113. CORYLUS Avellana. THE HAZEL.—Is a well known shrub of large growth producing nuts, which are much admired. The Filbert is an improved variety of this plant. The farmers in Kent are the best managers of Filberts, and it is the only place where they are grown with any certainty; which appears to be owing principally to the trees being regularly pruned of the superfluous wood. It is performed in the month of March when the plants are in bloom, and is the only time when the fruit-bearing wood can be distinguished.



114. CRATAEGUS Aria. WHITE BEAM-TREE.—Is a beautiful tree producing very hard wood, and is much in esteem for cogs of millwork and various other purposes.



115. CRATAEGUS Oxyacantha. THE QUICKSET, or WHITE-THORN.—This is in great request for making fences, and is the best plant we know for such purposes if properly managed. It is readily propagated by sowing the hips, or fruit, which does not readily grow the first season; it is therefore usual to bury them mixed with saw-dust, or sand, one year, and then to sow them in beds.



116. DAPHNE Laureola. SPURGE- or WOOD-LAUREL.—Is used in medicine; which see.

We have many species of Daphne which are very ornamental to our shrubberies and green-houses: these are propagated principally by grafting; and the Wood-Laurel being hardy and of ready growth forms the stock principally used. It is readily propagated by seeds, which in three years will make plants large enough for this purpose.

The plant in all its parts is excessively acrid. I remember a man being persuaded to take the leaves reduced to powder, as a remedy for Syphilis, and he died in consequence in great agony in a few hours.



117. DAPHNE Mezerium. MEZERION.—Is a very beautiful shrub, and is one of the earliest productions of Flora, often exhibiting its brilliant scarlet flowers in January and February. We have also a white variety of this shrub in the gardens. The bark and roots are extremely acrimonious, and are used in medicine.



118. ERICA vulgaris. THE COMMON HEATH, HEATHER, or LING.—-This spontaneous produce of most of our sandy waste lands is of much usin rural oeconomy.

It is of considerable value for making brooms, and affords food to sheep, goats, and other animals; particularly to the grouse and heath-cock. The branches of heath placed upright in a wooden frame form the couch of repose to the brave Highlander. It is also stated that an excellent beverage was brewed from the tops of this plant, but the art of making it is now lost. This is the most common of the species, but all the others have similar properties. They are very ornamental plants. A numerous variety of heaths are brought from the Cape of Good Hope, and afford great pleasure to the amateur of exotic plants, being the greatest ornaments to our green-houses.



119. EUONYMUS europaeus. SPINDLE-TREE.—An ornamental shrub. The wood is in great request for making skewers for butchers, as it does not impart any unpleasant taste to the meat.



120. FAGUS Castanea. THE SPANISH CHESNUT.—This tree produces timber similar to oak in point of durability, and the bark also contains a considerable quantity of tannin. The Chesnut was in greater plenty in this country many years ago than at the present day; large forests are represented to have been in the neighbourhood of London; and we are led to believe such may have been the case, as many of the old buildings when examined have been found to be built of this timber. The fruit is used as a dainty at table; but the variety which is brought from Portugal and Spain is much larger than what are grown in this country. The large kind imported from those countries is grafted, and kept on purpose for the fruit. It is an improvement to graft this variety by taking the scions from trees in bearing, and they will produce fruit in a few years and in a dwarf state.



121. FAGUS sylvatica. THE BEECH.—The timber of the Beech is valuable for making wheels, and is applied to many other useful purposes in domestic oeconomy. The seeds of the Beech are very useful for fattening hogs.

This tree affords many beautiful varieties in foliage, the handsomest of which is the Copper Beech, whose purple leaves form a fine contrast in colour with the lively green of the common sort.



123. FRAXINUS excelsior. THE ASH.—The wood of the Ash is considered the best timber for all purposes of strong husbandry utensils. The wheels and axle-trees of carriages, the shafts for carts, and the cogs for mill-work, are principally made of this timber. The young wood when gown in coppices is useful for hop-poles, and the small underwood is said to afford the best fuel of any when used green. Coppice-land usually sells for a comparatively greater price according as this wood prevails in quantity, on account of its good quality as fuel alone.



124. HEDERA Helix. IVY.—A common plant in woods, and often planted in shady places to hide walls and buildings. The leaves are good food for deer and sheep in winter. The Irish Ivy, which was brought from that country, is a fine variety with broad leaves. It was introduced by Earl Camden.



125. HIPPOPHAE Rhamnoides. SEA BUCKTHORN.—This is a scarce shrub; but is very useful as a plant for forming shelter on the hills near the sea-coast, it having been found to stand the sea-breeze better than any plant of the kind that is indigenous to this country.



126. ILEX aquifolium. HOLLY.—A well-known evergreen of singular beauty, of which we have many varieties, both striped, and of different colours in the leaf. Birdlime is made from the inner bark of this tree, by beating it in a running stream and leaving it to ferment in a close vessel. If iron be heated with charcoal made of holly with the bark on, the iron will be rendered brittle; but if the bark be taken off, this effect will not be produced. Ray's Works and Travels by Scott.



127. JUNIPERUS communis. JUNIPER.—An evergreen shrub, very common on waste lands. The berries are used in preparing the well-known spiritous liquor gin, and have been considered of great use in medicine.



128. LIGUSTRUM vulgare. PRIVET.—A shrub of somewhat humble growth, very useful for forming hedges where shelter is wanted more than strength. It bears clipping, and forms a very ornamental fence. There is a variety of this with berries, and another nearly evergreen.



129. MESPILUS germanica. THE MEDLAR.—Is cultivated for its fruit, and of which we have a variety called the Dutch Medlar; it is larger than our English one, but I do not think it better flavoured.



130. PINUS sylvestris. THE SCOTCH FIR.—A very useful tree in plantations for protecting other more tender sorts when young. It is also now very valuable as timber:—necessity, the common parent of invention, has taught our countrymen its value. When foreign deal was worth twenty pounds per load, they contrieved to raise the price of this to about nine or ten pounds, and it was then thought proper for use; before which period, and when it could be bought for little money, it was deemed only fit for fuel. On the South Downs I know some plantations of this tree, which have been sold, after twenty-five years growth, at a price which averaged a profit of twenty shillings per annum per acre, on land usually let for sheep-pasture at one shilling and six-pence.



131. POPULUS alba. WHITE POPLAR. This is a very ornamental tree. The leaves on the under surface are of a fine white, and on the reverse of a very dark green; and when growing on large trees are truly beautiful, as every breath of air changes the colour as the leaves move. The wood of all the species of poplar is useful for boards, or any other purposes if kept dry. It is much in demand for floor-boards for rooms, it not readily taking fire; a red-hot poker falling on a board, would burn its way through it, without causing more combustion than the hole through which it passed.



132. POPULUS monilifera. CANADA POPLAR.—This is also known by the name of BLACK ITALIAN POPLAR, but from whence it had this name I do not know. This species, which is the finest of all the kinds, grows very commonly in woods and hedges in many parts of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, where it reaches to prodigious sizes. Perhaps no timber is more useful than this; it is very durable, and easy to be converted to all purposes in building. The floors of a great part of Downton Castle, the seat of R. Payne Knight, Esq. are laid with this wood, which have been used forty years and are perfectly sound. Trees are now growing on his estate which are three and four feet in diameter. I have one growing in my Botanic garden which is eight years old, and measures upwards of six cubic feet of timber. The parent of this tree which grew at Brompton I converted into boards. It was nineteen years growing; and when cut down it was worth upwards of fourteen pounds, rating it at the then price of deal, for which it was a good substitute. Some fine specimens of this tree are also to be seen at Garnins, the seat of Sir J. G. Cotterell, Bart. the present worthy member for the county of Hereford.



133. PRUNUS domestica. THE COMMON PLUM-TREE.—This is the parent of our fruit of this name.



134. PRUNUS Cerasus. WILD CHERRY-TREE.—Is the parent of our fine cherries. It is cultivated much in Scotland for the timber, which is hard, and of use for furniture and other domestic purposes. It is the best and most lasting stock for grafting on. Persons who are about to plant this fruit would do well to inquire into the nature of the stock, as no fruit-tree is so liable to disease and become gummy as cherries are, and that is often much owing to the improved kinds being sown for stocks, which are of a more tender texture and of course less hardy than this.



135. PRUNUS insititia. SLOE-TREE.—Is of little use except when it occurs in fences. The fruit is a fine acid, and is much used by the common people, mixed with other fruits less astringent and acid, to flavour made wines. It is believed that much Port wine is improved by the same means.



136. PYRUS communis. PEAR-TREE.—This is the parent of all our fine varieties of this fruit, and is used as the stock for propagating them; these are raised from seeds for that purpose. The wood of the Peartree is in great esteem for picture frames, it receiving a stain better than almost any other timber known.



137. PYRUS Malus. CRAB-TREE.—A tree of great account, as being the parent of all our varieties of apples, and is the stock on which the fine varieties are usually grafted. A dwarf variety of this tree, called the Paradise Apple, is used for stocks for making dwarf apple trees for gardens.

The juice of the Crab is called verjuice, which is in considerable demand for medicinal and other purposes.



