, he never could
observe it to happen, though he spared no pains to observe the
matter; he rather thought the flower to have got its title because
resembling the radiant beams of the sun. Likewise, [547] some have
called it Corona Solis, and Sol Indianus, the Indian Sunne-floure: by
others it is termed Chrysanthemum Peruvianum. In Peru this flower
was much reverenced because of its resemblance to the radiant sun,
which luminary was worshipped there. In their Temples of the Sun
the priestesses were crowned with Sunflowers, and wore them in
their bosoms, and carried them in their hands. The early Spanish
invaders found in these temples numerous representations of the
Sunflower wrought in pure virgin gold, the workmanship of which
was so exquisite that it far out-valued the precious metal whereof
they were made. Some country folk call it "Lady eleven o'clock."

If the buds of the Sunflower before expanding be boiled, and eaten
with butter, vinegar and pepper, after the manner of serving the
Jerusalem Artichoke, they are exceeding pleasant meat, surpassing
the artichoke moreover in provoking the _desiderium veneris_. The
Chinese make their finest yellow dye from the Sunflower, which
they worship because resembling the sun.

All parts of the plant contain much carbonate of potash; and the
fruit, or seed, furnishes a fixed oil in abundance. The kernels of the
seeds contain helianthic acid, and the pith of the plant will yield
nine per cent. of carbonate of potash. The oil of the Sunflower may
be used as olive oil, and the cake after expressing away this oil
makes a good food for cattle. A medicinal tincture (H.) is prepared
from the seed with rectified spirit of wine; also from the fresh juice
with diluted spirit. Each of these serves admirably against
intermittent fever and ague, instead of quinine. The Sunflower is
adored by the Chinese as the most useful of all vegetables. From its
seeds the best oil is [548] extracted, and an excellent soap is made.
This oil burns longer than any other vegetable oil, and Sunflower
cake is more fattening to cattle than linseed cake.

The flowers furnish capital food for bees, and the leaves are of use
for blending with tobacco. The stalk yields a fine fibre employed in
weaving Chinese silk, and Evelyn tells of "The large Sunflower, ere
it comes to expand and show its golden face, being dressed as an
artichoke, and eaten as a dainty."

The plant is closely allied in its species to the Globe Artichoke, and
the Jerusalom Artichoke (_girasole_), so named from turning _vers
le soleil_, or _au soleil_, this being corrupted to "Jerusalem," and
its soup by further perversion to "Palestine" soup. The original
Moorish name was Archichocke, or Earththorn.

The Globe Artichoke (_Cinara maxima anglicana_) of our kitchen
gardens, when boiled and brought to table, has a middle pulp which
is eaten as well as the soft delicate pulp at the base of each prickly
floret. "This middle pulp," says Gerard, "when boiled with the broth
of fat flesh, and with pepper added, makes a dainty dish being
pleasant to the taste, and accounted good to procure bodily desire.
(It stayeth the involuntary course of the natural seed)." Evelyn tells
us: "This noble thistle brought from Italy was at first so rare in
England that they were commonly sold for crowns apiece." Pliny
says: "Carthage spent three thousand pounds sterling a year in
them." The plant is named Cinara, from _cinis_, "ashes," because
land should be manured with these. It contains phosphoric acid, and
is, therefore, stimulating.

The leaves of the Globe Artichoke afford somewhat freely on
expression a juice which is bitter, and acts as [549] a brisk diuretic
in many dropsies. Such a constituent in the plant was known to the
Arabians for curdling milk.

The Jerusalem Artichoke (_Helianthus tuberosus_) is of the
Sunflower genus, having been brought at first from Brazil, and
being now commonly cultivated in England for its edible tubers.
These are red outside, and white within; they contain sugar, and
albumen, with all aromatic volatile principle, and water. The tuber is
the _Topinambour_, and _Pois de terre_ of the French; having been
brought to Europe in 1617. It furnishes more sugar and less starch
than the Potato.

In 1620 the Jerusalem Artichoke was quite common as a vegetable
in London: though, says Parkinson, when first introduced, it was "a
dainty for a queen." Formerly, it was baked in pies with beef
marrow, dates, ginger, raisins, and sack. The juice pressed out
before the plant blossoms was used by the ancients for restoring the
hair of the head, even when the person was quite bald.

The Sunflower has been from time immemorial a popular remedy
for malarial fevers in Russia, Turkey, and Persia, being employed as
a tincture made by steeping the stems and leaves in brandy. It is
considered even preferable to quinine, sometimes succeeding when
this has failed, and being free from any of the inconveniences which
often arise from giving large doses of the drug: whilst the pleasant
taste of the plant is of no small advantage in the case of children.

Cases in which both quinine and arsenic proved useless have been
completely cured by the tincture of Sunflower in a week or ten days.

Golden Sunflowers are introduced at Rheims into the stained glass
of an Apse window in the church of St. Remi, with the Virgin and
St. John on either side of [550] the Cross, the head of each being
encircled with an aureole having a Sunflower inserted in its outer
circle. The flowers are turned towards the Saviour on the Cross as
towards their true Sun.

TAMARIND.

The Tamarind pod, though of foreign growth, has been much valued
by our immediate ancestors as a household medicinal Simple; and a
well stocked jar of its useful curative pulp was always found in the
store cupboard of a prudent housewife. But of late years this
serviceable fruit has fallen into the background of remedial
resources, from which it may be now brought forward again with
advantage. The natives of India have a prejudice against sleeping
under the Tamarind; and the acid damp from the trees is known to
affect the cloth of tents pitched under them for any length of time.
So strong is this prejudice of the natives against the Tamarind tree
that it is difficult to prevent them from destroying it, as they
believe it hurtful to vegetation. The parent tree, Tamar Hindee,
"Indian date," is of East, or West Indian growth; but the sweet pulpy
jam containing shining stony seeds, and connected together by tough
stringy fibres, may be readily obtained at the present time from the
leading druggists, or the general provision merchant. It fulfils
medicinal purposes which entitle it to high esteem as a Simple for
use in the sick-room. Large quantities of this luscious date are
brought to our shores from the Levant and Persia, but before
importation the shell of the pod is removed; and the pulp ought not
to exhibit any presence of copper, as shown on a clean steel
knife-blade held within the same, though the fruit by nature possesses
traces of gold in its composition. Chemically, this pulp contains
citric, tartaric, [551] and malic acids, as compounds of potassium;
with gum, pectin and starch. Boiled syrup has been poured over it as
a preliminary. The fruit is sharply acid, and may be made into an
excellent cooling drink by infusion with boiling water, being
allowed to become cold, and then strained off as an agreeable tea,
which proves highly grateful to a fevered patient.

