Chapter 41

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

STITCHWORT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or some similar form of charm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STRAWBERRY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SUCCORY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SUNDEW.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SUNFLOWER.

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

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

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

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

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