138. QUERCUS robur. THE OAK.—Is a well known tree peculiar to Great Britain, and of the greatest interest to us as a nation. It is of very slow growth; but the timber is very strong and lasting, and hence it is used for building our shipping. The bark is supposed to contain more tannin than that of any other tree, and is valuable on that account. The acorns, or fruit, are good food for hogs, which are observed to grow very fat when turned into the forests at the season when they are ripe. The tree is raised from the acorn, which grows very readily.

We have accounts of Oak trees growing to great ages, and to most enormous sizes. One instance is mentioned by Evelyn, of one growing at Cowthorp, near Weatherby, in 1776, which within three feet of the ground was sixteen yards in circumference, and its height about eighty-five feet. Hunter's Evelyn's Sylva, p. 500.



139. ROSA rubiginosa. SWEET-BRIAR.—Is a very fragrant shrub, for which it has long been cultivated in the gardens. There are several varieties in the nurseries; as the Double-flowering, Evergreen, &c. which are much esteemed.



140. RUBUS Idaeus. THE RASPBERRY.—Produces a well known fruit in great esteem, and of considerable use both as food and for medicine.



141. RUBUS fruticosus. BRAMBLE.—Produces a black insipid fruit, but which is used by the poor people for tarts and to form a made wine: when mixt with the juice of sloes it is rendered very palatable.



142. RUBUS caesius.—Is a dwarf kind of bramble, and produces fruit of a pleasant acid, and where it grows in plenty it is used by the poor people for pies and other purposes of domestic oeconomy.



143. SALIX Russelliana. THE WILLOW.—No trees in this country are of more use than the species of this genus: many are grown for basket-makers in form of osiers, and other larger sorts serve for stakes, rails, hop-poles, and many other useful purposes. The bark of several species has been considered as useful for tanning leather. The charcoal of the Willow is also much in demand for making gunpowder.



144. SALIX viminalis. THE OSIER.—These are cultivated in watery places for making baskets, which are become a profitable article, and are the shoots of one season's growth cut every winter. The species best adapted to this purpose, besides the common osier, are

The Salix vitellina. Golden Willow. The Salix monandria. Monandrous Willow. The Salix triandria. Triandrous Willow. The Salix mollissima. Silky-leaved Willow. The Salix stipularis. Auriculated Osier. The Salix purpurea. Bitter Purple Willow. The Salix Helix. Rose Willow. The Salix Lambertiana. Boyton Willow. The Salix Forbyana. Basket Osier. The Salix rubra. Green Osier. The Salix nigricans. Dark Purple Osier.



145. SAMBUCUS nigra. ELDER.—The timber of the Elder is useful for making musical instruments, and the berries made into wine and fermented make a useful and valuable beverage. A variety with green berries is much esteemed for wine also.



146. SORBUS Aucuparia. QUICKEN-TREE, or MOUNTAIN-ASH.—In this part of Britain we usually find this tree in plantations, where it is very ornamental; and the berries, which are of a fine scarlet, are the food of many species of birds. The wood is also useful for posts, &c. and is considered lasting.



147. SORBUS domestica. TRUE SERVICE.—Produces a fruit much like the Medlar, and when ripe is in great esteem. The only tree in this country in a wild state, is growing in Bewdley Forest, Worcester-shire.



148. SPARTIUM Scoparium. BROOM.—Is a very ornamental plant, and is used for making besoms. It was once considered as a specific in the cure of dropsy, but is now seldom used for medicial purposes.



149. STAPHYLEA pinnata. BLADDER-NUT.—This is not a common plant in this country. I know of no other use to which it is applied, but its being cultivated in nurseries and sold as an ornamental shrub. The seed-vessel, from whence it takes its name, is a curious example of the inflated capsule.



150. TAMARIX gallica. A shrub of large growth; and being less affected by the sea breeze than any others, is useful to form a shelter in situations where the bleak winds will not admit of trees of more tender kinds to flourish.



151. TAXUS baccata. THE YEW.—Was formerly much esteemed for making bows: but since those instruments of war and destruction have given place to the more powerful gun-powder, it is not so much in request. The wood is very hard and durable, and admits of a fine polish. The foliage of Yew is poisonous to cattle, who will readily eat it, if cut and thrown in their way in frosty weather.



152. TILIA europaea. THE LIME or LINDEN-TREE.—Is a very ornamental tree in plantations, and from its early putting forth its leaves is much esteemed. The flowers emit a very fine scent, and the inhabitants of Switzerland make a favourite beverage from them. The wood is very soft, though white and beautiful. It is much used for the ornamental boxes, &c. so well known by the name of Turnbridge-ware.



153. VACCINIUM uliginosum. GREAT BILBERRY. Vaccinium Vitis Idaea, RED WHORTLE-BERRY, and Vaccinium Oxycoccos, CRANBERRY, are all edible fruits, but do not grow in this part of the kingdom. Great quantities of Cranberries are imported every winter and spring from Russia; they are much esteemed by the confectioners for tarts, &c. and are sold at high prices. These three kinds grow only in wet boggy places. A species which is native of America, called Vaccinium macrocarpon, has been very successfully cultivated at Spring Grove by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. and which has also been attempted in various other places, but not with the same success. The fruit of this species is larger and of better flavour than either of the other kinds.



154. VACCINIUM Myrtillus. WHORTS, or BILBERRIES.—To a common observer this would appear to be a very insignificant shrub; it is not uncommonly met with on our heaths: but it is only in particular places where it fruits in abundance, and in such districts it is of considerable value.

The waste lands on Hindhead and Blackdown in Surry and Sussex are noticed for producing this fruit, which is similar to Black Currants. They are gathered in the months of August and September, and sold at the neighbouring markets.

In a calculation of the value of this plant with an intelligent nurseryman in that county, we found that from 500 l. to 700 l. were earned and realized annually by the neighbouring poor, who employed their families in this labour, and who are in the habit of travelling many miles for this purpose. The fruit is ripe in August, and at that season is met with in great plenty in all the neighbouring towns.



155. VISCUM album. MISSELTO.—A parasitical plant well known, and formerly of much repute in medicine, but wholly disregarded in the present practice. Birdlime is made from the berries.

Dr. Pulteney in tracing the history of Botanic science quotes Pliny for an account of the veneration in which this plant was held by the Druids, who attributed almost divine efficacy to it, and ordained the collecting it with rites and ceremonies not short of the religious strictness which was countenanced by the superstition of the age. It was cut with a golden knife, and when the moon was six days old gathered by the priest, who was clothed with white for the occasion, and the plant received on a white napkin, and two white bulls sacrificed. Thus consecrated, Misselto was held to be an antidote to poison, and prevented sterility. Query, Has not the custom of hanging up Misselto at merry-makings, and the ceremony so well known among our belles, some relation to above sacrifice?



156. ULEX europaeus. COMMON FURZE.—The culture of this shrub is given in the Agricultural Plants, being good for feeding cattle; its principal use however is for fuel, and it is frequently grown for such purposes. It is common on most of our waste lands. It also forms good fences, but should always be kept short and young, otherwise it becomes thin, especially in good land where it grows up and makes large bushes.



157. ULMUS campestris. THE ELM.—We have a number of varieties of the Elm; the most esteemed is that with the smooth bark. The timber has been long in request for water-pipes, and for boards, which are converted into various uses in domestic oeconomy.



158. ULMUS montana. BROAD-LEAVED ELM.—This has not been considered of so great value as the common sort, but it is of much more free growth; and I have been informed that in the West of England the timber has been found to be good and lasting.



* * * * *



SECT. VII.—PLANTS USEFUL IN MEDICINE.



The initial letters in this class distinguish the Pharmacopoeia in which each plant is inserted.

"By the wise and unchangeable laws of Nature established by a Being infinitely good and infinitely powerful,—not only man, the lord of the creation, 'fair form who wears sweet smiles, and looks erect on heaven,' but every subordinate being becomes subject to decay and death: pain and disease, the inheritance of mortality, usually accelerate his dissolution. To combat these, to alleviate when it has not the power to avert, Medicine, honoured art! comes to our assistance.

"It will not be expected that we should here give a history of this ancient practice, or draw a parallel betwixt the success of former physicians and those of modern times: all that concerns us to remark is, that the ancients were infinitely more indebted to the vegetable kingdom for the materials of their art than the moderns. Not so well acquainted with the oeconomy of nature, which teaches us that plants were chiefly destined for the food of various animals, they sought in every herb some latent healing virtue, and frequently endeavoured to make up the want of efficacy in one by the combination of numbers: hence the extreme length of their farraginous prescriptions. More enlightened ideas of the operations of medicine have taught the moderns greater simplicity and conciseness in practice. Perhaps there is a danger that this simplicity may be carried to far, and become finally detrimental to the practice."

The above is quoted from the Preface to a Catalogue of Medicinal Plants published by my predecessor in 1783: and it may be observed, that the medical student has, at the present season, a still less number of plants to store up in memory, owing, probably, to the great advances that chemistry has made in the mean time, through which mineral articles in many instances have superseded those of the vegetable kingdom. But, nevertheless, as Dr. Woodville has justly observed, "it would be difficult to show that this preference is supported by any conclusive reasoning drawn from a comparative superiority of the former;" or that the more general use of them has led to greater success in the practice of the healing art. It is however evident, that we have much to regret the almost total neglect of the study of medical botany by the younger branches of the professors of physic, when we are credibly informed that Cow-parsley has been administered for Hemlock, and Foxglove has been substituted for Coltsfoot [Footnote: See the account of a dreadful accident of this nature, in Gent. Mag. for Sept. 1815.], from which circumstance, some valuable lives have been sacrificed. It is therefore high time that those persons who are engaged in the business of pharmacy should be obliged to become so far acquainted with plants, as to be able to distinguish at sight all such as are useful in diet or medicine, and more particularly such as are of poisonous qualities.