The Arabians first taught the use of Tamarinds, which contain an
unusual proportion of acids to the sweet constituents. They are
anti-putrescent, and exert a laxative action corrective of bilious
sluggishness. A capital whey may be made by boiling two ounces of
the fruit with two pints of milk, and then straining. Gerard tells that
"travellers carry with them the pulp mixed with sugar throughout
the desert places of Africa."

Tamarinds are an efficient laxative if enough (from one to two
ounces) can be taken at a time: but this quantity is inconvenient, and
apt to clog by its excess of sweetness. Therefore a compressed form
of the pulp is now in the market, known as Tamar Indien lozenges,
coated with chocolate. These are combined, however, with a
purgative of greater activity, most probably jalap.

The fruit of the Tamarind is certainly antibilious, and by the virtue
of its potash salts it tends to heal any sore places within the mouth.
In India it is added as an ingredient to punch; but the tree is
superstitiously regarded as the messenger of the God of death.

When acids are indicated, to counteract septic fever, and to cool the
blood, whilst in natural harmony with the digestive functions, the
Tamarind will be found exceptionally helpful; and towards
obviating [552] constipation a dessertspoonful, or more, of the pulp
may be taken with benefit as a compôte at table, together with
boiled rice, or sago. The name Tamarind is derived from _tamar_,
the date palm; and _indus_, of Indian origin. Formerly this fruit was
known as Oxyphoenica (sour date). Officinally apothecaries mix the
pulp with senna as an aperient confection. It is further used in
flavouring curries on account of its acid.

TANSY.

The Tansy (_Tanacetum vulgare_--"buttons,"--bed of Tansy), a
Composite plant very familiar in our hedgerows and waste places,
being conspicuous by its heads of brilliant yellow flowers, is often
naturalized in our gardens for ornamental cultivation. Its leaves
smell like camphor, and possess a bitter aromatic taste; whilst young
they were commonly used in times past, and are still employed,
when shredded, for flavouring cakes, puddings, and omelets. The
roots when preserved with honey, or sugar, are reputed to be of
special service against the gout, if a reasonable quantity thereof be
eaten fasting every day for a certain space. The fruit is destructive
to round worms.

The seed also of the Tansy is a singular and appropriate medicine
against worms: for "in whatsoever sort taken it killeth and driveth
them forth." In Sussex a peasant will put Tansy leaves in his shoes
to cure ague; and the plant has a rural celebrity for correcting female
irregularities of the functional health. The name Tansy is
probably derived from the Greek word _athanasia_ which signifies
immortality, either, as, says Dodoeus, _quia non cito flos
inflorescit_, "because it lasts so long in flower," or, _quia ejus
succus, vel oleum extractum cadavera a putredine conservat_ (as
Ambrosius writes), "because it is so capital [558] for preserving
dead bodies from corruption." It was said to have been given to
Ganymede to make him immortal. The whole herb contains resin,
mucilage, sugar, a fixed oil, tannin, a colouring matter, malic or
tanacetic acid, and water. When the camphoraceous bitter oil is
taken in any excess it induces venous congestion of the abdominal
organs, and increases the flow of urine.

If given in moderate doses the plant and its essential oil are
stomachic and cordial, whether the leaves, flowers, or seeds be
administered, serving to allay spasm, and helping to promote the
monthly flow of women; the seeds being also of particular use
against worms, and relieving the flatulent colic of hysteria. This
herb will drive away bugs from a bed in which it is placed. Meat
rubbed with the bitter Tansy will be protected from the visits of
carrion flies.

Ten drops of the essential oil will produce much flushing of the
head and face, with giddiness, and with beat of stomach; whilst half
a drachm of the oil has been followed by a serious result. But from
one to four drops may be safely given for a dose according to the
symptoms it is desired to relieve. Cases of epilepsy (not inherited)
have been successfully treated with the liquid extract of Tansy in
doses of a drop with water four times in the day. The essential oil
will toxically produce epileptic seizures.

The plant has been used externally with benefit for some eruptive
diseases of the skin; and a hot infusion of it to sprained, or
rheumatic parts will give relief from pain by way of a fomentation.
In Scotland the dried flowers are given for gout, from half to one
teaspoonful for a dose two or three times in the day; or an infusion
is drank prepared from the flowers and seeds. This has kept
inveterate gout at bay for years.

[554] A medicinal tincture is made (H.) from the fresh plant with
spirit of wine. From eight to ten drops of the same may be given
with a tablespoonful of cold water to an adult twice or three times in
the day.

Formerly this was one of the native plants dedicated to the Virgin
Mary; and the "good wives" used to take a syrup of Tansy for
preventing miscarriage. "The Laplanders," says Linnoeus, "use
Tansy in their baths to facilitate parturition."

At Easter also it was the custom, even, by the Archbishops, the
Bishops, and the clergy of some churches, to play at handball (so
say the old chroniclers), with men of their congregations, whilst a
Tansy cake was the reward of the victors, this being a confection
with which the bitter herb Tansy was mixed. Some such a corrective
was supposed to be of benefit after having eaten much fish during
Lent.

The Tansy cake was made from the young leaves of the plant mixed
with eggs, and was thought to purify the humours of the body. "This
Balsamic plant" said Boerhaave, "will supply the place of nutmegs
and cinnamon." In Lyte's time the Tansy was sold in the shops
under the name of Athanasia.

TARRAGON.

The kitchen herb Tarragon (_Artemisia dracunculus_) is cultivated
in England, and more commonly in France, for uses in salads, and
other condimentary purposes. It is the "little Dragon Mugwort: in
French, _Herbe au Dragon_"; to which, as to other Dragon herbs,
was ascribed the faculty of curing the bites and stings of venomous
beasts, and of mad dogs. The plant does not fructify in France.

It is of the Composite order, and closely related to [555] our
common Wormwood, and Southernwood, but its leaves are not
divided. This herb is a native of Siberia, but has been long grown
largely by French gardeners, and has since become widespread in
this country as a popular fruit, also for making a vinegar, and for
adding to salads. The word Tarragon is by corruption "a little
dragon." French cooks commonly mix their table mustard with the
vinegar of the herb.

Many strange tales have been told about the origin of the plant, one
of which, scarce worth the noting, runs that the seed of flax put into
a radish root, or a sea onion, and being thus set doth bring forth this
herb Tarragon (so says Gerard).

In Continental cookery the use of Tarragon is advised to temper the
coldness of other herbs in salads, like as a Rocket doth. "Neither,"
say the authorities, "do we know what other use this herb hath."

