Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure

In France a rustic application to scrofulous swellings is successfully used, which consists of Parsley and snails pounded together in a mortar to the thickness of an ointment. T...

Used in small quantities as a spice the Clove stimulates digestion, but when taken more freely it deadens the susceptibility of the stomach, lessens the appetite, and induces co...

Next in development to the Dog Rose, or Hound's Rose, comes the Sweetbriar (Eglantine), with a delicate perfume contained under its glandular leaves. [465] "_Fragrantia ejus ole...

The Scarlet Poppy of our cornfields (_Papaver Rhoeas_) is one of the most brilliant and familiar of English wild flowers, being strikingly conspicuous as a weed by its blossoms...

In former times it was employed largely as a medicine, and applied externally for the healing of wounds. When mixed with flour, and spread on linen, or leather, it has long been...

The title St. John's Wort is given, either because the plant blossoms about St. John's day, June 24th, or because the red-coloured sap which it furnishes was thought to resemble...

The Yellow Curled Dock (_Rumex crispus_), so called because its leaves are crisped at their edges, grows freely in our roadside ditches, and waste places, as a common plant; and...

Nothing need be said here about the Apple as an esculent; we have only to deal with this eminently English, and most serviceable fruit in its curative and remedial aspects. Chem...

The name Hellebore, as applied to the plant, comes from the Greek _Elein_--to injure, and _Bora_--fodder. It is also known as _Melampodium_, being thus designated because Melamp...

The Parsleys are botanically named _Selinon_, and by some verbal accident, through the middle letter "n" in this word being changed into "r," making it _Seliron_, or, in the Ita...

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 fa...

It has been said that the young shoots, eaten as a salad, will fasten loose teeth. If the leaves are gathered in the Spring and dried, then, when required, a handful of them may...

Another of the Primrose tribe, the Cyclamen, or Sow-bread (_Panis porcinus_), is often grown in our gardens, and for ornamenting our rooms as a pot plant. Its name means (Greek)...

The seeds afford but little actual nourishment, and are difficult of digestion; they provoke troublesome flatulence, though sometimes used fraudulently for adulterating pepper....

Old herbals pronounced it "cephalic, ophthalmic, and good for a weak memory." Hildamus relates that it restored the sight of many persons at the age of seventy or eighty years....

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 sea...

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 s...

The juice has certain sedative properties whereby it allays hysterical palpitation of the heart, and alleviates pain caused by cancerous ulceration of the tongue. Dr. Brandini,...

The Hawthorn, or Whitethorn, is so welcome year by year as a harbinger of Summer, by showing its wealth of sweet-scented, milk-white blossoms, in our English hedgerows, that eve...

Some have attributed the name _Salvia sclarea_, Clary (Clear eye) to the fact of the seeds being so mucilaginous, that when the eye is invaded by any small foreign body, their d...

About a century ago, the _Prickly Comfrey_--a variety of our Consound--was naturalised in this country from the Caucasus, and has since proved itself amazingly productive to far...

Consumptive patients are sent with this view to the Gironde, where the vapour from the wine vats is more stimulating and curative than in Burgundy. Young girls who suffer from a...

In the "Treacle Bible," 1584, Jeremiah viii., v. 22, this passage is rendered: "Is there not treacle at Gylead?" Venice treacle, or triacle, was a famous antidote in the middle...

Here the seeds are introduced in the making of curry powder, and are compounded to form a stimulating liniment; likewise a warming plaster for quickening the sluggish congestion...

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 procumb...

The Mulberry tree (_Morus nigra_) has been cultivated in England since the middle of the sixteenth century, being first planted at Sion house in 1548. It is now grown commonly i...

This name has been commonly applied to the Petty Spurge, or to the Sun Spurge, a familiar little weed growing abundantly in English gardens, with umbels of a golden green colour...

The flowers of this Bedstraw bloom towards August, about the time of the Feast of the Annunciation, and a legend says they first burst into blossom at the birth of our Saviour....

[274] The plant was dedicated of old to Thor, or Jupiter, and sometimes to the Devil. It bore the titles of Thor's beard, Jupiter's eye, Joubarb, and Jupiter's beard, from its m...

The plant which stings has a round hairy stalk, and carries only a dull colourless bloom, whereas the others are labiate herbs with square stems, and conspicuous lipped flowers....

The Spearmint is called "Mackerel Mint," and in Germany "Lady's Mint," with a pun on the word munze. Its name, Spear, or Spire, indicates the spiry form of its floral blossoming...

The singular property is attributed to Garlic, that if a morsel of the bulb is chewed by a man running a race, it will prevent his competitors from getting ahead of him. Hungari...

The common Caraway is a herb of the umbelliferous order found growing on many waste places in England, though not a true native of Great Britain. Its well-known aromatic seeds s...

[191] Very probably this reputed virtue has mainly become attributed to the plant, because the lobular milt-like shape of its leaf resembles the form of the spleen. "No herbe ma...

Distilled water from the flowers was formerly in great repute against nervous affections, and for many troubles of the head, insomuch that it was treasured in vessels of gold an...

THYRSIS ET PHYLLIS. In nemore umbroso Phyllis mea forte sedebat, Cui mollem exhausit tussis anhela sinum: Nec mora: de loculo deprompsi pyxida loevo, Ipecacuaneos, exhibuique tr...

So said Oribasus (freely translated) as long ago as the fourth century, in classic terms prophetic of later times, _Simplicium medicamentorum et facultatum quoe in eis insunt co...

Most Pears depend on birds for the dispersion of their seeds, but one striking variety prefers to attract bees, and the larger insects for cross-fertilization, and it has theref...

[150] The tops of the roots dug out of the ground, with the tufts of the leaves remaining thereon, and blanched by being covered in the earth as they grow, if gathered in the sp...

The true Rushes (_Juncaceoe_) include the Soft Rush (_effusus_); the Hard Rush (_glaucus_); and the Common Rush (_conglomeratus_). The Bulrush (Pool Rush) is a Sedge; the Club R...

The Marsh Marigold (_Caltha poetarum_) or the Marsh [330] Horsegowl of old writers, grows commonly in our wet meadows, and resembles a gigantic buttercup, being of the same orde...

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 o...

Saffron . . . 485 " Meadow . . . 483 Sage . . . 489 " Meadow . . . 492 Sago . . . 155 Saint John's Wort . . . 287 Salep . . . 405 Saliva . . . 178 Samphire . . . 497 Sanicle . ....

"Muscarin" is the leading active principle of the Fly Agaric, in conjunction with agaricin, mycose, and mannite. It stimulates, when swallowed in strong doses, certain nerves wh...

"Jamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus lapis Iasides: acri quondam cui captus amore Ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo Augurium, citharamque dabat, celeresque sagitta...

The leaves have a somewhat fragrant smell, and a bitterish taste. The odour of the flowers, when rubbed between the fingers, is aromatic. In consequence of this pungent, volatil...

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 unf...

CORDIAL. Allspice . . . 396 Asafetida . . . 219 Balm . . . 39 Blackberry . . . 55 Borage . . . 60, 595 Burnet Saxifrage . . . 431 Calamint . . . 344 Caraway . . . 82 Cat-thyme ....

SCIATICA. Bracken (to smoke legs) . . . 185 Elecampane . . . 174 Goutweed . . . 235 Horse Radish . . . 278 Nettle (urtication) . . . 884 Peppermint . . . 842 Ragwort . . . 458 R...