The medical student has so many subjects for his consideration, that it is not desirable he should have a greater number of vegetables to consult than are necessary. And we cannot help lamenting the difficulty he has to struggle with in consequence of the great difference of names which the Pharmacopoeias of the present day exhibit. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, in many instances, enforce the necessity of learning a different term in each for the same thing, and none of which are called by the same they were twenty years ago. Surely it would be the means of forwarding the knowledge of drugs, if each could be distinguished by one general term.

The candidate for medical knowledge, however, is not the only one who has at times to regret this confusion of names. The Linnaean system is an easy and delightful path to the knowledge of plants; but, like all other human structures, it has its imperfections, and some of which have been modified by judicious alterations. Yet the teachers of this science, as well as the students, have often to deprecate the unnecessary change in names which has been made by many writers, though., in many cases, no more reason appears for it than there generally would be to change Christian and surnames of persons.

In the following section, I shall enumerate and describe those plants which are contained in the lists of the three colleges; and afterwards a separate list of those which, although they have been expunged, are still sometimes used by medical men.

I shall also endeavour to give such descriptions as are concise, at the same time sufficient for general knowledge, and for which reason I have taken Lewis's Materia Medica for my text, unless where improvements have been made in certain subjects I have consulted more modern authorities. It should be observed, that writers on medical plants, with few exceptions, have copied from one another: or with a little alteration as to words only.

And as some vegetables, from their affinitiy, may be confounded with others, whereby those possessing medical qualities may be substituted for others having none, or even poisonous ones, I shall in some instances enumerate a list of similar plants, which, with attention to their botanical characters, it is hoped will prevent those dangerous errors we have lately witnessed. As it is our business, in demonstrating plants, to guard the student against such confusion, it will be proper that specimens of such as come under this head be preserved, as a work for reference and contrast wherever doubts may arise.



158. ACONITUM Napellus. COMMON BLUE MONKSHOOD. The Leaves. L. E.—Every part of the fresh plant is strongly poisonous, but the root is unquestionably the most powerful, and when chewed at first imparts a slight sensation of acrimony, and a pungent heat of the lips, gums, palate and fauces, which is succeeded by a general tremor and sensation of chilliness.

This plant has been generally prepared as an extract or inspissated juice, after the manner directed in the Edinburgh and many of the foreign Pharmacopoeias, and, like all virulent medicines, it should be first administered in small doses. Stoerck recommends two grains of the extract to be rubbed into a powder with two drums of sugar, and as a dose to begin with ten grains of this powder two or three times a-day.

Similar Plants.—Aconitum japonicum; A. pyrenaicum; Delphinium elatum; D. exallatum.

Instead of the extract, a tincture has been made of the dried leaves macerated in six times their weight of spirit of wine, and forty drops given for a dose.—Woodville's Med. Bot. 965.

The Dublin College has ordered the Aconitum Neomontanum, which is not common in this country [Footnote: In plants of so very poisonous a nature as the Aconite, it is the duty of every one who describes them to be particular. Here seems to have been a confusion. The A. Neomontanum is figured in Jacquin's Fl. Austriaca, fasc. 4. p. 381; and the first edition of Hortus Kewensis under A. Napellus erroneously quotes that figure: but both Gmelin in Syst. Vegetabilium, p. 838, and Wildenow in Spec. Plant. p. 1236, quote it under its proper name, A. Neomontanum. Now the fact is, that the Napellus is the Common Blue Monkshood; and the Neomontanum is altogether left out of the second edition of the Hortus Kewensis for the best of all reasons, it is not in this country; or, if it is, it must be very scarce, and, of course, not the plant used in medicine.].



160. ACORCUS Calamus. SWEET RUSH. The Root. L.—It is generally looked upon as a carminative and stomachic medicine, and as such is sometimes made use of in practice. It is said by some to be superior in aromatic flavour to any other vegetable that is produced in these northern climates; but such as I have had an opportunity of examining, fell short, in this respect, of several of our common plants. It is, nevertheless, a sufficiently elegant aromatic. It used to be an ingredient in the Mithridate and Theriaca of the London Pharmacopoeia, and in the Edinburgh. The fresh root candied after the manner directed in our Dispensatory for candying eryngo root, is said to be employed at Constantinople as a preservative against epidemic diseases. The leaves of this plant have a sweet fragrant smell, more agreeable, though weaker, than that of the roots.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



161. AESCULUS Hippocastanum. HORSE-CHESNUT. The Bark and Seed. E. D.— With a view to its errhine power, the Edinburgh College has introduced the seeds into the Materia Medica, as a small portion of the powder snuffed up the nostrils readily excites sneezing; even the infusion or decoction of this fruit produces this effect; it has therefore been recommended for the purpose of producing a discharge from the nose, which, in some complaints of the head and eyes is found to be of considerable benefit.

On the continent, the Bark of the Horse Chesnut-tree is held in great estimation as a febrifuge; and, upon the credit of several respectable authors, appears to be a medicine of great efficacy.—Woodville's Med. Bot. 615.



162. AGRIMONIA Eupatoria. COMMON AGRIMONY. The Herb. D.—The leaves have an herbaceous, somewhat acrid, roughish taste, accompanied with an aromatic flavour. Agrimony is said to be aperient, detergent, and to strengthen the tone of the viscera: hence it is recommended in scorbutic disorders, in debility and laxity of the intestines, &c. Digested in whey, it affords an useful diet-drink for the spring season, not ungrateful to the palate or stomach.



163. ALLIUM Porrum. LEEK. The Root. L.—This participates of the virtues of garlic, from which it differs chiefly in being much weaker. See the article ALLIUM.



164. ALLIUM sativum. GARLIC. The Root. L. E. D.—This pungent root warms and stimulates the solids, and attenuates tenacious juices. Hence in cold leucophelgmatic habits it proves a powerful expectorant, diuretic, and emmenagogue; and, if the patient is kept warm, sudorific. In humoral asthmas, and catarrhous disorders of the breast, in some scurvies, flatulent colics, hysterical and other diseases proceeding from laxity of the solids, and cold sluggish indisposition of the fluids, it has generally good effects: it has likewise been found serviceable in some hydropic cases. Sydenham relates, that he has known the dropsy cured by the use of garlic alone; he recommends it chiefly as a warm strengthening medicine in the beginning of the disease.

Garlic made into an unguent with oils, &c. and applied externally, is said to resolve and discuss cold tumors, and has been by some greatly esteemed in cutaneous diseases. It has likewise sometimes been employed as a repellent. Sydenham assures us, that among all the substances which occasion a derivation or revulsion from the head, none operate more powerfully than garlic applied to the soles of the feet: hence he was led to make use of it in the confluent small-pox about the eighth day, after the face began to swell; the root cut in pieces, and tied in a linen cloth, was applied to the soles, and renewed once a day till all danger was over.



165. ALLIUM Cepa. ONION. The Root. D.—These roots are considered rather as articles of food than of medicine: they are supposed to afford little or no nourishment, and when eaten liberally they produce flatulencies, occasion thirst, headachs, and turbulent dreams: in cold phlegmatic habits, where viscid mucus abounds, they doubtless have their use; as by their stimulating quality they tend to excite appetite, attenuate thick juices, and promote their expulsion: by some they are strongly recommended in suppressions of urine and in dropsies. The chief medicinal use of onions in the present practice is in external applications, as a cataplasm for suppurating tumours, &c.



166. ALTHAEA officinalis. MARSH-MALLOW. The Leaves and Root. L.—This plant has the general virtues of an emollient medicine; and proves serviceable in a thin acrimonious state of the juices, and where the natural mucus of the intestines is abraded. It is chiefly recommended in sharp defluxions upon the lungs, hoarseness, dysenteries, and likewise in nephritic and calculous complaints; not, as some have supposed, that this medicine has any peculiar power of dissolving or expelling the calculus; but as, by lubricating and relaxing the vessels, it procures a more free and easy passage. Althaea root is sometimes employed externally for softening and maturing hard tumours: chewed, it is said to give ease in difficult dentition of children.

The officinal preparations are:-Decoctio Althaeae officinalis, and Syrupus Althaeae.

Similar Plants.—Malva officinalis; M. rotundifolia; M. mauritanica; Lavatera arborscens.

This root gives name to an officinal syrup [L. E.] and ointment Ḷ and is likewise an ingredient in the compound powder of gum tragacanth [L. E.] and the oil and plaster of mucilages Ḷ though it does not appear to communicate any particular virtue to the two last, its mucilaginous matter not being dissoluble in oils.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



167. AMYGDALUS communis. SWEET and BITTER ALMONDS. L. E. D.—The oils obtained by expression from both sorts of almonds are in their sensible qualities the same. The general virtues of these oils are, to blunt acrimonious humours, and to soften and relax the solids: hence their use internally, in tickling coughs, heat of urine, pains and inflammations: and externally in tension and rigidity of particular parts.