The volatile essential oil of Tarragon is chemically identical with
that of Anise, and it is found to be sexually stimulating. Probably by
virtue of its finely elaborated camphor it exercises its specific
effects, the fact being established that too much camphor acts in the
opposite direction.

John Evelyn says of the plant "'Tis highly cordial and friendly to the
head, heart, and liver."

THISTLES.

Thistles are comprised in a large mixed genus of our English weeds,
and wild plants, several of them possessing attributed medicinal
virtues. Some of these are Thistles proper, as the _Carduus_, the
_Cnicus_, and the _Carlina_: others are Teasels, Eryngiums, and
Globe Thistles, etc. Consideration should be given here to the
_Carduus marianus_, or Lady's Thistle, the common [556] Carline
Thistle, the _Carduus benedictus_ (Blessed Thistle), the wild Teasel
(_Dipsacus_), and the Fuller's Teasel, as Herbal Simples; whilst
others of minor curative usefulness are to be incidentally mentioned.

As a class Thistles have been held sacred to Thor, because, say the
old authors, receiving their bright colours from the lightning, and
because protecting those who cultivate them from its destructive
effects.

In Devon and Cornwall Thistles are commonly known as Dazzels,
or Dashel flowers. As a rule they flourish best in hot dry climates.

The _Carduus marianus_ (Lady's Thistle), Milk Thistle, or Holy
Thistle, grows abundantly in waste places, and near gardens
throughout the British Isles, but it is not a native plant. The term
_Carduus_, or Cardinal, refers to its spring leaves, and the
adjectives "Marianus," "Milk," and "Holy," have been assigned
through a tradition that some drops of the Virgin Mary's milk fell on
the herb, and became exhibited in the white veins of its leaves. By
some persons this Thistle is taken as the emblem of Scotland.

Dioscorides told of the Milk Thistle, "the seeds being drunk are a
remedy for infants that have their sinews drawn together." He
further said: "The root if borne about one doth expel melancholy,
and remove all diseases connected therewith." Modern writers do
laugh at this: "Let them laugh that win! My opinion is that this is the
best remedy that grows against all melancholy diseases."

The fruit of the _Carduus marianus_ contains an oily bitter seed: the
tender leaves in spring may be eaten as a salad; and the young
peeled stalks, after being soaked, are excellent boiled, or baked in
pies. The heads of this Thistle before the flowers open may be [557]
cooked like artichokes. The seeds were formerly thought to cure
hydrophobia. They act as a demulcent in catarrh and pleurisy, being
also a favourite food of Goldfinches. A decoction of the seeds when
applied externally is said to have proved beneficial in cases of
cancer.

Thistle down was at one time gathered by poor persons and sold for
stuffing pillows. It is very prolific in germination, and an old saying
runs on this score:--

    "Cut your Thistles before St. John,
    Or you'll have two instead of one."

This Milk Thistle (_Carduus marianus_) is said to be the empirical
nostrum, _anti-glaireux_, of Count Mattaei.

"Disarmed of its prickles," writes John Evelyn, "and boiled, it is
worth esteem, and thought to be a great breeder of milk, and proper
diet for women who are nurses."

In Germany it is very popular for curing jaundice and kindred
biliary derangements. When taken by healthy provers in varying
quantities to test its toxic effects the plant has caused distension of
the whole abdomen, especially on the right side, with tenderness on
pressure over the liver, and with a deficiency of bile in hard knotty
stools, the colouring matter of the faeces being found by chemical
tests present in the urine: so that a preparation of this Thistle
modified in strength, and considerably diluted in its doses proves
truly homoeopathic to simple obstructive jaundice through inaction
of the liver, and readily cures the disorder. A tincture is prepared
(H.) for medicinal use from equal parts of the root, and the seeds
(with the hull on) together with spirit of wine.

The _Carduus benedictus_ (Blessed Thistle) was first [558]
cultivated by Gerard in 1597, and has since become a common
medicinal Simple. It was at one time considered to be almost a
panacea, and capable of curing even the plague by its antiseptic
virtues.

This Thistle was a herb of Mars, and, as Gerard says: "It helpeth
giddiness of the head: also it is an excellent remedy against the
yellow jaundice. It strengthens the memory, cures deafness, and
helps the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts." It contains a
bitter principle "cnicin," resembling the similar tonic constituent of
the Dandelion, this being likewise useful for stimulating a sluggish
liver to more healthy action.

The infusion should be made with cold water: when kept it forms a
salt on its surface like nitre. The herb does not yield its virtues to
spirit of wine as a tincture. Its taste is intensely bitter.

The Carline Thistle (_Carlina vulgaris_) was formerly used in
magical incantations. It possesses medicinal qualities very like those
of Elecampane, being diaphoretic, and in larger doses purgative.
The herb contains some resin, and a volatile essential oil of a
camphoraceous nature, like that of Elecampane, and useful for
similar purposes, as cordial and antiseptic. This Thistle grows on
dry heaths especially near the sea, and is easily distinguished from
other Thistles by the straw-coloured glossy radiate long inner scales
of its outer floral cup. They rise up over the florets in wet weather.
The whole plant is very durable, like that of the "everlasting
flowers:" Cudweed (_Antennaria_).

The name Carlina was given because the Thistle was used by
Charles the Great as a remedy against the plague. It was revealed to
him when praying for some means to stay this pestilence which was
destroying his army. In his sleep there appeared to him an angel
who shot [559] an arrow from a cross bow, telling him to mark the
plant upon which it fell: for that with such plant he might cure his
soldiers of the dire epidemic: which event really happened, the herb
thus indicated being the said thistle. In Anglo-Saxon it was the
ever-throat, or boar-throat.

On the Continent a large white blossom of this species is nailed
upon cottage doors by way of a barometer to indicate the weather if
remaining open or closing.

The wild Teasel (_Dipsacus sylvestris_) grows commonly in waste
places, having tall stems or stalks, at the bottom of which are leaves
(like bracts) united at their sides so as to form a cup, open upwards,
around the base of the stalk, and hence the term "_Dipsacus_,"
thirsty. This cup serves to retain rain water, which is thought to
acquire curative properties, being used, for one purpose, to remove
warts. The cup is called Venus' basin, and its contents, says Ray, are
of service _ad verrucas abigendas_; also it is named Barber's Brush,
and Church Broom.

The Fuller's Teasel, or Thistle (_Dipsacus fullonum_) is so termed
from its use in combing and dressing cloth,--_teasan_, to tease,--
three Teaselheads being the arms of the Cloth Weavers' Company.
This is found in the neighbourhood of the cloth districts, but is not
considered to be a British plant. It is probably a cultivated variety of
the wild Teasel, but differs by having the bristles of its receptacles
hooked.