168. ANCHUSA tinctoria. ALKANET-ROOT. E. D.—Alkanet-root has little or no smell: when recent, it has a bitterish astringent taste, but when dried scarcely any. As to its virtues, the present practice expects not any from it. Its chief use is for colouring oils, unguents, and plasters. As the colour is confined to the cortical part, the small roots are best, these having proportionally more bark than the large.



169. ANETHUM graveolens. DILL. The Seeds. L.—Their taste is moderately warm and pungent; their smell aromatic, but not of the most agreeable kind. These seeds are recommended as a carminative, in flatulent colics proceeding from a cold cause or a viscidity of the juices. The most efficacious preparations of them are, the distilled oil, and a tincture or extract made with rectified spirit. The oil and simple water distilled from them are kept in the shops.—Lewis.



170. ANETHUM Foeniculum. FENNEL. Seeds. E.—These are supposed to be stomachic and carminative; but this, and indeed all the other effects ascribed to them, as depending upon their stimulant and aromatic qualities, must be less considerable than those of Dill, Aniseed, or Caraway, though termed one of the four greater hot seeds.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 129.



171. ANGELICA Archangelica. GARDEN ANGELICA. The Root, Leaves, and Seeds. E.—All the parts of Angelica, especially the roots, have a fragrant aromatic smell, and a pleasant bitterish warm taste, glowing upon the lips and palate for a long time after they have been chewed. The flavour of the seeds and leaves is very perishable, particularly that of the latter, which, on being barely dried, lose greatest part of their taste and smell: the roots are more tenacious of their flavour, though even these lose part of it upon keeping. The fresh root, wounded early in the spring, yields and odorous yellow juice, which slowly exsiccated proves an elegant gummy resin, very rich in the virtues of the Angelica. On drying the root, this juice concretes into distinct moleculae, which, on cutting it longitudinally, appear distributed in little veins: in this state they are extracted by pure spirit, but not by watery liquors.

This resin is considered one of the most elegant aromatics of European growth, though little regarded in the present practice, and is rarely met with in prescription; neither does it enter any officinal composition.



172. ANTHEMIS nobilis. CHAMOMILE. The Flowers. L.E.D.—These have a strong not ungrateful, aromatic smell, but a very bitter nauseous taste. They are accounted carminative, aperient, emollient, and in some measure anodyne: and stand recommended in flatulent colics, for promoting the uterine purgations, in spasmodic affections, and the pains of women in child-bed: sometimes they have been employed in intermittent fevers, and the nephritis. These flowers are also frequently used externally in discutient and antiseptic fomentations, and in emollient glysters. The double-flowered variety is usually cultivated for medicine, but the wild kind with single flowers is preferable.

Similar Plants.—Anthemis arvensis; A. Cotula; Pyrethrum maritimum.



173. ANTHEMIS Pyrethrum. PELLITORY OF SPAIN. The Root. L.—The principal use of Pyrethrum in the present practice is as a masticatory, for promoting the salival flux, and evacuating viscid humours from the head and neighbouring parts: by this means it very generally relieves the tooth-ach, pains of the head, and lethargic complaints. If a piece of the root, the size of a pea, be placed against the tooth, it instantly causes the saliva to flow from the surrounding glands, and gives immediate relief in all cases of that malady.



174. APIUM Petroselium. COMMON PARSLEY. The Root. E.—Both the roots and seeds of Parsley are directed by the London College for medicinal use: the former have a sweetish taste, accompanied with a slight warmth of flavour somewhat resembling that of a carrot; the latter are in taste warmer and more aromatic than any other part of the plant, and also manifest considerable bittenress.

These roots are said to be aperient and diuretic, and have been employed in apozems to relieve nephritic pains, and obstructions of urine.

Although Parsley is commonly used at table, it is remarkable that facts have been adducted to prove, that in some constitutions it occasions epilepsy, or at least aggravates the epileptic fit in those who are subject to this disease. It has been supposed also to produce inflammation in the eyes.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 43. A variety which produces larger roots, called Hamburgh Parsley, is commonly grown for medicinal uses.



175. ARBUTUS Uva Ursi. TRAILING ARBUTUS or BEAR-BERRY. The Leaves.—This first drew the attention of physicians as an useful remedy in calculous and nephritic affections; and in the years 1763 and 1764, by the concurrent testimonies of different authors, it acquired remarkable celebrity, not only for its efficacy in gravelly complaints, but in almost every other to which the urinary organs are liable, as ulcers of the kidneys and bladder, cystirrhoea, diabetes, &c. It may be employed either in powder or decoction; the former is most commonly preferred, and given in doses from a scruple to a dram two or three times a-day.— Woodville's Med. Botany.



176. ARNICA montana. MOUNTAIN ARNICA. The whole Plant. E. D.—The odour of the fresh plant is rather unpleasant, and the taste acrid, herbaceous, and astringent; and the powdered leaves act as a strong sternutatory.

This plant, according to Bergius, is an emetic, errhine, diuretic, diaphoretic, emmenagogue; and from its supposed power of attenuating the blood, it has been esteemed so peculiarly efficacious in obviating the bad consequences occasioned by falls and bruises, that it obtained the appellation of Panacea Lapsorum.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 43.



177. ARTEMISIA Absinthium. WORMWOOD, The Herb. L.—Wormwood is a strong bitter; and was formerly much used as such against weakness of the stomach, and the like, in medicated wines and ales. At present it is rarely employed in these intentions, on account of the ill relish and offensive smell which it is accompanied with. These it may be in part freed from by keeping, and totally by long coction, the bitter remaining entire. An extract made by boiling the leaves in a large quantity of water, and evaporating the liquor with a strong fire, proves a bitter sufficiently grateful, without any disgustful flavour.



178. ARTEMISIA Abrotanum. SOUTHERNWOOD. Leaves. D.—Southernwood has a strong, not very disagreeable smell; and a nauseous, pungent, bitter taste; which is totally extracted by rectified spirit, less perfectly by watery liquors. It is recommended as an anthelmintic; and in cold lencophlegmatic habits, as a stimulant, detergent, aperient, and sudorific. The present practice has almost entirely confined its use to external applications. The leaves are frequently employed in discutient and antiseptic fomentations; and have been recommended also in lotions and unguents for cutaneous eruptions, and the falling off of the hair.



179. ARTEMISIA maritima. SEA WORMWOOD. Tops. D.—In taste and smell, it is weaker and less unpleasant than the common worm-wood. The virutes of both are supposed to be of the same kind, and to differ only in strength.

The tops used to enter three of our distilled waters, and give name to a conserve. They are an ingredient also in the common fomentation and green oil.



180. ARTEMISIA Santonica. ROMAN WORMWOOD. Seeds. E. D.—It is a native of the warmer countries, and at present difficultly procurable in this, though as hardy and as easily raised as any of the other sorts. Sea wormwood has long supplied its place in the markets, and been in general mistaken for it.

Roman wormwood is less ungrateful than either of the others: its smell is tolerably pleasant: the taste, though manifestly bitter, scarcely disagreeable. It appears to be the most eligible of the three as a stomachic; and is likewise recommended by some in dropsies.



181. ARUM maculatum. BITING ARUM. Fresh Root. L. E.—This root is a powerful stimulant and attenuant. It is reckoned a medicine of great efficacy in some cachectic and chlorotic cases; in weakness of the stomach occasioned by a load of viscid phlegm, and in such disorders in general as proceed from a cold sluggish indisposition of the solids and lentor of the fluids. I have experienced great benefit from it in rheumatic pains, particularly those of the fixed kind, and which were seated deep. In these cases I have given from ten grains to a scruple of the fresh root twice or thrice a day, made into a bolus or emulsion with unctuous and mucilaginous substances, which cover its pungency, and prevent its making any painful impression on the tongue. It generally excited a slight tingling sensation through the whole habit, and, when the patient was kept warm in bed, produced a copious sweat.

The only officinal preparation, in which this root was an ingredient, was a compound powder; in which form its virtues are very precarious. Some recommend a tincture of it drawn with wine; but neither wine, water, nor spirit, extract its virtues.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



182. ASARUM Europaeum, ASARABACCA. The Leaves. L. E. D.—Both the roots and leaves have a nauseous, bitter, acrimonious, hot taste; their smell is strong, and not very disagreeable. Given in substance from half a dram to a dram, they evacuate powerfully both upwards and downwards. It is said that tinctures made in spirituous menstrua possess both the emetic and cathartic virtues of the plant: that the extract obtained by inspissating these tinctures acts only by vomit, and with great mildness: that an infusion in water proves cathartic, rarely emetic: that aqueous decoctions made by long boiling, and the watery extract, have no purgative or emetic quality, but prove notable diaphoretics, diuretics, and emmenagogues.

Its principal use at present is as a sternutatory. The root of asarum is perhaps the strongest of all the vegetable errhines, white hellebore itself not excepted. Snuffed up the nose, in the quantity of a grain or two, it occasions a large evacuation of mucus, and raises a plentiful spitting. The leaves are considerably milder, and may be used to the quantity of three, four, or five grains. Geoffroy relates, that after snuffing up a dose of this errhine at night, he has frequently observed the discharge from the nose to continue for three days together; and that he has known a paralysis of the mouth and tongue cured by one dose. He recommends this medicine in stubborn disorders of the head, proceeding from viscid tenacious matter, in palsies, and in soporific distempers. The leaves are an ingredient in the pulvis sternutatoris of the shops.



183. ASPIDIUM Filix-Mas. Polypodium, Linn. MALE FERN. The Roots. L. E. D.—They are said to be aperient and anthelmintic. Simon Pauli tells us, that they have been the grand secret of some empirics against the broad kind of worms called taenia; and that the dose is one, two, or three drams of the powder. Two other kinds of Ferns used to be recommended; but this, being the strongest, has therefore been made choice of in preference, though the College of Edinburgh still retain them in their Catalogue of Simples.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



184. ASTRAGALUS Tragacanthus. GOATS-THORN. The Gum. L. E. D.—This gum is of a strong body, and does not perfectly dissolve in water. A dram will give to a pint of water the consistence of a syrup, which a whole ounce of gum Arabic is scarce sufficient to do. Hence its use for forming troches, and the like purposes, in preference to the other gums. It is used in an officinal powder, and is an ingredient in the compound powders of ceruss and amber.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



185. ATROPA Belladonna. DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. The Leaves, L. E. D.— Belladonna was first employed as an external application, in the form of fomentation, to scirrhus and cancer. It was afterwards administered internally in the same affections; and numerous cases, in which it had proved successful, were given on the authority of the German practitioners. It has been recommended, too, as a remedy in extensive ulceration, in paralysis, chronic rheumatism, epilepsy, mania, and hydrophobia, but with so little discrimination, that little reliance can be placed on the testimonies in its favour; and, in modern practice, it is little employed. It appears to have a peculiar action on the eye: hence it has been used in amaurosis; and from its power of causing dilatation of the pupil, when topically applied under the form of infusion, it has been used before performing the operation for cataract. A practice which is hazardous, as the pupil, though much dilated by the application, instantly contracts when the instrument is introduced. When given internally, its dose is from one to three grains of the dried leaves, or one grain of the inspissated juice.—Murray's Mat. Med. p. 174.

I have had a cancer of the lip entirely cured by it: a scirrhosity in a woman's breast, of such kind as frequently proceeds to cancer, I have found entirely discussed by the use of it. A sore, a little below the eye, which had put on a cancerous appearance, was much mended by the internal use of the Belladonna; but the patient having learned somewhat of the poisonous nature of the medicine, refused to continue the use of it; upon which the sore grain spread, and was painful; but, upon a return to the use of the Belladonna, was again mended to a considerable degree; when the same fears again returning, the use of it was again laid aside, and with the same consequence, the sore becoming worse. Of these alternate states, connected with the alternate use of and abstinence from the Belladonna, there were several of these alterations which fell under my own observation [Footnote: See the Poisonous Plants, in a future page].—Cullen's Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 270.



186. CARDAMINE pratensis. LADIES SMOCK. The Leaves. L. E. D.—Long ago it was employed as a diuretic; and, of late, it has been introduced in nervous diseases, as epilepsy, hysteria, choraea, asthma, &c. A dram or two of the powder is given twice or thrice a-day. It has little sensible operation.



187. CARUM Carui. CARAWAY. The Seeds. L. E. D.—These are in the number of the four greater hot seeds; and frequently employed as a stomachic and carminative in flatulent colics, and the like. Their officinal preparations are an essential oil and a spiritous water; they were used as ingredients also in the compound juniper water, tincture of sena, stomachic tincture, oxymel of garlic, electuary of bayberries and of scammony, and the cummin-seed plaster.



188. CENTAUREA benedicta. BLESSED THISTLE. The Leaves. E. D.—The herb should be gathered when in flower, great care taken in drying it, and kept in a very dry airy place, to prevent its rotting or growing mouldy, which it is very apt to do. The leaves have a penetrating bitter taste, not very strong or very durable, accompanied with an ungrateful flavour, which they are in great measure freed from by keeping.

The virtues of this plant seem to be little known in the present practice. We have frequently experienced excellent effects from a light infusion of carduus in loss of appetite, where the stomach was injured by irregularities. A stronger infusion made in cold or warm water, if drunk freely, and the patient kept warm, occasions a plentiful sweat, and promotes all the secretions in general.

The seeds of this plant are also considerably bitter, and have been sometimes used for the same purposes as the leaves.



189. CHIRONIA Centaurium. LESSER CENTAURY. The Tops. L. E. D.—This is justly esteemed to be the most efficacious bitter of all the medicinal plants indigenous to this country. It has been recommended as a substitute for Gentian, and, by several, thought to be a more useful medicine: experiments have also shown it to possess an equal degree of antiseptic power.

Many authors have observed, that, along with the tonic and stomachic qualities of a bitter, Centaury frequently proves cathartic; but it is possible that this seldom happens, unless it be taken in very large doses. The use of this, as well as of the other bitters, was formerly common in febrile disorders previous to the knowledge of Peruvian-bark, which now supersedes them perhaps too generally; for many cases of fever occur which are found to be aggravated by the Cinchona, yet afterwards readily yield to the simple bitters.—Woodville, p. 277.



190. COCHLEARIA officinalis. SCURVY-GRASS. The Herb. E.—Is antiseptic, attenuant, aperient, and diuretic, and is said to open obstructions of the viscera and remoter glands, without heating or irritating the system. It has long been considered as the most effectual of all the antiscorbutic plants; and its sensible qualities are sufficiently powerful to confirm this opinion. In the rheumatismus vagus, called by Sydenham Rheumatismus scorbuticus, consisting of wandering pains of long continuance, accompanied with fever, this plant, combined with Arum and Wood-Sorrel, is highly commended both by Sydenham and Lewis.

We have testimony of its great use in scurvy, not only from physicians, but navigators; as Anson, Linschoten, Maartens, Egede, and others. And it has been justly noticed, that this plant grows plentifully in those high latitudes where the scurvy is most obnoxious. Forster found it in great abundance in the islands of the South Seas.—Woodville, p. 395.



191. COCHLEARIA Armoracia. HORSE-RADISH. The Root. E.-The medical effects of this root are, to stimulate the solids, attenuate the juices, and promote the fluid secretions: it seems to extend its action through the whole habit, and affect the minutest glands. It has frequently done great service in some kinds of scurvies and other chronic disorders proceeding from a viscidity of the juices, or obstructions of the excretory ducts. Sydenham recommends it likewise in dropsies, particularly those which sometimes follow intermittent fevers. Both water and rectified spirit extract the virtues of this root by infusion, and elevate them in distillation: along with the aqueous fluid an essential oil arises, possessing the whole taste and pungency of the horse-radish. The College have given us a very elegant compound water, which takes its name from this root.



192. COLCHICUM autumnale. MEADOW-SAFFRON. The Roots. L. E. D.—The roots, freed from the outer blackish coat and fibres below, are white, and full of a white juice. In drying they become wrinkled and dark coloured. Applied to the skin, it shows some signs of acrimony; and taken internally, it is said sometimes to excite a sense of burning heat, bloody stools, and other violent symptoms. In the form of syrup, however, it has been given to the extent of two ounces a-day without any bad consequence. It is sometimes employed as a diuretic in dropsy. It is now supposed to be a principal ingredient in the celebrated French gout medicine L'Eau Medicinale.



193. CONIUM maculatum. HEMLOCK. The Leaves. L. E. D.—Physicians seem somewhat in dispute about the best mode of exhibiting this medicine; some recommending the extract, as being most easily taken in the form of pills; others the powder, as not being subject to that variation which the extract is liable to, from being made in different ways. With respect to the period, likewise, at which the plant should be gathered, they seem not perfectly agreed; some recommending it when in its full vigour, and just coming into bloom, and others, when the flowers are going off. An extract of the green plant is ordered by the College in their last list. Dr. Cullen has for many years commended the making it from the unripe seeds; and this mode the College of Physicians at Edinburgh have thought proper to adopt in their late Pharmacopoeia.

Similar Plants.—Aethusa Cynapium; Apium Petroselium; Oenanthe crocata; Oe. fistulosa; Phellandrium aquaticum.



194. CORIANDRUM sativum. CORIANDER. The Seeds. L. E. D.-These, when fresh, have a strong disagreeable smell, which improves by drying, and becomes sufficiently grateful. They are recommmended as carminative and stomachic.



195. CROCUS sativus. TRUE SAFFRON. The Stigmata. L. E. D.—There are three sorts of saffron met with in the shops, two of which are brought from abroad, the other is the produce of our own country. This last is greatly superior to the two former.

This medicine is particularly serviceable in hysteric depressions proceeding from a cold cause, or obstruction of the uterine secretions, where other aromatics, even those of the more generous kind, have little effect. Saffron imparts the whole of its virtue and colour to rectified spirit, proof spirit, wine, vinegar, and water: a tincture used to be drawn with vinegar, but it looses greatly its colour in keeping. There can be little use for preparations of saffron, as the drug itself will keep good for any length of time.