The Sow Thistle (_Sonchus oleraceus_), named _sonchus_ because
of its soft spikes instead of prickles, grows commonly as a weed in
gardens, and having milky stalks which are reputed good for
wheezy and short-winded folk, whilst the milk may be used as a
wash for the face. It is named also "turn sole" because always facing
the sun, and Hare's Thistle (the hare's panacea, [560] says an old
writer, is the Sow Thistle), or Hare's Lettuce because "when fainting
with the heat she recruits her strength with the herb; or if a hare eat
of this herb in the summer when he is mad he shall become whole."
Another similar title of the herb is Hare's palace, since the creature
was thought to get shelter and courage from it. Some suppose that
the botanical term _Sonchus_ signifies _apo ton soon ekein_, from
its yielding a salubrious juice.

The Sow thistle has been named also Milkweed. According to
tradition it sometimes conceals marvels, or treasures; and in Italian
stories the words, "Open Sow Thistle" are used as of like
significance with the magical invocation "Open sesame." Another
name is "Du Tistel" or Sprout Thistle; because the plant may be
used for its edible sprouts, which Evelyn says, were eaten by Galen
as a lettuce. And Matthiolus told of the Tuscans in his day "_Soncho
nostri utuntur hyeme in acetariis_."

The Melancholy Thistle (_Carduus heterophyllus_) has been held
curative of melancholy. It grows most frequently in Scotland and
the North of England, and is a non-prickly plant.

THYME.

The Wild English thyme (_Thymus serpyllum_) belongs to the
Labiate plants, and takes its second title from a Greek verb
signifying "to creep," which has reference to the procumbent habit
of the plant. It bears the appellation "Brotherwort."

Typically the _Thymus serpyllum_ flourishes abundantly on hills,
heaths, and grassy places, having woody stems, small fringed
leaves, and heads of purple flowers which diffuse a sweet perfume
into the surrounding air, [561] especially in hot weather.
Shakespeare's well known line alludes to this pleasant fact: "I know
a bank where the wild Thyme grows."

The name Thyme is derived from the Greek _thumos_, as identical
with the Latin _fumus_, smoke, having reference to the ancient use
of Thyme in sacrifices, because of its fragrant odour; or, it may be,
as signifying courage (_thumos_), which its cordial qualities inspire.
With the Greeks Thyme was an emblem of bravery, and activity;
also the ladies of chivalrous days embroidered on the scarves which
they presented to their knights the device of a bee hovering about a
spray of Thyme, as teaching the union of the amiable and the active.

Horace has said concerning Wild Thyme:--

    "Impune tutum per nemus arbutos
    Quaerunt latentes, et thyma deviae
            Olentis uxores mariti."

Wild Thyme is subject to variations in the size and colour of its
flowers, as well as in the habits of the varieties.

This wild Thyme bears also the appellation, "Mother of Thyme,"
which should be "Mother Thyme," in allusion to its medicinal
influence on the womb, an organ which the older writers always
termed the "Mother." Isidore tells that the wild Thyme was called
in Latin, _Matris animula, quod menstrua movet_. Platearius
says of it: _Serpyllum matricem comfortat et mundificat. Mulieres
Saliternitanoe hoc fomento multum utuntur_.

Dr. Neovius writes enthusiastically in a Finnish Journal on the
virtues of common Thyme in combating whooping cough. He has
found that if given _fresh_, from an ounce and a half to six ounces a
day, mixed [562] with a little syrup, regularly for some weeks, it is
practically a specific. If taken from the first, the symptoms vanish in
two or three days, and in a fortnight the disease is expelled. The
simplicity, harmlessness, and cheapness of this remedy are great
supporters of its claims.

Other titles of the herb are Pulial mountain, and creeping Thyme. It
is anti-spasmodic, and good for nervous or hysterical headaches, for
flatulence, and the headache which follows inebriation. The infusion
may be profitably applied for healing skin eruptions of various
characters.

Virgil mentions (in _Eclogue_ xi., lines 10, 11) the restorative value
of Thyme against fatigue:--

    "Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus oestu
    Allia, Serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes."

Or,

    "Thestlis for mowers tired with parching heat
    Garlic and Thyme, strong smelling herbs, doth beat."

Tournefort writes: "A conserve made from the flowers and leaves of
wild Thyme (_Serpyllum_) relieves those troubled with the falling
sickness, whilst the distilled oil promotes the monthly flow in
women."

The delicious flavour of the noted honey of Hymettus was said to be
derived from the wild Thyme there visited by the bees. Likewise the
flesh of sheep fed on pasturage where the wild Thyme grows freely
has been said to gain a delicate flavour and taste from this source:
but herein a mistake is committed, because sheep are really averse
to such pasturage, and refuse it if they can get other food.

An infusion of the leaves of Thyme, whether wild, or cultivated,
makes an excellent aromatic tea, the odour of which is sweet and
fragrant, whilst the taste of the [563] plant is bitter and
camphoraceous. There is in some districts an old superstition that to
bring wild Thyme into the house conveys severe illness, or death to
some member of the family.

In Grecian days the Attic elegance of style was said to show an
odour of Thyme. Shenstone's schoolmistress had a garden:--

    "Where herbs for use and physic not a few
    Of grey renown within those borders grew,
    The tufted Basil,--_pun provoking_ Thyme,
    The lordly Gill that never dares to climb."

Bacon in his _Essay on Gardens_ recommends to set whole alleys
of Thyme for the pleasure of its perfume when treading on the plant.
And Dioscorides said Thyme used in food helps dimness of sight.

Gerard adds: "Wild Thyme boiled in wine and drunk is good against
the wamblings and gripings of the belly": whilst Culpeper describes
it as "a strengthener of the lungs, as notable a one as grows." "The
Thyme of Candy, Musk Thyme, or Garden Thyme is good against
the sciatica, and to be given to those that have the falling sickness,
to smell to."

The volatile essential oil of Wild Thyme (as well as of Garden
Thyme) consists of two hydrocarbons, with thymol as the fatty base,
this thymol being readily soluble in fats and oils when heated, and
taking high modern rank as an antiseptic. It will arrest gastric
fermentation when given judiciously as a medicine, though an
overdose will bring on somnolence, with a ringing in the ears.
Officinally Thymol, the stearoptene obtained from the volatile oil of
_Thymus vulgaris_, is directed to be given in a dose of from half to
two grains.