196. CUMINUM Cymini. CUMMIN. The Seeds. L.—Cummin seeds have a bitterish warm taste, accompanied with an aromatic flavour, not of the most agreeable kind. They are accounted good carminatives, but not very often made use of. An essential oil of them used to be kept in the shops, and they gave name to a plaster and cataplasm.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



197. CYNARA Scolymus. ARTICHOKE. The Leaves. E.—The bitter juice of the leaf, mixed with an equal part of Madeira wine, is recommended in an ounce dose night and morning, as a powerful diuretic in dropsy. An infusion of the leaf may likewise be used.



198. DAPHNE Mezereum. THE MEZEREON. The Roots. L. E. D.—This plant is extremely acrid, especially when fresh, and, if retained in the mouth, excites great and long continued heat and inflammation, particularly of the throat and fauces. The bark and berries of Mezereon in different forms have been long externally used to obstinate ulcers and ill conditioned sores. In France, the former is strongly recommended as an application to the skin, which, under certain management, produces a continued serious discharge without blistering, and is thus rendered useful in many chronic diseases of a local nature answering the purpose of what has been called a perpetual blister, while it occasions less pain and inconvenience.

In this country Mezereon is principally employed for the cure of some siphylitic complaints; and in this way Dr. Donald Monro was the first who gave testimony of its efficacy in the successful use of the Lisbon Diet Drink.

The considerable and long-continued heat and irritation that is produced in the throat when Mezereon is chewed, induced Dr. Withering to think of giving it in a case of difficulty of swallowing, seemingly occasioned by a paralytic affection. The patient was directed to chew a thin slice of the root as often as she could bear it, and in about a month recovered her power of swallowing. This woman had suffered the complaint three years, and was greatly reduced, being totally unable to swallow solids, and liquids but very imperfectly.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 720.



199. DATURA Stramonium. THORN APPLE. The whole Plant. E.—Dr. Woodville informs us, that an extract of this plant has been the preparation usually employed, and from one to ten grains and upwards a-day: but the powdered leaves after the manner of those directed for hemlock would seem, for the reason given, to be a preparation more certain and convenient.

It has been much celebrated as a medicine in epilepsy and convulsions and mania; but it is of a violent narcotic quality, and extremely dangerous in its effects.

Stramonium has been recommended, as being of considerable use in cases of asthma, on the authority of some eminent physicians of the East Indies; and the late Dr. Roxburgh has stated to me many instances wherein it had performed wonders in that dreadful malady.

The Datura Metal, Purple-flowered Thorn-apple, is much like the Stramonium, except in the flowers and the stalks being of a purple colour. I have made particular inquiry of Dr. Roxburgh if any particular kind was used in preference, and he said not; that both the above sorts were used; and, in fact, not only these, but the Datura Tatula, another species which grows wild there, and is cultivated in our stoves for the sake of its beautiful flowers, is also used for the same purposes.

The mode of using it was by cutting the whole plant up after drying, and smoking it in a common tobacco-pipe; and which, in some cases in this country also, has given great ease in severe attacks; and I know several persons who use it with good effect to this day. In vegetables of such powerful effects as this is known to have, great care ought to be taken in their preparation, which, I fear, is not always so much attended to as the nature of this subject requires [Footnote: See Observations on and Directions for preparing and preserving Herbs in general, et the end of this section.].



200. DAUCUS sylvestris. WILD CARROT. The Seeds. L.—These seeds possess, though not in a very considerable degree, the aromatic qualities common to those of the umbelliferous plants, and hence have long been deemed carminative and emmenagogue; but they are chiefly esteemed for their diuretic powers, and for their utility in calculus and nephritic complaints, in which an infusion of three spoonfuls of the seeds in a pint of boiling water has been recommended; or the seeds may be fermented in malt liquor, which receives from them an agreeable flavour resembling that of the lemon-peel.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 132.

Similar Plants.—Sison Amonum; Daucus Carota.



201. DAUCUS Carota. CULTIVATED CARROT. The Roots. L. E. D.—The expressed juice, or a decoction of these roots, has been recommended in calculous complaints, and as a gargle for infants in aphtous affections or excoriations of the mouth; and a poultice of scraped carrots has been found an useful application to phagedenic ulcers, and to cancerous and putrid sores.



202. DELPHINIUM Staphis Agria. STAVES AGRIA. The Seeds. L. D.— Stavesacre was employed by the ancients as a cathartic, but it operates with so much violence both upwards and downwards, that its internal use has been, among the generality of practitioners, for some time laid aside. It is chiefly employed in external applications for some kinds of cutaneous eruptions; and for destroying lice and other insects; insomuch that it has from this virtue received its name in different languages, Herba pedicularis, Herbe aux poux, Lauskraut, Lousewort.



203. DIANTHUS caryophyllus. CLOVE-PINK. The Petals. E.—These flowers are said to be cardiac and alexipharmac. Simon Paulli relates, that he has cured many malignant fevers by the use of a de-coction of them; which he says powerfully promoted sweat and urine without greatly irritating nature, and also raised the spirits and quenched thirst. The flowers are chiefly valued for their pleasant flavour, which is entirely lost even by light coction. Lewis says, the College directed the syrup, which is the only officinal preparation of them, to be made by infusion.



204. DIGITALIS purpurea. FOXGLOVE. The Leaves. L. E. D.—The leaves of Foxglove have a nauseous taste, but no remarkable smell. They have been long used externally to sores and scrophulous tumours with considerable advantage. Its diuretic effects, for which it is now so deservedly received into the Materia Medica, were entirely overlooked. To this discovery Dr. Withering has an undoubted claim; and the numerous cures of dropsy related by him and other practitioners of established reputation, afford incontestable proofs of its diuretic powers, and of its practical importance in the cure of those diseases. The dose of dried leaves in powder is from one grain to three twice a-day; but if a liquid medicine be preferred, a dram of the dried leaves is to be infused for four hours in half a pint of boiling water, adding to the strained liquor an ounce of any spiritous water. One ounce of this infusion given twice a-day is a medium dose; it is to be continued in these doses till it either acts upon the kidneys; the stomach, or the pulse, (which it has a remarkable power of lowering,) or the bowels.— Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 221.

This is now become a very popular medicine, but if used incautiously is attended with danger. Medical practitioners should make themselves perfectly acquainted with this plant, as the leaves are the only part used; and their not being readilly discriminated when separated from the flowers, several accidents have occurred. In the Gent. Mag. for September 1815 is recorded a very extraordinary mistake, where the life of a child was sacrificed to the ignorance of a person who administered this instead of Coltsfoot; a plant so very dissimilar, that, had it not been well authenticated, I should not have believed the fact.

Similar Plants.—Verbascum nigrum; V. Thapsus; Cynoglossum officinale, or, after the above mistake, any other plant with a lanceolate leaf, we fear, may be confounded with it.



205. ERYNGIUM maritimum. SEA-HOLLY. Roots. D.—The roots are slender, and very long; of a pleasant sweetish taste, which on chewing for some time is followed by a light degree of aromatic warmth and acrimony. They are accounted aperient and diuretic, and have also been celebrated as aphrodisiac: their virtues, however, are too weak to admit them under the head of medicines. The candied root is ordered to be kept in the shops.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



206. FERULA assafoetida. ASSAFOETIDA. Gum. L. E. D.—This drug has a strong fetid smell, somewhat like that of garlick; and a bitter, acrid, biting taste. It looses with age of its smell and strength, a circumstance to be particularly regarded in its exhibition. It consists of about one-third part pure resin, and two-thirds of gummy matter; the former soluble in rectified spirit, the other in water. Proof-spirit dissolves almost the whole into a turbid liquor; the tincture in rectified spirit is transparent.

Assafoetida is the strongest of the fetid gums, and of frequent use in hysteric and different kinds of nervous complaints. It is likewise of considerable efficacy in flatulent colics; and for promoting all the fluid secretions in either sex. The ancients attributed to this medicine many other virtues which are at present not expected from it.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



207. FICUS Carica. COMMON FIG. Fruit. L. D.—The recent fruit completely ripe is soft, succulent, and easily digested, unless eaten in immoderate quantities, when it is apt to occasion flatulency, pain of the bowels, and diarrhoea. The dried fruit is pleasanter to the taste, and is more wholesome and nutritive. Figs are supposed to be more nutritious by having their sugar united with a large portion of mucilaginous matter, which, from being thought to be of an oily nature, has been long esteemed an useful demulcent and pectoral; and it is chiefly with a view of these effects that they have been medicinally employed.



208. FRAXINUS Ornus. MANNA. L. E. D.—There are several sorts of Manna in the shops. The larger pieces, called Flake Manna, are usually preferred; though the smaller grains are equally as good, provided they are white, or of a pale yellow colour, very light, of a sweet not unpleasant taste, and free from any visible impurities.

Manna is a mild agreeable laxative, and may be given with saftey to children and pregnant women: nevertheless, in some particular constitutions it acts very unkindly, producing flatulencies and distension of the viscera.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



209. GENTIANA lutea. YELLOW GENTIAN. Root. L. D.—This root is a strong bitter, and, as such, very frequently made use of in practice: in taste it is less exceptionable than most of the other substances of this class: infusions of it, flavoured with orange peel, are sufficiently grateful. It is the capital ingredient in the bitter wine; and a tincture and infusion of it are kept in the shops.

Lewis mentions a poisonous root being mixed among some of the Gentian brought to London; the use of which occasioned in some instances death. This was internally of a white colour, and void of bitterness. There is no doubt but this was the root of the Veratrum album, a poisonous plant so similar, that it might readily be mistaken for it.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



210. GEUM urbanum. COMMON AVENS. Root. D.—This has a warm, bitterish, astringent taste, and a pleasant smell, somewhat of the clove kind, especially in the spring, and when produced in dry warm soils. Parkinson observes, that such as is the growth of moist soils has nothing of this flavour. This root has been employed as a stomachic, and for strengthening the tone of the viscera in general: it is still in some esteem in foreign countries, though not taken notice of among us. It yields, on distillation, an elegant odoriferous essential oil, which concretes into a flaky form.—Lewis's Mat. Med.

Similar Plants.—Geum rivale; G. intermedium.



211. GLYCYRRHIZA glabra. LIQUORICE. Root. L. D.—This is produced plentifully in all the countries of Europe: that which is the growth of our own is preferable to such as comes from abroad; this last being generally mouldy, which this root is very apt to become, unless kept in a dry place.

The powder of liquorice usually sold is often mingled with flower, and, I fear, too often with substances not quite so wholesome. The best sort is of a brownish yellow colour (the fine pale yellow being generally sophisticated) and of a very rich sweet taste, much more agreeable than that of the fresh root. Liquorice is almost the only sweet that quenches thirst.

This root is a very useful pectoral, and excellently softens acrimonious humours, at the same time that it proves gently detergent: and this account is warranted by experience. It is an ingredient in the pectoral syrup, pectoral troches, the compound lime waters, decoction of the woods, compound powder of gum tragacanth, lenitive electuary, and theriaca. An extract is directed to be made from it in the shops; but this preparation is brought chiefly from abroad, though the foreign extract is not equal to such as is made with proper care among ourselves.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



212. GRATIOLA officinalis. HEDGE-HYSSOP. Herb. E. D.—The leaves have a very bitter disagreeable taste: an infusion of a handful of them when fresh, or a dram when dried, is said to operate strongly as a cathartic. Kramer reports that he has found the root of this plant a medicine similar in virtue to Ipecacuanha.

Similar Plants.—Lythrum Salicaria; Scutellaria galericulata.



213. HELLEBORUS niger. BLACK HELLEBORE. Root. L.—The tase of Hellebore is acrid and bitter. Its acrimony, as Dr. Grew observes, is first felt on the tip of the tongue, and then spreads immediately to the middle, without being much perceived on the intermediate part: on chewing it for a few minutes, the tongue seems benumbed, and affected with a kind of paralytic stupor, as when burnt by eating any thing too hot.

Our Hellebore is at present looked upon principally as an alterative, and in this light is frequently employed, in small doses, for attenuating viscid humours, promoting the uterine and urinary discharges, and opening inveterate obstructions of the remoter glands: it often proves a very powerful emmenagogue in plethoric habits, where steel is ineffectual or improper. An extract made from this root with water, is one of the mildest, and for the purposes of a cathartic the most effectual preparation of it: this operates sufficiently, without occasioning the irritation which the pure resin is accompanied with. A tincture drawn with proof-spirit contains the whole virtue of the Hellebore, and seems to be one of the best preparations of it: this tincture, and the extract, used to be kept in the shops. The College of Edinburgh used to make this root an ingredient in the purging cephalic tincture, and compound tincture of jalap; and its extract, in the purging deobstruent pills, gamboge pills, the laxative mercurial pills, and the compound cathartic extract.—Lewis's Mat. Med.

Similar Plant.—Helleborus viridis.



214. HELLEBORUS foetidus. BEARSFOOT. Leaves. L.—The root is a strong cathartic; it destroys worms, and is recommended in different species of mania. It is commonly substituted for that of the Helleborus viridis, which is a more dangerous medicine. Hill's Herbal, p. 32. Great care ought to be used in the administering this plant: many instances of its dreadful effects are related. (See Poisonous Plants.)

Similar Plant.—Helleborus viridis.



215. HORDEUM distichon. PEARL BARLEY. Seeds. L. E.—Barley, in its several states, is more cooling, less glutionous, and less nutritious than wheat or oats; among the ancients, decoctions of it were the principal aliment, and medicine, in acute diseases. The London College direct a decoction of pearl barley; and both the London and Edinburgh make common barley an ingredient in the pectoral decoction.



216. HUMULUS Lupulus. THE HOP.—The flowers and seed-vessels are used in gout and rheumatism, under the form of infusion in boiling-water. The powder formed into an ointment with lard, is said to ease the pain of open cancer. A pillow stuffed with hops is an old and successful mode of procuring sleep in the watchfulness of delirious fever.



217. HYOSCYAMUS niger. HENBANE. Leaves and Seeds. L. E.—Henbane is a strong narcotic poison, and many instances of its deleterious effects are recorded by different authors; from which it appears, that any part of the plant, when taken in sufficient quantity, is capable of producing very dangerous and terrible symptoms. It is however much employed in the present days as an anodyne. Dr. Withering found it of great advantage in a case of difficult deglutition. Stoerck and some others recommend this extract in the dose of one grain or two; but Dr. Cullen observes, that he seldom discovered its anodyne effects till he had proceeded to doses of eight or ten grains, and sometimes to fifteen and even to twenty. The leaves of Henbane are said to have been applied externally with advantage, in the way of poultice, to resolve scirrhous tumours, and to remove some pains of the rheumatic and arthritic kind.

Similar Plants.—Verbascum Lychnites; V. nigrum.

The roots of the Henbane are to be distinguished by their very powerful and narcotic scent.



218. HYSSOPUS officinalis. HYSSOP. The Herb. L. E. D.—The leaves of Hyssop have an aromatic smell, and a warm pungent taste. Besides the general virtues of aromatics, they are particularly recommeded in humoral asthmas, coughs, and other disorders of the breast and lungs; and said to notably promote expectoration.



219. INULA Helenium. ELECAMPANE. Root. D.—Elecampane root possesses the general virtues of alexipharmics: it is principally recommended for promoting expectoration in humoural asthmas and coughs; in which intention, it used to be employed in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia: liberally taken, it is said to excite urine, and loosen the belly. In some parts of Germany, large quantities of this root are candied, and used as a stomachic, for strengthening the tone of the viscera in general, and for attenuating tenacious juices. Spiritous liquors extract its virtues in greater perfection than watery ones: the former scarce elevate any thing in distillation: with the latter, an essential oil arises, which concretes into white flakes; this possesses at first the flavour of the elecampane, but is very apt to lose it in keeping.



220. JUNIPERUS Sabina. SAVINE. The Tops. L. E. D.—Savine is a warm irritating aperient medicine, capable of promoting all the glandular secretions. The distilled oil is one of the most powerful emmenagogues; and is found of good service in obstructions of the uterus, or other viscra, proceeding from a laxity and weakness of the vessels, or a cold sluggish indisposition of the juices.

Similar Plants.—Juniperus oxycedrus; J. Phoenicea. These should be particularly distinguished, as Savine is attended with danger when taken immoderately.



221. JUNIPERUS communis. JUNIPER. Berries. L. E. D.—Juniper berries have a strong, not disagreeable smell; and a warm, pungent sweet taste, which, if they are long chewed, or previously well bruised, is followed by a bitterish one. The pungency seems to reside in the bark; the sweet in the juice; the aromatic flavour in oily vesicles, spread through the substance of the pulp, and distinguishable even by the eye; and the bitter in the seeds: the fresh berries yield, on expression, a rich, sweet, honey-like, aromatic juice; if previously pounded so as to break the seeds, the juice proves tart and bitter.



222. LACTUCA virosa. WILD LETTUCE. Leaves. E.—Dr. Collin at Vienna first brought the Lactuca virosa into medical repute; and its character has lately induced the College of Physicians at Edinburgh to insert it in the Catalogue of the Materia Medica. More than twenty-four cases of dropsy are said by Collin to have been successfully treated, by employing an extract prepared from the expressed juice of this plant, which is stated not only to be powerfully diuretic, but, by attenuating the viscid humours, to promote all the secretions, and to remove visceral obstructions. In the more simple cases proceeding from debility, the extract in doses of eighteen to thirty grains a-day, proved sufficient to accomplish a cure; but when the disease was inveterate, and accompanied with visceral obstructions, the quantity of extract was increased to three drams; nor did larger doses, though they excited nausea, ever produce any other bad effect; and the patients continued so strong under the use of this remedy, that it was seldom necessary to employ any tonic medicines.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 76.

Similar Plants.—Sonchus arvensis; Lactuca Scariola.



223. LAVANDULA Spica. LAVENDER. Flowers. L. D.—Lavender has been an officinal plant for a considerable time, though we have no certain accounts of it given by the ancients. Its medical virtue resides in the essential oil, which is supposed to be a gentle corroborant and stimulant of the aromatic kind; and is recommended in nervous debilities, and various affections proceeding from a want of energy in the animal functions.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 323.