[564] Thymol is valued by some authorities more highly even than
carbolic acid for destroying the germs of disease, or for disinfecting
them. It is of equal service with tar for treating such skin affections
as psoriasis, and eczema. When inhaled thymol is most useful
against septic sore throat, especially during scarlet fever. At the
hospital for throat diseases the following formula is ordered:
Thymol twenty grains to rectified spirit of wine three drachms, and
carbonate of magnesia ten grains, with water to three ounces; a
teaspoonful to be used in a pint of water at 150° Fahrenheit for each
inhalation.

Against ringworm an ointment made with one drachm of thymol to
an ounce of soft paraffin is found to be a sure specific.

The spirit of thymol should consist of one part of thymol to ten parts
of spirit of wine; and this is a convenient form for use to medicate
the wool of antiseptic respirators. As a purifying and cleansing
lotion for wounds and sores, thymol should be mixed in the
proportion of five grains thereof to an ounce of spirit of wine, an
ounce of glycerine, and six ounces of water.

The common Garden Thyme is an imported sort from the South of
Europe. Its odour and taste depend on an essential oil known
commercially as oil of origanum.

Another variety of the Wild Thyme is Lemon Thyme (_Thymus
citriodorus_), distinguished by its parti-coloured leaves, and by its
lilac flowers. Small beds of this Thyme, together with mint, are
cultivated at Penzance, in which to rear millepedes, or hoglice,
administered as pills for several forms of scrofulous disease. The
woodlouse, sowpig, or hoglouse abounds with a nitrous salt which
has long found favour for curing scrofulous [565] disease, and
inveterate struma, as also against some kinds of stone in the bladder.

The Hoglouse, or Millepede was the primitive medicinal pill. It is
found in dry gardens under stones, etc., and rolls itself up into a
ball when touched. These are also called Chiselbobs, and Cudworms.
From three to twelve were formerly given in Rhenish wine for a
hundred days together to cure all kinds of cancers; or they were
sometimes worn round the neck in a small bag (which was absurd!).
In the Eastern counties they are known as "Old Sows," or "St.
Anthony's Hogs." Their Latin name is _Porcellus Scaber_. The
Welsh call this small creature the "withered old woman of the
wood," "the little pig of the wood," and "the little grey hog," also
"Grammar Sows." Their word "gurach" like "grammar" means a
dried up old dame.

Cat Thyme (_Teucrium marum verum_) was imported from Spain,
and is cultivated in our gardens as a cordial aromatic herb, useful in
nervous disorders. Its flowers are crimson, and its bark is astringent.
The dried leaves may be given in powder or used in snuff. A
tincture (H.) is made from the whole herb which is effectual against
small thread worms. Provers of the herb in material toxic quantities
have experienced troublesome itching and irritation of the
fundament. For similar conditions, and to expel thread worms, two
or three drops of the tincture diluted to its first decimal strength
should be given with a spoonful of water three or four times in the
day to a child of from four to six years.

TOADFLAX.

The Toadflax, or Flaxweed (_Linaria vulgaris_) belongs to the
scrofula-curing order of plants, getting its name from _linum_, flax,
and being termed "toad" by a [566] mistaken translation of its Latin
title _Bubonio_, this having been wrongly read _bufonio_,--
belonging to a toad,--or because having a flower (as the
Snapdragon) like a toad's mouth: whereas "bubonio" means "useful
for the groins."

It is an upright herbaceous plant most common in hedges, having
leaves like grass of a dull sea green aspect, and bearing dense
clusters of yellow flowers shaped like those of the garden
Snapdragon, with spurs at their base. It continues in flower until the
late autumn. The Russians cultivate the Snapdragon for the oil
yielded by its seeds.

The Toadflax has a faint disagreeable smell, and a bitter saline taste.
It acts medicinally as a powerful purge, and promoter of urine, and
therefore it is employed for carrying off the water of dropsies, being
in this respect a well known rural Simple. Waller says: "Country
people boil the whole plant in ale, and drink the decoction; but the
expressed juice of the fresh plant acts still more powerfully."

In many districts the herb is familiarly known as "butter and eggs;"
and in Germany though dedicated to the Virgin it is called "devil's
band."

Again in Devonshire it goes by the names of "Rambling," or
"Wandering Sailor," "Pedler's Basket," "Mother of Millions" (the
ivy-leaved sort), "Lion's Mouth" and "Flaxweed."

When used externally an infusion of the herb acts as an anodyne to
subdue irritation of the skin, and it may be taken as a medicine to
modify skin diseases. The fresh juice is attractive to flies, but at
the same time it serves to poison them: so if it be mixed with milk,
and placed where flies resort they will drink it and perish at the
first sip.

[567] As promoting a free flow of urine, the herb has been named
"Urinalis," or sometimes "Ramsted." The flowers contain a yellow
colouring matter, mucilage, and sugar. In Germany they are given
with the rest of the plant for dropsy, jaundice, piles, and some
diseases of the skin. Gerard says: "The decoction openeth the
stoppings of the liver, and spleen: and is singular good against the
jaundice which is of long continuance." He advises an ointment
made from the plant stampt with lard for certain skin eruptions, and
a decoction made with four drachms of the herb in eight ounces of
boiling water. The bruised leaves are useful externally for curing
blotches on the face, and for piles.

An old distich says of the Toadflax as compared with the
Larkspur:--

    "Esula lactescit: sine lacte Linaria crescit;"

or,

    "Larkspur with milk doth flow:
    Toadflax without milk doth grow,"

(alluding to the dry nature of the toadflax). To which the Hereditary
Marshal of Hesse added the following line:--

    "Esoula nil nobis, sed dat linaria _taurum_,"

implying that the herb was of old valued for its good effects when
applied externally to piles as an ointment, a fomentation, or a
poultice, each being made from the leaves and the flowers. The
originator of this ointment was a Dr. Wolph, physician to the
Landgrave of Hesse, who only divulged its formula on the prince
promising to give him _a fat ox_ annually for the discovery.

TOMATO (or LOVE APPLE).

Though only of recent introduction as a common vegetable in this
country, and though grown chiefly [568] under glass for the table in
England, yet the Tomato is so abundantly imported, and so
extensively used by all classes now-a-days throughout the British
Isles that it may fairly take consideration for whatever claims it can
advance as a curative Simple. Imported early in the present century
from South America it remained for a while an exclusive luxury
produced for the rich like pine apples and melons. But gradually
since then the Tomato has steadily acquired an increasing
popularity, and now large crops of the profitable fruit are brought
from Bordeaux and the Channel Islands, to meet the demands of our
English markets. Much of the favour which has become attached to
this ruddy, polished, attractive-looking fruit is due to a widespread
impression that it is good for the liver, and a preventive of
biliousness. Nevertheless, rumours have also gone abroad that
habitual Tomato-eaters are especially liable to cancerous disease in
this, or that organ.