224. LAURUS nobilis. BAY-TREE. Leaves and Berries. L.—In distillation with water, the leaves of bay yield a small quantity of very fragrant essential oil; with rectified spirit, they afford a moderately warm pungent extract. The berries yield a larger quantity of essential oil: they discover likewise a degree of unctuosity in the mouth; give out to the press an almost insipid fluid oil; and on being boiled in water, a thicker butyraceous one of a yellowish-green colour, impregnated with the flavour of the berry. An infusion of the leaves is sometimes drunk as tea; and the essential oil of the berries may be given from one to five or six drops on sugar, or dissolved by means of mucilages, or in spirit of wine.—Woodville's Med Bot. p. 680, 681.



225. LAURUS Sassafras. SASSAFRAS-TREE. Bark. L. E. D.—Its medical character was formerly held in great estimation; and its sensible qualities, which are stronger than any of the woods, may have probably contributed to establish the opinion so generally entertained of its utility in many inveterate diseases: for, soon after its introduction into Europe, it was sold at a very high price, and its virtues were extolled in publications professedly written on the subject. It is now, however, thought to be of very little importance, and seldom employed but in conjunction with other medicines of a more powerful nature.

Dr. Cullen found that a watery infusion of it taken warm and pretty largely, was very effectual in promoting sweat; but he adds, "to what particular purpose this sweating was applicable, I have not been able to determine." In some constitutions sassafras, by its extreme fragrance, is said to produce headache: to deprive it of this effect, the decoction ought to be employed.—Woodville's Mat. Med. p. 677.



226. LEONTODON Taraxicum. N EBION. Root. L.—The roots contain a bitter milky juice; they promise to be of use as asperient and detergent medicines; and have sometimes been directed in this intention with good success. Boerhaave esteems them capable, if duly continued, of resolving almost all kinds of coagulations, and opening very obstinate obstructions of the viscera.



227. LINUM usitatissimum. FLAX. The Seeds. L. E.—Linseed yields to the press a considerable quantity of oil; and boiled in water, a strong mucilage: these are occasionally made use of for the same purposes as other substances of that class; and sometimes the seeds themselves in emollient and maturating cataplasms. They have also been employed in Asia, and, in times of scarcity, in Europe, as food: but are not agreeable, or in general wholesome.



228. LINUM catharticum. PURGING-FLAX. The Herb. L. D.-This is a very small plant, not above four or five inches high, found wild upon chalky hills, and in dry pasture-grounds. Its virtue is expressed in its title: an infusion in water or whey of a handful of the fresh leaves, or a dram of them in substance when dried, is said to purge without inconvenience.



229. LOBELIA siphylitica. BLUE CARDINAL FLOWER. The Root. E.—Every part of the plant abounds with a milky juice, and has a rank smell. The root, which is the part directed for medicinal use, in taste resembles tobacco, and is apt to excite vomiting. It derived its name, Siphylitica, from its efficacy in the cure of Siphylis, as experienced by the North American Indians, who considered it a specific to that disease.

A decoction was made of a handful of the roots in three measures of water. Of this, half a measure is taken in the morning fasting, and repeated in the evening; and the dose is gradually increased till its purgative effects become too violent, when the decoction is to be intermitted for a day or two, and then renewed till a perfect cure is effected. But it does not appear that the antisiphylitic powers of Lobelia have been confirmed by any instances of European practice.— Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 251.



230. LYTHRUM Salicaria. WILLOW HERB. The Herb. D.—This is used internally in dropsies, obstinate gleets, and leucorrhoea.

Similar Plants.—Epilobium palustre; Epilob. angustifolium; Epilob. hirsutum.



231. MALVA sylvestris. COMMON MALLOW. Herb. L. E.—The leaves are ranked the first of the four emollient herbs: they were formerly of some esteem, in food, for loosening the belly; at present, decoctions of them are sometimes employed in dysenteries, heat and sharpness of urine, and in general for obtunding acrimonious humours: their principal use is in emollient glysters, cataplasms, and fomentations.



232. MARRUBIUM vulgare. HORFHOUND. Herb. E. D.—It is greatly extolled for its efficacy in removing obstructions of the lungs and other viscera. It has chiefly been employed in humoural asthmas. Mention is made of its successful use in scirrhous affections of the liver, jaundice, cachexies, and menstrual suppressions.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 333.

Similar Plants.—Ballota nigra; B. alba.



233. MELISSA officinalis. BALM. Herb. L. E.—This herb, in its recent state, has a weak roughish aromatic taste, and a pleasant smell, somewhat of the lemon kind. On distilling the fresh herb with water, it impregnates the first runnings pretty strongly with its grateful flavour. Prepared as tea, however, it makes a grateful diluent drink in fevers; and in this way it is commonly used, either by itself, or acidulated with the juice of lemons.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 335, 336.



234. MENTHA viridis. SPEAR-MINT. Leaves. L. D.—The virtues of Mint are those of a warm stomachic and carminative: in loss of appetite, nauseae, continual retchings to vomit, and (as Boerhaave expresses it) almost paralytic weakness of the stomach, there are few simples perhaps of equal efficacy. In colicky pains, the gripes to which children are subject, lienteries, and other kinds of immoderate fluxes, this plant frequently does good service. It likewise proves beneficial in sundry hysteric cases, and affords an useful cordial in languors and other weaknesses consequent upon delivery. The best preparations for these purposes are, a strong infusion made from the dry leaves in water (which is much superior to one from the green herb) or rather a tincture or extract prepared with rectified spirit.

The essential oil, a simple and spirituous water, and a conserve, are kept in the shops: the Edinburgh College directs an infusion of the leaves in the distilled water. This herb is an ingredient also in the three alexitereal waters; and its essential oil in the stomach plaster and stomach pills.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



235. MENTHA Piperita. PEPPER-MINT. Herb. L. E. D.—The leaves have a more penetrating smell than any of the other mints, and a much warmer, pungent, glowing taste like pepper, sinking as it were into the tongue. The principal use of this herb is in flatulent colics, languors, and other like disorders; it seems to act as soon as taken, and extends its effects through the whole system, instantly communicating a glowing warmth. Water extracts the whole of the pungency of this herb by infusion, and elevates it in distillation. Its officinal preparations are an essential oil, and a simple and spirituous water.



236. MENTHA Pulegium. PENNYROYAL. Herb. L. E. D.—Pennyroyal is a warm pungent herb of the aromatic kind, similar to mint, but more acrid and less agreeable. It has long been held in great esteem, and not undeservedly, as an aperient and deobstruent, particularly in hysteric complaints, and suppressions of the uterine purgations. For these purposes, the distilled water is generally made use of, or, what is of equal efficacy, an infusion of the leaves. It is observable, that both water and rectified spirit extract the virtues of this herb by infusion, and likewise elevate greatest part of them in distillation.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



237. MENYANTHES trifoliata. BUCK-BEAN. Leaves. L. E. D.—This is an efficacious aperient and deobstruent; it promotes the fluid secretions, and, if liberally taken, gently loosens the belly. It has of late gained great reputation in scorbutic and scrophulous disorders; and its good effects in these cases have been warranted by experience: inveterate cutaneous diseases have been removed by an infusion of the leaves, drunk to the quantity of a pint a-day, at proper intervals, and continued some weeks. Boerhaave relates, that he was relieved of the gout by drinking the juice mixed with whey.



238. MOMORDICA Elaterium. SPIRTING CUCUMBER. Fruit L. E. D.—Elaterium is a strong cathartic, and very often operates also upwards. Two or three grains are accounted in most cases a sufficient dose. Simon Paulli relates some instances of the good effects of this purgative in dropsies: but cautions practitioners not to have recourse to it till after milder medicines have proved ineffectual; to which caution we heartily subscribe. Medicines indeed in general, which act with violence in a small dose, require the utmost skill to manage them with any tolerable degree of safety: to which may be added, that the various manners of making these kinds of preparations, as practised by different hands, must needs vary their power.



239. MORUS nigra. MULBERRY. Fruit. L.—It has the common qualities of the other sweet fruits, abating heat, quenching thirst, and promoting the grosser secretions; an agreeable syrup made from the juice is kept in the shops. The bark of the roots has been in considerable esteem as a vermifuge; its taste is bitter, and somewhat astringent.—Lewis's Mat. Med.



240. NICOTIANA Tabacum. TOBACCO. Leaves. L. E. D.—Tobacco is sometimes used externally in unguents for destroying cutaneous insects, cleansing old ulcers, &c. Beaten into a mash with vinegar or brandy, it has sometimes proved serviceable for removing hard tumours of the hypochondres.



241. ORIGANUM Majorana. SWEET MARJORAM. Herb. L. E.-It is a moderately warm aromatic, yielding its virtues both to aqueous and spirituous liquors by infusion, and to water in distillation. It is principally celebrated in disorders of old people. An essential oil of the herb is kept in the shops. The powder of the leaves proves an agreeable errhine.



242. ORIGANUM vulgare. POT MARJORAM. Herb. L. D.—It has an agreeable aromatic smell approaching to that of marjoram, and a pungent taste much resembling thyme, to which it is likewise thought to be more nearly allied in its medicinal qualities than to any of the other verticillatae, and therefore deemed to be emmenagogue, tonic, stomachic, &c.

The dried leaves used instead of tea are said to be extremely grateful. They are also employed in medicated baths and fomentations.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 345.