Belonging to the Solanums the Tomato (_Lycopersicum_) is a plant
of Mexican origin. Its brilliant fruit was first known as _Mala
oethiopica_, or the Apples of the Moors, and bearing the Italian
designation _Pomi dei Mori_. This name was presently corrupted in
the French to _Pommes d'amour_; and thence in English to the
epithet Love Apples, a perversion which shows by what curious
methods primary names may become incongruously changed. They
are also called Gold Apples from their bright yellow colour before
getting ripe. The term _Lycopersicum_ signifies a "wolf's peach,"
because some parts of the plant are thought to excite animal
passions.

The best fruit is supposed to grow within sight, or smell of the sea.
It needs plenty of sunlight and heat. The quicker it is produced the
fewer will be the seeds discoverable in its pulp.

[568] Green when young, Tomatoes acquire a bright yellow hue
before reaching maturity, and when ripe they are smooth, shining,
furrowed, and of a handsome red.

Chemically this Love Apple contains citric and malic acids: and it
further possesses oxalic acid, or oxalate of potash, in common with
the Sorrel of our fields, and the Rhubarb of our kitchen gardens. On
which account each of this vegetable triad is ill suited for gouty
constitutions disposed to the formation of irritating oxalate of lime
in the blood. With such persons a single indulgence in Tomatoes,
particularly when eaten raw, may provoke a sharp attack of gout.

Otherwise there are special reasons for supposing the Tomato to be
a wholesome fruit of remarkable purifying value.

Dr. King Chambers classifies it among remedies against scurvy,
telling us that Tomatoes mixed with brown bread make a capital
sauce for costive persons. And the fruit owns a singular property in
connection with diseases of plants, suggesting its probable worth as
protective against bacterial germs, and microbes of disease in our
bodies when it is taken as food, or medicinally. If a Tomato shrub
be uprooted at the end of the summer, and allowed to wither on the
bough of a fruit tree, or if it be burnt beneath the fruit tree, it
will not only kill any blight which may be present, but will also
preserve the tree against any future invasion by blight. The hostility
thus evinced by the plant to low organisms is due to the presence of
sulphur, which the Tomato shrub largely contains, and which is
rendered up in an active state by decay, or by burning. Now
remembering that digestion likewise splits up the Tomato into its
chemical constituents, and releases its sulphur within us, we may
fairly assume that persons [570] who eat Tomatoes habitually are
likely to have a particular immunity from bacterial and putrefactive
diseases.

Wherefore it is altogether improbable that Tomatoes will engender
cancer, which is essentially a disease of vitiated blood, and of
degenerate cell tissue. Possibly the old exploded doctrine of
signatures may have suggested, or started this accusation against the
maligned, though unguarded Tomato: for it cannot be denied the
guileless fruit bears a nodulated tumour-like appearance, whilst
showing, when cut, an aspect of red raw morbid fleshy structure
strangely resembling cancerous disease.

Vegetarians who eat Tomatoes constantly and freely claim that
cancer is a disease almost unknown among their ranks; but an
Italian doctor writing from Rome gives it as the experience of
himself and his medical brethren that cancer is as common in Italy
and Sicily among vegetarians as with mixed eaters. Most of our
American cousins, who are the enterprising fathers of this medicinal
fruit, persuade themselves that they are never in perfect health
except during the Tomato season. And with us the ruddy Solanum
has obtained a wide popularity not simply at table as a tasty cooling
sallet, or an appetising stew, but essentially as a supposed
antibilious purifier of the blood. When uncooked it contains a
notable quantity of Solanin, and it would be dangerous to let
animals drink water in which the plant had been boiled. The Staff of
the Cancer Hospital at Brompton have emphatically declared "they
see no ground whatever for supposing that the eating of Tomatoes
predisposes to cancer."

Nevertheless some country people in the remote American States
attribute cancer to an excessively free use of the wild uncultivated
tomato as food.

[571] The first mention of this fruit by the London Horticultural
Society occurred in 1818.

Chemically in addition to the acids already named the Tomato
contains a volatile oil, a brown resinous extractive matter very
fragrant, a vegeto-mineral matter, muco-saccharin, some salts, and
in all probability an alkaloid. The whole plant smells unpleasantly,
and its juices when subjected to heat by the action of fire emit a
vapour so powerful as to provoke vertigo and vomiting.

The specific principles furnished by the Tomato will, when
concentrated, produce, if taken medicinally, effects very similar
to those brought about by taking mercurial salts, viz., an
ulcerative-state of the mouth, with a profuse flow of saliva, and
with excessive stimulation of the liver: peevishness also on the
following day, with a depressing backache in men, suggesting
paralysis, and with a profuse fluor albus in women. When given
in moderation as food, or as physic, the fruit will remedy
this chain of symptoms.

By reason of its efficacy in promoting an increased flow of bile if
judiciously taken, the Tomato bears the name in America of
Vegetable Mercury, and it has almost superseded calomel there as a
biliary medicinal provocative. Dr. Bennett declares the Tomato to
be the most useful and the least harmful of all known medicines for
correcting derangements of the liver. He prepares a chemical extract
of the fruit and plant which will, he feels assured, depose calomel
for the future.

Across the Atlantic an officinal tincture is made from the Tomato
for curative purposes by treating the apples, and the bruised fresh
plant with alcohol, and letting this stand for eight days before it
is filtered and strained.

A teaspoonful of the tincture is a sufficient dose with one or two
tablespoonfuls of cold water, three times in the day.

[572] The fluid extract made from the plant is curative of any
ulcerative soreness within the mouth, such as nurses' sore mouth, or
canker. It should be given internally, and applied locally to the
sore parts.

Spaniards and Italians eat Tomatoes with pepper and oil. We take
them as a salad, or stewed with butter, after slicing and stuffing
them with bread crumb, and a spice of garlic.

The green Tomato makes a good pickle, and in its unripe state is
esteemed an excellent sauce with rich roast pork, or goose. The fruit
when cooked no longer exercises active medicinal effects, as its
volatile principles have now become dispelled through heat.

By the late Mr. Shirley Hibberd, who was a good naturalist, it was
asserted with seeming veracity that the cannibal inhabitants of the
Fiji Islands hold in high repute a native Tomato which is named by
them the _Solanum anthropophagorutm_, and which they eat, _par
excellence_, with "Cold Missionary." Nearer home a worthy dame
has been known with pious aspirations to enquire at the stationer's
for "Foxe's book of To-Martyrs."

"Chops and Tomato sauce" were ordered from Mrs. Bardell, in
Pickwick's famous letter. "Gentlemen!" says Serjeant Buzfuz, in his
address to the jury, "What does this mean?" But he missed a point in
not going on to add--"I need not tell you, gentlemen, the popular
name for the Tomato is _love apple_! Is it not manifest, therefore,
what the base deceiver intended?"

    "A cucumber in early spring
        Might please a sated Caesar,
    Rapture asparagus can bring,
        And dearer still green peas are:
    Oh! far and wide, where mushrooms hide,
        I'll search, as wide and far too
    For watercress; but all their pride
        Must stoop to thee,--Tomato!"

[573] TORMENTIL.

The Tormentil (_Potentilla Tormentilla_) belongs to the tribe of
wild Roses, and is a common plant on our heaths, banks, and dry
pastures. It is closely allied to the _Potentilla_, but bears only four
petals on its flowers, which are of bright yellow. The woody roots
are medicinally useful because of their astringent properties.
Sometimes the stem is trailing, making this the _Tormentilla
Reptans_, but more commonly it ascends. The name comes from
_tormina_, which signifies such griping of the intestines as the herb
will serve to relieve, as likewise the twinges of toothache. The root
is employed both for tanning leather, and for dyeing it by the
thickened red juice. Furthermore through its astringency this root is
admirable for arresting bleedings. Vesalius considered it to be as
useful against syphilis as Guiacum, and Sarsaparilla. A decoction of
Tormentil makes a capital gargle, and will heal ulcers of the mouth
if used as a wash. If a piece of lint soaked therein be kept applied to
warts, they will wither and disappear. Chemically the herb contains
"_Tormentilla Red_," identical with that of the Horse Chestnut, also
tannic, and kinoric acids. The decoction should be made with four
drams to half-a-pint of water boiled together for ten minutes, adding
half a dram of Cinnamon stick at the end of boiling; one or two
tablespoonfuls will be the dose, or of the powdered root (dried) the
dose will be from five to thirty grains.

"_In fluxu sanguinis, fluore albo, et mictu involuntario Tormentilla
valet_." Dr. Thornton (1810) tells of a labouring botanist who learnt
the powers of this root, and by its decoction, sweetened with honey,
cured intractable agues, severe diarrhoeas, and scorbutic ulcers
(which had been turned out of hospitals as inveterate), [578] also
many fluxes. Lord William Russell heard about this, and allowed
the poor man a piece of his park in which to cultivate the herb,
"_Non est vegetabile quod in fluxionibus alvi efficacius est_." The
root is so rich in tannin that it may be used instead of oak bark.

TURNIP.

The Turnip (_Brassica Rapa_) belongs to the Cruciferous Cabbage
tribe, being often found growing in waste places, though not truly
wild. In this state it is worth nothing to man or beast; but, by
cultivation, it becomes a most valuable food for cattle in the winter,
and a good vegetable for our domestic uses. It exercises some
aperient action, and the liquid in which turnips are boiled will
increase the flow of urine. It is called also "bagie," and was the
"gongyle" of the Greeks, so named from the roundness of the root.

When mashed, and mixed with bread and milk, the Turnip makes an
excellent cleansing and stimulating poultice for indolent abscesses
or sores.

The Scotch eat small, yellow-rooted Turnips as we do radishes.
"Tastes and Turnips proverbially differ." At Plymouth, and some
other places, when a girl rejects a suitor, she is said to "give him
turnips," probably with reference to his sickly pallor of
disappointment.

The seventeenth of June--as the day of St. Botolph, the old turnip
man,--is distinguished by various uses of a Turnip, because in the
Saga, which figuratively represents the seasons, the seeds were
sown on that day.

It is told that the King of Bithynia in some expedition against the
Scythians during the winter, and when at a great distance from the
sea, had a violent [575] longing for a small fish known as _aphy_--a
pilchard, or anchovy. His cook cut a Turnip to a perfect imitation of
its shape, which, when fried in oil, well salted, and powdered with
the seeds of a dozen black poppies, so deceived the king that he
praised the root at table as an excellent fish.

Being likely to provoke flatulent distension of the bowels, Turnips
are not a proper vegetable for hysterical persons, or for pregnant
women. The rind is acrimonious, but the tops, when young and
tender, may be boiled for the table as a succulent source of potash,
and other mineral salts in the Spring.

The fermented juice of Turnips will yield an ardent spirit. When
properly cooked they serve to sweeten the blood. An essential
volatile oil contained in the root, chiefly in the rind, disagrees, by
provoking flatulent distension. This root is sometimes cut up and
partly substituted for the peel and pulp of oranges in marmalade.

If Turnips are properly grown in dry, lean, sandy earth, a
wholesome, agreeable sort of bread can be made from them, "of
which we have eaten at the greatest persons' tables, and which is
hardly to be distinguished from the best of wheat." Some persons
roast Turnips in paper under the embers, and serve them with butter
and sugar. The juice made into syrup is an old domestic remedy for
coughs and hoarseness.

A nice wholesome dish of Piedmontese Turnips is thus prepared:
Half boil your Turnip, and cut it in slices like half-crowns; butter a
pie dish, and put in the slices, moisten them with a little milk and
weak broth, sprinkle over lightly with bread crumbs, adding pepper
and salt; then bake in the oven until the Turnips become of a light
golden colour.

[576] The Turnip, a navew, or variety of Rape (_navus_), should
never be sown in a rich soil, wherein it would become degenerate
and lose its shape as well as its dry agreeable relish. Horace advised
field-grown Turnips as preferable at a banquet to those of garden
culture. They may be safely eaten when raw, having been at one
time much consumed in Russia by the upper classes.

Turnips have been introduced into armorial bearings to represent a
person of liberal disposition who relieves the poor.

Dr. Johnson's famous illustration of false logic ran thus:--

    "If a man fresh Turnips cries:
    But cries not when his father dies,
    Is this a proof the man would rather
    Possess fresh Turnips than a father?"

TURPENTINE.

From our English Pines, if their stems be wounded, the oleo-resin
known as Turpentine, can be procured. This is so truly a vegetable
product, and so readily available for medical uses in every
household, being withal so valuable for its remedial and curative
virtues that no apology is needed for giving it notice as a Herbal
Simple. The said oleo-resin which exudes on incising the bark
furnishes our oil, or so-called spirit of Turpentine. But larger
quantities, and of a richer resin, can be had from abroad than it is
practicable for England to provide, so that our Turpentine of
commerce is mainly got from American and French sources.

The oleo-resin consists of a resinous base and a volatile essential
oil, which is usually termed the spirit.

The _Pinus Picra_, or Silver Fir-tree, yields common [577]
Turpentine; and to sleep on a pillow made from its yellow shavings
is a capital American device for relieving asthma. Fir cones are
called "buntins," and "oysters."

"Tears," or resin drops, which trickle out on the stems of the Pine, if
taken, five or six of these tears in a day, will benefit chronic
bronchitis, and will prove useful to lessen the cough of
consumption.

When swallowed in a full dose, Turpentine gives a sensation of
warmth, and excites the secretion of urine, to which it imparts a
violet hue. It also promotes perspiration, and stimulates the
bronchial mucous membrane. From eight to twenty drops may be
given as a dose to produce these effects; but an immoderate dose
will purge, or intoxicate, and stupefy, causing strangury, and
congestion of the kidneys.

For bleeding from the lungs, five drops may be given, and repeated
at intervals of not less than half-an-hour, whilst needed. The dose
may be taken in milk, or on sugar, or bread.

With the object of meeting for a curative purpose such symptoms
occurring as disease which large doses of this particular drug will
produce, as if by poisoning, in a healthy person, quite small doses of
Turpentine oil will promptly relieve simple congestion of the
kidneys, when occurring as illness, it may be from exposure to cold,
and accompanied by some feverishness, with frequent urination, as
well as a dragging of the loins. On which principle three or four
drops of a diluted tincture of Turpentine (made with one part of
Turpentine to nine parts of spirit of wine), given in a spoonful of
milk every four hours, will speedily dispel the congestion, thus
acting as an infallible specific, and a similar dose of the same
tincture will quickly subdue rheumatic inflammation of the eyes.

[578] A pleasant form in which to administer Turpentine, whether
for chronic bronchitis or for kidney congestion from cold, is a
confection. This may be made by rubbing up one part of oil of
turpentine, with one part of liquorice powder, and with two parts of
clarified honey. Combine the first two together, then add the honey.
If the Turpentine separates, pour it off, and add it again with plenty
of rubbing until it unites. From half to one teaspoonful of this
confection, when mixed with two tablespoonfuls of peppermint-water,
will be found palatable, and may be repeated two or three
times in the day.

What is called Terebene, a most useful medicine for winter cough,
is produced by the action of sulphuric acid on Turpentine. From five
to ten drops may be taken on sugar three or four times in the day,
and its vapour acts by inhalation as a very useful antiseptic sedative
in consumptive disease of the lungs.

Externally, Turpentine is stimulating and counter-irritating, and
derivative. When applied to the skin, unless properly diluted,
Turpentine will cause redness and smarting to a painful degree, with
an outbreak of small blisters. As an embrocation, the oil of
turpentine mixed with spirit of wine and camphor, together with
soap liniment, proves very efficacious for the relief of sciatica, and
for the chronic rheumatism of joints. Also, when compounded with
wax and resin, it makes an excellent healing ointment for indolent,
and unhealthy sores.

In Dublin, Turpentine is commingled with peppermint water, and
used as an external stimulant for chronic bronchitis.

The famous liniment of St. John Long consisted of oil of turpentine
one part, acetic acid one part, and liniment of camphor one part.
This was of admirable [579] service for rubbing along the spine to
relieve the irritability of the spinal nerves, and it has proved
effectual to modify or prevent epileptic attacks, by being thus
applied.  In cases of colic attending obstinate constipation, with
strengthless distension of the bowels, Turpentine mixed with starch
or thin gruel, an ounce to the pint, and administered as a clyster,
makes one of the most reliable and safe evacuants.  Also as a
remedy for round worms, six or eight drops (more or less according
to age) may be safely and effectively given to a child on one or
more nights in milk.

Pills made from Chian Turpentine, which is got from Cyprus, were
extolled by Dr. Clay of Manchester, in 1880, as a cure for cancer of
the womb, and for some other forms of cancerous disease.  From
five to ten grains were to be given in a pill, or mixed with mucilage
as an emulsion, so that in all daily, after food, and in divided doses,
one hundred and eighty grains of this Turpentine were swallowed;
and the quantity was gradually increased until five hundred grains a
day were taken.  In many cases this method of treatment proved
undoubtedly useful.

A small quantity of powdered sulphur was also incorporated by Dr.
Clay in his Chian pills.  About the fourth day the pain was relieved,
and the cancerous growth would melt away in a period of from four
to thirteen weeks.  The arrest of bleeding and the continued freedom
from glandular infection after a prolonged use of this Chian
Turpentine were highly important points in the improvement
produced.

From the _Pinus Sylvestris_ an oil is distilled by steam, and of this
from ten drops to a teaspoonful may be given for a dose, in milk, for
chronic rheumatism or chronic bronchitis.

[580] It is most useful in the treatment of diphtheria to burn in the
room, near the patient, a mixture of turpentine and tar in a pan or
deep dish. The fumes serve to dissolve the false membrane, and
have helped to effect a cure in desperate cases.

This tree had the Anglo-Saxon name Pimm, from pen, or pin, a
sharp rock,--"_ab acumine foliorum_," or perhaps as a contraction
of _picinus_--pitchy. It furnishes from its leaves an extract, and the
volatile oil. Wool is saturated with the latter, and dried, being then
made into blankets, jackets, spencers, and stockings, for the use of
rheumatic sufferers. There are establishments in Germany where the
Pine Cure is pursued by the above means, together with medicated
baths. Pine cones were regarded of old by the Assyrians as sacred
symbols, and were employed as such in the decoration of their
temples. From the tops of the Norway Spruce fir a favourite
invigorating drink is brewed which is known in the north as spruce
beer. This has an excellent reputation for curing scurvy, chronic
rheumatism, and cutaneous maladies. Laplanders make a bread from
the inner bark of the Pine.

Tar (_pix liquida_) is furnished abundantly by the _Pinus
Sylvestris_, or Scotch Fir, and is extracted by heat. The tree is cut
into pieces, which are enclosed in a large oven constructed for the
purpose: fire is applied, and the liquid tar runs out through an
opening at the bottom. It is properly an empyreumatic oil of
turpentine, and has been much used in medicine both externally and
internally. Tar water was extolled in 1744, by Bishop Berkley,
almost as a panacea. He gave it for scurvy, skin eruptions, ulcers,
asthma, and rheumatism. It evidently promotes the secretions,
especially the urine.